Category: Favourites

5 years and 1 month ago I came across something very special… Something very secret… Something that was mine and mine only… Something so simple and so captivating that I went back nearly everyday for 4 of those years… Then suddenly it disappeared.

The place I speak of was called Cotworld and it’s where I first flexed my creative muscles, I can safely say I wouldn’t be here, blogging, if it wasn’t for those fateful forays into the world of Cotworld. So imagine my delight when a few days ago, The Cotworld Archive appeared… If you’re ever bored, or remotely curious or ever in need of inspiration, I’d suggest you give it a look…

I’ve had a wry smile on my face ever since I found it…

We’ve been in our new house two weeks and in those two weeks we’ve managed to get a lot done. As you can imagine, for the first week or so the house looked like a bombsite, half empty boxes lay wherever there was space (usually in the still currently empty dining room) but now everything is getting closer to our vision of what a home should be…

The first to get set up was the kitchen, Kim, a friend, set that up for us while we were still unpacking the second U-Haul load of boxes and assorted knick-knacks. Then it was our bedrooms followed by the sun room/lounge, though originally it was all set up in what is now the family room/pool room/bar. The family room/pool room/bar was next, even though certain members of the household thought it should have been first as it was a priority… Slowly the garage became emptier and the office and library started to take shape.

So it’s time to show off a few choice pictures of the house, even if they don’t do the place justice…

All that’s left is the dining room and little touches here and there, it’s all becoming very homely, we love it…

The Star Wars Episode III teaser trailer has been released (to those who are members of the Hyperspace club).

But I got’s it here for those who haven’t subscribed, be warned it weighs in at 10mb, so dial up users best avoid it for now… I’ll replace it with a link to the official trailer tomorrow to save bandwidth, so enjoy.

Roll on May 19th 2005…

So what’s been going on since last week you ask?

Well, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series with a 4-0 sweep of St. Louis… Didn’t see that one happening when they were 3-0 down to the Yankees in the ALCS. Good to see the curse finally put to bed.

We moved house last Thursday and spent most of the time from then until now unpacking and setting stuff up. It went fairly smoothly, apart from me close to collapsing with exhaustion midway through. We’re now about ½mile from Lake Lanier, and in a much, much, much bigger house than we had in Marietta, I’ll post some pics once everything is set up.

The New England Patriots finally lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-34 ending their winning streak at 21.

Then there was this little event yesterday, some “election” thing apparently.

Now, we were watching the results intently, flipping between CNN and FOXNews to see how different their predictions would be… And by all accounts, the country is heading down the crapper, but it’s all still up in the air. As if the Electionarama of four years ago wasn’t enough drama, but at least the TV networks havent declared a definate winner yet as several states are still undecided (though Fox gives Ohio to Bush).

Bah… This Electoral College system just isn’t working anymore. When will they learn?

Via Dawn Keyotie over at Still Tilting

***Bold Font- you have done it…..Regular Font – you haven’t…..Italics – you wanna.***

001. Bought everyone in the pub a drink

002. Swam with wild dolphins

003. Climbed a mountain

004. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive

005. Been inside the Great Pyramid

006. Held a tarantula

007. Taken a candlelit bath with someone

008. Said “I love you” and meant it

009. Hugged a tree

010. Done a striptease

(more…)

Phil and I were offered free tickets for tonight’s Atlanta Hawks preseason game against the Miami Heat at Philips Arena, and with the possibility of seeing Shaquille O’Neal added onto the whole free tickets thing, we jumped on it…

So we took the short drive down the I-75 to Downtown Atlanta, found a sweet parking spot across from the CNN Center, met our contact in CNN, swiped the free tickets and went our merry way, after eating a damn fine (and filling) meal at the Jock & Jill’s Sports Grill located in the CNN Center… Philips Arena (which opened in 1999) stands on the site of the old Omni Arena (which was demolished in 1997) and is a fabulous arena, Atlanta is spoiled with great sporting facilities in Turner Field, Philips Arena and the Georgia Dome, and it has a unique configuration by having 5 levels of luxury boxes stacked on one side of the arena as opposed to circling the arena.

Anyways, onto the match, the Heat led from the tip off (scoring the first 6 points) and went on to win with a rather convincing 113-82 rout, with O’Neal and Dwyane Wade leading the scoring with 19 points a piece.

To be honest, we weren’t there to support the Hawks or anything like that, Phil and I are fans of basketball in general and have a line of thinking that goes like so… Atlanta Hawks are a crap team, they might be “on the bubble” as far as low seedings for the playoffs go, but they are not going to be overly successful, and because of this hardly anyone goes to see them play… BUT every team must play in Atlanta at least once… So we can pretty much pick and choose which teams we do want to see. Clever huh? We thought so too… Plus if we can bag free tickets for it, well, thats a bonus. Our tickets for this game we located just behind one of the baskets, 10 rows off the floor so they were not too bad.

But wait… Here come the obligatories y’all… The Philips Arena looking pretty empty before the game and reasonably full, about 2/3 or so, during the game…

For fear of adding to the already infamous Boston Red Sox “Curse of the Bambino,” I’ve put off writing even a single character about their American League Championship Series showdown with the New York Yankees but now it’s all said and done… It’s about time…

It’s the kind of story that’s too far fetched to be true… down 3-0 in a best of seven series, having just been thrashed 19-8, the Red Sox do what no other team in history has done… Win the remaining 4 games over the next 4 nights cumulating in a 10-3 win at Yankee Stadium to finally send the team into the World Series for the first time in 18 years where they will face either the St. Louis Cardinals or the Houston Astros.

Now, the series has been staple viewing in our home, what with Erika being a damn Yankee fan and me, well, not liking the Yankees one bit… Now I don’t like the Yankees for a variety of reasons, their high payroll and their blatant disregard for the salary cap, the 26 World Series titles, the fans and their “who’s your da-ddy?” chants aimed at Pedro Martinez, but it boils down to one reason and one reason alone… Paul O’Neill… He was the right fielder for the Yankees during my peak baseball watching years (1997-2001, though I’m still in my peak, he just retired in 2001) and from 1998 to 2001, the Yankees were in the World Series and each and everytime I thought they might lose, Paul O’Neill would make an important catch or a big hit to save their pinstriped asses… My dislike for O’Neill got so bad that I could never win a single game against the Yankees in Triple Play Baseball 1999 on the PlayStation as I ALWAYS had to aim the pitches at O’Neill’s head thus getting my pitcher thrown out the game, a shitty one would take over and Tino Martinez would smoke the following pitch over the wall in deep center field, each and every time, without fail… ALWAYS!

Anyways, Erika is a Yankee fan and I had on my Red Sox hat, and we’d be watching the games, busting each others chops about the plays taking place (so far as to Erika getting Phil to call me on Sunday just to remind me about the 19-8 blowout the previous night), and it got even better as the Red Sox fought back, going so far as Erika saying she wouldn’t mind if the Red Sox won… A Yankee fan saying that, can you believe it? We watched pretty much every pitch, even in the game that ended at 1:30am and the monster 5:45 marathon, and it’s probably the most enjoyable thing I can remember, drumming my hands against a footrest, cheering on the Red Sox long after midnight, Erika spouting every excuse under the sun as to why the Yankees collapsed like a house of cards (while sneakily changing my avatar on a few message boards we run).

The World Series probably won’t be as enjoyable but I still hope the Red Sox win and break the “curse” once and for all… Though most will already say it has been broken, in the house that Ruth built…

Last night Phil, Robyn and myself went to see the new Trey Parker/Matt Stone film, “Team America: World Police,” and we all walked away thoughroughly entertained.

It’s basically a rip off of every action film ever made, but done with puppets, and they don’t even try to hide the fact that they’re puppets neither… It’s about a US-based team of anti-terrorism cops who patrol the world tracking down terrorists and WMD’s. So cue some insanely funny moments, literally side splitting on many, many occasions, which include, but are not limited to puppets engaging in explicit sex, a hero who vomits a disgusting amount of foul liquid and the brutal execution of several Hollywood liberals.

Even simply silly monents are inadvertantly funny, like the main female lead trying to point at the male lead’s heart, but missing and then looking down at her hand. The level of detail in each of the puppets is pretty extraordinary, all the celebrities look like themselves (and they really dislike Matt Damon, as the only words he says is “Matt Damon”). Another funny thing is the rocking soundtrack and the song “America, Fuck Yeah!” in particular.

This gets the highest recommendation I can give, as long as you’re not easily offended…

The third and final Presidential debate takes place in the University of Arizona in Tempe, AZ… Will Bush make a comeback or will John Kerry get the knockout blow in the crutial weeks before the election. Again, running thoughts ain’t gonna happen, you can surely find those in a million different places, just little bite sized thoughts…

President Bush looks like he’s foaming at the mouth, he had what looked like a bit of white foam on the side of his mouth, it was hard not to notice. Maybe it was just the light… He has a really forced laugh and, as Phil says, it’s remarkable he can remember all these statistics considering he’s, well, not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, adding fuel to the earpiece conspiracy theories. Even when he tries to be funny it comes across as contrived… He just can’t buy a bucket, to use some old NBA Jam terminology.

John Kerry came out fighting, keeping the debate on track while Bush tried to derail it whenever possible… He also smacked him down in the gay marriage stakes by name dropping Dick Cheany’s daughter. Now, he comes across more and more confident during each debate, he’s rallying more and more people to his campaign and, again with the NBA Jam lingo, he’s on fire (is it the shoes??)…

Well, I’m viewing it as a 3-0 unanimous victory for John Kerry, and he nailed him in this one, not as badly as the first debate but much more convincingly than the second. Bush came into the debate series with a consistant lead in every poll going, now he’s on decidedly shakey ground. It should be an interesting 3 weeks leading up to election day and to what levels of mud slinging the respective campaigns are willing to go…

No long play-by-play thoughts on this debate, and a proper debate it was, you can surely find those in a million different places, just little bite sized thoughts…

President Bush gets wound up far too easily, he looked like a child throwing a tantrum when pleading with Charlie Gibson, the moderator, so he could answer one of John Kerry’s rebuttals. He also walks around hunched over, very monkey like, dragging his knuckles along.

And there are internets??? Have I been wasting my time on this one? How do I get to another one? Is it the matrix?

John Kerry made a good standing last week in giving people a reason to get behind him other than the “Anyone But Bush” stance, and this week he built upon it, and laid a verbal smackdown on the stuttering President in the process.

President Bush again stood by the “Saddam was a unique threat” speech, Kerry again went on the offensive with the “rushing into war” comeback. I wish now I had taken notes, but it was more of the same issues they brought up last week, and next week will no doubt be more of the same…

If this was a boxing match, Kerry would be up 2 rounds to zero, Bush is bit wobbly, the legs are about to go but he isn’t down and out just yet… Or is it like Mortal Kombat, Kerry is Sub-Zero, Bush is his opponent stumbling around just waiting for the “FINISH HIM!” call before Kerry rips his head (and spine (if he has one)) clean from his body, that would make interesting live TV.

Next week is the final round before the election and John Kerry is the current leader as far as polls go (if you believe electoral vote)

In Bush’s own words, the Presidency is about who can lead, who can get things done… He’s done a shitty job so far, I fear for four more years should that happen.

I couldn’t say it any better if I even tried…

If, at tonight’s “town hall debate,” when Kerry is asked, “What did you mean in the last debate by ‘global test’?”, he doesn’t answer, “You have got to be motherfucking kidding me, ma’am. That’s like asking Martin Luther King if he wipes his ass properly. That’s like asking an Iraqi child with his arms blown off by American bombs if he’s happy that Saddam’s gone. You wanna know what’s going on here? You have snorted from the Bush stash. That little bitch hunched on his stool over there has taken two words of mine and thinks he can disembowel me with them. Hey, you stuttering prick, considering your glowing academic career, no fuckin’ wonder you’re scared shitless of anything that has the word ‘test’ in it. ‘Global motherfucking test’ means that you can go anywhere in the goddamn world and talk to any fuckin’ person, and you can back your actions up. You can say, ‘Hey, look, we were right – motherfucker was gonna bomb the shit out of us.’ That means you could walk up to a screaming, bleeding soldier, whose dick was ripped off by a rocket-propelled grenade, and say, ‘You know what, man? Sorry about your cock, but you just helped stop the U.S.A. from bein’ nuked.’ That way, when that soldier is back home, lookin’ at the empty space where his dick used to be, he can be proud that he lost his prick savin’ the U.S. So that that soldier never has to think, ‘Why the fuck was I sent to that motherfuckin’ hellhole to lose my cock?’ And don’t you smirk at me, Bush bitch, or I’ll drag you by your balls to the houses of every widow and every mom that’s lost a kid and I’ll yank down your panties and shove a cattle prod into your sack until you confess, motherfucker, you confess that you knew there were no weapons, that you knew al-Qaeda wasn’t there, and that you just rolled the dice and hoped somethin’ would turn up, but it’s snake eyes, motherfucker, it’s snake eyes. And I want you to stand there, pants around your ankles, as the mothers and widows spit on you or punch you or kick your sore nuts. Then I’ll drag you around the world so you can grovel on the ground in front of every former ally who said you were wrong and you can bow down, head low, hands outstretched, while they piss and shit on you. And then we’ll fly your sore nutted, spat-, pissed-, and shit-upon ass back to the United States and we won’t let you clean up, just drag you in front of the television cameras and make you say what every fucking one of us knows: you lied. That, like Jim Jones, you made us believe in shit that was never gonna happen, and we’re suckin’ on that Kool-Aid, man, we’re lappin’ it up. Now, tell Karl Rove, who’s screaming in your earpiece right now, that I’m gonna fuck his wife in front of him. ‘Global test’? Those two words. That’s what you’re worried about? The world is burning, ma’am, do you fuckin’ get that? The goddamned world is burning. And much as the Bush bitch would like you to believe that I’m co-responsible for the world burning, the world is burning on his watch. Your question is born of fear, ma’am. And that lying cockmonger over there has been very, very good at stoking your fears. It’s his goal. But the world is burning. The world is burning and that fire’s gonna consume us all. It’s gonna end up back here in America. And while Bush may be hosing this country, he doesn’t have a hydrant big enough to extinguish the flames he’s fanned. And besides, why would you trust the arsonist to put out the fires? That’s what I meant by ‘global test’”, then the debate will be worthless.

If only…

These are going to be running thoughts on the debate…

9:00 pm – Live from Miami, Florida, we have Fox News coverage, this should be unbiased… Jim Lehrer is moderating this debate, sponsored by the Commision on Presidential Debates… Topic is Foreign Policy and Homeland Security. This should be interesting.

9:04 pm – Out come the candidates, little handshake and we’re off…

9:05 pm – First question to Kerry: “Do you think you could do a better job than President Bush?” Answer, Hello Miami and Florida, oh and I can do a better job than Bush… Rebuttal, 9/11, 9/11 uh uh uh uh 9/11… Al-Quaeda, 9/11, Taliban, 9/11, Iraq, 9/11, threats, safer, 9/11, weapons of mass destruction, 9/11, free nations reject terror, 9/11.

9:08 pm – Question to Bush: “Do you think America would be safer with Kerry as President?” Answer, America will be safer, cause Bush thinks he’s gonna win and we will defeat this enemy. Rebuttal, we should be strong, resolute and determined, and I’ll kill the terrorists (Osama Bin Laden), but not in Iraq, that was a collosal error in judgment, and he has the military behind him.

9:12 pm – Question to Kerry: “What collosal misjudgments?” Answer, where to begin? (Ouch) America was going to war as a last resort, but he doesn’t believe the United States did that. Money could have been used on healthcare and stuff like that. Rebuttal, Kerry saw the same intelligence Bush saw and said they should go to war… World is better without Saddam Hussein.

9:15 pm – I missed the question, but Bush is still going on about how their after Saddam Huss… Osama Bin Laden, but they’re making progress. When Iraq is free then America will be more secure. Rebuttal, Iraq isnt even close to the centre of attention in the war on terror, and he rushed to war without a plan to win the peace. And it’s getting worse by the day… Bush extension, Kerry voted for use of force, and now he’s flip-flopping. Kerry, we have to be steadfast for the troops now we’re there…

9:20 pm – Question to Kerry: “As President, what would you do differently about Homeland Security?” What message does it send about sending money to Iraq and not the police? Bush thought it was better to give rich people tax cut than invest in homeland security. Rebuttal, How is Kerry going to pay for all these promises? (you spent it all George!!) We’re modernising our borders, a good offense is the best defence. PATRIOT Act is vital, we must stay on offence…

Dammit, I need a break from this…

9:27 pm – Bush says the troops will come home when the mission is successful, but didn’t he proclaim that the mission was accomplished last year?

9:29 pm – It’s getting a bit hectic up in this piece, extensions, rebuttals… Kerry talks about his Vietnam days, he’ll lead the US to victory.

9:30 pm – Question to Kerry: “Are troops dying because of a mistake?” He says the planning for the whole affair was a mistake, invading Iraq because of 9/11 would be like America invading Mexico because of Pearl Harbor (snicker). Bing! First mention of Haliburton… Rebuttal, Bush frequently talks to world leaders, and says they wont follow a leader who thinks the war was a mistake. Kerry extension, it’s American run, along with Britain and Australia. Bush extension, you forgot Poland!

9:35 pm – Question to Bush: “Was was the miscalculation in post war Iraq?” Answer, our victory was too quick, the enemy laid down their arms and disappeared but we’re fighting them now. We have a plan in place and we’re making progress… Rebuttal, Kerry says Bush would do the same thing, even knowing the intelligence was a load of bull. Switches over to North Korea about nuclear weapons.

Another break, I think I’m going to need a few of these… Kerry has had one consistant position, Saddam was a threat but America went the wrong way to disarm him, and Bush goes back the the flip-flopping.

Kerry hits backs with his promises and says with Bush it’ll be 4 words “more of the same.”

OK, I’ve given up even trying to follow this, it’s kind of like a car crash, I don’t want to watch it, but I just can’t help it, besides, I’m more looking forward to the Daily Show after debate round up.

Anyhoo, Kerry’s on the offensive about troops guarding the oil ministry in Iraq and not anywhere else. Bush responds with some incoherant babbling before questioning how Kerry can “change the dynamics on the ground” and “if we give our word, we keep our word.” And it’s essential “we hold the line.”

9:54 pm – Question to Bush: “Would you run the US into another war?” He didnt want to run the US into this war let alone another one, but he would, only as a last resort, there was no doubt he thought that Saddam hoped the world would turn a blind eye and the world would be worse off because of that. Rebuttal, Kerry says Bush said something revealing, he said the enemy attacked the United States, Saddam Hussain didnt attack the US, Al-Quaeda did, and they had them cornered in the mountains in Tora-Bora, but he outsourced that job to Afghan warlords. He then goes back to North Korea and nuclear werapons

9:59 pm – Question to Kerry: “Whats your take on pre-emptive war?” Answer, it’s a Presidential right to do so, but you have to do it in a way “that passes the global test” and the word of the President of the United States used to mean something, not anymore… Rebuttal, Bush babbles about tests, but he takes pre-emptive action to secure the safety of the United States

10:03 pm – Question to Bush: “Whats your stance on North Korea and Iran?” He said it! He said Nooculur!!! Twice!!! Three times!!! Love it!!! At least Kerry can pronounce Nuclear, that’s gotta mean something.

10:07 pm – Question to Kerry: “What would you do about Sudan?” Kerry, sanctions, sanctions, sanctions… Provide logistical support, not just humanitarian support. We can’t allow another Rawanda. Bush agrees it’s genocide, and he’s commited $200m in aid to them and he’s going to commit more.

10:11 pm – Question to Bush: “Are there underlying character issues with John Kerry?” Bush says it’s a loaded question, but he admires what Kerry has done for his country and his family. Not so sure he admires his senate record, his concerns are his flip-flopping on Iraq and what he believes you cannot lead if you send mixed messages. Rebuttal, Kerry aknowledges that being President is tough and has great respect and admiration for President Bush’s family and he wont comment on the President’s character.

10:16 pm – Question to Kerry: “What do you think is the most important threat to the United States?” Answer, nuclear ploriferation, and Bush isn’t doing enough about it. Rebuttal, Bush says funding has increased for nooculur ploriferation (hehe) and he started a ploriferation security inititive.

10:21 pm – Last question to Bush: “Do you think Russia has done the right thing about terrorism?” Answer, Putin doesn’t believe in checks and balances (whatever the hell that means) but he backs the war on terror, and he has a good releationship with “Vlad’mir” and Russia is a country in transition. Rebuttal, Kerry understands the transition in Russia better than anyone, he was the first senator in Russia after the downfall of communism, he then switches over to North Korea again.

Kerry rounds up with saying that America should be respected more, and who will get the kids home and the job done, he looks us in the eye and says he defended the country as a soldier in Vietnam and he’ll do it again as President… Tough talking there.

Bush rounds up with saying the if America shows weakness, the world will drift towards tragedy, but not if he’s President for four more years… Irony of ironies there.

And so ends the first of three debates on the Election So Bad, You Shouldn’t Vote Sober™. Tune in next week for my ramblings on the next debate (if I can be bothered to watch it)…

With the infamous 4-1 (.800) record hanging in the balance, me and Robyn took in one last regular season game at Turner Field… This time, though, Phil and Erika came along to join in the fun.

Because of the heavy rain that pelted Atlanta on Monday night, Tuesday turned into a double header with the New York Mets, we had tickets for the second game but they still let us in for the first one… We arrived round about the 5th inning and made a beeline for the Chop House and the BudZone where, after numerous failed attempts during the season, we got on the big screen. We sat there for most of the first game, drinking and eating until we were ready to take our seats, which were pretty damn sweet… Front row along the 3rd baseline beside the Mets dugout.

For the purposes of record keeping, the Mets won 2-1, we claimed as we didn’t pay to see it, the result shouldn’t count towards our season record, or at very most have an asterisk beside it.

At this point I should mention Erika is a Yankees fan, and thought it would be funny to wear the Yankees pinstripes to the game(s), and I’m sure she got a few funny looks off the few Mets fans around us. Anyways, we all had a good time, Phil and Robyn especially, they were bordering on embarassing at times, but that’s part of the game…

In the second game, the Braves came out on top by a score of 5-2, despite losing starting pitcher Jared Wright to a hard line drive to the shin that looked particularly painful. A highly enjoyable match that included the Braves hitting two home runs in the 5th inning from Adam LaRoche and Marcus Giles, we left right before the end of the 9th inning, but John Smoltz made short work of the Mets to get the save.

So the season record ended at 5-1 (.833)… Not *5-2 (.714) thank you very much.

And at last, the return of the obligatory panoramas… First from the BudZone during game 1 and then from the front row during game 2.

Taken from Michael Hanscom and via buzzflash…

Politicians lie, but numbers don’t. How does the economic record of Bush, Jr. (and Sr.) stand up against Clinton’s on Unemployment, Job Creation, the Stock Market, and the Budget Surplus/Deficit. No one statistic paints a true picture, but taken together, life under a Bush is dark and not very prosperous.

I’d hate to see it after another four years of Bush…

Inspired by Jason Kottke’s post on naming and shaming people’s iPod guilty pleasures, I’m going to list all of mine here…

In alphabetical order (italic comments are my own thoughts)

2Pac – California Love (featuring Dr Dre), Changes, Hit ‘Em Up & Until the End of Time
I think Tupac is a weak MC, but I can’t help myself

50 Cent – In Da Club
Same as Tupac, weak MC but the song was everywhere and I couldnt help myself

The Atari’s – The Boys of Summer
It’s a good cover song

Avril Lavigne – Both CD’s
I’m sorry… I’m really really sorry

Bachman Turner Overdrive – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
Classic Rock cheesiness

The Blue Collar Comedy Tour
Redneck humour… Git-R-Done!

Black Eyed Peas – Elephunk CD
Yeah, they sold out, but I still like it

Bloodhound Gang – Hooray For Boobies CD
So childish it’s unbelievable, and I love it

Britney Spears – …Baby One More Time, Toxic & Oops! I Did It Again
I know I should hate these, but I don’t… Toxic especially

C.W McCall – Convoy
This here’s the Rubber Duck and I’m about to put the hammer down…

Dixie Chicks – Top of the World Tour CD
I confess to not liking the Dixie Chicks til I heard their cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide, now I’m hooked

Josie And The Pussycats Soundtrack
Again, another I’m programmed to hate, but I don’t

Limp Bizkit – All the CD’s
Yeah, I still like Limp Bizkit, so what?

Paula Abdul – Straight Up
Hard NOT to like…

Shania Twain – Come On Over & Up! CD’s
I hated country before I came to Georgia, now I can’t get enough, so add Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Terri Clark to this list too

Ween – Piss Up A Rope
Just a great song…

That’s all your getting…