Ridiculous News Story

I read this article the other day and realized what a messed up country we live in nowadays.

Basically the story says that Dunkin' Donuts pulled an ad featuring Rachel Ray wearing a scarf resembling a keffiyeh, which is the cool thing Arab men wear on their heads.

First off, the thing she has on does not really look like one, and even if it were one, who cares. Apparently DD is worried that morons will not buy iced coffee because she likes Arabs.

This is a picture of my friend Chris getting fitted for a keffiya when we were in Madaba, Jordan. The next picture is me wearing my keffiya in Egypt. I guess this means I am a terrorist.

Lost: Episodes 413 & 414

The season finale came to a close Thursday with a nice touch. There was so much that happened that it would be extremely hard for me to recap everything. But do not fear, I will give it a shot.

Oceanic Six
So Jack and Sawyer catch up with Hurley who is at the Orchid, Locke tries to convince Jack to stay on the island, but Jack refuses. Locke then tells him that everyone must lie about the island (this explains what happens in the flashforwards about the story they concocted). They get to the helicopter: Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, and Frank. As they fly back to the freighter, Frank sees that one of the bullets hit the chopper and they are losing fuel. They begin to unload some of the excess weight, but it is not enough. Sawyer makes the decision to jump out of the 'copter, but first kisses Kate and whispers something in her ear.

Once they get to the freighter, Desmond runs up saying that the bomb is going to explode, so they refuel and hop back in with Desmond, Sun, and Aaron. Jin almost makes it in time, but the helicopter is already in the air, and the ship explodes.

As they make their way back to the island, Ben does his magic trick and moves the island. Yes, the entire island disappears in front of everyone. With nowhere to land and almost out of fuel they crash into the ocean. Sayid saved one of the life rafts and they all climb aboard. They see a ship at night and it turns out to be Penny's boat, she traced Desmond's call to that location.

Jack informs everyone that they must lie about how they survived. That is the point where we see them coming up on a raft, after a week's time with Penny and they end up some 3000 miles away from where the island actually was. Desmond and Frank stay on-board with Penny and the rest of the group paddles to the island, just like the photos we saw in the flashforward.

Ben & Locke
Ben takes Locke into the station and begins doing work, while Locke watches a training video about time travel. Locke asks Ben if the video is about what he thinks it is about, Ben replies "if you mean time-traveling bunnies, then yes John." You have to love Ben by now.

Ben grabs a winter parka (remember when he wakes up in Tunisia, the parka he was wearing) and goes down into a lower part of the station and tells John that he must go alone, that whoever moves the island can never return. Anyone notice the odd hieroglyphics on the walls?

Ben goes into a very cold room and begins to turn this giant wheel and that is when weird things happen on the island and then it suddenly disappears. Locke leaves the station and joins the Others and Richard welcomes him and says something like "welcome home John."

Another interesting thing to note, Ben woke up in Tunisia in 2006. It is still 2004 on the island, so he traveled into the future.

Randoms on the Island
Sawyer survives his drop into the ocean and swims back to the island, where he finds Juliet drinking rum on the beach. Charlotte tells Daniel that she plans to stay because she is still looking for the place she was born. Does that mean she was born on the island and somehow made it off? Interesting.

Flashforwards
The flashforwards provided some very cool spring boards for future episodes. Jack's picked up where his last season finale ended. He yells that they must return to the island and Kate comes back and yells at him. He asks her if Jeremy Bentham came to her and she says yes.

Kate later has a dream where Claire tells her not to bring Aaron back to the island. Walt visits Hurley in the nut house, and Hurley explains the reason they could not visit Walt was to protect the rest of the people on the island, which leads Walt to believe his dad is alive and he also had a visit from the mysterious Jeremy Bentham.

Sun goes to see Mr. Widmore and explains how she controls her father's company now, but also that she and him have common interests about the island. Sayid shoots a man outside of Hurley's asylum and goes in and breaks Hurley out. Hurley is playing chess and as he leaves he moves a piece and says "checkmate Mr. Eko."

The last flashforward shows Jack breaking into the funeral parlor to see Jeremy Bentham. Ben is there and tells Jack that the only way to return to the island is with everyone, including Jeremy who is revealed to be Locke. How the heck did he get off the island?

I have so many questions for next season and so many things to look forward to. I do have a theory, which I will explain right now.

The island is Atlantis (I have said before that I hate this idea mostly because I hate the idea of Atlantis, but whatever), the four-toed statues will show that the people of Atlantis were somewhat different from us. I wonder if some of the Others are descendants of those people, such as Richard or maybe Charlotte? The island never sank, it just teleported in time. Maybe they have no means of reproduction, and need to find a way to give birth because of all the adverse affects of time-travel. Okay, some of these things are real straw-graspers here, but anyone have a better idea?

Kate is so hot...

Rise of the Young Whippersnappers

Sometimes I think people my age are lucky. Why you ask? We grew up with technology and more importantly with how quickly technology changes. We are much quicker to adapt to these things than say someone twenty years older.

Recently though, I have noticed points in life where I am old and no amount of adapting will ever put me on the same level as kids a lot younger than me. Social Networking sites. I belong to myspace and facebook, but I really have no use for them. Sometimes it is cool to find some person from high school that I have not heard from in years, but other than that, what use do they have?

I cannot understand the need for people to add as many people as possible, having thousands of friends, and yet not actually knowing any of them. This is not me being critical, this is me being honest. I do not think badly about them. If it were something I had time to do, I probably would, but honestly I can not see why.

It is funny because as I sit here writing this, I hope people will comment with their opinions, yet I think it is weird when I see someone's myspace bulletin that says PC4PC...by the way, I had to wikipedia that one to figure what these people meant.

Maybe the thing I find weird about the whole phenomenon happens to be that ten years ago if you told someone you had thousands of online friends, people would think oddly of you. This is now considered normal. It fascinates me.

If there was ever a point to any of this, I have no clue what it is or was.

Memorial Day

The day where we remember and honor our brave soldiers fighting for us in a senseless war. Oh do not worry, I am not about to go on some kind of political rant, I actually want to tell you about one of my favorite Memorial Day memories and how it almost resulted in me not having my current job or living in Pittsburgh.

This was probably four or five years ago, I had only been a server at the restaurant I used to work at for about a year. I had to work 11-8 on Memorial Day. I was annoyed because I wanted to go do some family stuff back in Philipsburg, and did not think it was fair that I had to work even though I worked the night before Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, New Years Eve (actually I worked 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.), and President's Day (hey, I like President's Day, big holiday for me).

Around one o'clock my boss realizes that it is pretty dead and starts to send people home, since we were getting time and a half to sit around. I am next on the list to go home early and it is rapidly approaching four, I figure someone will come on and the bossman will send me home.

Then, the unthinkable starts to happen. It rains. I get sat a table with a four people, parents and two children. I will pretty much never forget this conversation that ensued between the lady and I.

Me: Hi folks, what can I start ya off to drink?
Lady: Well that did not sound very chipper!
Me: Sorry, not really with it today, wanted off for Memorial Day. I wanted to go see my family and enjoy a nice cookout. I apologize.
Lady: It is raining now, so you are not missing too much.
Me (my irritation becomes very noticeable): That's fantastic, we are understaffed, which means everyone will leave their funtime picnics and come here. I will get slammed and not have a chance to leave anywhere close to my end time of 8 o'clock. If it stops raining, my boss will be too afraid to send me home early in case it rains again, and I will make absolutely no money. Any way you look at it, today is a lose-lose situation.
Lady: I would like to speak with your manager.
Me: Gladly.

Needless to say, my boss almost fired me. At that point, I would not have cared. So anyways, go out, enjoy this lovely day. Have a picnic, drink some beers, and remember, I will be at work not having fun in any way whatsoever.

Fantasy Baseball Weeks 7 & 8

I am on a winning streak. In the last two weeks I have managed to go 12-6-2, climbing out of the cellar and into next to last! Offord drops into the bottom slot. This week I beat James 6-2-2. If Cole Hamels could have picked up a win at the beginning of the week, he got a no decision, but gave up no runs and had 11 Ks, then I would have had a nice 7-2-1 victory.

I am lacking saves still, I had absolutely none all week, yet again. Not too sure what to do really. Should I just scrap them for middle relievers and hope to secure WHIP and ERA? It is quite tempting.

Jason Bay was my stud for the week, hitting .480 with 3 HR, 1 SB, and 8 RBIs. I guess that trade worked out for me.

Dan Uggla

What could I possibly have to say about Dan Uggla? Nothing bad actually. I think he is an awesome second baseman. I would like to talk about an experience I had the other night though. So, I was at Primanti Brothers in Crafton and the bartender, who was very good looking, overheard me talking about baseball. This is a paraphrased conversation that happened between us.

Her: Oh, you like baseball?
Me: Yes.
Her: Same here, my boyfriend plays baseball. I am from Florida, he plays for the Marlins.
Me: Um, do you mind me asking which player? (at this point I expect her to say some middle reliever or something that I am not familiar with).
Her: Dan Uggla, he plays second base.
Me: Yeah, I know who Uggla is, he's pretty awesome.
Her: He is really upset because they gave Ramirez (Hanley) that huge contract and not him. He hates his manager and wants a trade.

At this point I did not want to argue with her that Hanley is much more deserving of that contract. Here are a few reasons why just based on 2007 stats:
Uggla: 155 H, 31 HR, .245 BA, .326 OBP, 108 OPS+
Ramirez: 212 H, 29 HR, .332 BA, .386 OBP, 145 OPS+

Now, the only thing that Uggla does better than Ramirez is hit homeruns and not by much. I wanted to call her out, but decided against it. I honestly wondered whether Uggla really believes he is better than Ramirez, who plays shortstop, a much harder position than Uggla, granted H-Ram is one of the worst fielding shortstops, but whatever.

Then I look up a little bit about Dan Uggla and this is what I found:

Daniel Cooley Uggla (UGH-gla)...graduated from Columbia Central High School (TN) in 1998...attended the University of Memphis...named to 2001 All-American squads by Baseball America, Baseball Weekly and Collegiate Baseball...he and his wife, Tara, have a son, Jackson Daniel Charles(3/30/06).

Oh, so he is married and has a son, and I know the bartender told us her name, and it was definitely not Tara...so she was just a crazy person.

The Silliness of Crystal Skulls

With the release of the new Indiana Jones movie, which I still want to see if anyone wants to go with me, History Channel has a few programs about archaeology and crystal skulls. It amazes me how dumb some people can be about these crystal skulls.

The first thing I noticed during the program was the references to how during a series of tests by Hewlett-Packard they could not determine how it was made. After a little research, I discovered that HP never conducted any tests on how it was made. They only tested the composition of the skull.

In fact, in the recent years, numerous skulls have been tested and the discovery is that most of them were not made thousands of years ago, but in the last 100 years. People used diamond drills and what not.

The next point that cracks me up is these people who claim that they are thousands of years old. Yes, the quartz happens to be very old, does not mean the actual skull is old. Another thing I hate to hear from these kinds of morons: it must have been made by Atlanteans or some other advanced early humans. Absolutely ridiculous. If there was an Atlantis, and the people built all the stuff they are alleged to, yet none of them survived when the island sank, makes you wonder how smart and advanced they really were.

I will end this with: crystal skulls have no magical power, they will not heal cancer. They will not regrown an amputated arm. They will not give you the numbers to tomorrow's powerball. They are just neat looking skulls made out of crystal quartz. Some of the rougher looking ones probably are authentic, but the ones that are almost perfect, those are most definitely fakes.

Snuff

I finished reading Chuck Palahniuk's new book, Snuff. Overall it was a pretty good book, but not one of Chuck's finest.

The plot revolves around three guys about to partake in the world's largest gang bang. The guys are named by their number: 72, 137, and 600. Each guy has a reason for being there and as it unfolds we learn why Cassie Wright, the pornstar, wants to make the movie. The other character involved is Sheila, Cassie's assistant, who gives us many different sexual factoids.

The book is well written and very well researched. As always, ChuckP can make you comfortable with topics that should make most people a bit uncomfortable in normal conservation.

My big problem with the book was that the twist at the end was not very surprising. Maybe it is my problem, like watching a M. Night Shamalamadingdong film, I keep trying to figure out what the big plot twist will be. Even in his last book, Rant, Palahniuk was able to completely throw me off with where he was going.

When the big reveal happens, I saw it coming. I guess I am just too clever. Although, I doubt that is what it is...

Anyways, I recommend the book to anyone who loves Chuck Palahniuk books, or anyone who watches tons of porn. Apparently the book was inspired by Annabel Chong who engaged 251 men in 10 hours...

Prince Caspian

It is that time of year again when the big summer blockbusters start. A few days ago I went and saw Prince Caspian and was pleased with the results. From reading the book, it seemed like this would be a much harder story to adapt into a movie. In the book we learn about Prince Caspian, and then the children come to Narnia and basically spend much of the book hearing about the Prince. They meet up and Peter fights Miraz and that is about it. They definitely sped the action up in the movie.

Here are some of my observations about the movie:
-The fight between Edmund and Trumpkin was pretty cool. I loved that Peter deferred the fight to Ed. And the fact that even though they are children again, they still remember how to fight.

-Actually, Edmund has become my favorite character out of the two movies. In the first one he was the betrayer. In this one, he was pretty badass. I love when he stabs the White Witch and walks past Peter and says "Yeah, you had it sorted." And his whole back and forth with Miraz was hilarious.
Edmund: So you're bravely refusing to fight a swordsman half your age?

-The girl who plays Susan, Anna Popplewell, is getting kind of hot.
Picture Provided By: TeenIdols4You.com

-Was there a scene in the book with the White Witch? I cannot remember that happening that way, I could be mistaken. I may have to go back and reread it. I liked the scene, thought it was cool to show that both Caspian and Peter were weak in certain ways.

-When I did read the book, Reepicheep was my favorite character. My biggest fear going into the movie is they would turn him into a silly fighting mouse. From the book, I got the impression that he was a dude that could seriously fight. Reading an interview with the director, he apparently wanted Reepicheep to be similar to Puss in Boots from Shrek 2, but Eddie Izzard saw the character differently. Thank god for that. Eddie Izzard is one of my favorite comedians and he nailed Reepicheep's personality perfectly.

-In the book, I pictured the Telmarines to be somewhat Arab, but was glad the movie went the Spanish look. The whole conquistador armor worked really well.

-I loved the fight between Miraz and Peter. The book made it seem like all Peter had to do was keep moving and let Miraz tire out, but the movie showed them much more evenly matched.

-Do any of you who have kids think it was a bit more violent than the first? The first movie had animals and mythical creatures fighting. This one had scenes of Edmund dispatching a few Telmarine soldiers. Obviously it did not bother me one bit, but does anyone have any thoughts on it?

-I love reading the complaints about the movie, such as: The good guys were British and the bad guys had Mediterranean accents. Yeah? In Star Wars the good guys had American accents and the bad guys had British accents.

-Or, at the end of the movie, Lucy can heal the wounded with her magic potion so that no Narnians die. I do not think she saved everyone in the first movie, nor in the second. I guess she should just let them die and keep it for herself? Or should the movie makers ignored that aspect of the book. Do these people ever think about how difficult it must be for Lucy? To have to decide who to use it on. Not wanting to run out because what if one of her family members needs it? Yet, she then has to watch someone else die...

-I could have done without the Susan and Caspian love scenes. Not true. The kiss at the end was okay, as well as her 1300 years older joke. The scene where she tells him to keep the horn so he can call her again, rather lame. Although, I wonder if by the final movie they plan to keep Susan off the train because she's too interested in lipstick, nylons, and invitations...which basically meant she was a whore.

Anyways, if you liked the first movie, you will like the second one. Not nearly as much as the first one, which made me cry, this one did not, but still a very good movie to check out.

Mouth Orgasm

That was my dinner this evening. That steak is about 15 ounces and almost an inch thick. An expensive cut of Delmonico Black Angus beef. How could I afford such a pricey steak? Well I have an interesting story about it.

Last night after work, I stopped off at Mugshots for a beer. I talked to my friend Steve and when we left I offered him a ride home, since he lives across the street from me. When I drop him off he says to wait a second because he has something for me.

He comes out a minute later with a Giant Eagle bag and inside was the pictured steak. I had completely forgotten about a discussion we had about every time he gets a safety incentive bonus he buys a big steak. I joked that I never buy good food for myself because it is too expensive, and he said that the next time he gets one he would hook me up. Well he actually remembered and definitely came through. That is what I call a good friend.

Around 4 p.m. I went over to the store and bought some stuff to go with it, plus some other groceries I needed. I got home and realized I do not buy anything to marinade the steak in, so I decided to use Italian dressing and various spices. After four hours I could not take it any long, I was starving.

I tossed it on my stove along with some Lipton's beef noodles, which I forgot how good they are and how absolutely cheap. I need to pick up more of them to eat after work when I am starving.

Luckily, I have fantastic steak cooking skills and cooked it to a perfect medium rare. The steak was absolutely delicious. Each bite melted in my mouth. I ate the entire thing, even eating the very slim pieces of fat which were also quite tasty.

While it was cooking I went down to my wine cellar to bring up a bottle of red. I quickly realized that I hate wine, and I do not actually have wine cellar. I had to settle for the next best thing, chocolate milk. Wine snobs can go punch themselves in the nuts because my steak and chocolate milk was fantastic.

So in conclusion, I would like to thank Steve for the steak, my years of restaurant employers for the skill to cook the steak, and my own distinct taste for not wasting money on shitty wine.

Brisingr Preview

For those of you who read my stuff before I started this blog, such as my livejournal, you may remember one of my last posts being about The Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini. If you decide to go read it you get a very long, very boring look at the similarities between the first two books, Eragon and Eldest, and the first two Star Wars movies.

That being said, I still loved reading the books and could not wait for the third one to come out. Then it was announced that instead of a trilogy there would be four books. It seemed to me that Paolini realized that his third book probably sounded a bit like Return of the Jedi and he scrapped most of it and decided to go a new route. Which is why I think in the second book there is the whole subplot about Roran, which in my opinion was the best part of the book.

The third book will be called Brisingr and comes out in September. I have read around the internet and found some things out about the book and decided to make some of my own predictions.

If wikipedia is to be trusted, and that is something that should be done very rarely, the book's website had a spoiler up saying that "In Brisingr, Eragon will meet a god..." Sounds very interesting, especially since the elves really do not believe in gods, but the dwarves do. Remember that Eragon was initiated into the dwarves religion and was told he would find a source of strength at the Vault of Souls...could he meet the dwarf-god?

Also, the spirits Durza and other sorcerers control will be revealed, and they will not be the souls of the dead, but something else. I wonder if Eragon will learn to control them in a different way, a good way, to help him defeat Galbatorix. I do believe that he will find a way to break Galbatorix's control over Murtaugh.

I hope they do not make Roran one of the riders. Giving him a dragon and making him like Eragon would completely detract from his story. Imagine if Han Solo became a Jedi...I like Roran the way he is, a brawler, a berserker. Using his giant hammer to reign terror upon his enemies.

Who will be the next rider is the big question...something tells me Arya because it is romantic, she and Eragon will be able to frolic in dewy fields or something together. Personally I would like to see Vanir become the next rider, since he has trained for years in hopes of having an egg hatch for him. He would be able to hop on a dragon and pretty much be a ready-made warrior to help Eragon out. But, what the hell do I know about anything. If they do not make Vanir a rider, at least bring him into the third book and let him be of some use. Maybe he goes with Roran on an adventure, teaches Roran how to hone his anger and skills...

Anyways, that is all I got and I am pretty sure the only person who will respond will be Ryan...

Lost: Episode 412

We are winding down, two weeks from now is the 2 hour season finale. Tonight was the first part of the uber-long finale titled "There's No Place Like Home." The nice thing about the episode is that it answered some of my questions, and helped bridge the gap between some of the other flashforwards, or at least lay a foundation for them.

Island Stuff
The stuff happening on the island is pretty much what you would expect. Jack and Kate track the helicopter. They run into Miles, Sawyer, and Aaron, Kate and Miles head back to the beach with Aaron. Sawyer joins Jack to save the helicopter and Desmond and Sayid. Once they reach the helicopter they learn that Sayid and Desmond stayed on the ship, but that Keamy and his men will capture Ben and kill Hurley. Jack and Sawyer must go rescue Hurley. Sayid brings the raft onto the island and starts to rescue the first group, Kate returns and tells Sayid that Jack is trying to save the chopper. Sayid and Kate go after Jack and Sawyer.

As usual, things are never simple. Sayid and Kate run into Richard and the rest of the Others, which is probably much better than running into Keamy. Ben leads Locke and Hurley to the Orchid, which can move the island and gives Locke instructions on how to get inside the real station. Ben then gives himself up to Keamy, who knocks him out with the butt of his gun.

Sun and Jin arrive on the freighter and meet up with Michael. Desmond screams for Michael and when they meet up they find that the freighter is wired with C4. The best part of all of this is that the Oceanic Six are all separated right now and it is interesting to try and speculate how they will become the last survivors.

Flashforward
In the flashforwards we see how the Six make it back to the United States. Apparently they used a raft and made it to a neighboring island and washed up onshore at fishing village where someone took their picture.

They had plenty of time to discuss their story. They are reunited with their families, except for Sayid and Kate. Later Nadia meets Sayid outside of the press conference. At Hurley's birthday party, his dad gives him the Camero they worked on together. Hurley is happy until he sees the odometer setting: 481516 on top, and the bottom set: 2342. He freaks out and tells his dad he does not want the car.

The final part of the flashforward involves Jack giving a eulogy at his fathers wake. Afterwards, a woman approaches him and says that she was the reason Christian was in Australia. They had a daughter together and that she was on Oceanic 815 with Jack, but she died. She tells Jack that the girl's name was Claire. We see the look of shock on Jack's face and the horror as he looks at Aaron and Kate. This definitely seems to be the point where Jack runs from Kate, but then comes back to her defense at the trial.

It is interesting how the flashforwards almost work like flashbacks anyways. The first one we saw showed a very crazy Jack wanting to return to the island. The early ones showed Hurley's decent into madness...anyways, you get my picture.

Also, James brought up a good point last week: what will happen to Aaron? The psychic told Claire that she had to raise the baby because her goodness would affect the child.

Bar Etiquette

Here is something I noticed during my long career of hitting up bars and having plenty of drinks with friends. Almost everywhere you go, people understand the bar etiquette, except in State College.

I am not going to say that State College is different, but unlike most bars, it has a high proportion of kids who have recently turned 21 and have no clue what bar etiquette means. This is probably the same in many college towns across the country.

Working in a small bar near Philipsburg called the Moshannon Park Inn helped me learn the rules and etiquette before I turned 21. My first few forays into the State College night life confused me because it was not what I had seen many times before. Before I begin my examination and explanation of the bar etiquette, let me say the State College bars I am referring to all fall within the downtown area, bars like the Arena or Champs do not fit into this discussion.

The Rules
1. Buying drinks for girls. In most bars, if you want to meet a cute girl at the bar, you can buy her a drink. The girl can do one of two things, a. accept the drink, b. reject the drink. If she rejects the drink, then you have saved yourself some money and time. If she accepts the drink, again there are more options as to what can happen. First, she can say thank you and motion for you to join her, or come join you. If that happens, then your plan has succeeded. She can accept the drink, but gives no indication as to whether or not she is interested. Do not get pissed, or try to be a dick about it, just accept it. Girls, to be fair, if you have no interest, but want the drink, then let the gentleman know that you appreciate the drink, but you have a boyfriend or something like that.

-In State College, if you offer a girl a drink, she will look at you like you are crazy.
-If you ask the bartender to send a girl a drink, he will probably ignore you, mainly because the place is packed and he has no time to waste.

2. Normally, if you tip a bartender extremely well, they will pretty much always hook you up. Maybe give you a free drink, or shots, whatever. The very least they will give you better service. They will make small talk and after awhile, they will make conversation with you when it is not busy. They will skip over some cheapskate to get you a beer first.

-State College bartenders do not give a damn about you. You can tip them $10 per drink and they will just take the money and walk away. You will still wait twenty minutes for a drink, while the bartender flirts with some chubby girl. Their idea of hooking you up is to maybe stop skipping over you in order to wait on the girls.

Hmm, I really thought I had more things for this list, but really it was just two. My bad.
I will now go to the bar and hopefully see a girl like this while watching the Pens beat up on the Flyers.

Heroes Season 3

About bloody time. This preview for season three has put me in the greatest mood ever.



A 3-hour premiere???

Fantasy Baseball Week 6

I had Ryan right where I wanted him most of the week, but then I let it slip away over the weekend. The final score ended up 4-4-2, keeping me in last place with a 20-36-4 record. If only I could have picked up one more win or one more HR, but I am sure Ryan says the same thing.

Anyways, Ryan and I made another trade which should be available this week, Jason Bay, John Smoltz, and DiceK for Carl Crawford and Hunter Pence. I do not know if it was a good move or not, but in reality, I need to shake things up.

Mugshots Perverts

I seriously think about starting another blog solely about my adventures at Mugshots. This third installment only looks at a comment a crazy man named George made to Jen the other night. She was sweet enough to write it down for me, so she would not forget it.

"I would carve you half-naked in marble and put you by my pond just like the Romans would."

Aside from the fact that it's extremely creepy to say something like this to a young lady, let us examine the absolutely absurdity of this statement.

1. I would carve you: This implies the gentleman has some skills as a sculptor. Somehow I doubt this. I am somewhat impressed that he was able to put together a complete sentence, but carve anything? Probably not going to happen.

2. half-naked: Why half-naked? Which half? Topless? Bottomless? Left vs. right? Does that mean Jen is only half good looking? I want to know the rationale here, does he carve her wearing a toga that leaves a breast exposed?

3. in marble: He has a slab of marble lying around his house just waiting to be carved into a half naked Jen. Somehow I doubt that one.

4. put you by my pond: Yes, I believe he has a pond about as much as I believe he has a slab of marble or any sculpting skills. I live in Crafton, I do not see many ponds around here.

5. just like the Romans would: I studied ancient civilizations, mostly Near Eastern, but I did take a few classes on the Roman Republic and Empire. I do not remember during any of my classes a professor saying "and Romans put half-naked statues of hot bartenders by their ponds." I just cannot remember that for the life of me.

Is this what he has in mind?

Josh Angry! Josh Smash!

Today I went out and did a few things, like go to the bank and whatnot. Afterwards I decided to go out to the Robinson Mall to look for a book. While I was at the Borders, I found absolutely nothing I felt like reading, so I decided to look at some clothes, and more importantly shoes.

First I start off at PacSun, and the place has no shoes, only sandals. So, I start looking at shirts and everyone of them looked absolutely ridiculous. Also, apparently shorts are no longer a simple thing to buy either. They have crazy patterns all over them and are weird colors. Ugh, is it too hard to ask for a pair of khaki shorts?

Next, I head over to Journey's. Two cute girls are working and I can see that they are about to make the move to come tell me how great the shoes are. I only see one pair that I even remotely liked, but I was not completely sure about them. As the girl got within five feet, I realized what would happen. She would tell me to try them on, and once they were on, she would start saying how good they looked on me, probably bend over a few times to help me with the laces, and I would end up dropping $75 on a pair of shoes that I would never wear. Once I played this situation out in my head, I quickly turned away from her and left the store.

I strolled into Buckle and within six seconds realized I was in the wrong store, so I strolled right back out.

So, shoes are just not in my future.

Lost: Episode 411

Much, much better than last weeks episode. Plus, the episode went back to a good old fashioned flashback, which was quite intriguing.

The Ultimate Trio
After walking for a bit, the fun-loving threesome stops and realize that they are lost, each one has been following the other, Locke thinks Ben knows where the cabin is, Ben thinks Hurley does, and Hurley is following Locke...

They set up camp, and Locke has a dream where a guy Horace tells him that when he finds Horace he will find the cabin. Locke realizes that Horace must be with the other dead DHARMA people and leads the group to the mass grave. As Locke looks for Horace's body, Hurley and Ben talk about how they were killed, and Ben says that it was not his decision, he was not always the leader...

Locke finds a map with plans to build the cabin in Horace's pocket. As they head off towards their destination, Locke gives Hurley the option to return to the beach, but Hurley says he would rather stay with them. They reach the cabin, and Ben tells Locke he is not going inside, Hurley also decides to stay inside. Locke goes in and who does he meet? Our good friend Christian Shepherd, Jack and Claire's father.

Locke then sees Claire and starts to ask questions, but Christian tells him that the baby is fine and is where it is supposed to be. He then tells Locke that they do not have much time, what is the one question he wants to ask. Locke asks how to save the island.

Locke comes out and Ben asks what "he" said, and Locke responds "we must move the island."

The Freighter
Back on the ship, Keamy and his men have returned and most of them are dead or wounded. The Captain takes Keamy to see Michael, and Keamy goes to shoot him, but his gun misfires.

Later, the Captain tells Desmond and Sayid about a place they can hide because he thinks Keamy will kill them. Sayid wants to use a small boat and ferry people back and forth, the Captain agrees. Desmond tells Sayid that he has been on the island for three years and he is never stepping foot on it again.

Later, Keamy slits the doctor's throat and then threatens Frank that he will kill everyone on the ship if he does not take them back to the island. Frank agrees and as they fly over the beach, he drops a bag with a SAT-phone in it. Jack picks up the bag and says they should follow the signal.

Flashback
This one is about the birth of Locke. He was born prematurely and the nurses say he is quite a fighter. Not too interesting at first, but then there is a man staring through the door, and when the grandmother is asked who he is, she does not know. When they finally show us the mystery man, it's our old friend Richard.

When Locke is a little older, Richard comes to visit him and asks him to take a little test. He puts some items on a table and says to pick which ones already belong to him, lock picks two things and then picks a knife, which Richard says is wrong and leaves in a huff.

When John is in high school his science teacher tells him about Mittelos Science Camp, and they want John to go. Locke says no, that he does not want to be a scientist. Mittlelos was the same company that came to Juliet, also oddly enough it is an anagram for Lost Time.

The last flashback scene is after Locke's accident and as he goes back to his room, the orderly explains that John should go on a walkabout. The orderly is Matthew Abaddon, you know, the guy who recruited the team of scientists, and the guy who came to see Hurley. He tells Locke that after his walkabout he will thank Matthew and owe him one.

My Thoughts
What the hell is Richard? He does not age, does he just bounce through time trying to find ways to help the island? Is he kind of the avatar of the island?

I think the reason not everyone gets off the island is that as Sayid takes a group back to the ship, Locke somehow moves the island, making it impossible for Sayid to come back. Next question you might ask then, how come Desmond is not one of the Six? Or if Aaron is one of the Six, then why is it not Seven? Maybe he dies on the ship? Maybe Penny and her father pull some strings to keep him out of the media, they pretend he was a deck hand named Kevin Johnson. Who knows...The one thing I can see though, Sayid's first pickup group would probably be Kate, Aaron, Sun, maybe Jack because of his stitches.

Keamy's group probably kills Jin, or Jin dies heroically saving the rest of the group. Sawyer chooses on his own to stay behind, but then gives Kate a final order to take Aaron and say goodbye to his daughter. How does Hurley get on the boat though? Hmmm, something to ponder.

Oh, since I never wrote about the show during seasons one and two, here is a hot picture of Maggie Grace, otherwise known as Shannon, remember her?

Softball

The company I work for, remember I cannot talk about The Company, has a slow-pitch softball league. Last night we played our first game of the season. We won 11-10, which pretty much kicked ass. I had an okay game. I played SS and made a few errors, but also made a few nice plays, hopefully next week I can play 2B where I am more comfortable. I also hit leadoff and here are my at-bats.

First AB: Line drive to the right center fielder. I was trying to hit one into the gap, but it was a little inside and it ended up in the fielders glove.

Second AB: With a man on first, I lined one up the middle past both the RCF and LCF, as I came into second, I saw the ball was still not in yet and continued on to third. There was an error somewhere in the outfield and my third base coach was yelling for me to go home, which I did. So a nice inside the parker, two RBI at-bat. Although, it was more like a double, or maybe a triple.

Third AB: Man on first again, I grounded into a fielder's choice.

Fourth AB: I hit one up the middle again, but the second baseman was playing very close to second and was able to get it. I beat the throw to first by at least a step, but the umpire called me out. When I was walking back to the field with my glove, the home plate umpire says to me that I was safe. This caused our team to explain and argue with him that he can overrule a call, but it did no good.

So, there you have it, my line for the game: 1-4, 1 Run, 2 RBIs, AVE: .250.

On a side note, I really feel like I am getting old. My body actually aches after the game. I guess it has been like two years since I did anything remotely athletic.

Google Analytics

As I have said before, I love using Google Analytics for this site. I like looking at the map to see where everyone comes from. Obviously the majority is PA, but plenty of other folks outside the state and even some out of the country find their way here.

Many of the people I can figure out, for example Houtzdale I am guessing is my mom and brother, since they have a heavy majority of the PA hits, or NYC is probably Gideon. Colorado=Greg Howley...you get the idea.

Unfortunately, there are some that I cannot figure out. It would not bother me, but they seem to be avid readers, like more than 5 visits to the site, or they spend a good deal of time at the site. I do notice I get many Google Image results, since I post a lot of pictures, in fact a girl I know IMd me to tell me that when she searched for Sara Shahi pictures, my site comes up on the first search page, I thought it was pretty cool.

So, here are a list of the areas that visit here, if you want to remain anonymous, that is fine, but it would be cool to know who some of my readers are that do not post comments.

Pennsylvania
Byrnedale: 31 Visits.
Curwensville: 27 Visits.
Warriors Mark: 24 Visits.
Strattanville: 15 Visits.

Georgia
Atlanta: 16 Visits.

New York
Long Island City: 9 Visits.

Canada
Weston: 9 Visits.

Anyways, this post obviously has no entertainment value, so you know what that means? Hot chick picture.

Photo Courtesy of FHM

Fantasy Baseball: Week Five

Holy rat farts! I actually won. I beat G-Dizzle 8-2, bringing my season record to 16-32-2. The only two categories I lost were AVE and SVs. It was nice to finally have a week where my players performed to expectations. I was nervous because I missed out on the two HR games from both McLouth and Pence, but it did not cost me anything.

This week I play against Ryan. He is in second place, with a very strong team, if I can beat him then this season could seriously turn around for me.

Iron Man

Have you seen Iron Man yet? If not, I highly recommend you got out right now and watch it. Definitely one of the best comic book movies out there.

The story focuses on the origin of Iron Man, which sticks pretty closely to the original comic with a few modern changes here and there. The movie starts out fairly quickly and then slows it down to give you an idea of who is Tony Stark.

In my opinion, the best part of the movie was Robert Downey Jr. He played a perfect Tony Stark. Most of my friends know that I was a Downey supporter as soon as I heard he was picked for the part. I think he is a fantastic actor, and he pretty much has lived the life of Tony Stark (well the rich, troubled part, obviously not the Iron Man part). A much better choice than Tom Cruise, who wanted the part for years.

I read some of the complaints online and some people are saying how they hate in all the Marvel films the bad guy is always much more powerful than the good guy...Yeah, that is what makes it interesting. It would be boring to watch Spider-Man trounce Green Goblin easily, or Iron Man pummel Iron Monger for twenty minutes without getting a scratch. Stan Lee created his characters to have fantastic abilities, but also immense flaws. Iron Man has a kick-ass suit, and he is rich, but Tony Stark eventually becomes a raging alcoholic (I hope that is the direction they go in the sequel).

The only thing I found funny about the movie, not much of a complaint really, and this is a spoiler if you have not watched it, is how Obadiah Stane easily controls the Iron Monger suit after putting it on, yet it took Stark many attempts to perfect it. I was glad Rhodey did not just hop in the other suit and fly around easily.

Oh, and for those of you who saw the final clip after the credits, I predicted that scene almost verbatim to my brother before we went in: "I bet there will be a scene at the end with Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and he will tell Stark that he is the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and that he is starting a program called The Avengers." I did not have inside information, just read online somewhere that apparently Jackson was seen on the set of Iron Man and The Hulk. The Ultimate Universe Fury is based on Jackson, it is pretty easy to see it coming, if you are a nerd like me.

Anyways, I cannot say anything bad about the movie. I could talk about how great the FX were, or how the dialog rocked, or whatever, but instead, I just want you to go see it, and tell me what you think.

Comic Book Movie Grade: A+

Lost: Episode 410

Sorry it took so long for me to get this up, but I did not see the episode until last night. The episode was an alright episode, but I am in complete agreement with Gideon: the flashforwards and flashbacks this season are starting to detract from the main story on the island.

Whereas in previous seasons the flashbacks were the more interesting feature, finding out how the characters got to the island and why they were each "lost." Also seeing how they all were connected in little ways was pretty cool as well.

These will be some quick reviews of what happened.

Island Stuff
-Jack needs his appendix taken out, luckily Juliet knows how to do it.
-Operation is a success.
-Juliet tells Kate that Jack kissed her, but it was a kiss that was meant for someone else, meaning Kate...
-Sawyer, Claire, and Miles make their way back to the beach. Miles shows his ability to talk to the dead by finding Rousseau's and Karl's bodies.
-Claire sees her father, Christian Shepherd (Jack's dad) and follows him into the jungle.
-Sawyer wakes up and asks Miles where Claire went and he responds that she went into the jungle with her dad. They follow, but only find Aaron...

Flashforward
-This one starts out with Jack waking up and going to get a shower with a female, and we learn that it is Kate. Apparently he changed his mind after the trial.
-Jack asks Kate to marry him.
-Jack sees Hurly, who has a message from Charlie and says that Jack will get his own visitor soon. Jack starts seeing his father.
-Jack starts drinking and taking prescription medicine. We are seeing the fall of Jack...
-Jack asks Kate where she was all day, and she lies to him, then tells him that she had to do something for Sawyer. Jack gets angry and says that Sawyer made his choice to stay on the island...

Okay, here are my thoughts on the episode. It looks like the people who voted for Claire were correct that she will be the next to die. Is Aaron the final member of the Oceanic Six?

It is funny to me how short of a time period they have been on the island and look at all the fantastic things that have happened. Jack's appendix, Jack gave a blood transfusion, many people have died, anyone even remember Shannon and Boone?

My new favorite thing on the show though has been the transformation of Sawyer. He was the rogue, the guy who did not want to help out, liked being the anti-Jack. Now he has become a leader and a protector. He acts like he does not care, but we see that he really does, whether it be for Hurly or for Claire.

Could Miles see Christian or did he just think Claire was crazy? Why else would you bring a guy who can talk to ghosts?