Presidential chit chat

MSNBC has been harping all day about "unconventional campaigning," showing clips of the presidential candidates on various talk shows and last night on "American Idol."

I wish they would let this go. I submit that there is no longer anything unconventional about this. After all it's been 16 years since Bill Clinton played the sax on "Arsenio" for crying out loud!

Every presedential cycle since then, candidates have been popping up on late night and daytime TV and the mainstream media (ugh, I can't believe I just used that phrase) keeps going on about how new and unusual this crazy trend is.

It is neither new nor unusual. Get over it.

Silly superstitions

We had a lively discussion about sports superstitions the other day over at my friend Sionna's new blog Don't Mention the War.

So it seemed eerily appropriate that I stumbled upon this article. Apparently a couple of construction workers buried a Red Sox T-shirt under the new Yankee Stadium. It's in a slab of concrete beneath the visitors clubhouse. Now the fear is that this will somehow hex the Bronx Bombers by providing a good luck charm to the Sox and any other visiting team.

I have my own little sports superstition story. My father had two Yankee hats. One was in nice shape. That was his going out on the town hat. But the other was the hat. It was a little grubbier. But whenever dad wore it while watching a game the Yanks had a much better chance of winning (or so we liked to believe). There were times when the Yanks were in need of a rally and I'd call dad and make sure he had the hat on.

We had the hat buried with him. Although the Yankees haven't won a World Series since. So sometimes I wonder if I should have held on to the hat.

Now before Aaron flames on, of course I realize that the superstitions are silly. But that doesn't mean that they're not fun. It's just a way for fans to feel more drawn into the game -- to pretend they have some influence and ability to help their team. It's harmless (most of the time at least).

The Yankees are in Boston this weekend. Maybe I'll break out my own grubby hat for the games.

UPDATE: As Aaron reports, the offending Big Papi jersey was removed during a glorified photo op.

Tech support, part 2

Thanks to some advice posted in comments to my previous plea for help, I was able to run Windows XP Repair. My PC is on the road to recovery. Thanks, leathj1!

However, I can't get SP2 to install. It gets about halfway through the installation and then I get an "Access Denied" message. Suggestions, anyone?

What?

Confused by all of the twist and turns on "Lost?" This shouldn't clear anything up at all...

Tech support

Ok, folks, I need your help. The last time my computer was acting wonky I posted something about it here and someone came forward with a solution for me. Now I’m hoping The Great Someone will come through again.

For the last month or so my computer has been acting pretty screwy. Here are some of the symptoms:

• Windows Media Player won’t launch.
• IE seems to think Java is not enabled even thought I know it is. As a result, some sites won’t run properly.
• System Restore won’t launch.
• The search feature opens to a blank window. The little dog is wagging his tail, but there is no option to enter a search term.
• The User Account Manager opens to a blank window.

There may be other problems I haven’t discovered yet. These problems also exist when I startup in Safe Mode.

I have Norton 2008 and Spybot, but neither of them have helped.

I’ve been searching the Internet for a solution to put everything back to normal, but with no luck. I fear that at some point I’m probably going to have to re-install Windows XP.

So…anyone out there have any idea what’s wrong with my computer and, more importantly, how to fix it?

What a week

I had a crazy-busy week last week, but it was all well worth it.

It started with attending a pizza party to mark the end of Nolan’s basketball clinic. The coach called each kid up one-by-one and presented them with a T-shirt. Nolan really enjoyed it the clinic and looked pretty pleased to shake the coach’s hand and accept his shirt.

I didn’t mention before that he won a foul shot contest a few weeks ago when he sank seven out of 15 shots – more than any other second grader. He’s got another trophy on his shelf now to show for his efforts.

I was up late most nights last week editing Cub Scout videos. The first was for a report on the Cub Scouts that Nolan had to give in class (see below). I think he recruited some new members in the process. The second was the end-of-the-year video for the Pack that was shown at Sunday’s Blue & Gold Dinner (Nolan was awarded his Wolf badge and officially became a Bear).

You can read more about basketball and the Blue & Gold and see some photos on the Rooney Train.

The Blue & Gold was on Sunday. But on Saturday, I attended a dinner in Albany for alumni of the communication department at SUNY Plattsburgh (see photo above). It was great to see old friends and some old professors – although I was the sole representative of the Class of 1994. We had a good time and I hope this becomes an annual event. I've uploaded more photos from the dinner to Facebook.

Free coffee!

Starbucks is rolling out a new brew called Pike Place Roast. According to the Business Review, you can stop in today and try a free cup.

But hurry. The freebie is only available from 12-12:30 p.m. (I just found out about it now)!

UPDATE: This turned out to be an even better deal than I realized. Along with my free cup of coffee, I was presented with two gift cards. Each is good for one free cup of coffee on Wednesdays between now and the end of May.

Hooray for freebies!

Doritos at the Last Supper

I have no reason to post this other than the fact it made me chuckle when I saw it...

IE problems?

Does anyone else have trouble loading my blog in Internet Explorer? It seems to work fine in Firefox and Safari, but it's often slow in IE 7 and says it's loading with errors on the page. What's that all about?

Further reason why I prefer Firefox.

Colbert on canvas

Check out the latest (temporary) addition to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C...

The truth is still out there

Of all of the movies on my 2008 want-to-see list (I'll have to publish that one of these days) the one I'm most hesitant about is the "X-Files 2" (the official title still hasn't been announced).

I was a big fan of the TV show (a replica of Mulder’s “I Want to Believe” poster hung my office for years), although in my opinion it jumped the shark in 1998 when the first movie came out. The last episode, which aired in May 2002, was a huge disappointment.

The word is that the new movie will have nothing to do with the TV show's convoluted alien conspiracy mythology, which the first movie focused on. Instead, it will be a stand alone story more in the vein of the show's "monster of the week" episodes.

I think that's great since those episodes provided some of the show's best stories, while the conspiracy storyline was so overplayed.

However, I'm very curious to see how they resolve that disappointing ending, which had Mulder and Scully going on the run as fugitives and left little room (so it seemed) for sequel -- at least, not one with Mulder and Scully working for the FBI.

Anyway, with all of this said, here is the cool teaser poster for the movie.

Complusive confessor

Gov. Paterson, is there anything else we should know?

The final frontier

I like "Star Trek" as much as the next geek. But you've got to draw a line somewhere. And if you're getting buried in a Trek-themed casket, then I think you've gone waaaayy over that line!

A company called Eternal Image will soon offer the coffin designed to look like the photon torpedo used to jetison Spock's body into space in "Star Trek II." They'll also have a Trek inspired urn for those who go the cremation route.

This same company also offers Major League Baseball caskets.

Stupid pet trick

I found this on the EW PopWatch Blog, which stated teh following:

Filipino prisoners recreating Thriller, we see your King of Pop tribute and we raise you one...

Highlights at 11

I know I'm not the biggest March Madness fan, but I did enjoy these highlights...

Easter Bedlam

The first picture here shows just a fraction of the plethora of people who showed up at the YMCA today for the Easter Egg Hunt. It was a complete mad house!

A large section of the gym floor was covered with hay, with eggs hidden in the hay for little kids Thomas' age. Nolan went outside with the older kids to look for eggs hidden in woods.

There were also bouncy bounces inside and outside. Plus there was a mini-golf course and a petting zoo also in the gym and photos with the Easter Bunny in a separate room.

We made a point of going because Thomas won the "name the Easter Bunny" contest. He suggested the name "Eggster" for the giant bunny sitting in a basket in the lobby. So he got to bring the bunny and its basket full of goodies home.

There were so many people that we just found our eggs, collected Thomas' Easter basket prize and got out of there!

Go, Speed Racer, Go!

As much as I've been carrying on about "Indiana Jones," "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight," the movie Nolan is really anxious to see is "Speed Racer."

He's never seen the old cartoon and knew next to nothing about the show. But once he saw the trailer, he was hooked. He thought it looked like his "Hot Wheels" video game brought to life (and I admit, it's on my want-to-see list too).

This past week there was a book fair at his school and he was quite excited to buy a "Speed Racer" book.

So far I've resisted the temptation to tell him who Racer X is. Why spoil the surprise? He'll enjoy discovering that on his own.

Baby, it's cold out there

Man it's cold out today! Cold and windy. Right now it's about 23 degrees -- 10 degrees with the wind chill.

Aren't you glad it's spring?

If you don't like the cold then you probably have me to blame. Last week I got a little antsy for the warm weather. I decided to tempt fate by zipping the fleece lining out of my jacket and putting the snow brush and ice scraper in the trunk.

That's what I get for jumping the gun!

The train is leaving the station

As I've mentioned before, from time-to-time there is a call for more family stuff on the blog. Perhaps I've been slacking off a bit in that department.

So to help remedy the situation, Kris -- a.k.a. ADKmom -- took it upon herself today to start up a new blog titled "All Aboard the Rooney Train." We'll both contribute to that blog, which will be strictly just family stuff. It's mainly intended for ou of town loved ones, but you're all welcome to check it out.

I'll still post some family stuff here too. But if you want the full dose -- like the story behind the picture of the cool dudes seen here -- then check out the new blog. For convenience, I've added a feed for it right on here on this page.

Sleepy Boy

I think I wound up like this a couple of times in college...

The Spitzer Special

Wow, what a crazy week this has been. As you might imagine, we've been slammed here at work, thanks to Gov. Spitzer, aka "Client-9."

At this point I'll spare you my thoughts, since they merely echo those of just about every other New Yorker.

However, I would like to mention that a co-worker pointed out a new item on the menu at Gershon's Deli in Schenectady. The No. 9 there is now the "Spitzer Special." It's a sandwcich containing (ahem) hard salami and tongue. The price? $4,300.

Crystal Skullalicious

It's a busy news day here in Albany. But there is always time to post something like this!

Check out this beautiful poster from the great Drew Struzan...

As if anyone really cares

I must admit, this update from The Onion Radio News makes all of us at "Off the Top of My Head" headquarters feel a little silly.

Metal mania

For someone who was never a huge Iron Man fan, I certainly do seem to be posting a lot about the new movie.

I don't think I own a single issue of "Iron Man." But I have enough other books that the character appears in. And although I never collected his own title, I certainly respect him as one of the core Marvel Comics characters.

Not to mention...this movie just looks so cool! It's easily No. 2 on my list of summer movies I really want to see (if you have to ask what No. 1 is, you obviously don't know me very well and must be new to this blog).

With all that said, take a look at the awesome new poster for the movie.

The pipes aren't calling

The owner of Foley's Pub and Restaurant across the street from the Empire State Building is taking a stand. Shaun Clancy is banning "Danny Boy" from his establishment for the entire month of March.

"It's overplayed, it's been ranked among the 25 most depressing songs of all time and it's more appropriate for a funeral than for a St. Patrick's Day celebration," Clancy told the Associated Press.

In fact, Foley's hosted a pre-St. Patrick's Day karaoke party on Tuesday and Clancy promised a free Guiness to anyone who sang any Irish song other than "Danny Boy."

On a slightly related note, a former favorite watering hole mine is about to be wiped off the Earth. Eamonn’s Loudon House will be demolished on March 12, just five days before the holiday that made it one of the most popular places in town every March 17.

Eamonn's was destoyed by a fire in 2005.

For the last three years, I've driven past the boarded up shell of the building every day on my way to and from work. As much as I enjoyed the place, it did slide downhill a bit toward the end and the burned out husk is an eyesore now. It will be good to put the place out of its misery.

You can read more about the demolition here and here and read a fitting tribute from friend and former Eamonn's waitress Sweetpea.

Who you gonna call?

Hillary Clinton asks, "Who do you want answering the phone in the White House at 3 a.m.?"



UPDATE: Here's another version endorsing an even better candidate...

The invincible movie trailer

It's shaping up to look likea great summer at the movies. Here's the newest "Iron Man" trailer...

Iron Man Exclusive Trailer

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'Won't you be my neighbor?'

Believe it or not, March 20 would have been the late great Fred Rogers' 80th birthday.

The day is being promoted as "Sweater Day." Neighbors everywhere are being asked celebrate Mr. Rogers by wearing their favorite sweater.

Here's Mr. McFeely (not the best name for a children's show character in today's world) with more details...



Thomas has a Mr. Rogers DVD, which actually came zipped up in a little sweater. But you can tell the episodes on it are pretty old. In one of them, Mr. Rogers goes to a restaurant and orders a nice looking sandwich, but he only pays about $2.

'No fate but what we make'

I've been enjoying "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" on Fox. The show is good, and apparently others have noticed -- because it seems like I keep catching reruns of "T2" and "T3" on cable.

Anyway, with that in mind, this Reuters headline caught my attention:

Killer robots pose latest militant threat: expert

Is this the beginning of the inevitable robot uprising?

Bridging the generation gap

We visited Kris' mom and dad this past weekend. It was a very nice visit.

While we were there, Thomas tried to teach his grandpa the finer points of video games.

Bummer

I was supposed to bring Nolan and his friend Danny to see the Harlem Globetrotters tonight at the Times Union Center. Mother Nature had other ideas.

We had such a great time seeing the Globetrotters last year. Nolan was really excited to see them again.

Kris started bringing the kids out to meet me at work, but called from the road to say how bad the driving was thanks to the snow storm we were in the middle of. She wound up turning around and heading back home.

Nolan was very disappointed (I was too). But we're going to try to come up something else cool to do with Danny.

'What are you supposed to be? Some kind of lion tamer?'

Check out this cool piece of swag I picked up today. This was sent to a good friend of mine who passed it along.

Now I've got the whip. I still have my old fedora. Unfortunately, my leather jacket wore out a long time ago. I just need to get a new one -- and a revolver -- and I'll have all I need for my next archeology expedition!

'Sunny days...'

Actually it was a fairly snowy day here today.

But that didn't keep Thomas and his friend Stephanie from enjoying a morning at the theater. They took in a matinée performance of "Sesame Street Live."

This was Thomas' first time attending a live show like this. Kris says Thomas was a little nervous at first, but by the end of the show he was dancing in the aisles!

The greatest rivalry in sports?

Yankees To Play Exhibition Game Against The Media

TAMPA, FL—In a spring showdown between two venerable organizations that will battle one another daily during the 2008 regular season, the New York Yankees are scheduled to play a nine-inning game Sunday against their greatest rivals: the...

Things that have nothing to do with Indiana Jones

One of my loyal readers has commented that there has been too much geekery here on the blog and not enough family photos.

So here’s a picture of the boys from today’s trip to the New York State Museum. We’ve been to this museum a gazillion time and know it like the back of our hand. But the kids love it. It is a very cool place.

We’re halfway through vacation week and so far no one has killed anyone else. Besides the museum trip today, Kris and the kids have found some more letterboxes. It’s been one year since we started this hobby and so far the kids have found 53 letterboxes!

In other news, I did something I’ve never done before last weekend. I donated blood for the first time.

Growing up, I had something of an irrational fear of needles. Never in a million years would I have entertained the idea of voluntarily having a needle stuck in my arm and blood drained out of me. EEeww!!!

As I got older, I became much less squeamish when it came time to get blood drawn at a doctor’s appointment. Then last year Kris started donating and I realized I had no good reason not to – especially after watching the medical ordeals that our friend Mike Ford and my nephew Patrick went through.

It was easy and felt good to do. Hopefully, it won’t be the last time.

Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Disappearing Guns

A very interesting observation has been made about that Indiana Jones trailer we all went bonkers over yesterday.

Remember all of those heavily-armed soldiers seen surrounding a car and throwing Indy to the ground about a minute into the trailer? It didn’t dawn on me any of the 63 times I watched the trailer before now, but when we see Indy in that first shot where he and Ray Winstone have their hands up…um…where did all the guns go?


It appears they’ve all been scrubbed out of the shot through the magic of CGI. As you can see in the image above, they’re still in the trailer’s international version – which you can watch for yourself right here.

Moriarty at AICN theorizes the guns pointed at our hero were removed at the insistence of the MPAA. Keep in mind, the trailer debuted on the big screen in front of the PG-rated “Spiderwick Chronicles.”

First of all, I’m not convinced removing the guns was necessary. If it was, would it have been too hard to provide one version on the Internet – for fans like me who seek the trailer out – and another to show with a PG movie so the kiddies won’t be scarred for life at the sight of a firearm?

A little history: remember, the PG-13 rating was created primarily because of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” in 1984. Some thought the whipping of children and ripping a heart out of someone’s chest was a little too intense.

Also worth noting: there is one other difference between the American trailer and the one the rest of the world is apparently seeing. After a montage of clips from the old films, the first new piece of footage we see in the trailer is an American flag. You’ll note that Old Glory is conspicuously absent in the international version.

Now we know what can stop Jack Bauer

It's official -- Jack Bauer won't be killing anyone in 2008.

Despite the end of the writers strike, "24" will not return to TV until January 2009.

Everyone wants to stick to the plan of running the show continuously without any interuptions or repeats. But if they started now (eight episodes are already in the can) the season finale would air over the summer, when TV viewership is low. If they start in the fall, they'll have to take a break for the World Series.

They could start the season in November. But then it would probably end in March. They probably want the finale in May for sweeps.

So if you can't make it through the next 12 months without a does of Bauer Power, you can always watch the Day 7 trailer over and over or the hilarious 1990s version.

TOO DAMN COOL!!!

Unless you attended Indyfest '89, you have no idea how giddy with excitement I was this morning when I first saw this! On May 22 I am so there!



Check it out in glorious HD here...

A longer 'Trek' to theaters

Remember that trailer for J.J. Abrams "Star Trek" that came a out a few weeks ago and touted a Christmas 2008 release? Yeah well, forget that.

Variety reports that in the aftermath of the writer's strike, Paramount has reshuffled their release schedule. Apparently they think the movie will make more money with a summer release. So it's now set for May 8, 2009 (yeah, I know that's still spring, but that's pretty much when what's considered "the summer movie season" begins).

Variety says this puts "Trek" opening one week after "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and one week before the "Da Vinci Code" sequel/prequel "Angels and Demons."

In the long run, this is probably a good thing -- giving them more time to work on the movie.

Valentine for Indy fans

Tomorrow is the big day!

Well, not the big day. That will be May 22 when "Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" hits theaters.

But tomorrow is when we get our first glimpse of the movie with the release of the trailer.

Stay close to the TV tomorrow morning. The trailer will debut during the 8 to 9 a.m. hour of Good Morning America. It will be on IndianaJones.com and in movie theaters everywhere after that.

And if I can find an embeddable version, you can be sure it will be here as well.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on this beautiful artwork. According to AICN, this is a cover for an upcoming comic book adaptation of the movie.

The view from the street

It was brought to my attention today the Albany area has been added to Google Maps street-level views.

This might be old news, but I just found out today. The last I knew it was only major cities that had this feature available.

Anyway, there's our place. The house number it shows up under is way off, but it's there (a disclaimer notes that "addresses are approximate"). It looks like they took the pictures over the summer. I'm glad my lawn was mowed!

Who wants some Hulu?

Hulu remains in private beta testing. I think it's supposed to open up to the general public next month.

But if you'd like an early peek, I can hook you up. I've got 10 invitations up for grabs. If you're interested, leave a comment. First come, first served. It's as simple as that. No games, unlike some cranky TV doctors we all know...

UPDATE: My mistake. I need your e-mail address to give you the invite. So please leave that or send it to me.

Mike, I have about three different e-mail addresses for you. Drop me a line and let me know which one to use.

Michael and Willie, I don't actually know you guys, but you're still welcome to the invites. Just leave an address that you want me to use.

If it's good it must be bad

Kris has decided that for Lent we're going to eat healthier. The conversation went something like this (this is a custom clip created from that Simpsons episode I posted earlier)...

Dig the Wig

Hop on the Wiggum Wagon!

A lot of Republicans seem bent out of shape that they're left with John McCain as their candidate (although it's my opinion that the vast majority John Q. GOP-types think McCain is just fine, thank you very much).

Rather than throw a hissy fit, maybe they just need to find a new guy to back...like Ralph Wiggum!

Thanks to PLANET3RRY for pointing out Ralph's campaign site. It was set up to tie in with a recent Simpsons episode. If you missed it, here it is on Hulu...

Charity champs

I always wondered what became of the hats and T-shirts that must be on standby for the team that loses a championship game like the Super Bowl, the World Series, etc.

Sure enough, there was a full supply of hats and shirts proclaiming the Patriots as Super Bowl XLII champions -- camplete with "19-0" printed under their logo -- ready to be handed out last Sunday night.

It turns out those clothes will be distributed to needy families in other parts the world. The ones pictured here are headed to Nicaragua.

New York vs. Boston

I knew there was a reason why I liked Jon Stewart. Here he shares his thoughts on the rivalry between the Big Apple and Beantown...

The truth is out there

Want to see what a Crystal Skull looks like? Click here. And read more about here. (Beware of spoliers!)

Super Bowl summary

I was happy to see the Giants knock down the Patriots last night.

In the weeks leading up the Super Bowl, I was getting real sick of all the talk about how great the Patriots were and how they will be regarded in history -- as if they had already won the game!

As a Yankee fan, I admit that I'm something of a hypocrite when it comes to the Patriots -- I was just sick of seeing them win all the time.

Speaking of the Yankees, on Mike & Mike this morning there was an interesting discussion: how does the Patriots going 18-0 and then losing the Super Bowl compare to the Yanks dropping their 3-0 lead to the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS?

Really it's apples and oranges. They were just trying to find a way to play up the New York-Boston rivalry. And I don't think there is any question the Yankees transgression was worse. But it makes for fun conversation.

In the top man's office

Here's yet another new "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" picture. I saw this in USA Today last week. That was a small black & white photo. But now there is a nice big color version on the MTV Movies Blog.

Is this in the warehouse I think it is?


UPDATE: I've replaced the image with an even better version straight from IndianaJones.com.

Keeping up with the Joneses

Here's another new photo from "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

Colbert smash!

Although I'm still a little annoyed at Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada for the way he ended Spider-Man's marriage, I did enjoy his appearance on last night's Colbert Report to plug the debut of the new Captain America and talk about Stephen's presidential campaign in the Marvel Universe...

Tater of the Lost Ark

The Indiana Jones merchandising machine continues to ramp up.

Add this to the list of toys a 36-year-old man is far too old for, but wants anyway. How cool would this look sitting on my desk at work?

A few weeks ago I was watching TV with the kids when a commercial came on for a LEGO Indiana Jones set. Nolan looked at me and said, "I know you want that, dad."

Studio Singers flashback

I recently dug up a VHS tape of a Studio Singers performance from my senior year in high school.

This was on Feb. 14, 1990 at Craig School. Normally we wore tuxedos for our gigs, but we were dressed like this because it was 50s day at the school (just ignore the fact the medley of songs we're singing in this clip are actually from the 60s).



We did a number of songs on our own (yes, many actually from the 50s) and then were joined by the Craig School Chorus for a couple of songs -- including this rendition of "We Go Together" from "Grease."

This was also only a few months after the choir performance I posted last year.

Randomness

I never really got into doing memes, but I’ve been tagged twice with this one, by Sweetpea and Wendalicious. So I feel obligated share some random, obscure facts about me that I’m sure you could care less about.

When I first got tagged with this, I had no idea what random items to list. But then once I got started I came up with a whole bunch and had a hard time deciding which ones to edit out…

The rules:
* link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
* share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
* tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
* let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

The five bits of random-and/or-weirdness:

1. My career ambition in the 3rd grade was to be a stand-up comic.
   
2. I go through cycles where I really enjoy beer and will often drink one at night after work. But then I’ll go through long spells where I can’t be bothered to touch the stuff. Currently I still have 3 bottles left from the Saranac 12 Beers of Winter 12-pack that I got before Christmas. I plan to drink one during the Super Bowl.
   
3. I made my TV acting debut during my senior year in high school in a 30-minute special on teen drinking and drug abuse produced by WRGB. During a re-enactment of a teenage keg party in the woods (which was actually taped in WRGB's parking lot) I got to play the part of "guy-making-out-with-girlfriend-on-hood-of-car."
   
4. I have all 6 episodes of the classic TV series “Police Squad!” on VHS somewhere in my attic.
   
5. I’ve been to four big league ballparks: Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, U.S. Cellular Field (back when it was New Comiskey Park) and Olympic Stadium. I stood outside of Wrigley Field, but the Cubs weren't in town at the time. I regret that I probably won’t make to Shea Stadium, just to say I’ve been there.

Tagged:
PLANET3RRY, Aaron Hull, Joe Video, Mike Sussman, Lycidas512

NOTE: I've only tagged people with their own blog. If you don't have a blog or you would just like to get in on the fun, feel free to leave your own random items in comments.

Mortal Kampaign!!!

If you're sick of all the debates, primaries and election coverage, then maybe you'd prefer to settle the race for the White House this way?

Check the game out. It's worth it just for the theme song at the beginning. Here's a sample...

Remembering Gen. Hemstreet

If you haven't already, take a moment to read the write-up in the Times Union on Brig. Gen. Stanley Hemstreet, who passed away this week.

He was the base commander at the 109th Stratton Air National Guard Base when my dad was serving as a flight engineer (my family still thinks of his as "Col." Hemstreet).

He was good man who was liked by many, including my dad.

Side splitting

My rib still hurts from my cross country ski wipe out over the weekend. That makes watching "The A Daily Show" hazardous. The last few seconds of this clip had me in pain...



I also enjoyed this discussion of the media's coverage of the campaign with Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham...

Heath Ledger found dead

BREAKING NEWS: Actor Heath Ledger, who co-starred in Brokeback Mountain and will be playing the Joker in this summer's "The Dark Knight," has been found dead.

Nobody saw this coming.

Courting the fat vote

As Obese Population Rises, More Candidates Courting The Fat Vote

Upgrade

I think the blog is overdue for an overhaul...or at least some maintenance.

My random photo gallery hasn't worked for a long time. Does anyone know of a good photo gallery widget? I like the one I had before that would display six random thumbnails. I know Picasa lets you embed a slide show, but that's not what I want. I liked that there was a group of photos displayed at once and that every time you visited the page you saw different pictures.

Flickr has something that's kind of like what I'm looking for. But I already have a Picasa account. It's a hassle to have to upload pictures to Flickr too.

Any suggestions?

Cross country couple

It had been a while since Kris and I had a "date." So this morning we packed up our cross country ski gear, dropped the kids off at my mom's and spent the morning outdoors.

We went to Indian Meadows Park, just up the road from the Glenville YMCA. It was the first time I had been on my skis since before Thomas was born.

Unfortunately, the conditions weren't that great. It was warm yesterday. So a lot of the snow had melted off. When we were out in the open it wasn't too bad. But when the trail took us into the woods the skiing became much worse. There was little snow on the ground. We were basically hiking over roots and rocks with skis on our feet. But it was still fun.

Our car was parked near a small hill. When we got back the car, I decided it would be fun to try to ski down it. There is a very good reason why I don't downhill ski. Everything was fine until I got to a little bump at the bottom. It was quite manageable. But I decided to hot dog it and try to get some air. Instead, I hit the ground...hard. My side still hurts. I think I may have bruised a rib or something!

The plan was to go to the Y after and soak in the hot tub. But the Y was hopping with what appeared to be a swim meet.

So instead we went out for coffee at Samuel's, a nice coffee shop in Alplaus. It was great. We relaxed in some comfy chairs and I did not want to get up when it came time to go.

It was a great morning, bruised rib and all.

Tense negotiations

I'm not a big fan of Seth MacFarlane. As a fan of shows like "The Simpsons" and "South Park," I just don't get "Family Guy." I don't find it funny. And I pride myself on the fact that I've never seen "American Dad."

However, I have to give him a well done on this sketch he wrote, which gives us a peek behind closed doors at negotiations in the writers strike.

Be warned...some language is definitely NSFW.

Under Construction

Here's a view of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 while under construction. This is most likely an image from the teaser trailer for J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek," which will be playing tomorrow before "Cloverfield."

Spidey Split

Allow me to geek out for a moment here...

Marvel Comics has announced their intention to break up the marriage between Spider-Man and his wife of about 21 years, Mary Jane.

It’s been no secret that comic book creators for years now have thought it was a mistake marry these two. Many thought having Peter Parker married to fashion model spoiled a key aspect of the character – that the super hero was really a nerd who had trouble paying the bills and was awkward with girls.

Although I don’t agree with that assessment, I understand where they’re coming from. But the storyline they’ve come up with for ending the marriage is ridiculous!

After Peter Parker's beloved Aunt May was wounded in an attack, Spider-Man and Mary Jane reluctantly struck a deal with the devil-like Mephisto in which he erased everyone's memory of the couple's time together in exchange for May being restored to good health.

Apparently, as much as they don't want a married Spider-Man, they also don't want a divorced Spider-Man. So they came up with this ludicrous story that amounts to what Star Trek fans refer to as "the instant reset button." This is like Bobby Ewing showing up in the shower on "Dallas" -- it was all a dream, it never happened!

I was collecting comics when Spidey and MJ got married. In fact, I actually own two copies of Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 (it was released with two versions of the cover). At the time I thought it was cool, and I didn’t at all think it took away from that “real life” aspect of the character. If anything it enhanced it, by adding a new source of stress to Peter Parkers life. He now had to hold his marriage together while fighting crime. More importantly, it allowed the characters to grow and evolve.

If you want to read stories about what the character used to be like, isn’t that what the Ultimate Spider-Man series is for? Or can’t readers pick up a back issue or a reprint?

Meanwhile, the AP article I read about this quoted a user on a Marvel message board who summed it all up:

"Considering I have been reading Spider-Man for exactly 20 years now, and that seems to be the amount of time [Editor-in Chief Joe Quesada] has decided to rip from Spider-Man continuity, can I simply return all of my Spider-Man comics for a full refund?"

Woohoo for Hulu

I've been enjoying my Hulu account since I got it about a month ago. If you don't have one yet, you should sign up.

Hulu is the joint online video site from NBC Universal and 20th Century Fox.

Besides having a ton of great TV shows at your disposal to watch in pretty good quality with limited commercials, you can also embed entire shows on your own site or create your own custom clips.

After watching last week's "30 Rock," I had "Midnight Train to Georgia" stuck in my head for a few days. So here's a clip of the Gladys Knight classic, "30 Rock"-style...

Wigglemania

Thomas and Kris had a close encounter with some of the Wiggles friends yesterday.

The Great Escape is adding a Wiggle World section this year. As a promotion, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus and Captain Feathersword arrived at the Albany Airport before heading up to Queensbury. They were greeted by a horde of happy children.

Thomas admired the characters from a distance. Other kids were posing for pictures with the characters, but Thomas chose to enjoy them from afar.

He enjoyed seeing the characters, although he was not fooled by the fake Captain Feathersword. The actor dressed up in that costume was very obviously not the same guy from the Wiggles videos and TV show.

However, word is the real Wiggles will be performing at the Great Escape this summer to help kickoff Wiggle World.

Ad of the week

Placed by an Iowa mom unhappy with her son's behavior...

"OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet."

The Towering Snowman

Kris took the kids outside to play today, but she couldn't get them interested in helping to build this snowman. So she gets all the credit!



At least Nolan enjoyed this tunnel long enough to pose for this photo -- then he ran into the house!

Wokka Wokka

What do you get when mix Roger Clemens, steroids, Pac-Man and a basement full of my nieces and nephews?



This was made during the holiday week and my brother and sister were both visiting for the holidays. These are all of the Rooney grandkids except my niece Meghan and our own kids.

The Not-So Dark Kinght

"Batman Begins" was so good (and I believe "The Dark Knight" will be too) precisely because it was nothing like this...



All the same, you have to admit, that was kind of fun to watch, wasn't?

Indiana Jones and the Vanity Fair Photos

It's been far too long since my last post. The holiday vacation threw off my blogging mojo.

There are plenty of things that have tranpired in the last week and a half worthy of my attention here. I may or may not get to them eventually.

But let's start with what's really important...Vanity Fair has an article on "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" with some nice set pics by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. Note that familiar looking warehouse in the background of the Shia LeBeouf-Karen Allen shot...





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