PC - Nothing New

Since I'm pretending like I'm not actually going to Africa in EXACTLY one month and planning a road trip up to Ohio/NY for this upcoming weekend, I'm just going to post some randomness to satiate my rabid fan base...

* I think I ate a bad burrito from Willy's Friday night, so I did the only thing I could last night: Nyquil. This stuff should be illegal. I'm still drowsy and I took a dose 15 hours ago.

* Bill Simmon's latest column is a masterpiece. His stuff has been pretty weak all summer, but his chronicles of his guy weekend to Wisconsin is classic.

* An article from salon.com examining America's Funniest Home Videos in the age of youtube.

* Rescue Me has cracked my top 3 hour-long shows (Actually, I've never really ranked my favorite hour-long shows, but I digress). The show is incredible. One scene will be the funniest shit you could think of, then the next will be ultra-serious without feeling forced. Denis Leary is an underrated actor, and the people who play Lou, Garrity, and Sheila (is she a loon or what?) are especially great. The characters are really f'd up, especially anyone related to or sleeping with Tommy (Leary), who's an example of the Tony Soprano-like antihero that the audience roots for. This show is right up there with The Sopranos and The Wire.

* Anyone who still mentions that the Braves have a chance to win the NL wild card is delusion. They've been done since their big slump in July. They were winning 11-4 earlier today, and I was still nervous - that's not a good sign.

* I despise Chris Berman (an ESPN announcer). He's in the same category as John Kruk to me: Lose fifty pounds so you don't get out of breath forming a sentence. But if this story is true, I've gained some respect for Boomer.

* Barack Obama is The Man. He's basically the only hope for progressives left, but he's probably not going to run for president until 2012 or 2016. He's pulled off a brilliant move: Instead of doing what most Washington politicians do on their August recess - absolutely nothing of consequence... just like when they're in session - he gets a hero's welcome returning to Kenya and other African countries with the press lapping it up. He really has a chance to elevate himself over every American politician, kind of like what Bill Clinton and Colin Powell have done recently. And, yes, I'm trying to figure out a way to get a job in the Obama administration ten years from now.

Andruw Jones & Gnarls Barkley

"If Andruw Jones was any more shallow, he'd be dating models."
- Adrianne Tolsch

.... think about it

----------------------

* Gnarls Barkley playing "Crazy" on Letterman. They're in catholic school girl/boy uniforms! They're becoming just as famous for their costumes as their freaking awesome song.

* NY Times article about major college teams paying crappy teams serious cash to get their asses handed to them.

* I'm really pumped about getting Sign O' The Times. I think "Starfish and Coffee" is my favorite so far, even though it's either about a child with autism or a girl addicted to heroin.

Brady, Brady, Brady

With my laundry and French CDs staring me in the face, I'm going to talk about something really important: greatest hits CDs. I'm having a rockin' Saturday night, lemme tell ya.

I've gotten a couple greatest hits CDs/singles CDs in the last week through lala, Tom Petty and The Cure (Staring at the Sea). I own a bunch of GHs/singles albums, and I usually agree with pretentious rock critics (is there any other kind?) that greatest hits cds don't showcase the full dimensions of a band and are purely released for commercial interests. However, the Tom Petty greatest hits has to be up there with Bob Marley's Legend as the GHs CD that might be better than any album they have made. I think these CDs exceeding their normal albums happens because their sound didn't really change through the years (I know TP is still making records, but he's almost as corpse-like as the drummer for the Rolling Stones, so I'm using the past tense.). The only song that doesn't fit in the Tom Petty CD is "Don't Come Around Here No More" because it's all drum machine and synthesizers when the others are straight ahead early 70s rock.

Well, this all I really have to say about greatest hits CDs, no big finale to sum things up. Now a few random things....

* I'm about 30 years behind the Tom Petty bandwagon, and now I'm finally giving the guy all kinds of Chopper to Chipper love. Heck, I'll throw in another picture of him for good measure.

Of course, I've heard all of his songs on the radio like everyone else, and his "Runnin' Down a Dream" was ubiquitous during the NBA playoffs. My interest was really piqued when The Onion AV Club, which is the peanut butter to The Onion's jelly, had this cool article on TP opening lines, so I got the GHs on the cheap from lala.

* Peter Gammons is getting better! As a baseball fan, this is really good news. ESPN loses a lot of its credibility when Gammons isn't around.

* Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn is gracing the cover ESPN Magazine right now, and I'm predicting the following over the next four months: Woo, Brady, Heisman favorite! Boo, Brady, you lost a game! Oh, nevermind, you're awesome! Boo, Brady, too much media coverage; no one would care about you if you didn't go to Notre Dame. Backlash over, but no one can stand the sight of you (unless you're female. Did we mention you are a good looking guy?). Everyone hates Notre Dame, yet their BCS game is highest rated next to the championship game. Brady wins Heisman, everyone loves Brady. Let's look at Brady's sister; she's married to AJ Hawk!

I'm really going to miss experiencing that last paragraph when college football season starts. Being a Notre Dame fan, the saturation coverage doesn't bother me a bit. This must be how Yankee fans feel.

* Pitchfork (pretentious rock critics) has a cool list of their top 200 songs of the 1960s.

Okay, time to get some clean underwear for tomorrow... maybe I'll post something about the PC next time... *faint*

PC - Application Process, Part 3: Invited!

Nearly one year after (false) starting my PC application, and six months after my interview in February, I finally received an invitation to join the Peace Corps! On Tuesday August 8, I learned I would be going to CAMEROON as a volunter in the country's Health, Water, and Sanitation program. My leave date is September 27th, and I'll actually fly to Cameroon on September 30th.

I learned the Friday before (August 4) that there was an opening in a francophone country in West/Central Afirca (PC policy is that a potential volunteer can't know the name of the country until officially invited). The placement officer asked if I was interested. Ummmm, yeah. I've only been waiting on pins and needles for about a month straight. It's either this or living at home for an indefinite period of time, and no one would want that.

I still wasn't prepared for it when the invite came (By Fed Ex, by the way. The government doesn't even trust it's own postal service to send packages overnight?). I opened the envelope in the kitchen and looked at all the papers for a couple minutes. I then promptly went upstairs to my room, sat down, and stared at the floor. Needless to say, my first thought was, "What the f--- am I doing?"

Flash forward to now, I've filled out the passport and visa forms and bought some French audio CDs. Other than that, I'm trying to wrap my head around packing. The PC has a suggested list, and I have RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers) who can help me out, but it seems like a daunting task. I'm going to start making piles of stuff and see where that takes me.

Meanwhile, I put a couple links up to sites about Cameroon on the right so everyone can get a better idea of what the place is all about (and probably most pressing, where it is). I've been reading a lot about it because, before receiving my invitation last Tuesday, all I knew about Cameroon was that's where Barcelona striker and 05/06 pichichi Samuel Eto'o is from.

In addition to keeping this blog for the time being (Internet access in Cameroon is questionable), don't hesitate to drop me an email or give me a call! I'll be going crazy and mumbling to myself for the next six weeks, so I'll need some levity.

PC - Disclaimer / Dodgeball

Okay, might as well get this over with because every other PC blog has one of these:

"The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps." - Volunteer Handbook, p. 65

I don't think I've badmouthed the PC too much (I'll wait until I get there). The only criticism that I've had so far is with my own personal ineptitude.

-------------------------------

I was watching Dodgeball this afternoon because I have nothing else better to do, and this movie falls into the same category as Zoolander for me. I saw them in the theatre when they first came out and HATED them. But as I watched them again and again and again thanks to HBO and being in college, they have grown on me and are pretty watchable the sixth and seventh time around (Zoolander is still far superior).

One problem with Dodgeball is Vince Vaughn's performance. Granted, he doesn't have much to work with script-wise, but he seems to not really care at all. I think he does his best when he has someone else to riff off of, like Owen Wilson in Wedding Crashers, Jon Favreau in Swingers, and Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell in Old School. All the other people in Dodgeball are either supporting actors, the hot chick, or his enemy (Ben Stiller playing his character from Heavy Weights), so he needs to carry the movie by himself. It's like he's waiting for Jennifer Aniston or one of the Wilson brothers to pop up so he can say something funny. He's actually not the highlight of the movie, which is disappointing and surprising since he usually carries whatever scene he's in in every other movie.

Outkast - Idlewild Blues (Don't Chu Worry 'Bout Me)

Here's a new video from Andre 3000 (Still under the Outkast moniker. I'm guessing this will be the last album they do under that name.) from the Idlewild soundtrack. The video is Katrina-inspired and is very well done. Andre is on a different planet.

Also, expect a lot more coming this week (if I didn't post enough on this thing)!

Shall I go with the Mohawk today?

Professional European soccer leagues are getting started (or already have) in the next couple of weeks, and David Beckham looks like he's getting pushed out of the English national team. ESPN only covers British soccer, as seen with only Beckham news in a World Cup year after the WC and only British club teams being shown in the US during the Champions League. I became a fan of Real Madrid when I was in Spain two falls ago (fall of 2004), a sickening thing to most people who are down with La Liga because they're the NY Yankees of Spanish football. I fell into the media trap, I know, but I was really interested in a soccer-mad culture. I am trying to figure out one thing: Am I really a Real Madrid fan or am I more of a Beckham sympathizer?

Beckham is an interesting phenomenom that has been dissected over and over again (add one more "and over" after this). He's created a cult of personality like Michael Jordan, except he's in no way as talented as Jordan. He's a good-looking guy, single-handedly propelled the word "metrosexual" into Western culture (for better or worse), and has played soccer for two of the most popular teams in the world - Manchester United and Real Madrid - on top of being the English national team captain for six years. He has one of the best right foots ever, but his talent has always been overshadowed by his curious on-field behavior (getting red carded in a WC game, disappearing on the field for long periods of time), hogging paparazzi cameras with Posh Spice, his haircut, and the fact his voice is as soft as Mike Tyson's.

And despite all of these negative things, I can't help but like the guy. He's more like Alex Rodriguez than anyone else. They both try to live up to the hype that they created and are way too sensitive to the attention they welcomed. Both play team games where they rely on their teammates for success as much as the team relies on them. I know I pay attention when they're playing because of the sideshow that accompanies them, and they can never get that storybook ending that they really need to keep the criticism away.

(On a side note, their teams' main rivals parallel each other to a certain extent. Both of the rival teamsk, FC Barcelona and the Boston Red Sox, are always second fiddle and always HUGE spenders. In the case of Barcelona and Madrid, the political history of the two teams, and of Spain, is what fuels the rivalry. The Red Sox selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1919 doesn't really compete with the Catalan culture being viciously repressed for 30 years. Barca has also won multiple La Liga and UEFA titles, but they still are considered second best, like the Red Sox in the AL East. In addition, Boston and Barcelona are always more interesting than either Madrid or the Yankees. The players are more fun to watch (Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Messi, Big Papi, and Manny vs. Beckham, Raul, Ronaldo, Giambi, and Jeter? No contest there in the charisma battle.), and the teams are always the underdogs.)

Despite Beckham being rich beyond belief playing a game, he has lost a couple steps and his skill level (not too high to begin with) is slipping. He won't remain at this high level for too long. And if he's anything like A-Rod, he'll never be good enough, but I'll still be rubbernecking and watching their games.

PC - Don't Know Much About The French I Took

I have a couple of funny stories - well, a kind of amusing anecdote - from my one year of French my freshman year at Wooster. I can't tell one of them for various reasons, but here's another:

After struggling through another Ms. Binkley class (I think that was her name) on a nice, sunny day in the spring, she let the class go. Not really knowing French, I thought the class was over. The whole class walked the same way out of Kauke, and I headed back to my room in Douglass. Now, usually there are a few people from my class walking in my general vicinity going in the same general direction when class is over. This time I don't see a single person. Strange, I thought. I was almost at the Ebert parking lot, and I start thinking, "oh crap", and I turn around. The entire class is sitting on the stairs of Kauke staring at me, and I can hear Ms. Binkley asking in English where I was going. Aaaaaargh. I should have kept going, but I made a walk of shame back to Kauke, which officially cemented my frustration with the French language.

---------------------------------------

Some non-French things....

* Good article by Tom Friend from ESPN the Magazine about his phone conversation with Maurice Clarett a couple hours before the Mahoning Valley Hitmen star was arrested.

* The Al Harrington deal is never going to get done. If anyone cared about the Hawks, this would be a saga of epic proportions. I just think Harrington hired Tellem in order to smooth out the eventual deal with the Pacers.

* It's all ESPN all the time in this section, but we find out that Donald Sterling has a history of racism and the Cubs are screwing their fans by scalping their own tickets.

* Okay, I'm done with my Buster Olney impersonation (another ESPN reference!), time for Baseball Tonight!

When You Were Young

The new Killers song "When You Were Young", being played constantly on my itunes, the XM radio station on at the gym, and 99x here in Atlanta, is a continuation of a theme that has been present in rock songs for decades: A woman, young and sometimes of questionable character lamenting the romantic decisions she has made in her life. "When You Were Young" begins:

You sit there in your heartache
Waiting on some beautiful boy to
To save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now - here he comes

He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But he talks like a gentlemen
Like you imagined when you were young

Okay, the Jesus thing makes the point of the song a little obvious and almost too heavy-handed, but it places the main character (not the Messiah) in a place of self-reflection and loss.

This theme is revisited constantly. "American Girl" by Tom Petty, for example. Tom Petty has made a career on nostalgic songs about the past, and this is one of his best known examples:

She couldnt help thinkin that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to...

And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God its so painful
Something thats so close
And still so far out of reach

What makes these songs so good and believable is that the singers seem to understand completely what the characters are going through. It could easily be them reflecting on their lives. In fact, it is rumored that "Maria", the reoccuring character in Counting Crows songs, is the lead singer writing about himself. Maybe that's what makes these songs so successful. The themes of love, loss, and living with your decisions affect everyone, and the lyrics are vague enough to be inclusive to anyone.


The Killers and Tom Petty songs are just a couple examples of this kind of song, and they happen to be on the more nostalgic and least bitter part of the spectrum. A sub-genre of this sub-genre is the young actress that loses herself in Hollywood that the male singer can't seem to stop from wrecking herself. Another sub-genre is a more depressing one occupied by songs like "Better Man" by Pearl Jam, where the protagonist is stuck in a dead end life and can't get out.

These definitely aren't the more uplifting songs, but the nostalgia and conflict give them a depth and longevity (we'll have to see about The Killers' song, it was just released) that is lacking in a lot of what's played on the radio.

Coldplay in Four Minutes or Less

After a nice visit from one Ms. Jessica Jane King as she swung through Atlanta earlier this afternoon, here are some ramblings...

* The eventual trades of Andruw Jones and Al Harrington are going to be the most important trades in Atlanta professional sports for at least the next 5-10 years. The Harrington trade has been talked about since the beginning of last season since Billy King, the Hawks' GM, has decided that he should only draft 6'8" forwards. Trading Al is going to be what makes or breaks the franchise (and Billy King's job) because the Hawks have turned into a laughingstock and need to get their act together. The building of a core group of players that could become successful (Josh Smith, Marvin Williams, Josh Childress, and Zaza Pachulia... I'm pretending Shelden Williams doesn't exist) is culminating with the sign-and-trade of Harrington, if it ever gets done.

Also, don't get me started on the Braves and Andruw Jones. No matter how offended Andruw Jones might be because of all the trade talk, the writing's on the wall. With Scott Boras as his agent and the Braves deciding to run their team on the cheap, there's no way the Braves can keep Andruw past next season. It makes sense to trade him. However, if you're going to trade Andruw and get rid of his salaray, what about Hampton's awful contract, Chipper, Smoltz, and Tim Hudson? How can the Braves really rebuild if they don't totally break down the franchise and start over a la the Marlins?

* One more Hawks note, it'll be the last of this entry, I promise. In the new ESPN the Magazine, Bill Simmons says the NBA should merge the Sonics and Hawks into one team, move them to Nevada, and call them the Las Vegas Dice. You know, I really wouldn't have a problem with that.

* I've been watching Psych, a new show on USA. It's a pretty entertaining show, mainly for the chemistry between the two co-stars, Zach Braff Lite and Charlie from West Wing. The hot female detective (don't worry, it's just her IMDb page) doesn't hurt either, especially when it overshadows the flimsy plots. The funniest part of the show is during the credits when ZBL and Charlie sing some random song, including "Electric Avenue" and "Man in the Mirror". They're posted on the show's USA webpage.

* Stringer Bell on HBO's The Wire is probably the coolest character on TV next to Tony Soprano, surpassing Jack Bauer because Jack is too ridiculous to take seriously anymore. I feel sorry for all those Chinese people on that boat in the new 24 season.

* There are a couple of blatant U2 guitar ripoffs on the radio right now. The funniest part about it is that each mimics a different Edge era. The first is the plain awful "The Adventure" by Angels & Airwaves, the new band from one of the Blink-182 guys (the guitar player). The U2 era? The Joshua Tree, specifically "Where The Streets Have No Name". The second is the very good "Is It Any Wonder?" by Keane. Keane sound like Coldplay if Chris Martin could write a song under 4 minutes. The U2 era in this one? Achtung Baby, and a combo of "Zoo Station", "Even Better Than The Real Thing", and "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?". "Somewhere Only We Know" shot up my most played list on my old itunes (The hard drive crashed in February. Luckily, I only lost a page of IS.), and now "Is It Any Wonder?" is moving up my new one in record time.

PC - A Little More Conversation, A Little More Action

Okay, I lied, my next Peace Corps-related entry is not going to be after I get my invitation. It's going to be now.

I got a call from a placement officer Wednesday afternoon (August 2), played a nice little game of phone tag, and finally talked to her while driving down to Atlanta that evening to take my final. It was nice to finally talk to someone instead of obsessively checking my email forty times a day. Here's how the conversation went as I drove down I-75 like Ricky Bobby:

She wanted a little more information from my resume, which, she informed me, is the most important item in determining what I will be doing. This obviously makes sense, but I think I sent in a pretty crappy resume back in February. I keep it updated because I'm cool like that, but I don't think it does justice to how incredible I am.

Okay, getting back on track... The most important thing I gleaned from our conversation was that I will most likely get my invitation in the next two weeks. I will then find out with the invitation that I'll either leave in September or sometime between January and March (PCVs usually get sent out in giant waves from June-September and January-March). And I will most likely be going to somewhere in Africa, that most likely being in North Africa.

I've been getting my hopes up for Latin America throughout the whole process to the point where I would think about going to Africa and get disappointed. HOWEVA (props Stephen A. - is your show still on tv, by the way?), now I'm getting more excited about the prospect of going there and getting more excited in general. I just have to readjust my brain to Africa and not Peru, even though Peru doesn't have a PC program. Looking on the bright side, I told Tom (not that annoying myspace guy) that North Africa isn't that far from Europe, in which he replied I won't get malaria in Europe. Thanks, buddy.

Anywho, it was nice to hear from the placement officer because it means they haven't forgot about me. It was also a fitting time to talk to her because as I was getting a better sense of my future, I was about to get the economic monkey off my back and close that chapter of my life.

*rolls eyes*

After a long and convoluted thought process while trying to fall asleep last night, I've concluded that there are three conversationial topics in a group situation where one can roll his or her eyes and act like a baby until the topic is changed: Weddings, Philosophy, and Fantasy Baseball.

These are subjects in which a person who isn't emotionally involved in could care less about (or in the case of the stereotypical bridegroom I see on TV, not involved at all). Now, weddings and fantasy baseball are both understandable topics to veer into when surrounded by like-minded individuals at the lunch table. Both involve various specific minutiae that take on mammoth importance to the participants, like flower arrangements, bridesmaid dresses, and on-base percentage.

Philosophy, on the other hand, screams pretentiousness and not at all pressing when compared to the biggest day of your life and your wedding day. The self-importance of the philosophers sometimes deserves a punch in the face to spare everyone else (Unless you're at a table full of philsophers. If so, go crazy with your ethics.). Yes, the non-existence of time is a cool thing to think about. And, yes, I'm just bitter that I could've gotten an honors on my IS if I majored in philosophy and avoided macroeconomics. But it's even more exclusive than talk of dress shopping and Chris Capuano's strikeout-walk ratio (4-1, by the way).