Dirty Bruce

Bruce Achilles Shot on Stoudemire


Bruce Undercuts Francis and Crawford


Bruce Kicks Ray Allen


Bruce Knees Nash with Funny Japanese Commentary

Spurs not doing a stellar job of proving they're not a dirty team

So we know Bowen's a dirty player, and based on how Manu and Duncan react, you would think that they've never committed a foul in their life, and now Cheap Shot Rob body checks the puny Canadian into the boards. You'd think that when someone calls you out as a dirty team, you'd go out of your way to prove them wrong.

Well, Steve Nash (who rocks my socks) and Stoudemire came up big in the clutch...and this was after I considered going to bed when the Spurs were up 85-75. But I knew better, never, ever doubt the Suns.

I would love a Jazz-Suns West and I'd love to see the LeBrons come out of the East, but I know the Pistons will again be in the finals. The funny thing is that when I was little I became a Spurs fan, led by David Robinson, but also featuring such stars as Sean Elliot, Terry Cummings, and Vinny del Negro. And now, the Spurs are mostly just irritating.

Here's a picture of Horry biting Jerry Stackhouse:

Afternoon Scene: Alkaline Trio

What can you say about Alk3? I first heard them in 2000 and was hooked. They were down with death before it became cool. They're from Chicago. And they have too many great songs to list.

"Stupid Kid"


"Mercy Me"


"Radio" (live)


"Time to Waste"


"We've Had Enough"


"Nose Over Tail" (live)

NBA Playoffs Hamper Dump

The Pistons lost to the Bulls, only so that my prediction of Pistons in 5 could come true. And I'm still feeling good about my pick of Cavs in 6.

That fulfills my obligation to mention the Eastern Conference.


Bruce Bowen, what are you thinking? You can't knee a two-time MVP in the balls the game after you get called out as a dirty player. Once someone says that you have to be on your best behavior in order to make the other guy look like a whiner. Now you've exposed yourself, and should get suspended for a pivotal game 4. How pivotal, you ask?

If the Suns win, they had back to Phoenix with home-court advantage, and momentum.
If the Spurs win, it's 3-1 and essentially over.


That Golden State/Utah series is crazy. Even after going down 0-2, I thought the Warriors were in good shape. Because they don't lose at home, and they showed they can play close enough in Utah to win. I was sure they could win both games at home, and put the pressure on Utah in game 5. But they didn't...but I'm not counting them out.

Yeah, I'm rooting for the Jazz, and I think the Jazz are playing better now, they've got to close out a team that is playing like they have nothing to lose. If GSW wins game 5, they can win game 6 at home, and that will be a crazy game 7.

Notes on the actual game: With .3 left to go in a quarter, the Jazz decided not to attempt a shot. True Hoop criticized this call. Well, any team with Derek Fisher knows that you need .4 to catch and shoot. And deep in your own end, trying to attempt an alley-oop tip in, is much likelier to result in a out of bounds turnover than a basket. Plus, no need to rile up the crowd.

Speaking of the crowd, one thing really impressed me last night. At 8:18 in the third, GS was up 60-54. Utah went on a 10-0 run to take the lead 64-60. (Nelson took a timeout at 60-60, but couldn't stop the run.) So what did the crowd do? Usually in that case, the crowd shrinks, worrying about losing. But not the Warriors crowd. They rose to their feet, cheering them on, knowing they needed to score. And they did. It was really a sight to see, a crowd on the wrong end of a 10-0 run, pulling it's team up.

5.13.07

In this issue:

• Parmigiano Reggianito
• Newman's Own
• a semi-Italian, semi-American foodasfuel™ dinner
• and breaking records

Until about a year ago, I had never heard of Parmigiano Reggiano. It is simply put, real parmesan, aged for a minimum of 12 months in Italy. It is real. It is really good. It is also really expensive. This picture shows wheels of it that cost 490 euro ($661). It's usually sells for about 9 or 10 dollars a pound around here.

But yesterday, I found a new cheese with the taste of Reggiano, but at the price of our American grated version. It's called Parmigiano Reggianito, an Argentinian import, named because it is made in smaller wheels than Italian version. I didn't have Reggiano to compare it to, but it was delicious. And at 4.49/pound, I bought 8 oz. at a lower price than the Kraft green bottle. And just like guacamole, parmesan tastes so much better when it is fresh (in this case freshly grated).

Incidentally, parmesan is much better for you than soft cheeses. It has less calories, and you generally use less, too.



I'm not strictly loyal to that many brands...off the top of my head--Gillette face moisturizer, Suave for Men shampoo, Old Navy for jeans, Skippy Honey Nut peanut butter, South Beach protein bars. I buy a lot of store brand groceries and can't think of any bad purchases--even things like olive oil or steak sauce have been pleasant surprises. But I think I'm adding Newman's Own to that list for salsa and pasta saue

Plain and simple, his sauces taste so much better, so much fresher than anything else I've had in a jar. It's usually about 50 cents more, but that's where the savings from store brands on other products comes in. Sure, it also feels good knowing that you're helping give to charity through buying pasta sauce, but ultimately it comes down to taste. And he's got it.



For a Sunday evening dinner, I was inspired my Reggianito cheese to put an Italian twist on an American favorite: burger and fries. It's a bunless burger topped with grated Reggianito and Newman's Own Sockarooni sauce, along side oven baked garlic and parmesan fries.

(click for tasty close-up goodness)

Without the bun, it's a whole lot easier to taste the meat. The fries took about 25 minutes at 450 degrees, tossed in a drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper, then finished with garlic and reggianito when they came out. The smaller ones only take about 20 minutes, so pull those before they burn.



And lastly, I've been breaking some personal records. 5 weeks ago, Brittany walked longer than we had ever done continuously: 9.5 miles. Then over the next 3 weeks, we did it again and again--our first time was 3:45, our fastest was 3:14.

On Friday, I ran 2 miles, which I've done before. But I have my eye on running a personal 5k, a distance I'm pretty sure I've never done. Perhaps tomorrow, when my legs are less sore.

And in general, some time soon I will definitively say that I'm in the best shape of my life. Perhaps I already am, it's hard to remember things from high school, but soon I'm confident that I'll reach a fitness level that I've never achieved before. And that's pretty exciting.

17th NFL Game?

My main problem is that that it will make it easier for players to break single-season records. Just as Dickerson was able to break O.J.'s rushing record because Eric had 16 instead of 14 games. But I guess that single-season records aren't that big of deal, but it still rubs me the wrong way.

You globalize games by getting the kids to play it. Now maybe, kids won't play football in china because they don't have any reason to. But if we like the game so much, I don't see why kids from all over won't gravitate towards the game.

Eh, whatever. It's Friday. I kinda lost my outrage halfway through this. Who cares.

Afternoon Scene: theAUDITION

Officially, theAUDITION is from Chicago, although their wikipedia entry currently reads that "theAUDITION is from ELMHURST and are a buncha sally's trying to sound tough, saying they're from Chicago."

So there you go, they might be a bunch of Sally's. Either way, their album came out in 2005 and it rocks.

"You've Made Us Conscious"


"Approach the Bench" (fan-made)

Afternoon Scene: Dashboard Confessional

I first heard Dashboard Confessional during my senior year of high school, 2000-01. Just a guy with an acoustic guitar and I hadn't heard anything like it. There were nights where I slept on the couch downstairs, so I could fall asleep to this album. On the last day of high school, I remember writing the lyrics to the end of "Swiss Army Romance" on the chalkboard in calculus class.

We're not twenty-one,
but the sooner we are,
the sooner the fun will begin,
so get out your fake eyelashes,
and fake IDs,
and real disasters ensue.
It's cool to take these chances.
It's cool to fake romances.
And grow up fast,
and grow up fast.

I remember seeing him live--as an opening act--before he became popular. After his set which no one was really singing along, I was buying one of his shirts and he came over to the merch table. I told him, "I know the rest of the crowd wasn't really into you, but we came to see you, you were great." I really meant it as a compliment. But he responded "the crowd wasn't into me?" Whoops.

Years later, and countless late night conversations where his albums were the soundtrack, I proposed to the song "Hands Down." And then a year after that, our wedding ended with that same song.

"Swiss Army Romance" (2000 song performed live in 2002)


"Screaming Infidelities" (2001)


"Hands Down" (2003)


"Stolen" (2006)


"So Long, So Long" (2006 fan-made version)

WE BELIEVE!

You don't want none of this!

I-L-L!

The Trials and Tribulations of my Motherfucking Headphones

Tuesday, May 8th. A day like any other. But when I put on my headphones, only my right ear was satisfied. Overnight, the left speaker had died. RIP, my sonic friend.

These particular headphones are the kind that wrap around your neck. I've worn these black-corded headphones for a while, spiting the white earbuds that came with the iPod because those earbuds hurt my ears. I know that the wrap around your neck style hurt some people's ears, depending on the size of your head, but I've never had any problems.

I wish I could wear earbuds because that way I could wear glasses at the same time, as the wrap around your neck interfere with glasses wearing. And as for those big monstrosity headphones that go across the top of your head with the big earcups, those seem like overkill. Plus, they mess up your hair.

But with my wrap around headphones out of commission, I needed a quick fix. A-ha! Along with the new hp-laptop came a pair of glossy black earbuds. Perhaps they wouldn't hurt my ears like the Ipod buds. So I tried them on.

And they weren't bad, but the left ear was a little irritated. That wouldn't do so well for hours a time. But wait...what's that in the bag? Little black foam covers? Could they really make a difference?

The bigger question is could I get them on the earbuds at all? My fingers struggled and struggled and yet I felt like I was going to tear them before I got them on there. So naturally I asked my wife for assistance. And she tried for about 10 seconds before declaring it impossible. So I sat and stared at the foam covers. Would it even matter? But I wouldn't give up that easily. I sat there, pulling the tiny foam apart and managed to slip it on.

And sure enough, it didn't hurt at all. Great Scott! I put the other one on, and I exclaimed that I had found a new set of headphones. I wouldn't need to buy new ones. I could wear my glasses. And they even have a volume control built into the cord. How convenient!

The only hard part was that I couldn't tell them apart, which was left and which was right, without looking at them up close. It might not seem like much, because usually songs are playing the same thing through both channels, but when they're not, I want to know that I'm getting the intended effect.

So I strutted off to work on Wednesday, May 9th, proud of my new buds, my new sonic friends. And at work I was listening to some music when all of a sudden...plop. My left earbud fell out. No problem, right? I'll just put it back in, right?

The foam cover was gone. I checked on my lap, on the floor, and I didn't see it. I put it back in my ear without it, and it felt wrong. I definitely had it in my ear just moments ago, it didn't feel like this. So where did it go?

I proceeded to spend about 15 minutes under my desk, off and on. Giving up, then saying it must be here, only to never find it. It had vanished. Just hours into it's new role of starting headphones.

Ultimately, I stared at my new earbuds, with one foam cover between the two of them, and I had would could only be described as an epiphany. My left ear was the one that hurt. So if I put the cover on the left, then everything would be fine. Plus, I could tell them apart without having to analyze them.

And everthing is perfect...for now.

Update: Actually pretty soon after I finished this post, both ears started hurting. Why do they make the buds so wide?

Afternoon Scene: The Get Up Kids

An emo band before being called emo was something that people denied. They released albums from 97-04, were from Kansas City, and have been credited to influencing many modern bands. Sadly, I couldn't find some of my favorite songs, especially "Mass Pike" and "Don't Hate Me."

"Action and Action"


"Anne Arbour" (live)


"I'm A Loner Dottie, A Rebel"

Update: Niraj added 2 links in the comments, the "don't hate me" I had found, but audio quality is so rough that I didn't bother with it. The "mass pike" video is equally rough, but I hadn't seen it. It's a shame, because that song in particular, and some others are really beautiful, but you can't tell at a poor quality.

Afternoon Scene: Saves the Day

I found some nice examples to show the evolution of Saves the Day, from New Jersey. Here's one video from each of their last four studio albums. (My favorite is the 2001 epic, Stay What You Are)

"Shoulder to the Wheel" 1999

"At Your Funeral" 2001

"Anywhere With You" 2003

"The End" 2006

Jazz Warriors

This was a team victory.

But if you wanted to pass out some credit, you could start with Deron Williams. How he contained Baron Davis and led all players with 31 points, including 4 of 7 from beyond the arc.

You could credit Carlos Boozer with getting 20 rebounds, 10 on the offensive glass, including the biggest one with the putback with 17 seconds left.

You could credit Matt Harpring for securing the last rebound with 7 seconds left, and making both free throws for the win.

You could credit Mehmet Okur for hitting two long jumpers as part of a 7-2 run in the fourth.

But I'm going to credit Dee Brown.


After playing only 451 minutes in the regular season (5.5 per 82 games) and scoring 94 points all year, he came up with some big minutes and big points.

With 6 minutes to go in the game, the Jazz were down 4. Deron had to sit with his 5th foul, and the Warriors had the ball. It would be too easy for Golden State to go on a run, putting the game away.

Over the next minute and half, Dee was aggressive and scored 2 layups, drew the 5th foul on Baron Davis, and limited Baron to 3-point attempts that didn't fall.

Dee tied the game, so when Deron entered the game he didn't have to come from behind.

Brown only had 6 points overall, but those 4 were crucial when the Jazz needed him. I guess it didn't hurt that Bruce Weber was in the crowd watching.


By the way, ESPN states that Dee made $412,000 this year, more than the president. That's a lot. Although not as much as Deron's 3.8 million. Luther makes over a million and Augustine makes the same as Dee.

The Best T-Shirts On Earth

After recently being dissatisfied with the selection of shirts at Old Navy, specifically how they didn't have any that weren't paper thin, I stumbled upon Threadless. These are great shirts with designs you can't find anywhere else.

If you're in the mood, buy one through this link, and I'll save on my next shirt.

http://www.threadless.com/?streetteam=davefymbo

Afternoon Scene: The Impossibles

Here's some live stuff from The Impossibles, a now-defunct band from Austin, Texas. This was filmed at their last show: 6/1/02 in Austin.

"(Never) Say Goodbye"


"Connecticut"


"Stand Up > Fall Down > Get Crushed"


"This Is Fucking Tragic"