Friday, September 29, 2006

It's Not Me, It's You...You're Better

This morning, Kate, my physical therapist, broke up with me.  She said my prescription was expiring and I had made enough progress to not warrant a new one.  It's true that my right hand is almost completely better but my left still bothers me a lot and I thought the therapy was helping it along.  She said if it is still bothering me in a few weeks to give her a call.  I think we both know I will never call.  A clean break is for the best.  I'm off to have a big bowl of ice cream. 

Kate, I will miss your massages and talking about Prison Break on Tuesdays.

This week's Top Twenty:

1. Smile- Lily Allen

2. Alive With the Glory of Love- Say Anything

3. Get Myself Into It- The Rapture

4. Love You in the Fall- Paul Westerberg

5. Fidelity- Regina Spektor

6. Sundress- Ben Kweller

7. Hate (I Really Don't Like You)- Plain White T's

8. Wildcat- Ratatat

9. Your Touch- The Black Keys

10. Pushover- The Long Winters 

11. Bang Bang, You're Dead- Dirty Pretty Things

12. Cobrastyle- Teddybears

13. Well Thought Out Twinkles- Silversun Pickups

14. Fire Island, AK- The Long Winters

15. Penny on the Train Track- Ben Kweller

16. I Don't Feel Like Dancin'- Scissor Sisters

17. Chips Ahoy- The Hold Steady

18. Stay- Small Sins

19. This Time- DJ Shadow

20. Idecide- What Made Milwaukee Famous

Thursday, September 28, 2006

I <3 Veronica

If you can't wait until Tuesday, you can watch the entire Season Three premeire of Veronica Mars right here:

MSN video

Sunday, September 24, 2006

The VCH Reviews "Feast"

  I picked up the new Entertainment Weekly that came in the mail on Friday and saw a short one page article that shocked and dismayed me.  The Project Greenlight movie, Feast, that was one of the first distribution victims of the Miramax/Disney/Weinstein divorce was being dumped by its new studio.  Dumped meaning that it was only being shown in a limited number of thateres ONE TIME ONLY AT MIDNIGHT.  I immediately checked the newspaper to see if Albany's little arthouse theater, The Spectrum, was showing it and they were.  As a fan of Project Greenlight and horror films, I pateintly waited through pushback after pushback for a year and a half to see this movie and I wasn't going to miss it.  It was a good thing I had picked up that magazine, which I only do half the time.

    Having said that, the movie was disappointingly mediocre.  It was not good enough to be a good movie and it wasn't bad enough to be a good bad movie.  Anytime there was action on screen, it sped up into fast motion and confusing quick cuts.  I know this was to cover the measly million dollar budget, but it's still annoying to not be entirely sure what's going on.  It looked pretty good for such a shoestring budget, but you can just tell how much better it could have been if they had gotten behind it a little more.  If Wes Craven had made this himself instead of sticking it on a reality show, it could have been better.

  I think the biggest problem, other than budget, was that the script was just all over the place.  I think Project Greenlight should have been about picking the amateur director and not also about picking amateur screenwriters.  You can probably survive one or the other, but the movie could not survive both.  The movie would have been perfect as a "wink wink" this is only a movie type movie.  And it starts out promisingly enough, as every time a character shows up, the screen freezes and there's a mini-bio including life expectancies such as, "dead in 70 minutes".  Jason Mewes was even listed as himself Occupation: Actor, Life Expectancy: Already exceeded.  Later, a character mentions that they should be careful because no had died horribly in a while.  These parts are good, but they are too far in between.  The terrible script and budget and acting do not allow for things to be presented too seriously, and yet the mood tries too hard to be tense when they should have just stuck with campy.  It would have been perfect as pure camp, but it strays too far and since it tried to be a real movie, I have to grade it as such and give it a C.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Not a correction

  The name of yesterday's entry was a reference to that Spanish soccer announcer who shouts for a minute straight when someone scores.  The Spanish word for goal is gol.  I would never make a spelling error that egregious!  And yes, I did reach my goal of being under 200 lbs.  Since I still look pretty fat, I've set the next goal at high school weight, which was 170.

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This Week's Top Ten:

1. Fidelity- Regina Spektor

2. Cobrastyle- Teddybears

3. Get Myself Into It- The Rapture

4. Your Touch- The Black Keys

5. Hate (I Really Don't Like You)- Plain White T's

6. Penny On The Train Track- Ben Kweller

7. Fire Island, AK- The Long Winters

8. O Valencia!- The Decemberists

9. Half Dead- The Mountain Goats

10. Well Thought Out Twinkles- Silversun Pickups

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Captain Cranky

  It's well documented (by me) that I was upset about missing the World Series of Pop Culture.  (And even more upset when I found out that my cousin, my partner of choice, KNEW about it and didn't act!  DOH!)  So, needless to say, I was intrigued when my wife told me about AOL's Gold Rush- use your pop culture knowledge to win a spot on a game show!  So I played, and you know what?  It's nauseating.  It's not so much a challenge to see who knows the most about pop culture, it's more like a challenge to see who can be the most obedient consumer.  The whole game is a gigantic ad!  Everytime I do a puzzle of a Coke ad, or scour People Magazine's website trying to find the page that has an answer on it, it makes me feel dirty!  BOO to AOL for this hideous offense of a "game".  I will not be winning. 

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Monday, September 18, 2006

Monday Morning Quarterback

  Woooo!  What a comeback by the Giants.  I got ten of my picks right and only five wrong.  Unfortunately, the people I'm trying to catch up to got eleven.  Grrr!

  Not all of my picks worked out yesterday.  I totally got burned by The Amazing Race.  I tried to change up my usual picking style and try something new, but of course, the usual standards held up and my picks ended up looking dumb. 

First, I almost opened my mouth to say the Muslim guys would be first out.  Not because they're Muslim, but because they're chubby.  But I held off and ended up taking the chubby black ladies.  Wrong!  The Muslims were the first ones out, even if it was in unfair fashion.

Then, my Alpha males had to go and say they were recovering drug addicts which made me think maybe they weren't Alpha males, so I didn't pick them and randomly went with the Indian couple.   So what happens?  The drug addicts finish first at the first stop and the Indians are last and eliminated!  I'm so humiliated!  This is the first time in TAR history where I have no team to root for.  I've always had my insta-pick make it to at least the halfway point.  Obviously, this is the worst I've ever done.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

The Big Friday Entry...on Saturday!

For reasons beyond my control, I couldn't write in my journal yesterday.  See, I got my Playstation working, so that eats up a lot of my time. 

MUSIC

Here's what I've been listening to this week:

1. Fidelity- Regina Spektor

2. Cobrastyle- Teddybears

3. Le Disko- Shiny Toy Guns

4. Love Me or Hate Me- Lady Sovereign

5. Penny on the Train Track- Ben Kweller

6. Hate (I Really Don't Like You)- Plain White T's

7. Bang Bang, You're Dead- Dirty Pretty Things

8. Get Myself Into It- The Rapture

9. Your Touch- The Black Keys

10. Fire Island, AK- The Long Winters

11. The Compromise- The Format

12. Well Thought Out Twinkles- Silversun Pickups

13. Stalking You on Myspace- John B

14. LDN- Lily Allen

15. Better- Regina Spektor

16. Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above- CSS

17. Long Distance Call- Phoenix

18. Alive With the Glory of Love- Say Anything

19. Stay- Small Sins

20. Suzie- Boy Kill Boy

It's the time of year where I start getting excited about composing my end of the year Best of (Insert Year) music list.  Actually, I'm always excited about that because I'm a big loser.  :-)  Now that I have the ability to post songs in here, I am definitely going to bring back my annual 50 songs in 50 days, even though I have never been able to stay focused on it for the duration.  But I'm really going to try this year!

There's a promo on Sirius 26 Left of Center that says "We're not music snobs, we're music geeks!"  So true.  Though I'm probably both.

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FOOTBALL

I feel really good about my football picks and you know what that means.  I am going to do very poorly this Sunday.  Here they are anyway:

Ravens (-11) over Raiders- The Raiders looked like the worst team in football last Monday.  Now on a short week they have to travel across the country.  A recipe for a damn ugly game.

Colts (-13) over Texans- Only one week in the books and already it looks like Houston not taking Reggie Bush is the stupidest move in the history of sports.  Like the Red Sox getting rid of Babe Ruth bad.

Browns (+10.5) over Bengals- I can't explain this one.  I just have a feeling.  That doesn't happen too often and it probably means nothing other than "I'm dumb"  but I can't help it.  I have a feeling.

Bills (+6.5) over Dolphins- Culpepper proved in Pittsburgh that a new uniform didn't improve his erratic play.  I think the Bills will be motivated by their close but no cigar performance in New England last week.

Lions (+8.5) over Bears- Lot of red flags in this one, especially stupid Roy Williams guaranteeing victory (and also saying his team almost scored 40 last week when they actually scored 6 and lost).  Still, I think the over/under on this game should be 8, not the line.

Vikings (+2) over Panthers- The Panthers are nothing without Steve Smith.  I'm assuming he's not playing, which might bite me.

Giants (+3) over Eagles- Homer pick.  The Giants schedule is so unfairly brutal that I could seriously see them being the most talented 5-11 team in history.

And here it is:  Colts (arguably the best team), at Philly (tough division rival), at Seattle (Super Bowl team last season), Redskins (division rival), at Atlanta (playoff caliber), at Dallas (tough division rival and 4th road trip in 6 games), Buccaneers (playoff team), Texans (bad team, but the Giants lost to them the only other time they played), Bears (playoff team), at Jacksonville (playoff team), at Tennessee (bad team, but still a road game which is never a gimmee), Cowboys (division rival), at Carolina (playoff team), Eagles (division rival), Saints (Reggie Bush!), at Washington (division rival).  

Excuse me, I may have to cry.

Falcons (-5.5) over Bucs- No reason other than the Falcons won last week and the Bucs lost.  That kind of reasoning never works out!   Um...until now!

Packers (+2) over Saints- Yes, the Pack stinks, but I can't see the Saints winning two road games in a row.  They're still the Saints!

Rams (-3) over 49ers- No comment.   That's not sarcasm, I just can't think of anything.

Seahawks (-7) over Cardinals- I'm on the Arizona bandwagon, but I don't see them being good enough to compete in the NFC champ's house.

Patriots (-6) over Jets- A lot of experts think the Jets can compete because they won last week and the Patriots looked bad in their own win.  Don't be fooled.  It's the freaking Jets.  They may have gotten their ONLY win last week.

Chargers (-11.5) over Titans- The Titans may have had some fight at home against a bad Jets team, but they can't compete on the road with a good team.

Broncos (-10.5) over Chiefs- Money in the bank!  The Chiefs are in real trouble without their quarterback.

Cowboys (-5.5) over Redskins- I think the Boys will remember what happened at home against Washington last year (they dominated the game but lost on two long passes late in the game).  Also, Washington is still trying to get a newly installed offense down pat, as shown by their LACK of offense.

Jaguars (pick em) over Steelers- I'm hoping Big Ben doesn't play because I would love to bet against Charlie Batch on the road, but even if Ben plays, I still like the Jags.  They are quietly one of the best teams in the league.

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CAPTAIN CRANKY

You know what's been bugging the hell out of me?  The cell phones that attach to your ear.  The first time I saw one, I thought it was some fancy, trying to make hearing aids hip kind of thing.  But when I started seeing them over and over, I realized what it was.  There just can't be that many escaped mental patients talking to themselves in one Target. 

Besides the fact that it makes you look like you're talking to yourself, the thing is just tacky.  It looks really stupid.  I can see wearing one in the car because it gives you the hands free capability, but walking around the store...it's just....stupid.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Are you ready for some football?

Here I am with what's becoming a rare mid-week check-in.  I've been meaning to write but, as usual, there are not enough hours in the day. 

In case you didn't hear, the NFL started this past weekend.  It felt pretty good being able to relax and watch the games without having to use vacation time from work to do it.  Or to have to leave for work at halftime like last year.  I will never again work the weekend night shift.

Anyway, I got absolutely smoked my first week of picking.  I had been meaning to log and explain my picks here, but I'm glad I didn't.  I am already 5 games behind after going 5-11.  It was mostly the little things that got me like the 49ers kicking a FG at the end to cover the spread or the Colts doing the same thing to the Giants.  Of course, who could have known that the week I decide to play it safe and take mostly home teams would be the week the Patriots, Chiefs, Buccaneers, and Redskins would decide to play some of the worst football ever.  Way to show up for the big home opener, boys.

Everything else I wanted to talk about either I can't remember or it doesn't seem that interesting now that I've sat down to write it.  So catch ya later.

Friday, September 8, 2006

Captain Cranky

Have you ever taken a step back from yourself and just realized- Hey, I'm in a bad mood!  What's up with that? 

See, I recorded the NFL's opening game last night while I was at work and spent all night hoping I wouldn't overhear anything.  Then on the way home, I popped in a CD just in case a DJ might talk about it.  Then this morning I didn't enter the kitchen because I know my father watches Sportscenter and again, I didn't want to hear anything.  But then I got called by my wife and I said, 'I don't want to come because I was watching the game and don't want to go near the TV in the kitchen'.  My dad thought I said that I DID want to know what happened- and the rest is history.  Seems silly now that this is what I was mad about, but people have been way more upset about way stupider things I am sure. 

  So I had my morning plans spoiled... but then, about an hour later, I realized how stupid it was to be mad.  Then I further realized that maybe only sleeping 4-5 hours a night and routinely going 16-24 hours without eating anything is probably a major contributor to my mood.  I like my job, but I will have to get a better handle on what it does to me.

  As I watched the football game in triple fast forward, I even further realized that I had been spared a whole lot of grief.  I hate the Steelers!  Well, not the team, but their fans.  

  And so that's how I've decided to channel my cranky rage.  Every Friday is going to be Captain Cranky Day in The VCH. 

WHY I HATE STEELERS FANS

by Captain Cranky

  I hate Steelers fans because they do not confine themselves to Pittsburgh.  At least with the Cowboys, you can argue that before the league blew up in popularity, markets that didn't have a team showed them so that's why they have fans everywhere.  I buy that...slightly.  But every Steeler fan that lives in Albany, NY or Bergen County, NJ or Sarasota, FL or Lincoln, NE is only a "fan" of the team because they've been winning.  And some of them say, "Oh, I've been a fan of them since the 70's."  Well, gee, isn't that around the time they were winning every other Super Bowl.  What a coincidence that that was the exact time you started liking them! 

But that reason is not exclusive to the Pittsburgh Steelers or football for that matter.  There's more.

  The Steeler fan is arrogant and obnoxious and takes ridiculous sports obsessions to a higher, or more accurately, a lower level.  Now I love football and I love the NY Giants, but I can distance myself from them.  I don't feel the need to define myself through the team.  I try not to use "we" when talking about the Giants... 

  I just sat here for ten minutes massaging my temples.  I've decided I can't even put into words why the Steelers fans bug me so much.  I know every team in every sport has its obnoxious superfans who are so in your face and care way too much, but with the Steelers, ugh, I don't know.  I know what it is about local fans- it's that you should not identify so closely with a place you've never even been to.  Show some civic pride!  You live in the place where the NY Giants hold training camp.  There shouldn't be local bars that cater only to Pittsburgh fans, but somehow there is.  Somehow the Steelers have taken on this false hard-working, blue-collar everyman persona and it makes me angry.  Everyone on that team is a millionaire just like on every other team.  They're not "just like you and me" and for their silly fans to say that the Steelers winning is some kind of anti-establishment victory for the little guys is ridiculous.    

  The Steeler fan is more selfish and self-centered than any other fans I've met.  As I said, I am a Giants fan, but I am firstly a football fan and have a vast knowledge of the game which I put to good use when discussing the league.  I can talk to anyone about football and about their team regardless of who they root for.  A Steelers fan does not want to talk about football.  A Steelers fan only wants to talk about the Steelers.  Try as I might, I have never been able to steer a football conversation with a Steelers fan away from their team for more than three minutes.  If it doesn't relate to the black and gold, then it doesn't matter to them.  I guess that's part of the ridiculous obsession I mentioned.  They shun peripheral knowledge of their favorite sport to remain tunnel-visioned on their own team. 

In closing I would like to say- waving a towel is stupid.  Having the logo on only only one side of your helmet is stupid.  Naming your stadium after ketchup is stupid.  Having the names on the back of your jersey be yellow instead of white is stupid.  And having the refs in your pocket, as they did yet again last night, is VERY stupid.  And wrong.

I hate Pittsburgh.

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Here's what I've been listening to this week:

1. Fidelity- Regina Spektor

2. Le Disko- Shiny Toy Guns

3. Penny on the Traintracks- Ben Kweller

4. Love Me or Hate Me- Lady Sovereign

5. Alive With the Glory of Love- Say Anything

6. Fire Island, AK- The Long Winters

7. Bang Bang, You're Dead- Dirty Pretty Things

8. The Compromise- The Format

9. Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above- CSS

10. Long Distance Call- Phoenix

Monday, September 4, 2006

Good luck

   The following letter was posted by Kurt Angle on http://www.kurtanglewwe.com


To all my respective fans in WWE/ECW,

The letter you are about to read is not from WWE, nor from my agent, but from me- Kurt Angle…to all my fans.

This is my personal ‘Thank You’ straight from my heart, to all my fans for being here with me and providing me with the most honorable privilege to perform and entertain for you. Thank you for tuning into your TVs weekly, for visiting me at hundreds of house show chanting ‘You Suck’ (I love that phrase), to every single good, bad or indifferent e-mail I’ve received over the past 6 years and continue to receive daily. Thank you for being there and making my life truly blessed.


When I came to WWE, many fans had doubts that an Olympic Gold Medalist in Amateur Wrestling could turn and master the art of Sports Entertainment. To my humble surprise, God graciously granted me the gift to make this exciting transition in my life. Coming into the WWE, I had one goal in mind...to be the VERY BEST! Many say I am; some may say I'm not. But I want you to know with over six solid years of non-stop wrestling action under my belt from all the shows to the world tours...I treated every single match as if it were my last!


I’ve never known a time in my life from training, competition or entertainment that I have not tried to give over 100%. I honestly do not know of any other way to wrestle or perform, and I have always wanted to give YOU, the fans, what I would expect to see.


From the entertainment standpoint, (good guy or bad guy), it’s been truly exciting, but I know in my heart that I have not reached my peak. Critics have compared me to very honorable wrestlers like Rick Flair, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker, all of whom I value and truly respect. But there is one BIG difference between us. I am by far the most aggressive and intense athlete of all on the mat. When I step into the ring, I treat it as real, it feels real and then I play it like a real shoot fight.


As an amateur wrestler for 23 years and a pro for 6, unfortunately over the past 4 years I have suffered many injuries. I broke my neck twice and had two major neck surgeries. I’ve fractured my ribs, hip, tailbone, fingers and toes while also tearing almost every major muscle at least one time or another. Injuries have always been a natural part of the business and my life, but where I have failed is not taking the time off to recover. When I’m off the mental stress, sitting back becomes worse than the physical pain. Something tells my inner soul to go back regardless of the condition. The funny thing is, this obsession is what the industry loves, but this obsession can also be my destruction.


Week after week, day after day, 250 days a year on the road can be a living hell for anyone, especially when you’re in daily pain for months on end. It was at home when I began to realize how severe the problems were- when a simple task like taking out the garbage is like a full workout and I needed Motrin in order to get up and do it.


It’s time to rest! After 6 long years, I looked into my wife’s eyes and finally saw that she, too, was severely stressed and worn out due to my livelihood that she had to endure. My 3-year old daughter Kyra basically became my nurse, thinking she had to put ice packs or heating pads on my neck, back and legs because she could see the pain her daddy was in.


At this point, something happened that made me realize that wrestling wasn't the most important thing in my life. I sat down with my wife Karen, who had tears in her eyes. I could see in her face how concerned she was for me. She said,

“I love you. I didn't marry you because you were a WWE Superstar. I married you before you ever joined them. Kurt, I’m so worried that if you continue going at this pace, something bad is really going to happen and I don't want Kyra and Kody (our unborn son) to grow up without their father.”


I did take this all to heart, but then, as usual, a couple of days later, I went back on the road, wanting to electrify my new ECW fans.


My last event was at the Westchester Arena in White Plains, New York. The show was sold out. The main event was me against RVD. I had a great match against RVD as the fans were cheering for both of us. The more we wrestled (Rob and I wrestle more of a realistic shoot style), the more I wanted to give them. Ten minutes into the match, I severely pulled my groin. Most wrestlers would have quit right on the spot. But the fans were chanting louder and louder "THIS MATCH RULES!" continuously, so I kept going. Compensating for my groin injury, I pulled my lower abdominal muscle off my pelvic bone. Now, I was in trouble, but I looked up at the fans and they were screaming louder than ever.


So Rob and I started into our finish, false finish after false finish, back and forth. But the one thing the fans noticed is that I was doing half of the match on one leg. That made it feel even more real for the fans. I can only thank God and the fans for keeping me going, as I was in so much pain. And at the end of the match, I had the opportunity to beat RVD. I set him up for the Angle Slam and Rob countered with a flying DDT. My hamstring blew out. The fans cheered and I could not move in the ring. As the agonizing pain grew greater, I could only look around. Every fan was on their feet giving me a standing ovation. And this was at a house show, not a PPV. My only regret was that I could not stand up and thank them all for it.


To the ones who love me, the ones who hated me and even the ones who loved to hate me- You were and are my inspiration. God was and is my strength and so is my family—my Mom, sister and brothers, my father (God rest his soul), my Manager Dave Hawk and most especially, my wife Karen, who went through hell during my career. She has never given up on me.


Fans, thank you all for the memories. It was quite a ride. I would not trade any of it for the world. As I sit here a bit teary eyed, I do want all of you to know, I will be fine. I will finally get to spend some real quality time with my family… time that is much, much overdue. My plan and goal is to become stronger mentally, physically and spiritually. I, Kurt Angle, will be back! That’s a promise. And that’s DAMN TRUE!


Vince, if you happen to read this, I want to again say thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are a great man! When we get together, the next cup of coffee is on me. ; )
God Bless,
Kurt Angle