Sorry Karen

For reasons I won't go into here, my girlfriend Karen despises Sarah Silverman. But the fact remains: she's hilarious. She's irreverent and cutting, and damn funny. I'm watching Jesus Is Magic now. Funny gal.

(And I can tolerate her brother Jonathan too...he was in the hilarious Weekend at Bernie's yarns.)

Top 5 Weird Movies

Malcolm McDowell drives home the weirdness in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.

I like weird movies...films that push the envelope, force you outside of the box, and are, basically, downright strange. I've seen quite a few weird movies. Here are my top five. Check them out if you dare!

1. A Clockwork Orange

2. Eyes Wide Shut


3. The Machinist


4. Requiem for a Dream


5. Pulp Fiction





These are not necessarily in order. But they all have one thing in common...weirdness...okay two things...they're also damn good movies. There are other movies that I could possibly classify in the "weird" category, but I've got other places for those.





You might recognise that two of the movies, A Clockwork Orange and Eyes Wide Shut, are by the same director, Stanley Kubrick (R.I.P.) (he also did Full Metal Jacket and The Shining). The Machinist is a mind-bender starring Christian Bale and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Requiem for a Dream stars, among others, the beautiful Jennifer Connelly. Pulp Fiction is a phenomenal movie all the way around (I love Samuel L. Jackson in it: "Mmmm...That is a tasty burger.").

Have you seen any of these bizarre gems? Post a comment on them. Taanks.

Hardees Burg's

A new eating establishment opened yesterday in my little community just outside of Huntsville. It was a Hardees. I know...that doesn't sound like anything exciting on the surface, especially since we already proudly sport a Taco Bell/KFC, Subway, Domino's, and a few non-chains. But there are a couple of factors that excite me about this new Hardees.

One, it is the only burger place nearby. I love Taco Bell, but there are times when a man wants a good burger, right? And they have them. I think their burgers are higher quality than the typical chains'. Angus beef, fresh toppings, gourmet size...I had a Jalapeno Thick Burger yesterday, and it was pretty solid.

Two, this Hardees is easily accessible to me...I don't have to get out on the busy "four-lane," to use a term from my youth and small home town. I can get in and out of there in a hurry.

Three, the restaurant is nice...looks more like a diner than a burger chain usually does. Inside (although I will probably rarely eat on the premises) are two flat screen tv's, showing ESPN or the like.

I remember, when I was 15 or 16, my hometown of Headland, Alabama procured it's first "real" chain restaurant, also a Hardees. The excitement was rampant in the town. It's not that same level of excitement with our new Hardees, but it is nice.

See ya at Hardees! Tell 'em to fire up the grill!

No Joke...That's His Name

He's the number 1 prospect in the Tampa Bay Rays (not Devil Rays any more) organisation, an upstart in fantasy leagues this year, and hands-down the favorite to win American League Rookie of the Year honors. His name? Evan Longoria. Not to be confused with this person of similar name, Evan has probably heard no end of joking about his name.

Is Evan the love-child of the Desperate Housewives star and her NBA husband, Tony Parker? Could he be a long lost twin brother of Eva? Or juicier still, is Evan actually Eva's alter ego? Could Eva be a beautiful actress as well as a cross-dressing, talented Major League third basemen?

I have two fantasy drafts this Saturday...I'll be watching for Evan...although I'd rather be looking at Eva.

BBC shows

I've grown fond of BBC America lately. They have some really cool shows. One of my favorites is Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, which has Chef Ramsey putting the whip to fledgling, failing restaurants across Europe. He has a version of this show in America on Fox; it's good, damn good, but not quite as good as its BBC counterpart. On BBC he has less restraints, and can see a few choice curse words (plus he uses the term "bollocks" quite liberally, and to my liking). In the clip linked above, he also calls someone a "cantankerous old fart" in a beautiful Scottish brogue.

You Are What You Eat is a show about overweight, unhealthy citizens of jolly old England...how awful their current diets are, and what changes they need to make.

Some older shows from BBC include Coupling and The Office, which preceded the American version. Look, I love Steve Carrell and the American version of the show, but Ricky Gervais and company are brilliant in the BBC version. If you have Netflix you can rent it. It's damn good.

Happy watching...

Fantastic!

Spring training is fully underway, which means the real baseball season is nearly underway, which means all is right with the world again! It also means fantasy baseball is back!

So far, I've registered for three leagues...one of them had its draft tonight. I drafted pretty well, I think. With the fourth pick overall, I chose New York Mets Shortstop Jose Reyes in the first round. He provides a high average, gobs of stolen bases, lots of doubles and triples, and a decent number of home runs. Other highlights on my roster include Ryan Howard, Brandon Phillips, and Josh Beckett. Here's my complete roster.

I have two other leagues yet to draft. Karen and Pops will join me in one of them. I thought about using a silly team name like the Cuban Raft Riders, but instead I went with more traditional names...except for one league, in which my team is The Evil Empire, a name sometimes used to describe the Yankees.

I hope to be a fantasy champion...if I am, all my dreams will come true!

Simpler Days

Reading Seinfeld and Philosophy, I came across the following quote from the 19th century existentialist philosopher Soren Kierkegaard:

"one should in spite of mature years, be able to prove the truth of the proverb that children are pleased with a rattle and tickled with a straw."

Oh, the days when a simple rattle mollified the spirit!