Gonna be an uncle again!

Nathan and Jen are pregnant again! Another kid to be a favorite uncle to! Andrew looks like he's full of terror upon hearing the news :)

p.s. like the Spidey shirt I got him? Old school baby!

Free new Nine Inch Nails album

Wow, so this was a pleasant surprise today! In the mail I got the awful new Entertainment Weekly with 65 pages devoted to Sex and the City (literally), but there was ONE reason it was worth my time, and that was a mention on page 122 that you can officially download the new Nine Inch Nails album "The Slip" online HERE, for free!

I'm almost done listening to it, and it's already a more fun listen than his last two albums. What a treat! I love this give-your-album-away aesthetic that's popped up with Radiohead and now NIN. I miss the packaging and liner notes/artwork, but seriously, how can you beat free?

DrawerGeek: Dinosaurs

I finally got one done!

Distracting

A New Orleans Hornets fan held up a huge cardboard cutout of Tony Parker's wife Eva Longoria during two free throws on Tuesday night. He missed both throws and security immediately took away the cutout. Great stuff!

Why Men Shouldn't Have Action Figures

Haha, this is great.

Sex and the City movie

I think it goes without saying that I don't get this whole phenomenon. Let's see, the show is about four pretentious, shallow and vain, socially climbing friends who buy expensive shoes and sleep with every wimpy/pushover (and usually wealthy) guy they meet, and then meet somewhere and complain about said men and wonder why they're so unhappy. Riveting. Actually, I guess it seems like it actually could be riveting if it was treated as camp, but it's not. This is serious stuff to its fans/followers/idolizers/crazy people.

I dated a girl a couple of years ago who was obsessed with that show, and women all over the country are frothing at the mouth to see this movie like it's, I don't know, a new Spider-man movie or something. On MySpace you can take a SATC quiz to see which character you're most like, and every girl thinks that they're Carrie, the Sarah Jessica Parker character (looking trés awesome in the photo above). I've never seen one of those quizzes come back and say that the girl is like Samantha the cougar slut, it's always Carrie, the girl with perfect fashion sense who just wants to marry the bad boy.

I was reading one of the first reviews online of the movie, written by a man, and was laughing at his not-getting-it too. Link "Everyone else, being in possession of more than one X chromosome, seemed entirely satisfied by what they were served." "If the atmosphere inside the cinema bordered on the devotional and the theatre was filled with the sounds of women emoting, outside the atmosphere was hysterical."

Clearly, it's a girl thing. I'm not supposed to get it, and that's fine. But when Sarah Jessica Parker shows up at a premiere looking like a green peacock in drag to get attention...I'm gonna laugh. You can laugh at my Comic Cons if you want, because I'm definitely gonna laugh at this show.

Karl Malone, deadbeat dad

This makes me ill.

Karl Malone is one of the greatest players in NBA history, and its second all-time leading scorer. Karl Malone made over $100 million during his time playing in the NBA. Karl Malone has received more attention, adoration, and accolades than most men ever will in their lifetimes, and is looked up to by many as a role model and hero.

Karl Malone is also a deadbeat dad of the worst kind.

This story hits home to me because of issues in my own family, but really Malone is in a league of his own. Malone has three illegitimate children from two women, which he has spent most of his life pretending didn't exist. The first two kids he had are fraternal twins, and Malone didn't recognize them until they were 17 and they were being courted to play basketball for Malone's alma mater Louisiana Tech. Kind of hard for Malone to ignore them at that point.

But the worst is the situation with Malone's third child, Demetrius Bell. Malone has never recognized him as his own child, even though it was proven through a DNA paternity test. Bell's grandparents tried to get a measly $200 a month from Malone to support him when he was a child, and the judge only awarded $125 a month. On top of that, Malone thought that was too much and later settled with them for even less. Bell has never met Malone, and Malone tries to pretend like he doesn't exist. Oh yeah, and Malone impregnated Bell's mother when she was reportedly only 13 years old. Malone was never charged with statutory rape.

The triumphant part of the story is that Demetrius just got drafted in the 7th round of the NFL draft and seems to be turning out well despite the complete rejection from his his famous father.

But seriously, the whole world needs to know what kind of father Karl Malone is before the next time comes to celebrate his achievements. I've seen firsthand this kind of behavior, and it's sick. I'm glad ESPN had the guts to write this article and bring his behavior to light.

LINK

Iron Man

What can I say? This movie ruled!

From the first announcement of the casting of Robert Downey Jr. a couple of years ago in the lead role, to the rockin' preview they gave us at Comic Con last summer, the Iron Man team has done everything conceivable right during the making of this movie to win the hearts of fanboys. And then they followed through by making a slam dunk incredible movie.

It's hilarious. It's fantasy wish fulfillment. It's got snappy dialogue. The technology is so much fun to look at. The costume looks great. The actors did a terrific job, and I actually liked Gwyneth Paltrow in a movie for maybe the first time ever. And Robert Downey Jr. totally owned this movie, being even more interesting outside of the Iron Man costume than in it.

I have no complaints, only love for this movie. It's right up there with Spider-man 2 as maybe the best comic book movie ever. It got 94% positive reviews on rottentomatoes.com, which is amongst the best reviewed movies I've ever seen on that site, so clearly nearly everybody else loved it too.

I can't recommend it enough. If movies didn't cost $9 to go see them, I'd see it a couple more times in the theaters. It'll just have to be a long wait for the DVD I guess! As for you, go see it!

Wow

This is one uber-sweet movie poster!

Van Halen in St. Louis

I finally got to see Van Halen with David Lee Roth!

I've been wanting to see the original version of Van Halen all of my life, but since I've been of concert-going age, only Sammy Hagar was the lead singer. I saw VH with Sammy four times ('91, '93, '95, '04), but never with Dave.

Let me tell you, I got to see something special on Saturday night!





So after the opening band, there's a half hour to blow before VH comes out on stage. Out came these blimps that were flying around the inside of the Scottrade Center, chasing each other and crashing into each other like bumper cars. The crowd may look sparse in these photos above, but once VH got on stage, the only empty seats in the whole place were up around the top rim. It was near-capacity, and the crowd was totally into it. Van Halen was originally supposed to play in October, and then postponed it until March, and then finally they played on Saturday. We were all ready to see this band, and I think they decided to make it up to us with a mind-blowing performance.

So--Van Halen came on stage and proceeded to blow us all out of our socks!



















I've seen a lot of concerts in my day, but this one last night is up in my top 3 all-time, and it's definitely the best Van Halen concert I've ever seen. I loved the Sammy years, and I love that music, but last night solidified for me that David Lee Roth is who is supposed to be lead singer for Van Halen. There was so much more energy and entertainment with Dave leading the show...I never knew what I had been missing!

I don't want to sit here and type all night, so I thought I'd copy and paste what some other people wrote online:

Dave made a point to say he thought this one of the best shows of the tour.

- The band was all smiles when they left behind the stage. We got a good view of Wolfie patting pa on the back for a job well done.

The blues/impromtu jam with Dave and Eddie was outstanding. They did not do this in the earlier shows. It was a great surprise and very entertaining. They were having fun and letting us enjoy it with them.

I gained new found appreciation for David Lee Roth. Before I never really appreciated Dave for what he is. In the past I thought he tried too hard. Last night proved what an unbelievable showman he really is.

The whole experience restored my faith in a band that I have loved for the past thirty years. They were THE band that turned me onto to music. They have done the same thing with my son. Thank you, thank you.

Dave was doing a little improv schtick before one of the songs. You know where he's rhyming phrases almost faster than you can comprehend what he just said. Evidently he unveiled something brand new last night because Ed was literally laughing outloud at what DLR was spewing out. Priceless. If only I had been recording that.

It was an amazing show. Absolutely worth driving 350 miles each way to see it. Awesome!!!!

New Michael Jordan commercial

This is great! Man, I miss Jordan.

Missouri's "One Shining Moment"

This is way too funny to not post. It's even better if you know exactly what each moment is. They're missing a few great moments though; hopefully there will be a version 2.0.

Apologies to my buddy Patrick :)

Ladybug vs. Spider

Pretty excellent!

Andrew likes the Jayhaws A LOT

Look at how much my little nephew loves his Jayhawk! So cute!

Awesome

Yes, I've known about this link for months. You'll love it, it's the best. Link

On an unrelated note, did anybody see The Office last night? That might have been the funniest episode in its entire run!

This is never, ever going to get old

The new Sports Illustrated cover

:)

KANSAS NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!!!

Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh





I'm still wrapping my head around the idea that KU just won the national championship!

My favorite team in my favorite sport from my home state and the school I graduated from just won the national championship. WE'RE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!!



My body is tingling all over! It looked so much like we were going to lose--we were down 9 points with 2 minutes to go and then Mario Chalmers hit the greatest shot in Kansas history to send the game into overtime! I almost passed out I was so lightheaded! And then we won in overtime!

This is the greatest feeling in the whole world! Holy cow :)



And how great was that that Roy Williams wore a Jayhawk while watching the game? Hey Roy, thanks man. All is forgiven!



Check this out, it's video from Allen Fieldhouse where it was 2/3 full and they watched the game on the scoreboard. Awesome!



With KU's victory tonight, I tied with one other person for first to win my church bracket which had 49 entries. I won my family bracket that had 5 entries. I won a friends group with 6 entries. And I finished 19th in the Phog.net (KU message boards) bracket that had 323 entries. Easily the best tournament bracket I've ever had! What an NCAA tournament!!! Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

KANSAS TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!!!!!!

Oh my goodness, I'm going out of my head right now. We beat Roy Williams, Pscyho T, and the mighty North Carolina Tarheels to advance to the national championship game Monday night.

Hooooooooollllllllllllly cow. I don't have any voice left! I watched the game with about 30 KU alumni and we went nuts! Woohoo!!!



At one point, the game was so out of hand that I took a picture of the score. Look at that!



I'm watching the North Carolina press conference right now---how seriously fun this is to watch Roy Williams all sad after losing to the team that he dumped five years ago. hahahahahahaha



This is amazing, look at Massachusetts St. in Lawrence. If only this had happened when I was at KU!



Woohoo!!!! Championship game Monday night! And Mikey--you owe me ten bucks!

DrawerGeek: Samurai

Seems like I must like to draw characters riding oversized animals--I did it on the Princess Leia and Cleopatra ones too. Oh well. Then I tried to quickly color it a little like a Japanese print, with mixed results. Maybe I'll play with it more later.