Life in the Mind of a Modest Genius

NBA Top 50 All-Time (39 & 38)

#39 - Rip Hamilton
I screwed up when I was making my listings and accidentally had a #39 on the rankings twice.  It's not like I have some accounting firm audting ballots like the Oscars to check for these oversights.  That being said, Rip and Sheed have the fortuitous luck of sharing the #39 spot.  Very apropos considering they played on the same Detroit Pistons team during that new era Bad Boys championship run.  However, again totally unintentional that they are so close in proximity to each other on the list.

Once more I will be honest and admit this is another cat I did not think would do all that well in the NBA.  There are some players who have stellar college careers but are unable to transfer that success to the League.  Rip seemed to me like he would be one of them.  His frame was so tiny that I thought he would constantly get abused at the next level.  You would think that for as long as I've been following the NBA, I should have seen enough examples before Rip to know that that wouldn't be the case at all.

Hamilton was drafted 7th overall in 1999 and went to the lowly Wizards.  I don't know what it is about them, but they seem to have a penchant for wasting young talent there and then watch them blow up elsewhere.  That's what happened to Rip.  After three years with the Wizards, he got traded to the Pistons as part of a six player deal.  The Pistons definitely got the better end of it because out of all six players included in the deal, Rip is the only one worthy enough to make this list.

Rip's style of play has been a constant thorn for even the League's best defenders.  It's because he has that unbridled energy where he never stops moving while on the court.  Never.  Even without the ball he's always in motion as he is persistently trying to create scoring opportunities.  That's actually where that tiny frame comes in handy.  It allows him to get around so effortlessly and get thru and around picks and screens.  The 3-time All-Star was one of the biggest reasons the Pistons were able to raise the championship banner again in 2004.  Even in spite of that hideous face mask that he insists on wearing.

#38 - Latrell Sprewell
I would love to hear the true story of what really happened between Sprewell and then Golden State Warriors head coach P.J. Carlesimo.  Did the coach really do something unnecessary to provoke Spree or was it just a REAL bad day for Spree?  Whatever the case may be, I could personally care less.  I'm not holding the choking incident against Spree no matter what.  His game during the course of his entire career has been outstanding which is why I'm giving him a pass.  Plus, I don't really care for Carlesimo too much anyway.

What I remember most about Spree's early career pre-choke was how amazing the NBA Live video game portrayed his skills during the early 90s.  Even though the Warriors weren't a true Finals contender, you would be hard-pressed to pick a more efficient squad.  A young Spree and C-Webb would constantly carve up defenses on the video game just as they were able to do in real life.

For as great as Spree was a in his bald-headed youth, he only got progressively better post-choke once he went with his trademark cornrolls.  He landed with the Knicks in 1999 where he have 5 outstanding seasons.  He led them to the Finals in 2001, but they fell to the Spurs in 5 games despite Spree averaging 26 points a game.  It was always fun watching him in his prime during those years because he ran the court like a gazelle.  He made everyone else look like they were standing still.

Once he got with the Timberwolves in 2003, he helped provide that missing piece that Kevin Garnett needed to take the team to the next level.  Thanks to the Lakers, Minnesota didn't get to the Finals, but they got further than they every have before.  At 19 ppg, Spree was a huge reason why.  It's just too bad that it looks like Minnesota may have been the final stop for him.  He hasn't played in the League since 2005 even though he left still in good playing shape.  At least if that was how he had to go out, he had already left an indelible imprint on the League.  And even a neck or two.

The Funhouse

Yes, I know Halloween month is over so my scary movie reviews should cease and desist.  Or at least not be as frequent.  Well I still had two more Netflix carryovers to get out of the way and this was one of them.  There are actually still quite a few more from the genre in the queue.  However, I can now stagger them with regular movies to add more variety again.  I still had to go ahead and watch these two though so I can get them returned and get back in that normal flow.

 "The Funhouse" tells the story of four teenagers Amy (Elizabeth Berridge), Buzz (Cooper Huckabee), Richie (Miles Chapin) and Liz (Largo Woodruff) who travel to a carnival that has come to town to have some fun.  As the night begins to end, Liz comes up with the brilliant idea to spend the night in the funhouse.  They all agree and end up witnessing a deformed carnival worker (Wayne Doba) murder another carnie.  The four are discovered and are stalked one by one as they are locked inside the house of terror.

This should have been an ideal premise for a horror movie.  The funhouse (more commonly known as hte haunted house) in every carnival is always one of the creepiest places to be.  First of all, the carnies themselves look like they came straight from the place.  Then there is the interior itself with its janky looking creatures and devices that provide generic scares.  It seemed like the setting alone should have been a slam dunk for this to be a good horror film.

I've seen some movies get off to slow starts but this one was ridiculous.  It was nearly 45 minutes into the movie before there was any real action.  That was when the aforementioned murder took place.  Before then, we had to sit thru different useless interactions of the teenagers going to different parts of the carnival.  Were we really that patient with our horror films in the 80s?  Not that I can recall.  Had I seen this then, I would have been ticked that it took that long.  They're lucky I didn't turn it off altogether but I was in a generous mood.

That was just one of the problems that plagued this flick.  The other was the lack of effectiveness of the movie's main monster.  Even by 1981 standards, they did a terrible job of trying to make it look scary. It looked like they found a big monster mask and threw it on some random stunt guy to make to create their bad guy.  It didn't help that his hands were just as fake.  Major fail.

"The Funhouse" is another early 80s product where I should have known not to expect too much.  This was clearly an example where the dvd case of the movie provided much more hope for the flick than the movie could live up to.  You wouldn't think that would be the case though since it was directed by Tobe Hooper, the same man who gave us the classic "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".  Apparently he couldn't get lightning to strike twice.


My rating:  D+

NBA Top 50 All-Time (40 & 39)

#40 - Ron Artest
As we round out the bottom 10, we finally get to a cat who makes the list due in a large part to his defensive prowess.  He may be the first, but he certainly won't be the last.  You will see more even more familiar names as we progress.  Artest just so happens to be the modern day and currently most relevant version of of a defensive stopper.

Artest spent the first few years of his time in the League on a Chicago Bulls team that was still struggling to find a new identity in the wake of their championship years.  He was always known as being a little edgy, but hadn't really made an official name for himself.  It wasn't until he would later end up with the Indiana Pacers that he started getting the accolades he deserved.  For better and worse.  Artest learned in his first three years that he had a knack for locking up opponents by using a combination of physical intimidation and good old-fashioned trash talk.  It helped him get Defensive Player of the Year in his first year with Indiana.

The only problem with Ron-Ron's game is he would often let his temper get the best of him.  The most notable exception is the now infamous "Malice in the Palace" where a fight on the court with the Detroit Pistons would spilled  into the crowd.  It would eventually signify the end of his career with the Pacers as well as give him a stigmatism he would never be able to shake.  It still didn't change the fact that he was a terror for any opponent unfortunate enough to be his assignment.

Artest would eventually head to the Sacramento Kings for a couple of years then to the Houston Rockets for just before he would land with the Lakers this season.  I was SO hoping that he would go anywhere else but LA.   I enjoyed watching the two of them do battle against each other whenever they faced off on opposing sides.  But more than that, I didn't want to see Kobe getting any more help.  Now that Artest is a Kobe-era Laker, it's a moral imperative that I have to cheer against him.

#39 - Rasheed Wallace
It's funny how these match-ups in these two-for-one posts have been working out lately.  It seriously has been purely coincidence.  When I wa sculpting this list, I had no intentions to have guys with similar commonalities so close to each other.  Therefore, the fact that another renown short-fused baller shares this post is mere happenstance.

Wallace is another one of those guys that I didn't pay attention to for a good portion of his early career.  In fact, I can still remember his time as a UNC Tarheel and even then he seemed like your average versatile big man.  His one year with the then Washington Bullets during the '95-'96 season was nothing notable.  His subsequent run with the Portland Trailblazers was also indistinguishable to me until 2001 came around.  That was the year he would help lead the Blazers to an epic Western Conference Finals showdown with the Lakers.  The same one where they were up by 17 points going  into the fourth quarter of Game 7 and blew it.  That was SO aggravating.

Once Sheed got with the Pistons (after a brief stop with the Atlanta Hawks), he was cementing his legacy as a superstar.  He was just the integral piece the team needed to bring a championship back to the Motor City.  By the time he got to the Pistons, he had honed his game so much that he caused serious match-up problems.  He had the size of a center and the deadly range of a shooting guard.  Plus, he still had that penchant to start a little trouble.  He was like a more mobile "urban" version of a former Bad Boys players the 80s Pistons once had.

Sheed has calmed down quite a bit as he now leaves the scuffles and chippy shoulders to the younger cats.  It was still a little different watching him serve as peacemaker in a recent Boston Celtics preseason game.  It was even more different seeing him in that Celtics uniform.  Beantown probably won't be his last stop since he's made it a career of being a mercenary for hire; however, it would be nice if it was and he was able to go out on top.

Kansas City at Warp Speed

The last time I planned to make a quick trip to Kansas City to visit Mariah, things didn't work out quite the way I anticipated.  I ran into my normal weekend sickness brought on from eating the wrong food the previous evening.  That and the funding was lacking a little.  This time around, the stomach was fine but the funding was still an issue.  Nevertheless, I wasn't going to keep that from keeping my promise to go see my oldest.  It just meant that my visit would be a brief one.  Still, even a few hours with Mariah was worth it.

My road dude and I hit the trail early and arrived in KC around 11:37-ish.  There are few things better than seeing Mariah open that door with a huge smile on her face.  I couldn't wait to give her a hug and a big kiss.  It seemed like I hadn't seen her in forever when in reality it had only been a few months.  Just absorbing that moment of her glow was priceless.  It had me beaming before she cold even say a word.

We went to give the Dark Knight a much needed car wash while Mariah proceeded to fill me in with everything that had been going on with her.  None of it was trivial by any means.  It helped me to get a better understanding of what her current goals are and how she plans to reach them.  I couldn't help but be impressed with the strides she was making.  Not to mention how focused she was being with the direction she wants to go.  I have to make sure I can do whatever I can to help keep her on that track.

You KNOW the first stop on the list was Gates.  Although my budget was tight, I had already incorporated that trip in.  Afterall, we had to eat lunch.  I had been to Gates several times and that's the first time I ever noticed they don't have any time of kid's meal and/or menu.  G was wanting ribs so I had to get him some regular short-ends.  A plate I could usually finish myself.  He downed all but two without fail.  Mariah had their wings which I had always wanted to try but could never tear myself from getting due to the delactibility of their beef plates.  She seemed to enjoy them immensely so maybe I will deviate next time.  I certainly couldn't that trip because the beef sammich I got for myself had me more than full.

Obviously, the next stop was Popoo and Grandma's.  That's a necessity whenever I'm in KC.  It's also one of the few spots that I still know how to get to without having to mapquest it out.  I knew I would be catching them off guard and I didn't want to put Grandma out.  She always asks if we want anything to eat which is why I hit Gates first.  However, that didn't stop her from making some of her world famous sweet tea at the spur of the moment.  Best tea in the entire world.  I should have brought home a couple of jugs with me.

While we were there, some Heinz 57 dog came wandering into Grandma's backyard.  She informed me he was the neighbor's dog which the neighbor allowed to run loose  With a portion of his chain still attached to his collar.  She assured he wouldn't bite so I proceeded to attempt to befriend him by petting the little fellas.  He looked nice enough, but the minute I got my hand close enough, he sure did nip me.  That's when Grandma abruptly changed her stance and told me he would bite.  I couldn't help but laugh at how she offered the news so nonchalantly as if she had warned me from the beginning that I shouldn't mess with him.

Popoo enlightened me with a discussion on how home remedies took the place of hospitals back in the day.  It all started as we were talking about how his health was doing.  It progressed into him explaining how folks in his days used various plants from various trees to create teas that would serve as substitutes for vaccinations.  Apparently they were so effective that medical doctors started imitating it in the form of medicine that hospitals could disseminate.  It's always great to get a personal history lesson from Popoo.  He even reminded me that he gave it to me for free as his trademark smile slowly emerged. 

The reason why my time with Mariah had to be short was because she had to work that afternoon.  She has a part-time job at Panera Bread at the Legends Mall there in Kansas City.  Dropping her off there was my first time ever seeing the epic mall and it was quite impressive.  It was designed as if they were trying to combine the concept of an outdoors outlet mall with a regular one.  The gorgeous weather and the Halloween atmosphere they had going on that day made for some nice photo ops. 

It may have been only three hours there, but we squeezed in a lot in that small timeframe. Enough time to knock out another photo album:  Mariah in KC.  Even though it was a quick visit, it was still enough for me to cherish the quality time I got to spend with Mariah.  So much so that I look forward to returning to KC again very soon. 

The Haunting of Molly Hartley

My 31 Days of Horror Marathon ended up being a total bust.  It was bad enough that I didn't get in a horror movie every day.  I didn't even watch 31 of the genre in total for the entire month.  The goal is a lot more difficult to accomplish when one has a full-time job.  I at least tried to finish up strong by squeezing in two last Netflix horror picks and "The Huanting of Molly Hartley" that I saw coming on Starz.  Still haven't gotten to the Netflix ones, but at least I can scratch this one off now.

After surviving a near-fatal stab wound inflicted by her religious-zealot mother, Molly (Haley Bennett) and her father, Robert (Jake Weber) attempt to make a fresh start in a new town. Unfortunately, on top of making new friends and studying calculus, poor Molly also has to contend with horrific nightmares, chronic nosebleeds, and mysterious voices.  It turns out that Molly's parents made a deal with the devil when she was born, and they price that they paid was her immortal soul.

First off, the deal they made was a rather jacked up one.  They thought she was going to die so they make a deal that they would get to have her for 18 years of her life and then she belonged to "them"?  Who would make that type of arrangement?  If the baby was going to die then it was God's will and she was meant to go.  That would still be much better than to live with her 18 years only to know that entire time that she'll belong to Satan after that.  Is that really wanting what's best for your daughter? 

Everytime I see a movie with the Faustian premise like this one, I keep thinking about a scene in "Bedazzled". Elliot is all disheartened because he's lost his soul to the devil.  An angel in disguise explains to Elliot that that isn't possible because it was never his to give.  Meaning it belonged to God all along.  It's a theory that you never see explored in horror films yet holds an extreme amount of truth to it.  It makes for a great theological discussion, but doesn't translate so well into a scary picture.

Ironically enough, "The Haunting of Molly Hartley" didn't accomplish that either.  You would have thought  this movie was made in the 80s with all the triteness it had.  The scares they tried to provide were all predictable thanks to the music that foreshadowed them or the sudden camera change.  If I didn't know any better, I would say they did it on purpose in an effort to be self-parody.  However, it was clear that was not the case.  They were genuinely trying to make a horror film.

It also would have helped if the high school kids looked more like high school kids.  Chace Crawford and Bennett could probably pass, but that's not the case with AnnaLynne McCord.  She looks like she hasn't seen high school in a while.  Almost as obvious as the cast in "Grease".  I was honestly surprised when I looked her up and found she was only 22.  I could have sworn she was in her 30s.  I'm still not entirely convinced.  You know how several actresses like to lie about their age.

You're left feeling cheated by the time "The Haunting of Molly Hartley" reaches its finale.  It was more than just the fact that it was only 82 minutes long.  It also lacks so much originality that you already know what' going to happen with every supposed twist turn.  Now that I think about it, maybe being only 82 minutes was a blessing in disguise. 


My rating:  D+

NBA Top 50 All-Time (42 & 41)

#42 - James Worthy
The NBA recently started its regular season with one of the games being the Los Angeles Lakers taking on the Los Angeles Clippers.  Everyone knew it wouldn't be any type of a contest.  The only reason it was even televised was so they could show the ring ceremony for the Lakers.  The only reason I watched was to see the Lakers legends from yesteryear.  It was good to finally see some cats from when the Lakers were likable.  Especially James Worthy.

Big Game James was a huge reason that the Lakers were able to flourish in the Magic Johnson years.  Every guard needs that one small forward who can run the floor with them and be another threat that the defense dreads.  That was Worthy.  His slashing style of play became a format which several small forwards would emulate for years to come.  His tomahawk dunk was one that is still imitated to this day.

The funny thing about Worthy is he was a trendsetter in another way without even trying to be.  The Lakers ended up drafting him as the first pick overall because they won a coin flip victory against the then San Diego Clippers.  This happened just one year after winning the NBA Championship.  How could the World Champions possibly end up with the #1 pick with a lottery system in place, you ask?  Because there wasn't one yet in 1982.  The League instituted one after that incident to make sure something like that could not occur again.  Unfortunately for everyone else, it was done after Worthy already became a part of what would eventually be a legendary Lakers squad.

What I always admired about Worthy was he one of the last genuine cats out there to make sure his legacy remained pure.  What I mean about that is he was drafted by one team and remained with that entire team throughout the duration of his career.  When he retired, he stayed retired.  He was a seven-time All-Star and a three-time NBA champion.  He knew that his stats spoke for themselves so there was no need to play as a journeyman in his waning years.   He couldn't have been more right.

#41 - Tony Parker
I had slept on this cat for quite a while.  He was drafted in 2001 and was in the League for two years before he was even on my NBA radar.  The fact that he was drafted #28 is proof that I wasn't the only one who had slept on him though.  I just write about these cats as part-time entertainment.  The teams have scouts who are supposed to be finding talent like TP on the regular, yet they drafted dudes like Jeryl Sasser and Raul Lopez before Parker got on the board.

When those 2003 Playoffs hit, Parker showed out like it was nobody's business.  On paper, it seemed like a Shaq and Kobe driven Lakers squad would have little problem dismissing the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals.  The problem was they didn't have anyone that had the same feistiness that Parker had.  There wasn't a single guard on the Lakers roster who would penetrate as fearlessly as Parker could.  What was worse, they didn't have a single guard who could contain him either.

TP kept proving that his explosion in the 2003 Playoffs was no fluke.  Every year since then, he has continued to be in the top echelon of guards in the NBA.  He may not have the flash of a Marbury or the brashness of an AI, but he makes up for that by quietly putting daggers into the hearts of any and every team that takes him lightly.  He doesn't need to talk trash because his game does it all by itself.

More recently, Parker has gained recognition for his personal life accomplishments.  I guess some would consider marrying Eva Longoria an accomplishment.  All that really did was make him better known to folks who don't follow the NBA.  For those of us that do, we were already fully aware of Tony from his being a three-time World Champion, three-time NBA All-Star and even NBA Finals MVP in 2007.  Even if we didn't know who he was back in 2001.

Mr. Bungles

A Homecoming dance is supposed to be a memorable experience.  It's a young person's first opportunity to participate in a formal dance atmosphere.  More or less a practice run for when they eventually have their junior and/or senior proms.  Just ask all of the FB parents that have been flooding the updates the past few weeks with pics of their shorties going to their Homecomings.  It's supposed to be memorable in a good way.  Not the traumatizing experience that happened to a 15-year-old at Richmond High School in California.

By now, I'm sure most of you have already heard the story.  It's been plastered on the news pages for the past week.  A 15-year-old girl left her Homecoming dance with a "friend" and ended up getting gang-raped in an alley.  For over two and a half hours.  While up to 2o people stood there and watched.  Some of them even participating.

The story is disturbing on so many levels that I almost don't know where to start. Let's address the most obvious which was the blatant lack of security.  I've been reading on some other sites from people who are familiar with the area that it was rather hood-ish.  There was security but they were allowing folks on the school premises who weren't even students.  Furthermore, they apparently weren't patrolling the perimeter very effectively if this went on so close to the school and none of them ever discovered the criminal act.  Obvious Bungles recipients for that reason.

Then there is the crowd of students who all sat there watching.  They don't specify, but I'm willing to bet they were all males.  Contrary to what some people have insinuated, I'm pretty certain the reason none of them didn't report anything did not have anything to do with them fearing retribution for snitching.  These were a bunch of boys with raging hormones who wanted to see a movie scene acted out in real life.  So much so that some of them even participated.  A big Bungles recognition to all of them for that.

Then there was the "friend" of the rape victim who came forward and slammed the school for allowing it to happen.  Kami Baker claims they went looking for their friend when she disappeared and were shocked when they discovered what happened.  They must not have been looking very hard.  It's not like she was blocks away.  She was only in an alley right next to the school.  What kind of searching could her friends possibly have done in two and half hours?  If they had tried a little harder, they could have found her and possibly prevented at least some of the act from occurring, if not all of it.   Sorry Kami, but you and your "friends" that were supposedly so worried get a little Bungles acknowledgment of your own because of that action.

Naturally, the school itself is the biggest Bungles at all in this whole incident.  They did the right thing initially by having the Homecoming dance at the school which should have been an environment that was easy to control.  However, they should have made sure that security was accurately doing their job. They should have made sure that non-students weren't lingering around the campus.  The students that were there should have been able to count on being safe on and around the premises.  They deserve any and all type of civil action that will eventually be presented against them.

You're probably wondering how I could possibly omit the offenders, huh?  I definitely am not.  Every single one of those criminals should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  And every one of them should be tried as adults.  The horrendous act they committed far exceeds any type of Bungles acknowledgment.  It was inexcusable barbaric behavior that no one should ever have to be exposed to.  May every single one of them receive the same consequences when they land in whatever penal institution lucky enough to have them.

Es Tas

So I'm living in Ames now.  Since I haven't lived here in so long, I have no idea what restaurants are good and what ones aren't anymore.  With the exceptions of the couple of reliables like the gyro man and Lucallan's (and even that one has slipped).  However, one of my all-time favorites is now gone for good with the news that Da Vinci's restaurant was replaced with some generic Chinese joint.  I was feeling like Mexican food though and didn't know where to find that here.

One of the undergrad bros happened to post something on his FB update about this place called Es Tas.  He mentioned that he had it delivered and they left the sour cream on the tacos when he doesn't like sour cream.  That is something in itself which I didn't understand (who doesn't like sour cream on Mexican food??), but I was liking the fact that there was a Mexican place that delivered.  That was a huge plus. I checked with Ralph on the quality and he confirmed that they were pretty good.  Not a ringing endorsement, but enough for me to check it out.

I first of all had a heck of a time finding the place anywhere.  The iPhone restaurant locator showed it on Welch with a phone number that didn't exist.  Apparently that address didn't exist either.  There also was no listing for it in the 2009 Ames phonebook.  Why in the world would a restaurant have an unlisted number?  I reached out to Ralph and he provided the address and the phone number so I was on my way.

I was fully expecting the place to be a real restaurant.  Even though the campustown address could have been misleading.  Sure, campustown was known for housing several bars, but there were a few restaurants here and there.  I just figured Es Tas was one of them.  Not so much.  It actually was a bar that serves food.  Typically, that's not a good mix.  Still, I gave it a pass because I was really feelin' some Mexican cuisine.

I also happened to go on a night that was a costume bar crawl for the ISU campus.  That meant there were an abnormally high number of co-eds walking around in skimpy outfits.  Not there's anything wrong with that, as I've already previously mentioned.  There seriously were some pretty creative outfits out that night.  Most notable was a bartender in Es Tas who was the spitting image of Fat Jesus from "The Hangover".  I just wish I could have gotten a better pic than the one I captured with my iPhone.   

Because it was a bar, I was greeted at the door by some scruffy wannabe bouncer who asked to see my ID.  I laughed because I genuinely thought he was joking.  He wasn't.  I was probably old enough to be his dad and he was carding me.  I guess I should have felt flattered that he thought I may not be 21.  Then again, he was probably drunk too and couldn't tell the difference.  I'm pretty sure that was the more likely scenario.

As for the food, their menu was very sparse.  Would you expect anything less from a bar?  I decided to go with the tacos since that's what Ralph had mentioned.  Not that I had much to choose from anyway.  The shells were the same flour baked hard shells that Raul's in Des Moines was famous for.  That was about the only good thing about it though.  I've never had such bland tacos in my entire life.  Even with their salsa and sour cream, it still tasted like I was almost eating paper.  What really got me was despite how flavorless they were, they STILL gave my stomach fits later that night.  But I should have pretty much expected that coming from bar food.

The Team Trivia Experience

My soror Andrea hit me up with a message at work Monday asking about an event the Science Center was having.  It seems every month they sponsor a Sci After Five function where it's Team Trivia.  You can get up a group of up to 9 people to square off against other teams to test your trivia knowledge.  It was short notice, but I was down.  If there was one thing I liked doing, it was making good use of my vat of useless trivia.

Since it was October, their theme for this month was Halloween. That meant folks would be coming in costume.  I was arriving straight from work so no costume for me.  Andrea came up with the idea of wearing our paraphernalia and we could be the team of Green and Gold, but there wasn't enough time for me to go home to get a shirt.  Therefore, both of us just had on our gear from the work day.  If anyone bothered to ask (which they didn't, of course), our costume was supposed to be People with Jobs.

They had a contest for the folks who did bother to show up in costume.  The entrants were a little shabby as they displayed little imagination.  One guy was dressed in all white complete with white make-up and called himself the walk guy from the 'walk/don't walk' sign.  It probably would have worked better if he didn't have long hippy hair and glasses.  I don't recall the walk/don't walk guy looking like that.  The best one there was this gal who was the spitting image of Amelia Earhart and she never even entered the contest.  She missed her chance to win the prize of one whopping ticket to the IMAX.

As far as the triva itself, the categories had me a little worried from the jump.  Two of the ten categories dealt with science.  That was my weakest subject in school.  It turned out it wasn't Andreas's forte either.  We didn't fare so hot on a vast majority of those questions in both of those categories.  We lucked up on some of them, but pretty much bombed them overall.  We learned quickly that when November rolls around, it would be in our best interest to have another individual who excels in that area.

One of the categories was "Horror Movie Villains".  If there was one area where I knew I could nail it, that was it.  Unfortunately, so could everyone else.  The questions were WAY too simple.  They basically just showed slides of the villain WITH the name over the picture and all you had to do was name the movie they came from.  They could have at least made it challenging and asked questions about the horror movie villains origins.

Where they messed up was when the showed the picture of zombies and all it had above it was "Zombies".  That could have been any dozen of movies.  What they were looking was was "28 Days Later".  I argued that the answer should have technically been "Night of the Living Dead".  Since several flicks could have applied anyway, the answer should have been George Romero's classic which started the whole zombie craze.  Not that it would have mattered if we got it right or not though.  By that time we were so far out of the running that it made little difference.

I did find out some interesting things that I can now add to my trivial bank.  Things like a chicken can live 18 months without i's head (Mike the Headless Wonder Chicken).  Or that American's on the average spend $44 for Halloween candy.  Or that our state insect is a ladybug.  I didn't even know there was such a thing as a state insect.  Most of all though, I learned that the next time we do that, it would be most beneficial to have folks with diverse knowledge to better our odds.  Maybe then we wouldn't come in 8th place out of 10 teams.  But at least it wasn't last.

Eye Candy

This time of year sees a unique phenomena that is atypical of this season more than any other.  Once it's time for Halloween and the costumes come out, there is one constant that always occurs:  you can always count on the sexy costumes making their appearance.  It's something that happens on guys and girls alike, but it's definitely more noticeable on the ladies.  So much so that it ignites conversation among folks about how much is too much?  Or in some cases, how little is too little?

I'm going to take a stance that I know is not going to endear me with many folks.  You all know me well enough by now to know that's no surprise.  My viewpoint is pretty straightforward:  I don't have a problem with the skimpy costumes.  It's not because I'm a pervert or anything demented like that.  It's just that I don't see the big deal for a few couple of different reasons...

First of all, if a woman decides she wants to dress up as a sexy nurse, cop, fireman or whatever then more power to her.  As long as she has the body to pull it off.  That's the key thing.  They're proud of the fact that they have a fit body and aren't ashamed to wear a costume that highlights that asset.  The body is a temple.  When it's sculpted properly, it is a gorgeous thing to see.  It basically brings you back to the basic concept that if you got it, flaunt it.

I'm not trying to be sexist by any means.  It's not about objectifying women at all because I strongly feel that the same thing applies to men.  You just don't hear as much of a big deal made about men dressing in skimpy costumes.  Only because it doesn't happen that often.  However, you can sure enough bet that if I had the body of a Greek Adonis-- and if I did the whole dress up thing for Halloween --I would go as one of the "300" cats in a second.  Anything that would accentuate the frame that I was so proud of.

Plus, let us not forget the most elementary fact when it comes to this issue:  the Biblical issue.  Yes, I went there.  Adam and Eve didn't even realize that they should be ashamed of being "naked" until the devil tempted them with that apple.  Until then, they recognized that their bodies were beautiful.  Now I am certainly not trying to endorse folks walking around nude.  I'm just saying that a beautiful body should be celebrated.

I'm sure someone out there is thinking about how I would feel about it if it was my daughter.  My daughter is 18 and technically an adult, free to make up her own mind.  Given that, would I have an issue with her being scantily clad for a costume?  HECK yeah I would.  But that's coming from the vantage point of a father and what I want for her.  Of course I wouldn't want her dressing like that.  However, it's not my daughter that we're talking about.  Yes, I know it is a bit hypocritical.  I'm also okay with that.