News Archive - August 2004

   

8-31-2004

Net Enigma. Hide the money, y'all, there's Republican's 'round.

It's the Republican National Convention in NYC this week.  I'm overcome with joy and happiness.  I'm also overcome with an urge to not watch any of it.

Olympics Wrap Up

The Olympics finished up in Greece on Sunday and the last event, the marathon, had the only real instance of "terrorism" of the entire games.  And really, can a drunk Irishman in a kilt be considered a terrorist?  He was probably just trying to hand the runner a Guinness.  Afterall, running that much has to work up a thirst.

Having not planned to watch much, if any, of the Olympics, I found myself drawn in quite a bit over the last two weeks and in the end I'm glad I watched.  Even with the fiasco that was the gymnastics competition it was fun.

I was really psyched at some of the non-US moments such as the Argentina men winning the basketball gold, Great Britain pulling out a come-from-behind win in the men's 100m relay and Australian Mathew Helm sliding into the number 2 slot in the men's 10m platform.

But the American's that came through this year in excellent style need their props also.  You have to respect Michael Phelps but let's also hear it for Misty and Keri, the women's basketball, softball and soccer teams as well as Mariel Zagunis and Sada Jacobson taking gold and bronze in women's individual sabre.  And the emotion on Tim Mack's face on the podium accepting his gold in the pole vault sums up the entire two weeks.

I congratulate each and every one of the Olympic athletes (except maybe the men's basketball team).

8-27-2004

Net Enigma. Blog Entry 2: Blog Harder

Thursday was a good day for the US in Athens.  The biggest medal was probably the women's soccer team taking the gold over Brazil in over time.  Those ladies have rocked for the last 14+ years and this is the final jewel in the crown worn by Jen Lilly, Mia Hamm and the others that have built such a great team for the US.

Also, in a great sweep, the men took on all comers in the 200m and we got both gold and silver in the long jump. 

In the who cares department, the men's basketball team snuck one by Spain.  And a protest was lodged in another gymnastics event.  Ask me, why don't we just toss the gymnastics out?  I mean, the medals are all done in the big events but what's on NBC tonight?  Gymanstics.  Fucking exhibition gymnastics.  Face it, gymnastics is the figure skating of the Summer Olympics and really, besides women and Ithacans, who would watch it if NBC didn't feel the need to shove it down our throats?

I'd much rather watch shooting, fencing, wrestling and even soccer but where could you find that on the dial?  Bravo, maybe?  I don't know, but I couldn't find it when I was actually interested in watching.  I will say this though, as uninterested as I am in gymnastics overall, please, for the love of God, stop asking Paul Hamm if he deserved the gold medal.  He won.  Leave it alone.

It's time 

It's about time I made my decision on who I'll vote for in the 2004 presidential election.  I don't really need to hear any more TV ads, I don't need to see any more campaign stops or banners or protests.  Instead I just need to look at the platform that Kerry and Edwards have put together and what Bush and Cheney have done the last 4 years.

Based on that I have to go with Kerry/Edwards.  I can't stand Kerry and really, I don't know if I can trust him any further than I could spit on him.  But I already know that Bush/Cheney has done no good for this country overall.

Let's just hit the big points of Bush/Cheney:

Afghanistan - I'll give them this one.  After 9/11 we had evidence that pointed us at that country to take out the terror camps that bread the hijackers.  The Taliban was no good and had to go and they went.  Nuff said.

Iraq - Mixed bag on this one.  Yes, Saddam needed to go also as did his hellspawn.  However, 2003 was not the time to do it.  I think things will eventually work out in Iraq and history will see that it the long run it was good.  But the timing was all fucked up, the plan was forced (what there was of it) and with the open conflict in Afghanistan we should have waited.

Economy - Many strikes on this point.  Bush/Cheney gutted a $5 Trillion budget SURPLUS and have us on track for a $5 Trillion DEFICIT in the near future.  They gave tax breaks that help the top 15% of the population while leaving a steaming pile of shit on the chest of middle and lower class America.  I saw exactly squat from those tax breaks as did most people I know.  No more taxes on capital gains?  Didn't help me.  Repeal of the "death tax?"  Not going to affect middle America either.  All those tax breaks just help the richest of the rich...you know, the ones that can actually afford to pay taxes.

Jobs - After a triple digit millions gain in jobs in the US during the 8 year Clinton/Gore presidency we have now lost more jobs in the US than any other time in the history of our country besides the years of the Great Depression.  The job that I've pretty much done for the last 10 years?  Lucky I can still do it in the US as most companies have farmed my type of position out to India and other countries.  I see nothing on the horizon for Bush/Cheney where they're bringing those jobs back.

Health Care - Can it get slightly more expensive?  I'm lucky to have pretty decent health care but many American's don't.  Bush hasn't really done anything to help matters.  We can't get cheaper meds from Canada, huge expenses have been pushed onto state and local governments and Social Security has been gutted like a bucket of fried chicken at an Alabama picnic. No change is in sight.

Environment - All those feel good laws that Clinton/Gore passed to help the environment?  Most of them gone.  Bush nixed a bunch of them to try and boost the economy.  When peoples pets start growing second heads I hope they'll be comforted by the fact that mortgage rates were at an all time low.

Popularity - The US is at an all time low as far as global popularity goes.  Doesn't always concern me because hey, I don't have to live anywhere else if I don't want to.  But the fact is it kind of sucks knowing, in the back of my mind, that pretty much everyone else in the world hates me because of the shit that Bush/Cheney has pulled in the last 4 years.  Even though I've been watching and following the Olympics and rooting for the US competitors, it bothers me to think that if I was on the Olympic team in some sport this year, I don't know if I'd actually want to go overseas to compete.  That's sad.

There are all sorts of other fuckups in the last 4 years.  Tax shelters, the laws that helped companies like Enron run out of control, the tax free Haliburton Iraq contracts...The list goes on.

After reading about all the different ways that Bush/Cheney has screwed us I don't even need to compare and contrast the Kerry/Edwards stance here.  The fact is two monkeys and a my neighbors dogs would probably be a better choice.  Repeal the tax breaks, find a way out of Iraq and Afghanistan and stop the broken dam flood that is the US-to-India job market and you've got my vote.

I don't know if Kerry can be a better president but at this point I don't think we can afford 4 more years of Bush/Cheney.  Worst case, we suffer through 4 years of Kerry and then replace his ass.  But even the unknown with Kerry couldn't possibly be as bad as what we already know about Bush.

8-26-2004

Net Enigma. Does not compute.

Looks like Cuba won the gold medal in baseball.  Too bad that a bad fielding call may have been the difference in the game though.  Australia put together a good looking team.

I'm taking bets now on how long it'll be before Cuba's star pitcher, Norge Luis Vera, is in the Yankee line up.

I don't quite get it

I like porn.  What red-blooded American man doesn't like to see a hot chick naked every now and then, right?  But this is ridiculous.  "Playboy" is doing a spread in their October issue featuring video game girls. 

Not live models of video game girls, actual digital girls.  It's hentai for the 21st century.  Well, actually, I guess it IS hentai. 

But let's get back on track. 

I am not a huge fan of "Playboy" anyway.  I think most of the bunny's are just plastic blow-up dolls so I guess this type of spread isn't a stretch of Hugh's imagination.  In my opinion, however, they'd do better tracking down some naturally hot girls like the magazine  "Perfect 10" does.

I will admit though, from a geeks perspective, some of the video games on the market are ground breaking in their use of bump mapping and pixel shading, making their characters look lifelike, and some of the chicks are hot.  I don't, however, find myself tracking down naked pictures of them on the Internet like I might do for Sung Hi Lee or Jaime Pressly.

I like my girls real, if unattainable, not conjured up in a fan-boys dirty mind.

8-25-2004

Net Enigma. Does not compute.

I'm watching the news last night for a few minutes and there was an interesting story.  The news was out of Syracuse, NY and was about several convicted rapists that were out of prison but now accused of rape again.  One sex offender hadn't even registered as an offender which is the law here in NY.

So, anyway, they are talking to some local residents and one guy says that they need a law that keeps these guys locked away in a hospital or something.  According to the news there is some new law going through the state legislature that addresses this type of criminal.

I was thinking about it for a minute though and realized that there is already an available solution to these hard-core, repeat offenders and it could easily be applied.  It's a little thing called the death penalty. 

Saves tax payers about $50K a year in room and board not to mention the money it would save on corrections officers.  Some of those guys could even be on the street helping to stop the crimes before they happen.

And seriously, these guys that just do the same thing over and over again, what good are they?  Are they ever going to be a productive member of society?  Are they ever going to get an actual job and pay taxes, invent a cure for cancer, write the end-all, be-all book of poetry that aligns the planets and brings peace and order to the universe?  No, they're going to murder, rape, steal and pillage their way through the world.  It could all be fixed with 30 seconds in Ben Franklin's finest key and kite powered easy chair.

Raking them in

More gold for the US.  Misty and Kerri brought home the gold and so did Joanna Hayes in the women's 100m hurdles.  Didn't hurt that the favorite fell on the first hurdle, though.

On a sour note though, did you hear about the Russian Alexei Nemov that got shafted on the men's high bar?  It was sick to watch.  The man is a machine.  He spent almost as much time flying in the air as he did actually swinging on the bar and then had a tiny step on the dismount and the ass-masters gave him a 9.725.  Now, that's an insult in the gymnastics world for that type of performance and the crowd let the judges know it.

They booed and whistled for over 10 minutes.  Finally the judges that scored him really low (Canada and one other) talked it over with the officials and adjusted their score up...but that still didn't help him get a medal.  Adding to the insult, Paul Hamm who went next, scored a 9.8something with a great performance but it was nothing compared to Alexei's. 

I feel bad for Hamm because he's been taking a lot of shit for his gold in the all-around after the judges fucked up and gave his Korean competitor a lower start value than he should have had for the parallel bars.  Now Hamm wins silver in the high bar beating out someone who may in fact have had a better routine.  And the bitch of it is none of it is, in any way, shape or form, Hamm's fault.  He's just competing for all he's worth.

8-24-2004

Net Enigma. Sore looser.

I think this broad is as bitter as they come.  Are we sure she's not actually from NY?
 Whatever.  If she thinks that the judges rigged the meet to get the Americans to win I think maybe she needs to read a newspaper.  Last I checked, the US wasn't on anyones short list of "Who we most want to party with in the world."  Face it, if anything, I'd have thought that the US had NO chance of winning medals in competitions based on judgment calls. Afterall, the world pretty much hates us right now for the way we've handled Iraq and other things.  Why would they hand a 16 year old American girl an all-around title when there was stiff competition from, well, anyone else?

The only two possible reasons I could come up with as to why people would vote in our favor is because they think they are the ones on the short list. The "Whose Ass W wants to kick next" list, that is.  And in that case, wouldn't it just make more sense for the judges to wear "Kerry was a Swift Boat Hero" instead?  The other reason, and the reason I find most compelling...Maybe they just realized that Svetlana Khorkina is a raging bitch?

Oh, I just though of one more; Khorkina may be the 'diva' of gymnastics but DAMN, that's one ugly chick. Carly Patterson is way cuter. In the end who would you rather look at standing on the center platform?

Perfect

One Gold medal win you can't argue with is the US women's softball team.  Except for the 1 run they allowed Australia in the championship game they were perfect through the tournament.  Good for them.

And the US swept the medals in the men's 400m yesterday as well.  Speedy motherfuckers, eh?

Misty May and Kerri Walsh (doesn't "Misty May" sound like a strippers name?) are looking good for a gold in the beach volleyball tourney also.  They beat up on a pair of Americans last night to get into the gold medal match.  Good for them

8-23-2004

Net Enigma. In the wooden chair beside my window I wear a face born in the falling rain.

Huh, I wonder what that opening line means?

There's Gold in them thar hills!

The US continues to rack up the gold medals in Greece with Michael Phelps piling them on along with some key wins in the men's 100m dash and individual gymnastics. 

And how about that Iraqi soccer team?  I hope they take it all.

Unlike the men's basketball team.  I'm not officially rooting for Lithuania to win the Gold.  I home the "dream team" comes home with a good, swift kick in the ass for their troubles.  How you can send any team anywhere with Alan Iverson on it and call it a "dream-anything" is beyond me. 

Steal away!

A federal appeals court ruled that on-line file sharing companies are NOT liable for copyright violations by those that use them to download files.  Basically the courts said that since, in this case, Grokster Ltd. and StreamCast Networks Inc. don't have centralized servers pointing people to copyrighted files (nor do they host the files themselves) they can't be responsible.

I for one am happy with this decision.  Let's hope the Supreme Court upholds it should this make it that far.

When a company offers software that can be used for illegal activities it doesn't mean that it was DESIGNED to be used that way.  Just as a gun can be used to kill someone doesn't mean that it is automatically going to be used that way.  In reality, EVERYTHING can be used in some illegal fashion, but just because it can doesn't mean that it will.

But, I'm of the frame of mind that the music industry can stick all their lawsuits directly up their collective asses.

8-19-2004

Net Enigma. Who do you trust when everyone's a crook?

Well I got some email from Todd and it appears that he made it back from Charley-ravaged Florida without a scratch (at least not one from the storm!).  Now we just have to ahold of Ken who works on an island over near where Charley came ashore.  Todd was trying to call him last night so maybe I'll have an update today.

Medals

So the US isn't kicking the ass of all comers in the Olympics this year but we aren't doing so bad.  Gotta give some props to Michael Phelps for his world record in the 400m medley as well as his other medals.

And believe it or not, I'm actually rooting for the rest of the world to kick our asses in basketball.  Sorry, but I could give two shits that we got beat by Puerto Rico.  Yay for them, it's about time they served up some ass-whooping to their "protector."

So, did we...

Kill this guy yet?  No?  Well then someone should get to it.

8-16-2004

Net Enigma. Home of the 2004 Drinking Olympics.

Saturday afternoon I got an odd call from Mike-Dog telling me to drive up to Syracuse and meet him at the Dinosaur Barbeque for some dinner.  It was odd because he was supposed to be up in Vermont with Finley at the Phish concert.

When I met up with them I found out that they never made it to the concert because, after sitting in traffic for 24 hours, they heard that if they actually got to the venue they would have to have their car towed into the camping area and that the earliest they would have a chance to get out would be Monday.  So, they bagged the show as did a lot of other people, I guess.

Anyway, we hooked up at the Dinosaur and proceeded to chow down and get our drink on.  We followed that up with a trip to The Blue Tusk down in Armory Square.  About halfway into the evening we decided that driving an hour back to Ithaca didn't sound to interesting.

What do 4 drunks do in that situation?  Order another round...and get a hotel room.  We journeyed up the street later in the night to the Irish Pub for some good live music and more beer.

Winding down at 2:00am we hit the hotel room with a cooler of Fosters and a couple bottles of Mad Dog 20/20.  Gold medals were handed out at 5:00am, just before we passed out for the night.

A boring Saturday that started out with a server crash at work ended in a 12 marathon of alcohol....Gotta love it.

8-14-2004

Net Enigma. I'm Big-E and I approve this web page.

I went to see Aliens vs Predator last night and I've got some good news, I saved $2 on the admission because the ticket guy can't count.

But about the movie, well, it sucked.

Okay, that's kind of harsh, it really wasn't that bad, it's just that it wasn't that good, either.  Story goes like this; A group of archeologists, engineers and others is put together to investigate what appears to be a pyramid beneath the ice of Antarctica.  But when they get there they find that it's a hunting ground that the Predators have created where they can bread and hunt Aliens.

One of the issues I have with the film is that it's billed as Alien vs Predator, the human characters should be secondary, in my opinion, but right off the bat it feels like the writers and directors want us to care about the humans, and I just couldn't.  They're fodder for the war between the monsters, nothing more, nothing less.

The second issue is with the action.  We definitely see more of the Predators and Aliens, but that still wasn't enough.  The darkness and poor lighting of the action scenes made it hard to tell what's going on.  The cuts during the combat where so quick and the shots were filmed so close it was nothing more than black shapes getting tossed around.  Back it off, slow down the cuts and spend a couple more hours with the CGI artists.

One of the reasons that the Cameron and Scott versions of the Alien franchise were so good is because the Aliens weren't seen that much.  They were the boogey man lurking in the shadows and your fear came from the knowledge they could snatch you up at any moment.  This film lacked that suspense and drama. 

The actual script wasn't brilliant but it was passable.  The directing could have been a lot better as well.  I was disappointed in that as Paul Anderson has done some other films I like such as Soldier, Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat.

Oh, and don't even get me started on the PG-13 rating...I mean, WTF were they thinking?

Bah.  Let's talk about some of the good stuff.  Predators!  They are one of my all-time favorite monsters and a great anti-hero in this flick.  As a matter of fact, they could have pretty much done away with the humans and just filmed the movie from the Predators point of view as far as I'm concerned.  The premise of the movie is cool; the Predators come to Earth every 100 years so that young warriors can hunt and prove themselves.  It could have worked and kicked off a new, fresh franchise.  I'm thinking no after this outing.

The special effects in the film were, for the most part, pretty top notch.  The fight scenes were left wanting, but that was a director/cinematographer problem more than the CGI guys.  The Predator costumes looked great and they were sufficiently pissed off.  The Aliens had a retro Alien look, very black on black color scheme, and looked great. 

Lance Henriksen, as Charles Bishop Weyland, was also a nice nod to the Alien movies.  If you see this film, watch him handle his pen early in the film.  Anyway, Sanaa Lathan as Alexa Woods was the only human character I was remotely rooting for.  She's the Sigourney Weaver character of this film but she doesn't pull it off as well.  She seems less than shocked by the whole goings-on with aliens literally coming out of every corner.  I'm a huge sci-fi fan but put in that situation for real I'd shit my pants and be in all sorts of denial ("Oh dear Lord Jesus, this ain't happening, man... This can't be happening, man! This isn't happening!")...she just keeps on keeping on. 

The rest of the actors, well, other than Raoul Bova, were pretty much forgettable. 

I've patiently waited 17 years for this movie and overall I'm disappointed.  The plot had potential, the F/X and CGI industry is advanced enough to pull it off but you need a better writer and director.  If Cameron or Scott had taken on this project it would have been a home run. Paul Anderson has done some good stuff but he dropped the ball on this one.  If by some chance the AvP franchise gets a second shot I'll go see it, but I fear Starship Troopers 2 should that happen. 

It was also disappointing when I guessed what the closing scene of the film would be, only about a half hour into the movie.  Anyway, I'll toss this movie a bone just because I'm such a huge Predator fan; 2 wheels of cheddar out of 4...but you'll have to pick some mold off that second wheel.

The Real War

I've discovered what the real war in Iraq is about; Dental hygiene.

8-12-2004

Net Enigma. Remember, I will not say "I love you" and you must be gone by 5:00am.

See where Mike Wallace from CBS got arrested the other night for "attacking" a Taxi and Limo cop who was questioning his driver?  Supposedly Mike "lunged" at the cop so they took him in

I have to tell you, that cop has to be one of the dumbest people around.  First of all, who's going to believe that a NYC cop is afraid of an 86 year old reporter? 

Second, WTF was this guy thinking?  Mike Wallace has made a career of asking hard questions of important people, criminals, murderous housewives...I mean, the guy is a freakin' god in the news magazine world!  The story is going to be all over the news, "60 Minutes" is probably going to camp outside your office and the next thing you know Morley Safer is going to be jumping out at you from the bushes of your kids school.

Gimme a break.  I hope the people of NYC are happy and sleep soundly knowing that their tax money is going to a worthy cause; Keeping Mike Wallace from getting home to eat his meatloaf.

Olympic Disgrace

So the Olympics are starting this week in Greece and already the US is the laughing stock.  How can we, as a country, invent the sport of baseball, celebrate it as our national pastime, pay guys $20 million a year to play it and NOT field a team in the Olympics?

I don't have an answer, but I do know that in 2004 there will be NO American baseball team because we didn't fuckin' qualify.  As Stuff magazine put it, "Abner Doubleday pukes in his grave."

I'm going to root for Cuba.  After all, after they win the Gold Medal and defect they'll be roaming the outfield in Yankee stadium next year.

I love Europe

The Naked News is coming to a TV screen near you, if you live in Europe that is.  Who needs Dan Rather, Mike Wallace or Ted Koppel when you can have Lily Kwan or Samantha Page read you the news while wearing their bra and panties?

I'd be much happier hearing about the hurricane bearing down on my beach resort, baseball bat beatings over an X-Box and the election campaigns with a hard-on.

If they ever get on the ball and bring the Naked News over here I nominate Willow Bay and Christy Musumeci.

Hippies Everywhere

No, not in Ithaca...this time.  In the latest "craze"  (note the one letter difference from crazy?) in NYC they have started cuddle parties.  Basically you go, pay money, and lay down and cuddle with a complete stranger.

I think I saw an episode of "Cops" about this one time...only those guys ended up in hand cuffs.  But I digress.

Supposedly they stand around in a circle, moo like cows and do some other hippy stuff before actually getting to the groping, err, cuddling part. 

According to the article there is no sex, no kissing or anything like that.  But it doesn't rule out a blow job.  I mean, come on, we all know that a blow job isn't sex, right Bill?

8-7-2004

Net Enigma. It's a sad day.

Well, my short break from updating is over and I have to come back with some sad news; Rick James is dead.  Yup, came as a huge shock when I read the news article yesterday.

It's too bad that it happened, that fact is compounded by the fact that within the last 6 months the phrase "I'm Rick James, bitch!" has become so popular with fans of "Chappelle's Show."  He was due for a comeback and now, well, I guess not.

Back on target

Like I said, I'm back from a short break now and you'll see some more timely updates.  I just didn't really have anything worth noting since we finished up the "128 Hottest." 

I didn't even post up my review of I, Robot but let me just say that it's really good.  Definitely a summer popcorn movie.  So get out and catch it before it's gone.

I've got a couple updates waiting to be finished and they will go up soon. And I also have several installments of Random Porn that I think you'll all enjoy.  So, stay tuned!