Stuff about Documentaries

I love documentaries. They are always interesting...unless they aren't. Check out this new site that is coming out where you can stream documentaries for free:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUKN1640217320080717

i'm down

Stuff about the Wii

Check out the new games and features Nintendo is planning on releasing for the Wii. Some pretty cool interactive stuff. Gaming consoles in general are poised to be the killer app connecting the internet to the TV. Mark it zero.

Already this week Xbox announced you can download Netflix movies directly to your Xbox. It's about time.

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-nintendo-wii-motion-feedback-to-improve-with-new-remote-accessory/

Stuff about Ian Curtis

My network of informants has uncovered this disturbing item: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/7486280.stm

If Blogger actually worked, i'd be able to make this a hyper link, but alas, it doesn't.

Anyway, it is sad that Ian Curtis's headstone was stolen. Who would steal a headstone? What would you do w/ it? That's messed up.

In other, more enlightening news, I'm going to check out the girls in bikinis at Sheep's Meadow today. holler.

Stuff about stuff

Check out this post on Gawker. Apparently the US is the most drugged out country in the world. This doesn't even count prescribed drugs which I'm sure the US leads in also:

http://gawker.com/tag/drugs/?i=397668&t=we-are-the-champions-of-drugs

Stuff about Arrested Development

I never found this show to be that funny, but I know some people who do, so this is for them:

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/06/jeffrey-tambor.html?xid=rss-hollywoodinsider-20080630-'Arrested%20Development'%20movie%20is%20on,%20says%20Jeffrey%20Tambor

They are making an Arrested Development movie.

Stuff about Nudity

Anyone down to check out Sandy Hook, NJ nudist beach? I'm out, but if you go, please take pictures and send it to our comments mailbox...you know the address.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/nyregion/30naked.html



By the way, I've quit my job to focus exclusively on this blog. Now that the cash is coming in, I need someone to help me w/ my couponing efforts, my telecommunications and internet infrastructure, and someone to generally push some paper around and make some suggestions (anyone know a consultant?). Feel free to apply in the comments section.

Stuff about Laos & Gen Vang Pao

This is one of the saddest stories I have seen, and another example of the terrible consequences of the CIA's efforts around the world at the expense of everyone else.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/magazine/11pao-t.html?scp=1&sq=vang+pao&st=nyt

Basically, the CIA armed the Hmong (a minority people in Laos) and enlisted them to fight the North Vietnamese and Laotian Communists in the 60s/70s during the Vietnam War. Of course, we weren't officially in Laos during those times but our "presence" and efforts resulted in Laos being the most bombed country in the history of the world (a stat that still stands). When the U.S. pulled out of SE Asia, we took some of the Hmong leaders (including Gen. Vang Pao) to the U.S. and left the rest of them to fend for themselves in the jungles, on the run from the victorious Communists.

Now, the U.S. government is prosecuting Gen. Vang Pao, 78, as a terrorist for allegedly trying to purchase arms to overthrow the Laotian government. Never mind that the evidence seems dubious and close to a set up. Even if it were true, he is only doing what we asked him to do 40 years ago. And now, our government is trying to put him in jail.

Stuff about the NY Rangers

This is a battle royale amongst two flea-brained idiots: http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3452292

The NHL is threatening to kick the Rangers owners out of the league over their lawsuit. The Rangers want control of their website instead of league control.

I don't know who to root for in this clash. The only good thing that could come out of it is major embarrassment to James Dolan. that would be good.

Stuff about Spying

How does George Bush and this administration still have the political capital to bend and break laws at their will and force changes to the laws to allow for their illegal activities? Is there no one in Washington with a spine? It's amazing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/opinion/18wed1.html

Stuff about the Mets

I don't know where all of this last minute love for Willie Randolph is coming from in the press. Two weeks ago (and since last september really) the press was lambasting him. Firing him was the right thing to do last September. Giving him time to turn around was gracious. Willie never changed his style, never showed any emotion and didn't win. Good riddance. Yes firing the guy at 3am, after flying to LA the day before was a stupid and inexplicable move, but at the same time, if he got fired on Father's Day the day before, the press would have been all over the Met's for that too. Moral of the story, the press is a cheap whore that goes to bed w/ anyone who will help them get money. They don't care about anyone other than to sensationalize their achievements or problems. The true measure of Willie's performance is that he rarely got the most of his players. Look at the great managers (LaRussa, Cox, Torre, Pinella) and they always get their players to put up better years than they did elsewhere. Willie never did that. He didn't seem to inspire anyone.

Omar might be next, since he has performed only adequately. He has had some good acquisitions and signings and some stinkers. The true measure of his performance is that we still don't have any minor league talent at all. Yes he traded some for Johan, but those guys all sucked anyway.

Onwards and sideways!

Stuff about NYC

This is a great idea:
www.nysun.com/new-york/city-will-close-five-miles-of-manhattan-road/80058/

They should block off certain streets permanently and make them pedestrian only. Too many cars in NYC anyway.

Stuff about the US Open

I'm live blogging the US Open golf playoff since I have nothing else to do. Here we go:

Why is Tiger wearing red today? it isn't a Sunday. it throws off his whole concept. Red is for sunday's only. And while we're on it, it is a pretty cheeky concept to begin with. Who makes a rule that he wears the same color on Sunday's every tournament? That is random. Why red? why not green since he's playing for money?

Stuff About Elian Gonzalez

Anyone else find it funny that Elian Gonzalez has joined the young communists?

Again, links still don't work. what kind of crappy blog site is this?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080616/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cuba_elian_gonzalez;_ylt=Ar._t1Z0qS7ndxV5QtUmRVis0NUE

Stuff about my blog

I am overwhelmed by the response in letters and comments that people want more of this blog. i'm still sorting through all the email so I apologize if it takes a while for me to get back to you.

Let me say this though: I have decided to reopen this blog and continue to feed you insightful information about stuff.

If you have specific topics of interest, let me know.

Stuff about the NCAA Tournament Player Pool

This explains why Chris Lofton did so terribly for me in the player pool this year:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/luke_winn/05/28/chris.lofton/index.html

He had silently undergone treatment for testicular cancer before the season and clearly wasn't full strength all year.

Chris - I take back all of the nasty things I said about you during your 7pts/game tournament run. It killed my chances as you were my #1 draft choice, but now that I know the truth, I feel a little better. hope you do too.

Stuff about Mike Piazza

Mike Piazza retired today with a classy statement:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080520/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbo_piazza_retires;_ylt=At_mrSUfWtTICyY6I1sFk26s0NUE

Even though I know people who think Mike Lieberthal was a better catcher than Piazza was, Piazza will always be #1 in my book. Aside from Keith Hernandez, he is my favorite Met of all time. The guy could hit bombs to all parts of the park. Here's hoping he goes into the Hall of Fame with a Mets cap on!!

As Mike says: "But I have to say that my time with the Mets wouldn't have been the same without the greatest fans in the world. One of the hardest moments of my career, was walking off the field at Shea Stadium and saying goodbye. My relationship with you made my time in New York the happiest of my career and for that, I will always be grateful."

Stuff about Bill O'Reilly

This is a classic interpretation of Bill O'Reilly's Inside Edition meltdown. Must view material even if you've seen the original.



Thanks to DW for the link.

Stuff about Investors

To my faithful readers, I am writing an open letter in seek of passive (or active) investors. We are looking to raise a Series A round (in the ballpark of $1MM) in order to expand our server capacity and infrastructure, as well as begin an advertising campaign designed at increasing unique visitors.

Please leave a comment in this section with your contact info and a member of our corporate strategy team will get back to you to discuss terms.

We at SYLS look forward to announcing a deal shortly which well help take our site to the next level (and off Blogspot where the links don't even work anymore)

--The management

Stuff about Gossip

My network of informants and social climbers has uncovered a juicy tidbit:

What 30+ celeb was recently diagnosed w/ Mono, only days after being caught making out w/ Lindsay Lohan at a corner table at the Chateau Marmont? My informant overheard Lindsay saying, "I can't resist his hair".

Let's hope that's all he caught from Lindsay!

Stuff about Fantasy EPL

The legendary season is over. I'm not one to brag (yes I am) but this was a season for the ages. Let's recap some of the accomplishments:

1) Finished in 32nd place overall out of ~1.6 million people
2) Was in the top 50 overall since December
3) Finished 1st overall in the U.S. (led the U.S. from December on)
4) Captured my second league title (Beckham and Eggs) with a dominating performance, winning by 171 points.
5) Captured first Gazza Premier League title by 209 points
6) Finished 3rd among Tottenham fans

My supporters even came up with a chant: "Are you Island FC in disguise?"

Stuff about tax loopholes

It's amazing how many tax loopholes there are for powerful corporations. This editorial from NY Times explains how Congress will try to close the tax loophole that allows Defense contractors to avoid paying taxes by locating in tax havens like the Cayman Islands.

Companies like KBR, a former Halliburton subsidiary (previously run by Dick Cheney) get billions of dollars from the U.S. Defense Department and then don't pay taxes on that income. Wow, very patriotic. What a scam!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/opinion/09fri2.html?hp

Stuff about Ayn Rand

Check out this link from Gawker which talks about some movie exec's quest to make Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. None other than Angelina Jolie would star as Dagny Taggart.

http://gawker.com/5006930/movie-rights-to-godless-ayn-rand-novel-acquired-from-catholics

He is also trying to make The Fountainhead which would (not coincidentally?) star Brad Pitt as Howard Roark.

I'm down! I can't see how they would make a movie worthy of these two books, but I applaud the effort. They have already once turned The Fountainhead into a movie, in 1949, starring Gary Cooper.

Stuff about Prison

This is amazing. The U.S. has more prisoners than any other country in the world.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/us/23prison.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

By comparison, China, (which has over 1.2 billion people to the U.S.'s 300 million), has 1.6 million prisoners vs. 2.3 million for the U.S.

Combine this w/ the # of executions that the U.S. is responsible for and it sure doesn't sound like we are the "land of the free".

BTW - For some reason when I publish links now, they don't show up as Hyperlinks. If you want to read the article, copy and paste the URL into a browser. Back to Web 0.5 I guess

Stuff about Patriotism

This article (by David Barstow) is another example of how much America has lost its way.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

It's really long (3 1/2 full pages in the Sunday NY TImes), so I'll summarize:
Since before the Iraq war, the Pentagon (and later Attorney General Gonzales) has used retired military "experts" to "amplify" the White House's messages on the major news networks' coverage of the war. They pumped out talking points on weapons of mass destruction, that things were going well, that we didn't need more troops, etc. etc.

The rub is that almost all of these retired military men are still connected to the military industrial complex. They are either CEOs, Board members, consultants or lobbyists for defense companies and clients. In return for being talking heads for the administration, these patriots got inside access to the Pentagon's leaders which they could use to grow their businesses. And if they criticized the administration on air, there was the potential that they would lose their inside access and even their companies' contracts.

I don't know who is most at fault in this, the Pentagon, the retired "military analysts", or the networks for being complicit, but basically all three were getting what they want. For the analysts and networks it was money (for their businesses and through ratings for the networks). For the Pentagon it was a "credible" voice to dispel their BS.

This is capitalism at it's worst. None of these people were being moral, ethical or patriotic. They were all angling for their individual benefit to the detriment of the US and its citizens.

Is there anyone left who actually cares about doing the right thing for America or has everyone turned to just chasing money and power regardless of the consequences?

There are way too many amazing things in this story to cover all here, but some of the most distressing passages include:

"Some analysts said that even before the war started they privately had questions about the justification for the invasion, but were careful not to express them on air."

"Some email messages between the Pentagon and the analysts reveal an implicit trade of privileged access for favorable coverage."

Stuff about George Bush and the Pope

Check out The Daily Show's coverage of the Pope's visit to the White House.



The whole thing is very funny, but the most amazing piece is at the 6 minute mark where you can hear George Bush's reaction to the Pope's speech. It's amazing. He's like a little child. I'm not really a Pope worshipper but I would think he expects and deserves a little more formality and respect than Bush afforded him.

Can we go back to having a President who isn't an average Joe? Please!

Stuff about Luang Prabang

This is why tourism sucks: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/world/asia/15laos.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

I love traveling as much (if not more) than the next person, but it is a tenuous activity. Even if you embrace the culture while you're there, you're still changing that same culture by being there. Go anywhere that is off-the-beaten path and you are in effect, beating the path down and making that place what you are trying to escape.

It's sad to see and even more sad to be a part of. 100 years from now, if the Earth makes it that long, we will be one gigantic strip mall of Starbucks, McDonalds and KFCs.

On the other side though, if poorer places like Luang Prabang (and Laos in general), can lift their standard of living by inviting tourism (consequently sacrificing their culture), isn't that their prerogative? Who are we to say whether that is a bad thing or a good thing. It's a delicate balance w/ no clear answer unfortunately.

Anyway, it's sad to hear that Luang Prabang is losing it's culture b/c of too many tourists. However, it's only sad to me b/c I've been there already and been one of those tourists, so what does that make me?

If you are gonna go there, make sure to check out the 2 sets of waterfalls outside of the city. Stunning and great swimming holes.

Stuff about Colombia

My apologies to all I offended in misspelling the country Colombia. I meant no disrespect. It was right there in the article and I should have gotten it right. Thank you to the commenter for pointing it out. (and I agree w/ your view on ColUmbia also).

Let me say here that I love Colombia. Any country that kills it's defender for scoring an own goal in the '94 World Cup has my respect!

The Offside Rules: Gossip Gossip Gossip: Riquelme to MLS

The Offside Rules: Gossip Gossip Gossip: Riquelme to MLS

My boy Shawn commented on a great rumor: Juan Roman Riquelme (currently 25th in the world in EPL Fantasy) might be coming to the MLS. I'd get that jersey.

Stuff about MarioKart

Check out this link for some great footage of what the new MarioKart game for Wii looks like. It comes out soon. Can't wait!

http://www.mariokart.com/wii/

Stuff about Patrick Ewing

Congrats Patrick!! You deserve it.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04082008/sports/knicks/saint_patrick_105487.htm

Patrick Ewing was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in his first try. While it's sad for me that one of my basketball idols is old enough to be in the HOF, I'm psyched for him b/c he was amazing. Dominating on offense and defense, the Knicks had a chance to win ever night for 15+ years b/c of #33. If Pat Riley (who also got inducted to the HOF yesterday) had the balls to tell John Starks to stop shooting in Game 6 of the 1994 NBA Championship series, Patrick would have gotten a ring in the pros to go w/ his Georgetown title.

Now it's time to elect Bernard King!

Stuff about Political Consultants

Is treason too strong of a word for this? http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/us/politics/07hillary.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Here's the summary:

1) Hillary Clinton opposes a bilateral trade treaty with Columbia
2) Mark Penn, Clinton's top presidential advisor is also still CEO of a PR firm, Burson-Marsteller
3) As his role as CEO he has been hired (and met with) the president of Columbia to work with Columbia on passage of said bilateral trade treaty.

Fine, maybe it's not treason, but at best it's a major conflict of interest. This guy is in a key position influencing a candidate for President's views and opinions. Very sketchy if you ask me.

Political consultants are definitely part of the problem (along w/ the party system in general).

Mark Penn's PR firm's other clients include: Countrywide Financial and Blackwater.

Ironically, the Columbian gov't fired the PR firm b/c they were "insulted that he was distancing himself from them"

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams would not stand for this.

Stuff about Black Holes

This definitely sounds like the way the world is going to end to me: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/science/29collider.html?scp=1&sq=particle+accelerator&st=nyt

We're way too smart for our own good. I've always said that I want to be around when the apocolypse hits, but I didn't realize it would be so soon. I wonder what it will be like to be swallowed by a black hole. I wonder if it will be like Carl Sagan's Contact, where black holes are really gateways to time travel and other galaxies? I hope so.

Stuff about first pitches

Listen to the boos that rain down on Bush as he throws out the first pitch at the Nationals game the other day. He sure gets off that mound quickly.

Listening to Jon Miller and Joe Morgan call a Bush pitch, I ask you, does it get any better?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4kMzBYFvwU

Stuff about Paul Krugman

Once again, Paul Krugman gets it right. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/opinion/31krugman.html?hp

He is consistently the most thoughtful economist out there. He is always able to boil issues down to what they are without shilling for any political party.

Stuff about Buzz Words

What is McCain talking about? It seems like he's just spouting out buzz words in random order. None of his sentences connect to the next one. According to him, Iran is training Al Qaeda so they can enter Iraq. It's "widely accepted and reported on". Oh wait, that's not what he meant at all. Did he say Al Qaeda? He meant the much vaguer "extremists". Thanks to Joe Lieberman for correcting him on camera.

Stuff about Jim Cramer

Check out what Jim Cramer had to say about Bear Stearns on 3/11 (less than a week before they collapsed)



In all fairness to Cramer, he was talking about pulling money out of Bear Stearns money management services, not out of Bear Stearns common stock, but it is still hilarious. Especially the part where he says, "Bear Stearns is fine!"

Stuff about new NY Governor on The Daily Show

Great video clip from last night's The Daily Show about the new NY Governor, David Patterson:



He is the first black and the first blind governor of NY.

Stuff about Bear Stearns Collapse

Very interesting "behind-the-scenes" look of what happened to Bear Stearns: http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/saving-wall-st-for-now/

Don't feel sorry for Bear though, when Long Term Capital Management needed to be bailed out in the late 90s, Bear was one of the banks that turned their backs.

Still, it's amazing that Bear's offices are worth $8/share and yet the whole company (including the offices) only fetched $2/share

Stuff about the Mooserwirt

This is what the apres ski scene at St. Anton is like. People ski down to this bar, party for hours and then ski (or in our case, slide) down the rest of the mountain, drunk and in the dark.



Very good times. More pics to come

Stuff about St. Anton

So I'm off to Amsterdam and then St. Anton, Austria for som skiing next week. I won't be blogging because I'll be off-piste!

Please check in on the blog in mid-March.

Stuff about Extraterrestrial Life

If you're like me and believe there is life on other planets, you'll find this article interesting: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/weekinreview/02overbye.html?ref=weekinreview

The most interesting piece is that since radio and broadcast TV has become trivialized by cable and broadband, we aren't as noticeable to other planets now. That means it will be tougher for some technologically advanced planet to find us.

If you want to know more about the search for life, I have a friend who once built an entire website on how the Earth was formed. He'd be a good starting point for you.

Stuff about the Mets

So apparently El Duque has a ligament and arthritis problem in is his right foot that will prevent him from using his high-leg-kick pitching motion ever again.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03042008/sports/mets/el_duques_leg_lift_kicks_the_bucket_100402.htm

This is another bummer from Mets camp. There's no way he'll be the same pitcher. He's still crafty (that comes from being 45 years old and knowing how to escape from Cuba) but he isn't as deceptive. I'm guessing he is in the bullpen by midseason.

What are bunions and how do people get them?

R.I.P. El Duque Leg Kick

Poll Answer from Last Thursday

Chicken Parm! Congrats to the winner of last week's poll.

This week's poll question will be unrelated to food and will be posted shortly

Stuff about Michael Bloomberg

Well said, Mr. Mayor: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/opinion/28mike.html?hp

In announcing that he isn't running for president, Bloomberg really hit the nail on the head about what's wrong with politicians and political parties. They are too busy fighting for power and to make themselves look better at the expense of others, to enact practical change.

Granted, the luxury of having multiple billions in the bank probably makes it easier for him to be true to his beliefs, but it is very refreshing to see someone actually take intelligent positions on important issues.

Is he a potential VP candidate?

Anyway, that's all the politics for now. The staff at "So...you like, stuff?" (or SYLS as we call it) will get back to posting about the things you care about: what I had for lunch, my chances with Debbie and soccer.

Stuff about taxing oil companies

The House passed a bill recently calling for $18B in taxes on the oil industry (by closing previous tax breaks for them). The tax revenue is scheduled to go to fund alternative energy sources like solar, wind and biothermal.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Energy-Taxes.html

It doesn't seem fair that we should close tax breaks for oil companies. After all, Exxon Mobil only made $40 BILLION dollars in PROFIT last year (a record).

Senate Republicans are going to try to filibuster this and President Bush has said he will veto it. According to the NY Times: "The White House maintains that singling out the oil companies for higher taxes ''would reduce the nation's energy security rather than improve it'' and ''lead to higher energy costs to U.S. consumers and business.''"

It seems to me that the first part of the White House's quote isn't true, and the second part of it isn't the issue. Everyone knows that it will be expensive to develop alternative energy sources, which will result in higher energy prices in the short term. But in the long term, we'll save the environment and make our energy situation more secure by not having to rely on our enemies selling us oil (and then buying weapons with the profits they make from us).

Stuff about corruption in Congress

In case you haven't been following the story about Representative Rick Renzi (Republican - Arizona) you should know that he has chosen not to resign while he fights the indictment for fraud, money laundering and extortion.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/renzi-says-he-wont-resign/

Oh and this guy is John McCain's Arizona state election committee co-chair.

Oh and the original Justice Department prosecutor who initiated the investigation of Renzi was one of the 8 prosecutors who were fired last year by Alberto Gonzalez and the Bush administration for political reasons. What a coincidence!

Here's an article about what Renzi actually did: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/23/washington/23renzi.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=renzi&st=nyt&oref=slogin

To try to summarize: he promised to support federal legislation allowing a land swap between his constiuents and the federal government. Sounds fine, except the condition of his support was that the constituents had to buy land from a secret partner of Renzi's who then funneled the money from those land sales back to Renzi.

In a prior scam, he "embezzled funds from his own insurance company's trust funds in order to finance his first Congressional campaign."

Our U.S. Congress!

Poll answer from this weekend

So I realized I needed to be more precise in my poll questions. The question was intended to ask what I had for dinner on Saturday night.

The correct answer: Baked Ziti.

However, I will also credit the person who guessed Chicken Parm b/c I did have that for dinner on Sunday night and that is technically a correct answer to the question also.


So there were actually two correct answers to the latest poll. Thanks for playing.

Stuff about Tottenham

First silverware of the year goes to Tottenham. Huge comeback win over Chelsea (said with Desmond's accent), 2-1 in extra time, to win the Carling Cup! http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=235283&cc=5901

Now it's time to focus on the double by winning UEFA Cup. Juande Ramos has turned out to be a good decision as coach and his Woodgate signing sure looks good right now. Juande can go for three UEFA Cups in a row as he won the previous two with Sevilla.

Totty!

Stuff about the Poll of the Day

I've added a Poll of the Day which will alternate between, "What did I have for lunch?" and "What did I have for dinner?".

The poll will be open for 24 hours and then I will reveal the answer in a blog post.

Please vote and come back tomorrow to find out if you guessed the right answer.

Stuff about rice (and world hunger)

If you are like me, you love white rice. I can eat a container of it straight (sans sauce or other flavorings) and be happy. Of course it's better with curry.

Check out this website: http://www.freerice.com/ that has an easy vocab trivia game. For every question you get right, the site will donate 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program. Sounds like a good thing to do and it takes only 20 seconds.

Firefox is sponsoring it to celebrate the 500 millionth download of their internet browser. They are hoping to donate 500 million grains of rice.

I'm down with rice, and the people who eat it.

Stuff about celebrities

I'm generally not a huge celebrity gossip person, but this is too good to pass up: http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/2620

Note to self: don't throw a birthday party at a club where the bartender has Hepatitis A (for the uninformed, hepatitis A is not the sexually transmitted disease). Hopefully Ashton Kutcher's friends aren't too upset at him. And by the way, Ashton Kutcher is 30?

I predict Socialista is not gonna be popular for much longer.

Stuff about censorship

I saw an interesting documentary last night called This Film Is Not Yet Rated. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/

It's about the MPAA, the association that rates movies (i.e. PG-13, R, NC-17). The documentary's point is that the MPAA is the only organization in the U.S. that actually censors creative work and at the same time does not reveal the identities of the members who actually rate the movies. The director does some investigating and "outs" all of the ratings members and the appeals members. In doing so, he discovers that there are 2 members of the clergy (episcopalian and catholic) on the appeals board who have a vote.

He also points out the already-well-known fact that you can show 150 people getting killed in a movie and get a PG-13 rating if you don't show blood, but if you show a nipple or a sex scene, it's R or NC-17.

Overall, it's a good discussion on movies, censorship and the ratings agency.

On a related note, this editorial about online free speech was in the NY Times today: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/opinion/21thu3.html?hp

It's worth a read if you like the freedom of the Internet.

Stuff on YouTube

This is my favorite YouTube video:

Quite possibly William Shatner's best work ever.

Stuff about MarioKart

MarioKart for the Wii is almost here! They are releasing the game in Europe on April 11th. I haven't been able to find a US release date yet but I'm guessing it's not too far after that.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/gaming/news/2008/02/20/Mario-Kart-Wii-Release-Date-Revealed/p1

It looks pretty dope. There will be a Wii Wheel to drive with and you can play up to 12 players online.

I'll definitely be getting this when it comes out. That might be the death knell for my MarioKart N64 game (which is the best video game of all time, hands down)

Stuff about sports

I'll read almost anything about sports. I especially like articles about Andy Reid's sons' heroin addictions. I also love reports from spring training. On the flip side, I hate it when all of the NY papers have an article about the same player on the same day, and use the same quotes. Why do we need multiple people covering sports if they are all gonna write the same thing?

On that note, here are two sports-related sites that I have found recently and are worth checking out:

The first is a sports-business blog on CNBC by Darren Rovell. He used to write the business articles on ESPN.com. I find this stuff interesting. For example, his post on the top 20 selling NFL jerseys shows Eli is climbing the rankings pretty quickly. http://www.cnbc.com/id/15837629/site/14081545/

The second is a new startup that has been in the news recently for getting funding. It is a user-generated sports news site clled Bleacher Report.
http://bleacherreport.com/

Enjoy.