Coupla Things...
So obviously I've been on hiatus for a while. I apologize. In return, I'm offering up a monster Coupla Things...even if some of these are pretty dated. Let's get to it!
* I watched M. Night Shamalamadingdong's The Happening last night. I'll say this...it was better than The Village. I think one of the biggest disappointments of Night's career is he seems to have lost any bit of subtely. The 6th Sense was genius because it came from out of nowhere. Unbreakable was great, too, because you didn't see Mr. Glass coming. As his career has gone on, though, his twists have become more and more ridiculous, and more and more obvious. There was no subtle imagery in this movie: huge shots of not one, but two nuclear power plants in the background, huge housing signs that proclaim, "You deserve this!", etc. We get it. You have a message you want to get across. Now can we go back to being creative, please?
* So I've made comments in the past about Putin being a benevolent dictator. Well, sadly, he's dropped the benevolent part. And if you're not concerned about this, then you should be.
* Ladies, I love you. I really do. But sometimes...well, you make it hard.
* For all of you people who want nationalized health care and consider Canada this perfect system, I think you need to look closer. There are cases of people literally dying in ER waiting rooms because of the overcrowding of hospitals, and doctors in Canada are almost to the point of revolting they are so unhappy with the system.
Look, I'm not saying the current system is perfect. Far from it. But to think that handing over our health care to the Federal government and trusting them to run it perfectly is, with all due respect, just stupid. Let's be smart, and try to think of some better, more realistic options.
* The Denver Nuggets are playing great since the acquisition of Chauncey Billups, and everyone in Denver is very excited. But people, I've got bad news for you: the Nuggets will still lose in the first round of the playoffs. And in two years, they are going to be an AWFUL team. I like Chauncey and all, but that's what's going to happen.
* I found this article on adultery facinating, on two levels. The first: can you imagine what would happen in Hollywood if adultery was illegal? That's just hilarious to think about. The second: why isn't adultery illegal?
I support gay marriage because I see a state issued marriage license as exactly what it is: nothing holy, simply a legal document that two people enter into. That's the stance that everyone should take on marriage (whether your church recognizes these marriages is up to the church; as far as I'm concerned, they're two different matters.) So if one member commits adultery, how is that any different from breaking the contract? That's part of the legal arrangement is to be faithful to each other, correct? And when you break any contract, aren't you subject to penalties, up to and including jail time?
Perhaps it shouldn't be a "crime". But the party that commits the offense definitely should be responable for damages; a wife who cheats on her husband definitely should not get half of his estate, nor vice versa, etc. You want to lower the divorce rate and make sure people behave correctly? Then enforce the contracts correctly.
* After Michael Crichton's death, I metioned that I see a difference between authors and writers. Allow me to briefly explain. When I think of an author, I'm typically thinking of a novelist. Someone who writes a book is an author. A writer, though, writes something substancially shorter: a newspaper writer or an internet columnist is a writer. It's a subtle difference, but I do see it.
* Speaking of adultery, enjoy this. Here's a question: why would anyone from a Western Civilization ever vacation in an Islamic country? With all due respect to Islam, but their definition of "fun" and ours are pretty different, as we can see.
* Here's another good Sexploration article from msnbc.com. I enjoy this series for several reasons: it's a very interesting and educational look at what is still a somewhat tabboo subject, the titles (like this one) are always catchy and usually make me laugh, and the picture of the author of most articles (Brian Alexander) CRACKS ME UP. I mean just look at him. If he doesn't fit Seinfeld's personification of an "Orgie Guy", I don't know what does. I mean, if you had to guess what a guy looks like who writes these articles, it'd be that guy, right? Good times.
* Okay...am I the only one who feels dumber any time I hear Wade Philips or Bill Walton speak?
* Listen people, Illinois' governor (I'm not going to even try to spell his name) trying to sell Obama's Senate seat is not Obama's fault. Period. And it's in pretty poor taste for the guy appointed to show up, because if he was really an honorable man, he would only want to join the Senate if he knew it was deserved. But hey, I'm old fashioned, I guess.
* Don't get me wrong, I hate Setphon Marbury as much as the rest of the world, but you've got to admit that him showing up to watch the Knicks play the Lakers is kind of funny.
* Hey, I think I remember these lawyers! Aren't these guys the same dumbasses who represented Mike Tyson with the, "Hey, she deserved it!" defense? I've already written about the housing mess, so I don't need to go too much into it here. But I will say this: homeowners, you're responsible for the contracts you signed. If you signed a bad contract and can't afford it, well, then that's your fault. That being said, though, if lenders are asking for Federal funds while advertising that they want to work with homeowners to refinance, then they God damn well better be doing that. Period.
* Let's discuss your Dallas Mavericks. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the people of Dallas need to accept the fact that this is a very mediocre team. They're better than the bad teams, their not as good as the good teams. The Mavs have only one hope left: to turn Jason Kidd's expiring contract into young talent. That's it. That's all they've got.
If I'm the Mavs, I'm moving Josh Howard at the trade deadline, and I'm willing to take $.50 on the dollar for him, talent wise. Next, I'm moving Jason Kidd, but not necessarily for a player. I'm moving Jason Kidd for either a young player with potential (Pat Reilly hates Michael Beasley and needs a PG; you think Kidd wouldn't be a good fit in the East? You think Reilly wouldn't mind losing Beasley? That kind of thing); not Derrick Rose potential, but upside, or I'm trading him for cap space. Both of those moves also include some at least halfway decent draft picks. I'm also taking any deal that gets the Diop (possible), Stackhouse (possible), or Dampier (impossible) contracts off the books. I spend my free space wisely (which we haven't done lately; again, see Diop, Desigana), I draft well, and in 2-3 years I'm hopefully competitive again with younger talent while Dirk still has some legs left.
If we can't pull that off, then sadly, the only other option is to blow the whole thing up, and start over. And yes, that means moving Dirk. And the thought of that makes me want to cry.
This is the Mavs last chance. Their only hope is to make something happen with Kidd's contract. It's the only real chip they have left to play, unless someone gets drunk and makes a stupid offer for Howard, which I don't see happening. The Mavs future will be decided by February 19th.
* Finally, I'll leave you with these thoughts from the Sports Guy, validating once again my assertion that A) David Stern screwed the Mavericks over so Mark Cuban wouldn't win a title, and B) that the Miami Heat are the worst team to ever win an NBA championship, and are possibly the worst team to win a championship in any sport:
Please God, let the Mavs get this right.
* I watched M. Night Shamalamadingdong's The Happening last night. I'll say this...it was better than The Village. I think one of the biggest disappointments of Night's career is he seems to have lost any bit of subtely. The 6th Sense was genius because it came from out of nowhere. Unbreakable was great, too, because you didn't see Mr. Glass coming. As his career has gone on, though, his twists have become more and more ridiculous, and more and more obvious. There was no subtle imagery in this movie: huge shots of not one, but two nuclear power plants in the background, huge housing signs that proclaim, "You deserve this!", etc. We get it. You have a message you want to get across. Now can we go back to being creative, please?
* So I've made comments in the past about Putin being a benevolent dictator. Well, sadly, he's dropped the benevolent part. And if you're not concerned about this, then you should be.
* Ladies, I love you. I really do. But sometimes...well, you make it hard.
* For all of you people who want nationalized health care and consider Canada this perfect system, I think you need to look closer. There are cases of people literally dying in ER waiting rooms because of the overcrowding of hospitals, and doctors in Canada are almost to the point of revolting they are so unhappy with the system.
Look, I'm not saying the current system is perfect. Far from it. But to think that handing over our health care to the Federal government and trusting them to run it perfectly is, with all due respect, just stupid. Let's be smart, and try to think of some better, more realistic options.
* The Denver Nuggets are playing great since the acquisition of Chauncey Billups, and everyone in Denver is very excited. But people, I've got bad news for you: the Nuggets will still lose in the first round of the playoffs. And in two years, they are going to be an AWFUL team. I like Chauncey and all, but that's what's going to happen.
* I found this article on adultery facinating, on two levels. The first: can you imagine what would happen in Hollywood if adultery was illegal? That's just hilarious to think about. The second: why isn't adultery illegal?
I support gay marriage because I see a state issued marriage license as exactly what it is: nothing holy, simply a legal document that two people enter into. That's the stance that everyone should take on marriage (whether your church recognizes these marriages is up to the church; as far as I'm concerned, they're two different matters.) So if one member commits adultery, how is that any different from breaking the contract? That's part of the legal arrangement is to be faithful to each other, correct? And when you break any contract, aren't you subject to penalties, up to and including jail time?
Perhaps it shouldn't be a "crime". But the party that commits the offense definitely should be responable for damages; a wife who cheats on her husband definitely should not get half of his estate, nor vice versa, etc. You want to lower the divorce rate and make sure people behave correctly? Then enforce the contracts correctly.
* After Michael Crichton's death, I metioned that I see a difference between authors and writers. Allow me to briefly explain. When I think of an author, I'm typically thinking of a novelist. Someone who writes a book is an author. A writer, though, writes something substancially shorter: a newspaper writer or an internet columnist is a writer. It's a subtle difference, but I do see it.
* Speaking of adultery, enjoy this. Here's a question: why would anyone from a Western Civilization ever vacation in an Islamic country? With all due respect to Islam, but their definition of "fun" and ours are pretty different, as we can see.
* Here's another good Sexploration article from msnbc.com. I enjoy this series for several reasons: it's a very interesting and educational look at what is still a somewhat tabboo subject, the titles (like this one) are always catchy and usually make me laugh, and the picture of the author of most articles (Brian Alexander) CRACKS ME UP. I mean just look at him. If he doesn't fit Seinfeld's personification of an "Orgie Guy", I don't know what does. I mean, if you had to guess what a guy looks like who writes these articles, it'd be that guy, right? Good times.
* Okay...am I the only one who feels dumber any time I hear Wade Philips or Bill Walton speak?
* Listen people, Illinois' governor (I'm not going to even try to spell his name) trying to sell Obama's Senate seat is not Obama's fault. Period. And it's in pretty poor taste for the guy appointed to show up, because if he was really an honorable man, he would only want to join the Senate if he knew it was deserved. But hey, I'm old fashioned, I guess.
* Don't get me wrong, I hate Setphon Marbury as much as the rest of the world, but you've got to admit that him showing up to watch the Knicks play the Lakers is kind of funny.
* Hey, I think I remember these lawyers! Aren't these guys the same dumbasses who represented Mike Tyson with the, "Hey, she deserved it!" defense? I've already written about the housing mess, so I don't need to go too much into it here. But I will say this: homeowners, you're responsible for the contracts you signed. If you signed a bad contract and can't afford it, well, then that's your fault. That being said, though, if lenders are asking for Federal funds while advertising that they want to work with homeowners to refinance, then they God damn well better be doing that. Period.
* Let's discuss your Dallas Mavericks. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the people of Dallas need to accept the fact that this is a very mediocre team. They're better than the bad teams, their not as good as the good teams. The Mavs have only one hope left: to turn Jason Kidd's expiring contract into young talent. That's it. That's all they've got.
If I'm the Mavs, I'm moving Josh Howard at the trade deadline, and I'm willing to take $.50 on the dollar for him, talent wise. Next, I'm moving Jason Kidd, but not necessarily for a player. I'm moving Jason Kidd for either a young player with potential (Pat Reilly hates Michael Beasley and needs a PG; you think Kidd wouldn't be a good fit in the East? You think Reilly wouldn't mind losing Beasley? That kind of thing); not Derrick Rose potential, but upside, or I'm trading him for cap space. Both of those moves also include some at least halfway decent draft picks. I'm also taking any deal that gets the Diop (possible), Stackhouse (possible), or Dampier (impossible) contracts off the books. I spend my free space wisely (which we haven't done lately; again, see Diop, Desigana), I draft well, and in 2-3 years I'm hopefully competitive again with younger talent while Dirk still has some legs left.
If we can't pull that off, then sadly, the only other option is to blow the whole thing up, and start over. And yes, that means moving Dirk. And the thought of that makes me want to cry.
This is the Mavs last chance. Their only hope is to make something happen with Kidd's contract. It's the only real chip they have left to play, unless someone gets drunk and makes a stupid offer for Howard, which I don't see happening. The Mavs future will be decided by February 19th.
* Finally, I'll leave you with these thoughts from the Sports Guy, validating once again my assertion that A) David Stern screwed the Mavericks over so Mark Cuban wouldn't win a title, and B) that the Miami Heat are the worst team to ever win an NBA championship, and are possibly the worst team to win a championship in any sport:
Q: Can you guess which two jerseys the Heat have retired? Michael Jordan's and Dan Marino's. Quite a franchise.
-Ian S., New York City
SG: I've confirmed it on the Internet and still can't believe it. Preposterous. Is it too late to retroactively void Miami's 2006 title? We already had plenty of ammo after Games 3 and 6 were rigged and the fans did the whole everyone-wears-white-T-shirts-to-playoff-games gimmick. Isn't this the final piece of the puzzle? I can't take it. Marino and Jordan? Why not put Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas up there?
Please God, let the Mavs get this right.
posted by Michael Pondrom at 1:45 AM
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