You think boxing is bad?

You may know that the world of professional boxing has several different sanctioning bodies, several different "champions" for each weight class, questionable decisions by judges and officials, and is littered with criminals -- not to mention constant controversy.

So the question is, what sport's shenanigans should be considered to be the next rung down the ladder from boxing? Is it pro wrestling, or is it world championship chess?

Chess fans have waited a long time for a unifying championship after years of nonsense, hoping for good matches and a deserving champion. Instead we are treated to the equivalent of being hit in the back of the head outside of the ring with a folding chair.

Witty Political Commentary (mercifully brief)

These are the folks with whom Jack Layton would like to conduct talks.

I guess you don't have to make serious policy when you know you'll never be in power.

A match made in... Never Never Land?

Tie Domi and Belinda Stronach?

It must be true, because no one would be crazy enough to make up a story like that. Like Brent Butt said about Fabio getting hit in the face by a goose on a roller coaster: God must have been drinking when he wrote that script.

Willie Nelson - a 73 year old party animal

I sure was awfully shocked (guffaw) to hear ol' Willie Nelson was busted for drugs again.

One of the 'veteran' cronies over at alt.music.rush adds an interesting second chapter to the story.

Cool... I'm an extremist!

Cooler still: the celebrity face I am easily the closest to: Ted Kaczynski.

You are a Social Liberal (90% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (80% permissive) You are best described as a: Libertarian Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Therapy through profanity

Warning: do not click this link with kids in the room (or your boss).

Sometimes when I've had a bad day at work, or otherwise feeling lousy, I listen to this famous Earl Weaver radio show clip -- it never fails to cheer me up. Warning again -- objectionable language.

Reliving a film classic

... and by classic, I mean of course a classic piece of utter crap.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture was on the Space channel today. I did not look upon this as a great opportunity to watch a movie (a Star Trek movie, no less) that I haven't seen in a while, since at any given time I think you can watch just about all of the Star Trek films on cable somewhere -- they're always on.

However, while watching it, I did have what I consider to be a new thought about the movie. The conventional view among Star Trek fans is that The Motion Picture was admittedly a bit boring, but was ahead of it's time, thoughtful, and had beautiful cinematography.

I don't think I dislike ST:TMP because it's boring. I dislike it because it's bone-stupid; a stupid concept, with stupid dialogue, and delivered poorly by all of the actors. (You can't blame them; I can't see them being motivated to try to perform that crap with conviction.) This super-machine thinks its name is VGER because some letters got dirty? It yearns to physically join with its creator? (Or something like that, I can never watch it carefully enough to pick up all the subtle points.) Who thought this nonsense was a profound idea? I can handle boring, but the inanity here is overwhelming.

Bill Shatner's Star Trek Movie Memories book is surely filled with errors and fabrications, but he did do a good job of describing the background of this film. Basically, Paramount was desperate to cash in on the 'space' fad after Star Wars made a zillion dollars, and Roddenberry had absolutely no sensible creative ideas left in his drug-addled brain by that time, so some other guys wrote some crap that they slapped together and wasted a pile of money shooting.

Mind you, maybe I'm giving an unfair review, as I haven't watched the whole movie all the way through in over a decade. I flipped channels today after a while - I mean Christ, is that movie ever boring!

RIP Steve Irwin

'The Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin has died from a stingray barb.

Very sad, as he seemed like a nice bloke. But I guess one runs out of luck after doing crazy-ass stunts your whole life.

I guess I'm here to show you the dorky products

And this may be even dorkier than the pajamas.

Government in action

Whether or not you agree with the economic sentiment, the pictures are a hoot.