Post 200

DJ

RIP # 3

Slam Dunk!

For the benefit of regular VTK reader sports fans who have become mothers and fathers in the last few days and may have missed the Slam Dunk Competition, I'll link to the youtube footage so you can watch the Celtic's own Gerald Green dominate:

part one, part two, part three, part four, part five.

Assorted Sports

Time to do a sports wrap-up.

In response to a request for discussion/comment on the Hardaway gaybashing, I'll say that he's a douchebag and that's the understatement of the year. I almost don't want to comment on it because he's so stupid and I don't really want to perpetuate the story, but it does warrant some comment. The short story is this: former NBA player comes out of the closet, another former NBA player goes on the radio and says that he "hates gay people" and that homosexuality shouldn't be "in the world or in the United States". What can you say. He's a total idiot and asshole and it's horrible to hear him going on national radio and saying something like that even if that is how he honestly feels (which it obviously is) and other people feel that way but just won't say it. A lot of athletes are assholes and I'm sure there is a lot of homophobia in locker rooms. I don't think it's an indictment of sports though. There are a lot of assholes and homophobia in society. The sports world is a bit of a microcosm of society and a story like this stands out because of its contrast to the perceived/projected heterosexual atmosphere of sports (nothing says man-woman love like two people of the same gender slamming into and rubbing against eachother). If you follow sports closely enough, you'll find all sorts of social commentary, hope, despair, hatred, love, etc., etc. So, fuck Tim Hardaway. Hopefully, his caustic bigotry will make other homophobes and haters in the sports world, and in society in general, examine and reconsider their feelings.

In other NBA news, the Celtics finally won a game! For the first time in 19 games. 18 consecutive losses. Yikes. I think all C's fans are at least begrudgingly rooting for them to lose at this point to increase their chances of picking up potential Hall of Famers Oden or Durant in the draft, but it was getting ridiculous and detrimental to the mental well-being of the young kids on the team. I was watching the games to monitor the development of the kids and then hoping for them to lose in the end. But I was definitely rooting for them to win the last two. They're my team. Gotta root for them. I don't think I've ever been in the position of actually rooting for one of my teams to lose before. Not even for the Tim Duncan draft. But this year, they're either going to: a) end up with a franchise type player, a healthy Pierce, and a well-developed crop of young players; or b) they're going to miss the playoffs, get a decent non-star player with the 5th through 9th pick, they will have passed on legit opportunities to trade for AI, Gasol, Boozer, or maybe even Garnett, Pierce will leave the team in a year or two, and they will continue in the same cycle of mediocrity they've been stuck in since McHale retired in the early nineties. Maybe instead of rooting against the C's, I'll start rooting for Memphis and Philly. The more they win, the better off we are.

In other other NBA news, it's All-Star Weekend! I still love this game and I still love NBA All-Star Weekend. I think it's gotta be my favorite of the All Star extravaganzas. The baseball All-Star game is the only one that's even close. I realized last weekend that I don't think I've ever watched a Pro Bowl (something I realized while flipping through the channels around the Pro Bowl). It's kind of anti-climactic. We've watched the entire college and pro football seasons, culminating in the bowl games, the NFL playoffs, the Bud Bowl, and the Super Bowl. And then we're supposed to care about watching a bunch of players half ass it against eachother in Hawaii? No thanks. The other All-Star games are in the middle of the seasons and the players still seem to care. Actually, I've only watched the NHL game a few times and not in years, so I don't really know. or care. I like the idea of the MLB game determining home field advantage for the World Series. I also liked the idea of the MLS All Stars playing Chelsea, which is essentially an all star team. But, I've always loved watching the NBA All Star game and festivities the most. The dunk contest (Go Gerald Go!) and the 3 pt contest may not be what they once were (MJ v 'Nique? Bird walking away with his finger in the air on the last shot? come on), but they're still pretty cool. What would be really cool is to see them take the Sports Guy's advice and implement a HOUSE competition. Can you imagine Arenas hitting a half court hook shot to eliminate Kobe? How fucking great would that be. And if I may tangent again, how fucking great has the emergence of Arenas as a superstar hot dog this year been? This shot of him hitting the game-winning shot and turning around and walking down the court with his arms in the air as it fell through the net was downright birdesque. and I don't use that term lightly. fucking awesome:



here's a similar one of him hitting a game winner from about 5 or 6 feet behind the arc with a hand in his face and walking away with a great expression on his face:



he's definitely my favorite non-Celtic in the NBA right now:







In non-NBA news, 3 words: pitchers and catchers!!! Welcome back, beisbol. Today is the official start of the season - when pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. There's not too much to say right now, Yankees fans. Welcome back, Andy Pettitte!



In other baseball related news, I sold (or re-sold, as it were) the Jackie Robinson painting at my show in Lynn.




I brought my newest baseball painting up there last night (because I thought it would hang nicely alongside the Jackie painting, and the owner of the cafe told me it had sold and handed me a check. He's going to hang the baseball painting anyways. (scoutie, dewy24, carpetman trivmaster, and brian in la may recogize the ball as the one I picked up on the field after missing 10 consecutive field goal attempts).

And lastly, congrats to sports fan vtk reader B-Tom and his wife Jen on the healthy birth of their son Max, the newest Celtics fan in town.

Loose Ends

I watched Gus Van Zant's Elephant last night before I went to bed. That was a good idea. I woke up in the middle of the night dreaming about a school massacre which eventually left me staring into the reflective sunglasses of one Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy. And in case you didn't know, that ain't good. Yikes. Over the weekend, I watched Breaking The Waves and In America. I've seen Breaking The Waves a few times, so it's lost a bit of its impact. But, In America... Jesus Christ was that heavy. I nearly cried. And I haven't done that in 15 years. I had to watch Office Space, Ocean's Eleven, and American Wedding to try to wipe that darkness out of my mind. I was back into safe, superficial waters until I decided to go for the late night viewing of a school massacre. Tonight, I'm going to try to avoid the heavy films and instead watch a nice depressing report on the state of the freedom of the press in the US on Frontline. I heard an interview with the producer yesterday and the state ain't good. Check it out!

Aside from watching depressing movies this weekend, I finished my WZBC O Six Mix, consisting of songs that I heard on a regular basis on 90.3 WZBC over the past year. Some new stuff, some old stuff which got regular play. The set list:

The Neighborhoods - The Prettiest Girl
Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci - Poodle Rockin
Quintron – Places Unknown
Sparks – Metaphors
Stereolab – Interlock
Hot Chip – Over and Over
Greenskeepers – Lotion
Fiery Furnaces – In My Little Thatched Hut
Destroyer - Your Blood
M Ward – Chinese Translation
Camera Obscura – Hey Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken
Nancy DuPree's class (Ghetto Reality) - James Brown
Townes Van Zandt – Waitin Around To Die
Midlake – Roscoe
Band of Horses – Funeral
Nethers – Migratory Birds
TV On The Radio - Staring at the Sun
TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me
Wolf Parade – I’ll Believe In Anything


Unfortunately, cd's are only 80 minutes long, so several worthy songs did not make the cut. In fact, 5 seconds may get clipped off the end of one of I'll Believe in Anything, as it is. Bastards. Would it kill them to make a 100 or 120 minutes cd? Missing the cut:

Joanna Newsom – Sawdust and Diamonds
Eric Bachmann – Man O War and Carrboro Woman.
Man Man - Van Helsing Boombox
Mission of Burma – Academy Fight Song and Revolver.
Babybird - I forget which song.
Wire - all their songs.

let me know if you're interested (via comment or email) and I'll burn you a copy. I'm pretty sure you can hear samples of most of these songs on iTunes, myspace or elsewhere on the WWW. The sublimely addictive "James Brown" can by found here.

I've been asked to issue a reminder about the upcoming art show. It's this Thursday, February 15th, from 7 to 11 PM at the Gulu Gulu Cafe in Downtown Lynn, MA. Music starts at 8. Directions can be found here.

And lastly, as a general rule, I don't observe valentines day (more out of circumstance than principle, I suppose), but I thought I would pass on this amusing observation from indexed.blogspot.com:



(and Happy Birthday, KAS)

I'm Easily Amused

Art courtesy of guidodaniele.com. Happy Friday.

Modern Millie Fashion Show

A friend of VTK and proprietor of Modern Millie Vintage and Consignments in Salem is having a fashion show Thursday night, catered by her brother, the chef aka Pancookery. Graphic design by yours truly.

Super Bowl Shuffle

Dated? nah:



That brings me back. I remember our fat priest at Sacred Heart called me out in church for wearing a Bear's pin. My neighbors were from Chicago and my parents lived there for 15 years so we were holding down North Concord Parkway as Bears country in the middle of New England.

(thanks to Wonder Mike on the Mic Mike for the tip)

Molly Ivins, 1944 - 2007

I try to resist letting this blog slip into an obituary page. I think I've given a nod in the form of a post to Red Auerbach, Syd Barrett, Richard Pryor, and that might be it. I passed on James Brown, Gerald Ford, Robert Altman, Barbaro, and Desmond Dekker. I'm still mulling a Joseph Barbera post. I think I may have briefly mentioned Pat Morita.

Molly Ivins gets a post. The Texas firebrand journalist died last night after a battle with breast cancer. I can't say we had a more charming, witty, sweet, and passionate journalist fighting the good fight in the US.

Here's the statement/obituary from her paper, the Texas Observer, which I got from commondreams.org, where you'll no doubt find more tributes today and tomorrow.

"She remained cheerful despite Texas politics. She emphasized the more hilarious aspects of both state and national government, and consequently never had to write fiction. She said, 'Good thing we’ve still got politics — finest form of free entertainment ever invented.'"