Iron Man Opening
CNN: 'Iron Man' Makes Super-Strong Debut - So much for the collective wisdom that GTA IV would cut into Iron Man's opening. The movie made $104.2 million domestically. The article quotes one analyst as saying that this opening wasn't as strong as Spider-Man 3's opening one year ago, to which I would point to my previous statement less popular comic book hero + Robert Downey, Jr. + not a sequal = less strong opening than Spider-Man 3.
Kentucky Derby Wrap-Up
First, let me extend my condolences to the owner, trainer and jockey of Eight Belles. She ran a marvelous race, and her injury and subsequent euthanization was nothing short of a tragedy. Leg injuries to these beautiful and ultimately fragile animals are all too common and an unfortunate aspect of horse racing. The quick action of the veterinary personnel at Churchill Downs on Saturday to euthanize her in her condition deserves special commendation.
ESPN: Favorite Big Brown Dusts Field; Runner-Up Eight Belles Euthanized
As you can tell, I came close to correctly picking the Derby. Big Brown finished first, with Eight Belles a few lengths back and Denis of Cork filling out the trifecta eight lengths beyond her. As I noted previously, one of the bets I made was a Denis of Cork-Big Brown exacta box. Had Denis of Cork finished second instead of third, I would have won my bet. This is the closest I have ever come to correctly picking the Derby, so despite losing I'm rather happy with the result.
I must say, Big Brown's showing on Saturday was extremely impressive. He broke well from the 20th and last position, zoomed right to the front and stayed in second place behind Bob Black Jack - himself a swift horse - for most of the race before turning on the jets at the end. It compares quite favorably to Barbaro's run in 2006. He apparently managed to pull a 109 Beyer Figure for the race (for an explanation of Beyer Figures go here). It speaks well for his possible performance in the Preakness and the Belmont, especially since most of his best competitors will be skipping the Preakness. My best guess: Big Brown wins the Preakness in a walk, then loses the Belmont in a close race to one of Pyro, Colonel John, or Denis of Cork.
MSNBC: PETA Wants Eight Belles' Jockey Suspended - I have little to say about this widely reported and absurd suggestion that Gabriel Saez be suspended for his conduct on Saturday. Injuries such as these - as with Barbaro's injury in 2006 - can come so suddenly and with so little warning that there is ultimately nothing the jockey can do. From all accounts, it appears Saez leaped off as soon as he heard the "pop" and did his best to bring Eight Belles to a stop.
Look, I understand PETA's concern with horse racing. I understand that they consider the sport barbaric, and that the training, whipping, and injuries associated with the sport to be cruelty to animals. But to single out Saez for his actions on Saturday is incorrect and wrong.
Update: Slate explains why Eight Belles had to be put down on the track.
Cedric Benson Arrest
Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson was arrested on Sunday for boating while intoxicated (which I didn't even realize was a crime given the number of people I know who have done exactly that) and resisting arrest. I must admit that I am having difficulty separating my personal feelings about Benson as a running back with the fact that all of the details of his arrest are not yet in. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on his arrest in the absence of other information, but I still think we should trade him for 5 cents on the dollar.
Showing posts with label gta iv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gta iv. Show all posts
Sunday, May 4, 2008
An Open Letter to the Dude Who Left His Clothes in the Washing Machine For an Hour
Dear Sir (or Madam, if you happen to be the unusually large woman I saw in the laundry room the second time I went downstairs),
I understand that today was a beautiful day outside. The temperature was a lovely 70 degrees with nary a cloud in the sky and only a light breeze to spoil the perfection. Doubtless you were outside enjoying the sunshine, roller-blading on the trail or jogging through the city. Perhaps your girlfriend dragged you out for a walk with a stopover for frozen yogurt.
Or perhaps you were inside all day. Game 7 of the Boston-Atlanta series and Game 1 of the Los Angeles-Utah series were on TV this afternoon, although why you would be watching the Celtics-Hawks blowout is beyond me. Maybe you got distracted by Grand Theft Auto IV - I've certainly been guilty of that offense this past week.
Unfortunately, you forgot one thing on this glorious day: you forgot to take your clothes out of the washing machine in our apartment complex.
When I say "machine," you should know that I actually mean "machines." There are six such washers in our complex's laundry room, and you monopolized four of them.
Again, nothing necessarily wrong with that. It's more efficient to do clothes all at once. No one is expecting you to do one load of laundry at a time.
What I do expect, though, is that you not leave your wet clothes in the washing machine for a FREAKING HOUR after they are done.
Again, I understand that you likely just got distracted. Hard to blame you for that offense on a day like today. But for someone like me, who is trying to do laundry on a Sunday afternoon when that's the only free moment I've had all week and I'm trying to simultaneously write a 5-page paper for class on Monday and buy a new cell phone because my old one died and help my landlord figure out exactly what size of new doors to buy for my bedroom closet and shop for groceries and decipher the overwhelmingly complex health plan my new job sent me this week when my election is due next week and and I have no idea how many numbers I lost in my old cell phone so now I'm trying to track them down on Facebook and in my old phone bill and now my landlord wants to show our apartment tomorrow and would like me to clean the place up a bit, your conduct this Sunday afternoon is a bit annoying.
So, if you don't mind, could you please take those clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer? I have no qualms about removing somebody's dry attire from the washer, but wet clothes are, y'know, icky. Thanks sooooo much.
Kisses,
Thomas J "Tommy" Carcetti
I understand that today was a beautiful day outside. The temperature was a lovely 70 degrees with nary a cloud in the sky and only a light breeze to spoil the perfection. Doubtless you were outside enjoying the sunshine, roller-blading on the trail or jogging through the city. Perhaps your girlfriend dragged you out for a walk with a stopover for frozen yogurt.
Or perhaps you were inside all day. Game 7 of the Boston-Atlanta series and Game 1 of the Los Angeles-Utah series were on TV this afternoon, although why you would be watching the Celtics-Hawks blowout is beyond me. Maybe you got distracted by Grand Theft Auto IV - I've certainly been guilty of that offense this past week.
Unfortunately, you forgot one thing on this glorious day: you forgot to take your clothes out of the washing machine in our apartment complex.
When I say "machine," you should know that I actually mean "machines." There are six such washers in our complex's laundry room, and you monopolized four of them.
Again, nothing necessarily wrong with that. It's more efficient to do clothes all at once. No one is expecting you to do one load of laundry at a time.
What I do expect, though, is that you not leave your wet clothes in the washing machine for a FREAKING HOUR after they are done.
Again, I understand that you likely just got distracted. Hard to blame you for that offense on a day like today. But for someone like me, who is trying to do laundry on a Sunday afternoon when that's the only free moment I've had all week and I'm trying to simultaneously write a 5-page paper for class on Monday and buy a new cell phone because my old one died and help my landlord figure out exactly what size of new doors to buy for my bedroom closet and shop for groceries and decipher the overwhelmingly complex health plan my new job sent me this week when my election is due next week and and I have no idea how many numbers I lost in my old cell phone so now I'm trying to track them down on Facebook and in my old phone bill and now my landlord wants to show our apartment tomorrow and would like me to clean the place up a bit, your conduct this Sunday afternoon is a bit annoying.
So, if you don't mind, could you please take those clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer? I have no qualms about removing somebody's dry attire from the washer, but wet clothes are, y'know, icky. Thanks sooooo much.
Kisses,
Thomas J "Tommy" Carcetti
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Links of the Day
Here's a few links to articles on the recent release of Grand Theft Auto IV. As you may have noticed based on other posts, I've been playing the game essentially non-stop since its release on Tuesday.
CNN: 'GTA IV' Could Keep 'Iron Man' Audience at Home - Here's the thing: I understand that both GTA IV and Iron Man are going to share the 14-29 male we-love-explosions fanboy audience. Is it possible that there might be another reason why people might not go see Iron Man? The film is based off a super hero who is less well known than perennial favorites like Batman, Spider-Man, the X-Men, Superman, etc. and it stars Robert Downey, Jr. (excellent supporting actor, not so good in leading roles). If Iron Man does turn out to be a flop, isn't it possible that these are better reasons than blaming GTA IV?
Radar Online: Auto Eroticism - Fascinating interview with one of the founders of Rockstar Games, the maker of GTA IV.
Slate: The Surprising Narrative Richness of Grand Theft Auto IV - Excellent early review of GTA IV.
CNN: 'GTA IV' Could Keep 'Iron Man' Audience at Home - Here's the thing: I understand that both GTA IV and Iron Man are going to share the 14-29 male we-love-explosions fanboy audience. Is it possible that there might be another reason why people might not go see Iron Man? The film is based off a super hero who is less well known than perennial favorites like Batman, Spider-Man, the X-Men, Superman, etc. and it stars Robert Downey, Jr. (excellent supporting actor, not so good in leading roles). If Iron Man does turn out to be a flop, isn't it possible that these are better reasons than blaming GTA IV?
Radar Online: Auto Eroticism - Fascinating interview with one of the founders of Rockstar Games, the maker of GTA IV.
Slate: The Surprising Narrative Richness of Grand Theft Auto IV - Excellent early review of GTA IV.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Recurring Features
Since I’ll be including a few recurring features here at Carcetti for Mayor, I thought I ought to include a post explaining what each one is.
Simpsons Reference of the Day:
Like many of my friends, I am obsessed with the Simpsons, especially the first 12 seasons or so. I can quote episodes from memory, I have used analogies from the show in papers, and I above all pepper my conversations with references to the show. Of course, many of my friends and relatives do the same. “Simpsons Reference of the Day” is simply a catalogue of those references, presented in the context in which they were used. These references will mostly be spoken by me, but I’ll include those spoken by others as well. Example:
(Scene: While preparing for a night on the town, I have just completed a shower and am walking to my bedroom, wearing only a towel, when I hear a knock at the door. Seeing that my roommates are otherwise occupied, I walk to the door and open it for my friend JBM. JBM stares at me incredulously.)
Me: I have misplaced my pants.
(Note: This actually happened. Ah, college.)
Reference: “Bart After Dark”, Season 8, Episode 5.
By the Numbers:
“By the Numbers” is a feature in which I detail arcane events in my life in minute detail. It’s similar to a feature on many other blogs and web sites. This gets published approximately “whenever I feel like it”.
Example:
Hours of Grand Theft Auto IV Played Yesterday: 9.
Amount I Would Have Made If I Had Worked a Minimum-Wage Job During That Time: $65.25.
Cost of Said Grand Theft Auto IV Game: $64.96 after taxes.
Difference Between These Two Figures: $0.29.
Ounces of Diet Dr. Pepper Consumed During Those Hours: 64.
And so on.
If They Played Basketball in Movies Not About Basketball:
This is a recurring feature that I will write solely as a time-waster and is something that is probably only interesting to me. It’s basically just an analysis of the main characters from a given movie based on how well they would play as a basketball team. I’ll look at the different characters, make up positions (and pertinent information about each character to make them fit as basketball players), and then analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the team. I’ll figure out about how many wins they could expect to get in the current NBA season, and then finally compare them to the gold standard of basketball teams: the 2004-05 University of Illinois Fighting Illini Men’s Basketball Team (note: blatant homerism alert). See my post (linked below) on “Ghostbusters” for an example.
New York Times Editorials:
My absolute favorite post I wrote for my old blog was one where I ripped apart a New York Times editorial on the Samuel Alito Supreme Court nomination firejoemorgan.com-style. (If you haven’t visited firejoemorgan.com by now, you really should). Basically, all I do here is go through the editorial line by line and either refute what they’ve written, make fun of them, or both. Why the Grey Lady? Politically I’m closer to the Wall Street Journal than to the New York Times, plus NYT seems to have a more arrogant style, at least to me. I’ll post a link to an example once I do one.
Simpsons Reference of the Day:
Like many of my friends, I am obsessed with the Simpsons, especially the first 12 seasons or so. I can quote episodes from memory, I have used analogies from the show in papers, and I above all pepper my conversations with references to the show. Of course, many of my friends and relatives do the same. “Simpsons Reference of the Day” is simply a catalogue of those references, presented in the context in which they were used. These references will mostly be spoken by me, but I’ll include those spoken by others as well. Example:
(Scene: While preparing for a night on the town, I have just completed a shower and am walking to my bedroom, wearing only a towel, when I hear a knock at the door. Seeing that my roommates are otherwise occupied, I walk to the door and open it for my friend JBM. JBM stares at me incredulously.)
Me: I have misplaced my pants.
(Note: This actually happened. Ah, college.)
Reference: “Bart After Dark”, Season 8, Episode 5.
By the Numbers:
“By the Numbers” is a feature in which I detail arcane events in my life in minute detail. It’s similar to a feature on many other blogs and web sites. This gets published approximately “whenever I feel like it”.
Example:
Hours of Grand Theft Auto IV Played Yesterday: 9.
Amount I Would Have Made If I Had Worked a Minimum-Wage Job During That Time: $65.25.
Cost of Said Grand Theft Auto IV Game: $64.96 after taxes.
Difference Between These Two Figures: $0.29.
Ounces of Diet Dr. Pepper Consumed During Those Hours: 64.
And so on.
If They Played Basketball in Movies Not About Basketball:
This is a recurring feature that I will write solely as a time-waster and is something that is probably only interesting to me. It’s basically just an analysis of the main characters from a given movie based on how well they would play as a basketball team. I’ll look at the different characters, make up positions (and pertinent information about each character to make them fit as basketball players), and then analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the team. I’ll figure out about how many wins they could expect to get in the current NBA season, and then finally compare them to the gold standard of basketball teams: the 2004-05 University of Illinois Fighting Illini Men’s Basketball Team (note: blatant homerism alert). See my post (linked below) on “Ghostbusters” for an example.
New York Times Editorials:
My absolute favorite post I wrote for my old blog was one where I ripped apart a New York Times editorial on the Samuel Alito Supreme Court nomination firejoemorgan.com-style. (If you haven’t visited firejoemorgan.com by now, you really should). Basically, all I do here is go through the editorial line by line and either refute what they’ve written, make fun of them, or both. Why the Grey Lady? Politically I’m closer to the Wall Street Journal than to the New York Times, plus NYT seems to have a more arrogant style, at least to me. I’ll post a link to an example once I do one.
Carcetti Reloaded
Gentlemen (and ladies)! It's been two years, but I'm back.
Two years ago, I blogged my way through most of my first year of law school. Over those glorious months, my readership expanded from a handful of people to double digits as I held forth on politics, movies, sports, and everything in between. Unfortunately, an abortive summer job search led me to delete the old blog, as I was concerned about its effect on the job hunt. I walked away, deleting my articles and dreams and leaving them only as a memory.
In the interim, I discovered something: I missed blogging. I missed being able to scribble down my thoughts and post them. I missed running into friends in the hallway and hearing them say "Hey, I read that thing you wrote on your blog, let me share my thoughts on the topic with you." I missed being able to make fun of New York Times editorials firejoemorgan.com-style. I missed my recurring "By the Numbers" feature in which I figured out exactly how much time I had wasted that day. Most of all, I missed the sense of being able to communicate - albeit in sarcastic fashion - with the online world.
So, I'm back. We can call this version 2.0 of my blog (or, more appropriately 3.0, if one counts my very very old Xanga blog); my blog reloaded, if you will. The key difference this time is that I'll be blogging anonymously. I dislike anonymous blogging in general - if you're willing to put certain thoughts out on the World Wide Interweb of Tubes, you should at least be willing to put your name on those thoughts. My old blog was published under my real name for that reason. Unfortunately, I am concerned about the effect a blog with my name on it will have in my line of work. It's not that I generally publish articles that are offensive or inappropriate - it's just that my efforts at sanitizing Google of unflattering references to me have been largely successful up until now, and I'd like to keep it that way.
So, in the absence of using my real name, I've decided to adopt the pseudonym of Thomas J. "Tommy" Carcetti, the ambitious and sleazy mayoral candidate (and later mayor of Baltimore) from HBO's The Wire. I won't be blogging as Carcetti - these will be my thoughts, simply published under Carcetti's name. I'm not wild about this solution, but this seems to be best for all involved.
Enjoy. I'm looking forward to writing again. I've got a few things planned for the future - like a review of Grand Theft Auto IV, sarcastic discussions on NYT editorials, and even an analysis of who would win in a 2-on-2 basketball game between the Obamas and the Clintons. Check back soon!
Two years ago, I blogged my way through most of my first year of law school. Over those glorious months, my readership expanded from a handful of people to double digits as I held forth on politics, movies, sports, and everything in between. Unfortunately, an abortive summer job search led me to delete the old blog, as I was concerned about its effect on the job hunt. I walked away, deleting my articles and dreams and leaving them only as a memory.
In the interim, I discovered something: I missed blogging. I missed being able to scribble down my thoughts and post them. I missed running into friends in the hallway and hearing them say "Hey, I read that thing you wrote on your blog, let me share my thoughts on the topic with you." I missed being able to make fun of New York Times editorials firejoemorgan.com-style. I missed my recurring "By the Numbers" feature in which I figured out exactly how much time I had wasted that day. Most of all, I missed the sense of being able to communicate - albeit in sarcastic fashion - with the online world.
So, I'm back. We can call this version 2.0 of my blog (or, more appropriately 3.0, if one counts my very very old Xanga blog); my blog reloaded, if you will. The key difference this time is that I'll be blogging anonymously. I dislike anonymous blogging in general - if you're willing to put certain thoughts out on the World Wide Interweb of Tubes, you should at least be willing to put your name on those thoughts. My old blog was published under my real name for that reason. Unfortunately, I am concerned about the effect a blog with my name on it will have in my line of work. It's not that I generally publish articles that are offensive or inappropriate - it's just that my efforts at sanitizing Google of unflattering references to me have been largely successful up until now, and I'd like to keep it that way.
So, in the absence of using my real name, I've decided to adopt the pseudonym of Thomas J. "Tommy" Carcetti, the ambitious and sleazy mayoral candidate (and later mayor of Baltimore) from HBO's The Wire. I won't be blogging as Carcetti - these will be my thoughts, simply published under Carcetti's name. I'm not wild about this solution, but this seems to be best for all involved.
Enjoy. I'm looking forward to writing again. I've got a few things planned for the future - like a review of Grand Theft Auto IV, sarcastic discussions on NYT editorials, and even an analysis of who would win in a 2-on-2 basketball game between the Obamas and the Clintons. Check back soon!
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