Iacta alea est

Today, I sent out all my applications for internship. Now does that ever feel nice. Four months worth of work and $36.45 in postage. Not to mention about $40 in copies. Now, I sit and wait until Thanksgiving (or later?) to see whether I get any interviews. But, for now, a huge weight is off my shoulders.

Now, I have 35 papers to grade in my intro class. It never ends. Eventually though, people will have to call me "Doctor." Even my wife. That'll make it all worth it.


This week's theme:
My top five music videos of all time

If you read my MTV video music award preview (and live blog entry), you might have noted that I am a scholar of the music video. Lacking any other really good ideas for a good theme, I decided to try this out. My top five (apologies to John Cusack in High Fidelity) videos of all time, one each day, based entirely on my subjective criteria and how I'm feeling now.

Number 5 -- Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy"

Yeah, the song's getting to be over-played, but it's still got one hell of a beat and the idea for a video is simply amazing. Deservingly won best direction at the VMAs, and should have been video of the year. Maybe recent videos should have a two year waiting period to get on all-time lists, sorta like the Hall of Fame has a five year waiting period, but...


Baseball bits:

Oh yeah, the Cardinals won the World Series last Friday (not that anyone watched...), to the groans of millions. Yeah, a team that won 83 games during the regular season won the Series. I think Bud Selig got it right. (Mark the date, I actually agree with something that Allan H. "Bud" Selig said... for more click here)

"In football or college basketball when this happens, people say, 'Isn't that great?' But when it happens in baseball, people criticize it. When the Yankees win every year, people hate the predictability. This is the unpredictability. Well, you cannot have it both ways. And quite frankly, I prefer the unpredictability. That's what makes this game the best sport in the world. There are just so many things you can't predict."

Pretty much.

More rumors: It's free agent season, and a bunch of players are starting to file, now that the World Series is over. Alfonoso Soriano and Carlos Lee are out there and they'll be linked with every team in the league. So are a few pitchers, including Barry Zito. When everyone files, I'll do a run-down on all of them. This is also the time of the year when GMs lie and say that all they need is one little piece. Truth is that the free-agent market is pretty thin. Even Luis Gonzalez is getting some callers. So is Dave Roberts...

Most of the rumors that come out this time of year are made up by sports reporters and fans of wishful thinking.

The Padres are talking to Jose Oquendo of the Cardinals as a manager candidate


On to the news:

Court orders witch doctor to repay man for love spell
(Personally, I don't know how someone that dumb managed to file a lawsuit)

Oklahoma just discovered tatooing
(It's OK, Japan just discovered Halloween)

Come to the U2charist
(Great, like Bono needs another God-complex)


Bright, shiny objects:

My kind of store
(I always look at Engrish.com on Mondays)

Funny jack-o-lanterns
('Tis the season, after all...)


Today's random "next blog":

Of Games and Tech
(A blog about computers and games... which is difficult to read with the white on black set up)


Today's strange anniversary:

October 30, 1864 -- Helena, Montana's capital, founded. You didn't remember what the capital of Montana was. You don't care now that you know. Nothing interesting has happened there since.


Fun fact of the day:

The pupil of an octopus' eye is rectangular.


The Monday playlist feature:

I couldn't think of any personally relevant anniversaries that happened around this particular week. However, it is election season. I swear I'm not going to get into politics on this blog, primarily because no one really cares what I think politically. Today, we honor the fact that in 1992 a little billionaire with pointy ears and a pointy stick almost got elected to the Presidency of the United States. Ain't America great? I still haven't seen Man of the Year, although I heard it was a "seen-the-trailer-seen-the-movie" sort of film. Anyway, the 1992 election also gave us the most befuddling political character in American history: Bill Clinton. America spent 8 years in a Presidency that will be remembered for eleven words.

Anyway, here's what we were listening to in 1992.

5) Snap -- Rhythm is a Dancer

4) Boyz II Men -- End of the Road

3) The Heights -- How Do You Talk To An Angel

2) P.M. Dawn -- Die Without You

1) Madonna -- Erotica

To this day, I don't understand Madonna. Never have. I don't even remember the song. The rest of them on the other hand have a certain cheese appeal to them. The Heights, Snap, and P.M. Dawn were never heard from again, although I really enjoyed those songs (yeah, I know...) Boys II Men were actually new and exciting back then. Are they still alive?


And finally:

Happy birthday (a day late) to friend Steve. He's now 27, which makes me feel really really old.