Fuckin' scary...

Link: CNN.com - Jet Blue plane readies for emergency landing - Sep 21, 2005.

LONG BEACH, California (AP) -- A Jet Blue airliner was dumping fuel over the ocean Wednesday afternoon as officials tried to determine how to make an emergency landing with the plane's front wheels turned sideways and unable to retract.

Link: del.icio.us/tag/steak.

Link: New York Daily News - City News - Man sues landlords for $13M.

An 87-year-old upper East Side man who says he was callously tossed out of his rent-controlled apartment filed a $13 million lawsuit against his landlords yesterday.

There isn't much I can add to all the discussion over New Orleans, but I just watch a CNN video that is probably the saddest thing I've ever seen.  It annoys me that I can't link to it, but just go to CNN.com and look for the clip about the man who lost his house and his wife. 

Now if only we could divert some of the manpower and $191 billion being spent in Iraq right now to right here at home, perhaps we could actually help these people.

No, this isn't a reference to Mike Tyson's Punchout, the Nintendo Game, but extra points to anyone who can, off the top of their head, name all of the opponents in the game in order.

No, I just got a copy of the latest NYSSA newsletter and there's a picture of Ralph Acampora in it.

He looks a little different now and a lot better:

Before

After

Bald:  Leave home without it.

I have a feeling no one will top this for the week.   This guy exposed himself to a girl on the subway and she snapped a photo of it, posting it on flickr.  Do you know this guy?

Link: pervert081805 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!.

Not only is this hilarious, but its also a good use of distribution...   the website gives let's me create HTML to blog their t-shirt with. Good tradeoff.  They give me funny I give them traffic.

They should just take this guy's house away and all his stuff, and let the Chinese cook live there...

Link: New York Daily News - Home - Busted in rent-control tenant toss.

I'm fully supportive of this:

WALKEN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2008

A message from the next President of the United States:

walken2008 (comedy_not_real).wav
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I don't know wheather this is a quote or Elyssa wrote it, but its pretty cool.

Link: lispsugrl: RIP Common Sense.

Quality quotes from Evelyn

Link: Crossroads Dispatches: Friday Thoughts on Art, Brands, Perfection in Blogs and Business.

In large measure becoming an artist consists in learning to accept yourself, which makes your work personal, and in following your own voice, which makes your work distinctive.

What veteran artists know about each other is that they have engaged the issues that matter to them.

To make art is to sing with the human voice. To do this you must first learn that the only voice you need is the voice you already have.

On September 11, 2001, after the first tower fell, it was time to go home.  I watched it live from the trading room television at GM, and we were all kind of dumbstruck until then.  I don't remember standing there for as long as I did, but I remember watching the smoke clear and realizing the building wasn't there anymore. 

Time to go home.

I had only been in my apartment for a little over two months.  Many of my friends were still up at Fordham, and there wasn't really any getting up there.  The subway and Metro North was shut down.  So, when I arrived, there wasn't much to do but watch...   and when I turned on the television, there was Peter Jennings. 

He came on and he stayed on.

I distinctly remember IMing with Brian saying how unbelievable it was how much time he was on the air.  It just seemed like anytime you turned the television on, there was Peter Jennings.  Amazing.  Comforting.  I watched.  I checked the internet every now and then, but for the most part, I was watching TV.  I needed to see it and I needed to hear someone talking to me... and not just some talking head.  This was someone we all knew. 

The disaggregation of media and television probably means that there will never be another bigtime network news anchor.  Brian Williams?  Charles Gibson?  Not quite so much.  Good, but not great.  I'm glad, though, that for what I hope to be the most dramatic and tragic moment in my life, I had one of these guys to sit down to and watch.

Utterly fucking ridiculous...

Link: WWF | Newsroom.

Chiang Khong, Thailand - Fishermen in northern Thailand have netted a fish as big as a grizzly bear, a 646-pound Mekong giant catfish

I went to go see Batman Begins last night and I absolutely loved it.  I had high expectations going in, because I love the Batman character--he's my favorite superhero by far.  I think its mostly because he has no special powers.  It kind of gives me hope for my own future superhero potential.  I don't need to concern myself with getting dropped in a vat of toxic waste or something to become a superhero.  All I need is about $5 billion dollars.  Perhaps I should leave a podcast pitch for Fred, although I think our fund is too small to make me Batman. 

Well, the movie by far surpassed my expectations.

Batman Begins really rescues the franchise from the awful campiness that George Clooney, Chris O'Donnell, and the worst villians ever--the sexy but ridiculous Uma Thurman and played out Ahh-nold, left us off with.  Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Katie Holmes all represent serious upgrades over previous supporting casts, with the exception being Jack Nicolson's portrayal of the Joker.  I loved the original Batman--the lone, mysterious Dark Knight.  Michael Keaton was by far the best one and Tim Burton's original really captured the mood perfectly.  The whole idea of Robin is just annoying and I never figured out why the story needed him, but whatever. 

This movie is way different.  Its not a "superhero" movie.  Its an actual movie that explores real charactors.  We don't even see Batman until the second half of the movie.  The story has a lot of depth to it, and halfway through it, I thought to myself, "Wow, there really covering a lot of bases here, but it doesn't seem like its overly long or complicated."  Chris Nolan has done this twice before--telling a complicated story where you sort of know where its going, while maintaining great pace and viewer interest--in Momento and Insomnia.  To have these three movies under his belt at 35 its really impressive.

Definate candidate for my top 50 list...  we'll see when we get closer to the end.  I might have even liked it better than the original. 

Link: CNN.com - Actress Anne Bancroft dies - Jun 8, 2005.

This makes me sad, because The Graduate is one of my favorite movies, and on top of that, Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks just seem like such a great couple...  call me a hopeless romantic.

Whenever an older celebrity dies, it makes me wonder what its going to be like when the celebrities of our generation die.  One day, we'll see the headlines:

Material Girl Madonna dies at 81.
Former Pop Idol Britney Spears dies at 72.

And, just because I know he'll stick around as long as irratatingly possible...

Pauly Shore dies at 98.

So the young man formally known as Jeff the Intern turned Jeff the Analyst turned Jeff the about to be Grad Student has started a little web business.  Its called Peculiar Poker.  He's been bugging me to send some traffic his way.  Frankly, I told him that he should start a poker blog to generate a buzz around his t-shirts, but, he'd rather mooch of my audience first.  So, if you like poker and your friends won't allow your fuzzy self to play barechested, maybe you should buy one of his t-shirts.

Link: 7Online.com: Big Collapse Sends Rubble Tumbling onto Henry Hudson Parkway.

So I'm applying for my mortgage and I need my last three months of bank statements.  Now, I keep everything online and shred all of my paper records.  I figure, if I really need any information, I can logon to get it or request it over the phone.  So, I call up TD Waterhouse, where I have a checking account, and ask for copies of my last three bank statements.  No problem, except for the fact that they were going to charge me $10 a statement!   What a ripoff!!

Well, goes to show them...  I'm emptying that account when I put down my down payment.  Haven't they noticed they haven't been getting my direct deposit anymore?  Did they think I lost my job?  Sorry TD Waterhouse, I'm blowing this popsicle stand.

I just saw VH1's "I Love the 90's - 1997".  Michael Ian Black had the best comment on American interest in soccer:

"If it wasn't for the Spice Girls, we might never have known who David Beckham was."

Pure brilliance.

So I got the letter below attached to a LinkedIn invite.  This is the kind of thing that gives LinkedIn a bad name. 

1)  I have no idea who this person is.  They identified themselves as having worked for General Motors before and invited me as "a former colleague."

2)  I don't even know what a Names Sourcer is.  I have a name.  I certainly don't need another one, although Pastore and I have briefly considered switching last names, because he looks more Irish than I do and I look Italian.

3) You don't need to be on LinkedIn to do business with me.  If you know my e-mail address, then send me what you're offering and I'll look at it.  I certainly don't need/want to be connected to you forever.

So, here's the letter.   As Steve Rubel says, never e-mail a blogger unless you'd like that e-mail stamped on your forehead for the rest of your life.

"Hi. My name is Maureen Sharib and I’m a Names Sourcer for TechTrak.com. I'd like to link with you on this wonderful networking system of LinkedIn and maybe do some business with you sometime in the future! I source passive candidates holding specific titles in specific companies. Our goal is to save you time (and money!) and help you succeed.

Maureen Sharib
Names Sourcer
www.techtrak.com
Our fee structure can save your project an average of 85% to 95% in hiring fees.
513 899 9628
Maureen@techtrak.com
Invite me to your LinkedIn and ERE networks!"