Fargo Rock City

As I mentioned before, I loved Chuck Klosterman's book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. I checked his list of previous titles and it turns out a few years ago he wrote a book completely about 80s hair bands called Fargo Rock City. The title is terrible, because the Fargo reference is basically meaningless, despite the fact that he grew up outside of there, while the "Rock City" part only makes people think of Kiss, who are hardly a focal point of the book. Klosterman agrees, as he writes that he would have preferred it be called Appetite for Deconstruction. And if you don't get the pun, then the book isn't for you. But if you agree that Poison were wildly underrated and that Appetite for Destruction is one of the greatest albums ever recorded, run to the store and pick it up. It's a series of anecodtes and essays told in semi-chroological order, starting when Chuck listened to his first Motely Crue album in '83. One of my favorite chapters entails him explaining a principle called "the jack factor," an analysis of an album's value based on how much money someone would have to pay him to willingly never listen to it again. Great stuff.

I checked out the premiere of Prison Break on Fox last night and it looks like it has potential. You have to immediately shrug off the laughable premise and just try to get into the show. I'm not sure how long this concept will have legs but the first two hours were pretty interesting and well done. They say that they already have story lines for subsequent seasons but I could see it wearing thin pretty quickly. One good year would be nice. Kind of like Murder One had in 1995-1996...

I'm almost done with that season of Murder One on DVD and I can say I was more than a little surprised that they reached a verdict in episode 21...of 23. Hmm. Anyway, the show is really good, better than about 98% of anything that's on TV now, and it's too bad it never got a real shot at success when it aired.

I'm really happy we don't live in New Orleans any more. Our old street is completely underwater, as is about 80% of the city from what I can tell. I hear that the Saints are considering temporarily relocating to San Antonio. Yes, I know, that's the least of what anyone should be worrying about but with the start of football looming I can't help thinking about it. Plus the San Antonio Saints is a pretty cool sounding name. I wonder how they would draw there--probably pretty well. And I guarantee the Alamo Dome is a nicer facility than the airplane hangar they are accustomed to playing in.

Great TV show

I've been watching episodes of a ten year old TV show called Murder One on Netflix lately and they are really good. I remember watching the show a few times when it originally aired on ABC and I enjoyed it then, but they idiotically scheduled it against the juggernaut that was ER...and this being pre-TiVo, keeping up with two shows in the same time slot was just too much. But the show is great and it holds up really well. Check it out if you're looking for a full season of shows to rent.

My nephew arrives in less than a month...crazy! I still think of my little brother as, well...my little brother, so wrapping my mind around the concept that he is now 30 with a real job and (soon) two kids is pretty wild sometimes. But I can't wait to meet "the little guy," as he is being called until he gets a name.

Sox are in the middle of a brutal road trip but I think they'll be in great shape in a couple of weeks. Finishing up with a ton of games at Fenway will be a huge advantage for them. They will probably win the division for the first time since 1995. Bring on the playoffs.

It is absurdly hot here. Over 100 degrees with humidity is just cruel. I keep hearing that Arkansas has an actual change of seasons and I really hope I see something like that happen soon.

Good for Phil

Major #2 for Phil Mickelson and I'm very happy for him. PTI had a discussion about his future prospects today, debating how many major titles he'll finish with, having the over/under set at five. I'd love him to go over, but it's funny that as recently as two years ago people wondered if and when he'd ever win one. I think now that he has a couple, it will get even easier for him. He'll win another one next year.

Go Lefty!

Have a great weekend everybody.

Mickelson extends lead at PGA

Random thoughts of the day

I was driving in my car today and Youth Gone Wild by Skid Row came on the radio and it could not have made me any happier. I absolutely cranked it.

I cooked decent dinners at least three nights in a row this week and that is probably the first time I have ever been able to say that. Yes, I'm that bored.

I recently read Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman and I was absolutely furious at myself for not picking it up sooner. I literally have held the book in my hand but I inexplicably never bought it. It's frickin' brilliant. I am absolutely his target audience, as the book addresses things like how the Celtics-Lakers rivalry can be applied to practically any competitive situation, the cultural significance of The Empire Strikes Back, and why John Cusack has potentially spoiled the chances of true love for nearly everyone. The book is subtitled "a low-culture manifesto," but that is selling itself short. It's the most brilliant insight into pop culture that I have ever read. It's so good, I wish I wrote it. Sheer genius.

Cool new TV show: No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain (10 PM Monday on the Travel Channel, check your local listings). I loved Bourdain's book Kitchen Confidential, so I decided to check out this show, which is basically a cuisine-centric travelog, albeit one filtered through Bourdain's inimitable ballsy sensibility. Last week's episode saw him in Iceland in the dead of winter, eating shark meat fermented for months in lye--a product that he was implored not to touch with his hands, for fear that it might injure him...before eating it. "That is the worst thing I have ever put in my mouth," he stated afterwards. Coming from him, that means something. It also says a lot about him to add that he had more of that lovely shark dish later at a local watering hole, prefering to do that and quickly chase it with some Icelandic schanpps rather than offend his hosts.

I'm selling two tickets to a Sox-Yankees game on eBay, and you can imagine how much this pains me.

The NFL pre-season begins in less than three hours. Enough said.

Manny Being Manny

The MLB trade deadline has passed and I am absolutely ecstatic that the Boston Red Sox did not deal away Manny Ramirez. The reported offers that were on the table for him were just dreadful, and thankfully Theo Epstein and company were smart enough to realize that the best move was to stand pat. And honestly, this whole situation has been ridiculously overblown. Manny is just a goofy guy who flakes out for a few days about once a season. That's it. That's all. That's the entire story. For the rest of the time, he's the most feared hitter in the American League, a cleanup bat that we could never replace, and a future Hall of Famer. Thank god we kept him. If we can just get a couple of people healthy, we'll probably win the whole thing again.