Sports Heaven? NFL Playoffs and B-ball. Television and What It Means To Me.

My diatribe is unoriginal and my viewpoint is probably shared by many. That being said, I'm still going to spill my silly, caustic, unoriginal thoughts...

Do you like violence? Crazy people plastering each other with bone-crunching hits? Seemingly pointless violence all in the name of some fictitious glory? If so, then the NFL playoffs are for you!!!

Yeah, you need to grapple with the irony and contradictions and silliness that mar professional sports. Especially professional football. But once you get the irony, the silliness, once you get past the fact that these grown men are willingly punishing and torturing their bodies all while trying to manipulate a ball so that the little orb does their bidding and they can 'win' a game... well, once you get past that it's very easy to enjoy the game, and believe in this magical realm of heroes and heroic plays...

Did I say heroes? Heroic plays? Well, I have a feeling that my heavy-handed sarcasm has already given you an idea of how tired I am of sports announcers, reporters, and many others who go on and on about how some player is such a goddamn hero. This player, this person, he plays a 'game' for a living, makes millions of dollars while doing it, seriously, I hate how the term heroic is tossed around in the sport's world with such flippancy. Anyways, that said, I do have a decent amount of respect for a lot of these athletes. Many work very hard, and have pretty amazing talents.

It's too easy to rip on professional sports, but televised sporting events have been a great diversion for me during my illness. Believe it or not (probably not) after my spiteful diatribe... I even find some inspiration in the sports world... I guess I just have a split personality when it comes to sports, a love hate thing going.

I think the main thing that angers me is this: had I been healthy I wouldn't have been wasting my time with television and sports. I never watched tv before I got sick, so in a sense the unwitting tv symbolizes my illness and weakness. Poor tv did nothing to me, it's actually helped a lot, but it stands for bad things to me, namely my being too ill to do anything over than watching television. Sure, I know what you're thinking, Sebastien, just don't watch tv, rest in your bed or something. I did that, trust me, for months and months... but I found that the television fills a vacuum and distracts my mind, distracts me from pain or fatigue or both those things... And there's this vicarious thing I got going with sports, it helps me dream...

I know. I'm coming across as overly bitter and frustrated. My head's just hurting a bit at the moment, but you know, I am seriously thankful to just be alive. Nothing like remembering all the pain I've gone through and just being thankful, thankful to breath this air and able to see the world and be with people I love.

Anyways, we got some good games today! Colts at the Ravens, oh boy oh boy! I'm cheering for the Colts (I spent a good part of my youth in Indy)... and then we got the Eagles at the Saints later! Go Saints, I'm cheering for them because I like the city of New Orleans, and Reggie Bush, that guy is great. Tonight, we even got some b-ball on tv, Magic at the Suns... Wow, this is like serious overload, and tomorrow, Patriots at the Chargers, now that is gonna be a game!

What a great sports weekend.

Sports, Sneak Attacks, and Books

Sports Stuff

Lots of sports stuff has happened lately. Great NFL playoffs, Cowboys lose in a wild finish (as it turns out I caught the game while playing poker with my sister and her friends!).

I've been watching most of the Suns' matches too, I usually take the opportunity to catch their games if I'm too tired to read or do something constructive. I really love watching their games, they have a great style and the perfect game plan, unbelievable how consistent they are. They keep winning, they crushed the Warriors last night.

The only problem is I love lying down on the couch or the floor when I watch these games, and that is when Rambo sneaks into the room. Then he usually sneaks over to where I am. I tend to be very into the game, or too tired to notice him, and before I can comprehend his presence he's already sunk his shark teeth into my arm! He's crazy. He starts barking at me, or trying to bite me some more. I think it's because he wants attention, he wants to play, poor little guy. I wish I could play with him in those moments but sometimes I'm too tired for that. I'll usually let him go outside in the yard, and I make sure to point out all the birds and rabbits, sitting pretty in the grass, munching away on seeds and feeding on the luscious grass. I'll whisper something into Rambo's ear, something along the lines of, "Look at that smug little bastard bird, look how goddamn content he is, walking about, with his chest all poofed out. Look, he's just pecking away in our yard, no worries in the world. He doesn't care about you. He doesn't respect you and your shark teeth!"

That gets Rambo going, he hates having other creatures in the yard, especially creatures that don't properly respect and fear him!

Books Stuff

I've been able to read a lot, as I've mentioned before. I started a really interesting French book, Les Faux-Monnayeurs (translated to The Counterfeiters in English) by Andre Gide. My parents got this book for me a while back. I've never read any of this author's books, I've heard a bit about him though, mostly about his best known book, L'immoraliste.

So far the book is pretty interesting, one of the main characters is very autobiographical (I assume). This character is very introspective and talks about lots of different things, has some interesting thoughts on art and life and all that. It's nice, I like getting a sense of the author's persona and ideas. I mean, not all books are meant to be intimate or about the author, but sometimes it's cool to feel that there is total transparency between the author and his writing. Like the writer is hiding nothing. It all depends on the books purpose of course, sometimes it's better when you don't even have to think about the author, and can just think about the story itself without worrying about the writer. Anyways, I'm not that far into this book, but I have a feeling it's mostly a meditation on art and life. Cool by me.

Quick thing. I totally loved this line in Gide's book, and I think it's true in certain respects, not necessarily about the British, but just the idea in general. A lady in Gide's book is telling her lover, who has just cheated with her:

"You remind me of certain British people; the more their thinking is emancipated, the more they attach themselves to morals; it's reached a point where no one is as puritan as these free thinkers."

In more book news, I'm still reading lots of short stories, mostly later in the day, specially at night. I'm really loving reading scary stories right before bed. Still reading lots of Poe, just read a great one by him, William Wilson, that was one cool story. I also re-read the Masque of the Red Death, that story is really growing on me. It's funny, I usually don't re-read authors, but it's very easy to re-read Poe, his use of language is very beautiful, and there are always new things to pick up on in the writing.

Another writer of short stories I'm totally digging: HP Lovecraft!!! This guy is ridiculously great, totally dark, really freakin' scary, sometimes his writing is a little over the top, but sometimes it's just perfect. Definitely recommend him, especially if you like very scary stories, stuff that will keep you up at night! I'll recommend some of my favorite stories very soon, once I've read a couple more... I'll give you some links, there seems to be a couple sites that have his stories.

Thoughts on Edgar Allan Poe and Basketball

First off, keep voting for me, and clicking on my pic over at 25peeps.com (I'm the guy staring at his hands with the dramatic lighting). You can vote every day by clicking on my pic. Only with your help can we defeat the competition, which is daunting (as my loyal general Babs pointed out!!!), have you seen all the tits and ass I have to go up against, it's ridiculous! I'm beginning to wonder if 25peeps isn't some sort of softcore porn site. But that, of course, is a topic for another day. Anyways, vote for me so that you may help me in my quest for world domination and my courageous attempt to thwart the impending duckbill platypus conspiracy.

Quick aside: My dog is chewing on the toilet.

Edgar Allan Poe

Now, I haven't read Mr. Poe's work since back in the day when I was a wee little schoolboy. I'm not quite sure why they made us read his work in school, his writing is brilliant, but his subjects and themes are a little macabre and intensely psychological, to say the least, and Poe's writing certainly went over my head at the time (I just thought his stuff was creepy).

Well, I'm not a big fan of short stories, but I said what the hell and decided to start reading this dude, got this nice little anthology of his work that I found. I FREAKIN' LOVE HIS STORIES! I'm so happy I started reading him again, well happy might be the wrong adjective, for godsakes, his writing is about as dire and murderously crazy as literature gets. Anyways, reading Poe has made me realize that I need to explore a whole new genre of fiction, horror stories. There doesn't need to be murderous bloodbaths in the stories, I tend to prefer the psychological aspects of fear and horror, moreso than bloody murders and physically appalling scenarios. So, if you have recommendations for me, please let me know of writers or stories I should check out...

Basketball

Have you seen the Phoenix Suns? They've won 12 in row, playing with panache and a sweet style, how can you not like this team, even if you aren't from Phoenix. They make basketball fun, run and gun, such a nice change of pace from the 90s where basketball was all muscle and grind, really really boring I thought. My art studio (which my buddies are keeping for me till I get better) is right next to the Suns' arena, I can't wait to get better so I can catch some games. It's been a long time since I've been interested in going to a sports game, but you know what, after watching the Suns on tv, I feel like they put on a great show which would be fun to see in person...

Superhero Stamps, a Miracle, and My Crazy Idea

So first off, I don't know when these stamps (above image) came out, all I know is this, I freakin' love 'em! Got a letter from a friend a little while ago, she used these stamps on the envelope, and I was blown away, coolest stamps ever! Now, I don't quite know what my love of these stamps says about me (maybe that I am nerderific?)... Anyways, I never was a huge fan of action hero comics, but there's just something so damn American about these things, the whole pop culture thingy, I dunno, they're just flat out cool.

A Football Miracle!

As for the miracle? This involves the Arizona Cardinals... They won!! They won a game, didn't blow a huge lead for once! Ahhh, I love Sundays during the NFL season, something so nice about having football on all day long.

Idea: Building a Web Site For My Art

The crazy idea isn't so crazy actually. Possibly far-fetched in terms of my success... I mentioned a while back that I'd like to create a website for my art, well, I do already have a domain. I do have a friend who's willing to set up a site for me, but he's busy and I don't want to hassle him with constantly updating the site, so I think I should learn how to do it myself, hell I should just try and build it myself.

I can't work on my art very often, even little cartoony stuff, but doing stuff on the computer hasn't been too taxing. So I think I'm going to try and build my own site, I'm going to get some books on building websites from the library, and just go from there. The only web experience I have is with this blog, Lord knows if I had never gotten sick I wouldn't know the first thing about computers. So although I'm a novice, I'm kind of excited, I mean, I love projects, I love challenges, so this could be really cool, and I'll probably end up learning a lot! That is, if everything goes according to plan and I can figure out the first steps! I think the current circumstances in my life are perfect for me to give this a shot now, I have a feeling that whenever I'm better health-wise I'll be less inclined to sit around blowing tons of time trying to learn code and web design.

Celeb and Sports News (You Know You Need This! Seriously, Don't Act Like You Don't!)

Celebrity News

In fun celebrity news, Britney is just plunging into the single life with gusto. She's now hanging out with Paris Hilton too, haha, I would pay money to hear the conversation that goes on between those two!

In more Paris news, I also heard somewhere that Paris and Lindsay Lohan got into a fight, with Paris supposedly hitting Lindsay. What do these people have to fight about, I don't really get that, unless it's just to get more publicity and attention. Who knows why? Well, I guess if I had the trifecta going (young, rich, and famous) I'd do my fair share of hotel room trashing, I'd probably also be sucker punching unsuspecting rival celebrities I was jealous of, I'd also have to do a lot, lots lots lots of drugs, I'd also have to reserve a couple hours a day so I could stare at photos of myself and revel in my own beauty, my favorite would probably be creating false gossip (that would be fun!), and just being glamorous, I suppose. I just spend a lot of time wondering, if I were a celebrity, what would my drug of choice be? Seems like LSD could be nice, but nobody is doing that nowadays. Cocaine seems to be exhilarating, not to mention fashionable and chic... Marijuana is a bit too far down on the totem pole for consideration, although I think Paris was caught with some (which would certainly make marijuana fashionable to smoke once again). Quite frankly, alcohol seems to be the drug choice for celebrities with absolutely no imagination. Heroin, now that was in style, but probably about 10 years ago right? Whatever happened to the heroin chic... seems like a good thing that faded into history, but I guess models are as thin and sickly looking as ever, with or without heroin. Hopefully they get some rules in the modeling industry, those young girls get manipulated by the agencies... they have no choice but to be rail thin. What in God's name am I talking about!!!!

And I also heard this (I watched the E channel yesterday!, that's why I know all this!), Lindsay Lohan is attending AA meetings. Hopefully she'll be ok, I kind of have a soft spot for her after seeing her in Freaky Friday... Which reminds me, I still need to see the Parent Trap...

Sports

In a sense it's unfortunate, when I feel better I start doing more productive things and forget to focus on the things that matter in life. The things that matter? Well, celebrity gossip and sports of course! I can't believe I missed the Patriots/Bears game last Sunday, I had to check today to see who won (the Patriots)! I don't know who's playing this week in NFL games, although I did atone for my lack of watching sports last night by watching part of the Suns' game (they won! and Amare played really well!).

Rugby

Rugby is a rough sport (and the sky is blue). Now, I know not everyone has a sick penchant for violence, but you know, boys being boys... most of us need a certain quota of bone-jarring NFL/NHL/Rugby sports action. It's inexplicable, but hey, we don't have to explain our terrificly twisted, brutally bloody, sublimely sordid hobbies!

(I wouldn't let this post fool you, I'm really not as macho and violent as I might be coming across. Maybe I'm trying to pull the wool over your eyes so you don't realize how sensitive and sweet I am, so you don't realize I'm a peace-loving beatnik...)

Anyways, I got rugby on my mind because we get this French tv channel here, and they showed highlights of the French rugby team getting trounced by the All Blacks, New Zealand's team. They also showed the All Blacks doing their chant, the Haka, totally amazing! Doesn't get any more macho than this...

All Blacks doing the Haka!


All Blacks Commercial


All Blacks Highlights

Why Being a Politician Pays Off, Sports Talk, and a Roadrunner Story

Politics

You know why you become a politician? Because of this, it's all about the money baby! You know what I would eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I were a super rich politician? I know you're thinking it... the answer is MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! I particularly like the taste of the $100 bills, and the $2 bill is also noteworthy for the sweet taste it leaves on the palate. Quite maaarvaahlous really! Although that sweet taste could just be cocaine residue, I really don't know...

Anyways, I've really loaded up on politics lately and I don't feel the need to spill any cyber ink on the subject (note: I'm happy to see a balanced government!). I will give you one prediction: Iraq gets partitioned, no other way that country is going to work out. And you can take that to the bank.

Sports

I promised sports talk. Well, as my Arizona Cardinals continue finding ingenious and egregious ways of losing, my love for them only increases. Weird, no? As for the Suns, they have yet to win a game, yet for me, all with that team is forgiven, because they have a French player, Boris Diaw! I really hope Stoudemire can recover from his knee problems, but I truly doubt he can regain the explosiveness that made him one of the most fearsome players in the league, it's going to be one of those sad, coulda shoulda been Bo Jacksonish kinda things.

As for a thing of beauty, I recommend watching the Colts' offense, Peyton Manning is razor sharp, it's as close to artistic as the NFL gets.

Roadrunner Siting!

A roadrunner almost came in the house the other day. I haven't seen a roadrunner in ages (maybe it's because my dog always tried to eat them!). Very funny creatures, I really like them, although the cartoon version really annoyed me, I really wish Wiley had knocked the 'meep meep' out of that smug bastard.

More sports...

Still haven't felt great, but there was some great tennis and some NFL action today, so that was nice.

Federer beat Roddick in the US Open final in a good match. Federer is amazing, what I love about the guy is he isn't like Pete Sampras. Federer has an all-around game in which he makes use of both power and finesse. Anyways, it's inspiring stuff(to be cliched) but it helps get me through the days in a very good way.

SPORTS!

I've felt sooooo tired all day. Fortunately we own a little magic box that can keep you entertained for hours on end with an assortment of entertainment options. Because I'm sick, I take all the more pleasure in watching sports, I think it's that whole living vicariously thing. Moreover, sports, and especially tennis, are so psychological. I'm fascinated by how athletes respond to various situations, it's like watching a novel in fast forward. The pace at which events unfold is dizzying and mesmerizing, and I love how the outcome usually is tinged with a certain logic or fatalism.

If you ever get a chance or have the time, watch Federer play, totally worth it.