19th Century Teleprompter

I had a very enjoyable weekend. If I wasn't enjoying a beer at Rock Bottom or Nevin's, eating delicious Thai food at Butterfly, or watching the Superbowl (and the unfunny commercials), I was laughing at Sarah Palin's latest snafu. For those of you who are unaware, this past weekend was the big Tea Bagger, um, I mean Tea Party convention - where rubes from all over America gathered to discuss their sub rosa racism, and wild ignorance together, under the same roof. Who better to give the key-note speech than our favorite hockey mom, Sarah Palin. Apparently worried about being accused a hypocrite after knocking Obama's constant use of a teleprompter, Palin decided to use the old 19th century teleprompter... her hand. If you look for video, you can see she clearly wrote key words on her arm/hand to help her for her speech.

I absolutely love it!

In what should come to a surprise to no one, Fox News jumped to her defense. While Fox News' night-time programs, consisting of Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity are so vitriolic and rude, I can't even watch it, Fox's morning show, Fox and Friends, is so embarrassingly sophomoric and simple, sometimes I like to start my morning with a good dose of the Fox buffoons. Take a look at what they said yesterday morning in Palin's defense:

Carlson: I think she did it on purpose. Because it is an exact opposite of reading off a teleprompter with a script written for you word for word in a sentence. Here, she's just taking crib notes on her hand. It makes her look like she can speak off the cuff. She just jotted down a few notes before she gave her long speech.

Kilmeade: But to sit there and look at, and do the interview and look down at her hand, I think that is, like you said Gretchen, folksy, absolutely down to earth, I can identify.

Come on Fox News!! How can you say that shit with a straight face?! They are saying it is endearing that Palin wrote down crib notes on her hand? AAAAGGGHHHHH!!!!

1. I was bored this weekend and decided to rent a movie. I don't know why, but I rented the movie Notorious - about the life of Notorious B.I.G. I hate to admit it, but I actually enjoyed it. It is kind of cool, and I forgot how much great music Biggie Smalls put out before he was killed. I give the movie a B.

2. Currently listening to "Party and Bullshit" by Notorious B.I.G.

Selling hope

Yesterday I was asked an interesting question, "John, what comes to mind when you think of Republicans?" I thought this was a good, but challenging question. Maybe I will start by answering what I think of Democrats. I think the Democrat party has their hearts in the right place but are so unorganized, and weak, that I would not feel comfortable calling myself a Democrat. For what brief time I was inspired by Obama's rhetoric, I have since become so irritated by Congress' inability to accomplish anything, I hesitate to line myself up with any one party. Now, onto Republicans. On some issues I might be conservative or moderate on (affirmative action, immigration, et cetera), I would never call myself a Republican. Basically, I am libertarian on almost every issue. I do not think of Republicans as evil, or stupid. At times I feel the GOP is heartless; and at worst, I feel they are ignorantly crazy. A prime example is when I was on the liberal learning website, dailykos.com. They polled self-identified Republicans and asked the simple question - Do you feel Obama is a Socialist. 79% of Republicans either believe he is a Socialist or are not sure if he is. This is just ignorantly crazy. There is a difference between a liberal economic policy and a Socialist economic policy.

1. I had been meaning to check out the movie 500 Days of Summer for a while now. Yesterday, when I saw my friend, Andrew, said it was his favorite movie of 2009, I decided it would be worth the $5.00 at Blockbuster to go rent the movie. I was right. I give the movie an A. It was sweet, witty, flowed beautifully, and was just a very fun movie. I still think the movie "Up" was my favorite movie of 2009, but 500 Days of Summer is certainly in my top five.

2. Today is National Signing Day. The period in college football where athletes sign on the dotted line for what school they will be spending the next four years at. Some fans think following recruiting is a joke. I respectfully disagree. Sports are all about selling hope. Following recruiting is following the hope that the next wave of recruits are going to be the class that takes your team to the promised land.

John of all trades

Today was a particularly enjoyable weekend. I welcomed a friend from high school, Olivia, for the weekend. Friday some friends and I ventured out to the trendy area of Chicago called Wicker Park. We had a great time at the bar, Northside, until I went out to O'Hare to pick-up Liv. After a little iHop, Olivia and I spent the afternoon doing some Chicago tourist things. It was a brutal cold, but she enjoyed all the shopping areas on Michigan Avenue. We also walked around Millennium Park, The Bean, and the rest of the loop. Saturday night we had a nice dinner at Angelina's, and then met friends at Lux downtown for Nimit's birthday. Liv had never been to Chicago before; and it was fun to show her around. I dropped her back off last night and wished her well.

1. One of the movies getting a lot of Oscar buzz is the Iraq War drama, The Hurt Locker. The stars are not any big names, but there are minor roles for Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pierce. Everyone I spoke with thought the movie was terrific. I actually give the movie only a C. Clearly the director tried very hard to make the film a piece of art. Over-acting and an abundance of superfluously sad moments will make the film an instant favorite with the Oscar voters. For example, super slow motion shots of bullet shells hitting the ground were examples of the director trying too hard for the film to be artsy. Not a terrible movie, just over-rated.

2. Taylor Swift won Album of the year? This is American music in 2010, huh? I will just keep rocking on to my classic rock thank you very much.

Would you like an Amstel Light with that Whopper?

Okay Burger King, I'm listening. I woke up this morning, turned on Headline News so my girl Robin Meade can tell me what is going on with the world. Anyway, her "lead" story is that Burger King is going to start selling beer. They are going to try this out at one restaurant in Miami, and if it goes well, start adding it to most of their Burger King locations. I have not honestly been to a Burger King in a few years. However, I am intrigued at the idea and I will be monitoring how successful it will be.

1. Speaking of beer, there is a great Indiana brewery called Three Floyd's. They make a variety of delicious beer options. My favorite is Gumball Head. They sell it all over Chicago. One of the nice things about the Windy City is how it has introduced me to some great breweries. Goose Island's 312 is perfect if you are looking for a convenient, reasonably priced beer. And if you are feeling more adventurous, Point Beer from Steven's Point, Wisconsin is excellent. As well, I highly recommend anything from the Bell's Brewery in Michigan - in particular the Bell's Oberon. It is too bad I was not introduced to any of those in Minnesota or Iowa... well... maybe it is a good thing.

2. I was a little sad to see former Vice Presidential candidate, and North Carolina senator John Edwards divorce from his wife. I might agree with him on policy issues, but the man is a huge scumbag. He cheated on his wife, had a child with this mistress, tried to cover it up, and all of this is while his wife is slowly dying of incurable cancer.

3. It is not healthy for a 24 year old man to sit and day dream about current University of Kentucky freshman John Wall becoming a Timberwolf next year. It's not good; I'm working on it.

4. Currently listening to "Don't Bring Me Down" by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)

Loserville USA: Population 5,220,993

It is the nature of the Minnesota sports fan to be the eternal cynic. While in Chicago, the expectations are Superbowls and World Series titles, in the land of 10,000 false hopes and heartbreaks, the expectations are at a minimum. The Minnesota nice mentality is that we are just happy to be there. The Twins are often times just a Quadruple A team to the big spending teams; the Gophers never cease to stop disappointing me, and the Target Center (Wolves) and Excel Energy Center (Wild) are home to the world's longest rebuilding projects. When Zygi Wilf bought the Vikings three years ago, he said he did not care about the failures of the past, instead we are going to win, win big, and win now. Gone was the mediocrity of Mike Tice as head coach, gone was the cheap spending of Red McCombs, gone were the knuckleheads like Randy Moss, and Daunte. No longer would Orlando Smith's whizzinator grace us with his presence. No longer would Dwight Smith be caught humiliating the team in stairwells of Minneapolis hotels. Wilf said we are going to out-research the league and draft well. They have. The past three drafts have been brilliant with Percy Harvin, Adrian Peterson, Cedric Griffen, Phil Loadholt, Sidney Rice, et cetera. Wilf has also made a commitment to get the best free agents available. The Vikings have hit home-runs with Visanthe Shiancoe, Chester Taylor, Steve Hutchinson, Antoine Winfield, Favre, Bernard Berrian, Pat Williams, and Jared Allen. All of this was done with one goal in mind: Superbowl, February 7th, 2010. No more rebuilding; the time is now. Chester Taylor will be gone next year, Favre will most likely retire, but for sure will not be any better next year. Pat Williams will likely retire. Antoine Winfield's best days are behind him. How long can Kevin Williams avoid the Starcapts trial? In the NFL, unless you have a franchise quarterback, your window to win is very short. With only one major injury (EJ Henderson) the whole Vikings line-up from Week One, was ready to make history in the Superdome yesterday night.

What a game, what a shame.

First off, I think the Vikings coaches developed a brilliant game plan against New Orleans. The Saints deserved to be the #1 seed. Their offense was electric all year. Between Brees, Bush, Colston, and Meachem, the Saints had the most fun offense since the Greatest Show on Turf. However, defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier completely shut-down their run, and the secondary confused Brees for the whole game. Statisically, Brees had one of his worst games in years. The recipe for the Vikings loss was one part terrible special teams coverage, allowing two big returns, and five parts fumbalitis. The fact that the Vikings had five turnovers and were still in a position to win is nothing short of spectacular. However, Berrian's fumble at the ten yard line, Harvin's key fumble, Favre's botched hand-off to end the first half, and don't even get me started on Adrian Peterson treating the football like it was a wet fish. The Saints' strategy was quite simple: Blitz and hit Favre every time possible. Of course, this strategy ended up backfiring on the Saints as Favre just dinked and dunked down the field the whole game. The Saints' ultra aggressive blitz defense played perfectly into the Vikings West Coast offense. What the Saints did do was completely wear out the old gun-slinger. As the game wore on, Favre looked old... really old. Twice in the past three years, Favre has led his team to victory in the NFC Championship game only to throw a late, ill-timed interception. Unlike last time, where Favre just under threw the ball in an otherwise good play, Favre committed the cardinal sin of quarterbacking... never throw across your body while on the run. The fact that this will likely be Favre's last throw just underscores that while statistically Favre is the greatest quarterback to ever play, the best come through in the clutch. Would Joe Montana, Peyton Manning, or Steve Young done that? Maybe. But probably not. Chuck Nol, the legendary Steelers coach said once, "Before you win a game, you have to not lose it." As much as the Saints won the game, the Vikings lost it. Was there some bad luck? Sure. The over-time rules in the NFL are completely unfair. The call that it is okay if a player goes out of bounds and touches the ball if the clock expired? A loophole at best. But I don't blame this game on the officials, or bad-luck. As Thomas Jefferson said, "I'm a great believer in luck, and the harder I work, the more lucky I become." The Saints franchise, the city of New Orleans are a terrific team that deserves to be in the championship game. It was not good luck that got them to the Superbowl. They are a fun team, and it is going to be a great Superbowl.

When I woke up this morning, I felt a feeling I had not felt since the day after a certain election. A sense of, "What's the point?" I have to keep reminding myself that football is just a game. That what the Vikings do does not effect me personally. In a way, yesterday reminded me of all that is good and all that is bad with sports. The aestheticism of sports at the highest level, to me, could be compared to the greatest ballet or the most brilliant opera. But what I really love about sports is the companionship between friends and family. To know that literally millions of my fellow Minnesotans were huddled around their TV sets with the same goal in mind is mind-blowing. To share in the joy of victory or the agony of defeat with my friends and family is what makes sports fantastic and so painful. When the Vikings lose, not only am I in pain, but millions of my brothers in sport mourn with me. Some cynics might call the short-lived Favre era in the Purple and Gold as not worth the hassle. I completely disagree. Favre ignited the state of Minnesota. If the Vikings were to secure the funds to get a new stadium, they needed to have a good year in 2009. They instead had a great year. I can't predict what will happen to the Vikings in 2010. Too many question marks. It was fun while it lasted. And to you Minnesotans, at least we have the Timberwolves... oh wait...

Patriots for Liberty

I am about to go into full political meltdown mode. It is only January and I already feel like am going to spontaneously combust. Yesterday the Supreme Court overturned a previous ruling and as of today, corporations, both domestic and international will be able to spend an unlimited money on individual candidates and issues in general. This will no doubt cause several enormously significant changes in the American political system. You know all those annoying political ads we are only starting to see? Just wait and see what happens now that corporations, both American and international, start sending their ads out. Let's say I am a senator and I vote against a law because it is bad for the environment. Maybe a particular logging, or oil company, or nuclear waste company will throw a few million to my opponent. Or they will just make the ads themselves. Plus, are we really comfortable knowing that international companies can make differences in American elections? Let's take those foreign oil businesses... I wonder what side of the aisle they will be campaigning for. They will be sneaky and use names like, "Sponsored by Patriots for Liberty" or some crap like that. Representative Alan Grayson (D) of Florida said this is the worst supreme court ruling since Dred Scott - a pro slavery ruling in the mid 19th century.

1. I watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next last night. I saw it ten years ago. For those who have not seen the movie, it is awesome! I don't know if it will be as good as the new Tooth Fairy movie, but it is still worth renting.

2. Currently listening to "Something's Not Right With Me" by Cold War Kids

An unwritten "Not Welcome" sign

One of the aspects of my new job that I like is I get to travel all over Chicagoland and learn more about the city. This past week I have spent my whole days on the South Side (79th and Halsted and 81st and MLK). Not just borderline... like ground zero of the South Side. It is unbelievably depressing to drive by and see window after window boarded up; to see graffiti laced churches and needles on the ground. One interesting aspect of Chicago I have touched on before is how Chicago must be the most segregated city in America. Jefferson Park is where the Poles live, Greektown is where the Greeks live, Devon is where the Indians live, et cetera. A white man certainly walking around in a suit... I certainly stuck out a bit. Today I decided that I was going to count all the people that drove by where I was working until I saw a non African-American. 501. It took 501 people before I saw someone who was not African-American. I think the segregation in this city is troubling at the very least. I don't know if anything can be done by the government; and I know the suburbs are much better. I hope I am not coming across as racist. That is not my intent at all. I am simply opining about observations I have been making.

1. As a huge fan of Conan O'Brien, obviously I am on his side with his falling out with NBC. However, after I read that he is getting a settlement for $44,000,000... it is hard for me to have any more sympathy for the guy. Not only will he get that money, he will likely get some huge contract with Fox, HBO, ABC or whoever else he signs with.

2. It looks like when all is said and done, Avatar will go down as history as the second highest grossing movie of all time - behind Titanic. However, when you look at the numbers after they are adjusted for inflation, the top five grossing movies would be:

A - Gone with the Wind
B - Star Wars IV
C - The Sound of Music
D - E.T.
E - The Ten Commandments