National Review's Rod Dreher makes this sleepy guy laugh with this assessment of the new Bond movie. The really funny part, though, is his prediction for Scorsese's Gangs of New York.

I know what you might be thinking...how can someone so learned and urbane as I be into high school and college football. Well, let's just say the love didn't exactly come naturally, but had to develop over, say, 20 or so years.
Speaking of football, check out this movie. It's an entertaining watch, but it didn't expose enough of the seamy underbelly of the subject as all documentaries should. Otherwise, what's the point of making the damn thing? A documentray either exposes something intentionally or unintentionally. That's just the way it's supposed to work.
Minor complaints aside, it's a good film about a town that has its values way out of whack and puts a little too much pressure on its kids. Hmmm...maybe it DID expose all it was supposed to. I just felt there was a certain...visceral elemsnt lacking.
It showed football, it showed parties, but it didn't show any rumbles or anything. I went to high school in Ohio, and no sports season is complete without a scrum or two.

I don't have too much to talk about at 1:00 A.M. on a Monday morning, but I felt I should post something, since I'm sitting here, staring slack-jawed at the computer. A couple things of note, though...
I'd entitle this picture (click on the top picture, ya dummies!) "Heartbreak."
I was at the game, in that stinkhole known as Lima, Ohio. I saw a ball, punted by one team and handled by another roll into a end zone, get recovered by the kicking team, and get called a touchback. Huh? Exactly.
The dejected young man of note is one Eric Wisneiwski, who happens to be my little sister's boyfriend. He's the one who recovered the kick for the non-touchdown, causing an entire region of Ohio to scratch its collective head in wonder.
Breaks my heart, I tell you.
But a great article by Don Emmons, who I happen to know. I'm big time!
Speaking of great, how about that OSU-UM game on Saturday? Can't say enough about it, because all that matters is that the record is 13-0 for the season. No Big 10 team's done it since 1979.

It's a beautiful fall day here in Northwest Ohio (armpit of civilization), and what do I have to do? In between articles and subimssions, I have to rake damn leaves!
Well, not rake. Does anyone do that anymore? No, I use the ol' leafblower.
It blows, all right.

Na na na na na NAH NAH! You say it's my birthday!
Well, it was, anyway. I turned 26 over the weekend, and boy, are my arms tired.
It came not with a bang, but a whimper. It doesn't feel any different, but I suppose it marks the slow slide into 30.
What can I expect from this age?

Yeah, right.

My friend and fellow Bridge crony Bill wrote this for a New York-based sports Web site. If you like hockey (or Bill), you'll like this.
By the way, have I told you how great it was writing for BridgeNews? Ask Bill -- it was like Xanadu!
Lousy Brits at Reuters...taking away our sweet gravy-laden train.

I just discovered that some charlatan(s), dressed up as a community organization (they got the .org!) has stolen my name! I won't provide a link, because I don't link to thieves, but rest assured this will not stand. Perhaps I'll engage the services of my lawyer neighbor.


"Heads On Fire is an organization dedicated to bridging the Digital Divide through the means of community based media arts programs. Technoliteracy is increasingly becoming the arbiter that separates the skilled worker from the unskilled, the adequately paid from those whose wages will not sustain a decent standard of living. Heads On Fire seeks to play a crucial role in preventing distressed populations from being flattened beneath the wheels of this revolution, by linking artists, communities, and technology."


Oh, please! I invented the name, and I want all the rights to it!
You want the story? The year was 1999 (or 1998 -- college was a hazy time) and my friends and I were driving to Lake Baw Beese in semi-beautiful Hillsdale, Michigan. I believe we were hung over or something, because as we drove by a woman pushing a stroller, someone remarked "What if you flicked your cig out the window, and found out too late that some wino had spilled some potent and flammable alcohol on that stroller? What would that woman say?
I, of course, responded with the now-famous expression, "My baby's head's on fire!"
And thus, a phrase was coined. For punctuation purposes I changed it to "HeadsonFire," but the genesis is all mine (and Jhoda's).
Case freakin' closed!

Geez, this ambulance-chasing lawyer guy who lives across the street must be up to no good, because he's pulled in and out of his driveway six times in the past three minutes.
Yeah, dude, I see your Corvette, and I don't care. A Civic is where it's at!

Has everyone seen David Frum's Political Diary on NRO? It's only a few days old, but I'm hooked. I like this guy.
Frum, as many of you probably know, is a former writer for The Weekly Standard and speechwriter for Bush. Came up with the whole "axis of evil" speech if I'm not mistaken. So he's cool, I'm sure.
Oh, a bit of news about someone with whom I'm acquainted. A high school friend's fiancee (congratulations, Carrie and Steve), just recently got a job as a Bush speechwriter! Wow...must be cool.
Anyway, you may know Steve Hayes as a writer for The Weekly Standard, but he got some attention recently for getting all up in Scott Ritter's face in the Wall Street Journal and on TV.
Got up in his face...just like many of us, I'm sure, have wanted to do.

Of course, if you were to tune into CSPAN right now, you'd find the not-in-any-way-irrelevant UN debating the current US/UK resolution regarding Iraq. I can't believe we still think we have to run things by these namby-pamby, mealymouthed Eurodorks.
Don't get me wrong, I like Europeans themselves. I love their culture...hell, I studied it in school. However, the current course of European diplomacy and public policy does nothing but confuse and anger me. It's like they assume that we (as the world's preeminent nation) are likely to follow the same imperialistic course they did, beginning about 200 years ago.
Check yourselves before you wreck yourselves, Europe. We're different, and don't go thinking otherwise. We have a little thing called the rule of law (which is a pretty new concept over there, but we've gotten good at it). I mean, Europe has been imperialistic as recently as a half-century ago!
I think (and this is just my opinion) that Europe's attitudes are somewhat influenced by nostalgia (for their own glorious past, and I say that with no irony) and resentment that they've been reduced to marginal players on the world stage.
There, I said it. But don't get me wrong...I think that the UK is on the right track to coming back around to a sensible and less shrill way of doing things, and Europe still has time to board that trolley.

I awoke uncharacteristically early for me today, just to watch CSPAN the ever-dry but entertaining Washington Journal). What a freakin' dork I must be!
No, really. My two favorite Brits, Hitch and Sully, went head to head with each other and a gaggle of University of Denver and Colorado State University students (must've been j-school kids, because they had waaay too many questions).
Anyway, it's fun to watch those two...
My favorite line? When Hitch said, by way of prefacing an answer to a student's question, "I'm going to be rather harsh with these students..."
Bwah!
No link to a transcript available yet, but stay tuned...

What did I tell you about Homestar Runner and his friends? The world is noticing.

To redirect the conversation slightly, I'm looking at my semi-new (well, just rediscovered it -- kind of like when you throw in "It's a Shame About Ray" after not listening to it for years) Adidas sweatshirt and thinking "Man, have I been having great luck at the thrift store lately!"
Seriously. And that great luck has carried over to the regular stores too. And to my life in general. Finding all sorts of great stuff. I found a pair of Nike Cortez for $35. I found my favorite shades in my storage unit (sure, I was looking for my voice recorder, but hey -- there were a lot of boxes in there). Found that Adidas sweatshirt. Found my heart in San Francisco. Found out about you. Found Found Found.
If anyone can tell me about that last sentence, I'll hook you up with a prize.

Not too much to say from this guy about the election. I'm sure anyone who reads this blog knows how I feel about it, and I'm sure it's all been said before by someone who can say it better.
Cool. I'm glad we've reached an understanding about it.
What I've really been thinking about lately is where I want to go from here. Obviously, I don't plan on sticking around here much longer, but I haven't nailed down yet where I actually want to go. Of course, the whole "how to get there" part can be a troublesome as well, but we need a location first.
To start it off, I guess, I want to go someplace dangerous. That's right, dangerous. Kirachi. Beirut. Islamabad. Phnom Penh. Someplace like that.