He is The One

Can someone tell me why Keanu Reeves is doing ads for the Stanley Cup finals?? Of all the guys they could have gotten, is he really the best one to make people want to watch hockey? The sport is floundering, people. The league might not exist next season. Is a spot featuring Bill (or was it Ted?) really going to sell a bunch of skeptical Americans on the fact that hockey is a legit sport and should be considered so? I realize that Keanu is Canadian, and as such, he commands a certain innate respect. But is he really the best Canadian for the job? Was Alanis Morrisette too busy? Were the Barenaked Ladies on tour or something? Here's a whole list of other people who could have done the job.

I think the next step is to get Trinity to do some spots for women's soccer.

It's a twister, it's a twister

Holy crap, the midwest has some strange, Biblical, curl-up-into-a-ball-in-the-corner weather. The other night we had to call our ultimate frisbee game before it was over because we saw lightning (we were down 9-7 at the time). This was not unexpected. But walking to the car, the heavens opened up, and trying to drive home I couldn't see 10 feet in front of me, due to the sheets and sheets of rain pelting my windshield. The situation was made more complicated by the fact that one of my teammates was waiting for her boyfriend to show up, so we spent the next 45 minutes driving up and down the street next to this park, trying in vain to look for something that looked like his car, dodging tree branches and lakes in the middle of the road. Eventually we contacted him. He was at home. He tried to come to the game and gave up. Smart man.

And for the past week and a half, on all of the local TV stations there has been that little icon in the corner telling some of the viewing public that their area might be hit with a severe thunderstorm, flood, or tornado at any second. It's like code orange for weather.

Red Sox Rant #1

In the header of this blog, I promised Red Sox Rants...well, I promised a lot of things, including midwestern oddities, psychological phenomena, the joys and sorrows of higher education, and a whole lotta nothin', and so far all I've really delivered on is the latter part. But here I go, tackling the bohemoth (sp?) of the Sox. This is less of a rant and more of a pleasant appraisal of the state of affairs so far. Hey, they're in first, by a game and a half over the Yankees. Can't complain so far. They haven't completely lived up to all the expectations, but how could they?? It was the busiest, craziest, most active baseball offseason ever. They almost got A-Rod, but seriously -- who wants a guy with a phallace for a name? He's over-rated. Give me Nomahhhhh any day.

The other thing about the Sox so far is the Drama. The Sox this year are Drama. They are rock stars and they embrace that with everything they have. Just look at Johnny Damon. He looked like Jesus for the first third of the season, then shaved the beard in a charity event. Manny Ramirez just missed a road game to go to Miami to become a US citizen. Nomar is married to women's soccer star Mia Hamm. I think next Pedro Martinez should come out with a book. I don't know what about, but somehow that would seem appropriate. Maybe he could call it, "Throwing Down 75-Year-Old Men for Dummies".

So whatcha whatcha whatcha want

I forgot about the Beastie Boys. Seriously. I just sort of forgot that they existed. Sure, I still have two of their albums somewhere in my collection, and their colorful rhymes still take up space in my brain that could be better put to use, say, remembering exam dates or birthdays. I mean, come on, do I really need "I'll stirfry you in my wok"** in my head for the rest of my days? But I had forgotten them...until tonight. I randomly ran into some live concert of theirs, shot in artsy black and white, on what I think is a local station here in St. Louis. And it looked like a damn lot of fun. It's hard to tell from here, but it seemed like they put on a good show.

It's funny also how music can so quickly bring back vivid memories of other times in your life. In The Quad sophomore year at Oberlin, we listened to our fair share of Beastie Boys, along with tons of Radiohead and the Beatles' "Oh Darling" on repeat. But we got our share of the Boys, and hearing them tonight instantly brought me back to the late nights and bad smells of living with three other college guys.

**Actual Beastie Boys lyric

Pluggin' away

This is less of a plug and more of a - "Hey, check this out. It's wicked funny." If you haven't already seen it, and many have, check out homestarrunner.com. As far as I can tell, they're not selling anything, but they put together some really funny shorts and answer email. I'm not sure why it's so damn funny, but it is. Especially if you stick with it and watch a lot of their stuff.

No pain, no gain

Well, we lost our first ultimate frisbee game. I think the score was 15-9. That's the funny thing about ultimate, it's so laid back that no one really knows when the game is over. Last night, one of the guys on the other team came up to our captain and said, "Hey Ragu, I think that's game." And Ragu (our captain) said, "Okay". Good story, I know. But I think we played well for our first time out there. I touched the disc once and was a few steps short of catching one in the end zone. And then there was beer and pizza afterward, which heals all wounds. And Donkey Kong. The place went had a Donkey Kong machine, as well as a Pac-Man one and one of those hockey games with the big glass dome where you move your guys around on little tracks using poles. I love that game. I was Canada, and I beat USA 2-0. And this was with my center dislodged from his track and lying in the other team's goal the entire time. Take that, USA!!

Ultimatum

I take the field tonight to play ultimate frisbee for the first time in I don't know how long. It should be interesting. 83 degrees, running around on a field for an hour...yeah, this should be fun.

Here's some info about the league

Shameless plug

Here is some free advertising for a good friend of mine. This will probably only be seen by about six people, but six is alot more than none (infinitely more, actually...I'm a big loser).

www.peteholmes.com

Pete Holmes, he's a comedian. Check him out.

Trojans are more than just condoms

So epic pics are back. Not that they ever went away, but it feels like they're back for some reason. I got to see Troy, which is the latest one. Meh, pretty good. I do think Orlando Bloom is destined to only be cast in epics now, although Kia thinks he looked better with the long blonde hair. I also think he'll be required to shoot arrows in every movie he's in from now on, since it just looks so right. He finally did it at the end of Troy and nailed Brad "Achilles" Pitt right in his....what's that part called, right behind your ankle? It's the one that is Achilles' only vulnerable spot, and if you hit Achilles right there, then Achilles will die...I think it's called, "The spot that really really hurts alot."

Oh, and one of the guys from Braveheart was in it too. I can't remember which one. One of the Scottish guys.

This is a start

I've caved. I decided to throw my hat into the ring. Here is my addition to the 4 billion (or so) webpages out there. I'd like to say that I've got lots of important burning issues to tackle or something, but really, it's just self-indulgence (as Leavy so finely put it). And it's summer in St. Louis, so I need something to do with my time.