Saturday, December 27, 2008

Another animation recommendation


Uncle Skippy recommends "The Venture Brothers."
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Very funny stuff. Clever, weird, harkens back to some of the great action cartoons of my youth.
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Plus, anything with Patrick Warburton in it just rocks. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0911320/
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Except for maybe "Tak and the Power of Juju."
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Holding back on recommending "Drinky Crow." I have high hopes, but after watching two episodes, I'm still not sure. It has to be hard translating a four panel comic strip to a full length cartoon. It has potential, but I'm not sure that it has hit it's stride yet.

Old School v. Gangsta


I've blogged previously about my varied musical taste and so it won't come as a surprise to you faithful reader when I tell you that back in the day, I used to listen to Public Enemy quite a lot. Well, that music was on cassette so it's been a while since I listened to PE, but that changed a few weeks ago when I downloaded a couple of tracks off of "It Takes a Nation to Millions to Hold Us Down" on iTunes.

I started thinking about how amazing the music and lyrics were and wondered how the genre of rap got from Chuck D, to the hardcore gangster rap that predominates the charts now. Akon, to take an easy example, made up a criminal history to lend credibility to his album Konvicted. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0416081akon1.html?link=rssfeed

Chuck D, back when he was writing absolutely groundbreaking rap in 1995, complained in his lyrics that he was being unfairly painted as a criminal in "Don't Believe the Hype."



They claim that I'm a criminal.
By now I wonder how
Some people never know
The Enemy could be their friend.
Guardian, I'm not a hooligan.
I rock the party and
Clear all the madness.
I'm not a racist.
Preach to teach to all
'Cause some they never had this.
Number one, not born to run.
About the gun...
I wasn't licensed to have one.
The minute they see me, fear me.
I'm the epitome - a public enemy
Used, abused without clues.
I refused to blow a fuse.
They even had it on the news.
Don't believe the hype.


Why is it the perception of toughness or even being an outlaw, that is important now, rather than the respect as a human being that Chuck D said that he sought through his lyrics? And then this guy, http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/sports/football/Giant-Pain-Pierce-Spoke-to-NFL-Security-About-Burress-Team-Says.html?corder=&pg=1 is just an idiot. He claims he was carrying the gun to protect himself, but the NFL would have provided him with security if he believed he was really in danger. He was carrying the gun to meet the image created a perpetuated by artists like Akon. And ended up shooting himself in the leg and ending his NFL career because of it.

Is that an image worth striving for?

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

SW:TCW: An update.

Just in case you were wondering if Jar Jar Binks is any more tolerable animated and on the small screen, the answer is a resounding "no." I'm still really enjoying SW:TCW, but the dreaded Binks was the central character of a recent episode and it was pretty horrible.

The whole concept of his character and race is just flat out annoying....

When is breaking the rules cheating?

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=3712372

This was oh, so much more timely a week ago, but I've been dealing with life and Thanksgiving a lot over the last couple of weeks and so didn't get a chance to write intelligently about this until now.

In case you missed it, this professional golfer was all the rage on talk sports radio because he turned himself in for using an unapproved ball on one hole in a qualifying tournament. That was important for a couple of reasons. First, the PGA, under its ridiculously draconian rules, disqualified him from the whole tournament. Second, and perhaps more importantly, because it was a qualifying tournament, it cost him his chance to get a tour exemption, that would have allowed him to play in all of the PGA tournaments this season without having to qualify. So, we are talking a pretty serious penalty for a pretty minor offense.

Because of all of this, he's being held out as a paragon of purity and a symbol for all that should be right in sports. "What a sacrifice he has made!" they all cry. "What a great guy, that he would take bread off of his family's table because he couldn't live with himself by cheating." "Would you do the same?" they ask. "Would you turn yourself in, knowing that you would lose your livelihood?"

OK. Wait just a second. Hayes didn't have a qualifier's card last year either and according to ESPN.com, he did okay. "He earned $312,152 this season, making just seven cuts in 26 events. He was 176th on the money list -- the worst showing of his career." Um, what "sacrifice" exactly was he making then? A pro golfer, even in his worst year, makes a LOT of money. Turning himself in didn't exactly mean that his family doesn't pay the mortgage this year. Did he give up more money? Yeah, probably, but I'm not ready to pass the hat for the guy. That's a heck of a safety net to fall into after "sacrificing" yourself to your high moral standards.

Look, he did an impressive thing. He did make a sacrifice and he deserves recognition. But he ain't exactly a Greek tragic hero, undone by his own character.

Anyway, I'm not so sure he isn't a little stupid. He turned himself in not once, but twice. "I realized there was a penalty and I called an official over," Hayes said, according to the newspaper. "He said the penalty was two shots and that I had to finish the hole with that ball and then change back to the original ball." For most competitors that would be the end of the story. He showed the ball to the official and they said the penalty was two strokes. But Hayes felt compelled to go beyond what the official had said and prove that the guy had made a mistake. When he got home, he looked up the list of approved balls, and found that his wasn't on it. So he says "Oooh, ooooh, PGA, you didn't punish me enough, even though I gave you the appropriate opportunity to do so and your official completely botched it."

No wonder they disqualified him.... He was making everyone else in the world look bad.

But if you feel sorry for him, it was because of his Titleist prototype ball that he got disqualified. He was doing them a favor by practicing with it and it screwed him. Apparently, there are sponsor and manufacturer exemptions at tournaments that would allow Hayes to make more money. If you think he deserves it for being such a stand up guy, write to ole Wally Uihlein at Titleist and tell him they should "Let Hayes Play!"


Mr. Wally Uihlein
Chief Executive Officer
Titleist/Acushnet
Worldwide Distribution Center
333 Bridge Street
Fairhaven, MA 02719