39 is fine as wine

I neglected to mention a couple of the more modern horror movies I liked, one great the other pretty good but has one of my favorite "old queen" moments in a movie that isn't "The Birdcage."

So, the photo above. You recall "Rosemary's Baby", right? Mia Farrow moves into the creepy Dakota hotel off Central Park and Satanic hijinks and hilarity ensue. The end of the movie is great, all these old codgers gathered around the newly-born baby who "has his father's eyes." Then the gentleman on the far left of this picture exclaims, in the QUEENIE-EST voice possible "Hail, Satan!" It's great, made me laugh. He sounded like Charlie-in-the Box from the Island of Misfit Toys.

My worst OMISSION was perhaps the best horror movie ever made, Stanley Kubrick's version of "The Shining." It was a simple little ghost story that, through it's transition from book to film, was a masterpiece of the genre. Yeah, I think Alien is good for some scares, too. Let me say this: the Stephen King novel was far superior to this movie. I think I know why King hated this version of his book......the movie has suspense, chills, and alot of creepy moments, but it lacks the heart and emotional moments King infuses in his book. From what one hears about Kubrick, this shouldn't be surprising, as he was apparently known to be a cold and clinical guy. In novel form, The Shining tells a family's story that ends with the father's redemption, fighting off the evil spirits' possession:

"But suddenly his daddy was there, looking at him in mortal agony, and a sorrow so great that Danny's heart flamed within his chest."

Kubrick's movie ignores the heart that King put in his book. I think, to King, this was an unforgiveable sin against his creation. Still, what the movie lacks in human drama it makes up for in cold terror. Great movie.

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Uh-oh, the line means I'm switching gears. I hit 39 on the odometer this morning and my family remembered and made me breakfast and one of my daughters wrote me an acrostic. So far, feels alot like 38. One of the dopey things I happen to like about Facebook is how everyone you're "friends" with sends birthday wishes. I know, it's Facebook and silly but it's not like these folks HAVE to send me anything at all - so the fact that they take a quick moment on my account is nice. Thanks, all.

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45-42 thus far this season, here comes another week of picks:

Miami at Cincinnati: Dolphins, until Bengals right the ship, I think it's sinking.....

Jacksonville at Dallas: gotta go (reluctantly) with Dallas, at home this week.

Washington at Detroit: Detroit is a better team than their record, but I'm banking on McNabb rebounding from a lousy Sunday in Chicago. I've been wrong alot, but Redskins.

Buffalo at KC: Chiefs at home.

Carolina at St. Louis: Long season in Carolina, heh, Rams.

Green Bay at NY Jets: why isn't THIS on Sunday or Monday Night? Jets.

Denver at San Francisco: in London, where both teams are considered "bloody good." 49ers.

Tennessee at San Diego: inconsistent Chargers gotta check their guts to see if they have 4 quarters in them. But I'll take them to upset the Titans. Chargers.

Tampa at Arizona: Cardinals.

Minnesota at New England: Brett Favre blah blah blah. Why send photos to someone who doesn't want them? That is the very creepiest part of his saga. Patriots.

Seattle at Oakland: to old AFC West rivalry, both teams a little up-and-down. Raiders.

Pittsburgh at New Orleans: didn't this game look great a month ago? Uh-oh, I think The Rapist will have a good game and take advantage (ha ha) of the lousy Saints d-backs. Steelers.

Houston at Indy: Colts at home.

SEE? Every time I get over the .500 mark I start picking crazy upsets. The safe bet is to take the Lions and Titans this week, and to perhaps discount the Raiders domination of the Broncos last week. I'm playing with house money, so no worries.

Shambling through on my promises

The biggest reason my blog entries are so disjointed and scattershot is that my eldest daughter always runs the laptop's batteries to nil Facebooking and YouTubing (like these terms are verbs, be afraid for the English language). So, I have under 20% of battery life which leaves little time for editing. And besides, who cares anyway? Mrs. Norvell, my 5th grade teacher, doesn't read this thing (I hope).

So last week I posted a little about scary movies I loved, and made them pre-1950's. Here's the rest of the list. And, because lists suck, this won't deviate:

Japanese Monster Movies: my brother Tom and I killed many brain cells sitting in front of our old black and white TV (we didn't have a color TV till 1981) watching Godzilla flicks. Like I said before, my mom encouraged it as she loved 'em too. Honestly, watching them now I can't imagine sitting through the films without doing something else. The monsters aren't on-screen all that much and the human drama is.....lacking. More than likely, we were stuck inside on a cold or rainy day playing with our toys and a monster movie was on. I only remembered the "monster fights" after the movie ended. Some good ones? Godzilla (vs. Kong, vs. Smog Monster, vs The Thing). Rodan. Destroy all Monsters. War of the Gargantuas. You can smell the rubber from the suits the actors wore in these cheesy greats.

Night of the Living Dead: 1968. Scared the living daylights outta me. I remember reading a listing in TV Guide when I was 11 or so, describing this as a "cult film" wherein "cannibalistic zombies terrorized a farmhouse." Didn't sound too bad. I think it was on the late late Creature Feature show and I watched it. Scared me sh&tless. It's a claustrophobic flick, gross and gory for its' time, and unsettling in it's "the enemy is ourselves" storyline. It spawned 2 direct sequels in the '80's. A lesser re-make in 1990. A few more direct sequels in the 2000's.......AND just about every zombie movie you see these days. George Romero, the director who came up with the entire "man-eating undead horde" idea was screwed out of being a millionaire due to a mess-up with the rights from this movie. And his idea's been copied so many times that the premise has lost it's ability to scare (zombies are everywhere, even kid's shows now, but Zombieland was great). The first was the best.

The Creeping Flesh: a Hammer horror movie that starred Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. I only recall it because at the end the monster shows up for it's missing finger, and takes Peter Cushing's instead. I still remember the awful cracking sound that's made when the monster removes the man's finger. Icky. I was really little when I saw this (I think 5 or 6) and would sleep with my blanket up over my hands so I could keep all my fingers.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: 1973 (I think). Only the first one was good and scary. It led to the whole "kids in the American wild stumble into crazy bullsh%t" storyline. The first time I saw it, I remember being freaked out by how crazy this movie gets about halfway through. At the beginning, there's some weirdness but after they get to that house it's like an acid trip gone horribly, horribly bad. It's still unsettling, but so imitated and copied that you've seen the story before. Best imitated in Rob Zombie's House of 1,000 Corpses, which has it's own gonzo "what the hell was that?" moments but is still just a retread.

Halloween: 1977 or 1978? I guess the first is the best. That's it for slasher movies, in my opinion they sucked as a general rule. They became exercises in camp that became boring. This one wasn't bad. I also have a soft-spot in my heart for Halloween 3, Season of the Witch, that was bizarre in it's departure from all of the characters in the previous 2 movies and had an annoying song in it.

Silence of the Lambs (1991): again, the first was the best. This movie was genuinely unsettling and scary, the story was well-done and the acting was superb. A movie that was not all that gory, but so much gore was implied and discussed that you really didn't need to see it to be creeped out by it.

....and that's it. That's the last movie that really got in my head a bit and weirded me out. I know there've been others realeased since but they all seem to be re-treads of the same old stories. I left out Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity because they are gimmicky, well-done and interesting enough but gimmicky. My wife was spooked by The Strangers, and that had it's moments too. I don't dig the torture flicks like Saw or Hostel or their clones. It's a pretty sad state of affairs for a fan of scary movies....the movies aren't really that scary anymore. But we've all got access to some of these great old flicks I've mentioned, so happy viewing.

The smartest person in the room

OK, ya got me. It aint me. I'm usually the quiet guy in the corner, who thinks of something clever to say an hour after the party's over.

I read a few opinion pieces in the papers, typically they form a fair cross-section of the rational ideological spectrum. I enjoy George Will and E.J. Dionne, as well as Michael Gerson and Kathleen Parker. There's a guy for the Washington Post named Eugene Robinson who can swing a little too far left for my tastes, but he generally writes well enough. Since opinion pieces aren't really news, I can't give them too much weight. Persuasive writing is not necessarily informative writing.

[Don't get me started on blogs.....mostly junk writing. One is fortunate if one notices only one or two misspellings per entry. THIS BLOG IS NO EXCEPTION. In fact, stop reading now and go pick up a reputable publication instead]

If you're still here, I wanna write about Fareed Zakaria. He's an Indian immigrant who moved to the US in college. He published a piece in the latest issue of Time (yes, a liberal-skewing publication) titled "Restoring the American Dream." I thought it was quite good, and I think he's probably one of the smarter and more thoughtful journalists/talking heads out there right now. It dovetails nicely with the Michael Moore documentary I watched over the weekend.

The basic premise of the piece is that America is (potentially) slumping on the world stage. Our economy has grown slowly, wages are stagnant, and there's a palpable sense that we the people aint what we used to be. The one fact Michael Moore's documentary makes crystal-clear is that we aren't. My history teachers never mentioned it, but the post-war American economy was so strong and productive simply because our competitors (in the auto business, especially) were obliterated. Think about it: Germany and Japan were the only two BIG automakers I can recall growing up. Remember hearing relatives call Toyotas "riceburners." Next thing you knew, everyone had a Honda or Toyota because they were fuel-efficient, relatively cheap, and very reliable. We competed just fine, on a global scale, until our competitors caught up.

So, nowadays we hear politicians talk about punishing companies for outsourcing jobs overseas and how productive our American workforce is. Sure, we're productive. But as Zakaria points out, we produce for $14 an hour what Mexican labor produces at $7 per hour. If you're a business-owner why would you want to pay more? That kind of idealism will land you in bankruptcy.

Zakaria mentions, perhaps only briefly, that he grew up in an era of Indian protectionism wherein the Indian government protected Indian industry "form foreign exploitation and domination." His (apparently) firsthand opinion of this practice is that it simply "added to stagnation and backwardness." There is, according to this guy, no future in attempting to revive the good old days gone by with policies that close out foreign enterprise here in the US. I see his point. I think the old Soviet Union did the same thing, holding their own citizens in a "captive" economy where they could only purchase crappy Russian cars, for example (of course, when the KGB showed up, you'd be a more literal type of captive). Too much government meddling, like this, is a recipe for bad times. There are some "populist" Democrats who espouse the idea that this country can recapture past glories by encouraging multi-national corporations to keep their workforces here instead of moving to another country. But, in my estimation, these politicians are selling snake oil (and they know it). The cat's outta the bag, here, folks. There's no going back.

So, where to go? It's great to be able to say "this is wrong" and "that's bad," but where do the solutions come from? I hope they come from folks like Zakaria, or his ilk (perhaps even brighter than he). Manufacturing jobs for things like Coke and cars aren't returning here, but manufacturing the next generation of cars and trucks (yes, the electric car or the hydrogen car) could be. This country possesses a large concentration of highly skilled highly educated people who could learn the intricacies of new technologies far sooner than the populations of most other countries (though, I'll wager, China and India want to change this). Research and development, according to Zakaria, are paramount, and we should consider a broad-based tax in order to fund that - and only that (in other words, the money's only permitted for use in R&D, and not Bridges to Nowhere).

He also identifies areas that could use some fixing, like our tax code and government spending (particularly on healthcare and entitlements). These could be reined in, and if successful could permit the US government to use the potential savings to fund more R&D which would in turn fund future growth. At least potentially. Have I qualified this enough?

Hell, these aren't my ideas. But I'm glad someone has been putting their grey matter to work and coming up with something more than the mindless babble they're putting on TV. One can imagine a group (a mythical group) of elected officials coming together and saying, "this is what we agree on, let's do this now." Gee, that'd be swell, huh? I think the final problem, something Zakaria doesn't mention, is the dearth of high-functioning brains in Washington DC. Taking Michael Moore at his word, he claims that most (if not all) of our best and brightest students eschew a career in public service or science in favor of a Wall Street job. This makes good sense, he argues, because these students are so loaded down with debt that they can't afford not to take the money that's being offered. I have no idea whether or not this is true, but assuming that it is it could be one reason for our stagnation, and yes - I'll say it Jimmy Carter- our malaise.

Into these dark times usually ride the Easy Answerers. Feel good about you, they say, we're Americans and we're always great! Didn't you see the movies? America always wins because we're always right! You can have it all again, because you're you and you are awesome!

These are charlatans. Fakers. Liars. Evil people. They want the power to rule over you like the kings, emperors, and Pharaohs of old.

Solutions, whatever they may be, are difficult. I know there have got to be good men and women on the Hill who have potentially brilliant ideas that their leadership will tell them to keep to themselves simply because it's not politically expedient. There are smart people there, who've gotta find the guts to take that first step out of the shadows and into the spotlight. And, from there, perhaps lead us sheep and peasants where we want to go.

Even if we don't know it yet.

The pickin's was good

Hi. Surviving some kind of Evil Stomach Ailment That Must Die, that hit me Monday morning. At first, I thought it was the Sunday feast of bratwurst and beer (with some birthday cake thrown in as health-fare). But sadly, no. Evil stuff.

I did watch football, and was lucky enough to get to see the Redskin and Patriot games Sunday. Here's my totally awesome recap, I'll highlight my misses:

Atlanta beats Cincy: Bengals were supposed to be pretty good, right?

Washington beats Chicago: are you good if you're lucky or are you lucky if you're good? This was a terrible football game, I think I counted 8 turnovers (and I'm too lazy to check, send all correspondence to your momma). The footballs used in this game apparently were un-catchable and of a type that cannot be firmly grasped by human hands. Still, my team prevailed and Graham Gano missed another field goal. Which is all I need on a Sunday afternoon.

Tennessee beats Philly: Before the season, New Orleans was the best NFC team. Then it was Dallas. Then it was Chicago. Then it was Atlanta. Then Philadelphia. Well, Eagles lose to a good Titans team, and NOW they tell us that the NY Giants are the best team in the NFC.

KC beats Jax: and no one cared.

Pittsburgh beats Miami: Steeler haters cry foul. That was a tremendously awful call, EVERYONE knows that the Rapist can't hold onto his balls. Sheesh. Lucky Steelers will run out of luck, eventually.

Cleveland beats New Orleans: the shocker of the year so far. Cleveland's been awful for a few years now, and to clip the Super Bowl champs is a real accomplishment. Of course, since they're the Browns, they'll move to LA next season....

Tampa beats St Louis: Thought the Rams were better. Guess not.

Carolina beats San Francisco: what happened in NoCal? Long season in San Francisco and Carolina

Baltimore beats Buffalo: barely. Ravens got a cheap call in OT, but this game never should've been close. What is the sound of 31 offensive coordinators reviewing film of the vaunted Ravens D in this game?

Seattle beats Arizona: I hate the NFC, all these bad teams that might be good but no one's sure because of all these weird results....

New England beats San Diego: on a missed field goal. Chargers aren't as good as they've been in the recent past but still have Phillip Rivers and Gates. Pats got lucky, too.

Oakland beats Denver: badly. Josh McDaniels considering new career as rodeo clown.

Green Bay beats Favre: Or, Favre beats Minnesota. The old goat might need some advice: "don't go away mad, just go away."

NY Giants beat Dallas: Ok, what happened to Dallas? I gleefully rejoice in their misery for weeks but am actually shocked to see a 1-5 record with that much talent on the roster. The offense and defense both have some good players....so why? Doesn't make sense. Of course, being a Redskins fan, I know something about awful football teams that were supposed to be great. Now, they have no running game and their QB is out and they're playing Kitna - good luck with that.

Giants are the newly anointed best team in the NFC (I think Stuart Scott said this, or another ESPN talking head). Be afraid, Giant fans.....

So, that's a 10-4 record last week, bringing the total to 45-42. This means I'll flatline next week's games, God forbid I get too accurate with these things.

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No segues, here, folks - only pivots.

I've been re-thinking the Tea Party thing in light of watching the Michael Moore movie "Capitalism, A Love Story." His movies are always entertaining in that "what'll he do now?" kind of way. I think the guy's a patriot, he loves this country and hates seeing the people who live here suffer and toil under the yolk of "big business."

And, by God, someone around here should have a shred of compassion for the little guy. No one else does. If you believe that someone (anyone) on Capitol Hill will help you - or your fellow peasants - you should just go back to sleep.

Ok, so the basic premise of the movie is - initially - that capitalism is an exploitative and immoral force in the world. Can't really argue with that premise. At some point, Moore branches the narrative out to include the $700 billion bailout of 2008, championed by the Bush administration and eventually pushed through Congress by Democrats (what a great political stroke of genius!). Then, Moore runs around Wall Street doing his usual stunts for attention, a schlub in a ballcap asking to talk to Very Important MotherF&*%ers.

Incidentally, status-seekers and Those Who Enjoy Lording Your Status Over Others? Cram it.

The movie MISTAKENLY attempts to place all blame. Republicans get the worst of it but Democrats get (at least) half of the blame. What the movie makes clear as day is that we have a two-party system that - either way you slice it - serves the wealthy. Despite the fact that nearly all of us recognize this fact, we still line up in the standard "democrat" and "republican" camps when it's time to vote........

So, then, the Tea Party thing. I couldn't understand the sudden anger at Mr. Obama's policies when he'd only been in office such a short time. Of course, part of the problem is the congressional election cycle. The other part is the Catch-22 this country's in: spending tax money to stimulate an economy might make sense in one situation and not in another. This leaves aside the healthcare bill that was passed last March.

So...the government spends our money like water. What else is new? And what's this got to do with the movie I watched?

After watching the movie I appreciated a few things. 1) Our 1950's prosperity was powered by the simple fact that our country's manufacturing enterprise was the only one in town, as the rest of the world was rubble. As the only game in town, the US factories and workers prospered. 2) We'll never get that again, and we can't buy into the myth that we can. 3) We can, however, tap into our vast domestic human resources and create new technologies and innovations that can put people back to work - and government R&D "stimuli" may help this along. 4) Both political parties are nothing more than corrupted old boy networks that primarily concern themselves with the accumulation and abuse of power. I add to this that they all line up at the trough like the little piggies they are and feast on what's there for the taking.

My first reaction to the Tea Party was that it was a bunch of whackos. Some of them are. Some despise Mr. Obama simply because he's black, but they're smart enough not to say it. Some despise him because he's a Democrat. And there's a contingent who've been co-opted into being Republicans by those politicians who have changed their rhetoric to include a more populist message. It's a shame, actually. Moore has it right: it was a crime to hand over $700 billion taxpayer dollars to a few large banks in 2008, and those who voted for it and pushed others to do so are complicit in that criminal act. As we all know, the current administration pushed for further stimulus bills in 2009, and bailed out GM from bankruptcy. Into this world, I guess, was born anger and frustration at the powerlessness of people.

So, we have an election next week. Right now, Republicans would have you believe that they've "found Jesus" (so to speak) and will now adhere to the conservative "values" that they believe these Tea Party types want. Don't believe them, they lie. Democrats? I guess at this point they're simply trying to scare people into believing that the whackos are out there and trying to save their own worthless hides. I believe that, come what may next week, the Republic will stand. And that the new congress-people won't be as radical as they might appear right now.

But, that's the REAL problem, isn't it? American politics as it stands now is NEVER EVER about trying anything new. The status quo is tinkered with at a very small level, but there is never the upheaval seen in other democracies. The large interests have bought and paid for their political spokesmodels well in advance of every election, and the legislative results are often very, very predictable.

You wanna have a 3rd party? A real 3rd party? Shake things up? Don't vote Republican or Democrat this November,then - and only then - will the Geiger counter start to move. If you believe that the system is broken, beaten, and scarred, then quit looking to Washington DC's politicians to solve all of your problems. We've got a system that supports two parties because of the "winner take all" elections we conduct. A shift to proportional representation changes the system. In the earliest US presidential elections, the top two vote-getters were seated as President and Vice President. That was scrapped due to - you guessed it - corruption and torpor.

I'm just a moron, these are just ideas. You'll have better ones. Hell, one of us has gotta think of something.

If not, more of the same. Just another inch of the red-white-and blue vibrator. But we're empowered to change it all, if only we have the will.

Ripe for the pickin'

Friday fun is here once more, and I'm fitting this in amongst some work and hockey practice and driving my kids all around. Weekends are more difficult than weekdays around here.

From time to time someone asks about the title of this blog, "The Village EEdiot." Yes, yes. "Village Idiot," although apt, was taken. So I cleverly borrowed the term "eediot" from the great Ren and Stimpy cartoon. My favorite episode is the one where Cousin Sven visits Ren & Stimpy. He arrives, hilarity ensues. Anyway, that's the really interesting story behind the title. Pretty glad you read all this, huh?

On to Glory.....football picks for the week. Here goes

Cincinnati at Atlanta: Hrmmm.....tough one. Bengals have played unevenly, and the Falcons (the so-called "best team in the NFC" were spanked by Philly. Uh.....Quick! Decide!!! OK, Falcons.

Washington at Chicago: Redskins. Watch, they'll lose just because I picked 'em.

Philly at Tennessee: Philly looked great beating the supposed best team in the NFC (who's the dumbass who said THAT?) and the Titans are....pretty good. At home, Titans

Jacksonville at KC: oh yes, Jacksonville still has a team. Chiefs at home.

Pittsburgh at Miami: I'm feeling Miami here, but I think the Steelers will win.

Cleveland at New Orleans: Saints.

St Louis at Tampa Bay: St. Louis is ascendant. So is Tampa, but the Rams are further along.

San Francisco at Carolina: long season in Carolina, 6 times in a row! 49ers

Buffalo at Baltimore: like the JV-varsity game....a turkey shoot. Ravens.

Arizona at Seattle : ah, the maddening NFC West. Every team a dog. Seattle.

New England at San Diego: Norv ain't coaching the Ravens, which means the Chargers are in trouble against a Pats D that is maturing. Patriots.

Oakland at Denver: tough to choose against Denver at home. I won't. Broncos.

Minnesota at Green Bay: people say to me every day, "Hey, you haven't weighed in yet on the Brett Favre/Jen Sterger scandal....what say you?" And my reply is that I think it's________. Packers.

NY Giants at Dallas: If Dallas loses this one I think they're season is about coked, oops! I mean cooked. Jerry Jones wishes this group was called "South America's Team." Giants.

35-38 for the season, it can go either way at this point....Enjoy Bread

Bela Lugosi's Dead

Well, when I was younger this was what the weird, cool kids listened to. He is indeed dead, by the way.

When the calendar turned to October I thought I might spend some of the month writing about something I really love watching, and that would be scary movies. Life got in the way, as it does. This isn't a tragedy, but I've got a few free minutes now and I've been watching some "scary" flicks lately, so it's on my mind.

"American Scary," the documentary I mentioned a day ago in my previous entry, focused almost entirely on the Creature Feature host. The movies? Not at all. One last point about those hosts of the past.....I've flipped through the book "Bowling Alone" and to an extent I agree with Robert Putnam. Technology is not a replacement for human interaction. The advances made in our media, likewise, have consolidated matters to an extent that what is "local" is constantly shifting. In fact, a person living today can completely and totally cocoon themselves in a world of like-minded fellow citizens...to the exclusion of any other point of view.

What's this gotta do with Creature Feature hosts?

Well, when the small fibers that make up a community are snipped, little by little that sense of commonality disappears. To a very small extent, those entertainers brought us together regardless of race, creed, or political leanings. There weren't "right-wing" hosts, or "liberal" hosts, it was as shared experience.

Plus, there's a "charm" factor to those guys and gals. And, obviously, I'm feeling nostalgic about it all. You rock, Count Gore DeVol.

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Back to the movies, themselves. I digress too much, I realize this.

As I've said on this page before, my mom introduced me to the monster movie. We loved 'em, and still do. A silly Godzilla flick can break up the monotony of a rainy afternoon as well - if not better- than a video game. We can watch them and goof on them together - and have fun doing it.

Not really anything scary there, though.

Shall I do a list? hmm.....when you're out of ideas, go with a list. Here's a few real oldies, and I'll add more modern movies in the days to come. Not necessarily scary, but there are creepy moments in all of them.

Dracula (1931): one of the best, and you can tell it's great because it defined - for nearly 70 years anyway -the image of the vampire. Yeah, there's a flick that pre-dated this one called "Nosferatu" that's a silent film and whose antagonist is an ugly beast, but Lugosi's monster has screen presence. He's not really scary, but commands every scene he's in. The movie does a good job of paring down the novel it's based on into an hour, so stuff's cut out. I'm no film historian, but in this movie the villain steals the show - and I have no idea if this was the first instance of that phenomena occurring on film or not.

Freaks (1932): this one haunted me. I think I saw it around '88 or '89 as part of a cult film festival. Banned in several countries and chopped up by various editors, it's something of a legendary film. Directed by the same guy (Todd Browning) who made "Dracula," it tells the story of a greedy woman doomed to a gruesome fate. The final scenes are far more creepy and chilling than most of the modern scary movies.

The Black Cat (1934): interesting film that addresses war, the human psyche, perversions, Satanic cults, and revenge. Lugosi and Boris Karloff are the stars, former WW1 vets who find each other in post-war Hungary. It ends in awful violence, and somehow what the viewer doesn't see is worse than (as in the torture porn movies today) what you can see. The movie plays games with the "who's the real bad guy?" plot, and in the end everyone gets what's coming to them.

Bride of Frankenstein (1935) : better then the original, which is pretty good. This one gives us a persecuted monster (yeah, played by Boris Karloff) being chased from place to place by people who are revolted by his appearance, even if he saves them from (for example) drowning. The mad scientists seek to give the poor bastard a mate, but- as he says - "she hate me, like them" or something like that. The monster in this movie shows himself to be a true Roman noble, with his last words being "we belong dead". Then.....KA-blooie!

OK, OK, so this is a bunch of old movies. And I left out a few I liked, like Creature from the Black Lagoon ( a redux of the "lost world" story) and the first Godzilla (a barely disguised atomic bomb allegory). What I notice is that the older movies aren't afraid of PLOT or DIALOGUE. My kids sit there and say "Dad, why do they talk so much?" It's true, the characters in the movie have extensive scenes of expository dialogue that - I guess - is too much for the ADD mind-set of today. They also tell STORIES. There are action sequences in them, to be sure, but these movies aren't the current dreck of action scene after action scene after action scene. In reality, these are little more than dramatic stories that have supernatural or sci-fi elements to them. Most are tragedies, or at least have tragic figures in them. None are especially SCARY, as we understand that term right now. There's no blood or gore, not much in terms of on-screen violence....but what is implied is worse. I guess that's what I find unsettling...that uneasy, creeped-out feeling I get when I watch some of these movies.

So, maybe watch a couple of these in the next few days. As Lugosi says, near the end of Dracula, "there are worse things than death."

Ya don't know what ya got, till it's gone

I just finished watching a piece of fanboy video in the guise of a documentary that had as its' subject matter the rise and demise of the local "horror host." It's called "American Scary," and it's a trip down memory lane.

When I was a kid, my mom plop us in front of the TV for "Monster Week" and the local TV stations would run lots of bad horror movies or monster movies. Oftentimes, my mom would watch with us. The movies themselves were almost always awful, with lousy dialogue and comically bad special effects. Among my favorites were any and all of the "Godzilla" movies and the old Hammer Dracula films which starred Christopher Lee.

As most of you might recall, if you're around my age, we used to ALSO have the "Creature Feature" shows that would run late-night on Fridays or Saturdays, and those were "hosted" by someone dressed in a costume with a cheesy set, etc.

Where I lived, it was Count Gore De Vol, who was also Captain 20 in DC.

But I'm losing my focus, what with all these run-on sentences.

Ever wonder where those guys or gals went?

The easy answer is corporate consolidation. In the late 1980's these local shows were phased out in favor of info-mercials...I mean, if you can make $6,000 for an info-mercial why pay that same $6,000 to put on a silly kid's TV show? Makes sense to me.

But, when you take people out of the world - or out of each other's lives - you lose soul. While it's true that silly Creature Feature shows were often laughably bad, they (and the kid's TV hosts that used to exist) helped create a sense of community, as corny as that sounds. I can remember sending my birthday information to Channel 20 (again, in DC) just to hear Captain 20 wish me a happy birthday, or sending in entries to whatever contest they had going (one year it was "Spin n Win" where you could get an Atari 2600 system and a several games, my brother Tom and I tried to win a bunch of times).

As dumb as all of that sounds, I think it's true in a sense. There's only so much "sameness" people want in their lives. It's why some folks are motivated to keep a McDonalds or Wal Mart out of their town. I think this is true on TV and radio as well. We're inundated with the same crap: Judge shows; the aforementioned info-mercials; the same radio playlists since 1995.......reality TV ad nauseam. Can you feel it? In a world where big media corporations crow about how much choice we have as consumers, it seems there are fewer choices than ever.

OK, now I'm not attempting to argue that America died when the local UHF stations started airing whatever programming they wanted to air. I'm merely lamenting the loss. Yeah, I'm sentimental that way.

.500 is not great

My recently busy schedule has kept me from babbling about Sunday night's Redskin game, which I'll do in a sec.

Lovely moment on the Today show this morning, where the Kentucky race for the US Senate was highlighted. Apparently, a Democrat named Conway is attacking Tea Party douchebag Rand Paul's Christianity. This must play well in Kentucky.....but doesn't it have NO RELEVANCE AT ALL?! As I understand the story, Mr. Paul was involved with a "group" in his college days that mocked Christianity. Ooooook. And this proves...what?

So, Mr. Paul, instead of a rational response in days where it's OK to attack a sitting President's faith regularly (which, likewise, matters NOT AT ALL), pitches a hissy fit and refuses to shake hands, etc. etc.

Ridiculous. I'll say it again, HOW DOES ANY OF THIS BULLSHIT MATTER?

By now, with 2 weeks left (there was an erroneous report on this blog that Election Day was November 9th.....and I still intend on voting November 9th anyway) till this awful election I'm betting most of you know who you'd like to vote for. It's beginning to feel like waiting for an execution or mercy-killing.....Just get it over with.

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I'm 28-31 for the season, and was 7-7 this week. That leaves me a whoppingly unimpressive 35-38 for the year. But it's been a season where some crazy stuff has happened, so I'll consider myself modestly successful.

Indy beats Redskins: Got this one right. But barely. Redskins had 2 chances late in the game to mount an offensive drive that would've tied or won this game. They obviously failed, and likewise failed to capitalize on several bad throws by Peyton Manning. But I'll take a close loss to one of the best QB's in the game when the Redskins have usually been exposed as a bush-league team in the past against great QBs like Manning.

Patriots beat Ravens: I took Pats at home. Loved watching this win, especially with the Ravens talking so much trash. Look, in 7 games the Patriots have beaten the Ravens 6 times, and lost once last January. That playoff loss (January 10th, 2010) was an ugly one, the Patriots didn't show up at all. Last Sunday? The Pats offense did just enough against an excellent Baltimore D and the Pats D did just enough against a decent-but-not-excellent-yet Baltimore Offense. Ravens fans? You have a good team, not a great one yet.

Minnesota beats Dallas: again, I got this right. Dallas keeps losing close games to good teams. I'm thinking that they'll start crushing teams sometime soon, but it might be November till that happens. Vikings might be headed in the right direction, unless their QB keeps misbehaving. Nice move, Brett, with the cancer surviving wife and all.

Saints beat Bucs: of course they did.

Seattle beats Chicago: whoops. Guess the Bears aint that good. See? Seattle's all over the place.

Miami beats Green Bay: Weird result, this was at Lambeau. So it goes.

St. Louis beats Chargers: of course, Norv's coaching, and he can't prepare an entire football team to play 60 minutes. Great offensive guy.....but.....

NY Giants beat Detroit: Team of Destiny is setting everyone up for a second-half explosion

Philadelphia beats Falcons: Whoops! I think I referred to Atlanta as "the best team in the NFC." I suppose, if that was the case, that I have been exposed as a nincompoop.

Pittsburgh beats Cleveland: the Rapist Returns. And he tags and bags an obviously intoxicated Browns team.

Houston beats KC: barely. Dammit. I saw the scores pop up while I was watching the Patriots game, and it looked like the Chiefs were gonna win, but then they didn't.

NY Jets beat Denver: duh. Jets are good.

SF beats Oakland: battle of the Bay, and the 49ers win a game, finally. Dammit, redux.

Tennessee beats Jax: Chris Johnson runs amok. I saw Kerry Collins in the game, but I might've been drunk. He might've been hung over. Still, I called this right.

7-7 for the week, 35-38 for the season. You're still making money if you're placing bets with me.

BLARGH!

Well, I've felt like this since Wednesday morning. Long, long week. Want a recap? Don't care? Well, for a few laughs - very few- read on. And my weekly football picks, of course.

My dad owns a beach house that's about 5 hours down the road from me. It was my grandmother's while she was alive and we all love it. But, it's older and needs work. The outside shows the wear and tear of sun and salt air - in addition to the regular homeowning chores (cleaning gutters, etc) that we all have. Except this requires a 10-hour round trip. Oh but wait, there's traffic to fight, too.

Oh, and the interior has older fixtures and is damaged as well. Plus, the place has been a dumping ground for furniture no one really wanted in their house so they'd stash it in the beach house. A very modest place became a very very cluttered modest place. But it's at the beach.

Anyway my youngest brother had purchased some new (smaller) sofas and needed help. We'd decided to take the opportunity to replace the old toilet (that always clogged, ewww) and clean up the dilapidated yard, and fix some other odds and ends.

I worked a little on Wednesday morning mowing my pal's tree field then jumped in the truck and ran to Towson for a headboard then ran to meet my brother in Severna Park. Then we drove 5 hours to the beach (or Hampton Roads, Tidewater, um....Virginia Beach). My brother complained about: 1) my driving; 2) the route I'd chosen; 3) my parental skills; and 4) just about every slow driver on the road.

But, even at its' worst, it was far better than a road trip with my kids.

So we get the sofas (delivered) and run to the Baja Cantina to enjoy their excellent fish tacos and some beer. My brother said he'd pay the meter.......of course you know there was a parking ticket on my window as we walked out.

No biggie. We picked up the new toilet and that was that. Being 2 married guys, hijinks and hilarity did not ensue.

Thursday morning was The Great Sofa Move of 2010, when 2 monstrous and extremely ugly and uncomfortable (but inexpensive) sofas met their fate. In addition to being huge and ugly and uncomfortable (I said that twice for emphasis) the were extremely heavy. Bye-bye, sofas. Breakfast was excellent, and if you're ever in Virginia Beach I recommend Nick's on Laskin Road, the sausage-egg-cheese sandwich is Aces.

Next up was a china cabinet, wherein I had the great idea of having my brother back the truck up to the landing allowing us to easily place the heavy piece of furniture on the bed of the truck. He gunned the engine, when the wheels bogged down, and nearly snapped my left leg in two with the tailgate.

Ouchies.

But I was fine. Thanks for worrying.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful but productive. We trimmed back overgrown foliage in the rain, installed a new toilet, and other unexciting crap. Honestly, when we get together and work, we can make a good team.

I think we finished it all up by 7pm Thursday and had pizza and beer at Chicho's (I recommend it, heartily) before the long ride home. Asleep by 1 AM, up at 7 for another day in paradise. And today I worked, took a sick child to the doctor's, and coached a hockey team.

I can sleep when I'm dead, I guess.

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I'm not doing so great, but I'm playing with house money.....

Indy at Redskins: I really REALLY want to pick my Redskins, but COLTS. Like every week, I think if the 'Skins scheme well enough and catch a few breaks (particularly on defense) they could win this game.

Baltimore at New England: PATS at home.

Seattle at Chicago: BEARS. Seahawks are erratic

Miami at Green Bay: PACKERS at home in chillier weather, despite injuries

San Diego at St. Louis: CHARGERS. Shaky choice for Norv's team.

Detroit at NY Giants: Team of Destiny won big last week, I'm feeling LIONS

Atlanta at Philadelphia: FALCONS might be the best team in the NFC

Cleveland at Pittsburgh: This just in, Big Ben e-mailed pictures of Little Ben to Jake Delhomme. STEELERS ....but this game might be close.

New Orleans at Tampa: SAINTS. No way they'll have another weird game like that Arizona game two weeks in a row.

KC at Houston: CHIEFS. Texans looking like the AFC version of the Redskins I'd grown accustomed to. Choking Dogs.

NY Jets at Denver: JETS.

Oakland at San Francisco: RAIDERS. Go, Jason Campbell, go...

Dallas at Minnesota: one of the toughest, if not THE toughest game to call this week. I think the Cowboys are better in terms of talent but that Minnesota defense is stout. Shaky vote for the VIKINGS

Tennessee at Jacksonville: does anyone care? TITANS

28-31 for the season, I could be doing far, far worse.

Enjoy Anvil

Not a great week

There's our boy! With the pre-op Jenn Sterger. Really. He took "her" for a ride, here, celebrating. Later, they visited "Favre's Junyard."

Rumor has it that last night at the New Meadowlands the Vikes-Jets game was postponed because Mr. Favre kept sending photos of the aforementioned Junkyard to the stadium's Jumbo-tron.

Yes, I made myself laugh. Yes, I am an idiot.

So, yet again, an American icon is taken down. I gotta say, I'm getting tired of our best and brightest reporting being wasted on the peccadilloes of politicians and celebrities. Somewhere in America, and in the world, are real problems and issues that aren't being reported on because....no one wants to read about that. We're all lazy, and prefer schadenfreude to investigative journalism.

We get the world we deserve, I guess.

Anyway, football picking is less precise than nose-picking:

GB lost to Washington. I keep picking against my 'Skins. And the Colts are on deck. Guess my pick next week? MISS

Jax beats Buffalo. I figured the Bills can't lose them all. I figured incorrectly. MISS

TB beats Cincy. Bucs are a team on the rise, Bengals are just inconsistent. MISS

Atlanta beats Cleveland: someone said the Falcons might be the NFC's best team. Hmm....HIT

Detroit beats St. Louis. YES. Finally. Can you say "run the table?" Team of Destiny starts to fulfill it. HIT

Indy beats KC. Close game. HIT

Chicago beats Carolina: HIT

Baltimore beats Denver: HIT

NY Giants beat Houston. Whaaa? What is happening in Houston? MISS

Arizona beats Saints: crazy game. MISS

Tennessee beats Dallas: the 'Boys are not out of it in a weak NFC (name three better teams.....) but each mounting loss means that Tony Romo is considering retirement and texting photos to Linda Cohn. MISS

Oakland beats Chargers: Jason Campbell cameos as a backup, Silver and Black show up to play an NFL game against Norv Turner. MISS

Philly beats 49ers: I figured San Francisco would be desperate. Nope. MISS

Jets beat Vikes: of course they did. The Vikes' QB is 41 and texting gals half his age.

Season record was 23-23, with a 5-8 week I'm in the hole again at 28-31. Not good.

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So, my stay-at-home existence is supposed to be relaxing and I often hear "well, what do you do all day?" I think life was easier when I simply had a job and would get up and out to a workplace. Now, everyone thinks I'm free to run hither thither and yon. Lots to do, so you folks who read this dreck (and there are actually people who read this, I'm shocked) will see less of me this week.

While I'm gone, enjoy Winger.

Hail Hail the gang's all here

I've been watching Redskin games a long time, never saw this guy. Not culturally sensitive. I laughed my ass off when I saw it. Preposterous. "The name Redskin is not referring to the color of a human being's skin..." says the Redskin media guide. Riiiiiiiiight. Exhibit A: Little Hiawatha here complete with Mohawk and Uggs.

Hey! Who saw that coming? I'm sure there's some big-brained Mensa type with a big old coll-ledge deeeee-gree who crunched the numbers in his or her number-crunching thing-a-ma-bob and saw DC beating Green Bay by 1,000 points. Not me.

No, this is not a blog about de-evolution.

Again, the theme of this Redskin season seems to me to be "so, this is what it's like to have a real quarterback." And, when I hear the word "quarterback" in my head it's pronounced the exact way Sonny Jurgensen says it, with the emphasis on "qua". McNabb again helps lead this team from what the type of discouraging loss we've become accustomed to around here to an amazing OT victory against a very good football team.

Moses McNabb, leading us out of exile.

Well, he wasn't perfect. And a 3-2 record evidences that. But last year, and in most of the previous 17 seasons, this would've been another loss.

The defense, again, schemed well. There were very few big plays. The Redskin d-backs can't cover a tupperware dish, but LaRon Landry can play football. As the season is progressing, Rocky McIntosh is having a pretty solid season as well, and London Fletcher is older but still a contributor. Still, they aint a bunch of superstars. Not enough push from the D-linemen, too many missed tackles and dropped interceptions.

Once again, the offense didn't run the ball effectively, but that was unsurprising against a good Green Bay defense. Ryan Torain's game won't make anyone forget Portis anytime soon. Anthony Armstrong put in a strong effort, and the TD catch (and his diminutive size) brought back shades of Alvin Garrett and Gary Clark - little guys (Smurfs!) who can catch a football. [Let's name the "big fellas" we've seen over the years: where have you gone Rod Gardner? Michael Westbrook? ]

How about that Brandon Banks? eh? EH? Not too shabby.

Anyway, are you like me? Sure, Clay Matthews, Jr is a fine linebacker, and has a tremendous head of hair....but he's not Mark Gastineau out there. Quit flexing, dumbass...you'll pull a muscle. And we're not impressed with your bicep size or hair length.

Wish he was a Redskin. Oh, wait, Vinny wouldn't draft him.

So, week 5 resulted in a big and unexpected win. Colts are on-deck next Sunday night. This is still not a talented 53-man football team, in terms of talent they're mediocre. But they've got just enough talent coupled with good coaching AND - most importantly - a guy wearing #5 who can overcome his struggles (he wasn't perfect yesterday) and lead a team in need of leading.

Now, watch. Somehow, The Danny will screw it up and not get him signed to an extension. Of course.

John Lennon and Mr. Self-Righteous

First of all, I'm writing this to clarify my previous babble. What I was trying to say - autobiographically speaking - is that I was not ever able to separate or compartmentalize emotions from physical acts. This might really be some failing on my part, or perhaps I'm just and old-soul prude who just wasn't made for these times.

Simply put, for the very very small number of women that this applies to (yes, Carol is well aware, and she's the only person who needs to be - so worry-wart family folks and busybodies can hush) I was totally and completely in love with you. In my mind, that's a compliment.

Historically, however (more autobiography), I spent most of my life working at least on weekends to have cash. This was true all through my high school and college years - so I didn't ever have much time to run wild and enjoy "the college experience." I missed out. Time was not on my side.

The people I've known who gleefully WERE able to make things "only physical" seemed to have had more fun than me. I don't begrudge them their fun.

And now were are all grown ups and raising families, so all of this is moot navel-gazing on my part.

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Today, John Lennon would've been 70, if not for the fat prick named Mark David Chapman. Another act of completely senseless violence in America, with no real point to it. Much will be written about this, of course, because the baby-boomer's working class hero was so important to that Largest Generation. There were, and have been singers and songwriters who have been better --- but most have not.

I read his recently-published biography last year, and to be honest he comes across as having been a jerk for much of his life. Egotistical. Manipulative. Somewhat abusive. Selfish and self-absorbed.

A prick, for lack of a better term. The author lays out many explanations for Lennon's behavior, and if you read it you can make your own judgments. He was far, far from the "working-class hero" he wanted to be, in my humble opinion.

By the end of the book, however, a different man emerges. He becomes a devoted father to his second son (sadly, his first son Julian was not deemed as important - he was older) and writes him the song "Beautiful Boy." His biographer intimates that, by the time Lennon reached 40, he'd learned what it meant to love.

Then, of course, he was murdered.

We'll never know what would've been. A Beatles reunion, of course, would've printed money hand over fist. We were all robbed of that.

Much will be made in the papers of today being his 70th birthday, and "Imagine" will be played over and over on some radio station. "Imagine" is a great song, but at the end of his life the man himself was all about raising and doting on his "beautiful boy." And after spending most of his life acting like a child, I hope he died a man. Safe home, Johnny.

Football picks and naughty bits

Yeah, that's her.

I watch the first hour of the Today show almost religiously, although my eyes and ears are tired at the time and I'm only paying attention in the most elemental ways (ie- my eyes are open and there is noise in the background). So, I heard this story yesterday and have my own prudish take on this former Duke U. student's "thesis." You can read the thing for yourself here.

Not a nice gal, not someone you take home to mom. Ever. There's an amusing comment someone posted after the text of the thesis that the guy who jumped off the GW Bridge was her father.

I can just imagine folks from other countries seeing this story and/or reading this "thesis" and looking for their guns and bombs. This is as good a reason as any to hate America.

Duke's not a cheap school to attend, and it has an excellent academic standing. But, like any college, I guess sowing one's wild oats is weaved into campus life. That's unsurprising. I have no way to relate to this sort of behavior. The college bar hookup was not part of my life, I've simply got no experience with it. Some of my friends did it, most did not. Typically, the people at school who made hooking up a regular practice became well known for their promiscuity and were avoided.

I guess Duke's athletes didn't care. Ewww.

There's some kind of feminist argument they're spewing over this, saying it's empowering to women who embrace their sexuality and "my, look how far we've come." I can acknowledge that our "cultural" embrace of this sort of behavior is preferable to arranged marriages and stoning people to death....but still......

Here's my take: you're given your gender roles at conception. And using them is great, one of the best things about being alive. But, with all of that comes the responsibility to recognize that: 1) you can hurt other people with them; and 2) you can hurt yourself as well. Both are important. Hypothetically speaking, sure - she might have been OK with the casualness of these sexual encounters...but the "Johns" might not (yes people, jocks have feelings too). And, while everyone can understand that a gal short-sightedly jumping into bed with every guy she takes a shine to is not necessarily a good thing....I think it should be noted that the behavior damages more than just her reputation. How will she learn to commit to a marriage (if she ever chooses to)? Or children? Or anything?

The answer, I guess, is that all of that comes with maturity. But inter-personal relationships are much more thorny and bad experiences can damage people for the rest of their lives. Some wounds you never really heal from. I think this gal's going to have some big scars. Maybe those fellas will, too.

Again, returning briefly to the terrorists, the idea that college is a playground for the upper-class who are groomed to be the next generation of American leaders is kinda awful. A 4-year extension of childhood whilst kids drink and screw to their fill. Once that ride's over, they're supposed to get a job, grow up....etc etc. Our educational system has failed them all if it accepts a "thesis" like this as a scholarly endeavor. IT'S NOT ENOUGH TO SIMPLY TELL KIDS TO "BE CAREFUL" AND "USE PROTECTION." There's a very human element to sexual behavior that transcends mere technicalities, it can be emotional and spiritual....and therein lies the problem. Good luck.

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FOOTBALL, briefly, as I'm sweating from all that preaching. I'm 23-23 for the season and want to get over that .500 mark.....

Jax at Buffalo: you think the Bills can win a home game? I do. BILLS

Tampa at Cincinnati: BENGALS, but a close game.

Atlanta at Cleveland: Cleveland has "shown life" as they say. But Atlanta is a good team this year. FALCONS

St Louis at Detroit: DETROIT. Team of destiny

KC at Indy: COLTS

Green Bay at Washington: Boy, I could see a Redskins win this week.....but probably not. PACKERS

Chicago at Carolina: BEARS

Denver at Baltimore: RAVENS

NY Giants at Houston: TEXANS

New Orleans at Arizona: SAINTS

San Diego at Oakland: CHARGERS

Tennessee at Dallas: hmm......not feeling a road team here. COWBOYS

Philly at San Fran: another desperate team....49ERS to upset

Minnesota at NY Jets: JETS, but I hate myself for the pick

Time to crow

9-5 this week, which makes me 23-23 for the season so far. After the disastrous week 3, this is welcome news. See? Aint that hard at all. And the 'Skins and Pats both won.

So, the great recap:

Eagles lost to the Redskins: whoops. Didn't believe in my team. I figure if you're betting, you shouldn't bet with your heart. Glad I was wrong. Oh, and an editor's note: apparently the Eagle's receiver is named JASON Avant and not - as your nitwit blogger wrote "Brian." Duh.

SF lost to Atlanta: close call here. Wow, what a finish. Falcons made me sweat.

Jets killed Buffalo: oliterated them. Is there even a team in Buffalo anymore?

Cincinnati lost to Cleveland: yup, called it. Seneca Wallace can play football, and that Hillis guy can run like Riggo.

Detroit lost to Packers: just barely. My Team of Destiny is 0-4. Hmmm..

Denver beats Titans: didn't see this one coming. As my geometry teacher, Brother Barry, would say....Wrong. Sad.

Seattle lost to St. Louis: seriously? Why are the Rams in St. Louis and not LA? How the f&*k did they beat Seattle?

Carolina lost to New Orleans: Saints are looking very very beatable but have won more than they've lost. Long season in......oh, you've heard that before.

Ravens beat Steelers: and The Rapist is back under center soon. Are you like me? Would you be nervous if you were his center?

Houston beats Oakland: well, of course.

Indy lost in Jacksonville: how does "LA Jaguars" grab you? Indianapolis has apparently called Don Rumsfeld....they need a defense... annnnnnd rimshot!

Arizona lost to Chargers: yeah, Rivers can throw. But Norv's still the coach.

Chicago lost to NY Giants: badly missed this one. But the Giants were looking poor.

Pats drop Miami: what'd I say? # 12? Well, I should've also said #25 in your playbook and #1 in your hearts, Patrick Chung. An amazing display of special teams prowess (or is it LUCK?) last night. Patriots looked pretty good. Miami? Not as good.

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You might have noticed that the MLB season came to an end last Sunday. Or, better yet, you might've been too busy to notice because this NFL season is really compelling so far. Well, my Red Sox hung tough but injuries killed them down the stretch. The Dodgers? Their season was over in July. Locally, the Nats and Birds didn't do anything amazing to get themselves in the playoffs, either. Still, there was the encouraging sign of a late-season Oriole surge and the hopes that the Bosox will be more competitive next year. Dodgers and Nats, errr.....

Enough about my teams. Baseball's playoffs are almost as compelling as hockey's, especially in the LCS games. The possibility of a 7-game set really stokes the animosity, and if we're lucky enough to get a game 7 this season it's almost better than any NFL game.

This year's AL matchups are Texas-Tampa and NY-Minnesota. The HATED Yankees missed out on drawing a Ranger team that beat them plenty this season, but NY's September swoon should not fool anyone - they're more than capable of repeating as World Series champs this year. I think the AL will see yet another all-AL East ALCS, with Tampa and the Yankees going head-to-head. So, Minnesota and Texas? Not this year.

The NL features the upstart Cincinnati Reds against the Phillies, and Atlanta vs SF Giants. I want to see Cincy and Atlanta play in the NLCS, but most likely we'll see Philadelphia's superior bats against Frisco's superior pitching.

It wouldn't shock me to see another Yankee-Phillies series this October, or a repeat of the Tampa-Phillies Series from two seasons back. Hard to pick against the AL, but that-they say- is why the games are played.

Y'know what sucks? All these games are played LATE. If I try to watch them all, as I did in 2004 and 2007, I'm an October ZOMBIE. Perhaps it's a good thing all my teams lost, I'm sure my wife likes me better after a good night's sleep.

Farewell for now. Enjoy the beer nuts

Spinning on the defense

Thanks to the Today show, I was reminded of the above-pictured Mr. James Jones. Instead of babbling excitedly about yesterday's Redskins win, I wanted to give his 15 minutes a few words.

I'm pretty sure everyone's heard or read the story about this guy, he walked onto his daughter's school bus and confronted the driver and the mean kids bullying her (she has cerebral palsy, I think). Went on a bit of a tirade and, I think, made a few threats but never assaulted anyone.

Because apparently EVERY story is ideological these days (recall, if you will, the congressmen apologizing to BP execs this Spring) Fox's so-called news programming, displayed him as some kind of folk hero taking on the faceless bureaucratic education system. I think CNN played it straight, I can't recall because I saw most of the coverage on the gym's TV and they had 2 tuned to Fox. Anyway, the gist of Fox's spin on the story was that he was a heroic parent who confronted the "system," and that he'd done nothing wrong.

James Jones took a couple days and did something Fox didn't expect. He found some TV cameras and publicly apologized to the driver and the kids who were on the bus. He admitted that he'd behaved improperly and should've handled the situation better.

As with the initial story, I saw this on Fox. The angry white gal anchor, her lip in a sneer, and Bill the walking Ken doll, asked why in the world he felt the need to apologize for anything. The self-righteous spin on the story was that his kid was being bullied and that he was in the right. Mr. Jones saw it differently.

Who wouldn't want to protect their own babies when they're being bullied or humiliated? Mr. Jones' actions are, to me, completely understandable and I sympathize. I've had my kids picked on and I've had to talk to teachers or other parents to try and get mean kids off my kids' backs. It's not fun, indeed it's very awkward. And every time I've had to do it I've felt like I was walking the line between meddling too much and not doing enough.

However, I'm in the fortunate position of not having a disabled child. I remember how disabled kids were treated when I was in school, so- again- I sympathize with Mr. Jones' plight and that of his daughter.

He was wrong to act in the way he did. Yelling at a bunch of kids, even mean kids, isn't an appropriate response. Yelling at a bus driver, again, not appropriate. Talking? Yes. Yelling? No. I realize that the school system is probably not perfectly responsive to this kind of behavior, but it's the best place to start. We can't be adults and act like cowboys. The real world aint "Rambo" or "Die Hard." Even when we'd like it to be.

He was wrong in his actions, and apparently upon reflection he admitted as much. Good for him. I particularly enjoy the fact that he made a point of making his apology very public (he didn't need to do so). There's a "narrative" being pushed by Fox News that "we the people" can act like ridiculous cowboys when dealing with any situation that arises. It's like the folks at Fox are dumbing Americans down to these caricatures of the Ugly American that some Europeans believe we are.

Nope. We are not all cowboys, or Rambo. We're grown-ups, too, and can behave that way. Yes, we all have our flaws. But the true test of one's mettle is NOT in "sticking to your guns" and childishly refusing to admit (to yourself and the world) that you behaved wrongly. When the rubber meets the road, the stronger man (if, as in this case, he was in the wrong) admits he was.

Alrighty, enough of that.

Ah, my first wife pulled through with pretty good color yesterday. I fully expected Vick and his dogpack to destroy the Redskin defense, boy was I surprised. An out-of-nowhere running game, a guy named Haynesworth actually playing football, and a great non-catch by Philly's Brian Avant. Thanks, Brian, you could've won the game but....didn't.

This is gonna be the way this season goes I think. One week UP, the next DOWN. Stephon Heyer couldn't block a 5-year old, and he'd false start anyway...or hold the kid. Sheesh. He's fine for a backup but I hope Trent Williams gets well soon. Where's Devin Thomas?! Who cares. Carlos Rogers....pick up Tony Kornheiser's white courtesy phone .. and TRY NOT TO DROP IT!!!

Whaddya hear on sports talk in DC? "A win's a win!" "I'll take it." Blah blah blah. We've got a flawed team here, Redskins fans, that is being coached well enough to compete week to week. It's more fun that Coach Z...so be happy nonetheless.

So strike up the band, "Hail to the Redskins", and next week we'll see if they've got yet another horseshoe up their butts.

Songs in the Key of.....

Happy Fri-dee! My wife is now returned from a jaunt to L.A. and I'm not a travel widower or single parent anymore. 48 hours of single-parenthood is tough but not insurmountable, you suck it up and survive it. So, too, do the kids.

While she was away giving a speech on behalf of Your Socialist Government Who Wants to Enslave Us All, she had a "field assignment" to taste-test which fast-food burger is better: 5 Guys or In-N-Out Burger. According to her scientific one-person study, and after exhaustive laboratory testing.... she says 5 Guys is better.

(I can't recall. I last had an In-N-Out cheeseburger [and shake] in Vegas 10 years ago). So that settles that.

Stephen King wrote a piece in a recent Entertainment Weekly about songs he liked, and I thought I'd take a spin through the iPod and - before picking NFL games- display my intellectual laziness (and continue my Quest to Fill Up the World Wide Web) with a friggin' list Lists suck, and this will no doubt prove that....

Lake, Christmas Island : it's the sweet little song that plays at the end of episodes of my older son's favorite show, "Adventure Time." I "get" the show now, it's about a boy and his weird best-pal dog with stretchy legs. A little absurdist, yes. But the song captures the essence of what I think the show's about.

Pearljam, In My Tree and The End : Eddie Vedder has penned some beautiful songs, and these are two examples (I'm partial to "Parachutes" as well). "Tree" borrows it's theme from the Beatles classic "Strawberry Fields" and is plaintively sung. The End is another sweet song, Vedder's vocals sound world-weary and, well, like a guy who's ready for the end but doesn't wanna die alone or without taking his last few moments to express his love.

Liz Phair, Supernova: Lordy, I had the big old Liz Phair crush with this song. Wish she'd written it about me...

Social D, cover of Under My Thumb: the Stones classic, sped up. This song rocks.

Lady Gaga, Bad Romance: shut up, I'm not gay. Great song, I'm waiting for the metal re-mix

Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Television the Drug of the Nation: oldie but a goodie. "Race baiting is the way to get selected, Willie Horton or will he not get elected"

Abba, Dancing Queen: oh, hold up....some songs are great because - when you're a parent - your kids love 'em too.

Against Me!, Ache With Me, White Crosses, Lehigh Acres: AM! pumps out pop-punk with some folkie songs tossed in. Good songs, not necessarily deep-thinking stuff but good stuff. "...easy money in the sunshine state..."

The Prodigy, Stand Up: pretty cool song, I'm not a big electronica fan. This song's prominently featured in the movie "Kick Ass" (a good comic book movie that suffers only because there are so many comic-book movies being cranked out). Song puts a smile on me, and I have no idea why - and that may be the highest praise I could offer any song.

Morrissey, The World is Full of Crashing Bores: like the guy writing this blog. The Bard of Manchester's voice is getting older but his songwriting skill is undiminished. Funny and poignant.

Black Francis, Threshold Apprehension: another older song. The Pixies made great music, then their "leader" went solo. I loved most of his songs, this one's really good, "Grand Marnier and a pocketful of speed/ we did it all day till we started to bleed..."

Beatles, Help!, I am the Walrus, and Strawberry Fields: Only got "into" the Fab Four a few years ago, and I have no idea why. My mom is a big fan, and I grew up hearing the stuff. I guess I thought I was too cool for it. Of course, they put out tons a great songs, and these are two of my favorites. You've heard 'em.

Steve Earle, I Can Wait, Rake: Steve Earle puts out great music no one hears. I Can Wait is about 10 years old now, but it's a beautiful song. Rake is a Townes Van Zandt cover that Earle's voice and spare instrumentation conveys tremendous sorrow and defiance all at once. Days Aren't Long Enough is likewise a beautiful song, a duet with his current wife, I think.

Pete Yorn, Burrito: I dig this song. Simple but fun.

Rolling Stones, Rocks Off: a truly great Stones song. They put out a bunch, and Exile on Main Street is a tremendous example of what they used to be. Rebellious, dangerous, and they could rock.

Oh, I think that's quite enough of that. Thanks for the induglence...or is that crickets I hear??

Onwards, ever forward:

It's week 4 of your fantanbulous NFL season and I'm awful at picking games so far. There's always this week and it's a bye week for some teams so I might have a better record....

Washington at Philly: who knows what to expect? A football game? A Haynesworth all-you-can-eat smorgasbord?(perhaps he'll use his $21 million to feed Sudan?). Dogfighting. Hey...are you like me? Rooting for Vick and McNabb to have 1,000 passing yards between them so some dumb color analyst can call the game a "dogfight." I'm here all week! It pains me to have to choose, EAGLES.

SF at Atlanta : FALCONS

NY Jets at Buffalo: Bills have to win sometime. Not this week. JETS

Cincy at Cleveland: Cleveland showed life on Sunday vs. Ravens. BROWNS at home.

Detroit at GB: PACKERS at home. My Team of Destiny has to lose sometime.

Denver at Tennessee: TITANS at home

Seattle at St. Louis: tricky game to call. A shaky vote for SEATTLE

Carolina at NO: long season for Panthers. SAINTS

Baltimore at Pitt: I just nabbed Charlie Batch to spot-start on my last-place fantasy team. This is the dreaded KISS OF DEATH. Therefore, RAVENS

Houston at Oakland: TEXANS

Indy at Jax: COLTS

Arizona at San Diego: CHARGERS at home, though Cards could easily win this one because Norv Turner coaches San Diego

Chicago at NY Giants: oof. BEARS

NE Patriots at Miami: another tough call. Patriot defense is really poor right now and Miami's D is pretty good. I can see Miami winning this one with great defense and a steady offense. A shaky vote for my PATRIOTS here, all because of #12.

Adieu, adieu. Love to y'all. Thank you both for reading.