Let's Go Digital

After receiving my bonus from my employer earlier this week, I went up to the Apple store in Towson and bought myself an ipod mini, with the intention of making my long commute more bearable. First impression: the mini will perform more than admirably as my commuting sidekick. It's small enough to fit into a regular-sized pants or shirt pocket, looks fantastic (I bought the lime green model, in case you were curious), and sounds much better than something this small has any business sounding. The frequency response is incredible, and this is with the uncomfortable earbuds that come packaged with the mini. It pumps out plenty of bass for my tastes, and the sound may be as clear as on my home stereo. In a word, impressive.

Thanks to Apple, my transformation from analog to digital yuppie is almost complete.

I can also understand how Apple is banking on ipods being the gateway device for more people to purchase Apple computers. I was playing with one in their store, and it is a beautiful and elegant machine. Still overpriced when compared to the equivalent PC, and I'm not sure what Apple is thinking offering 256MB as the base RAM on most models (maybe their non-Windows OS is less of a memory-hog?), but if I were in the market for a new PC I'd certainly take a look. They're not quite as pricey as a few years ago, and their most notable feature may be what they lack; a Microsoft OS.

Sin City opens tomorrow, and as you could tell from a previous post I'm really looking forward to it. An article on wired.com about director Robert Rodriguez is a good read; it describes how the maverick director makes his movies by shooting exclusively in digital, reveals some Sin City production tricks, and even compares him to a young George Lucas. He'll use non-union crews when it suits him, and lost a directing job for a big-budget sci-fi movie when he quit the Director's Guild over a dispute about Frank Miller's directing credit. And if you've never seen El Mariachi, his $7,000 first film, check it out. It's just as exhilarating, if not quite as flashy, as its big-star sequel Desperado, but it's basically just more fun.

Vegas Moratorium

The Vegas trip for Jarriel's bachelor party; for me, it was a tale of two days, and the two different moods of Lady Luck. On Friday, I bet on 3 basketball games, and won two of those bets, including a bet against the TeamfromDurham. I also played in a $25 buy-in Hold-'Em tournament at the Luxor, lasted an hour, and played reasonably well. Elvis Costello at the Hard Rock that evening was also excellent; his voice sounds fantastic live, and he's a much better guitar player than I had previously thought. On Saturday, I bet on two basketball games and lost both bets, and I was basically eliminated from that same poker tournament by holding pocket Aces and getting beat by 3 Jacks. That evening was spent at the VIP section of a club that, as impressive as the club was, I didn't fully appreciate (maybe that had something to do with the $80/pp??). Still, a good time, mostly thanks to the cool dudes that were in our group (the company you keep on trips like this really makes all the difference).

Does that mean I'm itching to go back again next year? Not Exactly. Maybe it's that I'm getting older, but I prefer my vacations/holidays to be a bit less...frenetic. I like to have time to relax, and I'm reasonably sure after 3 visits that Vegas is not my type of relaxation. While I certainly like to gamble, and can't imagine the scenario where I'd turn down a free cocktail, for me the whole sum of Vegas is best taken in small doses. I figure my next dose won't be necessary for a number of years (at least five, that was my announced moratorium on Sunday). The long flights out and back certainly don't help, either - I bet if I lived out west I'd have a different take on the Vegas 'vacation'. Those were very weary flights home on Sunday morning, but at the end was Jenny (and Maya and Marty), so that made it bearable.

Meanwhile there are thankfully still more than a few plastic-and-neon-free locales on the planet that I've yet to lay eyes on. After returning from a weekend in Las Vegas, that's a comforting thought.

A Sin City Easter

Tomorrow I'm off to Vegas with a bunch of other guys for a bachelor party. Over Easter weekend. Didn't bother me too much months ago when the date was changed from the previous weekend in order to save $$ (about $150 each, I think). But I find that now it bothers me more than I thought. I know that when I get there, I'll have a great time. And Jarriel's one of the nicest guys I know, there's no way I would miss this. But it will be strange not being with the family at church. And I can't help but think that the Resurrected One himself wouldn't approve, but who knows - I'm not going to presume to speak for Him (as so many in this fine nation like to do, silly religious right! Yes, in case you're wondering, I hate freedom.)

One the other hand, I had fun last weekend with Jenny and my parents, going up to New York, and I wouldn't have been able to see Steve's family or Ben's show if I had been in Vegas. And a few of us are going to see Elvis Costello on Friday night, so that will be sweet. And nobody's going to hold a gun to my head and force me to hit the strip clubs on Good Friday (those are off my list for this trip, my hypocrisy does have its bounds!). Plus, the tournament's still going on, what's more wholesome then celebrating the achievements of those fine scholar-athletes by placing harmless bets on the outcome of their sports contests? I'm feeling better about this trip already!

Poker Lesson #6,742,191

Never let an inexperienced player take you away from your game plan.

I generally don't play a lot of bad hands in poker. When I do get in trouble and lose a hand, it's usually late in the hand. I also have a tendency to bluff every once in a while when I have no business doing so. But if I don't get the cards, I rarely play the hand. When I do get the cards, I do what every other player with half-a-brain does, I use the other players' betting as clues to what they may have.

The only problem with this occurs when an opponent doesn't know what he/she is doing, plays hands that should be folded, and, worst of all, doesn't bet properly on good hands. I'd much rather lose to a good player who outplayed me than a bad player who didn't bet properly and lucked out on the River. All of this happened to me Friday night. Of course, I really have nobody to blame but myself. I wasn't patient enough, wasn't getting the cards, and ended up playing some hands that looked stronger than they were because of another player's non-betting. In the end though, nobody made me push the chips into the pot. After all, the game is all about self-control.

At least I didn't spill any food or drink on myself. And Jenny played well and came out a few bucks ahead. Unfortunately, we had to leave early so that we could get up at 6 am for a drive up to New York (for my cousin Adene's baby shower and to catch Jenny's brother Ben in Wicked). Otherwise, I bet she would have left with more $$. But what do I know, right? I was the first one to go out that evening.

Steroids Under the Big-Top

After reading over various accounts of the House hearings on steroid use in MLB yesterday, here's my scorecard:

• Mark McGwire: He sure sounded guilty, and about as evasive as Barry Bonds at a press conference (though much less ornery). I don't think he was comfortable with lying under oath, so he simply deflected the question. Unlike Bonds, he's a very likable guy; in that way it's a shame that his 70 HRs are probably as ill-gotten as Bonds' 73 appear to be.
  
• Sammy Sosa: He brought a lawyer to read a convoluted, precisely-worded statement that leaves plenty of wriggle room. OK, so he broke no laws in the U.S. or his native Dominican Republic. So? What if he was prescribed steroids by some unscrupulous doctor on his home island? Sammy, you did yourself no favors, and didn't even manage to come off as a sympathetic character like your buddy Mark did.
• Rafael Palmeiro: Admittedly one of my favorite players, he went with the unequivical, outright denial. Why Canseco would make up steroid-shooting incidents involving Raffy is beyond me, but don't just take Raffy's word for it, look at the guy! He's not exactly a prime candidate for a Muscle magazine cover shoot, is he? His physique is more Dunkin' Donuts then Shootin' Steroids, and that's how he's always looked. Besides, look at the swing. He's got a beautiful swing, like Ken Griffey Junior's, and during his prime years rarely had the 100+ strikeout seasons that McGwire had (1 season, compares to McGwire's 5) and always hit for average as well as consistent power (unlike Sosa and McGwire). He came out of the hearings pretty much untouched, especially with Canseco bactracking about some of the items in his book during the hearing.
• Curt Schilling: Please remind me again, what was he doing there? Was he going to regale Congress with the story of his heroic post-season, pitching on a stapled-together ankle? I guess he's already told everyone else on the planet how heroic he was, it was Congress' turn?
  

Kill Bill, Sin City

Last weekend I sat down and watched Quentin Tarantino's kung-fu epic, Kill Bill, Volumes 1 and 2, back-to-back. They are easily among the most gory, violent films I've ever seen. Very entertaining though, especially the first film, although I could have done without so much of the anime blood-and-guts. The final fight scenes of Volume 1 are just a load of fun; Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu are fantastic. The second film featured what was easily the funniest character in either volume, the kung-fu master Pai Gei; I actually re-watched some of his scenes, they were that hilarious. Volume 2 managed to have a completely different look than the first volume, which was more kung-fu style than substance. It's presented as more of a western, with the scene locales reinforcing that feel. It is also more plot-dependent and tells more of the back story, in Tarantino's usual non-linear manner (if you don't like Tarantino's filmmaking quirks and gimmicks you won't like these movies, because they're in there - in abundance). I wasn't crazy about the ending - I'm comfortable with some ambiguity at the end of films, but I really wanted a better explanation of WHY Bill did what he did to Uma's character. The explanations in the film didn't cut it for me, but considering the kung-fu genre in which these films clearly belong, maybe it simply doesn't matter. The movie works best on a primal level - Uma's character clearly deserves revenge, period.

Next up in the cinema, I'm really looking forward to the film version of Frank Miller's Sin City, directed by him and Tarantino buddy Robert Rodriguez. For those who aren't comic book fans, Miller has been known for years as one of the top artists/writers around; his work includes the Sin City and Hard Boiled series, as well as "Batman: Year One" and my favorite comic of all time, "The Dark Knight Returns". Watch the trailer, the film looks....unique. Cast isn't too shabby either. It comes out April 1st.

Oakland > MD? You tell 'em, Skip!

Skip Bayless of ESPN has a great column up about the democratic nature of NCAA tournament selection, and how it lessens the quality of tournament teams. Do I think Maryland would have done any damage in the tournament? No, they look like they would have been a first-round loser at this point in the season. But all a 12-18 team (like Oakland) has to do is get hot for 3 or 4 games at the end of the year to make the field? Let's see Oakland or Montana beat Maryland, Notre Dame, or Miami. I know it increases interest in the first round to have small schools and geographic diversity represented. But is this really a collection of the best 65 teams in the country? Please.

Terrapins' Season in Review

I think Mike Wilbon's column in today's Post sums it up much better than I could, and I agree 100% with his assessment. Yes, a disappointing year, perhaps the most disappointing in the entire nation. But they'll be back. The players are still talented, the coach is still one of the best in the business.

I t will be weird filling out a pool bracket without my alma mater in the field, just because I've never experienced that before. I started following college basketball my senior year in high school, when I was choosing which college to attend and before I realized why the teamfromDurham was a four-letter word. Maryland was making the first of those 11 consecutive tournament experiences, and it was a big deal throughout the state. Joe Smith came out of nowhere as a freshman, Maryland was on the map early in the season with a big win over John Thompson's Hoyas, and in the tournament they shocked the 2-seed UMass (w/Marcus Camby) before losing a tough game to 3-seed Michigan in the Sweet Sixteen (I vividly recall Juwan Howard, in his last year at Michigan, whining to the refs on every call against him in that game). I don't think anyone could have guessed that it was the beginning of over a decade of solid-to-spectacular Maryland teams that would reach two Final Fours, win a National Title, and win the ACC Tournament.

They'll be back next year, and it sounds like Gilchrist will be back too. Hopefully he'll decide to come back as part of the team. With or without #11 though, there's no reason the Terps can't have a very good season.

Song Killer

At band practice last night - I play the role of the singer, although maybe vocalist is a better term after this post, unless one has a very liberal definition of "singing" - we tried a cover of the Beatles' Eight Days a Week for the first time. I was unfortunately caught in vocal no-man's land; the octave the song was written in was too high for my rather limited range, but dropping down an octave I sounded like Johnny Cash or Steven Wright singing the Beatles. Something was lost, to say the least. So I toughed it out in the written octave, and it sounded just perfect, not counting the occasional strangled animal sound during a high note. I've never been a Beatles fan, but I couldn't help but think that my abbattoir-soundtrack vocal stylings weren't doing any of the four any justice. The dead Beatles (John, George, Ringo's career) were surely spinning around in their graves.

Final: Terps 76 , Hokies 86

Barring a miracle in the ACC Tournament, here's an acronym that's been foreign to Maryland fans for quite a while, but that they need to re-familiarize themselves with:

N-I-T.

Haltime: Terps 37, Hokies 45

Thanks to recent wireless card driver updates, I'm able to offer this real-time blog entry from our living room!

It's halftime, and the Terps find themselves down by 8 to Virginia Tech. Tech has shot well from 3-point range, but the Terps defense has been almost non-existent so far. VT's point guard is beating John Gilchrist to the basket whenever he wants to (which is often, unfortunately for Terps fans).

Let me first say that the TV broadcast team for this game is awesome. The always-amusing Tim Brant and all his mis-statements and mis-pronunciations, and former Clemson coach Cliff Ellis - he was coach there when I was a freshman at Maryland. Tim is always fun to listen to, and Cliff Ellis just tells it like it is, and is pretty funny himself - he turned to Tim late in the half and asked point-blank, "What's a Hokie?" Too bad Tim left that inquiry unanswered.

Anyway, Ellis really nailed down what newspapers and columnists have only alluded to during Maryland's inconsistent season; Gilchrist's attitude on the court takes his team out of the game too often. Everything is personal with him - a team knows that when Gilchrist is taken off the dribble on defense, he'll almost always come down on the offensive end and take a shot without a pass. He lets opposing fans get to him, and on more than one occasion so far today, he's been arguing with refs about a foul while his defensive assignment has been leading a successful fast break. For the past 4 or 5 games, this team has been better with him off the court. Contrast his mental game with that of Chris McCray, who never seems to take a play off and is always running around on both ends of the court; maybe it would be better for the team if Gilchrist went pro after this year (even though at this point he's only a second-round pick). He may be the most physically talented player on the team (although James Gist and Mike Jones certainly have strong cases), but he's so easily taken off his game. The second half is starting now, we'll see how he and the Terps finish out a must-win game.

Comment Settings Changed!

No, unlike the enemies of our great democratic nation, I don't hate freedom. With that in mind, I have changed the comment settings, so that anyone may comment to posts. You no longer need permission from the Great and Powerful Underchuckle to comment to my infallible musings. You may now proceed to lavish my words with praise.

Film Review: Winterlude

On Wednesday evening, Jenny and I ventured to the Charles Theatre to take in our first world-premiere of a film. The movie, Winterlude, was a film that featured the photographic expertise, and acting talents, of a friend of mine from high school, Brian Mackey.

The movie is a student filmmaker who is producing a film about relationships, using a real couple in the lead roles as a fictional couple. It's a film within-a-film in some ways, but that doesn't distract from a coherent storyline.

Is it a good film? Keeping in mind the limited budget ($35K) and acting pool - it starred the directors, photographers, etc. - I think it was a well-conceived idea that was, more-often-than-not, well-executed. The plot was clever, but not clever in the bad way that some plots are, trying too hard to come up with a twist and in the process ruining an otherwise good effort. The film moved along very well, aside from the beach scenes near the end, which seemed painfully drawn-out - probably due to too many time-lapses of clouds drifting across the sky (personally, one puffy cloud time-lapse sequence is usually enough for me). The acting performances, while very solid overall, were sometimes a bit too understated, especially by the male lead. That being said, I can't recall any over-acting or melodrama, which is excellent coming from a young cast that I assume doesn't have a lot of experience with film acting.

Most importantly though, the film was a professional-quality effort. Putting aside the subject matter, I wasn't reminded throughout the movie that this was a first-time feature film by people not too far removed from film school. OK, that's not entirely true; I found that the sound, heavy on background noises, was distracting in many indoor scenes. Yes, I know refrigerators cycle on and off in real life, but I don't feel like I need to hear the compressor turn on in a movie - I can listen to my refrigerator from the comfort of my home.

On the whole, the camera work, the acting, the editing, were all of sufficient quality that I would guess that Chlorofilm, the production company, shouldn't have too much trouble getting funding for future projects (No Mack, that's not an offer to invest in your next film - unless, of course there's a lot of gratuitous nudity, then I'll think about it). Overall, a solid film that the people at Chlorofilm should be proud of: I wish them luck in their future celluloid endeavors.

Finally, I feel obligated to throw in some sensational quotes to include in newspaper ads for wide release:

• "Winterlude is everything an independent film should be. Remember the name: Chlorofilm!"
• "Finally, a Baltimore-based movie that doesn't have a body-count!"
• "Brian Mackey hijacks every scene he's in and won't give them back!"

A Friend in the Blogosphere

It's always nice to have company - I've just learned that my friend Greg has started his blog, Pultoblog. And not to steal any thunder from his future blog entries, but this is a great example of quality parenting in the 21st century (check out the sponsor).

It's All (Morally) Relative

Slot Machines bills passed in both the Maryland House and Senate! Awesome! Well, actually it is. No, I'm not a fan of slot machines in the state. Not because I'm against gambling, but because it seems like a political cop-out. Leaders can't balance the budget and continue to waste taxpayer money, so of course they are all too attentive when gambling lobbyists and their money come calling. More importantly, slots is a classic example of NIMBY. Republicans in Maryland support their governor and his slots bill, because it puts slot machine parlors in already-economically struggling areas with higher populations of poor people.

So the House bill that was so successfully engineered to pass - by the thinnest of margins - by House Speaker Michael Busch exposes this hypocrisy; it names Frederick as one of the 4 counties where slots are allowed. Frederick is a relatively wealthy Republican-leaning county, far from Baltimore City and Prince George's counties, and our beloved governor has already said that he'll fight to remove Frederick from the list of counties. It's a good strategy, in theory - it makes sense to place an addictive enterprise such as slot machines as close as possible to those low-income communities that help to keep slots in business. Fortunately, Ehrlich and his allies won't have the opportunity, as Busch has ensured that any negotiated bill that varies from the House bill won't have any chance of passing.

The quote of the article comes from Delegate Richard Madaleno Jr. of Montgomery County, and I think it sums up what's backwards about the conservative movement in this country:

Madaleno read a passage from the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, and said social conservatives worried about family values should vote against the bill. "Otherwise, it is just another wonderful example of the moral relativism in American politics."

Moral relativism, what a fabulous term! Is that like when conservatives talk about states' rights for such issues as gun control, congressional re-districting, environmental regulation, and - back in the day) - segregation, but want the Feds to crush gay unions, abortion rights, and entertaining television? (we'll miss you, Michael Powell!) Or maybe it's when they pour more money into incarcerating non-violent drug offenders, while at the same time cutting after-school programs for urban kids? Maybe it's when they attack the country of an oppressive dictator with no WMDs, and all but ignore countries with actual WMDs like North Korea, or other oppressive regimes like the one in Burma?

Not that liberals are immune to this theory, (pro-choice, anti-death penalty comes to mind) but it just seems much more evident on the conservative side. Especially these days.

Super Nerdio

12 USC engineering students + 3800 Post-It notes + 90 minutes = a nerd art masterpiece.

0-1 as a Prognosticator

Only one day later, I'm already out of the prediction business. It's totally astounding to me, given the intensity level of the coach, that this team could expend such little effort, so very often. No matter what the talent level of Gary's teams, effort and energy in games has rarely been an issue. This season it's the issue for two out of every three games! So much talent is being wasted because this team doesn't match the focus, toughness, and energy of its opponents, especially defensively. Yes, they sound like sports cliches, but it's true:

• Clemson FG: 58.2%, Terps 40.8%
  
• Clemson 3-pt FG%: 66.7%!, Terps 34.8%
  

Amazingly enough, Maryland out-rebounded the Tigers, had more assists, and fewer turnovers. But when your defense is so pathetic that you allow those shooting percentages, there are fewer rebounds to get. And no Clemson player gets an assist when one of their guards dribbles down the floor and hits a 3 (with minimal defensive pressure applied by MD, of course).

I would love to see changes for the Carolina game. Give Mike Jones more playing time, at least he makes an effort, even if he's still not a good defensive player. And he can shoot the ball consistently, which can't be said of anyone else on this team. I'd also love to see Gary bench his starters for the beginning of their next game against Carolina, a game I don't think this "team" has any shot of winning anyway. Maybe that will send a message, but with these guys, who really knows?

For better or worse, most of the top players on this team - in terms of minutes played - are juniors, which means the same team will be back again next year. Gary has recruited some very talented players, including this group. If they ever figure out that talent alone doesn't win games, (and I'm not holding my breath in anticipation of this happening) they could be a dangerous team. To someone other than themselves, that is.

Terps decide that they're a good team this weekend!

I know this is a few days after the game, my apologies. On Saturday, the Terps beat what appeared at times to be a surprisingly competent Virginia team in double-overtime.

If Maryland has proven one thing this year, it's that no team should take them lightly, nor should they take any opponent (i.e., like their next opponent, Clemson) lightly. This team has the talent and depth to go to the Final Four. And the maddening inconsistency in effort and execution to lose in the first round to an 11 seed by 25 points.

Maryland and Virginia seem to play a lot of close games, but the Terps usually come out on top - they're now 12-4 in their last 16 vs. UVA. Next on the schedule is a rematch against Clemson in College Park. As crazy at it is to predict anything with this team: considering how the Terps were embarrassed down at Clemson, I predict a decisive win!

The name is Sir Graham (like the cracker)

Back in 1984, the term "personal computer" was still relatively new, and very limited. If there was a computer in the house, it was likely a Commodore 64 or Apple II. My family had IBM's first real personal computer, the PCjr, because my dad worked for the company. I honestly remember when he brought it home, along with a bunch of games in ugly hard plastic hinged boxes. One of them, King's Quest, turned out to be the most popular in our family - and it was no surprise! You could control the little protagonist Sir Graham (later on, his highness King Graham) , making him walk around in his bright blue pants, red shirt, and feathered cap, climb beanstalks, outwit his fairy-tale foes, all the while exploring a magical 16-color world! Yes, sometimes in took a while to load the next screen, but a little patience when playing from a single 5 1/2-inch floppy, please!

No wonder it's been recognized time and again as one of the most important games ever made (#15 on this list, I would have ranked it higher of course).

62 Essential Vitamins and Minerals

That's what your average box of Grape Nuts cereal contains. Not only that, but 500% of your USDA RDA - that's Recommended Daily Allowance, for you non-label-readers out there. And what does it have in the taste department? I'm glad you asked!

Jenny (my lovely and talented wife) and I don't often disagree, believe it or not. But I can only hope for the best, and prepare for the nutritious, when she buys breakfast cereals without me. While it's true that I do enjoy the sugary cereals - I have always had a particular affinity for Lucky Charms - I don't need tons of sugar for breakfast. There's nothing wrong in my book with Special K, even the plain stuff without the fruit, or Cheerios, the classic stand-by. But breakfast is the first meal of the day, and I'd prefer not to experience character-building events so early in the morning. Grape Nuts might be fantastically healthy for me, it might be the single greatest source of fiber known to cereal, but it also tastes like mulch. Cheap mulch, not the premium mulch with cedar chips and stuff like that. Cedar chips would actually improve Grape Nuts. Maybe I should write to Post and suggest that - "Grape Nuts, now with cedar!" I've heard that cedar doesn't stay crunchy in milk though, so it's probably not as marketable.

I also never thought much of frosted mini-wheats - kind of bland, I always thought, even with the sugar. That tune changed in a hurry when I discovered the colon-cleansing joy of regular (non-frosted!) shredded wheat. Frosted mini-wheats are a fabulous concept by comparison! Scouring the kitchen for a pop-tart is never an ennobling task, but alas, it was all too necessary on that sad morning.

I'm not asking that pastel-colored marshmallows be added to every cereal, but could we perhaps find a happy medium? Honey-Nut Cheerios? Total, with raisins? Golden Grahams never killed anyone, at least not that I've heard.