Carl from ATHF Hates the Red Sox

I found this on BostonDirtDogs and couldn't resist:

Survivor Denise: Janitor, No Class

Denise Martin told us all a tale during the "Survivor: China" finale that not only gave rise to a collective sob of compassion from the audience akin to what one might hear after seeing an impoverished child in a CCF commercial for the first time, but also a check for $50,000 from producer Mark Burnett. It seems, however, that she stretched the truth in places and skipped the truth altogether in the rest. Her nonchalant recitation of how the powers that be in the cafeteria hierarchy wouldn't let her keep her job as a lunchlady because she was "too popular" turns out to be more of a fictitious appeal to the masses than an actual lunchpail sob story.

According to Nancy Lane, the Superintendent of Douglas Public Schools, Martin was promoted to janitor, and given almost a $10/hr. pay raise along with it, in March of this year, before she even tried out for the Survivor. This, to be sure, is not what Martin wanted us to believe during that reunion show.

"They did explain to me today that reality doesn't necessarily mean factual" -Nancy Lane, Douglas Public Schools

Martin appeared on The Early Show this morning and admitted that the implication she made about being demoted because of her appearance on Survivor was false. She also said that she tried to get her old job back but the position had already been filled. Also, when the question of whether or not Martin would still accept the $50,000 was proposed, she gave the impression that she would, if it was still being offered.

In the words of my friend Bugman, "Another classy Masshole."

Thanks, Denise. You do us proud.
 

The Flaw in Reality TV

Last night Todd Herzog was announced as the winner of Survivor: China, and once again the Achilles' heel of reality television shows was exposed: they lose steam as time progresses and the finales totally or mostly suck.

Last night was a case of mostly sucking, as is the Survivor way. All we care about is when the jury gets their chance to congratulate, question, and chew out the remaining survivors....the other 2.5 hours you can fast forward through and not really miss a thing. Though it sounds like a waste of time (and it is), it's more than other reality shows can say for themselves. At least Probst used to jump out of airplanes and parachute into a live studio audience to deliver the results...

Go ahead. Pick a show. "Big Brother"? "Flavor of Love"? "The Bachelor"? "The Amazing Race", maybe? I defy you to come up with a show that has an exciting finale.

At least the next Survivor looks to be like an "All-Stars 2"...kinda. Rupert and Yul would be a good team up.
 

Pats are 14-0

The New England Patriots became the second team in history to start a season 14-0 after beating the Jets 20-10 today in a wet and rainy Gillette Stadium. Though the weather may have limited much of the Patriots' game plan to a ground attack, it proved not to be a factor in terms of the outcome.

In a game that also featured two blocked punts, the Jets seemed poised for a comeback late in the game. Chad Pennington, in for an injured Kellen Clemens, threw what was initially ruled a TD that would have made it a 3-point game with just under 3 minutes left. The play was reviewed and overturned, however, as receiver Justin McCareins clearly didn't have possession when his first foot hit the ground. I'm sure the New York media will cry foul, but it was the right call, without a doubt.

The closest the Pats came to losing today was when the game was temporarily suspended because some meatheads were slinging snowballs onto the field with the Pats in the end zone in the 4th quarter, bringing me to the edge of my seat wondering, albeit for a moment, if their perfect season would end with a forfeit.

Thankfully, it didn't.

The only other team to win their first 14 games was...you guessed it...the 1972 Miami Dolphins. For them, the 14th game marked the end of the regular season and clubhouse pat on the back. For the Pats, it's just a step closer to their ultimate goal (no, not a perfect season...another Super Bowl Championship) and a broad smile on the face of Bill Belichick.

The Patriots will face the 2007 version of the Miami team next week, who up until today were the polar opposite of the Pats; that is, they had yet to win a game. The Dolphins beat the Ravens in overtime 22-16 after Baltimore tied the game with a field goal with 8 second left in the 4th quarter. The Ravens kicker Matt Stover couldn't put the potential game winner through the uprights when given the chance in overtime, though, and Cleo Lemon found Greg Camarillo for a 64 yard game winning TD.

The Dolphins finally winning may not be all that bad. It may be the old Red Sox fan in me, but I for one was worried that karma would somehow intervene next week if an 0-14 Dolphins team were to face a 14-0 Patriots team, potentially spoiling the breaking of their own franchise's record, no matter how daunting the task may be. Now that they won a game, I'm back to reality and pretty confident that New England will be playing the NY Giants with a 15-0 record.
 

Mamma Mia! (you ain't kiddin)

TLM and I just got back from seeing "Mamma Mia!" (my first musical) at the Colonial Theater in Boston. I'm still gathering my thoughts on this one, though I can at this point ask: who knew there were so many ABBA fans?
 
UPDATE 12.16.07
As I went to the ABBA website to get some more info for a more substantial review, I noticed two things: today is Benny Andersson's birthday (he's one of the ABBA guys), and their question of the month is "Do you listen to ABBA every day?", a question to which 67% of responders said "yes". Read into that what you will, but it sounds like ABBA fans are pretty obsessive. When were they big? the 70's?

As for the show, I was taken aback at first. As I'd mentioned before, I'd never been to a musical, never mind one that featured music I'd only heard previously on "best of" anthologies and classic rock stations (classic already in the early 90's).

The set was simplistic yet effective. Two big pieces of faux-stone background that would be positioned in a variety of ways actually led to mostly-believable settings. Yes, I'm giving props to the props.

The story was simple and original and actually wasn't that bad, albeit profoundly predictable. There was frequent humor, though much of it, however harmless to the writers, I don't think was meant for children. In fact, I think it was clearly written for a particular generation of people, specifically those in their late teens or early twenties when ABBA hit this part of the world.

What struck me as unusual was the (often distracting) crowd activity. At times I felt like I was at the Rocky Horror Picture Show, minus Meatloaf and people throwing rice at the wedding. At the end of the show was nothing short of an homage to ABBA. Three of the main characters came out dressed in the spacesuit costumes of the time and led the bopping crowd in a rendition of "Dancing Queen", an image now forever ingrained in my head.

The singing was fine, and the dancing is what I imaging it to be...just a stone's throw from the "showtunes" pieces put together for "So You Think You Can Dance". What they do they do well, and I do respect that.

Overall I had a good time, and I give the show a B.
 

American Gladiators 2008

I have a confession to make. I plan to set my DVR to record the new 2008 version of American Gladiators when it starts in January. I was a fan of the original show in the 80's, and for some reason (maybe that I have extra space on the DVR) I think I might be a fan today.

In honor of that classic and perhaps too short-lived series, I found this clip on YouTube. It's the intro for the first season of the show, though the audio is a little off. All your old favorites are there, from Nitro, Turbo and Zap to Sabre, Blaze and Lace.

The new series will be hosted by Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali. I can't wait for their banter...oh, and the gladiatorial games, of course.

The Mitchell Report - Team Totals

Who says the Yankees can't win anything anymore? After the release of the Mitchell Report today, the New York club proved they can be still tops of at least one thing: the number of players mentioned in the report who play or have played for them. You go guys.

Oh, and as for Clemens: sorry buddy. Eight pages in the report is awfully convincing to me. Maybe the Duque was right about you; that is, your best days were behind you...until you started juicing.


image (mostly) from ESPN.com

Squirrel Man

Found this last night and deemed it post-worthy:

Possible Wedding Reception Venue Found?

Amidst all my posts about the Patriots, movies, silly websites and sillier holidays, you'll find a post or two about our upcoming wedding. From what I gather, it's never too early to get a date and/or book a venue for the reception. Today we went to the Seaport Hotel and were shown three different rooms, though the one that stood out above all other we've seen thus far, by far, is one of their newest ones called The Lighthouse Room.


The place has lots of windows, views, and modern decor (did I just write that?). This picture does it a little justice, but TLM has more pictures on a post today over on the wedding blog (http://msgettingmarried.blogspot.com), including some taken by a photographer who recently worked a couple of weddings there. If that's not enough, there's an even more expansive collection of photos we took today here on Flickr.

Might this be the place?
 

How the Matrix Should Have Ended

Firstly, Happy Birthday Dan. Get all that BAmBUu stuff lined up and ready to go.

Secondly, in light of a conversation yesterday revolving around the many stellar performances Keanu Reeves has delivered to us on film (I know, I know...), I found this on YouTube. It's an animated clip from larger collection at a site called "How It Should Have Ended".

Unfortunately there's no parody there for "Ocean's 13", but I guess that movie's a parody of itself already.

So Much for the #1 Defense in the NFL

This week was said to be the biggest test left for the Patriots on their way to an undefeated season. However, the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers and their #1 rated defense were still 10-point underdogs going into today's game, even after two weeks where the Patriots seemed to scuffle a bit.

It turned out the bookies were wrong...way wrong. Their pick for a winner was right, but the spread was more than doubled as the Pats trounced the Steelers 34-13, clinching a bye in the first round of this year's playoffs. Tom Brady threw for 399 yards and 4 touchdowns today, giving him 45 on the season. He needs 5 more over the next 3 games to pass Peyton Manning's single season record of 49, set in 2004. Considering that Brady passed Dan Marino's record today for most games in a season with 3 or more touchdown passes (11), this doesn;t look to be a problem.

A couple of those touchdowns were caught by Randy Moss (go figure), who almost caught a third on the Patriots' last drive. He now has 19 on the year and is another Patriot on pace to break a single season record, that being the one for receiving touchdowns in a single season currently set at 22 by Jerry Rice.

There were some great plays in the game as well. The Patriots found the endzone with 1:05 left in the first quarter when Brady slung it in to Moss for a 4 yard touchdown, and subsequently highlighted, by the way, by a post-catch jabbering match between Brady and some of the Steelers' secondary. On their very next play from scrimmage, the Pats went long and scored on a 63-yard play-action pass from Brady to Moss. In the third quarter, there was another long passing touchdown, but this one was the result of a play that started with Brady throwing across field to Moss, Moss dropping it, picking it up, then passing it back to Brady who then found Jabar Gaffney 56 yards downfield in the endzone. Because the only forward pass was the last one, the play was entirely legal, and had Moss not picked up the ball quickly enough a Steeler may have recovered what would have been considered a fumble.

After the play the cameras showed image after image of Patriots' coaches, players and fans smiling and laughing, perhaps at the fact that the play worked, perhaps at the Steelers in general.

Oh, and of course there was backup-turned-starter Anthony Smith's bold guarantee of a Steeler victory. As with most declarations of the sort, he was wrong.

13 down, 3 to go.
 

Invisible Tanks?

No, this isn't just an attempt to get you to say "tanks" (though I would feel obliged to follow up accordingly, for those who know what I'm talking about). This is for real...I think.

Some reports indicate that the U.S. Army are working on a kind of cloaking technology, rendering their vehicles virtually invisible, as in not visible to the naked eye. It gets even more sci-fi: this technology reportedly could involve "an artificial type of matter called metamaterials" that "guide light around an object, rather than refract or reflect the light".

Wow.

Imagine planes, bombs, tanks, even soldiers (and their shadows!) becoming no longer visible. I like watching it in movies, but for some reason the idea of this existing in reality makes me very, very nervous.
 

Celtics/Raptors...in da club

As if TLM wasn't the best already, she arranged for us to have a
"secret date night" tonight. I write you now from halftime at the TD
Banknorth Garden, where the the C's have a 22 point lead over the
Raptors.

Oh, did I mention she's the best?
 

New Prehistoric Reptile, Mummified Dinosaur

Whenever I come across stories about new discoveries of prehistoric anythings, I make note. A couple of days ago scientists at the University of Oslo in Norway (my favorite country at Epcot) found what they think to be a new species of prehistoric sea reptile. There appears to be some controversy, though, as they're not sure this new species is really new. Um, ok...it doesn't make for a great story per say, but it's an excuse to include images like this one:

Also, in a more exciting and less vague declaration made by scientists on Monday, a dinosaur mummy has been found, complete with bones, skin, and maybe even organs and muscles. This is great news as now we don't need to mine for those pesky prehistoric mosquitoes fossilized in amber to get our dinosaur DNA for our dinosaur amusement parks...
 

Day of the Ninja 2007

Pirates vs. Ninja...why is that again? I'm sure there is a story (more than just "the Ninja were jealous that Pirates had their own day"), but today is the Day of the Ninja, so celebrate by busting out your black ski masks (just don't walk into any convenience stores!).

Are you a Ninja? Take a (sorta long) quiz at quizilla to see.

Last year "Ask a Ninja" enlightened us as to the origin of the day (see below), but for some reason I don't think he's being entirely serious...you be the judge.