R.I.P. ST 21

Ugh. Seriously...WHAT. THE. FUCK? So senseless!

Commonwealth Cup Day

13-7 Hokies at the start of the second quarter. This is stressing me out so much.

Update: Sigh...33-21 Hokies. Just couldn't keep them out of the endzone on a crucial drive or two. We'll get 'em sooner or later. I'm not going to be upset about a 9-3 season though...but playing in Jacksonville next week would have been pretty sweet.

Current Musical Obsessions

Joe Henry "Civilians". Nocturnal and introspective. Fantastic.



Jens Lekman "Night Falls Over Kortedala". Probably the most random listen of the entire year. He sounds faintly like Rick Astley singing 60's R & B doo-wop...and it's great.

30!

Last night I had an incredible 30th birthday party and all I can say is that I have amazing friends.

Time to Drop the Newsweek Subscription?

I don't read the Great Orange Satan on daily basis anymore, but for reasons that should be obvious to long time readers of this minor outpost on the interwebs should know that I am sympathetic to Kos' viewpoints, so I have no problem with him being a part-time contributor to Newsweek during the 2008 elections cycle. Predictably, this lead to calls of "liberal media" bias, so to even things out, Newsweek has added....Karl Rove to its roster.

Dear God in Heaven.

Random San Francisco Things I've Never Done (Until Tonight)

Due to Oracle World (note to Larry Ellison: Please hold this shit show at your mansion outside of the city next year, K TKS), traffic has been snarled all week south of Market. After jumping off the 45 at 3rd and Howard, I walked into Union Square on an unseasonably warm mid-November night (mid 60's...global warming's upside?) and ended up taking the Hyde St cable car home. I've often avoided the cable cars because, just like Fisherman's Wharf, they are tourist traps. However, having the chance to ride up through Union Square, over Nob Hill, through upper Chinatown and then over Russian Hill was a complete treat. Hanging out one side of the car with a live rendition of "Incident on 57th Street" playing on my iPod as we snaked up the steep San Francisco hills was yet another reminder of how incredible this place is.

When Rap Meets Graphing Software

In case you wanted to know how good it feels to be a gangster.

The Dark Side of the Ron Paul Campaign

I was starting to wonder when this stuff was going to start coming out as I'd heard rumors about stories floating around on the web, but here's a piece from Jewcy detailing the Paul campaign's contributions from hard right, white supremacist organizations. Now, as is noted in the article, Paul's people have not decided yet what to do with some of those contributions, but that alone ought to give people pause. If you want to be the president of the United States of America in 2008, taking cash from the leader of Stormfront probably isn't a good idea.

For more on this, check out Orcinus.

Update: Seems that there's a lot more to this and it sheds a much better light on Paul than the original story.

American Gangster

Not going to do a long review of it, but the movie was very good (albeit a tad long at just over two and a half hours). Denzel was menacing and methodical as Frank Lucas and Russell Crowe was a good foil (but he didn't match the intensity of Washington). Josh Brolin was convincing as a dirty cop (complete with a sweet 'stache). Very violent but with a few good laughs here and there. Recommended.

Ill Wind

I have no idea what got into my Hoos last night, but Mikey likes it. Tuning off the lights at the famed Orange Bowl with a 48-0 destruction of Miami...well, it made my weekend.

Next up after the bye week are the hated Hokies with a spot in the A.C.C. title game on the line. Let's Go Hoos!

The L Word

As Ezra notes, this is a good article pointing out Rudy Giuliani's fabrications about health care. Paul Krugman also tackled this last week . This is all well and good, but reporters need to resort to stronger language here. In fact, there's a word tailor made for this kind of thing!

Lie
–noun
1. a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood.
2. something intended or serving to convey a false impression; imposture: His flashy car was a lie that deceived no one.
3. an inaccurate or false statement.

Come on media...you can use the "L" word...it's ok, really!