Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Almost Schmidt
Saturday
January 18, 2003
"You know you're bored when you search eBay for lip gloss"
-My sister Mary Beth, on the phone yesterday, snowed out from school in Nashville
"A woman warm and willing is what I'm looking for
'Cause the whiskey ain't workin' anymore"
-Travis Tritt "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'"
On the phone with my friend Scott Massey this morning, I managed to screw up the title of the soon-to-be Academy Award nominated movie
About Schmidt, calling it instead "Almost Schmidt". That lead to Scott joking that the sub-title would be "The Scott Rolen Story", which I suspect maybe 10% of the readers here would understand (see, Rolen played third base for the
Philadelphia Phillies until he was traded in 2002 to St. Louis; 3B is also a position that Hall of Famer
Mike Schmidt played during his career in Philadelphia). Scott then asked how I liked the movie "About Famous" (not to be confused with
Almost Famous). Better that than misunderstanding
Gangs of New York as "Gays of New York" (which sounds like one of those porn movie spoof titles). Of course Scott then one-upped that with "Gangbangs of New York". It's always fun to see what crazy paths our conversations take.
Scott also pointed out something I mentioned independently while at home over Christmas about how disgusting it is that Wrangler uses the song "Fortunate Son" by CCR in a commercial. What's disgusting about it is that the original meaning of the song is stripped away (it's a Vietnam protest song) and it's bastardized into a flag-waving pro-America song. I love America and feel those of us who live here should love our country. But to twist a song around to obtain the exact opposite effect originally intended -- that is truly stealing music. Forget P2P and Kazaa and all that.
I'm pulling for the new ABC show Jimmy Kimmel Live to do well. With
Bill Simmons working on it as a writer, along with the likes of Adam Corolla, the show has everything it needs to make it. Let's hope ABC gives it every chance to succeed.
Last night was off the chain. Craziness abounded. It was an apartment party night, but instead of the usual beer I was drinking the Crown Royal that my friend James brought. Talk about generous, he put the whiskey on the table and let everyone have some. Good times. Ended up at a place called Kahunaville, a fun club down at International Plaza. We were watching the first ever matchup betweeen Shaquille O'Neal and Yao Ming, which was fascinating. Yao hurt his hand, but before that happened he blocked Shaq on his first three shot attempts. Unreal. It's like the "Predator" character I created in
NBA Street (who ended up looking like an overgrown Fred Durst), where you're like "No way he just blocked Shaq again!" Only this was real life (no big head mode needed). Anyway, the Crown and 7 and Jager made me decide that betting $20 a free throw was a good idea. James and I ended up at even, but I liked the odds of betting against Shaq at the free throw line (I won the cash back by wagering on Houston's free throws). My left hand has a small bruise today from where I was hitting the rock ledge thing in amazement at the game. Definitely the most fun I've had watching an NBA game since the
Mavericks/Kings series in the 2002 Playoffs.
New Orleans is looking like a firm go for mid-March. I love that city. Most of the FFL crew is heading down there; I mailed out the story from this past August to perhaps convince a few people on the fence to take the leap and head out for it. It's after Mardi Gras, but it falls during several schools' spring breaks. Advantage: us.
Things are looking better for staying in Tampa. When I can elaborate, I will.
Time to scrounge up something to eat. Tonight's wide open, though I plan on taking it much easier than last night... Though on a Saturday night in Ybor, you just never know.
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