Whitty

The Sons are shining brightly!

My hypothetical conglomeration of athletes is superior to yours.

Oh, I don't disagree with how imporant line play is. But when I say special teams, I mean everything about special teams, and not even the points. I mean field position on both ends -- consistently pinning your opponents deep and/or picking up net yards because of solid returns. Field position changes how the entire game is played. (And penalties on special teams can kill you -- those blocks in the back are so difficult to recover from).

You never appreciate how important punting is until your team has some scrub back there shanking 'em and constantly leaving the opponents starting off only 55 yards away from the end zone.

I'm certainly looking forward to it. Viggo Mortensen is perfect for this role, IMO.

If there's one scene I really hope is true to the book it would be the encounter in the locked basement and the immediate aftermath. Some of the most terrifying words I've ever read in a novel.

The more I watch football the more I realize that games are won and lost on special teams more often than on offense or defense.

Sometimes true in close games, but I have to agree that line play almost always is predictive of the game's outcome. If your O-line monsters are shoving guys around, opening running lanes, and preserving the pocket and if your D-line is effectively hurrying the QB, getting their hands up to bat passes, and clogging opposing RBs then the game is basically yours to win.

The thing about special teams TDs is that they are "free" points that affect momentum as much as anything else.

And oh yeah... just hail, baby!

70 goals this year?

I like the Caps chances- it's all about Theodore finding his place and continued improvement on the forecheck and penalty kill, IMO. Very excited for this year- the young talent should really bloom in D.C.

It would be a shame if Thom's music suddenly became depressing after this.

Man Man - Rabbit Habits

"How Do You Sleep?" came up on shuffle yesterday as I was cruising around. Lennon was not a man you wanted on your bad side What on Earth do you think McCartney thought when he first heard that?

John is missed. Rock could use more truly dangerous megastars.

Kind of Blue was certainly the first jazz album to really grab me by the balls and smack my brain around a bit. There's this airy conversational flow directing all the proceedings that keeps you intently listening, the way you do when hearing a great storyteller after having a couple of beers. It's effortless stuff, with the players displaying total mastery without the obligation to cram in frenetic bebop runs every four bars. I think too many people are quick to dismiss jazz because of bebop, (and bebop can be quite exhausting for listeners used to the streamlined harmonic forthrightness of rock) but music fans do themselves a disservice by turning away from the subtler jazz of Miles Davis during this period, as well as the lyrical approach of Thelonious Monk, and the sophisticated, "make every note count" contemporary style of Bill Frisell among others.

"Found A Job", "Born Under Punches", "Making Flippy Floppy", "Animals" and "The Great Curve" all feature bass that no white girl has any business playing.

Tina rocks. Thoroughly. Big, big influence on my own bass playing.

We're appearing in NYC next week!

And check out our DVD why don't ya?

Were you at the DC show by chance, Whitty? I didn't stick around for SFA.

Yep. I was there. Holy Fuck was excellent to open. The Furries didn't blow me away (they seemed a bit like they were going through the motions- the energy was inconsistent and they relied a bit too much on the pre-recorded samples I though), but they remain one of my favorite current bands.

I feel no need to listen to Fiery Furnaces ever again. Just really not my thing. I feel like it was music that got so experimental and engrossed in its own unorthodoxy that it left little tangible musicality for listeners to grasp. I like me a nice vocal melody.

I thought the live show I saw (they opened for Super Furry Animals this past January) was painfully erratic, unfocused and sorely lacking in songs.

The driving drums and bass were the highlight of the band to be sure, but I took away nothing from the sibling bandleaders (Friedberger is the name, right?) Lots of meandering keys and incomprehensible vocals that were more like freestyle shouting than anything else. The song structures- yeah about that... where were those exactly? It sounded like the Mars Volta were strangling Patti Smith and no one took their Ritalin.

Less artsy, more fartsy please.

He's gotta throw a football first

He'll be ready. He's a gamer. Laser, rocket arm.

I present.... The Sons of Jurgensen!!!

QB

Peyton Manning

(Ind - QB)

Marques Colston

(NO - WR)

Plaxico Burress

(NYG - WR)

Clinton Portis

(Was - RB)

Earnest Graham

(TB - RB)

Owen Daniels

(Hou - TE)

Santonio Holmes

(Pit - WR)

Mason Crosby

(GB - K)

Tampa Bay

(TB - DEF)

Bench:

Thomas Jones

(NYJ - RB)

Calvin Johnson

(Det - WR)

Jonathan Stewart

(Car - RB)

Jay Cutler

(Den - QB)

Donald Driver

(GB - WR)

Chris Johnson

(Ten - RB)

Zach Miller

(Oak - TE)

Ladell Betts

(Was - RB)

You're all doomed.

The tension in the first motel scene in No Country For Old Men was one of the best cinematic moments I've watched in years. Josh Brolin struggling to hide the cash in the vent while Javier Bardem's transponder is pinging away right next door. I could add another few scenes from that film...

I'm a sentimental sap perhaps, but the last 15 minutes of Field of Dreams get me every time. "People will come..."

Carradine's Superman spiel at the end of Kill Bill Vol. 2 is another great recent scene.

How about a TV movie? Seriously. I'm a big fan of the "Don't Fear the Reaper" opening credits in The Stand.

The bus ride at the end of Midnight Cowboy.

Dave Bowman shutting down HAL in 2001, followed by his journey through the monolith's wormhole.

Draft night tonight, kids!

August 29th Movement

Value to Your Listener

Man Man - Rabbit Habits

Beck - Modern Guilt

Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash

The Black Keys - Attack and Release

Hi Moe.

Those are my top four right now. I've slacked on picking up new music recently. 'Bout time for an Amazon.com binge.

Rabbit Habits is my #1 seed right now. You will not find a more rhythmically adventurous or well-textured album this year.

Let's see him do it on washtub bass.

Jack-Ass

Sexx Laws

Nobody's Fault But My Own

Lord Only Knows

Earthquake Weather

Chemtrails

Modern Guilt

Get Real Paid

Dark Star

Bottle of Blues

The Golden Age

Missing

I could easily make another few lists. Beck's one of those artists who has my unconditional respect, even when he puts out a disc that I don't necessarily fully embrace (like The Information). Odelay will probably always find its way into my personal all-time top 10- definitely a watershed album in the formation of my musical consciousness. Not a single weak song on that album, and immaculate production and texture to tie it all together.

And if I want to get a party bumping, it's hard to beat Midnite Vultures, a disc that sounds exactly like the album art looks.

I wish they had a real singer. I hate twee.

Their spastic electro-garage has some outstanding moments when the bass, guitar and drums are carving through some very odd territory leaving behind a wake of Television/Pavement/early-Flaming Lips riffage, but inevitably the vocals undo all that raw intensity.

GOP:terrorism

Democrats:global warming

Libertarians:big government

Lyndon LaRouche:Illuminati in consort with Pope and CIA satellite mind-rays

I will freely admit that I don't follow the machinations of NFL schedule-making but how much say does the NFL have in it? Isn't it a somewhat prescribed schedule of what divisions play each other in each year, particularly AFC v. NFC? Or do they only decide those match-ups one year at a time? And don't the Dolphins, Jets, and Bills have the same schedule as the Patriots (except that they have to play the Patriots)?

From Wikipedia:

Currently, each team's 16-game regular season schedule is set using a pre-determined formula:

* Each team plays the other three teams in their division twice: once at home, and once on the road (six games).

* Each team plays the four teams from another division within its own conference once on a rotating three-year cycle: two at home, and two on the road (four games).

* Each team plays the four teams from a division in the other conference once on a rotating four-year cycle: two at home, and two on the road (four games).

* Each team plays once against the other teams in its conference that finished in the same place in their own divisions as themselves, not counting the division they were already scheduled to play: one at home, one on the road (two games).

Looks like a simple case of assault and Bat-tery.

I'll show myself out.