Well, yeah, there’s the Japan Series to think about. Starts October 25th and it features former Oakland Athletic / Nippon Professional Baseball star Matt Murton and other baseball playing baseball players.
Hoping that Hanshin wins it all. KFC curse or not.
I still love baseball, I’ve looked forward to every World Series since I was four and certainly don’t plan on stopping now just because my team crashed and burned, or because I don’t like one of the teams that made it.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
I also love baseball, but my interest tends to fade once the A’s are eliminated, whether or not I like the teams contesting the World Series. It just feels like it drags on too long these days with the extra round of playoffs, and I detest Fox broadcasts.
Postseason is too detached from the regular season. Both teams in the World Series this year failed in the 162-game test; they’re the two teams that happened to be the hottest during the first couple rounds of the tournament. So, unlike when it went straight from the regular season to the World Series with the first place teams in each league facing each other, or even when the two division champions in each league played off for the right to go to the Series, I have no sense that the World Series is determining the best team in all of baseball. Additionally, there are way way too many off days for an every day sport, both within each series and between series. This World Series should have started on Saturday, but the rigid television schedule prevents that. Bottom line, I’ll watch some of it but it’s no longer compelling regardless of who plays, as it was prior to the wild card era.
Treacherous chasms of half-truth and despair. -- Ken Korach
Agreed. I think the last WS I really paid attention to was Giants-Rangers. Before that I think I found Phillies-Rays interesting, but looking back over last 10 years or so I just have not really paid that much attention for a lot of the reasons Soaker mentions.
1. Post-season series, preferably but not exclusively seven gamers.
2. Tournaments which eliminate half the field at each stage.
3. Baseball.
So wild cards and expanded baseball playoffs don’t bother me at all, they give me more of what I enjoy, and (since my pre-LCS memories are spotty) I don’t find they diminish my enjoyment of the World Series at all. Clearly, other people’s mileage varies.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
Even though we got the ax quickly, I have to say, every year I like the Wild Card series more and more each season. And I liked the idea to begin with. It being one game still works well for me as well. What it’s done to the regular season division winners has been huge. The only thing I don’t like is that the top seeded team automatically plays them. I think that’s a rather major flaw since it could literally be the top 2 teams. They need to just give the top team the choice of who to play and be done with it.
That being said, unless the A’s are in it, I just don’t care much. Last series I followed was the Cards v Rangers and even then I missed most of Game 7. I just find it difficult to care about teams I have no rooting interest in.
I usually keep up with the World Series results, and I’ll watch if it’s in front of me, but I find that I rarely seek the games out myself. Who knows, maybe this World Series, given the clear rooting interests, I’ll try to watch some of the games. Although my lack of tolerance for any hint of giants fellating by announcers might scrap that plan
I missed the top of the first (and will thus believe it did not happen), but in the one-half inning I’ve heard so far Joe Buck has told me Bumgardner is “country strong” and “knows how to win.”
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
I was out on a date last night, so I got to have the distinct pleasure of keeping up with the game through the cheers and chants of the people crowding around the small TVs by the bar
I was in the dentist chair having a tooth repaired while he had the game up on his monitor right in front of my face a full batter and a half behind the radio call so I got to hear the crap and then see it while he worked. And he worked while wearing his black Gnats jersey. I got to PAY for this experience.
go john tesh go! go go go john tesh go!
go john tesh go, go go go go go go!
go john tesh go! go go go john tesh go!
go john tesh go, go go, go go, go GO!
(guitar lick: diddle-doo-dee)
go john tesh!
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
I think the Royals are going to win and I am actually excited for the Royals to win. I was just there this weekend for a family reunion, and the WHOLE DAMN AREA is sooooooo excited it is quite heart warming.
The team that knocks the A’s out of the playoffs hasn’t won it all since 2000 (let’s call it the Jeter Curse). I’ll believe the Royals can break the Jeter Curse when they’re squirting Budweiser at each other.
Pretty much my entire family and all my California friends who like baseball either root for the Giants or the Dodgers. I was swimming against the tide when I became an A’s fan.
I don’t think they are in the underrated category (at least, not anymore), but I am super psyched that A. Sleater-Kinney are releasing a new album in January, B. Sleater-Kinney are going on tour in February, and C. I just bought tickets to said tour.
Yeah, I’m looking forward to the album too but bummed they’re not playing here on the tour. I’m guessing they’ll come after the Europe swing. Although now I can’t say I was at the last ever SK show.
I read something today that just aggravated me. The Royals probably don’t get beat the A’s unless Butler messes up running the bases, leading to a play that knocks out Soto.
Talk about luck. The Royals screw up, leading to a critical (for that game) A’s player getting injured. And now they’re in the World Series.
As much as I pay for DirecTV I should get some benefits. Old episodes of The Simpsons doesn’t have much interest for me though…I was hoping for Hot Pockets.
I watched quite a few of the older Simpsons eps when FXX ran its “Every Episode Ever” marathon a month or two ago, and I was just blown away by how good they still were. Totally got my kids hooked too.
Heads up for the DVR crowd, FXX is running every Halloween episode ever next Sunday Oct 26.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
I just don’t tend to watch things over and over again. I loved the first 10-12 seasons of The Simpsons…it was pure genius. But, I’ve already seen it and I remember the jokes.
My favorite patient finally walked again today. I almost cried. They’ve been with us for months now without being able to use their legs (and one arm).
i’m 3 drinks in, fully naked, pinned down to the bed with those electric things that measure my heart beat and other rhythmic bodily functions, wide open to new experiences (read: slightly covered in my own pee after being slightly beaten unconscious from behind by two strangers… hey, some people pay for that!), with TWO nurses coming in and out of the room, giving me dilaudid, softly palpating my, um, head, asking if my bone feels sore, and how far i can open my mouth, and that what they’re gonna do to me will basically leave me drinking out of a straw for a month, and if i want the bed to be up or down and the light on or off…
i don’t wanna brag, but let me just say that by morning light i had on a pair of new scrubs and somebody had paid for my cab all. the. way. home.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
i just need to find fucking treatment. i’m so frustrated with insurance vs real world right now. this is insane that it’s 5 days after and still not immobilized. 1/1/15 i’m going to one roof kaiser.
17th street, standing on the sidewalk with 4 strangers/witnesses on the side of dogwood as i was unlocking my bike to go home at 1:40 am. i prooflessly accuse the younger doorman of sending his friends/cousins who doorman at nearby bars after me. earlier, i told him not to walk away with my ID when he was walking away with my ID. can’t do that.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
Yeah, this is simply terrible. And ditto on the Kaiser here as well. We had bad experiences with them years ago but went back this year and it is really working out.
clock it: wednesday, 12:50 pm, wife and i have been on the phone continuously since 8am, when we finally make an insurance-referral-provider connection that might just work. (monday i had an appt that when i arrived wouldn’t take my insurance. tuesday i was at 3 hospitals from 6:30am to 4pm, one of them twice, and THEN started the phone campaign that we were continuing today).
tactical comparison: she called a single person, a BS rep found in a website that promises you “talk to real people” and has been plying them all day. i did the: call one number, let them transfer me and again till eventual dead end, call next number — 1/3 the time with BS, 1/3 the time with providers who BS told me were in network (but weren’t), and 1/3 the time with hospital type offices who help people find providers.
breakthrough: at around noon mrs AV broke down in tears and screams to her person, i broke down just from hearing that happen. i guess the double wailing worked. finally she got the BS representative to go through the entire (though noteworthily short) list of providers she was giving us, call every one to confirm they either didn’t do what the list said they did, or weren’t actually on the network, then call highland to ask for an appt for tomorrow (at the same damn place i had an appt on monday) which we’ll have to pay OOP but that hopefully we’ll be able to claim no other provider had the service in the area, aided by the BS person having to make the appt, and get some kind of reimbursement.
current status: 6 norcos, no weed, a cupboard fulla processed but organic soups, the assuring knowledge that a sausage boiled in broth does make sausage-tasting water once vitamixed, and 3 days of work to catch up on, to make it through till tomorrow, the finish line that is now in sight (and is actually a starting line anyway).
only part that made me laugh: when one of the various BS operators phone-call-parrying-people who all use very odd phrasings that lead one to think they learned english only to become phone-call-parrying-people wanted to tell me where alta bates is, attempted to say hawthorne, didn’t have an innate sense of “th” being a single sound, and went with hawt-hornae street.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
Wow AV, fucking sucks, FSU told me about this tonight, please let me know if you need an airlift of supplies for tomorrow night, don’t hesitate to text me, just give me a list… Glad you’ve been able to hang on to the humor and humanity we all love through all this bullshit, UGH….
This is just awful. I hope you get the medical stuff all straightened out and can talk without pain by the time you need to testify against these assholes.
not sure. still not wired. saw real doctors yesterday. have an appt for surgery at highland. but the only indication blue shield will cover it is a verbal promise from that one phone rep my wife talked to (above).
BS = blue shield, i’m realizing i never clarified. and blue shield = BS doesn’t ring untrue.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
Can’t the doctor’s office submit something to Blue Shield requesting at least an informal indication of whether it will be covered? I went through something similar recently with an out-of-network surgery and that’s what they did. It still wasn’t a guarantee, but it gave me some comfort.
I did something like this for a periodontal surgery, but it took a couple weeks to get a response from Delta. Probably AV doesn’t really want to wait that long.
yay! i’m wired. but the fun part was that they had to put my zygomatic flying buttress back in place by going in through the skin above the sideburn (to hide the scar, as if, unlike every male in my family and half the females, i were going to have hair anywhere on my head after age 30 minutes from now), inserting some kind of instrument i don’t want to imagine, and popping it out like a dent on a car door.
hydrocodone, please and thank you.
i’m on the couch with a season of parks and rec in front of me, not opening the door for anybody who doesn’t have some chocolate edibles to melt in my mouth/brain.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
thanks. it’s ok though. glad i didn’t die in surgery. and enjoying a day of laughing at immediate demands in my email.
only real bummer is that i didn’t actually hurt myself. i go for that extra sparkle of body-mod authenticity, where i don’t get tattooed, but get hurt doing something i like and scar (or lose hearing, vision. etc. — true stories.) to make it a part of me.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
I even did the calendar thing. “june 23 2021, you would be out, but you are not. Jume 24, 2021, you would be out, but you are not, June 25, 2021, you wold be out, but you are not. May 30, 2025, you would be out, but you are not…” etc
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
Hey all: some time ago, I asked about why the solar system is shaped sort-of like a plate, orbits being aligned in a plane, rather than in three dimensions. I think ptb patiently ‘splained me something about angular momentum. Apparently, another somebody somewhere asked somebody else, too, and this ‘splanatory planetary video was born and showed up on FB.
San Jose wants to extend the A’s option on the ballpark land for seven years. The city might feel foolish about tying that land up for so long if the Ninth Circuit says they don’t have standing and the Supreme Court refuses to hear the appeal. But whatever floats your boat, Chuck Reed, for another couple of weeks anyhow.
I like my salsa hot, and I’ll eat it if it’s more at the medium level, but mild salsa is worthless and may in fact be evil…it’s also possible I’m taking this salsa stuff too seriously.
I don’t think my dislike had anything to do with the connection or lack of connection to comic books. It just seemed so wooden and cliched throughout. Why on earth would anyone ever give a shit about any of those characters?
Right. If you’re interested in the premise, watch the pilot. Either way, watch the second since an easy pilot doesn’t mean anything, and a bad pilot can be saved, sometimes quickly.
After that, it becomes about how close it is to being the show you want to see. I, for example, gave up on S1 Justified pretty quickly but then picked it back up after hearing from lots of people (accurately) that it became awesome about halfway through the first season.
"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
It usually goes Pilot, first 6, then half season in terms of show ordering. Usually episodes 2 thru 6 are the “fix” but it can also be their initially planned when developing the show so it’s generally new blood leading the writing/show direction afterward. It’s also partly why those are the points when you see direction shifts and new reoccurring characters pop up.
The problem is that if you stick with a crappy show for too long, you may start to enjoy its terribleness and want to find out the depths to which it will sink. I somehow ended up watching the whole run of Entourage that way.
Been there done that…we hate watched the first season of Ray Donovan. Thankfully we stopped after the first episode of the second season. We’re three episodes in on Gotham and that feels like enough.
Batman is the only superhero I’ve ever really liked but this is Batman without Batman and I’m bored. None of the characters are interesting to me right now and the writing is meh at best.
Speaking of terrible Showtime shows, I watched the first season of “Californication” on Netflix. WTF. This thing makes Entourage seem tasteful and hyper-realistic. Showtime is so bereft of decent programming that such garbage got seven seasons?
well, actually i haven’t finished it yet. did the whole seasons, and just about when i was going to start the half season, my wife wanted to watch it and i started again.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
i’m calming myself down by remembering that while it was pretty groundbreaking when it started, it sort of lost popular momentum toward the end. it has flaws. for sure. and they became bigger to spot as the show went on. but as a discourse and indictment of US power structures, i don’t know it’s paralleled.
one big thing i’d do if i could go back in time, is convince the casting director to avoid the actor who plays mcnutty at all costs and get jarek wysocki instead. (i only know him from chicago code.)
and i wouldn’t get those kids to sing the theme song in season four.
other than that, it stands pretty well as an organic document, even through its other issues.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
The good thing is that the commentary on it has finally calmed down a bit to where I can just experience it myself without all of the meta-analysis that was seemingly everywhere for a decade.
I’m not sure that show ever had popular anything. It never had a big audience and while critics loved it the show never won Emmys. It’s a great show though…also I loved Dominic West as Jimmy McNulty…he was great.
hm… maybe by popular i mean, the number of my personal friends who were telling me to watch it (after i already was) because it’s the shit, yo.
west is a dolt. (i happen to know someone who went to high school with him in england and she confirms it. but don’t take my hearsay for it, listen to the commentary with him and MK williams, where MK keeps trying to engage him in articulate conversations about how they prepared, how they understand the characters, etc… and west is pretty much, “uh… duh. heh heh.”) and his accent kinda ruins key scenes! they coulda done much better.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
Based on the first episode, the guys who play Bunk and the drug kingpin with the glasses — not Barksdale, the other guy — are the ones that jump off the screen for me.
bunk is cool, but he kinda just seasons the show. not a lot of development there over time. (same actor has a really nice role in treme.)
it’s a good thing about these david simon shows, that the characters sorta come up and develop as needed or show aptitude, and you have a looong way to go yet. bites omar’s coming! omar’s coming! tongue.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
I just went back and listened to all five versions, and confirmed my correct opinion that Tom Waits/Season 2 is the best. Blind Boys of Alabama/Season 1 is a close second. The other three are all much inferior.
Ranking the seasons is harder.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
I’m with AV on this one, loved it start to finish. It wasn’t really plot driven, but there were some great character arcs throughout, including Wendell Pierce who is even better as Antoine Batiste than as Bunk. And the music was such a treat, not to mention Janette Desautel, she could cook for me anytime.
The whole “everyone trying to resign” plot. I’d be interested in a show about how to really do the news, which it kind of was initially. I’m less interested in a job about a 20-something crush and a minor potential ethical lapse that no one can shut up about.
"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
If you were betting with me this NFL season you’d be making money…primarily due to the fact that I would have talked you out of wasting your money by betting on NFL games.
Boyz II Men has a new album out, and judging by the cover they are now a trio that does not include the bass who did all of the cheesy get-me-in-those-panties talking parts. What’s the point?
The Reno CBS station is rubbing the Raiders’ fans noses in it. They’ve run a graphic saying “next week we’re showing Broncos-Patriots instead of Raiders-Seahawks”.
Treacherous chasms of half-truth and despair. -- Ken Korach
he is a man of passionate convictions away from the field. He’s known as erudite, cultured and politically inspired. He’s an advocate for social causes and worker’s rights. He’s a deep thinker.
I’m not going to rip Carr, because he’s a rookie, without a running game, or a go to receiver, but he needs to learn to not throw to his first read every pass.
The nice thing about this Raiders team isn’t they don’t even make me mad anymore. They’re so pathetic it’s hard to get riled up. Hopefully they’ll bring in a GM and coaching staff that is competent next season and they can start to turn the team around.
It’s really not a bad situation for a big name coach who wants to be the Czar of Everything. Full slate of draft picks, plenty of salary cap room, promising young QB, hands-off owner, last place schedule.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
Think of it like a public company that’s not profitable but is highly capitalized, making itself an attractive target for rapacious investors. The next Raiders GM is going to be Carl Icahn.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
No, 0-16 is not acceptable under any circumstances. There is no Peyton Manning waiting with the number one pick so a couple of wins changes nothing. 0-16 is a mark of shame that lasts forever.
So over the past couple of years I have acquired this new habit of losing my voice like a week AFTER I get sick. It is stupid and I would like it to end please. I would also like to figure out a way to make the little Aces understand that when I lose my voice it does not mean I’m angry when I dont speak to them, but that I am trying to save what little sounds I can make.
And it’s not just the IRS that does it. Asset seizures can be used by local agencies for all kinds of stuff.
“The money I spent on Sparkles the Clown is a very, very minute portion of the forfeited money that I spend in fighting the war on drugs,†he told The Post.
The part I wasn’t aware of was the connection to dubious crime of “structuring.” I mean, there’s a FKing mens rea requirement right there in the description of the crime, and yet the government gets to take the money up front without even pretending to present any evidence of intent or purpose.
that whole post series is amazing. start from the 1st one.
A thriving subculture of road officers on the network now competes to see who can seize the most cash and contraband, describing their exploits in the network’s chat rooms and sharing “trophy shots†of money and drugs. Some police advocate highway interdiction as a way of raising revenue for cash-strapped municipalities.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
That area is a little out of my recent experience. On one side of the river is Dinkytown, the other side has 7 Corners, both areas with a concentration of bars & restaurants. I’ll ask my nephew if he has any faves. One thing I can tell you is Restaurant Alma is not too far away on University Ave SE and it is fantastic if you want a good meal.
The last time we had a Keck meeting in Minneapolis, I got pretty wasted at a bar with Bell’s Two-Hearted on tap. We knew it would be a good spot because there were tall bikes parked out front. Zak and I just sat around reliving our midwestern grad school days. Fortunately there was a PIs-only meeting the next morning, so the rest of us were able to nurse our hangovers in peace.
That’s rather disgusting that using a financial burden as their reasoning for doing that kind of shit. Their financial problem doesn’t justify infringing on people’s rights. It turns the law enforcement into a mafia.
Yep. Just fucking asinine. Investigate all you want. But until you have some fucking proof of wrong doing, how about not acting as though they’re guilty. You know that whole Constitution thing and all.
Are you telling me it is theoretically possible to have more than 3 players and more than 1 color? Unpossible!
I still would like to see a custom stand where you could choose different designs on the front and any name/# that has been on an A’s roster. Pick it up after the game.
Well, sure. But the Royals don’t have our turnover. I’m not saying they *couldn’t* do it. But if you go to the tent sales, you probably see a bunch of Crosby shirtseys there too.
Well you see that now. They had Chris Young shirseys for christ’s sake. The trick would be some sort of agreement in getting more variety in smaller quantities or something.
Still a custom made one is the answer. They could have less variety in standard ones than they do now, but if I wanted to get a white Jim Mecir I could but pay like $5 more. And I think for the A’s it would be one of the best because of the different colors you could do + different front styles + turnover of players. I would never go out and a Duke jersey, but I would get a T-shirt. Same thing with like maybe a Dick Green. And I’m sure you could somehow set up a centralized way to do it so you are keeping the expenses to a minimum. (please note-I am not a successful business owner and am totally talking out my arse…)
First!
I’m not the kind of man who would use Country Crock Spread. I just thought you deserved to know that.
Well, yeah, there’s the Japan Series to think about. Starts October 25th and it features former Oakland Athletic / Nippon Professional Baseball star Matt Murton and other baseball playing baseball players.
Hoping that Hanshin wins it all. KFC curse or not.
If Mickey Klutts was playing I might be interested.
Fure, fure, fure, fure!
I still love baseball, I’ve looked forward to every World Series since I was four and certainly don’t plan on stopping now just because my team crashed and burned, or because I don’t like one of the teams that made it.
I was just trying to come up with a silly title. I’m sure many people here care about this World Series.
Oh, I know, I don’t take anything you write seriously. I thought that was in the instructions.
It just strikes me odd that anyone would deny themselves the World Series because of the Giants or their fans. Cut nose/spite face sorta thing.
I won’t watch any of the series.
Unless I am invited to my friends house. then I will.
Dear Ed’s Friend,
Do the right thing and invite Ed over to watch the World Series. Do it for Ed, do it for baseball, do it for…AMERICA.
I haven’t watched any baseball this month.
I haven’t watched any Matlock this month.
I don’t believe you.
Okay, you got me. We actually have Matlock DVD’s running on a continuous loop on the T.V. in the living room.
I also love baseball, but my interest tends to fade once the A’s are eliminated, whether or not I like the teams contesting the World Series. It just feels like it drags on too long these days with the extra round of playoffs, and I detest Fox broadcasts.
Postseason is too detached from the regular season. Both teams in the World Series this year failed in the 162-game test; they’re the two teams that happened to be the hottest during the first couple rounds of the tournament. So, unlike when it went straight from the regular season to the World Series with the first place teams in each league facing each other, or even when the two division champions in each league played off for the right to go to the Series, I have no sense that the World Series is determining the best team in all of baseball. Additionally, there are way way too many off days for an every day sport, both within each series and between series. This World Series should have started on Saturday, but the rigid television schedule prevents that. Bottom line, I’ll watch some of it but it’s no longer compelling regardless of who plays, as it was prior to the wild card era.
I think you make a lot of strong points here.
Agreed. I think the last WS I really paid attention to was Giants-Rangers. Before that I think I found Phillies-Rays interesting, but looking back over last 10 years or so I just have not really paid that much attention for a lot of the reasons Soaker mentions.
Here are some things I like very much in sports:
1. Post-season series, preferably but not exclusively seven gamers.
2. Tournaments which eliminate half the field at each stage.
3. Baseball.
So wild cards and expanded baseball playoffs don’t bother me at all, they give me more of what I enjoy, and (since my pre-LCS memories are spotty) I don’t find they diminish my enjoyment of the World Series at all. Clearly, other people’s mileage varies.
Even though we got the ax quickly, I have to say, every year I like the Wild Card series more and more each season. And I liked the idea to begin with. It being one game still works well for me as well. What it’s done to the regular season division winners has been huge. The only thing I don’t like is that the top seeded team automatically plays them. I think that’s a rather major flaw since it could literally be the top 2 teams. They need to just give the top team the choice of who to play and be done with it.
That being said, unless the A’s are in it, I just don’t care much. Last series I followed was the Cards v Rangers and even then I missed most of Game 7. I just find it difficult to care about teams I have no rooting interest in.
I usually keep up with the World Series results, and I’ll watch if it’s in front of me, but I find that I rarely seek the games out myself. Who knows, maybe this World Series, given the clear rooting interests, I’ll try to watch some of the games. Although my lack of tolerance for any hint of giants fellating by announcers might scrap that plan
I missed the top of the first (and will thus believe it did not happen), but in the one-half inning I’ve heard so far Joe Buck has told me Bumgardner is “country strong” and “knows how to win.”
I was out on a date last night, so I got to have the distinct pleasure of keeping up with the game through the cheers and chants of the people crowding around the small TVs by the bar
I was in the dentist chair having a tooth repaired while he had the game up on his monitor right in front of my face a full batter and a half behind the radio call so I got to hear the crap and then see it while he worked. And he worked while wearing his black Gnats jersey. I got to PAY for this experience.
why wait?
You should be banned for this.
wait till i start singing it…
go john tesh go! go go go john tesh go!
go john tesh go, go go go go go go!
go john tesh go! go go go john tesh go!
go john tesh go, go go, go go, go GO!
(guitar lick: diddle-doo-dee)
go john tesh!
I think the Royals are going to win and I am actually excited for the Royals to win. I was just there this weekend for a family reunion, and the WHOLE DAMN AREA is sooooooo excited it is quite heart warming.
The team that knocks the A’s out of the playoffs hasn’t won it all since 2000 (let’s call it the Jeter Curse). I’ll believe the Royals can break the Jeter Curse when they’re squirting Budweiser at each other.
Get ready for all 3 Clydesdale teams to be leading the parade with players aboard!!!
Eric Stonestreet agrees!
I’m totally watching the World Series, unless I’m dead. I feel dead.
The best way to know if you’re dead or not is by finding out if you are still currently alive.
I checked, and I am dead. Dead sexy.
Glorious Mundy wins the lounge.
I thought I was relatively safe out here in Boston, but a friend who is a Gnats fan is coming to stay with me next weekend.
Pretty much my entire family and all my California friends who like baseball either root for the Giants or the Dodgers. I was swimming against the tide when I became an A’s fan.
The most underrated band of all time is?
I don’t think they are in the underrated category (at least, not anymore), but I am super psyched that A. Sleater-Kinney are releasing a new album in January, B. Sleater-Kinney are going on tour in February, and C. I just bought tickets to said tour.
Yeah, I’m looking forward to the album too but bummed they’re not playing here on the tour. I’m guessing they’ll come after the Europe swing. Although now I can’t say I was at the last ever SK show.
It seems pretty obvious that they will be adding more dates, seeing as Spokane is the closest thing to a West Coast city on their current list.
If they’re playing Spokane then glamorous west coast spots like Medford and Chico have a shot.
Do Boise and SLC count?
Either every moderately sized west coast city counts or none of them do.
We seem to be using the term West Coast loosely here.
I’m a loosely kind of fella.
Actual News Headline…
Monica Lewinsky joins Twitter. Why that’s bad news for Hilary Clinton in 2016.
one would assume she is a supporter
I just miss the times when the biggest thing facing the nation was whether or not the President was getting blow jobs.
It’s just a bad idea…buying $5000 rims for your 1993 Ford Tarus.
My ’93 Taurus died of a broken engine block.
That’s right – the engine block BROKE.
My GPz550 died when the swing-arm sheared. Riding along with the rear wheel held on only by the chain was … interesting.
It’s just a bad idea…buying discount sushi at Sam’s Club.
It’s just a bad idea…dedicating your life to becoming an Edward Norton look alike.
It’s just a bad idea…invading Russia during the winter.
In Germany and Napo’s defense they both started in June (22nd and 24th respectively)
Mongols kicked some ass.
can you state that as a function of army strength, strategy, time, temperature, distance, and geography all at once?
oh wait.
Minard also kicked some ass, as it turns out.
It’s just a bad idea…drinking Kool-Aid at any cult meeting.
It’s just a bad idea…spending your inheritance on getting a boob job for your favorite stripper.
It’s just a bad idea…becoming an Oakland Raiders fan.
It’s just a bad idea…trying to impress dates by claiming you created Nash Bridges.
I read something today that just aggravated me. The Royals probably don’t get beat the A’s unless Butler messes up running the bases, leading to a play that knocks out Soto.
Talk about luck. The Royals screw up, leading to a critical (for that game) A’s player getting injured. And now they’re in the World Series.
its true
I haven’t been to FreeKraut in a while.
Glad to see it’s still awesome.
Welcome back! Of course we are still awesome.
Oh man, Simpsons World is up. What a time to be alive.
Still requires cable login. Sad.
Thanks, and go As.
It’s a pretty nice value-add for subscribers. Or, for people like me who mooch off of a family member’s login.
Don’t fear the moocher.
Yeah I’m definitely going to check it out
As much as I pay for DirecTV I should get some benefits. Old episodes of The Simpsons doesn’t have much interest for me though…I was hoping for Hot Pockets.
Until this moment I thought you were an ok dude. Now, well… ::shakes head::
I watched quite a few of the older Simpsons eps when FXX ran its “Every Episode Ever” marathon a month or two ago, and I was just blown away by how good they still were. Totally got my kids hooked too.
Heads up for the DVR crowd, FXX is running every Halloween episode ever next Sunday Oct 26.
I just don’t tend to watch things over and over again. I loved the first 10-12 seasons of The Simpsons…it was pure genius. But, I’ve already seen it and I remember the jokes.
Your lumping of seasons 9-12 in with the first 8 seasons shows you don’t really remember the jokes. You need to watch them over again.
I’d say the prime years were seasons 3-8. Great stuff.
are you talking about redistricting or reapportionment?
Champions League spoiler:
Is that Roma or Brazil?
7-1 now. This must be an homage.
And Adriano chasing a double hat-trick
At least this isn’t at all predictable.
Even though fk the giants, LOL at big name james.
Yep. I have to admit I like seeing that.
FK that guy with a cactus. Also, FK the Gnats, just because.
I put up a game thread just in case any of the World Series games get really interesting.
And we can keep the World Series crap out of this wonderful lounge. Fuck that shit.
We must keep the lounge pure! I mainly put up the game thread for you…also, this is a baseball related blog…I think.
It was. Until that fateful day in
20002001200220032006201220132014 where the team shat the bed.My favorite patient finally walked again today. I almost cried. They’ve been with us for months now without being able to use their legs (and one arm).
Wow, that’s fantastic!
That has to be one of the cool perks of your job…seeing people get better.
and the cool devo suits
and the hot multi-nurse orgy sessions.
Thanks, and go As.
reminds me of last friday night!
i’m 3 drinks in, fully naked, pinned down to the bed with those electric things that measure my heart beat and other rhythmic bodily functions, wide open to new experiences (read: slightly covered in my own pee after being slightly beaten unconscious from behind by two strangers… hey, some people pay for that!), with TWO nurses coming in and out of the room, giving me dilaudid, softly palpating my, um, head, asking if my bone feels sore, and how far i can open my mouth, and that what they’re gonna do to me will basically leave me drinking out of a straw for a month, and if i want the bed to be up or down and the light on or off…
i don’t wanna brag, but let me just say that by morning light i had on a pair of new scrubs and somebody had paid for my cab all. the. way. home.
its written like a fun story, but it doesn’t read like a fun story.
that was the fun part. been on the phone to don’t ask if i’m in new delhi trying to find an in-network jaw wirer ever since.
Jesus. That’s terrifying. Other than the month of milkshakes, are you going to be OK? And where did this happen?
i just need to find fucking treatment. i’m so frustrated with insurance vs real world right now. this is insane that it’s 5 days after and still not immobilized. 1/1/15 i’m going to one roof kaiser.
17th street, standing on the sidewalk with 4 strangers/witnesses on the side of dogwood as i was unlocking my bike to go home at 1:40 am. i prooflessly accuse the younger doorman of sending his friends/cousins who doorman at nearby bars after me. earlier, i told him not to walk away with my ID when he was walking away with my ID. can’t do that.
Wow, that sucks a lot.
Damn, buddy, that’s horrible. Really sorry to hear this.
Ugh – really sorry to hear it.
For all the problems, Kaiser’s all-in-one-place approach works really well for us.
I have been very pleased with Kaiser. Not only from a care standpoint, but also a cost standpoint.
Yeah, this is simply terrible. And ditto on the Kaiser here as well. We had bad experiences with them years ago but went back this year and it is really working out.
clock it: wednesday, 12:50 pm, wife and i have been on the phone continuously since 8am, when we finally make an insurance-referral-provider connection that might just work. (monday i had an appt that when i arrived wouldn’t take my insurance. tuesday i was at 3 hospitals from 6:30am to 4pm, one of them twice, and THEN started the phone campaign that we were continuing today).
tactical comparison: she called a single person, a BS rep found in a website that promises you “talk to real people” and has been plying them all day. i did the: call one number, let them transfer me and again till eventual dead end, call next number — 1/3 the time with BS, 1/3 the time with providers who BS told me were in network (but weren’t), and 1/3 the time with hospital type offices who help people find providers.
breakthrough: at around noon mrs AV broke down in tears and screams to her person, i broke down just from hearing that happen. i guess the double wailing worked. finally she got the BS representative to go through the entire (though noteworthily short) list of providers she was giving us, call every one to confirm they either didn’t do what the list said they did, or weren’t actually on the network, then call highland to ask for an appt for tomorrow (at the same damn place i had an appt on monday) which we’ll have to pay OOP but that hopefully we’ll be able to claim no other provider had the service in the area, aided by the BS person having to make the appt, and get some kind of reimbursement.
current status: 6 norcos, no weed, a cupboard fulla processed but organic soups, the assuring knowledge that a sausage boiled in broth does make sausage-tasting water once vitamixed, and 3 days of work to catch up on, to make it through till tomorrow, the finish line that is now in sight (and is actually a starting line anyway).
only part that made me laugh: when one of the various BS
operatorsphone-call-parrying-people who all use very odd phrasings that lead one to think they learned english only to become phone-call-parrying-people wanted to tell me where alta bates is, attempted to say hawthorne, didn’t have an innate sense of “th” being a single sound, and went with hawt-hornae street.Please tell me they can catch the assholes who did this to you so that you can make them pay. And make them pay big.
I’m sorry all of this has happened to you, AV…hang in there.
Wow AV, fucking sucks, FSU told me about this tonight, please let me know if you need an airlift of supplies for tomorrow night, don’t hesitate to text me, just give me a list… Glad you’ve been able to hang on to the humor and humanity we all love through all this bullshit, UGH….
kind offer. thanks! no need though.
This is just awful. I hope you get the medical stuff all straightened out and can talk without pain by the time you need to testify against these assholes.
thanks everybody. everything’s fine really. just confused, with two legit targets, about where to put all this anger.
If you need help holding them down for you. I may know about a couple dozen people.
Ugh, sorry AV
Pfft. That sounds like a typical Saturday night to me.
Oh my goodness–I’m so sorry to hear this!!! People are just horrible.
wow thats fucking terrible
Yeah, I’m coming in late to this but I’m so sorry to hear it. I hope you’ve been able to resolve the medical issues at least.
not sure. still not wired. saw real doctors yesterday. have an appt for surgery at highland. but the only indication blue shield will cover it is a verbal promise from that one phone rep my wife talked to (above).
BS = blue shield, i’m realizing i never clarified. and blue shield = BS doesn’t ring untrue.
Can’t the doctor’s office submit something to Blue Shield requesting at least an informal indication of whether it will be covered? I went through something similar recently with an out-of-network surgery and that’s what they did. It still wasn’t a guarantee, but it gave me some comfort.
hm… i’ll have to call on monday and mention this.
It’s been my experience that they send in the paper work for approval and they give the yea or nay within a week, usually before the surgery itself.
I did something like this for a periodontal surgery, but it took a couple weeks to get a response from Delta. Probably AV doesn’t really want to wait that long.
What the hell is taking so long? No one in the Bay Area wires jaws? Did you go to the ER? Because we set everything up for the pt before they leave.
yeah, went to ER. i had an appt for surg when i left, but when i came back for it, the admissions person informed me i wasn’t covered.
but the other part, how long, nobody does it? yeah, ridiculous.
What I don’t get is how you can’t be covered. That part seems incredibly ridiculous.
right?!
It must be the pec implants you’re trying to sneak in. Either that or the butt job.
yay! i’m wired. but the fun part was that they had to put my zygomatic flying buttress back in place by going in through the skin above the sideburn (to hide the scar, as if, unlike every male in my family and half the females, i were going to have hair anywhere on my head after age 30 minutes from now), inserting some kind of instrument i don’t want to imagine, and popping it out like a dent on a car door.
hydrocodone, please and thank you.
i’m on the couch with a season of parks and rec in front of me, not opening the door for anybody who doesn’t have some chocolate edibles to melt in my mouth/brain.
Facial scars are hawt.
Dude. That’s just… awful. Great that you were finally able to get it treated, but fuck man, that’s just all kinds of wrong :(
thanks. it’s ok though. glad i didn’t die in surgery. and enjoying a day of laughing at immediate demands in my email.
only real bummer is that i didn’t actually hurt myself. i go for that extra sparkle of body-mod authenticity, where i don’t get tattooed, but get hurt doing something i like and scar (or lose hearing, vision. etc. — true stories.) to make it a part of me.
Any word on what I’m sure is an all-out manhunt by the OPD to catch the perpetrators?
if you can get officer valle to call me back on the three messages i left so far, so i can add witness names to the report, that’d be great.
Ugh
And not even then, apparently.
what???
my doorbell doesn’t work!!
wow. that’s a friend.
Pics or STFU
feels worse than it looks. looks grosser than it feels (mostly due to foodbits, sorry). so gross you can almost feel the steam from here.
It looks pretty bad, though it doesn’t look gross, certainly not as much as I was expecting. I guess that’s come a long way.
they gave me the blue sutures to bring out my eyes.
It’s amazing. But during photos would have been great.
county hospital… they only take photos if there’s a bullet somewhere.
As it is, they’re several books behind in their scrapping.
It may sound weird, but I also like helping people die with dignity and as painlessly as possible.
My sister spent last year doing a fellowship in palliative care.
Awesome.
I think i convinced a person to agree to be locked in a box until 2021 yesterday. that was something.
Is that a good thing for them?
it would have been. Spoke too soon.
No helping some people.
I even did the calendar thing. “june 23 2021, you would be out, but you are not. Jume 24, 2021, you would be out, but you are not, June 25, 2021, you wold be out, but you are not. May 30, 2025, you would be out, but you are not…” etc
Damn it, Ed. You’re a miracle worker, not a lawyer. Get him off! And when I say get him off, I mean get him *wink* *wink* off.
This could also have been a Kay post.
I feel so honored!
Hey all: some time ago, I asked about why the solar system is shaped sort-of like a plate, orbits being aligned in a plane, rather than in three dimensions. I think ptb patiently ‘splained me something about angular momentum. Apparently, another somebody somewhere asked somebody else, too, and this ‘splanatory planetary video was born and showed up on FB.
http://www.sciencedump.com/content/why-solar-system-flat
So, yup, there you have it. Angular momentum. But only for three-dimensional universes, maybe. Carry on.
Christ, What An Asshole Giants Fan
Gordon Elgart has the best response.
I had turtle soup in New Orleans and I’m pretty sure that was homegrown American food.
forget it jacques, it’s creoletown.
av/pam bait
well, two things.
courier was IBM selectric and this looks much closer to an underwood.
and … of course… in the typewriter age… courier was known as a typeface, and these only became “fonts” after word processors allowed it.
way to school em
bed bait
It slept through Phil Collins but was awake for The Replacements? I call BS, Hartlaub.
It’s common knowledge that Phil Collins is preferred by word processors.
kyli bait:
I just wrote a script to synchronize monte carlo noise realization maps between supercomputer filesystems and without thinking called it nsync
did the problem you were addressing go bye?
More “I want you back(up)”
When I left for work there were chickens in the yard. Ours. When I came home there were cows in their place. Not ours. Steak anyone?
Those Chick-fil-A cows aren’t FKing around anymore.
San Jose wants to extend the A’s option on the ballpark land for seven years. The city might feel foolish about tying that land up for so long if the Ninth Circuit says they don’t have standing and the Supreme Court refuses to hear the appeal. But whatever floats your boat, Chuck Reed, for another couple of weeks anyhow.
Meh, it’s a low risk scenario for them. There’s nothing particularly relevant coming down the pipe for that area.
So Joe Maddon is leaving the Rays. And Yahoo uses a picture of him on their front page when he was at the Coli.
I’d do it. Melvin is a nice guy and all but Maddon is a better manager.
Thanks, and go As.
100% this
I’m holding out for Dennis Allen.
a lot of the images of players are from the coliseum. I assume its some getty thing.
Green and gold is just an aesthetically pleasing background.
Kind of like all car commercials seemingly being shot in SF.
Presumably only regionally.
No, I saw them all the time on the East Coast.
Oh weird. I always just assumed they did those mostly regionally, broadly regional, but regional.
they like hills and turns and bridges.
AND TUNNELS!!!
Even more on various stretches of highway 1.
Probably easier to arrange.
you spelled 2nd street tunnel in downtown LA wrong…
oh and that bridge just east of downtown. You know the one you used when you were trying to figure out ingress/egress to Al’s Bar?
there’s going to be some bad shit coming down one of these days kid. i’m gonna be right here heading north at a hundred and ten per.
Fucking Rodriguez brothers! Cocksuckers!
los hermanos rodriguez do not approve of drugs
neither do i. but it’s my birthday.
also, go greased lightning, go!
I have never been through that tunnel, nor do I know where it is, but I can instantly picture it from all the commercials.
that’s the one.
Isn’t mild salsa just diced tomatoes?
Onion, lime, cilantro, salt. Probably a bit of finely diced jalapeno even in the mild version.
I like my salsa hot, and I’ll eat it if it’s more at the medium level, but mild salsa is worthless and may in fact be evil…it’s also possible I’m taking this salsa stuff too seriously.
I use those things plus a bit of garlic and some other stuff in the salsa I make…the secret ingredient is love.
Ewww…
When it comes to homemade garlic chunky salsa…all you need is love.
Thats what Mrs Fields puts in her cookies. After seeing her in those hot pants I can understand why…
That’s Arkansalsa
Yuppers…there are some things you just can’t get here…I haven’t had a good bagel since I moved here. The BBQ is bellow par as well.
I used to jones so hard for a decent bagel living the South. I even resorted to making my own once.
I got some when I was in DC…I may or may not have eaten three onion bagels in one sitting.
I had a go-to place in DC. There are a lot of really bad bagels there too, though.
These were really good…it was called Bagel Town or something like that.
i’m trying way too hard to turn pebre into probably.
How many episodes is a fair amount to give a new show before you bail?
2
I was thinking 4 but I like the way you think.
1. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
This is usually my policy. BUT, there is something to be said for the idea that the pilot is not always representative of what’s to come.
Right…I liked the pilot of Gotham. I’ve been bored silly by the rest of it.
I thought the Gotham pilot was unwatchably terrible, and I generally like superhero stuff.
Interesting…I generally don’t like superhero stuff so maybe it appealed more to that sort of viewer.
I don’t think my dislike had anything to do with the connection or lack of connection to comic books. It just seemed so wooden and cliched throughout. Why on earth would anyone ever give a shit about any of those characters?
I think you can make those characters interesting but so far they haven’t in my mind.
Right. If you’re interested in the premise, watch the pilot. Either way, watch the second since an easy pilot doesn’t mean anything, and a bad pilot can be saved, sometimes quickly.
After that, it becomes about how close it is to being the show you want to see. I, for example, gave up on S1 Justified pretty quickly but then picked it back up after hearing from lots of people (accurately) that it became awesome about halfway through the first season.
I was hooked on Justified after the opening scene…but I’m an Elmore Leonard junkie.
It usually goes Pilot, first 6, then half season in terms of show ordering. Usually episodes 2 thru 6 are the “fix” but it can also be their initially planned when developing the show so it’s generally new blood leading the writing/show direction afterward. It’s also partly why those are the points when you see direction shifts and new reoccurring characters pop up.
Shows often take time to find themselves and almost all of them change quite a bit from how they started.
right, parks and rec was bad the first season because they made the whole season before it aired. the fixed it second season
I’ve been seeing reruns on FX and I finally understand what all the hype was about.
We’re the same person.
exactly the first season is bad. after that it is amazing. Also fuck mark brandanowitz
#Blackadder
Brendanawicz
Brendanawicz
Brendanawicz
Brendanawicz
Brendanawicz
The problem is that if you stick with a crappy show for too long, you may start to enjoy its terribleness and want to find out the depths to which it will sink. I somehow ended up watching the whole run of Entourage that way.
Been there done that…we hate watched the first season of Ray Donovan. Thankfully we stopped after the first episode of the second season. We’re three episodes in on Gotham and that feels like enough.
I don’t do broadcast network shows or superhero stories anymore, so I’m safe from Gotham.
I wanted to see it because I like the two lead actors and the creator of the show did Rome which is a show I really liked.
I like Gotham, but mostly because I really like the subject matter (Batman, imo, being the best of the classic superhero stories)
Batman is the only superhero I’ve ever really liked but this is Batman without Batman and I’m bored. None of the characters are interesting to me right now and the writing is meh at best.
Unless there are big word bubbles saying things like “KA-POW!” on-screen, I’m not interested.
Adam West: The One and True Batman
I was going to ask when someone would do a “Greatest American Hero” reboot.
Turns out there is one in the works.
Yep…do people remember how bad the original one was? It had the catchy theme song but it was a really goofy show.
Speaking of terrible Showtime shows, I watched the first season of “Californication” on Netflix. WTF. This thing makes Entourage seem tasteful and hyper-realistic. Showtime is so bereft of decent programming that such garbage got seven seasons?
that’s the show with natascha mcelhone’s eyes, right?
I was exactly the right age for early-Entourage and thought it was awesome. Which is sad, but true.
We all have guilty pleasure shows…there’s nothing wrong with it.
I survived the first season of Agents of Shield that way. Turns out they fixed things the second season, so it was somewhat worth it.
Burn notice
I kind of want to trying watching that because Bruce Campbell.
There’s a rumor they’re trying to turn evil dead into a TV series with him returning as Ash.
hes great the show is fine… its just super campy
I thought the first couple seasons of it were genuinely really good and then it became too serialized.
hey, sorry i’m late, but treme gets good if you stick with it.
I’ll give that show a shot one of these days. It calls my name whenever I’m on HBO GO.
I pretty much enjoyed Treme from start to finish.
me too. i was just quoting liz lemon.
well, actually i haven’t finished it yet. did the whole seasons, and just about when i was going to start the half season, my wife wanted to watch it and i started again.
I watched the first episode of The Wire last weekend. Seems like a pretty good show. Weird that no one ever talks about it.
I loved The Wire but man…do people get culty about that show.
wait. WHAT?
i either don’t believe you never watched it or that you never heard anybody talking about it.
I was definitely being sarcastic about one of those two things.
…and waiving the MB flag
i’m calming myself down by remembering that while it was pretty groundbreaking when it started, it sort of lost popular momentum toward the end. it has flaws. for sure. and they became bigger to spot as the show went on. but as a discourse and indictment of US power structures, i don’t know it’s paralleled.
one big thing i’d do if i could go back in time, is convince the casting director to avoid the actor who plays mcnutty at all costs and get jarek wysocki instead. (i only know him from chicago code.)
and i wouldn’t get those kids to sing the theme song in season four.
other than that, it stands pretty well as an organic document, even through its other issues.
The good thing is that the commentary on it has finally calmed down a bit to where I can just experience it myself without all of the meta-analysis that was seemingly everywhere for a decade.
I’m not sure that show ever had popular anything. It never had a big audience and while critics loved it the show never won Emmys. It’s a great show though…also I loved Dominic West as Jimmy McNulty…he was great.
I have never watched an episode of The Wire.
Thanks, and go As.
That makes you like the vast majority of Americans.
hm… maybe by popular i mean, the number of my personal friends who were telling me to watch it (after i already was) because it’s the shit, yo.
west is a dolt. (i happen to know someone who went to high school with him in england and she confirms it. but don’t take my hearsay for it, listen to the commentary with him and MK williams, where MK keeps trying to engage him in articulate conversations about how they prepared, how they understand the characters, etc… and west is pretty much, “uh… duh. heh heh.”) and his accent kinda ruins key scenes! they coulda done much better.
Based on the first episode, the guys who play Bunk and the drug kingpin with the glasses — not Barksdale, the other guy — are the ones that jump off the screen for me.
stringer! he’s got a really good arc.
bunk is cool, but he kinda just seasons the show. not a lot of development there over time. (same actor has a really nice role in treme.)
it’s a good thing about these david simon shows, that the characters sorta come up and develop as needed or show aptitude, and you have a looong way to go yet. bites omar’s coming! omar’s coming! tongue.
I would watch Idris Elba read the phone book. And OMG Omar
Adjourn your asses
Yo. Chair ain’t recognize your ass.
I liked the S4 version of the theme song! Much better than the S5 version anyway.
it might be better than S5, but that doesn’t mean S4’s is any good. those kids are out of tune on the “oh yeah” or whatever they say. i cringe.
can’t remember now, did they ever do the original tom waits version?
Yep. Season 2, I think.
Which is the best one.
Falser words have never been spoken. I’m not sure whether it edges out the final seasons or not.
Best season, or best version of the song?
Both.
I might agree with you on best season, though Season 4 is also a strong contender. Or maybe Season 3. Crap, I may need to watch it all over again…
Definitely not with you on the best theme. Season 1 forever.
I just went back and listened to all five versions, and confirmed my correct opinion that Tom Waits/Season 2 is the best. Blind Boys of Alabama/Season 1 is a close second. The other three are all much inferior.
Ranking the seasons is harder.
oh good.
the first episode was definitely The Wire of series first episodes.
Thanks, and go As.
Took a while, but I finally finished The Wire. Amazing. It’s like the best novel I ever read.
I bailed on Treme after the second season. Loved the flavor, but the goddamn plot never went anywhere.
I’m with AV on this one, loved it start to finish. It wasn’t really plot driven, but there were some great character arcs throughout, including Wendell Pierce who is even better as Antoine Batiste than as Bunk. And the music was such a treat, not to mention Janette Desautel, she could cook for me anytime.
yeah, it’s not the plot, it’s the people.
I find most really good shows work because of the characters and less about the plot. The plot’s important, but it’s secondary to the characters.
I love Treme.
It would have been fun to have been able to give some of these shows a try.
I’d love to see all the pilots that never make it to air.
I’m kind of sad that Newsroom didn’t keep going.
Thanks, and go As.
I’m kind of sad, but also kind of relieved. It lost itself pretty badly pretty fast, I thought.
I don’t even know what that means. I don’t try to be a critic though, I either like it or I don’t, it’s entertainment.
Thanks, and go As.
The whole “everyone trying to resign” plot. I’d be interested in a show about how to really do the news, which it kind of was initially. I’m less interested in a job about a 20-something crush and a minor potential ethical lapse that no one can shut up about.
If you were betting with me this NFL season you’d be making money…primarily due to the fact that I would have talked you out of wasting your money by betting on NFL games.
An East Bay elected official told me yesterday he has $100 on the Raiders (+7) Sunday, betting against a Cleveland elected.
If the Raiders don’t win this week they stand to be 0 and a lot.
Start Johnny Football. 4TD/5INT!
Boyz II Men has a new album out, and judging by the cover they are now a trio that does not include the bass who did all of the cheesy get-me-in-those-panties talking parts. What’s the point?
I guess 90’s nostalgia is in.
Hey soccer mavens, any suggestions on sources for streaming El Clasico today?
not legally…
rojadirecta dot me
and it’s pretty hot.
Yes. Looks like I missed the first goal, who scored?
neymar.
The amount talent on these rosters is ridiculous.
we’re watching 1.3 billion
eurostalents.•
it’s like his parents knew, when they named him PK.
a la mierda con madrid… but that third one was pretty thrilling.
oh well. spanked. nothing’s been the same since guardiola left.
What is going on here?
pep’s complaining to the 4th ref and condescendingly puts his hand on her shoulder. she brushes him off.
not allowed to touch refs in germany. add the spanish macho angle.
I think in Spain and Italy if a man isn’t touching you he’s probably not talking to you.
it’s not that he’s not talking to you. it’s that you can’t tell what he’s actually saying.
I think the Raiders have an excellent chance to win today. Money line’s around +250. I won’t actually be betting though.
I’m not sure which is uglier – Matt Schaub’s pass on the fake field goal, or the jailbird Steelers uniforms.
The Reno CBS station is rubbing the Raiders’ fans noses in it. They’ve run a graphic saying “next week we’re showing Broncos-Patriots instead of Raiders-Seahawks”.
I’m sure there will be many game breaks showing Seahawk touchdowns.
Seattle 17 Oakland 6 sounds about right. Heck, I might watch the Broncos vs Patriots game myself.
If it wasn’t for bad luck, the Raiders would have none at all.
It’s cute, FSU, that you think the Raiders have an excellent chance to win anywhere.
Well, at least they control their own destiny.
I remained convinced that they will win another game within my lifetime.
By God, FSU…I’m with you on this one…uh, you do plan on living at least another decade or so…right?
I don’t think Rex Ryan is long for this world.
Kyle Orton is unstoppable.
Indeed.
Also
joe orton was stopped with a hammer
Fred Williamson is kind of old now.
o-7
13 consecutive loses
8-31 under Reggie McKenzie
I think the rebuild needs a rebuild.
Carr is going to be good, as are Mack and Sio Moore. Otherwise, not much to get excited about.
I’m not high on Sio Moore. He is often out of position. I don’t think he’s a building block. I have hopes for Carr but I’m not ready to crown him yet.
I’m not going to rip Carr, because he’s a rookie, without a running game, or a go to receiver, but he needs to learn to not throw to his first read every pass.
Mr. Brightside Moment…Mack looks great against the run.
The nice thing about this Raiders team isn’t they don’t even make me mad anymore. They’re so pathetic it’s hard to get riled up. Hopefully they’ll bring in a GM and coaching staff that is competent next season and they can start to turn the team around.
It’s really not a bad situation for a big name coach who wants to be the Czar of Everything. Full slate of draft picks, plenty of salary cap room, promising young QB, hands-off owner, last place schedule.
Well, that’s one way of looking at it.
Think of it like a public company that’s not profitable but is highly capitalized, making itself an attractive target for rapacious investors. The next Raiders GM is going to be Carl Icahn.
I am ready and willing to invest.
They just need to avoiding fucking it up by winning a game.
No, 0-16 is not acceptable under any circumstances. There is no Peyton Manning waiting with the number one pick so a couple of wins changes nothing. 0-16 is a mark of shame that lasts forever.
I completely agree with you Bed. Keep an eye out for four horsemen and a seven-horned beast.
I’m pretty sure these are seen every home game in the Black Hole.
No one remembers that awful Lions team. They just weren’t memorable.
Okay, enough Raiders…the rest of my comments in this lounge will be about Henrik Ibsen’s mutton chops.
So over the past couple of years I have acquired this new habit of losing my voice like a week AFTER I get sick. It is stupid and I would like it to end please. I would also like to figure out a way to make the little Aces understand that when I lose my voice it does not mean I’m angry when I dont speak to them, but that I am trying to save what little sounds I can make.
Hmm…when I lose my voice the people in my life tend to be happier.
this comment makes more sense if read in the voice of Marcel Marsceau
Nothing like being guilty until proven innocent.
Yeah, this filled me with rage when I read it yesterday.
And it’s not just the IRS that does it. Asset seizures can be used by local agencies for all kinds of stuff.
This from the New Yorker last year is worth reading on the civil forfeiture issue.
The part I wasn’t aware of was the connection to dubious crime of “structuring.” I mean, there’s a FKing mens rea requirement right there in the description of the crime, and yet the government gets to take the money up front without even pretending to present any evidence of intent or purpose.
that whole post series is amazing. start from the 1st one.
John Oliver did a bit on that as well. It’s insane that this kind of stuff goes on.
There was this really good New Yorker article* on civil asset forefeiture (by local cops, not IRS) from last year.
*Full disclosure: article was written by my brother-in-law’s sister.
That’s a great, great piece. Really opened my eyes.
Complete tangent – are you going to Minnesota next week?
And if so, be careful what you pack.
I was planning to bring a large amount of cash in non-sequential bills. That won’t be suspicious, will it?
Depends; what type of stance do you typically use? It isnt wide is it??
Yep! We should grab a beer (or several).
You’ll have to try a Surly Furious, of course.
Any recommendations for good bars near UMN? I should also try to find some Bells Two-Hearted Ale (as cloned for the last tailgate).
That area is a little out of my recent experience. On one side of the river is Dinkytown, the other side has 7 Corners, both areas with a concentration of bars & restaurants. I’ll ask my nephew if he has any faves. One thing I can tell you is Restaurant Alma is not too far away on University Ave SE and it is fantastic if you want a good meal.
The last time we had a Keck meeting in Minneapolis, I got pretty wasted at a bar with Bell’s Two-Hearted on tap. We knew it would be a good spot because there were tall bikes parked out front. Zak and I just sat around reliving our midwestern grad school days. Fortunately there was a PIs-only meeting the next morning, so the rest of us were able to nurse our hangovers in peace.
don’t forget cheapo’s in St paul
It was here!
That place has been there forever (or at least since I left town).
I had some Surly the last time I was in Minneapolis too. That is an excellent beer.
Excellent plan! I’m at the Commons, arriving about 5pm Monday.
I’m staying at the Commons too. I’ll be showing up probably about the same time as you.
get a room!
Yeah, that one’s in the 7 Corners area. You might want to try the Fulton Sweet Child of Vine too.
A couple of flights (all the IPAs bar the Green Flash) looks like a great way to go.
That’s rather disgusting that using a financial burden as their reasoning for doing that kind of shit. Their financial problem doesn’t justify infringing on people’s rights. It turns the law enforcement into a mafia.
I think you meant “further supports law enforcement’s role as part-mafia”
Yep. Just fucking asinine. Investigate all you want. But until you have some fucking proof of wrong doing, how about not acting as though they’re guilty. You know that whole Constitution thing and all.
tevez is back for the croatia and portugal friendlies. messi is on the list but has apparent hurties and might not play. hmm…
me and david cameron both.
Never a sentence you want to be writing.
Hey A’s people, would this be that hard? It doesn’t cost much to produce a shirsey.
Are you telling me it is theoretically possible to have more than 3 players and more than 1 color? Unpossible!
I still would like to see a custom stand where you could choose different designs on the front and any name/# that has been on an A’s roster. Pick it up after the game.
can you pick two names? and put it on a lab coat?
for my new primary care physician, of course.
He was picked for just that reason, right?
something about it did stop my eye when going over the list.
Since most players aren’t around for that long, yeah, that would be kind of hard.
I’m pretty sure I see at least one player in that pick not on the active roster. It’s not that hard.
#tellhimWash
Well, sure. But the Royals don’t have our turnover. I’m not saying they *couldn’t* do it. But if you go to the tent sales, you probably see a bunch of Crosby shirtseys there too.
Just make it all different versions of Rickey.
Well you see that now. They had Chris Young shirseys for christ’s sake. The trick would be some sort of agreement in getting more variety in smaller quantities or something.
Still a custom made one is the answer. They could have less variety in standard ones than they do now, but if I wanted to get a white Jim Mecir I could but pay like $5 more. And I think for the A’s it would be one of the best because of the different colors you could do + different front styles + turnover of players. I would never go out and a Duke jersey, but I would get a T-shirt. Same thing with like maybe a Dick Green. And I’m sure you could somehow set up a centralized way to do it so you are keeping the expenses to a minimum. (please note-I am not a successful business owner and am totally talking out my arse…)
Shirsy’s are dirt cheap to produce. NO design. current;y 90% of the shirseys availabe are hanging, which is a waste of space.
in adult sizes, DOnaldson, cespedes, crisp and reddick available everywhere. (I think there may have been one or 2 more lester late in the year)
for kids (around 6 and up) Crisp and Cespedes. For younger kids…a $50 crisp uni.
It is beyond pathetic. Also, the kids hats don’t fit kids. they fall off.
And why the hell did they make Lester ones? Gomes would have made more sense. And yes, I am still bitter.