Opening Day, Hooray, Hooray!

It's Opening Day here in the Land of Opportunity, and you know what that means...? Six or seven months of your indifference while the bloated Major League Baseball schedule slowly-but-slowly plays out. But, hey, it's still better than cricket, eh ESPN?

Might as well jump.

Snooki's Shore Thing

So, apparently Nicole Polizzi, better known as Snooki from MTV's Jersey Shore show has written a book, A Shore Thing. It made the New York Times Bestsellers list at some point earlier this year.

Surely, since you are reading this, you are probably competent enough to use the Internets and have heard something about Jersey Shore by now. If not, basically, it is a documentary meant to show how evolution has struggled on the shores of New Jersey. It is no wonder why so many religious groups speak out against it (or at least they should).

Annnyway, this is a wonderful review of Ms. Snooki's book. The reviews on Amazon provide a wealth of entertainment, so I urge you to check them out. I would be providing a disservice if I were to attempt funny when so many people have already done such a wonderful job for me. Enjoy.

Ceaselessly Beating Tobey Maguire Into the Past

Sometimes, I will read books. Yes, I know, it is the 21st century, but bear with me. My favorite book is F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby for various reasons that aren't important at the moment. I have watched every movie version of the book, all of which are criticized by fan boys like me for leaving something out or doing something differently. So, you cannot imagine my joy at the announcement of another version of the movie currently in production. Announced in 2008 or something, it is supposed to release next year some time (but probably not).

In more recent versions of the movie, Nick Carraway, the investigative narrator of the story, has been played by Sam Waterston, and, oddly enough, very well by Paul Rudd. In the new Baz Luhrmann venture, everyone's favorite Peter Parker, Tobey Maguire, is slated to be the new Nick Carraway. But, why?.

Go ahead and jump...and feel my rage.

Domestic Assault Isn't Funny (Unless Shown in Creative PSAs That Happen to be Funny)

This is the look of a man whose coffee has just been spilled

I know I am probably late on this, but bear with me. Calgary Home Front, self proclaimed as "united in breaking the cycle of domestic violence," may have created the best PSAs to date (I'm told these are from 2003). This video features a man eating with his kids. Within the clip, the classic line of "She spilled my coffee" is spoken, followed by a beat down of epic proportions, and pouring coffee all over the snarky waitress. The ending is great only because the kids to do not act like anything has happened (nor does anyone else in the restaurant). A strong, strong message sent, but nonetheless a hilariously ridiculous situation.

More after the jump.

Xenophobia's Shining Moment

During a search for a motel room for my pseudo-vacation to Colorado I will never be able to afford, I found a motel that did not fit the qualifications of some of its past guests (but, oddly enough, it did fit my price range). This particular motel featured seven terrible reviews, the first three commenting on the gross carpet, smell of the room, quality of the bathroom linens, etc. Typical stuff. Since negativity helps me sleep at night, I continued to read the reviews, finding this one you see above. Apparently, encountering a "Swiss couple visiting our country" is a big no-no when on vacation. How dare these Swiss come to this country and stay at what seems to be one of the worst motels in the state of Colorado, this is OUR COUNTRY!!! You have to admit, it is refreshing to no longer see attacks on Mexicans or Middle-Eastern people, and on Europeans again... these things work in cycles.

So beware when going to Colorado because is not free from strange European visitors. Moral of the story: The guv'ment can't put up a fence around the entire east and west coasts soon enough.

2010 in USA Athletics, Set to Music!!!

This would have been on my YouTube page, but they censored it for copyright stuff. Whatever. Here it is now.



The first clip is of Ryan Kesler's empty net goal to win the 2010 Olympics round robin game over Canada, courtesy of NBC. The second clip is of Zach Parise's goal with seconds remaining to tie the 2010 Olympic final, also courtesy of NBC. The third one is John Carlson's overtime goal in the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship to give the USA the gold, courtesy of TSN. The fourth clip (and only soccer clip) is of Landon Donovan's goal in the 91st minute to send the USA into the knockout stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, courtesy of ESPN. The final clip is of the United States' Mike Isner winning the longest tennis match in Wimbeldon history, also courtesy of ESPN

Music courtesy of DVDA, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and others.

All of this material belongs to either ESPN/ABC, TSN, NBC Universal, and/or DVDA. I don't own any of it, I just have video editing software and plenty of time on my hands.

Wacky Way In Which We Were

One thing that really interests me about World War II isn't the amazing firepower, or technological breakthroughs, or even the never-ending question of whether or not Adolf Hitler was gay. Those are all fun things, yes (especially since 'Homo Hitler' is a great use of alliteration), but what really interests me is how and what people believed and thought at that time. If one could probe into the mind of Joe Everyman in 1943 and see what he really believed, and really thought about things, it would be very interesting to see how it compares to the way we look at things now. One major issue is the topic of race, and how it was used as a rallying cry throughout the war. Many would argue that much of the war was a struggle to show who had the superior race, but that is very abstract, and I encourage you to read the hundreds of books on the topic (John Dower's War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War would be one example). Even soldiers had a lot more to worry about than just fighting battles. For more info on this, Please read Paul Fussell's Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War and books like it.

Anyway, what I am getting at is I basically want you to look at these interesting propaganda posters from World War II. Take your own opinions from them, but I invite you to really look at the message they are trying to convey and the intended audience they are seeking to convey that message to. If nothing else, some may give you a bit of a chuckle. I put the posters that have to do with what I am talking about above first, then they are followed by some fun ones I have found. (Searching for, and finding these posters is surprisingly enjoying and a lot of them either make you burst out laughing, leave you scratching your head, or will actually make you think (which is scary, I know)). Anyway, enjoy!