US Soccer: Not Treading on Anyone

Despite all the mid summer hoopla, the US National Team has not yet qualified for South Africa 2010. So Honduras vs. The USA tonight is a pivotal match on a day with serious ramifications for several countries across the world.

Also keep your eyes on Argentina vs. Peru and Ecuador vs. Uruguay as the South American Region is a dog fight for all involved. A loss tonight could leave Argentina (and top five player in the sport L. Mesi) on the outside looking in. Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugual are in similar dire straits in their grouping. A World Cup without Mesi or C Ronaldo would drive FIFA and ESPN executives to find bridges to toss themselves from. I am pumped!

Moral Question

Evil

For once, I have a moral question that does not involve baskets...

OK, it seems like the overwhelming sentiment is that the FOX series Glee is worth watching. I'd like to start watching this series, but since I am in China, I can't watch this show via normal means:

- FOX does not broadcast to China

- Hulu and Fox.com are blocked in China because they only have distribution rights in the US

So the moral question is this: is there anything wrong with me downloading the episodes on Bit Torrent? My rationale is that if I were to watch it on TV when I'm at home in NYC, I wouldn't pay anything. I would fast forward through all the commercials via DVR. If I were to watch it on Hulu, I would pay anything either. So is there anything morally wrong with Bit Torrent'ing the episodes?

TEA BAGGIN, THAZ NOT HOW U DO IT

Content Overload

Evil

Dare I say, there is too much content on the Internet! Not only did someone write a poem about a cat (was it Turdhurdler???), someone wrote an article about the poem about the cat! Here is the article. I did not read it and you probably shouldn't either. I just wanted to point it out.

Quickies - Morning News Edition

Evil

Some quickies from the news...

* Lab workers abuse Ted Williams' frozen head, including smashing it with a monkey wrench. NICE! Were they Yankee fans?

* NJ Governor Jon Corzine now running commercials making fun of his fat opponent, Chris Christie. NICE! As a former High Flying Advertising Executive, I fully endorse this strategy. Not only is calling your opponent fat an effective strategy, it's entertaining for all. Next up: new commercials calling Chris Christie a "mega douche."

* New York's Least Favorite Columnist, Maureen Dowd, gets her panties all in a wad about Draper-like behavior in today's work environment. SUCKS! We long for the good ol' days of Drinking & Drapering.

Challenge KillerB1 - Pandora v. KillerB1dora

I've been using Pandora a lot lately. It's pretty good. But is it better than KillerB1dora? Probably not.

Here's the deal - you submit a song you would like KillerB1dora to run though it's algorithm - and I'll do it. Then you can compare my playlist to what Pandora generates with the same song. I'll deliver 8 songs.

Give me your submissions in the comments section. I'll pick 1 to work with - so choose wisely.

The Hosecast Episode 14: NFL Round Up Part 2

NFL Week 4 Report - Part 2 of 2. xTian and the Bump continue their trip around the NFL - handicapping the Jets season, discussing the emergence of the Sanchize and playing "Where are they now?" with some of the key participants from "Pandemonium in Piscataway".

Listen to the whole discussion here.

Mystery Photo

Evil

Can you guess the identity of the person in this photo?

Need a hint? That's a University of Michigan uniform he's wearing.

The Hosecast Episode 13: NFL Round Up

NFL Week 4 Report - Part 1 of 2. xTian and the Bump go round the NFL, talk best and worst teams and lay down some early predictions for the Super Bowl. xTian also takes a moment to slam the Worldwide Sports Leader

Listen to the whole discussion here.

Sex With Co-Workers

Evil

For those of you with jobs and co-workers (i.e., everyone except me. boo hoo hoo!), this article called "The Do's and Don'ts of Sex With Co-Workers" might be a handy reference.

Daymares - Volume 5

Today's Daymare is a Daymare that happens at night. Crazy, right? What makes it a Daymare is that it happens while I am awake, but it's too late to rename this feature Awakemares.

Before I go to bed at night, I pour a glass of water and put it on my nightstand - right on top of all of the books I've started and never finished (that Lincoln book is like 19,000 pages).

Then I go to sleep.

More...

But, I tend to wake up a few times every night. (If you are one of those jerks who claims they sleep straight through the night no problem, keep your comments to yourself. I hate you. I don't do that.) I wake up a few times, do some pillow flipping, maybe roll over, and have a drink of water. It's dark of course, but I've gotten pretty good at reaching out and grabbing the cup - haven't spilled it once since moving to our current place 3 years ago. Anyway, this is where my Daymare starts.

The last thing that always goes through my mind as I put the glass to my lips is "I hope there isn't a bug in here". I guess I have a sense that bugs gravitate towards water - and if they got in my cup they probably wouldn't be able to get out. So I always take a little sip first to see if anything solid hits my lips. Once I've confirmed it's bug free, I take a few more sips and go back to sleep.

I haven't had a bug yet, but if I ever do, that will be the worst night of my life.

Quickies - NFL Week 4 Edition

Evil

* G - I - A - N - T - S - GIANTS! GIANTS! GIANTS! Best team in football, baby. Giants will beat the Raiders next week to go 5-0. Then they play the Saints. If they beat the Saints, then check this out... it's conceivable that the Giants can go 16-0 this year. Just look at their schedule after the Saints. Isn't that an amazingly weak schedule for a team that had a good record last year? There's not a single opponent on that schedule (post-Saints) that would be favored over the Giants in a game.

* Poof! That was the sounds of the Jets bubble popping. 3-13 record for the Jets this year? Maybe... Maybe...

* I declare the Mobile Athletic Quarterback Fad officially over. Vince Young? Michael Vick? Those QBs are so 5 years ago. The age of the Classic Pocket Passer is back! (Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford, Big Ben, Eli... not to mention the old guard, such as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.)

* Looks like Mark Sanchez just put himself on the Tony Romo career track. That is: great looks, bangs hot chicks, 3+ turnovers per game, and will never win a big game. At least he has his priorities straight.

Mad Men Episode 8 - The Souvenir

This week Betty suddenly and inexplicably rocked.

Not to worry though, Peter more than makes up for the suckage quota
More... If there is a theme this week its kissing and no, I'm not joking.

First Betty's arc - Betty "makes a stand" with the hausfraus for greater Westchester County on the Pleasanton development proposal. Thanks to the influence of Henry the Gubernatorial aide. Creepy Henry kisses Betty. She does not reject his advances... much to my surprise. Last season's finale was the first time we saw this danger streak in Betty. I will be honest I attributed that to a fear that the world was ending. Given where she and Don are in their progression maybe she feels the same thing right now. Still she is somewhat triumphant and greats Don with a smile he finds surprising. Later, she insists she join Don on his business trip with Conrad Hilton to Rome. It's somewhat interesting to learn things about Betty here. As an Ossning housewife she is generally painted as a vapid occasionally childlike woman. In Rome, she is a new woman. She speaks servicable Italian, she understands how much a porter earns a week and an appropriate tip. She impresses Don. Me too. Nice job Betty. There is a rather sudden visible transformation mid trip where Betty suddenly looks very modern and Don looks downright dated. So much so, that two Italian sleezeballs hit on her and mock him in a bar. This is where things get interesting - they actually do some light role playing in the bar, acting as though he is picking her up for the first time. This is obviously, for Don's benefit. Who again is impressed and suddenly turned on. This is sort of important - I think its the first time in a very long time that Don sees Betty as his equal. Many of his trysts are with self possessed women. Much of his frustration with Betty is that she seems entirely dependent on him. Anyway it works and they are suddenly back in the throes of a passionate romance. The key part is that it does not go away. Upon returning home, Betty is still - I dunno - self actualized(?). She handles a Sally issue deftly and later gives her daughter an important life lesson on the importance of a first kiss. Betty has turned a corner.

Pete on the other hand, has no such luck. He sucks. Trudy goes away for the summer leaving Campbell the tragic bachelor. While throwing out the trash he comes across a distraught au par who has ruined her mistress's dress. Peter in what looks like a fit of manners offers to resolve the issue on her behalf. A quick trip to the department store and an assist from Joan (come back Joan!) resolves the issue pretty quickly. Peter tries to encourage some celebration, which our little fraulein wants nothing of. Peter gathers himself (gets drunk) and somewhat forces himself on her. Campbell, Campbell, Campbell you had me fooled. Of course, mega chump that he is, he allows his equally sleezy neighbor to chase him off and then basically dissolves when Trudy comes back from holiday. Peter, I know Don Draper and you sir are no Don Draper. Trudy bails him out of his guilt a little too easily for my liking. Trudy, go be Sal's beard - he would treat you better. Peter grow a pair...please, we saw that under all that childishness there was a woman in Betty, when are you going to man up?

More Joan, less Peter!

KillerB1 is Alone in the Office - Auditing Noises

The rest of the team is in Charlotte today, and Boston tomorrow.

It sure is quiet in here. I unloaded the dishwasher earlier - that made some noise. I just printed something, so now the printer is making noise. The phone rang once earlier - that was a noise. Other than those noises, and my keystrokes, there haven't been very many noises. I am in my socks, so I'm not making much noise even when I walk back and forth to the kitchen, which I've done about 20 times. I've did flush the toilet a few times, making noise each time.

From outside there is kind of a constant humming noise - not sure from what - probably a big building. There are some clanks and such from a loading dock nearby - but not really any car noise. There are people eating outside because it is nice here today, but they are outside the windows at the other end of the office, so I can't hear them making any noise.

I also just cracked my toe knuckles, which made a cracking noise.

Pretty Songs - "Blood" by The Middle East

'Blood' The Middle East

Evil Checking In...

Evil

Still traveling in Yunnan Province but finally got to an Internet connection. Greetings from Shangri-la, bitches. Glad to find that Manolo has not ruined The Hose during my absence.

Attaching a couple of pics from my trip thus far... just came from the town of Lijiang, where I ran into the kitty and puppy above. The kitty belong to the hotel and judging by its size, couldnt be more than 8 weeks old. It had a sibling, but according to the hotel staff that I asked, they have no mom (anymore). Poor kitties. They were so skittish, but I'm sure they'll warm up to people in due time, seeing as they live at a hotel.

The puppy I was on the street of the old town. I think he was trying to pick up a prostitute (also in the photo).

Outdated Movie Review: Lebowski Fest 2009

Caught Lebowski Fest 2009 at the House of Blues in Boston. Speed of Sound Tour. Of all days for this year's Lebowski Fest, it just happened to be on Shabbos. Shomer f****** shabbos. Actually, Rosh Hashanna. I s**t you not.

Several Dudes, a few Pinheads, a Nihilist, and several White Russians also attended the event. Brought Donny in a nice Folger's can from Ralph's. Really tied the room together.

Looking forward to the next Coen foray, A Serious Man.

The Hose Celebrates

Some readers may not know this, but The Hose was born in Brazil, though in the much less fun, much less safe, much less desirable, much darker, and easier to hate city of Sao Paulo. Nonetheless, The Hose is stoked about Rio getting the Olympics.

Q. "Born in Brazil? Really?"
A. Yes.

Next up - a South American Pope - circa 2018.

Cooking With KillerB - Opening Chili Season!!!!!

It's October 1st!!! You know what that means. Chili is in season. Wooooohoooooo.

I managed to catch an earlier flight home from Charlotte today, stopped by Provisions, the local yuppie food store, bought some fixens, and by 7PM on October 1st had a pot of chili going. It's about 50 degrees outside tonight - perfect!!!!

I know there are a lot of opinions out there about chili, so let me clear some things up. If you disagree with me about any of this, keep it to yourself.

1) Nothing comes out of the pot. If you are the type of person that likes to "drain" meat - meaning syphoning off the flavor - chili is not for you. The fat in the meat stays in the chili.

2) Chili has meat.

3) Chili has beans - most Texans get all up in your grill about this. They are wrong. Chili has beans.

4) Preferably black beans. Kidney beans don't belong in chili (or your home for that matter).

5) Chili is made with beer, not water.

6) Everything should be diced so that nothing dominates a single spoonful of chili.

7) NO THICKENING AGENTS

8) Canned tomatoes make better chili than fresh tomatoes

9) Chili tastes better on day 2 than day 1. If you are making chili for guests, cook it the day before, put the whole pot in the fridge overnight, put it back on the stove the next day, add 1/2 can of beer, and reheat.
10) If using a jalapeno, leave the seeds in.

After the jump, Chili #1 of the season.

More...

Does this make you happy? or sad?