A Very Special Episode - JTTTC

Tonight, in honor of Opening Day, the Colonel and I bequeath unto you a Very Special Episode of Just Talking to the Cornfield.  It's just a 1/2 hour at 8PM EST, so it won't cramp your Thursday night style.  Or will it?

Teen pregnancy, abortion and drug addiction will be the topics.  Just like Family Ties when Alex Keaton got hooked on uppers so he would do real good like in school  Good times.  Or none of that stuff.  How will you know unless you tune in?  So be there and be very, very square, children.  And just say no.  Not to our show, but you know...

Hey Dave2, I promise that I will have my drink on.  So hoo hah.

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Hey Stalkers,

 

As its come to be known, we will be having a "Very Special" Just Talking to the Cornfield  on Thursday Night at 8PM EST as we celebrate the start of the 2011 Major League Baseball Season.   Earl and the Colonel will be doing a countdown of 25 things to look forward to this year, or as I like to call it,"25 Reasons to Love Baseball in 2011".

 

The show will start at 8 pm (one hour earlier than our regular time), and we will have the chat room and phone lines open throughout the show so no reason to wait until after our regular segment to chime in!!

 

 

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Earl and The Colonel

 

 

   

See ya tomorrow...

Did my fantasy baseball draft last night (insert idiotic Slyde comment here), and drank a little bit.  So I got nuthin' for ya right now.

Except for a slow loris who loves to be tickled.

Mr. Steve

This past weekend, on the way to my sister's house for dinner and a rousing night of whiskey karaoke*, we stopped at our local coffee shop for a cuppa for the ride.  A Dunkin' Donuts shop, to be specific.  When I walked in, still kinda groggy from having taken an afternoon nap, I was confronted with this standing in front of the counter:

click to get the full horror

OK, so it's obviously some kind of dummy dressed up like the Easter Bunny or something.  But I didn't realize that right away.  I thought it was real, and it was the living embodiment of everything that creeps me the fuck out.  Specifically:

• Creepy old people.
• Creepy little people.
• Creepy people dressed like creepy animals.

Bottom line, I almost had a heart attack.   And if you zoom in on the picture, you will see that IT has a name tag.  Mr. Steve.  Named after an old dude who hangs out at that particular Dunkiin' Donuts all the time, according to the guy behind the counter  He said that they really do look alike.  Like the dummy is a Mini-Me version of the real dude. 

And just when I'm starting to calm down from my initial scare, I turn around and the real Mr. Steve was standing behind me.  Grinning like a fool.  He walked out before I could take a picture of them together, but I assure you...HE exists.  And he was nearly as horrifying as his effigy.  Nearly.

I haven't slept in three days.

*We drink whiskey and sing karaoke.  Simple as that.

Music Monday Edition

It still kills me what Amy Winehouse has done with her life and career. Especially when I listen to stuff like "Tears Dry on Their Own". Such a waste.

I'd like to see Amy come back and maybe record a duet with Adele. Both these ladies have got some soul to squeeze. Yowza. Here she is covering Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love".

And then there is Alexa Ray Joel. Billy's daughter. Sure, she sounds a bit like a chipmunk in this one, but at least it's not auto-tuned to all hell like most of the crappy pop music that's, um, popular today. I'm looking at you Rebecca Black*. Here she is with "Notice Me". So notice her already.

Alexa Ray Joel - Notice Me **OFFICIAL** from HAYDEN 5 MEDIA on Vimeo.

*Sometimes Twitter cracks me up. The other day #BellatrixLestrange was trending. Seemed odd to me. A villain from the Harry Potter series trending on Twitter. Turns out folks were using the tag to bemoan the fact that she killed the wrong Black. Genius.

New Episide tonight at 9PM EST - JTTTC

And some news about upcoming episodes.  From The Colonel:

Hey Stalkers, tonight at 9 pm Earl and The Colonel will be doing our preview of PITCHERS.  Earl and the Colonel will stray away from boring talk about how good Halladay and King Felix are, and will be focusing on pitchers who may overachieve or underachieve in this upcoming Major League season.   We also will be having a discussion on top pitching performances we've seen.  Feel free to chime in with your opinions or stories of your own.  

 

We will be recapping our selections for division winners as well as our picks for MVP, Cy Young and Rookie or the Year. 

 

We will look to open the phone lines around 9:50, so feel free to pose questions in the chat room or dial in. 

 

 

Upcoming shows:  

 

Thursday, March 31st at 8:00 pm, to coincide with the start of the Major League season, JTTTC will be having a very special show in which we discuss 25 Reasons to Love Baseball This Year.

 

 

Sunday April 9th at 9:00 - Earl and the Colonel welcome former Major Leaguer Nikco Reisgo and Russ Cohen, co-authors of:

 

"Strike Three!” - A Player’s Journey through the Infamous Baseball Strike of 1994

 

 

“Strike Three!” deals with the cancellation of the 1994 World Series and the replacement players who followed. Both of these events were historic and Nikco Riesgo was one of the first players to cross the proverbial picket line and put his career on the line for the good of the game. In his own words, ” This book re-lives my real life experience during the Major League Baseball strike of 1994 and why I decided to play against the enormous pressures of the Major League Players Union - to unify all professional players within one union, from the minor leagues to the majors. Any player who dares to play this “Game” must read this book and share it someday with their grandkids. You will never forget this.”

 

 

 

So join us tonight at 9 using the following link:

 

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=95365&cmd=tc

 

 

Or as usual you can listen to the show on I-Tunes when its posted during the week:

 

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/just-talking-to-the-cornfield/id424603470

 

Have a happy Sunday and talk to you soon!!

 

 

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Earl and The Colonel

 

 

My apologies

Sorry about yesterday's post.

I was in a bad mood for some reason.

As on olive branch, I offer you Foo.  As in Fighters. Enjoy.

Cold Mutha...hush your mouth!

I need a wallet like Jules had in Pulp Fiction.  But instead of "Bad Motherfucker", mine would say "Cold Motherfucker".  Because Elizabeth Taylor died today, and not only don't I give a rat's ass about her passing but I'm kinda pissed off at all the media focus on it.  You know, when Japan is still reeling from the effects of the tsunami, earthquake and subsequent meltdown fears.  When Libya is seeing all kinds of violence due to the uprising and coalition intervention against Gaddafi's forces.  And, oh yeah...shit is still going down in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, Southeast Asia and so on and so on and so on.

But it's not even because of all the other much more important stuff that is going on that the media should be focusing their attention on.  I just really don't give a crap about celebrities or famous people dying off.  Especially celebrities who were last relevant 3 or 4 decades ago.  Elizabeth Taylor?  Really?  Besides her family and friends, who really gives a crap?

Except I know that people DO give a crap.  I just don't understand it.  When Princess Diana died, I couldn't believe the amount of attention it garnered over here.  Granted, the circumstances surrounding her death were both suspicious and sudden.  But the grief that I saw from people in my own family or from folks I worked with boggled my mind.  Yes...she seemed like a nice lady, but nice ladies die suddenly all the time.  Every hour of every day.  I just don't get the grief that comes with the passing of one of them just because they were famous.  It would be different had she actually touched my life, even if it were ever-so-briefly.  But a nice famous lady that had literally zero effect on my life?  Sad, but not worth my tears.

So yeah, Elizabeth Taylor died.  And she was justifiably famous for some films that she made 4, 5 and 6 decades ago.  And because she was married 70 or 80 times.  Yawn.  The news of her passing shouldn't amount to anything more than a top-billing mention in the dead people section of the Oscars next year.  At least for me.

See?  Cold Motherfucker.

Addendum:  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I know she did a lot to raise money and awareness for the fight against AIDS, and I'm pretty sure she did some other nice things too.  I stand by my argument.  Nice people die all the time.  A couple of them while you sat there shaking your head at me.  And you ain't seeing any news of them on CNN, are ya?

The Room

I know I'm late to the party here, but at the coaxing of Gia and her family this past weekend I finally watched Tommy Wiseau's bad film opus/epic The Room.  And wow...just wow.  Everything that you've ever heard about this film is true.  It's awful.  BEYOND AWFUL.  Imagine the worst movie you've ever seen.  Then multiply that by the second worst movie you've ever seen.  Then the third, and so on and so on and so on.  The result might come close to approaching the absolute atom bomb of a bad movie that is The Room.  Maybe. 

I loved it!

And not because I believe Wiseau was trying to make a black comedy, as he now claims.  Something that is supposed to be bad.  But because I think it's obvious that he was trying to do the exact opposite.  It really looks like he was trying to make an earnest romance/drama.  Even though he had no experience with film-making whatsoever.  That's obvious to anyone who watches the film.  But it certainly looks like he was trying his best.  So the truly awful final product makes it even more tragic/wonderful.

You have to see this film.  It's...beyond comprehension.

The plot, what little plot there is, revolves around a sordid love triangle between Johnny, his future wife* Lisa and his best friend Mark.  Lisa has (maybe?) fallen out of love with Johnny and has seduced the morally ambivalent Mark.  She might now be in love with Mark, but it's hard to tell.  Because the most oft-repeated line of the movie is "I don't want to talk about it".  Lots of hemming and hawing and back and forth as Lisa plies her moves on both of her dim-witted suitors. 

*The word "fiancee" is never used in the film.  Just "future wife" or "future husband", both of which are used over a dozen times.  So freaking odd.

Along the way there are sub-plots that are introduced and dropped at super-sonic speed.  Like Lisa's mother's cancer.  Or the neighbor kid Denny and the money he owes to drug dealers.  Or the football game that breaks out between the fellas in an alley while they are all wearing tuxedos.  That one is never explained at all.  Neither is the title of the film, by the way.  In interviews, Wiseau claims that he named it The Room to emphasize a safe place that everyone has.  Something as simple as a room.  I dunno how that fits into non-existent plot of the film, but that's his semi-explanation. 

But really the plot is mainly used as connective tissues between the dozen or so sex scenes that Wiseau builds the film around.  Five minutes into the film we are treated to the soft-core sexual stylings of Wiseau and Juliette Danielle, the young lady who stepped off a bus (literally) and into Wiseau's film.  We are subjected to seeing Wiseau's horrific body over and over and over again.  I mean, I guess he's in shape.  But between his awful hair, awful accent (see below), awful acting and awful musculature...I dunno.  It's as if an ape was shaved and taught (barely) how to speak.  At some point, seeing that shaved ape run around naked would get, um, kinda creepy.  Put some pants on, Kong.  That's how it felt to see Tommy Wiseau constantly naked. 

Wiseau himself is a bit of a mystery.  He claims to be an American, born in New Orleans.  But his accent is clearly French...or Eastern European...or, damn.  Ok, his accent isn't "clearly" anything.  But it's definitely thick.  He claims to have come up with the $6 million it cost to make The Room by importing and selling leather coats from Korea.  He refuses to elaborate any further on which Korea he means, but this film has all the markings of something that Kim Jong-il might be involved with. 

Do yourself a favor.  Get a copy of The Room, get some friends together, serve some cocktails and enjoy the ride.  There's a reason why it's become a cult classic among a crowd much hipper than myself.  Yet I'm just hip enough to recognize genius or total lack thereof when I see it.  Lack thereof, thy name is Tommy Wiseau.

Twitter Noob

I'm on Twitter, but I'm not really ON Twitter...if you know what I mean.

I follow 27 people.  A handful of celebrities, some baseball writers and then a few of y'all.  I occasionally check out other Twitter fees, but generally I try to stay away from feeds that have too much content.  10-12 tweets an hour from one feed is too much for me.  And some folks post even more often than that.  I don't need to know everything a person is thinking at any given time.

Some bloggers also use Twitter to promote their blog.  I guess that makes sense, but since I use a feed reader for the blogs I read, updates on new posts on Twitter seem a bit redundant.  But I guess some people don't use feed readers, so there probably isn't anything to be done about that.

Weirdly enough, I wind up getting a lot of news from Twitter.  Mostly baseball news during the season, but the odd bit of real world news.  I read about the earthquake in Japan on Twitter first from a post by Pauley Perrette.  I found that to be a bit odd.

Anyway, I've got a couple of questions on how to make my Twitter experience more enjoyable?

• What's the deal with lists?  Why do you use them?  Am I missing out on something here?
• I've seen that you can't send direct messages to someone who doesn't follow you, or at least I've gotten that message when I've tried.  But sometimes they seem to go through?  What's the story?
• What is the best way to contact someone through Twitter?  As I mentioned above, I've tried direct messages. I've also tried replying to one of their tweets, but I'm not sure they see that.  I think they do, but I can't be sure.  
• Have you ever thought about protecting your tweets?  I see that is an option, and I guess it's a way to make sure that only the people you want to read your tweets will be the ones reading it.  I dunno, I guess it's for the same reason that some people make their blogs private.  I don't think that's for me.
• What else?  What else am I missing?  I'm sure it's a lot.

So do it to it, my fellow Twidiots!

Listen in, kiddies

I'm still on vacation, so listen in to Just Talking to the Cornfield on Talkshoe or iTunes.  In this past episode, we talked about our love of Dave Grohl, strippers, trains and tequila.  Oh yeah...baseball too.  Sounds good, doesn't it?

You know you wanna.

Episode 3: Just Talking to the Cornfield

In case you had forgotten.  Here's the link.

This should be a fun one.  Since I'm on vacation down in Charleston, I started drinking bourbon around noon-ish today.  I may be a little incoherent.  Just sayin'.

Tonight we are going to be focusing on hitters from a fantasy baseball perspective.  And we are going to touch on advanced statistics or sabremetrics, if you prefer.  Murray Chass certainly doesn't prefer.  Whatevs.

So join the Colonel and I for a hearty round of who gives a fuck.  All the cool kids are doing it.

Bloggy Stuff I'm Excited About

Just a few things from around the Blogosphere that I'm currently excited about.  You should be too.

• I still haven't read SK Waller's new book even though I bought the Kindle edition on Amazon as soon as it was available.  I plan on rectifying that this weekend when I go down to Charleston.
• Dave2 and his merry band of misfits have created Thrice Fiction Magazine.  Besides the use of the word "thrice", which I love, there are some really talented folks represented here.  And our buddy RW is editing the whole mess.  What's not to love?
• Faiqa and Shiny have a podcast now, and I'm super jealous because it sounds so professional compared to the relative crap that is our show.  I'll talk about that in a moment.  It's called Hey, That's My Hummus and it's about food*, I think.  Or something.  Check it out.
• Adam has been trying his stand-up on us through his weekly show, Clearly You're Retarded.  Sure, we spend most of the time making fun of him in the chat room.  But that's just to mask the fact that he is really funny.  I hated typing that just then.
• And then there is the glorious mess that is Just Talking to the Cornfield.  My buddy and cohort in this endeavor has even started a website to promote the show.  Listen in this Sunday night at 9PM EST as I do the show from Charleston after boozing all day.  It should be a, burp, gas.

Do it to it, kids!

*It's not about food.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I plan on getting legless in a pub somewhere in Charleston later today.  It's in my blood.

We've all got to have ambitions in life, right?

Sláinte mhaith

Baby Please Come Home

Did you know that Rebecca Pidgeon is a musician as well as an actress?  Did you know she was an actress?  Are you a fan of David Mamet?

I listened to an interview with her a few days ago, and she was super-cool. And I thought her odd way of speaking had mostly to do with the cadence David Mamet's words. But in real life, she has this hybrid Mid-Atlantic English type of accent reminiscent of Cary Grant or Katharine Hepburn, but different.  It's because she was born in Massachusetts, but her family moved to Scotland when she was five.  Then she spent a bunch of time in London.  So it's really her own unique accent.  Fun to listen to.

Anywho...

Happenings

Bullets! Yeah, yeah...snore.  Just deal, okay?

• Our little guy is gonna be 6 months old this week. And to celebrate, we are gonna neuter him. Happy freakin' half-year birthday, Bennington! 
• Heading to Charleston for a few days later this week. Because it's better there.  I'll be eating at the Tattooed Moose and eating their Duck Club sammy.  Duck confit, apple-smoked bacon, cheddar and more on Hawaiian bread.  Dude...I don't even know what Hawaiian bread is!  But everyone who has tried it has declared it the best sammy ever made.  I'm a hard sell, but I'm also willing to give it a go.
• Been watching a few NBA games this year.  Not because I enjoy the game, but I do enjoy rooting against the Miami Heat.  Screw those guys.
• A little over two weeks until the baseball season really starts.  Hey, have you been listening to Just Talking to the Cornfield?  You haven't?  Jerks...
• Speaking of baseball, aren't boobs wonderful?  What's that?  Boobs have nothing to do with baseball?  Oh yeah, I guess not.  Pity.
• Watched Something Wild with Melanie Griffith, Jeff Daniels and Ray Liotta last night.  For probably the 10th time, but probably the first time in 10 years.  Man, that's a good flick.  1986 was a very cool year.
• They aren't any Arby's or Sonic Drive-Ins near where I leave.  Which really pisses me off, because I keep seeing the commercials for them on TV.  And then I get hungry.  And then I get sad.  And then I get angry.  You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
• That's okay though.  Because I tried Five Guys Burgers for the first time the other day.  To quote a wiser man than I, "That IS a tasty burger!"

A quick DST story

For those of you who listened to our show last night (thanks!), this will be old hat.  Sorry, feel free to move on.  But for the larger majority of you who didn't listen to the show (grrr!), it should be as fresh as the sweet mountain air.  Ahem.

So this past weekend was Daylight Savings Time here in the U.S. of A.  Stupid friggin' tradition that needs to be eliminated, if you ask me.  But there it is.  At 2AM on Sunday morning we all dutifully turn our clocks ahead an hour because that's what we've always done.  Or we let our more advanced technology like cell phones or computers or DVRs change the time themselves.  We are benevolent human dictators like that.

But everyone probably has a manual clock or two at home that needs to be spun ahead 1 hour.  And it's inevitable that some clocks suffer the fate of not getting spun ahead for days or weeks, depending on whether you use them often or not.  It happens.  Then someone points it out to you and you feel stupid before fixing it.  I delight in being the asshole who points it out, I have to admit.

So I'm at my sister's house for a birthday party on Sunday when I notice that their wall clock in the living room had been neglected.  I, being that asshole who points this stuff out to folks, tell my nephew, an utterly brilliant college kid in many aspects of life, so that he could change it.

He takes it off the wall, takes a half-second peek at the back of the mechanism and declares that it's too complicated for him and he hangs it back up on the wall.  Seriously.  There was NO WAY he could have processed what he saw in that time-frame, but whatever.  He said it was too complicated to attempt.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Too complicated?  I gotta see this.  So I take it off the wall, and it's the same battery-run clock mechanism that we've all seen for decades now.  Something like this, if you aren't sure what I mean.  A battery and a wheel to set the time.  That's it.  Which I did.  Very easily, mind you.  And this kid is much, much smarter than I.  Ahem.

I don't know.  Kids these days can figure out how to sync their mobile phone to their email accounts to their Facebook page to the chip implant in their skulls in a matter of seconds.  But turning a wheel one rotation to change the time on a manual clock...

I fear for the human race once Skynet becomes aware and our youth are forced to handle tasks manually.  That's all I'm saying.

PS - But seriously, he's a great kid.

New Episide tonight at 9PM EST - JTTTC

In case you had forgotten.  Here's the link.

Tonight we are gonna tackle the National League, have a debate on Interleague play and discuss the sad state of the NY Mets.  Oh yeah, and balls.

Eventually we are going to start discussing things other than baseball.  Movies, booze, bacon...you know, anything that piques our interest.  And, hopefully, your interest.  We'll sprinkle some of that in tonight after the NL preview.  If you are good, that is.  Wait...check that.  Naughty.  I prefer you naughty.

One Paragraph Movie Reviews: Vol II

I did this a while ago. And since I would have to turn this into a movie review blog (you mean it isn't) if I were to write a post for every new movie I've seen, well...I'm recycling the idea. You gotta problem with that? These films are all fairly different.  What can I say?  I'm eclectic.

PS - I'm really not.

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Unthinkable (2010) - This was tough film to watch.  A terrorist plot against several U.S. cities has come to light, and in the course of rounding up suspects a former government-sponsored interrogator is accidentally picked up.  When the real suspect is also brought in, the FBI decides to use the interrogator and his highly controversial methods to find out the locations of the attacks.  This one isn't for the faint of heart.  Lots of grisly torture scenes.  Besides that, it almost felt like a stage play with most of the action taking place in one room.  Great acting with the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Sheen (not the crazy one) and Carrie-Anne Moss.  It just didn't overcome the brutality of the subject matter.   And since I had my own opinions about the effectiveness of torture during interrogations, it didn't do enough to change my mind.

My Netflix Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Monsters (2010) - I really liked this film.  If felt like some weird mix of Cloverfield and Apocalypse Now, in some ways.   In the near future, NASA has discovered alien life forms living in our solar system.  A probe, with samples, crash lands in Northern Mexico.  Half of the country is quarantined as the Infected Zone is now overrun with the alien creatures.  A photojournalist is hired to rescue the daughter of a rich American businessman after an attack near the Infected Zone.  After missing the last ferry back to the States, they embark on a journey through the Infected Zone with hired guides via river boat.  It's an extremely low-budget film that comes across a a film with a much higher budget.  A crew of 2 people, some $8,400 cameras and a digital effects program.  That's it.  Everything was shot on location, most of it without any permission.  And the extras were just folks that happened to be around when they were filming.  A really nice job by the writer/director, Gareth Edwards.

My Netflix Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Atanarjuat, the Fast Runner (2002) - This one was a recommendation from our friend, RW.  A good one too.  Telling the pre-history story of two Inuit brothers named Amiqjuac (the Strong One) and Atanarjuat (the Fast Runner).  They and the rest of their tribe must deal with a haunting evil that has come to their people in the form of a mocking shaman.  Atanarjuat falls in love with a woman who is promised in marriage to his rival, and that sets tragic events in motion.  This is the very first movie filmed entirely using the Inuktituk language.  It was also filmed in glossy video, which was initially distracting but felt right after a while.  The movie featured two things I love.  Old myths from different cultures, and an Arctic setting.  I'm fascinated by the Arctic.  Not an easy viewing as it was a bit confusing from the get-go, and it ran a bit long.  But definitely worth it.

My Netflix Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Faster (2010) - I love me some Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson.  I really do.   And even I went into this film knowing that it was gonna be pure brain candy and mindless violence.  But it slowly won me over with the performances and, believe it or not, nuance.  Johnson is a man known as Driver who gets out of prison after a 10-year stretch for bank robbery.  He has spent his time in prison preparing to take revenge on a crew of criminals who killed his brother and left him for dead.  One by one, he tracks the crew down and exacts his revenge.  But he isn't just a mindless instrument of vengeance.  The killings begin to take their toll on him.  Interestingly, an assassin was hired to track him down and dispose of him.  And the assassin is dealing with his own career choice issues.  Looking to move on.  Throw in a drugged-out cop on his way to retirement (played by Billy Bob Thornton), and you've got a movie.  There was nothing surprising about the film.  I actually was hating it for the first 20 minutes or so.  But it slowly won me over with the performances.  Yes, including The Rock.  He was really, really good in this one.

My Netflix Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Quick hits

• Dinner for Schumcks - Awful.  1 out of 5 stars.
• Freakonomics - Very interesting. 4 out of 5 stars.
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - I don't know what I was thinking. 1 out of 5 stars.
• All-Star Superman - A Superman story that doesn't involve kryptonite. 3 out of 5 stars.

Same again, same again...

So there were 21 Catholic priests suspended by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia yesterday.  For being, ya know, kid touchers.

I wish I could say that I was surprised and outraged at the news.  But as it goes with the Catholic Church, I was merely mildly surprised.  Even "surprised" is a bit of a mis-used word there. I just don't know what else to say.  Just that news of these evil mother-fuckers, or new news of them, doesn't seem to raise my hackles the way that news of it used to.  If you know what I mean.

I would never EVER try to defend these men...did I mention that they were evil mother-fuckers?  But I have to wonder how so many kids could spend so much time with these men alone.  My family was and is an uber-Catholic family. My father sang in the church choir, and both he and my mother were Eucharistic Ministers.  They also taught Religious Education and were members of Marriage Encounter.  We had priests and bishops and all kinds of clergy over the house all the time.

But I don't ever recall a time that I was ever alone in a room with a priest.

Never.  EVER.  Maybe my folks knew, at some nuclear core, that being alone with an adult male at that age was wrong on some level.  I dunno.  But it seriously never EVER came up.  I don't know how it would.  MAYBE if I was going to be an altar boy or something.  But how many of those kids are out there?

I guess enough.  Because there is clearly a problem, and there are clearly enough kids out there who have been abused.

It just boggles my mind.  I don't really understand how it could happen or how the Catholic Church could have kept it hidden for so long.

In many ways, I'm still a little child.

Phone Cam Cat Roundup

Haven't done this in a while, but I figured I would clean out some of the photos on my phone. Photos of the cats, of course. So let's do it to it.

Wolowitz crashed out, and ain't nuthin' waking him up.

Bennington sees no evil

Bootsy and Bennington...best friends.

All four cats crashed on the bed. 

Kitten Centipede: First Sequence

Kitten Centipede: Second Sequence

Gogo.  She's just a blur in real life too.

How you doin'?

Still Only 25¢: Daredevil #131

Disclaimer: Part of an on-going series of blog posts about comic-books, the mid-70's and a wee boy named Earl. Or not really. You know my name isn't really Earl, right? - Earl

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via Cover Browser

Daredevil was such an interesting hero to me when I was a young boy.  Besides his utterly ridiculous costume, of course.  But seeing as he is one of Marvel's versions of Batman (there are others), I guess it kinda makes sense that he would dress as a red devil, horns and all.  To scare the criminals of Hell's Kitchen, ya see.  Just like Batman strikes primordial fear in the heart of Gotham City's underworld by dressing like a bat.  Eh...I still think it's a pretty stupid costume.

But, as I said, he was still an interesting hero to me.  As a child, Matt Murdock was blinded by radioactive gunk that fell from a truck.  It's always something radioactive, isn't it?  Anyway, his remaining senses are heightened to a point where they are beyond the normal limits of we humans.  Hearing, touch and a type of radar echolocation.  And with these powers comes preternatural strength, agility and accuracy.  A little martial training and...BAM!  He's a superhero.  But those strengths also have their inherent weaknesses as he has become extra sensitive to loud noises, odors and other physical experiences.  So a dark hero with flaws.  Yeah, that was pretty cool to a young Earl.

Daredevil #131 in March of 1976 introduced audiences to what would become one of Daredevil's greatest arch-enemies in Bullseye.  Bullseye was a psychotic killer who's main "talent" was his extraordinary aim.  Combined with peak physical training, it allowed him to use virtually any item as an instrument of death.  Even an ordinary playing card.  He became the Omega to Daredevil's Alpha.  A complete moral opposite.  Someone that Matt Murdock could have become with his heightened abilities if he had no scruples or ethical need to help the helpless.  Several years after his introduction, he would become one of the central figures in one of the best-written comic-book storylines of all time.  A storyline that was bastardized in that awful Ben Affleck movie from a few years back.  Ugh.

I didn't keep any of the comic-books I had when I was a kid.  They were either thrown out or given away as Middle School turned into High School.  But when I started reading and collecting again in my mid-20's, Daredevil #131 was one of the first back issues I hunted down.  I went through a "first appearance" phase soon afterward, even finding the first (and only) appearance of another Marvel assassin named Bullseye in Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #15, originally published in November of 1969.  But that wasn't the same character.  He was just a guy with a gun in a silly suit.

And he didn't offer the flip-side perspective to Daredevil that the real (hehe) Bullseye offered.  And Marvel, especially during the Silver Age and into the 1970's, loved their little morality plays.  So did their fans. 

I certainly did.

Happy Monday

So thanks to those of you who showed up last night to listen to two dudes blather about baseball for an hour on Just Talking to the Cornfield.  Honestly, Peter (the Colonel) and I would probably do it anyway, but it's nice that you kids showed up and told dirty jokes to each other in the chat room.  Made my little heart burst with pride.  It's usually ME making with the dirty jokes in the chat room.

And a special shout-out to my buddy Slyde for showing up.  Oh wait...he didn't.

Dick!

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So I made dinner for my mother this past weekend.  Made a kick-ass salad that I cannibalized from one of RW's recipes and then one of my pasta dishes.  You know...the one with cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic-infused olive oil and crispy pancetta.  It...was...awesome!

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Those CBS Cares "hilarious" public service ads about getting a colonoscopy are just...creepy.

I do not like.

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Tomorrow, I'm going to get back on my comic-book reviews from the 1970's. I know I promised that it was gonna be the first Monday of every month, but I'll get to it a day late. Back off, bitches.

That's it. I'm outta here.

If we build it, will you come?

So tonight's the inaugural edition of Just Talking to the Cornfield with Earl and The Colonel.  One of those people is me!  Ahem...anyway, we hope to bring in at least one listener tonight.  Otherwise, it will kinda be like we are...just talking to the cornfield, ya know? 

So come on over and listen in if you can.  We are hoping it's gonna be fun.

Three things

1. I spent about an hour last night listening to the soundtrack from the movie Judgment Night from 1993.  "Judgment" is a word that I spell incorrectly about 85% of the time.  It just seem wrong.  Anyway...the producers of the film wanted a mix of hardcore rock and rap, and what they got was glorious.  Artists like the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E., Faith No More, House of Pain, Helmet, De la Soul, Teenage Fan Club, Onyx and Biohazard to name just a few.  It was...awesome!  Man, 1993 was a fuckin' good year.

2. I watched Dinner for Schmucks last night.  It was supremely awful, and not in a good way.  But it reminded me that my favorite Beatles song is "The Fool on the Hill".  I mean, not by just a little either.  Total home run.  I really, really love that song.  And I haven't listened to it in forever, so thanks crappy movie!

3. Don't forget to tune in Sunday night at 9PM EST to Just Talking to the Cornfield.  I'll hate you forever if you don't show.  Seriously.

This is what my hate face looks like.  But older and grayer.

Note: No idea who that is in the image. Came from a random pro-Christian website, believe it or not. I choose not to give them a link.  Deal with it.

Just Talking to the Cornfield

So we're gonna start something new here at the V-Dude.  This Sunday night at 9PM EST, I'm going to be co-hosting an internet radio show on Talkshoe called JUST TALKING TO THE CORNFIELD.  If you are familiar with Field of Dreams, then you'll get that reference.  If you aren't familiar with that movie, then you should remedy that.

I'll be co-hosting it with my buddy Peter, who some of you got to know during the Oscars chat as "Pete the Jew".  Hey...that's what he called himself.  But for the radio show, he has adopted the moniker of the Colonel.  So Earl and the Colonel.  Sounds like poetry.

What are we going to talk about?  In a word...baseball.  But it's going to be so much more than that, I hope.  You see, conversations between Peter and I tend to meander a bit.  Lots of movie and pop culture references, and hopefully a lot of laughs.

The first half-hour of every show is going to us talking about a specific topic.  This week it's a preview of the American League.  After that...well, we are going to open it up to calls, play a little trivia, talk about baseball movies, baseball websites, Slyde's dirty penchant for feet, stuff like that.

I hope you'll join us, even if baseball isn't your particular brand of bourbon. 

Here's the link again.  See you Sunday, I hope.

Coffee Cup

It's no secret here that I love whiskey, right?  Bourbon, Scotch, Irish Whiskey, Tennessee Whiskey, Rye...I love it all.  Not a fan of Canadian Whisky, but I've never really dabbled.  That might be next.

And I've got a great collection of terrific whiskey glasses.  Sturdy, heavy-bottom whiskey glasses or curved, somewhat fluted snifter kind of whiskey glasses.  I always use those when we have company. They present well and they show of the wonderful color of the liquid.  And whiskey snobs seem to use those types of glasses exclusively.  So I do...when there are guests involved.

But when it's just me and Gia at home, or if I'm home by myself...I drink my whiskey out of a coffee cup.  And yes, sometimes I like to have a glass of whiskey when I'm home alone.  Don't fucking judge me, you, um, judgers.

I really don't know why I grab the coffee cup when it's whiskey time.  I just do.  It's not like the old movie trope of hiding your drinking.  I make a point of letting people know that I'm having whiskey when I'm having whiskey.  It's just that it feels...right, I guess.  The ceramic and the handle and everything.  The whiskey just seems to taste better in my coffee cup.  If I had some mini-Mason jars I might use those, because that seems right as well.  But I don't, so I use my coffee cup. 

Some things just can't be explained.  Some things shouldn't be.

Bang Bang!

Because my mind is all a-flutter and I have a lot on my mind, today...you get bullets.  It's been a while, so let's get down to it boppers.

• My humble thanks to the handful of you who showed up for the Oscars chat here on Sunday night.  Apparently, my name is now Arl.  Ask Sybil Law why that is.
• I've got an exciting new project (at least to me) brewing that I'll tell y'all about a bit later in the week.  Did your nipples just get hard?  Mine did.
• I don't know if you've been paying attention, but there seems to be a lot of UFO hoaxes going on lately.  That thing in Jerusalem.  There was one near Pittsburgh, although that was probably just airplanes or weather balloons or something.  And Peru is always good for a couple of sightings a month.  I'm actually shocked that there hasn't been MORE sightings/hoaxes.  I'm done with it.  Hey alien race!  If you're out there, show yer goddamned faces.  Or whatever it is you have that would be, er, something like a face.
• Holy shit, it's March already!
• I fully expect gasoline prices to exceed $5 a gallon by the middle of the summer.  Which means I ain't going anywhere.  How the hell are we still using fossil fuel to get from here to there?  I thought 2011 was well into the idealistic "future" that we all read about when we were kids.  Sure...those tablets we all use are kinda cool.  Still...
• My cats are nuts.  Wolowitz feels compelled to play fetch for the better part of 2 hours each night.  And Bootsy Collins isn't happy unless he's fucking with my shit.  AND it's apparently time to get the new dude snipped, because he's a warbling mess.  Good thing Gogo is a skittish bag of nerves who spends the majority of each day hiding from the other cats.  One less freak to worry about. 
• Speaking of Wolowitz, go and do a Google Image search for "Wolowitz" and "cat".  Go ahead...I'll wait.  Yup...the first two pics are of my cat.  I would have thought it was a much more popular name.  Go figure.
• Anyone else but me wanna see a dual interview on Oprah with Charlie Sheen and Gaddafi?  I think they share the same crazy mind.  And how many different spellings does Gaddafi have for his name?  Qaddafi? Ghadafi? Qhadafi? Mr. Sane?  Eh...who I am to say.  I've been known to go by Arl in some drunken circles.

That's it.  Go home kids, yer botherin' me.