My Wednesday...Something

This still represents how I feel about winter (now that it's officially here).

Not sure what word to use with Wednesday that compares to Sunday Funday. Anyhoo, I'm going to try and accomplish the following tomorrow:

1. Comic books
2. Macy's Holiday Light Show (haven't seen it in a while)
3. Comcast Holiday Spectacular (haven't seen it at all)
4. If it opens as scheduled, lunch at the new Five Guys Burgers on Walnut St.
5. The movie "I Love You Phillip Morris" at the Ritz at the Bourse
6. ....well, at this point there's nothing else. If you have a suggestion or would like to hang out with me instead of stalking me from a distance, let me know. ;-)

We'll see if all of this works out. If there are crowds at Five Guys I may skip it and wait for another day.

My Sunday Funday

You probably already know about the stunning come-from-behind win by the Eagles, who scored 28 points in the final 8 minutes of the game to beat the New York Giants. If you read my Twitter/Facebook updates you know I won a 50-50 raffle at Tabu. I thought I'd take a moment and fill in a few blanks.

The reason I was at Tabu to begin with was because there was a softball fundraiser for the Tabu Wolves. (Brief digression: my team, the Nighthawks, was also sponsored by Tabu in 2010 but the bar is only sponsoring the Wolves next year.) I've mentioned my discomfort going to bars, especially if it's crowded and I'm alone. I'm not a great socializer. I went back and forth in my mind Sunday morning when I woke up, deciding whether or not to go. I waited until the last possible minute to get out of bed and shower and get dressed in order to get there by 1 pm. I finally decided that I wanted to support the fundraiser, I figured there would be a few people I know there and, at the very least, the Eagles-Giants game would be there to distract me from the whole scene.

While it was crowded, it wasn't overly crowded so it wasn't too bad. I spent a little time now and then saying hello and talking to some of my current or former teammates (well, mostly former), so although I still had some of that awkward out-of-place feeling, it wasn't as bad as it might have been.

Besides the 50-50 raffle and sale of jello shots, to raise money the team ran one of those grid games (usually you see them during the Super Bowl) where you fill in your name in a box, then digits 0-9 are posted for each team in random order,

I'm Not Saying We're Demanding, But...

The other day, in the midst of all the celebration over a certain major league baseball transaction, and inspired by that transaction as well as a certain TV commercial for car insurance, I had an idea. I was going to get a friend to help me with it but he left to visit his BFF out of town before I could fully flesh it out, so I did the vocals all by myself. And now, without further adieu, I present to you...pure comedy genius! (Just a warning: the volume might be a bit loud. At least it is on my computer.)







Lee! Lee! Leeeeeeee! by Joe Guckin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Quick Review: How Do You Know

The bad news is that, despite a cast including Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson and Jack Nicholson, there's not much to "How Do You Know," another romantic comedy that's mostly lacking in both categories. It's harmless but it's just not all that interesting. Witherspoon plays Lisa, a softball player just cut from Team USA. Softball is her life and she isn't ready to move on. She begins seeing Matty (Wilson), a not-too-bright pitcher for the Washington Nationals. (We are told at one point that he makes $14 million per year. This was filmed pre-Jayson Werth, so clearly this is a work of fiction. But the one scene of Nationals Park did show a half-empty stadium.) At the same time Lisa meets George (Rudd), an executive at some sort of firm -- it's not really clear what it does -- run by his father (Nicholson). George finds himself the target of a federal investigation and is trying to deal with that and his feelings for Lisa. The romantic byplay between Lisa and George, and Lisa and Matty, is always in fits and starts. You just wonder why any of these people want to be in a relationship with the other.

So that's the bad news. What's the good news? I have another excuse to look at this picture of Rudd. Duh. My grade: C-minus.

Asking And Telling, But...

Even with the Senate voting to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" I am still sour. Maybe I'm mad because I was wrong in thinking it wasn't going to pass. Maybe I'm just naturally a Grinch. But look at this chain of events. Last week the Republicans in the Senate (with one exception) refused to allow a vote on a military spending bill because it included the DADT repeal provision. Today, six Republicans voted to allow a stand-alone DADT bill to proceed, and then two more joined them in voting for the bill.

Am I to believe that these Republicans just magically changed their minds in a week? And two of them changed their minds just today within a couple of hours? Or that they suddenly found a dose of courage to stand up to the extreme right-wing (not to mention the increasingly despicable and/or senile John McCain)? If they were so inclined, why did they hold up the military spending bill?

So yeah, I'm happy that DADT has been repealed and, assuming President Obama and the secretary of defense actually successfully handle the technical process spelled out in the bill to implement this new policy, openly gay people who love their country can serve in the military. But even so, I'm as disgusted as ever. The process of getting laws passed in this country is seriously fucked up. Just look at the other bills being passed or not passed this month -- the tax giveaways to the wealthy, the DREAM act. So much needs to be done and it's not happening. And it will only get worse next month.

These politicians are just playing games while the rest of us suffer.

espnW? How About espnG? Oh, Yeah...

When I was clicking on some Michael Vick links for the post I just wrote, I found an article at something called espnW. (They're also on Twitter.) What is it? The site says, "espnW is a destination for women who are passionate sports fans and athletes."

So I'm thinking, if ESPN is going to have separate sites tailored to specific demographics, where's espnG? Or espnLGBTQ? Or the really long acronym that includes every possible variation? How about a "destination for gays, lesbians, etc. who are passionate sports fans and athletes"?

And then I remembered: there already is such a destination. And as you can probably guess from the logo, they're 10 years old now. Congrats, Outsports.

Why Deny Vick's Kids A Puppy?

On Twitter yesterday I posed this question: do you believe in punishing children for the sins of their parents? It may have seemed to come out of the blue, without any context. It was my thought after reading reactions to a comment by Michael Vick in an interview that he would like to own a dog again someday. "I would love to get another dog in the future," he said. "I think it would be a big step for me in the rehabilitation process. I think just to have a pet in my household and to show people that I genuinely care, and my love, and my passion for animals." This brought out yet another barrage of hatred directed at Vick, with comments not unlike the "sub-human" comment I talked about in my last Vick post.

Some of the responses this time compared it to a child molester being allowed to have access to kids. I'm sorry, but I think there's a difference between an adult who sexually abuses children and someone running a dogfighting ring, even taking into account that he killed some of the dogs. I abhor anything related to dogfighting, but child sexual abuse is much, much worse.

The fact of the matter is that Vick is not allowed to own an animal while he's still on probation, so for now the point is moot. But what about after that? If he continues on the straight and narrow, if he continues to demonstrate that he's learned his lesson, if he continues to speak out against abuse of animals, is there really a risk if he makes his children's wishes come true and brings them home a puppy one day?

In the recent Sports Illustrated cover story, it mentions that fact, that at least one of his daughters wants a dog and isn't happy that she can't have one. If some people had their way, that little girl would be, in effect, punished for her father's misdeeds.

One Word On This Abomination...

NO.

Videos: Wonder Woman, Darren Criss

Thought I'd share a couple of videos. They can't be any more different, but both are worth watching.

The first is from Funny or Die. "A Date with Diana" completely besmirches the good name and reputation of Wonder Woman, and is hysterical. It was written and directed by Matthew Cole Weiss, who works on the TMZ television show. (I have to admit I'm a little smitten, seeing him on the show every night.)

A Date with Diana from Maggie Lawson

The other is a Rolling Stone interview with the adorable Darren Criss (pictured above), who plays Blaine on "Glee." He answers everything in song, playing his guitar.

MixBlog 12-15-10

The usual 1:20 am blogging time slot. So awesome. Anyway...

• Yesterday (Tuesday) I made a small donation to a toy drive for BEBASHI, a local HIV/AIDS services organization, after a column last week in the newspaper that said their donations were falling well short from previous years. Considering my financial situation I didn't spend much, but I still felt it was necessary. If you read this quickly there's still time to donate before Thursday's deadline. Information is here.

• After that I went down to Citizens Bank Park hoping to run into Cliff Lee. However, he hadn't arrived in town yet. Then I tried to see Roy Halladay but, as you can see from the picture, he was not around either. Okay, actually I was at the ballpark because the Phils were running a "12 Days of Christmas" promotion at the Majestic Clubhouse Store. Different discounts each day and other special things, and today the special was a free tour of the team's clubhouse. Here's a tip from the employees giving the tour: go for the full ballpark tour, during the season when the team is on the road. Then you see the players' cubicles with their uniforms and other stuff inside. They really have a nice facility. I took a few other pictures with the camera in my phone and I'll post them somewhere sometime.

• It was quite a day sports-wise. Besides the big Cliff Lee news,