Somewhat Manly Nerd

I am fully aware that we are now a month into 2009. But what has really happened this month of January? Obama got inaugurated? The real news was his election last year. We still have the Super Bowl and first tennis Grand Slam final ahead of us tomorrow sports-wise. The most successful movie so far this year is Paul Blart: Mall Cop. I think we can strike this month from the record.

This is the third year-end post I’m writing, and it seems each year I expand the scope. First year was just movies, second year was basically all forms of entertainment, and now for 2008, I will add sports to the mix. (Sports are a form of entertainment, but they are also a competition.) And let’s start with that, as it was quite possibly the best year for sports in my lifetime.

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That’s clay court shit right there. Two crazy Spaniards running and spinning around, blasting the ball at every corner of the court, ending with Rafael Nadal winning. Fernando Verdasco, as relentless as he was the entire match, as brutal as his forehand blasts were, Nadal was his usual unbreakable (not in a service game kind of way) self.

I woke up this morning around 6:00 AM, and the semifinal match in which this absurd point took place had been going on for over two hours already. When I arrived at work at 9:00 AM, the match was still going. Luckily for my productivity, only a few minutes later, Verdasco double-faulted in the 10th game of the 5th set to end the match. That was after 5 hours of some of the most high-octane tennis ever played. It was more anti-climactic than the ending to No Country for Old Men.

Roger Federer ate dinner and no doubt slept while the match was going on, comfortable knowing that whoever he faced would have one less day of rest. If there’s anyone that can come back from such an epic match in less than two days, it’s Nadal. But I doubt it.

No, it did not take me an hour and a half to make that. It took me an hour and a half to make that and nine other Obamicons. I’m pretty sure that this site is older than Clint Eastwood, but I just discovered it tonight.

Obamicon.me

It’s something you could cook up in Photoshop fairly easily, but automated things are always better — and more addictive. My other creations can be seen at my profile. Movie references, mostly.

My favorite from the internet wild would be this:

If you don’t get the reference, go watch Die Hard again. If you haven’t seen Die Hard, you better have a good excuse. Like being 3 years old.

WHAT. THE. FUCK. I have no goddamn clue what just happened. Maybe because I was only half paying attention. I’m definitely just forcing myself due to working with Lost zealots. People who would’ve typed Lost as LOST. That should be a generally accepted way of showing your relative enthusiasm for this clusterfuck of a show. I don’t hate it, and maybe I’ll appreciate it tomorrow when I’m talking with aforementioned zealots, but right now I just wish I never bothered getting caught up.

In fairness to Lost, I feel similarly with regards to Battlestar Galactica. Most shows have a shelf life of a few years in my eyes, it seems. 24 is actually the show that held my attention for the longest while it was running. I watched it for 4 straight seasons (2-5), watching Season 1 in between 2 and 3. But now I’ve given up on that show, along with The Office. I think the internet destroys my ability to enjoy anything for an extended period of time. While my co-workers were awaiting tonight like the second coming of Christ, I could only manage half-hearted nods of agreement with their excitement, and tonight’s episode didn’t do too much to change my general apathy.

If you want a real post about Lost, just go to the A.V. Club. They rock.

Better than all the viral marketing for The Dark Knight put together. I can’t believe I’m letting myself getting excited for this movie now. Please don’t be a total disaster.

Amazon has this set on sale for $34.99. It is the Gold Box deal of the day, apparently part of an HBO week of sales. If you are reading this on January 29, 2009, you are already too late. I’m sure no one will read this in time. It’s funny, I was going to make a post in a couple of days after I completely finished my most recent and most awesome viewing of this incredible series, so I figure I might as well make it now.

This is probably my fourth run through the show — the first in a number of years — and it’s just as great as I remembered, if not better. Some of the CGI is showing its age, not being helped by the higher resolution of Blu-ray, but such a minor quabble is outweighed by each beautiful shot that is magnified by the sharper picture. “Bastogne”, the last episode I watched, was particularly amazing. The snow, the tree bursts, the ruins of the town — everything looked better than I thought it ever could.

But the real star of the Blu-ray set is the interactive field guide. I actually turn off the interactive part while watching, letting the disc run its automated version of pop-up video that includes brief soldier bios, military information, actual training and propaganda videos from the 40s, and other cool tidbits. Basically, if you don’t own this set, you are not an American. What? You don’t own a Blu-ray player? That only adds to the evidence pointing to you not being American. You have not embraced your inner consumerist yet.

Stone Temple Pilots – Where The River Goes

Nothing special to ring in the new year three weeks late. I just have never posted an STP song on here before, and they were probably my favorite band for a good part of high school. I feel I owe them at least one song of the week, and not a song you’ve heard a million times on the radio or in Guitar Hero. What better than a song you would probably never hear on the radio due to its length?

(I actually did hear this on K-Rock once back in the day — that was a pleasant surprise.)

Watching Band of Brothers makes me feel like a goddamn pussy.

I feel like I’m not using the internet to its full potential if uTorrent isn’t active.

I wonder if Cal Ripken Jr. felt like an asshole breaking the record of a guy with a fatal, incurable neurodegenerative disease. He should’ve. Lou Gehrig >>>>>>>> Cal Ripken Jr.

Joaquin Phoenix is a greater comedic genius than Sasha Baron Cohen. If you haven’t realized this already, you will soon know, along with the rest of the world.

The new toolbar for Windows 7 is pretty cool, particularly pinning program icons, which renders quick launch obsolete. Stealing from Apple is sometimes for the best.

I don’t think I “get” Kurt Vonnegut.

You’re supposed to start hating snow as you get older, but I still love every snowfall. Maybe if I lived upstate or in Wisconsin I’d feel differently. But then I’d be an idiot.

I want to rescind my endorsement of Fangraphs, as they now have calculated win values and market value for pitchers, in addition to their values for players. They have Gil Meche being worth more than Johan Santana last year. That is objectively wrong. Fuck them.

They should’ve had the Presidential Inauguration today. I’m not usually a fan of this type of sentimental crap, but swearing in the first black president on Martin Luther King Jr. Day would’ve been pretty cool. If you are black, please comment on this thought. Whiteys need not respond.

And if not retarded, senile.

Pedro Gomez — you know, the guy who ate Barry Bonds’ shit for three years — thinks Jay Bell is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. A 2-time All-Star with a career OPS+ of 101 is one of the greatest players of all-time who deserves to be enshrined along with the immortals of the sport. For the uninformed, an OPS+ of 101 translates to the definition of an average hitter. Pedro Gomez would call a person with an IQ of 101 a genius. Compared to him, that person probably would be.

I’m not even going to bother with Jim Rice at this point, because the collective stupidity in that case is just incredible. Apparently, baseball writers are as afraid of the wrath of Massholes as media conglomerates are of Muslim extremists. Either that or they are now convinced he was indeed the MOST FEARED HITTER of his era. That seriously better go on his plaque or else all these writers were full of shit. It’s just amazing how he became more and more feared the longer he was retired. Truly incredible.

But Pedro Gomez may not be the owner of the most unthinkable ballot cast this year. At least he voted for Rickey Henderson, unlike some dementia-stricken old dude in Arizona. Corky Simpson was playing keeper-of-the-gate along with a bunch of other old men, just so Henderson couldn’t be the first man to enter the Hall unanimously. It probably wouldn’t as bad if he didn’t put Matt Williams on his ballot. Matt Williams > greatest leadoff hitter of all-time, obviously. Didn’t you know he might have had a chance to break Roger Maris’ single-season HR record if it weren’t for the 1994 strike? Surely being on pace after 4 months to break such a hallowed record makes him a worthy candidate. Oh wait, Roger Maris isn’t even in the Hall of Fame. The best part is that he states he didn’t vote for McGwire because of performance-enhancing drugs, while Matt Williams was named in the Mitchell Report. This coming from the 1988 Sportswriter of the Year. Awesome.

At least he voted for Tim Raines though, unlike over 75% of the other voters. What the fuck? Only one leadoff hitter allowed on a ballot? Tim Raines may have been overshadowed by Henderson for most of his career, but the guy was still one of the best. This excerpt from a Jayson Stark article is all that needs to be said on the matter:

Over the seven seasons from 1982 to 1988, Tim Raines led the National League in singles, doubles, triples and walks. OK, think about that. Now think about the job description of a leadoff man. You want that guy to reach base, correct? Well, this man reached base more times than anyone around him every possible way he could reach it.

And for those who also like their leadoff hitters to steal a base every once in a while, consider this: Raines was the only player in history with at least 70 steals six years in a row. And stole 808 bases in his career. And he racked up all those steals while compiling the best stolen base success rate of all time (84.7 percent).

Finally, in an age when we’re supposed to have a new appreciation for on-base percentage as opposed to batting average, this is the stat that always seems to stagger the Tim Raines doubters out there:

Raines and Tony Gwynn had roughly the same number of plate appearances in their careers — and guess which one reached base more times? All of you who guessed Tim Raines, you’re all truly enlightened, 21st-century baseball observers. Oh, and you’re also absolutely right. So how come this guy got only 24 percent of the vote again?

He obviously wasn’t FEARED enough.