The Sunday Post

I truly believe as a society we have become too dependent on our modern conveniences. If we can't cook it in three minutes, clean it in two minutes, and dispose of it in thirty seconds or less....we get upset. We have to have it now and by God, we want it our way. Thanks, Burger King. If you can't tell it in under thirty minutes, explain it with pictures, or do it for us....we don't have time for ya. Set it and forget it, baby. Only twenty minutes a day. Pennies a week. Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back. Zero down on approved credit. Why am I convinced of all this? My air conditioning has been broken for seventeen hours, and I miss my sweet, sweet climate controlled, freon cooled, recirculating atmosphere. The word of the day is "compressor".

Weekly Movie Review: The Matrix

This has to be one of my all time favorite films. You've probably seen it by now, so I won't bother with a plot review. I'd rather touch on one of the best examples of belief and truth I've ever seen on film.

Right after Morpheus has shown Neo the history of the machines and man, Neo begins to lose it inside of the computer simulation. He starts backing up, yelling "Let me out! Let me out!" We flash back to the hovercraft and Neo is unhooked from the "interface" chair. He keeps repeating, "I don't believe it. I don't believe it." He vomits and then collapses. How is this a great statement on belief? We all know (because we watched the end of the film) that Morpheus was telling Neo the truth. His life, in fact all human lives, were simply a computer generated simulation. Did it matter that Neo did not believe it at first? Did that change the absolute, cold reality of his existence? The answer is obvious. No. Which brings me to my point. Aren't you glad? Belief is nothing without truth.

We can believe in all kinds of things, but unless they have a basis in truth, we're just wasting our time. Now we can get into a big discussion of what is true and what's not, but let's leave that alone for now. A lot of people put faith, and hope, and belief in many different things; religion aside. Without the concrete foundation of truth, the structure of faith and hope sadly crumble despite our fervor or fanaticism. This begs the question: What do I believe in? And why? I know for a fact, the things which I put my belief in are true. Arrogant? Naive? Not at all. I simply have the absolute confidence of knowing the truth. And a great man once said, "The truth will make you free." There is no spoon. The word of the day is "ponder".

I've seen it all

Still not convinced we're in the worst sports time of the year? Right now ESPN, the Mother Ship, the original is airing the 2005 Alka-Seltzer US Open of Competitive Eating. Competitive eating. Let that sink in a moment. Competitive eating. Right now the announcers are breaking down the consistency of the cheese fries. This is unreal.

"He's overstuffing the mouth. He's at a dead stop. He's done for."

Are you serious??!!! This has to be the lamest of the lame. How would you feel as an up and coming announcer for ESPN, and you get this? Wow, ESPN. You've made the big time.

"Um, Jim we have an assignment for you."

"Awesome! What is it? NFL training camp? Stretch run in baseball? The return of the NHL, post lockout?"

"Uh, not really. The Alka-Seltzer US Open of Competitive eating."

"..............."

The announcer just proclaimed competitive eating the fastest growing sport in the world. I can't believe this. The number two ranked eater in the US is some sixty-five year old man in a Hawaiian shirt.

"What do you do for a living?"

"I'm an professional athlete."

"What sport?"

"Eating."

Just found out that one competitor had a very large esophagus, a clear advantage. Well, obviously. This borders on the ridiculous. Heck, this just crossed the border faster than a Mexican with bolt cutters. Please, God.....let football season come soon. Please. The word of the day is "esophagus".

Bravery or Insanity

The small dark object you see in the photograph is a human.

Click the pic for a larger version.

Still Awe Inspiring

Still impressive after twenty-four years.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Jerry Van Dyke, Alex Rodriguez, and Triple H. A lesser known but funnier brother of a classic sitcom legend. An incredibly overpaid baseball player for the "Evil Empire". A total steroid induced freak of nature who parades around in a speedo spitting water on national television in front of thousands of screaming people. What do these three guys have in common other than their birthday? They all have a mom.

Where's Howie?

Oh where have you gone, Howie Mandel? Do you remember Howie Mandel? Pretty funny guy. Number 82 on Comedy Central's list of 100 Greatest Stand-up Comedians. Number 82. Not too shabby....but your not Seinfeld or Cosby or Williams either. I remember seeing him on a couple of Showtime specials back in the day. He also had that animated show for a while where he made the high pitched little boy voice. Didn't watch it. I always thought he looked like Jeff Goldblum's older brother. The Showtime special I saw him on had to be from over 10 years ago or something. How do you go from Showtime special to nowhere? I dunno. Come to find out (That's an expression used south of Maryland that means: I just discovered that....)he's got a new TV show on Bravo set for August. Good for him. Also found out he won't shake hands and is afraid of germs. Maybe that explains the low profile for a decade. Anyway, the word of the day is "misanthrope".

Viva la Lance

I know this is a little late, but what about Lance and seven Tour de France victories in a row? Unbelievable. As far as an individual accomplishment in sports, this has to be the greatest. Bar none. Period. Not only did he win, he flat out dominated. It got to a point where it was not even worth watching, because it was a foregone conclusion: Lance laying the smackdown on the rest of the world. Incredible. On the last time trial he overtook a competitor that started six minutes ahead of him. SIX MINUTES! It's going to be interesting to watch the storylines for next year's Tour. Who's the heir apparent? Nobody. Not even close. Congratulations, Lance. Speaking of France, the word of the day is "surrender".

Comic Diversion

Click the pic for a larger version.

Really?

Have you ever had a conversation with someone, and at the end they say "Really?"? Now have you ever thought about why people say that? Are they automatically assuming we're lying and need another confirmation that the aforementioned conversation was honest or valid? Like we're just making stuff up.

"Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah."

"Really?"

"Nope. I just lied to your face."

Or are they just feigning interest and using the word "really" as some kind of half hearted response to whatever it was that we were saying? Kind of showing they were listening while giving the appearance that they actually took in and thought about the previous five minutes of dissertation we just spewed out. Either way its kind of useless don't you think. The word of the day is "bargain".

The Sunday Post

Not much happening today. The word of the day is "superfluous". That's all I got.

Apologies

Well in the two days this has been up, I've posted car and bike pics, a summer movie review, and talked about sports. I can already see where this is headed. Sorry, ladies.

Italian Duck

Simply beautiful. The single sided swingarm is just killer. Looks fast sitting still. Enjoy! Click the pic for a larger version.

ESPN2: The Deuce

You've got to love that twilight time in sports between the end of the NBA season and the beginning of the NFL season. The only thing happening is baseball and the Tour de Lance. This is evident by the programming served up by ESPN's little brother, "the Deuce". I don't know about you, but I could think of quite a few things I'd like to see sports-wise in the summertime: waterskiing, surfing, volleyball. You know, the beach sports. At 11:00pm last night I got to enjoy watching two large men try to carry two Triumph Speed Triple motorcycles bolted together with some big steel tubing. The object was to carry the darn things a couple hundred feet. The first one to the finish line is the winner. Ah yes, the World's Strongest Man competition. I had to just stop and ask myself, "Why am I watching two large men carry heavy things long distances?" I soon realized why. It became so obvious. It's the same reason many people watch motorsports: the possibility of something going horribly wrong. The facial expressions these guys were making seemed to indicate a pending hernia. Can you imagine all the things that could go wrong with a man carrying 900lbs over a considerable distance? I don't know, maybe it was just the irony of what they were carrying. Hey, why not take one of the bikes, unbolt it from the big steel thingy, and ride it wherever you want to go. Heck, sell the other one, use the money, and take a vacation. Anyway, I digress. The word of the day is "iconic".

This is how you do retro

Rethinking the retro thing..... 

Okay, if this actually gets made I may have to revisit my position on retro car design. I don't know if this is an actual concept from the Chrysler corp or just a nice Photoshop. Either way, this stomps the new Mustang in so many ways. Paint it orange, slap a 01 on the side, and lets go find some conveniently placed ramps to get airborne on the backroads. Them Dukes! Them Dukes!

Almost Perfection

Almost Perfection 

This is my current dream car, folks. 500+ horsepower and 0 to 60 faster than man was ever intended to go. In my humble (or not so humble) opinion, this is the epitome of American muscle. I admire Chevrolet for not resting on their laurels with the C5 and just doing a rehash of old design. They'll leave that to the guys at Ford Motor Company. That new Mustang is cutting edge design.....for 1967. Thought the site needed a little color. Enjoy.

Weekly Movie Review: War of the Worlds

Okay, I'm going to try to do a weekly movie review. Maybe new, maybe old. We'll see how it goes. These will probably be short and to the point.

War of the Worlds:

One question: How many things can we blow up, shatter, disintegrate, tip over, or annoy by the time two hours is up? Well, I was one of the annoyed things. It's not a bad movie by any means, bit it's not a great movie by any stretch. Effects were good. Acting was okay. Dakota Fanning was great as always. She has to be like thirty. The tension builds and builds throughout the film, going from one narrow escape/almost life ending event to the other only to resolve the crisis in about two and a half minutes. The "payoff" doesn't equal "work" done to get there. Of course, this is only my opinion. From what I've heard, it ends like the original novel. Don't know haven't read it. This movie has not inspired me to go to the library for it either. I would suggest a matinee. Cheaper and you still have your night free. The effects are worthy of the big screen, so you may not want to wait for DVD. If you disagree with my opinion either good or bad....good for you. That's what makes the internet great, but lets not get into some dumb cyber-arguement over it. Comments welcome.

Initial Post

A co-worker suggested I start my own blog since I am a very opinionated (valued, that is) person. We'll see how this goes. This may be an exercise in futility. The word of the day is "dashboard".