HOME
MARCH
Previous: 3/10/5: Cold Nights,
Warm Beers, and Hot Boxes
Next: 3/15/05: Tales from the Kryptonite
|
3/14/5: Unrelated Weekend Stuff To quote my literary hero, Jim Anchower, I know it's been a long time since I last rapped at ya. And I wish I could stage a dramatic return with some kickass observations, eye-opening links, and maybe even a story or two. But really, I've been way too busy/distracted/tired/stupid to come up with much of anything. Which is why it comes as a great relief and a real honor to announce that verbungle.com is going to be the exclusive home of reader favorite Dan K.'s triumphant return to online journaling. It seems every time the verbungle staff begins to wear down, someone comes out of the wings to pick us up and keep the train rolling. Dan has provided the following introduction for his fine experiment: I am listening to my iPod straight through,
all the songs, in alphabetical order. I am aware that this is a
semi-masturbatory thing to do, and an exhibitionist one at that as I would like
to catalogue the results on your site. I'm calling the series "iPonderous." *** It was a busy weekend and I'll get to the boring details in a second. But first I need to address the controversy stemming from last Thursday's Lyric Stumpah. It seems that EJ and Kissel both rang in with the correct answer at exactly 12 noon. EJ must have pressed "send" a split-second earlier, because haloscan posted her response first. It was a situation I don't think we've ever had before: two correct answers at exactly the first minute when they could legally be posted. It was made even more confusing by haloscan's bizarre time-stamping, which marked all 12:00 answers as 12:10 pm. I didn't know exactly what to do. While EJ clearly seemed to have buzzed in first, Kissel had also responded in the very first possible minute. To accept one answer over the other seemed slightly unfair, but to give both players the points wouldn't be right either. EJ had been first and shouldn't have to share those points. I put it before the verbungle.com board of directors, and then I passed it by the boys at Price Waterhouse Coopers, who are overseeing the integrity of this round of stumpage. Both groups said give the points to EJ alone. But as the CEO and Grand Puba of verbungle.com, I knew it was ultimately up to me. So on Thursday night, I crawled into the closet with a bottle of rum, a 64 ounce cup of Dr. Pepper, and the verbungle.com Code of Ethics. And I swore I wouldn't come out until I had answers: I needed to determine who had won and if the rules as they stand are fair. It was tougher than I expected. I ended up going through four bottles of rum and 320 ounces of soda, and as you may have noticed I was unable to post anything for the last three days. I had to ask myself, "Do I really want people sitting in front of their computers, waiting until noon comes so they can post their response? Is that the true spirit of the stumpah? Especially with all the goofy time-stamping that haloscan is capable of, is it fair to force the competitors into such a silly routine?" The answer, I decided, was a Big Fat Yes. The noon rule stands.** The points go to EJ alone. Kissel, you're still my A Number One Honcho, but I had to do what Grandpa Bungle would have told me to do. When in doubt, give the points to the pretty lady. ***
1. For the fourth consecutive Saturday, we had a new TV delivered. And with this attempt, our television saga seems to finally have a happy ending. Or at least a happy beginning. We ponied up and got a 34" widescreen HDTV, and while it's too soon for an official review, the early results indicate that both husband and wife are very, very happy. Big Ups to Joe Monkeyweb, who interrupted his viewing of Das Boot on Friday night to rush over and help me get the TV stand upstairs. It weighed about 125 pounds, so Joe's willingness to share his furniture dolly came in major handy. The TV itself arrived Saturday, and the mover guys were so efficient in getting it onto the stand that I felt a little ashamed of how proud Joe and I had been when we moved his TV into position a few weeks ago. Once again, let it be said that movers are really quite good at moving stuff around. On to the TV: The HD image is so good, I find myself only watching the 20-odd channels that are broadcast in HD. That's a problem, especially because one of those channels is what Joe calls the "HDTV Propaganda Channel," just a series of programs, like horse racing, that you would never choose to watch if the image wasn't so ridiculously beautiful. The good news is that there is another generic HD channel that shows lots of NBA TV in HD. I watched the Mavericks-Bucks rebroadcast the other night, and it was an entirely new viewing experience. Just detail and clarity that I have never seen before. The best thing might be how clearly you can see the fans in the background. I think I may have recognized a few old college buddies among the Bradley Center faithful. These games are doubly amusing because the brilliant, high-tech image quality is dramatically offset by the hack local TV teams who cover the games. Homers, each and every one of 'em. Makes me miss Marv, who actually called the games objectively and well for so many years in NY and will soon be doing it again in NJ. On Saturday it was my old favorite Jon McGlocklin. Johnny Mac used to crack me up in college, pulling so hard for the Bucks that I found myself worrying about the safety of opposing players when things weren't going Milwaukee's way. So that was a treat, and then I got Tommy Heinsohn tonight for Celtics-Wizards. Heinsohn is a delight. He makes no effort to hide his partisanship, and his gruff Brooklyn voice never fails to make me laugh. Arenas and Hughes are a pleasure to watch, too. Oh, back to the TV for a second. My one possible regret, and the real truth won't be known for a couple more years at least, is getting the set with the 16 x 9 aspect ratio. It's great for movies, and for programs that are in HD, but I would say 94% of existing television shows are in 4 x 3. This means that most of the time you are watching a screen with two huge grey bars along the sides. Of course, more and more programming will be in HD in the coming years, so we'll hold off on an official judgment on this issue for now. Bottom line: this new TV is incredible and I love it. I plan on watching the shit out of it over the next ten years. 2. Played ball on Saturday. Third straight time that I've stunk up the joint. With age creeping up on me, I begin to wonder if this is as good as it's gonna get from here on out. Depressing. Until I have another strong showing, I will modify my lifelong age/basketball playing ability chart as follows (30=solid JV contributor): Age 0-14: 2 In my defense, I am all banged up right now. But this has to improve or I may retire early, just like my defensive mentor, Harold Miner. One interesting note: a well-known rapper who is part of our Saturday game got a gift recently. Adidas sent him a pair of personalized sneakers, with his band's most recent album title printed faintly between the stripes, and his MC name stitched to the heel. That's when you know you've arrived. Shoe companies send you your own shoe just because they want to. The Hans Bungle Special Edition LX from Kangaroos is probably a year or two away. 3. Got to go out for a bit Saturday night. It felt good to take advantage of the fact that I can now walk to the East Village. The wife and I had dinner at Orologio, a nice little Italian place on Avenue A that I haven't been to in about seven years. It was still good. Not great great, but good. Hot soft bread right outta the oven. Mmm. Then I went out to meet up with the fellas at Lucy's. It was great to see the guys and drink a couple of reasonably priced Bud bottles. D. Lee is sporting a fine beard. Lucy's is a great place, like a Blue and Gold on steroids. Or a Bizarro Blue and Gold on HGH. Call me an old man, tell me my beer-drinking skills have dropped from a career high of 30 in 1995 to a 14 in 2005, but I must say I like going out and having a couple and getting home by 1:30 with a semi-clear head. Not as many fun stories these days, but after a while it was the same story every time anyway. And I was usually the bad guy who gets his in the end. Whatever. Lucy's gets a 26.75 on the VRS, but the dude who dominated the pool table all night by beating up on scrubs like me gets a 7.2. Although he was actually perfectly polite, just a little too good for the competition. One of the best players I've ever seen, and I've seen, um, well, he was really good. 4. Had the pops over for Sunday brunch, which was really good. Major respeck to the wife for pulling it all together while I neglected the one task (stirring the apples in the pan) that I had been assigned. *** Finally, wheredat? Not the picture above, you ninnies, the picture I'm linking to. * He's already sent in the first four, I just haven't gotten a chance to post
'em yet. I am choosing to give you bastards a little at a time, so you are
forced to keep returning for more. |
