Egotism ....a lifelong romance

Monday, April 30, 2007

A mosaic of talents (and turfs)

Finally, a chance for Nadal to look as spectacular as Federer, on the same court. As you can see, it has taken some ground-breaking to get to that point.

I must say, this idea comes close to the time tunnel I often fantasize about with a Sampras of the '90s vs. a Fed of the '00s.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Kerry trumps Colbert

To all those Kerry-bashers out there who go on about him being stiff and slow, not being spontaneous or unable to deliver a joke (though the Swiss boat veterans would swear that a lot worse can be spun about him), I think he answered, and then some, on The Colbert Report last night.

Colbert, who’s modus operandi is to pounce on his democratic guests from the moment he prances up to them and capitalize on the head start and prepared notes thereon, was, to say the least, stumped (don't get me wrong -- I think Colbert is awesome, I just think often times he relies too much on that tongue in his cheek). Kerry’s sharp repartees just kept coming. He even threw in a little self-deprecatory humor with the “I was against it [the environment] before I was for it.”

Sure, he left out a word in a carefully crafted joke at last year’s California campaign fiasco, but he seems to have little trouble enunciating when the words are his own.

It’s always good to see a politician break the mold of serious, suave, no-frills diction and indulge in some good-natured humor (think McCain on SNL and Bill Clinton’s Final Days bit at the 2000 Correspondents’ dinner).

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Looking the other way

Why is it that the majority of mainstream, politically-active, media-savvy African Americans seek the “next” episode of their supposed victimization by white people and almost bask in it? And reasonable people like Bill Cosby get kicked in the shins when they point out the actual problem, which is pretty much black-contrived.

And what's more inexcusable than hip-hop-inspired objectification of women, is Al Sharpton playing goodwill ambassador in this debate. He probably fosters more retrogress in the Black community with his constant clinging to the race card than anyone else.

Here’s an absolute eye-opener from Jason Whitlock, a KansasCity columnist, about the totally overblown Don Imus gaffe (Just to be clear, I’m far from a fan of the CBS shock jock, all the more reason why I don’t like to see and hear his three fateful words quoted and re-quoted to the point of being indelibly branded on the airwaves for many more weeks to come).

As I often do, I turn to Bill Maher for the bottome line: If this is the biggest problem they [Sharpton and Jackson] have, then the civil rights movement is in a lot better shape than I thought it was, because I think there are real issues they should be dealing with.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Could you unloosen my laces?

At first glance, it simply seems like a convoluted way of saying, “tighten” - along the lines of ‘unfasten’ and ‘unlace.’

But no, thanks to The Atlantic Monthly’s authoritative Word Court, I now know that “unloosen” actually equates to “loosen” (try explaining that to a mathematician). If you’re not convinced, Shakespeare and Shelley and Sheridan used “unloose”.

I did some research and learned that it just so happened that un and in were randomly used in words long before their non-un and non-in (doesn’t non seem innocuous by comparison?) counterparts came into being, as a result of which all of them stuck around, meaning pretty much the same thing. For instance, the word “inflammable” simply preceded “flammable,” and now both are here to stay (till someone actually lights something on fire thinking it’s IN-flammable).
And then there’s fat chance and slim chance that mean roughly the same thing; not to mention I give or don’t give a rat’s ass. The list goes on.

The English language sure could use some unloosening...

And as if that were not enough, The Unword Dictionary allows you to make up your own words. After all, in this world of open-sourcing everything, shouldn't words be given their due?

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Can he do no wrong?

Upon reading this NYT article, I got to wondering if Barack Obama could actually do any wrong in the eyes of the people. The essay describes the “lower key” adopted by Obama in his campaign speeches in small-town America. As opposed to the rock-star image attributed to him, mostly thanks to his keynote address at the ’04 DNC, this Barack is, according to Iowans themselves, “peaceful” and “like a professor.”

And I, for my part, must admit that after all these months of criticizing Obama’s close-to-zero experience to hold the highest office in the nation (an opinion I still strongly adhere to), am going to buy into some of the Obama hype – mostly courtesy of his showing on David Letterman last night.

We all know he is unlike any other politician (some would say he is barely one). But yesterday he delineated himself even more with his spot-on, quick-witted humor.

“Which order are we talking about?” he leaned forward to clarify on Letterman’s suggestion that the Hillary-Obama ticket would be a powerful one, stimulating a round of crowd applause, just one of his many repartees that sent the audience roaring.

Not over the top smart-alecky, yet not drearily cautious. Letterman said he’d vote for his suit. Me, I am going for the charming banter.

Monday, April 09, 2007

A-Rod's log

Was doing my usual tennis circuit online to see what's going on in the racket world, and came across Andy Roddick's blog . Sure enough, the guy's as articulate and funny on the keyboard as he is viva voce. It's good to have an actual participant of the sporting world telling us how it feels like (I mean, John McEnroe and Chris Clarey are great but do you see them on court?)

I recall being pretty impressed with Roger's ATP blog (you could say that's simply because it's Fed, but take my word for it, you see there that he is really just an endearing 26-year-old: very engaging and funny), but let's face it, his language isn't really much to speak of (especially since there is so much else to speak of).

The much-touted Tursunov's blog turned out to be a complete disappointment (bad language and little humor) and even the Queen's own man, Andy Murray is pretty ineloquent.

So A-Rod, while I'm all for you racketing your way to more titles, I'll really look forward to your post-tennis stints -- I recommend the New York Times or plain old ESPN2.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Sticking to his 'guns'

This is precisely why Giuliani is the best Republican candidate there is - sticking to his guns on the issues he believes in, despite the fact that a few placards might go down.

Mitt Romney is flip-flopping on every issue from gun-control to abortion, just to emerge as the "traditional conservative he isn't." (He could run an election against himself - the pro-life Romney who was a hunter all his life vs. the pro-abortion rights Romney who has hunted twice in his life).

And McCain, our erstwhile 'maverick' of the Republican party, is pandering to the likes of Falwell and Robertson and committing public gaffes on his wide-ranging opinions on gay marriage and the Iraq war, the latter being his most ludicrous one so far. You don't call a place that has been bombed half a dozen times in the past year "a safe, bustling place full of hopeful and warmly welcoming Iraqis."

Considering the GOP's next highly-celebrated would-be could-be candidate is a prosecutor-turned-lobbyist-turned-actor-turned-politician, the Gippers will do well to embrace America's mayor, even if he happens to live in the real world the rest of his party seems totally disengaged from.

Friday, April 06, 2007

Humanizing celluloid

Since I have spent about the last decade personifying the boob tube, almost giving it the place of a significant other, it was intriguing to see another mind think likewise: here’s Lore Sjoberg, battling with his strong feelings for “the other screen” as the computer creeps slowly into his life, taking away from the once indispensable television.