Vices for Victims

http://vicesforvictims.blogspot.com/

Check it out, folks. A wonderful idea. I'm not sure what mine will be just yet...I'll figure it out by paycheck day.

Family Guy: The Movie and Stewie Live!

First off, "Family Guy presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story." Hilarious. It feels less like a movie than three episodes strung together, but each of them would be classic eps if they had been shown by themselves, and some of the funniest stuff they've ever done is in here. Treat this like the lost episode between the first run and the new run, and also as a treat for us Stewie fans who've been wondering why the heck none of the new episodes have been focusing on him yet.

Secondly, click here. And be sure to ask Stewie to have sex.

Another Comedy Icon...

Obituary here.

Having grown up on "Get Smart" and "Inspector Gadget" in relatively equal measure, this bums me out. Especially with the news just a few days ago that GS would finally be coming out on DVD next year.

Rest in peace, Don. Would you believe?...you won't be forgotten.

As the season officially comes to a close...

Memories I will take from the summer of Ought Five:

-Seth.

-Driving to Chicago with one of my best friends, seeing another one of my best friends getting to tear the house down in his show.

-The opening of Episode III.

-The return of Family Guy.

-ECW One Night Stand.

-Getting to hang out with Jessica before the school year started.

-Lindsey and A.J.'s wedding.

-The Jack Sparrow Memorial.

-Seeing Abby compete at Miss Ohio.

-Batman Begins.

-Seeing Lindsey, Greg, Amanda and others leave.

-The start of Poker Night.

-The "Frasier" reading...not happening.

-Getting a working computer again.

-Getting said working computer infected. Arrgh.

-Being there for Heather when her summer got all crazy, getting to know Mark a little better in the process.

More, I'm sure, but that's what leaps to mind. All in all, a lot of cool stuff, a lot of terrible stuff. But then, that's pretty much life.

Cowboy Fans! New And Improved, With Tunnel Vision(TM)!

So, Dan Patrick's radio show this afternoon on ESPN Radio. He opens by discussing how Dallas Cowboy fans are getting angry because people are now referring to the New Orleans Saints as "America's Team."

A petty, near-sighted, and dumb thing to be getting upset about, particularly in light of the fact that I don't know who the hell designated the Cowboys as "America's Team" in the first place, but anyway.

That aside, Dan then read a letter from a Texas-based reader that makes all previous complaints pale by comparison. Not being able to find the full text of the message, I will paraphrase as best I can: The writer in question said that he came downstairs to find his 70-year-old father crying as he read the morning paper, because the NFL will be running a telethon to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina during halftime of the monday night game, instead of airing the induction of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin to the illustrious "Inner Circle" of the Cowboys. The author went on to say that America had to move on, and that it was very disrespectful to Dallas fans to not air these three players being honored in this way, all just to raise money.

Oh, there was more, much more. The blood in my ears was boiling too much for me to accurately remember it, though.

I can only hope that it was a prank. Because if it wasn't, it shows a callousness of thought and emotion I heretofore thought impossible.

Disrespectful? Let's see. We are not one month removed from a tragedy that cost the lives of at least hundreds if not thousands of people, and has left tens of thousands homeless. Tonight, in an effort to help, the NFL will attempt to raise money during halftime. 20 minutes at best. All of which could go a long way to aid human beings who are suffering.

And this guy feels "disrespected" because he won't get to see three guys whose primary contribution to society is tossing a ball to each other have their name put on a wall.

To be frank, if he genuinely feels "disrespected" by that, he deserved no respect in the first place.

Jarrett Wins World Title, Somehow Planet Is Still Turning

Online reaction to the move seems to be overwhelmingly negative, with folks writing off TNA's whole run on Spike TV as a result. This p*sses me off to no end, as I articulated in this reply to a thread on Scott Keith's blog...

"I hate Jarrett, too, but if you're gonna write off everything TNA does on Spike with one title switch, I'm guessing you haven't actually been watching much of it lately. It's not like Raven as champ was setting the world on fire, either, and my guess is he'll be getting it back soon, if not at the first Impact on Spike.

"And besides, I don't watch TNA for the world title picture, anyway - I watch it for AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Chris Sabin, Petey Williams, AMW, The Naturals, and any number of young guys who are actually GETTING a chance to do what they can do without having to dumb their work down for the sake of 'not overshadowing the stars.'

"Jarrett sucks, absolutely. But as fans, we HAVE to start looking at this from a different perspective, choosing a lesser evil - the greater evil, in this case, being an evil with three H's in his name. And while Jarrett is guilty of egotistical grandstanding, it's not at the expense of all the other truly gifted talent who also works on the show - and as a result, from a wrestling standpoint, TNA is so clearly the better alternative right now, it's not funny.

"All I'm saying is, if you're gonna give up on TNA already because of Jarrett, I think you're being incredibly near-sighted. And note that an NWA title match wasn't even the main event of the last PPV - the AJ/Joe/Daniels three-way was. And it was one of the greatest matches, ever. It'd be a shame if folks missed matches like that because of their bias toward one wrestler."

I will post on something non-wrestling related soon, I promise...

By the By...

AJ Styles's Official Page.

Christopher Daniels's Official Page.

Samoa Joe's Blog.

For those unfamiliar with the gentlemen praised so heartily in the previous post, there ya go. Get to know them!

I'm really not self-centered enough to be all "where is everybody?" when I know most everybody has school and stuff kicking their @$$, but...well, where is everybody? ;)

Eh. I'll keep calling peeps. Someone other than Heather is gonna answer eventually!

"Holy s#it! Holy s#it!" Holy s#it!"

So rang the chant for the AJ Styles/Samoa Joe/Christopher Daniels match at the Unbreakable PPV.

Others included, "AJ," "Fallen Angel," "Joe," "TNA," and most telling, "This is awesome!"

Indeed it was. Out on a limb, that was easily the best match of the year, hands down. Nothing will touch it. And it quickly ascends to the upper tier of immortal PPV matches of all time.

Worth the price of admission by itself, but that wasn't nearly all. Add in as well two excellent undercard singles matches, a fun four-way match for the tag titles, an awesome Abyss/Sabu brawl, and a damn entertaining NWA world title match between Raven and Rhino. And no Jeff Jarrett match, always a plus. All in all, ECW One Night Stand may get the sentimental vote for year's best show, because of nostalgia and name value (and no argument, it was an amazing show), but Unbreakable was a better WRESTLING PPV, overall. No question.

If you missed it, get the replay. Or ask me and I'll show it to you. Simply put, if you don't like the Styles/Joe/Daniels match, you're not a wrestling fan.

Just a thought...

Before the Eagles/Falcons game, there was a brawl on the field which resulted in Jeremiah Trotter and Kevin Mathis (I only know the names because Matt was standing next to me when I typed them) and being ejected. All this was carried live on ESPN's countdown show.

What was funny was Stewart Scott, running the countdown show and reacting to the brawl (and subsequent follow-up brawls) shouted, "You cannot miss this game! Tune in to ABC!" Or something close to that.

All I could think was...that is EXACTLY like EVERY wrestling pre-PPV show I have ever seen. Big brawl to establish the conflict, heightened sense of tension and anticipation, and an over-the-top announcer yelling that we couldn't even THINK about missing what was to come. "Oh my God! They're at it again! What will it be like this Sunday on pay-per-view? Good night everybody, see you Sunday!"

I'm not saying the fight was staged or anything. But when things like this happen, it just makes me wonder how the hell the NFL can hold themselves so high-and-mighty above wrestling in America's view. At least with wrestling the brawls are more convincing. And I guarantee you I'll see more action watching the TNA replay tomorrow during the 3-way main event ALONE than in all of tonight's game combined.

But enough of my football bias for one day.

Viruses Suck

Good news: I now have DSL connection so the net is uber-fast.

Bad news: I also caught the about:blank virus over the weekend which utterly paralyzed my ability to use the computer.

My symptoms from this LOVELY bug...

1. Resets homepage on browser to a cr*ppy search engine with "about:blank" in the URL.
2. Throws pop-ups onto the screen even when you have pop-up blocker.
3. Highlights text on webpages that are not, in fact, highlighted - clicking on them searches for said terms on aforementioned cr*ppy search engine.
4. Inability to use ANYTHING password related, including e-mail, AIM, message boards, or this blog.
5. Utter paranoia and despair.

Luckily, tech support suggested simply doing a system restore, and everything seems peachy-keen now. But from what I've read about this sumb!tch, this may not be over, as the virus has a nasty habit of mutating and becoming undetectable, then showing up again when you reboot.

But aha! Thanks to Heather's husband Mark, I may still be prepared if this rears its ugly head again, as he found a definition for this thing and has prepared a disk loaded with all the necessary software to (theoretically) kick it to Virus Hell once and for all.

Just an opinion, makers of viruses are among the lowest scum on planet Earth. Like, way lower than telemarketers. Way lower than Jehovah's Witnesses. At these with those people you can hang up or laugh at them.

Hey-yo...

Stuff and stuff on this Labor Dabor…

-It’s like I’m still trying to grasp the enormity of what happened with Katrina before I start writing about it. Obviously, my thoughts are with all those whose lives have been effected by this. And considering the enormity of the tragedy, that’s pretty much all of us. But aside from that, I really don’t have anything to say yet. Maybe soon.

-Well, I will add my voice to those outraged - the National Guard should have been there sooner. No excuse is good enough.

-Work was busy. It was Labor Day, no explanation necessary, I think?

-I don’t even like college football, and yet I dislike Miami. Does that make sense? Anyway, seeing Florida State beat them tonight was cool.

-24 marathon on A&E and a free VCR recording at all hours means I now have all of season 4 on tape well before the DVD’s arrival in December. I stopped watching after a while, as I usually do (it takes a lot of effort for me to keep up with any TV show nowadays, let alone one I’m so used to watching uninterrupted as 24), so I’m gonna tear through ‘em and get myself up to speed before the season premiere. Whenever that is.

See, it's OUR fault...

So, Simpsons Season 6 came out a few weeks ago. Problem is, the box sucks. It's this flimsy plastic replica of Homer's head, which is fragile as hell and doesn't stand up on it's own without an uber-ugly plastic slip-sleeve. Quite simply a bad design idea, and most of the world seems to agree.

So, Matt's a huge Simpsons fan, and picked up season 6, as upset about the packaging as anyone. But fear not! You can get a DVD case just like the previous boxes, pretty much for free from Fox (you spring for S&H), just by calling a special number or by visiting simpsonsbox.com. Nice of them, huh?

Well, then you read the slip inside and that warm and fuzzy feeling kinda goes away...

"For all those that fear change...For all those anal-retentive nerds who like their DVD boxes to line up perfectly on the shelf...For all those who dislike storing their digital media inside a hollowed-out human headm have we got a deal for you: Just call (yadda yadda) for a very derivative, old-style, just-like-before box with almost nothing new or creative to annoy or terrify you. Enjoy!"

Hmm. So, if I don't like the box, I'm a nerd who fears change. Tongue firmly in cheek, I'm sure, but it irks me that the idea that the new design is quite simply a bad idea never apparently even occured to them. In fact, on the simpsonsbox.com page, the "reasons for wanting a new box" are as follows: "Anal retentive (box must be identical); Lonely (will pretend box is new best friend); Will sell new box to collector nerds for huge profit; Just like free stuff; Big baby."

I sat there for a bit before deciding on one. No write-in for "your design staff are clods for thinking of this new marketing ploy and also big babies for mocking fans who dislike shelling out 40 bucks for cheap and flimsy packaging," sadly.