This was the stupid quote of the day on my desk calendar: Jim Trafficant on getting out of prison - "And then when I get out, I will grab a sword like Maximus Meridius Demidius and as a gladiator I will stab people in the crotch."

Gotta new message board for ahoy-matey.com. It's called Ye Olde Pirate Pub. You don't have to register to post, but feel free to register and become a member of the ahoy-matey.com community! Here the linkage:

Ye Olde Pirate Pub

The link below for the Gene Kelly commercial has gone dead - here's another:

"Blingin' in the Rain"

My hands hurt bunches after a looooong trip to IKEA which ended up with Jesse buying a queen size bed and me holding the mattress down as we drove back from College Park (btw twine rules)

Another funny one from LC:
Apple Iproduct

Gene Kelly going nuts!

Sent in by Jesse:

http://www.pumpupthemovie.com/toss.html

Crazy, mebbe fake? AMC theater goers may recognize where this is from.

Apparently Smackdown! isn't going anywhere. Not sure what Moonves meant in his comments then. More to come I'm sure.

Smackdown smacked down!

'with the news that UPN is going for respectability in the future, and in that future there's no room for senseless degrading of the Amish or for smackdowns.

That's right. There's only one year left on the contract for World Wrestling Federation's "Smackdown!" and the network has decided to let it go.' Rest of the story here.

Interesting news indeed, hopefully this will teach Vinnie Mac a lesson about quality programming and more importantly hopefully a lot of wrestlers won't get cut loose if the show doesn't get picked up elsewhere.

This was the very next story on the local6 webpage -

Budweiser Adds Herbs, Caffeine To Beer

ST. LOUIS -- Anheuser-Busch is adding a little jolt to its new beer brand. B-to-the-E is being rolled out nationwide, after being test marketed in 55 cities.

The "E" stands for extra, in this case caffeine and herbs, including ginseng.

The world's largest brewer is going after the 20-something market with the fruity brewski.

But some beer-lovers might have a hard time downing the stuff. Anheuser-Busch even suggests that B-to-the-E be served over ice.

This is crazy -
"Students Arrested Over 'Violent' Stick Figure Drawings
Pictures Show Classmate Being Stabbed, Hung

OCALA, Fla. -- Two boys, ages 9 and 10, were charged with felonies and taken away from school in handcuffs, accused of making violent drawings of stick figures."

The rest of the story here.

Argghhh!!!

24 blog - hour 6!
1:12 PM - Big Shootout - terrorists got their arses kicked! 11 for jack and two for the SoD!
Body Count: Baddies 47, SoD 4, Jack 13 (and a knee)

Well, it isn't looking good for the Steelers either - but I got a great deal on The Sandman vols 3-5! Less than half price! That should count for something, eh?

And I'm 0 for 1.... Let's go Steelers!!!

Last minute football picks: Falcons over Eagles, Steelers over Patriots - I may go 0-2 but it'll be down in a flame of moral righteousness (whatever that means)

More food should come in string form - string cheese and twizzler pull-and-peels are two of ym favorite foods, plus they share the delicious clsoe relative of slim jims... im salivating now, better go eat something....

There's a new jibjab! It's called "Second Term" Check it out. www.jibjab.com!

Didn't watch a lot of the Inaugural coverage today. Saw the speech - thought it was interesting and probably the best he's ever given. My fave part of the coverage I saw was probably Chris Matthews commenting on how attractive the Bush daughters looked - especially since one of the girls he was talking about wasn't Barbara but some cousin. (He of course got corrected by some equally dirty old man on MSNBC)

Here's some good news for fans of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. We already know that Ron Howard and Tom Hanks are attached to it. But who you ask has been cast as French investigator Bezu Fache? None other than Jean Reno, of Leon fame. The whole story at the Hollywood Reporter.

Website is back. Big collective sigh of relief here!

Nobody panic - but I think www.ahoy-matey.com is down. Looks like something went funky with the servers, and the techs are working to get it back asap.

Neil Gaiman just posted on his Journal that he's working on another project with Marvel! If anyone hasn't read his first work 1602 - check it out! And if you've never heard of Gaiman before, he's one of my fave writers, author of The Sandman and American Gods. Check him out!

Farewell HFS (From Mediaweek, whole story here): "Infinity Broadcasting announced today it had flipped WHFS-FM, a long-time Rock brand in Washington, D.C., to a Spanish-language format called "El Zol." At noon Wednesday, the station dropped its young-skewing Modern Rock programming for a blend of Caribbean and Central American dance music targeting adults 25-54."

I'll miss HFS, I didn't listen much, b/c we could never get a good signal on my side of DC, but I enjoyed the several HFStivals I attended - there rarely is a chance to get to see 10+ good bands for under $30. No HFStival anymore, no Live on Penn anymore... DC better get its outdoor music act together!

Not something to be proud of - i got a score of 35290 on Zookeeper today. It's my personal best on my post-Snood fave timesuck game. Wanna play?

Zookeeper

No posts yesterday as I was laid up from my recent injuries. I did manage to catch up on some of my DVD backlog - I saw Spellbound (pretty good) and Underworld (pretty ok, a lot of potential for a fictional world, never really realized)

Here's a great link for writers looking for ideas (you may remember some if you've ever read Evil Overlord's Guidelines.
"Random Plot Generator"

24 blog - roundup - so after 4 hours of seaosn 4 the body count has begun to rise already, look for Jack to get more bad guys once he tracks them to hellers lair. Seeya next week!

24 Blog - 10:48 AM - Terrorkid can't do it, but terrormom can - 1 girlfriend down.
Baddies - 47 SoD - 2 Jack - 2 and a kneecap

24 blog - 10:22 AM - It's looking like a slow night form the bodycount, but its been a pretty time. Jack usually doesn't go rogue until hour 6 or so. Hey Jack, remember how well that prison riot you staged went? Meanwhile the SoD gets a body count of his own!
Baddies - 46 SoD - 2 Jack - 2 and a kneecap

24 Blog - 9:38 AM - Finally! Jack nails two baddies with a sniper rifle!
Baddies: 46 Jack: 2... and a kneecap

24 blog - Night two! Begins in just 15 minutes! Torture 'em Jack!

I fell down a flight of stairs on the way to work this morning and hurt me bum! That's gonna leave a bruise.

This may be my favorite soundboard ever.

Sweeeet!

24 blog - 9:00 AM
Jack Bauer wannabe down as well as a security guard.
Baddies - 46 Jack Bauer - still only a kneecap!

I'll be back with more tommorrow night!

24 blog 8:38 AM - Little terrorist kid is getting some loving! SoD reminds me of a cross between a sober Ted Kennedy (if you can imagine that) and Jack Kemp.

24 Blog - 8:30 AM
No violence in 15 min makes Jack an unhappy boy....

24 blog - 8:12 AM - Hippies mom killed.
Body Count:
Baddies: 44 Jack: 1 kneecap

24 Blog - 8:00 AM
8 (or so) killed in shootout resulting in kidnapping of SoD and daughter
Body Count:
Baddies: 43 Jack: 1 kneecap

24 Blog - 7:50 AM - 3 hippies shot dead in some hippie store.
Body Count:
Baddies - 35 Jack Bauer - 0 (Falling behind Jack)

24 Blog - 7:30 AM - Train death estimate now 32
Body Count - 32 Jack Bauer - 0

24 blog 7:14 AM - estimates in train explosion - around 30 dead

Body Count - 30 Jack Bauer - 0

Tonight 8PM - Jack is Back! Watch the season premiere of "24" tonight, or else.

Wildcard Weekend!
The internet was acting funky yesterday so I didn't get a chance to pick the games from yesterday (good too, cus I would have lost) But I'm here today, and here's my picks for the games today, on through the superbowl:

AFC: Colts over Broncos today. Then next week: Colts over Pats and Steelers over Jets. AFC Champ: Steelers over Colts.

NFC: Packers over Vikings today. Then Falcons over Packers and Eagles over Rams next week. NFC Champ: Falcons over Eagles.

Super Bowl: Steelers over Falcons.

Read it and weep Eagles fans. They're going down in the NFC title game AGAIN this year.

Project Pterosaur - these guys are going to Africa to find living dinosaurs. Apparantly it will disprove evolution. Check it out.

I got stuck on the metro last night for about 30 mins - between Rosslyn and Courthouse - it stank! End of story.

While other bloggers bring annoying personal angst or overlong political theory, I instead bring you - A Killer Whale Jumping ontop of a Kayaker

Enjoy!

"How to Kill a Mockingbird" - decent piece - its a little long and drags a bit, but has a great soundtrack and teaches us all an important lesson - Ninjas and Pirates can exist in peace. Or in pieces. I forget which.

Only a few hours left! New "Lost" tonight at 8PM followed by the 2-hour season premiere of "Alias" at 9PM on ABC.

Will Eisner, one of the fathers of the comic world passed away yesterday. Here's a good biography of him for those not familiar with the man's work - Will Eisner: 1917-2005

As my friend Josh put it - Numa Numa to the next power
"Mario Hii"

More on the Creation Museum - a conversation betwixt Rocco and Myself:

Rocco: do they have a pope breakdancing exhibit
Me: they hate the pope
Rocco: NOOOOOOOO
Rocco: NO JP2
Me: these are crazy anticatholic right wing nutjob christians
Me: i think we should build a catholic version and have a jp2 bucking bronco ride
Rocco: but they don't know how funky fresh jp2's vibe is
Me: and hot girls can show up and be like "im here to ride the pope"
Rocco: i am intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter
Me: awesome

Yes it's real and scary as hell...

The Creation Museum - the link you need to see to believe. Anyone interested in a roadtrip to Kentucky?

Update on the Chair Flogging -

Apparently this is a method of "distressing" the furniture (making it look old, the mother tells me). I'd distress it by making it watch MSNBC all day.

There's an old man beating a wooden chair with a steel chain on TV right now. Apparently this is what passes for television these days. No wonder I haven't pitched a network show yet...

Dreamwave Production closes doors (linked from the press release at ComiXfan here)

"Dreamwave Productions announced today that after eight years in the comics industry, four of which they were self-published, they will be ceasing operations.

Established in 1996 by brothers Pat and Roger Lee, Dreamwave infused a stagnant comic book market with art and design that effortlessly combined the then dominant "American" art style with the newly emerging Japanese "Manga" art style. Since then, the company had grown to become one of the comic book industry's premiere publishers, producing a variety of original titles.

In 2002, Dreamwave firmly established itself in the comic industry as a force to be reckoned with when it launched an all-new Transformers comic's line. The return of the 80's icons shattered industry sales records, skyrocketing the book to the number one sales slot for an impressive six months. The Toronto-based company's other successful licenses included Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Duel Masters from Japan, as well as properties like Devil May Cry and Mega Man from video game giant Capcom Entertainment.

President of Dreamwave Productions, Pat Lee stated "there are a number of reasons for my decision to close Dreamwave", citing that "the shrinking comic book market combined with a weak U.S. dollar and unsustainable monetary commitments has finally proven to be too financially taxing."

This raises all kinds of questions, most specifically as to what will happen to the lucrative Transformer comic license... I'll post more when I hear more.

Countdown to the "real" beginning of the TV season:

Alias: 2 hour season premiere in 2 days - Wed night at 9 on ABC (after a new Lost)
24: 2 night, 4 hour season premiere in 6 days - Sun and Mon at 8 on Fox

Back in DC, heading back to work tommorrow (under protest, i might add).

One quick thing - I cant stop watching the trailer for Sin City, a neat little flick based on a cult Frank Miller hit. Here's a reason to look foward to April 1st.

Sin City Trailer