Hellx and I missed this play thanks to an uncooperative TV. I can't stop watching it.

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I was at Rudy's Pizza picking up a takeout Pocket Za for lunch today. On my way out, I saw a guy at a table in the corner who looked familiar. It was none other than Mr. Lonard himself, with his wife, Erin. We chatted for a bit - I couldn't stay very long - and tried to give each other the "I haven't seen you in five or ten years, so here's what's new with me" updates. In short: he's living and working in Calgary as of last November. He's the father of three (7, 5, and 3, I think) and was in town for just a bit while visiting family in Topeka. The whole family is doing well. He gave me his email address, so if anyone wants it, drop me a line.

It was a really nice surprise to see him and to meet his wife, and I thought you all might like the quick update.

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The We Came To The End has made it to the zombie round of TMN's Tournament of Books. If you want something to read, read this. It's a quick, entertaining, well-written book and, as Gary Shteyngart says:

[T]he last three sentences in his book made me drop my bahn mi, made me run crying for the toilet as life strafed from me above.

That's exactly how I felt when I read them. It's, quite simply, a brilliant, touching ending.

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The standings in the Norlos bracket after week one:

1) Mr. Guapo - 58 pts.

2) Flick - 55 pts.

3) hellx - 47 pts.

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Click on image to see slide show.

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At the risk of jinxing KU, I pity the PSU Vikings. This is their first ever entry in the NCAA tournament, and they are, shall we say, trying to keep a stiff upper lip.

I suspect though, that the Willamette Week has a KU grad on staff to be able to name check The Wheel (and Jensen Liquor!) on 2 days notice.

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Making the rounds of London banks. Please sing to the tune of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody":

Is this the real price?
Is this just fantasy?
Financial landslide
No escape from reality

Open your eyes
And look at your buys and see.
I'm now a poor boy
High yielding casualty

Because I bought it high, watched it blow
Rating high, value low
Any way the Fed goes,
Doesn't really matter to me, to me.

Mama - just killed my fund
Quoted CDOs instead
Pulled the trigger, now it's dead

Mama - I had just begun
These CDOs have blown it all away
Mama - oooh
I still wanna buy
I sometimes wish I'd never left Goldman at all.

I see a little silhouette of a Fed
Bernanke! Bernanke! Can you save the whole market
Monolines and munis -- very very frightening! [Note -- shoulda been "very very spooky," but I didn't write this]
Super senior, super senior
Super senior CDO - magnifico

I'm long on subprime, nobody loves me
He's long on subprime, CDO fantasy
Spare the margin call, don't blame me for all!
Easy come easy go,
Will you let me go?

Peloton!
No, we will not let you go!
Let him go Peloton!
We will not let you go!
Let him go, Peloton !
We will not let you go !
Let me go!
Will not let you go
Let me go (never)
Never let you got
Let me go
Never let me go - ooo
No, no, no, no, no, no, no

Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia, let me go !
S&P had the devil put aside for me for me, for me, for me.............

So you think you can fund me and spit in my eye?
And then margin call me and leave me to die?

Oh - can't do this to me
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here

Ooh yeah, ooh yeah
No price really matters
No liquidity
Nothing really matters
No price really matters to me
Anyway the Fed goes...

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They're Norwegian. 'Nuff said.

I was at the corner grocery store last night when I heard, Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and it's been stuck in my head ever since. So, I decided to check it out on youtube. That's when I discovered Hurra Torpedo. They've also done "Where Is My Mind", Tatu's "All The Things (S)he Said", and they're willing to do odd jobs.

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With a namecheck to the Kansas Jayhawks, Bill James introduces a heuristic tool to determine if the lead that your basketball team has is safe.

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I had the good fortune to attend the Big XII championship game today, and I think we can go ahead and take the Allen Fieldhouse East tag away from Kemper Arena and give it to the Sprint Center. Of the 19,047 fans at the game, about 500 were Texas fans and about 500 were wearing the colors of the Other X in our beloved conference. It's nice to have a "home court" advantage for a big game like this!

As for the venue, I was quite impressed with it. It reminded me a lot of Kemper...except with a much wider concourse...and more restrooms...and more comfortable seats...and better food...and a better location...and lots of cool bars and restaurants across the street...and it's not haunted by dead pro wrestlers.

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Iain Banks, whose book The Wasp Factory was one of my favorite books as a teenager, had a review of his most recent book run under this headline:

Iain M. Banks' New Novel Kicks Ass On A Galactic Scale

Michiko Kakutani could learn a thing or who from this chick.

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The Arts Centre in Melbourne is hosting an exhibition dedicated to the writings, drawings and photographs of Nick Cave. I had the opportunity to see the catalog of the collection and it blew me away. Very, very cool.

This video gives you a taste of the stuff in the exhibition.

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So, I was watching this Onion News Network video when I thought, "man, where do I recognize that guy from?"

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Then I placed him: he was King!

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Elliot Spitzer:

Keystone Light's "Bitter Beer Face":

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I had heard these ads on sports radio for quite a while, but the addition of visuals has shot these two songs into my top 10 favorite songs right now:

They come in just above Mickey Avalon:

...and Hannah Montana:

...but below Florida:

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I know, I know. By blogging about it I'm simply helping the effort. Still, kinda fun, and without the creepy slave-labor-dancing angle of the Filipino prison video.

"Thriller" in a Tesco, the UK's answer to Wal-Mart:

You haven't seen this dance until you've seen Hellx do the swishing sideways claws thing.

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Here's an article from Men's Vogue about the horribly mean Obama advisor who called Hillary Clinton a monster. She should not be confused with Samantha Power, radical cheerleader.

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The masses have spoken. They want lists of failed products. Please. Sent to an email address that is never provided. Well, after tireless months of not providing the requested lists, Norlosers can finally stand aside and let AOL shoulder the responsibility.

AOL, being the gung-ho company that it is, has even gone and done it one better by providing a list of products that haven't failed yet, but are about to.

Hurray, AOL!

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Cool video from the flooding of the Grand Canyon.

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Gary Gygax has entered the the Astral Plane. Here's the NYT obituary.

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At the 40 second mark of this video, there's a nice illustration of the visceral negative reaction to Clinton that I share with a lot of voters.

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My visceral dislike for George W. Bush forced me to vote for Gore and Kerry, but if the Democrats* select that same old type of politician to be their candidate in the general election, then I'm 100% certainly voting for McCain.

My vote won't matter since I live in New York, but still I believe in rewarding the party that is moving in a direction that I like and punishing the one that isn't.

*New York has a closed primaries, so I can't vote in them.

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I got a job in Hong Kong. Dr. No and I will be there likely by the end of June.

Brooklyn rules apply: If you have a carcass, we will park it in a bed. See you there.

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I wonder how I can make money from the popularity of my list of failed products.

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This week was the last regular season game of flag football. We maintained our perfect record of 0-6, losing a heartbreaker, 26-19. We have a light or dark color scheme each week, and for complicated reasons involving an opponent's double-header, we were both dark colors. So our team decided to wear green. I thought, "Green? I don't have any green T-shirts." But then I remembered one. Back in the back of the spare closet. Covered in dust and cat hair. Stephenson Hall Intermural Team. Forest Green.

What happened, you ask? I exploded for 2 touchdowns and an interception. But the best part was someone coming up to me after the game, looking at the shirt, and saying, "Hey, that shirt says 'Shit' on it!"

That just never gets old. I think I did ol' Lyle a solid today.

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