Saturday, January 31, 2004

There are plenty of uplifting but sad stories come Super Bowl week (think the Sam Mills/Mark Fields bit), but Michael Silver found a gem with the James Parrish story that I find interesting because I've actually met Parrish before. While interning at the Chicago Tribune, he came around the office a couple of times, flashing his really huge Super Bowl ring. No one was really sure why he was there or who even brought him around, but he was a nice enough guy and very personable.
What is ouch?

Friday, January 30, 2004

They killed Goat Boy
So much for trying to appease the 25-34 demographic. The '80s station down here in Atlanta just got the plug pulled in favor of Real Radio, a "hot talk" station. Those in New York might remember that's what WNEW-FM turned into after rock moved out. Fittingly, this song was the last song played in its incarnation as an '80s station.

The station wasn't drawing much of a following, and I suppose it shouldn't be much of a surprise given how much of a niche the station turned into. When you're only playing the same 400-500 songs (if that many), it ends up getting a bit repetitive and just as annoying as the rest of commerical radio. It's sad when you get more of the '80s from alt-rock and soft/lite pop stations. At least there's still '80s Friday nights on this station.
It's about time I actually blogged, don't you think? A variety of things have kept me from getting on here, although mostly laziness and apathy. My apologies.

Anyway, to go along with some other bloggers, here's a collection of people who have spammed me recently (something tells me I need to change e-mail addresses one of these days):
Lecturing D. Merton
Departures H. Facelifts
Weapon S. Busboy
Insertions F. Seizure

Sunday, January 11, 2004

Gamblers of the old school
JD mentioned his upcoming trip and the closing of Binion's casino, and I can't help but think of The Cooler, which I saw yesterday.

The film was well-acted, with solid performances from William H. Macy (no surprise), Maria Bello (who's pretty in a naturally haggard way) and Alec Baldwin (who deserves his numerous nominations). Think of Baldwin's character as a less slick but more ruthless version of his Glengarry Glen Ross character, if he were fleshed out for a whole film. Macy is great at playing a sad sack, so he's perfect for the role. And you can't help but root for him when he gets together with Bello's character and his luck changes for both better and for worse.

While the whole bit about lady luck is fun, but often silly, I did appreciate the old vs. new Las Vegas subplot throughout the movie. Baldwin tries so hard to preserve the "old Vegas," whether it be Macy's cooler character, his tough-guy attitude toward some of the customers and Paul Sorvino's aging Sinatra-style singer. That creates a great rivalry with a polished "Epcot Center Vegas" consultant played by Ron Livingston (who found a better job after leaving Initech, it would seem), who's got his prospectus for changing Baldwin's relic -- from changing the wallpaper to hiring Joey Fatone to replace Sorvino.

Friday, January 09, 2004

Ch-ch-changes
Yup, this blog now has a new name. I figured it was time for a change, including things that wouldn't make it so obvious it was mine. There are a number of reasons for this, but I realized that as much as I want people to find me online, I don't really.

The name comes from, well, the new character on the right side of the banner. Given the way things seem to transpire around me, I figured that term was the most appropriate.

Sunday, January 04, 2004

And this one time, in a deli ...
I actually like the sound of this on a number of levels, but will she need a flute to re-enact the most (in)famous scene from the film?

On the flip side, Chuck Klosterman has a great screed against this film (and Say Anything, for that matter) in Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, a great book I read over Christmas. (Think longer form essays of my blog entries as well as those from some of my other quizbowl friends.)