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November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving
Posted by caps at 02:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 24, 2009
Tuesday PM
Posted by caps at 06:28 PM | Comments (0)
November 20, 2009
Friday AM
John said, "only listening to 'Killa Cam' today," and that made sense to me.
Posted by caps at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2009
Saturday AM
Best Sabres games of the year last nite. Calgary's a hell of a team... and so are the Sabres. They're for real.
Finished it up on DVR late, then went to bed and dreamt that me, Emil & Bo were fighting zombies in post-apocalyptic Buffalo. We had a tank parked in the driveway, Finny was at the supermarket getting canned goods, I was locking doors and looking for cleaning supplies. Besides the zombies and the plague, the dream's central tension was whether or not we should stay put or keep rolling, and how long we'd have to ride it out. Fun kinda.
Thanks to Ayres for reminding me about this. Classic Saturday morning. PS - Both Ayres and Catch have been nominated for Paper magazine's Best DJ, so go vote. Like how neutral that is? There can only be one!
Posted by caps at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2009
FRIDAY PM
Still working on flipping the site into something new, pretty, comment-enabled. It's gonna happen. Slowly but surely, all the pieces are falling into place. Might have to scrap all the archives, though. That'd be sad, but fuck it. I mean, I'd save em, but they'd be carved on a hard drive somewhere, out of public sight. It'll be worth it. No encumbrances: no Iraq War entries, no John Edwards entries, no Damn Yankees posts, no pain.
At any rate:
1. FRIEND OF EL STENCE, PT. 1
Friend of el stence LIONS of the world-famous BF crew ("Known from the bottom to the top!") has opened up a blog of his own. Tattoos, graf, photos of street shit; all sliced up pretty for your consumption.
2. FRIEND OF EL STENCE, PT. 2
Friends of el stence Aranovich & Mitzy go for broke over at RADKAT! A clearinghouse of images that you will like compiled by two masters of the visual.
3. FRIEND OF EL STENCE, PT. 3
Friend of el stence Emily Spivack's Sentimental Value features compelling excerpts of item descriptions posted by eBay sellers. It's fascinating reading - like an annotated thrift store, answering the old "if ____ could talk..." query. Very human and inviting. Last week, The Inside Source, eBay's company blog, highlighted Emily and SV in a special interview feature. Check for Emily's five favorite stories, listed at the end of the piece.
4. Sports Schmortz. A manic sports blog with a Buffalo tilt created for a Sports Journalism course. If I was these dudes' professor, I'd give them an A. Excerpt:
Obviously the NBA is missing something these days. Of course I mean the beautiful essence of the mustache. What players these days don't realize is that this form of facial hair actually helps you glide through the air towards the basket (basically seeking it out.) The aero dynamics of a long flowing mustache gives you a heightened vertical, almost acting as wings of the face.
Besides the psychedelic Brian Moorman stories, I like how everything is center-aligned.
5. Mario & Luigi assault a cabbie, I hear the story on NY1 and send it to Kotaku, Kotaku says thank you. Yeah, that "Will" is me. Pretty boss, huh? FAMOUS!
6. Bald bears. I know you saw this already, so just consider this link as being aimed at my mom, who hasn't. INTERNET FOR EVERYONE.
7. Opus's married life in the year 2007.
Posted by caps at 03:32 PM | Comments (0)
FRIDAY AM
LET'S CUT AND POKE!
Been floating unmoored in my head since I was 10 because of MST3K. Resurfaced today on the shores of my brain and in 2009 we have YouTube to act as instant mental liferaft.
Posted by caps at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)
November 11, 2009
Veteran's Day
CBS's Mark Knoller tells me that at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, Obama placed the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Thinking about the military... here's an incredible collection of photos of Ian Fisher, a young American soldier, from the Denver Post. Nash sent it to me last week, and it's hard to forget. I strongly recommend checking it out.
Also: A collection of videos of dogs welcoming their soldier best friends home from overseas. Here's one:
And, finally, included in that link above is a video of soldiers getting home and surprising their children.
Got me all teared up. Oh man.
Let's get all our brave men and women home safe - you are missed!
Posted by caps at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2009
Tuesday PM
HI!
Gonna pen a big ol' entry in the morning but for now check out my latest set of SPORTING OBSERVATIONS for the Bloglin.
Posted by caps at 10:32 PM | Comments (0)
November 04, 2009
Angry
I woke up angry and depressed this morning. That's because I went to bed with No on 1 in Maine trailing by a few thousand votes with 60% reporting; I woke up to find it had lost. With yesterday's vote, Maine has repealed a law passed earlier this year allowing same-sex marriage. Goddammit. It's a deep disappointment.
Here's me and Shep this morning:
Shep (11:04:10 AM): too many bummers
Shep (11:04:42 AM): like, what is going on?
Shep (11:04:47 AM): these people are so terrified of obama
Shep (11:04:54 AM): and shifting culture
Shep (11:04:59 AM): but do they outnumber us?
caps (11:05:49 AM): it's not obama
caps (11:06:04 AM): exit polls in NJ, VA show it's not obama
caps (11:06:08 AM): it's a couple of things:
caps (11:06:17 AM): (1) the economy
caps (11:06:34 AM): in VA & NJ, unemployment ruled the day
caps (11:06:41 AM): it will have a political cost for all incumbents
caps (11:06:46 AM): see Bloomberg, even
caps (11:06:58 AM): when the economy's bad, people want to throw the bums out, whomever they are
caps (11:07:03 AM): that should be Obama's #1 worry
caps (11:07:16 AM): and as far as Maine is concerned, well, that's the true bummer
caps (11:07:27 AM): it's old folks, religious folks, and voter turnout
caps (11:07:32 AM): I am shocked by it, frankly
Shep (11:08:53 AM): i know
Shep (11:08:58 AM): maine i mean
Shep (11:09:13 AM): god it's all just so disappointing
Shep (11:09:21 AM): i thought we were moving forward
Shep (11:09:38 AM): delusional i guess
Shep (11:09:40 AM): too much hope
caps (11:09:54 AM): no, it will happen
caps (11:10:01 AM): it just doesn't happen easily, or all at once
caps (11:10:18 AM): if you had put desegregation up to a popular referendum in 1957 Alabama, it would have been a landslide
caps (11:10:33 AM): you can lead the fuckers to water, but with referendums, you can't make them drink
For a really compelling take on last night in Maine, check out my friend Mara's reaction after having to cover the "Yes On 1" victory party.
Ta-Nehisi Coates' response is also characteristically thoughtful and necessary, and I encourage you to check it out in full.
Posted by caps at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2009
Damn, Pt. II
Shit is weird, right? By legendary editorial cartoonist Thomas Nast.
Posted by caps at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2009
Damn
Came across this nasty little piece of work the other day. I'm struck by how desperate it is. I mean, what other word applies? It's intellectually dishonest, relies exclusively on lazy stereotypes, and is about as obvious a last-ditch smear effort as I could imagine. Hell, it's kinda racist, too. As Radley Balko noted: "Drug warriors wave white flag. I mean, that's what this is, right? Giving up?"
It also just feels old. Indeed, as a useful counterpoint, check out Jacob Weisberg in Slate yesterday, arguing that pot, gay marriage, and travel to Cuba will be legal in 10 years - "not because politics has changed but because society has." Weisberg writes:
The chief reason these prohibitions are falling away is the evolving definition of the pursuit of happiness. What's driving the legalization of gay marriage is not so much the moral argument but the pressures from couples who want to sanctify their relationships, obtain legal benefits, and raise children in a stable environment. What's advancing the decriminalization of marijuana is not just the demand for pot as medicine but the number of adults - more than 23 million in the past year, according to the most recent government survey - who use it and don't believe they should face legal jeopardy. What's bringing the change on Cuba is not just the epic failure of the 48-year-old U.S. embargo, but the demand on the part of Americans who want to go there - whether to visit their relatives, prospect for post-Castro business opportunities, or sip rum drinks at the beach.
And in the course of making this argument, Weisberg makes what I think is an interesting argument about expectations of personal freedom and the internet:
For similar reasons, there is not likely to be any retreat on the basic legal status - as opposed to tinkering around the margins - of the right to have an abortion or own a gun. Conservatives would be wise to give up on the one, liberals on the other. In each of these cases, popular demand for an individual right is simply too powerful to overcome. The Internet has been a crucial amplifier of all such claims. With pornography, and gambling, the Web itself became an irrepressible distribution tool for indulgences that were once perforce local. When it comes to gay marriage, the Web has accelerated the recognition of a new civil right by serving as an organizing tool and information clearinghouse. More broadly, the freest communications medium the world has ever known has raised expectations of personal liberty. In a world where everyone has his own printing press, restrictions on private behavior become increasingly untenable.
I also agree with him on his point about the growing futility of the fights on each side against access to abortion and Second Amendment rights.
Anyways, this is what I'm getting into with my extra hour of wakefulness - with an important Bills game beckoning, and still smarting from last night's Sabres loss, I'm drinking coffee and getting ready for the next ten years. Let's go.
Posted by caps at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)