tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119559942020-08-19T01:34:04.521-07:00Booze, Baseball, and another "B"Expect to find a variety of topics covered here. On the menu you can find: baseball and other sports, politics, news, movies, videogaming, and more.
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Enjoy!!Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.comBlogger491125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-63501527318340461142009-06-25T23:31:00.000-07:002009-06-25T23:33:06.140-07:00Newcastle DraughtKeg....Details are slim, but word on the street is Newcastle will soon be available in DraughtKeg form! And it even says on the keg that it's Beer Tender compatible!<br /><br />Awesome doesn't even come close to describing this. Also, this cannot be available to me soon enough. Get on it, Newcastle!Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-36992156619463907402009-04-26T18:33:00.000-07:002009-04-26T18:34:38.466-07:00Shopping in Shanghai....This is what shopping in Shanghai is like. Only without the spoken english.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mBcMSOJGEaI&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mBcMSOJGEaI&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Pictures of really shopping in Shanghai coming soon!Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-29915314385297575172009-04-08T18:16:00.000-07:002009-04-08T18:28:52.424-07:00Kenny Powers is coming back....Pretty stoked to find out today that HBO was smart enough to pick up Eastbound & Down for <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ia7786901a6d39a3069caf8e84e25c3e4">another season</a>.<br /><br />Hopefully the second season will be a lot more than 6 episodes, but at least this is a start.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-14242107895956339872009-03-25T05:31:00.000-07:002009-03-25T05:38:15.480-07:00This show needs to get made....After having been sent the video for this, I must admit, it totally blew my mind. It's like it's Metal Gear Solid 4 crossed with Usagi Yojimbo. All awesome.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Gr4QBZfjtqs&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Gr4QBZfjtqs&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />I'm not sure, but I think I like the American title, "Apocalypse Meow" better than the original. This needs to be released ASAP.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-70261100986454682942009-03-24T07:19:00.000-07:002009-03-24T07:22:59.941-07:00Ichiro is the champ....<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/baseball/wbbc/recap?gameId=290323108&league=wbbc">Again</a>.<br /><br />Things like this just make me laugh when people talk about trying to trade him away and how he's a clubhouse cancer.<br /><br />What a bunch of crap. Ichiro is the best. Ichiro!Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-53028273132331914032009-03-15T11:25:00.000-07:002009-03-15T11:43:17.438-07:00This is why Americans want to go to Eurpoe....Because it's a mystical land full of Ferraris!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1fsIO4sPHv8/Sb1MHi5_ZpI/AAAAAAAAAVA/dU9YMBYzMJs/s1600-h/ferraris.bmp.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 178px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1fsIO4sPHv8/Sb1MHi5_ZpI/AAAAAAAAAVA/dU9YMBYzMJs/s320/ferraris.bmp.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313486827879884434" border="0" /></a><br />Google Maps has all the goodness <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Piazza+Santiago+del+Cile,+00197+Rome,+Lazio,+Italy&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=48.77566,78.398437&ie=UTF8&ll=41.926005,12.486949&spn=0,359.972706&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr&layer=c&cbll=41.925912,12.487029&panoid=lPRhx-0RHi00vFOVp2A4Qw&cbp=12,350.40059196204294,,0,5">here</a>.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-74241794204332135102009-03-15T08:20:00.000-07:002009-03-15T08:29:50.767-07:00Dammit, AIG....I've been trying to just put my head in the sand over the whole AIG situation (them being $170B in the red), but their latest snafu with about <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090315/ap_on_bi_ge/aig_bonuses">$165M worth of bonus pay</a> is just stupid.<br /><br />In case you hadn't heard, they just lost $61.7B last quarter. Which is very stupid.<br /><br />There are perfectly decent legal grounds for paying out the bonuses, which I understand. What I don't understand is how AIG didn't put something into those folks' contracts that said something to the effect of "if we lose more money in a quarter than any company ever has, you don't get bonuses." That seems pretty simple to me. On top of that, they should have tried to make some blanket amendment which says "look, man, you're lucky to have a job right now, you're not getting your bonus since you don't deserve it."<br /><br />This is all on top of the fact that most people can't understand how a company pays bonuses to anybody if they're in the red. Much less hundreds of billions of dollars in the red.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-68377015562147910242009-03-10T23:03:00.000-07:002009-03-10T23:43:26.192-07:00Look, man, just make the trade....So even though it's March, I'm ready for Fantasy Football. That's probably because of my DOMINATING performance last year, but more so probably because I'm too competitive for my own good.<br /><br />I've been intrigued recently by the Jay Cutler drama going on in Denver. That guy is one whiny baby. He needs to grow up and figure out that this is a business. Today <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3968896">ESPN is reporting</a> that the conference call the Broncos had with Cutler exacerbated the "problems" they have. I think Bill Williamson's source is quite obviously Cutler's agent, but the problem is, they missed their opportunity for a trade. So what is he hoping to accomplish?<br /><br />The Pats are stupid for not making the three-team deal involving Tampa Bay and Denver, moving Cutler to TB, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Cassel</span> to DEN, and NE getting a bunch of picks. With them passing on that trade, I think there's a new <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nfl&id=2719035"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Belichick</span>-hate-me</a> drama brewing with Josh Daniels in Denver (like there was/is with <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/19/sports/football/19jets.html?_r=1&ex=1168059600&en=e58f9219f7b6191c&ei=5070"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Mangini</span></a>). I don't see how the Pats give up a much better deal to let <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Cassel</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Vrabel</span> go for a 2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">nd</span> round pick. But, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Belichick</span> has his <a href="http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1449171456/nm1621161">pic taken with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Marky</span> Mark</a>, so I can't say much bad about him.<br /><br />What I'm saying is that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Cassel</span> is a better QB, and Cutler should be happy that he still has his job in Denver. I've got <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Cassel</span> on my team, along with Brady, and I think that it'd almost be in my best interest to keep both of them. Talk about loaded. I've got the last pick in the draft, thanks to: <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-am-champion.html">crushing my enemies</a>, seeing them driven before me, and hearing the lamentation of their women; but even with that my team is looking awesome.<br /><br />LT is staying with San Diego. I think it's a good move for the team, but I think that LT may end up wishing he had left. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">AJ</span> Smith obviously doesn't like or respect LT, and I they'll continue to <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2008/12/this-ones-free.html">shift the offense away from LT</a>. Which is dumb, and not just because I have LT on my fantasy team. He's the engine that drives their offense, and they're going from a V12 (LT) to an I-4 (Rivers and his collection of bad <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">WRs</span>). Obviously they don't know that <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2008/08/lt-has-message-for-all-you-fools.html"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">LT's</span> better is better than your better</a>.<br /><br />If I keep <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Cassel</span> and Brady, I should be able to avoid the <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2008/09/culpeppocalypse.html"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Culpeppocalypse</span></a> too. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">That'd</span> be nice.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-45384761637013330682009-03-09T18:55:00.000-07:002009-03-09T18:56:23.303-07:00Master and Commander....<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1fsIO4sPHv8/SbXEAJ9eZxI/AAAAAAAAAUI/glzcr7mEHh0/s1600-h/Ichiro_WBC_09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 289px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1fsIO4sPHv8/SbXEAJ9eZxI/AAAAAAAAAUI/glzcr7mEHh0/s400/Ichiro_WBC_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311366842506176274" border="0" /></a>The pic says it all.<br /><br />Ichiro <a href="http://kotaku.com/5166467/ichiro-suzuki-uses-dragon-quest-to-explain-victory">recently philosophized</a> about how baseball is like Dragon Quest. His quote, as interpreted by Brian Ashcraft was,<br /><blockquote>In Dragon Quest tension increases, and you get stronger, right? It was like that.</blockquote><br />I think he was talking about their Olympics loss to Korea increasing tension, but maybe he was talking about kicking the collective asses of the Koreans 14-2. The next game they lost to the Koreans 1-0, and with that loss came out of the Group A in second place. Japan is still my pick to win the WBC.<br /><br />Maybe if the Mariners stopped whining about Ichiro making them all look bad, and listened to him more, they too could beat teams 14-2.<br /><br />As far as the movie reference, I saw that movie opening night at the Cinerama, and I hated it. Why do people like Master and Commander? Do I need to give it another chance?<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">(<a href="http://ca.c.yimg.jp/sports/1234493225/sports.yimg.jp/text/images/spnavi/20090204/200902040001-spnavi_2009020300003_view.jpg">Pic credit</a>)</span>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-23253015556939279892009-03-08T20:10:00.001-07:002009-03-08T21:15:09.457-07:00Dropping knowledge....So my recent IE problem got me wondering, "how many visitors use IE?"<br /><br />The answer: 30%.<br /><br />I can't say that I'm all that surprised by the result. I forget exact marketshare numbers, but I think IE has something like 90% marketshare. With the dedicated readership my blog has, most of that segment of the readership is technologically savvy, so they're on the Firefox/something else better than IE bandwagon. I was surprised to see that only 4% of viewers use Safari/Chrome. I need to write more Mac articles I guess (or Apple needs to bring their sky-high prices down).<br /><br />Over the course of the last month, my #1 article is one I put together 2.5 years ago, which has a picture of a <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2006/09/zomg.html">Lamborghini balanced on some tea cups</a>. Folks love the classics.<br /><br />#2 article is one I put together on my bitchin' Oakley Large Roller Bag (<a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2007/09/oakley-large-roller-bag.html">Khaki Tiger Camo</a>, thank you very much). I've been meaning to put out some more thoughts and info on that specific bag, since it's awesome.<br /><br />One of the ideas I've been toying around with lately is starting up a Twitter feed. I've seen a cool Twitter widget, so I could get the Twitter posts (tweets) to show up here on the blog, and my phone could totally tweet with the best of 'em.<br /><br />The problem I have with Twitter is that I still don't know if I really see the value. When I put something up on this blog, I try to either make it visually appealing (often including a video link) or I try to put together a string of thoughts that exceeds 140 characters, which hopefully contains some nuanced thoughts and decent grammar. I'm not sure how much of that I would lose with Twitter. There are times when I have trouble keeping text messages to 160 characters. On top of that, due to the nature of my work I can't post anything work related, so weekdays on my Twitter feed might be fairly uneventful.<br /><br />But with the pending Mariners season, along with movie season, and some other stuff which might be happening soon, it seems like maybe I could make a Twitter feed work. Speaking of summer movie season, does the March release of Watchmen count as the beginning of the Summer movie season for this year? I know that we're less than a month away from Fast and Furious' release day (can you say "counting down the days?" I thought you could) and it just seems like Hollywood is getting the party started earlier and earlier every year.<br /><br />So yeah, maybe some Twitter coming soon. Maybe not.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-62655368541503056112009-03-08T12:36:00.000-07:002009-03-08T12:49:52.494-07:00Sorry to IE users....I don't use Internet Explorer, and I just noticed that I've got strike through on my whole damn blog.<br /><br />I'm trying to fix it, but for some reason it's not working.<br /><br />If it continues, feel free to switch to <a href="http://www.spreadfirefox.com/?q=affiliates&id=143341&t=70">Firefox</a> or <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-site-looks-good-in-chrome.html">Google Chrome</a>, where it's not a problem.<br /><br />Edit: All better. I sure do hate IE. Also added links for the better browsers. Really, if you're still using IE, and you can switch to something else, you need to do so.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-70659845274837226182009-03-03T21:40:00.000-08:002009-03-03T21:40:00.148-08:00Developers want digital distribution, and I do too....I've read many stories in the last six months or so about how developers feel as though used game sales are hurting them. I saw another one just today.<br /><br />They are wrong, and that's fine. The developers' solution is simple, digital/online distribution. If you buy the game online, you can't trade it in at GameStop, or even <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/03/toys-r-us-to-buy-sell-used-games-how-to-fight-gamestop.ars">Toys R Us</a>.<br /><br /><del>Of course they forget that they'd put thousands of people out of work by doing this (what is GameStop going to sell? Genesis games? Actually, that'd be awesome, but that's not the point), and the number of people who could buy games would decrease. On top of that, it's a different shopping experience to go online and purchase a game than it is to pick one up while you are in a store (especially if you didn't go to the store specifically to buy the game).</del> Anyways, I don't want to get into the arguments against digital distribution. The developers are wrong, and that's fine.<br /><br />I want the industry to switch to digital distribution. Why? Because I'll finally have a good reason to stop buying and playing videogames.<br /><br />As anyone who reads this blog <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2008/02/bionic-commando-rearmed.html">regularly</a> knows, I think that 90% of online-distributed-for-a-fee content is a complete ripoff and is horribly overpriced. $20 for the Watchmen game?! $15 for Braid?! $15 for Street Fighter II HD Remix?! $30 for Tekken 5?! Don't even get me started on the <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2007/04/microsoft-and-activision-slap-gamers-in.html">pillaging that is Guitar Hero and Rockband track pricing</a>. That crap is so expensive, not only has it propped up the gaming industry, but the music industry is relying on it to stay alive!<br /><br />It's so rare that online games are well priced, much less worth what the companies are charging for them. I will say that there are exceptions. <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2008/08/bionic-commando-rearmed-is-awesome.html">Bionic Commando: Rearmed</a> was incredible, and only $10, which was totally appropriate. <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2008/08/wipeout-hd-is-coming.html">Wipeout HD</a>, while overpriced at $20, is an excellent game. These games are exceptions to the rule, and that's why I want companies to move to digital distribution. Why would I pay their stupid prices anymore? I wouldn't have anything to show for it, and games would never go down in price. It's a racket, and I think it's hilarious that these gaming companies think that it'll work for them. They're making analogies to iTunes, and that's great, but what they're forgetting is that iTunes is a better value than shopping in the store. I can get just the tracks that I want, or I can get whole albums for less than I can get them for in stores. With online game sales, I'm paying as much, or more, than I would for the game in its physical state, and there is no value-ad.<br /><br />And of course there's the micro-transaction piece of this whole puzzle. I think it's totally awesome that my $80 Street Fighter IV game is incomplete. For <a href="http://www.capcom-unity.com/s-kill/blog/2009/02/05/street_fighter_iv_dlc_details_and_exclusive_screens">only an additional $20</a>, that is, an increase of 33% over the already-too-high MSRP for just the game by itself, I can have the costumes which should have shipped with the game. Yay! Crap like that is rampant throughout the industry, and wouldn't get any better with a shift to digital distribution.<br /><br />So I reiterate my stance; I agree with the developers that gaming companies should move to digital distribution as soon as possible. That will finally allow me to stop spending inane amounts of money on videogames. Money that I could be putting to better uses, such as: <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2007/02/trials-and-tribulations.html">my hot car</a>, <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2009/02/i-missed-posting-for-this-job.html">hot women</a>, <a href="http://www.tapmachineinc.com/_splash.cfm?ref=/index.cfm?">booze</a>, <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/search?q=ichiro">baseball</a>, <a href="http://www.savingsbonds.gov/govt/govt.htm">another "B"</a>, <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2007/08/oktoberfest.html">international travel</a>, and <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-am-such-geek.html">other stuff</a>.<br /><br />This digital revolution can't come soon enough. Please, evil videogame companies, do it for me. My life would be so much better without your product! I could finally have a chance to go outside and see the sun!Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-11903155198299790692009-03-02T22:10:00.000-08:002009-03-08T12:42:59.809-07:00Two words....Mariners Monday. What a great idea that is.<br /><br />Tonight was the April 7, 2000 game, aka "Welcome to Seattle, Mike Cameron!" It's always nice to see outfield defense. It'll be nice to see that again this year. Aside from Ichiro trying to defend all of the outfield (and getting blocked far too often by Raul), I forgot what that looked like.<br /><br />I miss the classic Mariners teams. I mean, look back at the roster for <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SEA/2001.shtml">2001</a> or 2000 (sans Pay-Roid) or <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SEA/1995.shtml">1995</a>. We had the best manager in modern baseball history. We had <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimajin#Other_References">Sasaki</a> as our closer! Larry Bowa was our Third Base Coach! Of course, that was supposed to happen again last year, but didn't thanks to Joe "we know him as A-Fraud" Torre. We had guys like Gipson, McLemore, and David Bell. And Edgar. We just don't have guys like that anymore. Maybe if we win this year, we'll look back at some of the guys that we have now similar to how we look back at the guys on those classic teams.<br /><br />Of course we do still have the best player around, Ichiro. As long as he's around, baseball in Seattle is a beautiful thing.<br /><br />I'm ready for baseball season now. Right now. In case you hadn't heard, the Mariners are undefeated in Cactus League play.<br /><br />Two outs? So what! Sodo Mojo! <del>Who let the dogs out?</del>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-42939332864778659082009-02-26T18:48:00.000-08:002009-02-26T18:48:48.736-08:00Lincecum is the new....Tim Lincecum, the UW baseball superstar who set a Pac-10 record for strikeouts, but was NOT drafted by the hometown Mariners when they had the opportunity, just signed a deal for <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3938032">$650,000</a> with the Giants. This is right after winning the Cy Young award. If you don't know what that is, it's the award given to the best pitcher in their respective league. To put this in perspective, the Mariners are paying Carlos Silva, one of the worst pitchers in baseball last year, $12m this year. That's $12,000,000.00. Twelve with six zeroes behind it, plus the two after the decimal point.<br /><br />The Mariners <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Major_League_Baseball_Draft">drafted</a> Brandon Morrow instead of Lincecum. I can't come up with a comparable screw up. I wanted to title the post, "Lincecum is the new Omar" but I don't think that even comes close to correctly being analogous. Maybe the Titans drafting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Dyson">Kevin Dyson</a> instead of Randy Moss during the 1998 NFL Draft comes close.<br /><br />Look, Morrow is good. But you know what he isn't? Cy Young good. He's also not a UW alumni. While I'm sure the Seahawks' management could talk your ear off about how it's not a good idea to draft someone just because they're a local talent, I don't think they could say "that guy was the best when he was in college, and it's a good thing you passed on him in the draft." Morrow did not set a Pac-10 record for strikeouts, Lincecum did.<br /><br />I know perfectly well why they didn't draft Lincecum; it's because of concerns over his throwing motion and his long-term viability in the league. So if you were to have asked me before the 2006 MLB draft, "would you rather have a home-grown guy who throws hard, and gets outs, but might not last 20 years with your team, or would you rather take a dude who played against said home-grown talent, wasn't as good, but may last a bit longer." I would have taken the homegrown guy. On top of that, the home team could have made the homegrown guy the first ever baseball player from the UW taken in the first round of the draft, but didn't take that honor upon themselves, they passed it onto someone else. I don't know if it was Hargrove, Bavasi, or Fontaine (or for that matter, Armstrong or Lincoln) who didn't want us to take Lincecum, but whoever it was made a big mistake. For that matter, I would have taken Andrew Miller before Morrow, but not before Lincecum. Maybe if I had blogged about that back then, the Mariners' front office could have read it and known the correct course of action to take. So maybe in a roundabout way this is all my fault.<br /><br />Do you know how many Mariners have won the Cy Young award? Just one, Randy Johnson. His closest company in that regard is Roger Clemens, if that tells you anything about what I think of that. To have had a local kid, who dominated for the local University, come to the local team and dominate Major League Baseball then win the Cy Young would have been awesome, and would have been something to motivate fans to attend games, instead of having to do PR stunts like signing Griffey. On top of that, we'd arguably have the best top 3 in baseball (Felix, Lincecum, Bedard), and one of the best top 3s baseball has seen in a long time.<br /><br />But no, we don't have that. We do have about $270k extra dollars, the difference in the amount we are paying Morrow over what we could be paying Lincecum. We also have the indignation of managing to lose 101 games last year.<br /><br />Maybe Lincecum is waiting for his free agency period so he can sign here, assuming our management at the time is smart enough to make the deal (which will cost substantially more than it would have had we drafted him and had him here now). We can only hope.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-53642251829821511332009-02-25T07:38:00.000-08:002009-02-25T07:41:56.006-08:00I missed the posting for this job....I guess I missed the listing for this job. It must have been worded incorrectly or something.<br /><br />It should have said something to the effect of "drive bitchin' new car around closed Las Vegas streets, in the company of SI Swimsuit models." Had the job listing said that, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have missed it.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QkQ5-9Og3U8&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QkQ5-9Og3U8&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><br /><br />I can't complain too much though. My life is <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">just</span> like this, only with a 350Z (instead of the 370) and in Seattle (instead of Vegas).Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-73650829729717743162009-02-23T07:28:00.000-08:002009-02-23T07:36:47.797-08:00Vince DiCola's new song for the new Transformers film (RotF)....Over on the TDRS Forum, they've posted an MP3 of <a href="http://www.tdrsmusic.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=TDRS;action=display;num=1235150843">a new song from Vince DiCola</a> (Transformers, Rocky IV, etc) that Vince is hoping will be part of the soundtrack for the new Transformers film. The song is titled "Bound and Gaged" and features vocals from Rick Livingstone.<br /><br />I was surprised to see the song pop up, mostly since DiCola hasn't done much high profile work in some time. They're hoping for fans (read: me) to post the song and try to drum up some grassroots support to help get the song included. I'm happy to help. In my opinion, the song isn't bad, and the strength of Mr. DiCola's resume alone should be enough to get it included on Revenge of the Fallen.<br /><br /><a href="http://travisdickersondownloads.com/Bound_And_Gagged.mp3">Have a listen here</a>.<br /><br />For those wondering, yes I have seen the RotF trailer. I intentionally did not watch the one during the Super Bowl, but I saw it when I watched Friday the 13th. Trailer looks good, but I've never wavered on the fact that I'm seeing the movie, so I wish that they'd stop showing me stuff from it. I'm going to see it either way.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-75426111104767025142009-02-22T22:05:00.000-08:002009-02-22T22:05:01.592-08:00I am an API Samurai....Two posts in a row which don't fit into my blog template. That's an achievement.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://achievements.schrankmonster.de/Achievement.aspx?text=Create%20stuff%20that%20doesn%27t%20fit%20right%21"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 422px; height: 77px;" src="http://achievements.schrankmonster.de/Achievement.aspx?text=Create%20stuff%20that%20doesn%27t%20fit%20right%21" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Let's celebrate with some HINOI Team.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/92nr9BQhR-Y&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/92nr9BQhR-Y&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-74234535386760954672009-02-22T21:13:00.001-08:002009-02-22T21:51:26.538-08:00For those of you who are enthusiastic about seeing a future Hall of Famer on the Mariners....<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Ichiro_Cropped_AL.jpg/600px-Ichiro_Cropped_AL.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 600px; height: 600px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Ichiro_Cropped_AL.jpg/600px-Ichiro_Cropped_AL.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>May I present Mr. Ichiro Suzuki.<br /><br />If the Mariners wanted to make some money on jersey sales, they should sell an Ichiro Blue Wave jersey (since I think that one looks better than the Orix jersey). You'd think Orix would be ok with it, since they aren't even the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orix_Blue_Wave">Blue Wave</a> anymore.<br /><br />By the way, the sponsorship of Ichiro's page on Baseball Reference ends July first of this year. I should totally snag that. I want to grab the sponsorship of Edgar's page, but I know that as people are determining whether or not to vote him to the HoF, his page will get an enormous number of views. Since sponsorship prices change depending on page views, that will be an expensive proposition.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vMScbjYzV6A&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vMScbjYzV6A&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JY7sOYRH6CI&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JY7sOYRH6CI&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Had everyone's fav beat reporter at the Seattle Times received a ball like that, maybe he wouldn't be doing everything he could to make Ichiro seem like a bad guy. He was perfectly nice to me in 2002 when I asked him to sign a baseball.<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ichiro_Cropped_AL.jpg"><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Image credit: Wikipedia</span></a>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-38906633791324714782009-02-22T21:09:00.001-08:002009-02-22T21:52:39.052-08:00Achievement unlocked, I suppose....<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://l4d-fr.com/ach.php?a=%22REAL%20BROTHERS,%20OR%20STREET%20BROTHERS?%22&b=Finally%20caved%20and%20purchased%20Left%204%20Dead&c=u&e=15&f=2"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 772px; height: 72px;" src="http://l4d-fr.com/ach.php?a=%22REAL%20BROTHERS,%20OR%20STREET%20BROTHERS?%22&b=Finally%20caved%20and%20purchased%20Left%204%20Dead&c=u&e=15&f=2" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">This is the second version of this post. The first one (which may show up in the RSS feed) inadvertently had a title from an official achievement. My bad.</span>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-20861112071334449032009-02-18T23:06:00.000-08:002009-02-18T23:24:03.435-08:00Street Fighter 4 impressions....SF4 is pretty awesome, I'll lead off by saying that much.<br /><br />The graphics are great, the backgrounds are some of the best I've ever seen, and the characters are cool. I like the new characters, especially C.Viper. She seems like a Terry Bogard+ Geese Howard throwback, and I love it.<br /><br />I picked up the Collector's Edition for the PS3 today, which it turns out is next to impossible to find. I think I got the last one available in The Puget Sound area. It was stupid how many places I had to call to try to find it. Also, the FightPad which I figured I would wait to pick up until it dropped in price, is very difficult to find, and impossible to find for the Xbox 360 (which makes sense, due to the horrible d-pad for that system's controller).<br /><br />The game plays well with the standard PS3 controller. I found it easy to pull off hadoukens and shoryukens, and even the charge moves with characters like Guile (which I've never been good at). The biggest reason I picked the game up for the PS3 is because of the Dual Shock's d-pad versus the Xbox controller. I don't think that anybody at MS has used that d-pad, because if they had it would have been changed by now. It's easily the worst d-pad I've ever used. While playing SSF2THD I have about a 10% success rate for moves such as the shoryuken. That's just dumb, and it ain't because I don't know what I'm doing. So I felt compelled to pick the game up for the PS3.<br /><br />I must admit that I was disappointed with the Ryu figure the game came with. If you wanted either special edition, and didn't put in a pre-order, just settle for the game by itself. The figure certainly doesn't add $20 worth of value. The Ryu figure does not have a base. He stands just fine without it, but that just further goes to show the quality of the figure. I haven't watched the Blu-Ray which came with the game, but I don't think that a 65 minute SF anime is going to rock my world. I don't regret buying the CE, but I don't know if I would do it the same way again if given the opportunity.<br /><br />In terms of gameplay, overall I like the game. It's crisp, and they did an admirable job. But if you're a long-time hardcore SF player, there's a learning curve. For some reason, the CPU can walk through or brush off attacks at will. Plus there's little recovery time when you land hit or if your attacks are blocked, so the flow of the game and the balance is a lot different than the SF games of old. For new players, or people who haven't played a lot of SF, that's fine. For people who've put a lot of time into the various iterations of this series over the years, it's a tough adjustment. Take from that what you will; some people will say they should have been true to the fighting system, and others would say "new century, new style." Different strokes for diff'rent folks, I guess.<br /><br />Overall, the game is good, and you should check it out.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-36578977396808778962009-02-13T07:01:00.000-08:002009-02-13T07:16:58.505-08:00The stimulus hasn't stimulated me....Aside from the fact that there is very little in the (still) pending Stimulus bill that's going to help me out, I just haven't had the energy to put together a good piece on it.<br /><br />The bill started out as a great idea, and something the country needed immediately. Since being proposed, and crafted in the House, the bill went from being something that was going to help pull the economy out of its $2 trillion hole, to a pork bill.<br /><br />It should have been a kosher-bill (that is, sans pork), but it wasn't, and now it is even less.<br /><br />Then the bill went to the Senate, and in the time it left the House to the time it was being debated in the Senate, congressional Republicans (who do not understand the current Recession or what it takes to get out of one) had plenty of time to make fun of the bill, and point out stupid pork, such as millions for the Arts. We all love the Arts, but giving a couple starving artists funding to do a sculpture or a painting is not going to get our country out of its current economic morass.<br /><br />While in the Senate, the bill was changed, and people became afraid of its size. I don't know why exactly that happened. Yes, $800 billion is a lot of money. It's also an amount that American taxpayers are going to pay one way or another, so I don't see why we wouldn't try to take that amount and stimulate the economy with it. The only way to get money into the economy which is not there already is federal borrowing. Taxes DID NOT cause our current economic situation, so to believe that eliminating taxes is going to make things better is stupid. Really stupid.<br /><br />Anyway, so centrists in the Senate, afraid of the size of the bill, pared it down. They apparently didn't disagree so much with the actual spending, just the size, so stuff like assistance to states (some of the best spending in the bill) was pared down, just because.<br /><br />Now we have a bill which reneges on President Obama's campaign promise of a $500 tax break for working Americans, and is really about 9% smaller than congressional reps are saying. Why is that? Because $70B of the "spending" is actually in the form of Alternative Minimum Tax exemption, which they say affects normal middle class Americans (it doesn't). Every year congress passes exemptions to the AMT, since the tax code hasn't been updated in years. This year would have been no different, except now they've rolled those AMT changes into the Stimulus bill, and said that it's $70B more dollars that the feds are using to help normal Americans. That's just not true.<br /><br />So instead of writing about all this stuff, I've been playing videogames. Feel free to <a href="http://360voice.gamerdna.com/challenge/29398">follow along</a>.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-26321623503217481392009-02-13T06:55:00.000-08:002009-02-13T06:59:44.372-08:00Free music from Amazon....The perfect song for Valentine's Day, Marvin Gaye's rendition of "Let's Get It On" is free from Amazon in time for Valentine's Day. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001NTNJD2?tag=chanaramacom-20">Get it here</a>.<br /><br />If you haven't used the Amazon MP3 service yet, I'd recommend it. I've used it for quite a few purchases recently, and I think they've done a good job with it. Songs download quickly, and the Amazon downloader puts the song and the album artwork into my iTunes playlist effortlessly.<br /><br />Check it out, and get the free song!<br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=chanaramacom-20&o=1&p=26&l=ur1&category=freemp3download&banner=0REXV0ZYHRV99EMF2X02&f=ifr" width="468" height="60" scrolling="no" border="0" marginwidth="0" style="border:none;" frameborder="0"></iframe>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-3223589363261172672009-02-02T21:03:00.001-08:002009-02-02T21:07:42.961-08:00This would be better if it was from "Extras"....<a href="http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_audio/020209_christianbale.mp3">But it's all real</a>.<br /><br />Christian Bale is a straight up <del>asshole</del> sensitive guy. It's too bad that nobody can check these actors.<br /><br />I don't know if this was before or after he beat up his mom and sister, but I'm sure he'd like the court to think that it had something to do with it.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-20716219422298816252009-01-31T12:01:00.000-08:002009-01-31T12:07:57.836-08:00Who looks forward to the Super Bowl halftime show?....ESPN has <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/fp/flashPollResultsState?sportIndex=frontpage&pollId=67021">a poll on their frontpage</a> today asking what people are most looking forward to on Sunday.<br /><br />3% of respondents said they were looking forward to the halftime show.<br /><br />Who care about the halftime show? They are uniformly, always, terrible. I can't remember when there was a good one. No matter what act they get to perform, they always suck (I remember The Rolling Stones were particularly disappointing). <br /><br />My response? The Party. Who cares about a team who shouldn't be in the Super Bowl playing against the #1 defense? And the Commercials have been pretty hit or miss the last few years.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11955994.post-30873683940128068952009-01-30T19:07:00.000-08:002009-01-30T19:46:20.989-08:00DJ Hero coming....Activision's boss <a href="http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=289004&cl=11788588&src=finance&ch=4043681">announced today</a> that DJ Hero is coming later this year. I must admit, I'm pretty excited.<br /><br />As I've mentioned in the past, I am pretty much done with the Guitar Hero series. I liked it a lot right up until the third game, when all of a sudden I was just done with it. Their <a href="http://mechachrome.blogspot.com/search?q=guitar+hero">advertising didn't help</a> my admiration of the series any.<br /><br />But I'm totally enthusiastic about DJ Hero. Oakenfold gave his approval of it, so it can't be bad, right? Ok, one thing I am concerned about is who's going to be in it and what music are they going to have. I'll admit that.<br /><br />DJ Tiesto's people say <a href="http://kotaku.com/5113937/dj-tistos-management-says-hes-not-in-activisions-dj-hero">he's not in it</a> (baaaad move, if true), and Oakenfold says he likes the game, but isn't officially attached to it. I think it'd be totally sweet if they had KJ Sawka in it, somehow. I know that'd be tough to do, but it'd be awesome. Maybe I'll have to wait until DJ Hero 2, when you can hook up the drums from Guitar Hero: World Tour. If they did have KJ Sawka (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001NKSCXS?tag=chanaramacom-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B001NKSCXS&adid=1E5N9FBVHHREMZT00EMR&">you need to buy his new album, it's awesome</a>), it would be awesome if he was a "boss" character (if there's a semi-story progression, as they've done with some of the GH games).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1fsIO4sPHv8/SYPFmJcYwpI/AAAAAAAAAS0/HOGANjudQ-Q/s1600-h/cdj400_1big.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 157px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1fsIO4sPHv8/SYPFmJcYwpI/AAAAAAAAAS0/HOGANjudQ-Q/s200/cdj400_1big.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297294845878518418" border="0" /></a>I also have big hopes for the controller. I think it'd be awesome if they put together something similar to the Pioneer CDJ series (...licensing deal?...). They would probably need to simplify it a bit, but I think there's a real possibility there.<br /><br />Another cool licensing idea might be the new <a href="http://www.beatsbydre.com/">Beats by Dre</a> headphones from Monster. Every cool DJ needs a set of headphones. They could do apparel too, without too much trouble.<br /><br />The list of talent they could get seems like it's a mile long. Hopefully they go beyond just simple Billboard stuff and get into some deep cuts. There are a ton of one-hit-wonder sorts of guys, guys who had something that was just mind-blowing, and then never followed it up with anything. That's the sort of acts that seem like they'd be easy to get. There are tons of Euro artists that seem like they aren't doing much of anything.<br /><br />Hell, there hasn't been a Matrix movie in a while, I'm sure the Propellerheads need a little more residuals.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968746817402853598noreply@blogger.com1