Monthly Archive for February, 2007

Friday Random Ten

Another Friday, another Random Ten. Still haven't added that much music to the new Nano so the selection is not as robust as the old days (or next Friday's, by which I'll finally get around to adding more joints) but the rules are the same: just press Shuffle. Without further ado:

1) Citizen Cope, Friendly Fire - Ah the great Citizen. This is one of the better songs off his most recent album. Also one of the better songs he sings live. A good start.  

2) Rupert Holmes, Escape (The Pina Colada Song) - I'm not ashamed to admit that I love this song. Unbelievable catchy but I mean seriously. A guy puts a classified ad out in a newspaper cus he's sick of his girlfriend, in a million to one shot she answers cus I guess she's also unhappy, they have a good laugh and things are better then ever? And I'm supposed to buy that? Seems unlikely to me. 

3) Jay Z, Threat - Decent song off the Black album.

4) Brandy and Monica, The Boy is Mine - I remember when this song was huge. For that matter, remember when Brandy and Monica were huge? Whatever happened to them? I mean I know Brandy is currently causing fatal car crashes but at one point they were at the top of the R&B game.  

5) Nirvana, Breed - Sometimes I wonder what Kurt would be like if he hadn't killed himself. Then I get back to work.

6) Coldplay, Fix You - I like Coldplay, so forget you. Saddish song which means its right up my alley. 

7) The Beatles, All Together Now - You can't tell me this isn't a children's song. People were clearly on some sort of drug when this was written.

8) Ben Harper, Sexual Healing (Live) - Great song that few can pull off but Harper nails it. I'd love to go to one of Harper's concerts.  

9) Bruce Springsteen, The Rising - Bruce showing he can still rock. Pretty good overall album.

10) John Cale, Hallelujah - Great, great song, top five all-time (though not this version). A good one to end on. 

And thats all I've got. Come back next week for another edition. 

Addictive little game. Not going to say how many hours I've wasted at work playing this over the last few days. (via kottke

I’ve never been this drunk

I like to drink and, on occasion (this is relative), I've had too much to drink (also relative and I'm all about being forthright). But I can honestly say that never in my 24 years on this planet have I been this drunk:

A man who caught a 4-foot shark with his bare hands off an Australian beach said on Friday he only tried the feat because he was drunk on vodka.

Phillip Kerkhof was fishing off a jetty at Louth Bay, a town on South Australia state's Eyre Peninsula 870 miles west of Sydney, when he spotted the bronze whaler shark swimming in the shallows, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

"I just snuck up behind him, and eventually I went for the big grab and I fluked it and got him," Kerkhof said.

"He was just thrashing around in the water … starting to turn around and try to bite me and I thought 'well, it's amazing what vodka does'," Kerkhof said.

The shark bit a hole in Kerkhof's jeans, but he was uninjured.

"It's not something I'd recommend to do. When I sobered up I thought about it and I said, 'I'm a bit of an idiot for doing it'," Kerkhof said.

I'm going to go ahead and agree with Oliver Willis that this article has the front runner for headline of the year: "Man Grabs Shark With Hands; Blames Vodka"

(via Oliver Willis

These are for interviewing for a job at a law firm but they could be applicable for really any job. #7 is my favorite. (via The Cooler)

After posting about wanting to go to Vegas for All-Star weekend and quoting in large part from Bill Simmons I would be remiss if I didn't post Simmons' epic recap of the weekend. Its long but quite worth it. 

This is going to be solid

Just saw this movie trailer, I'm thinking it could be fairly solid.  Its from the guy who did 40 Year-Old Virgin and its got a ton of "those people" in it that always make movies funny. Plus any movie with Paul Rudd in it is solid in my book. See for yourself:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PVOSmxiGWI[/youtube] 

(via Comedy Central Insider

Awful movie

On Sunday I was dragged against my will to see "Because I said so" the new movie starring Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore. It was, in a word, awful. And this is coming from someone who enjoys romantic comedies ("Love Actually is one of my favorites, "High Fidelity" is my favorite).

Diane Keaton overacts to a degree that is almost unwatchable; the scenes where she is too "clueless" to figure out how to get away from a porn website she has accidentally stumbled upon belong in some sort of Awful Hall of Fame. There are weird time line shifts where people are talking about getting married when it seems like they are only on their second date. The whole thing was bad with the only highlight being Buster from Arrested Development making a hysterical cameo. They didn't even utilize Lauren Graham, the cougar from Gilmore Girls, properly.    

Of course, when the movie was over, two ladies behind us said "Oh that was so great" and sadly I think they meant it.  I wish we could have seen Music & Lyrics instead. Yeah that might not be any good either but I love Hugh Grant and at the very least the English accent would amuse me. Alas I was only along for the ride (and thankful for being invited). 

p.s. "Because I said so" has been added to the movie ratings page where I fairly regularly rate movies I've seen. 

XM and Sirius to merge: so what?

Since the beginning people have wondered when XM and Sirius, the two satellite radio providers, were going to merge and this past weekend the two companies finally announced plans to join together. Who cares? I'll admit that in the beginning I thought satellite radio was kind of a cool idea; certainly the appeal of not listening to commercials is a strong one (in D.C., in the morning, its basically impossible to hear any music on the radio, just the dumb talking heads).

But the only time I'm tempted to listen to the radio is in the shower (I like to sing along and as The Roomie is usually gone by the time I'm in there, I have no fear of embarrassing myself). I walk to work and rock my iPod. When I'm in my car, which is becoming rarer and rarer, I plug in the iPod. To my mind the iPod is the satellite radio killer. Why would I pay something like 10 bucks a month, as well as get special equipment, to listen to commercial-free radio when I can just listen to my own music that I already know I like?  

Ultimately I think XM and Sirus will fail, just as over the airwaves radio will fail, as the iPod (or other mp3 players) becomes more ubiquitous in cars. If I can listen to the songs and podcasts that I want, what do I need the radio for? To listen to brain dead morning radio hosts? Surely you jest.   

The best part of the All-Star Game

This video is why its Gilbert Arenas' world and we are just living in it. The NBA All-Star game on Sunday was pretty much unwatchable but the best part of the game happened during the commercial break when Gilbert did what only Gilbert would do

Moments after a group of Elvis Presley impersonators finished jumping off trampolines and dunking during a second-half timeout, Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas sneaked off the East bench, grabbed a ball, bounced off one of the trampolines and dunked.

According to Arenas, the stunt was the result of a dare by Shaquille O'Neal, who has to donate between $50,000 and $100,000 to a charity of Arenas's choice.

"I was nervous," Arenas said. "I was like, 'If I miss this and get hurt, I'm in trouble.' "

And here's the video: 

[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5842618321338773009&hl=en[/googlevideo] 

Not bad Gil, especially without having practiced.  

(via Deadspin)  

I have no idea why someone would get a Colonel Sanders tattoo but the design kinda looks cool.