Screw going green

Let's turn the lights back on!

Pick me up

It's been a little depressing around here lately.
The other day I finished an Otis Redding biography, which of course ended with the death of the 26-year-old genius soul sensation in a plane crash in Madison, Wisconsin, along with four members of his backing band, The Bar-Kays, who were all under 20 years old.
I knew it was going to happen, but I didn't know Redding's first and only number one hit didn't come until after his death, with the posthumous release of "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay."
Things got even sadder later that night when I decided to watch "Control," the 2007 biopic of Ian Curtis, lead singer of the influential British band Joy Division. As the band gained fame, he was diagnosed with epilepsy, developed severe depression and hanged himself in his kitchen. He was 23 with a wife and daughter.
The book and the movie were both great, but damn. I think I'm going to get a Meatlovers' Pizza and watch "Tommy Boy" or something.
Actually, this video of Otis live at the infamous Monterey Pop Festival ought to do the trick:



Here's Joy Division doing "Transmission"

Phelps sisters

I have a minor crush on the Phelps sisters.
They're Whitney and Hilary, and they're just so cute and supportive.
And apparently, they're responsible for all of this craziness.

Spitz

I like Michael Phelps as much anybody, well, maybe not as much as NBC, but I can't help but hope that he doesn't beat Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics.
Maybe it's just because he's an Indiana Hoosier like me, or maybe it's because he won all those medals in '72 with a badass moustache.
Also, Spitz never had a NASA-designed suit. Although from the picture above, it looks like he was toting some kind of rocket.
Go USA!

Electric Feel

I felt like I needed to share this video this morning.

It's a greasy looking band doing their best Prince impersonation backed by Billy Bob and The Rock-afire Explosion.

Olympic fever

Our President continues the search for WMDs

President Bush tallied another presidential first this week, becoming the first U.S. President to attend a beach volleyball match. We're so proud.

Meanwhile, I spent my Sunday night struggling to make dirty sentences by pairing the names of British swimmer Liam Tancock and Russian gymnast Ksenia Semenova.

Any help?

August 11, 2008 7:17 PM Update:
It took some brainstorming, but here's what I got:

I was hoping we'd hear the Al Trautwig, Elfi Schlegel or Tim Daggett say, "We've got Semenova here on the balance beam."Or, "Let's leave Semenova on the uneven bars and watch Tancock in the pool."

Two Americas and a couple of women

This just in.
We should have known he wasn't getting $1,000 haircuts for his wife.