MRod says: Is the crew ready? Like spaghetti.

I went through a period in my life where I used to watch BET 106 and Park regularly and… I don’t care who you are, but you HAD to give it up to my man Jin when on BET freestyle fridays he destroyed all those phony challengers. Seriously, watch these clips to see what’s called “running the table” as he straight slays all these cats one after the other. Also, note how he wins the initially skeptical crowd over week after week–who were all too stupid to keep coming at him with the Chinaman jokes (What’s wrong with ya’ll? It’s the 21st mofo century). Unfortunately the above videos don’t capture the last few battles where he gets better and better, and by the last battle the crowd is outright mocking the pathetic roadkill challenger.

Anyway, back to the point of this entry. Watch this clip of my friend’s friend freestyle for like 9 minutes non-stop. It takes me 9 minutes to just write a haiku so…

Sunday

“Picnic at local park. Children welcome. Subway 6 footers will be available. Please bring any other food and drinks you would like. 12pm.”

How can I resist the Subway?  Better buy my plane ticket, put in for my vacation time, and book the hotel room!

I never quite found Garfield all that funny or amusing.  Even as a seven year old learning to speak English I found it very uncouth and provincial in some way.  At least Peanuts, which I never enjoyed too much, had some pace or ambience.

Stripped of that obnoxious cat I find Garfield pretty humorous.  Garfield sans Garfield becomes almost a visual koan or a comic rorschach test that provides enlightenment of some sort, or as the website states: “Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb.”  Gawd, that is a genius observation: He was totally bugged out on meth…

This is a fascinating Wired article about the for-hire salvage team that saved the Cougar Ace a listed transport ship holding 4,703 Mazda cars with a total estimated value of $103 million.  These salvage companies fly all over the world competing to win the right to save dead cargo ships, not necessarily out of goodwill but because if their efforts are successful, it can be goddamn lucrative.  Very dangerous, but very financially rewarding.

Salvage work has long been viewed as a form of legal piracy. The insurers of a disabled ship with valuable cargo will offer from 10 to 70 percent of the value of the ship and its cargo to anyone who can save it. If the salvage effort fails, they don’t pay a dime. It’s a risky business: As ships have gotten bigger and cargo more valuable, the expertise and resources required to mount a salvage effort have steadily increased. When a job went bad in 2004, Titan ended up with little more than the ship’s bell as a souvenir. Around the company’s headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, it’s known as the $11.6 million bell.

But the rewards have grown as well. When the Titan team refloated that container ship in Mexico, the company was offered $30 million, and it’s holding out for more. That kind of money finances staging grounds in southern Florida, England, and Singapore and pays the salaries of 45 employees who drive Lotuses, BMWs, and muscle cars tricked out with loud aftermarket DynoMax exhaust systems. There’s also a wall at Titan headquarters with a row of photos of the men who died on the job. Three have been killed in the past three years.

To read rest…click here.

Cy sent me this music video and it’s simply joyous.

Sure most of these are sophomoric, but don’t act like you haven’t laughed at a knock-knock or scatologic joke lately.

This image should really literally be in every dictionary next to the word ‘fear.’

It’s like he’s one of those Russian nesting dolls.

And my favorite:

It’s true.  Sneaky, sneaky alcoholic ninjas.

More here.

Mike linked to a really fascinating article from the New Republic that does a great job of cutting through the smokescreen of people dismissing Obama’s candidacy as mere lofty words that lacks backbone and a foundation.  Instead, when examining the foreign policy wonks and economic oracles guiding Obama’s platform, the picture that emerges after the proverbial credentials, degrees, and publications, is a team distinct for as the article states, this: The Obamanauts are decidedly non-ideological.  Whichever way your political leanings bend you should read this article.

Kaizar and Co. at Newstrust has more.

First we had Sarah Silverman drop the bombshell in sing-song verse on her boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel that she is fucking Matt Damon.

Then Jimmy Kimmel gets back at Sarah by stepping out of the closet and with the assistance of his celebrity buddies announces that he’s fucking Ben Affleck.  The AFLAC duck could really have a field day with this concept.

Now Seth Rogan asks if he can play too.

Will all these Hollywoodites stop with their inside jokes, and name dropping, and get down to what we, the fans, the audience wants to see: a Justice League movie.  Thanks.

Ever since I donated a little bit of money to my presidential candidate of choice I’ve found myself on nearly every mailing list from A to Z.  To entice donations a lot of them will have a free “gift” of stickers and other bric-a-brac.  I usually just ignore and throw them out put them in the recycling bin.

However I made the mistake tonight of opening one of them.   It was like the mother lode of free gifts.

Inside I found the usual “fancy” mailing labels imprinted with my mailing address framed in faux gold, as well as stickers (”Take time to dream”).  Nothing too out of the ordinary and about on par for these things.  Then I found a  note pad (hmmm, kind of useful), a couple bookmarks (I am in the middle of a new Kundera book…), and a small wall calendar (Kind of perfect for my cubicle at work).

Then the kicker: a freakin dope dream catcher.  I’m always such a sucker for dream catchers.  I like the folk myth behind them and I just think they look dope.  Then to REALLY tug on my heart strings…which are always ultimately tied to my wallet, I found a Certificate of Appreciation presented to ME (and my name was spelled correctly!) that (kinda presumptuous of them actually…) said “in recognition of your generous gift to St. Joseph’s Indian School and the Lakota children whose lives will be happier and futures will be brighter.”  UGH.  Now I REALLY have to actually send them some money.  That is some brilliant marketing.

I want to say former but the more I look at it I think the latter. What say you?

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