Monday, March 23, 2009

NFL to make AFC West road format more reasonable - ESPN:
"East Coast and West Coast teams have complained about their cross-country trips. Under the proposed changed -- which does not require a committee vote -- the NFL will alter its AFC West scheduling formula so that no team would have to play at Oakland and at San Diego in the same season.

To modify the issue, the schedule will be adjusted so if a team is scheduled to play at Oakland, it would play at either Denver or Kansas City, two teams that are geographically closer to the east and midwest, and not at San Diego. If a team has to play at the Chargers, its schedule would include visiting either Denver or Kansas City and not the Raiders."

This is ridiculous. Are you telling me that an extra hour or so of sitting on an airplane is that big a deal to professional athletes? Unbelievable.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Obama: AIG can't justify 'outrage' of exec bonuses:
"In a letter to Geithner dated Saturday, Liddy said outside lawyers had informed the company that AIG had contractual obligations to make the bonus payments and could face lawsuits if it did not do so."

Yeah, and...? So what? I'm sure AIG faces dozens of lawsuits each and every day so why would these new lawsuits be so special? And each one of those new lawsuits would LOSE. But the fact of the matter is, the way this was done, and Paulson started it all, was just to hand over a blank check to these firms. Why Obama hired Summers and Geithner is the single biggest mistake of his presidency. A VERY stupid mistake.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Curious Case of Neko:
I LOVE Neko Case. Of that there is no doubt. As lead chanteuse of The New Pornographers, she is without peer. Her voice is such a force that she elevates nearly everything she touches with it. My life is better off having listened to Neko Case.

I want to make that clear.

It's just that when I listen to her solo stuff, I am underwhelmed. I mean, there is obvious intelligence, thought, effort, art going on in her songs, I understand that. And she has some hooks, some strong melodies, some vibrant chord structures. And as for her lyrics, I like animals too, and nature and even indecipherability (is that a word?). But for some reason or another that perpetually escapes me, her songs just do not resonate with me. By that I mean, make me NEED to hear them over and over again. I listened to Middle Cyclone and while I like several tunes on it and adore her voice, I could never hear that album again and be quite content. And I LIKED it! But it does not compel me.

I am so sorry, Neko. I want to NEED you badly because I know how good you are. But it's just not happening.
Coraline (2009)***
Fantastic animation, art direction, voice work, technical expertise, all to the service of a story that fails to engage and resonate.
SFGate: Politics Blog : Schwarzenegger "compares legislature to dogs":
"Kicking off his major special-election reform campaign in San Francisco Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered some of the toughest medicine yet to those in his own party, saying critics who insisted he could close the state's $42 billion deficit through spending cuts alone 'are guilty of political cynicism at its worst.' Speaking at to a full house at the Commonwealth Club of California event at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco, the governor said of the legislators: 'These are not serious people.'"

I was embarrassed when The Governator was elected. I was concerned that Arnold would be one of those "not serious" people. But I was wrong. I have not agreed with everything or even MOST things he has done or supported or tried to do, but I have to admit, he does take this seriously not as a politician seriously trying to advance his career, but as a person who truly thinks he has something to offer society as a public servant. Now I don't mean he is some sort of secular saint, far from it. But, like Nelson Rockefeller, the Kennedy's, et al, he really does seem to want to give something back to the society in which he has decided to make his home. If more of our elected representatives thought that way, approached their jobs that way, we would all be a lot better off. But instead we get career politicians who by necessity become beholden to moneyed interests because the costs of campaigning are so great. I think we could have done a LOT worse than Arnold Schwarzenegger.