Where do I even start?
The war in Syria is in full swing and I find myself once again thinking “pseudo-treasonous” thoughts by backing the Assad Regime. Almost every Arab country that’s gone down this path: Egypt, Iraq, Libya is now being governed by the Muslim Brotherhood or a derivative thereof.
Is that an improvement over the secular dictatorships the people were living under? Continue reading
$3.25 in Canada!
When I was little, professional wrestling was tits. All I needed to make my life was a bag of Keebler’s Pizzaria’s Pizza Chips, my mish-mash collection of Ninja Turtles action figures, and a few fat hours of AWA Saturday morning wrestling… or NWA, or WWF. I wasn’t picky. I had my favorites in every federation.
The Hulkster was the greatest, but Sting wasn’t far behind. The Road Warriors could have probably stomped both of them to death, or at the very least, spiked them unapologetically with their Mad Max shoulder-pads.
My uncle Randy—who spent his days peddling wares to indigent folk at Avenue Rentals—used to tape all of the programs fit for viewing, and I’d come over on Saturday evenings and watch Nick Bockwinkel put Verne Gagne in a cross-face chicken-wing while I pored through stacks of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, gaping in terror at gore-rific photos of Abdullah the Butcher with a fork stuck in his head, or Bruiser Brody howling at an invisible nemesis in the sky, his forehead a travelogue of scar tissue and feigned insanity.
One night—years after my notions about the Ultimate Warrior’s true strength had been dispelled and crushed like so many skulls underneath a steel folding chair—I got drunk and ordered some vintage issues of Pro Wrestling Illustrated from eBay. Continue reading
With all the major game systems having been out for years now and Christmas months away, consumers are seeing video game prices drop to unprecedented lows…
That’s a win for gamers who wish to round out their collections, consumers looking to score some “cool dad” points, or anybody tired of watching the Royals lose on TV.
The newest generation of systems are optimized to work on HDTVs and feature high definition graphics and rich sound. Long gone are the days of static backgrounds and 8-bit sound effects. But a good video game is not about just being visually pleasing, it has to be fun to play and replay.
The Sony PS3 is probably the best system out there in terms of game selection and performance. The console also doubles as a Blu-Ray player, and costs only about $100 more than a standard, decent blu-ray player.
Here are three games under $25 to get you started. Continue reading
Hey, Montreal is truly like, “You ain’t in Kansas anymore!”
Oh, Canada – I was actually surprised that everyone speaks French here in Montreal. And that there are very few Americans up here, except for the ones that are attending the Montreal Comedy Festival.
It even looks like Europe here.
Lots of older buildings, clean. Last time I was in Canada I got stuck in Calgary in 1995 and was shooting a low budget movie, co starring Sonny Landham (48hrs / Pedator), Brian James (Blade Runner/ The Player) and Frank Stallone.
I played a lawyer. Continue reading
If you’ve ever been to St. Joseph, you know that there isn’t a whole hell of a lot going on. There’s the Glore Psychiatric Museum (which is really kind of neat), a bunch of chain restaurants, a downtown that had a bunch of money pumped into it a few years ago and a quiet suburban peace broken only occasionally by methamphetamine or booze fueled stabbings and shootings.
Given the Victorian architectural leanings and small-town quaintness, it’s a little like Independence—only with 1/10th of the aforementioned meth-fueled stabbings and shootings.
It also shares Kansas City’s summer weather—obviously—which makes it a bit of a strange place to hold football training camp. Football practice in 105 degree heat? YES PLEASE. Continue reading
Forget Broadway’s Spider-Man. Smack down Cirque du Soleil…
Cathy Rigby blows them all away, twisting and turning as she careens overhead in PETER PAN, now through Sunday at Starlight.
Those oohs and ahhhs– they were coming from the kiddies, to be sure. But more than a few of Ms Rigby’s fellow boomers had to be wondering– how the hell does she do that, six nights a week?
The national tour of PETER PAN starring Cathy Rigby is a muscular affair. Continue reading
Hey, Google. Nice work.
I realize part of marketing technology is creating buzz, and you’ve proven you’re good at that. Your Google Fiber internet and television products, introduced yesterday at a perky, applause-filled presentation here in Kansas City, sounds great, and are priced right. And you Google folks are all so handsome! But frankly, only about three in 10 of us are really, truly excited about your impending takeover of the Kansas City-area television and ISP market. Continue reading
The internet does not lie. Everything you have ever read on the Internet is completely and infallibly true.
Oprah Winfrey, Johnny Depp and Eminem all died in (separate) horrific car crashes.
Deep within the recesses of Richard Gere’s anus lives the ghost of a dead, declawed gerbil.
Clicking “like” on the picture of the kid with the harelip donates $10 to a surgery that will fix said harelip.
Nigeria’s got some money for you, asshole.
For better or worse, everything that the internet says about the recently opened soul-food/southern-cooking emporium Magnolia’s actually is pretty spot-on. Continue reading
Lately movies seem to be taking the brunt of the blame for acts of violence…
The latest example being of course, last weekend’s suburban shooting Denver incident that occurred at Cinemark’s Century 16 complex with the fingers being pointing at Warner Brothers’ THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.
It happened earlier this year when the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman went down in Florida. Continue reading
Hey, what can I say, it’s a good time to be in Lawrence as you can tell from my picks for the week.
Yep, us Lawrencianites are relishing the last few days until the college kids get back to town with their rap music and purple Mohawks and high top sneakers.
Get a grip on yourself, man. Go to east Lawrence on Friday and check out some art in the new/old warehouse district. There’s something like 6 galleries within one block, and there’s booze, art, food, and some bands. For the “official” schedule go here and check it: http://www.facebook.com/FFLawrence
Amelia Earhart would have been 115 years old this week. She disappeared in July 1937 near Howland Island, just north of the equator in the Pacific Ocean. A $2.2m expedition to find the wreckage failed to find proof of Ms Earhart’s fate via sonar and video. I spoke with some of her family members in Atchison and they said they are preparing for the possibility she might have died.
******* Continue reading
Dan Cathy: On God and Chicken
It started like this:
“Well, guilty as charged. We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”
–Dan Cathy, President & CEO, Chick-fil-A speaking to the Baptist Press earlier this month.
What many people read was:
“FUCK YOU, GAYS. YOU CAIN’T EAT NONE OF OUR CHICKEN SAMMICHES. GO BACK TO BEIN’ GAY AND LEAVE US ALL ALONE.”
-Dan Cathy, President, CEO, Jerk-Ass and Probable Homosexual, whispering sexily into his boyfriend Satan’s ear
So people reacted. Continue reading
When it comes to top notch local TV ads the honors go to NEBRASKA FURNITURE MART...
I don’t know who creates or shoots its spots, but I’ve never felt insulted by one. Month after month and season by season Nebraska’s commercials are themed to particular sales or holidays in eye popping, yet classy ways that blow away the competition. Continue reading
Turns out those Alamo Draft House dudes aren’t such tough guys after all…
The new signs are up on the former AMC Mainstreet theater downtown’s marquee announcing the switch to Alamo and the Texans have plenty of cool, new things and plans afoot to liven things – that is, up once this heatwave lets up and it’s safe to go outside again. Continue reading
French League 1 champions Montpellier Herault SC put a 3-0 beatdown on a depleted Sporting Kansas City squad Tuesday at LIVESTRONG.
KC’s lineup didn’t feature a single starter other than Julio Cesar who’s started a handful of games this season, but lately has been on bench warming duty. Graham Zusi, Aurelien Collin, and Jimmy Nielsen were in Philly for Wednesday night’s All-Star matchup with EPL giants Chelsea. So was coach Peter Vermes, leaving assistant Kerry Zavagnin at the helm against the French champs. Roger Espinoza is in London representing Honduras for the Olympics. Continue reading
So I’m driving home from work last week listening to 610 Sports…
And yes, they were talking about Penn State coach Joe Paterno and the Jerry Sandusky case.
And the big question was, WHY DID JOE COVER IT UP? Continue reading
At long last Kansas City PR dude Will Gregory is sporting a new set of wheels…
The reason: “A deer hit me in broad daylight,” Gregory says. “I was coming home from a kids soccer game in Lee’s Summit.”
How many points?
“Uh, I don’t think it had horns,” he says. “I was actually on the phone when it happened, but I wasn’t drinking. I was distracted when the deer plowed into my car but I stayed in my lane.”
So Gregory got sideswiped is his story?
The Power & Light Building in downtown Kansas City is under contract to a Minneapolis developer who wants to turn the historic building into more than 200 apartments. Great. Now I’ll have to park even farther away to get free parking for the Boat Show.
*******
The Royals rebuilding program is in high gear. In fact, several of the team’s starting pitchers at the beginning of the season will assist in converting the Power & Light building into apartments. Continue reading
Sporting Kansas City moved into second place in the Eastern Conference this weekend with a lackluster 0-0 draw at home against the lowly New England Revolution…
The one positive to take from this game: Sporting’s defense.
Jimmy Nielsen and the back four again came up huge, and are allowing the fewest goals in the league, with a .90 goals against average. Continue reading
So many dumb-dumbs, so little time…
It’s crazy out here, 104 degree heat, movie rampages, otherwise reasonable people saying completely unreasonable things.
Let’s start with Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel who said the following last week about disgraced Penn State football coach Joe Paterno‘s role in the Jerry Sandusky child abuse coverup: Continue reading
