With 3.6 seconds left and just a 2 point lead, Coach K told his player to intentionally miss a free throw. Pretty unorthodox strategy, and it almost cost Duke as the Butler guy narrowly missed a half court shot.

So, why not just make the free throw, go up by 3... then the worse you get is overtime.

QOTD

"I think we lose in overtime."
- Dike Coach K on his decision v. Butler to miss their last free throw on purpose

Gutsy call. I like it.

Book: "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... barely just OK

This is "Hunger Games 2".
More light teeny-bopper reading. This one barely made the cut because of two really aggravating things:

1. We traipse back to the same "Hunger Games" plot of kids fighting each other
2. We get the bogus "to be continued" ending. That's tough to pull off well, and it does not work here.

I'm cranky, but I went with 3 stars because I liked the first half of the book, and I will probably snarf the finale when it comes out. The last of the series is "Mockingjay" and comes out in August ("Mockingjay" on Amazon).
mocking book... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books, qotd, sports

Book: "Waking" by Matthew Sanford
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... OK.

He he. Here I go again. This reminds me of my "Avatar" experience.

"Waking" is an inspirational story about a guy dealing with paralysis due to a childhood car accident. It's really heart-wrenching stuff to hear the stories of what this guy went through. And then he perseveres ultimately by learning yoga. It's an amazing story. Anyone dealing with this kind of trauma and disability is amazing to me.

"Waking" on Amazon is a 5-star deal (source) with people about as gushy as I've seen for any book or anything on Amazon.

Sorry, I wasn't that moved. Why?

• Much of the book (2/3?) deals with his accident and the fairly immediate trauma and treatment of his paralysis. It's just brutal reading... because it's happening to a 13 year-old kid.
• Then, we get preachy. If you don't do yoga, then you don't "get it". You're not connected with this and that and the other thing. Jeez. The paraplegic who gets totally into weight-lifting and Special Olympics stuff... he doesn't get it. The doctors don't get it. The therapists don't get it. Whatever.
  
• He also describes how, after winning a lawsuit over his accident, he becomes "enlightened" about not needing to work and that his philosophy and inner-self are more important. Yawn.
  

It's almost universal isn't it... everyone's religion is the religion. Even not having a religion is a religion, as the worst religion these days is people who won't tolerate the religion of others.

What works for me? Running. Working hard. The "life is a game or contest" metaphor works pretty effectively. But am I in your face if you're not running, not working hard, not competing. Heck no. There's a lot of benefits to an alternate approach (including yoga)... just don't tell me yours is better for everyone and I won't do likewise.

Look, this wasn't a terrible book; it was worth the read. Dude, I'm glad that yoga worked for you. But please please please don't tell me that your way is the way. It isn't.

Baseball tomorrow!
Ahhhhhhhhh.
play ball... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books

CA $$$
CA government spending a lot of $$$, right?
Courtesy my fave Mad Hedge guy (source), CA is spending a ton of money on prisons:

• CA spending on prisons has "soared from 3% of the state’s domestic product in 1979 to 11% last year"
• And "80% of that spending is going to compensation"
• "It costs $6 billion a year to pay 60,000 prison guards, most of whom make over $100,000 a year with overtime"
• CA prison spending is "more than it costs the state to educate 670,000 college students"

And how can this crap like this happen?
CA prison guards have "the state’s most powerful" union.
And IL's most powerful union: teachers?
And USA's most powerful union: federal employees?

Cormac 2
Book: "All the Pretty Horses" by Cormac McCarthy
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... excellent!

I was 250 pages into an easy 5-star book. Then, dop. The last 50 pages.

Cormac also wrote "The Road", and his writing style is so emotive of the material he is covering. "The Road" was bleak, so his style was bleak and barren. "Pretty Horses" is set in the rugged west with a couple of teenage cowboys escaping to Mexico for, I don't know, for some air, some freedom. Anyway, his style is rugged and wonderful to read. Some examples:

• Sparse punctuation with no quotation marks. Conversations just flow with the story and you figure out who's talking.
• Few apostrophes... sort of like how people talk.
  
• Some Spanish is thrown in here and there as the cowboys head into Mexico. It wasn't tough to follow what was going on.
  

Alas, the ending died. The plot got squirrely. The descriptions got a bit winded. The last 50 pages were a struggle.

Oh well. This is still an outstanding book and a great vacation read. This is great guy reading with cowboys and the outdoors and riding free and hot Mexican chicks and... There are two more Cormac books in his "Border Trilogy". I'll hit em and let you know.

QOTD

You still aint told me what answer you give her, said Rawlins.
I told her I'd do whatever she asked.
What did she ask?
I aint sure.
They sat watching the fire.
Did you give your word? said Rawlins.
I dont know. I dont know if I did or not.
Well either you did or you didnt.
That what I'd of thought. But I dont know.
- "All the Pretty Horses", page 138-9

En homage... an wild, wild west (cough) picture from AZ:
Cub Lose
Who's got the better team in 2010: Cub or Cardinal?
Well, let's go position by position:

• C - Molina, Stl
• 1B - Pujols, Stl
  
• 2B - Lopez, Stl
• 3B - Aramis, Cub
• SS - Lugo, Stl
• OF - Holliday, Ludwick, Rasmus, Stl, Stl, Stl

And F pitching. That's an even worse rout than the hitting comparison.
The dang Cub stink.
Next year.
he he... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, books, myphoto, politics, qotd, sports

Back from vacation.
Ah, Phoenix. 85 and sunny...

One vacation story. I went to my first Cub spring training game. We were sitting right by the Cub dugout. The inning ended; D-Lee threw a ball to a kid a few seats down. The kid gacked and dropped the easy toss. We were watching the kids eyes well up when Fukudome yelled to the kid and tossed him a replacement. Class move.

1. Vacation book review
Book: "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... good.

This book is teeny-bopper level reading, and it had a draining happy ending. But it was fun, light vacation-reading for me. I'll probably read the second book in the series.

2. Two questions
Well, ObamaCare is now law. Nothing helps a media blackout more than a vacation by the pool (85 and sunny, thank you). Seems like two fundamental questions remain:

1. Is this important? The bill is such a cluster, I would guess that this is more important as a socialized health care "foot in the door" more than anything else.
   
2. Will Americans respond? We'll see in November. And we'll see in 2012. This is our chance to say "nyet" to these shenanigans, but I am still waiting for the jobs numbers to pop. If the jobs numbers recover, even a little, in the next 6 months, then the ObamaCare outrage will diminish.
   

Bottom line on both questions... I don't know and we'll see.
He he. How's that for interesting analysis?
Well, at least you got a good bikini shot out of the deal.

3. Naperville real estate
News flash. Naperville real estate is still screwed. Here's a good summary in the Naperville Sun.


Of course, Naperville has lots of company in its crappy real estate market.

QOTD

"Nationally, over 30 percent of home sales are short sales"
- Realtor nabob, source

Naperville's distinction, if any, appears to be its glut of high-priced homes that aren't selling.
Dop.

Only place better than vacation is home sweet home. Castle sweet Castle.
85 and sunny... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books, healthcare, naperville

Let's start off with the bad and end with a positive flurry!

1 Bill-star Review
Movie: "Inglorious Basterds"
Review: 1 bill-star (out of 5)... blech.

"Pulp Fiction" was clever enough, but I am beyond bored with the Quentin Tarantino knock-offs that he himself produces. Everything is a cartoon: characters, plot, violence, music, etc.
The funniest part of "Inglorious Basterds" for me was near the end Brad Pitt is captured and sits down handcuffed in front of the main Nazi guy. I said to myself, "There's a long, tired 10 minutes of overworked dialogue coming here". I hit the fast forward and sure enough, I was right. The scene actually works at 8x with no sound.

Mozy told me this was nominated for an Oscar this year. Sure nuff: oscar.go.com/nominations/nominees and that the lead German guy won best supporting actor. Whatever.

5 Bill-star Review
Book: "The Reagan I Knew" by William F Buckley
Review: 5 bill-stars

This is a wonderful, intimate book. Half the book is Buckley's contemporary look-back at his relationship with Reagan, and half the book are personal letters written between Buckley, Reagan and Nancy Reagan. They are a delight. The book was warm. There are so many stories in there and such good stuff, I don't even have a QOTD for you. Shame on me.

Buckley chronicles the leftie media bias against Reagan in his book. These stories date back to Reagan's presidency and even the 70's. It serves as a reminder that, hey, the volume may be turned up a little higher these days, but the song remains the same. A left-tilting media and academia has been an American mainstay for longer than you or I've been around.

Prejudiced Reviews
Hey, I'll admit I my prejudice. I've seen enough bad Tarantino movies. I have enjoyed Buckley's works and agree with some of his conservative stances. So be it.

I sit down and watch "Basterds" and it's a flat, joyless, experience. And with the repetition between Tarantino's films, it's unwelcome deja vu.

I read Buckley's book late into the night smiling and straining to stay awake and read more.
Prejudice or not... that's the bottom line: 1-star film and 5-star book.
peace out... yow, bill

PS - Dang it, this is funny... 4 minute video: Everything is amazing, and nobody is happy

Labels: 1star, 5stars, books, movies, myphoto

1. Steve Forbes, the anti-Obama
Book: "How Capitalism Will Save Us" by Steve Forbes
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... good.

I agree with most of what Forbes writes about... economic freedom and limited government. That's the good part. But the bar part is that his book is very dry. It's pretty much a straight line recitation of stats and facts supporting his case... one after the other.

I was cranky about this. A few chapters in, I finally connected the dots, that Steve Forbes is the anti-Obama.

• Forbes ain't much to look at,
• He's not much of a sweet talker (cough),
• He's cares about individual freedom, and
• He's right.
  

Forbes' summary in the epilogue contains 14 points that summarize the book. It's the wrong level of detail for a summary. Give me your top 3 or top 5 principles, not 14 long-winded "do-this, do-that" points. This QOTD is a better summary of Forbes' book than that.

QOTD

"Bottom Line: Trust we the people. We are the economy!"
- Steve Forbes, the last line from "How Capitalism Will Save Us"

2. Census nonsense
How much are they (we!) spending on the census this year?
Just a cool $14B. (source)

Well Bill, you might say, maybe that's not so much.
OK.
The census cost $2.5B in 1990 and $4.5B just 10 years ago.
Let's see... 14/4.5... that's more than a triple of the amount spent on the previous census.

Included in this is a $340M marketing budget that includes the following nonsense:

• A mailer sent to everyone announcing that your census mailer was coming. The tab for mailing a letter to everyone in the United States... $57M (source)
• From the above link: "To coordinate this campaign, the Census Bureau awarded a $212 million contract to a New York City-based advertising firm."
  
• A Super Bowl ad that cost $2.5M (source)
  
• A ridiculous rap commercial with the tag line, "We can't move forward until you mail it back" (source)
• Sponsoring a car in Nascar at $1.2M (source)
  
• Sponsoring by Dora the Explora (source), but I couldn't find Dora's take of this mega-kitty
  

The census guys (the ones snarfing the dinners and strip club visits from doling out all this PR/consultant work) claim that this marketing budget is making us money. The census saves money with an increased response rate.

Dude. C'mon.

3. Insulting
The Obama administration is going after, of all people, Israel.
David Axelrod says of Israel's announcements of new settlements: "This was an affront, it was an insult... and for this announcement to come at that time was very destructive." (source)

Let's see. Choose between Israel (democracy and staunch ally) or David Axelrod... easy call.
trust we the people... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books, politics

I heart minor league baseball
Minor league baseball teams really, really want your business. They cater to you. They try hard. This is the exact opposite approach than you see at MLB teams like the Chicago Cub.

Here's a great story about the Peoria Chiefs, the Cub class A minor league team... they're leasing out their skyboxes to fantasy baseball leagues for their draft meetings. For $35 a guy, you get the luxury (cough) suite, all-you-can-eat buffet, beers, and a ticket to a future Chief game. Sweet!


I heart minor league baseball.


I heart my crock pot
RIP Mable Hoffman... author of “Crockery Cookery”, an early and popular crock pot recipe book.


I heart my crock pot... and Mable too, I reckon.


I heart Ronald Reagan
Book: “Tear Down This Wall” by Romesh Ratnesar
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)... meh

This book is very dry and kinda boring. This is hard to fathom, given how interesting the subject matter is. The other irritating thing is the guy sprinkles in his politics into the thing here and there. The big two that bugged me:

1. Reagan's optimism was naivete
   
2. Gorbachev ended the cold war, not Reagan
   

OK, poindexter.
Reagan's optimism and belief in the human spirit defined him.
The author's incredulity likely defines him, and maybe this is a defining trait of your average leftie.

One of the best anecdotes from the book was by a girl attending a talk Reagan gave in Moscow. Russian security officials picked which students would sit where for Reagan's speech. They were told, "Don't make any movements with your body. If you get up, you will be shot." Well, that'll discourage those distracting potty breaks during an event, eh.

QOTD

“General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
- Ronald Reagan, Jun 12 1987, speech at Brandenburg Gate in (then) West Berlin

I believe the difference between Reagan and other presidents was an actual set of values which drove his decision-making. His values: small government, personal freedom, optimism. If you know what President Obama's values are, please chime in and enlighten me.

Reagan was stricken with Alzheimer's a few years after leaving office. He penned a final correspondence, a sort of goodbye, before losing his faculties.

QOTD2

“In closing, let me that you, the American people for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your President. When the Lord calls me home whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future. I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.”
-Ronald Wilson Reagan, Nov 5 1994 letter

I heart Ronald Reagan


I heart our great sunny weekend!
run faster... yow, bill

PS - A couple photos of Reagan in front of the Berlin Wall on Jun 12, 1987.

...

Labels: 2stars, books, fun, politics, qotd, sports

1. Mortgage Banker Payback
Funniest story of the day:


Even funnier QOTD...

QOTD

"We have come to the inescapable conclusion that owning our own building was the smartest long-term investment for the association."
- Mortgage Banker's Association in 2007, on buying their building

I guess foreclosure would have been more appropriate, but still... pretty funny.

2. Hopey Changey
Sarah Palin's "Tea Party" speech was chockful 'o Obama zingers.
Back to that in a second.

QOTD2

"Now, a year later, I got to ask the supporters of all that...
how is that hope-y, change-y stuff working out for you,"
- Sarah Palin, source

Hopey, changey... jeez. good one.

It dawns on this addled observer... why is Sarah Palin the only one calling this guy out?
Even this crappy blog pulls punches, I must admit.
Why?
Is it a black guy thing? Or social pressure? Fear of not dating hot 40-somethings?
I honestly don't know.
Processing...

QOTD3

"I think instead of lecturing, he needs to stop and he needs to listen on health care issues, on national security."
- Sarah Palin

Cha.
I read that now Obama is calling for a meeting with repubs on health care.
Now.
NOW!

Fucking idiot.
You've had a year... the Senate... the Congress... 53-47 victory over an 80 year-old stiff... 10% unemployment... few trillions in debt... and NOW you want to talk about health care reform.
Pathetic.

I have a better idea... more talks with Iran.

3. Book Review
Book: "The Night in Question" by Tobias Wolff
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... very good

Good read.
I am much more a novel guy than short stories, but still good.
Thanks, Matt for the rec.

QOTD4

"He was big in every direction - tall and rotund with a massive head, a trophy head."
- Tobias Wolff, "The Night in Question" page 191

BTW, the best short story of the bunch was the shortest and the last, "Bullet in the Brain"... about a guy who... well, just read it.
He he he.
hopey changey not... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books, fun, politics, qotd

1. Crazy Heart
Movie: "Crazy Heart"
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... really good

Let's see...

• Outstanding performance by Jeff Bridges.
• This is a fun, slow movie with lots of fun country music
• Good ending
• I'm definitely buying the soundtrack
  

It's a great date movie... or maybe I just had a great date... who can tell?

QOTD

"Falling feels like flying... for a little while"
- some good, ole, hard-drinkin and hard-livin country lyrics from "Crazy Heart"

2. Crazy Pol
Book: "End the Fed" by Ron Paul
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth reading

OK, Ron Paul isn't crazy, and the book is OK.
Ron Paul is an ideologue who takes his beliefs and extrapolates... gets kind of old after a while.

Here's Paul's basic argument, as I see it... "The Fed", since it was established in 1914 or something, has too much power and is corrupt and has led to the ruination of the United States.
OK.
Well, the obvious problem with this argument is that, under our current system, we have ascended to being the lone superpower in the world, both economically and politically.

To his credit though, Ron Paul puts his money on the table. He says that unless we go to a gold-based monetary system pronto, we're doomed.
So, when the US crashes in flames, I'll come back and give Ron Paul his props.

That said, I absolutely agree with Ron Paul's call for an end to Fed secrecy and shenanigans. There is no reason for the Fed to operate outside of scrutiny and without being audited.
I also absolutely agree with Paul's implication that far too much power has shifted to Washington DC in our country.


3. Quirky links
A couple-a quirky links por vu...


It's so tough to be an artist, right? You can be completely amazing and you're likely to be completely poor and obscure at the same time. In just a few minutes of trolling, I found some really cool stuff on "Art blog". Check it out... these click are definitely worthy:

• Redesign of the dollar - bunch-a artists create their own dollar bills
• A single sheet of paper - amazing designs from just a piece of paper... the hand below is an example
  
• Egg shell art - thousands of tiny holes in an egg, jeez
  

This is a weird, fun music site. Click away on the squares and enjoy.
crazy, crazy, quirky... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books, fun, movies, politics

I'm not a big Sheryl Crow fan. Duh.
Like this shot though... genuine and fun, posed and yet not... and she is a hot 40-something, so there!


Book: "Consent to Kill" by Vince Flynn
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... the best!

Sweet mother Mary... an easy 5 bill-stars with the boffo ending.
What the hell is my problem... boffo start, middle and end!

Couple days ago, I'm looking at the book with less than a hundred pages to go, and I'm thinking, "How the heck is he going to wrap (Rapp!) all this shit up so quickly?"
Oh, that's how. Good lord!

Jeez, a great great guy read.

QOTD

As he turned to head back into the house he found himself staring down the length of a thick black silencer at the face of the last man he wanted to see. Abel dropped the bag of groceries, and said, "I can explain."

"I'm sure you can." Rapp took half a step back and then kicked Abel in the balls, dropping him to the ground.
- "Consent to Kill", Vince Flynn

I've read a couple articles on "Consent to Kill" being Mitch Rapp's first appearance on the big screen (like this one).
Fine.
I'll bet they screw it up though.
I don't know.
I haven't ever watched "24" except as (incessant) commercials during football games, so who knows. I think "24" and Jack Bauer are the closest thing to Mitch Rapp... just watered down.
consent to kill... yow, bill

PS - Oh, and my regards to Lake Geneva. Sigh. Sorry... details are only available on my pay-per-view blog. He he!

Labels: 5stars, books, qotd

1. Solar Calculation
You know that global warming bugs me.
It also bugs me that real information is so hard to get.
Forget about $$$ and practicality and logistics for a second... if we had perfect solar panels with perfect batteries and all, how big a solar panel would we need for your average house?

It looks like the average household uses roughly 1,000 kWh/month; that's "one thousand kilo-watt hours per month". Give each month 30 days and we get about 30 kWh/day consumed. [source]

It looks like the power of the sun in Chicago is roughly 4 kWh/m2/day; that's "Four kilo-watt hours per meter squared per day. [source]

Let's divide, shall we: 30 kWh consumed / 4kWh/m2 = 7.5 m2 or "Seven and a half meters squared". So, a perfect solar panel would have to be 7.5 meters squared to power the average house. But solar panels are only about 20% efficient (source), so you'd need a panel 5x that size to do the job: 35 meters-squared.

That's pretty big. 6 meters x 6 meters.
But let's say efficiency doubles over the next 10 years, and let's say we only want/need to cover half our energy via these panels. That reduces our panel area by 4x to 9 meters-squared, or a 3x3 meter panel. Reasonable.

I'm tired and rambling... the point is solar is close to making sense. Closer than silly windmills. And of course, nuc-ular is better than solar. All this fossil fuel and global warming nonsense is addressed with a modicum on invention, which we are well on way.

Cap and trade and such... taxes and control, not about energy or warming or whatever.

2. Investing
Great QOTD regarding the US and Asia from the Mad Hedge Fund guy... similar to a previous post, but still worthy:

QOTD

"As much as we despise ourselves and wallow in our failures, Asians see us as a bright, shining example for the world. After all, it was our open trade policies and innovation that lifted them out of poverty and destitution. Walk the streets of China, as I have done for nearly four decades, and you feel this."
- Mad Hedge Fund Trader guy, source

And how is your day today?
Well, Eddie Lampert, CEO and majority owner of Sears Holdings, is up about a cool billion $$$ today. A Billion Dollar Day for Eddie
He he.

3. New Year's Eve Book
Book: "Noah's Compass" by Ann Tyler
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... really good

Such a great treat for me... I found Ann Tyler's new book on New Year's Eve.
Smile.

Ann Tyler is one of my favorite authors, and "Noah's Compass" is pretty typical. Her stories focus on regular people going through pretty much regular stuff... no plot twists with Mitch Rapp or anything. He he.

This was a very enjoyable read: 4- bill-stars.
Ms. Tyler's writing style is so smooth... it just kind of ambled along. No biggie.

I thought Ann Tyler's "hook", Noah's compass, was kind of smarmy. Noah didn't need a compass "because the whole world was underwater"... get it? Meh.
Anyway, here's my favorite QOTD from the book:

QOTD

"Epictetus says that everything has two handles, one by which it can be borne and one by which it cannot. If your brother sins against you, he says, don't take hold of it by the wrong he did you but by the fact that he's your brother. That's how it can be borne."
- Ann Tyler, "Noah's Compass"

Sort of a fancier way of saying, "keep your positivity."
Pick the positive, constructive handle of a thing.
I like it.
positivity... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, books, globalwarming, investing, qotd

QOTD1

"Listen here, you jackass. In all my years as a sailor I have never seen a bigger bonehead move." The man came right up to the edge of the boat. "Just who in the hell do you think you are?"

"I'm a federal agent," replied Rapp as he pointed at the dead bodies laying in the aft sundeck. "I killed those two right there, there's a third one down in the cabin, and unless you want to be number four I'd advise you to get your ass off this dock and out of my face right now!"
- Mitch Rapp rant from "Memorial Day"

Book: "Memorial Day" by Vince Flynn
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... amazing!

Best of the Mitch Rapp series thus far... nukes and terrorists and pols and lawyers and Mitch Rapp and... sigh.
Too great.


QOTD2

"Mr. Jackson, if you shut your mouth for a second I'll explain. Are you recording this call?" Rapp listened to the lawyer's reply. "Good. Here's the deal. Your client is guilty. Come Tuesday morning certain information will be made public, and when that happens I can promise you that you will wish you'd never met Ahmed al-Adel." Rapp listened for a few seconds and then laughed. "No, Mr. Jackson, that wasn't a threat. If I thought you were a real problem, I wouldn't waste my time threatening you... you'd simply disappear."
- Mitch Rapp rant from "Memorial Day"

Next!
he he... yow, bill

Labels: 5stars, books, qotd

1. A Mitch Rapp Christmas

Book: "Executive Power" by Vince Flynn
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... outstanding!

These Mitch Rapp books are just outstanding guy reading. So great!
Next one's already on order.
I'm snarfing hardcover editions on ebay... about $10 a throw. That's a couple more bucks than a crappy, tiny paperback, but a lot easier to read.

QOTD

"Rapp held his gun up in the palm of his hand for the president to see, and said, 'This is the only thing the zealots understand, sir.'"
- Vince Flynn from "Executive Power"

Hot dam!

2. Economy 2010
What's in store for the economy in 2010?

As an investor, I don't care (well, sort of)... run with the trend and get out on a significant reversal. Of course, in reality, the economy is pretty dang important. It seems inconceivable that we just pop out of our sideswipe with near-depression and just return to near-normal in 2010. But who knows?

Banking analyst Meredith Whitney is a media darling and uber-hot (below)... what a coincidence, eh.
She is also a 2010 doom-sayer.

QOTD2

"[Whitney] says the sand will hit the fan in Q1 2010 as another wave of losses hit the banks, taking the rest of the stock market down with them. There will be no place to hide. There is no credit for medium and small sized borrowers. There has been no bail out for consumers, which account for 70% of American GDP, and there has never been an economic recovery without their participation."
- My fave Mad Hedge Fund Trader blog, source

We shall see.
One thing I've learned over the past year... nobody seemingly knows a dang thing. Experts, bah! In a 10 minute sitting, you can read one expert calling for hyper-inflation, the next a depression, and the third a return to normalcy.
Whatever.

Gold and a couple other holdings are down a bit... watching for a significant break that would signal me to sell. I'm working on fine-tuning all this... working.
buy low... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, books, investing, myphoto

1. Follow the money
I had a physical reaction (stomach turning) to this story and QOTD.


QOTD

"... between 2000 and 2006, Mr. Jones was the recipient (or co-recipient) of some $19 million worth of grants"
- Mr. Jones is director of the Climate Research Institute (CRU), and a lead actor in the Climategate email scandal

$19 million of research $$$ to this fraud.
Barf.

I salute the late Michael Crichton. He called this one in spades in his book "State of Fear". Politicians and scientists require panic, a state of fear, to extract their tolls from society's worker bees. Today's panic du jour is global warming. Tomorrow's?

2. Shopgirl: book and movie
Book: "Shopgirl" by Steve Martin
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... just OK

Movie: "Shopgirl"
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... better than just OK

I got the book because the movie was surprisingly good to me... the power of low expectations. Steve Martin's movie career peaked with "The Jerk", then the excellent "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", and hit bottom with a remake of "The Pink Panther", which I believe the army forced Gitmo terrorists to watch as one of their advanced interrogation techniques.

The book was just OK... not as good as the movie. It's a tiny novella. The narration became more and more over the top as the book crept on. It was weird because I was interested in the characters (because of the movie?), but the book's descriptions became less interesting as the pages turned.

3. Investing decade
Tough investing decade, eh.

QOTD2

"The S&P 500 is down 24.5% so far this decade... but only three of the ten S&P 500 sectors have underperformed the index as a whole in the 2000s -- Telecom, Technology, and Financials."
- excellent Bespoke investing blog, source

Here's the accompanying chart for this QOTD:


I think this theme could very well apply to the coming decade as well... focusing investment in the hot sector(s) or country or asset class, rather than owning the market in general.
In attempting to implement this notion, I heart my ETF's.
buy low... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books, globalwarming, investing, movies, myphoto, qotd

A good article on the state of the Naperville castle market:

A Tale of Two Housing Markets: No Recovery at the High End

Define a "castle" as a Naperville house listed for $1M or more... stats list:

• 132 of 844 Naperville houses for sale are castles
  
• Castles have been on the market an average of > 500 days
• Only 10 of 174 contracts pending are for castles
  
• Only 28 castles have sold YTD

And the cherry on top... 23 mega-castles are listing for > $2M, only 1 of those has sold YTD
Yikes.


Book: "Skylight Confessions" by Alice Hoffman
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... OK

OK, interesting and all... but very girlie.
not a girl... yow, bill

PS - Tiger Woods with this repellent, sloppy brunette. Oh, brother.
www.nationalenquirer.com/tiger_woods_cheating_rachel_uchitel_exposed_source/celebrity/67747

Labels: 3stars, books, fun, myphoto

QOTD

"Rousted"
- The winning 67-point bingo in Thanksgiving Scrabble

Book: "Separation of Power" by Vince Flynn
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5) ... outstanding!

Another boffo Mitch Rapp book. Another great manly read.
I think this was the best one yet, and I've ordered my next one on Amazon chop chop.

QOTD2

"You're having a heart attack, Senator. Just try and stay calm, it'll all be over in a minute... By the way, Senator, my name isn't Mitch Kruse, it's Mitch Rapp."
- Mitch Rapp dispensing some justice to Senator Clark, who ordered a hit on Rapp

Excellent.
rousted... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, books, fun, qotd

Awesome photo... totally snarfed from some site on sunspots and, oh, the world isn't warming and blah blah blah.


Book: "The Third Option" by Vince Flynn
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... excellent!

First, you consider diplomacy.
Second, you weigh using the military.
But the third option is the money... have Mitch Rapp waltz in and blow everyone's head off.

This is another great book in the Mitch Rapp series. Easy to read guy stuff.
sunspots rule... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, books

Book: "Transfer of Power" by Vince Flynn
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... excellent!

I heart Mitch Rapp.
I think this is the first book with Mitch Rapp in it.
Doesn't matter... it's just a crazy shoot 'em up, manly spy novel.
Not as good as the last one... blah blah of honor or something. But still fun and enjoyable guy reading.



smoking... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, books

Repubs win in Virgina and Jersey.
Can this off-year nonsense cause a sliver of doubt, a moment of hesitation, in the minds of the dem Congressmen before a vote on socialized health care?
Crossing my fingers... that this butterfly wing will topple this BS for another decade.
We shall see.

That up there is Chris Christie, the new repub governor of New Jersey.
I like that he's a big, fat guy. I like that his opponent made fun of his size in ads. I wish he was a smoker too. Anything to tweak the faker pol-correct norm.

Book: "Pursuit of Honor" by Vince Flynn
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... very good!
Website: www.vinceflynn.com

Really good. The ending was rushed, but really good.
This is super manly, butch stuff, and it was a fun, fast read.
The hero (Mitch Rapp) is supposedly the template used for the "24" guy, Jack Bauer... or vise versa, I don't know.

QOTD

"Rapp could hear someone shouting from inside the immense space. He had a moment of indecision. Should he stop and assess the situation or rush headlong into it and keep surprise on his side? He decided on the latter and..."
- some trigger-happy Mitch Rapp goodness from "Pursuit of Honor"

"Pursuit of Honor" is like the 5th or 6th in a series, so back I go. The first "Mitch Rapp" book is... let's see... looks like "Transfer of Power".
Sold!
rushing headlong... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, books, politics, qotd

I heart my new t-shirt.

QOTD

"We are not joggers"
- motto at www.runlikeananimal.com/home

Book: "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Stout
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth it

See that shiny gold circle on the book over there to the right. "Pulitzer Prize". That caught my eye. I read the back cover, and it seemed interesting enough, so I snarfed it up.

I got it home and then read the front cover... a testimonial from Oprah Magazine. Dop.

Anyway, it was OK. Definitely girlie in parts. It was an easy read because of the author's pleasant writing style. I cracked up when Olive goes berserk because the guy she's having dinner with voted for W. That's happened to me more than once. He he.

But the book's true strength is its treatment of how hard it is to get old. Specifically, how hard it is to get old and to maintain relationships with family and friends and lovers. It did this really well.

QOTD

"And so, if this man next to her now was not a man she would have chosen before this time, what did it matter? He most likely wouldn't have chosen her either. But here they were, and Olive pictured two slices of Swiss cheese pressed together, such holes they brought to this union - what pieces life took out of you."
- "Olive Kitteridge" on having a boyfriend late in life

Funny one right here.
I'm censoring myself.

I'm censoring like two different things about my "Olive" book. I don't remember doing that before. I mean obviously there's personal details censorship all the time, but I don't remember censoring my opinion before. You can ask me about it in person, but I won't post it here. Interesting. Funny.
censor this... yow, bill

PS - The "I voted for W" test is an excellent one. A test of tolerance. If you can't tolerate someone of a different political view than yours, then you got issues... more issues than I can handle. If Marilyn Manson can rape the rapers, then I can not tolerate the intolerant. Cha.

Labels: 3stars, books, fun, marathon

1. Economy Stupid or Stupid Economy
You may have read that I heart business.
Here's a government thing I like: www.recovery.gov
This is a website that tries to detail the spending from President Obama's $787B stimulus bill.

The most interesting stat is how little money has been spent so far. Of the $787B total, only about $170B has been spent or roughly 20%. Bet your ass that most of the remaining 80% will be spent during the election year with mucho fanfare about government largess.

It's also interesting that Congress refuses to provide a similar facility for the health care bill. Even a 72 hour peek has been voted down.

QOTD

"We are moving in the right direction"
- President Obama, Oct 14 2009 (source)

The stock market agrees with President Obama, clearly. I think recovery is the most likely outcome, at least some form of recovery. The investing answer, IMHO, is to ride the wave with tight stops if things turn bad.

The interesting question comes, however, if we are not heading in the right direction. Dial ahead 12 months to Oct 2010... if unemployment is still around 10% in a year and the Dow is lingering at or below 10,000... will America hold President Obama and/or the dem Congress accountable for the situation?

You would think so, but who knows these days.

2. Book Review
Book: "Await Your Reply" by Dan Chaon
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)... meh.

It was close, but I can't recommend it.
It's a plot book with the snarky plot twists and the 2-D characters.
If you like the snarkiness, it's OK. It wasn't worth it for me.

Onward and upward.
yow, bill

Labels: 2stars, books, investing, politics, qotd

Book: "Housekeeping" by Marilynne Robinson
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... good

This is the same girl who wrote "Gilead".
I like "Gilead" better, but "Housekeeping" is worthy.

I like Miz Robinson's slow, slow style. Her writing style is very smooth, readable, and wonderful. Both her books have had strong endings. That's rare. I also like that her books have "smack you in the face" themes.

"Housekeeping" isn't as interesting as "Gilead". "Gilead" was hoisted on the shoulders of following the old man through all his questioning and self-doubt and whatever. "Housekeeping" follows a teen-age girl through her trials and tribulations, which just isn't as compelling. The description of the town and neighbors was (I think) intentionally barren to make the girls seem more isolated. Well, that's OK, but it hurt my interest in the book.

There's a wonderful theme in parts of the book about the importance of things we don't see or don't know in everyday things or relationships. You look at someone and what they have done or achieved, but you don't see the things, good and bad, that they did not do. It's sort of like understanding how negative space can dominate a photograph. What's not there, not present is more important than what's there.

The gripping and beautiful example of this in the book is the suicide of the girls' mother. The girls wonders if her mother had not gone through with her suicide, then the young girl would never know it, never know the struggle won by not doing something. Here's a (long) QOTD that really captured this for me.

QOTD

"I remember her, grave with the peace of the destined, the summoned, and she seems almost an apparition.

But if she had simply brought us home again to the high frame apartment building with the scaffolding of stairs, I would not remember her that way.

Her eccentricities might have irked and embarrassed us when we grew older. We might have forgotten her birthday, and teased her to buy a car or to change her hair. We would have left her finally. We would have laughed together with bitterness and satisfaction at our strangely solitary childhood, in light of which our failings would seem inevitable, and all our attainments miraculous.

Then we would telephone her out of guilt and nostalgia, and laugh bitterly afterward because she asked us nothing, and told us nothing, and fell silent from time to time, and was glad to get off the phone. We would take her to a restaurant and a movie on Thanksgiving and buy her best-sellers for Christmas. We would try to give her outings and make her find some interests, but she would soften and shrink in our hands, and become infirm. She would bear her infirmities with the same taut patience with which she bore our solicitude, and with which she had borne every other aspect of life, and her silence would make us more and more furious."

- Ruthie, first person in "Housekeeping"

Strong.
peace... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books, myphoto, qotd

QOTD

"Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration.
You don't have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see."
- The old man's "blog" in "Gilead"

Book: "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... really good!

"Gilead" takes place in Gilead, Iowa.
Google maps says that Gilead is also town in Iowa.
But Wikipedia says that's not what the book meant... Gilead Wikipedia page.

I don't know. Whatever. But thank you Wikipedia for this one... that my heathen ass did not know:

From the Scriptures, "Gilead" means hill of testimony or mound of witness, (Genesis 31:21)
- Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilead

"Gilead" (the book) is indeed a "mound of witness". The book is a 77 year-old guy's writings/advice to his young son. See, the old Dad is dying and he wants to leave his thoughts for his son to read when he grows up.

The writing is absolutely beautiful. This book won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction... says so right on the cover. It is warm and insightful and positive.

It's also a wee bit boring at times. Reading some guy's inner monologue is sort of like, um, reading this crappy blog... my blog just doesn't have all that fancy verbiage or correct punctuation, of course. The author was cool because the old man's "blog" meanders a bit... some times telling stories more than once, and being all stream of consciousness, like I like. I really felt like I was reading some old minister's notes to his son most of the time. I really felt like I was reading a guy who was, still at 77, trying to figure some shit out. Trying to make sense of some things. I empathize.

And, nice ending.

I think it's okay to be a little bored in the middle there. To muddle a bit. Depth comes at a slower pace. We got to know the Reverend and his life/situation even better that way. And it's a nice complement to all the tweeting and the local sports team and blah blah blah.

So, I really liked "Gilead".
try it... yow, bill

PS - Funny. I finished reading "Gilead" on a bar stool with (practically naked) women's beach volleyball blaring on TV in the background. Nice contrast. He he.

PPS - OK, let me dig and find you (me, really) another one... ah!

QOTD2

"How soft her voice is. That there should be such a voice in the whole world, and that I should be the one to hear it, seemed to me then and seems to me now an unfathomable grace."
- the old minister describing his wife

PPPS - I just amazoned up the previous work by Robinson, "Housekeeping". Excellent.

Labels: 4stars, books, qotd

QOTD

"Profession: ex bartender"
- too funny POF online dating profile

All the shenanigans and all the trillions... can't our government at least pass a law that would spare me from spam that includes men in tighty whitey underwear?


QOTD2

"Freedom is just another word for 'time to kick your ass' "
- Captain Freedom

Book: "Captain Freedom" by G. Xavier Robillard
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... OK, worth reading (barely)
Website: www.captainfreedom.net

The author, G, is a blogger. No, of course I didn't know that before I bought the book. Who'd buy a book written by a blogger? I was just interested in parlaying some more immature male adult fiction. So, I lose.

It wasn't bad... a couple hundred pages of pop culture one-liners. OK, that sounds bad. Um, it wasn't bad because it was very light and sometimes funny. Phew. I was proud on a number of occasions that I had no clue as to the pop culture reference the guy was making. "Pat pat" on the back for me.

The WSJ is a "hot mess" this morning. Jeez.
I got nothing... no links, no list, no commentary, no more, no nuttin.
It's just a cesspool of leftie nonsense with a single common thread: increase the power of government, decrease the power of the individual (um, you and me).
total hot mess... yow, bill

PS - "ex bartender"... get it. I haven't stopped cracking up/smiling since I saw that one. What's wrong with me? Talk about an easy mark. So be it! He he.

Labels: 3stars, books, politics, qotd

1. Medicare for all!
Simple, logical argument in this WSJ article: Medicare for All Isn't the Answer

If this health care thing dies on the vine... what a victory for the good, ole US of A and her people.

How much do you contribute to Medicare/Medicaid?
How much to social security?
Man, this is a pet peeve of mine... this guy too: Tax Withholding is Bad for Democracy

I understand that any new taxes for health care will be implemented as withholding taxes. Keep that shit under the covers, baby. Opaque is good. Transparent is bad.

If people knew the money they were putting into these systems...
If people had the choice to allocate their funds where they wanted...
Dot, dot dot.

2. Book Review
Book: "That Old Cape Magic" by Richard Russo
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... really good

I really enjoy Richard Russo... Holly's anti-author. I didn't enjoy the WSJ basically calling him "fiction for middle-aged men" (Here it is: The Bard of the Middle-Aged). Dop. It's hard to argue against them though.

"That Old Cape Magic" is a fun read. Super fast. The characters are pretty fun and interesting. I like a (pretty) happy ending. I love books that just deal with real life stuff... relationships, work, travel, family, etc. The main character is a middle-aged guy going questioning pretty much the whole deal: career, marriage, parents dying, etc. I enjoyed the light-hearted digs at academia scattered throughout. And the guy traipsing around with his parents in his trunk was hilarious.

I ding this book somewhat because it does contain a lot of whining and complaining about parents. You know, as in, "my parents screwed me up", and I therefore blame them for my behavior from here forward. It's tough to do that and not sound, well, whiny and complain-y.

QOTD

"How, he couldn't help wondering, did you get to be this woman's age and still believe, as she apparently did, that everything meant something? She was obviously one of those people who just soldiered on, determined to believe whatever gave them comfort in the face of all contrary evidence. And maybe that wasn't so dumb."

Middle-aged fiction, indeed!
he he... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, books, healthcare, politics, qotd

Book Review
Book: "Carrie" by Stephen King
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... very good!

"Carrie" is a great read. The book is a little better than the movie. My last King book, "The Shining" was a better read and much better than its movie than "Carrie".

• Carrie in the book is a lot more aware of her powers and getting revenge. Sissy Spacek was portrayed as a total victim.
  
• Carrie in the movie has a lot better and more fun ending. At the very end, when that hand reaches out form the grave... I don't recall jumping higher out of my seat from any moment at the movies.
  

Stephen King is a fun, easy read.

Nerd, not geek
Back in the day (yawn), "geek" was derogatory and "nerd" was the preferred nomenclature. I am still stuck in that anachronism because it seems the two words have swapped roles. Oh well.

I received an excellent nerd article, US-mailed from my friend over at Rob's Rants. Oddly, it's some nerd analysis by the pop-shrinks at "Psychology Today":


Now why ole Rob de Rant was perusing Psych Today is a true test for this nerd's addled imagination. I have to assume it was some waiting room material, or worse, bathroom fodder. Even the remote possibility of that latter option prompted me to burn the particulate-infested magazine page.

The article is pretty accurate on much nerd psychology. Some great quotes in there:

• "It's better to be a happy nerd than a popular anorexic"
• "Nerdiness isn't a pathology"
• "Even Einstein occasionally wanted to connect with people and have sex"
• "Nobody is going to respect you for being logical"
  

Ay carumba!

So yeah, I suffer, largely, these nerdy afflictions. I require constant self-reminding that not everyone (hardly anyone) cares about being rational, consistent, logical. And yes, girls are especially troubling in this regard. Plus, I've got a big mouth... hence the blog, right.

But all that said, I get along alright. I bend, but not too much. Being aware of what you are, strengths and weaknesses, is more important than trying to be something that you're not.

And speaking of my big mouth, I'll take the nerd pathology over the shrink pathology.
Physician, heal thyself!
nerds rule... yow, bill

PS - As I send, I only bend a little bit... I got my Tony Flakes Star Trek flash drive/bracelet. "Hey baby, do you have any files you'd like saved?" He he he!!!

Labels: 4stars, books, fun, qotd

Book Review
Book: Frommers Anywhere
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... the best!

If you're traveling somewhere, then shell out the 12 bucks for a Frommers and you've got a great base for researching things to do, where to stay, and what to eat. They are well-written and give you all sorts of angles: things for kids, outdoor things, touristy things, etc.

Basketball
Candace Parker is probably Naperville's most famous person these days. She's probably (again) the best women's basketball out there. She was on the news a while back for dunking in high school and then college.

This is a nice story about Candace Parker returning to Naperville where they dedicated a basketball court near her home as "Candace Parker Court": Candace Comes Home

I've actually played basketball with Candace Parker at Edward Health Club. She was pretty unimpressive, actually: ploddingly slow and weak. Of course, she was only in high school then, but girls do suck at basketball.

I also played with her brother, NBA dude Anthony Parker. While Candace is uber-famous, Anthony toils in relative obscurity (and for millions of dollars) in the NBA. He's played for Toronto the last couple years and just signed on with LeBron and the Cavs for next season. This is a great fit for him because he's a great outside shooter with a 41% FG% from the 3-point line. Amazing!

Unlike his sister, Anthony Parker absolutely dominated at Edward. The guy was 6-6 and quicker than anyone out there. I remember one brutal game where guys were just fouling him and playing dirty (moving your foot under the guy during his jump shot). Parker got a little pissed, so he started just shooting from half court to avoid the shenanigans. He made every shot and sent his angry, overweight, white opponents to the sideline.

www.qotd.org
Pretty cool site.

QOTD

"Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, www.qotd.org

Old School Politics
How about some fun Michelle Obama trivia:

1. How much was Michelle Obama paid at the U of Chicago hospital?
2. Who took over her position when she left for DC?

Well, #1 Michelle made about $300K.
And #2, her incredibly important position (well, one assumes a $300K salary would indicate some level of import) was filled by, um, no one. She took a part-time salary during the campaign, and then her job was eliminated after the election. (Chicago Trib source, some site source)

I'm not saying. I'm just saying.

Simple Logic
Is simple logic starting to win out? Or at least, be heard and considered?

• Global Warming and the Poor - This article describes the ridiculousness of global warming taxes and controls and their impact on the poor across the globe.
• American Babies are Ruining Everything - This article describes the impact of population (babies) on carbon dioxide production in relation to the bogus "green" efforts that are so widely touted today. For example: a baby adds 40x the amount of carbon dioxide compared to the savings from someone living the most extreme "green" lifestyle.
  
• Um, let's not put everyone on Medicare/Medicaid. I hope I don't need a source to convince you of that. 90% of Americans have health insurance, and polls indicate 70% of us like the health care we receive.

The answer to global warming (if such a thing were to even exist) is innovation and technology, not the feds and taxes.

The answer to health care is innovation and competition, not the feds and taxes.

This is simple logic that makes this nerd smile.
smile... yow, bill

Labels: 5stars, books, politics, qotd, sports

Back from my second annual Ty/Da Baseball Vacation: July 28 - Aug 3 in Seattle and SFO with 3 ballgames in 6 days. Excellent!

• Seattle 3, Toronto 2 (boxscore) - Our game in Seattle coincided with Seattle's hottest day ever; the temp hit 103 (source). My guy Halladay lost, but he pitched OK. Ty's guy Jose Lopez had a solo dinger. Seattle's Safeco Stadium was a beauty, 5 bill-stars. The retractable roof was open for the warm goodness of our game. And for the record, 100 in Seattle feels better than 90 degrees over here in the greater Chicagoland area.
  
• Oakland 8, Toronto 5 (boxscore) - Oakland stadium is a flippin' dump, perfectly set in post-apocalyptic surroundings including warehouses, burned out buildings and acres of weed-jutting asphalt and gravel. Second-worst stadium ever to Shea Stadium. Ty got a couple autographs (Adam Kennedy and some other Athletic) and we snarfed a couple foul balls from our front row seats. Excellent. Ty's guy Andrew Bailey got the save.
  
• SFO 7, Philly 3 (boxscore) - SFO Stadium is very nice... a little mall-y for my taste, but still very nice. We saw the game with Janny and her family and Verb. It was my guy Pablo Sandoval T-shirt day. Too cool.
• In some wonderful kismet, Ty was talking to a guy (Ty's always talking to a guy/girl, he he) on the subway home from the Oakland game, and after a while he told us that he was Blue Jay All-Star Aaron Hill's father. The guy was super-nice and beaming about his son (duh).
• We sat in some version of the front row for all 3 games. Unlike the Cub, however, all tickets cost less than a hundo. You can barely get into the bleachers at Wrigley for that price these days.
  

QOTD

"You're washed up, Junior!"
- Blue Jay fan taunt right before Griffey's game-winning double in the 7th

I looked back at the guy and laughed after Junior's mash. In my younger, more testosterone-filled days, I would have commented on the status of Canada in relation to being "washed up" or irrelevant, but I let it lie.

Book: "The Shining" by Stephen King
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... excellent!

I was really shocked at how different the book was from the movie; the book is much more interesting. The kid is half the focus of the book, not just a throw-in like the movie. Also, the father's (Jack Nicholson) nuttiness is more gripping in the book because of it's base in reality: abused as a child, alcoholism, career failure, marital strain, etc.

This was a great vacation read, and thanks to Mozy for the pointer.
I'm into "Carrie" now, and it's going better than the movie as well. Stay tuned.
play ball... yow, bill

PS - A quick politics wrap from (super-hot) Sarah Palin.

QOTD2

"Last state twitter. Thank you Alaska! I love you. God bless Alaska. God bless the U.S.A."
- July 26, Sarah Palin's last twitter as gov of AK (twitter link)

Labels: 4stars, books, fun, politics, qotd, sports

Book: "Odd Man Out" by Matt McCarthy
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth reading.

Just OK... it's basically a bunch of minor league baseball stories.
This is the definition of light reading.
And now, the guy's a doctor or something. OK.
BTW, that's "Odd Man Out", not "Eight Men Out", the movie with John Cusack in it.

That's Henry the Puffy Taco over there... there's a minor league story for you.

Good QOTD though.

QOTD

"Go ugly early, gentlemen. No sense waitin' all night for the girl of your dreams."
- Minor league coach on players finding a "slump buster", an ugly girl

out...yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books

1. Un-American

QOTD

"Rep. Alan Grayson said he was standing in the middle of Disney World near Orlando when the idea came to him."
- Grayson is a congress-dolt from Florida... he introduced a bill to legally/federally mandate paid vacation for employees, source

Kind-a harsh to call a brother, "un-American."
Dear Rep Grayson, you are un-American to want to legislate paid vacation.
If you want to live in France, go live in France.
In fact, if "un-American" is too much for you, how about I'll just call you "frenchie".
Jeez. Dolt.

2. Book Review
Book: "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... excellent

First off, well... this is an Oprah book.
But hey, a hot chick recommended/gave it to me. So lighten up, Francis.

Well, now that that air is cleared... the first half of the book is pretty yummy character development. Dogs and Wisconsin and family and crazy rural America and all that. It's pretty good, and the guy has a very pleasant writing style.

The second half of the book gets all plot-ty and ghost-y (which I really dislike) and falls off a bit: different, but not all that good, just OK.

I enjoyed "Edgar", and it's probably more a 3 bill-star experience, except for the gnarly/cool ending and that a hot chick gave it to me.

QOTD2

"Harry Potter Meets Hamlet"
- A ridiculous review of "Edgar Sawtelle" on Amazon

3. Shameful Blasphemy
Lebron James might be better than Michael Jordan.
Gulp.

Here's Lebron draining a winning three from last night... 1 second on the clock, down 2 points, heading to 0-2 in the series against the Magic, can't fucking believe it, incredible.


It's blasphemy, and I should be burned at the stake for uttering it. Hey, I was actively rooting against Lebron last night. When the Magic went up by 2 with a second on the clock, I smirked from my couch indentation, "Ha! This'll take the starch out of all this Lebron nonsense."

Dop.

The case for Lebron is pretty easy: 24 years old, MVP, unmatched physical specimen, doesn't seem to be a jerk/idiot, clutch, now playing "D", and so on.

Now, Michael has 6 rings... so Lebron has some playing to do. I'm just saying if Lebron wins 6 titles over the next, say, dozen years, we may be looking at the best basketball player ever.

12 years is a long time... we can say this now: If Lebron wins this year, with this group of faker tourists, then he'll have won a title with a worse team than Michael Jordan ever did. The Bulls core in the first 3 titles wasn't as strong as the second 3. Go:

• Bulls: Johnny Pax, Michael, Scottie, Ho Grant, and Bill Cartwright
• Cavs: Mo Williams, Delonte West, Lebron, Anderson Varejao, and Big Z

What a collection of debris! You don't even think about slipping a single member of Lebron's supporting cast into the Bull starting 5. The closest is taking Big Z over Cartwright. Oh, and Michael's coach was Pheel and Lebron's coach is... um... somebody.

Here's a nice site (ala www.baseball-reference.com), it's www.basketball-reference.com. Go:

1. Michael's career stats, source... 30 point, 6 rebound, 5 assist, 1 block, 2 steal per game. (That's 44 nibls/game... he he). Michael shot 49.7% from the field and 83.5% from the line.
2. Lebron so far, source... 27.5 point, 7 rebound, 7 assist, 1 block, 2 steal per game. He's shooting 47% from the field and 74% from the line.
   

Michael's first title was in his 7th season, at age 27.
Lebron is in his 6th season here at age 24.

I'm a blasphemer and ashamed. And I'll continue to actively root against Lebron. But if... if...
hawk win... yow, bill

PS - Yes, Hawk win game 3 last night in OT. Marty Havlat got fucking jacked by one of the commies (below) who got tossed from the game for the bad behavior. Check out the crowd reaction in this shot. Dang, hockey rules!

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