Beyond Splooge

This is the kind of stuff that gets me excited.

Theo is super badass. I hope he's in charge for the next 30 years.

Title time in Massachusetts

Pick two places in Massachusetts for each title, based on residents: Where is Fat City and where is Fit City?

A-Rod in decline

Is A-Rod the best player in baseball? Not many think so. Not many at all.

Getting off steroids and getting old will lead to a decline. Even in the NY Daily News poll, only 10% call him the best. Pujols comes in first with 42% of the vote and youngster Evan Longoria blows away ARod, coming in a close second with 39%.

Drugs are bad, m'kay?

Super chill monkey does Hollywood

Song of the Day: Hey Hey Wer'e the Monkeys

Killing the animals

I think it's unlikely that any animals at the Franklin Park Zoo were ever going to be euthanized. And it's likely the Zoo has made a long-term enemy of the Governor by publicly embarrassing him.

But as bare knuckle politics/public relations, they really did a tune on him. They mentioned the possibility, threw it at the Herald and let them make it sound as if they needles were being filled and the Gorillas were having their arms tied off.

Who wasn't sympathetic to the animals when they read the stories? I'm sure most are like me. I like Monkeys.

Home Run Derby

Did you watch the home run derby last night? I saw very little of it. I was scrubbing down and rinsing the deck in the dark (fun!) so I can stain it tonight or some upcoming night.

Being right off the TV room, though, I did hear quite a bit of it. Well, I heard Berman screaming. He's really over the top and not in a good way. I've come to an understanding with Dick Vitale doing college basketball and even the way Mike Goldberg does UFC fights. But Berman irks me. Not all the time, just when he plays the buffon. Maybe I feel like he's just putting it on a bit too much where guys like Vitale and Goldberg are a bit more sincere in their excitement.

Other lowlight of the broadcast was when Erin Andrews was interviewing on of the participants and asked them about the performance of "Brian" Howard. Ugh!

Song of the Day: Disco Inferno

Happy Anniversary (yesterday).

Song of the Day: Blue Skies

Ok, ok, so it wasn't 90 degrees. The sun was out. It was a beautiful day.

Song of the Day: Get off of my cloud

Such characters/caricatures.

Gov race just go really interesting

Seems there will be a busy Gubernatorial race coming up. Deval Patrick will run for re-election, Christy Mihos has committed to running again as a Republican, current Treasurer Tim Cahill left the Dems to set up a run as an unenrolled candidate and now Charlie Baker is going to run in the Republican primary.

I voted for Patrick last time and will probably do so again. But I worry about his prospects. He started with some embarassing little things that didn't play well in the press. Then the economy tanked and he's been forced to champion some budget cuts and tax increases that never go over well, no matter how necessary they may be.

Cahill may steal some conservative Dems and unenrolled voters that Patrick finally got to check the D column. He and Mihos are somewhat wildcards that can't easily be dismissed. But Baker is the biggest threat to Patrick. He could pick up a majority the same way that Weld and Cellucci did: blasting "tax and spend" Democrats and one party rule of the state while identifying as a fiscal conservative from the "real world" that will leave the social stuff largely alone.

It will be interesting to see if, like John Kerry in 96--Patrick can overcome the unimpressive image and rise to the occasion brought by top-flight competition.

Gettin' a few things figured out

Song of the Day: Smile

Reportedly Micheal Jackson's favorite song, it was a Charlie Chaplin song sung by Jacko's brother Jermaine at the memorial today.

Tour de France

Forgot it started over the weekend. Will be following coverage closely from this point forward. It's remarkable how interesting it is, even in a nontraditional media format. Several websites (including the ones here, here)post running commentaries and while you'd think it would be much better to view live on TV, I still find this fomrat compelling and dramatic in its own way.

C'mon, fess up

Who's going to watch?

Song of the Day: More than one way home

Did you ever buy a full album (cd, kids) knowing almost nothing about the band/artist? I've done it a few times, with great success. A number of years ago, I was wandering through a record store (remember those?) and I stumbled upon a disk by someone named Keb' Mo'. Interesting name, but I'd never heard of him...them...it. Still, it had a sticker on it labeling it a Grammy winner or nominee for best contemporary blues album or artist. I was digging blues at the time and decided to give it a try.

The album--Just like you--was a great listen. Enjoyed it from front to back and went back in later years and got me some more Keb' Mo'.

This song has the feel of summer or a warm spring day to it. Don't know why but it does. To me. And this is my blog, so that's what counts. Hope you enjoy this song and maybe some of his other work.

PS--His real name is Kevin Moore.
PPS--He's originally from Compton, CA (South Central LA), just like NWA (Eazy E, Dre, Ice Cube, etc.) Their styles are markedly different.
PPPS--I found Radiohead the same way I found Keb'Mo'.

Song of the Day: No More Kings

Song of the Day: Black Water

Doobie Brothers

Song of the Day: Hard rain's a-gonna fall

This remake of a Dylan penned song got lots of airplay among a circle of friends back in the day when it was featured on the "Born on the Fourth of July" soundtrack. It's appropriateness this week is more than obvious.

Great song, great lyrics.

I've always liked Edie Brickell. A review once made a comparison of the sound of her voice to freshly baked bread. Always agreed with that creative assessment.

And hark, the sun attempts an appearance as I post this!

Song of the Day: Brandy

Had a request for this classic by Looking Glass. "Brings me sunny, chill day at the beach thoughts..."

Speaking of the weather

Song of the Day: She's out of my life

Did you know Micheal had a sensitive side?

I got a new toy

Today I replaced something stolen by the bastard that broke into our home. I bought a new video camera. After looking a numerous models, I got a Flip-ish lower end easy to use deal. It's a Kodak Zx1. I got it in red. Why the Zx1 instead of the Flip or the Sony Webbie? Well, I liked that it had removable media. I didn't ever want to be out somewhere and run out of space on the hard drive of the Flip, which stores video only on the hard drive. And I wanted batteries that were removable, so that if they did need to be charged and I wasn't in a position to charge them, I could swap them out with a spare.

So I got the Kodak.

More on the experience later, it's been very limited so far. And not entirely successful. I just tried to upload a video and it's somehow in slow motion. Harrumph.

It's ALL about the money!

To erase any doubts, the reason a significantly younger woman marries Red Sox owner John Henry is NOT because he is a charming romantic. From his Twitter page we get this play-by-play of the romantic glow of the Henry honeymoon. No, this is not from the Onion.

Just landed in Dakar. Taking the Red Sox flag through Africa. A plane full of Red Sox hats!
3:39 PM Jun 28th from TwitterBerry

Met an hour in Cape Town w Archbishop Tutu to discuss SAfrican HIV efforts-our reason for this trip. Now at Rustenberg Vineyard. Beautiful!
about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry


Spent the afternoon at Nelson Mandela's cell block with one of his fellow prisoners. Incredible stories of courage and unfathomable honor.
about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

27 years in a tiny cell for African freedom. Robben Island...penguins cavorting this afternoon where great men labored in a lime quarry.
2 minutes ago from TwitterBerry


Editor's note: the "reason for this trip" is a meeting with Tutu to discuss HIV? Is there a less romantic honeymoon activity than discussing HIV with a religious person?

84

The Magic Number for the Red Sox to clinch the American League East Division Title is 84.

Song of the Day: Smooth Criminal

Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal
by melkor75

Alien Ant Farm did this cover of a Jacko tune. Don't know that I ever listened to the original song or watched the video all the way through, but I was a big fan of this remake.

In Neil Young, there is wisdom and understanding

In considering the lives and deaths of Elvis Presley v Micheal Jackson, I was struck by a Neil Young song last night while doing the dishes.

"It's better to burn out than to fade away."

Micheal Jackson had faded away from the relevance to the music industry, and in a very creepy way. I refuse to consider "sold out" shows that had yet to happen. For all the talk of a glorious comeback, they might have been a total bomb.

This oughta move Jack-O off the front page

Fred Travalena has died.

Song of the Day: Who's Loving You

Old school Motown goodiness.

Song of the Day: Fat

Weird Al Yankovic - Fat
by GuyanaMike

Yo Ding Dong, Man, Ding Dong, Yo.