Pockets of Sanity

Tropical Storm Fay *angry face*

No power since 3:30pm. I do not like not having power. Grrr.

Weekend News and Notes

I don't mean to offend those of you with deep religious beliefs, but it seems silly to me that people in the state of Florida would ever even consider going to church again. God obviously wants you dead.

I'm not sure what we've done to anger God exactly. Is it our passion for football? Are our old people not dying fast enough? Is it the 1% of the nation's porn industry that makes their money in south Florida?

As I write this, I am enduring the fourth hurricane to hit my state. The effects of this one have been similar to Frances for us, with high rain and strong, steady winds. Luckily, I still have power, cable and internet access, and no tree has fallen on my car yet. I'm probably dooming myself with that boast.

The Georgia Bulldogs were off on Saturday, so I accepted an invite to attend the Florida-Kentucky game in Gainesville. In my youth I'd attended probably 8 or 9 seasons worth of games in Athens, but to put things in persepctive, I haven't been to a live football game since before Al Gore invented the internet.

Our seats were about five rows away from the very back of the stadium, but the view was excellent. Showing how pathetic and hermit-like I've become, I noted that it was like watching HDTV, except that you're actually there. I'm lame, I know.

Having now gone to a college game as an adult, I'm glad I've done it, but see no real reason to do it again. The seating is really unpleasant at times, and if you have even a touch of claustrophobia you'll freak out.

The game wasn't exactly impressive (Florida won 20-3), but a Saturday afternoon with friends is always a good time. I wish I'd remembered my sunscreen though.

I've been critical of the Jacksonville Jaguars first two wins, but I'll hand it to them after today's 15-12 victory over the Tennessee Titans. Their win today wasn't a fluke. Despite the still anemic offense, we made plays when we needed to and capitalized on Titan errors when they were presented to us.

Jacksonville is now 3-0, and this was a well-earned win.

I have my first major complaint about my new DVR service.  Early on Sunday morning I'd set it up to tape this movie called The Girl and the General, a rarely shown Rod Steiger movie that is not on home video. 

Up to this point, I've recorded over 100 shows with no glitches whatsoever. But for this one thing, the one thing I'd REALLY hoped would record properly, the DVR box decided to just do whatever it wanted.

Instead of starting the recording at 2:55am as scheduled, it took it upon itself to start at 3:55am. I cannot get the box to repeat this goof, either. So once again, it's just my runaway streak of bad luck that causes these things to happen.

I'll have some new DVD reviews tomorrow, hopefully.  At least two, if my plans go accordingly.

Martial Law Should Be Declared

It bothers me that God or nature or whatever decides that people staying indoors as instructed by authorities are the ones to be injured or killed, while morons who decide to jump off piers and other assorted idiots who think that being outside in a hurricane is "cool" are allowed to live. Where is natural selection when you need it?

Aside from looting though, I believe I've just seen the most horrific hurricane behavior, and it took place in my own freaking neighborhood. People I have to call my "neighbors" decided to go out into the storm with their dog, and then proceeded to bathe the dog by scooping up the water running down the street and pouring it onto the helpless animal. Conditions weren't the best for photos of this, but here's an attempt:

And there's also some video available of this, but it's not that clear either. But believe me, these are two redneck assholes washing their poor dog with dirty street water in the middle of a hurricane. If I only owned a gun...

Francis Damage Update

Quick update. A tree snapped from a wind gust and landed, of course, on my car. Those are the pictures. Otherwise, we've just had one long, sustained thunderstorm with a few bursts of wind and light to medium rainfall. Nothing tragic. And thankfully, the power is still on.

The biggest issue though came this morning, when I discovered that both Best Buy and Circuit City had decided not to open for business today.

No Time for Movies, Dr. Jones

Well, a busy weekend left no time for movie watching, sadly.

Friday was all about Hurricane Charley, which promised major storm action but once again, Jacksonville is under some kind of protective bubble that prevents danger.

Saturday night was the preseason debut for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now I know it's preseason and no one thinks it means anything, but still, someone has to win these games and someone has to lose. So the team that wins is obviously doing something better than the loser, correct?

We played the Miami Dolphins, a team which has lost its entire running attack, is unsure about who will start at quarterback, and saw its top receivers go down with injuries during training camp. Jacksonville on the other hand, has been a media darling in the off-season, becoming the sexy choice at being a longshot to make it to the Super Bowl.

Miami 16, Jacksonville 5.  Could be a long season.

I'll say this about the Olympics... while I don't think I could just sit and watch the Olympics and whatever NBC chooses to televise, I like having it on in the background as I do other things around the house. The announcers give you a pretty good idea about when to look at the screen just by their volume. You can easily tune out the human interest filler and snap back to attention near the ends of races and other events.

How about our men's basketball team eh?  Funny what over a billion dollars can't buy these days.

I found time to finish up my first "Saturday Night Live" DVD set, since NBC seems to be taking forever to even consider the idea. I started with the 1985-1986 season, partially because even if Lorne Michaels and the network decide to put this stuff out there, this season would be one of the lowest priorities. I'll probably post a quick review of the set in the near future, as there's a lot of interesting things to comment on in retrospect.

Special thanks to The SNL Archive, a great database of SNL information that has helped me make sense of my convoluted labeling system on my tape collection.

Looks like I'll be spending a pretty penny this week on new DVD releases. A new Best Buy just opened up 2 minutes away from my front door, and there's a lot being offered this week that demands my cash. Once I budgeted my purchases, it was off to the DVD cave to pull some titles to sell off.

Back tomorrow with... well with something I guess.  Not sure what yet.

Charley Schmarley and the Olympics

It's strange. A category 4 hurricane cuts through the state of Florida, causing billions of dollars in damage, and people here in Jacksonville feel ripped off. Not me... I mean I'm glad that we were prepared and didn't have to deal with the storm after all, but I've talked to people who are actually ANGRY that they had to go out and buy "batteries and water and for what?!". Settle down, idiots.

How about those Opening Ceremonies, eh? What a bizarre presentation, but yet strangely compelling at the same time. The US could have never come up with something so cerebral. Ours would have had Janet Jackson molesting goat genitalia as Aerosmith watches.

The US athletes got quite the warm reception, which I was glad to hear. It's sad though that the Olympics are being protected by MISSILES and other armaments. The games are supposed to represent the best of humanity and athletic competition, a feeling you certainly got by watching the Opening Ceremonies, but knowing that tanks are rolling outside is just sad.

Synchronized diving is on now... what the hell is this? Why do we keep making up new sports for the Olympics? Diving is a sport. Synchronized diving isn't. Neither is synchronized swimming, beach volleyball, or something simply called Trampoline.

But god bless equality, as there is women's wrestling this year.