Friday, April 28, 2006

Friday Cries for Help














Red Sox bombed, 15-3. The invincible Josh Beckett gets strafed and that old Sox Nation paranoia starts bubbling up somewhere in my subconscious. But we are in first place...keep telling yourself that...

I'm going on a long drive up the Taconic P-Way to the "bunker". Gas costs a gazillion bucks a gallon...I'll be coastin down the hills...

G.W. Bush wants more power to raise fuel efficiency standards for cars...why do I think he's just trying to save his oilman ass...

Two television stars vie for the nations attention. Rosie O'Donnell moves to the View (if you care you're a shut-in loser) and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi releases a video that struts his stuff as he kicks up his media campaign to snag the top spot on the Terrorist Top Ten from Bin Laden, sort of like Cold Play trying to knock off U2 and we know what happened there...I just liked juxtaposing their pictures...

That's all I can muster for now cuz it's off the chase the woodchucks...
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Thursday, April 27, 2006

Tony Snow - Press Secretary

Maybe nobody noticed, but Fox News is the biggest of all Bush Administration cheerleaders and spins as much news as a dreidel, so it seems only appropriate that staunch Bushbacker, Tony Snow, be named Press Secretary. Somehow I don't remember Bill Clinton naming Al Franken as his spokesman but it probably happened in a parallel universe to balance out this phenomenon.
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Papelbon Mohawk

Looks like we have another live one in the Red Sox bullpen. Check out the Travis Bickell look being sported by Sox closer Jon Papelbon...now we got some action in the Sox bullpen! Seems the kid cut his hair because he won a bet...somebody explain to him how wagers work...or don't.
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Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Red Sox Nation


Rising oil prices, lingering abdominal pain, turmoil everywhere...what's a loser like me supposed to do? Well...just put your faith in the the Bosox, they're in first place by a scant 2 games over the hated, yet feared, Evil Empire and they have overcome the loss of Coco and the trading of singer/songwriter Bronson Arroyo to ooze to the top of the American League east. Let's hope it's not all an illusion. There, I feel better already.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Teddy Kennedy Jousting With Windmills

I've seen Teddy on various political talk shows of late as he bemoans big oil and a litany of transgressions by the Bush administration. GreenPeace has put together a little flash video emphasizing the hypocracy of Ted's opposition to Nantucket wind farms. Check it out. Whackamill Video

Bush Has Gas

Looks like that Texas "oil-man", G.W. Bush is feeling the heat for high gas prices. In a transparent and ultimately hollow gesture, Mr. Bush's is making noise about an investigation and is paying lip service to alternative fuels. All this blather will end up with only one accomplishment, quieting the grumbling in his own party as Congressional elections approach. LINK

Monday, April 24, 2006

Bin Laden Speaks

I thought this was an interesting take on Bin Laden's recent spokenword release on the Caveman Label. NY POST STORY

Friday, April 21, 2006

Cheney Asleep at the Wheel



I hate to make the man my whipping boy but this is such an easy shot I couldn't resist...

Vice President Dick Cheney
gets caught napping yesterday as Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other White House aides leave a press briefing by President Bush and Chinese leader Hu Jintao. The veep's people later insisted he was reading his notes, but it sure looks to me like he's dreaming about that upcoming invasion of Iran or maybe blowing some domesticated pheasant's brains out.

Faith Healer - Broadway

Made a rare foray to the "Great White Way" to see Ralph Fiennes in the limited run of "Faith Healer". I'd have to say that, on balance, I really enjoyed the three actor play with limited sets and props and consisting of four soliloquies. The other talented thespians in the production are veteran Broadway actress, and formidable talent, Cherry Jones and the English actor, Ian McDiarmid, winner of the London Critics Best Actor Award for his perfomance in this play and best know for his film role in 5 Star Wars movies as Palpatine.

The Award-winning play is slow going and a bit of a downer but well worth checking out to see one of our great contemporary actors (Mr. Fiennes) strut his stuff in an "actors play". Mr. McDiarmid steals the show as "Teddy", the manager of Mr. Fiennes faith healer, with both a touchingly comedic performance and deep emotional undercurrents...

Serious stuff.
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Thursday, April 20, 2006

New Music 4.20.04



Recent finds:

Richard Butler: Self titled album by former Psyche Furs frontman glistens with maturity and old-school production flavor. Richard has dropped all the rock thrash for some thoughtful, quieter rock, as fresh as today. The voice is in rare form. Download "Second to Second".

Midwest Productions: download "Easter Surrenders" - indy band with high "listening in the car" quotient.

Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band: download "Kill the Habit" (instrumental) Scandinavian electronics outfit adds instruments and kicks audio ass, as usual.

Check out "Re-Bop: The Savoy Remixes" for a fresh take on Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Mann etc. set to contempory beats...sweet.

Nightmares on Wax: download "You Wish" laidback funky groove, smooth keyboards and nice little guitar sample on this mellow "let's smoke that dooby now" track.

For guitar rock check out Graham Coxon's latest "Love Travels at Illegal Speed" by the former Blur guitarist.

Out...
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Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Jonathan Papelbon the New Rocket


Young Red Sox closer, Jon Papelbon, has requested that fans come up with a new song to accompany his entrance from the bullpen. The apparent fan favorite in a contest run in the Boston Herald is "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC, a classic rocker and a safe choice. The test will be whether the 25 year old even knows who AC/DC is. The red-hot Papelbon is quickly becoming a Beantown favorite, with frequent comparisons being made between him and Roger Clemens. I don't think he's quite in the Rocket's realm just yet, but you gotta like his style. If you have to make a choice between taciturn, former closer, Keith Foulke and the fired up Papelboner...it's a no brainer.
Viva Le Red Sox!
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Rolling Stone Bush Cover



Yikes! This can't be the cover that the White House wants out there. I presume the accompanying article is not flattering to the Commander and Chief.
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McClellan Leaves White House

The shake-up continues at the Bush White House as Press Secretary Scott McClellan is stepping down. STORY
If you have seen some of Scott's press conferences you can probably empathize with him, as he was often left to defend almost untenable White House positions (Harriet Myers).
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Monday, April 17, 2006

New York City Security Cams


The city of New York, aided by Federal funds, is beginning the installation of over 500 security cameras around key public areas of the city. Now as a citizen of the metropolis, I must consider if this is a good idea. Public assurances have been made that the cameras will not be an invasion of privacy etc., but we all know how these things work. A couple of months after the system is up and running the Post will run a story (with pictures) about some wacko security guy who is caught looking up some chicks skirt on the corner of Broadway and 45th Streets, or some smart-ass divorce lawyer will get tape revealing his client's spouse picking up a transvestite hooker in the Meat Packing district.

So presuming these transgressions to be a given, do the positives outweigh the negatives? I guess it's sort of a no brainer. New York City has a very obvious terrorist target on its back and can use all the help it can get. The mere fact that we have to share Homeland Security funds with some very nice, but safe, cornbelt states (where they have wisely spend the dough on stuff like police dog body armour) -- because of Congress' penchant for local pork -- makes it imperative we get all, as well as any, means of protection we can -- as soon as we can. I know I might get a ticket for littering or speeding or be punished for my propensity for public urination but I believe overall these invasions of my personal space are but a small price to pay to make this great city a little safer.
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Sunday, April 16, 2006

Dick Cheney For President


An ad popped up on the "Collar" for a website that sells promotional stuff for Dick Cheney's 2008 presidential run. I think I'm gonna do a search for some Donald Rumsfeld gear so I can have the complete GOP "Ever the Optimist Package".
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Saturday, April 15, 2006

Ten Celebs That Gotta Go


Naomi Campbell: should be stationed on the Mexican border with an endless supply of cell phones...she'd stop the illegal immigration problem in its tracks!

Britney & KFed: stop dropping the baby just to get some press and disappear.

Jessica Simpson/Paris Hilton: the only thing either of you could do to peak my interest would be to have sex with someone you haven't boinked already... each other. Get outta my face!

George Clooney
: remember he was at the peak of his acting powers when a regular on "Roseanne".

Star Jones: she's determined to personally finance a new splooge of cosmetic surgery mega-stores. Get your liposuctioned, money grubbing, mutant body out of my consciousness you Oprah wanna be!

David Beckham: Does anyone in the U.S. follow metrosexual soccer...get out of the country!

Kimora Lee Simmons
: a trans-ethnic nobody, marries a sorta gay gazillionaire, steals somebody's fashion line concept and should be incarcerated right now!

Ashlee Simpson
: please lip-sync your second banana, no-talent tuchas, into the next Karaoke bar please.

Dakota Fanning: Bring back MaCauley Culkin...fast, or just introduce her to crack cocaine and get it over with...

The Donald: the hair, the ego and the bionic wife - get out and get out now!

Friday, April 14, 2006

Dolby Fed Up wid K-Fed

Seems Brittany Spear's rapping man-candy, Kevin Federline, has swiped a sample or two from that 80's pop icon, Thomas Dolby. Needless to say, Thomas is not "blinded by.." K-Fed's rapping and has legal representation...STORY
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South Park


I'm not a big fan of South Park and generally don't watch the show. I do appreciate their capacity for yanking p.c. America's reactionary chain. I did catch last night's Holy Week Episode in which there is a move afoot to prevent the image of Mohammed from appearing in an episode of "The Family Guy". Comedy Central actually did remove the image, bowing to the uproar that surrounded the original Danish cartoon. The episode is a commentary on censorship with a little Israeli, "don't negotiate with a terrorist", spin thrown in. With the exception of the poop throwing by Jesus at the close (images created by Al-Qaeda to counter the western media airing of the bomb topped Mohammed cartoon) all harmless juvenile fun. The uproar that will ensue from the Religious Right whose spokepeople won't bother to watch the actual scene, will be loud and prolonged, probably with a boycott thrown in. The Jesus/G.W. and the flag imagery that close the episode are an attempt at humor, albeit a sloppy, not so funny attempt. Defecation humor is not the height of sophistication and should only be handled with comedy rubber gloves, other than that, as I viewed the scene the smile that spread over my face was not in reaction to the poop joke but in anticipation of all the self-important, cross-waving, rightwing, commentary that would ensue.

Lighten up America!
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Thursday, April 13, 2006

Immigration


Once again the obvious is pounded home to us in the headlines everyday. Our south of the the border buddies are the only people willing to get out and do the dirty work. Check out the thousands of people who participated in demonstrations in the past couple of weeks and hold that image up against a picture of an America that can only get 50% voter turnout in vital Presidential elections and sits on its hands as global warming and the war in Iraq spin out of control. I'm sure that Donald Rumsfeld has a dozen guys his landscaper picked up on the corner mulching his flower beds this weekend.
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Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Dick Cheney's Baseball News


Our esteemed V.P., Dick Cheney, threw out the first pitch at the Nationals home opener yesterday displaying a better arm than either Johnny Damon or Bernie Williams...(sorry). Dick has been working out at his bunker bullpen in anticipation of his first outing of the spring and looked good bringing several in attendance to comment "that he looks like he's got his "Desert Storm" fastball back".

In the real baseball world, the Sox looked like the Dodger's of old with good pitching and timely hitting beating the Blue Jays 5-1, behind a feisty Josh Beckett. My new best friend, Wily Mo Pena, took the opportunity to screw-up an easy catch and helped a flyball into the bullpen for a visitor's homerun. In NYC the Yankees are back after coming from behind to beat the pathetic Royals at the Stadium.
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Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Fenway Park


Fenway Park has its 95th Opening Day today and the regal old park has been transformed under the current ownership from a pending tear-down to the jewel of baseball. I'm stuck in NYC, but I'd love to be up there today when the Sawx take on the Blue Jays. There have been a ton of new ballparks constructed in recent years with Camden Yards incorporating the best of old and new school design elements. The pending new Yankee Stadium is rumoreded to be a sweet combo of the original Stadium's old world charm and all the modern amenities you could hope for... yet there's something about the Green Monster and its funky design that captures all the disappointments (too many) and triumphs of the last 100 years of the Sox. Just like the team on the field, it's back and bettah than evah. Here's a shout-out to some of the individuals of times past who have made the Sox heritage what it was and is, Tom Yawkey, Curt Gowdy, Ned Martin, Mel Parnell, Teddy Ballgame, George "The Boomer" Scott, Dom DiMaggio, Tony C., Dick Radatz and all the rest...
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Bush Job Rating Hits Bottom

Old G.W. has gone and done it now. The polls once again show the American people are just not buying his act. This is when it usually gets dangerous and the floundering prez jumps into a war or ups the terror rating to rattle America and get that fear quotient up...
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Monday, April 10, 2006

Red Sox


Hope springs eternal as the tulips pop out of the ground and Easter comes fast upon us. It is a time of anticipation and positive thoughts. It's a time when, if the Red Sox were to get off to a good start (which they have), then hopes for another mystical World Championship rise from the mist over the Rivah Charles. I can only hope that after my recent bout with my balky gallbladder I can move forward into the sunshine of spring, arm in arm with my new best friends, Coco and Wily Mo.
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Giant Rabbit Terrorizes U.K.


Something about giant rabbits has always fascinated me...STORY
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Saturday, April 08, 2006

Page Six - Paul Jared Stern Shakedown



The New York Post's Page Six gossip column is a guilty pleasure for many NYer's. Some proudly display the tabloid on buses and subways while more sophisticated types may hide their Post inside a Wall Street Journal or NY Times. One thing bothering me about Page Six is why "nowhere actresses" like Mischa Barton and the ilk are constantly featured with a photo almost every day (yesterday), this has lead to my suspicions that the skank's publicist has some nasty pix of Mr. Richard Johnson...now Paul Jared Stern is accused of shaking down billionaires and he's on tape...hmmmm. More Coverage
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Rolling Stones China


THE ROLLING STONES have agreed to drop songs from their concert playlist when they tour China next month. Too bad the U.S. government doesn't do the same to motivate the geezer-rockers to play some of the underplayed gems in their songbook (anybody heard "2000 Light Years From Home" lately?).


NME Head of Beijing Time New Century Entertainment, Chen Jixin, said that the band has been told they cannot perform 'Brown Sugar', 'Honky Tonk Women', 'Beast Of Burden' and 'Let's Spend The Night Together.

I guess Mr. Jixin hasn't isn't familiar with "Sympathy for the Devil", "Mother's Little Helper and "Satisfaction" (which might become an anthem for the undernourished Chinese youth culture).
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New Music


New music I'm listening to in no particular order:

South "Adventures in the Underground Journey to the Stars" - download "A Place in Displacement" I'm a sucker for melodic Brit-Pop with brains - why isn't there more of that coming out of Amerika?

Flaming Lips "At War with the Mystics" - indy meets prog rock but there are some nuggets.

Interpol "Antics" - download "Slow Hands" - just saw this 2004 video and got back into them.

The Delays
"You See Colours" - chick singer and nice hooks, what's not to like.

Richard Ashcroft
"Keys to the World" - former Verve frontman releases spotty effort but I like him anyway.

Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band - anything by these guys is highly listenable, funky, out-there and Norwegian, how cool is that?

Check out Metacritic for reviews of all kinds of stuff, especially good for uncovering new musical finds.

Intelligent Design

Intelligent design is one of those things I kind of ignore because it seems so ridiculous. The recent discovery of a creature that provides the evolutionary, water-land link has prompted the usual debate between the devout believers in the "all God's creatures walked the earth together" crowd and the science/evolution bunch (ever been to the Museum of Natural History - might provide a clue). Intelligent design is obviously anything but and it's interjection into school board and curriculum discussions violates the spirit of the Separation of Church & State provisions in the Constitution. I guess the idea that we evolved from fish, never mind chimps, is a tough one to swallow for the Christian right and just like global warming it's better to deny, deny, deny, (Iraq) than face the truth.
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Thursday, April 06, 2006

Yankee Pitching Staff


My recent gallbladder "situation" has given me ample time for reading. A sympathetic someone gave me a stack of Red Sox related hardcovers including, Bill Simmons' "Now I can Die in Peace", which I have summarily devoured. All this Soxcentric reading has gotten my latent baseball juices flowing, aided by several fanatical Yankee-loving doormen who inexplicably ambush me in various lobbies as I sport my "You Can't Stoppi Big Poppi" t-shirt.

With thse pre-existing conditions firmly in place I sat down for my morning constitutional (these things become important to those fighting the gallbladder wars) and happened to peruse an article in today's NY Post about touting the veteran leadership of Randy "Father of the Year" Johnson and Mike "I look like my tummy hurts" Mussina. Early season perfomances have provided hope for each while Chien-Ming Wang and Jaret Wright have faltered slightly and that hat-askew guy, Chacon, has yet to appear. So I figured I'd stir the pot a little while riding high on the performances of Schill and Beckett (the new law firm in Beantown). I make the undaunted and probably misguided prediction that Johnson is getting old and Mussina is headed for a rest home somewhere near Tampa. That being said, I predict the Yankees will break the bank signing Mr. Roger Clemens sometime in May (even though he never returned that Hummer they gave him upon his last farewell tour - see B. Streisand).

Roger the backstabber will jerk the Sox around to up the $$$ from the Yanks and come back to get his support hose handed to him by Curt Schilling as the Sox win the pennant. There I said it.

Celebrity Backlash

You gotta love George Clooney squeaking out a call to action for all his similarly inconvenienced celeb pals to text bogus celeb sitings to Gawker. (FlameTracker)
Clooney now has his liberal Hollywood Captain's hat firmly bobby-pinned to his pompadour and is cashing in some chips to try and stop the common man from participating in a little good clean fun, as if anyone really gives a shit who he is copping a feel from at Crowbar.
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Jalopy Junktown

Being a confused neophyte person of blog, I was looking around the blogbowl for inspiration and I saw this blog featured on Boingboing, Jalopy Junktown. My wife was a major yard sale cruiser for a few years so I have both a fascination and tremendous fear of all things strange and for sale.
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Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Clash + Led Zeppelin = Terrorist

Some dude in England gets busted as terror suspect for playing some classic rock in a taxi? Cabbie as music critic extremis.
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Baby Shower Gone Bad

I came across this baby shower brawl story and found it both disturbing and amusing...Baby Shower Brawl
People hitting pregnant women with sticks, 5 year olds and beer all in scenic Springfield Mass., class always rises to the top.
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Delay'd Reaction

I don't know why I'm fixated on ol'Tom, maybe it's the "what'll it take to put you in a Buick today?" hair or the unmitigated arrogance or just that my gallbladder free torso is hurting a little this a.m., but here's another good look at the golfing Christian from Salon.com.
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Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Note Gallbladder Ad

It has been pointed out to me that there is a rotating banner ad that appears on this blog for an herbal gallbladder treatment. Freaky.
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Hogtied Hal Scandal

Coyote Hal's tragic death leads to a grisly disclosure. STORY

Red Sox

Curt Shilling put up some nice numbers today in shutting down the hard hitting Rangers and I'm feeling like I really didn't need that gall bladder after all...

Some things Red Sox:
Terry Francona had to leave some room for criticism by sending Schill out for an ego soothing seventh inning up by five runs, some things never change...We got Wily Mo, Coco (who made a very nice over the shoulder grab late), Big Papi (hit a bomb), Manny with a new, Burning Spear-hairdo, a shiny new bullpen with the exception of the dangerously shaky Mr. Foulke and a world of sunshine surrounding the coming season.

Difference between a Sox fan and a Yankee fan, the Sox fan hopes for the best and oft times gets a faceful of the worst...the Yankee fan feels entitled to championship because...God Dammit we paid for it! You can't really enjoy victory until you've had it ripped from your grasp a few times like a diseased gall bladder, it's all about the extremes...but I digress...
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Tom Delay

Tomny Delay has decided to call it quits and move to Virginia. Must have a sweet car dealership awaiting him or maybe his hairdresser relocated...

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Yankees

Since I've cast off the the evil grasp of Dr. Vic (vicodin) and shaken off some of the emotional loss of the surgical removal of my gallbladder, I am now ready to relate some of my thoughts on life's most important matters, Yankees - Red Sox. This post will be dedicated to those things inherently NY Yankee.


Have you noticed lately that George Steinbrenner has started to really fade and is beginning to look like Donald Rumsfeld's father, ouch! I can fully support Gary Sheff's assertion that his use of the "Clear" and the "Cream" were just manifestations of his search for the perfect skincare product for his combination skin and Shiseido just wasn't giving him that glow...his compadre Senor Giambi's injections of steroids into his rump and other nether regions has now been explained as a "Daddy Dearest" syndrome, "no more wire hangers" or weak fly-ball outs...that philandering flame-thrower, Randy Johnson, loves'em, leaves'em and then wants his money back...priceless. Just saw the Yanks run up about 20 runs on the highly regarded Oakland A's. I hope Yankee fans can now sleep sweetly tonight on their fluffy pillow filled with a bouncey blend of overhyped expectations and uncompromising sense of entitlement... all for low, low price of $200 million bucks.
Galli

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Opening Day



The planets are aligned, spring has sprung, the trees are beginning to get leaves, it's allergy time, anything is possible, both good and bad. The time has come for baseball fans to cast off the realities and disappointments of their day to day lives and dream of what might be. The devil's Yankees have an awesome lineup capable of scoring an avalanche of runs at any time and a pitching staff filled with the volatile combo of question marks and grandmothers just as capable of giving all those runs back. Randy "Father of the Year", Johnson is filling up the New York papers with his own take on Born Again Christian, fatherhood, love and responsiblity, as he sues his illegitimate daughter's mom to recover child support - the devil's work. The line-up features reformed steroids poster boys Gary Shef and Jason G, as well as Judas-Johnny Damon -- what's to love?

Up in Beantown, the forces of good, have a line-up filled with Manny and Big Papi, Coco, Wily Mo and some questions of their own, but it's all about love. For comic relief they have an unhappy, ancient Yankee mariner of their own (David Wells) who's 40"+ waste line matches the age on his birth certificate. Hope remains strong that the potential brilliance of Josh Beckett and Jon Papelbon will overshadow the latent Yankee tendencies of the "Boomer" and get him back on the Lord's path while the bullpen finds its way.

It's Opening Day of the baseball season, so change the oil on the lawn mower, trim those hedges, tune out the boss, turn up the provincial animosities, smell the roses and settle in for a long, thirst-quenching season of baseball.
Galli