snap culture: May 2007

  1. Icky Thump video William, 5/29/2007 0 comments
  2. Strangely fascinating William, 5/29/2007 0 comments
  3. Springfield, oh Springfield! William, 5/29/2007 0 comments
  4. One thing to make you sad, one to make you happy William, 5/28/2007 2 comments
  5. gimme four beers ben, 5/25/2007 0 comments
  6. Easily the most dramatic thing I've seen in a long time... William, 5/24/2007 0 comments
  7. Eerie Parallels ben, 5/23/2007 1 comments
  8. I cannot imagine a bigger waste of time ben, 5/18/2007 0 comments
  9. No way! William, 5/17/2007 1 comments
  10. a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma ben, 5/16/2007 1 comments
  11. Could a paralympic athlete compete in the Olympics? William, 5/15/2007 3 comments
  12. World League? William, 5/09/2007 1 comments
  13. Bob Barker and Hank Steuver William, 5/09/2007 0 comments
  14. One more ben, 5/05/2007 0 comments
  15. Seriously ben, 5/05/2007 0 comments
  16. I knew it! ben, 5/04/2007 0 comments
  17. the death of tha h-dog? ben, 5/01/2007 0 comments

5/29/2007 Add a comment

The White Stripes' new video, the first single from their new album, is available here. I've already pre-ordered the album on iTunes (to get a special bonus track). Needless to say, this is very exciting. Also, is it me, or does Meg in this video look a bit like a strung-out Rory Gilmore? William

Comments

5/29/2007 Add a comment

This site of NBA wives and girlfriends. William

Comments

5/29/2007 Add a comment

With the Simpsons movie on the horizon, my hometown is competing to host the premiere. It better win!

Labels:

William

Comments

5/28/2007 Add a comment

All my baseball cards are worthless.

But here are some awesome t-shirts. (from deadspin or the big lead or something like that.) William

Comments

  1. Blogger ben: i saw this too. i might as well burn the cards in my parents' attic. and i really need that wimbledon t-shirt. 5/28/2007  
  2. Blogger William: $32 for the Rated Rookie t-shirt? That's more of a rip than a 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco! 5/29/2007  

5/25/2007 Add a comment

That's what Will Ferrell's landlord demands. Me, I want $1,129. That's apparently how much this blog is worth. Hmm, is that based on the expected present discounted value of advertising revenue? For some reason, I don't buy it.

(thanks for the link, Meghan!) ben

Comments

5/24/2007 Add a comment

This video from Kruger Nat'l Park in South Africa. Just when you think it's over, it isn't. (hat tip, geekologie)

Labels: , , , ,

William

Comments

5/23/2007 Add a comment




Same collar, same expression, different leg crossed. What do you think? ben

Comments

  1. Blogger William: you forgot the other parallel... both AWESOME. 5/23/2007  

5/18/2007 Add a comment

than sitting down and writing this atrocious article on CNN about how sex sells. Breaking CNN News: Our society likes attractive people. Film at 11.

Guess what, nameless AP writer? Attractive people have always done better in music, tv, and movies, because we like looking at them. The less attractive must have superior talent to make a name for themselves. So why write an article that appears to yearn for a simpler time when ugly people roamed all over the tv set? Just a horrible column.

Now back to waiting for the other shoe to drop, as the Bush Administration usually releases particularly bad news right around 5 pm on Friday... ben

Comments

5/17/2007 Add a comment

Tecmo Bowl is coming back?! I hope it stays in the old format and doesn't try to replicate or replace Madden.

Labels: ,

William

Comments

  1. Blogger ben: this almost has to be a bad thing...it's like trying to remake "better off dead" or something. 5/17/2007  

5/16/2007 Add a comment

An excellent article on the women's basketball league in Russia, where crazy oligarchs are paying players like Sue Bird and my good friend* Diana Taurasi half a million dollars a year to play there. It's incredible that the owners are willing to pay so much, and to not charge admission, when the WNBA pays the players peanuts.

Some great quotes, including:
"What is the difference between Barbra Streisand, Madonna and Diana Taurasi?"

"I'd say, 'This is face cream, right?'" Bird recalled. "And she'd say, 'No, it's hemorrhoid ointment.'"

"I don't know anyone in Rome. I'm on an Italian passport, but send me to Los Angeles. Shabtai had to call the minister of passports or something, and he got it taken care of."

Also, look at the guy in the background of the 4th picture. He looks like he should be on ice skates.

*I'm not sure if I've told the story in this space or not, but by "good friend", I mean I sat next to her on a flight from JFK to DTW and chatted with her, and she let me hold her recently acquired gold medal. ben

Comments

  1. Blogger William: I think we should refer to as "friend of the blog" like Colbert does. 5/16/2007  

5/15/2007 Add a comment

What if an athlete running on prosthetics got good enough to make the field in the 100? South Africa's Oscar Pistorius runs the 100 in under 11 seconds, and was the second-fastest in the 400 at the South African national championships.

I say, why not? Technology changes sports irrevocably. If a runner with no legs can compete against able-bodied athletes, even if using composite metal legs, it's all in the name of progress. If he or she could break a record, it would be one of the landmark achievements in sports. William

Comments

  1. Blogger ben: I disagree. The point of sports is to be impressed by people doing things you could never do. But if I could buy bionic legs, then I could do it too. Just like if *someone* took enough steroids, they could break Hank Aaron's home run record.

    That said, it's a slippery slope. Why outlaw steroids but not energy drinks, or eating beef that's injected with hormones, and so on and so on. I think the only way that sports survive on a plane above fake wrestling is to triple the list of illegal substances and renew our faith in athletes being superior to us naturally.     5/15/2007  
  2. Blogger William: Right, but we've already developed superior training techniques since the medicine ball, we've developed new technology in sports like tennis, skiing, and speedskating that have changed the face of their sports, and dealing with records from the past compared to the present is akin to comparing a the value of $1 in the past to the value of $1 in the present.

    We've crossed that bridge and there is no going back. How would you regulate a zillion more variables to ensure that things are equivalent. Can athletes no longer wear moisture-wicking underwear? Can they no longer take advantage of the advances in medicine? Should they go back to eating food with no nutritional information attached to it?     5/15/2007  
  3. Blogger ben: Wasn't that the point of my second paragraph? Obviously this issue has very few black-or-white definitives, it's mostly shades of gray. I think the solution is to turn back the stuff we can test (steroids), develop tests for the stuff we can't (HGH), broaden our definition of illegal substances and re-create the image of natural athletic talent. I don't want sports to back to the 1950s, I just don't want them to lose their realism. 5/16/2007  

5/09/2007 Add a comment

I'm having a little trouble figuring this out... is it just a gimmick for someone to make a few buck through cafe press? William

Comments

  1. Anonymous Anonymous: Yes.

    Marv Wheeler
    World League Commissioner.     5/09/2007  

5/09/2007 Add a comment

How could you go wrong?

Labels: , , ,

William

Comments

5/05/2007 Add a comment

depressing news tidbit to chew on: The servers that held Ohio's election results? The same ones that host georgewbush.com and gop.com. Think about it.

(Thanks, John!) ben

Comments

5/05/2007 Add a comment

Can get some impeachment proceedings started? Please? My mantra for the last 6 years as far as our federal government is concerned has been that every day was worse than the last. There will always be some piece of news about the Bush Administration that makes today look worse than yesterday. This Globe article on signing statements is a nice summary of how Bush has undermined the Constitution from the start. Is there anyone who really thinks that the President should be allowed to pick and choose which laws, passed by two houses of Congress, to enforce? That this is what the founding fathers had in mind? That this Administration isn't the worst ever? ben

Comments

5/04/2007 Add a comment

It is Antonio Banderas doing the voice of the Nasonex Bee!

Thanks, AV Club!

Also, while I'm at it, this is an excellent look at the dreck the studios pass off as summer movies these days. Only Knocked Up and Hot Rod seem much worth watching to me, though I'll probably see a few more anyway. ben

Comments

5/01/2007 Add a comment

This is very sad news indeed: Herbert Kornfeld is dead, a victim of white-on-white crime. The legendary accounts receivable supervisor at Midstate Office Supply, and regular onion columnist, as featured in Tha Autobiography of Herbert K and Keep Your F***ing S*** Off My Desk. First Vonnegut, then Halberstam, now Kornfeld? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you, Smoove B. ben

Comments