I’m sure someone thinks I’m going to hell for this, and I hate to say it, but if there’s any better poster child for “burning out” instead of “fading away”, it was Michael Jackson. Being the internets trend whore that I am, I was sifting through my Facebook and Twitter updates from last night and I couldn’t help but notice all the “too soon” messages. While I would never wish death on someone, I have to say I have a problem with the “too soon” sentiment. By all means, Michael Jackson was “The Man” back in the day, so much so that his history somewhat overshadows “The Crazy” that he became.

I don’t know if he touched kids the way the prosecution alleged, but I’m pretty sure he’s been 9 different kinds of nuts for at least the past 10-years. Nobody ever wants to see kids lose their parents, but part of me thinks Jackson’s passing might be the single greatest assurance of anything resembling a normal life for his children. Anyone else remember how he used to dress them? The baby-dangling incident? I’m not saying he was a bad father, how would I know? I just think parents’ ways tend to rub off on their kids, and his “ways” looked like they pretty much guaranteed an abnormal life for his kids.

Without seeming too callous, I think these two twits best sum up my feeling on M.J.’s death:

From Michael Ian Black: Upset about Michael Jackson. The 13 yr. old in me still loved him. The 37 yr. old me wanted to see him complete his transformation.

From Rob Corddry: I wish it had been Michael Jackson that broke the story of TMZ dying. I can almost hear the high-fives.

Finally, I saw a little bit of CNN before going to bed last night. Right as the van with Jackson’s body was backing up to the helicopter. While I didn’t want to see whether they actually showed the “money shot” of Jackson’s body being moved from the van to the chopper, I was told later they had. Apparently that was “BREAKING NEWS”. You people should be ashamed of yourselves. But then again, why am I surprised? The major media outlets (there are few NEWS outlets remaining) would have a camera over the slab for the autopsy if they were allowed.

This is what I found on YouTube this morning (click to go there):

Caught me off guard since it didn’t immediately come up on the first video I watched.

They even had some suggestions on how to view the “new layout”:

And just because it’s such a classic, I have to post it again:

1. I don’t laugh at a lot of things people find funny. I don’t know why. I really do have a sense of humor.
2. It has taken me way too long to fulfill my goal of getting completely out of debt.
3. In my life, I have broken three bones.
4. I am horrible at keeping in touch with people. Even people who live near me.
5. I am an only child.
6. I was born in Daytona Beach.
7. On the day the shuttle Challenger exploded, I was on a field trip to the very hospital where I was born.
8. My first car was 10 months older than me (1973 Volvo built in 11/72 according to the door plate)
9. I have travelled outside the U.S. once.
10. I have lived in 3 states. None below the Mason-Dixon line, and only one west of the Mississippi River.
11. When I was young, I thought alligators and dolphins were the coolest living animals. I still do.
12. I used to swim competitively. I have swam against 2 world record holders, 1 American record holder and a Spanish record holder. I mainly swam backstroke and breaststroke.
13. I make a mean chicken quesadilla and an equally mean omelet.
14. An ancestor of mine was on the Mayflower. I don’t know his name, but my mother has it somewhere.
15. I am naturally lazy. I have always had a hard time motivating myself.
16. Despite its grimy, run-down appearance. I love my car. It’s so fun to drive.
17. I’m not a very emotional person. I don’t lack emotion, and I don’t hide emotion. I just don’t emote as much as some, or even most people.
18. I don’t have a favorite color, food, book, actor/actress, movie or song.
19. I have lost two dogs in my life. One to an alligator and one to age. I still miss them both.
20. I don’t think I could love a job. Unless my job was sailing around the world.
21. I remember the weirdest things for the longest time. For example, I remember a disagreement I had w/ someone over the Geico gecko. She held that it was an Australian accent. I still maintain that it’s a Cockney accent. This discussion took place many many years ago. Despite this, I am horrible at remembering names.
22. Lots of times, I sound like I’m angry about something when I’m really just frustrated-with/laughing-at/complaining-about some perceived absurdity. Not Monty Python absurdity, more Jerry Seinfeld, “What’s the deal with…” absurdity.
23. I am quite obscene when in traffic. But any vitriol is forgotten very quickly.
24. I think I would have been a good actor or radio show host.
25. I maintain a fairly constant inner monologue. Sometimes, it’s not exactly “inner”.

If you watch Scrubs, you probably saw Kate Micucci walking around with a ukulele and singing with Ted at the end. Anyway, do yourself a favor and check out her MySpace (you still have a MySpace account, right?) for some cute songs; her her facebook for some info and links – including one to her MySpace page! There’s also some YouTube stuff worth checking out.

Lastly, the girl certainly has a sense of humor. Check out the flier I yanked from her MySpace page:

Yeah, check that out. After calling myself lame, look at that – three posts in less than a week. Go me!

So after a long wait (super-saver shipping is slooooow!) my new CD finally arrived:

You’re jealous. I know it. We all love track 1, Britney Spears’ immortal (You Drive Me) Crazy. And of course this CD has the rare “The Stop!” remix. Wow, right?

Personally, I just had to buy it for this song:

Got this email today:

… Hawk hit by truck on I-64 near Richmond, Va doing 65 mph and flew
away …

According to a friend of a co-worker, a friend of his, Walt Halsey (and I know Walt,
as well) hit this hawk with his Ford Explorer on I64. They stopped at
the next rest area (New Kent rest stop), and call VA State Police.
Responding Officer called a local game warden.

…the low-flying hawk got caught in the slipstream of an 18 wheeler
traveling along-side of the Explorer. The hawk then went into and
through an oval opening in the bumper along-side the license plate…
The driver saw it all happen…

…and the rest is evident…

That’s me. Lame. Totally. Not a peep since August. I guess I just haven’t had anything to say.

Nothing really to say right now except this if probably the coolest smiley (or emoticon as they say nowadays) I’ve ever seen:

So, the guy from everydayshouldbesaturday also works for the Sporting News. For some reason, the Sporting News decided to send a college football blogger to the MLB All-Star game. The guy, Spencer Hall, also has a thing about pictures of people pointing at the camera: it makes them look awesome.

Case in point, Auburn’s head football coach, Tommy Tubberville (from Sporting News):

More examples of awesome if you click on the picture (look for the ‘here’ links).

This post began as an email to a Yankees fan I know. The All-Star game was held at Yankee Stadium this year as a send off to the old place before it’s put out to pasture via demolition. It’s interesting that a guy who wrote this also wrote this after getting to do this (also from Sporting News):

Wow… Education *can* be fun. In the mock-serious vein of Stuff White People Like, Animal Review grades various animals. Both are fairly genius in that there are so many different kinds of animals, and thanks to the never ending stream of mindless trends, White People will always have something to like and more importantly be mocked for liking. (Don’t even get me started on the lack of competing ethnic likes blogs… Oh, wait.)

I began with the Ladybug (the most recent post as of today) and thought it was good enough to finish and read on to the next post. I was sold when, while reading about the Wholpin, I came upon this gem:

And if you’re confused as to what a false killer whale is, don’t beat yourself up: they’re not very well studied, but basically false killer whales are like regular killer whales in that they both eat other whales, but false killer whales are actually members of the dolphin family, and sort of resemble massive, dark dolphins that have lots of sharp teeth. They’re kind of like what Venom is to Spiderman.

For some reason, one theme I always associated with the gay ‘movement’ was, “Lighten up.” A notion that their being homosexual isn’t as big a deal as some make it out to be. I always thought much of the flamboyance on display in most gay pride parades was a sort of tongue-in-cheek backlash against those who see such behavior as immoral. This is why I have a hard problem understanding the negative response to this ad:

Seriously, this is homophobic? This can’t be funny because some people might enjoy having a guy’s sweaty crotch rammed in his face hard enough to make him fall backwards? Or is it the simple image of a guy’s face in another guy’s crotch that isn’t allowed to be funny? Either way, Nike pulled the ad rather than tell some overly-sensitive sissies to grow up and get over themselves.