Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Taking It To The Streets 2008 Edition


Boy, looking over my blogs from last season I can only think one thing. I HAD NO IDEA HOW TO PROPERLY USE PRONOUNS. Oh well I suppose it's for the best that I took Introduction to Italian at a local Community College. Not only does the new language inspire (Romance anyone?) but you never truly understand your new language until you begin to explore another. From this point on I promise more proper pronoun usage. Who knows? Maybe new Detroit Tiger Miguel Cabrera will help me learn some Spanish pronouns to boot! What a guy that Miguel. Did you know he speaks two languages fluently?

It was a tumultuous off-season for the Detroit Tigers. I am glad that it is over and that I can finally play baseball again. With so many roster moves it is exciting to see how this team will come together this season. I think we will do good. Our team has a lot of talent. We just need to work hard. 

Another reason I am glad for this Baseball season is that I am out of Television Series on DVD. Over the offseason I watched a lot of these. Who can blame me? Without the commercial interruptions, you get nothing but the show you love! Some of my favorites this offseason were Scrubs, The Office, and Frasier. I tried watching 30 Rock because it was Dmitri Young's favorite show but I just didn't get it. I did like that man in the funny hats though. HAHA! Maybe I should customize my Detroit Tigers hat. I could make the "D" into "Doodle" Oh man!

I will be batting leadoff this year. I hope to replicate my accomplishments of last season, but I know that it will be hard. However, with such a good lineup behind me, I know that I will score a lot of runs, I could get 120 if we're lucky. 

Dontrelle Willis was another new edition to the team. I have long admired him as a competitor but I never knew how great a guy he was. He is hilarious. He has the best Marvin Gaye impersonation. I think it'll really go over well in Motown.   

This is a great season ahead and I look forward to spending it with you. I have to run now though. Spring Training starts today! WEE!

an actor seeks revenge


what up muthafuckas,

ive been gone for many a moon (aka since the superbowl) but im back. what has prompted your return Sergei? well first of all i am dedicated to the furthering of all things Hindenburgian, but secondly i am mad, about as mad as i imagine a person can be. who are you mad at mr. tortoise? shirt fuckin woot, boys and girls. thats that website that some of our more faithful readers love so much, has wronged a good friend of mine. hell, they've wrong this wonderful country of ours. and i, for one, will not stand for it.

last week a very good friend of mine, who will remain nameless as he his much too gentle a soul to embark on the journey im about to set sail on, designed a shirt for one of their weekly "derbies." apparently in these so called "derbies" members of the site are able to design a shirt that matches the weeks theme, and other members can vote on the shirt they like most. the top 3 vote getters are then made into real shirts, by the fellows at shirt.woot (i would guess a subsidiary of the decrepit woot.com website), and placed on sale. when i was first told of this, i thought it sounded pretty cool, dandy even. but as i would soon come to learn, shirt.woot is interested in one thing, perverting fairness and taste.

so the theme for the most recent contest was leap year. a boring theme if you ask me, and if you go over to shirt.woot (although i heavily recommend you don't) you'll find that most of this week's entries are just that. except for the one that my friend submitted. you will see it at the top of the post. beautiful isnt it? whether it's the color, the design, the subtle use of text, or the adherence to the theme, it's hard not to be floored by each of the shirt's aspects. i know that the first time i laid eyes upon it, i was immediately smitten, in a manner similar to the first time i got to see a girl's bare breats. in person. which is saying a lot. but that is how much i loved the shirt. first thing i did of course, after calling my friend and raining praise upon him, was go over to shirt.woot and register myself, so that in a few excruciatingly long days i would be able to purchase a shirt of my own. i mean it was a safe bet that this shirt would win. his design is a perfect excercise in beauty, taste, class, exuberance and restraint. it is everything that shirt.woot could have asked for in an entry, as close to a shoe in as the site would find this year. but it wasn't. because those putrid wastes of space over at shirt.woot, rejected the shirt. apparently they took it upon themselves to make sure that however many woot members there are would be unable to wear the week's best shirt, the one that most boldly lived up to the theme of leap year.

if you could not tell, shirt.woot's actions disgust me. i can think of few more vile things to have happened this year. shirt.woot have trampled on the spirit of democracy for who knows what reason. they saw something that would bring joy to hundreds, no millions, and they took it away. maybe it was because my friend was not one of their inner circle. my friend has not mentioned that he thinks this could be the reason, but it easily could be. i am willing to bet that if you look back on winner from the past month, you will find that each and every one of them has a connection to shirt.woot in some sort of way. or it could be that they are idiots unable to see the shirt's actual content, a dignified and heroic retelling of one day's quest to break the oppressive constraints of a typical 365 day year. as i type this i realize that the most likely scenario, is that shirt.woot is guilty of all of these sins. they saw a beautiful bird, one that could bring joy to children the world over, and clipped it's wings because it was not birthed by one of their own. as i said earlier, few things, if any have hurt me as much as this. i am literally sick because of this whole business.

see that over there, its an adorable puppy...and shirt.woot just kicked it. because they do that. they destroy wings. they make sure that dreams do not exist.

boycott shirt.woot. boycott em good!

Friday, February 15, 2008

The Beast Is A-A-A woken


Let me start with these sentiments. Curtis and his sentinels will finish third in the AL Central. Segrei will contract syphillis. Archie will take on the personality of some So-Cal peon known in some circles as Keith. 

It is worth noting that no one, anywhere, ever, has ever respected Keith. If you watch Six Feet Under you know what I mean. For all his muscles, David's Keith is still one hella drag. He's probably from Philadelphia. That Tom Hanks movie probably moved him beyond his belief. Lifted his existence from mere human to the vaunted status of true Afro-Douchebag (think Ben Wallace with a PHD.) 

Let's talk about music. I only listen to Robert Johnson and MF Doom but my attentions once turned to a waifish Canadian Songstress by the name of Nelly Furtado. Let's get this straight, Nelly wasn't the best. Her vocals were weak and her production a far cry from glossy. While these could've MF Doomed a lesser artist they lifted Ms. Furtado in my eyes. Seeing the simplicity of her album, in the year 1998 or 2000 or 2002 I felt for a fact that Ms. Furtado knew what she was going through. She was in touch with her emotions. She was a distinct human being by all accounts. Listen to this... 

I'm like a bird. 
I want to fly away. 
Don't know where I'm going
Don't know where my home is... 

These lyrics told me that Miss Furtado had never been exposed (or at least appreciated) to the fine work of Ginsburg, but what they said was something. The poor thing was lost in the Vancouver Wilderness. She didn't know where her little life was headed but she knew for a fact that she wasn't yet satisfied. The insatiable longing, the search for that intangible something lurked deep within her. She knew this. I knew this. As a 8th or 10th or 12th grade boy I knew that Nelly was going through. She didn't know who she was, but danggummit she wanted to find out. 

At this juncture who could fathom a guess as to what was out there? Did triumphs lurk? Would a centaur someday run for president? The world could've been just about anything. You and me Nelly. You and me. We wanted to find out together. I'm not saying we were lovers. I never even crushed on Miss Furtado but I do know that we were on a similar journey. We wanted to spelunk. We dared to explore. I must warn that this is mere conjecture, though I presume that seems obvious. I guess the gist I'm getting at, is that at one point in the way back machine, that Nelly Furtado meant something. 

A Timbaland/Nelly/Justin remix came on swirled around in Enya's Orinoco Flow. I have to admit that the song has a beautiful effect. It makes me want more. It makes me believe. But this is only because I never listen to lyrics. Upon taking a closer listen I am appalled at the state that has overtaken my Darling Nikki. 

Nelly: I'm a supermodel...
I love my ass and my abs.
*CUE ENYA*

Nelly has gone and found herself a good dose of self esteem. This sex fueled pop has driven her record (well downloads) sales higher, they have taken the bite out of Furtado. 

Other people have recognized her. They paid credence to her charms. For some this would lead to an artistic renaissance. For others it would lead to self esteem. I surmise that this is the case of one Nelly Furtado. I should have seen it coming when she name dropped Steve Nash. I should have known it for a fact when she released "Promiscuous". I didn't see or know either. I bought into Nelly as a poor, sensitive soul. What I didn't count on was that Nelly was an average girl with below average self esteem. 

Given the gifts of this world, Nelly has reverted to the most lackluster of forms. Body image issues solved by dollars and attention, she has chosen to sing the praises of her physical form and little else. I will acknowledge her beauty but there was so much more.  It is a shame to see someone so resonant in their insecurity become suddenly confident. The results can be disastrous. 

As it currently stands, Nelly is a bona-fide pop star. While this exalts her, while this lifts her to the precipice of singing the Canadian National Anthem before NBA All-Star games it makes her mean absolutely nothing to me. 

Get Up With The Get Down Or Get Down


I have never eaten so much ice cream as I have in the past week. What began as the innocent purchase of a 6-Pack of Ice Cream Sandwiches has snowballed (or should I say ice cream balled) into a slew of socials and Neapolitan Nightmares. Ice Cream isn't powerful. That's why it melts. It is too weak! At least that's what I thought before the week began.
Tuesday 11:30 am 
Class gives a much warranted break from regularly scheduled activities. The break probably isn't that oriented, but it is to me. I am disinterested in school and sort of a bitch as a result. No complaint is too small. "That class sucks. The teacher wears too much green." 
I have a three hour class that is vital to graduation. I spend the entire time thinking about what food I should eat for lunch. I can feel my brain getting smarter the whole while. I consider a Little Caesar's Pizza, Hamburger Helper, and a home made Shrimp Salad Sandwich. I know I'll only have an hour to eat so I'll have to hustle. I decide on a simple breakfast inspired by a picture in my French Textbook. Fried Eggs and Tomato in Garlic. The French word for garlic is l'ail. 
I pick up the ingredients from a local Mexican Grocery store. 








This post isn't going anywhere. My writing has been shitty for weeks. I'll owe 75k in loans, I can't stop being mean, and the NBA is the most important thing in my life. My life is in flux at best and terribly misguided at worst, and I'm analyzing my ice cream habit. I don't feel this. 


These words don't need to be said. 

Something must be wrong with me. 

I'm eating frozen cookie dough because we're out of ice cream. 

Monday, February 11, 2008

Fun With Quotes and Other Such Trivialities So Commonly Associated With The Islands Of The South Pacific And Other Environs Of The World, These Enviro


That's as long as you're allowed to make a title. Thank God for limits. I was liable to go on forever and wash my life away in the pursuit of writing the world's longest title. Readers of Guiness Literature would know my name and fame, but no one else would give a fuck. Days would wilt into this bullshit smidge of making the world's longest title.

Besides, writing the world's longest title would prevent me from writing the world's shortest book that doesn't rely on the gimmick of being the world's shortest book for it's quality.

What constitutes a big news day in the world of Professional Golf? For how popular professional golf (it don't deserve capitals) seemingly is, I never hear about in common circles. Maybe I spend too much time in diamond mines but I have the hypothesis that no one actually cares about the game. (This isn't a knock on the quality. I knock it so often for so many other things. Twain's quote was just the tip of the ice berg.)

For me to talk about professional golf someone would have to die. Perhaps almost dying would suffice. I know I talked about hockey today for the first time in years. 
My room mate just bought two giant remote controls. We already own a pair of giant remote controls. I venture to guess that these are bigger. 

I would like to get stoned and watch "You've Got Mail"

Super Bowl Hangover

This philosophy bites back. Jilted by jeers, it rears it's ugly head and proves that things can be good.

If you put a seashell up to a microphone, you can still hear the ocean. Screw the jive about the sound coming because of blood rushing to your ears. I know the truth. You can hear the sound because magic is every where!

Jim Zorn is the new Head Coach of the Washington Redskins. This move caused many pundits to scratch their heads in confusion. It caused me to resume my long forgotten leather fetish. Who cares about football more, eh?

Going to Paris? You should totally sleep on this guy's floor I know.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Super Bowl LXII; A Review


The most amazing Super Bowl I've ever seen.

I'm at Chuck's house.  In the middle of Montana.  Watching the game with him, Curtis Granderson, and Julian Tavares (middle relief pitcher extraordinaire).  I'd expected to be bored today so I was planning on live blogging the whole game.  It ended up being awesome though, so I couldn't really tear my attention away from the television.  Plus Tom Petty and his log cabin blew my mind at half time.  Well not really Tom, but his log cabin sure as fuck did.  But yeah I was planning on writing snarky remarks through out the game, but then it was good.  So I didn't.

I am so happy.

You know whose sassy?  The Giants.  But not the San Francisco ones.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Yeah... You're Fucking Complicated


Big Homeless is not a man of the street, he's a man of the people. Growing up and out in the realm of Academia, he was considered a prodigy of Psychology for his unorthodox approach and strange methodology. Such praise allowed Big Homeless endless access to grant money, prestigious graduate assistant jobs, and a slew of other scholastic treats. Such was the golden path for Big Homeless, but things got hard upon graduation. His idiosyncratic practices were lost on his therapy subjects. They didn't want to know why they wore green, only wanting to know why they wanted to cut themselves. Such normalcies didn't interest Big Homeless. He went out, abandoned traditional practices, and became America's first street psychologist. Here are some of his prophecies.

Greetings ya'll hope your Saturday is swimming and that your life is good on all accounts. Hope life don't have you too down, and that you have yet to invest too much in this year's Oscar Season. Even Momma knows that it'll be Daniel Day's Day.

Since this is our first meeting, let's lay down the basics. I live in Los Angeles. Despite the moniker I am not homeless. I have a great apartment near La Brea that I am rarely at. I sleep there for six hours a day, four hours a week. The 1400 a month is nothing to me. It's enough to for a decent bed given my advantages. The rest of the time I am, well, out there, living life and giving my chosen spiel to the world. That's how it goes sometimes and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Yesterday was a fruitful one. I had some observations that are mine and mine alone. Let me share them with you and make these observations open source.

Observation 1.

My broheim, let's call him Bick, was joining me and our mutual friend Sergei for a Thai Food Dinner. We like the place. We want to become regulars at Mae Plot. The waiter, Sid, is a scamp. They unapologetically mess up orders. The Mongolian Beef is delicious and they show Laker Games on plasma. What more can you want? All desirable aspects of life are wrapped up in a neatly wrapped package for our consumption.

On the way there, Bick was a little car sick. We thought Bick might puke so we slowed and he discussed Ken Griffey Jr before moving onto his advanced opinions of Thai Food. Bick had this to say about Los Angeles's fine array of Thai Food. "The Thai Food is good here but for my money it can not compare to the Thai Food in Michigan."

The superiority of Michigan's Thai Food is tangible to Bick. He believes it with every iota of his soul and cites it as the greatest Thai Food that has ever, or will ever, come to exist. These notions are filled with fallacies. As a young buck, reared outside Detroit, Bick tasted Thai for the first time. It blew his mind. Not only was it a new kind of cuisine, but it lay the template for any Thai Food he would ever taste. Although it is decent Thai Food in a worldly sense, to Bick it is incredible, the only Thai Food worth eating. It established what Thai Food would or should be, becoming the measuring stick and the only true testament to Thai Cuisine.

Though this can make a restaurant better, it is a trap. Depriving Bick of other Thai Food greatness and making him long for not only the tastes of home but for the Michigan experience as a whole. It should come as no surprise that Bick has taken his lumps in adjusting to a new environ. The world (and Thai food) still reside in Michigan.

Also, Bick has a long distance girl friend he loves a lot. Such an exaltation can turn any shit Thai Food into greatness.

Observation 2

As a bit of irony, I was sober at 11pm and ended up being the designated driver on a run to McDonald's for two friends let's call them Rock and Theidi. They were so belligerent in their fun time that they were willing to take a ride in my car. It is the pure definition of Jalopy. It lacks a bumber. It is filled with leaves. The only redemptive quality is that it has a portrait of Richard Nixon in the back seat. This portrait is good for anything, and so often everything. it is the lifeblood of my vehicular enjoyment.

In the drive through of McDonald's we began to joke about the painting. Being drunk as they were they engaged in screaming fits. Getting three milk shakes was never so hard. An adequate adventure we found ourselves lost in our moment of little insignificance, causing the world to close and boundaries to fall.

Theidi looked at the portrait of Richard Nixon and called it "Ronald Nixon". the power of McDonald's and the scope of our experience snuck into her mind and dissolved any distinction between the McDonald's experience (and thus the exploits of Ronald McDonald) and our late embattled president Richard Nixon. This gave birth to a hybrid of Politics and fast food culture.

All I can say is Hamburglar Clinton in 2008.

This is Big Homeless signing out. Hope to see you out there.





Friday, February 1, 2008

"I want to fuck a midget but my dick's too small."
-Charles Stratton, US Army

USA

"The only way I would vote for Hillary is if she went down and played my cornhole."
-Charles Stratton, US Soldier