Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Hall of Fame



from a canadian content page:
Rick Moranis is a Canadian comic actor best known for his work on SCTV (featuring John Candy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'hara) and in films such as Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and My Blue Heaven.

Moranis was born Frederick Alan Moranis in Toronto, Ontario. In the 1970s, he worked (using the stage name Rick Allen) as a disc jockey at various radio stations in Toronto, including CFTR, CKFH, and CHUM-FM. He followed that with his work at SCTV, enjoying particular success portraying "Bob" of Bob and Doug McKenzie.


1995


Pitchman


molson


from infoplease
Born: 4/18/1954
Birthplace: Toronto, Ontario
Moranis's comic talent suits a variety of roles; he is particularly known for portrayals of the wacky eccentric and the definitive nerd. A veteran of Canada's Second City comedy troupe, he gained fame in the United States as the loopy accountant in Ghostbusters (1984). He played a memorable Barney Rubble in the movie The Flintstones (1994), and his other film credits include frequent appearances with Steve Martin, such as Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Parenthood (1989), and My Blue Heaven (1990). He also starred in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989–1997) series of films, and in Spaceballs (1987).

little giants trailer


wikipedia's two cents:
Early life
Moranis was born in Toronto, Ontario, and went to high school at the Sir Sandford Fleming Secondary School

SCTV
Main article: Second City Television
He followed that with his work at SCTV, enjoying particular success portraying "Bob" of Bob and Doug McKenzie. Doug was played by Canadian actor Dave Thomas.
His other memorable SCTV characterizations include motor-mouthed film producer Larry Siegel, terminally-ill rock star Clay Collins, smooth-voiced video deejay Gerry Todd, cool Leutonian pop star Linsk Minyk, kid-brother amateur comic Skip Bittman, head cheese butcher Carl Scutz, and morning homily intellect Rabbi Karlov.

Feature films
The handprints of Rick Moranis in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.
After his SCTV work, Moranis had a busy film career that lasted over a decade. In an August 2004 interview with Sound & Vision magazine, Moranis talked about the kinds of films he enjoyed the most:
“On the last couple of movies I made — big-budget Hollywood movies — I really missed being able to create my own material. In the early movies I did, I was brought in to basically rewrite my stuff, whether it was Ghostbusters or Spaceballs. By the time I got to the point where I was "starring" in movies, and I had executives telling me what lines to say, that wasn’t for me. I’m really not an actor. I’m a guy who comes out of comedy, and my impetus was always to rewrite the line to make it funnier, not to try to make somebody’s precious words work.”

Recent activities
As of 2004, Moranis was on the Advisory Committee for the comedy program at Humber College.
In an October 2005 interview in USA Today, Moranis talked about getting away from the movie business:
"I pulled out of making movies in about '96 or '97. I'm a single parent (Moranis' wife[1] died in 1991 of liver cancer), and I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn't miss it."
Moranis reportedly retired because he made so much money from the Honey I Shrunk the Kids movies that he did not need to work anymore [2] though other reports said that he was tired of typecasting.
In 2005, Moranis released an album entitled The Agoraphobic Cowboy, featuring country songs with lyrics which Moranis says follow in the comic tradition of songwriters/singers such as Roger Miller and Jim Stafford. The album was produced by Tony Scherr, and is distributed through ArtistShare, as well as Moranis' official Web site. In the Sound & Vision interview done before he decided to release the album, he commented on the origins of some of the songs
"About a year ago (in 2003), out of the blue, I just wrote a bunch of songs. For lack of a better explanation, they’re more country than anything. And I actually demoed four or five of them, and I’m not sure at this point what I’m going to do with them—whether I’m going to fold them into a full-length video or a movie. But, boy, I had a good time doing that.”
On December 8, 2005, The Agoraphobic Cowboy was announced as a nominee for the 2006 Grammy for Best Comedy Album. (A previous album by Moranis was entitled You, Me, The Music, and Me (1989)). On February 3, 2006, Moranis performed Press Pound on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and discussed the development of his music career.
In November 2007, Moranis reunited with Dave Thomas for a 24th anniversary special of Bob and Doug McKenzie, titled Bob and Doug McKenzie's 2-4 Anniversary. The duo shot new footage for this special. Thomas subsequently created a new animated Bob and Doug McKenzie series, Bob & Doug, for his company Animax Entertainment. Moranis declined to voice the role of Bob, which was taken over by Dave Coulier, but remains involved in the series as an executive producer.[3]
On June 24, 2008, Moranis declined to come out of retirement to join the other cast members of Ghostbusters in the production of a new video game based on the films.[4]
In April of 2009, Entertainment Weekly's website quoted Harold Ramis as saying that Moranis was indeed on board for the third Ghostbusters movie that Sony Pictures was developing.[5]

Rick Moranis song


from imdb:
Trivia
Was widowed in the early 1990s when his wife died of cancer. He has two children from that marriage.
Moranis and Dave Thomas originally created the characters Bob and Doug McKenzie in protest against government requirements for "identifiable Canadian content" in domestically produced television programming. The skits, as an SCTV program "The Great White North" featured two dim witted brothers who combined as many negative Canadian stereotypes as possible. Despite this, they became so popular that the skits were included in the U.S. version of the program, and Moranis and Thomas were made members of the Order of Canada for their contribution to Canadian culture.
Was the afternoon deejay on Toronto radio station CHUM-FM in the Seventies.
Using the on-air name of "Rick Allen" he was the overnight deejay on Toronto radio station CFTR-AM in the early Seventies after that station switched formats from Beautiful Music to Top 40.
Along with Dave Thomas, scored a Billboard Top 40 hit in 1982 called "Take Off" as Bob and Doug MacKenzie in a duet with Rush lead singer Geddy Lee.
Went to school with Geddy Lee from Rush.
He made the cover of the first issue of Disney Adventures in 1990.
Was invited to the party Steve Martin was throwing that turned out to be his wedding.
Attended the funeral of his good friend John Candy.
Was considered for the role of Governor Lewis in Evolution (2001).



Need more Moranis?
hip-hop video

Irabu Returns



BY ANTHONY MCCARRON
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Wednesday, April 29th 2009, 4:00 AM

Polich/AP
Hideki Irabu's career with the Yankees was eventful, but he never lived up to expectations in Pinstripes.
The fat, puss-y toad is back. Sort of.
Hideki Irabu has restarted his pitching career, signing a contract with the Long Beach Armada of the Golden Baseball League, an independent league out West whose alumni include Jose Canseco and Rickey Henderson. The former target of George Steinbrenner's wrath has not pitched in the majors since 2002, but is hoping to pitch his way into a comeback either in the big leagues or his native Japan. With the state of pitching in the majors, who knows?
"He's 39 and the window is probably closing on him to play at the highest levels, so he's making a real serious attempt to get into the best baseball shape possible and show what he could do," said GBL commissioner Kevin Outcalt. "Our league is scouted a lot and we've moved a lot of players. If Irabu does well, it'll be well-known and he'll get an opportunity.
"We hope he comes in and lights it up."
Irabu, who will be 40 on May15, pitched in the majors from 1997-2002 after eight star-studded years in Japan. But he's perhaps most famous in the U.S. for The Boss calling him a "fat, puss-y toad" after Irabu failed to cover first base in a spring training game. Steinbrenner wouldn't let Irabu join the team for its season-opening trip to the West Coast, but later apologized.
Irabu owns a 34-35 record and a 5.15 ERA in the majors. He was 29-20 in three seasons as a Yankee, including two shutouts, and started the 1998 season 6-1 with a 1.59 ERA in his first 10 starts. He finished the year 13-9 with a 4.06ERA, his best season in the majors. But Irabu in pinstripes always seemed like an uncomfortable fit, and the Yanks at times questioned his determination. He was dealt to Montreal before the 2000 season for Ted Lilly, Jake Westbrook and Christian Parker.
After pitching in his last major-league game on July 12, 2002, he went back home and pitched several seasons in Japan and later opened up noodle shops in Southern California, where he lives. He hit the news last year when he was arrested in Japan for allegedly assaulting a bartender.
Proximity is one of the reasons he chose the Armada, said Long Beach GM Tony Soares. Irabu's agents contacted the GBL after Long Beach signed ex-Met Jose Lima in March. "They said Irabu had been working out for the last 3-4 months throwing and he was ready to showcase his skills," Outcalt said. "He had knee surgery a couple of years ago, which I didn't even know, and he fell out of sight a little bit, but he's rehabbed."
Irabu was playing in an amateur league in Los Angeles and GBL brass scouted his next start. "He was throwing 92 (mph) and (the Armada) pitching coach said his stuff was nasty," Outcalt said. In most independent leagues, the average salary is about $1,000 per month, plus housing, the commissioner said. The top salaries are $3,000 per month plus housing and "you can safely say Irabu's in that range," Outcalt said. "It isn't any $12million deal."
Irabu's weight was often an issue in New York, especially in Steinbrenner's eyes. Outcalt says Irabu "looks about the same. He hasn't ballooned up. He hasn't turned into anybody skinny, but he's not David Wells out there."
The GBL, which has teams in California, Canada, Mexico, Arizona and Utah, is entering its fifth season. Spring training begins May 10. The 10 teams play an 88-game schedule, and several ex-major leaguers are managers, including Long Beach skipper Garry Templeton.
In the first four seasons, more than 90 players were signed by big-league or international organizations, including 25 last year, Outcalt said. The league is hoping Irabu can offer an attendance boost - the Armada usually averages around 1,500 fans, Soares said.
"There's a big Asian population, so it's a perfect fit for us and it'll give him an opportunity," Soares said. "He knows he's got to prove himself. We're willing to give him the chance."

You May Have Missed This One

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Summertime

Try to ignore the horrifying long closeup on the lead singer, or just blink a lot.

Sen. Specter Saw The Light

Statement by Sen. Arlen Specter:

I have been a Republican since 1966. I have been working extremely hard for the Party, for its candidates and for the ideals of a Republican Party whose tent is big enough to welcome diverse points of view. While I have been comfortable being a Republican, my Party has not defined who I am. I have taken each issue one at a time and have exercised independent judgment to do what I thought was best for Pennsylvania and the nation.

Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.

When I supported the stimulus package, I knew that it would not be popular with the Republican Party. But I saw the stimulus as necessary to lessen the risk of a far more serious recession than we are now experiencing.

Since then, I have traveled the state, talked to Republican leaders and office-holders and my supporters and I have carefully examined public opinion. It has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable. On this state of the record, I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate. I have not represented the Republican Party. I have represented the people of Pennsylvania.

I have decided to run for reelection in 2010 in the Democratic primary.

I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for reelection determined in a general election.

I deeply regret that I will be disappointing many friends and supporters. I can understand their disappointment. I am also disappointed that so many in the Party I have worked for for more than four decades do not want me to be their candidate. It is very painful on both sides. I thank specially Senators McConnell and Cornyn for their forbearance.

I am not making this decision because there are no important and interesting opportunities outside the Senate. I take on this complicated run for reelection because I am deeply concerned about the future of our country and I believe I have a significant contribution to make on many of the key issues of the day, especially medical research. NIH funding has saved or lengthened thousands of lives, including mine, and much more needs to be done. And my seniority is very important to continue to bring important projects vital to Pennsylvania's economy.

I am taking this action now because there are fewer than thirteen months to the 2010 Pennsylvania Primary and there is much to be done in preparation for that election. Upon request, I will return campaign contributions contributed during this cycle.

While each member of the Senate caucuses with his Party, what each of us hopes to accomplish is distinct from his party affiliation. The American people do not care which Party solves the problems confronting our nation. And no Senator, no matter how loyal he is to his Party, should or would put party loyalty above his duty to the state and nation.

My change in party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats that I have been for the Republicans. Unlike Senator Jeffords' switch, which changed party control, I will not be an automatic 60th vote for cloture. For example, my position on Employees Free Choice (card check) will not change.

Whatever my party affiliation, I will continue to be guided by President Kennedy's statement that sometimes party asks too much. When it does, I will continue my independent voting and follow my conscience on what I think is best for Pennsylvania and America.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Department of Health Leaks Swine Flu Pics

Washingon, DC - In an effort to quell rumors that the current swine flu outbreak could lead to a global pandemic, the Department of Health has released a picture of a California man who contracted the virus after a recent trip to Mexico for fire-twirling lessons.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous (Johnathan Felch), was hospitalized by California police after showing flu-like symptoms. DOH officials described the man as delusional, spasmodic, and suffering from ideas of grandeur as he refused to clothe himself at an outdoor music festival in April. DOH officals are concerned the strain has mutated into a virus that effects the central nervous system, which would impact the man's ability to reason. Noticeable shrinkage was observed as well, another complication from the swine virus.

DOH officials have instructed doctors around the world to institute a series of electric shocks to pig flu sufferers, and also expose patients to slow, melodic music to calm the patient.

Before and after pictures of the man show the devastating effects of the swine flu virus.

Before


After



The Wizard can be contacted here: http://www.myspace.com/jfelch

NFL Draft



Coke and Pepsi



Saturday, April 25, 2009

President Jacob Zuma - S.A.


Newly elected President of South Afirca, Jacob Zuma, is known for singing and dancing at his ANC party events. President Zuma's favorite song to perform is "Umshini Wam," which roughly translates to 'my machine gun.' The song's roots trace back to ANC comrades who sang it while fighting for freedom.


Here's another protest song of the same name.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Taser

The Coachella Wizard



The Original

Timberwolves Offseason Update: The Draft

The Timberwolves are in a very interesting position. They are the fifth worst team in the NBA meaning we keep the conditional 1st round pick for another year from the Marko Jaric/Sam Cassell deal. There are six players who could have an impact on our team on a serious level available in the draft: Ricky Rubio, Ty Lawson, Hasheem Tabeet, Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings, and Darren Collison.

Rubio is the best of the bunch. My favorite is Collison. Jennings looks like the most fun. Tabeet would make us a different team but a fun one and a hard one to beat. Lawson looks like he is ready to be as good as Baron Davis right away. Stephen Curry is a shooting machine who would fill up the scoreboard for us.

Ricky Rubio


Ty Lawson

High School


Hasheem Tabeet

More


Stephen Curry


Brandon Jennings


Darren Collison


There are also other interesting guys like Jonny Flynn a score and dish point guard with a good assist to turnover ratio and high field goal percentage, Kenneth Faried a rebounding machine who is a little too small to be a power forward, Brandon Brooks a true point guard who can knock down open shots, David Holston the next in the line of Mugsy Bogues, Earl Boykins, and Nate Robinson, Jodie Meeks a real scorer if he goes pro, Chavis Holmes a scorer and thief and his twin brother with an eerily similar skill set Travis Holmes, Taj Gibson if he comes out early, Terrence Williams who could be somebody's starting shooting guard next year, Ahmad Nivins a real power forward, John Bryant a beast from Santa Clara who scores at a high percentage and improved his rebounding numbers every year in college until he reached an elite level his senior year, Chase Budinger an athletic versatile player ready to make an impact right away, Milan Macvan an import who is a banger: think Charles Oakley, and Chief Kickingstallionsims a 7'1 265lbs center from Alabama State who is a raw possible developmental pick.

Day and Night

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Cool Building

Lipstick on a Pig

Mt Mutombo

Houston Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo said his lengthy career is finished after a knee injury knocked him out of the Rockets' playoff game Tuesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers.
"For me, basketball is over," he said.

Dikembe Mutombo was on the floor for several minutes after injuring his knee, and was taken off on a stretcher.
Mutombo, an 18-year NBA veteran, appeared to get tangled with Portland center Greg Oden and came down hard on his left leg late in the first quarter of Game 2 and did not return.
He stayed prone on the court under the Blazers' basket for several moments before he was taken away by stretcher. A preliminary examination revealed a knee strain.

Afterward in Houston's locker room, the 7-foot-2 veteran was on crutches and fighting back tears.
"Nobody ever thought they'd be carrying the big guy out like a wounded soldier," he said.
Mutombo, the league's oldest player at 42, will be examined by doctors in Houston on Wednesday.
"Dikembe is one of the statesmen of this league," teammate Shane Battier said. "There's not a better guy. To see him in pain is tough to see. He cares so much about this game that he doesn't want to end his career like that. That's the tragedy of it, too."
Mutombo is an eight-time All-Star who won the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award four times and stands in second on the NBA's career blocks list with 3,289. He has played for Denver, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York and Houston.
In 1,196 career games, Mutombo has averaged 9.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks.

Moreover, Mutombo is known for his humanitarian work. He founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in 1997 to benefit the people of his homeland of Kinshasha in the Congo. In 2007, he opened the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center there, named after his mother.

"I've had a wonderful 18 years of staying injury-free, so I just want to go out with my head up, no regrets," he said.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Monday, April 20, 2009

Joe Frazier

from Details magazine:

Q: They say, "Man you live in interesting times." Were you aware that your audience included dictators and hippies, Sinatra and Norman Mailer?

A: It was all about the ring. That's where you got your brains shook and the money took. Everything outside was confused, upsidedown and whatnot, and you media just made it more so. Nothing personal, brother. In the ring it was a good, clean fight. Very personal.

Comfortable Man Blues

I'm a comfortable man
yet i still have the blues.
I didn't earn the comfort
was given a foundation.
The b word is a real word
so I do use it with caution.
I am sure that I feel it
its been felt by me before.

There are medicine men
with prescriptions to help.
But who wants to be a junkie
padding yuppie wealth.
Wasps will win their way
good news is so will you.
Pursue true burst bright
escape from the shell.

One time I heard a song
it summed up that moment.
Another time I saw a person
in their life I saw my own.
There was a dream I had
when I woke up it felt real.
I'm looking at you in your eye
this is important to me.

I think I am a polite man
with a gentle demeanor.
This was earned through
hard work and family.
I have three hundred dollars
resting in my right pocket.
I am a comfortable man
the money is just matter.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Another Installment

Bill Flanagan: "Life is Hard" comes from a tradition that got pretty much wiped out by the popularity of swing and blues and rock 'n' roll. I remember Leon Redbone said once that the big break in 20th century music was not in the '50s when rock came in; it was when swing and jazz knocked off parlor piano ballads in the late '20s and early '30s. Do you ever wish that old style had stuck around a little longer?

Bob Dylan: Today, the mad rush of the world would trample over delicate music like that. Even if it had survived swing and jazz it would never make it past Dr. Dre. Things changed economically and socially. Two world wars, the stock market crash, the depression, the sexual revolution, huge sound systems, techno-pop. How could anything survive that? You can't imagine parlor ballads drifting out of high-rise multi-towered buildings. That kind of music existed in a more timeless state of life. I love those old piano ballads. In my hometown walking down dark streets on quiet summer nights you would sometimes hear parlor tunes coming out of doorways and open windows. Somebody's mother or sister playing "A Bird in a Guilded Cage" off of sheet music. I actually tried to conjure up that feeling once in a song I did called "In the Summertime."

Howlin Wolf to Start the Week Off

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Chris Chew - North Mississippi Allstars

The Best of Both Worlds - Staring at the World Thru My Rearview

Van Gundy strikes

During the Cavs-Pistons game today, Mike Breen, the other white guy that does the play by play with Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, was talking about how Moe Williams likes to listen to "In the Air Tonight" before he takes the court:

MB: ...he listens to phil collins before the game.

VG: What? Why would he listen to phil collins before a game?

MB: He listens to In The Air Tonight, its a pretty good warmup song that many players have been known to listen to.

VG: Phil Collins?!? I've never heard of players listening to phil collins before a game. I've been in many locker rooms pregame and let me tell you the guys are not listening to phil Collins. You know, they're listening to Tupac, and my main man Biggie!

If the story is not funny i apologize, one of those 'had to be there' moments. To compensate here is a classic VG video.

Hubble Telescope Pictures


The Sombrero Galaxy - 28 million light years from Earth - was voted best picture taken by the Hubble telescope. The dimensions of the galaxy, officially called M104, are as spectacular as its appearance. It has 800 billion suns and is 50,000 light years across.


The Perfect Storm, a small region in the Swan Nebula, 5,500 light years away, described as 'a bubbly ocean of hydrogen and small amounts of oxygen, sulphur and other elements'.


The Ant Nebula, a cloud of dust and gas whose technical name is Mz3, resembles an ant when observed using ground-based telescopes... The nebula lies within our galaxy between 3,000 and 6,000 light years from Earth.

Russian stray dogs


"Russian scientists say that Moscow stray dogs became much smarter. The four legged oldest human’s friends demonstrate real smartness such as riding the Moscow metro every morning to get from their suburban places of living to the fat regions of Moscow center. Once they arrive to the downtown they demonstrate different new, previously unseen for the dog skills. Those skills can include “the hunt for shawarma” for example, the popular among Muscovites eastern cuisine dish." Here is the link.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Dylan Interview Reprise

BF: Have you ever tried to fit in?

BD: Well, no, not really. I'm coming out of the folk music tradition and that's the vernacular and archetypal aesthetic that I've experienced. Those are the dynamics of it. I couldn't have written songs for the Brill Building if I tried. Whatever passes for pop music, I couldn't do it then and I can't do it now.

BF: Does that mean you create outsider art? Do you think of yourself as a cult figure?

BD: A cult figure, that's got religious connotations. It sounds cliquish and clannish. People have different emotional levels. Especially when you're young. Back then I guess most of my influences could be thought of as eccentric. Mass media had no overwhelming reach so I was drawn to the traveling performers passing through. The side show performers - bluegrass singers, the black cowboy with chaps and a lariat doing rope tricks. Miss Europe, Quasimodo, the Bearded Lady, the half-man half-woman, the deformed and the bent, Atlas the Dwarf, the fire-eaters, the teachers and preachers, the blues singers. I remember it like it was yesterday. I got close to some of these people. I learned about dignity from them. Freedom too. Civil rights, human rights. How to stay within yourself. Most others were into the rides like the tilt-a-whirl and the rollercoaster. To me that was the nightmare. All the giddiness. The artificiality of it. The sledge hammer of life. It didn't make sense or seem real. The stuff off the main road was where force of reality was. At least it struck me that way. When I left home those feelings didn't change.

BF: But you've sold over a hundred million records.

BD: Yeah I know. It's a mystery to me too.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Laminar Flow

Value of a Billion Dollars

Mel Gibson is getting a divorce. He has not a prenup with the lucky lady, who is rumored to be looking at a cool billion. The couple has been apparently been separated since Mel's DUI address. Part of the reason for the divorce is rumored to be Mel's budding relationship with a Russian pop star. Is she worth a billion dollars? Is Mel Gibson a man or a madman?



Susan Boyle

Worth the first couple minutes at least, follow the link.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Flip

from espn:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Flip Saunders has an offer to be the head coach of the Washington Wizards next season but has yet to return it, according to ESPN's Ric Bucher and a number of other published reports.

To Be Flip
Entering Monday night's games, Flip Saunders is the seventh-most successful head coach in NBA history with at least 900 games under his belt.

Coach W-L Pct.
Phil Jackson 1,040-435 .705
Gregg Popovich 684-330 .675
Red Auerbach 938-479 .662
Pat Riley 1,210-694 .636
Rick Adelman 859-536 .616
Jerry Sloan 1,136-750 .602
Flip Saunders 587-396 .597


Should he sign and return the offer, Saunders could be named as the team's head coach later this week or early next week. The NBA regular season ends on Wednesday.

Yahoo! Sports reported Monday Saunders has told associates he'd accepted the job. The deal is reported for close to $19 million over four years.

Ed Tapscott, the Wizards' interim head coach, could return to the team's front office, according to reports. Responding to reports that Saunders would take his job, he said before Monday's game: "It's just best that I not comment on that. For me, it's just a matter of focusing on finishing the season as strongly as possible."

Saunders, 54, has had success in both Minnesota and Detroit. He reached the playoffs eight times with the Timberwolves and three times with Detroit (where he lost in the NBA Eastern Conference finals each time).

He was fired last June after the Pistons lost to the eventual champion Boston Celtics.

Monday, the Washington Post reported that Sam Cassell could be an assistant coach for Saunders.

The Wizards have the second-worst record in the NBA this season -- 19-62, heading into Wednesday's season finale.

Dylan on Kilmer

"Funny thing about actors and that identity thing. Every time I run into Val Kilmer, I can’t help myself. I say, “Why, Johnny Ringo - you look like somebody just walked on your grave.” Val always says, “Bob, I’m not Johnny Ringo. That’s just a role I played in a movie." He could be right, he could be wrong. I think he’s wrong but he says it in such a sincere way. You have to think he thinks he’s right."
from Bob Dylan interview by Bill Flanagan

The Story of Mike Tyson in Two Parts

The words:

The fights:

Harry Kalas

from philadelphiainquirer:
Kalas got to live his dream

By Frank Fitzpatrick
INQUIRER STAF WRITER
This story was first published on Jul 28, 2002

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - Carol Drendel recalled the long-ago date when a young Harry Kalas, his blond crew-cut Brylcreemed to a perfect ridge in front, took her to a drive-in movie in his father's Packard.
"He just sat there the whole night," she said, "and pretended he was announcing a baseball game. "
Her husband, Gib Drendel, remembered the hard-of-hearing world history teacher at Naperville Community High School in Kalas' junior year.
"In that class, to entertain everyone, Harry used to cup his hands around his mouth and pretend to be announcing a Washington Senators game," Drendel said. "He'd go, 'Here's the 3-2 pitch from Cam-il-o Pas-cual. ' "
A half-century ago, Naperville was a small town. Many of its 7,000 residents worked at Kroehler Manufacturing Co.'s massive furniture factory and lived on quiet, tree-shaded streets, some of which ran near the wide banks of the DuPage River. It was, looking back anyway, a kind of malt-shop Valhalla.
"During the 1950s," reads a town history written in 1981, "Centennial Beach, the YMCA, summer band concerts with ice cream socials were Naperville's prime public recreational offerings. "
Few would have believed that by 2002 its population would be swollen to 133,000. Fewer still could have envisioned the disappearance of the surrounding dairy farms and forests as Naperville transformed itself from Main Street to Main Line, becoming a yuppie haven for Chicago commuters.
But no one who knew him back then would be the least bit surprised that Harry Kalas became a legendary baseball broadcaster.
"Harry got to live out his dream," said Gib Drendel, a family-law attorney in nearby Batavia. "How many people can say that? "
His deep-voiced destiny was so clear to the rest of the 109 seniors in 1954 that someone at the high school's yearbook, the Arrowhead, placed these prophetic words alongside the photo of the blond kid with the impish smirk:
"Harry Kalas . . . Future Sports Announcer. "
"Harry loved baseball, and he had this big loud voice," said classmate Gene Drendel, Gib's cousin, a retired school administrator who still lives here. "We all knew he was going to be announcing sports somewhere someday. We just assumed it would probably be in Chicago. "
In the days leading up to Kalas' induction today into the broadcasters' wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame, longtime residents here recalled fondly the tow-headed teenager whom, because of his diminutive stature through most of high school, they called "Pots. "
The friendliness, tearful sentimentality and broadcasting gifts that are Kalas' hallmarks were born here in this Ozzie and Harriet community, nearly 30 miles west of Chicago. Harry Kalas at 66, in fact, is not much different from "Pots" Kalas at 16, say his Naperville acquaintances, right down to his fondness for a postgame cocktail and a cigarette.
"He has stayed the same through the years," said Jeanine Warnell, a retired Naperville Community teacher who introduced Kalas to public speaking in her sophomore English class. "He was just one of those students I've never forgotten. I'm so proud of him. "
Kalas was described as a bright and good-natured boy who swam with friends in the local limestone quarries, consumed square scoops of ice cream and drank "Green Rivers" (lime juice and soda water) at a riverside drive-in called Prince's Castle, watched Western movies at the Naper Theater downtown, and starred - in drag - in his senior class play.
He also was the son of a preacher, though as those same friends point out, that hardly qualified him as an angel. One look at Kalas' yearbook photos reveal that this 1950s teenager must have admired James Dean as well as Dizzy Dean.
His blue jeans were rolled up roguishly at the bottom. He wore a defiant crew cut and had a mischievous grin. Like many of his classmates, he smoked at the soda shops and ice-cream parlors, snuck a couple of beers on weekends, and loved to play poker in the basement of Gene Drendel's Washington Street house during school lunch breaks.
"Harry was . . . well, Harry was a real fun-loving guy," said Gib Drendel. "Still is, from what I understand. I'll always remember the night we sat in a car outside his house and made bets on whether or not he would be able to walk into his house without falling down. He fell flat on his face short of the door.
"But he wasn't a bad kid. He was a wonderfully friendly person and had absolutely no pretense about him. "
At school, where his more-serious older brother, Jim, had been president of the Class of 1951, Kalas was a student council officer as a freshman - helping to plan the "Shamrock Shuffle" St. Patrick's Day Dance - a member of the journalism club, a backup linebacker on the football team, and, with his prematurely booming voice, a fixture in the class plays.
"I can still see him in that long black dress as the lead in Charlie's Aunt his senior year," said Warnell, who directed those plays. "He was just marvelous in the part. And so funny. "
In class, he was a somewhat indifferent student whose passion, from a very early age, was clear: sports.
"Harry loved sports. He knew all the different sports and all the different announcers," Gene Drendel said.
And from the day his father took him to old Comiskey Park to see a White Sox-Senators game, and Washington star Mickey Vernon escorted him into the dugout, baseball headed the list.
Alone in the handsome brick corner home the Kalases occupied at 153 N. Julian St., young Harry would occupy himself for hours playing Ethan Allen's All-Star Baseball, a board game in which the outcome of a player's at-bat is determined by the spin of a dial.
Not surprisingly, Kalas soon began to announce those games. Friends say that, even then, he sounded professional. He had inherited his father's deep, pulpit voice.
Harry H. Kalas was a Methodist minister. He moved his wife and two young sons here from Chicago's North Side during World War II to teach in the seminary affiliated with North Central College, a church-run school just a few blocks from Kalas' boyhood home.
"All the cliches you hear about the minister's son, they were all true in Harry's case," Gib Drendel said. "Harry liked to have a good time. "
Kalas was a backup linebacker on coach C. Weston Spencer's team, which won 12 games over his junior and senior seasons.
"He was a heck of a basketball player, too," said Gib Drendel. "He grew real late, so he was always too small for the varsity. But I remember that he led the intramural league in scoring. "
After graduating from Naperville Community in 1954, Kalas went to Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, another Methodist-run institution.
There, early in the first semester, a blind speech professor heard Kalas' voice in class and was struck by its resonance.
"He said to Harry, 'Son, you've got to become an announcer,' " recalled Gib Drendel, who along with two other Naperville graduates attended Cornell with Kalas.
But Kalas chafed under that church-related colllege's strict discipline, and - apparently with some encouragement from Cornell officials - transferred to the University of Iowa.
There, he began to broadcast the games of several Hawkeyes teams and was smitten. Drafted into the Army after graduation, he was lucky enough to be stationed at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.
Hearing that Bill Whaley, a onetime Pacific Coast League pitcher, owned the South Pacific cocktail lounge downtown, Kalas went there one night for some beer and baseball conversation. It was a life-changing night.
Whaley told Kalas that big-league broadcaster Buddy Blattner was due at the bar in a few hours. Blattner told the young private that the Sacramento Solons of the PCL would be moving to Honolulu that year.
Kalas applied for the broadcaster's job and got it, submitting a tape from a Minnesota-Iowa game. And since the season started in April and he wasn't due to be discharged until July, he convinced the Army to grant him an early dismissal.
He announced Hawaii's games for several years on KGO-AM, recreating road games from wire-service accounts. And then, in 1965, he landed a job with the Houston Astros. Six years later, he and Veterans Stadium debuted in Philadelphia. The former has held up considerably better than the latter.
"It's been quite a career when you look at it," Gene Drendel said. "All those years of minor-league and major-league baseball. All those years in Philadelphia. All those commercials and NFL Films things he does. It's amazing.
"And to think he started out right here in Naperville. "




from espn:

WASHINGTON -- Longtime Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas, who punctuated innumerable home runs with his "Outta here!" call, died Monday after being found passed out in the broadcast booth before a game against the Washington Nationals. He was 73.

"We lost our voice today," team president David Montgomery said, his voice cracking. "He has loved our game and made just a tremendous contribution to our sport and certainly to our organization."

Some of the more memorable notes in Kalas' illustrious broadcasting career:
• Six no-hitters
• Mike Schmidt's 500th home run on April 18, 1987
• Every one of Steve Carlton's starts from 1972-86
• Pete Rose's 3,631st career hit on Aug. 10, 1981 (which broke Stan Musial's NL record)
• First game at the Houston Astrodome, April 12, 1965
• First game at Veterans Stadium, April 10, 1971
• First game at Citizens Bank Park, April 12, 2004
• Was in his 43rd year as a MLB broadcaster
• Phillies broadcaster since 1971; member of original Astros broadcast team in 1965
• Inducted into the broadcaster's wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002
• Named Pennsylvania Sportscaster of the year 18 times

Kalas was discovered by the Phillies director of broadcasting about 12:30 p.m. and taken to a local hospital, Montgomery said.

Kalas had surgery earlier this year for an undisclosed ailment that the team characterized as minor. He looked somewhat drawn last week as the Phillies opened the season at home.

Kalas joined the Phillies in 1971. Before that, he was a member of the Houston Astros' broadcast team from 1965-70.

In 2002, he received the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award for his contributions to the game.

"Players come and go, but 'Outta here!' -- that's forever," said Scott Franzke, a Phillies radio broadcaster.

Kalas lent his sonorous voice to everything from puppies to soup. He did work for NFL Films, was the voice for Chunky Soup commercials and Animal Planet's annual tongue-in-cheek Super Bowl competitor, the Puppy Bowl.

Cincinnati Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman, a contemporary of Kalas' and a fellow Ford Frick Award winner, said Kalas' legacy will extend beyond the broadcast booth.

"I always find it interesting when a celebrity passes away and people are so quick to say, 'He was a great actor,' or, 'He was a great broadcaster.' Harry Kalas was a great person,'' Brennaman told ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. "As much as we will remember Harry as a broadcaster, many of us will remember him even more as being a hell of a guy.''

Brennaman said he spoke to Kalas by phone late last week. The friends talked for 45 minutes, and among other things, they discussed the importance of eating right, getting enough sleep and dealing with the hectic lifestyle of a major league broadcaster at an advanced age.

"I considered Harry a very good friend, and I was concerned about his health. I talked to him about getting the proper amount of rest and the things that we need to think about at our ages,'' said Brennaman, 66. "I was very concerned about him, but he sounded good. When I found out about it today, I was shocked. It's very, very sad.''

Kalas joined the Phillies radio and TV broadcast team the year the club moved into its former home, Veterans Stadium, replacing fan favorite Bill Campbell.

He wasn't immediately embraced by Phillies fans, despite being paired with Richie Ashburn, a Hall of Famer as a player, and longtime announcer.

But Kalas evolved into a beloved sports figure in Philadelphia. He and Ashburn grew into a popular team, and shared the booth until Ashburn's death in 1997.

"Major League Baseball has lost one of the great voices of our generation," commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. "Baseball announcers have a special bond with their audience, and Harry represented the best of baseball not only to the fans of the Phillies, but to fans everywhere."

Kalas fell in love with baseball at a young age, when his father took him to Comiskey Park to see the Chicago White Sox play the Washington Senators.

It was a rainy night, and Kalas sat with his dad behind the Washington dugout.

"Because of the rains, the field was covered," he told The Associated Press. "There was no batting practice, so the players really didn't have anything to do. Mickey Vernon popped out of the dugout, saw this wide-eyed kid -- me -- picked me up, took me in the dugout, gave me a baseball, introduced me to his teammates, and thus began my love of baseball and the Washington Senators."

He maintained that enthusiasm for the game throughout his career.

The son of a Methodist minister, the Naperville, Ill., native graduated from the University of Iowa in 1959 with a degree in speech, radio and television. He was drafted into the Army soon after he graduated.

In 1961, he became sports director at Hawaii radio station KGU and also broadcast games for the Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League and the University of Hawaii.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Hypnotic Underground


Hypnotic Underground from moriza on Vimeo.

By the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Times Square Subway Station, NYC

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter



Wow.

Year One

Featuring a bunch of famous actors, from Judd Apatow and directed by the guy who brought you Groundhog Day, Caddyshack and Multiplicity, amongst others, Harold Ramis.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Interview

Bill Flanagan: In that song Chicago After Dark were you thinking about the new President?

Bob Dylan: Not really. It’s more about State Street and the wind off Lake Michigan and how sometimes we know people and we are no longer what we used to be to them. I was trying to go with some old time feeling that I had.

BF: You liked Barack Obama early on. Why was that?

BD: I’d read his book and it intrigued me.

BF: Audacity of Hope?

BD: No it was called Dreams of My Father.

BF: What struck you about him?

BD: Well, a number of things. He’s got an interesting background. He’s like a fictional character, but he’s real. First off, his mother was a Kansas girl. Never lived in Kansas though, but with deep roots. You know, like Kansas bloody Kansas. John Brown the insurrectionist. Jesse James and Quantrill. Bushwhackers, Guerillas. Wizard of Oz Kansas. I think Barack has Jefferson Davis back there in his ancestry someplace. And then his father. An African intellectual. Bantu, Masai, Griot type heritage - cattle raiders, lion killers. I mean it’s just so incongruous that these two people would meet and fall in love. You kind of get past that though. And then you’re into his story. Like an odyssey except in reverse.

BF: In what way?

BD: First of all, Barack is born in Hawaii. Most of us think of Hawaii as paradise – so I guess you could say that he was born in paradise.

BF: And he was thrown out of the garden.

BD: Not exactly. His mom married some other guy named Lolo and then took Barack to Indonesia to live. Barack went to both a Muslim school and a Catholic school. His mom used to get up at 4:00 in the morning and teach him book lessons three hours before he even went to school. And then she would go to work. That tells you the type of woman she was. That’s just in the beginning of the story.

BF: What else did you find compelling about him?

BD: Well, mainly his take on things. His writing style hits you on more than one level. It makes you feel and think at the same time and that is hard to do. He says profoundly outrageous things. He’s looking at a shrunken head inside of a glass case in some museum with a bunch of other people and he’s wondering if any of these people realize that they could be looking at one of their ancestors.

BF: What in his book would make you think he’d be a good politician?

BD: Well nothing really. In some sense you would think being in the business of politics would be the last thing that this man would want to do. I think he had a job as an investment banker on Wall Street for a second - selling German bonds. But he probably could’ve done anything. If you read his book, you’ll know that the political world came to him. It was there to be had.

BF: Do you think he’ll make a good president?

BD: I have no idea. He’ll be the best president he can be. Most of those guys come into office with the best of intentions and leave as beaten men. Johnson would be a good example of that … Nixon, Clinton in a way, Truman, all the rest of them going back. You know, it’s like they all fly too close to the sun and get burned.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Soy Bomb



The Bomb enters just before the 3:00 minute mark. And Usher calls him Bill Dylan.

Tracy Morgan

Thursday, April 2, 2009