Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Lies and Statistics

Benjamin Disraeli, the prime minister of the British Empire from 1874-1880, was reported by Mark Twain to have uttered this brilliant quote on statistical analysis: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.”

ESPN helps us expose some lies and statistics about the NFL today. In an interesting series, they credit Jeremy Green, the Cleveland Browns' director of pro personnel during 2000-2004, for some number crunching that let us know some leading statistical indicators for winning (such as winning the turnover margin and leading after the first quarter), in pro football. He also explodes some theories as mythical (fewest penalties wins and the top playoff seed will be Supre Bowl bound).

Truisms and Untruths [ESPN]
Five Deadly Sins [ESPN]
Five Big-Time Myths [ESPN]

She Has My Job!!

OK, I've been quite envious since I discovered USA Today's Whitney Matheson and her pop culture blog. Sure, I could diss or nitpick, but really, I think she has a good feel for all of the Seinfeldian "nothing" that dominates popular culture.

Everytime I stop off, she leads me to something new or interesting or to another angle on something I knew about. This time around its word of the latest incarnation of the Rock And Roll Fantasy Camp. Next year's featured artists include Journey's Neal Schon and The Who's Roger Daltrey. Camp counselors include Kip Winger and fellow bassists Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Jeff Pilson of Dokken.

Whooo-hooo! I am an 80s metal nut, as most friends of JP know too well, and Blades was always underrated as both a musician and a songwriter ("Don't Tell Me You Love Me" is one of my all-time favorites). And you better believe I was rockin' with Dokken - Pilson did an admirable job of providing the background for my favorite metal guitarist George Lynch. And diss Winger if you wish (and certainly there were some groan-inducing moments) but he served up some tasty music in the 80s with "Madelaine."

Pop Candy [USA Today]
Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Roll Over Beethoven

One of the most insightful and entertaining weekly columns on football and other topics is Tuesday Morning Quarterback, by author Gregg Easterbrook, who is also senior editor of The New Republic, a contributing editor of The Atlantic Monthly and a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. I look forward to his columns every week during football season. He knows the game.

He also throws in comments on non-football topics. Once you get past the cheer babes, sweet plays of the week and obscure college football scores, this week he caught my eye with this startling factoid:

"The Wall Street Journal reported there are only 28 radio stations left in the country that play a classical music format -- versus 500 sports stations, 1,200 talk stations and 2,000 country music stations."

To use a common Easterbrook-ism, "This is the kind of hidden indicator that is essential to an insider's understanding of the game. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it means."

Monday, November 28, 2005

Seven for Sunday, 11/27/05

OK, I didn't see this coming. A new number 1 on the JP iPod for the week but not from someone you might expect from me.

Last Sunday, I was watching VH-1 Classic's "Classic/Current" segment and heard the new Madonna single, "Hung Up." The infectious 70s-sounding Euro dance groove wormed its way into my head, then I went and downloaded the song from iTunes.

I'm not your average Madonna fan, but I do think she has had a knack over the years for turning out some good music. My acquaintance with her work goes back to when I spent my birthday money to go get "Like a Virgin" on cassette (along with Prince's "Purple Rain" (still an all-time favorite album) soundtrack and Hall & Oates' "Big Bam Boom.") C'mon, I was 13 at the time and those were the big hits of the moment.

For the week ending 11/26/05 (last week):
1. Hung Up - Madonna (-)
2. DOA - Foo Fighters (1)
3. Hypnotize - System of a Down (2)
4. Bat Country - Avenged Sevenfold (4)
5. Rock of Ages - Def Leppard (-) - My Hair Metal playlist was popular with me this week.
6. One Way Ticket - The Darkness (3)
7. Only - Nine Inch Nails (6)

Friday, November 25, 2005

Five For Friday, Vol. 12: Favorite Seinfeld Episode Edition

OK, "Seinfeld" remains my favorite show on TV - even after it ended in 1998 with its 9th season. The chemistry of characters, situations and comedy has not been topped in my opinion. It is the best show ever about nothing.

My friends know this obession and tolerate it as best they can. I mean, what real life situation hasn't reminded us of a Seinfeld episode or line?!? In honor of the latest Seinfeld DVD collection - which I hope to get for Festivus...err Christmas, here are my five favorite episodes. (This one's for you, Smoss.)

And believe me, this was hard, because there are so many good ones and great moments. And sure, the top three are probably pretty obvious picks...but after that it's like picking which child you love best.

1. The Contest - When the show came into its own. Comedy on a taboo subject in a way that was acceptable to censors. Put the show on the pop culture map. I'll admit not being with the show since day 1. I watched it off and on and thought it funny. But by this point, I was with it every week as best I could.
2. Soup Nazi - No synopsis for you!
3. The Yada Yada - What made the series so great was when the four storylines (Jerry, Elaine, Kramer and George) started out so far apart and by the end come together in a beautiful mix. This episode is a perfect example. And Jerry going to confessional and sitting on the kneeling rail gets me every time. But I am not an anti-dentite.
4. The Burning - This list is HARD. Especially once you get past the first three because I love so many episodes for so many reasons. Tractor! (And disease actor Kramer: "They gave me gonorrhea." George: "Who? The government?"
5. The Strike - A Festivus for the rest of us! Two Face! The Human Fund! The Fake Number!! Yamma-hamma!

Honorable mentions:
The Implant - "They're real and they're spectacular."
The Puffy Shirt - "I don't wanna be a pirate!"
The Stall - "Can you spare a square?"
The Rye - "Whooa there, big fella."
The Chicken Roaster - "Bad Chicken. Mess you up!"
The Serenity Now - "Serenity now...Insanity Later."Anytown U.S.A.
The Betrayal - The backwards episode
The Pothole - Kramer adopts a mile.
The Frogger, The Abstinence, The Sponge, The Fusilli Jerry...I can't stop thinking of more I like!

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Turkey Day Timewaster

Happy late Turkey Day. Filled myself full of food, family and football (dang Cowboys!!!) today.

Did a little blog hopping tonight courtesy of the handy dandy Arkansas Blogs Index. Tonight mcSey pointed me to a wonderful little timewaster: Let them sing it for you.

You type in words and this app pulls the words and sounds from famous songs. It made me chuckle.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Head Games

The Arkansas Times Blog gets a handle on an emerging scandal - how the statewide daily newspaper is seeking to avoid referring to the Arkansas Razorbacks new starting QB, true freshman Casey Dick, in headlines by his last name (in typical headline style).

The blog quotes a "usually reliable correspondent" who points to a supposed memo by Arkansas Democrat-Gazette executive editor Griffin Smith stating that Dick's name should not appear in any headlines. The obvious assumption is because of "dick" also being common slang for a male body part.

One wonders why there was no similar outcry to the last name of previous starting QB, Robert Johnson...johnson also being common slang for the same body part. We've already heard the joke headline for Coach Houston Nutt making the switch: "Nutt Pulls Johnson, Inserts Dick."

Casey Dick has strung together a couple of good games. It's a shame that we're reduced to junior high humor over his last name. I bet he's never heard it before. *cynicism intended*

Dick and the D-G [Arkansas Times blog]

Another Festivus Miracle


Festivus must be around the corner because a new DVD set of my favorite TV comedy of all time is coming out. I don't think there's been anything close to its perfect blend of smart, smirky humor since the show ended its run.

Tuesday marks the DVD release of seasons five and six, a period when "Seinfeld" was at its peak with episodes like "The Fusilli Jerry," "The Face Painter" and "The Opposite."

"Most people, you do a TV series, it ends three, four, five years later; it's a relic," Jerry Seinfeld tells the AP. "But we're still hearing from the people, the audience, the people on the street, as if we're still doing it.

Peak 'Seinfeld' Seasons to be Release [AP via Yahoo]
Festivus [Wikipedia]

Sunday, November 20, 2005

JP Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Bottom line: Not epic, but good dark fun and a nice follow to Prisoner of Azkaban.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire isn't the best movie in the Potter series (that would go to Azkaban, in my opinion), but it is a worthy successor.

After Star Wars and Batman Begins, we have another continuing story of a boy who loses his parents to violence and has to deal with it. Harry the boy wizard finally gets a face off against his enemy in the climax of this one. The graveyard confrontation is well done and opens up bunches of new questions for the movies to come.

This Potter flick is a long one at two-and-a-half hours, but it goes by as fast as it can. New director wisely makes the choice to cut to the chase and spare us the usual Muggle world intro. We also are spared a lot of reminders of who is who and what is what. If you don't know by now, why are you watching this movie, I guess.

The book was so huge, though, so they had to cram a lot in and make choices on leaving stuff out. I felt like this one rushed too much in some places and gave short shrift to some of the conflicts (Ron's anger at Harry over believing Harry put his name in the goblet to compete in the tri-wizard contest), characters (too little Snape) and unexplained plot points (some potential spoilers I won't mention about events at the climax).

But the effects were good (the dragons looked great, as did the Hogwarts castle...but the mermaids were a little too CGIish). The reappearance of Moaning Mrytle was great.

I think the actors have gotten better with each installment and really have tapped into each character's motivations and feelings. Harry was originally this reluctant hero type. Now you feel some resentment from others over Harry's status as "the chosen one." I like that he's not just automatically "King of the World." I look forward to the next.

Seven for Sunday, 11/20/05

It's time to take a look at the most popular music of the week on the JP iPod. Not many changes this week.

For the week ending 11/19 (last week's position):
1. DOA - Foo Fighters - Just a nice slab of straight-forward hard rock. Third week at the top and I still finding myself humming it or singing a line every once in a while at work. (1)
2. Hypnotize - System of a Down - Not a lot of lyrics to this one, which keeps me puzzling over it. "Why don't you ask the kids at Tiananmen Square/Is fashion the reason why they were there?"...a provocative question. The Hypnotize album comes out this week, the second half of a double with Mezmerize. (2)
3. One Way Ticket - The Darkness - A drug song straight outta the 1970s thanks to glam slam throwback The Darkness. (4)
4. Bat Country - Avenged Sevenfold - Still digging this band, a recent discovery for me. Their album, City of Evil, rocks. (3)
5. Do You Want To - Franz Ferdinand - A reappearance for this catchy disco rock tune (-)
6. Only - Nine Inch Nails - Another reappearance (-)
7. Monkeywrench - Foo Fighters - Still enjoying my self-made Foo Fighters playlist and this classic thrash. (-)

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Five For Friday, Vol. 11: Funny Movie Edition

When there's a need for laughter around JP World Headquarters, here are five movies that never fail to do the trick. JP's five favorite comedies.

1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Such clever British humor. It's smart and dumb at the same time and the set pieces are legend: The Black Knight ("It's just a flesh wound!"), Castle Anthrax ("It's too perilous."), the taunting French ("Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"), Camelot ("We're knights of the round table/We dance when 'er we're able"), the rabbit ("Death awaits you all with big, pointy teeth.")
2. Raising Arizona - The movie that introduced me to the offbeat genius of the movie-making Coen brothers. A tour de force by Nicholas Cage as the not-so-bright H.I., who steals a baby for his wife. Possibly the best chase sequence of all time. ("Boy, you got a panty on your head.")...then there's Nathan Arizona, owner of Unpainted Arizona...(No LEADS?!!...That's you're whole danged raison de'tre (pardon the bad French spelling) ain't it...tracking down them microbes left by criminals and commies!")
3. This is Spinal Tap - Mockumentary of the spoof hard rock band. Marks Rob Reiner's directorial debut. Having been in a band while in college, so many of the references hit close to home. Fortunately, our drummer never spontaneously combusted. ("There's a fine line between stupid and clever.") Turn it up to 11.
4. Airplane - Wonderful spoof of the disaster movies of the 1970s, right down to the all-star cast uttering overly serious lines that make you crack up...or maybe they weren't so serious... ("Surely you can't be serious.".... "I am serious, and please don't call me Shirley.")...("Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.")
5. National Lampoon's Vacation - Chevy Chase is loading up the family truckster and taking the Griswold family on a pilgrammage to see a moose...that's Mighty Moose. But not before we stop off to see the cousins. ("I've french kissed."///"Everybody's done that."///"But my dad says I'm the best.") And a young, hot Christie Brinkley. Man oh man.

Honorable Mentions (Too many to mention them all):
A Fish Called Wanda
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Animal House
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
The Jerk
Ghostbusters
There's Something About Mary
Christmas Vacation
Young Frankenstein

Friday, November 18, 2005

The War Over The War Intensifies

Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz wonders if we've reached a turning point in the debate over the war in Iraq. His query follows the announcement by Pennsylvania Democratic congressman - and former war supporter - John Murtha that the US should pull its troops out of the country immediately.

Kurtz calls Murtha "one of the least likely candidates to demand an immediate pullout from Iraq" because of his being a Vietnam veteran, big Pentagon supporter" and one who "rarely makes waves on the Hill. We're not talking Ted Kennedy here. He supported the Gulf war and the Iraq war."

Kurtz goes on to observe:
"The Murtha Moment follows Bill Clinton saying the war was a mistake, John Edwards saying his vote was a mistake, the Nation saying it won't support any pro-war Dems, Senate Republicans saying the White House should fill out quarterly report cards on how it's getting us the heck out, and a few things I'm sure I've forgotten.

"The point is not that an irresistible groundswell for withdrawal is sweeping the country. The point is that the landscape is changing as politicians scramble to catch up with polls showing a majority see the war as a blunder. We seem to have moved beyond the administration's things-are-improving-in-Iraq argument to a more narrow focus on how to extricate American troops."

As usual, Kurtz's column is a good summary of the coverage on current events.

Iraq Turning Point? [Wash Post]

The Pitiful Post

One of the best kept secrets of world's best spoof newspaper The Onion online is The AV Club, which features straight-up reviews, columns and interviews all very well done and good reads. I know I've previously mentioned the Wil Wheaton column on old video games.

I finally got around to checking in yesterday (regular updates are on Wednesdays) and discovered this week's interview with Daniel Handler (aka children's book author Lemony Snicket). It tells the story of how an author of adult novels came to adopt his pseudonym as the "broody, dour pseudonymous author of the gothic children's books collectively known as A Series Of Unfortunate Events." There's also a shorter interview with the aforementioned Snicket.

A former coworker introduced me to the Snicket books a few years back and I've read the first couple, which are entertaining and have many jokes and much wordplay that adults would appreciate. I recommend them. The recent movie starring Jim Carrey (who did a fine job as villan Count Olaf) was just so-so (a topic covered in depth by Handler, who worked on the movie's screenplay...then was fired from it...then came back at the end).

Handler says about the irony that his books are rife with:
"The trouble with talking about irony is, it's such a slippery thing that the second you start talking about it, you're a better example of it than you are an analyst. I do think of emotions as being on a circular path, so you can feel terrible and terrible and terrible, and then all of a sudden it becomes quite funny. So I think that has something to do with irony, and certainly has something to do with the part of that circle that the Snicket books investigate."

The AV Club [The Onion]
Where There's A Wil... [Jonworld]

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Words Fail...So Please Go Read For Yourself

Thanks to a short photo essay in this week's TIME magazine I discovered this wonderfully written and photographed piece from the Rocky Mountain News on the Marines who handle family notifications for some Marines killed in Iraq. I got choked up and moved to tears several times while reading. Excellent work by Rocky Mountain News reporter Jim Sheeler and photographer Todd Heisler, who spent a year working on the piece, in telling the story of these Marines, their duty and these emotional scenes they've experienced.

For me, someone with serious concerns about the run up to the war in Iraq, it drives home why we have to be absolutely right about everything when it comes to combat...why the issue of faulty intelligence is so important, even after the fact: the sacrifices and courage of our soldiers and their families cannot be in vain.

Honor After The Fall [TIME]
Final Salute [Rocky Mountain News]

Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better...

TIME names Mike Huckabee one of the nation's best governors, then Esquire magazine names former president and Arkansas governor Bill Clinton "the most influential man in the world."

Reuters writes about the magazine's selection: "Since leaving office, Clinton has been so active that his post-presidency amounts to 'a third term' for the Democrat who held the White House from 1992 to 2000, the magazine said. He has tackled global issues from AIDS, poverty and global warming to the recovery from last December's Indian Ocean tsunami."

Esquire editor David Granger argued that Clinton was poised to become "something like a president of the world or at least a president of the world's non-governmental organizations."

That's gotta stick in the craw of all the Clinton haters. Huckabee, while never facing Clinton in an election, has always seemed to suffer from a case of Clinton envy.

Esquire: Clinton Is World's "Most Influential Man" [Reuters]
TIME For Huck? [Jonworld]

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

TIME For Huck?

The Ark Times blog gives the heads up that national mag TIME has Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee pegged as one of America's 5 Best Governors. The left-leaning Times gives the requisite partisan swipe, "Are things really that bad in other states? Uh . . . we mean, congrats, Mike."

The TIME plug certainly does accentuate the positive of Huckabee, who once put the rotund in routunda before losing a heap of weight (thanks in no small part to Dr. Philip Kern's program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences) and getting gung-ho on the health bandwagon.

Fantastic Five [Arkansas Times]
America's 5 Best Governors [TIME]
UAMS Weight Control Program [UAMS]
A Governor's Transformation [Arkansas Business]

Weekend Rewind

Ahhh...thanks to being a semi state employee, I honored our nation's veterans at home on Friday, watching movies. Being a movie nut with two young children isn't easy. You can't just sit down and watch Sin City in prime time with a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old running around. I may be one of those liberals your social conservative friends warned you about, but I do draw the line somewhere.

Some JP thoughts and recommendations on the weekend features:

Kingdom of Heaven - (DVD) - Pretty good. I agree with Ebert's take. Interesting and well done historical flick with a strong cast (Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons, Orlando Bloom and Edward Norton's voice) that had me seeking out sources to see how accurate the story was. JP recommends for a different view fo the Crusades...how zealots on both sides seek war between Christians and Muslims (the more things change, the more they stay the same).

Chicken Little - (saw at theater) - Well Alli and Lucas liked it. Though when pressed for her favorite part, Alli described a scene that was in the Curious George trailer before the movie. I thought it was OK. Certainly not on the same level of story and visuals as any Pixar film. Wait for it on DVD or cable.

Sin City - (DVD) - Too much style over substance. It looked really really cool. And there were many good moments. But the hype (Ebert gives it 4 stars; Slate's Edelstein gushes "I love it, I love it, I love it") had me feeling a bit let down. It seems to drag on and on...and the violence got to where it seemed a bit too much violence-for-the-sake-of-violence. Awesome cast (Elijah Wood as the serial killer was creeepy.) and some great lines and images but not a classic. I'd recommend it, though, for the style and use of color alone.

Kicking and Screaming (DVD) - About what I expected. Will Ferrell for the family. A pleasant but forgetable diversion.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Matt Jones Has Breakout Game in Jags Win

And in sports, former Razorbacks QB Matt Jones, had a breakout game as a WR for the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, with 5 catches for a career-high 117 yards and a TD. The Jags whipped the Baltimore Ravens 30-3.

Jones also lined up at QB, rushing twice for 12 yards and impressing a childhood idol - Ravens DB Deion Sanders. Sanders told the Florida Times-Union:

"That kid will be very good,'' said Ravens cornerback Deion Sanders, who was beaten by Jones on a 36-yard catch in the third quarter that set up a touchdown. "He has what it takes.''

Jags Offense Finally Catches Fire vs. Hapless Ravens [USA Today]
Spotlight Catches Jones [Florida Times-Union]

Earlier Jones coverage on Jonworld:
Too Sexy for the Jags? [Jonworld]
Jones Makes the Highlight Reel [Jonworld]

Seven For Sunday

For our second weekly countdown, we see what I hope will be one of the cool parts of the JP iPod countdown: catalog entries. With Foo Fighter's "DOA" still at the top, I made me a couple of Foos playlists and as a result, an older Foos favorite made my countdown.

For the week ending Nov. 12 (last week's position):
1. DOA - Foo Fighters (1)
2. Hypnotize - System of a Down (3)
3. Bat Country - Avenged Sevenfold (2)
4. One Way Ticket - The Darkness (NR)
5. Pretty Vegas - INXS (4)
6. Wake Me When September Ends - Green Day (NR)
7. Everlong - Foo Fighters

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Hey, Look What I Found!

Steve Arnold of Kingston, Ark., found something interesting in Kansas...a meteorite. He's a professional meteorite hunter, says the AP. Using a metal detector mounted on a three-wheel vehicle, he discovered a 1,400-lb. space rock more than 7 feet underground.

1,400-Pound Meteorite Found In Kansas [AP via Yahoo]

Five For Friday, Vol. 10: Desert Island Jams Edition

OK, over the years, I have proclaimed many an album on my proverbial "desert island list." You know, this is the must-have music if I'm ever trapped on a desert island and in need of a musical fix. My caveat is that I'm not going to include greatest hits collections - that's taking the easy way out. I'm also going to leave off that timeless classic, the soundtrack to "Getting Off A Desert Island."

So let's get to it, in no order:
1. "Rubber Soul" by The Beatles. OK, I professed my love to this album the other day. Sure my favorite Beatles song is "A Day In the Life" but I think Rubber Soul is a stronger, more consistent album than Sgt. Pepper. Too many great songs.
2. "Pyromania" by Def Leppard. Produced and overdubbed to the point of hard rock perfection. Oh the huge choruses...oh, the guitar work. "Photograph" is on my essential songs list. I loved it even before I knew I loved hard rock.
3. "Rio" by Duran Duran. So cool. So 80s. Stylish and hooky and the best bass work of John Taylor, the coolest man in the universe. "Hungry Like The Wolf"..."Rio" ...makes me want to be on a beach somewhere or riding the waves on a sailboat.
4. "Master of Puppets" by Metallica. My favorite band. The Beatles of heavy metal. And this is their Rubber Soul. Love it from the opening acoustic strums of "Battery" to the final sonic barrage of "Damage Inc."
5. "Appetite For Destruction" by Guns N' Roses. It reminds me of the mean streets of Malvern growing up. ;) Naaah...for this small town boy living a fairly sheltered life, this was like (I imagine) a first jolt of heroin...quite a shock to the system. They could been the next Stones, but had to implode over Axl's weirdness and ego. But this album stands the test of time, from the well known "Welcome To The Jungle" to the standout album tracks "Mr. Brownstone" (an ode to heroin) and "Rocket Queen."

Honorable Mention:
"Queen's Greatest Hits" by Queen. What's the fun of having rules if I can't break them? I was a late comer to being a Queen fan and this collection was what introduced them to me before I ever had an album. This has it all, from "Bohemian Rhapsody" to the funk "Another One Bites the Dust" to sports anthem "We Will Rock You."
"Van Halen I" by Van Halen. California hard rock from the Van Halen brothers and showman Diamond Dave. Has the quintessential guitar solo, "Eruption"...my favorite VH, "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" and then the coolness of "Jamie's Cryin."
"Operation: Mindcrime" by Queensryche. My favorite rock opera. Heavy and thoughtful. "I used to think that only America's way was right. Now I've seen the payoffs everywhere you look/who can you trust when everyone's a crook?"

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Holy Bat BS!

In the latest episode of The Onion's excellent "Commentary Tracks of the Damned," which reviews the DVD commentaries accompanying choice awful flicks, we find out what director Joel Schumacher has to say for himself about the "clattering, headache-inducing monstrosity that's like a cross between a theme-park ride and a campy Broadway show" that is "Batman and Robin." It underscores why this movie is missing from my collection of Batman movie DVDs. And why Schmacher has become a negative verb in some fanboy circles, as in, "I'm so afraid they are going to Schmacher X-Men 3."

This was a terrible movie that tried to cram way way too much into it and I think Schumacher is right when he says it was to sell more toys. I'm skeptical of his claim as the victim. But in hindsight, killing off that incarnation of the Bat movie franchise did one good thing: allowed its wonderful rebirth this year in Batman Begins, possibly my favorite movie of the year (which is hard for this diehard Star Wars fan to say).

Commentary Tracks of the Damned: Batman and Robin [The Onion]

Beep, Beep...Beep, Beep Yeah!

A friend just got The Beatles' "Rubber Soul," a favorite album of mine from one of my favorite bands (together with Metallica, who I argue are The Beatles of heavy metal). He called and asked me how the album got its name but I couldn't remember - though I know I read it somewhere, so I started the Internet search.

Didn't realize that it was 40 years ago this month that The Beatles began recording the songs that would make up that album, which features classics "In My Life," "Drive My Car," "Norweigan Wood," "Girl," "Nowhere Man," and "Michelle" along with other great songs including "Think For Yourself," "I'm Looking Through You" and "Run For Your Life." (I know "Run For Your Life" is often dissed but I find it delightfully creepy.)

NPR has a great piece on the album's germination as end-of-the-year product combined with the band meeting Dylan and pot.

As for the album title, according to beatles-discography.com, "the title was a pun on the phrase 'plastic soul,' which American musicians had been levelling (insultingly) at the British R&B scene."

The Beatles' 'Rubber Soul' Bounces Back [NPR]
Oh Look Out! Part 6, Rubber Soul [iamthebeatles.com]

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

More Calvinism

Slate takes advantage of the recent release of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes to remind of about the impact of Billl Watterson's simple comic strip that has now been gone 10 years (and I still mourn).

Chris Sullentrop writes (and I agree) that "no new comic strip has matched the quality, longevity, or cultural dominance of Watterson's daily drawings about a boy and his tiger."

Both this and The Complete Far Side are on my Christmas list.


Calvin and Hobbes: The Last Great Newspaper Comic Strip [Slate]
I Still Miss Calvin and Hobbes [Jonworld]

Monday, November 07, 2005

Pirates of the Indian: The Curse of the Soundwave

The pirate attack of an ocean liner off the coast of lawless Somalia is getting a lot of attention. The Times of London points out an interesting wrinkle - that the ocean liner defended itself with soundwaves.

"The liner used a sonic blaster to foil the pirates. Developed by American forces to deter small boats from attacking warships, the non-lethal weapon sends out high-powered air vibrations that blow assailants off their feet. The equipment, about the size of a satellite dish, is rigged to the side of the ship."

Cruise Ship Britons Attacked By Pirates [The Times]
Cruise Liner Outruns Armed Pirate Boats [CNN]

Pay No Attention To That Man Behind the Curtain

Cheney fights for torture while Bush says we do not torture. Which one didn't get the memo?

The Pro-Torture Lobby? [Wonkette]
Cheney Fights For Detainee Policy [Wash Post]
Bush Declares: 'We Do Not Torture' [NY Times]

For Those About To Rock, I Look Down On You

So Slate points me to a handy new tome, the Rock Snob*s Dictionary: An Essential Lexicon of Rockological Knowledge. I have encountered many a rock snob in my magical musical mystery tour.

I don't pretend my tastes are any better than anyone else's. Oh, maybe I do sometimes, but only when someone likes some band that clearly sucks. Like Limp "Biscuit" or someone like that.

But I know, I have an affinity for musical genres with big fat targets on their backs...met-ul, hair metal, Duran Duran. Oh well, I'm OK, you're OK...that there's what it is.

The Rock Snob: Anatomy of a Delicate Breed [Slate]

Environmental Bible Thumping

Seems some evangelical groups are joining in the fight against global warming. Interesting read, especially the comments from Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe, who must be breathing in oil fumes out there in Okie land, saying that evangelicals are being corrupted by "liberals" in being convinced that poverty and the environment are more important causes than fighting abortion and gay rights.

Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals quotes Genesis 2:15: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

When Cleaner Air Is a Biblical Obligation [NY Times]

Seven for Sunday: Top 7 Songs

A new feature, running a day late (surprise), is a list of songs in heavy rotation on the JP iPod. But first some history. Way back in the days before iPods...in the infancy of MTV, the early 1980s, JP got addicted to music and lists.

I remember around the 5th-6th grade timeframe, waking up on Sundays to listen to Casey Kasem and the Top 40 countdown. And what could be better than that? Well, the next logical step: making my own countown of favorite songs. Ahhh...I remember when Toto's "Africa" was #1 on my countdown for too many weeks. Not sure what that says about me or my musical tastes but you had to have been there (a side note: saw that video on VH1 classic the other day...boy, how painfully cheesy were some of those early 80s videos, back before bandmembers had to look good to have a hit).

So I'm going to start this up and see where it goes. This list is based on the weekly play count on my iPod, which I'll reset every Sunday. Go check out this music.

For the week ending Saturday, Nov. 5:
1. DOA - Foo Fighters
2. Bat Country - Avenged Sevenfold
3. Hypnotize - System of a Down
4. Pretty Vegas - INXS
5. Do You Want To - Franz Ferdinand
6. Trees - Marty Casey
7. Only - Nine Inch Nails

Five for Friday, Vol. 9: Top 5 Excuses

...so I'm behind again. It's starting to happen too regularly. We'll here's what I've got to say for myself. The top 5 reasons why I didn't get my list done on time:

1. Arrgh! Pirates!
2. I vowed not to do a list until the Arkansas Razorbacks completed a deep pass of 50 yds of more. Still waiting.
3. Couldn't get to it.
4. Was busy laying waste to an army of clones in the Jedi Temple as Darth Maul.
5. Can't stop watching Pingu with the kids.

I'll do better next time. I promise.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Deer Fight Back

You can tell it's getting close to deer season in Arkansas. The deer are making preemptive strikes.

Last Friday a five-point buck crashed through a bedroom window in Bentonville. It took Wayne Goldsberry 40 minutes of wrestling before he broke the deer's neck. The room was a wreck, according to the AP report, and the deer apparently got some kicks in.

"He got kicked several times. He was walking bowlegged for awhile," Deputy Doug Gay said.

Then on Monday, another deer entered a Pine Bluff area school but was shooed out without incident.

Man Kills Buck With Bare Hands [AP via ABC News]