Archive for January 2008

Pittsburgh Penguins: Worst Actors Ever | January 30th, 2008

Thanks to Jerry for cluing me in to this awesome commercial. The first nine seconds are blank, but keep watching:

Why didn’t Malkin get an equally terrible/hilarious line?

The GOP in Florida | January 29th, 2008

Quick reaction:

• I am relieved for America’s role in the world that Rudy Giuliani is out of the race. He was notoriously advised on “World War IV” by none other than Norman Podhoretz, the Iraq war advocate who also wrote last year that he “hopes and prays” for the bombing of Iran. Giuliani’s reputation for racial divide would not play well either at home or on the world stage. Bob Herbert said on TV today that it seemed that the more voters got to know Giuliani, the less they liked him, and that does seem to have played out with his Florida dropoff.
• While McCain is the favorite nominee of so many independents and those straddling the party divide, I do think he’ll have to nominate a very Bush-like running mate to help strengthen party support for his ticket. Look for someone like Sam Brownback to turn up again.
• I’m still surprised Romney has gotten this far.

I wonder how McCain vs. Clinton could play out?

Awesome Maps Site | January 29th, 2008

I just happened across strangemaps.wordpress.com, which is a site dedicated to — believe it or not — strange and interesting maps. If you like geography, history or pretty much anything statistical, you should check it out. Here’s a thought-provoking map of religion in the United States, with the light blue being counties that have more Catholic churches than other faiths, and the red counties being those that have more Baptist churches that other faiths.

Good jorb, strangemaps!

Pro Massage: Overrated | January 28th, 2008

Hey all.

I’m going to base the following opinion on a statistically suspect sample of N=1, but hey, why not.

When G and I were on our honeymoon in Mexico, they had a complementary massage session at the hotel where we stayed. I looked forward to this with some trepidation, being that I had never partaken of a masseuse / masseur before, and I figured having some stranger rubbing oil all over me would be more than a little awkward. But, I was game.

When the appointment arrived, I walked into the darkened room and laid down on the table, at which point a nice masseuse walked in and commenced her work. Getting oiled up felt a little weird, but then the shoulder part was pretty soothing, so I chilled out and settled in.

Then, ow. A lot.

Thanks, I feel so refreshed

I don’t know if I’m extra stiff or what — I used to always do well at the sit ‘n reach back in the elementary gym-class day, and my college jujitsu course instructors noted how weirdly far my joints could bend before I had to tap out — but that massage hurt. At one point I think my arm got put into a police submission hold, then my knees were bent back a lot farther than they’re supposed to go — that was especially rough after the 2006 knee surgery tightened things up down there. Being a dude unfamiliar with this whole thing, I of course opted to grit it out silently and act like it felt great to have my ligaments popping and locking without the benefit of Carlton’s breakdancing lessons, but it didn’t.

Anyway, don’t pay for a massage, because they aren’t that cool. And as a guy who has gotten exactly one in my lifetime, I know.

Thanks for reading, and may your day be filled with General Tso’s chicken. I ate some today and it was amazing.

Free! | January 25th, 2008

The Atlantic Monthly just opened up its paid site to be free to web users. I was just saying the other day how I had heard this 2005 article about talk radio was an excellent portrait of the industry, and that I wished the site were open to non-subscribers so I could read it.

Obviously I’m now off to read it. Nice work, Atlantic Monthly.

Primary Picks Update | January 23rd, 2008

For anyone keeping score — aside from the dudes at work, who already are — I’m currently tied for 10th out of 14 Slate people in our work primary pool. We get different point values per state for each correct 1st, 2nd or 3rd-place pick up through Feb. 5, and right now I have 14. Here’s my correct picks so far:

DEMS – 10
Iowa (1 point each): Obama – 1st
N.H. (2): Clinton – 1st, Obama – 2nd, Edwards – 3rd
Nev. (1): Clinton – 1st, Obama – 2nd, Edwards – 3rd

G.O.P. – 4
Iowa (1): nope
N.H. (2): McCain – 1st
Mich. (1): Romney – 1st, McCain – 2nd
Nev.: don’t think so
S.C.: not happening

My picks so far include such spectacular misses as Giuliani placing in the top 3 for N.H. and Michigan without any campaigning, Ron Paul finishing 3rd in Nevada — I probably got distracted by the ever-present Paultard hacking threat — and Joe Biden staying in the race to finish 3rd in New York. (Where the hell did I come up with that one?)

So I’d like to thank the Republicans for not only playing havoc with our great nation, but costing me bragging rights among my coworkers. (Minus a certain high-placed editor, who at the moment is tied for last.) Much obliged, dudes.

Eschatological | January 22nd, 2008

The History Channel tonight aired their Life After People show, which I did not catch thanks to the Penguins-Capitals game. (It was good, then came the part where the Pens lost.) H to the C hyped it big time, including buying advertising on Slate, and I was intrigued despite this prime example of my shifting-focus theory of the History Channel. I’ll have to Tivo that mug when it rolls around again.

I don’t think this show would have the same audience if it weren’t for I Am Legend coming out last month, what with both being all deer-in-Times-Square and whatnot. Those two are in turn a hell of a lot like Alan Weisman’s The World Without Us. Add in the upcoming movie adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road — now shooting near Pittsburgh, though that isn’t quite so flattering when they’re evoking a post-apocalyptic landscape — and we have an end-of-it-all trend. Sounds like a certain nation is rocking some sort of end-of-empire vibe.

I can’t predict the possibility that any of this stuff will come true, but then if I could, waiting around for it wouldn’t be fun either. I certainly hope we don’t end up with The Road, because that book single-handedly messed up my Road Warrior-based distant concept of civilizational collapse — featuring crazy football-padded dudes fighting in the desert — and turned it into existential nightmare No. 1. (It was really not a fun book. Tremendously well-written, but relentlessly disturbing.)

So I’d like to make two points about this whole cultural trend:

1. Everybody dying, while probably good for the Earth, would not be cool at all.

2. If we’re watching decline-and-fall shows here in the “declining” U.S. — as much as a nation of 300 million entrepreneurially oriented people can decline without suffering some society-immolating event — do you suppose rising powers India and China are rocking Hindi / Mandarin shows about Romulus and Remus getting Rome off the ground?

AT&T | January 16th, 2008

Agreed on this one:

Has AT&T Lost Its Mind?

I’ll decline the surveillance service, thanks, and I too don’t envy their customer service workers.