Comic for Monday, December 1, 2008

Posted: 6:30 am, Monday, December 1st

Man, December already? Not too shabby. The first year is hustling along and hopefully I rested enough over the past four days to see me through *three straight* five-day weeks (you have no idea how difficult these are) until the blessed Nativity. When the hell I'm going to get around to getting gifts is utterly beyond me, but thankfully I've been spending so much time on lesson plans that I've completely lost touch with these things called "friends," so I only have a few people I need to buy for, anyway. (That's sarcasm, any woefully ignored friends out there. There's no thankfully to it. Also: I have a very large bottle of vodka coming to the first Christmas party I attend. Invite me!)

My PC gaming more or less ended in ... '97, I guess, unless you count NESticle, so I've never gotten into Counterstrike, or modding. If I did, I'd be dismayed, because I could never come up with anything as awesome as this:

The Irish lost, but the defense played pretty well, all things considered. I was expecting USC to gas 'em entirely, and score over 50 (my fears were actually closer to 65). So 38-3, while shit-poor, is far from the worst-case scenario. Still, the media is loving the downfall of the house of Weis, and offering up their own asinine suggestions. No, no Big 11. Mow the field? What the fuck? Yeah, that's our fucking problem, the lawn. That's exactly it.

So... Apparently some heavy shit went down in India over the break. I can barely process everything, and I've been trying to keep up with it a little bit. I'm sure others out there know better, but without getting into a lot of detail, here's a good op-ed on why Mumbai.

I did note that the terrorists may have launched from a boat... My God, the seas are going to be the death of us all. Pirates!

My mother brought me a copy of Twilight for some reason on Thursday, and I tore through it so that it would go away and leave me the fuck alone. *That* is what people think was the heir apparent to Harry Potter? Holy overwrought mopey teenage bullshit, Batman. I can't believe I read 500 pages of Bella continuously moping about how beautiful Edward is and the fact that Phoenix has several million people in it. I know I'm not the target audience for the book, but I wasn't the target audience for Harry Potter, either. (Fairly certain JK wasn't going for gravitating collitch seniors who drank too much Stroh's.) Pajiba's review for the movie was "For those of you who haven’t actually read any of the Twilight novels, but have developed a certain perception of them and this movie, all I can say is: That perception is 100 percent correct." That summary is 100 percent correct.

What else did I do over the weekend... 2.0's father was in town most of the weekend, and we unfortunately discovered the veracity of this Times article. We also had a grand old time returning some tables to Ikea, walking around downtown, and hitting the Farm.

Once more into the breach!

bullfrog

Bullfrog -- Monday, December 1 2008, 06:25 am

A strange little article about local TV anchors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/business/media/01anchor.html

I liked this review of Twilight: http://www.defectiveyeti.com/archives/002631.html

Thanks, Todd, that put me onto the Wiki entries for the series. Not that I had any urge to go on with the books, but reading their plot summaries has assured I will never pick one of them up every again. Holy crap, do they sound terrible.

That's funny - I read the first Twilight last weekend and while I fully admit that it is literary crap, I went on to finish 2 and 3. I'm not even embarrased.

No need for embarrassment - I think it's that my tolerance for mopey white teens has been diminished by teaching in the inner city.

What do you guys think the odds of a Weis departure are? Personally I dont think they are as high as the media is making them but I have never claimed to understand the inner workings of the ND athletic department. Who would replace him is the big question. Fulmer from Tennessee? Butch Davis is at the end of his contract at UNC I think? Somehow I doubt that the graduation rate would be high enough under those guys for the school.

Im just talking out my ass. I can only now put my hopes in the Hokies to destroy BC. God I hate Boston College.

Well, when the sprinklers erupt just before Notre Dame starts playing overtime, yeah, I think field management is kind of an issue. And yeah, can we all agree that the green jerseys have got to go? (I had a similar cringe seeing Missouri play in what they were calling a "gold and black" design. They looked like freaking bumblebees, and frankly played like it too.)

My suggestions:

1. Schedule your games so you can win early on, not to make a big splash and impress the BCS. You're not there yet.

2. Maybe you want to consider moving the students so that they can pelt the other team with snowballs?

3. Academic considerations, while noble, don't mean a damn thing when all you're concerned with is winning. It's just the things are now ways. Accept it. Get what you can get, even if it means lowering the academic standards. Only the most idiotic of idiots would have a problem with that.

4. While I'm not saying you should completely join a conference, if the rest of the athletic department plays in the Big East, maybe Notre Dame should play one or two teams from the Big East?

5. If you're going to fire Weis (and I think that's 80% likely at this point), I'd go with an actual college coach this time around. Not necessarily someone who has been through the program, even if for a cup of coffee. Just get the best person available.

From the "No Shit, Sherlock" files: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/12/01/bush-says-some-voters-backed-obama-‘because-of-me’/#more-31596

Now I have to know: did he figure this out on his own, or did someone slip him a note past VP Cheney?

Love your TWILIGHT review.

Consider this flowery prose to be your virtual coffee:

http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/originpdfs/oct_08_celebration.pdf

I still can't decide if I should fall out of my chair laughing, or order myself a few pounds with rush delivery.

Some South Bend TV station is reporting that Charlie Weis will be back next year. At least that's what the NY sportcaster just said. I could care less about football or Notre Dame but figured some of you Irish and co. might be interested.