WTF

I can't even begin to explain all the things wrong going on here. h/t Gordon Keith. Continue Reading »

Me, sexist?

Yeah. I'll admit to that. But, to borrow a line from G.D., I'm fighting hard to "unlearn my privilege."

Read about that and more in my PostBourgie blogmate universeexpanding's thoughtful post about Hillary Clinton, Congo and the hard conversations that men and women usually don't have but should.

Also, make sure to check out the comments.

As I've always said, I don't even know all that I don't know. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't try to know it all. Continue Reading »

Free Period: Friday Random/Genius Ten

My friend and blogmate Shani-o was good enough to take on the chore of posting the Friday Random/Genius Ten at PostBourgie yesterday since I was buried under a pile of assignments.

But this is a time to rejoice. Soon, the streets and stores and my gym in particular will be free of annoying children and teenagers. The start of school is upon us, people!

Thus, this week's theme for the list was songs that reminded us of first-day clothes, JanSport backpacks and Five-Star notebooks. My submissions for the week: Back to Life (However Do You Want Me) by Soul II Soul; Git Up Git Out by Outkast; I Missed the Bus by Kris Kross.

And as a completely unrelated bonus, let me suggest House of Flying Daggers by Raekwon featuring Inspectah Deck, Method Man and Ghostface Killah.

In retrospect, the one thing I don't miss about school is going to school. Everything else was cool, though.

Continue Reading »

Memory Lane

It's been a tough week in these parts. Mad Lion offers some good advice:

Continue Reading »

Giant Fall

Plaxico Burress probably should have established residency in Arizona, where he could have registered his handgun - or an automatic weapon, even - and then brandished it at a large public event. Maybe even at a health care town hall hosted by the president of the United States.

That would have been perfectly legal. And Second Amendment enthusiasts would have applauded him for his commitment to freedom, democracy and terrifying libruls.

But unfortunately, Plaxico works and plays in New York - home to some of the nation's toughest gun laws - and made what is probably a career-ending gaffe. He shot himself in the thigh AND foot, so to speak.

Today, the former Giants star accepted a plea bargain that will send him to jail for two years. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of criminal possession of a weapon, avoiding a potential 15-year sentence on weapons possession and reckless endangerment charges.

And he was much closer to spending 15 years behind bars than he ever was to going free. From the very beginning Mayor Mike Bloombergand Manhattan D.A. Robert Morgenthau said they would seek the maximum sentence for Burress.

Some, including a Fordham law professor, wondered if Burress was getting a harder time than your average gun possession suspect. Given the zeal with which Morgenthau prosecuted the case, I don't think there's any question about that.

“When you have the mayor and the district attorney both publicly demanding a maximum prison sentence, it was perhaps too much to hope for the grand jury to conduct a sympathetic review of the unique facts of this sad case,” Burress’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said after Burress's indictment a few weeks ago.

But justice is blind, right?

Anyway, even though he will spend the next couple years in prison, I want to use this space briefly to remember Burress for the uncommon talent that he was. At 6-foot-5 and about 225 pounds, Burress had the size, strength, jumping ability, hands and smarts to someday merit consideration for the Hall of Fame. For whatever reason, it never quite worked out that way.

And sadly enough, it never will. But we'll always have this:



Post-script: As I recently mentioned to G.D., I've been mulling over a top 5 or top 10 list of the biggest wastes of athletic talent in my lifetime. Plax is definitely near the top. Continue Reading »

I'm more of the/trips to Florida

Via Jez


Have I ever told you all how much I love Miami? Or more specifically, Miami Beach?

Sometimes, you just come across a picture that sort of explains it all.

Living within a four-hour drive of there might be my favorite thing about being a Florida resident. Someday I'm going to dedicate an entire, rambling post (like many of my others) to all the reasons I love that place. But not today. Continue Reading »

You don't need a root canal. You need a new DJ.

I found Funny People to be, well, very funny. But there wasn't nearly enough Raaaaaandy.

The following video clip might be slightly NSFW. Depending, of course, on where you work:

Raaaaaaaandy - Part 1 (Funny People) from Aziz Ansari

For the record, I live by the same three rules.

Also, if you can't get enough of Randy and Ol' Youngin, here's Part 2 and Part 3.

Continue Reading »

Free Period

Questions, questions, questions: Now that I’m boycotting Whole Foods, where will I buy overpriced organic produce and choose from 30 varieties of bottled green tea? Do you think Tom DeLay can pull off the Tootsie Roll or the Cabbage Patch? And how long until a gunfight breaks out at one of those town halls?

Unfortunately, we’ll probably find out the answers to all of these soon enough:

Late as usual, we've (my fault, really) finally posted Your Monday Random-Ass Roundup over at PostBourgie.

This week, we've got a veritable gumbo of items: more about health care; California's failing prison system; some talk about reverse discrimination; a Bollywood star who gets racially profiled; Daddy's Girls; and the amazing Usain Bolt, among other things.

Enjoy.

Continue Reading »

A Miracle

Also, a visit to the doctor might help:

Continue Reading »