Today, or at least starting today, I am building one of these:
Yes, I am. In the usual display of not being anxious to get it done, Mrs. Moon pointed out to me first thing this morning that since it’s cold and rainy, I won’t get sweaty building it. If you don’t see any posts for a day or so, you’ll know why. If you don’t see any posts for several days, call 911.
Friends, associates and clients of renowned lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. spoke out Tuesday to pay tribute to the man who cleared O.J. Simpson of murder charges. Cochran died Tuesday afternoon at 67.
Johnnie defended OJ Simpson in a trial that both gained Cochran a TON of fame as well as notoriety for the over-handed overt playing of the “race card”. I don’t think I had even heard the term “race card” used before that trial, and I was tired of it by the time the trial was over. My favorite Cochran line was “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.“ Cochran won that trial over the perceived inept prosecution. Cochran himself went back to practicing law for high profile blacks and winning huge settlements for not-so-high-profile blacks, but, his personna was forever seered into my soul by the unforgettable performances by Phil Morris of the character Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld. Those were some of the best episodes of Seinfeld ever. It was a parody of Cochran, and it was funny as hell.
Now, the point of my post, as I’m sure almost every blogger is posting a eulogy. I grew up in a legal environment. I’m no lawyer, but I’m related to a few. I’ve seen good ones and bad ones. I’ve also needed a few lawyers over the years. Whenever I do need one, it’s one like Johnnie. I don’t want a lawyer that speaks properly or is terribly concerned about appearing to be an upstanding citizen or anything like that. I want a lawyer that is willing to do whatever it legally takes to win my case. Period. If making up hokey catch phrases does the trick, do it. If playing the race card does it, do it. WIn the case, we’ll worry about appearances later. That was Johnnie. Black or white, devisive or not, he was one hell of a lawyer.
Fresh on the heels of the latest trend of ending life on Earth, supervolcanos, the Discovery channel couldn’t rush their version of the end of the world as we know it fast enough. The trailer begins benignly enough stating something to the effect of "This is a true story. It just hasn’t happened yet. Based on the predictions of leading scientists".
Actually, it looks like a fun watch. It seems to mix some science with science fiction, and of course, you’ve got to have lots of drama and inconsequential disasters. But, given the competition for my sci-fi time has been limited of late to such incredibly mind-numbing fare as Spring Break: Shark Attack!, I doubt I’ll be able to pass on this one. Of course, I could just watch Locusts.
The UK/Michigan State game was a classic. I’m not going to dismiss that. However, something happened at the end of regulation play that just bugs me to no end. Here’s an illustrated play by play:
Down by 3 points after making a near miraculous comeback ( mode of the weekend ), after two three point tries, a long rebound goes to Patrick Sparks who faked, took a step, and launched a three:
The ball danced on the rim longer than any other shot in recorded history before finally rolling in. The crowd went absolutely bonkers as the UK players celebrated, wept and congratulated each other. However, this then happened:
The referees huddled for a review to see if Spark’s foot was touching the line when he shot. Look at the first pick, that’s what they saw. They huddled for about four minutes or so. The rule allows for 90 seconds. They tore a split second apart for 240 seconds trying to get enough evidence to over-rule the initial call that it was a three.
That bugged the hell out of me mainly for two reasons:
1. I had never seen this done before. The referees were using the latest in technology to question one of the referees decision over a millimeter’s difference. Look at the pic again, there is no way you can make a clear decision over whether Sparks’ foot is touching that line or not. Why did the referees take four minutes to come to the same conclusion? Huh? Why?
2. Those referees took four minutes, to examine the tip of Sparks’ foot. It only took a fraction of a second for that shot to leave his hand. They watched that fraction of a second for four minutes. Being as they were willing to possibly take the game away from Kentucky over a "blown call", how did they miss this:
Sparks was obviously fouled. The call was obviously wrong. It was reviewed for four minutes by three referees who had called hand checks as fouls and none of the referees noticed two bodies colliding in air in their quest to see if the tip of his foot touched white paint?
Something’s bad wrong here folks. I am not comfortable with giving referees the option of determining the outcome of a game through random selection of what to review.
I don’t know if people have noticed, but my volume has dropped a little lately. That’s primarily due to several reasons, one of which being I’m a huge college basketball fan. This time of year, I get a little distracted. Some thoughts so far:
Louisville getting a 4 seed was unjustifiable. Washington getting a 1 seed was as well. It’s obvious now.
Louisville coming back on West Virginia was pretty amazing to watch. However, if you watched the game, you saw why it happened. Louisville made a very obvious adjustment around half-time and it paid off.
Arizona collapsing against Illinois was even more amazing to watch. It was a text-book example of how not to protect a lead. Arizona was rolling and pretty much blowing Illinois out of the gym until exactly 4:04 left in the game. What Lute Olson told them at that point was not a good plan. My advice to the guys would have been to keep doing what you’re doing. When Arizona was hustling, they were unbeatable. When they relaxed and tried to protect the ball, they looked like high schoolers. I think the most amazing thing to me about this game is how highly I respect Lute Olson and never imagined a team coached by him would fall apart like that.
Foxsports echoed a LOT of other sports venues with this assessment:
Which one of the power conferences was the biggest disappointment?
Two conferences jump right off the page — the SEC and the Big East — but which one was worst?
The Southeastern Conference was always looked at as having a down year over the course of the season, while the Big East was thought to be extremely strong, and underrated. But after one week in the tournament both look equally weak.
If Kentucky wins tomorrow, the SEC will have a team in the Final Four. Unless Wisconsin beats North Carolina, no division will have more. That’s not much of an example of a weak division. Kentucky didn’t even win their division tournament. If Billy Donovan can figure some way to get his guys as excited about playing anyone else as he does Kentucky, he’d be a load to deal with. I don’t think the SEC was particularly bad this year, I think the PAC-10 and Big East were WAY over-rated.
Another often heard sentiment:
All year long everyone has said how the RPI had it wrong; no way was the Pac-10 the second-strongest conference in the country. Yet after the first two rounds the conference is 4-2 with all four wins coming from Arizona and Washington. Both schools have cruised so far, winning their games by an average margin of 15 points. Players such as Salim Stoudamire and Nate Robinson are finally getting the credit they deserve. Two more wins by each school and there would be an all Pac-10 matchup in the Final Four. Will it happen? Chances are slim, but the Pac-10 has represented itself well in the Big Dance.
Fellas, the RPI was dead-wrong. Arizona was the last Pac-10 team left. Washington was supposed to be the powerhouse ( #1 seed ). They got thumped by a #4 seed. Arizona experienced the ultimate melt-down. The Pac-10 is dust again. What happens in the Pac-10 is each year one team is a little better than the rest ( Stanford, Washington, Arizona ). The only problem is the rest are usually very very bad. It is difficult as heck to figure Pac-10 teams out in tournaments because more often than not they haven’t played a schedule that matches a Michigan State, North Carolina, or Kentucky. Those teams get prepared for March by playing hard schedules all year long. You have some clue as to how good or bad they are by March. Teams beating up on Utah States and Brigham Young’s don’t give anyone a clue how to predict them in the tournament, and, do nothing to prepare those players for the big time.
This has been a great tourney. Much more enjoyable for the masses than last year’s. If you watched today’s games, you got six halves of basketball in two games. That hasn’t happened since 1992. The second game of that double-header was considered by many to be the greatest college basketball game ever played. The Arizona-Illinois game might be considered a close second. Maybe. Duke’s definitely not going to win it this year. That makes this tourney that much better.
I probably have more than one hundred Amazon links on my blog. I use them for the reason that they give very good descriptions of the item I am discussing. They often have comments on the items, and, when discussing music, they often have music clips so I don’t have to use my bandwidth and limited storage space.
I have links to Elton John, Elvis Presley, the Righteous Brothers, David Bowie, all kinds of hit movies, and, some very interesting books. The top selling item from my blog?
Klaus Nomi.
That’s right. Klaus Nomi.
Nomi is outselling Pink Floyd. How embarassing is that Floydoids?
Nomi is outselling classic AC/DC. That even embarasses me.
Nomi is outselling all the acts post 1990 COMBINED.
And, to top it off, Nomi is outselling every single David Bowie link I have COMBINED.
This, to me, is a classic hmmmmmmm?
I was thrilled to find this page ( thanks, Duck! )! IMO Monty Python’s Flying Circus is shamefully falling into tv obscurity. The humor of that show is as relavent today as it was 30 years ago. It was simply funny as hell! This page lists their Top 20 funniest skits. Duck at TMF takes offense that "Spanish Inquisition" takes #1. I personally think that "Spanish Inquisition" is #1. Being as me and Duck disagree infrequently, this could be a serious issue. So, I’m making this poll available to settle it. I do think "Silly Walk" will give a good challenge, and, since they include movie sketches as well, several from The Holy Grail would be Top 10, if not #1 ( Help! Help! I’m being repressed! ).
Now, I have to confess, I forgot to watch this. It was the boy’s prime playing time and we forgot to turn it on. I’m sure it will be re-ran at some point, so it should examined anyway. This is what CBS has to say about it:
Sounds kinda cheesy. This is what MSNBC has to say about it:
That’s pretty harsh. And, coming from a competitor, I thought I better fact check some of their references. I found this:
And this: 
And this: 
And this: 
And this: 
and of course, this: 
and of course, this: 
At this point, I don’t really see what the point in watching it on tv would be. I guess I have to side with MSNBC that this sounds like a truly stupid flick featuring skin and gore. I might watch it for the skin.
And now, for something completely different:
That’s right, Florida averages less than one shark attack per year. At least they could have set this movie somewhere where sharks are a little more prevalent. If they want to sell me skin, at least make it something pleasing to the eye. I tired of watching people eaten alive in 1975. Make something like "Beach Volleyball: Babes at War".
I’m quite sure the CNN homepage will change before the day is over, so you’ll just have to take my word on this one. At 10am on March 22, 2005. the BIG headline is:
Judge denies bid to restore Schiavo’s feeding tube
Now, over there, on the sideline, along with Jennifer Anniston’s new movie plug, is the news item Reservation in "shock", 10 die in school shooting.
Jessica’s father commented:
"If we could just, for one day, use the electric chair, I would like that," Jessica’s father, Mark Lunsford, told CNN. "Somebody needs to kill him."
Forget the electric chair. Use a baseball bat. I think Mr. Lunsford should get the honors. As the father of a small child, I can not imagine what Mr. Lunsford is going through right now. And I do guarantee anyone that has the same urges as Mr. Couey does, that if they did something to my kid, I’ll take care of them myself. With a baseball bat. Some things go beyond the legal system. I know I would get off with a temporary insanity plea. Nothing could send me farther over the edge than something like this happening to my child.
As the legal system stands, Coeuy will go through the appeals process longer than Jessica got to live and her parents got to enjoy her life with them. That ain’t right at all. The evidence is overwhleming, it is obvious. The legal system needs to recognize that fact. Couey needs killing right now. He rendered his verdict against Jessica and gave her no chance for appeal, the legal system needs to give him the same chance. Convict him, sentence him, and kill him without any chance for appeal.
And do it with a baseball bat.