"I want a woman I can respect for her art, like a singer or a super-hot stripper."
- from Neil Strauss' The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
Seriously, this is why I read.
...or a super-hot stripper...gets me every time.
And beyond the elegant one-liners, The Game is a very worthwhile read.
Reading is Sexy. Do it Like a Slut.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Friday, January 4, 2008
Iowa, Finally
Iowa "voted" last night. I may have been the only person outside of Iowa to even care, but I flipped between MSNBC and Fox News for about four hours last night. I figure between those two channels I can get a balanced view of what is actually happening.
Before I post my thoughts, for full disclosure, I generally vote Republican:
I detest Mike Huckabee. From now on, I'm calling him Suckabee. I think he's a Pat Robertson-type Iowa flash in the pan. When did "Conservatives" start defining themselves with Anti-Abortion and Gay Marriage rather than small, unintrusive Government? Suckabee is a funny guy, but no President.
A lot of people think Mike will get a boost in four days in New Hampshire--I couldn't disagree more. New Hampshire-ites are as much like Iowans as I am like a Grizzly Bear. Suck will fall flat on his face there, and McCain or Romney will win the state.
As far as Democrats go, I couldn't be more tickled. I strongly believe that since the day that Hillary married Bill, she's been planning to be the President. I can just imagine her in her hotel room screaming at an aide "Goddamnit, it is MY turn to be President. We planned this! Has the whole world gone crazy!". For that reason, I love Barack Obama. Hillary could never have planned for a charismatic, brilliant, telegenic, and skilled politician like Barack to come along, to say nothing of him trumping the whole "first woman president" thing, with his "first black president" thing.
On top of that, if the election of Obama significantly reduced racial tensions in this country, I would be willing to live with the inevitiable 10% tax increase that his election would bring. It's just worth it to me.
My favorite crazy-uncle politician Ron Paul actually did pretty well. He got 10% of the vote, which is pretty significant. I love listening to Mr. Paul speak--he's got positions that no other candidate would even consider taking, and to me it is refreshing.
I was also very glad to see that turn-out was very high; even for the Rube Goldberg-style structure of the caucuses.
On a related note, my roommate came home last night and couldn't believe that I'd actually watch election coverage. I didn't respond but I started thinking why this election is important. I don't know if I've been more impacted by Government than others, but this Government sent me to war (twice), paid for my college, takes thirty-something % of my paycheck, indirectly employs me, and makes traveling by plane an experience you can't endure unless drunk.
Damn right I'm watching--i'm watching because it fucking matters.
I'll be back after New Hampshire.
kb
Before I post my thoughts, for full disclosure, I generally vote Republican:
I detest Mike Huckabee. From now on, I'm calling him Suckabee. I think he's a Pat Robertson-type Iowa flash in the pan. When did "Conservatives" start defining themselves with Anti-Abortion and Gay Marriage rather than small, unintrusive Government? Suckabee is a funny guy, but no President.
A lot of people think Mike will get a boost in four days in New Hampshire--I couldn't disagree more. New Hampshire-ites are as much like Iowans as I am like a Grizzly Bear. Suck will fall flat on his face there, and McCain or Romney will win the state.
As far as Democrats go, I couldn't be more tickled. I strongly believe that since the day that Hillary married Bill, she's been planning to be the President. I can just imagine her in her hotel room screaming at an aide "Goddamnit, it is MY turn to be President. We planned this! Has the whole world gone crazy!". For that reason, I love Barack Obama. Hillary could never have planned for a charismatic, brilliant, telegenic, and skilled politician like Barack to come along, to say nothing of him trumping the whole "first woman president" thing, with his "first black president" thing.
On top of that, if the election of Obama significantly reduced racial tensions in this country, I would be willing to live with the inevitiable 10% tax increase that his election would bring. It's just worth it to me.
My favorite crazy-uncle politician Ron Paul actually did pretty well. He got 10% of the vote, which is pretty significant. I love listening to Mr. Paul speak--he's got positions that no other candidate would even consider taking, and to me it is refreshing.
I was also very glad to see that turn-out was very high; even for the Rube Goldberg-style structure of the caucuses.
On a related note, my roommate came home last night and couldn't believe that I'd actually watch election coverage. I didn't respond but I started thinking why this election is important. I don't know if I've been more impacted by Government than others, but this Government sent me to war (twice), paid for my college, takes thirty-something % of my paycheck, indirectly employs me, and makes traveling by plane an experience you can't endure unless drunk.
Damn right I'm watching--i'm watching because it fucking matters.
I'll be back after New Hampshire.
kb
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
SPORTS: Let’s Break Things On Our Own Terms
“You say last week you met the perfect guy
And he promised you the stars in the sky
He said his Cadillac was gold
But he didn't say it was ten years old
He took you out to the Red Coach grill
But he forgot the cash and you paid the bill
And he told you the story of his life
But he forgot the part about...his wife!
Well, these are the breaks!”
And he promised you the stars in the sky
He said his Cadillac was gold
But he didn't say it was ten years old
He took you out to the Red Coach grill
But he forgot the cash and you paid the bill
And he told you the story of his life
But he forgot the part about...his wife!
Well, these are the breaks!”
- Kurtis Blow, “The Breaks”
When the promise of a true national championship was introduced for the 1998 college football season it seemed time that age old bowl commitments be altered so that the public could have a victorious champion. Ten years later there are mixed opinions about the success of the Bowl Championship Series. Who gets in, who is left out, which mid-major school will play Goliath if they can remain undefeated and crash the party, and ultimately what teams will face off for the national championship.
Many people clamor loudly for a playoff that would allow the teams playing the best football to beat each other up on the way to a March Madnessesque finale. I have no problem with the playoff idea and find the idea to be very sporting. I only have one problem, it will never happen. Not because a college football playoff would be difficult logistically or because it would take athletes out of more classes, etc. It won’t happen because the university presidents and conference commissioners have too much at stake (i.e. money) to change the bowl and spoils system as it currently exists. So that’s that.
I watched the first half of the Sugar Bowl last night between Georgia and previously undefeated Hawaii. The endless wave of Georgia defensive linemen swarming the Hawaii offense was in several ways indicative of the complete mess that has infiltrated the highest levels of collegiate football. The fact that the defense was much bigger and faster than their opponents is only one of the cold shivers of truth that could be realized by watching even one Hawaii possession. There was no conventional way Hawaii could beat Georgia; a fact sugar coated by Boise State’s improbable Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma last season. For the next several years any team outside a power conference that is lucky enough to win all of their games will be rewarded by being offered up for a nationally televised bloodletting the likes of which should be restricted from broadcast television and certainly not aired before young children’s bedtime.
What about Appalachian State over Michigan this year or any of the other long list of upsets this season? Mere background noise, don’t be distracted from the big picture of what is happening to college football. The football national champion will continue to come from the BCS power conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-10, & SEC) as long as the current system is in place.
I like computers as much as the next 21st century American. In fact computers pay my salary (I use direct deposit) and dominate most of my working days. But nonetheless, the BCS is nothing more than a computerized cheat to the American public.
Excuse me, I had to reboot.
Yes I went to a Big 12 school and work at another now. I don’t hate the power conferences, and I won’t suggest a lollipop and big bright rainbow solution of not having a champion because all of the teams are already winners. The reality of college football is that every year you could pick the two best teams from the previously mentioned conferences and let them play for the national championship. And that’s my point. Let’s leave computers for analyzing algorithms and broadcasting YouTube to your work computer. Leave Hawaii to bask in the warm glow of being undefeated by playing in the Also Ran Bowl and let humans vote without computer rankings etc. at the end of the year. Top two teams play for all the marbles. Let’s be accountable and dangerous. Let’s bash the Borda counts and pop the poll average. If the game turns out to be a blowout we can blame ourselves and never vote for the loser again.
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