Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own

Wow. The Grammys were pretty surprising tonight. Not that U2 won practically every major category; but that most of the performances were pretty good.

The Gorillaz were cool--but I was spoiled by the fact that I've seen it already done in the MTV-Europe awards.

Madonna? Boy, does she look old in HD.

U2's Vertigo was okay, although Bono's getting a bit old as well. His voice didn't meld well with Mary J. Blige in One, but it gave me goosebumps anyway. Too bad Larry Mullen, Jr. was cut off by the NARAS president. Boo! Who wants to hear a suit when we could hear Larry talk?

Keith Urban was surprisingly good--and I hate country music.

Happy for Kelly, sad for Gwen. She looked like she was about to cry when they were going through the nominees for album of the year.

Fun to hear Helter Skelter from Paul McCartney. I remember first hearing it on Rattle and Hum: "This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles, we're stealing it back." Ah, memories. =) Sir Paul also kicked in Numb/Encore. Although he looked kinda awkward trying to fit in with the young 'uns.

Jennifer Love-Hewitt looked a bit creepy in HD. Honestly, her face seems like a perfect triangle, kind of alien-looking. I liked her better when she was nice and round--Fergie looked a lot better.

Oh, and although Kanye West is annoying, his Gold Digger number was amazing. Credit goes to Jaime Foxx, though.

Randy Jackson! Playing bass! Sly Stone was all sorts of scary; Joss Stone was hot. So was Ciara. Maroon 5 looked stiff and uncomfortable.

Did I mention Madonna looked old in HD?

Steelers Win!!!!*

Well, I guess my "Curse of the Pitchman" theory didn't pan out. Of course, early in the game I saw the Disney ad...and it had Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander in it! Oy. I got a funny feeling then and there...

...and then all the NFL-produced ads had Porter, Roethlisberger, Cowher and Bettis in the first half, while the Seahawk players were only in a montage. Hmm. Something fishy there.

Then I saw the blown call on the first Seattle touchdown, the blown call on the Ben Roethlisberger "touchdown", and the blown holding call.

"But there was a quarter left to play!" Steeler fan would say. However, that was a game-changing call right there. One-yard line, Alexander gets in...then it's Steelers, 3 points down, and Cowher starts to put his hands around his throat.

Do you hear Joey Porter complaining about the officiating? Nope.

So, I'm happy Sgt Slaughter won. But to an unbiased party like me, I'm thinking this was a smelly win.

Superbowl: The Curse of the Pitchman

Well, we're finally at Superbowl weekend. Steelers-Seahawks. Yawn. I'm torn as to who to root for--Bill Cowher, because he totally deserves it? Or the Seahawks, because I want to wipe the smirk off Joey Porter's face?

Anyway, I have a pet theory about the NFL right now: if you appear in a commercial, you're not winning the championship. Let's see...

Chicago Bears: Had an ad for NFL Networks. Gone.
Peyton Manning: The silly, but endearing Mastercard commercials. Gone.
Donovan McNabb: Chunky soup? Boy, did his career go downhill after that. Gone.
Terrell Owens: Made a deodorant commercial, where he was "odor". Wonder if he realized that. Gone.
Chad Johnson: Fathead. Gone.
New England Patriots: That beer commercial (Coors?). Gone.

Tom Brady deserves special mention, since he not only made that stupid Visa commercial, but was also on Family Guy. Bing-bong! as Stewie said. Anyway, he and his Pats are gone (see above), and now he has a sports hernia.

Which brings us to the Steelers and Seahawks.

Steelers have Big Ben Roethlisberger (however you spell that) doing Fathead, and Jerome Bettis doing that asthma PSA.

Seahawks have...nobody. It's hard for the casual fan to even recognize any of the Seahawks. Heck, the MVP Shaun Alexander is constantly mistaken for one of the Barber twins.

So does that mean the Seahawks win, because of The Curse of the Pitchman? I guess we'll find out, won't we?

Rockstar: American Idol

Watching American Idol right now. It's not as interesting as it was back in Season 1 (Kelly vs Sideshow Bob!) or Season 2 (Rueben vs Clay!); heck, the only reason I watch it is because there's really nothing else at 8pm Tuesdays or Wednesdays (gotta watch something while waiting for Lost).

I've also heard that Rockstar 2: is going to be out pretty soon. It got me thinking...how would JD, Marty et al have fared if they had gone to "auditions" for AI? Here's my take:

JD: Hollywood, just because of the smarmy looks (see: Constantine), which a lot of women would find "sexy" (ugh). Decent enough singer, I suppose.
Marty: Probably out. Just doesn't fit Simon's style. Can't imagine him doing fluffy pop.
Mig: Hmm, tough one. Might be too...um...effete for Simon, although the niceness might sway Paula and Randy. Oh, and too thea-tah.
Suzie: Big notes...definitely Hollywood.
Jordis: Hollywood. She has that "It" quality, and has a good-enough voice (just don't have her sing Aerosmith). Remember, she did Star Search, so she's done something like this before.
Deanna: Her voice is great, but the boobs would be the main reason she gets to Hollywood (see: Ashley Jackson, the "Fit" model from this season)
Ty: See Mig. The mohawk may have to go, though.
Jessica: Voice not so great, but the sexy factor gets her in.
Daphna: Pretty enough...but on the fringe. Probably not.
Heather: Hmm, tough call. I'd say no, and we get to watch her flip Simon off.
Tara: Strong voice, has the look. Hollywood.
Wil: Hollywood. The looks, and apparently the voice (I think). More a solo act than band material anyway, which is why RS: INXS didn't happen.
Brandon, Dana and Neal: Might wind up in the "so-bad-they're-good" AI special

Somehow, I doubt any of them would want to do AI anyway, but it's a fun exercise to think what would've happened.

Pandora's Music Box

Just discovered this site today:

www.pandora.com

Essentially, you plug in either a music act or song you like, and it'll build a "station" that plays music that they think matches what you entered. It's pretty cool--I created the following stations:

Everything But The Girl - I was expecting all Electronica, all the time. I was pleasantly surprised that there was some music there that was close to the pre-Missing EBTG. There was this French song which I kinda liked, but I forgot the title already.
Gorillaz - Depeche Mode, baby.
Toad the Wet Sprocket - Morrissey?!? Come to think of it, some of Toad's songs are pretty depressing too. Windmills. Sigh. Still reminds me of something from way back.
Gin Blossoms - .38 Special. Hey, didn't they do Sister Christian?

What's nice is that I discovered some songs from artists who I never heard about, and may explore later on. Kinda like Launchcast from Yahoo!--hey, that's where I discovered Anna Nalick and Breathe (2AM). I know, I know, I'm turning into a wuss in my dotage.

I would've tried some more stations, but I was at work, unfortunately.

Coming Up Roses, Baby

So Texas won the 2005-06 Rose Bowl over USC. Pretty thrilling game, with Vince Young running in the deciding score. Wow.

Unfortunately, the game will be marred by controversy. Just like that OSU-Miami Championship game awhile back, with the late flag towards the end.

In this case, there were two critical calls:

(1) Vince Young's knee was down when he lateraled to another Texas player for Texas' first score, so the score shouldn't have counted--however, the play wasn't reviewed; and
(2) In the drive to bring Texas to within five points, a Texas player caught the ball and was hit. The ball came loose and was recovered by USC. However, the play gets reviewed, and they said the pass was incomplete.

The first probably wouldn't have mattered, because it was early in the game and Young would've probably run the score in anyway. However, the second one could've sealed the deal for USC--the Texas defense was sucking wind, and a TD would've made it a 19 point game (I think--someone correct me if I'm wrong).

You can bet USC fans are going to be crying and whining about this--just like Miami fans were a couple of years ago. However, USC made several bonehead decisions in the last two minutes or so, and were unable to defend against Vince Young.

Congratulations to Texas for being the National Champs!

Pimpin' Ain't Easy

One of my favorite webcomics is Sinfest, a kind of what-if-Calvin-was-a-pimp strip by Tatsuya Ishida. It's well-drawn, and the humor is a bit adult (there's four-letter words and tons of sexual innuendo--not that I mind). The main characters are Slick (the aforementioned Calvin-as-a-pimp) and Monique (I guess you could call her his best friend...in a When Harry Met Sally kinda way). Slick has the hots for Monique, but she always shoots him down.

Until now.

It looks like Slick is gonna score--except I know somehow, he'll screw it up.

Poor guy.

A Very Rebel Christmas

Nose to nose with Chucky

Mrs. Claus got me the Canon Digital Rebel XT for Christmas this year. Yay! After reading the blogs of Vic and Calai, I've been thinking about getting a digital SLR of my very own. I've been debating between the Rebel and the 20D, and while I now have the Rebel, the debate really hasn't been settled yet.

The wifey prefers the 20D; being a bit more budget minded, I've been leaning towards the Rebel. But the wife is right; I might get buyer's remorse later on if I didn't get the 20D (as I did when I got my Olympus camera, which I then pawned off to my dad to get my Nikon CoolPix, which I then pawned off to my sister-in-law to get my current camera, the Canon S410). So, I'll probably wind up returning the Rebel to go with the 20D.

I still love my little ELPH, though. It's compact, and takes great pics. It's slow sometimes, though, missing some oh-so-precious shots of the kids (although it was able to take the picture of the twins with Chucky). Hopefully the upgrade is worth the money...

Narnia!

So, I finally got to see The Chronicles of Narnia (or, as I like to say it, The Lion, the Witch, and the Place Where My Friend Refuses to Come Out From) this past weekend. My impressions?

It wasn't Lord of the Rings, but it was okay. It lacked the epic scope that the LOTR trilogy had; probably because the book itself was meant as a children's story. Not that children's stories can't be epic (see: Potter, Harry), but there's a certain feeling of trying to make sure that it doesn't scare the kids too much (seeing the cute cuddly furry beavers bite it would've caused a lot of nightmares).

A couple of random impressions (might be spoilers--oh, heck, everyone's read it):

* Tilda Swinton was perfect as Jadis, the White Witch. She had a cold beauty which was menacing, but still quite attractive. She had a great neckline and shoulders, very swanlike (the hair was pretty cool, too). Plus, she was badass towards the end. Anyone remember Tilda as Gabriel in the otherwise forgetful Constantine?
* Peter looks a lot like a young Heath Ledger. Oh, and Tumnus looks like Edward Norton.
* I've read a couple of opinions that the movie was laying on the religious imagery a bit thick, to the point that some folks were offended. Well, duh. Imagine the outcry from Narnia fans if the story was changed, just to be PC.
* That centaur (Peter's lieutenant) was pretty bad-ass too. Gotta have bad-asses. Unfortunately, Aslan himself wasn't as impressive as I would've thought.
* Some parts were missing--some reviews I've read are complaining about the length, but as one who preferred the EE versions of the LOTR trilogy I say: bring on the extra bits!

Overall, I'd give the movie a pretty solid B+, creeping into A- territory.

A Feast for Crows

I hate George R. R. Martin.

Not only did he make me wait five, five years for the next book in his A Song of Ice and Fire saga, he leaves me hanging at the end of the book.

What's worse is knowing that the next book (which is tentatively scheduled for next year) will not resolve the cliffhanger, since it's actually Part 2 of the same book as A Feast for Crows. Meaning, different POVs, same timeline.

Argh.

Of Races and Families

*** SPOILERS HO! ***

Nice to see wee Carissa again. She's such a cutie. I guess the Weavers aren't as bad as portrayed; after all, one of the Weaver daughters (I guess she was the one who babysat the Gaghan kids) was the first one she went and hugged.

All in all, the Race was okay. Not as great as "My ox is BROKEN!", but serviceable.

The Nerds in TAR 9 are looking good, though.

Who dat band?

This is a cool site from the Virgin store--the object of the game is to identify 74 musical acts (solo/group) based on the picture. So, for example, a picture of several nude women would be Barenaked Ladies. So far I've identified around 48 acts correctly, out of around 62 I thought were correct.

Here's the link: Virgin, baby.

and the actual contest.

Now, if I can only figure out what that mannequin is...

Edited to add: er...the first link cuts off some stuff at the left. You should probably visit the contest site for a complete picture...(12/03/2005)

Political Correctness gone amok...again

So apparently, some cities have decided to remove the word "Christmas" from their Christmas Trees. The reason, they said, was because the word "Christmas" excluded people of other faiths.

They've decided to call them "Holiday" trees instead.

To which I say: Bullshit.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. It's bad enough that the meaning of Christmas (at least here in the US) is now about shopping for just the right gift (of which I am guilty of as well); now the PC police want to take away the term as well. It's even spread subtly to such stores as Target, where you'll be hard-pressed to find the word "Christmas".

I'm not sure why I feel so strongly about this. I'm not overly religious (well, I was born and raised Catholic, and I go to Mass once in a while); I think the Theory of Evolution holds water, and believe that everyone should have an open mind. I guess I'm just sick of people trying to ram their beliefs down other people's throats--be they religious or atheists.

*sigh* Oh well. Here's to a Happy Holiday season.

Pinoy Towtrucks

Did you hear about the fighter plane that had mechanical difficulties and was forced to land at the Ninoy Aquino airport in the Philippines? You'd expect firetrucks, ambulances, the works, right? Nope.

"I guess AAA couldn't make it" (photo from www.inq7.net)

Read Today, Read Tomorrow

Throughout my recent bout with the flu I've been fortunate enough to have a load of books that I could read. It all started with Knife of Dreams, the latest installment from Robert Jordan. It's a decent read; more exciting than Crossroads of Twilight, where all you read about were weevils.

Then the library told me that Olympos, the sequel to Ilium was ready for me to pick up. These two are by Dan Simmons, who wrote the excellent Hyperion series (if I ever needed a killing machine, I'll give the Shrike a call). I re-read Ilium, which is loosely based on Homer's Iliad...except it doesn't quite go according to script. More like an alterna-history for Achilles, Hector (who I still see as Eric Bana) and the boys; with a couple of intelligent Asimovian robots thrown in for good measure.

Ilium was a great page-turner, and the battle scenes are stupendous. It really appealed to the seven-year old boy in me; so, when I finished Ilium and started in on Olympos, I was stoked.

In a way, it doesn't quite live up to Ilium; oh, the battle scenes were still there, and Achilles was a bad-ass as usual (Achilles vs. The Shrike. Hmm). However, Olympos seemed to be a bit more tongue-in-cheek, and there was a lot of sex. The kind that's written by horny D&D kids living in their mom's basement. In one instance, the only way to wake an important character up...was to have sex with her. Shades of Ghostbusters--the "Keymaster" and the "Gatekeeper".

Then Feast For Crows, the latest installment of A Song of Ice and Fire, arrived from Amazon just as I was in the middle of Olympos. Then the library told me that Anansi Boys was available for pickup; while there, I picked up Jasper Fforde's latest as well.

So many books, so little time...

Reflections on a funeral

This past week the whole family had to fly to New Mexico to attend a funeral. PJ's uncle had passed away, and we all had to scramble to get tickets at the last minute.

It was a bit sad for me to be there, but I wasn't really close to the uncle, so my tears were minimal. I got misty-eyed watching the reactions of his family, though, especially my mom-in-law and my grandmother-in-law. I especially felt for Grandma; it must be so difficult, burying your children. That hit home with me, because of the twins. I'm hoping I never have to live through that.

When we got home from the funeral, the family just sat around at the dinner table, talking, laughing, remembering him and his happy-go-lucky nature. Also scaring some of the sisters with stories about how he made his presence "felt".

Interestingly, when we got home on Friday night, one of the patio lights was on--and I distinctly remembered making sure all the lights were off before we left. Just his way of saying goodbye, I guess.

The NBA: Nuggets-Lakers

I was watching the Nuggets-Lakers game last night, and one thing that struck me was that Denver has got to have the wimpiest uniforms this side of UCLA. I mean, baby-blue? With gold trim? Doesn't intimidate anyone (e.g. the Spurs with their black-and-silver garb), and isn't classy either (e.g. the Lakers with their "Royalty" colors, purple-and-gold). Kinda funny seeing K-Mart and Marcus Camby, trying to look tough while wearing baby blue.

Oh, and the Nuggets lost because of a last-second shot by Kobe. However, there were two things which led to this loss:

(1) 'Melo throwing up a brick with 9 seconds to go, instead of having Miller and Camby run the alley-oop, which the Lakers had been helpless against; and
(2) "Knick" Bavetta calling a foul on Camby, when he was a foot away from Kobe, and it was Kobe that threw the elbow. Instead, Camby fouls out, and Najera comes in and does nothing.

'Melo is pressing. He's been eclipsed by King James AND Dwyane Wade, so he desperately wants to prove something. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for him during the game.

Anyway, it's only the first game in an 82-game season. I'm not really that fond of the NBA anymore, but it's fun to watch during the last five minutes, especially if it's a tight ball game.

TAR: FE, ep.6

So, the luck of the Weeeeeeeeeeeevils continues (props to SD). I mean, come on! "We were raised not to trust anyone"? "We're above anyone else because we're Christian"? Way to go Weavers. Not surprising that the rest of the teams hate them; they come across as smug, arrogant people who give Christians a bad name.

The Paolos are starting to grow on me; kinda like Rob and Amber from last season (of course, I liked Romber from Day 1 onwards; Rob was a pretty funny guy, and Amber was good eye candy. I hated Lyn and Alex instead). While they still whine a lot, they finish strong, and they play nice with the other teams. Props to Papa Paolo too with his mad skillz in lugging those bananas around. The kids were suitably impressed.

Meanwhile, the Weavers make fun of the Papa Paolo's garbage truck. Um, folks? Those mad skillz helped his family win first place, and get to pick a Segway. All this while your Mom has a near nervous breakdown trying to get out of the mud. So much about being "above anyone else".

Unfortunately for one of the teams, they run into Lena-and-Christie territory with a needle-in-a-haystack task.

Ghost Stories

I've always been fascinated by stories about strange and unexplained; I remember a book I borrowed from somewhere once (some Reader's Digest anthology) which had a story about Springheel Jack, among other things. It was a deliciously creepy book, and I often found myself nervously looking around while I was reading it (late at night, of course). However, I never actually heard or saw anything spooky myself (I dreamt of my grandmother standing on top of the stairs the day after she died, but never actually saw anything); I've smelled flowers, but that could've been anything.

My parents, however, have told me that we've actually lived in a couple of haunted houses. A couple stick out:

* There was one house which we rented from one of my aunts. According to my folks they could hear the sound of a golf ball being bounced continuously against one of the walls. Our house was at the corner, and there was a big backyard between the house and the neighbor, so they never could explain what that was (rats, maybe?). Oh, and our housekeeper (who was also my sister's nanny for twelve years) began acting strangely in that house--she started carrying a knife, because she claimed "they" were out to get her. What might explain the strange goings-on in that house was a punso in the backyard, which in Filipino folklore was the residence of a duende, which is kinda like a dwarf (not like Gimli, though!) This dwarf is more like a spirit of the woods.

We lived there for a couple of years, but I never saw anything.

* Another house we lived in (also rented) was allegedly the scene of an armed robbery/murder. It was also a stone's throw away from our church, and was across the street from an abandoned pelota court. We actually lived there twice; the second time around, one of the security guards (it was a "gated" community, so to speak) told us that he was surprised that we were living there; apparently, one of the caretakers went insane while he was watching the house.

I never saw anything there either; not sure if my parents did.

Even my condo here in CA apparently had an old-timer ghost (probably the previous owner). My wife saw/heard him descend the steps; she thought it was my dad, who was visiting at the time, but he said he was asleep.

In a way, I'm happy that I haven't seen anything (the closest I've come was in Amsterdam, where my wife and I saw a figure hovering over my sister-in-law. We assumed it was her boyfriend; he said that he was beside her, sleeping, at that time). I don't know how I'd react. Scream like a little girl? Faint? Either way, it'll probably be embarrassing.

TAR: FE, ep. 5

So the luck of the eeeeevil is really holding this episode. The racers take a trip to Panama, and we see that the cute li'l Gaghans are having transportation issues (man, talk about bad luck). The Weavers are looking scarier and scarier (with the exception of the boy, who seems cool), and seem to have alienated the rest of the pack.

The Gaghans are cute, but a bit, shall we say, challenged in the mental faculties. They should've left the Fast Forward immediately once they were beaten out. But since they're physical specimens, they managed to make it all the way to second-to-last place. Again.

Interesting TV Guide article about the Schroeders: apparently, they were victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Rogers family was nice enough to put them up when they evacuated, and all the Racer families helped out in some form or fashion except for one family. Apparently they're too busy spazzing out. That, or praying for map-reading skillz.