wait, is ticketmaster actually worse than I thought?  

Posted

could that be possible? here's a blurb from a foxsports.com article:

As many states have repealed laws banning ticket scalping and buyers
like Nadeau seem immune to sticker shock, corporate America is jumping
on the bandwagon in a big way. One of StubHub's competitors,
TicketsNow, is being acquired for $265 million by Ticketmaster, owned
by IAC/InterActiveCorp, the New York-based Internet conglomerate
controlled by media mogul Barry Diller.


Ugh, why can't i get un-quoted for this part of the text. a;sdlfkasdf. Anyway, if i'm reading this correctly, ticketmaster not only controls tickets when they first are issued, but now also own a company for reselling/scalping? Gee, I wonder if they're going to create a system that slides their tickets to that secondary company w/o giving regular people the chance to purchase them at face.

Disgusting.


Six Feet Under 1-1 "Pilot"  

Posted


Six Feet Under 1-1 "Pilot"

No Loitering.

To keep me from sinking into a serious depression, I'm going to have to engage in a one person dialogue as I re-watch this show. At this point, The Wire may have surpassed SFU as the greatest show of all time, but this re-viewing will be the ultimate judge. Watching the pilot after already knowing all of the characters is very interesting. Even though these characters (no. "people" is a better term than characters) are more complex than most people I meet in real life, you get a nice slice of each one's personalty if you look hard enough. The tension that David possesses in his opening scene (where Ruth makes an offhand comment about homosexuality), the self centered way Nate dismisses Claire's drug-inducedfreak-out. It's all there. And it's all painful to relive for me.

From a stylistic perspective, SFU is beautiful. The camera angles, imagery, and yes, even the mini dream sequences, all add layers and textures.

The irony of life and death is never more evident than in Nate Sr's death. As his wife nags him about health related issues (smoking, blood pressure pills, etc), we're shown people who fear death, but don't really contemplate its power. Even if you could prepare for it (which you can't), there's no telling when it will strike. Our subconscious fear of death is always tugging at us, which Brenda aptly points out in her first real discussion with Nate. He dismisses her comment aspsychobabble, but his life has clearly been one long "run" away from the inevitable. As the ghost of Nate Sr. states, "Nobody Escapes".

In a nice little touch of continuity, not only are David's aspirations of Law School mentioned, but Billy's only scene is of him weeping (and wearing a sweater that would make an appearance years later!).

This show screams at us, in a hushed whisper, to stop loitering.

EDIT: THE PICTURE IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE LAST SCENE, WHERE NATE IS STANDING BY A PAYPHONE AND THERE IS A SIGN IN THE UPPER LEFT CORNER THAT SAYS "NO LOITERING". I THINK THERE'S SOME TYPE OF COPYRIGHT PROTECTION NOT ALLOWING ME TO CAPTURE THE SCREEN IMAGE.

ESPN (via AP) recaps the Seattle/Washington game "memento style"  

Posted

Seahawks 7, Redskins 0

{1st quarter score!!}

SEATTLE (AP) -- Todd Collins used a no-huddle offense to complete seven of nine passes, including a 7-yard touchdown throw to Antwaan Randle El on the first play of the fourth quarter, as the Washington Redskins trailed the Seattle Seahawks 13-7 early in the final period of the wild-card game Saturday.

{A description of a drive that started late in the third quarter, and then completed on the first play of the 4th quarter. Please note that this is the worst opening paragraph ever written in the history of the AP}

Before Washington's revival, a dominant Seattle defense was protecting Leonard Weaver's 17-yard touchdown run one play after a successful replay challenge of what had been ruled a lost fumble, plus two field goals by Josh Brown.
In case you didn’t follow that, let’s look at the timeline of what happened in this paragraph:
1) 4th quarter TD by Washington
2) 1st – 3rd quarters : Seattle’s defense protects lead
3) 1st quarter TD by Seattle {Let the time that this happened be represented by T}
4) 1st quarter’s coach’s challenge being successful at “T-1”
5) 1st quarter play that was originally ruled a fumble at “T-2”
6) 2nd quarter field goal
7) 3rd quarter field goal


Washington had been the conference's hottest team, with four consecutive wins since the team attended the funeral of defensive star Sean Taylor following Taylor's slaying in his home during a robbery attempt in late November. But that surge for Taylor met a Seahawks defense that harassed Collins as much as he'd been bothered in a decade.

Naturally (sarcasm), the next paragraph then talks about the regular season streak for the Redskins.
8) Four wins to end the season
9) Taylor’s death which immediately preceded those four wins.
10) back to the game and Seattle’s defense.


Collins, making his fifth consecutive start after 10 years without one, was sacked twice and hurried into throws five other times while completing 17 of 30 passes for 147 yards through three quarters. But then the Redskins' offense finally got into rhythm by using no-huddle, shotgun sets at the end of the third quarter.

11) Collins current 5 start streak
12) 10 years immediately preceding those 5 starts.
13) Quarters 1-3 of THIS game.


Collins' five consecutive completions moved Washington from its 16 to a fourth-and-1 at the Seahawks 27. Collins then threw down the sideline to Mike Sellers, who was a step ahead of Brian Russell before Seattle's safety pulled him down with his right arm for a pass-interference penalty to the Seahawks 11.
One completion later, Collins waited and found Randle El at the 2. Randle El leaned in from there to make it a game again.

14) End of the 3rd, beginning of the 4th quarter

The game's lone touchdown through three quarters came after Shaun Alexander, who hasn't had a 100-yard rushing game since Week 3, spun and ran 13 yards during Seattle's second drive. Alexander lost the ball after both knees hit the ground at the Redskins 17 on a tackle by Marcus Washington, but officials allowed the play to continue. Fred Smoot picked up the fumble and returned it to the Washington 33 before Seattle coach Mike Holmgren's challenge led to the reversed call.


15) Back to talking about the 1st quarter touch down again!!!
13) Week three!
14) TD, after a play that was a fumble, but wasn’t really b/c of the coach’s challenge. In other words, #3, then #5, then #4 from above.
In case you’ve already forgotten, the proper order of those events are 5, 4, 3. He fumbles, then it’s challenged, then Seattle gets the td. Instead of trying to wax poetic about the game, this writer should just be giving us the information of the game. In fact, he shouldn’t even be a “writer” in the first place. His job is to convey information to his readers. If he wants to write Casey at the Bat for this meaningless wild card game, he should do it on his own time.


On the next play, Weaver ran past five Redskins on his first career postseason carry before bulling through Reed Doughty and the pylon for his touchdown with 3:45 left in the opening quarter.

15) back to talking about the 1st quarter TD again.

Seattle made it 10-0 six minutes into the second quarter on Brown's 50-yard field goal into a moderate wind. Brown tied a franchise postseason record for longest field goal, set by Todd Peterson against Miami on Jan. 9, 2000. Matt Hasselbeck set up Brown's strong kick when he beat one of Washington's few early blitzes with a 25-yard lob pass down the sideline to Nate Burleson.

16) 2nd quarter field goal
17) Boring postseason records, with the meaningless date of said meaningless record tossed in there, b/c following the timeline of this mess isn’t quite hard enough.
18) Before the field goal, there was a nice play. But since we’re apparently watching Memento here, we need this information AFTER learning about the field goal.


Hasselbeck's perfect pass to D.J. Hackett, who was well covered on a fly route by Shawn Springs, for a 25-yard gain led to Brown's 33-yard field goal with 4:30 remaining in the third quarter.

19) Now we’re getting it. A nice pass play led to another field goal in the third quarter. Gold star!

Hasselbeck was 15-for-24 passing for 154 yards through three quarters. He had a scary moment with 5 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter on one of the only times he was harried in the half. He fell on his right wrist as Chris Wilson sacked him and forced a third-down fumble that Seattle center Chris Spencer recovered at the Seahawks 12. But Hasselbeck walked off the field apparently without pain and played on.

20) QB’s stats for three quarters
21) Said QB was hurt in the 2nd quarter.
22) Harried?
23) A full description of a play in the 2nd quarter. All the way down here.


He landed on that same throwing wrist last weekend at Atlanta and was wearing a brace and ice on it after he left that game. He practiced with it sore all week.

24) Last weekend?

Seattle, staying with the approach that propelled its season from mediocrity in November to a fourth consecutive NFC West title, threw on 13 of its first 19 plays.

25) November
26) First 19 plays of the game today.


Washington's best chance to score came 3 1/2 minutes into the second quarter when Santana Moss was five yards in the clear down the middle of the field at the Seahawks 30. But just as Collins was about to throw to Moss for a touchdown, Howard Green slammed into Collins' chest. The fluttering pass fell far short of the frustrated Moss.

27) Early 2nd quarter (mind you, 3.5 minutes into the 2nd quarter means that this happened BEFORE the stuff in the 2nd quarter that was discussed a couple of paragraphs above.

Head linesman Tony Veteri had to leave the game after Seattle's Lance Laury was blocked into Veteri's left leg on the sideline at the end of Burleson's 20-yard punt return, which set up Weaver's score. Trainers helped Veteri to Seattle's bench for observation as alternate official Rob Vernatchi replaced him.

28) Back to the 1st quarter. Ref leaves the game after he got hurt on a play….a play that preceded the touchdown run.

Washington showed no early problems with the continuous roar of sold-out Qwest Field, which was louder than usual after comments this week from Sellers. The native of Lacey, Wash., mused that Seattle's home field is so loud the noise must be artificially enhanced.

29) Perfect way to bring the article on home. Discuss how Washington looked early in the game….
30) followed by comments made earlier this week about noise level.

disturbing images from "The Wire"  

Posted

The violent scenes don't phase me, but I cringe in horror when the criminals toss their "burners" in the street or people dump stuff in the harbor. There's no chance of humans being able to curb global warming. For every ounce that a good person contributes to decreasing their carbon footprint, you a wireless company that produce THROW AWAY cell phones.

disgusting.

extra horror for when the g/f of the guy in charge of picking up the phones was walking to her car and just tossed her empty bag of chips into the street. Howard went on a side rant on thursday (it started as a rant against irresponsible dog owners and manifested into a rant against all of humanity) about how disrespectful people are to property and the things around them. I don't understand how a human can be so disinterested in his fellow man that he would just toss something in the street instead of the garbage pail right next to him. every time i see someone do that, i die a little inside.