Jim's Guts

Best headline in a long time…

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post hits one out of the park;

Republicans Vote Against Moms; No Word Yet on Puppies, Kittens

Star Command…

The new TV ads that the Zoomies are running about their new "Star Command", um excuse me, sorry, "Space Command" are disturbing on MANY levels, not the least of which is that it is so incredibly wrong. There's a great rundown of the commercial over at Wired's Danger Room, where you can also see the ad (there's no way in hell I'm putting it on my site).

John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, nails it, "I am at a loss to understand the statutory authority under which the US Air Force can spend my money in propagandizing to me that they are doing a great job of spending my money. This advertising initiative is without precedent, and if it is not illegal it should be."

Friday morning pick-me-up (Updated)

Update - As Mr. Jones noted in the comments, Cake's video's are very much like the band, and the video that I think captures that best is "Love You Madly", but embedding is disabled so it wasn't one of the two yesterday. That said, even if you're not a big fan of the music, the video is worth watching as Cake's drummer and trumpeter hold an "Iron Chef" style cook off - Battle Pumpkin! - With celebrity judges Rick James, Phyllis Diller, and Jeff Smith. Go, watch, now.

A pre-concert doubleheader this morning in preparation of the arrival of a band from where I grew up - Sacramento's Cake is coming to the Paramount on Sunday night!

This is probably their best known (that's a relative term of course) song, off their 3rd album "Prolonging The Magic" here's "Never There"

The band may or may not qualify for the "classic" category, but the song is certainly does. Here's Cake's version of "I Will Survive"

A good ride…

It's easy (particularly when you see races coming up on the calendar) to get too focused on training and goals and to forget that part of the fun of cycling (or any sport) is the actual doing. I was reminded of that on Sunday when the L&T joined me for a ride. Mostly the L&T is a runner, so when she mentioned the idea of going for a ride, I was pretty stoked. We went out on that afternoon to the Burke-Gillman trail and did a nice 15 mile ride, chatting, and joking, and just riding along. It was great.

I can always put my music on and my head down and get on the trainer or go outside, but it was nice to remember that sometimes just getting on your bike and pedaling around laughing and talking is the best training there is.

"The Empire Strikes Barack"...

Yes I'm a Barack supporter, but even if I wasn't I think I would still enjoy this -

“Iron Man”…

First off, it's Iron Man. Ironman is a triathlon or triathlete, Iron Man is the comic book hero. Now that we've got that out of the way…Iron Man was one of my favorite comics (looking back, I think I always enjoyed the characters who weren't born with super powers; Iron Man, Batman Captain America, but as always I digress) so I was both excited ("X-men", "Batman Returns") and leery ("Daredevil", "Hulk") when I heard that they were making an Iron Man movie. I shouldn't have worried…

I really enjoyed "Iron Man". It's fun, fast (I never checked my watch during the movie), you don't need to know to know the comic to enjoy it. Of course if you do know the comics and the "Marvel Universe" there are several great little in jokes for you as well (including a new government agency that gave me a big laugh).

With movies like this action is puts people in the seats and on this score "Iron Man" doesn't disappoint; bad guys get what's coming to them in high tech glory, and the scenes where Stark is building and learning how to use his suit include some of the funniest bits. I don't want to say too much because I'd hate to spoil it, but if you've enjoyed the trailers I can safely say that you'll really enjoy the full suit.

While the action is fantastic, where the movie really shins is in the casting. A strong supporting cast includes Terrence Howard as "Rhodey" and a redheaded Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark's long time assistant "Pepper Potts", both huge parts of the comic book. Jeff Bridges is fantastic as the bad guy Obadiah Stane (also from the comics). But the real genius was in tapping Robert Downey Jr. to play Stark, a role he pulls off beautifully. It's funny to say this about a superhero action flick, but there are a lot of great characters in this movie and they're all played pretty much to perfect pitch.

Overall this definitely falls into the really fun popcorn movie. As I said before about this type of movie, it's not "Gandhi" or "Chariots of Fire", but if you're looking for a little escapist entertainment, this is the best I've seen this year.

Trailer watch (the movies before the movies) –

"The Hulk" – I think it's hilarious that no one mentions the Ang Lee version, it's like it never happened (and it shouldn't have). That said, the "new" one looks pretty good.
"The Dark Knight" – This is a tough one because it's Heath Ledger's last film, but he looks phenomenal as the Joker, really looking forward to this one.
Indy 4 – It's amazing that you can show just the silhouette of a guy in a fedora and everybody immediately knows who it is.

What’s good in sports…

I'll see Mr. Jones' great Central WA softball find, and raise him with a little San Diego Charger love (warning, it's liable to get a little dusty reading this one too).

This is one of those songs that I had to hear several times before I enjoyed it. I don't know why that is, but I can tell you it's happened with several songs in the past couple of months. Maybe it's a(nother) sign I'm getting old(er). Anyway here's Rouge Wave's "Lake Michigan"


And for the classic how about going way back and really picking it up with a track from Dave Edmunds - "Slipping Away"

Reason for concern…

I was very surprised to hear that the President has ordered a second carrier group into the Gulf on Tuesday. Pair that with Adm. Fallon's departure as Commander U.S. Central Command (CentCom) and, pending confirmation (scheduled for later this spring) Gen. David Petraeus' promotion to that same post. Well, it doesn't take a big leap to see where this might be a prologue to a larger conflict that included Iran.

Also, 4 U.S. soldiers were killed today.

Good coaching…

Thanks to the L&T for forwarding me this link to this interview of the CycleU Director Sportif, and one of my favorite coaches, Craig Undem. It's a great piece on accelerating your training by doing more hills (advice I'm trying to put into action). Besides being an excellent coach Craig's great attitude and his firm belief in the power of the mind and the effects of positive thinking is contagious and something I'm striving to learn. As I was typing this up, the CycleU newsletter arrived and I thought I'd share this bit from his "From the Dean" column;

"I remember when I first started racing I would always keep my expectations low, after all there are so many things that can happen in a race: flat tire, someone crashing me out, just not feeling it, better competition showing up from out of town... So many variables, why get your hopes up?

"I'll tell you why. Because you have to! There is no power in lowering the bar just so your precious ego won't get hurt if you fail. There is no energy to kick ass from mediocre goals that don't fully challenge you to be all you can be. There is so much more you can do if you put yourself on the line and go after a big challenge instead of shooting fish a barrel."

Not much I can add to that, except maybe Twilight here I come…