Pick your guilty pleasure ...
I know a bunch of Blind Date fans, and all of those prime time reality shows are ridiculously popular, although I've only caught onto Survivor. However, when I can remember it's on, Elimidate is my trashy show of choice. It's got the bizarro elimination/game show aspect of it, but the cattiness of the usually impossibly beautiful contestants is entertaining. However, it's a bit of a crap shoot watching it each time since I have to watch it with the four girls/one guy setup as opposed to the four guys/one girl dates, but I suppose that's a natural reaction.

Ad watch
--I always thought Empire Carpets was a Chicago-based thing, since I only ever saw the ads on WGN, usually during Cubs games. They were memorable enough because of the phone number, which had a melodic quality to it. Now I see the ads, complete with the phone number, down here in Atlanta. I guess it's spreading. Next up, more ads with that goofy Menard's guy.
--It's nice to see Jason Giambi get some TV spots now that he's with the Yankees, but it's a bit disconcerting seeing him doing a very bad deodorant commercial, especially all cleaned up and nice looking. I still remember him best for the that SI cover with the stringy hair, tattoos, goatee, etc.

We'll see how this all posts now that yet another lightning strike has limited the effectiveness of my modem. But somehow I secured a cheap replacement on eBay, so we'll see how that works out. A good guess that it won't come in before I head off to Dallas for the AAJA Convention next week.

Are you ready for two-a-days?
I liked it a lot last year, and this year's edition of Hard Knocks is looking reasonably promising as well. Having Jerry Jones (aka Michael Jackson) on screen is actually a good thing in this case because he can help move the show along. The other coaches don't come off as arrogant and domineering as Brian Billick did last year, which could be a hindrance down the line. However, there are still some entertaining personalities, especially Joe Avezzano, who stole the show with his great profanity-laced tirades on the sidelines of the Cowboys-owned Dallas Desperados in the Arena League. Too bad we don't get more "raw" footage of coaches on the sidelines. Then again, those bleeped out tirades make for great TV.

We do get a bunch of Emmitt Smith early on, which is good, and they're slowly but surely trying to focus on some rookies and other longshots. I guess it'll take a couple of episodes to remember what's his face and that late-round draft pick like last year's edition. I wonder how much longer we'll get to see Richmond Flowers, although he was always an intriguing player when he was at Duke. Chad Hutchinson does have a great chance at a roster spot despite coming back from a stint in baseball; however, I'm not sure I need to hear him sing Pearl Jam's "Black," but that's just me.

On another football-related note, I guess that SNL Farley skit a few years back about Bocephus was close to accurate.

Deja video
I've been meaning to watch Degrassi: The Next Generation but always seem to miss it. So I turn it on today, and it happens to be the same damn episode I saw in the spring. Oh well. It is funny to hear these kids speak really Canadian. It's also a bit odd to see a couple of the kids from the original series coming back as teachers. Then again, if a couple of my classmates from high school have already done it, it's probably done everywhere else.

On a similar tangent, it was sad to hear that my freshman year English teacher, Br. Regis, passed away over the weekend. He was definitely a character and will go down as a legend at the school, even though he stopped teaching about five years ago.

Oh, behave
While I've been very lax in going to the movies to see stuff I think I'd like, I did jump on the opportunity to make sure I saw Austin Powers in Goldmember, and I definitely wasn't disappointed. Sure the movie was a structural mess with a plot that meandered aimlessly (much more than in the past) and the character Goldmember wasn't all that funny, but throw enough jokes at the wall and you'll have enough stuff that sticks. That's probably the best way to describe this movie. The great "surprise" beginning, plus always raucous opening credits did hold things up until the movie found its footing after about 20 minutes.

The best thing about the Austin Powers series is how many pop culture spoofs and digs can get through, without seeming forced (for the most part). In some cases, the references will be dated very quickly. But other times, it can have a long shelf life. Again, just throw lots of stuff out there and see what sticks. The Dr. Evil in prison stuff (both the Silence of the Lambs and the Jay-Z parody) was top-notch, and Mini-Me was used as goofily as ever. Too bad, they didn't do much with No. 2 or Frau this time around. They sort of made up for it with Beyonce Knowles (who looked amazing; it's hard to believe she's just 20) and Michael Caine (who added a fun twist to the proceedings). Too bad, they didn't have enough to do in the picture.

Still, I laughed a ton, and it helped to be in a full theatre with everyone laughing along. But yet again, I ended up in a weird situation where I had to think about the gross-out humor. That's what happens when you end up sitting next to some five-year-old and wondering what in the world he's doing in there. Maybe I'll need to watch it again with a bunch of friends and enjoy that much more.

It's that guy, and that girl, and whoa, he's in here, too?
Outside of the American Pie movies, I still think Can't Hardly Wait is one of the better of the crop of teen movies that have popped up in the last five years or so. That's why I got it on DVD (that and because I just never seemed to stumble across it on pay cable). Plus, after a question in one of my quizbowl tournaments listed a bunch of the different actors in it, I was more intrigued to see it again. And I wasn't disappointed. It's somewhat amazing to think who showed up in this movie who would go on to better things a few years later. It wasn't the main stars, either.

I knew Lauren Ambrose from Six Feet Under was in it. I thought she was really cool in the movie, and her current role as Claire is pretty much a darker version of her role Denise in the movie. Plus with the looks and the hair, she seems to remind me of my own friend Lauren in a way. I didn't realize her SFU co-stars Freddy Rodriguez (also nominated for an Emmy) and Eric Balfour (Claire's creepy boyfriend, not to mention Milo from 24) were in this. Speaking of 24, Sen. Palmer's son also had a brief role in it. There was also the vastly overrated Selma Blair in a brief role and Sean Patrick Thomas before they both showed up in Cruel Intentions. There's also Breckin Meyer and Donald Faison from Scrubs in the band, plus Jason Segel from the Judd Apatow comedies. And never mind some of those who were actually recognizable when the movie came out like Seth Green and Melissa Joan Hart.

It's somewhat odd that with all of these notable names and faces showing up in minor roles, some of the more well-known actors have sort of faded back. Jennifer Love Hewitt is still around showing her goods but she's definitely not as big a star as she was when the movie came out. And poor Ethan Embry, who's hardly been heard from since this movie (at least in things in the mainstream).

Puffy invented the remix and Al Gore invented the Internet
I'm usually not up on my remixes, and it gets a bit tiresome hearing Puffy making bigger hits out of already big ones. This Slate piece goes into the history of it, and got me racing over to find the really cool mix of "Blue Monday" and "Can't Get You Out of My Head," which not surprisingly works amazingly.

More on the retro uniforms
-- The bright yellow A's are cool, but I think I like the dark green better.
-- Why do those pullover shirts look a lot like pajamas (even more than NBA refs uniforms)? When did teams switch from buttons to pullover and then back? And what teams (besides the Yankees) opt not to take on the pullover look? I like the buttons a lot better -- seems more "professional."
-- The Mets' retros bring back great memories of the 1986 season. The Angels ones, while great, have me thinking about The Naked Gun.

America's most traveled news/sports commentator
Pick a major news or sports media outlet and Keith Olbermann has probably worked for them. Add Salon to the mix. He makes a great point that most of the baseball poobahs probably missed. Their potential Sept. 16 strike date would be one day before the one-year anniversary of players returning to the field after Sept. 11. Interesting symbolism lost in the stubborness to avoid a salary cap.

I know Chip Caray can be over the top when hyping things up during a game, as seen by this great link, but you've got to wonder how much hyperbole he can get into by claiming the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry is bigger than the Yankees-Red Sox. Maybe it's my New York/northeast bias kicking in, but it seems like Yankees-Red Sox has a lot more legs because it's actually very competitive on the field -- and has been part of some big games in history, like Bucky Dent.

I'm not debating Cubs-Cardinals isn't a big rivalry. It definitely is especially in downstate Illinois, but best in baseball? Hardly. It's probably the best in the Caray family since old Harry worked for both. But it's hard to call something a big rivalry when one team has won tons of pennants and the other is best known for being loveable losers. (Not just bad luck second-place stuff like the Red Sox.)

When you're ratings are in trouble, feature "Whip It"
I loved VH-1's special on One Hit Wonders (and I've got all of them on tape). It got some of the network's best ratings in a long time. So how do you capitalize on it? Make it into a series. Something tells me it won't go over well, at least not like the specials. Then again Unsolved Mysteries and Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? both had nice runs after being a special, who knows.

Assorted movie reflections
I felt like I stumbled into something good when Wet Hot American Summer ended up on Starz the other day. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed. I guess it could've been funnier, and I could relate somewhat to the characters, but something just didn't click despite all the decent actors in it. Maybe it was a bit too sprawling for its own good. Maybe it could've been slightly raunchier given the general plot. I don't know. I've never been a big fan of Owen Gleiberman, and his review in Entertainment Weekly may have shown how much we disagreed on the movie.

It took me a while to figure out who Ms. Alias was when watching Pearl Harbor before realizing she was the somewhat dorky looking nurse with the glasses. Definitely not the most flattering look for her, although I suppose it was a slightly better role than that in Dude, Where's My Car? Oh well, then again, I sat through the cool but somewhat overwrought explosions and whatever hideous accents Josh Hartnett and Ben Affleck had to further affirm how much I'm a fan of Kate Beckinsale.

On the other hand, I picked up the DVD for UHF and found that very entertaining, especially with the audio commentary. It's a silly movie for sure, but still holds up for camp value. It was amusing hearing Weird Al rattle off addresses of places in Tulsa where they shot different scenes. It helps being a big Weird Al fan to begin with.

How the mighty have fallen.

Speaking of death by chocolate.

Must Eat TV?
I've seen plenty of tie-ins between entertainment and restaurants, but this NBC-Baskin Robbins marriage may be one of the strangest. Dwight had a solid idea for one not on here -- Law and Order: Death by Chocolate. I'm surprised there's no Friends-themed ice cream, but I guess you can always order vanilla. It's also curious to see them tie ice cream flavors with a couple of new shows that seem like iffy hits. Which reminds me (going back to the doppleganger bit), I think I've figured out why the girl on the ads for American Dreams seems familiar -- it's a blonde version of Stephanie McMahon.

Hey, you happen to look like ...
I've got a strange habit to almost immediately associate someone I run across with some other celebrity. Maybe it helps me remember names and faces later on, or maybe it's just a game I play. But whatever the case, it makes for some interesting observations down the line. It has helped out a bunch when casting "Quizbowl: The Movie" -- pretty much just an excuse to play this game where we cast famous people who most look like different personalities in the Quizbowl world. I won't get into here, at least not now.

However, with that said here are some other cases of celebrity lookalikes (when they can't seem to hire real celebrities) I've seen in commercials: (feel free to add your own in the comments)

-- One of the Heineken ads with a guy and girl fighting over the last beer at a party has a couple of dopplegangers. The guy definitely is a cross between Joe Rogan and Matt LeBlanc. A co-worker said the girl looks like Kristin Davis (which I do see), but I think this ad shows what Britney Spears will look like in about 15 years with dark hair. Interesting thought for sure.

-- The Bud Light Naked Swimmers ad features a dorky guy who looks like a skinner version of a former co-worker, but the more relevant part is that the woman could pass for Katie Couric's sister.

-- Finally, I haven't found the right comparisons for some of the ridiculously amazing women in the Captain Morgan Gold ad, but the guy turning aerobics into a spectator sport could be former WCW champion David Arquette invading the commercial world yet again.

By the way, bless those people at Ads.com for providing links to these commercials. This site will probably come in very, very handy when writing those trivia questions pretty soon.

Even for a struggling network like ABC, you have to do your best to keep your funniest people away from some of the rest of the talent, as these stories concerning Drew Carey, Jimmy Kimmel and The Bachelor folks can attest.

On a related note, it looks like they're doing their best to get me to watch the Emmys after naming Conan O'Brien as host. To think how far he's come since those awfully awkward first shows that happened to coincide with my first days of college.

Steve Earle always seemed to me a bit off the mainstream path, so it's not surprising his new song about John Walker Lindh is drawing boos in Nashville, especially. Although it probably will play a little bit better with the "alternative" set, I'd imagine. In any case, it will probably feel ridiculously dated in a few years, but those are the breaks. It doesn't take away from the fact he's a pretty good musician/songwriter.

On the topic of music, I guess I'll throw my vote for "Hot in Herre" by Nelly as this year's top summer song, just nudging out the also-infectious "Without Me" by Eminem, although it's odd to hear the latter getting tons of airplay on the local alterna-rock station here.

Are you ready? ...
First off, the posts may be fewer and more far between as I work on a bunch of quizbowl stuff. With my schedule returning to "normal" next week, I'm actually able to make it up to Chattanooga for Muck Masters. Much of my inspiration for the blog may end up in questions, so bear with me.

Now then, I was definitely marking out hearing the old Degeneration X music, as they teased a HHH-HBK reunion, only to have Helmsley turn on Michaels for reasons we're all trying to figure out. It gets funnier and funnier every day to see a lot of the old gimmicks turning up, even for just a small bit of time. Next up, Doink returns to Raw (and not just in the gimmick Battle Royal).

Blasts from the past
Those turn-back-the-clock gimmicks are back in full force, and in some cases showing that the old uniforms still work and are probably better than the current ones. The New York Mets are the best examples of this as their 1986 pinstripes beat the socks of their black hats and generic jerseys of today. The old Phillies uniforms of the '70s and '80s also hold up well today, whereas the Hank Aaron-era Atlanta Braves jerseys look very dated (although I do have a hat from that era).

The weird thing is that given the success of nostalgic jerseys, especially sold by one of my favorite stores in Atlanta, you have to wonder if some of the not-so-distinctive jerseys out there today will be big collectors' items in about 15-20 years. Sometimes I have to wonder to myself why I actually care to get something like a mid-1980s White Sox cap or a 1970s Texas Rangers cap when I could've cared less before. I wonder if I'll be clamoring for mid-'90s Brewers cap (after the cool ball-and-glove logo) or the boring navy blue Padres cap in a few years.

Hef have a few more to spare?
I end up watching a lot of daytime TV inadvertently at work with a bank of screens tuned to a bunch of channels during the day. Maybe that's why I'm a bit disappointed a pair of Barker's Beauties will be leaving so soon. I was especially a fan of Heather Kozar (first one pictured in the article), the former Playmate of the Year who caused a bit of a stir between Tim Couch and Cade McNown a couple of years ago. Given the two QBs career paths, I guess Heather made the right choice in picking Tim. (Anyone realize McNown was in 49ers camp?)

What you don't see during commercials
When we're lucky, we'll get the raw feeds of games and get to hear the "real" banter between announcers. In the past, I've heard Bob Uecker sing to the whatever music was playing at the stadium, and now Skip Caray keeps screaming, "I'm a heart patient" after missing a couple of cues. I guess it beats "Who's going to die next?" when preparing for a promo about an upcoming NASCAR race.

More Hollywood Minute ... (I'll try not to be David Spade)

I usually don't care a whole lot about the Emmys, but I care now after Six Feet Under got 23 nominations. 24 also getting some love is great as well. I never was one to watch one-hour dramas until now (never been big on ER, West Wing, Law and Order, etc.), so it's nice to see some shows I actually care to watch get recognized. Otherwise, I really could care less, which is odd given the amount TV I consume.

Who had two years in the Angelina-Billy Bob pool? I've never been a big fan of Angelina Jolie, and Billy Bob Thornton is still the guy from Sling Blade. Can I have some french-fried taters. Mmm-hmm.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Wednesday was the fifth anniversary of CNNSI.com. I won't mention anything else regarding it, other than it's interesting to see all my friends who blog linking to ESPN. Thanks. On a related note, Bob Pittman is out at AOL-Time Warner as the stock price starts approaching Scottie Pippen's latest scoring numbers. Maybe Billionaire Ted will be coming back, although I do recommend his new restaurant venture.

I think I need a DVD player soon
I've been passing on getting a DVD player, instead trying to spend it on other things (or just saving it). However, it looks like I'll need to grab one with both 24 and Sports Night headed to DVD. This is the type of stuff I've been looking for with the format. It may also encourage me to get the first season of The Simpsons on DVD (although I've got most of it on video taped directly off Fox 5 in New York years ago -- complete with really old ads and such).

Scratching the trivia itch
Hit the bar trivia circuit for the first time in months the other day, as a friend of my friend Chrissie set up his own trivia company in the midst of an ultracompetitive bar trivia scene down here. Chrissie and I cleaned up nicely, partly because we were somewhat ringers playing the inaugural game at the Elbow Room in Buckhead -- oddly enough, a hole in the wall-ish sports bar in the midst of all the pretentiousness that is Buckhead. I really do need to go around playing those things again, as long as I can round up a few close friends to put a hurting on the competition, and as well as finding a place worth winning house cash for.

NU alumnus does proud
Ah, Jerry Springer, Northwestern law school grad gets the nod for worst show ever from TV Guide in their big list. I'm not familiar with a bunch of shows there, but I'll tackle some of the choices in a later entry. Speaking of lists, Z-93 only listed the top 50 from their top 1000 countdown. A bit of a ripoff, but it's there.

I've been tapped out regarding blog ideas, hence my lack of postings. Of course, I doubt any of you had missed me.

Let's see what's out there ...

This is what the "invasion" needed a long time ago
Well, it was odd enough seeing WCW folks last year after the ill-fated "invasion." However, adding Eric Bischoff to the mix (and throwing out all the "inside" information) almost reeks of desperation, but it does add another interesting heel to the mix. And his promo to introduce himself to the crowd seems to show that they are catering more to fans who know their history. Before the internet really took off in informing fans about what was going on (either PR-ish sites or insider stuff), fans were treated as if they had amnesia regarding the past. Now, it's embraced -- as seen with Goldust, the NWO and now Bischoff, who's decided to dye his hair and gain about 30 pounds. He looks more like Gene Rayburn than John Davidson.

He got mad because she asked him about PRACTICE
I think Kid n' Play need some work. They could co-star in House Party 4: House Arrest.

Fun with digital cable
I actually took some advantage of the free preview of the Extra Innings package to watch a bunch of baseball, although I still can't compel myself to order it for the rest of the season. However, it does provide for some more options while at home, and I did see that crazy Indians comeback over the Yankees on Sunday. A funny part about watching that game is that the Indians are still going ahead with Bartolo Colon baseball card day, even though he's now with Montreal.

Does he even have a lap?
Check out this interesting lawsuit about ADA violations at a Florida strip club. I suppose it's not as friviolous as the lawsuits from parents of failing kids.

Beam him out
It looks like James Traficant could be expelled from Congress on a variety of charges. It's too bad, if only because of his entertainment value.

Maybe it's a good thing and a bad thing I don't live in Evanston anymore. Ben and Jerry's is opening up a new shop right across the street from my old apartment. I guess I was really spoiled by walking to all of these places of commerce while in school. I miss those days somewhat. Now walking to the nearest strip mall would be tantamount to one of my regular walks around the office part near the apartment.

Oddly enough, I had both of the Marlins who were traded away on my wavering NL fantasy team down here. All sides did fine with their deals. It seems like Florida is clearing house, but they're still picking up decent players who will also ask for some decent money next year (especially Juan Encarnacion). It is interesting to see the Expos gut their prospects at what is really a long-shot chance at the wild card, unless they can pull off a '93 Braves or '78 Yankees comeback.

Well, thankfully I don't jump too quickly on hoaxes like this one. Although I'm sure those in Yankee Hater Nation were in heaven for a few seconds before realizing the URL. Nicely done hoax, though.

For a game that a lot of people say they don't care about, it's definitely been talked to death. But I guess that's because they're ain't much going on. In fact, the only live sporting events I could find on TV today were the Tour de France in the morning, some WNBA day games and some minor-league All-Star Games. (The Double-A one featured the infamous no-talent ass clown singing the anthem. Talk about a demotion.)

Anyways, I won't get into the infamous draw anymore other than a couple of links to Tom Verducci's cool screed and a smattering of columnists' quotes I helped dig up.

Bud, Bud, Bud, Bud, Bud ...
Only an All-Star Game in Bud Selig's hometown could be as screwed up as this. And oh yeah, they rename the All-Star Game MVP after Ted Williams and don't give it away????????????

Nice game, a number of decent hitting performances from surprise sources (Jimmy Rollins, Paul Konerko, Damian Miller, Omar Vizquel) and those closers can be very flighty in situations like this. I guess keep Byung-Hun Kim away from the big stages and he's fine.

I don't blame both managers for not wanting to send out their pitchers for a third inning and getting the wrath of their managers after the fact. Since both managers want to get all of their players in there, it leaves the bench and the bullpen bare should we come into an extra-innings situation. Both managers keep one pitcher for extra-inning purposes and they used them as far as they could. Unfortunately, Bud played the PR card horribly yet again, holding up the game in the middle of the 11th and then making the decision to call the game a tie before the bottom of the 11th. From the fans perspective, it was a bad call, but from a baseball perspective, it made sense. It just would've been nice for a better explanation.

Maybe it's time to expand the All-Star rosters, although this is a rare case, and you might have two or three pitchers left in the lurch if a game doesn't go extras. And you've got to feel for Joe Torre -- he said he wasn't going to take Barry Zito because he pitched Sunday and got criticized. So he takes Zito, pitches him for a batter, and then gets criticized because of all of what happened later. Or maybe you need to have pitchers, especially the starter and a couple of others, go more than two innings.

Unfortunately, Bud and folks caused more discussion for the negative about baseball. And for good or bad, we got to channel The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training.

Cue up Bocephus ...
It's the day of the baseball All-Star Game, and I've already completed two fantasy football drafts -- one for a magazine already out and a long but fun online "experts" one -- and I'm in the midst of another "experts" league. It's fun, but it's hard to believe I've got to keep up with everything so dad-gum early. Oh well, maybe it will help me out when it counts against a bunch of my quizbowl friends and for the one or two leagues where money is actually on the line.

OK, let's see if I have the energy to get through a bunch of stuff today. Hot weather, erratic sleep patterns (must learn to sleep in on "weekends"), etc. are making me a bit off.

More ramblings from the classic rock 1000 countdown
Sometime Sunday, I know I caught at least a couple of classic Led Zeppelin tunes (including "Kashmir" and "The Immigrant Song"), which ranked it somewhere in the high 300s. I'm not a big fan of Zeppelin by any means, but what in the world is anything by America doing ahead of those two songs? ("Ventura Highway" was at 244, I think). As one of my co-workers said when he first saw the ad on CNN for America's Greatest Hits, "I didn't realize the same band did all of those songs I hated." On the flip side, it was cool but odd to see "Losing My Religion" chart a few songs later. To think, a song I remember when it first came out is now considered a big part of the "classic rock" landscape. I'll do more picking apart of the chart when it gets posted online and I welcome any comments on the chart.

Movie time
Finally got a chance to catch up on some of my movies, catching Minority Report this afternoon. (Bless AMC Theatres and their twilight rate -- $3.75 is a bargain, and exactly half of the matinee rate at Graumann's Chinese Theatre in L.A.)

I didn't read up on it as much as usually do with movies, so I wasn't spoiled right away with plot details. I enjoyed the film a lot -- a solid story with enough twists to keep the action moving. Plus, some solid acting performances across the board, including Tom Cruise, who played was still "super movie star" the whole way through but at least kept it muted for the most part. I'm impressed, if a bit amazed that Colin Farrell is actually a year younger than me. Even odder to me is that he's defintely a cross between Treat Williams and Ron Livingston of "Office Space" fame.

The premise for the movie (officers stopping murders before it happens) was pretty wacked out. However, I was taken by the visions of the not-so-distant future. The really personalized ads, quickly updating/morphing newspapers, the cool looking computers and cars, etc. And yet, there seems to be lots of Big Brother hovering over everyone. All in all, it's a solid sci-fi/action/thriller that can attract a wide audience (perfect for the summer) and still get good critical buzz. It's got enough geek elements, blow 'em up elements and "hey, there's a twisted plot" elements.

All-Star time
The baseball All-Star Game is still the best of the ones in the major sports, given its tradition and the fact that it pretty much occupies its own place in the sports landscape with nothing else sports-wise competing against it in the middle of the summer. We actually like to fight over who made the team and who didn't, and while many of the game's all-time greats are on display, it's also cool to see the smattering of "Who's that?" that makes the team each year, whether it be Jack Armstrong, Biff Pocoroba or Randy Winn.

This year's home run contest was lots of fun again, mainly because you get the oohs and aahs of blasts going to parts of ballparks you never knew existed. What helped out a bit this year is that the top two mashers the whole way through actually made the finals, although Sammy Sosa faded late to keep up the tradition of the best hitter there using up all the power in the early rounds. Jason Giambi was scarily consistent throughout, although he needed that swing-off to make the finals. And much like the "Who dat?" All-Stars, there's also the "Who dat?" in the derby. Paul Konerko acquitted himself well, taking Giambi to the swing off in the semis, while Torii Hunter struggled. Hopefully neither of them will fade into obscurity like Damian Easley or Carl Everett.

Hopefully, the All-Star Game won't turn into the Pro Bowl with about half the roster pulling out with made-up injuries (oops, I've got a hangnail), but it's starting to turn that way with Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez bailing this year after being selected. I will tip my hat to Tom Glavine, who won't pitch because of a blister, but is in Milwaukee anyway to take part in the festivities. I guess with all major sports, you work your whole life to be honored as an All-Star, but there's a point of diminishing returns that after so many years and honors, you get tired of it and want to be elsewhere -- and that's damn sad. So when will budding stars like Alfonso Soriano and Vladimir Guerrero get tired of this routine and either pull out or come up with a fake injury?

Oh well, if we're always harping on who get snubbed, maybe we should just invite those people who actually want to come. At the 2000 All-Star Game, fellow NU alum Joe Girardi made the squad after Mike Piazza's beaning. He was something like the third or fourth choice for the backup catcher because slightly more deserving stars that year like Javy Lopez and Todd Hundley passed because they already had plans for the break. Granted, this was done a day before all the hoopla started, but you have to wonder. Then again, it was great to see Girardi be introduced as an All-Star, no matter the circumstances.

Speedy delivery
Finally decided to get up a bit early after working Saturday nights and catch a Sunday Braves game. It helps that it was Greg Maddux vs. Jon Lieber, thus assuring a good chance of a well-pitched and quick-moving ballgame. It was a 2-0 Braves win that took about 2:30, so I was right (although it did lengthen itself out when the relievers started coming in). I was slightly disappointed in the crowd size, given it was a sunny (if somewhat hot) Sunday afternoon. But, hey, if that means I can walk up and get a dugout level seat, so be it.

I've got the Wimbledon men's final on now, and it's a bit unfortunate to see what "parity" can do to such a great event. World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt appears ready to blow away some kid David Nalbandian, who's playing his first match on Centre Court(!). With all of the upsets in Nalbandian's part of the draw, it was apparent some unknown was going to emerge in the finals, where as the Hewitt-Tim Henman semifinal was the de facto final. Sometimes, these "unknown" finals turn out to be somewhat entertaining -- Boris Becker years ago, the streaker in the midst of the Richard Krajicek-MaliVai Washington final, and even Goran Ivanisevic's surprise win last year (only because he had been close to obscurity at that point). At the same time, it's hard to get worked up or to pull yourself out of bed for something that seems inevitable.

At the same time, we now have had back-to-back finals with the Williams' sisters. And odd as it is to say, that's already getting a bit boring. (There's the flip side to parity.) Serena is closing the gap on Venus, having won the last two meetings, and you'd hope the quality of tennis gets better in their matches as time goes on.

Finally, it's nice to see Anna Kournikova make the final weekend of the fortnight after fizzling out in singles. Anna has proven herself to be a fine doubles player, and it's not a bad thing if she's the new version of Gigi Fernandez. It could make doubles a more attractive draw than it is now.

I've been listening off and on to the local classic rock station's Top 1000 countdown. I'm used to hearing Top 500 countdowns around Memorial Day/July 4th/Labor Day, but 1,000 is interesting because it forces the station to drag out songs you know aren't on their normal playlists. I think it's pretty arbitrary where some of these songs are -- Aerosmith's "Janie's Got a Gun" somewhere in the high 900s while Ace's "How Long" at 499, etc. Hopefully they'll put a list online when the countdown is over so I could have some fun picking through the selections. I haven't had the urge/energy to do the radio diary like Tim just yet, but if I've got time on my days off, I may do so.

I'm curious to see what makes the cut in the top 100 given some of the good stuff before it. One time in college, a handful of us sat around our dorm suite on Memorial Day taking bets on the top 10. I think we're all still wondering how ZZ Top's "La Grange" became so popular in Chicago. At least I can see decent reasoning for "Sweet Home Alabama" at the top of classic rock countdown here in Atlanta.

The shopping continues as the Yankees get Jeff Weaver from the Tigers in a three-way trade with Oakland. The Yankees end up dealing the surprising Ted Lilly and a couple of really good prospects to the A's while Detroit gets Carlos Pena, who should be better than he is, and a couple of other less notable players. I wonder where that leaves El Duque for the Yankees, although you wonder how much more dealing there will be after getting Raul Mondesi. The A's somehow capture lightning in a bottle and got some decent players from the Yankees. (Everyone is still wondering how John Mabry became such a stud over there). And the Tigers, well, we're not sure about that, although I've already heard a lot from the Detroit bureau already.

Geez, is the Splendid Splinter going to be the next Walt Disney?

I haven't been as inspired to post stuff the past couple of days. (I'll probably elaborate later.) But with things pretty slow here this evening, let's see what I can dig up ...

R.I.P. Ted Williams
With all of the losses this baseball season, it pretty much seemed fitting that Ted Williams would pass away after a long illness. But like Jack Buck, it's a time for celebration in remembering one of the game's all-time greats (although we've been in that holding pattern since the '99 All-Star Game).

A couple of tangential thoughts about this: Williams wasn't the nicest player out there, but let his bat do the talking to make him a legend. Will Barry Bonds get the same type of attention when he retires. Not just in death, but the icon status that Williams got pretty much after his retirement. Also, will his son John Henry now get the boot from the rookie league team since he said the reason he wanted to play was so his father could see him in a Red Sox uniform?

Mmm, hot dogs
We got the live feed of the hot dog eating contest and it was both sickening and amazing at the same time to see Kobayashi put away 50 1/2 hot dogs in 12 minutes, but was he part of a barber shop quartet in Skokie, Illinois. I won't get into the "controversy" about his near roman-method incident other than given how he lapped the field, would it have mattered or would it be like a runner setting a fast pace and then dropping out?

The right fit?
Lauren would've been astounded to see a really long Daria marathon on The N -- the tween spinoff of Noggin, the Nickelodeon-Sesame Workshop collaboration. While the show was pretty smart, the folks at TV Barn were wondering if their audience would gravitate towards airhead younger sister Quinn as opposed to Daria. That remains to be seen, although it's a nice quirky addition to the lineup that includes a bunch of Nickelodeon tween classics (from just after my time) and a new generation of Degrassi (a personal favorite of mine and Kevin Smith). Of course, I'm still looking around for the old repeats of The Electric Company (Sean caught it when he came by for a visit a couple of years ago and was transfixed) and especially Square One Television, which Craig says is full of Michigan in-jokes (hence why I never picked up on it).

While many people I know can easily quote Office Space, even though I was one of just a few people to see it in the theater. However, I never realized how much an impact it made on Swingline staplers.

Comin' back from Cali
This weekend's family reunion turned out very well. It was held at a religious-based campground/convention center near San Bernadino. Beautiful looking area in the mountains, lots of nature around. A bear that roamed around late Saturday night, prompting a bunch of Yogi Bear jokes. However, after doing an interesting hike up one of the hills in the campground, we were hit in the face that this is southern California as you could see a thick layer of smog on top of the surrounding hills. We were thrown off by the camp rules regarding food since we're used to all-day feasts as opposed to a dinner bell. However, the big thing about this weekend was to get family together. (There were about 90 attendees at different points during the weekend. Most were from the U.S., although we did have a few come from the Philippines.)

I had already spent some time with a number of these relatives in the past, so it's not like I was walking into this cold. However, one thing that really struck us early on was that there was a big part of the family that most of us never knew about. Most of the adult relatives I knew from past gatherings emigrated to the U.S. about 25-30 years ago and then had kids born here (like myself). However, this weekend, many of the adults were born here and of mixed heritage. Take that another generation, and we have plenty of "white-looking" relatives, but it's all family. Talk about having fun with the "So, where are you from?" game that I often run into. Among my closer relatives, we're going in that direction with the cousins (roughly my age) that have recently married.

I had tons of fun with the extended family. It's now getting to the point where a 6-10 year age difference isn't as pronounced as it used to be (especially if we're all old enough to drink). Thus, there were about 20 or so of us in the demographic-friendly 18-34 range that spent a good amount of time together. We even added a couple of more cousins previously unknown to us into the circle. Should make for some fun times down the road.

Capped off the trip with a bit of sightseeing in Hollywood over by Mann's Chinese Theatre and the Kodak Theatre (home of this year's Oscars). It's a spiffy looking area, even when we were there about 10-11 p.m., and tones down the touristy vibe (besides the handprints and stars along Hollywood Boulevard). Seeing the stars on the Walk of Fame was a bit amusing, considering that the stars run up and down the street for a long while. So while it looks pretty cool to have your name by the Chinese Theater or even by the schlocky museums nearby, it seems odd that the stars would run past some lesser areas just a few blocks down, approaching Vine.

I'm off to California for a family reunion. The dozens and dozens of you reading this will just have to wait until Monday for something new.

Just downloaded the newest copy of BearShare and it runs very nicely. They did a nice job in upgrading from previous versions. Of course, there are probably tons of bugs and I'll still be downloading numerous versions over time.

Maybe the Expos are making one last run at a pennant before going to wherever by acquiring Bartolo Colon from the Indians. I guess Cleveland is throwing in the towel for this year. Jim Thome, you're next. Other people think Montreal is trying to dismantle the team now for one last gasp before they go away. Either way, it's nice to see them actually do something for now, instead of later. Or like the Reds, who keep harping on the 2003 date because of their new park. (Ya know, they should've kept their mouth shut on that. Cleveland built up the team over a number of years looking forward to the opening of Jacobs Field. They just weren't that open about it. It's not that refreshing when a team says in 2000 or 2001 that they're playing for 2003.)

You've already seen my draft screed, but here's King Kaufman's take on the festivities. I agree with most of his player analysis, but he's a bit off on the draft proceedings. Yes, the NFL Draft can be a tedious bore at times (and I've spent the last three drafts working with Pat Kirwan analyzing the top picks). But I think fans know more about the players in the football draft than the basketball draft, especially these days with all the high school and international players going early. Also, many of the players taken early these days are projects that will take a couple of years to mature into a major contributor. It's almost an upset to find a seasoned college player ready to contribute now. Plus, the NBA Draft has been in New York the past couple of years, but it's been in Vancouver, Indiana and a handful of other outposts, but it's usually pretty antiseptic and boring. Besides, with the Knicks as bad as they are these days, there's a huge entertainment value to see angry New York fans rip a draft pick. There's got to be a bunch of Jets fans who are also Knicks fans.

NBA Draft thoughts
I'm sure Bill Simmons will have a great breakdown of the draft, but here are some of my thoughts ...

Yao Ming. Yadda yadda yadda. Who knows what will happen with him. Go with "upside" or whatever, maybe he's Shawn Bradley. I don't know.

I'm more pumped about Jay Williams, although a lot of that comes from the fact that he went to my high school (and we don't produce lots of well-known athletic talent). He'll be a nice fit on the Peja Stojakovic and Pau Gasol have people looking to international players a lot more than before. Who knows if that will be a good thing. It definitely makes the draft a lot less TV friendly since we won't have heard of most of these guys (think the NHL Draft). It makes for some hilarious moments when David Stern has to say the name. Some of the guys on TV made good points that the international players can come in and do more sooner because they're in a more professional environment there, as opposed to the strict rules on the college level. But that still doesn't answer the fact that tons of these guys don't do a whole lot for a while (if that).

Caron Butler is a steal at No. 10 to the Heat, if Pat Riley will actually play him. He could be Paul Pierce (down to the slide to No. 10). Juan Dixon makes for a nice homer pick, although who knows what he'll do, if he can play point, great, but who knows. I guess he's one of those players whose size overwhelms the talent. Curtis Borchardt goes to Utah to replace Greg Ostertag as big goofy white center. He'll play for 10 years because he's big and white.

It's nice to see Casey Jacobsen get drafted reasonably high. It was funnier seeing everyone drool over his girlfriend. Hey Sager, you've got your own trophy blonde.

The Hawks finally did something right by picking up Dan Dickau. This after drafting and trading away Jamaal Tinsley last year.

There was a stretch, starting with Dickau, where I'd actually heard of all of these guys from college. Then the Hawks and Jets fans at the NFL Draft as they ripped into Scott Layden. However, they did OK in getting Antonio McDyess and Frank Williams (a head case but can be very good) for Marcus Camby (always hurt), Mark Jackson (old) and Nene Hilario (nice to see Denver stock up the international guys; they'll get more in the lottery next year).

Denver is holding open tryouts and guaranteeing someone a spot on the roster. Is the team that bad that they have to do that? Why don't they just go to the local Y and point at a couple of folks. Hmm, maybe Juwanna Mann and Lil' Bow Wow will be there.

Charles, Kenny and EJ were all in midseason form (even though EJ is probably beat having to make the trip from Wimbledon) and Hubie Brown is odd but entertaining. Poor Quin Snyder took forever to get into the swing of things. He probably was overwhelmed by the crew, plus the fact that he hardly saw any of these first rounders. He added a little more later on as the draft wore on, but he was very disappointing. Of course, I kept on asking myself "When did Andrew McCarthy change his hairstyle?" (I'd think Alyson would also be disappointed in Quin's effort.)

Craig wondered if the Hornets didn't pick so they wouldn't have to show off whatever they've done with the logo in New Orleans.

It's too bad this is Turner's last year of showing the draft. The question is: Will Mel Kiper Jr. show up on ESPN's coverage next year? Hopefully they won't drag it out like they do the NFL one. This one was pretty time efficient, but then again, the NBA always has been around draft time.

With all of these really young players (not necessarily high schoolers, at least not this year) and international guys coming in, it's getting harder and harder to really enjoy the draft. Being someone who watches his share of college hoops (especially in March), the draft always becomes interesting when figuring out which star players can move his game up to another level and which others get lost in the shuffle for one reason or another (usually size, but other reasons as well). It's also funny to see teams take risks on talented folks who never really hit their stride in college, then eventually fade (Luther Wright, Yinka Dare). It's sad to see who you think were good players stumble in the pros (Bobby Hurley, Bo Kimble). It's also aggravating to see good players slip in the draft mainly because they were good in college and scouts couldn't figure out why. You know they don't watch too much college hoops and have to rely on workouts to improve their status (John Salmons, anyone? I hardly remember him on a decent Miami team last season).

Oh well, it's one hell of a spectacle to say the least, even if it seems to be slipping in relevancy every year.

My friend Sean out in Des Moines took a slightly different tact in tackling the football/Title IX issue. One thing he brings up (and I've always wondered) is how NFL teams can get by with 53 active players per week while college teams regularly have 60-70 active players. Granted, NFL teams can cut and replace players a bit easier than colleges, but it's still an interesting question, especially if carrying an extra 10-12 scholarships could mean the difference between keeping or eliminating something like a swimming, wrestling or gymnastics program.

Are some of us just too plugged in for our own good?

Taste? What's that?
I'm a proud owner of the Have a Nice Decade boxed set -- seven CDs of '70s hits from the good people at Rhino Records. While there are some gems in there, there's also a lot of crap that seems destined only for the sick and twisted trivia minds out there (like myself). It doesn't help that they didn't get rights from a lot of top artists (fat Elvis screams out for one) and instead we get our fair share of "Disco Duck."

Anyways, I bring that up because Rhino is coming out with an '80s version of that boxed set and it looks like it will be short on great artists (REM, U2, the Police, Madonna, Beastie Boys) and full of everything else. The folks at Slate debate the merits of the boxed set and '80s music in general and it makes for some interesting reading. I'm a child of the '80s and ate up all of the music and pop culture from the decade, so I don't think I'll be turning up my nose at the collection, but rather get a big chuckle out of it. The question remains if I'll buy it. I probably own a good chunk of it on CD or MP3 already, as well as a fair share on 45 (which was going out of style even back in the early '80s).

On a similar tangent with 45s, it seems like record companies aren't releasing as many singles as they used to be. Instead, they're coming up with intricate systems of payola to get stuff on the radio and then trying to make up some of that difference by forcing people to buy albums, even for just one or two good songs plus lots of crap. And the companies wonder why Napster and the other file-swapping things took off. The crazy sales numbers for the U.S. version of Now That's What I Call Music show how much fans want their top hits in a more attractive way.

Figured I'd dive into my little-used Hotmail account after reading a cool Salon piece about open-source spam busting programs. In about a month, I ended up seeing 200 pieces of e-mail in my inbox, even though I haven't given out that address to anyone I know in eons. I think it's still on a CNNSI.com list while testing out some fantasy stuff, but that's it. Oh yeah, 9 messages ended up in the Junk Mail folder thanks to the sophisticated filtering they've got over there. I suppose if I actually used that account, I'd be well beyond 200 spam messages, like it seems with both my home and work accounts.

Anna Kournikova may have lost in the first round at Wimbledon (shocking very few), but she didn't leave without providing what will likely be the best photo of the fortnight.

Some people complain about not going out on dates. Some blog it. Some people do something about it. This guy is trying to do something about it and blogging it. It's an interesting project to say the least and probably something I'll try to follow. I probably fall in that first category, although I'm not sure what I'm up to these days in that search for a girlfriend (or even a date), so I can't even call it complaining. Just a state of indifference, I guess.

The death of Darryl Kile is obviously a shock to everyone, and it seems to be exacerbated even more by the somewhat mysterious circumstances surrounding it. (I won't get into the sausage factory details of how we got everything packaged together online, though.) It's hard to believe, I guess, that it's the first in-season death (i.e. not spring training) of an active major league player since Thurman Munson back in 1979. Condolences go out to his family, the Cardinals and all of baseball.

Going in another direction, it was amusing seeing Luis Castillo looking forlorn because his hit streak ended with him on deck but the Marlins scoring the winning run. It's Rick Manning-Paul Molitor all over again, except replace Manning with Tim Raines, of all people. I suppose it's good that the Florida fans didn't boo. The Marlins put on one nice comeback in the ninth inning to win the game. Then again, there were only a few thousand there anyways, so there probably weren't enough of the smart-asses around.

Fiction becomes fact
Kevin Smith has started up an entertainment site Movie Poop Shoot News. If it sounds familiar, it's because it was the name of the fictional Web site in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. I suppose too many people were looking for that site after the movie came out, so why not spin it off into something useful.

Jim Caple's advice to the Class of 2002 is slightly amusing, and, I suppose, an OK takeoff of Mary Schmich's column later turned into a hit by Baz Luhrmann. I still remember hearing the hubbub about the Luhrmann song and the mistaken attribution to Kurt Vonnegut, then realizing that I had actually posted the original column online during my internship at the Chicago Tribune just before my own graduation (and not thinking much of it than a cute diversion for the Sunday paper). Just my brush with pop music history/pop folklore.

Atlanta has often been criticized as a bad sports town, especially with the fickle fans. However, it's nice to see some teams down here try to make an effort to attract fans using the old tried and true trick -- lower ticket prices. The Hawks are making a money-back guarantee to season ticket holders if they don't make the playoffs while the Falcons, already with some of the lowest ticket prices in the NFL, are cutting ticket prices even more. Nice steps, now the teams have to make it work on the field to make the cost-cutting worth it.

You gotta love those fish-n-chip folks. Batter anything and dip it in oil, and you've got a masterpiece. How else to explain the newest phenomenon -- fried Twinkies.

In the wake of the upcoming releases of the hoops farces Juwanna Mann and Like Mike, one has to wonder, have there been any good basketball comedies? There have been decent basketball dramas like Hoosiers, Hoop Dreams, and Love and Basketball(which I stumbled across on TV last night and turned out to be a solid picture), but there isn't much that can't be considered ridiculous. Unfortunately there are too many movies like The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh and not enough White Men Can't Jump.

"I guess the humidor is broken"
Great quote from Clint Hurdle after another wacky shootout at Coors Field. Put a Yankees team now hitting homers in Denver and, yikes. Of course, the Yankees didn't have much in terms of real middle relief (Mike Thurman? Randy Choate? yikes) and it bit them at the end since I didn't think Karsay had much left in a second inning.

Assorted sports ramblings
The Italians were complaining, and rightfully so, for getting jobbed by the officials in their loss to South Korea, but isn't sacking the Korean player who scored the winning goal from an Italian club just a bit much?

There were some decent if unspectacular choices for the Hockey Hall of Fame. Unfortunately I can't see Bernie Federko's name with thinking "Adam Oates for Bernie Federko, my ass!"

Seeing ex-NBA players and coaches coaching WNBA teams is one thing. And then there's Bill Laimbeer coaching the Detroit Shock. Was he not making enough from those IBM ads or that godawful video game from years ago.

If I can have a column ...
OK, which is a worse hire for a supposedly reputable publication: This one or this one?

Pick a sound, any sound. I dare you! I'm still waiting for him to use those lines as Mace Windu. "Don't Jedi me, OK!"

I remember the original story of the Krispy Kreme robber, although I'd love to have seen the chase there as it could've compared favorably with the L.A. chase of a Frito-Lay truck in the early morning. Anyways, it looks like they've caught the guy and ends the stakeout that cops didn't want to end.

Nice to see he's found some new work. I guess this is on par with Pras shilling for 1-800-YES-CREDIT or Erik Estrada serving as a spokesman for Smoke Signals -- phone service for those with credit problems.

It's not a surprise that Jesse Ventura decided not to run for re-election. In fact, wasn't it considered an April Fool's Joke when he told reporters he would seek re-election? Pegging his decision not to run on his son's partying at the mansion seems a bit suspicious, though. It didn't look like he'd win re-election anyways and his act had worn a bit thin. But maybe he'll make another appearance or two in the WWE once his term is up.

Assorted sports ramblings
After having to deal with an extra huge day at work a little more than a week ago, there was a bunch more stuff going on (and this is supposed to be a quiet period) ...

I was half awake for most of that thrilling U.S. win over Mexico, and I was at least moderately coherent for both goals. The U.S. still hasn't looked good for an entire game, and that might eventually catch up with them against the Germans. One major thing that bothers me is Jack Edwards' trying to make up that closing line for the big win. I guess he's using that delay to come up with the lines. Jack, just let it flow.

Both the NBA and Stanley Cup Finals turned out to be very anticlimactic, but as Salon's King Kaufman notes, the Red Wings at least looked happy doing it. And there seemed to be something special about Scotty Bowman going out on top and all of those future Hall of Famers getting the Cup. The Rangers also bought a bunch of stars but were on the golf course at this time of year.

There was some talk of reseeding teams in the final four after the West proved to be far superior this year. Forget all of that. Things go in cycles. Some years, the East rules, other times, the West rules. Sometimes it's a draw. Take it another way, should we also reseed in the NFL? You probably don't get the Patriots winning the Super Bowl that way. Leave things alone.

While the KobeShaq juggernaut often looks tedious, Tiger Woods makes his domination look fun -- and I'm not just talking about his girlfriend. His U.S. Open win was fun, and it helped that the New York crowd was a lot of fun. Other thoughts: Sure, Bethpage Black is a public course, but it doesn't look like the public courses I've seen. Also, Phil Mickelson will get a major soon. Maybe he'll spoil Tiger's slam bid later this summer.

By sheer luck, I discovered that American Adobo was playing at the Tara (artsy theater around the corner from me) this weekend, so my brother and I went to see it before I dropped him off at the airport.

It's another one of a series of movies that incorporates food (adobo is a popular Filipino dish consisting of braised meat and spices) into the lives of a group of people tied together by their heritage. In this case, it's five Filipino-Americans (primarily in their 30s and 40s) going through a very rocky and eventful year in New York City. Honestly, if this movie wasn't focused on Filipinos, I probably wouldn't have watched it. It's almost like an Asian version of The Big Chill or any number of "coming of age" movies among a group of friends. In this movie, the main characters went to college together in the Philippines in the '70s (thus, they're a few years younger than my parents and their friends). It also reminds me a lot of The Joy Luck Club, at least the scenes involving the younger American-raised women (i.e. not the concubine stuff).

The movie itself has a soap-opera feel to it, and the characters don't have much nuance to them, although the acting is reasonably done. I could see myself trying to picture different friends/relatives/etc. who most closely resembled the ones in the film. I didn't mind the dialogue, although it was clunky at times. But the script was pretty genuine as it had the characters freely switching between Tagalog and English during their conversations. (My parents and their friends do this all the time, although I was raised primarily on English, so Tagalog is actually very foreign to me. It makes me feel awkward, though, when I see people do the free transition around me. They do hit upon this briefly in the film during the cookout scene where there are a couple of non-Filipinos in the group.)

There are themes of the power of friendship, people finding their place in the world and the right person for them. All of those ideas were done adequately enough. Thankfully, there were a few good scenes where you could see the influence of Filipino culture and social mores on the lives of the characters. Those really helped the movie along (in my opinion) and something that would get non-Filipinos thinking about what motivates their behavior. Among the ideas thrown about: Filipinos are often complacent (thus not challenging what's around them, no matter how good or bad -- "That's why Marcos ruled for 20 years and the Spaniards for 300 years); white people seem to treat Filipinos in America better than fellow Filipinos (as seen in the relationship between a wealthy Filipino woman and her cousin who works as a maid in a New York hotel); the influence of religion (especially Catholicism).

The movie does have its moments, and the tone of the film swings wildly from melodramatic to farcical to touching. It had its holes and it really seemed formulaic, but there's enough of the Filipino flavor to make it unique and entertaining enough. The film's official Web site does a good job pretty much giving away most of the plot plus lots of additional stuff, including an adobo recipe.

Back from the sun
I had the laptop with me the whole time, but figured, I'm on vacation, what's the point of logging on and doing all of this stuff. Sorry for leaving the dozens and dozens of you wanting more. Anyways, here's the rundown of the vacation with my brother ...

We left Tuesday morning for the approximately seven-hour trip to Orlando. From Atlanta, it's pretty much a straight shot down I-75 to the Ronald Reagan (nee Florida's) Turnpike. It was a reasonably uneventful drive, thankfully, powered primarily with my MP3 CDs. We left about 10:30 a.m. and got into town around 5:30-6 p.m. If there's ever been an area that screams tourist, it's International Drive in Orlando (where we eventually stayed). Lots of bright signs, hotels of all price ranges, assorted malls catering to the tourist, mini golf, almost every moderately priced chain restaurant, a variety of tacky souvenir shops and shady discount ticket brokers.

We ended up at Pleasure Island, a bunch of clubs over at the Downtown Disney part of the Disney Industrial Complex. The places were OK -- nothing spectacular, although the improv group was decent. The people watching aspect was so-so -- a bunch of parents ready to let off steam after dealing with the kiddies all day, plus some folks like us wanting to do something without having to dodge all the kids.

On Wednesday, we hit Universal Studios Florida, a nice, if inferior park compared to the original in California. Oddly enough, the most thrilling rides involved thrill-ride seats but with the action taking place on large screens in front of us (Back to the Future and the Hannah Barbera ride). The visual effects plus the jarring of the seats made it feel more real compared to the King Kong, Earthquake (and to a lesser extent, Jaws) rides. The Men in Black ride had a nice interactive element -- shooting the aliens across the ride. It was still pretty much the same, all in all, when I was there for the Citrus Bowl during my senior year of college. The one new twist was City Walk, which is Universal's series of clubs, bars, etc. It was cool that they brought in a version of Pat O'Brien's, the famous New Orleans hangout. This area seemed to bring out more people who made it a nighttime destination -- there are decent dinner deals, and the price to get in everywhere was cheaper than Pleasure Island. The whole Universal thing looks pretty good, although we didn't have time for Islands of Adventure.

We ended bypassing the rest of the Disney Universe, since we just didn't have the time. I guess I'll be back in due time. On Thursday, our return trip started at the Kennedy Space Center. I was always pretty interested in all of the space exploration stuff, and I enjoyed it when I was here as a kid. It seemed much improved and still just as entertaining now. We found our way to the VIP tour, and it seemed to be worth the extra price since we got closer to the shuttle launch pads and landing strip, plus had a couple of cool guides (as opposed to a guide who often just played a video). We wished we had more time there, but it wasn't the case. But, we did get the infamous freeze dried astronaut ice cream. (I guess that goes on the display bookshelf for a while).

We went the long way back to Atlanta to handle some other business. Thus, we traveled up I-95 to see our family's lot in Palm Coast (between Daytona and St. Augustine). The development is full of smallish houses, perfect for people to move to upon retirement, or as a summer home. There were some houses on our street, but thankfully, ours wasn't the only lot not developed. After that, we found our way to Savannah where my brother could visit the weightlifting center there. Eventually, we tackled traffic from there Friday back home and in time for the Red Sox-Braves game at Turner Field (oddly enough, my first game there this year).

It was a good vacation, although as with any family vacation, there were the occasional jangled nerves and arguments. But I guess we survived reasonably well.

I suppose there could be more details, but I've written more than my fair share here.

Goin' South
Well, with my brother in town, we're doing the road trip thing, leaving tomorrow for Orlando and hitting a couple of the crazy theme park places and who knows what else. It looks like I will be bringing the laptop down with me. I guess I'm a geek, but I can also do some travelogue stuff along the way.

Different perspectives
Before heading over to the show, I ended having dinner with my friend Lenny, who got the tickets, plus some other friends, including a handful of people I work with (or used to) but hardly ever acknowledged. These are some of the people that just kind of fade into the background since I hardly worked with them or connected with them. But in the midst of our conversation about all sorts of stuff, the topic went briefly to "her" (I've yet to mention her name for a few reasons, although I hope she's reading this and knows I am talking about her -- and thus might respond.) A couple of the folks worked with her, and they weren't saying anything flattering. I wasn't too sure how to react to this, so I just clammed up. All I know is that I really like her, and I guess I'm one of very few who genuinely feel the way. I suppose I really should do something about it, and I guess there isn't much competition.

Get the 'F' out ...
Got to see yet another Monday Night Raw show at Philips Arena, my first live event since changing the name to WWE. It definitely didn't have the "Oh my god" moment like the last time I went, when the ECW guys came onto the scene, but it had its moments -- although the Ric Flair-Vince McMahon match was somewhat anticlimactic. The good thing about it was giving a push to Brock Lesnar, who ran in at the end of the match to give Vinny Mac the win.

Shawn Michaels had an OK interview back, and we now have an official face turn by Booker T after he got kicked out the NWO, which shouldn't have happened to begin with. Too much down time altogether, and the action was pretty average, plus no Stone Cold. We did have great seats, though (first row of seats behind the hockey boards at one corner of the ring). There was much amusement with a Goldberg lookalike (musclebound guy with a bald head and goatee).

I've been to better shows, but this was OK since I went with my brother and a former co-worker who's just as rabid a wrestling fan as I.

Reality bites
Well, so much for the Nets in the NBA Finals. That thud you hear is much of the New York area jumping off the bandwagon.

Warning to those of you playing fantasy football leagues, if you rely on those magazines as your sole source on information, you're screwed. Those things were written in April and May and published by early June. I know since you can now see my face in Fantasy Sports magazine, doing a mock draft for football.

Interesting to see how many dead links and sites I've discovered while cleaning out my bookmarks. I guess I've seen how the Internet has risen and fallen, especially among fledgling sites.

The sports night from hell went reasonably well once we were cleared to watch Lennox Lewis pummel Mike Tyson after much confusion during the night that we wouldn't be able to see it. Nice to see who has the power to get stuff in -- it ain't us.

Of course, the hockey game had to throw a nice monkey wrench into the proceedings by having a requisite triple-OT game. But it was fun and kept things interesting once the fight was over -- even if it meant not getting out of the office until about a quarter to 5. It's still a bit weird to come home from work and seeing the morning newspaper on your doorstep. It's even weirder that you know the paper isn't going to have some of the stuff you just worked on. But, hey, I got a head start at tackling the Sunday paper. Still need to go over all of the advertisements and inserts.

Well, I guess I was still in a blogging mood while catching the second half of one of the crappier World Cup games, which means I'll get to bed once I'm done with this -- maybe.

The Vent section in the AJC is always a lot of fun. But I have this sneaking suspicion one of them on Friday is aimed at me (the vents have since cycled out since the original post). I haven't been able to prove it, but I did see a copy of the newspaper next to the person in question this evening. Yes, I do think I'm an idiot. (Anyone wanting to know what it is can ask me.)

And on a similar note, a blog from another of my quizbowl colleagues had this interesting link. It's very intriguing and unintentionally hilarious, and at the same time I can't help but think of the guidelines to appreciate poetry from Dead Poets Society.

Nice to see I play golf as well as Jamie Sale.

There were already too many people taking The Onion too seriously. Now a Chinese newspaper has cribbed directly from the paper. Good to see we're believing everything we read on the Internet.

You want fun? You pay for it
Atlanta has been trying its best over the years to attract big events downtown and not abandon it at 5 p.m. Sure, there are the sporting venues, but there has to be something else, right? Well tonight (and for most of the summer), there are two free concerts downtown. Now that seems a bit much, especially with stages just a few hundred feet away from each other. Of course, all of the hassle and fear of crap happening will depend on the artists playing -- and I can already see that it may not matter much on some weekends. All I know is that I've got to drive through some of that traffic on Fridays -- great.

And somewhat related, a parks official is recommending banning major festivals like Music Midtown or the Atlanta Jazz Festival from city parks because of damage done during the festivals. It may make sense since the city has few parks to begin with. "If we build it, please don't come!" The official suggests the Lakewood Fairgrounds. Not a bad idea, except that it's kind of in the middle of nowhere -- although at least MARTA goes there, sorta. It seems like no one knows how to get free, large-scale events in the city without massively screwing it up.

Don't hate her because she's beautiful
If you believed this article from the Chicago Sun-Times about the changes at "60 Minutes II" -- specifically the replacing Chicago TV reporter extraordinaire Carol Marin with Lara Logan as a correspondent, you'd think CBS just hired one of Hef's Playmates for the job.

Looking at Logan's bio from GMTV in England, it looks like she's a very accomplished reporter. She's spent time with CNN, ITN, BBC and ABC, and also spent time on the front lines in Afghanistan. Oh yeah, she is very, very attractive, and she spent time as a model in her earlier days (and then there are a couple of cheesecake paparazzi shots floating around thanks to the British tabs). As long as she's got the credentials, it shouldn't be a problem unlike Andrea Thompson's situation last year.

Heaven help us
The stories have been coming out for years about sexual abuse among clergy, so I guess I wasn't as shocked when it became such a huge scandal. I just know it wasn't going on at my church (or any near me, as far as I could tell), although I suppose I should've been a bit more concerned. This article seems to get into the guts of why it took so long for it to become a scandal, including questions of tackling the Catholic hierarchy as well as the comfortability of tackling sexual issues. Being more open about such topics today has many repercussions. It's also odd to think that lawyers are coming out like "good guys" in this case.

And there's also some NFL Europe, too
It's turning out to be a ridiculously busy sports weekend (which in turn means a hellish existence for me, although I'd rather not have the ultimate boredom of last Saturday and the second head growing out of Hasim Rahman's temple).

Let's see, Friday night has the start of interleague play (including Barry Bonds at Yankee Stadium) and Game 2 of the Nets-Lakers NBA Finals. There's also some World Cup (which I'll eventually stay up late/get up early for), then the Williams sisters slugging it out for the French Open title, Pedro-Schilling at Fenway. Then comes War Emblem going for the Triple Crown (and seems to have a better shot than the other three that have done it in the past five years), Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals, then the potential train wreck that is Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson followed by more World Cup.

Yup, it's just another one of those weekends. And I go on vacation right after that. What a fun way to head into that.

And sources say Shaquille O'Neal will miss a free throw tonight
Ironically for a sport that helped spawn the "Just Do It" slogan, basketball never seems to actually do anything. It's reported and pondered about to death that when something actually happens, it's irrelevant. And you wonder why people think NBA games/series are fixed. They can't even handle awards ceremonies right. There was plenty of hand-wringing over the Tim Duncan vs. Jason Kidd MVP fiasco. Problem was, the award wasn't announced yet when the debate started. We all wanted the announcement to come so we could end the debate -- not begin it. And today, there were "reports" that Larry Brown was selected to the Hall of Fame -- never mind, the full announcement was coming within hours. What's the rush to be first for something like this?

For all the heat baseball gets for its sometimes archaic voting process for the major awards and the Hall of Fame, at least the announcements can keep you guessing until the time they release the results. Then you can argue. Same goes with the other major sports. The AP handles many of the NFL awards, and the Hall of Fame is handled by a council of elders emerging from their semi-secret gathering during Super Bowl weekend proclaiming their choices. The NHL has its Oscars-like ceremony for the awards. Using hockey as an example, could you imagine a report saying "Sources say Denzel Washington will win the Oscar"? Thanks, NBA. Can you tell me the lotto numbers, too?

Will the Juice Box work as a nickname?
The Enron Field name went away this spring, now to be replaced by Minute Maid Park. It just doesn't work as well as Tropicana Field, mainly because Minute Maid sounds like a corporate name; Tropicana sounds like a real name (I still remember the Atlantic City casino with the moniker). But I guess it's fine that a more "tangible" name is being used as a sponsor.

While rearranging some stuff around the apartment, I stumbled across a whole bunch of old books, letters, etc. from summers past -- some as old as 11 years old, and yet it feels almost like yesterday that I did some of that stuff. And I guess it's a bit odd to think that a lot of my fondest memories from my high school days were from my summers -- time spent with new and interesting people who may or may not have had more in common with me than my classmates. Of course, some of that could be that most of my good friends from those summers were women (I guess I had a better idea of what to do back then ... bizarre).

I also realize how much communication has changed over the years. While I can instant message or e-mail all sorts of people, I was very much a letter writer back in the day. That's because most of my closest friends lived miles away and wasn't doing the e-mail thing at that point (despite being very technologically adept). As much as I e-mail people, it's definitely not the same as writing letters. I've saved a ton of e-mails from people, and lost as many as well. However, it feels a bit better looking through old letters (the paper, the penmanship, the occasional goofy drawings, etc.) than a screen of old e-mails. Granted, I hardly do any letter writing myself these days (outside of some jottings in Christmas or birthday cards), but then again, I hardly have anyone to write to since I know mostly e-mail addresses. And I guess to be brutally honest, there are only a couple of people I feel I would actually put pen to paper to write a letter these days.

More reasons to feel old
The '80s nostalgia stuff is pretty cool, and then you realize some of the songs are now 18-20 years old. But then again, I was only in grade school at the time and I was a bit ahead of the curve in getting into pop music. However, now it's really hitting me in the face when the alt-rock station here in Atlanta played The Breeders' "Cannonball" during their lunch hour retro show. That came out in the early '90s and that song was played to death on Chicago's alt-rock station during my freshman year of college. At least now I'm getting an idea what kids today might consider "old" for quizbowl purposes.

Good to see someone agrees with me about the demise of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? I suppose fans who were contestants or knew people who were contestants under the old format have a better understanding of this.

Damn New Jersey-centric media
I guess all of those New York-phobic sports fans can continue gnashing their teeth as the nearby New Jersey Nets are in the NBA Finals! OK, so the Nets are to New York like Cousin Oliver was to the Brady Bunch, but it's still fun to see the Nets finally getting some respect. They're actually getting me to watch the NBA again -- a very remarkable feat. All I need is a t-shirt or hat with the old logo with the map of New Jersey, and I'm set.

Make me laugh
It's often weird what things you discover about people you know. For instance, I know of at least three people who have dabbled in stand-up comedy. One of my classmates at Northwestern went into the business right after graduation, although I'm not sure what he's up to now (the fact that he could pass as a young version of Michael Richards probably helped his cause). Recently, my friend Steve has been doing regular gigs in New York City when he's not miserable at his day job. From what I've heard, he's pretty decent -- although that doesn't surprise me. The oddest of the three is chronicled here -- a journalism professor that really helped me get interested in the business even before high school.