Time for a belated Tove Styrke post. I had meant to write about this song a few weeks ago when I first heard the album, but it (wrongfully) got lost in the shuffle. As a whole, I've been a little underwhelmed by the album. It's perfectly nice, but the standouts are definitely the singles (especially the closing track). High And Low is my favorite non-single by a mile. It's got a subtle disco-sheen and one of the catchiest melodies on the album. It manages to be slinky and poppy and kind of cold at the same time. Tove's music isn't anything strikingly different than most electro-pop, but she's got the coolest aura about her. From the vocals to image to performance, she is way too cool to come from a reality show. Maybe that's why the album hasn't quite hit me the way I hoped it would. If it's possible, it might just be a little too cool.
D-Will is taking this new TSA pat down very seriously and lending a helping hand to insure that Chris Douglas-Roberts will not be blowing up any planes on his long flight (caption via Basketbawful reader RRR)
AK47's hair takes the next step toward growing into its own entity and splitting off to form a new basketball player that looks like Captain Caveman
Ball.
Hey Dirk, Jordan could make this look cool. You can't. Just FYI.
Wow, that's a hard, um, foul?
All The Games: Celtics at Cavaliers, 7pm: Shaq ruminating on the early-season loss to the Cavaliers: "We took them a little bit too lightly." On the other hand, nobody can ever take Shaq lightly according to the laws of physics.
Pistons at Magic, 7pm: Detroit is not good at many things. Playing on the road. Playing against teams with winning records. Shooting. Rebounding. So, yeah, get ready for a night filled with Dwight Howard pulling down boards left and right.
Frail Blazers at 76ers, 7pm: Portland hasn't faced four straight losses in over two years, but considering their shooting right now, it's a possibility even if they are just playing against the Seventy Suxorz. With 39.9% shooting as a team over the past four games, Portland couldn't shoot their way out of a wet paper bag. Though I'm not really sure if you would shoot a basketball to get yourself freed from a wet paper bag. Wouldn't you just tear it? And where in the world would you find a paper bag big enough to trap the entire team?
Nyets at Knicks, 7:30pm: The Knicks are at .500 for the season (mostly thanks to beating up on losing teams during a recent favorable scheduling stretch), but only 2-5 at Madison Square Garden. Maybe the team should all hop on a bus and drive around aimlessly for a couple hours before gametime to trick the players into thinking it's a road game?
Lakers at Grizzlies, 8pm: Stat of the day: Derek Fisher is 3-for-21 from the field in his last three games.
Pacers at Kings, 10pm: The DeMarcus Cousins/Paul Westphal rift is just the latest example of the fact that the Purple Paupers are a barely watchable trainwreck. They're the basketball equivalent of Creepies
I wonder if the big spider can play power forward or center when DeMarcus Cousins gets benched?
Spurs at Warriors, 10:30pm: San Antonio has not lost on the road yet this season. Golden State is... Golden State. Guess who I am picking for this game?
The WikiLeaks website said it came under a forceful Internet-based attack on Tuesday morning, making some of the content, including the controversial “Cablegate” documents, inaccessible for hours to users in the U.S. and Europe.
The site appears to have responded by switching its main hosting base from Sweden to the U.S., making it available again. On Tuesday, traffic to the site went to Amazon.com Inc.’s server-for-rent service, based in the U.S.
The site, which distributed a trove of U.S. diplomatic documents on Sunday, said in a Twitter message on Tuesday morning that it was under a “distributed denial of service attack,” a method commonly used by hackers to slow down or bring down sites. WikiLeaks didn’t identify the attackers.
“We are currently under a DDOS attack,” according to one tweet early Tuesday. Shortly after 9 a.m., another tweet was sent, saying, “DDOS attack now exceeding 10 Gigabits a second.” The site, which is devoted to releasing anonymously submitted documents, also came under attack Sunday, but Tuesday’s attack appeared to be more powerful.
And endangering troops and US security is not enough for this cyber-vermin, it seems: now he's threatening to take down a major US bank...
However, Assange an admitted anarchist who loves to commit crisis, is not done.
As if he hasn’t wreaked havoc enough, now Assange told Forbes magazine that his next expose will be on big businesses and a major American bank. He claims it’ll be comparable to Enron.
Nice to know that the media loves to glorify this character....
After Rep Peter King (R-NY) and others suggested we should charge Assange under the Espionage Act and label WikiLeaks a terrorist organization, generally-useless Eric Holder is actually threatening to go after him...
Federal authorities are investigating whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange violated criminal laws in the group's release of government documents, including possible charges under the Espionage Act, sources familiar with the inquiry said Monday.
But other observers looking to assign blame here -such as the ultraliberal Washington Post- are even more shocked to see Obama doing nothing to prevent this rolling disaster. Seems he welcomes still more opportunity (Cloward-Piven) by having the nation in a perpetual state of turmoil and crisis... what other explanation as he sits on his rear watching this freak rape our national security over-and-over again:
What action did the Obama administration take to prevent the impending release of such volatile information?
State Department legal adviser Harold Koh sent a strongly worded letter urging WikiLeaks to cease publishing classified materials. I'm sure that made Assange think twice.
Is the Obama administration going to do anything - anything at all - to stop these serial disclosures of our nation's most closely guarded secrets?
Just this past week, the federal government took decisive action to shut down more than 70 Web sites that were disseminating pirated music and movies. Hollywood is safe, but WikiLeaks is free to disseminate classified documents without consequence.
With this latest release, Assange may now have illegally disclosed more classified information than anyone in American history. He is in likely violation of the Espionage Act and arguably is providing material support for terrorism.
But unlike leakers who came before him, Assange has done more than release information;he has created a virtual system for the ongoing collection and dissemination of America's secrets.
The very existence of WikiLeaks is a threat to national security. Unless something is done, WikiLeaks will only grow more brazen - and our unwillingness to stop it will embolden others to reveal classified information using the unlawful medium Assange has built...
Perhaps somebody ought to tap ole Julian on the shoulder right about now and make sure he's aware that there's an organization called the CIA that's in the business of neutralizing those who pose a threat to US national security... just sayin.
Na Zeus volgt Valhalla Dancehall. Living Is So Easy is daarvan de eerste video. En wat is ie weer goed... Januari volgend jaar komt de nieuwe plaat uit.
After EP Zeus there's Valhalla Dancehall. And what a great new video: Living Is So Easy. Love this band.
Sir Winston Churchill was born 135 years-ago on this day. Sadly, we already know what our current misguided president thinks of him...Obama made clear his contempt for this great man and friend of America when he sent his bronze bust on display at the White House back to London his first full month in office, in March '09.
He then replaced it with one of MLK -surely due to the fact that his father's (and possibly his own) native land of Kenya was once a British colony.
This flippant act -apparently based on Obama's weird historical grudges- shocked and dismayed allied patriots on both sides of the Atlantic- but was to be only the first in a number of seemingly-intentional slights directed against America's closest ally.So what might the ol' bulldog have thought of Obama...?
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law."
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last"
"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."
"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. "
"Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what is left of the old."
"To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day."
"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."
"Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."
"There is no such thing as a good tax."
LOL, well not much apparently- and just maybe BHO should have read something besidesleft-wing rabble-rousing manualsand works of other disgruntled subversives back when he was forming his warped world-view... could have saved us all a lot of (ongoing) grief.
The Associated Press: The Heat snapped their three-game losing streak with a homecourt blowout of the Washington Wizards Generals...a team that entered the game 5-10 overall and 0-7 on the road. Impressive, right? Am I right?
Yeah.
Anyway, I love this opening to the AP recap: "LeBron James and Erik Spoelstra had a pregame meeting Monday afternoon to talk about Miami's offensive woes. Early returns suggest it was a productive chat."
What...because the Heat scored 105 points on 45 percent shooting? That's productive? For a team featuring LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh? Facing a depressing Generals squad that came in ranked 26th in Defensive Rating and was without John Wall (bruised right knee), Al Thornton (ankle) and Ji Jianlian (knee)?
I should also give a special shoutout to ESPN Stats and Information for the following: "The Heat stepped up their transition defense on Monday, in the process outscoring the Wizards 21-8 in transition." We are then treated to a table indicating that Washington scored only 8 points on 37.5 percent shooting and committed 3 turnovers in transition.
I'm sure the absence of Wall had nothing to do with that.
Anyway, it just feels like the media wants us to get all excited that the Heat finally won a game against a crappy team. Yes, yes, I get it. Blowing out bad teams matters. It's a good thing, too, because Miami's next two games are against the Pistons and Cavaliers. So I boldly predict a three-game winning streak and 17.4 tons worth of drool from the Associated Press and other media outlets...
...and plenty of vomit among NBA fans.
That said, there was at least one NBA fan who was feelin' the Heat last night. The Other Chris said: "I'd like to thank the NBA, ESPN and whoever else makes the national television schedule for fellating the Nazgul as the feature game. This means I get to watch New Orleans/Oklahoma City game on League Pass instead of it being blacked out, as it would be any in any sane universe, as it is the vastly superior basketball game. Thanks, LeDouche!"
Associated Press, unintentionally dirty quote machine: "Wade's personal spurt ended with 3:17 left in the period..."
Hilton Armstrong versus Joel Anthony and Juwan Howard: I know I should take something like this more seriously, but come on. It looks like something out of a Three Stooges short. And isn't it amazing how easily NBA players go down these days? They're like a bunch of Bop-a-Clowns.
Said Armstrong: "I wasn't really trying to hurt him or anything like that, I just didn't want him to have any easy dunk or an easy lay-up. You clearly saw he lost his balance when he was in the air. I didn't mean to hit him that hard, but he fell. I went to go try to help him out, but then Howard came and pushed me in the back."
Added Erik Spoelstra: "I think it's great."
I don't know about great, Erik. But bawful? Absolutely.
Dwyane Wade and the Miami broadcasting team: An anonymous reader said:
This actually just happened, no exaggeration.
After Dwyane Wade airballed a dunk attempt (hereafter known as "pulling a Joel Anthony"), the Miami announcers came back with this gem. "That hangnail is really bothering him".
I've been laughing for the past 2 minutes. Bawful in it's purest form right there.
It's true. According to one report: "Dwyane Wade briefly left Monday's win over Washington with what the Heat called a hang nail. He returned wearing tape on his left wrist and could not get into any kind of rhythm early on in the game."
For the record, WebMD defines a hangnail as "the strip of skin that separates from the side of the cuticle."
Simple home treatment can help prevent problems with hangnails:
Do not pull at or bite off a hangnail. This may cause the skin to rip.
Clip off the hangnail neatly with sharp, clean cuticle scissors.
Massage hand lotion or cream into your cuticles 2 to 3 times each day.
STOP BEING A DAMN VAGINA!!
Sadly, I don't have video of Wade's blown dunk. I do have this tho':
And because Sorbo provided the link, here's one of the great airballed dunks in the history of Western Civilization:
The New Orleans Hornets: Make it four losses in their last five games. I won't say the ship be sinkin'...but it's definitely dropped temporary anchor in the Sea of Suck.
The Hornets actually played some pretty stiff defense -- holding the Thunder to 95 points on 37 percent shooting -- but they were pounded on the boards (56-36 and 16-5 on the offensive glass) and simply ran out of gas during the fourth quarter. Over those final 12 minutes, the Thunder used a 14-0 run to outscore New Orleans 27-19.
Said Hornets coach Monty Williams: "I thought we competed our tails off tonight on the road in a tough back-to-back. The ball didn't go down. It happens in this league."
You know what else happens in this league?
And man, how about that Russell Westbrook, huh? The line: 25 points, 11 assists, 5 steals. And he scored 12 of the points in OKC's 14-o fourth quarter run. That's right, it was Westbrook -- and not Kevin Durant -- who took over in clutch time for the Thunder. And as ESPN Stats and Information pointed out: "He is averaging almost 24 points a game, and along with LeBron James, is the only player in the NBA averaging 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists."
This truly is the Age of the Point Guard.
Monty Williams, quote machine: Regarding Westbrook's various miscues with the basketball: "He had eight turnovers, but I thought it worked in his favor."
Russell Westbrook, quote machine: "Whatever the game tells me to do, that's kind of what I do."
But...but what if the game tells you to kill mommy and daddy with lawn darts? I would suggest selective listening, Russell. Can a game that made Greg Ostertag a multi-millionaire be trusted? I say no.
The Houston Rockets: I know they were playing on the second night of back-to-backs after a gritty win over the Thunder. And I know the Mavericks were playing at home and, frankly, are one of the best teams in the league right now. And of course Aaron Brooks and Yao Ming are still out. But damn, this team is starting to depress me.
Dirk Nowitzki, unintentionally dirty quote machine: "When a guy is hot like that, you've got to milk it."
Rick Carlisle, coach of the year candidate: From the AP recap:
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle wasn't calling plays during the third-quarter stretch. All of Butler's points came in what the Mavs call a "flow" offense.
"When a guy gets going, our guys do a good job of finding him," Carlisle said. "We aren't doing a lot of play-calling right now."
The Milwaukee Bucks: Ugh. The Deer were without Andy Bogut (sore back), Drew Gooden (foot), Corey Maggette (flu-like symptoms!) and Carlos Delfino (birthing a human-alien hybrid from his stomach). As a result, the biggest deficit the Jazz had to overcome in this one was two points. They did, however, build a 24 point lead before kicking back and cruising in for a 109-88 win.
Said Deron Williams: "Any time you play a team that's missing a lot of guys, it can be a dangerous game because youo expect to win, you know you should win. But at the same time it's the NBA and these are NBA players. They played hard. They were just a scrappy team tonight."
Yeah, well, Team Scrappy got outshot 55 percent to 34 percent, outrebounded 48-26 and outscored 54-18 in the paint. The Bucks should thank their stars and garters Utah committed 20 turnovers or they might have scrapped their way to a 40-point loss.
On the bright side, Chris Douglas-Roberts scored a season-high 19 points and Ersan Ilyasova added a season-high 18.
By the way, ya think the Jazz have adapted to Al Jefferson and vice versa? Last night, Big Al had 20 points on 11-for-14 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Speaking of which...
Al Jefferson, quote machine: "When we want to, we can play defense."
Of course, that's always been the case with Jefferson. He's just never, you know, wanted to before. But now he knows Jerry Sloan will kick his ass if he doesn't D up. Makes a difference.
John Salmons, Worst Player of the Night: Remember how Salmons caught fire when he was traded to the Bucks right before the deadline? Yeah, well, the Bulls had the same experience the previous season. The Fish Man had been red hot when Chicago dealt for him the previous February and then started the season on ice. Well, he went 1-for-11 against the Jazz last night and 36 percent on the season.
Check out his splits from last season. He's pretty much on target for his early season production. Or lack thereof. And considering how key Salmons was to Milwaukee's late-season run last season, it's not hard to understand why they've been struggling to score points (30th in both PPG and Offensive Rating) and win games.
On that subject, last night I was at the doctor's office and they had the Sports Illustrated NBA Preview issue in the waiting room. SI expected the Bucks to control the Central Division this season...even though Corey Maggette, Drew Gooden and John Salmons made up three-fifths of Milwaukee's projected starting lineup.
And all I could think was: "Has anyone at SI actually followed the these guys' careers?"
Look, I know the Bucks have had some injuries and illness or whatever. But they're 6-11 overall, 2-7 on the road, and currently scraping the bottom of their division. Scott Skiles can work minor miracles with crap rosters, and he'll probably scream this group of misfits back up to .500-ish at some point.
I'm just not Fearin' the Deer is all I'm saying.
Al Jefferson, quote machine: "They were short tonight, but that's a great team."
Andre Kirilenko, quote machine: "You've seen the Energizer Bunny. [Earl Watson and Ronnie Price] are our Energizer Bunnies. They come on the floor and give us a big spark on offense and defense. They are amazing."
Huh. I wonder if The Russian Rifle wants to use his once-a-year deal for an amazing night with Price and Watson.
Tracy McGrady, unintentionally dirty quote machine: Basketbawful reader Wade Wisdom e-mailed this instant classic Knee-Mac quote: "That guy might be getting off, but the other guy [isn't]." If you demand context, here it is.
When he was elected to the House in 1974, Mr. Solarz finagled a seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee with the idea that he could appeal to his largely Jewish district by attending to the needs of Israel. He immediately threw himself into foreign policy issues, visiting leaders of Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Syria in his first month on the job. He soon became a leading voice in the House on foreign affairs.
Mr. Solarz was defeated in a Democratic primary in 1992 after being caught up in a scandal involving the bank operated for House members and after his district had been redrawn to facilitate the election of a Hispanic candidate.
.......
Mr. Solarz would go on to be the first congressman to visit North Korea in 30 years; have a nine-hour conversation with Fidel Castro; introduce a nuclear freeze resolution; help alter Reagan administration policies in Central America and Lebanon; and battle many in his own party when he supported the Persian Gulf war in 1991.
Mr. Solarz visited more than 100 countries, more than earning his nickname, the Marco Polo of Congress...
.......
In his 1986 hearings on the Philippines, Mr. Solarz provided irrefutable evidence that President Ferdinand Marcos was misusing foreign aid, leading to the uncovering of the vast United States real estate empire he shared with his wife, Imelda — not to mention Mr. Solarz’s blockbuster disclosure about her shoes.
Geweldig indiedance nummer van Filur. Deens. DJ's & producer. Electro scene. Dat is voor nu genoeg info. Luisteren maar.
Since meeting in 1999 in their hometown of Copenhagen, Tomas Barfod and Kasper Bjørke have produced a bunch of hits under the name FILUR. International chartings and tours all over, followed in the years to come. With the first two award winning albums, earning them two Danish Music Awards for Best Producers and Best Dance Album as well as numerous DJ Awards, Tomas and Kasper established themselves as a wellknown act on the Danish electronic scene, both as djs and producers.
Michael Jordan discusses the intricacies of Rock, Paper, Scissors with Captain Jack
The latest news on Antoine Walker's delightfully bawful comeback* -- he plans on signing with the Idaho Stampede. This is glorious. Of course the one little caveat is that this is pending a background review. Considering this is Antoine "I have gambling debts galore!" Walker we're talking about, you never know...
* Can we even really consider it a comeback? It is just the D-League after all... If he actually makes it back onto an NBA roster, then I'll call it a comeback
Want to drink for free? Head down to the Whiskey Tango in Hollywood, FL -- they're handing out free drinks whenever the Miami Heat lose. And it's cost the bar $30,000 in free drinks so far this season. Don't worry -- the owners aren't complaining since it's giving them plenty of publicity. However, if they start doing this for Clippers games too, they'll be in trouble.
And before I forget to mention it: R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen. I have much respect for the master of deadpan delivery.
Worst of the Weekend in Pictures:
Wow, good thing nobody comes to Miami games. This could have been dangerous!
You must be this tall to play
Someone please go tell Hedo that his team actually is winning this game
"What the hell are you looking at? Never seen a grown man hug his invisible friend before?"
Here are some things Vince Carter loves: 1) Being injured 2) Ill-fitting suits
This suit, on the other hand, is stylish by 1970s ABA standards
Donte Greene is sad
Tom Thibodeau enjoys making Donte Greene sad
Nationally Televised Games: Rockets at Mavericks, NBA TV, 8:30pm: Dallas just keeps on winning. Houston just keeps on being slightly worse than mediocre, but slightly better than Clippery bad.
All the Other Games: Wizards Generals at Heat, 7:30pm: As bad as things are in Miami right now, at least they aren't the Generals. Aside from, you know, being a team based in Washington DC, the Generals are banged up. John Wall is questionable, Yi Jianlian is still busy sitting on chairs instead of posting them up. Al Thornton likely will be out as well. The team is winless away from home this year, but gets to play 5 of their next 6 on the road. Damnation. And I'd like to point out that the Heat are still over .500, so it could be much, much worse, Miami fans.
Hornets at Thunder, 8pm: Since relocating to OKC, the Thunder have not beaten the Hornets when Chris Paul has been in the lineup. Dude just owns them. He's even got a sweet little certificate of ownership and everything.
Bucks at Jazz, 9pm: Milwaukee's got the injury blues almost as bad as Washington. Bogut, Gooden, Maggette, and Delfino are all injured at the moment. Though I'm pretty sure losing Maggette is addition by subtraction.
Stevige rockband met stekkers uit Nieuw Zeeland. Ze stonden daar op 1 met Young Blood. Thom Powers en Alisa Xayalith zijn het creatieve hart van de band. Worden vergeleken met Passion Pit en MGMT. Gaat mij iets te ver, maar ze komen makkelijk boven het maaiveld uit. Debuutalbum: Passive Me, Aggressive You.
The Naked and Famous have been likened to American Indy Pop heroes Passion Pit and MGMT. “On one hand it’s kind of flattering, it’s nice to be seen alongside things that aren’t… making us kind of New Zealand,” says Thom. “It’s nice to be seen in a different light. But it’s also frustrating that some people can only hear things on a surface level and miss out on all the intricacies.”
