snap culture: August 2005

  1. Go ahead, call it a comeback William, 8/29/2005 0 comments
  2. Ten games for steroids... William, 8/25/2005 1 comments
  3. No longer coming up Short William, 8/25/2005 0 comments
  4. For real real? ben, 8/23/2005 2 comments
  5. Welcome to the bigs, kid. William, 8/22/2005 0 comments
  6. ramblings ben, 8/19/2005 0 comments
  7. Be our guest, sort of William, 8/16/2005 0 comments
  8. brilliance ben, 8/05/2005 0 comments
  9. I love lists... William, 8/05/2005 0 comments
  10. Cuddling or sports? William, 8/04/2005 0 comments
  11. say it ain't so, Charlie Murphy ben, 8/03/2005 0 comments

8/29/2005 Add a comment

James Blake, my favorite pro tennis player, is finally back to full strength after a series of injuries, illnesses, and tragedies. In fact, he won the Pilot Pen yesterday in the final tuneup for the US Open. Let's hope he can make it to the fourth round or beyond. William

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8/25/2005 Add a comment

six games for milk? William

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  1. Blogger Roberto Iza Valdés: This comment has been removed by the author. 9/07/2007  

8/25/2005 Add a comment

Rick Short, a career minor leaguer for more than a decade, is chasing .400 and may finally get his due in the bigs once rosters expand next month. This is a wonderfully fun piece to read, especially for those who like to think about how their sports careers could have turned out differently. You know, if they had a whole lot more talent and drive and time. William

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8/23/2005 Add a comment

One of the more ridiculous commercials I've seen in a while, for Heineken:

Two Asian guys are "acting black" with their hats turned sideways and saying things like "Yeah Dog" and frantically gesturing or something. They're at the convenience store, getting 40s out of the refridgerated section, when a well-dressed black guy (wearing the new Jay-Z uniform of sportcoat and jeans) goes by them and takes out a six-pack of Heineken. He calmly says into his cell phone, "No, for real real." Then cut to a shot of clearly-mellowed Asian guys at the cash register, each carrying a six-pack of Heineken. One of them says into his cell phone, "For real real."

Why don't they go all the way and make Heineken's new slogan:
Black people are cooler than you, and black people drink Heineken
Apparently these Asian guys changed their entire personas when they saw how a "real" black person was behaving. This ad takes the cake for egregious racial stereotyping as far as I'm concerned. Let's see how long it takes for Slate's advertising reviewer to slice and dice it. ben

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  1. Anonymous Anonymous: this commercial is hilarious and shows the "wanksta" asians so common in the suburbs in their reality. this is how they actually act. its hilarious. 8/25/2005  
  2. Blogger Serge: Here is the link to this commercial:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=tpbyJ7dN9OA     8/23/2007  

8/22/2005 Add a comment

Ouch! Let's hope that Adam Greenberg's first big-league at bat isn't his last. Unless he turns into a great player who eventually helps the Cubs vault past the Cardinal juggernaut. William

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8/19/2005 Add a comment

The best from today's column by the Sports Guy:

* Is it just me or does "Pope Benedict" sound like somebody who would be the third receiver on Florida State or something?

And this one is too close to home:

* Hey, have they held the funeral for Muhsin Muhammad's roto career yet? ben

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8/16/2005 Add a comment

Persian Gulf guest-worker programs lead to potentially racist or national-biased employment, but those guest workers don't mind the bigger paychecks they send back home to family. William

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8/05/2005 Add a comment

from Krugman today:
There are several reasons why fake research is so effective. One is that nonscientists sometimes find it hard to tell the difference between research and advocacy - if it's got numbers and charts in it, doesn't that make it science?

Even when reporters do know the difference, the conventions of he-said-she-said journalism get in the way of conveying that knowledge to readers. I once joked that if President Bush said that the Earth was flat, the headlines of news articles would read, "Opinions Differ on Shape of the Earth." The headlines on many articles about the intelligent design controversy come pretty close.

Finally, the self-policing nature of science - scientific truth is determined by peer review, not public opinion - can be exploited by skilled purveyors of cultural resentment. Do virtually all biologists agree that Darwin was right? Well, that just shows that they're elitists who think they're smarter than the rest of us.
If you don't read Krugman twice a week, you're missing out. ben

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8/05/2005 Add a comment

... including this one of the Top 100 Video Games. William

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8/04/2005 Add a comment

This reaction seems a bit extreme. William

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8/03/2005 Add a comment

Eddie's older brother reports "Chappelle's Show" is over. Damn! ben

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