Wolf Parade - Shine a Light

Awesome

Scared Money Don't Make None

There was Memphis. There was Syracuse. There was Pittsburgh. There were a slew of teams that failed in the tourney. And the end result is that I'm failing at picking brackets this year. The last three have been good showings for me, but alas, this year I give it an epic fail rating. This is why I don't put money on things. Thankfully, it was a very, very small sum.

By the way Jayson, I'll mail you a check. I'm good for it. I think.

Here's What I Was Saying

BACK IN THE GO-GO (the feature heavy song)

I'm Back

Well sort of. It's been a busy last few weeks so I haven't really had
the urge to compose a thoughtful blog. Coupled with my lack of
attentiveness to the news and music and you have a recipe for silence.
So I'm kind of back and I anticipate being at full stength come finals
time.

In the meantime, check out Wale and his song "the feature heavy song"
f bun b and pusha t from the clipse. I'd post a video but I'm mobile
blogging today.

Cheers

Sent via mobile phone.

Second Place Is the First Loser

Those stupid Mossimo shirts were right. Or was it Stussy. Whichever.

Regardless, those were the results of the tournament. Good finish, but not a great finish

Here's some music I've been listening to lately (as if you care):

1) L.E.S. Artistes - Santogold
2) Soma - Smashing Pumpkins
3) Paranoid - Kanye West
4) The entire Spirit If... cd by Kevin Drew
5) the Postal Service
6) Wake for Young Souls; Misfits - Third Eye Blind
7) 93 Til Infinity - Souls of Mischief
8) Bixby Canyon Bridge - Death Cab for Cutie
9) a bunch of mid 90s hip hop
10) various Roots songs.

Cold

For the first time in a long time, I'm surrounded by snow.

Yup, snowy Minnesota (it's only on the ground, it's not actually snowing right now). And so begins the first adventure in moot court advocacy.

Meeting at 7:45AM. Shoot me.


Time to tell the [C]ourt why the school district didn't segregate against the children.

Hey, THAT Was in Bad Taste

The New York Post had this cartoon in its paper.



Can we agree that there are too many reasons why this is not a good idea to publish?!

Oh and the Post thinks they didn't do anything wrong. And they got mad because Al Sharpton protested this.

"The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."

Yeah, that's it. Cause, you know, we haven't been a racist country that enslaved people and referred to them as "porch monkeys" and other various racial epithets. Good point NY Post. Wait, what's that? Oh, we were that country. My bad.

Oh and what exactly was Sharpton's publicity stunt? A little thing called a history lesson.

"The cartoon in today's New York Post is troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys. One has to question whether the cartoonist is making a less than casual reference to this when in the cartoon they have police saying after shooting a chimpanzee that "Now they will have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill."

"Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama (the first African American president) and has become synonymous with him it is not a reach to wonder are they inferring that a monkey wrote the last bill?"

High-five to the Post for showing: a) their true colors, or b) their true stupidity of not realizing the racial implications of publishing this cartoon. You guys are really awesome.

And then there are the employees trying to distance themselves from the whole ordeal

On Wednesday, an employee of the paper told the Huffington Post that the phone lines had been inundated with complaints over what was interpreted as a racially charged jab at Obama. "As they f--king should be," said the source.

Today, meanwhile, the Post's Associate Editor, Sandra Guzman, sent out an email to other reporters distancing herself from the paper's cartoon and acknowledging that she has talked to management about her disapproval.

In summation, the NY Post sucks. And they're racist.

Source: Straight Bangin, Huffington Post (NY Post Defending Article), Huffington Post (employees distancing themselves)

The Kind of Stories We Need

Sportsmanship is often lost on the game.

Then stories like these surface.

High School basketball teams faced off in Wisconsin. Only one player was missing its captain. His mother had passed away earlier that morning. He showed up late, looking to play ball as therapy. Problem was, he wasn't on the roster. So to get him in the game his team had to take a technical foul. Although the other team tried to fight the call, the refs said that by rule, they had to.

Solution? The team intentionally missed the two freebies. A player named McNeal, stepped in, volunteering to miss the free throws. This is what the game (and life) is about. Fairness, and supporting your peers in dire times.

source: high school rivals

And With That, We Quietly Say Goodbye

It has been so hard to vigorously keep up with the Kings. Particularly because they are awful. In fact, using the word "awful" to describe the Kings actually does a disservice to the word.

Well, we all knew this was coming, and they actually pulled off a decent trade, all things considered. This team has been shaken up so much in the last 4 years, it's scary.

And with that, we say goodbye to Brad Miller (and John Salmons, who wasn't really part of the winning-era). Rebuilding is going full-time now. Sam Amick has the coverage:

According to numerous league sources, a trade sending Kings players Brad Miller and John Salmons to Chicago in exchange for Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden, Michael Ruffin and Cedric Simmons has been agreed upon and is pending league approval.

In a separate deal with Portland, fourth-year forward Ike Diogu comes to the Kings for Ruffin. The Kings are also expected to receive approximately $1 million in the trade with Portland.

The Kings are not only a bad team, but an expensive bad team that had a payroll of $69 million before this deal. At a time when they desperately need to improve their salary cap situation for the future, the Chicago trade saves them approximately $10.2 million in salary cap room for next season. It could potentially make them more relevant in the free agent market this summer or allow the payroll flexibility to be more active on the trade front after this season. Beyond next season, though, Nocioni's contract will add $6.9 million to payroll in 2010-11 and $6.7 million in 2011-12. Gooden, Ruffin and Simmons all have expiring contracts worth $7.1 million, $1.1 million, and $1.7 million respectively.

Diogu's contract is worth $2.9 million this season, and he will be a restricted free agent this summer. He was drafted ninth overall in 2005 and will follow in the footsteps of Shelden Williams as the latest frontline prospect the Kings hope experiences a revival while on their roster.

This stings. I mean, it needed to happen, but I don't know...I guess I wasn't really ready to say goodbye. Then again, I never am. And that is that. The end of the era. Miller was the last remnant of when we even had a semblance of being a competitive team. Gone are Webber, Divac, Christie, Bibby, etc., etc. And Miller is the last to go. So, with that, I bid you adieu. Thank you so much for the memories Brad. It was fun. Hopefully returning where your career started will do you some good (and you're closer to your home in Indiana).

Peace.

Source: Sac Bee

Twenty Ways to Shuffle Your Feet

1) Hit or Miss - A New Found Glory
2) Have You Ever Loved a Woman? - Derek and the Dominoes
3) Transformer - Smashing Pumpkins
4) Find a Way - A Tribe Called Quest
5) Crosshairs - DangerDoom
6) Dirge - Death in Vegas
7) Rain Be for Rain Bo - Above the Law
8) Nicky Barnes AKA It's Alright - Camp Lo
9) Cocaine - UGK
10) Tracy - Sa-Ra
11) Just Like Honey - The Jesus and Mary Chain
12) Miss By a Mile - Aesop Rock, Eyedea, and Slug
13) Provider - N.E.R.D.
14) He Ma - Cam'ron
15) Gold and a Pager - The Cool Kids
16) Maintain - Organized Konfusion
17) Players Anthem - Junior Mafia and Notorious BIG
18) We're Famous - Aesop Rock
19) Bobby James - N.E.R.D.
20) Immigrant Punk - Gogol Bordello