Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The Thrill Of Victory and The Agony Of.....


wait a minute, there is NO AGONY!!

Just in case anyone did not know already, mikeandtim's Fightin' Texas Aggies defeated our archrival ultimate nemesis the texas longhorns, 12-7 last Friday.

It may not have been the prettiest win, but it was a win nonetheless.

Stephen McGee= greatness.
Jorvorskie Lane= the man
Mike Goodson= faster than wind
Martellus Bennett= hands like bear trap (that's a good thing)

The best part?

3 of them are sophomores and 1 is a FRESHMAN!

If our defense continues to play like this through the bowl game and into next year, and Stephen McGee develops a passing game... oh man. Too great to think about.

The only potential downside? Fran is staying. Gross. At least he recruited some decent talent.

But for now we will revel in the beauty of this victory, and the sustaining of a bitter rivalry.

National Champs 2008? Anybody, anybody?

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

the art of the penguin

we here at mikeandtimblog.blogspot.com (soon to be www.mikeandtim.com) are very much interested in the science and psychology of the penguin. not necessarily the penguin as you know it, but the penguin as we have defined. i think there is a post somewhere back in the archives that outlines personality traits and the behavior of human penguins. regardless, here is a sketch i did of a penguin recently...i have been doing quite a few sketches, maybe one per day. most of these are of animals. i am pretty sure that these were influenced by my appreciation for the Far Side comic, although i do not pretend to be even in the same time zone as the genius of Gary Larson. that dude was genius. anyway, perhaps i will start some penguin cartoons though based on work experiences. not a bad idea. if nothing else, i will do it to keep myself amused, which was the whole point of starting a blog to begin with.

Monday, November 20, 2006

why i like the moby

because he does simple little drawings like the one above. i can relate to this. anyone who knows me and my penchant for stick figure art should understand that even if moby's music was terrible i would probably still like him for his little artwork alone. this is good stuff. his pictures capture emotions in their simplicity. the disco teeny man pictured above is on his own little planet with surrounding planets of speakers and mirrorball. good stuff, i applaud you mr. moby. and as a teaser for our readers, i will post some original stick figure art tomorrow from a few recent sketches. get excited.

The Hip-Hopalypse

In case anyone doesn't know- I hate the term "hip-hop". Very few "artists" even come near the label, the best example of the genre being Lauryn Hill's "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill". But it works well as a terrible pun on "apocalypse". Anyway...

Both Diddy and Jay-Z have managed to use the SAME SAMPLE in songs on their most recent albums. (LINK HERE) This may seem cute to some...

"Ahhhh... Diddy and Jay-Z used the same sample... ahhhhh" - read again using cute baby voice

This may be the ultimate example of why modern rap sucks. (I refuse to use "hip-hop" anymore) At least at one point rappers were talking about their Hoods (neighborhoods), their dreams, the girls they wanted to be with, etc. When you look at alot of these artists- Boogie Down Productions, The Sugarhill Gang, Run DMC, etc- they used ORIGINAL music.

This is astounding by modern rap album standards. Out of the billions of recorded sounds and out of the literally infinite possibilities that exist in music, two HUGE "artists" end up using the same sample? This is absolutely awful.

Take some of your money and invest it in music lessons. Maybe even take some kids off the streets making their own beats and use them. Sell your music as art don't sell it as a part of your personal product line. This makes me so mad I want to buy both albums and defecate on them. I may do that. These kinds of coincidences show how ridiculous two (2) things are:

1- The Terrible State of Rap Music in Modern America

2- The Terrible State of Consumers of Rap Music (who will buy anything that is put out by a platinum "artist")

My note to America: Demand more than this crap from lazy multi-millionaires.

Friday, November 17, 2006

November Playlist


We haven't posted much about music lately, so we figured we would give you the mikeandtimblog.blogspot.com picks for good November music. See if you can determine who chose which song:

"Fa Fa" - Guster
"Stickshifts and Safetybelts" - Cake
"Heartland" - U2
"A Rush Of Blood To The Head" - Coldplay
"This Years Love" - David Gray
"Honey Bee" - Tom Petty
"Hey Hey My My" - Neil Young
"The Bends" - Radiohead
"Dreaming With Tears In My Eyes" - Bono
"He Lays In The Reins" - Calexico w/ Iron & Wine
"One Of These Mornings" - Moby
"Xmas Curtain" - My Morning Jacket

and of course....

"November Rain" - Guns N' Roses

Listening to this selection of songs is sure to put you in a quality "November Mood". Enjoy!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Sea Lion & Swimming San Franciscans

I don't know if we have ever just had a blog where it was a direct link to a news article, but this one made my day. Yes, it's kind of lazy- but I am sure many of you tire of my diatribes anyway.

How dumb are people?


Seriously. Very funny to me. Just read the headline about 4 or 5 times to yourself. Just great.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Bob Knight and Iraq

Bob Knight "slapped" a player in the face to get his attention during a game this past weekend.

This normally would be something I would just let slide, but I think all the hub-bub* shows the incident to be reflective of America in general.

I just want to make a few points:

1- Bob Knight is a very successful basketball coach- one of the greatest college coaches of all-time.

2- Bob Knight has a history of being very intense, borderline crazy, and extremely vocal.

3- Even the casual sports fan knows the these things well- it is no surprise when you hear something newly controversial about Bob Knight, but most people write it off as "Knight being Knight".

4- EVERY player recruited by Knight is absolutely familiar with his greatest hits: Throwing chairs, choking players, being ejected.... on and on.

5- This is perhaps the most important- He is consistent. He acts the same with every player in every situation. He is universally crazy and critical.

Bob Knight is like many successful people in sports: He thrives on competition. Without competition, he would be bored to death. He loves proper execution of play, he loves victory, he loves success- and he will act in the way that he is accustomed to being best in achieving these results.

So if you mess up... if you lose your focus on the court and make a mistake and Bobby Knight gives you a quick little smack on the cheek- you expect it. You know what you signed up for- playing basketball under Bob Knight- whether at Indiana in the past or Texas Tech presently.

This is America's problem with the war in Iraq presently. We know what we signed up for, but we (Democrats) are looking for a way out. We want success, but we don't want to face the consequences along the way. And when we face difficulty or when we are reprimanded, we accuse the reprimander rather than fault ourselves for failure. We must realize that we signed up for World Superpower, and not go running or crying anytime someone gives us a slap in the face. This is how Bob Knight is related to war strategy in Iraq.

Weekend Update



Yes, I know it's Tuesday.

A fun-filled weekend was had by all, here is a list of events:

-Gathering of Dexter Alumni and Friends at the Dixie Chicken. My brother was skilled (lucky) enough to best me in dominoes 7-6, 7-6.

-Our gathering soon turned to Fitzwilly's, where the Cowboy's Choice was the favorite meal. Camille Greene was sadly not present, but she is on the "difficult" list of mikeandtimblog.blogspot.com as of this writing.

-An epic North/South battle was had at Duddley's. I'm not sure which side was victorious- but the battle was epic nonetheless.

-THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BEAST CONVENED! THIS IS A SEMI-DECADEL, QUARTER-SCORE AFFAIR. A REVISED BEAST LIST WILL BE POSTED SOON.

-The Aggies ran out of time against Nebraska in an entertaining affair.

-A quality dinner at Koppe Bridge was had. The best part? The introduction of Miss Chelsea "Burbach"- her coronation will follow in time.

-An evening of tomfoolery on Northgate. The shark dance is alive and well at Midnight Rodeo. (Shadow Canyon)

-After a collective 14 hours of sleep over 4 days, andTim began falling asleep shy of Lafayette on his return trip home. He pulled over for a "nap" at 9 pm, and woke up at 8 am the next morning.

-If there are any questions or need for clarification you may always e-mail us at mikeandtim@gmail.com. Thank you.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Official 2006 Christmas Lists

For some reason I thought it might be interesting/funny to see what Mike and I want for Christmas this year. If you feel compelled to buy us gifts for any reason, please do not choose from this list. These are actual practical gifts that family may buy us. Instead I will offer three (3) optional mikeandtimblog.blogspot.com gifts that can be given to either of us or both. These lists were composed entirely independent of one another.

Mike

-Texas Rangers cap
-Damien Rice "9" cd
-Garage Floor coating (Rustoleum epoxy shield)
-1 set of elixir medium/light guitar strings
-Circular saw
-Bottle of Pinot Noir
-black dress shoes from Johnston & Murphy
-weight bench with bar and weights
-small checkbook-sized bible
-fishing rod and reel
-shelves for garage
-book on the Great Depression


andTim

-Makita 4340FCT Jig Saw
-One (1) pair of gray Kenneth Cole Slacks
-MSR Whisperlite Internationale Backpacking Stove
-Synthetic Running Socks
-Doc Martens Black 10-eyelet "Smooth" boots
-Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Extended Version)
-CO2 powered portable bike pump
-Tall Bookshelf from Ikea

And 3 more.....

Option 1- MikeandTim "Rockstar" Package
-Includes Paul Reed Smith Guitar and Marshall Amplification
musiciansfriend.com








Option 2
- MikeandTim "Air Transportation" Package
-Includes Gulfstream G550 Jet and Free Fuel for 1 year
gulfstream.com








Option 3- MikeandTim "Ground Transportation" Package
-Includes two (2) Ferrari 599GTB's
(Please note- when purchasing automobiles, the appropriate colors are red for andtim and black for mike. Thank you for your cooperation.)
ferrariusa.com








Monday, November 06, 2006

Fire Fran!


Mikeandtim have many things in common, as well as many different opinions. This however is unanimous (as much as unanimity can exist amongst two (2) people)- The Texas A&M Aggies need to fire Coach Dennis Franchione.

The Aggies lost 17-16 to the Oklahoma Sooners this past weekend in a game where the following took place: The Aggies were down 17-10 with less than 8 minutes left in the fourth (4th) quarter. Seven (7) points. Touchdown + Extra point. We have the ball on the Oklahoma 2-yd. line and we have the best short yardage-touchdown scoring fullback in ALL OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL. 3rd and Goal.

We throw a pass. A PASS. I would bet my genitalia that Jorvorskie Lane scores on either 3rd or 4th down from the 2-yard line. This would have tied the game. Worst case scenario? He gets stopped twice, and Oklahoma gets the ball virtually on THEIR goal line. Our defense was playing great during the second half, as Oklahoma was forced to throw the ball- which they suck at. This would have practically insured another, and better, shot at the end zone- which would have been okay.

Well- as if that wasn't bad enough, we get the ball to the Oklahoma 22-yd line with about 3:30 left in the game and are faced with about 4th and 4 yards. We are LOSING 17-13. A FIELD GOAL is only worth THREE (3) POINTS. I may be an Aggie, but I know enough math to realize that YET ANOTHER FIELD GOAL WILL STILL HAVE US BEHIND BY ONE (1) POINT! What does Fran do? KICKS ANOTHER FIELD GOAL. This is painful to me. I hate playing for the field goal. Make them beat us. Giving a top-25 team the football with roughly 3 minutes left and the lead is stupid. Go for the victory! Every single Aggie fan would have preferred that Franchione went for it on 3rd and 2 or 4th and 2 with J-Lane earlier, and every Aggie fan wanted Franchione to go for it on 4th and 4 from the 22. HAVE SOME MALE GENITALIA FRAN!

All in all, I was not disheartened by the loss- OU is a good football team that was ranked higher than we were. We played well. I was disheartened by the MANNER in which we lost. If you are going to lose- do so in a brilliant manner. Go out with a fight. A field goal is not a fight- I don't care what anyone says. Do so by GOING FOR IT. Go for it all. Go for the victory. Losing 17-10 or 20-10 or 24-10 is just the same as losing 17-16, because it is still a LOSS. Therefore- given his track record and this opportunity... Mikeandtimblog.blogspot.com's position is official: FIRE FRAN.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Black Jesus and Modern American Racism



Hello readers. Just wanted to say hi. I'm actually in a good mood as I launch into this... again, bear with me.

One of the more interesting aspects of my recent move to Baton Rouge is exposure to new talk radio stations. Namely, WIBR 1300 AM. It is decidedly focused on catering to a Black audience, as there is a large population of Black people in Baton Rouge. I hate using the term "African-American" because I think it is pointless. Most Black Americans are at least 6-7 generations removed from their African ancestors. I probably have more right to call myself "French-American" or "British-American"... but who cares? Be who you are today, not what your ancestors were 150 years ago. It doesn't do anyone any good to wallow in the victim mindset that festers from Liberalism.

Well... one of the featured hosts is a nationally syndicated host named Michael Eric Dyson (MED or Dr. Dyson). I had seen him before on Bill Maher's show, so when I heard him on the radio I knew I had to pay attention. (My favorite part of both his and Al Sharpton's shows are the use of the terms "brother" and "sister" in addressing one another. Somehow "Brother andTim" just doesn't roll off the tongue right. Go figure.)

Dr. Dyson brought forth the topic of Black Jesus, in short- the idea that Jesus could've been a black man. This was brought up through discussion of a new movie coming out called Color of the Cross, in which Jesus is depicted as a black man. Let me say this up front- it's probably a good flick and I hope to see it. I am all for positive artistic creativity. If this movie brings even one (1) person closer to God then it has served an inestimable worth.

But the idea that Jesus could have been black is stupid. It is EQUALLY as stupid to say Jesus was a white man. Jesus was a Jew, and probably looked more like Saddam Hussein than George Bush or George Foreman. In fact there was a good article several years ago in Popular Mechanics about this. I know, I know- this picture is pretty funny, but it makes you think. Sure, God could have made Jesus of any race he wanted- but there is nothing in the Bible to say that Jesus stood out as different.

Dr. Dyson posed the following question to his listeners "Is America Ready For A Black Jesus?". Which is a fair and interesting question- if approached objectively. (This isn't exactly a new question- look into Madonna's video archive for some quality Black Jesus action.) My problem? MED pushed the argument absurdly and let it become a race issue. I hate this. I don't think MED is a racist, but he is obsessed with race- which is as superficial a topic as any that Paris Hilton has dared to debutantely diatribe about.

The vast majority of callers on his show are black and most of them gave predictable responses. "Yes, America can handle it....", "No America can't handle it...". UNTIL- one guy took the andTim, and dare I say- reasonable human being position that Jesus probably is misrepresented by anything short of a likeness to the PM picture of him. At this point Dr. Dyson couldn't take it. Who was this fellow black brother on HIS show asserting that the idea of a Black Jesus was misguided from the start? (At least historically- artistically, anything goes of course.) At this point Dr. Dyson did everything he could to say that Jesus was at the LEAST a man of COLOR! This flat pissed me off. WHAT AM I? Do I get nothing? I can't even be WHITE? What am I... CLEAR? I don't get to have pride in ANY color? I just could not believe that MED was lumping people together by SHADES of skin. He had drawn a line... and that line was White People vs. Everyone Else. (I wonder what he would say about Asian cultures, Filipinos, etc.) Maybe if I go to Planet Beach 3 times a month, I can be part of Dr. Dyson's elite group of Colored people. And here I am thinking that "colored" was an antiquated racist term... I guess we'll just group that in with the "N" word as stupid things that persist in American culture.

To conclude- The iconography of Christ can be traced back thousands of years. Most of the recent "White" images of Jesus came from the Renaissance, etc- where the majority of artists were Anglos. I am sure that you can even go into some Black churches in America (I hate classifying people that way- and don't get me started on Black Fraternities and Sororities...) and see a picture of a White Jesus. My overall point: WHO CARES! To Dr. Dyson it must seem simple and convenient for me to say that.. I'm white. But for him to assert that Jesus was closer to Black than White is stupid. Just dumb. I'm not saying HE is dumb, but the idea is DUMB. And for those that listen to his show and allow themselves to be influenced, it does just a little bit more to divide the races in America. Multiply this out day-by-day and it becomes a chasm. Dr. Dyson- I don't want a chasm. I love my Black brothers and sisters the same as anyone, and I would love it if we could stop this divide. You have been given a powerful position as a radio host- use it responsibly.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

the halloween and the goat of no mercy

i have decided that it is not possible for an adult to look cool in a halloween costume. i am not suggesting that looking cool should be the goal, but there is no chance of doing so while wearing a spiderman costume large enough for a 6' 3" grown man. it looks terrible. it is pretty funny if both father and son wear matching costumes though.

my wife and i went to a halloween festival of sorts in the parking lot of a local church and there were a few interesting findings. the worst live band i have ever heard was there. even my wife, who is of average music conscience since she does not play a musical instrument of any kind, said it seemed that none of the people on stage were playing the same song even. that is pretty bad.

sure we saw our share of lil goblins, superheroes, and princesses, but the element that caught most of my attention was the petting zoo. one of the most traumatic experiences of my life was within the minimum security confines of a petting zoo. aside from nearly drowning in a hot tub circa age 3, it is up there on difficult childhood memories to overcome. you may say "but mike, get over it, how could it be that bad." my friends, let me tell you how.

i am unsure how old i was, or my exact location in the state of Pennsylvania, but what i am sure of is that i was attacked by an overly aggressive goat in a petting zoo when i was about 5 years old. i was old enough to run, but not old enough to run away from this demongoat that chased me in circles around a fenced in death trap. i ran and ran while this demon-goat chased me and issued no quarter to my arm flares and piercing screams. it is without question my least favorite animal, this goat. as it chased me it occasionally head butted my backside and i felt as if this goat was eventually going to eat me alive. i could not be more serious about my disgust for this wild man-eater. to this day, i hate the goat.