Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Parking Lot On I-4
Sunday
July 7, 2002
"What part of your memory is selective and tends to forget?
What with this distance it seems so obvious?"
-Alanis Morissette "Hands Clean"
Had a great time in Orlando last night. Always a good time hanging with my crew up there. Plus met some cool people who were friends with my friends Adam and Amanda and Gary, including Tonya (who threw the party we were at) and Steve and Joe. With Joe it's an interesting story -- he has a wife (named Melanie), but he lives with his girlfriend. And last night he was at the party.. with Melanie. The best part is that they're all cool with it. It's like the guy is Hugh Hefner or something. We asked him how he ended up with that setup, and he said he had no idea, it just kind of happened that way. Could you imagine trying to pull something like that off and actually have it work for a semi-long period of time? This is unprecedented territory, here. So hats off to Joe, even if he lucked into it, with making the most of a crazy situation.
The drive back today took a long, long, long time. For reasons unclear to me, Interstate 4 from Orlando down to the Disney area in Lake Buena Vista was a stop-and-go parking lot. Go 20 miles an hour, then stop. Repeat. It was funny, there was some dude in a Dale Earnhardt Jr. car (seriously, the car was made up to look like a street-legal double) and I'd pass him, he'd pass me, etc. Think I should take my Neon out on the track? Umm... no. But I had to find something to amuse me out there. Have to figure it's something to do with tourists and Independence Day weekend traffic, and maybe the rain, too. But there was no wreck or major road construction or anything like that to explain it. Strange.
The more I watch the tape of Mr. Show I borrowed from Scott Massey, the more amazed I am with the brilliance of the writing that show had. The "Marilyn Monster" pizza chain training video sketch is hysterical (especially where the manager issues a "red card" to a worker for mis-distributing a pizza). Hard to explain without you seeing it, but they are dead-on in so many ways. I talked with some people at the party last night about it, and they echoed my sentiments.
My bro Matt has me thinking of buying one of those Dex-Drive type devices that lets you download game files from the computer to the PlayStation 2. From his description of NCAA 2002 with the updated files, it's amazingly deep. Might have to make an investment in that along with the new NCAA 2003 whenever that comes out.
I've been trying to land the PS2 game Rez in bidding on eBay. From all indications, the game is intense, compelling, deep, and strikingly original. Wish me luck in the bidding.
I've had more hits than you might think on my page for... "Tampa Mafia". Probably because my FFL league page has the Tampa Bay Snipers (my team) and the West Lafayette Mafia (Rahul's squad). Is there some sort of organized crime element here that I'm not aware of? Strange, if not disturbing.
Ever wonder what Thanksgiving dinner is like at home for Venus and Serena Williams? "I beat you at this year's Wembledon finals." "Yeah, but I have more majors and more head-to-head wins." Seriously, that kind of showdown has to be challenging. Sibling competition, family pressure, oh and not to mention the entire world watching on as you try to show you're better at tennis than your sister. But, hey, they won the doubles title together (again). Hard to argue with that kind of success.
I've been trying to figure out what the Devil Rays could do to improve things. Besides spending alot of money, that is. Tropicana Field (that big dome in St. Pete) may be a bit antiseptic, though in comparison the Metrodome in Minneapolis is not only spirited, but one of the toughest places to play anywhere when those fans get riled up (see the 1987 and 1991 World Series for more evidence of that). I'd like to think a pennant chase might draw in the fans. But with no history, no standouts (save for Joe Kennedy) and a stadium in St. Petersburg, I think it'll take a winning team to bring fans. See the Bucs pre and post 1997 as a possible point of comparison (though they also had a new stadium to help with that... but I disgress).
I borrowed The Player from Adam (since he still has my Godfather I and II DVD's) -- I've heard good things, and I look forward to seeing how it is. Lyle Lovett Alert!!!! Yes, double-L is in the movie, but so is a pre-Shawshank Tim Robbins, and a whole host of others. So we'll see...
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