Vick is an Eagle (Did that really just happen?)

College grad sues alma mater for tanking economy

As a recent college grad, I surely sympathize. But come on. Is it really Monroe's fault? There are much larger forces at hand. That is to say that Thompson has no chance of collecting. At least it wouldn't seem. (The floodgates for disgruntled grads would open.) But if she did, it'd really be some poetic justice.

Phillies get Lee (pending a medical exam)

And I’m not terribly disappointed. Of course Roy Halladay, Toronto’s 11-3 ace, would make a great addition to the Phillies starting rotation. But getting Cliff Lee, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, isn’t a shabby replacement - especially in the short-term. Long term we’ll have to see if it was worth giving up Carrasco, Knapp, Marson and Donald – all potential big-time big leaguers.

But hey, this is Philadelphia. We want to win now. With the addition of Lee and Martinez, we’ve put ourselves in a position to do just that. Let’s just hope Halladay doesn’t end up signing with the Yankees, or worse, The Red Sox. For now though, follow Andy Martino’s lead and breathe easy.

More Shaq shenanigans

It’s true. Shaq’s on-court abilities have dwindled a bit. The entertainment value of his off-court antics, however, has not.

Most recently, “The Big Daddy” made an appearance on WWE’s “Monday Night Raw”, setting up five “Beat the Clock” matches before calling The Big Show “Fat Boy” and grappling with him.

Not sure how smart a move this is considering he's trying to win a chip with Lebron this coming season. (I don't think he will).

I suppose acting, rapping and law enforcement simply aren’t enough.

We'll miss you Jim

Longtime Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson lost a six-month battle with cancer Tuesday afternoon. He was 68.

While Johnson gave the nod for Sean McDermott to replace him while he fought, it’s still a big loss.

Over 10 seasons, the Eagles won 5 NFC East titles. Below, from philly.com, was Johnson’s considerable coaching contribution.

From 2000-08, Johnson's units ranked 2nd in the NFL in sacks (390), 3rd down efficiency (34.0%) and red zone touchdown percentage (43.9%), and fourth in fewest points allowed (17.7 per game).

Close Call

The NRA must have been licking its chops when Senator John Thune(R-SD) tossed his Conceal Carry Amendment (No. 1618) on the table. The bill would have given anyone with a concealed carry permit (CCW) the right to pack his or her heat in any state they wanted, even if that state had stricter laws. But alas, only 58 YEAs – not the necessary 60 – were cast. The 38 NAYs (including Specter) combined with three no votes - Mikulsi (D-MD), Kennedy (D-MA), and Byrd (D-WV) - to defeat the bill. Here's how everyone voted.

What the opposition had to say

From today's Los Angeles Times:

“ This is a grave threat to public safety,” said Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.). “ Concealed-weapons laws that work in rural states may not be suitable in urban areas. What’s good for Iowa or Alaska may not be good for California.”

What the defeated had to say

Also from today's Los Angeles Times :

“ An individual should be able to exercise their 2nd Amendment constitutional right and be able to travel through individual states," said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the chief sponsor.

and...

The National Rifle Assn., which has vowed to work to bring the legislation back, said that "the right to self-defense does not end at state lines."

I’m glad to see these tired arguments didn’t get the job done for once. Gun violence doesn’t need an extra boost – especially in Philly.

Golden Boy's former aide gets "sweetheart" sentence

Ronald L. Buckwalter is, for lack of a better word, a yutz. A total clown. The presiding judge over the most storied public office takedown in years, has handed down another gem of a sentence to Ruth Arnao: one year, one day. With good behavior, she could be out in 10 months. Mind you, Arnao, who headed Fumo’s Citizen’s Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, was found guilty on 45 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and obstructing justice. Mind you, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Zauzmer and Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Pease, were looking for a sentence between 70-87 months.

How Buckwalter arrived at this sentence. From today’s Inquirer:

The judge said he considered the public sentiment in the case, but also a variety of other factors – the nature of the offense, Arnao’s character, how to promote public confidence in the law, and how to deter others from engaging in such crime.

“ I have to consider the need to provide a just punishment,” said Buckwalter.

Public shock ensued. But Buckwalter, ever so clever, discounted the outcry and blamed the Inquirer for stirring the frenzy pot.

Also from today’s Inquirer:

“We know how accurate the media is, don’t we?” Buckwalter said. The news media he added, “ has such a low reputation in the community.”

“ We have a watchdog in The Inquirer, but we don’t have a watchdog over the watchdog,” the judge said.

Commerical Success

While watching TV recently, an ad for Bacardi appeared. Unfortunately, the spot's song was "Daylight", the opening track on Grand, Matt and Kim's sophomore effort. Unfortunate, because it appears commercials are the new way for up- and-comers to gain exposure (And in turn, their songs are a way of ultimately selling more alcohol. Win, win situation right?) . Similarly, The British foursome, The Kooks, have "Shine On", from their 2008 release Konk, in a Michelob Ultra campaign. While "Fools", a track from The Dodos' first album Visiter, is paired with a Miller Chill ad.

The problem with all of this, is that I like all three of these groups and I can't really blame them. When faced with the choice between "selling-out" and eating, well, there is no choice. It just saddens me a bit that this commercial route seems to be more trend than fad.

There's at least one advantage to being unemployed...

you can go to Ocean City on a Tuesday. It seemed almost wrong, but oh so right. What a beautiful day it was to be jobless. (Though, begrudgingly, I did have to pay a teenage girl at the 5th street entrance $5 for a beach tag). The weather was warm, but not oppressive. And the Atlantic, was unseasonably tepid. All and all, quite a nice return after not seeing the ocean once last summer. Attached are some sun-kissed shots from the day.

Suggestion in passing...

What if Discovery TV's filler show, How It's Made, did an episode about how incense is made. Just a thought. Should be at least as interesting as watching how a rubber stamp or windshield is made. Or maybe I should watch a little less TV.

Man awakens from music coma

After some years, not sure exactly how many, I'm awake. Awake and somewhat confused. You see, for years, more than I'd like to admit, I locked myself away from the current music landscape. By current, I mean the landscape of the living musicians. For some time, I locked myself in the jail of dead oldies-but-goodies. And while I still love, love a lot of that music, I realized I was stunting my music collection. There is good music out there, by artists not yet appearing on any "all time lists". Whether or not this music will ultimately survive I don't know. But I just got tired of always listening to music by artists no longer touring, no longer adding salient perspective. Sure, the classics will continue to be inherently relevant, and I'll never stop listening to them, but there is something almost intangibly appealing about listening to a band that is out there now, trying to be heard. And in the end, a mix of old and new is best.I can't pinpoint which song or group bent the bars back, but new (to me) groups I've been listening to lately and digging are:

1) THE DODOS (though I'm a little upset about the Bud Light Lime commercial)

"Park Song" from Visiter




2) MATT AND KIM

"Cutdown" from Grand




3) THE THERMALS

"How We Fade" from Now We Can See

Been Some Time

Wow. Been some time since last I posted. Don't know what happened. I suppose I tend to forget about things after a little while. Or maybe I just didn't have anything much to say. Not sure that has changed for the moment, but I'll type away nonetheless. Why? Because I've been working a little bit, well fiddling may be more accurate, on this blog. I've been trying to spruce it up a bit - get it ready for a real type blog with some kind of theme, some kind of bent. At the moment, it's really just an outlet for writing, mostly rants stemming from stream of consciousness. I suppose it'll stay that way until I start doing the actual work digging around for things I find interesting enough to talk about. Right now the only topic I've used is my life, which at the moment, is not at its most interesting. And besides, I'd rather talk about things that pertain to my interests. That'd be less self-absorbed perhaps than rattling off my random ideas I'm having in the instant I'm writing. Maybe then people would want to read this blog and follow it. So far, don't have any followers but haven't really done the work to wrangle them in yet either. This coming week will mark the start because I want to have something to work on. Something that I can care about and put some time into. I think working on a blog will help me feel like I'm doing something. People have been telling me to do a blog forever and i've been ignoring them. But now has come the time to heed the advice and get to work. No more dilly-dallying. It's time.

6:15 Session

Ok. So the promise in my previous post has yet to be fulfilled. I have written yet another alliterative title. I guess I truly am a sucker for the literary device. Shoot me (not really though). But anyway, the Northwest Passage recently ran into an obstacle that has forced this writer to take a backward step in his trek. Alas, I was unable to get a job in State College. Needless to say, I'm disappointed, if not a bit distressed. I really wanted to prove to myself that I could move out and truly live on my own, even if just for a summer. The fact that I was unable to realize this goal is a bit of a downer as it also means that my girlfriend and I will have to wait a bit longer to live together. She left for home today. I will not see her til July 4.

But all is not lost. No "Lo hemos perdido todo". If the State College experiment had been successful, we would have been together, yes. But that would have been it really. We both would have worked shitty jobs in a fairly shitty place. Neither of us would have been able to really move our lives forward in any meaningful way. For my part, I would not have been in the position to meet with people who could potentially provide me an avenue for getting a professional job. Phone conversations would have been the only means. That would not have worked to my advantage.

So yes, I am back living with my parents after a month of peace and serenity. But, I will be able to hold onto the nominal amount currently in my bank account and work on setting up a situation where my girlfriend and I can have a place to call our own that doesn't have a lease up in August.

Guess that's all I have for now. Thought I had more. But I don't. Until next time.

evening examination

I promise (to myself I guess since I don't think anyone has seen this page yet) that I won't title every post using alliteration in the key of 'E'. But I do like alliteration. Like the ring of it and think it's nice to add some style sometimes to your writing. Not that it's anything fancy. But when I'm reading an article online, for example, I'm always pleasantly surprised to find it. Of course the information is important, but how that information is presented is important sometimes too. Guess it depends on what you like to read. How you like to get your news. What you read about.

As you may be able to tell, there's no real focus of this post. And if I had to guess, subsequent posts may follow suit. Incredibly new to this whole blogging thing. People have been suggesting to me that as a writer I should, you know, write and that blogging may be a good outlet to do so. Yet for the longest time I resisted because my general impression of blogs wasn't too rosy. At least with regards to the world of journalism, of which I am currently trying to/deciding if I want become a part of. If you have participated at all in the debate, it should be fairly clear which side on the fence my fingers are holding. Though the more pervasive blogs become, the more loose my grip becomes. They aren't all shit. They aren't all mindless and useless. I don't believe though, that people should be turning to blogs for credible news, when you consider that every big market newspaper, at least for now, offers their content free of charge. The bottom line though is that writers need to write. Whether I ultimately end up becoming a print journalist or not, I know that I'd like to write and for any job I would get writing will be critical to my success. Hence this blog. I need to keep my writing mind active, even if i'm just vomiting on the page. That's the first step. And an important one.

I haven't written an article in a bit and I often find myself getting antsy as a result. Up until very recently however, I haven't written in those cases because I didn't want to wip out a pen and write and write and write. I can obviously type much faster than I can hand write things. Still it was too disorganized to pull up a blank word document and type away as I would save it, forget the title I gave it, and never read it again. This way, using a blog, seems like it may be useful as a means of organization. So I can see what I've written and read it clearly. I was doing those "Morning Pages" for awhile but I stopped. Admittedly at first because I find it hard to commit to such things even when I can appreciate their value. But afterwards, when I would have the urge to write I would grab the same notebook and start to thumb through the pages. I could make out most of I'd written, but not all of it. And this, this seemed a bit inefficient I suppose. Granted part of the point of those pages is to release your emotions at the start of the day so they don't bog you down and hinder creativity. But for me, I wanted them to be more about the writing. How I could improve. I do think that writing on a very basis, daily, is a good idea. In the morning, noon, or night. Doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I guess having a regulated time of day helps faciliate the activity part of your routine. But sometimes, truthfully often, I don't have the urge to write in the morning. It's much more so after I've done something with my day. It's then that I want to write.

And now it seems I'm somewhat out of material. Which is strange considering that this is stream of consciousness essentially. But I don't know. When there isn't a particular topic at hand I start to lose interest quicker. When there isn't a particular goal in mind. But for now I'm just happy to write and to get into the routine of do so. I'm not at a point where I want to create a blog about a particular subject. Though I may certainly come down the line. I'll continue with this blog no matter though. Use it as my ranting grounds.

early mornin' etude

4:07 a.m. seems like as good a time as any to start a blog. Problem is, I'm not sure what to write. Could write about myself. That seems a bit obnoxious, self-absorbent. Perfect. If I can't be self-absorbent at this hour, then when? No one will probably read this anyway. No, don't reckon i'm google-worthy just yet. Though admittedly, I've done the deed. (Who hasn't?). It's just another machination of the larger "me,me,me" cultural context. Now that almost sounds intelligent. Bravo. (Yes, that just happened. Yes it is obnoxious of me).

Anyway, I'm typing this in my girlfriend's college apartment bedroom. A place that I'm now hoping will be part of a social experiment in a which we see if a recent grad and his girl can self-sustain for the summer. Prizes include: sense of individualism, return of mental serenity and all the pretzels you can fit in your mouth in one minute. It's an experiment because $600 or so is all I need to make this work. That and some kind of job, any kind really, that will prevent a total- fund-free-fall. Such an event would threaten a return to my role as the Phantom of Ellet Street, the mysterious man who retreats to his parent's basement for solitude from the harsh world outside.

So we'll see what happens. Still haven't landed a job-job (opposite of a pro-job). But i'm optimistic? Sort of.