Happy 52nd birthday to Marvelous Marvin Hagler! I saw that it was his birthday and thought back to watching his fight against Thomas Hearns as a kid, possibly the most exciting boxing match I’ve ever seen on TV. (Do yourself a favor and at least watch the first round. One of the greatest boxing rounds ever.)
Month: May 2008
Toughest Questions from Last Week
- Who wrote the Maltese Falcon?
- What is known as the Master Spice?
- The first ship to ever sail from Europe to India went in search of spices. Who was the captain of that ship?
- What James wrote the book Go Tell It on the Mountain in 1953?
- What beer company makes Zima?
- Aldous Huxley got the title Brave New World from this Shakespeare play, which contained a spirit named Ariel and is believed to have been the Bards last play.
- What car gets its name from the latin for “I roll”?
- Who is credited with the line: these are the times that try mens souls?
- Actor Simon MacCorkindale would transform into various creatures such as panthers and dolphins in this aptly named show in 1983.
- Emily’s Reasons Why Not was Cancelled after just one episode in 2006. Who was the star of that show?
a) FDR b) Thomas Paine c) Winston Churchill d) Thomas Jefferson
Your Chance to Win Tonight
There will be no Sofa Kingdom, no Hurtin’ Bombs, and no Narctyzing Dysfunktion tonight at the Bards quizzo. Translation: Your team might actually win! Remember, no quizzo at Good Dog tonight. Quizzo at Bards begins at 10:15 p.m.
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur!
In honor of Sir Arthur COnan Doyle’s 149th birthday, I suggest you read a Sherlock Holmes short story or two. A couple of my favorites are The Adventure of the Speckled Band and The Adventure of the Dancing Men. I suspect most of you went through a Sherlock Holmes phase at some point. If you didn’t, do yourself a favor and read these stories. After these two, you’ll be hooked. And even if you have read them, it’s probably been years. Do yourself a favor and read them again. They are no less brilliant the second time around. Conan Doyle rocks.
Quizzo Sabotage!!!
This was pointed out by alert reader Phil: someone changed the movie that Mark Linn-Baker starred in with Peter O’Toole on Linn-Bakers wiki page, apparently in an effort for some teams to get it wrong! According to the wikihistory, first they posted the movie as Super Fuzz, then Hot Fuzz, and now Carbon Copy (none of which are correct). This is one of the most devious (yet somewhat admirable) attempts I have ever seen to gain 5 points over your enemies. These changes were made today, so this was no accident. Is Super Fuzz, followed by Hot Fuzz, followed by Carbon Copy, some sort of code to mankind? What will the Johnny Goodtimes Ethics Committee have to say about this? Will the culprit reveal themselves at quizzo, or are they in the lab, preparing more diabolical stunts to ensure victory and a $25 gift certificate?Stay tuned.
Lowell “The Hammer” Stanley
Growing up in Virginia, this guy’s commercials would regularly show up during daytime programming, and they were amazing (His office is in Hampton Roads). Watch the horrific accidents going on in the background as he talks. This was not a satire. This was an actual commercial. And he had plenty of others just as horrific. My mom called one time to complain, and they hung up on her. Oh, and I’ll give you one guess as to where Lowell “The Hammer” grew up? That’s right. New Jersey.
Robert Gates: Appeaser
A few quick words from Robert Gates, US Secretary of Defense, about Iran the day before Bush made his appeasers remark in Israel:
“We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage . . . and then sit down and talk with them,” Gates said. “If there is going to be a discussion, then they need something, too. We can’t go to a discussion and be completely the demander, with them not feeling that they need anything from us.”
Oops. What he meant to say was, “What’s going to happen if Iran doesn’t do exactly what we say? My prediction: Pain.”
Happy birthday, Mr. T!
How will Mr. T’s birthday go? My prediction: Pain.
Checking Out Nationals Park
Headed down to DC yesterday afternoon with Gabe from the Omelette and a few of the guys from the Kingdom. The traffic was surprisingly smooth. We got there and rolled in. The stadium just opened this year, so they still have a few kinks to work out. Parking is still kind of a crapshoot, and plenty expensive. Cheapest lots we found were $25. Rolled into a Permit Parking Lot only, where the girl told us, she’s let us park there for $20 “on the DL”. Why can’t I go anywhere without being sketchy? Anyways, we walked up got tickets. They say the stadium has been pretty empty this year, and one reason is the tickets. The tickets down in the lower level are waaaaay more expensive than they are in Philly. For example, tickets right above the dugout in Philly are $50. In DC, they are $75. Lower level outfield in Philly is $24. In DC, it’s $35.
As for the ballpark itself, the first thing I thought of when I walked in was, “I feel like I’m in a video game ballpark.” Hard to explain, but everyone agreed with me. Everything was sort of harshly angled, the scoreboard was so huge it was borderline silly, and there were areas that didn’t really make any sense (A section right behind the center field wall that I think was, no kidding, a sandy hill spray painted green to look like it had grass on it, like they ran out of money before they could lay the last of the sod.)
The concourses were extremely dull. Both the walkways and the floor were sort of tannish white color. The food choices were ok, and there didn’t seem to be much of an effort to support local institutions, either beer wise or food wise. The stadium was a very fair representation of this team: generic and somewhat uninteresting. And the field will torture the Phillies for years to come, as it is not a home run hitters ballpark. The Phils had three or four hits last night that would have been gone at CBP, but were routine pop flies at Nationals Park.
By far the highlight of the night was the president race, when the four guys with huge heads raced around the track. Apparently Teddy Roosevelt has never won, and on this night his streak continued, as he finished a distant third. Teddy really looks lost out there, but I still bet he could beat Ryan Howard in a footrace.
Anyways, the best part of the (terrible) game was how eerie the first four innings were for the Phillies:
1st Inning: Rollins out, Victorino singles, Utley singles, Howard out, Burrell out
2nd Inning: Jenkins double, Feliz out (fails to advance the runner), Ruiz out but advances runner, Myers out
3rd Inning: Rollins out, Victorino singles, Utley singles, Howard out, Burrell out
4th Inning: Jenkins double, Feliz out (fails to advance the runner), Ruiz out but advances runner, Myers out
Weird. Anyways, it turned out to be quite possibly the worst Phillies game I have ever seen, as the listless Phightins’ went down 4-0, despite a crowd that was probably abotu 50% pro-Phillies. But a bad day at the ballpark still beats a good day workin’.
Show tonight at the Fire
Yo, my homeboy Matt is the guitar player for a band in Brooklyn called Big Bang TV, and they are playing tonight at the Fire (412 West Girard). If you don’t play quizzo tonight, go check ’em out. Show kicks off at 9 p.m. (Word on the street is that this is Mike Huckabee’s favorite band.)