Cubs Lose! Cubs Lose!!

Some pictures from their 3-2 loss today. To those of you who have derided me for in the past for having a roll of paper towels in my backpack: Hooey hoo hoo on you! Warning: some of the "link pictures" are huge because I was testing out the 5 mega pixel function on my camera.

At 40+, Clemens still has it.

Ah, isn't Lakeview puuurty in the summertime?

Clemens delivers to the plate.

Ginny wearing prescription sunglasses and tons of No-Ad sun block.

It's got to get rather hot in that scoreboard.

Is that Sandburg or Dawson? From this distance, I can't tell.

Ah, LaTroy. You had our hearts until you gave up the game winning home run.

This inning brought to you by Culver's. Hmmmm, butter burgers & custard ...

Charlie Brown: For a moment there, it looked like we had a chance.
Linus: What happened?
Charlie Brown: The other team showed up.

It's Camera Fun Time!

Woo hoo! I just got my new digital camera! And you know what that means. Time to take tons of stupid pictures and post them. Since I'm stuck at work, you'll (and my coworkers) have to settle for crappy photos of the office. Wait a second. Wasn't I the person condeming moblogs a few months ago? Ah, fuck it, hoss. Let the kids have their fun.

There's no delight like Country's Delight.

Alice, upon learning about the cleansing power of aloe.

Kristen smiling smugly after doing her Kirsten Dunst Bring it On impersonation.

Lord British upholding justice even more sternly.

Destroying Liberalism

Thanks to the Oregon Commentator for the link to this review of Fahrenheight 9/11. The review describes precisely why I don't like Moore.

Swedish Insanity

Misanthropic Swedish writer and alchemist August Strindberg meets a helium balloon in these set of wacky flash animations.

It may appear weird and morose during a first viewing, but hilarity ensues when you discover that saying words in a high pitched voice while sloshed can be quite entertaining. Those of you who know me: you get one guess as to who sent me the link.

Who'd a Thunk

47 year old Martina Navratilova wins a singles match at Wimbledon. Here she is running her aged legs at the ball whilst wearing a backwards cap. You know, that's just hilarious!

Best NBA Finals Stat Line

Despite all the things there are (or not) to write about the NBA finals, I must conclude that this is the best stat line ever. Darko Milicic. Minutes played: 2. Broken hands: 1. My only question is: when the hell did he break it? He missed a shot and then missed two free throws. Don't believe me? Link here.

They've Gotten to Ebert too

Okay. Question. How much money did they pay Roger Ebert to write this review?

Fear and Loathing in Ultima VII

Best Ultima VII walkthrough ever: The Black Gate. Serpent Isle.

Even if you know nothing about Ultima VII or early 1990 CRPGs, you owe yourself a read.

If you want to try the walkthroughs yourself, get a copy of Ultima VII and load Exult.

Why Is This Man the Closer?

Joe, we love you and all. You're the sausage man. You helped us a lot last year. But you need to go. And now. You have an ERA over 8. I'm not sure when the last time it was that there was a closer with an ERA over 5. Latroy Hawkins has an ERA under 2. Why isn't he closing? But maybe this is good. Yeah. Keep closing. This way when October comes the only thing I'll be doing is studying. Thanks to the boys in Oakland, I've had enough October heartbreaks to last me a lifetime.

Five!

Five movies in two weeks now. When will it end?

Rushin' to the Finals

All of those who thought that the French Open finals would be an all Russian event and that Tim Henman would still be alive, raise your hands.

This is Weird

This is more of a personal note for me than a typical web log entry but something hit me this morning. I've seen 4 movies, at the theater no less, in the last two weeks. Now, this will come off as no news to most of you but keep in mind that I generally donate an average of 4 movies per year to the MPAA.

Anyway, I'm no Atkinson on Film but here are my takes on these films.

1.) Mean Girls. I've already talked about it here. Having a couple of weeks to think about it, I might have jumped the gun by giving it an A-. I still enjoyed the movie, but in retrospect it probably falls more into the B/B+ category. I talked to Vijay about this and he makes a good conclusion. Perhaps it's because movies in general these days (especially your box office hits) are so bad that movies such as Mean Girls appear really really good in retrospect. Anyway, it's innocuous fun so rent it when it comes out on video.

2.) Shrek 2. I enjoyed it. Yes, the plot is paper thin. Yes, Mike Meyers isn't really that funny. Yes, there's way too much Shrek advertising in stores. But the animated "sad cat" eyes won me over in the end. B/B+.

3.) Saved!. I suppose there are countries out there where one would be rightfully stoned to death for watching a Mandy Moore movie. But strangely so, I kind of enjoyed this one. It didn't have me going all the way (the middle was dreadfully slow) and there are ways that it could have been better. But for the most part, I found myself enjoying it. I think I'm becoming overly sentimental and nice in my old age. I usually hate all movies. What's going on?

Anyway, think Bring it On with rabid teenage Christians rather than rabid cheerleaders and you get the gist for this movie. It's trying to be a satire but I felt that it needed a little bit more satire to enable it to climb into elite satire company. (Wow, that was a malformed sentence.) Moore is uninspired but not baleful either in her role. Jena Malone has grown up since Bastard from Carolina. That performance showed that she has some good work in her and I wish she and Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous) would find real roles to play, but here they get the job done and I did not mind watching them fall in love. The film ultimately gets its message through (being too religious and crazy can be unhealthy but there's nothing wrong with believing in the love of family, friends, and God) but I agree with Vijay that a secondary message might have come through as well. And that message, believe it or not, is teenage pregnancy can be a good thing! Hmm, come to think of it, take all of your sisters and daughters to this one! B-/B.

4.) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This one I downright loved. And it's a day later and I still love it. It might be a keeper. (I may spoil some things here so go away if you haven't seen it yet.) I liked the over arching plot line of erasing your memories to ease your pain. But like most movies I like, it was the little things that made this movie for me. The little nuances and jokes. I don't know what it was, if you really want to know the truth. Needless to say I found myself smiling and chuckling throughout. Perhaps it was the central theme of forgetting who you are but still being ineffably drawn to someone which echoes the theme of Buddhistic rebirth and karmic attraction that drew me. Perhaps it was the ending where the two decide to give it a go even though they know that it might inevitably lead to them being bored with one another. They knew from the tapes that it had once ended in disaster. He had no recollection of the final moments of memory erasure where he vowed to do things differently. And yet, they gave it a go anyway. I wonder how many relationships would be aborted if we knew, ultimately, how it would end and how we would feel about the other in 3-4 years. What would happen if we all had a tape like the one given to our leads at the end of the film. The quotidian answer would be to say that no one would have a relationship. To know that you would inevitably be bored and hate the person in 3-4 years? To know that you would end up hating each other. To hear the hurtful comments. But this movie concludes, maybe not. Maybe we would still have a go at it and try to make course corrections and try to better ourselves for the sake of the other. Nice stuff. A.