As a follow up to Canon's insightful post,

we bring you a link to this important story.

Whenever I would read about a star athlete getting a DUI, I would always wonder why they didn't have one of their posse drive them or at least catch a cab/limo given the amount of money they make... now I'll have to wonder the same thing about this guy PLUS why didn't he have a call girl... or at least an inflatable doll...

Cheney was corrupt and incompetent as CEO of Halliburton?

Really? Who knew? This is especially surprising given how great a job he has done as VP... Even moreso given that this was reported years ago...

Read on here if you're interested to see how Cheney might actually come in for some grilling over his role in Halliburton's crumbilng stock price.

This has got to be on the list of Top Ten Things You Never Want to Happen to You....

not recommended for the squeemish...

I wish I had known about this before Canon tried to pee off of the side of the float boat last week.

The Ultimate Hurricane Survival Guide

you just might have seen it here first... or not...

And, we're back...

About the only thing I can say (or at least post to the web) about the past weekend is that I saw an episode of Entourage for the first time. The next day, discussion ensued about the actor, Jeremy Piven. How timely, then is it, for him to be in the news just now?

President Bush Watches Environmental Movie; Enacts Historic Protection Measures

No really... he did...

Blogging hiatus

I know that this will come as a disappointment to everyone who waits on pins and needles for the hourly posts that the Manning brothers write on this blog everyday but the blog will be left unattended for a few days here while we all 'celebrate' Colin's bachelorhood...

Details of the festivities will probably not be posted to this blog. Instead, we will let the tales spread like the myths of yore... Although, I do plan to keep track of when we open each handle of Jim Beam and when it is emptied...

Wish my liver luck!

The Big Day Arrives!

No, not Colin's wedding... Today, the US takes on the Czech Republic. Although I have a Czech (Bohemian really) last name, I will be rooting on the good guys wearing Red, White and Blue. (Unlike that America hater, Yanni.)

So, even if you don't care for soccer/football, keep your fingers crossed. Winning the first match will be crucial to ensuring that Team USA advances to the next round, given the level of competition in its group.

Just another film about the Golden Gate Bridge?

SAN FRANCISCO — For an entire year the cameras rolled, capturing death amid the eerie fog and shifting tides.

One by one, filmmaker Eric Steel documented the final moments of nearly two dozen despondent men and women, and the agonizing, four-second fall after they leaped off the Golden Gate Bridge, drawn by the span's tragic beauty.

His intent, he says, was to illuminate "the darkest corner of the human mind." If he watched enough people take their own lives, he thought, he could "spot the outward manifestations of their interior demons."

I'm not quite sure what to think... Here's the entire article.

It goes on to say that the guy did some interviews of some family members without telling them he also had footage of the suicides of their relatives... All around just a creepy concept.

World Cup Blogs and Commentary

The time has arrived... The World Cup has begun. I'm psyched because I think Team USA has a better shot than most people give them of making it out of their group... oh yeah, I'm actually really psyched because I drew Brazil and Ukraine in the World Cup pool that I'm in. For the uninitiated, Brazil is the overwhelming favorite to win. That $250 is as good as mine... As for Ukraine, well, ummmm, let's just say I hope they give whomever they play a tough time and I wish them luck in their first World Cup. I was good friends with a guy from Ukraine in business school. If Ukraine plays with half of the enthusiasm that guy has, then they will do OK.

Now then, where are this site's three and a half readers getting their World Cup info?

Here's The New Republic's Blog and here's The New York Times' Blog. Anyone care to post some others in the comments?

Go Southeast, Young Man...

New Orleans, city of opportunity? perhaps...

River in Reverse by Elvis Costello and Allen Touisant

Buy it if you like good music and love New Orleans

From the Amazon page:

Amazon.com
Some inspired music has arrived in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (mainly on New Orleans-themed benefit albums), but nothing as audaciously ambitious as this cross-generational collaboration between Crescent City mainstay Allen Toussaint and former British upstart turned adventurously eclectic veteran Elvis Costello. As a songwriter, producer, and arranger, Toussaint has been responsible for hits from artists ranging from Irma Thomas, Ernie K-Doe, and Lee Dorsey to the Pointer Sisters and Labelle. Costello, long a huge fan of Toussaint's music, sings relatively familiar fare such as "On Your Way Down" and "Freedom for the Stallion" from Toussaint's extensive songbook along with obscurities mainly recorded by Dorsey. Toussaint supplies his distinctive piano and horn arrangements--as well as lead vocals on "Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further?"--with Costello's Imposters serving as the rhythm section. Yet the real revelation comes from the new material, including the title track (a searing Costello composition in the Toussaint soul-spiritual mode) and five new Costello/Toussaint compositions that spotlight Toussaint's signature sound without diminishing Costello's creative contributions. What could have been a curiosity is instead a hallmark in the catalog of each artist. --Don McLeese

Product Description
The River in Reverse is Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint's spirited and deeply soulful new album, including seven songs from Toussaint's remarkable catalog; five newly written by the two; and one new song, the title track, written by Costello. Sessions for the album took place over a whirlwind two weeks late last year in Hollywood, CA and at Piety Street Studios in Toussaint's hometown of New Orleans. Produced by Joe Henry, the album masterfully combines Costello's band the Imposters with Toussaint's horn section (Amadee Castenell, Joe Smith, Sam Williams, and Brian Cayolle) and guitarist (Anthony Brown).

Toussaint led the ensemble from the piano, with Imposters keyboard player Steve Nieve switching to Hammond B3. The majority of the tracks were cut with the entire group in the room and Costello singing live, occasionally adding his guitar to the mix. Costello selected songs from deep within the Toussaint catalogue such as "Nearer To You," "Freedom for the Stallion," and "Tears, Tears and More Tears." Toussaint kicks off the lead vocal on his composition, "Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further?" and trades vocal lines with Costello and bassist Davey Faragher on several other tracks.

All of the horn arrangements are marked with Toussaint's distinctive style and, commented Costello, "add a second voice" to the title track, the one song that Costello wrote alone. Just before the recording began, the duo holed up in New York to write together throughout October, a quick-moving process that resulted in four songs on the album of various combinations of words and music.

The songwriting collaboration began with Costello writing lyrics for Toussaint's beautiful minor key variation of Professor Longhair's "Tipitina." The resulting piece is now entitled "Ascension Day." Other new titles include "The Sharpest Thorn," "Broken Promise Land," and "International Echo."

Toussaint previously produced a 1983 Costello cover of Yoko Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice" with the Attractions and the T.K.O. Horns, and also contributed piano to the New Orleans-recorded "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror" from Costello's 1989 album Spike.

Immediately following Hurricane Katrina, Toussaint relocated to New York City, where the two renewed their musical friendship at several benefit concerts and club gigs during a seven-day period from the 17th of September, leading to discussions of this new album. The powerful song "The River in Reverse" was written by Costello on September 24th, 2005, and performed by him for the first time at that night's "Parting the Waters" benefit event organized by the The New Yorker magazine.

Gamma-Ray Bursts: The Beginning and the End of the World

Not to get all apocolyptic on the readers of this blog but global warming may be the least of our problems.

WaPo: Jets will Still Suck...

Not that I believe everything I read in the paper but, they make a compelling case...

Ahhh, it's good to be back in Redstate America...

Where, just to the north of me, in Manning country, you can find serious politicians like this joker...

Thanks to The New Republic for this one...