Also, a random link to the 7 dirty words…it’s always fun.
Can I just say that I am totally in favor of renaming October “Barak-tober”. The other ideas seem sound as well…
Did anyone else hear the taped phone call between Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee? I really don’t get it. To me, it makes Clemens seem more guilty. Whenever McNamee asks him “what do you want me to do?” (which he does like 20 times), Clemens never says “just tell them the truth”. Isn’t that what an innocent man would say? He also never asks”why did you lie to the commission?” or any variation thereof .
His lawyer is trying to say that Clemens was carefully trying to make sure it wouldn’t seem like he was coercing a federal witness, but dude, come on. I understand that he shouldn’t say “I want you to tell them I didn’t use steroids” or “I want you to tell them you lied”. You can’t tell a witness what to say (and if he is guilty, that would be telling him to commit perjury). But saying “just tell the truth” really couldn’t be construed as coercion. It’s what he is supposed to be doing anyway.
It’s just such a weird conversation in general, with all the talk of various dying children and missing children’s funerals because of press conferences, and people getting ulcers. In fact, why would these 2 people, who are in fact suing each other even as we speak, get on the phone in the first place? If someone accuses me of a crime and ostensibly ruins my career and shot at the Hall of Fame, I’m really not that interested in chatting with him. Ditto a rich, blow-hard athlete who is suing me for defamation.
And if the whole point of the conversation was for Clemens to try and clear his name by getting McNamee to admit on tape that he lied or whatever…well, that didn’t happen, so why would you release the tape? It just makes you look sketchier. And kind of dumb.
Did anyone else hear the taped phone call between Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee? I really don’t get it. To me, it makes Clemens seem more guilty. Whenever McNamee asks him “what do you want me to do?” (which he does like 20 times), Clemens never says “just tell them the truth”. Isn’t that what an innocent man would say? He also never asks”why did you lie to the commission?” or any variation thereof .
His lawyer is trying to say that Clemens was carefully trying to make sure it wouldn’t seem like he was coercing a federal witness, but dude, come on. I understand that he shouldn’t say “I want you to tell them I didn’t use steroids” or “I want you to tell them you lied”. You can’t tell a witness what to say (and if he is guilty, that would be telling him to commit perjury). But saying “just tell the truth” really couldn’t be construed as coercion. It’s what he is supposed to be doing anyway.
It’s just such a weird conversation in general, with all the talk of various dying children and missing children’s funerals because of press conferences, and people getting ulcers. In fact, why would these 2 people, who are in fact suing each other even as we speak, get on the phone in the first place? If someone accuses me of a crime and ostensibly ruins my career and shot at the Hall of Fame, I’m really not that interested in chatting with him. Ditto a rich, blow-hard athlete who is suing me for defamation.
And if the whole point of the conversation was for Clemens to try and clear his name by getting McNamee to admit on tape that he lied or whatever…well, that didn’t happen, so why would you release the tape? It just makes you look sketchier. And kind of dumb.
I’m coming off a 2 week Christmas vacation. I haven’t gotten that much time off for the holidays since I was in college. Even when I worked for the university, I still only got a few days off, despite the fact that the students were gone for damn near a month. Vacation is good.
Has anyone else been watching VH1’s Top 100 Songs of the 1990’s? That shit is an addictive trip down memory lane. It’s also weird because I tend to get the late 80’s and early 90’s jumbled together in my head, musically speaking. So for a number of these songs, I’m like “dude, that came out in the 90’s?” Like I’m Too Sexy. And Ice Ice Baby? And Gonna Make You Sweat? They just have such an 80’s feel about them. Ditto Jump Jump. That is wiggity wiggity wiggit wack. (Although I prefer Warm it Up.) {an aside, what on earth did we do before youtube?}
Also, we’ve made it all the way to the top 20 and…no Nirvana songs? However you feel about them, that was the band of the 90’s. I’m assuming Smells Like Teen Spirit will be #1 (the episode counting down numbers 20-1 airs tonight), but nothing else? Also, no Brittney yet. 1998 brought us Baby One More Time. You know that is in there somewhere…top 5 for sure. Alas, 100 songs is not very many when you’re talking about 10 years.
Anyway, it’s a fun countdown, and entertaining to have all the above mixed in with Dr. Dre and Christina Aguilera and Eminem and *nsync. Quite a random assortment we had in the 90’s.
Dear Jason,
The Chipmunks? Really?
Sigh.
Look Jason, I’ve been right there with you for a while. Loved Brodie Bruce…to a disturbing degree, come to think of it, considering he was actually kind of a dick. Ditto Banky, a veritable Prince Charming compared to that tool Affleck’s Holden. Loved Skip Skipperton in the little known Mumford (love that Loren Dean as well)…kind of creepy but adorable. Also Puggy in Big Trouble (very odd character, and the hair was disturbing, but he had a good heart). You were the charming guy we were rooting for to get the girl in Kissing a Fool and Heartbreakers (allowing me to ignore the presence of David Schwimmer and Jennifer Love Hewitt respectively). Then you score a big break out role in Almost Famous and ultimately end up as the endlessly charming Earl Hickey. Fine work there, skater boy.
These things engendered a warm feeling and built you a solid base with me, even allowing me to overlook the following: You are a Scientologist.
But now I see you are involved in (nay, starring in) Alvin and the Chipmunks, yet another holiday nightmare that is being inflicted upon us. So much about this whole endeavor is just plain wrongheaded. To wit:
Leaving aside all that, Jason, I had just hoped you were better than this. You are the star of a network TV show now, do you really need to do the Chipmunks? And while it is nice to see you all clean-shaven and minus that ubiquitous Burt Reynolds-esque Earl mustache, that’s not enough to get me to see this flick.
A paycheck is a paycheck I guess, and you do have an oddly named child to feed. I just hope little Pilot Inspektor appreciates it…
Is it wrong that when I saw this headline: Friends throw Richie ‘Oz’-themed baby shower
I wanted the theme to be this Oz:
rather than this one?
I guess they didn’t want all the “Now there’s a shower where you really don’t want to drop the soap” jokes…
Also, Nicole Richie is annoying. As is her babydaddy.
It’s Columbus Day here in the good old U.S. of A. A day in which we celebrate the “discovery” of America (much to the surprise of those already living here. It’s not like they were an aspiring starlet or an unsigned band, just hanging out, waiting to be discovered…)
Apparently, the holiday was begun in 1892 (400 years after the famously rhymed 1492) by President Benjamin Harrison. (Benjamin Harrison of course being otherwise known, at least to me, as “that dude who was president between the 2 Grover Cleavlands”. Also, he’s a handy answer to trivia questions about related presidents.)
Anyway, I mostly think of Columbus Day as “that day we used to get off work/school but don’t anymore.” State offices in Florida don’t care to let us stay home and rest on this day (ditto President’s Day). Federal employees do get the day off, as my friend Rakes is always quick to point out.
I did just discover that the day is celebrated in places other than the U.S., which I didn’t know (in Spain and throughout Latin America, to name a few). I also learned that it is now called DÃa de la Resistencia IndÃgena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) in Venezuela. Sometimes I love that crazy-ass Hugo Chávez. (Mostly for this…it smells of sulfur still…)
For me, Columbus day always brings back the same memory. I was at a Public Enemy concert and Chuck D took the opportunity to address the issue between songs. His words were to the effect of “today we celebrate Columbus Day. Columbus was trying to find a way to India and landed in America instead. Do you know who Christopher Columbus was? Columbus was a lost motherfucker…”
It’s Columbus Day here in the good old U.S. of A. A day in which we celebrate the “discovery” of America (much to the surprise of those already living here. It’s not like they were an aspiring starlet or an unsigned band, just hanging out, waiting to be discovered…)
Apparently, the holiday was begun in 1892 (400 years after the famously rhymed 1492) by President Benjamin Harrison. (Benjamin Harrison of course being otherwise known, at least to me, as “that dude who was president between the 2 Grover Cleavlands”. Also, he’s a handy answer to trivia questions about related presidents.)
Anyway, I mostly think of Columbus Day as “that day we used to get off work/school but don’t anymore.” State offices in Florida don’t care to let us stay home and rest on this day (ditto President’s Day). Federal employees do get the day off, as my friend Rakes is always quick to point out.
I did just discover that the day is celebrated in places other than the U.S., which I didn’t know (in Spain and throughout Latin America, to name a few). I also learned that it is now called DÃa de la Resistencia IndÃgena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) in Venezuela. Sometimes I love that crazy-ass Hugo Chávez. (Mostly for this…it smells of sulfur still…)
For me, Columbus day always brings back the same memory. I was at a Public Enemy concert and Chuck D took the opportunity to address the issue between songs. His words were to the effect of “today we celebrate Columbus Day. Columbus was trying to find a way to India and landed in America instead. Do you know who Christopher Columbus was? Columbus was a lost motherfucker…”
