The Bull Pen #26

Well, it has been a while since I posted one of these so I figured I might as well come back with a whole bunch of random stuff that is only connected in the fact that it all is important to me. Or is it?

I went to Indianapolis on Saturday on a spur of the minute decision as my wife Tracey got called off work. It was a rainy day and I am sure she was not to thrilled about the idea of spending an off day out of town until I used the 3 magic words: South Bend Chocolate. It was just that simple; I get to go to Indianapolis and see the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art as well as dine at the local Hard Rock while she gets to stock up on her favorite chocolate in the world. I know a few of my clanmates (namely BigOne and Stryker) may be curious why I did not pay them a visit while in town but it was a whirlwind schedule and I seriously doubt asking to pay a visit to gaming buddies would have gone over well with the queen of the house. Back to the chocolate, I highly recommend checking out their website and ordering something as they have some of the most delicious chocolate going. I purchased a milk chocolate bar and a milk chocolate coated rice krispie treat. The rice krispie treat was excellent while the milk chocolate bar is cooling in the fridge at home in order to be enjoyed at a later date, more than likely this evening. The final highlight of the trip was stopping at the Hard Rock Café and picking up two more pins to add to the collection while enjoying the Hickory BBQ burger. It was not the best I have ever had (Atlanta seemed to do a much better job) but it was satisfactory. If anyone cares, they should message me and I will point out where they can see the two pins I bought. A boring 1-3/4 hour trip back down I-74 and I-275 and we were back home.

The Cincinnati Bengals have gotten off to a 3-0 start for the second season in a row and that includes a victory over the hated Pittsburgh Steelers. It may not have been a pretty victory but there is something I have learned from years of watching sports. Championship caliber teams can win games that by all logical reason, they should have lost. They burn you for almost every little mistake and grab victory from the jaws of defeat. The Bengals played that sort of game yesterday as they took incredible advantage of two fourth quarter turnovers to send the Steelers and their fans into the bye week with a 1-2 record.

The DVD format can best be seen as a concept that brings out the best in studios and the worst in studios. It brings out the best as you have a format that allows full television series to be shown regardless of their cancellation. There are also the DVD extras that allow you to get a little more value rather than just paying to see the movie and maybe a preview or two that was on a standard VHS tape. However, the worst side of DVD’s also applies to extras; the case in point is the recent release of the Lord of the Rings movies on DVD with both versions attached. The concept of Double Dipping has become more and more prevalent with major releases and it irritates me to no end. You do not want to wait a year and a half to purchase a movie but if you buy early, you risk missing out on some stuff that was conveniently ‘left out’ of the early release. I guess as long as there are nimrods out there that need to own every single version of a certain movie and every known extra, this practice will continue.

I have not been playing a lot of Halo 2 lately and it seems as though I’ve been slacking on playing Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow as well. Part of it may be the lack of fellow OMM playing but I think another part of it is the fact that I have found other stuff to do that catches my fancy. It can be rather addictive going to zone.msn.com and playing some of the word or puzzle games. An hour can go pretty fast when you are trying to create 6 letter words in order to advance to the next round. I still enjoy playing Halo 2 and I still enjoy inflicting, er, sharing my custom games with fellow clan members. I just wish it would not have rained so hard Friday night because I was really ready to pull out a lineup of solid games.

Oh, I almost forgot one great advantage of DVD’s. That advantage is the fact that some things can be shown uncut and in their original versions. Something that takes full use of this principle is the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD’s. A funny joke at the end of a certain Bugs Bunny cartoon involves Bugs pointing a gun at his own head (in order to blow his brains out) and missing, while hitting Yosemite Sam. Heaven forbid if you watch the cartoon on regular TV these days as virtually any reference to a character blowing his/her brains out is taken out of the cartoon. I really am not keen on when cartoons that were meant for adults are sanitized and politically corrected so kids can watch them.

I think I am happy that I am not playing fantasy football this season as it has been a wild and crazy ride for some fantasy stalwarts during the first few weeks. I will just rest on the laurels of my two championships from a season ago (one against seriously weak competition) and return at a year of my choosing. Besides, I’m too busy trying to win at Hardball Dynasty at Whatifsports.com to be bothered with fantasy football.

Have you considered the fact that in the time it took for you to read this sentence, you could have been clicking over to deadspin.com and reading something that may or may not in fact be funnier?

I am now forced to ask the question that some people do not want to ask; exactly who does Stuart Scott have pictures of that allows him to remain in such a high position at ESPN?

To close out this ever diminishing blog entry, I leave you with one final key piece of information.

Professor Plum with the Revolver in the Conservatory.