Month: October 2006

Number 5 is Alive

As part of the Jeff-Fischer.Net 2006 All-Star Spectacular Year-End Blowoutâ„¢ sponsored by Lexusâ„¢, I’ll be compiling top five lists of the most important categories of human existence. Namely, movies, television, books, music, and pies. I’ll have a new list each week, sure to be thought-provoking and hilarious at once. If you have any suggestions for future top five lists, send them along! Exclamation point!

Coming Soon!

  • Top Five Television Shows of 2006
  • Top Five Albums of 2006
  • Top Five Songs of 2006
  • Top Five Movies of 2006
  • Top Five Pies of All-Time

Saturday Night's Alright

ATLBUFWell, I was hoping to be writing this post after the Sabres had set the NHL mark for most consecutive victories to begin a season but alas, it was not meant to be last night in HSBC Arena as Buffalo fell to the Atlanta Thrashers 5-4 in a shootout. The result didn’t end up putting a damper on the night altogether, as the fans rose as one to give the team a standing ovation until the Sabres responded by gathering at center ice and raising their sticks in salute to the raucous fans that live and die with their sports teams. It was a great moment to witness in person, regardless of the game’s outcome (though, if they’d lost 8-2, it might not have been so great).

Goalie Ryan Miller wasn’t his old, spectacular self, letting in a couple of questionable goals he should’ve had. The five guys playing in front of him didn’t do him any favors, however. Three of the four goals Atlanta scored in regulation came as a result of careless giveaways by the Sabres in the offensive zone, and not because of any pressure the Thrashers were applying. Max Afinogenov tried to pull off a nifty but wholly unnecessary no-look, between-the-legs back-pass just across the blue line. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a Sabre within 8 feet of the puck and he served it up to a streaking Bobby Holik, who found the back of the net. Couple that with the Sabres’ inability to win key face-offs and they were playing from behind all night.

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Of Others and Islands

The best-laid schemes o mice an men,
Often go awry.

-Robert Burns

Such is the inspiration for John Steinbeck’s classic novel, Of Mice and Men, which figures prominently in tonight’s new Lost episode. The story of dim-witted Lennie and his place in the world closely mirrors the situation Jack, Kate and Sawyer find themselves in. As the character of George Milton does in the book with Lennie, the Others are around to discipline their captives when they get into places they shouldn’t be.

Jack

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Release

I see the world
Feel the chill
Which way to go
Windowsill
I see this world
On a rocking horse of time
I see the words in the rain

Oh dear John
Can you see this now?
I am myself
Like you somehow
I’ll ride this wave
Where it takes me
I’ll hold the pain
Release me

Oh dear dad
Can you see us now?
I am myself
Like you somehow
I’ll wait up in the dark
For you to speak to me
I’m opened up
Release me
Release me
Release me
Release me
Tokyo 3.3.03
Release: 2003
Lyrics: Ed Vedder
Music: Pearl Jam

Amenable for Coercion

Look North

Then said he to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and see, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. (Ezekiel 8:5)

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)

Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up. (Habakkuk 1:3)

Eureka—from the Greek—means, “I have found it!” It is what Archimedes yelled out when he discovered a method for determining the purity of gold.

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Arboreal Devastation

Thank Jebus, I finally have Internet and cable TV access again, in time to give you a glimpse into the devastating effects of the Columbus Day Blizzard of 2006. As of this writing, there are still around 250-300,000 homes without power, and many, many more with extensive damage to their properties. Somehow, my apartment complex escaped the outages, and we appear to be the only ones within a 2-block radius that still have power up here in North Buffalo.

I’ve uploaded some of the images I took over the past couple of days; you can take a look here. Buffalo’s going to look a lot different after this; the lasting effects of this storm will be apparent for generations as the city’s trees slowly grow back again. Truly a shame.

Juggler vs. Juggler

I originally intended to use this post to simply show you a clip of a sweet juggling routine by this guy, Chris Bliss, saying that he’d be the villain in the next Batman movie (“The Juggler”). Hilarious, I know. In searching for the HTML code to display the video, however, I was shocked to stumble upon the seedy underbelly of the juggling world; a world of amoral thievery, manipulation and arrogance. There is an apparent war being waged between the World Juggling Federation and “hacks” like this Chris Bliss. Yes, that’s right: juggling controversy.

Let’s begin with the video that started it all, Chris Bliss performing his juggling routine to The Beatles’ “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight,” and “The End.”

Impressive, yes? Not so fast, friend. The World Juggling Federation, outraged by Bliss’ substandard performance, shot back with this video of Jason Garfield:

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$*()&*#%!!!

First Snow

As you can see, today marked Buffalo’s first of many blizzards sure to envelop us this winter season. Downed trees and branches also marked the roads I drove home on, making for an incredibly dangerous, Frogger-like adventure along the way. Add the nutso’s who forget how to drive as soon as a flake of snow hits the ground and that makes for a warm welcome to another Buffalo winter.

**UPDATE 9:45PM**

First Snow

Yeah, so I was outside documenting this chaos for you fine people and I heard a branch start to crack above me. In the scramble to get out of its way, I slid on the sidewalk and bit it hard. My elbow feels FANTASTIC.

First Snow

Some Light Reading

I won’t need seven pages and 2000 words to talk about this week’s episode, so file this Lost entry under the “light reading” category. Much of this episode was about developing the characters and their relationships with each other, Other and Castaway alike (that translates to, “there ain’t a ton of cool Easter eggs or ‘Answers’ to be found this week”).

The Others have repeatedly referred to themselves as “the good guys,” and if you’re going to buy into that assumption for the sake of hypothesizing, you’d have to assume that most of the castaways are thus “the bad guys.” The flashbacks have shown the less-than-noble sides of them, with increasing frequency. Last week, we saw Jack’s image sullied a bit when his actions are shown to have driven his father back to drinking and, eventually, his death. Sawyer’s murdered in cold blood, as has Kate. The rest of the castaways all have their misdeeds. This week, we get around to seeing Sun’s less than inspiring side.

Ben

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