Jonn Juan Flynn

Casual fans are excited about the Spaniard, ball players are excited about the kid. He's tough, gets to the rack, can stroke it (may need a little improvement out to 23'), can handle, has leadership bona fides and most importantly isn't worried about locale. I'm rolling with Flynn on this one.

1958-2009 - RIP

I've never been in shock before and I guess it's different for everybody. But this evening when my brother called and told me Michael Jackson was dead, I literally had no emotion. Literally. For about a half hour I remained stunned and silent. Not angry, not solemn, not tearful, not hurt, just totally emotionaless. It was a state of disbelief. I'm not the only one who didn't see this coming. Anyways, I remain in a subdued state of disbelife whenever I think about it.

Michael had a lot of problems in the 90's, but I guess it's safe to say the 80's were his decade. It so happens that my Top 5 come from that error:

1. Thriller
2. Beat It
3. PYT
4. Bad
5. Smooth Criminal

BIG PICTURE

Hyperbole, Bad Acting and Exaggeration make for 100% Awesome Sauce

I loved wrestling as a kid, and then once again in my early years of college. One of my coaches was a huge fan and we used to have us over to watch the mania's and such. I've long moved on, but happened upon this youtube clip this morning and had a good laugh. Steph Mac is still a hottie.

Another Drunk Driving DEATH. Pretty awesome (and by pretty awesome I mean really douchey).

If I've said it once on this blog I've said it literally 10 times. STOP DRINKING AND DRIVING. Someone's dead because you decided not to get a cab or ask a girlfriend for a ride home. Tragic

Strib story here.

The following statement is wholly absurd on its face...wholly.

"The Rev. Edwin Findley, acting as spokesman for the family that owns the dogs, says both families have been hurt."

Seriously, I don't want to say anymore. Just click through the link for context.

Utterly and ridiculously absurd comment in context here.

This is not a good thing.

I was all set to write about the Iranian election and the importance of winning versus symbolic showing (think US Presidential Election circa 2008 or 2000 or 1960), then I read Taibblog's entry on CCB denominating loans in yuan instead of dollars. This is a problem. If countries begin denominating intl loans in the yuan, yen or euro in any material uptick the dollar could be in serious trouble. The demand for countries to purchase our dollars to hold in reserve or to pay back intl loans in whatever currency is what keeps the greenback strong. Should that interest wane the dollar becomes less demanded and more weak, again not good.

I guess the only thing that has kept this from happening en masse is the political stability and economic power (current environ kinda excluded) of the US still trumps other industrialized states. If I'm Brazil and I need a $100M line of credit to necessitate oil development do I want to be responsible for paying that back in yuan, when the Chinese govt, on a whim (or a coup), can materially affect the real/yuan exchange rate?

The Kobester

Was it just me or did Kobe torch the 2nd guards from the Magic. I hope the same thing happens tonight. It seems that like most politicians Kobe says one thing to the public and one thing in private. I've never seen this guy come out the way he did! It is pretty clear to me that he DEFINITELY wants to win this championship without Shaq and he's loathe to let anything stop him, let alone a francophone guard or a hilltopped rookie (although both are outstanding talents in their own rights.)

What's up, shut up!

My roommate/teammate from Em-eya-aay turned me on to Trick at the turn of the millennium. I remember hearing this beat and thinking at the time "it was the hardest beat I'd ever heard" a chance youtube encounter with the erstwhile hit maker leads me to believe that moniker still stands.

Let the instrumental ride....