Fun time-wasting links
-- Back in the Hall of Initech ...
-- You deserve a bathroom attendant today.
-- Yup, we're always thinking about it, even when playing seemingly harmless video games. Let's blame Ring King for all of this.

We do the mash
My friend Rodney wrote about the mashup craze in the AJC today, but the plus about this column is that there are some links to a bunch of places to download lots of mashups. One good place is my local alt-rock station that seems to have replaced "Mandatory Metallica" with a "Mandatory Mashup" at 8 p.m.

And oh yeah, Rodney is right, the mashup of "In Da Club" and The Benny Hill Show theme song is a riot.

Channeling my inner Safire
When looking at Matt's recent thesis/antithesis post, it dawned on me that the somewhat derisive term to describe one half of the debate (or could be construed that way) isn't limited to the thesis or antithesis.

In the baseball debate, scouts are just that -- scouts. But for the number crunchers, "statheads" is a common term, and that can be looked at in a couple of ways.

In the media debate, bloggers are that -- bloggers. But today "mainstream" is now often construed as a bad thing, especially when it comes to media. Mainstream music, movies and news all mean it's for geared for a large audience, and therefore it must suck. If it's not serving a niche, it must be bad. (But I guess it plays to the general feeling on both sides of the debate that "people are stupid.")

And in another language bit, I always wondered when tolerance was considered such a bad word that people would rather have zero of it, especially in schools. According to this piece, it's always been a less than positive word that can be spun in a brighter light if done correctly.

Songs in the key of suck
As if we needed more piling on the Grammys, here's another analysis piece from the AJC about how the awards stink. But a couple of things from that column and other leftover notes from the ceremony:
-- One thing this piece mentioned is the "gorgeous obscure records that didn't get nominated." Just a thought -- is a piece of music gorgeous because it's obscure?
-- On the other hand, would the AJC give that much love to "Yeah!" if it wasn't made by a bunch of guys with Atlanta ties? (And if you listen to the song on this station, you wouldn't even know Ludacris was on the record, and thus any jokes about "Urshur" would be lost.)
-- And one thing that I haven't seen anyone mention: If Ray Charles hadn't died last year, would he have gotten the nominations, much less any Grammys? From what people have said about the album, it's about on par with Frank Sinatra's Duets album, which spawned a great SNL skit but didn't win Album of the Year.

Wow ... I just realized that at work last night, my TVs were tuned to the two most irrelevant major entertainment and sporting events -- the Grammys and the Pro Bowl. Heck, this event that I was watching on CBC around 1 a.m. was more compelling.

Just wondering ... Is being anti-romantic on Valentine's Day so hip that it's unhip? Three of the stations I listen to here in town had their lunch hours dedicated to being against the sentiment of the day -- at least two of them played this song (meaning that for at least one day out of the year, there really is another J. Geils Band single not about photography).

I thought it was a bit of overkill, then I turned on VH-1 Classic and saw that Brian McKnight was playing the Casey Kasem role of running video dedications. And some of the other stations were laying on the romance pretty think. Finally, I realized that some of the stations I usually tune into have a heavily male demographic, while some of the others are targeted toward women; hence the difference in tone today.

By the way, I guess it's good that the New York Times is running marriage announcements. Otherwise, we might not have seen this interesting pairing. At least one Texas-based wrestling champ seems to be settling down the right way.

With pitchers and catchers reporting soon, we'll hear even more about baseball's version of red vs. blue states -- traditionalists vs. statheads). But before the debate gets too heated, be sure to check out this post from John Sickels' blog about uniting the two sides.

The best line is probably this:
The key to good judgment about anything is avoiding hubris. Never assume you have all the answers. Never let your ideology, whatever it is, trump good judgment.

I guess I've been beaten to the punch on reporting my own news, but I did pass my Jeopardy! audition (after failing the last two times I took the test) and think I did OK with my interview, even bringing up this article and subsequent interview with this place.

For what it's worth, there were about 50 people in my audition slot, including one guy from Athens State who I'd read for last week in Chattanooga, but only six of us went on to the next step. I actually think finding someone else I knew (and could relay information about the whole process) calmed me down a bit, so I wasn't trying desperately to plug major holes in my knowledge base.

The highlight of the tournament at UTC today had nothing to do with any quiz questions, instead it was seeing all the "Ann Coulter for Mayor" signs. No, not her, but her. I think a few teams picked up a sign or two along the way.

But maybe an even weirder sharing of the same name in similar arenas is this Bill Simmons who just won the infamous Wing Bowl, and that occasional I Love the '90s contributor.

Whoa, Canada
Forget about the old Dysfunctional Family Circus, this blog gets snarky on everyone's favorite preachy Canadian comic strip.

And speaking of Canadian pop culture, Kevin Smith gets to crash Degrassi and even snuggle with one of the original cast members. Forget the Next Generation, where's the DVD of the original series? Kevin Smith and I aren't the only ones who liked the show, right?

Cookies are bad for you
Well, the kids may have been out a bit late delivering unsolicited cookies, but an anxiety attack and a lawsuit coming out of it?

I think the key bit in the article was this: "... perhaps they were burglars or some neighbors she had tangled with in the past." Seems to say a lot about her, huh?

I got a fever ...
It's nice to see that Blue Oyster Cult are such good sports about the famous cowbell sketch.

That also reminds me that I need to do more work on a cowbell compilation, although Jeremy has done a good job with a great mix on his iPod.

While I'm not at work having to monitor the Australian Open men's final, I'm still up watching it while winding down for the evening. So I was a bit befuddled to why Chris Fowler was quoting lyrics from this song (recently seen on my quiz). Then all of a sudden, there's Olivia Newton-John singing the song just before the match. Surprisingly, I think both she and the song have held up well over the years; although my feelings about the song are probably skewed because I actually got a surprisingly warm response when I threw it on a mix CD.

Ice, ice baby
Just survived the Great Ice Storm of 2005, which was very similar to the Great Ice Storm of 2000 -- same nasty conditions, same part of the year (late January). I think the conditions this time around were worse for me personally, mainly because I drove through the slop three times (twice coming home from work, once going to the office), probably averaging no more than 25 mph the whole time. And yes, that includes the school zone that I-85 became Friday night. I had one instance of skidding on the highway, but corrected myself and pulled over in time not to cause any problems -- it helps that it was 2:30 and only a few cars on the road. But at least I got home -- another co-worker had to stop at a motel on 85 overnight because of the conditions. And I nearly took up a friend's offer to stay at the hotel adjoining the office tonight before deciding to gut it out on the road. I had to think about it given the massive de-icing I had to do with my car this afternoon -- but at least I had a scraper. I lent it out briefly to one of my neighbors, while another used a spatula to cut through the Magic Shell the ice created on our cars.

The coverage of the storm was a bit odd to say the least. With CNN in Atlanta, it was very easy to get a photo of the weather -- just walk outside and take a shot of the street and the building you work at. With The Weather Channel also in the Atlanta area, it appeared that the reporter covering the Atlanta angle of the storm barely had to leave its headquarters to get a live shot.

On the other hand, the local stations that usually would go wall-to-wall with that type of stuff were noticeably absent. With a rather sparse Saturday afternoon of network-televised sports, there were plenty of infomercials instead of news. Granted, the weather started overnight, making it difficult for anyone to move around Saturday morning, but you'd think that if they are willing to preempt Jeopardy or Dr. Phil for thunderstorms, they might bump Ron Popeil for ice.

Going back to the Ice Storm of 2000, though, I think I was slightly less cautious driving -- zipping along I-75 on the way back from Chattanooga wasn't wise, and I'm still trying to figure out why we had an AAJA meeting in those conditions. Plus, I lost my power for a couple of days around the AFC and NFC title games (no issues this time, although I was a bit scared seeing a bunch of traffic lights out just outside my complex) but felt smug seeing all the people in town for the Super Bowl having to deal with the cold and ice.

Mmm, sweetened carbonated beverage
Not sure why the AJC ran a story about the linguistics of cola on the business page (guess it's that Coke connection), but it makes for some fun reading, especially the map that puts Red vs. Blue county maps to shame. Plus, you can register your vote on the ultimate debate.

Lyrics results

Here are the final answers. Another quiz in the next couple of days, maybe.

1. Cracker – Get Off This
2. Aztec Camera – Jump
3. DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince – Nightmare on My Street
4. Carole King – It’s Too Late
5. Johnny Cash – A Boy Named Sue
6. Great White – Once Bitten Twice Shy
7. I Am the World Trade Center – Call Me
8. Hall and Oates – Out of Touch
9. The Donnas – Who Invited You
10. Drivin and Cryin – I’m Going Straight To Hell
11. Psychedelic Furs – Pretty In Pink
12. Aqua – Barbie Girl
13. Olivia Newton-John – Magic
14. Kylie Minogue – Love at First Sight
15. The Replacements - Alex Chilton
16. Liz Phair – Turning Japanese
17. Motley Crue – Girls, Girls, Girls
18. Missy Elliott – Get Your Freak On
19. Sarah McLachlan – Dear God
20. Snoop Dogg – What’s My Name?

From Bill Simmons' latest column:

Things have gone so poorly for Jets fans over the years, they were actually expecting something painful to happen down the stretch, just like Red Sox fans back in the day.

That pretty much sums up being a Jets fan. Actually, it helps being a Yankees fan and a Jets fan at the same time in these days -- you can't be too insufferable during baseball season because it will come back to haunt you during football season.

Oh yeah, the Elimidate-Super Bowl analogy was amusing, although it has me longing for that craptacular show that I haven't seen in a few years (and has to be a candidate for I Love the '00s -- probably 2000 or 2001).

And oh BTW, from the I Love the '90s: Part Deux shows I've seen so far, Simmons seems to be used only on sports topics and usually as the straight man. He's got more range than that; if Stuart Scott and Rich Eisen can be used on any topic, so can Simmons, right?

For some reason, I could fathom the idea of Jerry Springer, the Opera, but a musical version of The Apprentice seems just way too ridiculous.

Return of the snark
Yes, I'm eating up all of I Love the '90s Part Deux, but I'll get into some of the topics later. However, I'm always intrigued by who they pick up to do the commentary (and I'm still waiting for my chance to get on any of the talking head shows).

Yes, we have the usual suspects, but how did Juliette Lewis become a regular? Plus, it's good to have Bill Simmons on board since he damn well deserves to be on here. However, how did they convince the U.S. swim team to get snarky? (Not that I'm complaining about seeing Amanda Beard or Kaitlin Sandeno.)

One thing that both bugs me and entertains me is the use of '90s music to accompany the bits, but that many of the songs were released years after the nugget they're being snarky about. For some reason, I don't think I should be hearing Beck or Chumbawumba for stuff about the early '90s.

Other observations from the shows so far:
-- So that's what the lead singer of the Cranberries looks like without the really chopped hair.
-- Good to see DJ Jazzy Jeff getting some work.
-- How many redheads are panelists on the show, or is it just the lighting?
-- My goodness, Baby Spice has grown up nicely.