The Muppets -- 'Auld Lang Syne'

Happy New Year!

The Jayhawks -- 'I'd Run Away'

'May we burn her?

James Brown -- 'Let's Make Christmas Mean Something This Year'

I post that while sitting on my ass with no thoughts of leaving the house today. Hey, 'meaningful' is open to a wide interpretation.

Candye Kane and Country Dick Montana -- 'Let's Put the X Back in Xmas' (NSFW)

(Hat tip: J Pell)

The Persuasions

JD Salinger

Devine Carama -- 'Hang on to the World'

Hot off the presses!

Captain Beefheart -- 'Safe as Milk'

Hayden -- 'Tree's Lounge'

BONUS: Steve Buscemi shows you how to drink in style.

#6 -- Fez, Morocco

Uncle Tupelo

From Fellini's 8 1/2

The Swollen Members -- 'Certfied Dope' (live)

Kieth Moon

Linus Omark

Dude, this guy's a badass. Action gets started around 26 seconds in, makes me laugh every time I see it.

Ann Magnuson

#5 -- Gwadar, Pakistan

'Sweet Smell of Success'

Frances Farmer

'Manhattan' (Muppet-style)

ZZ Top -- 'Just Got Paid'

Denis Leary -- 'Traditional Irish Folk Song'

Ween -- 'Pork Roll, Egg and Cheese'

Fry & Laurie -- 'Tricky Linguistics'

John Lamb -- 'Tom Waits for No One'

'Once Were Warriors'

Bjork -- 'Human Behavior'

Joey Ramone -- 'Maria Bartiromo'

'The Man Who Knew Too Much'

#4 -- The Yucatan Peninsula

#3 -- Valparaiso, Chile

#2 -- The Sahara Desert

#1 -- Trans-Siberian Express

The Pixies -- 'Alec Eiffel'

Sportscenter -- Olbermann v. Howe

Archers of Loaf -- 'The Lowest Part is Free'

England's Oldest Hitmakers

2 quick ones from Smith & Jones

Illogic w/ Aesop Rock -- 'Killing Time'

D. Boon and Mike Watt

The Rolling Stones -- 'Waiting on a Friend'

Kumbia Queers -- 'Te Quiero un Chingo'

Patrick Ewing Jr.

Damn! This is kinda cool.

UK 88-65 ETSU

Box Score (UK 88-65 ETSU)

Early in the second half, ETSU cut into UK's halftime lead and got the score to 50-40. From there on UK went on a 20-4 run and that was pretty much the ball game. While UK played well throughout and generally had a nice lead from the first few minutes on, ETSU was a scrappy veteran squad who threatened to keep close enough to make a run. But that 20-4 spurt broke the game open and that was that.

I was generally pretty impressed with ETSU--they weren't bad! Which only made me more impressed with UK. This was a pretty good start for these guys. I thought UK would win by 10 points or so, but I thought it would be a closer game and that the UK frosh squad would get tested, maybe even have to pull it out late--maybe even flounder around and get beat. But they responded well in their debut. While this team isn't last year's team, I've got high hopes for them. They'll lose more than last year but they'll work harder too and that may make this team a sturdier bunch than last year's overwhelming talent.

Good news: I was pleased with the team defense: good stay-at-home ethic with good athleticism, didn't overpursue, didn't work too hard, sloppy on the baseline but up top they played with good discipline.
17-10 assist to turnover is good and ETSU was a good solid squad, so that is pretty impressive. (And worth pointing out: Knight, Jones and Lamb had 9 of the assists and only 3 of the turnovers; that's nice)
13-26 from 3 is outstanding! (Hmm, a little too good, maybe, they won't be that good every time out) They were streaky though, hitting a nice stretch and then faltering for a while before regaining the stroke.
Knight is a solid PG and Jones is gonna be stud. Two solid chips to build on.

Bad news: 9-23 from the FT line just isn't gonna work. This team doesn't have the overwhelming firepower of last year's team, they will play close games and the FT line is too important to ignore it.
The passing in the half-court set was much too sloppy and ambitious. They got away with it tonight (and it curiously meshed with the 1-3-1 that ETSU was playing), but in general it looks like it could lead to a lot of breakaway baskets once we get into conference play.
I would've liked to see more offensive rebounds. They box out well on defense but play from disadvantage on offense.
Isiah Brown was able to go for 25 points, 3 blocks and 14 boards. As Pedro Martinez might ask: who is Isiah Brown? He's a nice player, I was pretty impressed, but we're gonna play better guys than that this year.

The players:
Terence Jones is the man. Serious skills on both ends of the court and once he got going he was a serious beast. I loved the way he was putting it on the floor and getting to the basket, had a nice running jumper and was just generally good around the rim. And he can hit the 3--he is the dynamic offensive presence that UK needs. Down side: He needs to watch his over-confidence, he started taking dumb shots just because he was hot--and that's not how you stay hot. And he needs to make FT's, getting to the basket is a big part of his game and with his size and skills, he's gonna get fouled a lot. He's going to need to score a lot of his points at the line.

Brandon Knight clearly does not have the explosiveness of John Wall but he seems like a steady ball-control guy. He's lean and athletic, built around ball handling and setting up an offense rather than that quickness down the court that we got used to last year. He reminds me of a more confident, consistent version of Liggins, actually and that should be just fine. I haven't seen crazy one-and-done skills from him yet but I think he has the potential to be a really solid PG for UK this year.

Deandre Liggins is a much better scorer than a floor leader, I'm glad that the presence of Knight allows him to slide into that role. Truthfully, I was not terribly impressed with Liggins in his freshman year and with Wall and Bledsoe around, he disappeared last year. But now he has the opportunity to blossom into a solid scorer with good defensive skills. Tonight, he shot well from outside and got to the basket, but he needs to work on a mid-range jumper and some weakside rebounding. He's still got an NBA-quality body and decent skills, if he works and finds his niche, he can be a serious contributor to a solid UK team and move on to the next level.

Doron Lamb was a nice spark plug off the bench. He's got starter skills but I like him as the 6th man. I'm still getting to know these players, so I didn't feel like I saw enough of him tonight.

Darius Miller is probably the only pure scorer on the team, but he disappears at times. He's a nice defender and runs the floor well, too, but I'd like to see more consistency out of him. He's not at this point a fearsome offensive presence but he could be and should be. I'd like to see him work on his NBA prospect status, that's the next level of his game and that's where he needs to go. That means consistency and deadly scoring skills from all over the court and he hasn't done that yet.

Josh Harrelson had too much foul trouble too quickly. He barely played the first half and found himself in trouble early in the second too. He works hard but he can only contribute if he's out on the court.

Eloy Vargas had moments, didn't play a lot of minutes. He doesn't seem like a shot blocking center or a back to the basket post-up guy, so I'm not sure what his role is going to be at this point. But he's a nice big body and he's not overwhelmed out there.

I hope Jon Hood gets consistent minutes this year. He doesn't need to play a lot (5-8 minutes a game is plenty), but I would like to see him in the regular rotation. He works hard and his offensive role is clearly defined whereas everyone else seems a little all over the place. I think Hood settles the team when he's in there and, like I said, he doesn't need to play a lot, but when things spin out of control, I think Hood can be a calming force.

I didn't get to see any of Stacey Poole because Fox Sports inexplicably cut to another game--WTF! This is Lexington, Kentucky! You don't cut off UK to go to UT! WTF!


PS -- Don't give up on Enes Kanter. The appeals committee is an entirely different bunch of people and they may be more sympathetic to Kanter's situation. In Europe, its not at all uncommon for guys to go pro straight out of high school--in USA its only basketball and football where they don't go pro straight out of high school (hockey, tennis, golf, baseball, soccer, etc.). If the NCAA wants to forsake its presence in Europe, I think that is a foolish move. So they need to moderate their rules to incorporate the culture that is already at work overseas, rather than the other way around. Also, I'm curious to see how many other teams out there have European ballers that may have similar circumstances. Kanter may be a bigger domino than we realize.

'Don't Let Me Down'

The sound is pretty crappy, but I can't resist a forgotten classic from my youth.

Afroman -- 'Because I Got High'

Al Green -- 'Tired of Being Alone'

Woody Allen -- 'The Moose'

Richard Nixon -- 'The Checkers Speech'

Part 1:


Part 2:

Sarah Silverman -- 'I'm Fucking Matt Damon'

Ween -- 'Cover It with Gas and Set It on Fire'

Son of Bazerk -- 'Change the Style'

Pull the string!

The Rentals -- 'Friends of P'

Pietro de Maria -- Clementi's Sonata in F#m

Christian the Lion

(Hat tip: J Swann)

World Series predictions

AL: My initial predictions fell flat, but I must confess I knew nothing about the Rangers beyond Josh Hamilton and Cliff Lee. That said, I thought the Yankees wouldn't be able hang, their pitching was just too dicey, and that's why I gave the Twins more than a puncher's chance to upset them. But it was the Rangers who exposed them as old and unorganized. Apart from game 5, which the Rangers completely mailed in, they dominated the Yankees, beat them in every way again and again--and the Rays, too. I thought the Rays were the best team coming in and my pick to take the AL pennant, but the Rangers made quick work of them, hammering them early and often in the first two games and then dropping Cliff Lee on 'em in the game 5. The Rays looked unprepared, like they were looking ahead to the Yankees instead of finishing the opponent that was in front of them and their pitching flat out disappeared.

I knew about Lee but I was impressed with CJ Wilson and Colby Lewis too, their starting pitching is for real. Didn't see much of their bullpen and what I did see didn't get me too excited. But they can score, they can run the bases, they didn't crumble on defense (like the Twins and Reds did) and if that starting pitching holds up, they will be tough to beat.

NL: I thought the Giants pitching matched up well with the Phillies and that Philly would really have to come alive to get past the Giants. I expected them to do so. But they did not. The Phillies just didn't play smart baseball against the Giants. They overwhelmed the Reds but that was as much Cincy's inexperience and obvious nerves as it was Philly's dominance. Philly didn't need much offense to get past Cincinnati and they didn't get that part of their game going like they needed to. (Hmmm, I've already completely forgotten the Giants-Braves series, left not much of an impression on me...) While picking the Phillies over the Giants was the easy choice, looking back its plain to see that SF had to work harder to get there and were in game shape while the Phillies cruised past Cincy with nothing more than superior pitching. Ah, but the Giants have pretty good pitching too. And I don't think we saw the best of Lincecum or Sanchez in this series--frankly, that's how bad the Philly offense was! Whereas the Giants (like the Rangers) were opportunistic on the base paths, the Phillies kept waiting for home runs and ill-timed errors to get them home. While the Rangers dominated the Yankees, the Giants did just enough to beat the Phillies, they eked out the close ones.

I love the intensity of the Giants. I've got a total man-crush on Buster Posey now--superstar!--and Brian Wilson is a true shutdown closer. And that team is gritty, gutty and determined. The Braves were none of those things and the Phillies weren't either.

WS: This is a great match-up, two scrappy underdogs with great starting pitching and timely offense. I know the talk radio crowd laments how poor the ratings will be (yeah, San Francisco and Dallas are jerkwater towns in the middle of nowhere!), but what do I care? I love this match-up--think how lame another Yankees-Phillies WS would've been after what we've just seen? While I love the Ranger offense, I think I like Giant pitching to be even more dominant than they were against Philly. If the Giant offense can be as aggressive against Wilson, Lee and Lewis as it was against Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels, then I think they'll score enough runs to win. And while the Rangers have been a terrific road team this post-season, I like the Giants to take game 7 at home. Giants in 7 (1,3,5,7). (Or: If the Giants pitching isn't top notch, the Rangers could roll them)

Mr. Show -- 'The Pratt Promise'

Hoven Droven -- 'Vasen'

Damone -- 'Frustrated Unnoticed'

Morgan Packard -- 'Waterbugs'

Stuart Dybek -- 'Revelation'

The Clash -- 'Koka Kola'

Buckethead & Saul Williams -- 'Three Fingers'

An interesting collaboration of two dudes that need no collaborators.

Leonard Cohen -- 'A Thousand Kisses Deep'

Gold Panda -- 'You'

Tiffany Koo (5 years old) -- Chopin's Nocturne #20 in C sharp minor

Jeez, this kid's so badass its scary!

Solomon Burke RIP

Asylum Street Spankers -- 'Funny Cigarette'

Steve Martin -- 'The Absent Minded Waiter'

The Brothers Quay from 'Frida'

Arthur Ashe

MLB Playoffs

Start with a power ranking:

1. Phillies
2. Rays
3. Yankees
4. Twins
5. Giants
6. Reds
7. Braves
8. Rangers

For virtually all of this year I thought the Rays and Yankees (in ever-oscillating order) were the two best teams in the league. But in the last few weeks, the Phillies hit their stride while the Yanks and Rays started drooping. The Yankees lineup is phenomenonal but the pitching between Sabathia and Rivera is a mystery; the Rays cruised all year but they've lost some intensity in September. By the end of the year, the Twins were in that mix as well.

After those first 4, the next 4 best teams are at least a step behind. The Giants and Reds did it with fiercesome pitching, disciplined defense and good-enough hitting; the Braves rode a hot summer and then held on while the Padres lagged; and the Rangers were just better than the other crappy teams in their division (w/out Josh Hamilton hard to imagine them beating anyone).

Predictions:
AL
Twins over Yankees in 5
Rays over Rangers in 4
Rays over Twins in 5

NL
Phillies over Reds in 4
Giants over Braves in 4
Phillies over Braves in 4

A rematch of the 2008 World Series--a good one--while others are predicting a rematch of the 2009 World Series (the Phillies are better now, the Yankees are not). This seems like the last hurrah for the Rays, as they'll start peeling off payroll in the off-season (they'll hold on to that pitching as long as they can, but Crawford and Pena will be in pinstripes next year, I reckon). So, just to confound the baseball gods, I'll go ahead and take the Rays over the Phillies in 7. (Yeah, I took the road team in game 7, but remember: the Rays home park is the lamest in all of sports, no wonder they're road wizards!)

Humble Pie -- '30 Days in the Hole'

RJD2 -- '1976'

Tech Nine -- 'The Waitress'

The Odds -- 'Heterosexual Male'

Brian Eno from 'Music for Airports'

Royal Bangs -- 'War Bells'

Velvet Underground -- 'Venus in Furs'

Mr. Show -- 'Pallies'

MIA -- 'It Takes a Muscle'

Cee-Lo -- 'Fuck You' (NSFW)

'Joy of a Salesman' (not safe for work but where else would you need it?)

Freedom Rock

Black Angels -- 'Young Men Dead'

Robert Plant's Band of Joy -- 'Houses of the Holy'

So-so quality sound and video (certainly not Zoso quality) but a cool song.

Mighty Mike -- 'Imagine a Jump'

(Hat tip: J Lackey)

DJ Shadow -- 'Walkie Talkie'

Sex Pistols -- 'Holidays in the Sun'

Lee 'Scratch' Perry -- 'Fisherman Dub'

NFL predictions

NFL starts tonight! Pre-season power ranking to see if I get it all good. Okay, this is sorta how I think the conferences will finish.

NFC AFC
* Packers * Colts
z Saints z Ravens
z Cowboys z Chargers
x Falcons x Bengals
z Niners z Jets
x Panthers x Texans
Eagles Dolphins
Giants Steelers
Vikings Patriots
Cards Broncos
Redskins Raiders
Bucs Titans
Lions Chiefs
Bears Jaguars
Seahawks Browns
Rams Bills

Okay, there's that. Go forth, professional football and prove me right!

Steve Vai & Ralph Maccio cuttin' heads

Death from Above 1979 -- 'Romantic Rights'

Robert Schimmel (NSFW)

Wake up and meet the puppy

(Hat tip: K Celestan)

George Hickenlooper

An ad for the Boob Apron

NSFW!

Zinc Oxide and You (from 'Kentucky Fried Movie')

Even got Spanish subtitles as a bonus!

'Pulp Fiction/Toy Story' mash-up

The embedding was disabled on the 'Requiem for a Dream/Toy Story' mash. But this one's good too.

The Swollen Members -- 'Bollywood Chick'

Meklit Hadero -- 'Leaving Soon'

(Hat tip: Y Kiffle)

Sonic Youth -- 'Dirty Boots'

Bo Jackson

Caravaggio -- 'The Calling of St. Matthew'

Johnny Cash -- 'A Boy Named Sue'

Pavement -- 'Range Life'

There sure are a lot of homemade Pavement videos at You Tube. Mmmm...that seems odd to me.

Luther Wright and the Wrongs -- 'Hey You'

I Be-Weave

(Hat tip: T Baker)

Public Enemy -- 'Bring the Noise' (live)

Ween soundcheck (6.30.94)

D'mite -- 'Read a Book'

(Hat tip: Y Kiffle)

PJ Harvey -- 'Is That All There Is?'

Death Angel -- 'I'm Bored'

Didn't remember a video for this one. Bonus.

Poe -- 'Angry Johnny'

(Hat tip: Y Kiffle)

Anna Pavlova -- Saint-Saens' Dying Swan

Nobody kills a swan like Anna. (Hat tip: T Andry)

World Cup Predictions (updated)

All right, group round finished, how were my predictions?

Group
A Uruguay, Mexico
B Argentina, Greece
C England, USA
D Germany, Serbia
E Netherlands, Denmark
F Paraguay, Slovakia
G Brazil, Portugal
H Chile, Spain

Well, honestly, I did pretty good. Of my 16 picks only 3 failed to move on. In groups C & H, I picked the top two teams in the wrong order, but that don't really matter.

Frankly, I thought Greece was one of the worst teams I saw in the group stage, Serbia was seriously disappointing after coming in with some 'dark horse' hype, and Denmark was middle of the road Europe.

I underestimated Japan and South Korea, both of whom look like fine disciplined squads. And I'm still surprised by Ghana: of all the pre-tourney injuries that went around, I thought Michael Essian was the biggest loss, the one most likely to have a star-making Cup, so that Ghana managed to soldier on without him is impressive.

To recap my second round predictions:
Round of 16
49 Uruguay
50 Serbia
51 Germany
52 Argentina
53 Netherlands
54 Brazil
55 Paraguay
56 Chile

Lets tweak those a bit:
49 Uruguay
50 USA
51 England
52 Argentina
53 Netherlands
54 Brazil
55 Paraguay
56 Portugal

Not a lot of changes, really, though I will take USA and England to move on past their respective opponents and meet again in the Quarters. (God! I hope so! That would fuckin' rule!)

Clockhammer

Neko Case

Dr. Korchek's Love Letter (from 'Schizopolis')

Dempsey v. Dempsey

No wonder the Brits love this guy!

From 'The Designated Mourner' by Wallace Shawn (don't recall where the pic came from)

Judy (to the audience):
Then one day there was a funny postcard with a picture of an outdoor restaurant--no salutation, no signature. (She reads) "In a very pretty garden, I ate lunch without you today. At a wobbly table with a thin rose crawling bent and unbalanced out of a tiny vase, I ate an egg and didn't think about you."

Shuggie Otis

Whew! This is classic!

(Hat tip: C Townie)

Franz Beckenbauer

World Cup Predictions

Group
A Uruguay, Mexico
B Argentina, Greece
C England, USA
D Germany, Serbia
E Netherlands, Denmark
F Paraguay, Slovakia
G Brazil, Portugal
H Chile, Spain

Round of 16
49 Uruguay
50 Serbia
51 Germany
52 Argentina
53 Netherlands
54 Brazil
55 Paraguay
56 Chile

Quarterfinals
57 Netherlands
58 Serbia
59 Germany
60 Chile

Semi-Finals
61 Netherlands
62 Germany

Third Place
63 Chile 5-3 Serbia

Finals
64 Netherlands 2-1 Germany

Okay, there you go. I like the Dutch. Call the bookie, ye punters, and have steak and kidney pie dinner come July.

Taj Mahal

John Wooden

NBA Finals

Okay, so I was completely wrong about Magic-Celtics and kinda close on Lakers-Suns.

The Magic this year had plenty of strengths but it wasn't the same team as last year. I thought adding Vince Carter and Jameer Nelson (absent in last year's playoffs), would be enough to compensate for losing Hedo Turkoglu (who was actually pretty awful in Toronto this year). But that just was not the case. As it turns out, Turkoglu made the most of Rashard Lewis, who completely disappeared this year, and Dwight Howard. You know after all this time in the league and all the accolades, Howard is still a bit of a project offensively and Turkoglu, a soccer player in his youth, understands the concept of 'service': you got to get the ball to the guy in a place where he can do something with it. Nelson just dumps the ball down to Howard or else ignores him completely, whereas Turkoglu did a better job of triangulating Lewis and Howard to make the most of each of them. To me the key matchup in the conference finals was the Carter-Pierce match and, well, Pierce came to play; look, Vince Carter is a great regular season player, he can pile up numbers with the best of 'em night in, night out; but he's not a 'winner', a guy you just give the ball to when the game's on the line. Orlando has enough offense that over the course of 82 games, Vince is a fine first option. But at crunch time, he's not as good as Paul Pierce. In basketball, that's what it comes down to. Also, the Magic breezed through the easy side of the playoff bracket and looked more dominant than they actually were, while the Celtics had to claw their way in. The Celtics were hungrier, they were more prepared and they had Paul Pierce.

I thought the Lakers and Suns would split each home game and the Lakers would win in 7. But, when the Celtics went ahead and put themselves in the Finals, it gave the Lakers a bit more urgency and they finished the Suns in 6. Good for them, it shows strength of character and skill that they could will themselves to victory out there in the desert. The Suns are not a great team but they've got Steve Nash so they can hang with anyone. The Lakers just had too much size in the middle and Kobe is still untouchable, so there you have it. The Suns just didn't have enough offense to counter the Laker onslaught over the course of 7 games (or 6).

I'm looking forward to this series. These two teams are relatively even I think, though it feels like the Lakers should have enough offense to win it. Rondo has a good shot at obliterating Derek Fisher, which gives the Celtics a good start and Boston's bench is much deeper and more effective than LA's. So at the top and on the bottom, I give the Celtics the advantage. But, in between, I like the Lakers in all other matchups. I'll take Kobe-Artest-Gasol-Bynum over Allen-Pierce-Garnett-Perkins. And since I think that is the meat of the scoring, I'll take the Lakers. It'll go 7 games because both of these teams understand drama (and paychecks), and each match should be tightly contested. Lakers in 7.

Michael Hedges -- 'Because It's There'

Monarch & Dr. Girlfriend spotting celebrities

I have a huge crush on Dr. Girlfriend. (sigh)

Atmosphere -- 'You'

The Big Pink -- 'Dominos'

Blondie -- 'Heart of Glass' (live)

I guess I am still taking requests. (Hat tip: S Montgomery)

Superchunk --'Slack Motherfucker'

I'd say this song is not safe work but, I don't know, maybe its the perfect song for work.

Allman Brothers Band w/ Eric Clapton -- 'Little Wing'

Damn, Derek Trucks is just a monster! Who the hell goes on stage and blows away Warren Haynes and Eric Clapton at the same time?

NBA Predicitions

Orlando is too young and too good for these Celtics. Rondo won't go quite as crazy, Garnett will have to work harder, and Ray Allen will be matched on the other side. Only Pierce has real potential to cut loose, being marked by Vince Carter. But I reckon the home court will determine who gets the best of that match-up. Everywhere else, I like Orlando. Magic in 6.

I like the home team to win every game in the Lakers-Suns series. At home, the Suns will get away with things, their mistakes will turn to luck, the refs will ride Artest and Fisher. But in LA, Kobe and Gasol will shine and the Suns will never really come close to touching them. The Suns are playing great right now but the Lakers are still a better team and will win game 7 comfortably. Lakers in 7.

Chemical Brothers -- 'Do It Again'

Two Moroccan boys discover the Chemical Brothers. Wacky hi-jinks ensue.

The 1958 Ford Edsel

Wow, that really is an ugly-ass car.

Black Lips -- 'Drugs'

Portishead -- 'Cowboys'

Deer Tick -- 'These Old Shoes'

Robin Knox-Johnston (2007)

Eric B & Rakim -- 'Microphone Fiend'

John McWhorter

Bad_CRC -- 'All Your Base Are Belong to Us'

Barbara Stanwyck

Charlie the Unicorn

(Hat tip: T Andry)

Thomas Sleeper & Jane Alison -- 'The Sisters Antipodes'

'Fat City'

Don Hertzfeldt -- 'Ah, L'amour'

A very bitter film, indeed.

Second City -- 'Sassy Gay Friend'

Too Short

'Escape from New York'

Salvador Dali