2009 Heisman Award Hopes

The leaves have all fallen, and cold weather is upon us. It's that time of year in college football land where bowl match-ups starts to take shape, and the Heisman is at the center of CFB discussion. The Heisman loves to award the stiff arm statue to the QB-RB of the best team in the nation. It's rather a joke with how lazy voters have become. Things will not prove any different this year, and we are bound to see another QB standing with the trophy in his hands, smiling like an idiot. One can hope that the voters would look past the names and hype, and dig a bit deeper for the "most outstanding player of the year". Looking at past history, I shouldn't get my hopes too high.

Who is most likely going to NYC for the award ceremony: Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, Mark Ingram and fill in the blank 4th invite who has no chance. There is the lifetime achievement theme with Tebow and McCoy. Neither have been off the charts with numbers as in past seasons. Both are on undefeated teams. Both stayed for their senior year and will graduate legends at their schools. Both are white. Ingram is rolling up major yardage for another undefeated team. He's carried them offensively when their QB and passing game have been nonexistent. He's come up big in 2nd halves, and if he has a monster SEC championship game, might swing enough voters his way. Ingram has the best claim to most outstanding player this year, but I don't like him more than a couple other guys.

3. Ndamukong Suh - He is a monster defensive tackle, who will prob go no. 1 overall in next year's draft. He is a beast, blows up offensive line blocking schemes, and is Nebraska's best shot at upsetting Texas in the Big 12 championship. He has been truly outstanding on the defensive side of the ball. It would be fun to see a defensive player in NYC. It will not happen.

2. Golden Tate - I dislike Tate. I dislike Notre Dame. I cannot deny his ability to make something out of nothing. He did have some big drops in the Michigan game, but he has done everything asked of him and more. He is great after the catch, he's great going up for the ball, and he's probably gone after this year. It's tough for WRs to win the Heisman, and sadly, since he plays for ND, there is no signature play in a big game win for him. He plays a position that is dependent on his QB, Claussen, who has played excellent, and I credit him with stepping up when Michael Floyd went out and the double coverage returned. He did have some giant games vs. good defenses. In the spirit of the award, he has played more outstanding than the above named QBs.

1. C.J. Spiller - He can run, receive, return and sometimes throw for scores from anywhere on the field. He is lightning with each touch in open space. Spiller doesn't have top notch talent around him. They are good, but not Florida-SC good. The other problem is his piss poor offensive coordinator. Watching a Clemson drive is horrible if the ball is not in Spiller's hands. He will not win the Heisman, but if I had a vote, my vote's with Spiller.

The Prisoner

Quite possibly the most interesting show ever put on TV, The Prisoner is enjoying some publicity due to the DVD release and AMC re-imagination this year. The show is not a procedural, and unfolds in a slow manner. Clues are continuously given thoughout the series about the what, why and who of the prisoner's predicament. The show pieces were standalone episodes but part of a much longer story arc. The show was a forerunner for television to move past the teleplay format to a higher plane.

The "I'm not a number, I'm a free man" theme is very appealing, and I remember staying up late watching reruns of The Prisoner on TV. It was so cool. I only saw a handful of episodes but loved it. Part of the appeal is the theme of the individual fighting against oppression, conformity and authority. mcGoohan has explained the use of the "big wheel" bicycle as a way to joke on the idea that humans have achieved technological progress far quicker than we have learned to emotionally and mentally cope with our inventions. Wonder what he thought of the Internet? One also has to respect the sci fi elements in different episodes. There are features in some shows that touched on 60s thinking and even fictional elements used in current movies. There is also the kitsch factor as some extremely goofy 60s things show up. Looking at the show, one has to be surprised by how old everyone is on the show. Patrick McGoohan was 40 playing the lead. The no. 2s were usually older men. The supporting characters were retiree age, and even the quasi-romantic leads were middle aged women.

My wife & I have begun to watch the series in order (Comcast offers them all on demand). We hav enjoyed shows for different reasons. While we both loved the absurdity of the election episode, I especially loved how in 45 mins, the show lampooned the idea of a candidate. No. 6 declares his candidacy with ferocity for freedom, but is manipulated throughout to spout cliche statements. Even the short answers he gives the 'press' are manipulated. Once he finally wins the election, drugged into submission, he is unable to take advantage of the tools and power available to him. He is powerless. Wonderful political commentary.

Patrick McGoohan plays No. 6; the retired spy confined to the Village to reveal the secret of why he resigned. McGoohan's spy is an educated British gentleman. He hits every stereotype that Americans have of Brits: subdued manner, cold, quoting Shakespeare, arrogant and owner of a bad set of teeth. There are quite a few examples of the detective side of spy work or his spy training on display. He doesn't just bust people up; he plays little mindgames to disarm them.

Some advanced features they insert into episodes are drug use for mind control, aggressive therapy for altering a personality, and most spectacularly, dream manipulation through image and sound construct and data feed. I kid you not, they have an episode where they rig sensors to No. 6's head, and create a construct for him to interact with characters that they insert, not to mention manipulate with vocal input. It's like the Matrix idea, only in 1967. No. 6 has a way to fight back, which is fantastic, and once again exemplifies the human vs. system theme. The episode "Schizoid Man", with the personality manipulation was superb. The lengths the Village goes to fuck with No. 6 are great, and the fact that they mess with him for possibly a full year is cool. We want to know why you resigned so badly that we will set up a mind fuck for a whole year.

Besides the good acting and writing, there is one more superstar element: the setting. The Village is like Alice in Wonderland crossed with an old folks' home and a minimum security prison. It was not built for the show; it exists in that form. It looks like a playground for an insane millionaire. It looks fun, weird, and dangerous. There are plenty of nooks and hiding places for the good and the bad guys.

The Prisoner is a forerunner for the wonderful non-procedural shows Americans have fallen in love with like Twin Peaks and Lost. Who could resist a show that constantly changes the main antagonist? Each opening is the same awakening, and with a constantly changing villain, who is to say it's not just a recurring nightmare? While I am indifferent to the remake, I am still happy to see a little light pointed in the original's way. If yuo do have Comcast and have some spare time, check out the Prisoner on demand.

Finally People are Slowing Down

It took a horrible recession and the cutting off of consumer credit lines, but finally people are holding spending to a constant or are lowering spending habits. This has been in the works for months, but I was afraid Christmas would get the addicts back in action. There are sad details in this article, and many can be traced back to the massive inflation we have endured in the last 20 years from education, medical and home costs. We are not alone as other nations follow right in our footsteps, but when you look at a basic like housing, it is staggering how out of whack it is compared to incomes. Let's hope that this is the only Christmas of Nothing, and that we can get back on our feet as an economy in a year's time.

My department at work is not adopting a family this year, but we are collecting items for a family support center. I'm excited to get some items and start knocking stuff off that list. I will not buy one thing for certain: boy's pants. They put in a request for kids pants and then for the older boys pants with a waist of 38-46. You read that right forty-fucking-six! No pants for fatties. If you didn't eat so much, your family could afford basics like toothbrushes (that's on the list).

A Detroit JOBS Program

Michigan suffers unemployment of 15%. None of our current stimulus programs are targeted at job creation. If we want to spend money on temporary jobs programs until the economy gets on a roll and creates jobs on its own, let's spend it on 'shovel' projects. Let's just put people to work with a decent wage. That's much better than extending unemployment benefits forever, which is what Congress keeps doing. Pay people to do something, not just sit at home.

Detroit has 80,000 abandoned buildings. Some could be restored if preservationists or investors want to, but a vast majority of them can be razed. Some of these buildings are beautiful but decrepit & unsafe. How many folks in Michigan would apply for jobs using a shovel and some basic machinery to raze those buildings? Set the wage at $10-15/hr, depending on responsibilities, and watch them line up.

This could be criticized as make work, which is valid. This can be ripped for being a temporary fix, which is right. It's a bridge to a recovery that will employ these people in a private manner. What we have done so far is throw money at 'stimulus' that doesn't put folks to work. Wouldn't we rather see the borrowed govt dollars go to the unemployed to do something rather than sit at home? The latest extension of UE benefits, combined with the home buyer tax credit extension will cost $43 billion. I'd rather spend $43 on a project like FDR did that may not have helped long term with employment at least gave us the TVA and other works that we enjoy in the present day.

5 Years to Destroy a Career

TBS is airing Mean Girls all this weekend. Lindsay Lohan was the lead and 25 lbs heavier. The supporting cast was headlined by Rachel McAdams. Everyone but the lead has gone on to have a solid career. Lohan has been surpassed by McAdams (bankable female lead), Amanda Seyfried (lead in Jennifer's Body & Mamma Mia), and non-movie poster figures like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler both have tv series with NBC. Even the alternative girl has had more work than Lohan. Hollywood is a marathon, not a sprint and Lohan is the perfect example of that.

What was the last role Lohan had? Georgia Rule? Sadly, she has no adult guidance and no control of her drug and alcohol problems. A Madonna or Angelina Jolie type re-invention of her career is needed. If I were to remake Valley of the Dolls, I would approach her for the super druggie role that Patty Duke played. I'd also have her wheeled to and from a rehab center between filming in a straight-jacket. I'd also require that she gain weight. Playing a drugged out starlet is going to be easy and could give her the platform to launch a comeback. It's amazing to be a has-been by 23, but she is.

An Entire MST3K episode

I love the youtube.

Tippi and Melanie

Tippi Hedren is Melanie Griffith's mom!?!?!??!?!?! I never knew this. This explains how Griffith had a career despite having absolutely no talent.

Hackers Expose Global Warming as Phony Science

Hackers have busted into a GW research institute's cpu files and shared them with millions of people. What have they found? So far, it's a widespread collection of fraud, manipulating numbers, and witchcraft. Witchcraft is a good word since they send some emails back and forth discussing how they can stop sending research to some journals because those journals are '"too demanding" with data. I've always been someone who believed the Earth was getting warmer but we did not know the impact of humans. Might not be the case now. I always felt the data they used was sketchy, like how the official temperature thermometer in Buffalo was right next to an air conditioning unit's heat exhaust, and when models for temps 2 years in the future don't turn out correct, why should we trust your prediction for 20 years in the future? Good ending in this article on it. "AGW really means 'All your gold belong to we'". A government power grab which will transfer money from people to 1. govt coffers, 2. clean energy interests, 3. scammers like Goldman Sachs who would game a carbon credit system.

Update: I forgot to point out that Michael Crichton must be laughing in the afterlife when he compared the consensus around the pseudo-science of global warming to eugenics of early 20th century infamy.

MTV Reaching for New Lows

MTV has a show starting Dec 3rd called Jersey Shore. It focuses on guidos and guidettes that populate the Jersey Shore that many will remember from Guido Beach. Guys on roids, girls with high hair, implants guys fighting, girls fighting, and lots of fist pumping. It will be like an anthro study. This would make a nice foundation for a thesis at some modern american universities.

Sarah Palin was 5 Miles Away

Sarah Palin was in Noblesville for a book signing. I would have gone to get a photo. No book. Just a photo of her sitting on my lap. Maybe she could pull her glasses down a bit and look over them at me. I hope she never runs for elected office ever again, but she can play the naughty librarian role for me.

New CPUS

We got our new cpus installed. Fricking sweet. I'm blogging while I am watching The Ruins.

Angel Hair Flip

Second best hair flip in film history. Ms. Smith does 3 hair flips!!!

Gilda is Decent

Classic.

Network the Movie

This movie was ahead of its time, and is still applicable to today. Watch the entire film, but the first 4 1/2 mins of this clip is brilliant. The CEO of the company, played by Ned Beatty, uses a rather smart way to get to the raving 'prophet' who has messed with a business deal.

Mad Men Season 3 Finale

Mad Men (season 3) ended 2 Sundays ago. They used the JFK shooting as the penultimate episode so they would not have to crowd the finale with the JFK tragedy. Smart. I thoroughly enjoyed the Nov. 22nd episode. I had forgotten that Lee Harvey Oswald was shot live on national television. Truly horrific time. I bring this up because many of my parents' peers call that death as the end of an era or of innocence. That is very fitting considering how Mad Men season 3 ended.

The firm is reborn through a nice swindle with key players intact, Betty is divorcing Don, Big Red is back, the bearded douche (Kinsey) and Kenny Cosgrove are out, no one knows where gay Sal went, no more Brits, that wonderful office setting is gone, and yet it all feels empty. I loved that they had a focus on the agency and making moves with clients. Yahhhhh for not purely being a soap opera. What I did not like was a feeling that the writers didn't know how to write out the Brit storyline or keep Big Red involved, so they came up with this clever way to get the guys back on their own.

So Betty Draper is leaving Don for a guy she has kissed twice? That was pretty flimsy. The idea she'd build a 'lifeboat' for leaving Don does make sense and is 100% real. What is not real is to do it all for a man she's had very limited contact with, and to do it w/o proof of Don's infidelity. Weak. My wife and I both hated Betty though by season's end, so good riddance. I am glad Roger Sterling is more involved again after the weird path they had him going of his young bride, goofing off and drinking nonstop. I like how they had Don going after Peggy to join their new team, and it was nice to see. I wish she had made the leap and left for another company and more power, but this still sets her up for breaking glass ceilings.

As far as the ancillary players, I was hoping Kinsey (bearded douche) was going to confront Peggy about stealing his idea, which is what they were implying a couple episodes back. I want to know what happened to Sal. His whole closet gay storyline was interesting and entertaining. Why didn't they push the storyline of Sally being a violent child a bit more? A divorce will do wonders for that, so maybe they are saving that for next season. I'm glad smarmy Pete is there. My wife hates him because he performs his job of being a smarmy asshole to perfection. Where the hell is the teacher Don was banging who had a very "I'm not going to be ignored, Don" vibe about her? I want to know what happened. Loose ends only anger fans.

Here's part of the gripe, and why we may never know: when do they come back? Is it 1964, 1965, or 1966? If they skip too far ahead, the teacher affair, divorce, building the business, and Sal might be too much of a look back. Plus, you start to get away from the era from which this show resides. Coming right back in 1964 would be fun and allow for flowing continuity between season 3 and 4. Zooming through the '60s with touches to historical events is not what this show is about. It's going to be jarring if they come back and it's '66 and Don Draper is already rocking the non-slicked back hair. Plus, if they come back in '66 with an established office, it's going to feel more like the creator wanted to press 'reset' on the show and start over with the same principals. I want to see the struggles, I want to know how the Drapers split the kids, I want to know how they handle the Beatles and more rock acts. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that when the Mad Men crew comes back in season 4 next summer that it is 1964.

***Betty Draper was on Saturday Night Live last weekend. She looks better in 1960s clothes with the hoop skirts and rocket boob bras. No shape to her at all. She looks like a little girl instead of a woman. Ruins her entire look for me. Plus, I can't stand her character. Big Red goes back to no. 1 on my Mad Men eye candy list.