For the love of Sneakers

I've always loved sneakers. As a kid I seem to enjoy going to get new sneakers way more then going to the toy store. The shoe store guy even knew us by name. And once every 5 to 6 months he knew my brother and I were headed there for a new pair of shoes, to replace our slightly less then new current pair. But back then you had to settle with what he had. If he didn't have the new orange and white Bo Jackson shoes you just saw in the Bo Diddley commerical, you weren't going to get them. Now that's all changed.

You can get any pair of shoes you want. Ebay, Zappos, you name it you can find it. I could even find that pair of Bo Jackson's I wanted in 1991 never worn, brand new. But what's even more impressive to me, is that now you can make your own shoes. Literally. Just go to NikeID.com and pick a style you like. In a matter of minutes, or hours if you ponder over the details like I did. A pair of retro Nike Air Max's with metallic silver as the base color, a red swoosh, and red lining is what I decided upon. They look amazing, but I have to wait three to four weeks for some small child in Asia to make them. I'll call him Ngyen. Please little Ngyen make my shoe good. Love it long time.

So in honor of my rediscovery of the Air Max, and to celebrate my love of the sneaker I'm going to go ahead and list some of my favorites over the years. And in no particular order.

Chuck Taylor All Star (Converse)--Had a pair when I was 10 and have a pair now. Classic sneaker.

Off the Wall (Vans)--Classic skater sneaker. Be it the slip on checker board, or the lace up with the squiggly line, both are great.

Tennis Pump (Reebok)--Maybe my favorite shoe of 8th grade. The pump was actually a tennis ball. Like it was fuzzy like a tennis ball. Plus the pump actually worked pretty well.

Air 180, Mr. Robinson's neighborhood (Nike)--Nike's futile attempt at another pump. For some reason Nike couldn't get the pump right the first time so they tried again. This had a guage so you could pump around the ankle, or the arch. Pretty cool, but these were uncomfortable.

BK Knights (British Knights)--Who could forget BK Knights. The snake skin. These really said something about you. Like you wished you were black.

My Adidas (Adidas)-- Remember Run DMC jumping on stage with Aerosmith? Remember their shoes? Yep, no laces. Adidas rule, but they went into the dark ages during the 90's.

Andre Agassi Years (Nike)-- Nike made some of the coolest tennis shoes in the early 90s. It's too bad they can't repeat. It's been a while since Nike came out with a truely hot tennis shoe. Plus this was probably one of the best ad campaigns. Everyting seemed to line up for Nike in the 90's.

Cross Trainer Bo Jackson edition (Nike)--Not only did he invent a line of shoe, he also became perhaps the most important spokesperson about shoes besides Jordan. And now, no one even remembers him. Bo Jackson too bad he got hurt.

The Original (Reebok)--Remember when Reebok first came out? I feel like it was around 85 or so. I just remember how comfortable they were.

The Air Bubble (Nike)--The first shoe with an air bubble.

Converse React Juice (Converse)--I think they made a couple models, but who could forget Grand Ma Ma?

Those weird ass leg strength shoe's(Strength)--Swear to god I had a buddy, who was white, who could dunk like a maniac he said he got this ability by the these shoes.

Original Pump (Nike)--Reebok was not the first. It was Nike. Remember that banana bump and the huge peice of plastic molding on the back?

Zoom Air (Nike)--Around the time of the Atlanta Olympics Nike came out with a badass running shoe that had a metallic red swoosh.

Air Jordan (Nike)--Pick any pair, before 1998 of course, and you'll find an instant classic. Each shoe sets the bar for every other shoe to beat. No shoe has come close to the Jordan line from 1984-1998. No shoe.

X-Men 3

1.5 out of 4

Wow, was this a bad movie. The only thing that carried it was seeing Rebecca Romijn side nude. You know side nude, you see her whole side of body sans clothes, but none of the good stuff. It's a movie trick. That scene really did things for me, ummm, we'll leave it at that.

They should've just ended this series with 2. That was much, much better. Actually it's my favorite of the three. Probably because the magnificant Brian Cox is in it. If you don't know who that is, well, you've missed some great movies.

Right now, X Men ranks pretty low on the Comic book movies I like. Although the mutants should be happy they're even on the list.

(SPOILER: If you want to see this movie don't read)

Here's what I don't get. If Logan wanted to save Jean why not just get that mutant boy who turns mutants into humans to stand by Jean. Then all her powers would be gone.

WISN Channel 12 Can Go Straight to Heck

Frustration is trying to watch the season finale of LOST, only to have half the picture cut off by a severe weather warning. In the past 10 years, weather has turned into sensationalism. Usually it doesn't cross paths with me, but last night sensational weather and I met, and it was less then pleasant.

Local TV stations have somehow decided that the only thing people care about is the weather. It's probably true. With advent of the internet, CNN, and about a billion jack ass bloggers, people get their news elsewhere. The only thing these local stations have to hang their hats on is weather. It's literally the only thing they can own.

I don't know about you, but my nipples don't get hard when I hear Advance Dopler 9000 Storm Xtremetrac. But obviously other peoples do, cause every news station in America now focuses it's effort, and advertising around these features. Some networks have even resorted to boasting that they're the first to give the weather of any station.

So please TV stations. When it's the season finale to one of my favorite shows please spare me with the stormtrac garbage.

Here We Go Again

I’m taking Crispin to task. This time for the god awful low ego admissions ad, which is horribly misguided and annoying. As a Volkswagen owner I assure you that this is not why I bought the car. I was looking at SUV’s and then drove the Passat and loved it. And besides by making this commercial isn't VW saying, "hey we're a bunch of smug wannabe's."

I guess I’m just tired of this, what your car says about you, cliché. It’s been so overplayed, and I would think as manipulators of pop culture, Crispin would know this and not go there. But they did.

Crispin stands for all that’s good about advertising. They do funny spots, they’re fresh, and original. So it’s annoying that a place with such a wealth of advertising ability is going this route. It’s even more disappointing after those excellent car crash ads that just ran a few weeks ago. Those were good.

I think Crispin needs to lower their ego emissions, and start doing ads that matter again. Oh, and stop ripping off my headlines.

Picture Pages

Remember this show with Bill Cosby. Picture pages picture pages open up your picture pages. I loved it. Usually came right after You Can't Do That on Television. The pen that made noises. Amazing. I thought why not name my new blog feature in honor of Bill Cosby.

This is a three pronged effort. One this will force me to make more blog entries. Two it will make me take more pictures. Something I enjoy and want to get better at. Three it will make me share my iphoto library. Some interesting pictures are in there. I'll try to do this at least once a week. But I've been meaning to start this for weeks, only to get around to it tonight. We'll see how regular this occurs.

This picture was taken at Austin City Limits Music Festival in September of 2005. Zilker park in Austin, TX is hot and dusty during the fest. And this is the only tree of significance on the grounds. This picture gets a lot better when you imagine the Drive By Truckers playing in the background.

Golf

I've played about six rounds so far this year. And one problem still exists. I suck. When will I get better? Will I ever get better? Probably not. But what hasn't changed is the fact that this game is fun to play.

Recently I had new grips put onto the shafts of my Ping Eye 2 Irons. To people who don't play golf this probably is about as entertaining as putting gas in your car, but trust me this is awesome. My old grips were all slippery, now they stick to my hands like velco.

I've Finally Seen Them All

Six Feet Under, I'm done. And although the final season seemed to drag on at parts, overall it was great. What really pushed it over the edge, however, was an amazing final episode. The way the writers ended this show was brilliant. It'll be a long time before a show on HBO or network comes along that can rival this one.

And speaking of ending something. Sopranos. This season has been a major disappointment and while I don't want to see Tony go away, I think it's time. As the season began Tony was put on life support. While he may be alright now, the show continues to have life pumped into from a machine. HBO it's time to pull the plug.

You'll love Mac's new ads.

How great are these new Mac spots? I love them.

It's simple own a Mac or be the dorky guy with a pager, and cell phone holster.

Plus it sells. What's different with a Mac? Unique selling proposition is defined and exploited. It's all there for you in 30 seconds of advertising glory. So many ads that are considered creative truimphs sell nothing. You learn nothing. Sure you're entertained but that's it. These spots entertain, and inform. A major success.

?

You are reading the blog of an idiot. This past Friday I went to see the film, What Is It? (Calling it a film isn’t suggesting it’s a well thought out and crafted cinema experience. Film is simply referring to the fact that this was a series of images developed on a material called film.) It’s the brainchild of Crispin Glover. He’s known as one of the strangest personalities to come from Hollywood. But that’s what he wants you to think and that’s why this movie was really kind of lame.

I don’t know where to start so I’ll start at the beginning. Why go? I got an email from this local independent record store in Milwaukee, Atomic Records. Usually these mailers come once a week. And the last four weeks it’s been hyping this event along with your typical record releases, etc. So I thought, “Could be interesting.” Don’t know why? Never really been a Crispin Glover fan. Honestly I’ve seen Back to the Future, Charlie’s Angels, the Doors, The People V. Larry Flint, and a couple other randoms he’s been in. He’s a David Lynch guy as well, I think he’s been in a couple of his movies. So I thought What is It? would be some sort of David Lynch jaunt. A little surreal, and completely strange. Sure was, plus it made me sad, and dirty feeling.

The last 36 hours have involved deep prayer, scrubbing, and a trip to my psychoanalyst. That’s how unbelievably bizarre this movie was. But before I get to the movie I need to discuss the spoken word, book reading, and slideshow experience. Crispin was in the building. In fact it’s part of the deal. He only screens the movie if he’s there. He starts out reading excerpts from his books. One was called the manual for Rat Catching. So you get the idea. He writes absurd books, reads them, and then shows slides. This part of the show was mildly entertaining. These stories were funny. A manual on rat catching? How can you take him seriously? You can’t. And that I think is important cause it sets up the film.

What Is It? Here’s what was in it. (Thanks to imdb.com for a couple of these bullets)

--A naked woman in a monkey mask masturbating a 60-year-old man who has cerebral palsy while he reclines naked on a large sea shell. If you want to see a man with cerebral palsy and his penis this is your kind of movie.

--Naked women in monkey masks popping out of little craters and smashing open watermelons.

--A number of people with Down's Syndrome who kill each other by hitting each other on the head with shovels and smothering one another with plastic bags. (These people really do have Down's Syndrome; they are not 'normal' actors playing the part of people with DS.)

--A Down’s Syndrome actor talking to Shirley Temple via walkie talkie.

--Talking snails who are killed by the Down's Syndrome actors. The actors pour salt on the snails and one snail is beheaded with a razor blade. The snails scream in pain quite a bit.

Discussing plot, story structure, or anything else of cinematic merit is completely ridiculous. Hello read above. This movie is a total joke. Capped off with Crispin Glover answering people’s question. But he doesn’t really answer your questions. He skirts them by speaking on everything but your question. So I decide I’m going to ask this guy something. I ask about this line of dialogue (which I regret now, cause that’s what this guy wanted, all the people to take him seriously cause jokes on you) but the line is, “Mom it was all a joke.” So I asked what that meant. He skirted it. I wish I had been more direct. But it was funny when people were asking, “What were thinking when you edited this way?” And he wouldn’t answer. Cause he had no clue. He put this together in a hodge podge and is trying to get a rise out of intellectual art snobs.

At first I kind of liked the whole experience. But it took me 24 hours and talking to a couple of my friends that I went with to say, “This guy is a pompous jerk.” He’s the art snob. Ohhh look at me, I’m Mr. Artist, I’m going around the nation and showing my film and then I’ll read the audiences reaction and it’ll be my own little psychological experiment. Hollywood has given this guy fame. Now he’s using that fame, and notoriety as the freaky guy to show this ridiculous film and get personal pleasure for watching the audience’s reaction. Screw that.

If someone were to ask me for a one-word description for What Is It? The word would be—disturbing. At first I thought I wasn’t smart enough to understand his commentary on America in the film. Now I know I’m smart enough to understand this was a big freaking joke, and I took part in it. Touche Mr. Glover you got me, you got me real good.

Radiohead

Screw you Radiohead for not playing stadiums. I tried to get tickets to the Chicago show. It was sold out in ten freaking seconds. At least that's what it seemed like. If anyone reads my blog and got Radiohead tickets please add a comment. Cause I know like 10 people that tried and zero got ticks. That's just amazing.