cryptique

I don't generally care for Mitch Albom, but I did find this column interesting... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mayor's text message scandal has a sports page feel BY MITCH ALBOM • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • March 25, 2008 They call him the Hip-Hop Mayor, but that always has been misleading, for he is less a musician than a jock, with a jock's sense of entitlement, a jock's bully muscle, a jock's entourage, a jock's approach to women, and, most of all, a jock's eternal belief that he can fight his way out of anything. Having seen enough sports scandals, the Kwame Kilpatrick mess feels all

New North American dates announced -- short "residencies" in selected cities. Presales for New York shows are already in progress. April 28-30 - New York, NY - NY Fillmore at Irving Plaza Presale 25 March 08, 10am. General onsale 28 March May 2 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club Presale 26 March 08, 10am. General onsale 28 March May 5-6 - Boston, MA - Somerville Theatre Presale 2 April 08, 10am. General onsale 4 April. May 7-8 - Toronto, ONT - Danforth Music Hall Presale 2 April 08, 10am. General onsale 5 April. May 10-11 - Chicago, IL - Vic Theater Presale 26 March 08, 10am. General onsal

Manny doubles home two.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Who the hell is this Brandon Moss kid who just hit a home run to tie the game?

I saw them on the Kill the Moonlight tour. The show kicked ass and took names. Their lineup is a bit different these days, though, so I can't attest to their current asskickingness.

were tapers present?

Aw man. Another member of that revered circle down. RIP, Neil.

Maybe not the right thread for this, but... ...did Walter Shapiro just make a marijuana reference in a political column? (full column here)

Fuck you. Seriously.

15 counts? I'm not sure it ends there, either. Plus, there will be other members of the administration charged, including some of the dumbass lawyers and at least one of Kwame's relatives (for those who haven't been following this, much of the city payroll is occupied by Kwame's friends and relatives). article Kilpatrick, Beatty face felony charges March 24, 2008 UPDATED AT 11:40 A.M.: Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and former chief of staff Christine Beatty were charged today with multiple counts of perjury, obstruction of justice, misconduct in office and conspiracy because of thei

Was there a point to posting all that?

I suppose it could have been an embellishment, but it makes for a better story either way, so I've never really questioned it.

Lammy and q23cd, click "View Complete Standings" on the group page. There are actually 41 people in the VC group. They only show the top 10 on the main group page, and if you're not among the leaders, your bracket shows up at the bottom of that list (as if it's 11th out of 11). That threw me too, at first.

I can't watch YouTube stuff at work, but if that's the story I'm thinking of, Jeff told it to the third Living Room Show group last year (3/3/07). At the time we were left with the impression that it shouldn't really go beyond that room (it was even edited out of the recording made of that show), but he told the story in a more open setting sometime later (I think it was at the school benefit solo show at The Vic this past January). It's a great story. I would love to have been the guy staying between them.

Is there a more awesome drummer right now?

As a hater of Duke since as far back as I can remember, my only disappointment was that Belmont didn't quite pull off the upset in the first round. The weird thing is, I like and respect Coach K ... I just hate his teams. Duke are the Yankees of college basketball. As for my VC bracket ... it's dogshit at this point. I picked way too many upsets in the first round that didn't come through (and I didn't pick the ones that did happen), and I've lost three of my elite eight and two Final Four teams. My family bracket has fared little better -- but I still have three of my Final Four alive i

One of the few moments in which I've genuinely feared for my life occurred at a Jesus and Mary Chain show at the Brixton Academy in the fall of 1988. When the band took the stage, there was such a rush to the front that the crowd packed in tightly enough to lift me off the floor. Several times, I felt my feet leave the floor involuntarily, then I was moved left or right a few feet and deposited back down to the floor with a hard thud, before being swept up again. It took me two songs' worth of panic before I fought my way out of that and retreated to the back of the main floor. Those of you

For me it's still second to the World Cup, but it's a pretty close second. Definitely the best sporting event in the U.S.

Somehow -- I'm not sure how -- I'm not mathematically eliminated quite yet. But I need a few weird things to happen, including someone other than Memphis or Texas winning the South regional.

A boycott would be pointless. Don't use athletes as pawns in your political games. It was stupid in 1980, stupid in 1984, and it would be stupid again in 2008.

I'll say it yet again: Any day that Duke loses is a great day.

I lost a Final Four team behind that shit. Not in the VC pool, I think ... in my family one.

Well, listen to more than the first few songs. Overall it sounds very good ... certainly better than audience-only sources.

Also, you can't plug an address into a map and get turn-by-turn directions from it. And let's be honest -- MapQuest, as great as it is, kinda sucks (I prefer at least two other online mapping utilities to MapQuest, but neither is a panacea). When you veer off the prescribed course for some reason, a Garmin doesn't blink twice -- it just finds another way to get you to your destination, using your new position. My parents swear by their Garmin. They find all kinds of cool stuff in remote southern towns using that thing. They've certainly gotten their money out of it.