Author: King Tom

The End is Near!

So today while walking home, I was quite alarmed upon seeing the following:

My first reaction was thinking we were on the precipice of the armageddon.  But after coming to my senses, I realized they’re trying to move some digital TV boxes to the remaining 2 percent of the American populace who aren’t ready for the transition.

Back in 1994, Michael Moore’s Michael Moore’s TV Nation (back when he was entertaining) had an episode where he featured crackpot groups that believed the end days were near.  One group predicted the world would end on September 15 (my birthday) of that year.  I was quite relieved that morning to wake up in my bed, rather than a flaming inferno.  Of course, later that morning, I read that Major League Baseball cancelled the World Series was cancelled, so maybe in a way, the crackpots were right.

Anyway, it’s a relief that CVS sign isn’t advertising the apocalypse. I’m not ready for the end of the world yet.

King Tom2 Comments

I Guess They Don't Get Out That Often

Today, The Civee and I took a mini-road trip to Northwest Ohio. For dinner, we stopped in the city of Bowling Green to eat at a place I’ve eaten a few times before, Samb’s.  While not anything I’d call fancy, it’s a nice quiet place with a varied menu and real good food.

Near our table there was a party of five and unforutnately, The Civee and I heard more of their conversation than we wanted to.  Two of the five were loud talkers,  with most of their comments echoing a common theme.  See if you can pick up on what it was, judging by these choice quotes:

No salad bar? You should see the salad stuff they have at the Golden Corral.

The Golden Corral doesn’t have this much seafood at their buffet.

We don’t have to wait this long for our food at the Golden Corral. (the wait really wasn’t that long.)

You get a bigger piece of meat at the Golden Corral.  (I had no problem with the portion size.)

There were a few other references along these lines.  But I’m guessing the loud talkers don’t really eat at non-buffet establishments all that often.  I”m just glad the food was good and I have a sense of humor.  Otherwise, something like that could have ruined my dinner.

King Tom2 Comments

The Wuggie: A Marketing Tie-In Gone Crazy

I’m as big a Weezer fan as there is out there, but I’m not so sure I can get behind their latest idea (if true).

Behold, Rivers Cuomo rocking the “Wuggie”:

Last week, Weezer played KROQ’s annual Weenie Roast, taking the stage atop a couch bedecked in custom Snuggies.  But Rolling Stone says that was just the beginning of a much more sinister plan:

Like the rest of America, he’s obsessed with the Snuggie. So much that his band is — no joke — planning their own line of sleeved blankets called Wuggies. Cuomo told Rolling Stone, “A Wuggie is basically exactly like a Snuggie, except it says Weezer on it. The people at Snuggie are doing it with us and promoting it with us. It’s a totally legit Snuggie.”

Part of me feels the band would be better off giving their attention to the mysterious Album Seven.  On the other hand, no one makes more fun of Rivers Cuomo than Rivers Cuomo, so as long as he’s having fun with it, why not?

King Tom2 Comments

The Incident and The Accident

Dude 1: You’re still trying to prove me wrong, aren’t you?

Dude 2: You are wrong.

Dude 1: They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt.  It always ends the same.

Dude 2: It only ends once. Anything that happens before that, it’s just progress.

And so began tonight’s episode of Lost, the final episode of Season 5, The Incident. If anyone has any idea what happened, I’d like to know.

I had to watch that opening scene of tonights episode more than once.  I felt like there were a lot of hints involved in the conversation between Jacob and the adversary.  Between that and all the flashbacks involving Jacob and characters we’ve known for a while, it almost felt like we were watching a different show.  And with the ambigious ending of tonight’s two-hour Lost extravaganza, we Lost fans are left wondering whether it will even be the same show that returns in February of 2010.  Not to mention we’re all stuck counting down the days for some answers.  I’m sure the creators of Lost wouldn’t have it any other way.

So Jacob’s been around a while. He lives under the statue (or as some might say, in the shadow of the statue).  He can leave the island at will and has healing powers.  Through various methods, he brings people to the island.  And he shares the island with the adversary who wants to kill him, but because of some nebulous agreement, can’t.  It’s hinted that the adversary doesn’t always appreciate Jacob’s bringing people to the island and has a low opinion of mere mortals.  But he’s more than happy to use them for his nefarious means.

Well, Jacob has brought these people to the island for a reason (the aforementioned progress).  How that fits in with the incident at the Swan site and all the other assorted happenings on the island is anyone’s guess.  One of the many things we’ll have to wait until next February for.

Continue reading “The Incident and The Accident” →

King Tom7 Comments

Beef Jerky Business Cards: Why American Inventors Rule

The airplane.  Baseball. The Internet.

These are just a few things among the many that the genius of American Inventors has given to the world.  And the hits just keep on coming. For example, MeatCards, business cards made out of beef jerky.  The people behind MeatCards use laser beams to etch information into a slab of beef jerky, turning it from a delicious piece of food into a delicious piece of food containing potentially useful (or non-useful, depending on what you do) business information.

Of course, the safety of eating laser-etched beef jerky may be debatable, as Jason Kincaid at TechCrunch found out:

I haven’t receieved my MeatCards yet, and thus have been unable to taste the goods for myself. But I have been assured that they should in theory be edible, albeit with a strange laser-burnt aftertaste. That said, the guys behind MeatCards seem to be interested in finding a way to mark the cards with “Do Not Eat” to make it clear that they don’t want you to eat them – it just opens them up to too many possible legal problems and regulations. But they can’t stop you from doing it.

It’s probably not just concerns over eating super-heated beef jerky.  Would you really want to eat a piece of jerky handed to you by someone who’s been carrying it around in his or her back pocket all day?

Regardless, I still think it’s a great idea.

King Tom

Follow[ing] The Leader May Not Be The Best Idea

Since coming back from the dead, John Locke hasn’t been quite right, and all signs pointed to him going off the deep end on tonight’s episode of Lost, Follow The Leader.

First of all, there’s the very fact that he came back from the dead, which seemingly goes against the laws of nature (which may or may not apply on Lost Island).   Secondly, he’s had a higher-than-usual rapport with the island- knowing what to do and where to go, and as we saw tonight, knowing exactly when he was.

And finally, tonight, we heard of Locke’s plan, which made me think he’s lost it. Continue reading “Follow[ing] The Leader May Not Be The Best Idea” →

King Tom5 Comments

Of Patsies, Overachieving Hitmen and a Wasted Supervillain

Let me say off the bat that Season 7 of 24 has been great. The show has redeemed itself from the waste that was Day 6.

That being said, I’m glad there are only a handful more episodes left, because I’m getting tired of these episodes, like tonight’s (4:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.), that are all plot setup with a minute or two of action tacked on at the end.

Continue reading “Of Patsies, Overachieving Hitmen and a Wasted Supervillain” →

King Tom3 Comments

100 Percent Chance of A Parade In Chicago

Up until this weekend, most of my knowledge of the City of Chicago came from two sources: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Fugitive.

Well, this weekend The Civee and I had a chance to expand that knowledge- we were invited to a birthday party for her sister Saturday held on one of the rooftops across the street from Wrigley Field.

We decided to head up there Saturday morning and return this (Sunday morning).  With the game starting at noon (Chicago time) we figured we’d have enough time to get to Chicago, park at the hotel and take “The L” up to Wrigley in time for the first pitch.  We hit Chicago at 11, and seemingly, our plan was looking pretty damn good.

We got off the highway and on to Columbus (the street our hotel was located on) and all of a sudden, we were greeted by hundreds of cars not moving.  Columbus, it turns out, was closed.

In the great tradition of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Fugitive, there was a parade in Chicago yesterday.  Not only did we have to seperate from the conglomeration of cars turning downtown Chi-town into a parking lot, we had to navigate to our hotel before we could carry out the rest of our plan.

Eventually, we managed to make our way to the hotel, but we pulled in the parking lot at 12:05 and our plan was shot to sunshine.  We did make it to Wrigley by the top of the third, which wasn’t that bad, considering we were set back an hour.

Still, I couldn’t get upset–the parade goers all had Polish flags, scarves, t-shirts and other paraphernalia.  Turns out it was the annual Polish Constitution Day Parade. As we sat in traffic, I actually considered ditching the ball game and joining my bretheren in celebration of the ratification of the world’s second-oldest democratic constitution.

But we had a ball game to go to.

The rooftop experience was fun. I wasn’t surprised that most of the people on the rooftop weren’t there to watch the game (especially with the free food and drinks).  It was nice to see former Yankees Ted Lilly (8 IP, 1ER, 10K) and Alfonso Soriano (2-5) have a good day.  It was even nicer to not get hassled for wearing a Yankees cap.

After the game, the Civee and I got back on the L and walked around the city a bit.  It was fun and we’d like to go back sometime for more than just a day.

If we do, our experience (and the movies) have taught us there will be a parade that day.

King Tom1 Comment