Showing posts with label Miami Hurricanes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miami Hurricanes. Show all posts

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Random November Saturday Morning Musings

1. Has anyone else ever noticed that the Beatles' song "Birthday" sounds awfully sarcastic? Listen to it again. The tone of Paul and John's voices definitely have a certain harshness. It's almost as if they are mocking the subject of the song with each lyric.
"You say it's your birthday - well it's my birthday too, yeah!" --- this is like someone sneeringly claiming it's their birthday when it obviously is not just to spite the person whose birthday it truly is.
"We're gonna have a good time" --- No, we're not. Because I'm a jerk and I'm belittling you by making fun of your birthday party.
"I'm glad it's your birthday" -- No, not really. I'm just sarcastically saying that to make you feel bad. Ha Ha Ha.

2. This has been one of the nicest Autumns I can remember. Too bad I've spent most of it indoors doing engineering stuff. It never rained in September, and maybe rained twice in October. We had one week recently of 50 degree weather, but other than that it's been in the 70s and sunny.

3. I keep having dreams where I'm talking to Brett Favre as if we are friends or I at least have an opinion that he cares about. I've always respected Favre as a football player, but I'm a Bears fan - so it's not like he's been one of my sports heroes. I kind of feel for the guy right now. He's having a rough season...getting physically beat up, the media has swarmed over his "racy texts" scandal (even though it's really no one's business and shouldn't be news - the only purpose it serves is to keep Jenn Sterger's name floating in the ether and providing fodder for the aforementioned media), his coach stinks, his team is a mess...he's almost assuredly wishing he'd just stayed in Mississippi instead of coming back this time around. That being said, though, you have to be impressed by his ability to keep playing with men half his age. He's still very capable and one of the better players at his position.

4. Is it just me or does Thanksgiving seem to come more quickly these days and without any build up? From childhood through my college years there was always a month-long anticipation and excitement that brewed. But lately the big day just sort of rushes upon us with only a bit of fanfare on the day before. Could it just be that I'm older now and my mind is occupied by more important matters? Looking back at my 20 year old self, I had so little responsibility or truly important things to tend to that I could afford to think about Thanksgiving every day for a month leading up to it. Come to think of it...my 20 year old self was a head-shakingly shadow-like version of my current self. But then that's always been the goal: to constantly be improving and as a result looking back on old versions of myself with disregard and a roll of the eyes. It would be a shame to always consider your former self to be the better you.

Well, it's time to eat a late breakfast and go watch my Hurricanes stink it up against Georgia Tech. If we lose today I will then be in full hoping-that-we-tank-the-season mode and looking forward to hiring a new coaching staff (Jon Gruden please!). If we win...meh...I'll be happy for the players and will try to be optimistic about the future, but I won't be daydreaming of championships.

Friday, September 18, 2009

September Pause

Has it really been nearly 3 weeks since I last wrote something on here? Things have been busy. Free time - such as time to spend typing random gibberish on a blog that resides on a dusty, seldom-traveled side road of the internet - has become a scarce commodity.

But it's Friday evening....I just got over being sick for the last two weeks...I've been going nonstop with schoolwork and I'm just a little rundown and out of gas. I took a break last night for the Canes victory over Georgia Tech...but I still feel the need for more idle time. How about those Canes? Are we finally back? Man, I hope so....it's been a long, miserable few years of watching my beloved Canes' dynasty crumble and then be rebuilt. We Canes fans have suffered greatly - had our hearts broken (by other teams, our own team, and a certain coach who shall not be named) - had to endure the freakin' Florida Gators rise to dominance. And now...maybe...just maybe...we're back.

How about those Bears??? meh....not so much. Urlacher breaks his wrist and is done for the year. Cutler and the offense have a meltdown against the Packers. Ugh.......

I passed up drafting Adrian Peterson in my fantasy league's draft. (So did a couple of other people) I went with the Bears' Matt Forte instead - because he gets lot of receptions and receiving yards. Peterson typically does not. In fantasy football -- that matters! But after week 1 I am filled with regret. Especially when I see those cool Nike commercials where Adrian Peterson is running all over a dark, snowy field, tossing opponents out of the way as ominous music plays and finally at the end he sits down at his locker and appears to be some sort of alien or creature or secret army project. Awesome commercial....but nevertheless it shrouds my soul in the mists of Fantasy Draft Regret. It is a common and unfortunate affliction.

The latest Muse album (The Resistance) came out this week. It is quite frankly, unreal. Lyrically it's like protest music for those who see the insidious socialistic workings going on in our world today. A pre-emptive call to rise against the movements to a one-world-government, a fascist/socialist America, etc. If you're angry at the socialists - or just don't like any of the people in power (worldwide) and if you don't like the way our modern society tries to program us -- then you will find solace and a kindred spirit in this album. Musically they continue to evolve. One can hear a connection to their last album (Blackholes and Revelations), as well as David Bowie and Queen influences. A wide swathe of genres are represented -- from synthesizer-heavy foot-stompers to rhythmic hip-hop/pop vibes and the considerable orchestral arrangements. It feels like a concept album...like something from a by-gone era when bands made music because it was art and it came from inside them -- not just to put out hit singles and cash-in. I can't stop listening to it and I fear i will burn myself out on it soon.....like a moth to a flame....or a man to a beautiful girl....or Chaz to a beer.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Elvis Will Have His Revenge ("in this life or the next")

It's been an intense week around here. I've been up since 4:30AM and my mind should be crashing at any time. But I feel the need to ramble a little, dear readers.

This week's entry in the Increasingly Annoying Commercial category is the entire Wendy's campaign where the cartoon "Wendy" remarks in that eye-gougingly perky voice at the end of every ad, "it's WAY better than fast-food, it's Wendy's!" It's only a matter of time before something horrible happens as a direct result of that voice. When some loon in Harrisburg, PA fills a Wendy's dining room with 8000 gallons of tartar sauce from a hijacked tartar sauce tractor trailer - you'll know what sparked the madness.

Remember a couple weeks ago when I couldn't stand seeing commercials for those movies that had been playing over and over on tv? The Last House on the Left --- "you wanna hear what I did to your daughter?" Yeah. Well, for the last two weeks they've been pounding "12 Rounds" into my brain every 10 minutes. The catch-phrase this time around is "I'm gonna hunt you down and I'm gonna kill you!" Because one year ago he took something from the bad guy "that can never be replaced!"

Do you hear that? That's the sound of Hollywood scratching around in the dumpster of creativity for ideas. Maybe they'll find a half-eaten bearclaw...maybe an old shoe....partially broken mechanical toothbrush....or maybe they'll just remake some more old movies. Yeah, sure, that works.

Tomorrow morning my beloved Miami Hurricanes will hold their annual Spring Game. But instead of getting to watch the game on tv up here, I'll be treated to a 2003 Tennessee high school softball game on CSS. Get the popcorn ready! Mom! MOM! MEATLOAF!!!

May I make some more suggestions for the Intolerably Increasingly Annoying (an ever-expanding description) Commercial category? How about any and all erectile dysfunction ads. When these first started airing I was young enough so that it was uncomfortable viewing them around the family. Now they're not so much uncomfortable as they are just annoying, repetitive, and leave me feeling like there's a giant corporation out there that doesn't think very highly of my intelligence (or most men's for that matter).

While we're at it, let's do away with that "Viva Viagra" song. Elvis Presley is going to rise from his velvet-encased grave (or karate kick his way down the ramp of his spaceship -- OR come out of seclusion from his quiet life as a groundskeeper in a tiny West Texas town) and single-handedly carve a path of destruction rivaling that of the Cloverfield monster and Jack Black on a bender combined as he wipes out every last individual involved with the desecration of his song. (That was quite a Faulkner-esque sentence. Oh wait - no - it didn't drone on pointlessly for pages about characters you could care less about and about eras of history that are best left for dead in the ditch of time. Faulker. I have a growing list of the most over-hyped and over-rated people and things. That might be two lists.... Anyway, he's on there. Along with a certain president and a Florida Gator football player (hint: a lot of people treat both of them like walking deities).) (This paragraph has so many parenthesis it's starting to look like my Excel projects from last spring's horrific computer programming class.)

Where was I? Ah yes, Elvis wreaking havoc as the nation takes a breather from all the bailouts and movie trailers. Peanut butter and banana sandwich crusts the size of Buick Skylarks littering the countryside in his wake. Sweat-soaked scarves tossed haphazardly into rivers causing untold ecological damage. And you know what Elvis will say just before he begins his vengeful mission? "I'm gonna hunt you down and I'm gonna kill you." Of course.

200 Evil Grin points (similar to Schrute Bucks) to whoever can tell what movie, actor, and line the title of this blog is a reference to.

Oh, one more thing. Yesterday just before our first exam of the day, Ryan and I were both "cracking up." For some reason he found it wildly amusing when I said I was cracking up "like a package of crakers being run over by a semi full of elephants and Nazi stormtroopers." (the elephants because they're heavy...and the Nazis because they're menacing...) So, I thought I'd share and see what the rest of you think about that.