Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Go Twins (And Take The Vikings With You)
or
Pray For Rain


I picked up the paper last Saturday morning to see that Governor "No New Taxes" Pawlenty signed a bill that will increase taxes in Hennepin County. The governor is a fucking fraud and I'll celebrate heartily if he gets voted out of office this November.

(Oh and I'll also giggle heartily during every rainout at the new Twins stadium that screws outstate fans from seeing a game ... then they can go complain to their legislators about the lack of a roof in a stadium they aren't paying for.)

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

New Podcast Is Up

Exiled Radio Show #8

Recorded Saturday. But due to Blogger problems, I haven't been able to post weblog entries until this afternoon. Anybody out there ever switch to WordPress and if so, any comments or advice? Thanks.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Gotta Be Sam Phillips's Hands

Wednesday afternoon I was flipping through the booklet from the Jerry Lee Lewis two-disc anthology, All Killer, No Filler, and doing some research for my next podcast (which should be up and ready in the next few days.) I came across this photo, which I have now declared to be the coolest rock 'n' roll photo ever. Of all the Sun boys, only Jerry Lee could pull off the earnestness vs. perverseness of it.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

“He is the father of the modern Hollywood comedy”

Great profile of Harold Ramis in The New Yorker. from a couple of years ago. (Better late than never ... hey I still haven't posted a link to that Holy Cross audio yet.)

The author on Ramis's movies:

These comedies have several things in common. They attack the smugness of institutional life, trashing the fraternity system, country clubs, the Army—even local weathermen—with an impish good will that is unmistakably American. Will Rogers would have made films like these, if Will Rogers had lived through Vietnam and Watergate and decided that the only logical course of action was getting wasted or getting laid or—better—both.

Ramis on Stripes:

“My whole problem was, We’re doing an Army movie and we’re not going to talk about Vietnam? What can I put in this movie to convey my antiwar sentiments?” In the end, after filming at Fort Knox and coming to admire some of the local Army personnel, Ramis says, “We did it when Bill says, ‘We’ve been kicking ass for two hundred years—we’re ten and one!’ That was my reference to Vietnam.”

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Losersota?

The Strib had an article in the Sunday sports page a couple of weeks ago that pointed out that the Twin Cities is the only metropolitan area with pro teams in the four major sports that had no team in any of the sports make it to the playoffs in their most recent season.

But this doesn't stop some members of the local sports media from being mindless homer cheerleaders. Thankfully, there is Homersota.com (as plugged on the Common Man Progrum) as an antidote. Homersota.com points out who the local homers are and also does a much-needed hatchet job on PA & Dubay, whose morning KFAN show has likely convinced naive Purple fans for years now that the Vikings defense is "better this year."

This morning, Dubay fired off this gem: "The Bears ... aside from Grossman going down, were a team that had everything go their way last year."

Yep, everything went the Bears way - except for the minor detail of losing their starting quarterback for most of the season, forcing them to start Kyle Orton, but they still finished 11-5 because things "went their way." No mention of the awesome defense that won game after game for them.

The above shows one of the guidelines of being a homer - use the "other teams get lucky" theory. There is also the "officials screwed us" theory on losses, the "we're playing fine, we just ran into a buzzsaw" rationalization for losses, and the "this athlete is from Minnesota (or plays/played in Minnesota)" excuse for fawning over said athlete.

Keep up the great work Homersota.com!

Monday, May 08, 2006

Charles Barkley, Quote Machine

I have seen maybe twenty minutes of American Idol total, but it is the stupidest fucking show I have ever seen. Time to dig up a Sir Charles quote from last year, from when Revenge of the Sith was released:

"If you watch American Idol, or if you're one of those dorks who dresses up in a Star Wars costume to go to a movie - you are a loser."

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

The Fred Flintstone Capers Continue in Jacksonville

Gotta love the Purple's latest monthly (or is it weekly? maybe those don't start until the team hits the field) blunder - the firing of personnel director Fran Foley in part because of resume embellishments, now Foley says he'll sue. Ha ha!

Speaking of embellishments, recently I checked in on my longtime comic relief - former Purple coach Mike Tice. Turns out he also has a little white lie on the website of the Jacksonsville Jaguars, where he now coaches on offense. His bio claims that: "Tice led the Vikings to the playoffs in 2004 and their first road playoff victory in franchise history."

While that seems plausible - when do the Purple ever rise up and win a game they're not favored in? A quick look at Wikipedia brings up that Denny Green win over the Giants on the road in the mid-nineties where Denny bragged about his clock management after the game.

So no, Tice didn't lead the Purple over their first road playoff win. He better change his bio if he hopes to get a head coaching job (note: tongue planted firmly in cheek) again.