Serpentvenom Snippets

New Season, Same Old Niners?

2010-09-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

I've always maintained a wait and see attitude ever since the Niner's first drafted Alex Smith. After all, he had a different head coach and offensive coordinator every season since he first came aboard. Also the fact that he did not have a marquee receiver to throw to, and his offensive line was more porous than a colander, I felt that he deserved a little slack for not single-handedly turning the franchise around.

Things are different this year. For one, the offensive line is solid. Two, he has a great down-field receiver and a great tight-end to throw to. And the running game is as reliable as ever. But Smith made too many mistakes yesterday. It's true that some of his incompletions and at least one interception was the fault of his receivers, but a couple of critical plays were missed because he was off target. Two passes in the end-zone ended up incomplete because he threw too wide or too high. There is no excuse for those passes being off. He had plenty of time to throw both.

This is the year that will determine Smith's fate. He will not have a job very long if he continues playing like this. And I will regret giving him the benefit of the doubt all this time.

Giants Show signs of Life

2009-04-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a little rough early on, but the Giants are finally showing some backbone. They nearly swept the Diamondbacks this past weekend, and then they downed the Dodgers last night. A couple of more games like this, and maybe they'll start filling those seats again.

Sharks Best Season Ends in Defeat

2009-04-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

The poor San Jose Sharks. They finish the season as the best team in the NHL, only to be dumped out of the play-offs in the first round. The last time they were trashed in the play-offs in the early rounds, they fired their coach. What are they going to do now?

Manny and L.A. Sitting in a Tree

2009-03-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

Looks like they're stuck with each other after all. Which is good news for the Giants. Now San Francisco can get on with filling out their lineup with stable hitters who don't quit playing when their feelings get hurt. As for the Manny and the Dodgers, they are destined to end badly.

The negotiations went poorly for both sides. Manny couldn't get a long term contract, and the Dodgers couldn't get Manny cheaply enough. Now both sides have to sing "Kumbaya" together when they absolutely know that one of them is about to get screwed. The noise you hear is me chuckling in delight at the prospects of the chaos about to be unleashed in Dodgertown.

Super Bowl Thoughts

2009-02-03T12:16:00.000-08:00

Why should Gregg (I must have two "G's") Easterbrook have all the fun? here are my thought from a very good Super Bowl.

Weird Decision that May Have Cost the Cardinals the Game

The Cardinals won the opening coin toss and then opted to defer the first possession to the Steelers. My reaction was a big "HUH!?!". Why would a team with an offense that is the main strength of the team give up the first possession of the game? That decision cost the Cardinals an extra possession and put their weaker defense on the field longer than it needed to be.

The Game was Closer than I thought it Would Be

This game had all the makings of a Steelers blowout. The weaker Cardinals defense and the underrated offense were clearly no match for the top ranked defense and solid offense of the Steelers. But the Cardinals hung in there and almost pulled off the upset. Coming close may not mean much, but if the Cardinals can build on their performance next season, they may well end up on the winning the game instead of coming close.

3-D Half-Time

The only thing good thing about the 3-D half-time gimmick was the fact that it ended before Bruce Springsteen's crotch came sliding into the camera. I'll take a wardrobe malfunction over that site any day.

My Favorite Commercial

Usually when the game is not so good, it is the ads that redeem the four-plus hours spent in front of the TV. But not this year. I could care less about the longings, fantasies, etc. of the Budweiser horses. GoDaddy did it's best to uphold it's reputation as the sleazebags of the internet. The insect raiders of Coca-Cola were OK if you like bugs. But my favorite was the moon buggy wheel thieves. That was the best punchline of the day.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, I enjoyed the game. If I can't watch the Niners win another, at least I was able to enjoy a surprisingly competitive game. If only all of them could be as good.

Review of "Doubt"

2009-01-08T16:25:00.000-08:00

Of all the Oscar contenders, "Doubt" probably has the best ensemble of actors assembled this year. Watching the performances of Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Viola Davis makes up for a somewhat slow pace. The film initially explores the clash of tradition versus progress at a Catholic school circa 1964.

Streep's Sister Aloysius is a stern traditionalist school principle who rules the student body with an iron fist and commands fear rather than respect. She is confronted with the presence of Hoffman's Father Flynn who is compassionate and kind. A little too kind in Aloysius' mind.

When Father Flynn takes a special interest in a chior boy who is also the only African American student at the school, another nun, Amy Adams' Sister James becomes suspicious, especially after she catches Father Flynn returning an undershirt to the boy's locker. When Sister James takes her concerns to Sister Aloyisius, the real conflict begins.

Sister Aloysius goes to extrordinary lengths to try to prove wrongdoing on Father Flynn's part. She refuses to believe any explanations given by Flynn, no matter how plausible they might be. Ultimately, she holds to her certainty that Flynn committed an atrocious act upon the boy, and pushes him to resign despite the lack of and substanciating evidence.

By the end of the film we are shown that the film is not really about the conflict between tradition and progress, it is about doubt. There is never any certainty whether Flynn is innocent or not. Aloyisius takes his resignation as proof of his guilt, but even she is forced to admit her own doubts. Even the naive Sister James finds herself filled with doubt by the end.

Ultimately it is the acting that sets this film apart and makes it worth seeing. Some other nice touches include the desaturated colors that make the film almost feel as though it was filmed in black and white, a gesture that allows the viewer to focus on the characters and not the scenery.

Another Dismal 49er Season

2009-01-02T10:46:00.000-08:00

The only good things that can be said about another bad season is that they won more games than last year and they won more games than the Raiders. But this was still a bad year for Niner fans, and things don't look especially promising next year despite the mid-season coaching change.

One of the first things Singletary did was to fire the offensive coordinator despite the dramatic improvement in offense this year. Now they have to start over again offensively for the seventh year in a row. They still don't have a respectable quarterback. The receiving corps is still pathetic. The only bright light of this offense is the running game.

The defense will definitely be better, but you still have to score points to win. Even the best Ryan-led Eagles couldn't win the big games because no matter how good the defense was, their offense couldn't put points on the board, and they ended up losing 3 to nothing. Singletary is defensively oriented, so it is not surprising that the team will be good defensively. One can only hoope that his ego doesn't prevent him from hiring a good offensive coordinator who can turn things around.

The Niners have been slowly improving. If they want to do better than 8-8 next year, some serious change is going to have to happen. They've already changed the coach, the top executive and the offessive direction. The question is what direction the new coordinator will take the team, and whether he'll even be allowed to do it.

Milk Review

2008-12-18T12:33:00.000-08:00

I seem to be in a Josh Brolin rut, because the last two films I've seen in the theater featured him prominently. In Milk, Brolin plays the pathetic figure that is Dan White. Only Sean Penn's performance as Harvey Milk surpasses Brolin's. The film takes an unappolegtic approach to documenting Harvey Milk's arrival on the San Francisco political scene. The film also does a great job at re-creating the atmosphere of the City in the mid-to-late 70's. But there are a couple of elements that detracted from the story.

First, the film starts out with the announcements of the assasinations. This really seems unnecessary considering that most of the audience already knows what happened. Starting the film this way doesn't set the stage, it doesn't add to a sense of forboding, it doesn't even help to advance the narrative. All it does it start things off on the wrong note.

Second, the Milk narrative seems to exist purely as a shortcut to telling the story. I'm never sure in the end if Milk actually recorded his story or if this was just a device used to fill in the gaps.

But those two things aside, Milk is good. Seeing it at the Castro theater fill with an enthusiastic audience definitely enhanced the experience, but I think it is entertaining and engaging and worthy of the praise it has received.

Review of "W."

2008-11-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

We reluctantly went to see "W." with some friends who were aching to see it this past weekend. Most of the criticisms I've heard have focused on how Bush if portrayed in the movie. If you are a Bush supporter, your view is that the movie is unfair, while critics of Bush feel that the movie does not go far enough in demonizing the 43rd president. I found that neither side is correct. The movie portrays Bush as a man with many flaws that form obstacles to his ambitions and explores his efforts to overcome those flaws. But the movie does have some quirks and weaknesses that stand out and lower it's overall value.

One major flaw is that the movie assumes that everyone knows who all the characters are. Bush refers to many of them by their nicknames only and it is up to the audience to figure them out. Some are fairly easy because they are very famous (or infamous as the case may be) but other (Georgie for instance) are not so obvious.

Next, while several of the performances were very good, some, especially that of Condoleezza Rice become parody's worthy of a SNL skit. I couldn't help cringing every time she spoke. I also didn't buy the portrayal of Powell or Barbary Bush.

There were also weird moments that are given unusual focus for no apparent reason. For instance, a bar-b-cue party hostess escorts Bush across the back yard and her stepping on a dropped corn cob is accentuated for no reason. The pretzel incident also seems out of place since it doesn't seem to impact the story in the least. Other moments are not given enough explanation, as when Bush collapses during the course of his three-mile run.

Overall, the movie was not that entertaining. We should have waited to rent it and then not even done that.

Easy Justice for Trevor Graham

2008-10-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

Trevor Graham was sentenced to 12 months of house arrest for lying to investigators about his own dealings with steroids. Graham, who blew the whistle on BALCO presumably because juiced BALCO athletes were more successful than his own juiced athletes gets an easier sentence than his former client Marion Jones, who served six months in prison. Some justice!

Graham was a cheat who undermined the spirit of competition by pushing his athletes to cheat. When his cheating was less effective than other cheats, he sought to quash the "competition" by ratting them out. He was successful in destroying BALCO, but that doesn't make him the hero as his lawyer tried to depict him as being. He was as crooked as BALCO. He deserved at least as much prison time as Jones received. If anything, the judge should have made an example of him and given him the maximum sentence in prison.

You don't reward cheats by going easy on them. It doesn't matter that his career is over. He would never have gotten to the level he attained without cheating. He was no better than the people he ratted out. He deserved the same treatment they got.

The End is Near ... for 2008 Baseball

2008-10-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have to admit to being a bit torn during the NLCS. On the one hand, I wanted to see the Phils beat the Dodgers. On the other, I wanted to see the drama of Manny's old team facing Manny's new team in the World Series. Alas, the Phils were just too good for the blue boys down south. No tears from this end. Go Phils (I have to root for the NL, real baseball always trumps the "game" they play in the AL)!!!

Davis' Three Ring Circus Act Continues

2008-10-01T11:14:00.000-07:00

Davis finally got around to firing Lane Kiffen. But it was not enough to just fire him, he had to undermine him as much as possible because the Raiders still owe Kiffen the rest of this year and next, and want to get out of the contract. Expect the lawsuits to fly within the next week. Al doesn't like paying people he likes, he's definitely not going to pony up some cash to someone he doesn't like.

The party line is that Al has forgotten more about football than Kiffen will ever know. I don't agree. Kiffen may be inexperienced, but he's no fool. He'll probably end up at Kansas City and lead them to a championship while walking over the Raiders the way Shanahan and Gruden did.

But even if the party line were true, the problem is that the football that Al remembers doesn't cut it in today's game. Davis is still basking in the glory days and can't seem to grasp the concept that the glory days and the circumstances that led to them are long gone and will not return. The Raiders cannot win without a strong, independent head coach. Shanahan proved it. Gruden proved it.

Kiffen may not have been the coach to lead the Raiders to glory, but then who is? As long as Davis insists on micro-managing every aspect of the team, they will never get a head coach who can lead them to a championship. The only coach they will get are cast-offs, failures and untried novices like Kiffen.

Maybe Next Year

2008-09-29T12:39:00.001-07:00

You know you had a rough season when the best thing to happen is a pitcher winning a Cy Young award while playing for a losing team. The Giants finished one game better this year than last (72 vs. 71). At this rate they might make the playoffs again in about 20 years. But realistically they aren't very far away. They certainly have more potential than the A's.

The A's won three more games, but considering that they were supposed to contend this year, it's safe to say that they not only under-performed, they quit. The white flag trade was indeed a surrender of epic proportions. Not a great way to draw people to fill seats if you ask me.

The Giants will do better next year, if for no other reason than the fact that the Dodgers won the division with only 84 wins. The pitching is there. The hitting may be there. The defense is solid. As long as they hold pat, they should improve dramatically. But there's already talk of trading the hard-luck Matt Cain for a hitter. I don't like that move. Cain got little run support all season. Take him out of the rotation and that trend might fall on Lincecum or Zito. Bad options either way in my opinion.

The potential is there. You just have to stick with it and good things will happen.

Nation of the Absurb

2008-09-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

Things just keep getting better in Raider land. Senior officials are disparaging the media and even threatening physical violence. Kiffen is twisting in the wind because Davis can't find a way to fire him and still seem like he's in control. At this rate, fans will be begging the team to move away.

Football Heaven

2008-09-22T15:17:00.000-07:00

It's just a little slice of football heaven around here. The Niners walked all over the Lions (I expect it won't be so easy against the Saints), and the Raiders lost a heartbreaker in the last seconds. Now it looks like Davis will can Kiffen any second and possibly name his foot stool, I mean defensive coordinator as the interim head coach. Even more perfect would be for Kiffen to catch on with another team on the Raiders schedule this season and somehow put the beatdown on his old boss' team.

Chaos in the Raider Nation

2008-09-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

I've never been shy about expressing my delight when things go wrong for the Raiders or my disappointment when things go well. So week one was great. Not only did the Raiders lose, they lost to the Broncos whose head coach, Mike Shanahan was unceremoniously dumped by Al Davis. Shanahan only went on to lead the divisional rival Broncos to TWO Super Bowl championships. Something Davis' subsequent coaches have not done with the near exception of Gruden, who came close but was fired the season before Oakland's last SB appearance against Gruden's 'Bucs. There's instant Karma for you.

So despite the fact that the Raiders won this week, there are still things to be cheery about. Davis is unhappy with his current head coach (what a surprise there!!!) and it seems just a matter of time before the fit hits the shan and the axe falls for Kiffen. It looks like the defense will have to rely heavily on the blitz to pressure the quarterback. So as soon as they face a quick-release QB, they are toast. The running game is the strength of the team, but if Kiffen is dismissed the Raiders will revert to form and go for bombs and forget about the running game. In other words chaos reigns in the Raider Nation.

My antipathy toward the Raiders runs so deep because of Al Davis. I think if Davis were out of the picture, I could actually like the team. But Davis has made that impossible. He insists on running the team his way which is his right, but he's often more wrong than right. He let go two very successful head coaches (Shanahan and Gruden) in favor of yes men who bowed to his every whim. He demanded and got a lot of money out of Oakland for moving back and then had the nerve to sue the city for not selling out the stadium as "promised". Nevermind that the Raiders were so bad that you could hardly pay people to go watch them.

Now Davis and company want Oakland to not only build them a new stadium, they want an entire shopping center! How dare they. Before the community gives them another handout, they have to give back to the community. That will never happen as long as Davis is in charge. His main concern is for number one. Everyone else can go to hell for all he cares. Oakland has better things to spend its limited resources on.

So Al, if you want to take your team to LA or wherever else, go right ahead. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

The End of the Alex Smith "Era"

2008-09-10T12:11:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you can call three years an era, but it appears that Alex Smith's tenure as a 49er is over. I was never happy about the Niners drafting ANY quarterback with a number one pick since so many QB's drafted at no. 1 flame out. But I don't think Smith got a realistic opportunity to be successful with the Niners.

First, he was thrown in the fire with no quality receivers to throw to, a weak running game and very poor pass protection. It's kind of hard to throw down field while lying on your back. His second season brought on a new offensive coordinator and scheme along with poor receivers and pass blocking. His third season? See season two. This season he was faced with yet ANOTHER offensive coordinator and scheme. On top of that he now had to compete for the starting job. He fared poorly all around and now he's injured and out for the season.

So the Niners basically wasted a number one pick on a quarterback that never had a chance to succeed. This is why the team sucks and will continue to suck. My only solace is that the Raiders may be worse than the Niners this season.

Dumb Move Rescinded by LPGA

2008-09-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

The LPGA announced that they are rescinding a proposal that required English proficiency for all players. It seems that protests, explorations of legislation and planned lawsuits citing discrimination caused them to reconsider. What I don't understand is why they even bothered with making this proposal in the first place.

The LPGA is composed of many international players. It's true that many Western players do speak English fluently. But there are some who do not. Why would an organization that is trying to have an international appeal propose a measure that would alienate a significant portion of the world's population? The answer is simple: customer relations.

There have been rumblings from sponsor VIP's that some players (specifically South Korean players) are not as fun to play a round of golf with because they can't communicate. So the LPGA's solution to this problem is to make players speak English or be penalized.

In tennis, half of the top ten men and women come from non-English speaking nations. Yet you don't see their organizations proposing this kind of thing. You certainly don't see it from the PGA. Imagine the chaos and outrage if the IOC insisted that all athletes be fluent in French!

Is schmoozing with sponsor VIP's so important that they are willing to ruin their standing as an international organization? The LPGA has severely sliced this shot out of bounds. They've got a lot work ahead to get back on the fairway and set things right.

The State of Sports in the Bay Area

2008-08-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

Things are looking pretty bleak if you're a sports fan in the Bay Area. The A's just won their first series since the white flag trades in July. The Giants have played better since the youth movement but are still so deep in the hole that only the Padres are keeping them from feeling the flames of the abyss. The Raiders are still the Raiders. The Niners are still the Niners. Even the Warriors are looking at starting the season without a point guard.

I never understood the Warriors' reluctance to negotiate with Baron Davis. Davis was a leader on the team who brought emotion to the floor unlike anyone since the RUN TMC days. But G.S. felt they could get by without Davis. Now it's time to pay the piper. Monta Ellis is injured and out for three months. G.S. has no experienced backup. If you want to know what happens to teams without a true point guard, just look at the Warriors' record before Davis came aboard.

It's going to be a long fall and winter.

Top Ten Reasons the Niners Will Suck in 2008

2008-08-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

In honor of Dave Letterman's nightly shtick, here are the top ten reasons the San Francisco 49ers are going to suck this year.

10. Their number one receiver is 14-year veteran Isaac Bruce.
9. Two words: Quarterback competition.
8. They lost to the Raiders in pre-season.
7. Special teams? Not so special.
6. Offensive coordinator Mike Martz.
5. Must blitz to pass rush.
4. They have eight (8!!!) play-off teams on their schedule.
3. John York is still running things
2. Nolan is the head coach

And the number one reason the San Francisco 49ers will suck in 2008:

1. Starting at quarterback: J.T. O'Sullivan!!!

It's going to be a long football season. Sigh.

A Pair of Pixar Reviews

2008-08-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

My 13-year-old cousin's visit this past weekend provided the perfect excuse to see a couple of animated features, "Ratatouille" on DVD and "WALL-E" in the theater. We missed "Ratatouille" in the theater because we had a baby and had to be selective about the movies we went to see because getting a babysitter can be such a major hassle. So we decided to wait on the movie about the rat chef.

"Ratatouille" was OK if you can get by the idea of a rat preparing a meal. The plot tended toward the predictable in places but the finale provided a surprising twist. There did seem to be a little too much gun play in the beginning for a rated G film including an old woman shooting a shot gun left and right and a lovers spat involving a hand-gun. The rendering of the rats was well done. Almost too well done in fact as the rats moving en masse looked disturbingly very real. It had a good amount of laughs, though some of the witty dialog was mired by the rapid, French-accented delivery of some of the characters. Subtle messages like Remy being slender because of his selective diet while the rest of his family gets fat eating garbage, and the idea that anyone can cook, but only an artist can be a chef, seem to be a little too subtle. But this is not a message movie. It's an animated comedy aimed at children. So I'll give it a pass.

"WALL-E" on the other hand, is far from subtle in showing the consequences of excess and neglect. The risks of being insulated from reality and work are driven home when we see what remains of humanity and how society has become non-existent. The perils of over-reliance on technology is also driven home though I found this point a to be a little ironic considering that the film wouldn't exist without computer technology. But the real focus in this film is on WALL-E and how his quest for love and companionship impacts everyone he encounters.

WALL-E's character is easy to relate to. His sense of whimsy and his loneliness is very poignant and well established at the onset of the film. EVE, who becomes his object of affection is quickly established as an independent-minded, but dedicated worker. Other robots add comic relief like the dirt obsessed cleaning robot, or the over-enthusiastic massage robot.

Ultimately, it is WALL-E's empathetic and self-sacrificing nature that finally prods humanity to step up and take control of their own destiny and take responsibility for the damage done to the Earth. One hopes that we can avoid needing that kind of prodding. As for the end, it works out as one would expect. The villain is foiled, EVE finds her heart and WALL-E finds happiness. But what else did you expect from a G-rated movie? Nihilism?

With both films, Pixar attains new heights in computer animation. The rats look life-like. The garbage blowing around the polluted Earth flutters by like real garbage. But I'm finding that I don't like this style of animation so much any more. Animation is not supposed to be life-like. The point of animation is that you can make things happen that may not be possible in reality. You're not re-creating reality, you're only representing it. Pixar has gotten caught up is being to detailed. Too real. Their films are good fun. But for visual appeal, I still prefer Anime.

Reality Crashes Down on Reality TV Beneficiaries

2008-07-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

I've often wondered why the folks from the Extreme Makeover Home Edition rarely ever go back and see how the families they helped have made out. Now I know. It's really a shame. This family was basically given a house that was worth nearly half a million dollars. Free and clear! But that apparently was not enough. My question is. What did they spend $450,000 on?

The Dark Knight Review

2008-07-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

I got a chance to see "The Dark Knight" this past weekend, and I have to say that it definitely tops all the other comic book-based movies of this summer. I am even inclined to say that it may be the best comic book-based movie ever. It's that good. The acting (especially that of the late Heath Ledger) is superb. The characters are well-written to be complex and nuanced. Finally, the story itself creates a world where costumed vigilantes and bizarre villains is a plausible reality. It's a wonderful formula that results in a huge success.

I think the thing that really works for this film is the fact that the filmmakers decided to tone down the cartoonish nature of the villains. The Joker is scarred, but he is wearing warped clown make-up instead of being permanently disfigured by a fall in a vat of chemicals. The other main villain, Two-Face, looks like someone who was horribly scared should look. No two-tone suits, face and hair here.

This infusion of realism is what makes the film really shine. As you watch, you are captivated by what the villains are doing not in how ridiculous the Joker or Two-Face look. Batman/Bruce Wayne is a man. He has a lot of hardware and skills to help him. But he is a man. He has doubts. He has desires. He also has faults. He's not the perfect, obsessed crime fighter from the comics.

The only minor complaint I have is that the film feels a little long. There is a lot of story to tell, but some of it could have been told more succinctly. The action scene in China, while entertaining could have been left out completely without hurting the story. But any short-comings are made up by the acting.

I know that some critics have tried to tone down their praise of Heath Ledger's work in this film because of the tragedy of his death shortly after filming. But I think that is unfair. This is his finest work. You don't see Heath Ledger in this film, you see the Joker. I can't imagine anyone exceeding his performance here.

Kudos also go to Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman. Each of them brought their A-game for this film. Maggie Gyllenhall and Christian Bale also deliver fine work. Dumping Katie Holmes for the role of Rachel was a master-stroke.

The Dark Knight has raised the bar for the comic book genre of films. It has also done what few sequels have been able to do, exceed the original in quality. I liked Tim Burton's Batman movies. But seeing this has convinced me that as entertaining and innovative as Burton's movies were, they fall very short of the greatness that Christopher Nolan has unleashed here.

Iron Man Review

2008-05-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

Got a chance to see "Iron Man" this week. Quick thought? They got the armor right. They and Robert Downey Jr. more specifically, got Tony Stark right. The rest? Not so much.

My main gripe is that the plot takes too long to tell the story. They also made some strange choices in starting the film at one point and then flashing back 36 hours as a sort of do-over. What was the point of that? Also, the armor tweaking sequence just takes too long. Why spend nearly an hour showing the various stages of work on the armor (twice including the prototypes) but only give seconds to showing how the power source was perfected and devised?

The action sequences were well done. The armor effects were blended in seamlessly. There were no points where I thought to myself "that was totally CGI" as I did when watching the Hulk or Spider-man 1. So good job to the tech boys.

One final note. Jeff Bridges just looks freaky without hair. He should play more villains with that look.

About the Biggest Loser

2008-04-18T13:54:00.001-07:00

I'm not a big fan of reality TV. I generally view such shows as cop-outs on the part of the networks. But when the writers strike caused nearly all the networks to resort to bad fill-in series, lame pilots, re-runs and reality shows, you either turn you TV off (not an unheard of proposition) or get sucked in. As such shows go, "Biggest Loser" is not so bad. The premise of the show is to help morbidly obese individuals regain control of their lives and become lean and healthy.

Up to the just completed season (number 6), only men have one the contest. During the course of this season, Jillian, one of the trainers expressed her desire to see a woman win. As the number of contestants started to whittle down, it seemed as though her wish might actually come true. Especially once there were only four contestants left and two of them were women.

After the last weigh-in, it looked like a woman was going to be a shoe-in winner. Not only did both of the remaining women lose enough weight to avoid elimination, they should have had a chance to vote the man who still had the most weight to lose out of the game. But this entire season of Biggest Loser seemed to be about how much the producers could screw the contestants and ensure that the guys always came out on top.

When one couple had a chance to eliminate any team that they wanted, the producers changed the rules so that one team (two brothers who pretty much played the heels from the start) could not be eliminated. Each challenge seemed to favor those with greater strength and endurance (men). So it came as no surprise that after the women won the last weigh-in before the finale and were anticipating voting off the big guy, the producers decided to take the decision out of there hands and allow viewers to vote for who the third finalist would be.

Jillian looked as though she was going to walk off the show right then and there. After waiting so long to see a legitimate female contender, her hopes seemed to be dashed since it seemed likely that biggest guy would probably receive the most votes and go on to win. Roger, the big guy, had things in his favor to win the vote because the other guy was an asshole throughout most of the show, while Roger was arrogant but not a dick. Roger also had the better chance to beat the women because he was still significantly heavier than his ideal weight while the other guy was only a few pounds away from his ideal weight. So voters could vote for the asshole with no chance to win, or vote for the Roger. Roger won by more than one hundred thousand votes.

But despite all their efforts, the producers did not get their way. Roger didn't lose enough weight at home. One of the women beat him by a pound to win the show. Girl power prevails at last.

Target Practice with the Niners

2008-04-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

If you need anymore proof that the NFL has it out for the 49ers (besides the weak tampering thing), look at the just released 2008 schedule. The Niners play BOTH Super Bowl teams plus two other playoff teams (Dallas and Washington). Why is a team that has missed the playoffs for several years in a row and only won FIVE games last year playing so many top teams?

What happened to the parity scheme that ensured that good teams got tougher schedules? Why is the NFL trying so hard to push the Niners down? Could there be a conspiracy between the league and the Yorks to keep the team lousy so they can relocate easier? I smell a rat!

Baseball is Back ...

2008-04-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

But the Giants still suck. If Barry Zito had any integrity what-so-ever, he'd refund his pay every time he pitches a stinker this season. Why should he take money he hasn't earned?

It doesn't look like there is anything to be done to make the team better at this point that doesn't include gutting a pitching staff that may be the only bright light in a dark field. Maybe I'll take up a new hobby this summer and give up on the whole thing.

Perjury Indictment for Bonds

2007-11-15T16:55:00.000-08:00

Poor Barry just can't get away from negative press. Now he's being indicted for lying to a federal grand jury. Only a short time ago, the guy who bought Barry's home run record breaking ball at auction put it to the vote what would happen to the ball. The result was to have the ball branded and sent to the Hall of Fame.

Not liking the prospect, Bonds' response was that he would not attend his induction ceremony into the Hall if the ball were put on display. Barry is assuming that he would be voted into the Hall. A big assumption considering the fact that baseball writers are the one who initially vote for inductees. Bonds is not known for his amicable relations with the press. Some have already expressed their opinion on whether Bonds should be in the Hall. I say why not.

If Bonds was juiced, he was not alone. As it is becoming embarrassingly apparent, many players have used some form of performance enhancing substance including some big name pitchers that Bonds had to compete against. So if Bonds did use steroids or whatever, he was still playing on a level playing field. All things being equal he should be allowed into the hall. If he isn't, then maybe some other recent inductees should be taken out and the Hall closed for good, because this generation of baseball players is tainted beyond recovery.

Niner's Simply Suck

2007-11-13T12:06:00.000-08:00

The Niner faithful misery just keeps on going. They were shut out for the third time in the last 55 games after going 420 straight without a shut out. Nolan keeps supporting offensive coordinator, Jim Hostler but I think his days are numbered. It's not his fault that the talent isn't there, but when you only manage ONE first-down in a half, then you're not doing a good job. Even bad teams can muster more offense than that.

I don't think Hostler will be fired before the end of the season, but if he isn't the day after game 16, then Nolan should be. To say that Hostler has done a bad job is a compliment. A better description of his performance would include incompetence.

Home Team Traitors

2007-11-12T10:08:00.000-08:00

Being a Bay Area football fan has been tough in recent years. The Niners and the Raiders have been mediocre at best and absolutely horrid at worst. But the teams have still been able to maintain some loyalty with the fan base. The Raiders even managed to sell-out yesterday's game early enough to avoid the local-market TV blackout. But that sell-out came at a cost.

It seems that Bears fans bought up enough tickets to make the game more of a home away from home for the visiting Bears. Early in the game, Bears receiver, Muhsin Muhammad caught a pass and the chant of "Muuuush!!! Muuuush!!!" could be heard throughout the stadium. Tough to hear if you're a Raider fan, but at least they got to see the game on TV.

What's more irritating is to have that kind of thing happen even when your team is doing well, contending for the playoffs and even the Super Bowl, and you still hear that kind of chant for a visiting team. What it means is that enough home fans have sold their tickets to the visiting fans to create a significant enough presence to make the visiting team a little more comfortable on the road. In my view, such home fans are traitors to their team.

I remember when the Niners were still very good. There was a waiting list to get season tickets. Every game was sold out. You couldn't get a ticket at face value. And yet, every time the Cowboys came to the 'Stick, you would hear the "Moooose!!!" chants whenever Moose Johnson touched the ball. It used to drive me crazy. How can there be so many Cowboy fans at the stick during a Super Bowl season? How could Niner fans be so disloyal and greedy that they would sell their tickets to Cowboy fans?

This even happened during a play-off game with the Cowboys at the stick!!! Unacceptable!. If you have playoff tickets for your home team, and you sell your tickets to a fan of the other team, you should lose your right to season tickets. Because you are not true fan. You are a traitor who doesn't deserve to be in the same stadium with true faithful.

Bonds Takes the High Road, Sort of

2007-07-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

Barry leaped at the chance to insult Bob Costas after his HBO show that featured Curt Schilling and others related to steroid abuse and Bonds alleged use in particular. But Barry chose to stay away from insulting Schilling even though Schilling has made provocative comments about Barry and others on a number of occasions.

A little comment about red paint on socks would have been a sharp (if inaccurate) retort that would have effectively said that Schilling's integrity is no better than Barry's. But we already know that Schilling is not the epitome of morality and teamwork that he pretends to be.

Just ask his former teammates of the Phillies how supportive he was when Mitch Williams came on to pitch in relief of Schilling during the World Series. Covering your head with a towel is a lousy way to show support if you ask me.

Bonds is Still a Thrill

2007-07-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

We got to see the Giants play the Diamondbacks (in their gaudy and very non-snake-like red jerseys) yesterday and the G-Men actually managed to score a week's worth (for them) of runs to blow out the D-Backs 13-0. We even managed to walk around the promenade a bit and still stop long enough to see Barry hit a double to drive in two runs.

Later on, word came out that Barry had been voted in by fans as a starting out-fielder for next week's all-star game. So despite all the controversy and rumors, Barry is still thrilling enough to make the all-star game. So at least the Giants got one guy into the game. Starters are guaranteed at least one at-bat in the all-star game. The same can't be said for the 32nd player on the team.

Barry is Crawling to the Mark

2007-06-12T11:51:00.000-07:00

Barry is going to need another season to break Aaron's record at the rate he is going. He hit his first homer in 15 days yesterday. That means he'll need another 120 games to tie the record and 135 games to break it. Can the Giants afford another $16 million next year?

The UFL vs. The NFL

2007-05-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

There's a new league in town with hopes of cashing in on fans that the NFL forgot. I guess when you have too much money, you can waste it on an idea that has failed three other times.

NBA Draft Lottery Strikes Again

2007-05-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

Much is being made of the way three teams vaulted in to the top three slots and pushed the three worst teams including the Boston Celtics out of the running for potential franchise players Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. While I feel for the other two teams that missed out one of these players, I can't say I feel bad for the Celtics.

I'm sorry, but I have no sympathy for the Celtics. Their 11 year run of success practically killed the NBA. Who besides Boston fans want to see one team win the championship every year. It's like feeling bad for the Yankees' recent dearth of championships. Tell it to the Cubs/Giants/Warriors/Knicks/Clippers fans. See how much commiserating you get.

Even after the Celtics released their choke hold on the NBA, they continued to be successful. They even built another dynasty featuring Larry Bird that looked to be getting even stronger when the then reigning champions happened to get the top pick in the draft due to an earlier trade. They used the pick on the "sure thing" player, Len Bias. I think that's the point where their hubris got to be too much for the NBA Gods. I mean come on! You just won the championship and now luck into getting the best player coming out of college that year? Something had to be done. So Bias OD'd on cocaine and died.

Without Bias, their dynasty started to decline with age. They have never been able to really recover from that point. And they don't deserve to. It's because of that physical 80's Celtic team that the "Bad Boy" Pistons developed the rough, dirty style that still plagues the league.

Basketball is not a contact sport, but the 80's Celtics turned it into one. When the Pistons couldn't beat them with skill and finesse, the decided to outdo them physically with goons like Mahorn and Laimber.

So don't pity the Celtics. They made this bed. Now they have to lay in it.

Keyshawn Passes On?

2007-05-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

If Keyshawn Johnson does end his NFL career today, he won't really be missed. Johnson has always been a player who was greater in his own mind than in reality. The truth is that he was never fast enough to be big play receiver. He was never reliable enough to be a possession receiver. And though he had good size, he never used to it to great advantage.

His book was titled "Just Give Me the Damn Ball". Well the Jets tried and he dropped it so much, that they preferred to give it to Wayne Chrebet, a receiver who was smaller and no faster than Keyshawn, but he was somehow able to get open and catch the ball when it came his way.

When Keyshawn joins ESPN, he won't even be the best former receiver on their football show. That distinction goes begrudgingly to Michael Irvan.

The Wild Ride is Over

2007-05-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

The Warriors certainly impressed with their defeat of the Mavericks, but the Jazz proved too big to beat. The series turned on such little things like missed free throws, lapses in defense and composure, and other little errors. But they added up and cost the Warriors games one, two and four.

The Warriors performed well in all the games except for game five. If they can keep their core together and obtain a true post player, they might get beyond the second round next year. But don't hold out too much hope for the post player. Nellie has an eye for smaller players, but he's practically blind when it comes to picking the big guys.

Are Warriors Mav-elous?

2007-04-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

They're up 3-1 against the Mavs. They just need one more win to take out the defending conference champion. If they win, Mark Cuban is going to have a cow. That by itself would be worth the price of admission.

Warriors Woes

2007-04-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

So the Warriors handled the Mavs in Game 1. I think Game 2 was a more realistic outcome. It's great that they made it into the playoffs, but let's get serious. 16 teams make it into the playoffs. There are only 30 teams in the NBA. That means that 53 percent of the teams make it to the playoffs. Kinda makes you wonder why they need 82 games to decide which teams make the playoffs. Why not play half the games, take the top 8 teams from each conference, and get it over with already?

I don't like how the NBA playoffs are stretched out these days. Games 1 and 2 used to be played on consecutive days, then a travel day, then games 3 and 4, then they alternate home stadiums for games 5, 6 and 7 which seems stupid in and of itself since both teams have to travel so much if a series extends to 7 games. It's not only expensive, but it's bad for the environment to make the teams travel so much. What's wrong with the 2-3-2 format that baseball has for the playoffs and world series?.

Now they take a day off in between 1 and 2. They take a day or two to travel. Play Game 3. Take another day off. Play game 4. Then another couple of days' travel back again for Game 5 ... wash, rinse, repeat.

The playoffs and final go from mid-April to late-June. The regular season goes from October to mid-April. So the playoffs last almost half as long as the regular season. How asinine can you get? Only Hockey takes longer to crown a champion.

No wonder the NBA has been struggling to regain fan appeal.

Giants Rebound

2007-04-24T13:26:00.000-07:00

Thankfully, the Giants aren't as bad as the Rockies after all. It took them quite some time, but they're finally on the winning side of the board. Both Barry's are earning their pay, and all is good in the world.

Well, not quite. The G-Men are only one injury away from disaster. But as long as everyone stays healthy, they're going to be more interesting than the homer watch everyone was anticipating. We'll see how things shape up in June.

Slaying Giants

2007-04-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

The Giants are even worst than I thought. 2 and 7 is not how you want to start the season. Especially since all those losses came against division rivals (the Padres and Dodgers no less). It's going to be a long season unless they turn things around real fast.

The Giants are Back In Business

2007-04-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

Baseball is here again and the Giants are off to another run at the pennant. Unfortunately, they don't look very formidable in the first two games. Their new ace, Barry the second, got shelled. Barry the first didn't do much in game one. In fact no one did much in game one. They also lost in game two and might have a hard time avoiding a sweep in game three tonight. I don't think they've ever been swept in the first series of a the year. That may not bode well.

Niners are Looking for a handout

2007-03-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

It looks like the 49er's plans to move to Santa Clara are about to hit a major roadblock. SC residents will not pay for a new stadium. They've already voted down bond measures to bring the Giants south. What makes the Niners think they'll do any better?

Ta Ta to Tone

2007-03-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

I guess the 49ers ran out of second chances when they finally let T.O. go because Antonio Bryant is out on his ass.

I'm a bit surprised they dropped him so easily. After all, when the DUI story first came out, it looked like just another pro athlete getting into trouble and then getting out of it. But for some reason, Bryant is being treated differently. Maybe the Niners want to send a message that the T.O.-style shenanigans will not be tolerated any more. You get out of line, you get off the team. Unless you score a lot of touchdowns of course.

Looking for a Village

2007-02-08T14:30:00.000-08:00

As the saying goes, "It takes a village to raise a child". If Clinton and the African proverb are correct, then we need to find our village, because we find ourselves raising our child in increasing isolation. You'd think we had some kind of contagious disease (stay away, they have baby!!!) considering how hard it is to just get people to commit to a short social visit or dinner.

Leslie is especially starved of adult interaction. Two of her best friends have been either traveling or too preoccupied with their own families lately to devote any time to her. Neither of us has any relatives close by. Leslie's family all live out of state, and my nearest relative is my 20-something cousin who is always busy with the things 20-somethings do. So we don’t really have anyone we can call on to baby-sit when we want to go to a movie or just get a break for the two of us.

Leslie had hoped that people in her Buddhist community would be more supportive as well. But it seems that most of them are too busy to even pick up a phone. There are even a few that she thought she was close to who have yet to even see our baby. If Leslie calls them, they're always too busy, or have plans already or say they'll call back and never do. It's very disappointing.

I find it hard to accept some the concepts of Buddhism when I see that the people in her "community" don't really go out of their way to support one another. Most will bend over backwards to assist a Lama and his or her family members, but everyone else it seems is on their own.

Instead of a community, I see a bunch of cliques. There's the Tibetan/Nepalese/Bhutanese immigrant clique. Then there's the lesbian clique, the gay clique, the hippie clique and the punk clique. There's even a groupie clique, or folks who hang on every word of the lama and fall over themselves trying to make sure that the lama's every need is met. Another group is not really a clique since they don't really hang out together. They're people who are so absorbed in their practice, that they eschew any social interactivity lest is impede their progress toward enlightenment. Unfortunately for Leslie, there doesn’t seem to be a new mother clique.

So that leaves us with trying to connect with other new parents without much success. It seems that many new parents are too busy as well. So we're still short of a village. Anyone have any ideas where we can find one?

Stupor Bowl II

2007-02-05T14:09:00.000-08:00

I do like being right. On the other hand I didn't really make a pick, but I was happy to see the Colts top the Bears. Grossman had the worst day with the fumble and interceptions, while Manning did pretty good once he got over the interception.

Despite the sloppiness, the game was OK. It stayed close until the fourth quarter. And the weather induced turnovers certainly made each possession interesting, but it won't rank among the best. One redeeming quality this Super Bowl did have was that the game was more entertaining than the commercials.

During many of the blowouts in the past, the ads tended to be the most entertaining aspect of the broadcast. Not so this year. None of the ads struck me as particularly clever, funny or entertaining. Some were just plain stupid and a waste of money.

The biggest loser had to be Coca Cola. Not one of their ads had any spark. Budweiser usually has pretty good ads as well, but only one got a good laugh, the others were just eh. The salesgenie.com ad was the worst. If you own stock in that company, sell now before you take a bath. They just spent $2.6 million to air a late-night TV ad during the Super Bowl. Do you really think they have a chance with that kind of marketing behind them?

Vista vs. OS X

2007-02-02T12:20:00.000-08:00

Billy boy would have you believe that OS X is a piece of shit full of security holes that can make OS X computers useless. I think Bill has Mac OS X confused with Windows XP. After all, how many patches does it take to secure XP? Dozens. At least it seemed that way when we recently reinstalled XP on a machine that then needed to download and install Service Pack 2.

After SP2 installed, it took another TWO hours (on a high-speed connection) to download and install the various patches that have been released since SP2 came out. When I installed OS X on my Mac, it took 20 minutes to install and update. That's it.

My Mac has NEVER been infected by spyware, adware, malware, etc. that hi-jacked my computer and lauched a thousand pop-ups as happened with my Dell laptop despite virus protection and spyware protection. I had to rebuild the laptop in order to restore order.

Gates brags about Vista's security and even infers that Apple stole UI ideas from MS. Talk about the kettle calling the pot black! Bill, there a reason Apple sued you guys for infringement when Window 95 launched. Just because you won the suit doesn't mean your product was original.

Finally, Apple ships a complete OS to all customers. They don't gouge users who want to do more by making them pay for a more capable OS. If you want to do everything Vista is capable of, you have to pony up an additional $200.00 from the base package price.

So shut your mouth Billy boy. You're going to make a fortune off the suckers, I mean the customers who by into your deceptive hype. And then you'll take them for another bundle when they discover they need to do more but can't unless the pay for it. Great customer relations dick head.

The Stupor Bowl

2007-02-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

Without the 49ers, this Super Bowl is not so super to me. I'm less interested in the big contest because neither team really appeals to me. I've never cared for the Bears. Their one championship has always left a bad taste in my mouth. Their gimmick defense and poorly executed offense vs. the drug addicted Patriots didn't seem like a fair match and it wasn't. That combined with the fact that Ditka was a pompous ass and Ryan an overrated ass, and you can see my problems with that team. This team doesn't really have anyone you can hate, but it doesn't really have anyone you could like either.

As for the Colts, there's not a lot to like there either. They're a team that left their original home for greener (as in greenbacks) pastures and never really amounted to anything since. I suppose their quarterback's story is appealing to some degree. But really. Who cares about a multi-millionaire's struggles on the field?

Most likely this game will come down to which QB has the worst day. Manning has a reputation of choking in big games. Grossman has be off and on all season. I don't think either of them will have a great day. So the last one to make a mistake will lose.

79th Annual Academy Awards

2007-01-25T14:52:00.000-08:00

The nominees were announced and now the predictions begin. I haven't had a lot of chances to see many of the nominees, but I might as well take a stab at some predictions anyway.

Best Actor

I haven't seen any of these performances but I'll go with the favorite, Forrest Whitaker.

Best Supporting Actor

I saw the performances by Alan Arkin and Mark Walberg. Arkin definitely tops Walberg, though Walberg cursed a lot more and was mean because he was an asshole. Arkin was just cantankerous. I'll go with Arkin as the sentimental favorite.

Best Actress

Everyone is going for Mirren, but I'm going with Meryl Streep for one reason; Marisa Tomei. When Marisa was nominated for a supporting role, she was in a very tough field. Most considered her the underdog because the other actresses were highly regarded in their craft. But Marisa was the only American. She won.

By the way, if the term actor is supposed to be genderless, why do they have this category. Wouldn't it really shorten the show if they cut the two "actress" awards and just make it a free for all for best actor and best supporting? After all if Meryl Streep or some other nominee insists on being referred to as an ACTOR and not actress, how can she be nominated as an actress?

Best Supporting Actress

Another tough call. I say the two Babels cancel each other out and Blanchette and Hudson duke it out for the gold. Hudson by a knockout.

Best Director

Everyone wants to give it to Scorsese. I want to give it to Scorsese. But the Susan Lucci syndrome is going to continue. "The Departed" was good, but it's basically a remake of a Hong Kong hit. It's also another Scorsese organized crime flick. That's two strikes. Throw in the Lucci syndrome and Martin is out. "The Queen" is the winner here.

Best Picture

"Babel" and "Letters" is out. The voters don't like sub-titles. "Little Miss Sunshine" is charming and funny but nothing too special. So it's between "The Departed" and "The Queen". I think "The Departed" wins.

The Road to Suicide

2007-01-23T15:01:00.000-08:00

We saw "An Inconvenient Truth" this past week and I found that it was very well done. Whether you believe in global warming or not, the movie presents compelling evidence that is hard to refute. One thing that really struck me however, was related to the U.S auto industry.

If Gore's numbers about fuel efficiency are legit, then it's clear to me that U.S. automakers are basically committing suicide. According to the numbers in the movie, the U.S. has the lowest fuel efficiency standards of any industrialized country in the world. Even (significantly) lower than China's. No wonder they can't sell many cars overseas.

If U.S. automakers want to sell in China, Japan or Europe, they have to modify existing vehicles to comply with each country's minimum standards. When you consider that fact that fuel prices are generally much higher in those countries than what we pay in the U.S., why would anyone in China, Japan or Europe buy an American-made gas guzzler (by their standards at least)?

U.S. automakers have been fighting tooth and nail against raising the standards to meet those of other countries. By doing so, they continue down a path of fewer sales overseas. Would it be so terrible to raise the standards so that all American-made vehicles can be sold anywhere? Wouldn't it be easier to manufacture vehicles that comply with higher efficiency standards and not have to alter the manufacturing process to create a vehicle that meets some other country's standards? After all, there's a reason Toyota and Honda are doing so well these days. It's the (fuel) economy stupid!

Hall of Shame, Maybe...

2007-01-19T11:17:00.000-08:00

But not the Hall of Fame. I'm sure Bonds is only saying this because he'll face the same difficulty getting into the hall the McGuire and especially Rose will. They will all have to come clean one way or the other before they'll receive serious consideration for the Hall of Fame.

Positive Test For Bonds

2007-01-11T10:19:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's a good thing that they're still working out the details of that $16 million contract. Barry still insists that he never used any performance enhancing substances. So why was he using uppers? And why would he be taking those uppers from his teammate's locker?

Is this something the Giants should be concerned with? After all, if Barry is willing to ingest some "unknown" substance from a teammate's locker, maybe he does have a problem. They better make sure there are a lot of bail-out clauses in that contract, because it looks like Barry is not going to be around to play a whole lot this year.

Raiders Got Shelled, So Art Gets Canned

2007-01-05T10:23:00.000-08:00

What good does it do to say you're not going to fire the coach when you have every intention of doing so? There was very little doubt that Art Shell was going to be fired. Yet everyone in the Raider Nation kept insisting he'd be back. So why lie about it?

The thing is, it's not Art Shells fault that the Raiders sucked so bad this year, last year or the year before. The blame lies right in the lap of Al Davis. This is his team. He calls the shots. He mandates how the offense should play. So why blame Shell for the poor offense that Al put on the field? The only way the Raiders will regain their former glory is if Al Davis steps down and let's someone else make the decisions necessary to build the team into a contender again.

Unfortunately for Raider fans, that will only happen over Al's dead body.

Barry Signs with the Giants

2006-12-28T13:09:00.000-08:00

Not that Barry, but Barry Zito. It cost them a bundle, but now the Giants have an ace that can pitch the way the Jason Schmidt did not, in his last two disappointing seasons.

Driving on Christmas Day

2006-12-26T12:10:00.000-08:00

We drove 180 miles to Newman, California and back on Christmas day. Our drive was relatively uneventful, but one thing we found is that bad drivers don't take the holidays off. We witnessed a broad range of bad drivers including NASCAR wannabes zip-zagging from one lane to the next, to slow-driving ass-holes who don't understand the concept of moving to the right lane on a two-lane highway.

The NASCAR wannabes are easy enough to deal with. Just get out of their way and hope that they don't cause an accident right in front of you. There's no need to place yourself in jeopardy by trying to keep them from cutting you off.

The slow-driving ass-hole is another thing altogether. Highway 5 is a two-lane highway with a speed limit of 70 miles per hour. The proper driving etiquette for two-lane highways requires drivers that drive below the speed limit to move to the right lane. If you are in the left lane and someone comes up behind you and flashes their headlights, the polite thing to do is to either speed up, or move over and let them past. But this one ass-hole we encountered lacked any notion of proper driving etiquette.

He chose to poke along in the left lane and forced several vehicles to pass him on the right. Not an easy thing to do when there is traffic. So when we came up on him, there were too many cars on the right to allow us to pass him on the right. We flashed our headlights and instead of speeding up or moving to the right, he chose to spray us with windshield fluid. When we sounded our horn, he hit his breaks. Now keep in mind that this was on Christmas day AND he had his family in his car. But being an ass-hole was more important than the safety of his family.

Traffic did clear up enough for us to finally get past him on, on the right of course, but not before he tried to cut us off by straddling the line and drifting into our lane. Fortunately, our car was more powerful than the piece-of-shit Kia he was driving, and we left him behind with no further incidents.

As his car receded in the rear-view mirror, my silent farewell to him was "Merry Christmas motherfucker. You keep driving like that, and you and your family won't even make it to the New Year."

Nuggets, Knicks Brawl

2006-12-18T15:13:00.000-08:00

It's not right that Isiah gets off scot-free while the Nuggets lose their top-scorer for 15 games. Isiah is a punk. He's always been a punk from his earliest days as one of the "Bad Boys" in Detroit. The thing that always aggravated me the most about him was how many cheap shots he got away with because he was always perceived as a nice guy with a friendly smile. Now he's teaching his players the same thing; if you can't beat your opponent with skill, you bully them with cheap shots and dirty fouls.

I have no respect for Isiah Thomas as a player, coach or human being. The sooner he's out of a job and out of the NBA, the better.

Acting in Love

2006-12-15T15:51:00.000-08:00

Would someone please tell me why this is a news story on the AP? You'd think that on-screen kisses meant anything. It's not as though Jolie is going to fall in love with her co-star and break up his relationship and, .... uh, ... never mind.

Model Minority = Easy Target

2006-12-14T15:13:00.000-08:00

I've never liked the term "model minority", and I share that sentiment with most Asian-Americans. The main reason most Asian-Americans don't like the term is because it marginalizes the real struggles against racism that we face nearly every day. Because we're considered the "model minority" people tend to think that it's alright to make racially denigrating remarks, or poke fun at our ethnicity.

That's why Rosie O'Donnell can't understand why making fun of the Chinese language is such a big deal. It's not as though she used racial epithets. She was just saying "ching chong". On her blog, she makes references to how people make fun or her Irish heritage as though that excuses her "joke" about how Chinese sounds. Sorry, Rosie. That's no excuse. You still pass as white. We can't.

If you really think that what you did was no big deal, why don't you try to speak a little Ebonics when you talk about an African-American who makes the headlines sometime? After all, it's just a joke right?

Reality Hits Hard

2006-12-12T14:26:00.000-08:00

The Niners playoff hopes were severely dashed this past week when the sub-par defense allowed Brett Favre to look like Brett Favre once again. That's what happens when you can't pressure a quarterback. If you give any QB in the league enough time, they'll find an open receiver and make good throws.

So the rest of the season will be an effort to regain respectability, and maybe win eight games for only the third time this century.

Another Year of Bonds

2006-12-08T09:27:00.000-08:00

Unbelievable!!! The Giants proved once again how uncommitted to winning they really are. Giving Bonds $16 million for one year in case he breaks the record? Ridiculous. Bonds averaged 293 at bats the last four seasons. At $16 million next year, that's $54607.51 per at bat. I don't care if he hits a hundred home runs, he's not worth $16 million for one year. I doubt that any player in baseball is.

The Bonds Market is Still Up?

2006-12-07T13:00:00.000-08:00

It sounds like Barry's agent is a little juiced as well. If what he said was true, then why haven't they signed with another team? Surely there are teams willing to give a soon to be 43-year-old man $18 million to play for them. After all, Texas once gave a player a quarter billion dollars to play for them. Maybe Barry should snap his fingers already and get back to the gym and juice thing.

The Fall of Customer Service

2006-12-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

I saw yet another example of poor customer service last night on "60 Minutes". The founder and CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings was being interviewed. During one segment he was asked about the lack of a toll-free number for customers to call for help. Hastings spent several minutes searching his own site for a number without success. Appearantly, Netflix prefers to communicate with customers via email only.

After such an embarrassing moment, you would think that Netflix would remedy the situation and display a toll-free number prominently on their site, but they haven't. The only number I could find was to the corporate headquarters. It's a shame because everything else that they do is really great.

The convenience of the site is the reason we signed up for the service in the first place. We got frustrated with our local video store because we often found that the latest movies we wanted to see were available as two-day rentals that had to be returned the next day to avoid a late charge. Not the the kind of experience you want after having packed the baby into the car to get to the store in the first place. It's far better to get the movies you want without restrictions.

But what about Blockbuster, you might ask. They eliminated late fees altogether. That's true now, but a few years back I was a Blockbuster customer, and I was charged several bogus late fees for videos that I returned to the drop box. In one case, Blockbuster even referred me to a collection agency based on a video that I "hadn't returned". I resolved this issue by going to the store personally and finding the so-called unreturned video on their own shelves. Even after that, I had to threaten litigation in order to get their collection agency off my back and clear my name.

You would think after that experience, I would never go to Blockbuster again. But I did. I had moved and wouldn't you know it, right across the street was a Blockbuster store. I convinced myself that my experience was an anomaly particular to the one store I used to frequent. So I went in and rented a couple of videos. I returned them on time in the drop box before the store opened on the day they were due. But they somehow neglected to record the return on time and charged me a fee. I demanded to see the manager, and she refused to waive the bogus fee. I was furious and I walked out there declaring "never again".

So using Blockbuster.com was never an option. I don't care if they're cheaper or have a bigger selection. I refuse to use them ever again. That's what poor customer service can do a for a company. So Netflix better get its act in gear and get that call center up and running. You can bet their competition saw the show last night and are working on their own call centers.

House Calls

2006-11-29T12:54:00.000-08:00

We enjoy watching the show "House". Its cantankerous title character goes to extraordinary lengths to insult and alienate everyone he encounters. The current story line has him running afoul of a police officer who is set on making House as miserable as possible. His abuse of power has even extended to freezing the accounts of House's colleagues and subordinates. This is where the show has gone too far.

These are doctors. They're well-educated and presumably well-paid. There's no way they would allow a rogue cop to treat them this way. Their lawyers would be all over the cop, the police department, and even the city if their clients were being abused this way.

My tip to the writers, resolve this line as soon as possible. My suspension of belief can only go so far.

It's a Cat Fight!!!

2006-11-22T12:33:00.000-08:00

This is too funny. One irritant irritating another irritant. Too bad they didn't get into a slap fight.

Niner Troubles Abound

2006-11-21T13:52:00.000-08:00

Just when it looks like things might be turning around for the Niners, the fit hits the shan. First the stadium boondoggle. Now their hothead receiver has gotten himself arrested for DUI, speeding and resisting arrest.

The York family was soundly booed during th halftime ceremony honoring Jerry Rice. Their son took exception and tried to explain their side of things. Sorry not buying it. You guys dragged your feet after the bond measure was passed, and now it's too late to use that money for your new stadium. SF voters won't OK another bond for a stadium now that you've thrown you lot toward Santa Clara.

Speaking of Santa Clara, did I mention that they've already voted down a number of stadium deals? (Yes, I did.) Good luck with that. You're going to need it.

As for Bryant. It looks like he's just another egotistical, moron wide-receiver. Move along. Nothing to see here.

Happy Birthday WWW

2006-11-13T16:34:00.000-08:00

The web turned 16 today. So that means that when I first started looking for web work back in 1997, the web was ONLY 7 years old, and the first graphical browser that led to web design as a profession was only 4 years old. So the morons who put up web design job postings that required 8+ years of experience didn't know what the hell they were talking about. How can you have 4 years of web design experience when the profession didn't even exist 4 years ago?

A Burrito is Not a Sandwich. Well, Duh!

2006-11-10T14:25:00.000-08:00

Business must be really bad if you have to quash competition by trying to re-classify a burrito as being a sandwich. I might be more sympathetic if the plaintiff were some small operation, but they have 900 stores around the country. Surely their food is good enough to go up against a company owned by Jack In The Box!

Niners Leaving, Or Not

2006-11-10T12:29:00.000-08:00

First it was a done deal. Now the team may not be leaving SF after all. Talks are still underway in SF for a new stadium. I've been skeptical of the whole Santa Clara thing from the start. When the Giants were looking to move there (the same plot of land I think), they needed public funding to build a new stadium. The SC voters said no. Now the Niners are going to build a stadium there without public assistance? How can that be when SF voters approved a $100 million bond measure for a stadium at Candlestick point?

If the Niners need public funds from SC, they'll probably get the same answer the Giants did, a big "No". Which will leave the team with a choice of dealing with SF or moving out of the area entirely. Would anyone root for the Los Angeles 49ers?

Will 007 be Ill-Equipped As Well?

2006-11-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

This is most distressing for gadget freaks. What's a guy to do? Salivate over pictures? Oh the humanity!!!

Bonds Market, Up or Down?

2006-10-31T14:13:00.000-08:00

There's no way Bonds is going to get more than $10 million a year from the Giants. I seriously doubt he would get more than that from any other team either. Only the Yankess would pay a designated hitter that much money, and they haven't exactly come knocking on Borris' door.

As I stated earlier, it's unlikely that Bonds will be playing for the Giants next year. He's too expensive.

Football Hell

2006-10-30T09:41:00.000-08:00

You'd think the defending champs could muster enough pride to beat one of the worst teams in the NFL. Especially after coming off a humiliating loss the previous week. But nooooooo! They get their asses handed to them instead. That's what you get for going with a brain-damaged quarterback.

Meanwhile, the Niner's got bitch-slapped by the Bears. There's no light at the end of this tunnel. The defense sucks, the offense is improved but still bad. Even the special teams has been ordinary this season. I guess the only thing to is shout "Go (Cal) Bears!!!"

It's the (Fuel) Economy, Stupid!

2006-10-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

Looks like Ford is finally getting it. When you're paying nearly three bucks a gallon, you don't want a vehicle that gets three miles to the gallon (I know I'm exaggerating, but not by much). But why did they wait until they had the worst quarter in 14 years to change gears? How hard was it to see the writing on the wall? And why are the top executives still employed after such a dismal performance?

I'm sure that's what a lot of soon to be former Ford employees are asking as they receive lay-off notices and buyout options. Ford suffers from the same short-sightedness that all the U.S. automakers suffer from. Toyota and Honda didn't just come up with Hybrids and other fuel-efficient vehicles, they set out to capture the market well in advance of the latest spike in gas prices. Now they dominate that market, and the big three are trying to play catch-up. It's like the 70's all over again.

As the saying goes, those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Has Tony Lost His Edge?

2006-10-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

Under any other circumstance, Tony La Russa would not hesitate to have a suspected pitcher searched for illegal paraphernalia on the mound. But for some reason, La Russa didn't resort to his usual gamesmanship. Instead he had a "chat" with the home plate umpire, who had a "chat" with the suspect pitcher, who may or may not have had some foreign substance on his hand that he used to doctor the ball and make it break in an unusual manner. Kenny Rogers went on to pitch seven more scoreless innings after he "washed" his hands, so you might think that the point is moot. Not so fast.

La Russa is a close friend of Detroit manager Jim Leyland. The article suggests that La Russa chose the "chat" route over inspection, to preserve that friendship. If that's the case, and the Cardinals end up losing to Rogers again in a possible deciding game six, La Russa should lose his job. Friendship is nice, but when it comes to breaking the rules or staying friends, the rules should win out every time.

If Rogers did have a foreign substance that he used to doctor the ball, he would have been ejected from the game immediately and faced suspension for the rest of the series. Instead he got to wash his hands and stay in the game and the series. I can't wait to see game six.

Microsoft: New Vista, Same Old Tactics

2006-10-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

Some Microsoft partners are not happy about MS' new OS and security package. Apparently, MS has built in a block to the kernel on the high-end version of Vista that the security software vendors can't get through and thus handicaps their product. MS says their own security product will not have access either and therefore not have an advantage.

Right! That sounds a lot like the song and dance that MS gave when they made Internet Explorer an integral part of Windows that just coincidentally made IE the default browser, and made using Netscape harder for the novice user.

Let's not forget all the widgets that point to the MS product to "secure your computer". Sure they promise to provide links to the other security products, but since OneCare is a part of Vista at no additional cost, how many users do you think will pay for extra protection?

So what it comes down to is whether you trust MS security or not. Considering that IE7 already has a vulnerability publicized one day after release, I think the answer is not.

The Next Killer Animal Flick

2006-10-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

First Steve Irwin buys it, now another man has been attacked by a stingray. Can we expect a movie about killer stingrays in the near future? If so you saw it here first. Imagine the voice of the movie trailer announcer:

"'Jaws' chased you out of the water. Now 'Barbs' will keep you out! The sharks' gentle cousins are benign no more! Now they're out for blood."

"Coming soon to a theater near you: 'Barbs'. Rated R. Not recommended for children under 17 years of age."

Or maybe it'll be a cheesy made-for-TV flick airing constantly on TNT:

"See 'Barbs' over and over this Sunday, only on TNT. We know drama."

Who should play the adventurous animal show host that becomes the first victim? Any suggestions?

Niners Down Again

2006-10-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

The defense just sucks. You can't stop an offense when you give the quarterback so much time to throw. Even the worst NFL quarterback will find an open receiver if you give him enough time. It also would be helpful if they could stop the run too.

Will Moneyball be Swept Away?

2006-10-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

The Oakland A's have looked terrible in the first two games of the ALCS. They may be going into Detroit upbeat, but if they lose today, it's over. What Boston did two years ago was nothing short of a miracle. The A's aren't going to repeat that feat against Detroit.

Niners Top The Raiders

2006-10-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

I know this post is a little late, but work takes precedence. Anyway, it was the best of both worlds. The Niners won, and the Raiders lost. Al Davis must be grinding his teeth to nubs over that one.

Bye, Bye, Barry

2006-10-05T12:30:00.000-07:00

I looks like Barry Bonds did indeed play his last game as a Giant. Bonds isn't interested in a pay cut and states that he doesn't have to play baseball anymore. If he's serious, then the Giants don't have any choice but to let him go his merry way.

Bonds didn't really earn the millions the Giants paid him the last two years. His injuries combined with the steroid scandal offset his accomplishments on the field. He's going to be 43 next year, and if the past two seasons are any indication, his body will continue to betray him and reduce his playing time. The Giants can't afford to pay that kind of money for so little return.

I've been supportive of Bonds throughout his tenure as a Giant. I'm willing to give him the benefit of doubt when it comes to the steroid issue. He's never tested positive, and until he does, it's his word against some less-than-credible individuals. But the Giants need more than a part-time player for the kind of money Bonds wants. Barry can't guarantee that he'll be able to play more than 60% of the games next year. Why should the Giants pay him that kind of salary?

It's doubtful that Bonds has played his last game, especially considering that he needs only 22 more home runs to break Hank Aaron's record (Bonds hit 26 this past season). Some team (probably the Yankees) will pay him enough money to keep him playing until he hits number 756. I wish him good luck and I hope the Giants don't have to face him next year.

Big House Justice

2006-09-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

The details are still coming out, but it looks like this is a case of inmate justice. That's probably not the worst that can and perhaps will happen to this guy in prison. Welcome to Oz asshole.

Car Buying Tips

2006-09-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

These are some good tips for buying a new car. But they left out a couple of things.

Always be prepared to walk out if you're not getting the deal you want.

The last thing a dealer wants to do is spend time negotiating with a buyer and then have that buyer walk out without closing the deal. Time is money for them and if they see that you're ready to walk away, they suddenly remember a "special" discount that allows them to meet your price after all.

Get the best financing available

High interest rates increase the costs of a car. If you have excellent credit, hold out for the lowest interest rate you can get. If they won't budge on interest, see number one above.

Insist on the best price on your trade-in

If you're trading in your old vehicle, insist on the best price for your car. Dealers make a good profit off of trade-ins and they will generally try to give you the least amount they can. Look up your car in the Blue Book and don't let them tell you that the Blue Book is meaningless. If the Blue Book was meaningless, BMW wouldn't cite it in their ads. Trade-in value doesn't have to kill a deal, you can always sell your old car yourself, but it does make it easier if you can get good value for you car from the dealer.

The Edmunds site has some great resources including an article called "Confessions of a Car Salesman" that provides some incite into how car salesmen get customers to pay more for a car than they should. It's a must read if you're going car buying in the near future.

What?! No Personal Jet Packs?!

2006-09-25T13:19:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to be any robot's pet. I noticed no one mentioned the development and advancement of nano-technology. They also left out flying cars, homes on the moon and clones. What kind of future doesn't include these things. Come on you guys, haven't you read andy good SciFi recently?

Stealing Signs

2006-09-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

What makes these guys think that their opponents wouldn't figure out what the QB's signal to receivers meant? Musberger's "revelation" is not that earth-shattering, and it doesn't give opposing teams any more information than they already had. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the quarterback throws to the man-to-man side after he makes his little gesture. If a pitcher is tipping his pitches, he either has to figure it out and change his behavior, or just live with the fact that batters know what's coming. This is no different. If anything Musburger did him a favor by forcing him to be more clever and come up with a better system for signalling his receivers.

Feasting on Lamb Chops

2006-09-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

It's too bad the Niners can't play the Rams every week. Smith threw for a touchdown. Gore ran for a touchdown. The defense got six sacks. The Niners defense haven't had more than six sacks in a game since they played the Rams last year. They looked a lot better yesterday, but they're still along way from beign a contender. Baby steps I guess.

Another Darwin Award Nominee

2006-09-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a dad who won't be awarded any parenting prizes. I guess it's already too late to save the gene pool. Hopefully his daughter takes after her mother.

Survivor Race Relations

2006-09-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

Say what you will about the latest twist in Survivor, they're getting a lot of press for separating the contestants into race-based "tribes". There's already been controversy thanks to Rush Lumphead's lame-brained diatribe about the strengths and limitations of the various ethnic groups. Much of the criticism touches on the stereotyping that Lumphead has already espoused in his ignorance.

My only thought is that the presence of asians in primetime just quadrupled. Other than that, I don't give a damn, and I won't be watching.

Brand Monopolies

2006-09-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

They're introducing a new version of the game with tokens from the likes of Toyota and Starbucks. I don't buy the statement about not branding every new token. I think it's more likely that they couldn't get any airlines or computer makers to buy in. I'll stick with the classic game. Afterall, if you get $2 million for passing go, just how are Mediteranean and Baltic avenue going to cost you?

It's a Boy!

2006-09-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

The one benefit about Britney Spears having another kid is that it keeps her out of the studio and off the stage. The potential consequence is that she'll raise her kids to be tiny pop stars that perform songs with vacuous lyrics and infectious beats.

The Raiders Suck More than the Niners

2006-09-12T11:32:00.000-07:00

At least the Niners looked competitive. The Raiders simply sucked. Home shutout!!! Nine sacks!!! Home crowd boos in the first quarter!!!

That's some really bad football.

Niners in Last Place Already

2006-09-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

So much for the new beginning. The 49ers lost to the Cardinals and because the Rams and Seahawks also won, the Niners are alone in last place. I don't buy all the talk about the good effort and positive performances. When push came to shove, the Niners didn't deliver.

They couldn't stop Arizona on third downs. They had two key turnovers that led to points for Arizona. They couldn't generate a decent pass rush. They even failed at the end on a catchable last-gasp pass. The only difference between this year and last is the close score and the fact that Smith wasn't responsible for the turnovers. If they're satisfied with such meager progress, then it's going to be a long season.

Another Bad Break for the Warriors

2006-09-08T11:32:00.000-07:00

The Warriors number one draft pick broke his foot and will be out 4-6 weeks. Even worst is that fact that centers typically have foot problems later in their careers, so this may not bode well for O'Bryant. How typical for the team with the worst luck when it comes to healthy centers.

It's uncanny how much center trouble Golden State has had. They're center woes began when they traded Robert Parrish and the third pick in the draft(which the Celtics used to pickKevin McHale) for the rights to draft J.B. Carroll at number one. The Celtics went on to win three championships and the Warrriors began a run of mediocrity that continues to this day.

Sure they made the playoffs a couple of times since then, but only the Clippers have been worst than the Warriors and they've finally gotten things turned around. Meanwhile, GS is going backwards with the return of Don Nelson and another sore-footed center. Unbelievable.

I Hate IE

2006-09-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

It never ceases to amaze me at how much IE sucks. As a web designer I often find that I have to fix CSS bugs in IE so that my designs work in that browser. It's usually stupid things like having to assign a height to a table cell so that a child element can have a height relative to the parent cell. Why isn't the cell height inherently 100% unless the height is specified? Why make me clutter my code with unnecessary declarations?

I've heard that IE 7 is supposed to be so much better. Too bad I can't test with it since, true to MS form, installing 7 means you can't run 6. So I either have to have a separate test machine (not in my budget) or continuously install and uninstall 7. I'll stick with 6 and keep pulling my hair out trying to make this stupid piece of shite work.

Jones is Clean After All

2006-09-07T10:28:00.000-07:00

Big news for track and field star, Marion Jones. She tested positive for a banned substance earlier this summer. Now a "B" sample has come up negative for the same substance, which means that the initial test is nullified. So she's clean this time.

Giants Win, and Barry's Back

2006-09-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

The Giants are fighting their way back into the playoff race. Barry's return to form has helped. The elephant in the room of course is whether Barry is finally healthy again that he can hit for power, or is he on a new kind of juice. It's a shame that he'll always face that kind of question.

Football is Here

2006-09-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

Go Niners!! Maybe they'll actually reach .500 for a change.

Nonsense For Blogger Comment

2005-10-04T16:09:00.000-07:00

I created this blog here simply to post a comment on a friend's blog. It's not going to be updated very frequently if at all. Go to http://www.serpentvenom.com to view my regular posts.