33 or so music faves of '09

Anchor & Braille – Felt
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Austin Lucas – Somebody Loves You
Ben Harper and the Relentless 7 – White Lies for Dark Times
Bouncing Souls – Ghosts on the Boardwalk
Buddy and Julie Miller – Written in Chalk
Butch Walker – Sycamore Meadows (late ’08)
Chuck Ragan – Gold Country
Converge – Axe to Fail
Cracker – Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey
The Dear Hunter – Act III : Life and Death
The Felice Brothers – Yonder is the Clock
Frank Turner – Poetry of the Deed
Gallows – Grey Britain
Gasoline Heart – Cucumber Riot
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Ian Brown – My Way
Joe Henry – Blood from Stars
The Lemonheads – Varshons
Lucero – 1372 Overton Park
Manic Street Preachers – Journal for Plague Lovers
Morrissey – Years of Refusal
P.O.S. – Never Better
Pearl Jam – Backspacer
Placebo – Battle for the Sun
Relient K – Forget and Not Slow Down
Riverboat Gamblers – Underneath the Owl
Steve Earle – Townes
Strike Anywhere – Iron Front
The Thermals – Now We Can See
Thrice – Beggars
U2 – No Line on the Horizon
The Vaselines – Enter the Vaselines (Compilation)

gack!

Another month of nothing. Though when you are without the net at your main residence and have no netbook...it can cause some issues, lol. Someday...here. But really, why bother writing?

Hey, I tried

I wrote about moving forward in January. I tried, but with all the bullshit from this congress and the current leader of the country, it can't be done. No, don't start telling me about Bush. I hated Bush. Still do. But that doesn't mean I have to appreciate the current person in office, who has accomplished nothing outside of apologizing for all things American. Bush and a Republican congress set the ball rolling on spending and debt and the current administration just picked it up and ran. Oh well. What can ya do, right?

Life...

sucks...yes, it does...

Someday...

Oh to write again. Though I often ask myself, "Why bother?" I'll think of something here in a few days, even though I'm pretty sure that no one is actually reading this. But when everyone else is boring you to hell, then you kind of feel like writing something yourself. Do people really read reviews after 2-3 paragraphs? Can anyone answer that? I mean, unless your also someone that has no expertise in brevity? Anyway, back in a few, if for nothing more than to amuse myself. Oh, that last post? Bang up job Barry, lol.

So...about today...and tomorrow

To use an empty phrase of rhetoric myself, all I can do is hope today. Yes, hope. I know, odd word coming from me right? But at this point I have no other choice. I've put aside my disagreements with our new president and "hope" that he can lead this nation in the right direction.

We can all sit here and debate whether Obama's proposed programs are good or bad, socialist, liberal, conservative, whatever for days. We can sit here and bitch and moan about it and how the country is now in the pit of hell, blah, blah, blah. Like it wasn't already? Obama supporters can sit here and tell us how Bush is responsible for it all in the end and its all on him. We can see the people watching the inauguration who are so ready to "move on" do nothing but boo Bush and Cheney whenever they were on the screen today and show us how they aren't really ready to do that. We could concentrate on any number of these things, but we shouldn't.

If we really believe in a higher being (I'm assuming that many of you I went to high school or college with do), then its a matter of accepting that God has put the man in charge that he wants there at this time, just like the previous 8 years (for you Bush haters or the last 16 for you die-hard GOP nuts). We can "if, but, or what about that", but we shouldn't. We can continue to point out everything with which we disagree in regards to our new president and we can continue to point out everything that was a supposed fault of the previous one, but we shouldn't. Life is seldom black and white. Republicans ruled congress for the majority of Clinton's 8 years, and for the majority of Bush's as well. Good times, bad times. The economy tends to be a cyclical thing, and one that the president actually doesn't have a whole lot to do with, there are simply too many factors in this country and around the world.

But it's time to forget about that. It is. I did not vote for Bush in either of his elections for for Obama or McCain this time around. I voted for 3rd-party candidates who I felt were more in line with my supposed values or thinking. I feel fine with having voted for them. And in disagreement with many, I did not "waste" my vote by voting for the person I was most in line with. But those elections are over, especially the previous one. Unless I want to actually change the way things so and enter the realm of politics in one way or another (and believe me, after thinking about it way too much, I really don't), it's time to shut up and look elsewhere for a way to make this country and the world a better place. I don't know exactly what that is yet, but I know that it is time. Once again, we can concentrate on all of the negatives, but we shouldn't. Instead its time to embrace the countless positives that we have in this country, regardless of how we feel about who is in office and to forget about the whole country being in hell thing. I hope you will join me in moving forward.

MVP???

So the Colts finished 12-4. It's not as stunning as the 11-5 of the Dolphins or Falcons, to be sure. We could argue -- and you might win -- that Miami without Pennington and Atlanta without Ryan would have been 5-11 or worse. But I simply will not accept that coaches who proved themselves very resourceful (Tony Sparano, Mike Smith) would have been hapless without their quarterbacks. Miami would have played Chad Henne earlier. Atlanta would have ridden Turner to a few wins. Indy? Without Manning, I say a team that ran the ball in quicksand would have been 4-12. - Peter King

Peter King is a blowhard who is more than full of himself (but then I guess that is par for the course for anyone on Sunday Night Football, no?). Tony Dungy is not resourceful? Are you serious? Peyton Manning despite of all this shit with his knee is sacked how many times in 15+ games? 14. 4th least in the league. They only rushed 3.4 yds/c because they often abandoned it. It's obviously not about an offensive line that can protect someone that is about as mobile as 3 day old turd. They had the 3rd fewest carries in the league, while Manning is in the top 5 of pass attempts. Sounds like the Cardinals to me, with a better O-line. Kurt Warner was sacked 26 times.

They should have been 0-4 but were gifted games by the Vikes and Texans at the start of the year. Then there is the 9 game "winning" streak. One good win out 9. That was Pittsburgh, the second victory. The rest of it, a Patriot team that was mediocre at that time of the year, Houston, San Diego (in mid-season downward spiral), Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Jacksonville, and a Titan team that played no one in the last game.

Yes, without a doubt, Peyton is the obvious choice for MVP. Please. Should he be considered? Yes. But to call him the obvious choice over the likes of Chad Pennington, DeAngelo Williams, Michael Turner (how do you think Matt Ryan looks his rookie year without him?) and others is just naive.

They say...

That the new U2 album now has a release date of the Feb. 23...so I'm guessing we should probably see it by July 4th.

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2008/12/new-u2-album-no-line-on-the-horizon-gets-feb-23-re.html

As the puppies leave...

Puppies are weird. People have different reactions to them. Granted some people are dog people, and some are cat people. Some don’t like animals at all. And if you are male, make sure nobody knows that you are too much of an animal person, cause then that would make you gay or a serial killer. I think I can accept that from other people, lol.

I don’t want to call this a tribute or anything…perhaps a rumination. Erica Anderson-Senter introduced me some 6 weeks ago to the Shiba Inu Puppy Cam (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shiba-inu-puppy-cam). I’ll just say it’s been a blessing. And for someone whose life is in the shitter and likes to bitch, that’s saying something.

I’m not sure how many people were familiar with the Shiba Inu breed before the web explosion of the puppy cam (I have a feeling not that many). Adult Shiba’s tend to come across as aloof and selfish. Of course it varies, as it does with all dogs. You will never get a Shiba confused with a Golden Retriever or a Lab for personality. However, if they are properly raised, trained and socialized while growing up, chances are they will be a pretty cool dog, loyal to it’s owner. My favorite? The female “runt” of the litter, Ayumi, now minus her yellow collar.

I’m not sure exactly why other people are watching. I get some ideas with the comments that are posted on the cam site. For me, it is probably the simplicity of puppy and/or dog life. That and the love, energy and innocence that they exude on a non-stop basis. Things I see glaringly absent from my own for a long time.

So the time has come for a few of the pups to leave for their new homes. I imagine that quite a few viewers will be sad this weekend. I know I will be. And if you’re watching are honest with yourself, you will be too. Just some thoughts. Thanks again Erica, for helping forget things for a while.

The Big 12 and the BCS Thing

I will not pretend to be a sports expert by any means, though chances are you will be hard pressed to find someone that knows more about tennis than I do. As for college football, and what was supposedly "found out" last night about Texas Tech and Oklahoma, I disagree with the majority of what is being said. Sorry if you are an Oklahoma fan. But the whole Texas Tech is a poseur and Oklahoma is the real deal...sorry I don't buy it. And more ridiculous is the idea that Oklahoma has now proven themselves better than Texas and because Texas is idle, that Oklahoma will jump them in the BCS and the Polls.

Now here is the thing, I am not saying that Oklahoma isn't better, for this week, but not much. I simply ask people to look at the schedules. First Texas was asked to go through Oklahoma on a neutral field, Missouri, Ok St. and Texas Tech in Lubbock in successive games. This argument has been used to discredit TT's win as Texas simply ran out of gas. Texas Tech was asked to go through Kansas @ Kansas, Texas, Ok St. and Oklahoma in Norman in successive games. I tend to think the week off hurt Texas Tech regardless of having to go through that schedule. And then there is Oklahoma. They lost to Texas on a neutral field, beat the then slumping Kansas team by 14 at home, and then had two wins over the clearly lesser teams of Kansas State (5-7) and Nebraska (7-4)...and then had two weeks to prepare for Texas Tech at home. And apparently, it is a forgone conclusion that they will go to Oklahoma St. next week and win easily.

When I look back on all of this...perhaps it is more an indictment of the BCS than anything else. It all depends on when you lose and how your schedule shapes up, etc. And we can look at the ACC where no team apparently is good enough to win more than 2 games in a row and ask how in the hell is any team there going to a BCS game when once again an undefeated Boise St. team will be shut out. I think Bob Stoops can tell you that they are worthy of a BCS game. So what does it all mean? Not much I guess. Politics and computers win out. Oh by the way, one if not two of Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech will not be going to a BCS game. Make sense?