people got a lot of nerve

AWESOME. It's another super group.

THE GUITARIST FROM THIS BAND...

HOOKED UP WITH THE DRUMMER FROM THIS BAND...
AND RECRUITED ONE OF THE DUDES FROM THIS BAND...
TO WRITE AND RECORD WITH ONE OF THESE FELLAS SINGING LEAD (THE TALENTED ONE)

That's right.  James Iha from smashing pumpkins fame will be shredding his axe with the drummer from cheap trick (the folks who brought you "I want you to want me") while Adam Schlessinger from fountains of wayne provides bass guitar services.  And yes, the kid from Hanson will be singing.  

Seems like an odd match up in some ways.  But in other ways I suppose it makes all kinds of sense.  The potential is here for some really good music (oh come on don't pretend like "MMMBOP" isn't one of the most infectious pop songs of the last 25 years, you know you secretly listened when no one else was in the car!) 

Of course they'll have to overcome one of the most powerful and universal principles of the rock and roll universe:  Supergroups always suck.  No matter what.  They super-suck.  

So... we'll see.  Click the title of the post for a listen.  

what is it what brand what type what influenced it's origin?

Charity and I were front and center for this concert twelve years ago.  In fact if the camera were to pan down about a foot, you'd see us standing right in front of Gene.  You can't really tell from the sound quality of the video, but it was truly one of the greatest live shows I've ever seen.  Easily in my top 10.  The band was tight, spot on and the crowd was really attentive.  I remember Gene was really pissy that night.  They started the first song and he kept yelling at somebody off stage and pointing to his monitor and then he just quit playing and apologized to the crowd and refused to play until they got sound issues worked out.  Then when they came back on he played with a really cantankerous attitude- which is probably how rock and roll should be played.  Three years later Gene died in his sleep.  

But now we can watch this again after all of these years.  This is why I love the internet.  

These are things I want to do.

write songs with morgan
get maid rites with birt
drive somewhere treacherous with loftis
get conspiratorial with kdny

Bono Preaching.

I think this guy is the genuine article. Lots of good stuff in this, including the way he articulates his disintegrating skepticism. A must watch for those feeling religiously disenfranchised.

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Blogger lazily resorts to posting links to online news articles.

Blog readers lazily abstain from offering comments.

Banks seek to repay TARP funds.

President refuses repayment of TARP funds.

Federal Government Seeks Expanded Authority to Set Salaries of All Employees of Companies Receiving Federal Aid

Terror Suspects May be Released in US Cities and Funded

Mandatory Volunteerism

President, Treasury Secretary & Federal Reserve Seek Expanded Powers to Seize and Control Institutions

Limiting the Deductibility of Charitable Contributions

Rescinding the Conscience Clause

does satan exist?

does satan exist part 2

Note To Self: stop whining

This is March Madness.

As of the time of this posting, Ohio State has the points lead at the NCAA wrestling championship tournament in St Louis. In the last round they overtook both Iowa State and Iowa. The Buckeyes currently lead second place Iowa, who were thought to be a sure thing in grasping their 22nd national title. The Hawkeyes were ranked #1 coming into the tournament and the Buckeyes were ranked 6th despite finishing 2nd last year (yes, behind Iowa). Again, coach Tom Ryan (a former Hawkeye himself) and the Buckeyes received far too little respect in the polls. But heading into the semi-finals, they have four wrestlers left in competition. And the Hawkeyes have only two. This could be big for wrestling at Ohio State and in the state of Ohio generally. Championships make for good recruiting. Good recruiting makes for more championships. 

Of course the Hawkeyes aren't out of it and if anyone knows how to win under pressure it's Iowa. Even so, if the Buckeyes finish in the top three this year, it proves last year was no fluke. And it means the Buckeyes have just put the Hawkeyes on notice. And nothing in this world (athletically speaking) would make me happier than a long, embittered Ohio State- Iowa wrestling rivalry. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. 

Stay tuned for more results!

YES. Now THATS what I'm talking about!

Check it out, people. It's 2009 and your flying car is finally here. (It's 25 years late, but it's finally here). The next question is how are we going to mount one of those new laser guns on it? And where can I get a shiny, silver jogging suit with a V stripe?



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Finally! Now when can I expect to get my rocket pack to go with it?

Military Laser Hits Battlefield Strength
By Noah Shachtman March 18, 2009 | 11:12:00 AMCategories: Lasers And Ray Guns

Huge news for real-life ray guns: Electric lasers have hit battlefield strength for the first time -- paving the way for energy weapons to go to war.
In recent test-blasts, Pentagon-researchers at Northrop Grumman managed to get its 105 kilowatts of power out of their laser -- past the "100kW threshold [that] has been viewed traditionally as a proof of principle for 'weapons grade' power levels for high-energy lasers," Northrop's vice president of directed energy systems, Dan Wildt, said in a statement.
That much power won't get you a Star Wars-style blaster. But it should be more than enough to zap the mortars and rockets that insurgents have used to pound American bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The battlefield-strength breakthrough is just one part in a larger military push to finally make laser weapons a reality, after decades of unfulfilled promises. The Army recently gave Boeing a $36 million contract to build a laser-equipped truck. Raytheon is set to start test-firing a mortar-zapper of its own. Darpa is funding a 150 kilowatt laser project that is meant to be fitted onto "tactical aircraft."

I Am New

I don't know who Kutiman is, but he mixes you tube.  And it's incredible.  What you hear is what you see.  Here's an example:

this is amazing.

I feel like Steve Martin in the Jerk when he noticed his name in thephone book.

Phoebe In Wonderland

In January of 2008 I was able to attend the Sundance Film Festival in Utah with a few friends. While we were there I saw a film called "Phoebe in Wonderland".  I've been waiting and waiting and now it's finally being release in "select" theaters.   Phoebe in Wonderland is not a great film.  It's not going to win any awards at the Oscars, nor should it (aside from the award for best actress which should go to Fanning- she is amazing in this film- and only 8 at the time it was made).  The story is reasonably interesting.  Some of the acting is quite good.  But overall the execution of the film is only ok.  

That notwithstanding, I found the film deeply moving and painfully beautiful for reasons I only partly understand.  Some of those reasons are probably quite subjective to my personal experiences as a child and a father. I recommend it to all of you.  Maybe some of you will connect with it.  Maybe you won't.  

An Open Letter to Larry Mullen, Jr

Dear Larry, 

In the photo on the cover of the latest Rolling Stone magazine, I noticed something unusual about Bono's face.  It appears as though he is either wearing eye makeup or someone punched him in the face.  

Michael Stipe already has the "aging rock star front man wearing eye make up" category pretty well covered and it seems to me that we really don't need more than one of those guys. 

Anyway, I know there are lots of people who would like to punch Bono in the face, so maybe that's what happened.  I don't know, but if somebody could fill us in concerning what's going on with that general region of Bono's head, we'd appreciate it.  

And if it turns out that Bono is wearing eye makeup, maybe you could just go ahead and punch him in the face. Thanks so much.  

Rampage vs. My Wife

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is one bad, bad, hombre.  He's actually here in town this week for his upcoming fight against Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine, so if you have children or small pets, you should probably keep them inside until at least Monday morning.  Now, Jardine is no slouch and is capable of beating the very best of opponents on any given day- as he has shown in the past. But Saturday night in Columbus, Ohio will he be able to deliver the goods against Jackson?  If I were a gambler, I'd put my money on Jackson.  But it would still be a gamble.  

Rampage and Jardine are both just lucky they aren't slated to meet my wife in the cage anytime soon.  While she's an amateur with no actual fights on her record, I have no doubt that she would cake walk through both fighters.  Simultaneously probably.  

Let me offer my analysis of said match-up.  Rampage and the Dean each bring an obvious abundance of experience, skill and physical power to the conflict.  But aside from decades of training in the arts of hand to hand combat, hundreds of hours of preparation with the sport's most accomplished camps, and the 70-80 pound weight advantage , what chance would they really stand?  Slim to none.  

We've got four kids.  Out oldest is home schooled and has an attention span of about four seconds, the next has a chronic auto immune disease for which he takes multiple medications including steroids and thus experiences the related emotional swings, our two year old princess is a destroyer of worlds who just happens to have the flu this week and then there is our one month old daughter who is currently engaged in the following regiment- eat, poop, scream, eat, poop, scream, eat, poop, scream, brief nap, repeat until insane.  And my wife endures this training pattern without a break, seven days a week.  Now you tell me, what is Rampage going to do to equal that kind of abuse?  What's he going to do?  Seriously, what?  Punch her in the face?  Kick her in the stomach? Ooooh!  That's so scary.  Puh-leeze.  She's been kicked before. For nine months straight.  Four times.  That's 36 months of being kicked.  FROM THE INSIDE! Do you understand what I'm talking about here?  

Whatever he does, he's not going to make her teach him the multiplication tables while bouncing a screaming infant on one hip and breaking up an altercation over a barbie doll between a four year old with roid rage and a two year old with pig-tails, a fever and a mean-streak like a chupacabra.  Whatever submissions he attempts, it's never going to equal the will breaking, life sapping routine of trouncing up the stairs eighteen times a night to wipe snot from the nose of a crying toddler, delivering twelve glasses of water to three different children who were SUPPOSE to be asleep hours ago, enduring seven to eight unbroken years of changing diapers, wiping bottoms, and wrestling each child to the ground in order to get them to EAT SOMETHING- (which is something I once thought the natural inborn survival instinct compelled all living creatures to do- I was wrong).  This one just eats macaroni.  This one, yogurt.  This one whatever you're NOT cooking for dinner and this one, quite literally only wants to suck the LIFE ENERGY straight out of your flesh like the most darling little pink vampire you've ever seen.  

Seriously.  What would Jardine or Rampage bring to the cage that my wife wouldn't  laugh at?  And she would laugh.  But not at the fight.  She'd be laughing into the telephone nestled between her neck and her shoulder, deep in conversation with some long-distance friend- all the while only barely aware of the large muscular man who's blacking-out in a head-lock death grip under her right arm.  And bouncing a baby on her hip with the left.  

There is nothing to fear. Your government loves you.

So, check this out. Hidden away in the deep recesses of the stimulus package passed by the senate is a provision which creates an Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. This office and it's Coordinator, will be established for the purpose of safeguarding your confidential medical records. They will create a "nationwide health information technology infrastructure" to "ensure that each patient's health information is secure and protected". The government just wants to protect us. (It really is for our own good, you know).

Additionally, the Coordinator, the Office and the infrastructure will "help guide medical decisions at the time and place of care". Oh my gosh! That is so NICE of you, government! Thank you so much for helping to guide the medical decisions made at the time and place of my care. Thank you for helping my doctor to decide how to treat me and for helping to keep the costs of my treatment down.

But, some of you may be asking yourselves, "What if my doctor doesn't WANT to follow the helpful medical guidance the Coordinator so generously and helpfully provides at the time and place of my treatment? What if my doctor or hospital doesn't want me to benefit from the all wise and helpful guidance of the government?" Oh, fret not, little one! your government has thought of everything. For those medical care providers who are not "meaningful users" of the helpful guiding system, a series of unspecified penalties will be applied! Oh yes, indeed. And of course the Office will also continually improve the medical care we receive by "requiring more stringent measures of meaningful use" of the system and it's helpful guidance.

Sleep well, America.

Local church goers risk life and limb to attend Grace Central!

Local news can be a bit dramatic. But we appreciate the free publicity!

Ivy & The Whole Family

Ohio Duo's Latest Effort Recieves Five Star Rating

February 1st at 12:31 am Charity gave birth to our fourth child, and second daughter. Her name is Ivy Jane. She is short and round with brown fuzzy hair and a pointy little elfin chin. 20.5" & 7 pounds 7 ounces. And (surprise!) looks like her daddy.

Charity did fantastic in labor and delivery. She made good progress then stalled out for about four hours! Eventually she progressed and delivered with no drugs, and no epidural. I am proud of her. She refused the use of a wheel chair throughout the ordeal. The nurse refered to her as "little miss independant". (I'm pretty sure Charity didn't hear that comment, because the nurse left her rotation with all of her teeth still intact). For part of the labor, we watched "Anchor Man" on the large flat screen in our room. Ron Burgundy will forever occupy a special place in our hearts for the profoundly inane distraction he provided.

I'd post a picture, (and even brought the camera with me to do just that) but I left the USB cable to upload pictures at the hospital! Sorry, you'll just have to wait.

Please don't fight the bears.

Baddest Man on the Planet?

Last night Fedor ko'd another former Heavyweight Champion. My favorite thing about Fedor is that he's just this kind of dopey, doughy guy who always looks like he just woke up from a nap. And then he makes grown men cry.

Slumdog Millionaire

This is the easily best film I've seen in three years. You should see it while it's still in theatres.

Interpret my dream...

Just like MLK, I too have a dream.  Well, not just like MLK.  My dreams are senseless and strange and motivate no one.  Here's one from last night. All of a sudden it came back to me in a flash... 

I was eating dinner in a restaurant somewhere in the south (kentucky? tennesee?)  with my good friend, Birt. We were driving somewhere far away and had stopped to eat.  The restaurant was busy and we were sitting by the window.  The booths had red vinyl seats. Outside the window there was a man tuck-pointing the brick work on the building.  We noticed it was our friend Bash. We waved and made faces at each other.  We were laughing.  He was laughing.  But we gave no indications  of surprise at finding Bash tuck-pointing brick work outside of the very window where we sat eating dinner, hundreds of miles away from home on some unknown journey in the south.  

offer your interpretations:  

Reserved Inaugural Optimism

Today I went home during lunch so i could watch the inauguration of President Obama with my family. It was truly a monumental day for our nation, and it's really quite incredible in a couple of ways. First, of course it is evidence that we are a better nation today than we were a hundred years ago with respect to race and unity. Second, it is an amazing thing that we are able to peaceably redistribute power like this on a regular basis. A nation is pretty divided when 54% of the vote is considered a landslide. And yet with a million plus in attendance, power was exchanged with no riots, bullets, bloodshed or uprisings. Considering how unpopular President Bush has been for quite sometime, it should probably be considered historically anomalous that he wasn't ousted earlier by some sort of violent coup or rabid mob on the white house lawn months ago. All in all, we're a remarkable nation when we function according to our principles and ideals. 

Additionally, I am dually perplexed. Tuning in to some conservative blogs, and broadcasts I've been "hormusified" (it's a new term I've coined to express the sensation of being simultaneously horrified and amused, or the sensation one experiences when one's president spontaneously invents new terminology during public discourse) by the criticism that is already being leveled at Obama. I have no problem with the Hannity and Limbaugh types getting critical. It's all part of the delicately balanced dysfunction that makes the two party system somewhat workable. I do find the recent level and nature of the criticism curious given a simple fact: HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING YET. At least let the guy make a mistake first. geesh. Equally as "hormusifying" to me is the level of adulation and veneration Obama seems to be receiving from the mainstream media and his supporting public generally. The only thing I've ever seen that compares is the response of many in St Louis when the Pope came to town in January of 99. Now I've got no problem with being incredibly enthusiastic about one's president. But heres the thing: HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING YET. 

How about we settle for some reserved optimism?

helvetica

Last night after church I watched a documentary. About helvetica. The font. And it was awesome.

Penn

From Crackle: A Gift of a Bible