Let's Embarrass Brian

I bought a special shirt for Brian to wear at his Bachelor Party. He wore it begrudgingly. Doesn't he look sooo cute?!?

Can't Get Enough Sanjaya

Sanjaya to Attend White House Correspondents' Dinner - seriously???

Sanjaya Malakar's hair-raising adventure isn't over yet. The recently dispatched American Idol contestant is now headed for the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.

Malakar, 17, finally voted off the show Wednesday night after weeks of debate over his locks and singing chops, will be one of PEOPLE's guests at the Saturday night event at the Washington Hilton.

A Ballad We Should All Hear

This song sums up my professional life. If you've never worked in design or marketing, this is pretty much what you hear all the time.

My New Favorite Book

This book really helped me out. It changed my life...

The sequel was just as moving as the original. Powerful stuff...

I'm Pissed About Imus

Imus got fired and I'm pissed. I never listened to the guy and don't really care about the whole thing, but the media frenzy is infuriating.

First off, the man is a "shock jock." It's his job to be offensive!! He was hired to be this kind of guy and made a good living off it. He went a little too far and everyone forgets that. The company that hired him for this suddenly is blameless when they put him there in the first place. Hypocrite.

Secondly, Rev. Sharpton and Rutgers should be ashamed of themselves. Yes, Imus said something wrong and then apologized for it. He was ridiculed and humiliated on a national scale. What good did firing him do? Nothing. Sharpton and Rutgers should have risen above it. They could have shown that they were the bigger parties and embraced someone that clearly showed remorse. Instead, they were spiteful and wanted revenge, stooping to a lower level than Imus ever went to. Hypocrites.

Wouldn't the Christian thing to do have been turn the other cheek and forgive the repentant? Why was the 'Reverend' out for blood this time? Sharpton said this would send a message that no form of intolerance is acceptance. Well, but intolerant of intolerance is it's own form of intolerance. Hypocrite.

Imus getting fired is the real tragedy here. Will he have to close down his ranch for sick kids? Who wins if that happens? He didn't lose his job because he said something rude and apologized. His reputation and career are ruined because Sharpton and Rutgers fed the media storm that pressured Imus' employer to disown him when he got in trouble, forgetting that this was the job they paid him to do. Hypocrites.

Imus vs. Howard Stern

Howard Stern and Imus have hated each other for years. Now that Imus is in trouble, Stern is in heaven. Here are some quotes from Stern over the past few days:

• "He does nothing. He mumbles, he can't speak English, he can't be understood. He was never funny. You listen to the show, I defy you to laugh."
• "He's completely insane."
• "Go away. Really. It's time."
• "There's probably a 70 percent chance [CBS Radio and MSNBC are] going to have to fire this guy.... He's in for a shitstorm because the girl's basketball team is going to have a press conference, and that's going to look real bad."
• "I guarantee you the wife leaves him. If he loses his job, she leaves him within a year. [And if that happens,] I will leave Beth to fuck her."
• "If it was me and I did something stupid like that I would just go on and say, 'I'm not going on Al Sharpton's show. Al Sharpton is a piece of shit. He's just a human being that is bankrupt, and he should pay his bills.... I would rather just leave the radio than apologize to that man.... I like Al Sharpton, by the way."
• "I mean, come on, Al Sharpton. Imus, get some fucking dignity." [Burps.]
• "I've never seen a 67-year-old guy look that bad."
• "Imus is a moron."
• "Imus had a perfectly nice life, he had no listeners. No one ever bothered him. Now all of a sudden he's getting all this attention, he's cracking. He handled that like shit."
• "How is Imus on the radio? Do you understand a word he says?"
• "He looks awful. How old is Imus for real? Doesn't he look 80?"

I think Stern has said a lot worse things over the year and would have handled the situation a little better than Imus. But well never know for sure...

What Did Imus Say?

There's been so much media coverage of what Imus said, but no one has mentioned what he actually said. I did some digging and found out. He and his team we discussing the NCAA women's championship the night before, where Tennessee's Lady Vols' 59-46 won over Rutgers' Scarlet Knights.

Imus started comparing the 2 teams, saying that the players on Tennessee's team were "all cute girls." He called the Rutgers team, most of whom are African-American, "nappy-headed hos." He then referenced Spike Lee's film "School Daze," comparing the two teams to the film's fictional college cliques divided by skin color known as "jigaboos" and "wannabes."

His inevitable apology was:

"(I) want to take a moment to apologize for an insensitive and ill-conceived remark we made the other morning referring to the Rutgers women's basketball team. It was completely inappropriate, and we can understand why people were offended. Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, so, and we're sorry."

Chernobyl

Interesting site. Some guy apparently took a photographic interest in the Chernobyl site. He created this image library of the site and surrounding areas.

The images are a little boring. There's not much going on, but the implications are astounding. The danger here is invisible. It's a world frozen in time from the blast. Lucky for us, it was a Russian town that America never heard of. If this happened in Ohio, we'd have a much different take on it.

I wonder if this guy got sick from being there? Why would he risk it? I do understand, though. For some reason, I'm fascinated by disaster sites. Some of you might remember a previous blog about a site with images from Hiroshima. Something about the world as we know it being destroyed is so stark and bitter, it's hard to turn away.

Shout-out to Matt Schatz for the link. Matt, you are now the 5th regular reader of the blog. Congratulations!!! You're in good company with Harley, Brian, Bill, and Jen.

Pimp Yo'self, Fool!

Don't Player-Hate. Player Appreciate!

This site is awesome! A client sent it to me. Finally, a place I can get all my pimp gear, learn about the art of Pimping, and even get a pimp name. Here are some names of mine...

Funk Master Heller Large
Ghetto Fabulous Heller Silk
Mack Master Heller Sneed
Fine Ass Andrew Wicked
Silver Tongue A. Smooth

Thundercats, Hoooo!!!

Check this out!! Can you believe the lengths people will go to memorialize their favorite cartoons? I used to watch the show and was a big fan. But I can't imagine it would be fun to watch now. This website, though adds a sense of nostalgia and excitement that the original just doesn't have. Amazingly, the representation is more interesting than the original.

Alternatively, The Transformers movie looks amazing!! I question whether it will be as good as the toys were when I was 12 years old, but I can't wait to find out.

NYC Trivia

1.The term "The Big Apple" was coined by touring jazz musicians of the1930's who used the slang expression "apple" for any town or city (Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time)

2. New York City was briefly the U.S. capital from 1789 to 1790

3.There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland

4. There are more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy

5. There are more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel

I Have Sanjaya Fever!!

Woohoo!!

Video Game Quiz

Very fun site! I could waste my whole morning here. But I won't. My ancestors didn't leave bondage in Egypt just for me to screw around at work. Or maybe that's exactly why they left! They left slavery so that I could be free. They wouldn't want me in bondage now, so I should enjoy myself. Ancestors, you are welcome.