Lick my square

I watched in shocked silence as cereal squares licked each other on my TV.

QOTD

"They've been licking each other for years, Da."
- Ty, laughing at me

Really?

a) Hot spy
How cool is that? Hot Russian spy girls "seducing government officials and businessmen into providing state secrets."

Anna Chapman, accused spy, is Internet sensation

And she's got a Facebook page...

Great metaphor for the times.
Even hot Russian spies aren't much of a mystery... shit, they're on Facebook.

b) Sweet contradiction
Enjoy the direct contradiction in today's WSJ story about Chicago's reaction to the Supremes 2nd amendment ruling this week:

• Picture of a woman and her family grieving somebody getting shot in Chicago with the caption: "On a recent weekend, more than 50 people were shot in the city"
• Headline: "Chicago Mulls Gun-Ban Alternative"... and the body of the story talks about how Chicago has to somehow reinstate their gun ban.

Um guys... I don't think your gun ban was actually doing all that well.
yow, bill

Fun and not so fun

a) Fun
ETF's are fun. Baskin-Robbins has nothing on ETF's because there's ever flavor of investment you can think of available now in ETF form.
Here's a good example:

The Vast Appeal of Frontier Market ETFs

How cool... Claymore/BNY Mellon Frontier Markets (FRN) "includes country allocations to Egypt, Colombia, Kazakhstan, Chile Chile, Poland, Lebanon, Nigeria, Peru and Oman." And double cool... the expense ratio for FRN is 0.65%.

There are two uncool things about exotic ETF's:

1. Some of these guys are thinly traded, so you pay more (the spread) when you buy them. For example, FRN only has $31M in assets, so you'll want to buy shares with a limit order to make sure you don't get jacked on the price when you buy or sell.
2. You have to have a pretty good investment algorithm or methodology. I don't think a lot of these exotic ETF flavors are good candidates for buy-and-hold. I'm working on it.
   

Fun.

b) Not so fun
The US housing market... not so fun.
There's some good stats in this 3-4 minute talking head video:

Housing Cheapest in 40 Years, But Renting Still Beats Buying, Dan Alpert Says

So, you can compare the cost of owning a house to the cost of renting: the price-to-rent-ratio. Simple interpretation: If this ratio is historically high, then housing prices might decline.

Here's some of this stuff quantified:

Real House Prices, Price-to-rent Ratio

You can click on that chart for a big version. We've certainly corrected, but we are still at the pre-2000 high level of price-rent ration. If we rip down to that 1990's low of 0.9, then we have another 20% of price declines to go.

And that's a big DOP... and not fun. Even with ridiculously low mortgage rates.

QOTD

"The answer to the 2nd question is... let's look at Japan."
- Guy on when will housing prices return to pre-crash levels, Dan Alpert, video guy

bikini fun... yow, bill

Algeria!

Something a little abstract (and crappy).

"Ballpark dirt"

I happily post a blurry picture of dirt, shadow and a cigarette butt from the little league ballpark where Ty was playing Saturday night... because I like it.

I am heartened to (still) not be posting for anyone else but me. Sorry if it sucks for everyone else.
NOT! He he.

a) Algeria!
I bought this soccer jersey... Algeria World Cup soccer jersey.

No explanation. I don't have one other than... I like the way it looks.

b) Kids movie
Movie: "Monsters and Aliens" Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... OK.

Well, this was a Ty recommendation.
Very little here for adults, but it was OK... and only 90 minutes.

c) iMath
Apple sold 1.7M iPhones in 3 days (source).
Let's do some iMath:

• Let's estimate 1.7M as 2M
• Let's assume $300 a pop
• That's 2M * $300 = $600M
  

$600M in a few days ain't bad. Of course, Apple has a market cap of $250B (quote), so $600M is pretty much SOP. Apple is gearing up to sell 10M of the suckers a quarter (source), so... jiminy!

BTW, that's an "iPhone bikini" over there.
Seriously.
he he... yow, bill

PS - Let me slip this one in because I missed it. Ron Santo played his first game as a Cub 50 years ago (story).

Some criticize Santo's style (or lack thereof) on the Cub radio broadcast. I like it; it's real. And it's a throwback. For me, Santo and Pat Hughes are a joy to listen to.

Ron Santo's 1961 Topps rookie card. Excellent.

Cub stink, but...

a) Cub stink
I love it, but how does Brenly get away with this stuff? Teams usually have a pretty short leash with announcers... especially the Corporate Cub.

QOTD

"I'm not a big believer in temper tantrums solving anything or creating momentum for your ballclub, but it's good to see somebody show some emotion in that first base dugout. This has been a dead-ass team for the better part of three months to start this season, and God knows there's been enough opportunities for guys to blow a cork. It's good to see somebody finally have an emotional involvement in the game."
- Bob Brenly, on Zambrano's dugout rant, source

Here's a great page from ESPN...

Chicago Cubs 2010 Salary/Payroll Information

The Cub have 8 players making more than $10M.
They are:

1. Alfonso Soriano - 2010 salary=$19,000,000 (Yahoo-rank=123)
2. Carlos Zambrano - $18,875,000 (962)
3. Aramis Ramirez - $16,750,000 (1073)
4. Kosuke Fukudome - $14,000,000 (388)
5. Ryan Dempster - $13,500,000 (108)
6. Derrek Lee - $13,250,000 (287)
7. Ted Lilly - $13,000,000 (175)
8. Carlos Silva - $12,750,000 (68)

OK, go:

• Cub have the 3rd highest payroll in the land.
• These 8 players will make more than $145M in 2010, which is 83% of the Cub payroll.

BTW, "Yahoo rank" is Yahoo's ranking of a guy statistically compared to all other players. So, when Carlos Silva is ranked #63, Yahoo says that he is the 63rd best player in baseball right now. For grins... the #1 player right now is Miggy Cabrera.

Now, God bless Carlos Silva, but if he's ranked in the top 100 by the end of this season, I'll eat my Cub hat. So, by the end of the year, you could have NONE of the Cub 8 highest-paid players in the top 100 players in baseball. You almost have to try to be that bad as a GM.

This is fun too. Yahoo lists their stats 50 players per page. So, here are the Cub players that appear in the top 50 in MLB in each stat category:

• Average = M Byrd .316
• Homer = none
• RBI = none
• Run = none
• SB = R Theriot 14
  

So, yes, the Cub stink.
But, Cub GM Jim Hendry is epically bad.
I mean these are some of the all-time worst moves/contracts in baseball history. And 2010 is not the worst of it. Some of these deals go out years and years into the future.

QOTD

"There was nothing wrong with the investment."
- Jim Hendry, on Carlos Zambrano's 5 year, $91M contract signed in 2007, source

Jeez.

b) LeBron frenzy
The "Lebron to the Bulls" chatter is a frenzy now:

Bulls may be front-runners in LeBron sweepstakes

I'll stick by my guns... LeBron will re-up with the Cav, for 2-3 years.
Why?
Again... Cleveland is home, and LeBron will get complete control of the franchise.

The Bull? Shit, Reinsdorf probably won't give LeBron his own parking spot, let alone special consideration for equity in the team or naming a coach or whatever.
We shall see.
cub lose... yow, bill

Childlessness

a) Childlessness
This one knocks me down.

QOTD

"One in five women aged 40 to 44 reported that they've never had children."
-some study, Report: Childlessness at record high in U.S.

One in five!
It's tough tough tough to go through life without any kids. Seems like going to Disney World and then not getting the E ticket... but whatever. It's one thing to decide to not have any kids, but the toughest of the tough is 40-something girls who are waiting for "the right guy" to then pop a kid out. Man, that's a killer.

b) Unlikely Gore Bashing
Eleanor Clift is the cranky girl on the McLaughlin Group... which I, nor anyone else, has watched in a decade. But anyway... she is the archetypal leftie sycophant. A toadie's toadie. And yet, her she is, piling on Al Gore. WTF!?!?

Al Gore: A Joke on Late-Night Talk Shows Once Again

Did you read that? She hops on the whole magilla:

• Al's pending divorce,
• both his kids' divorces,
  
• his bad-boy behavior during a massage (National Enquirer story),
  
• his weight gain,
  
• his lack of self-control after losing in 2000

Finally, she pushes Al down the stairs, saying Gore may have skeletons (i.e. strippers and such) in his closet ala Tiger Woods.

QOTD2

"I told him I wondered if other women Gore may or may not have had an encounter with will begin revealing themselves. 'Like Tiger?' my fellow runner laughed."
- Eleanor Clift, well-known toadie, comparing Al Gore to Tiger

What a ball buster. He he.
Oh, and I heart the National Enquirer.

c) Sixth Sense
Movie: "Sixth Sense"
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... top 10 all-time movie

Just watched the last 20 minutes or so on the tube. Jeez.

I was so lucky to go into "Sixth Sense" knowing absolutely nothing about the movie. Same for "The Matrix", both released in 1999. "Sixth Sense" is a lock in the top 10 all-time movie list, along with It's a Wonderful Life, Godfather, Manhattan, 2001 Space Odyssey, etc. I guess I should have a proper list. Oh well.
excellent... yow, bill

Over-reach and Uncertainty

Here's a fun one... well, for me at least.
Facebook keeps a photo album of all the pictures you use for your profile. I grabbed this yesterday.
My profile photos are highly occasion-oriented. From the top row, left to right:

• Father's Day, Hawk win, Hawk playoffs, AZ vacation, St. Patty's
• Weird Star Trek episode, Burish comes back & fights, my birthday, ???, ???
• Steve!, My iMac photo, Christmas Cub gnome, KGG win football, Christmas IAWL
• Great White Horth Christmas eh, Thanksgiving stuffing, Halloween, I watch "Watchmen" again, my Indy half marathon
  

Millard Fillmore? That's a puzzler. He he.

a) Green me, Al
OK, let's play.
Al gore co-authored an op-ed in the WSJ this week called Toward Sustainable Capitalism.

Quiz: How many times does the word green appear in the article?

[play the Jeopardy theme in your head for a couple seconds]

Answer: Zero. Nada. Bupkis.

The word "climate" appears once, but not as part of the phrase "climate change".
"Global warming" doesn't appear, but Al Gore doesn't say "global warming" any more because it doesn't test well with us common folk.

When's the last time that Al Gore wrote anything that didn't include the word green? This is a sample of one, but maybe it's the start of a shift away from Gore's "all in" on global warming, which has been (rightfully) beaten to a pulp in the last year. Even Al doesn't want to be a one-trick pony... there's money to be made!

I don't think you'll be able to read Al's whole article because of WSJ's subscription setup, but no matter. Your humble author is here to help. Al's breakthrough on sustaining capitalism is two-pronged:

1. Make compensation take into account longer-term performance
2. More shareholder say on executive compensation
   

That's it. Done.

It's pretty weird to see this bland and weak an editorial in the WSJ. So, why did this content-free, weak-ass shit make it to the pages of the WSJ... I guess when Al Gore come a-knocking, you put it in your paper. I guess.

b) Over-reach and Uncertainty
Like a buzzing vuvuzela at a South African soccer match (he he), we are pounded by the message, over and over again: you can't blame President Obama for this or that.

Well, we're 18 months in now, and we can start pointing to specific policies and decisions that inhibit, rather than foster, economic growth and job creation. The CEO of Verizon does just that in today's WSJ Notable & Quotable:

Notable & Quotable -
Verizon CEO and Business Roundtable Chairman Ivan Seidenberg on government and the economy

That's another subscription piece, but let me (again) give you a peek.

QOTD

"By reaching into virtually every sector of economic life, government is injecting uncertainty into the marketplace and making it harder to raise capital and create new businesses."
- Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg

That's the money, right there... over-reach and uncertainty.
In investing in future endeavors, businesses must today ask:

• What additional regulations will I face?
• What additional taxes will I be paying?
• How much will I have to pay for my employees' health care/Obamacare?
• For larger corporations, what is the political risk of my activity?
  

All investment involves assessing the risk of a thing versus not doing it. If I can't answer the questions above, then I think I'll just hold on to my dough... in these difficult and uncertain times. Of course, our president hasn't even run a lemonade stand, let alone started a real business, so how was he to know?

Well, we're gliding along at 10% unemployment with massive tax hikes in line for next year and nebulous ObamaCare awaiting in the shadows. After 18 months of the Obama presidency, he has injected uncertainty and the fed's continue to over-reach into our economic system. For this, we can blame the Obama presidency.
scarlett... yow, bill

Girls Running Things

a) Christmas is July
Well, June, but who cares:

Ice Girls from Around the NHL

b) Girls Running Things
Of course, I'm firmly against girls actually running anything like a country or a company or whatever.
Sorry. Just kidding.

Anyway, Australia and Iceland seem like nice enough places. I've been to Iceland. I aspire to Australia. They also have female leaders... Prime Ministers, I believe. Julia and Johanna.

Australia PM - Julia Gillard
It's not such a big deal to have a woman leader, but according to wikipedia, she's

• Only 48 yo
• Single and never been married
  
• Never had kids
• Ddating her former hairdresser... a "bubbly" beer-guzzler in the finest Australian tradition (Gillard's partner Tim Mathieson 'bubbly'), and
• Described herself as non-religious

It sounds like she should be on plentyoffish, not running Australia. He he.
Actually, she sounds really wonderful... like an actual person. Good job, Australia.

Iceland PM: Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir
Well, she's got a nice Wikipedia page there: Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir
Johanna is the first gay leader of a major country. So, the funny part is that the female PM of Iceland has a "first lady". He he.

She also has a blog: Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir blog
It's in Icelandic though, so it kind of defeats the purpose.

QOTD

"You don’t appreciate your own country until you go to a country that doesn’t have the courtesy to speak English"
-Steve Martin

Kind of a head-scratcher why these, seemingly, normal people would sound so out of place in American politics. Bah. They probably suck, and I just don't know about it.
women schm-omen... yow, bill

PS - Dairy Queen is 70 and born in Joliet (story)... just like my father, Moz. Also, DQ is owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (wikipedia). Wild. M&M Blizzard... mmmmmm.

I heart Doug Glanville

Book: "The Game From Where I Stand" by Doug Glanville
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)... not worth it
Website: www.dougglanville.com

Dang. I really wanted to like this book. Doug Glanville was a nice little ballplayer. Ex-Cub, but played most of his career with the Phillies. And he's nearly a nerd... engineering degree from Penn. He's not just a talking head on ESPN; he's got his own business: www.gk-alliance.com. Doug Glanville seems like a genuinely nice guy.

Alas, the book is pretty boring. There are few inside stories, to be honest. And the most painful chapters were his 3rd party takes on news like steroids and other teams and players and stuff. (Sort of boring like this blog, he he). Even the personal stories that Glanville talks about are pretty generic: getting drafted, first game, death in the family, etc.

Low point (maybe)... Glanville is yet another ballplayer who says he never saw or heard or anything about steroids during the juiced era. Maybe true. Probably true in Glanville's case. But yawn.

High point (maybe)... Glanville talks a little about how the Cub organization didn't handle him well. He flourished once he was traded by the Cub to the Phillie.

So, I heart Doug Glanville. But his book. Meh.

QOTD

"Peeking inside, I immediately understood the problem with bringing "random" people into the family room. My date was wearing a skin-tight white body suit with PRECIOUS stenciled across the front written over a set of lips - a fashion ensemble that understandably made a lot of people in that room uncomfortable."
- Doug Glanville, on the Cubs VIP/family room

I also heart www.baseball-reference.com which is one of the best sites on the web. Interesting stuff on Glanville's page includes:

• He played 1,115 games in the big leagues. Excellent.
  
• Only a .315 OBP as a leadoff hitter his whole dang career. Man, that's brutal.
• Stole 168 bases in 204 attempts... a very nice 82% success rate
  
• Made $11M over his whole career
  

Finally, Glanville makes the excellent point that old guys on steroids who can add 1-2 years onto their career make tons of dough. Your pay is much higher as a veteran than early on, so it was worth it for a lot of these guys.
ex-cub factor... yow, bill

BP. Schmee Pee.

Ah, people watching at Brookfield Zoo.

"Human zoo"

a) BP... schmee pee
My guy, the Mad Hedge Fund dude, has a real interesting piece on the BP oil spill:

www.madhedgefundtrader.com/june-22-2010.html

Did you catch that:

• This is "the largest and most powerful well in history"
• And the size of the BP spill "... is the same amount of oil that was dumped into the Atlantic during WWII, when 452 tankers were sunk by German U-boats, mostly along the US east coast"
• And yes, pretty funny video: BP Coffee Spill sketch
  

One could argue that BP shareholders are paying for the lack of leadership shown by their CEO. One could also argue that American citizens are paying for the lack of leadership by our "CEO", President Obama.

b) One new TV show
Ole Bill (me) doesn't really have any new TV shows that I watch/like. Shit, it's way worse than that. I have shunned (by default) whole genres of TV/popular culture... things like reality TV or extreme sports, etc. I consider this a natural (aging) process... popular culture doesn't like me, and I don't much care for it. And hey, I don't need to watch more TV.

Anyway, I have watched one new show a couple times now: Intervention TV Show
Intervention is a documentary show that follows one person through their addiction (to whatever substance) and the impact it has on their life. The hook is to follow an "intervention" by that person's family to get them to go to rehab.

The episodes of Intervention that I have seen all have the same flow:

1. The setup - Joe is addicted to crack or Mary is an alcoholic or whatever
2. The disaster - Joe or Mary's life is a shambles, with an emphasis on the impact on their friends/families
3. The ending - Joe or Mary go through their intervention and head off to rehab
4. The last 30 seconds - what are Joe or Mary doing NOW!
   

Those last 30 seconds are everything to Intervention. Only a couple shows under my belt, but I have yet to see an episode with a happy ending. Last night, some teenage girl was smoking black heroin (who knew heroin was black?!?) and snorted crushed Xanax pills (huh?!?). The girl, in just a few years, had already fried her lungs and was on some crazy kind of inhaler to even breath. So,

• I caught the setup,
  
• Flipped back and forth between the disaster and the ballgame,
  
• She went off to rehab,
  
• And then the last 30 seconds... after all the turmoil and shit and rehab... Mary is back on her black heroin and all
  

You see all the shit these people go through.
And Jiminy. Back down the rabbit hole they go.

Intervention is a good show because it show addiction as it really is, or at least my understanding of it. Dang, addiction is tough tough tough. Duh.


QOTD

Slip and slide
Push it in
-Van Hagar, "Black and Blue"

ou812... yow, bill



PS - Of course, the dumbest thing on TV. Ever. The World Cup with all the nonstop buzzing horns blaring. Ever. The only cool thing about the World Cup is the jerseys. Like Algeria here. Smooth...

Universal Loathing

a) Great headline
Great WSJ headline today:

Even the French Hate the French

Sub-head under that:

Les Bleus Prompt a Rare Reaction After the World Cup:
Universal Loathing

The article is about the French soccer team, I think. Who cares.

They were talking about the BIG USA soccer match this morning on sports radio. This, they explained, was a REALLY exciting World Cup match because both the US and their opponent, Algeria, want to win... rather than just take the air out of the ball and tie.
Yawn.

b) Optical illusion
I heart Ichiro.
I got to see something totally unique in baseball last night... an Ichiro infield single.
Little slap, two-bouncer to the shortstop, who rushes toward the ball, hurries a strong throw to first base, and... safe.

You see a play like that a thousand times and the guy is out every time. But Ichiro is an optical illusion... a half second faster down the line than any other player in baseball. Too cool.

A couple Ichiro stats from last night's broadcast:

• Ichiro is on pace for his 10th straight 200+ hit season... an all-time record.
• In his career, Ichiro has averages 1.4 hits/game... another all-time record.

Another record that they mentioned, Casey Kotchman, 1B for the Mariner, has played 240 games without an error (source). That's pretty cool. Even wilder... that's over 2,000 chances for the first baseman. So, 2,000 times in a row, he catches the ball or throws it or fields it or whatever, without a mistake. Jiminy.
peace out... yow, bill

Not now... I'm on vacation

a) Vacation silliness
It's another good silliness test. You know someone is not serious when he/she argues that the President is on vacation too much... not working hard enough. For 8 years, we heard from my leftie brothers and sisters about slacker W going to his ranch in Texas. Now, we hear from righties about President Obama's golfing and goofing off all the time.

In a novel twist, the media has its panties twisted about the BP CEO taking a vacation weekend.

BP CEO on a boat

QOTD

"I don't think he has any feelings."
- Some Gulf nabob, on BP CEO attending a yacht race this weekend

President Obama Golfing and at the Nats game

QOTD2

"If Bush were the President, and handled it this way, there'd be like a movement to throw him out of office and replace him with somebody."
- Rudy Guiliani, source

I don't care what your vacation schedule is or even how hard you work... I care about your results. Of course.

b) Tampa Rays: Doesn't Make Sense
In an apparent attempt to emulate the disastrous viewing experience that fans are being treated to with the World Cup, the Tampa Bay Ray passe out those stupid buzzing horns at one of their games recently.

Zzzzz! Vuvuzelas attack Marlins/Rays

QOTD3

"They're annoying.
I mean, there's cool things and there's very non-cool things.
That's a non-cool thing. ... It just doesn't make any sense."
- Joe Maddon, manager of TB Ray on these vuvuzela horns at the Rays game

World Cup soccer.
Annoying, buzzing horns.
That's right, Joe... it just doesn't make any sense.

c) Yankee: Makes perfect sense
I wouldn't know Lady Gaga if she bagged my groceries at the Jew-el.
But this is a good one... she showed up at the Yankee game in a jersey and black bra/panties.

Lady Gaga still welcome at Yankees after amusing clubhouse visit
Now, that makes perfect sense... sell it, baby!
he he... yow, bill

Copa del mundo!

QOTD

"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."
- Mark Twain

1. Hey, Happy Father's Day.
2. And the only interesting thing about World Cup soccer that I've seen:

GOAL!
he he... yow, bill

Sugar Sweet. Blech.

Sugar sweet (but nice) story:

Cupid strikes: Mariners bullpen catcher marrying woman he spotted in stands

QOTD

"Phillips grabbed a baseball, scribbled his number on it, got the woman's attention and tossed it to her."
- Ballplayer picks up hot chick during a game

It took a little google-digging, but there's the hot chick in questions, Molly whats-her-name.
Definitely baseball worthy. He he.
blech... yow bill

Working girls

QOTD

"Shoes with killer's name found; cops didn't make connection"
- Headline in the Naperville Sun today

a) Working Girls
Who's working harder?

1. Rush Limbaugh's new wife, or
   
2. Al Gore's mistress

OK. Let's go to the videotape.

Rush and his new wife:

Al Gore and mistress Laurie David, Larry David's ex-wife (Larry and Laurie?!?!?):

Well, Limbaugh's wife, pre-nup or no, is still in line for a bi payday.
But, she is only 33... whereas the ex-Mrs. David is a 50-something. I guess my point being... 33 seems awfully young to be playing the rich, old guy card.
Ah, who cares.
But jeez, it ain't easy being a girl.
Yuk.

b) Cub stink
Listening to people bash the Cub on the radio is boring as paste and more commonplace than over-priced beers at a ballgame. But, when people within the Cub little circle start pointing out how they stink... well, that's a little more interesting.

• "Ever since I've been here in Chicago... the same problems keep coming up, poor base-running, poor defense... it's the lack of solid fundamentals on a daily basis that really gets to me, and I think gets to a lot of fans." - Bob Brenly, Cub announcer (source)
  
• [Cub catcher] Koyie Hill called the Cubs out Thursday in Milwaukee as being "one of the worst fundamental teams" in the game. (source)
  

There are two problems:

1. We are saddled with GM Jim Hendry's horrific signing: Soriano, Zambrano, Fukudome, and on and on and on.
   
2. We are in transition.I'll bet a dollar that new owner Ricketts cleans house after this season.
   

Cub stink.
Regardless, the Cub seem to be focusing on what they do best... raising revenue:

• The (crappy) new Toyota sign is up... Toyota Sign Up at Wrigley for Crosstown Classic
• And now, there appears to be some giant noodle outside Wrigley, promoting (wait for it) Kraft macaroni and cheese... Giant Noodle Statute Outside Wrigley Field

Sigh.

c) Obama stinks?
People seem to be on fire about President Obama's BP speech from the Oval Office. Shit, I'm not watching that. But there's even an MSNBC video criticizing the thing. And this quote...

QOTD2

[the speech] "was, to be frank, vapid ... If you watched with the sound off, you might have thought he was giving a lecture on the history of the Interstate Highway System."
- leftie R Reich, on President Obama's BP speech (source)

I don't know about that. All I know is...

• President Obama said just a week ago that talking to the BP CEO was a waste of time, and
  
• Didn't President Obama say we should crank up some more drilling a couple months ago.
  

Ah, what do I know.
peace... yow, bill

Re-splicing

a) Splice
Movie: "Splice"
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth it.

Based on the (cool) trailer, I went in thinking that "Splice" would be a variation of "Species". Well, Species is sort of a good movie that's completely formulaic. It turns out the Splice is quite different than the formula sci-fi movie, but could have been executed much better. There are moments in Splice where I couldn't tell if it was funny on purpose or just bad funny. I was surprised that Splice wasn't very scary or gory... again based on the trailer.

Splice has a girl scientist and a boy scientist. The girl, Sarah Polly from "Go", did a good job. She's quirky hot (over there to the right). The boy not so good. Adrian Brody is a stiff.

QOTD

"Human cloning is illegal.
This won't be human... not entirely."
- Sarah Polley from the Splice trailer

There are a couple of really great scenes in Splice, and some wild, wild plot twists. Man, we had fun fun fun talking about the movie over mini-burgers afterward. I really enjoyed it.

b) Nucular
I did not know this one.
We spent 20 years studying and $10B constructing a nuclear waste site in Nevada.
Last year, President Obama and the dem Congress shut it down.

Obama's Other Disaster

How come?
Well, Harry Reid didn't like it in Nevada.
Just plain, old politics. Yawn.

c) Try this
If you get a chance, try the new Wentz Concert Hall at beautiful North Central College.



The place is 5 bill-stars; it's beautiful and a great place to see a show. I hate to call it "culture", but it's a very urban/upscale atmosphere for classical, jazz, choir, etc. Student performances are sometimes given there. They also have a smattering of regular, old pop music acts as well. Tickets are surprisingly cheap too. Try it!

Speaking of a show, here's a link to the Fine Arts program at North Central where you can peruse their latest fare.

finearts.northcentralcollege.edu/

splice 2, the re-splicing... yow, bill

5 star finale

This is from the monkey house at Brookfield.

"Waterfall, indoors"

a) "Protect and Defend"
Mitch Rapp!

QOTD

"Minister Ashani?" the called said in English.

"Yes."

"This is Mitch Rapp. I work for Director Kennedy. Do you know who I am?"

Ashani glanced nervously out the window and said as casually as he could, "I'm afraid everyone in our line of work is aware of your reputation."

"Good. The you'll know how serious I am when I tell you that I'm going to kill you."

"Excuse me?" Ashani said in genuine surprise.

"I know what you've been up to. If Director Kennedy is not released in the next hour, I'm coming after you. And if, as you say, everyone in our line of work is aware of my reputation, then you know I will succeed. I will hunt your ass down and kill you, and no level of security will stop me."

- "Protect and Defend", Mitch Rapp calls Iran's Director of Intelligence on his cell

Book: "Protect and Defend" by Vince Flynn
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... the best!

Ah shit, I've reviewed like 10 of these Mitch Rapp books now... each one better than the next.
If you're a guy, and you want light, fun, action-packed reading, then grab yourself some Mitch Rapp. Or, email me and you can borrow one of mine.

This was my last Mitch Rapp book that hadn't read yet. I have a crappy memory. And it's dang inconvenient, oftentimes. But not in this case. I'll give it 6 months, a year at the most, and I'll hit my Mitch Rapp collection again. Su-weet!

This dude has a list of the Mitch Rapp books, in order: Vince Flynn: In order (Amazon list)

QOTD2

Rapp took one more look at Kennedy and then the man who had been beating her. He could feel the bile rising up from deep within.

The man looked at Rapp and said, "I was only following orders."

"So am I." Rapp pulled the trigger on the 9mm and shot him in the chest.
-I guess you shouldn't have tortured Mitch Rapp's boss and best friend, eh

b) Crazier than fiction... reality in politics
A big part of the Mitch Rapp allure is author Vince Flynn's disdain for government. This usually shows up in some national security context in Flynn's books, but you see it in all aspects of how the feds run their business. Like ObamaCare.

Ah, Obamacare.
Remember President Obama telling you how Obamacare was going to save money. Of course. We're going to add millions of people to the dole AND save money. Excellent.

Well, a large part of that (bogus) equation was cutting the bejesus out of doctor pay on Medicare services. It seems President Obama is having second thoughts on this approach.

QOTD

"I realize that simply kicking these cuts down the road another year is not a long-term solution. I am committed to permanently reforming this Medicare formula in a way that balances fiscal responsibility with the responsibility we have to doctors and seniors."
- President Obama, wants to remove cuts to doctor pay in the Medicare budget

The repubs are chumps, but even they can figure out to vote against this one. I think.

And don't forget, if there's any trouble... you can try diplomacy... or send in the military... or, if those fail you can use the "third option" - Mitch Rapp. Huzzah!
i heart mitch rapp... yow, bill

O mighty Kalu!

a) MS Nuts
Fun spam... Martha Stewarts' nuts.

b) Let's slow down the economy now, eh.
Leftie. Rightie.
Blah blah blah.
I think we can all agree on at least, um, making sense... not directly contradicting yourself.
Right?

OK, so why didn't President Obama rescind the W "tax cuts for the rich" last year?
It was an easy vote... dem Congress... tasty populist blather... big deficits... vote against W... sock it to the rich... blah blah blah.

No way, said Obama. Back in Nov of 2008, he said that we can't do that because it'll slow the economy.

Obama: Recession Could Delay Rescinding Bush Tax Cuts

(BTW, I think that's my first HuffPo link used as a source... he he. Who'd a-think. But it does seem to be the original source for the story at a lot of other places. Talk about blather... the HuffPo)

OK, so we'll raise taxes now on capital gains and dividends and slow the economy, right President Obama?
Cha. Good one.
Hey, I'm sure the slowdown will be more than matched by all the boost that Obamacare will give the economy,
Zing!

(BTW #2, that BP CEO that President Obama said wasn't worth even talking to... even though he's in charge of the company trying to stop the oil leak in the gulf... Obama is meeting with him next week. In person.)

c) Borrowing Kalu
Kalu is the god of the Tree People (I think) in Flash Gordon.

Being areligious myself, Kalu is my fave choice (oops, ONLY choice... sorry Kalu) for a generic pagan god applicable to whatever circumstance I may bump into. So, today...

All hail... MIGHTY Kalu,
the God of Inane Blogging!

QOTD

"O mighty Kalu, I dedicate my life to your service. For it is written, that only by such a sacrifice can I atone for the wrong that had been done to you."
- Oath to Kalu in Flash Gordon, source

Earth to Obama...
Earth to Obama...
hail kalu... yow, bill

Hawk win!

Hawk win the Stanley Cup!

Well, that was a lot of crazy, intense fun. Su-weet.

And funny, it isn't just the winning. The Hawk are the youngest team in the NHL, and I think the most skilled team as well. No "dump and chase" or grinding it out. We don't have any goons or "effort guys" who couldn't put the puck in the net to save their lives. Guys like Kane and Toews are leaders and showmen.

So, huzzah to Coach Q and the boys: Toews, Kaner, Big Buf, Niemi, Hossa, Sharpy, Steeger, Ben Eager, Duncan Keith, Seabrook, Madden, Sopel, The Hammer, Burish...
It was a great, fun run to the Cup!
huzzah... yow, bill

The Hawks' 1961 Stanley Cup Win

En homage to the last Chicago Stanley Cup winner - 1961 Chicago Blackhawk!

Bobby Hull with the Cup in 1961

Flippin' 50 years ago... older than me. He he.
Some tasty links:

Great video of Game 6, the series winner: Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup 1961 (video)

And a nice Wikipedia summary: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Stanley_Cup_Finals

Little more of the storyline of the Hawk playoffs: www.hhof.com/html/exscj05_27.shtml

And Hawk defenseman, Jack "Tex" Evans: www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=1600

1961 Chicago Blackhawks

OK, that's 1961... now on to 2010!
hawk win... yow, bill

Nightmare!

QOTD

"It was a nightmare for him, Little Tommy."
- Uncle Lar, Animal Stories Facebook group

a) Nightmare. Everywhere!
It's a nightmare in Britain. Really it is.
And it's headed here to the US.
Ack!
Here's the story:

Nightmare! What The UK's New Austerity Budget Would Look Like In The U.S.

Austerity.
Draconian.
Nightmare!

WTF. Even the worst of these budget cuts are just 5%. If you start 2-3 years ago, then none of these budgets are cut. I don't know who "Business Insider" is, but this is typical. Any cut is a "nightmare"... even though the private sector has just weathered real cuts and re-tooling as we speak.

b) Let's Go See Game 7
Of course, the Hawk will win tonight in Game 6.
But, just for grins... let's go see Game 7.
Some www.stubhub.com stats:

• 1,668 tickets available
• Cheapest ticket - Standing Room Only = $780
• Most expensive ticket - On the glass, section 114 = $13,500
  

Cha.
I think I'll pass.
If there is a game 7, I wonder if prices will go up or down.

Bah, this is all academic as the Hawk will be skating home from Philly with Lord Stanley's Cup tonight after game 6!

Old-time hockey, boys!
shoot the puck... yow, bill

Long lean hogs. Short sugar.

a) Cool Chart
This cool chart shows YTD performance of a bunch of markets: stock, bond, commodity, etc. Click on that bad boy to read it better.


Source: www.finviz.com/futures_performance.ashx?v=17

You can get all kinds of charts and over various timeframes from that finviz site. Very nice.

b) Incompetence
This is a nice "Hey, I don't know what I'm doing over here!" quote.

QOTD

"I have not spoken to him directly. Here's the reason. Because my experience is, when you talk to a guy like a BP CEO, he's gonna say all the right things to me. I'm not interested in words. I'm interested in actions."
- President Obama, interview on June 8, 2010... source

Go back and read that QOTD and pull out the key two words... "my experience". I'm not sure what experience President Obama is tapping here.

OK. Sorry, that's just raw incompetence. 50 days into this spill, and President Obama hasn't spoken with the CEO of BP. The CEO of the company who created the spill and is now in charge of cleaning it up!?!? I can't even get my head around that one.

The Obama-fueled desperation on the left is palpable... and getting nastier and nastier. A news story popped up on Yahoo about a snarky Facebook group that jokes about using Sarah Palin to plug the oil spill. It has like 100,000+ people signed up. I went to the group and its full to the brim of anger and hate. All right there for you.
Can you imagine announcing to the world: "Look at me. I'm a hateful idiot!"
That's arrogance. Blind arrogance.

Things are clearing up these days, aren't they?

1. President Obama is 50 days into one of the worst oil spills in history, and he hasn't even talked to the CEO of BP.
2. Eric Holder's going to sue AZ before even reading the 10 page immigration bill. The Attorney General of the United States?!?!
   
3. Closing Gitmo. Not closing Gitmo. Trying terrorists in NYNY. Not trying terrorists in NYNY. Iran sanctions. No Iran sanctions. North Korea blows a fucking ship out of the water, killing 40 South Korean sailors... and Team Obama's response?
   
4. Obamacare seems to be maintaining its healthy 60-40 polling against its existence... even months after passing and with all the other noise around us!
   
5. I don't think anyone even pretends that the stimulus bill is creating any "real" jobs any more. When the monthly jobs report comes out now, analysts turn first to their erasers, smudging out the bogus census jobs.

That last one is the key, right?
No jobs by November... and Daddy, we'll see some old school hope and change then. Yow!

Speaking of old school... a little Dita to the right over there.
ex-mrs manson of course... yow, bill

FLAMED!

a) I got flamed.
I got this in my email... flamed in response to a yelp-review I did.

QOTD

"Just read your review of Francesca's Restaurant. What exactly did you mean "Francsca's in Bolingbrook .. it's like Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett?" Are you possibly casting an ill light on Bolingbrook? I certainly hope not because Bolingbrook outshines Naperville a million times over. Why don't you go ahead and stay in Naperville and go to Francesca's there. Bolingbrook does not need your "better than the rest of us" attitude. We like real people not fakes."
- Barbara J, presumably a Bolingbrook resident or at least a Bolingbrook-phile

Here's my review that got ole Barbara peeved:
www.yelp.com/biz/francescas-at-the-promenade-bolingbrook

I guess my review was a little snarky... but funny snark, not mean snark. And I did give the place 5 yelp-stars and said that Bolingbrook was more relaxed than Naperville.
So be it.
I'll write Barbara back and tell her I love her and Bolingbrook... smooth everything over.

b) Unemployment
Here's a gloomy gus prediction on unemployment:

The Bad News - Bad News on Jobs

Jiminy.
If this guy is right, and the employment report next month shows a private sector job loss of 200K... well jeez, the stock market won't like that. Not one bit.
We'll see.

And when's the last time President Obama said the word "job".
I know he's kicking ass now, and he's concentrating on bad-mouthing Israel, but "jobs"?
Hmm.
peace to bolingbrook... yow, bill

Fibbing

a) Fibbing. Badly.
Here's a video of the President fibbing badly.

President Obama kicking ass video

No arguing this point or that... though we could.
Just body language.
Ridiculous, silly, impotent, run-of-the-mill politician lying to cover his ass.

b) Ghost World
Scarlett and Thora Birch in (fun, little movie) "Ghost World".

Nice ending to "Ghost World"... fade into the sunset on the "Not In Service" bus.
Meaning?
I guess not suicide or something nefarious.
Just... walking away. Starting over.
I guess.
not fibbing... yow, bill

Here Come The Hawks!

Hawk lead 3-2... great, totally awesome game 5 at the Stadium!
Celebrate with the all-time classic:

Here Come the Hawks (MP3)

a) Marketing: A rough day
You think you've had a rough day at the office... how about the marketing boys who, a while back, came up with a sponsor for the Cub-Sock series. Not a bad idea... little sponsor action to toss a couple more sheckles into the Chicago baseball pot.

Their sponsor: BP.

Here's two stories to compare and contrast:

• Apr 26, 2010 - exuberant announcement of the new BP sponsorship... BP Sponsoring New Cubs-White Sox Crosstown Cup Series
• Jun 30, 2010 - post oil spill, dop... BP Still Sponsoring Cubs-White Sox Series, But Scaling Back A Bit

Scaling back a bit... he he.

QOTD

"I read that James Cameron of Avatar fame wants to help.
I think they should let him down there.
He could write some insipid dialogue that might dilute the seriousness of the spill."
- Dennis Miller

b) Marketing: Who'd a-thunk it
I have no idea who's going to buy these, but... excellent concert pianist Lang Lang (yeah, I've seen him... over at the CSO) has his own line of shoes at Adidas, the "Lang Lang Adidas Gazelle".

See the picture of Lang Lang like he's playing the piano on them. He he.
I'd seriously grab some, but not for 125 clams. Dop. Link: www.langlang.com/adidas
Lang Lang also peddles pianos (link), which at least makes sense, eh.
yow, bill

PS - I hate to break bad on my blogger brothers, but we had a nice blogger outage for a while there. I'm not complaining, and it is free free free, but ya know...


PS - Just testing that bikini uploads still work... excellent.