Just got back from watching this movie tonight--I've got to say, it was incredibly beyond any kind of expectation I had for it. In fact, I tried all I could to *not* go tonight. And it was legitimatly the funniest movie I have seen this year. Owen Wilson officially can carry a movie. Granted, he didn't play too different of a role than what he usually does, but Sweet Jesus, he took the leap.

Anyways, go see it. Good times.

This shirt is on ebay right now...friggin hilarious

ebay link

Gotta be happy for this kid. I'll never forget standing down below the stands at the Buck along with anyone else who could find a gap just to see this kid throw the curve ball. Nebraska Baseball is where its at today thanks to two people in my opinion....DVH and Shane K. Good for him....I'll be watching

Shane gets the call up

July 27, 2006
LINCOLN, NE- Pushover Husker basketball coach Barry Collier, whose underachievements have blemished his career was overheard talking about leaving the program yesterday. According to John Bauermeister, a 23 year-old bartender at Prairie Life Center, the NU coach said statements like “Everyone’s leaving…It’s like I always said, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Everyone is doing it, I might as well…” Four players/recruits and one coach have left the program since the end of the 2005-2006 season.

“Collier just wanted to be consoled while eating a cookie with a glass of milk” said Todd Johnson, owner of Todd’s lawn mowing service. “I was sitting at the bar eating lunch. Mr. Collier seemed very stressed out about applying for the AD position at Butler.” Mr. Johnson explained “He asked the bartender if he would take the job to be the Athletic Director of Butler University.” Bauermeister replied “Is it easy? Does it pay well? Where’s Butler? Who’s Butler? Need a refill of milk?”

Mr. Johnson also told us about this bad analogy, the coach rambled about. “He said he felt like he was a captain of a ship and that captains usually go down with their sinking ships. But that he wasn’t and ordinary captain. He didn’t understand why a captain would go down with his sinking ship, if he could just jump onto another one?”

When asked about the conversation, Bauermeister explained “Barry comes in while I’m working all of the time…Don’t tell anyone, but I got to pick the starting 5 for the KU game last year.” The bartender said while laughing. “You wouldn’t know it, but that was the genius behind it.” The bartender also explained Colliers game strategy “His strategy is not to have a strategy. It can be confusing at times but he likes giving his players freedom. Don’t tell anyone I told you but here is what really happened to Joe McCray. He did whatever he wanted on and off of the court. Ultimately he wanted to leave, so Barry let him.”

Bauermeister also told us about ex NU coach Danny Nee “Nee used to come in all the time too. He used to say things like “Put in on the Nee account” and we’d be all “What’s your first name again?” He always cursed at his kids and was a lousy tipper. We never talked about his career. Good thing too. He can’t even keep a job a Duquesne University. Where is that, anyway?”

Like gage, I too spent some time in Wisconsin this weekend. I don't have any good stories, I just thought these signs were pretty funny. The Brat Stop was pretty fantastic -- cheese, sausage, beer and gimic t-shirts and shot glasses as far as the eye could see. It was right up your alley Pete. We got some pretty awesome brat burgers there.

I have the following quick comments from a drunken weekend on the Apple River in Wisconsin.

1. If you are ever in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, you must play mini-golf at Action City. Just a brilliant course, one of my personal favorites. Plus, the owner was very interested in the course and asked our opinion of things when the round was over. It's a new course and their goal is to constantly improve it. I'm sure I'll have drunken conversations with many of you about some of their great ideas.

2. Apple River in Wisconsin should have a national reputation. It's like spring break on the river. Thousands of people, lots of binge drinking, lots of exposed breasts. It's insane.

3. You should memorize your credit card number. I was able to save part of a day when we started to run low on beer and we were all in our trunks and I snagged two cases by telling the girl working the counter my number verbally.

4. You should all be proud of the people I was with. We talked a kid into throwing his Texas hat into our fire in the middle of the night, primarily by using the argument that Texas sucks and burning stuff is cool.

5. The soundtrack of white trash is country music and anything that was in the motion picture Dazed and Confused. And I was disappointed in myself when I couldn't remember the words to a Hank Jr. song this weekend. I need to dust off the cobwebs.

A big Heavy Soul tear is being shed today for my (and I think most of the blog contributors) favorite player turned analyst, fixture at the college world series, and key figure in cell phone number theft gate.

Good bye Harold Reynolds.

http://www.nypost.com/sports/espn_fires_reynolds_sports_andrew_marchand

...is too.

At a fundraiser event in Detroit, here's what he had to say about the conflict in the Middle East:

"If I was president, this wouldn't have happened...This is about American security and Bush has failed. He has made it so much worse because of his lack of reality in going into Iraq...We have to destroy Hezbollah."

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060723/UPDATE/607230360

So, basically what you're saying here, Johnny, is that a region that has been fighting for, oh, 1,000,000 years falls on Bush. Right.

Just remember, kids--if anything bad happens, blame Bush!

(P.S.: The reason the United States isn't flailing their arms around screaming for a cease fire is because Isreal is doing precisely what Kerry wants--destroying Hezbollah. I know that people think that Bush is stupid and everything, but this response to the conflict over there by the U.S. is quite calculated and on purpose, and is working exactly as they hoped so far. Read more about it: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13988981/site/newsweek/

...is a whiney bitch. That is all.

Download [MP3] Pharrell- How Does It Feel?
Download [MP3] Atmosphere- Pour Me Another
Download [MP3] Dert- The Light (Common featuring Erykah Badu) vs. Heartbeats by José González

I found this interesting. They agree that Bush vetoing this bill was a poor choice, but strictly in a political sense. Here is the part I found the most interesting:

"The Senate has joined the House in enacting, by a wide margin, legislation to expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. I'm not an expert on this subject, but my impression is that the issue has very little to do with science, and a great deal to do with politics. The benefits of embryonic stem cell research have been vastly oversold, and I believe there is little reason to think that embryonic stem cells are likely to yield more medical benefits than other stem cells. And, in any event, I would rather see pharmaceutical companies carry out this kind of research than the federal government."

While I certainly agree that I would much rather have pharma companies doing the research, doesn't federal funding go to these companies to fulfill this research? I guess I do not understand the point of the last sentence there...

Anyways...the full article (http://powerlineblog.com/archives/014746.php) brings up a couple of important points:

A) Has it been proven that *embryonic* stem cell research is more valuable than other stem cells?
B) The most important point--the veto of this bill strictly stops federal funding towards *embryonic* stem cell research. States are able to contribute as much as they want (see; California), and does not put any sort of "ban" on embryonic or any other type of stem cell research. In other words, this veto does not make any kind of stem cell research illegal--it strictly means that the Federal government will not be giving money to this research.

I'm not posting this as any sort of defense of what Bush did with his first veto of his Administration--just wanted to bring out another point of view, and a highlight a couple of points that are easily missed by simply reading headlines and quick news summaries.

(Just to be clear--I am very disappointed with the several Senators who bow to the Focus on the Family-type interest groups and did not do the right thing for people not only in the US, but the world. And I am disappointed with Bush's decision here.)

Kudos to our beloved Leader for his veto of the stem cell bill, thus leading us further into the dark ages scientifically.

Regardless of how you feel about this research, one of the more frustrating things about the veto is the fact that it is a huge setback to our country's scientific community. There is now a ton of competition between the U.S. and the world for the top scientific minds and ideas, and the gap is narrowing.

If I hear a single Bush-backer complaining in 10 years because there are better doctors and more medical technology in China and India, I'm going to break out my concealed weapon (assuming I'm in Nebraska) and go to town.

I really don't agree with the moral argument here either. These cells exist to bring more life into existence, and excess ones are being destroyed anyway. Scientists have used this research to make strides in curing Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and even regeneration of spinal tissue. Perhaps we should spend more time concentrating on the utilization of science to help the quality of life for people who ARE on the earth, and less on cells heading for the dumpster in the first place.

This is a few days old, but today was the first chance I had to get to a scanner. Thursday night, Pete, The Deuce, and yours truly made it out to the Green Onion. Problem was, Pete made it there much, much sooner. Turns out that Petey had a bit of a problem recalling whether or not he paid his tab, so I figured for sure he would need a helpful reminder as to how much he threw down on his little afternoon hanging out. Upon looking at his receipt, I saw how he signed it--funny choice, Pete!

(Look at the big tipper!)

In accordance with celebrating the release of NCAA 2007. I give you this:

http://deadspin.com/sports/tecmo-bowl/the-true-nature-of-bos-tecmo-dominance-187794.php

In a related story, I have already named my fantasy football team Bo's Tecmo All-Stars.

The latest installment in this ongoing feature:

Saturday, July 15. Cursive's last show on a mini-tour supporting the release of their single, "Dorothy at Forty" from their highly anticipated (at least by this reporter) new album Happy Hollow. The only thing I had really heard about Cursive after The Ugly Organ and prior to about six weeks ago was that they had parted ways with their rockin' cellist, Greta Cohn. (Never thought there was a market for rock cellist solo albums.) Anywho, Sokol Auditorium was packed precisely as it should be for a show of this nature on a summer Saturday night. As if my entrance was their cue to go on, the band took the stage--including a female cellist and three horn players. Oh great, Cursive is turning into a ska band. Not so fast, my friend. They played all the hits off of Domestica and The Ugly Organ, but a great deal of the material was, I think, from the new album. Really good stuff. Darker themes, lighter songs. A lot of religious angst and a homosexual priest. Probably not okay for Sunday mornings, but perfect for the night before.

That's right--the time associated with this post is correct. It is 2:40 am. I have been--on and off--looking for this since I got home from work around 5 today. And I found it. I FOUND IT!

"Game Theory" is a trip of an album. I'm not ready to give a full review on it, and probably won't until it actually drops August 29th. A couple of thoughts, though:

--Suprisingly very guitar-heavy
--This is the first album where they truly sound like a band throughout the whole album. A lot of times, the albums sound like relatively normal rap songs, just with live insturmentals. This is, through and through, a complete album and you can tell that they spent a lot of time playing together on this one.
--Black Thought has officially made the leap, going from great battle MC to a great storytelling MC. This is a very good and encouraging leap.
--Very dark, heavy-hitting beats.
--Sounds like it is probably their best album since "Things Fall Apart," which dropped in 1999. And that is widely considered a true hip-hop classic. It is exciting that you are taking possibly their best material they've ever put out, but adding having Jay Z behind it. This might actually put The Roots out of the "critically acclaimed" category and into the "platinum-selling, critically acclaimed" category. I sure hope so, because this album is important. It is the first slightly mainstream rap group saying some important shit for once. Even if I do not agree with their politics, it is incredibly refreshing to hear someone in hip hop actually give a shit.

I'll spare everyone from here--I know that no one that reads this blog cares nearly as much as I do. But spending basically an entire Friday night looking for it, I had to get out the excitement somehow.

(Yes, I spent my Friday night scouring the internet for an album leak. Wow, I'm really going from "nerd tendencies" to "huge fucking nerd," aren't I?)

If I would've received $50 million to make the third season of Chapelle's Show, I probably would've quit if things were going the way they were. The first of the Lost Episodes.....not good.

Saturday afternoon one of my roomies and I hit a neighborhood street fair to enjoy one of our favorite cover bands. My favorite cover band was also playing, but it was an hour earlier (I was still hungover) and three blocks further away. After enjoying the cover band, we headed home but noticed on the way out that 10,000 Maniacs was the evening band. After a few beers and steaks we decided to head back over. The band was pretty average, and I don't think Natalie Merchant sings for them anymore. She also did the following things that were not okay with me:

1. Her nanny brought her baby up on stage to dance.
2. She ran through the crowd with her two year old son
3. She allowed 6 crowd members to dance on stage...the oldest was 10.
4. 1988 called, and it wanted her perm back.

The only thing she did that was even remotely rock n roll was shove me as she ran through the crowd.

I used to listen to Sound Opinions on WXRT-FM in Chicago (Now on Chicago Public Radio).

This show is music's equivalent to Siskel and Ebert on the radio.


Sound Opinions Description:

"Sound Opinions, the world’s only rock and roll talk show, runs every Saturday at 7pm CST on Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ 91.5 FM Chicago, WBEW 89.5 FM Chesterton and WBEQ 90.7 FM Morris). Sound Opinions is hosted by Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot, two of the finest and most-recognized music writers in the country. Jim and Greg are Chicago’s top rock critics and top competitors—Jim at the Chicago Sun-Times and Greg at the Chicago Tribune. They are also both critically acclaimed authors, and their work has also appeared in a number of music magazines including Rolling Stone, Spin and Vibe."

Check out these interviews in MP3 format:
Jon Brion
Radiohead
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Common
Feist
Colin Meloy

Next up...
07.15.06 This week on the show Jim and Greg welcome a hip hop star on the rise--Rhymefest.

Plus, they'll review the new record from Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke.

...the best game show ever. While Pete and I were being lulled into total boredom during the Home Run Derby last night (only to be rudely awakened by the glutteral sounds coming from Chris Berman), we stumbled upon VH1's/Entertainment Weekly's The World Series of Pop Culture.
This is a show that we need to be on, and frankly, we were both upset that we were not personally invited onto the show. This show was right in our (and several other contributors here) wheelhouse.

If you want to enter--I'm talking to you, Pete, Deuce, MIB, npgage, harry--e-mail the following info:

1. Name
2. Phone Number
3. e-mail Address
4. State of Residence

to wsopc@embassyrow.com

I would suggest you all season pass this show. It is great, and the teams are either extremely humorous or unbearably annoying--which is what you want. For example, the first match included a team called "The Laser Wolves," and one of the team members--who looked like Joey Ramone--was asked "why laser Wolves?" His response:

"Well, what's cooler than wolves with lasers coming out of their eyes?"

He said it totally serious.

I love this show.

A few thoughts currently on my mind.

1. How did Zidane win the best player of the world cup. Obviously he's a great talent, but two of his three goals were on penalty kicks.....and oh yeah he got himself ejectied during overtime of the finals even though he was his teams best penalty kick taker.

1a. I attempted to watch a number of soccer games and it reminded me of trying to watch hockey when the Devils made the trap so popular. An incredibly boring game with no scoring. I also think it is worth noting that in the all time soccer game voting conducted by FIFA during the World Cup, I did not notice any nil-nil ties. The flopping is also infuriating.

2. Has anyone else caught the new Bud Light softball commercial. "We're not here to win or lose, we're just here for the Bud Light." Absolutely brilliant. It also just occurred to me that we'll need a slowpitch softball scene in Heavy Soul, the movie.

3. How old is too old to be in the outfield during the home run derby? There are a couple of monsters out there.

3a. On the subject of home run derby, after watching David Wright crush all of those 50 mile an hour fastballs, he could be the most devastating slow pitch softball player in the history of the world.

4. I don't care that Manny Ramirez is skipping the all-star game. If he needs to take a break and spend a few days at home taking bong rips....so be it. At least he shows up for Red Sox games. And discussion regarding it has basically made me swear off of sports talk radio for good.

5. I just took some kegs back to my local liquor store. People were hauling keg after keg into the place so I asked the counter lady how many they sell over the weekend. She said about 300 during the summer....and I don't even think many college students live in this neighborhood.

Be sure to check out the new stuff from www.nebraskatshirts.com. They've totally remodeled their strategy, meaning you no longer have to send them a t-shirt, you can order the complete shirt.

In addition, they have some new shirts that are pretty fantastic. I already bought the six-legged cow shirt, so don't get any ideas, MIB.

...and I am not coming up with much in the idea department.

It has been suggested by a few people that we come up with a Gameday t-shirt--which I totally agree with. We have enough people that go to games or are out on the town on Gamedays that it would be a great opportunity.

So if anyone has any funny ideas for Husker shirts (maybe focused on Texas, because I hate them), let me know. If we can come up with some kind of slogan, we'll design it from there.

Please think about it, because we really should do this, and the shirts will only be around $10, and I cannot come up with anything.

So Friday night my roommates and I had our annual summer bash. We do it out in the courtyard behind our place and basically terrorize the neighborhood. This year we had a pretty decent turn out and drank 3 kegs, 3 1.75s of of vodka and miscellaneous other things. That isn't the noteworthy part.

The theme of this years party was Kegs and Cutoffs. We basically got almost everyone who came to wear jean shorts. We also encouraged people to bring the cutoff legs of the jeans and we stapled them to our deck, truly a work of art. A good time was had by all, until the hate crime.

One of my buddies who was completely loaded had his shorts cut down into daisy dukes by a few girls at the end of the night. Apparently before he passed out, he decided he needed to go for a walk and get some fresh air. Next thing he knows, he is laying on park bench and a girl is shaking him. As he comes to, he realizes there are two guys with this girl and they start calling him a fagot and a homo, and telling him to go back to boys town. One of the guys then called him a "fucking fagot" as he punched him in the face twice. The Saturday morning fallout was a fat lip, swolen nose, and scraped up knees from when we boosted him onto the roof of the garage for some other drunken antics.

So the lesson, if you are a thin guy that puts gel in your hair, don't pass out on a park bench if you're wearing short jean shorts because you might get gay bashed.

Last night, after getting out of work fairly late, I stopped by the Dell for a couple drinks with the lady. Sittin' there having a Bass, unwinding from a shitty day, when Casey the bartender hands me another. It's not out of the ordinary for him to give the pre-emptive strike, but my beer was far from gone. He says to me, "This is from the guy at the table behind you." Dynomite, I think. Turning around to thank my benefactor, I come face to face with David Dondero and Conor Oberst. (Insert indie jokes here.) Dondero says, "I saw you come in and you looked thirsty." I come to find out that he's in town for a show tonight at Sokol and is here with Oberst and his cousin, who happens to be a Dell regular. Normally it's me who is buying these guys beers, which is customary for us star fuckers. I thank him for the beer and go back to the bar. A drink or two later, he mosies back up to the bar and sits next to me. We're shooting the shit when the conversation of the show comes up. Being greased up a bit and unable to play it cool any longer, I half-seriously tell him, I'll run the merch table. He says sweet. He even one-ups me. He tells me he wants me to be his tour manager on a 12 day tour in October. Don't know if that'll happen, but he is looking for a poker game tomorrow. Anyone interested?

...because it was a watershed night for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This was easily the most I've laughed at an hour of television since Chappelle's Show. The episode Dennis and Dee go on welfare might be the funniest episode I've seen so far and the episode Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom didn't disappoint either. Just a tour-de-force of comedy. 10 out of 10 for an hour of TV.

It's also worth pointing out that, with the exception of the one scene at the welfare office during that episode, they really weren't that offensive. Some crude jokes, sure, but nothing as over the top as the jihad episode. I loved every moment.

Any thoughts?

A.J. is an all-star bitches.

Download [MP3] Chad VanGaalen- Mini TV's
Download [MP3] Eyedea & Abilities- Reintroducing
Download [MP3] Eyedea & Abilities- Now
Download [MP3] Jurassic 5- Baby Please
Download [MP3] Jurassic 5- End Up Like This
Download [MP3] Louis Logic- The Line
Download [MP3] Old 97's- Victoria
Download [MP3] Outkast- Morris Brown
Download [MP3] Peter Bjorn and John- Young Folks
Download [MP3] The Sleepy Jackson- I Understand What You Want But I Just Don't Agree

This is, hands down, the craziest ish I have ever seen. I mean, seriously. Brought to you by And1 and Taurian Fontenette, AKA "The Air Up There."

So I was looking at the statistics for my website last night (page views, sessions, click paths, etc..) Anyway I looked at the search terms to see how people were finding my site it was the pretty standard "justin photography", "jw+photography", but then there was one "pictures of mom" One person actually found my site by typing in "pictures of mom" Out of curiosity I went to yahoo (since that is where the search came from) and typed in "pictures of mom" and sure enough my website was #3 on the list. I am not sure why my site comes up with that search, especially considering we haven't even added the metadata to the new site yet, nor is there any mention of "pictures of mom" on my site.

Anyway, I just thought that was pretty damn funny. If you get a chance you should go to yahoo and see for yourself.

According to the latest winning percentages, the Royals are no longer in the gutter.

On Saturday, I went mini golfing in Kearney at the Big Apple with the Ms. Pete. You bitches better recognize that I shot a two under 40 with 4 holes-i-one. In addition, I sunk the last putt for a hole-in-one to win $2 off my next round, or I can also use it for bowling or go karts if I so desire. This was MJ vs. the Knicks type shit, to be sure. I was in the zone.

Just thought that I'd throw that out there in case anyone wants to get in a putt-putt money match with Pete, they might reconsider. Caveat emptor.

- Do we really need to have a-rod and jeter start the all-star game this year? Isn't it enough that we have to hear about these assholes every other day of the season. I know when it comes to the all-star game everyone is a big-time homer but Joe Crede is having just as good of a year at the plate and he's better at 3rd than A-rod. Also, on the other side of the infield how does Paul Konerko not start the all-star game at 1st base. I know big-poppy is awesome, but he doesn't play everyday. While I am at it, how about the starting catcher for the AL. Yeah, I-Rod is a great veteran, but how can you overlook Joe Mauer, that guy is a stud. ( I bet you thought I would pick Pierzynski didn't ya). Enough about that, we all know fans in Boston and NY run the show when it comes to the all-star game.

- I think it is pretty funny that the cubs scored 15 on Sunday and still had a moment of anxiety in the 9th inning when the sox, down 5, had the bases loaded with one out. At least they won, so that the fans didn't have to throw their trash on the field again.

- I case you guys missed it, President Bush showed a rare act of kindness for the environment a couple of weeks ago. He used the power given to him in the National Antiquities Act to designate 140,000 acres of coral reef in Hawaii a national monument. This designation will make it the largest oceanic preserve in the world, ahead of the Great Barrier Reef. Most of the area already had protection by various groups but this disignation provides instant protection removing a lot of red tape. Currently there are 8 commercial fishing licenses for the area and all of them will be revoked. The area is home to something like 7,000 unique species. I keep waiting for the bottom to fall out, and to find out the real reason why he did it. But for now I will take it, its a start.

- I don't know where many of you fall in regards to the environment or your place in it, but this is pretty intersting. There is a program/movement called Go Zero that is a part of The Conservation Fund. This allows for people or corporations to help offset carbon output by making donations that go toward the planting of trees. On the website there is a rough calculator that takes into account things like miles driven, miles flown, kilowatts of energy used a year, etc. and provides you the number of trees that you need to plant in order to offset your carbon out put. It also provides a price for the trees, which can be planted in your name in some 20,000 acres owned by the fund. I found out that Sarah and I need to plant 12 trees at a cost of $68 dollars to "Go Zero" Alot of corporations are doing it. I know the president of The North Face (where I work) did it. So, if you are feeling like you need to do something for the environment, this is pretty cool.

- On a related note, why is the environment a political issue in america. Why are people who care for the environment automatically left-wing, bleeding heart liberals. It makes me laugh everytime Rush Limbaugh denies global warming calling it a "hoax." Everytime there is an environmental debate on TV it shows a Dem. vs a Rep. Now I don't believe humans are entirely to blame for global warming, the history of the earth shows that there have always been heating and cooling periods. However, just because the fire is burning doesn't mean we should keep blindly adding lighter fluid. I just think it is sad that the people making decisions about the environment are making them based on politics. Can we please put politics aside and look at what is really happening not just in America, but around the world.

- I am listening to a little Pavement right now. It is good.

Anyway, that is all. I just thought I would drop a few thoughts on the ol' blog today.