Feast your eyes on the beautiful patchwork quilt that is rural Northwestern Ohio.
This was one of the prettiest locations I've ever lived in, and I credit it for giving me such a strong attraction to trees. I don't ever want to have a home without some greenery. That house also had an epic deck (necessary for grilling and parties), a barn (necessary for projects and macho outdoor things), and an awesome full finished basement with a pool table, fireplace, office, living room, kitchen, and bathroom (necessary for cranking it up to 11).
Looking at the picture, its pretty obvious that we weren't in close proximity to big cities. Hell, I don't think there were even cable lines going out there. When my family moved to Louisville in 1996 my sisters and I were kind of overloaded with all the amenities we had at our fingertips.
That being said, though, when my time comes to raise a family, I'd take a home like this into consideration. We had a lot of privacy. We had a lot of space to adventure in. We developed a strong work ethic (mowing, raking, collecting maple sap, etc.). And we had awesome parties. There was just a lot of room to grow.
I don't think I'll ever get used to living so close to a neighbor that I can look in their windows or hear their music playing from next door. And it makes me manic when I see new mini-mansions being built close to another home. Why wouldn't a builder want some space? Where are all the trees?
Oh well. I suppose its all part of growing up and adapting to your environment. I think I adapted to Louisville relatively quickly. And I feel comfortable now in the NYC area. The traffic has never bothered me. I still get amazed by how many people live so close to each other here. There are probably 3x as many people in a city block in NYC than there were in the entire village I went to school in. Also, check out this statistic from Wikipedia:
The racial makeup of the village was 99.48% White, 0.15% African American, and 0.37% from two or more races.Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.22% of the population.
Its incredible how big a village like that can seem to a child, and how small it seems now that I'm living up here. I suppose anyone makes that realization when they get older. There's always a bigger picture to take into consideration. I try to keep this in mind whenever I begin to feel like I'm the center of the universe. There's so much out in the world to learn. There are so many people in the world to meet. So much to see. So much to taste. So many places to go. Geez.
I'm already nostalgic for college football. We still have this weekend's championship games, and then bowl games through the end of the year...and then, like that, its gone.
The good news with the end of college football, though, is that Oregon-Oregon State is a great game. South Carolina is going to lose, but they're playing Auburn tough, and its a fun game to watch. With Oregon and Auburn winning, though, we're going to be treated to two high-powered offenses playing in the National Title Game. Boise State is out, so I don't have that to fret about.
And I stick by the fact that I wouldn't mind TCU in the title game if one of these teams (Auburn and Oregon) lose. TCU plays some tougher teams, and they're going to be in the Big East in 2012, so I can dig it.
Ohio State will *probably* get into a BCS game. I think that's a lock, actually. Louisville should be getting into a bowl game. This has been a good, good season.
Still scratching my head at how South Carolina could lose to UK this year and subsequently cost me two 6-packs. The team did redeem themselves by beating Florida and earning me three 6-packs. So I'll take it.
And with the end of football comes college basketball. College basketball is my second favorite sport to watch. The biggest problem with it, though, is that its scheduled to play all days of the week. One of the coolest things about college football is that you can count on Saturdays being 'FOOTBALL DAY.' Cooking, drinking, cleaning, napping, drinking some more, talking trash. Its all encapsulated nicely in one macho day or irresponsibility. I can't afford to be this rugged and irresponsible every night of the week. So the fire loses some of its fuel with college basketball.
That being said, college basketball is a nice way to coast into the spring and easing the foot off the gas. And then from March to August the hot rod that is Paul's attention to sports sits idle, covered in tarp, parked in the garage. This will inevitably lead to me going back to 7-day work weeks.
OTHER RAMBLINGS
- The Land, Sea, and Air Sandwich Challenge!
You take a hamburger, a chicken sandwich, and a fish sandwich and combine all three patties under one bun.
- While Pitt and Cincinnati are currently playing in the snow, it seems that someone got a bit too carried away playingwith the snow. The Cincinnati mascot was detained by police and ejected from the stadium on Saturday, and had to be replaced. Why?
Because he was throwing snowballs into the crowd, and when police asked him to stop, he didn't. Something that then causes this to happen.
- Duncan made a brilliant observation. Auburn needs to consolidate their mascots. They have War Eagles. They have Tigers. A good compromise for them would be the Sphinxes.
- David wanted to argue with me about Duke. I told him the only research I would do about Duke basketball is research into what kind of magical spells and curses they recited to get a Deadite onto their team.
- Did you know that Olivia Wilde's real last name is Cockburn? It has long been a matter of principle that I wouldn't sleep with any woman whose last name sounds like it could be an STD. I'm very conflicted right now.
- I dislike LG, but I like Pond Man Reminds me of Swamp Thing or Man-Thing
I don't remember what I was dreaming about last night. I think it was something related to what I had watched before I went to bed (though I don't remember what that was, either). But I woke up a couple hours before my alarm was set to go off and felt like I needed to write this down. I couldn't find a pencil, so I decided to just type it out. Enjoy.
I believe in monsters.
I believe there are people who think the best way to support their lifestyle is by criticizing others’ lifestyles.
I believe there is an absence of consideration in some people.
I believe there is an absence of empathy in some people.
I believe there are people who make art, and conversely there are monsters that look at art and tell you why it’s wrong.
I believe there are people that write or sing or draw or dance, and conversely there are monsters that anticipate explaining why these expressions are no good.
I believe that there are monsters that take pleasure in capping other people’s smiles.
I believe that there are monsters that enjoy taking away other people’s enjoyment.
I believe some monsters do not know they are monsters. These monsters think they are just like everyone else.
I believe there are monsters that enjoy being monsters.
I believe there are monsters that hate monsters.
I believe some monsters are born monsters.
I believe some people are shaped into monsters through circumstances they do not control or sometimes even recognize.
I believe there are some monsters that are scared of other monsters. Some of these fearful monsters change back to people when they see that they are a monster. Some monsters scared of other monsters do not want to change. They want to stay monsters.
I believe monsters are sometimes good people that are having a bad day. At the end of a bad day, monsters can be good people, too.
I think I will make some art to accompany this. It reads to me like a kid's book, so there will most likely be cartoons.
I'm glad that the College Football gods are smiling on me today.
OSU kicked ass. Louisville is going to be putting on a good show against UCONN. Texas got upset. Notre Dame got romped upon. Both Pitt and Rutgers looked unimpressive (which will make the road to a bowl game that much easier for Louisville). And Michigan State almost got beat by Northwestern.
So I'm in an upbeat mood. Whereas last weekend all of my teams lost, this week we're looking strong. Also, I'm still undefeated in my fantasy college football league.
So I'm working out new recipes for both food and cocktails. Muy excellente.
Friday Night..
APPLEJACK MANHATTAN:
Built like a regular bourbon manhattan, but with Applejack.
Equal parts Applejack and Sweet Vermouth
1 dash of bitters
3 ice cubes
Saturday afternoon....
BOURBAREE:
1 part lime juice
1 part honey
1 dash bitters
3 parts bourbon
8 ice cubes
blend and serve
Makes plenty of cocktail action
This came out looking like a tall glass of orange juice with a lot of pulp. It is very aromatic. My only complaint is that with the ice, the honey didn't mix well at all. I can still taste plenty of it in my drink, but next time I might just skip the honey and use some of Wild Turkey's American Honey Liqueur. OR, if the Evan Williams version (at a fraction of the cost) was available in New Jersey, I'd use that instead.
DRUNKEN HOT DOGS:
As my drunk blood brother would say, "zOMG!" This is the best barbecue sauce I've ever freestyled! I tried to follow the instructions from my Bourbon Cookbook, but I had to improvise because I was missing some otherwise obvious ingredients (I didn't have enough ketchup, so I added a small 8 ounce can of tomato sauce, and I didn't have any worcestershire sauce, so I used Sesame Garlic Asian sauce).
1 lb hot dogs
3/4 cup bourbon (I used Evan Williams)
1 tsp worcestershire sauce (substituted Sesame Garlic Asian sauce)
1/8 tsp Tabasco
1.5 cups ketchup (substituted with 1/2 cup ketchup + 8 oz tomato sauce)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon grated onion
Cut hotdogs into half-inch slices. Simmer with rest of ingredients for one hour in frying pan. If liquid dries too much, add more bourbon.
The sauce didn't really dry out, but I added 1/4 cup more bourbon at the 45-minute mark anyhow. I only used a 1/2 pound of hotdogs, too. Also, I could have put this into a small pot instead of a frying pan, and it would have worked just as well, if not better. Also, next time I will use Lil' Smokies instead of hotdogs. The hotdogs themselves didn't soak in any taste (I don't they ever do), but the sauce rocked crazy Les-Miles-Voodoo-Hat hard. So I'll use this sauce again. It would be great with chicken wings or ribs (beef or pork). The only way I would alter this would be to add honey (if you don't think its sweet enough) or liquid smoke (especially if you're not grilling this). Otherwise, its good to go. And, the more I think about it, the more I prefer the substitutions I used.
HOT BUTTERED BOURBON: (from The Bourbon Cookbook by Tom Hoge)
boiling water
1 lump of sugar
1 pat of butter
3 oz bourbon (I used Old Turkey 101)
Warm up a bourbon glass (I did this by taking a glass, filling half-way with water, then putting into the microwave, and warmed with "8 oz. beverage warmer" setting)
Boil pot of water
Place sugar in warmed whiskey glass
Fill 2/3 of the glass with boiling water
Add butter
Fill rest of the way with bourbon
Well, I maintain my position that bourbon is ok strait with ice. Its harder for me to drink as a shot. And it gets incredibly more difficult to drink when its hot. This doesn't taste bad by any means, but whenever I drink a hot bourbon drink, the bourbon taste really dominates. I don't see any evidence of the butter in this drink, with the exception of the gradually-dissipating froth on the top of the cocktail. I can barely taste the sugar, but there's just a *hint* of it there. The drink itself is perfect for a cold day, and it completely cleared my sinuses with the first drink. My recipe claimed that this would be the perfect drink if you just spent a day out in the snow. And I totally agree. After making a snowman or sledding or skiing, this would be the perfect drink to thaw whatever chilled your bones. Much better than any other cocktail or beer.
After letting this drink cool off a little bit, its much easier to drink. Still, I would use a better-than-average bourbon if you're going to serve it hot. Any weaknesses in a bourbon
are exaggerated even more when its served warm, in my opinion. I love Wild Turkey 101 as a standard go-to bourbon for shots or served neat or drinking right from the bottle. But served warm? I'd go to Maker's or something higher shelf. Maker's should be the standard for this drink.
SIDENOTE: I'm starting to get tired. Time for a second wind...and dinner...and more cocktails...
UPDATE: It took me a while to gather my second wind, but I got there, and I made dinner. And I'm glad I did.
Dinner ended up being Pecan Fried Chicken with Buttnernut Squash Soup and a big 22 oz. Southern Tier Pumking Imperial Ale. It was one of the best meals I've made for myself in a long time. I've made good meals for myself here and there, usually with a highlight entree and some forgettable sides. Not so fast! Today was a solid day of food and cocktails.
This is the finished product. And it looks decent decked out in my only plateware...which happens to be fall colored year-round.
BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP:
6 tbsp chopped onion
4 tbsp margarine or butter
6 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
3 cups water
4 cubes chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1. In a large saucepan, saute onions in margarine until tender. Add squash, water, bouillon, marjoram, and peppers. Bring to boil; cook 20 minutes, or until squash is tender.
2. Puree squash and cream cheese in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth. Return to saucepan and heat through. Do not allow to boil.
This was relatively easy to make. The only foil in my plans came with my blender decided to separate and split in half. There was a pureed squash and cream cheese explosion in my kitchen. It pissed me off to no end, and I found myself needing to drink a lot of beer to compensate. There was seriously a layer of pastel yellow goo all over the place. I turned my iPod onto the most mellow of all instrumental playlists, cleaned the kitchen up, drank a lot of beer, and started from scratch. The end product was delicious, and the only recommendations I can make would be to add more squash -AND- don't use a cheap blender.
Put pecans, panko crumbs, cayenne, black pepper, basil, oregano, and salt in a food processor. Pulse the mixture until finely ground. Transfer mixture to a large plate.
Whisk together the egg and water in a shallow dish.
Dip each piece of chicken into the egg mixture, then dip in the pecan mixture making sure to coat all surfaces. Set aside.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken breasts and cook until browned (3-4 minutes). Turn and repeat on second side. Transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm, repeat process with remaining chicken breasts.
I also cooked some white onion and green peppers while I was frying the chicken. They served as a fine side with the chicken and soup. The only thing I wish I would have made along with this would have been some toast. It would have complimented the soup well. Otherwise, this was a delicious, complete meal.
The Southern Tier Imperial Pumking Ale was such a welcome compliment to this meal, too. I had my first ever ale from the brewery last weekend. It was an excellent addition to this meal, too.
HOT BUTTERED BOURBON version 2: (From the Evan Williams Distillery's "Cooking With Bourbon" pamphlet)
2.5 oz bourbon
6 oz apple cider
1 tsp brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp butter
dash of nutmeg
Heat everything except cinnamon, butter, and nutmeg in a sauce pan. Pour into a warm mug. Add cinnamon stick and butter and stir. Sprinkle with nutmeg.
This version of Hot Buttered Bourbon is much, much mellower. The other version is very dependent on the quality of the bourbon. This version is much more dependent on the cider. So whatever the quality of bourbon you use, the drink is much more forgiving. Whether you drink this cocktail warm or cool, the cider plays the complimentary partner to the drink, and it really softens whatever chunky imperfections a bourbon might bring with it.
When I first served this a couple years ago, Mike was kind of skitterish about butter being in his drink. He loved cider. He was learning to love bourbon. But the thought of butter being in his drink freaked him out. Later, Lauren and Taylor shared similar reactions. Its funny, because butter isn't something you expect in a cocktail, but I don't think anyone would mind if they didn't know any better. Its definitely an insulating ingredient to the cocktail, possibly inasmuch as cider is. So I'm tempted to not tell people that there's any butter at all in the drink.
So it goes.
Missouri just beat Oklahoma. Oregon should be the consensus number 1 in college football. This means Ohio State and Michigan State should both move up in the polls. I can't imagine Missouri gaining leverage over either team. I can only hope that neither Boise State or TCU take top spot. I'll be cheering for Oregon for the rest of the season (unless either BS or TCU get upset at some point). It doesn't look like Ohio State will end up in the National Championship Game, but here's hoping for another top 5 finish.
Enjoying 17 hours of college football is one of those unique experiences that require just the right balance of ingredients. Today I had all of mine, and they lined up perfectly. Good games, good food, and good drink.
It is strait up cold in NJ. I'm being stubborn and not turned my heat on. All summer I dealt with having a hot apartment. Its just expected when you live on the second floor. So I compensated by having the ACs on almost all the time. But I guess my downstairs neighbors haven't turned their heat on yet, because I'm not benefiting from any of their heat. I'm always wearing slippers in the apartment, and I'm afraid the shorts are about to get packed away. I'm wearing jackets into all of my store calls now. I can barely afford to drive with the windows down anymore. And I started using heat in the car this week.
On the one hand, the leaves changing colors up here are beautiful. There's a tree in the back that's turned a brilliant red/orange. The skyline in New York state is wonderful, too. Greens and browns and reds. There are actually advertisements for leaf-tours where a bus drives people into this part of the state just to take pictures of the fall nature. So that's nice.
But darn it, I am chilled. When I drink tea in the morning, my glasses get fogged up from the temperature differential. Its definitely become casserole and roast season.
On a hike through the Hudson Valley, I recently unearthed an old tome. I was in one of the coldest, darkest forest valleys I've ever seen. The ground was dark black, a fuzzy brown mold covered any exposed wood, and I couldn't see any animals or hear any birds, but I'll be damned if I didn't hear small creatures darting through leaves and dodging behind trees.
At one point of my hike through this dark valley I was resting, reaching into my pack to get a bottle of water. I had packed everything tight, so when I finally fished out the slippery bottle, it tumbled out of my hands and into a pile of rocks. I hadn't noticed the rock pile before, and upon further examination I realized someone must have put the pile there. I kicked at it a bit and revealed this book. Somehow it wasn't wet or moldy at all. In fact, with the exception of browned pages from age, it looked like it had been preserved perfectly.
As I drank my water and rested, I flipped through the book, reading several passages out loud. The story itself shook me with terror. The more I read, the more I noticed the sounds of chattering animals growing louder. Not wanting to endanger myself, I shoved the book into my pack and hiked the hell out of there. The hair on the back of my neck didn't rest until I got home, though I continued to shiver throughout the night.
Here, for your reading pleasure, I present the passages of the book that most frightened me:
CHAPTER ONE: Hitchcock Introduction
"Good evening, fellow necromaniacs. I'm glad so many of you could come.I should explain that the word has nothing to do with necking.I'm awfully sorry.I don't have time to explain it now.You'll just have to look it up in the dictionary. As you know, we are not allowed to present out play unless we have a quorum. Tonight we are concerned with those three little words: WHO DONE IT? When our story opens, the more sordid details are safely out of the way, for the hero of tonight's Grand Guignol is already quite dead."
CHAPTER TWO: THE SLEEPER
Bank guard Cassius Johnson settles into his desk for the night. He kicks his feet up, settles back in his office chair, looks at the family picture he keeps on his desk, and watches the monitors to make sure nothing happens to the area he's employed to protect. The walls of his small office are decorated with pictures of his family, memorabilia from his vacations, and awards presented to him for the achievements he's reached throughout his career. Awards for his time on the police force, for his command of the post at the prison as head guard, and now at this position as a bank guard.
But for the first time in his career, he's been battling sleep this week. And no matter how much coffee he has been drinking, he's still struggling to stop yawning. On this night, kicked back in his chair, eyes rubbed to the point of the being bloodshot, he rests his head back, and for the first time in his career, he falls asleep on the job.
Enter the criminals. As Cassius Johnson slumbers, three hooded villains are seen scrambling through the back entrance to the bank. As they approach the guards office, one of the figures unscrews a heating vent revealing a small machine that has been emitting a gas into Cassius' office. They tie the guard to his chair, never waking him. The villains then proceed to the bank vault.
epilogue to chapter two:
In a dark lair in what appears to be a cavern, a hideous creature is seen sitting in a throne built of entrails, writing in a journal. All that can be seen of this creature are its red eyes, reflecting the flames of a fire burning hot in the middle of this cavern. The creature grunts and wheezes, breathing heavily and writing ferociously. Interrupted by a clatter of noise at the entrance of his cavern, the creature looks up to see a humanoid creature slowly crawling towards his throne. The lesser creature offers a tribute to the royal creature before beginning his prayer:
"I am here oh great and mighty Tyrannus. What is your will?"
Tyrannus looks up from his book, snarling at the interruption, and responds. "I have used my power to infect the bats with a thirst for blood and destruction. Release them against the humans!"
CHAPTER THREE: MONSTER
Tyrannus' evil bats are released through a system of cavernous tunnels. As they shriek and search for the nearest exit they form an underground cloud of unified terror. Suddenly, one of the beasts unleashes a scream louder than the rest, seemingly guiding them. It has found light. The cloud explodes in the direction of this sliver of light.
With the bank guard tied up, the three masked villains are in the bank vault, arguing amongst each other about who will get what fraction of "the haul." They bicker and insult each other as they work, pulling drawer after drawer, stack after stack of dollar bills out. In the back left corner of the vault is an old chest that seems to be grounded to the floor, anchored somehow. The villain that had secured the gas-emitting device in the guard's office appears to be something of a mechanical genius. He limps back to his tool box and produces a high-tech saw that he uses to free the the chest from its restraints.
As the trio pulls the chest back to examine its prize, they fail to notice that a piece of the vault's floor has been ripped up. The group does notice, however, that the vault begins to shake. Then they notice the lights beginning to flicker and an audible buzz coming from what appears to be all around them. Then darkness. They reach out in the darkness, grabbing onto each other for security, whispering doubts. When the lights come back on they are relieved to feel the shaking and buzzing has stopped. They pause and look around until finally they're content to resume stealing from the bank. Just as they return to work, huge, lumbering bats begin crawling through the hole in the back of the vault. Each member of the gang tries to run but is overpowered by a bat.
Later, at a hospital, each robber is handcuffed to a bed, hooked up to numerous monitors, unconscious . They have been separated into different quarantined rooms. Masks removed, the gang is revealed. One is a tan-skinned woman. One is an older man with thick glasses. The other is a man with no hair, no eyebrows, and no eyelashes.
The monitors which had been reading steady patterns begin to spike. The machines begin to shake and spark. Simultaneously across all three rooms, the monitors explode. The gang each wakes up in their separate rooms. Panicking and realizing that their heist has been foiled, they feel desperate and angry. Apart from each other, each begins to suspect that another had betrayed them. As their anger intensifies, strange things begin to happen. Each villain begins to change.
What appears to be circuits and wires begin to grow out of the older man, the mechanical genius. Slowly the electrical components and wires overtake the man's flesh. He has become completely hardwired, taking the shape of a crab-like humanoid. Steam and mist are expelled from the new robo-man until the room is too foggy to see through. When the smoke clears, the man has disappeared. His laughter can be heard coming from sporadic intercoms scattered throughout the hospital.
The hairless man's eyes open wide, panicked. His begins to cry, but the tears thicken and go from clear to black, oily. His eyes then become black. His jaw appears to dislocate and open wider than any human's should. He screams and slowly fades from view, dissipating like a bad television signal. Before he fades completely, his visage is distorted and stretched.
The woman smiles, realizes something has changed, and snaps free of her restraints. She sits up and rips free of the handcuffs. She finds the clothes she was brought in with, changes, and puts her ski mask back on. She opens the door to her room and begins brutally slaughtering the guards assigned to watch her room. Next she systematically hides, darting in and out of hospital rooms, killing bystanders, until she is out of the hospital. With each murder she appears to grow in stature. She witnesses her growth after killing her sixth victim, a bad driver. Her legs extend and she has to move the driver's seat back as she drives off in her new vehicle. She reaches back and feels something odd on the back of her head. She pulls her hand back to expose clumps of hair she's shed. She feels the back of her head and feels cold metal. She drives off laughing maniacally.
The world has just witnessed the birth of three monsters: Master Crack, Phantasm, and Queen Kong.
CHAPTER FOUR: GO TO SLEEP
The Phantasm monster rematerializes somewhere he doesn't recognize. Its cold. He doesn't know what is happening. He is angry and confused. The woman he had loved was the planner, the schemer. She got him into this mess. With each swing of his unstable emotions his body becomes more and more distorted. Phantasm remembers being an up-and-coming sleep psychiatrist, married and successful, expecting a child with his wife.
That is until one of his patients claimed he had hypnotized and raped her. He lost all of his clients during the trials. His wife lost her child. His colleagues explained that she lost the baby due to stress incurred from the accusations about her husband. She divorced him without ever giving him the chance to explain himself.
He met the woman in line at the unemployment office. She flirted with him aggressively, seemingly attracted to his knowledge of big words. They had an affair. He began sleeping on the couch at her apartment. When she came to him with a plot to rob a bank, he weighed his options and decided he had nothing left to lose. He developed a sleep gas that would be used to negate any guards at the bank. And he doesn't remember what happened after they pulled the chest out of the corner of the bank's vault.
Now, with some unexplained powers, Phantasm rocks back and forth on the floor of this cold place, sobbing. He tries to sleep, but something strange happens every time he closes his eyes. He can't sleep. He's inside other people's dreams. He realizes the potential to change his plot in life by manipulating people's dreams with this new power. The possibilities seem endless. As he searches through people's dreams he looks for his wife. He manipulates lawyers and judges, his former colleagues and friends, desperate to change his life. When he meets conflicts, he manipulates people's sleep patterns, causing them to fall asleep in their cars and have fatal accidents, or in some cases cause them to be so sleep deprived that they're more susceptible to his dream suggestions.
CHAPTER FIVE: LOOKIN FOR YA
As Phantasm travels through the dreams of the public, he stumbles across Hardwire. Revealing himself and his powers to Master Crack, the two agree to hunt for Queen Kong, reforming their gang. Master Crack appears humanoid, though he retains the claws that come with his new crab-like appearance. Still, he has the ability to become a fluid entity of wires and circuitry, able to squeeze under doors and through wall outlets. It appears he can also manipulate electronics and computers. With Master Crack's ability to access any and all electronic information and Phantasm's ability to float from dream to dream, the two are on the hunt for their third monster teammate. Along the way they cause an unstoppable path of death and misery. They can't explain their urge to find Queen Kong. It feels innate. Something is pulling them.
epilogue to chapter five:
Queen Kong abandoned the stolen taxi weeks ago and has been following her instincts to travel underground, isolated from the public. She stalks subways, sewers, and ditches on her way out West. She feels pulled in an in explicable direction, to a destination she's never been. Whenever she is discovered, she is quick to murder any witnesses. From her small form she has grown to almost six feet tall. She feels her form getting bulkier and the metal that she had felt at the base of her skull has grown in patches along her spine as well.
CHAPTER SIX: CRABBUCKIT
Master Crack and Phantasm, working in tandem, have infiltrated high levels of the government. They have stumbled upon a trail of carnage that can only be Queen Kong. To find her and isolate her they have manipulated several platoons of soldiers, but to gain such access they have destroyed the minds of many high-ranking military officials. No matter how many squads of armed men they send to Queen Kong they cannot reach through to her, nor can they access her mind. Before any of their emissaries can talk to her she shreds them. Convinced that trying to reach her through the manipulation of others will not work, they decide to send one more swarm of soldiers and vehicles to stop her so they can talk to her.
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE OPPOSITE OF ADULTS
Unknown to her, Queen Kong has been battling the forces her two former partners have sent after her to slow her down to reunite with them. She can't explain why these men continue to pursue her, but it doesn't matter, because she cannot be killed. Her metallic hide can't be punctured, and the rest of her heals quickly from any other injury she incurs.
Clumsy and inattentive to their surroundings, the team of Master Crack and Phantasm send an aggressive military force into a small town community to round up Queen Kong. Unbeknownst to Master Crack and Phantasm, one of their military generals is an overly-aggressive man, intent on bringing in Queen Kong by any means necessary. The general tracks Queen Kong to a tunnel running underneath a playground busy with children. Desperate to stop her, the general tries to flood the tunnel with nuclear waste, convinced that if bullets and explosions won't stop her, perhaps a soft-nuclear option will work.
Counting down from five, the general plans on sending in a wave of the waste. For good luck, he drops a live grenade in with the waste. Unfortunately, the general is swept up in the wave of nuclear waste, exploding directly underneath the playground. Queen Kong wipes the waste from her person and flees, unscathed. The general and the children stand, trying to escape the sledge. However, the swell of waste begins to pull in on itself, dragging the general and the children together in a solid form of toxic sledge.
Pulling itself upright, this new terrifying entity screams, dripping waste wherever it crawls. It towers over homes. The conscious of each child is shared by the new monster, and each child wants to go home. The general's mind is in this new monster as well. It screams again, not knowing where home is, but aware that it must follow Queen Kong. It heads west, following the trail Queen Kong leaves. Along the way, the police and the military try to stop the Heap. Anyone that crosses its path is absorbed and eventually dissolved into the toxic creature. With each addition to its cluster, the Heap grows, crying louder and louder. No one knows if its cries are of pain or of anger. All anyone knows is that it cannot be stopped.
Realizing that they've gotten themselves into more of a mess than they would like to handle, Master Crack and Phantasm leave the military, killing anyone they had inhabited to cover their tracks. They sneak into a passing semi-truck and ride West, again pulled by some unknown force.
CHAPTER EIGHT: REMEMBER HIS NAME
Witnessing the events of the disasters in the Midwest from their underground lair in California, the hip-hop group Jurassic 5 monitors the westward progress of the monsters. They also discover something the media and the police have missed, a trail of murders following but unrelated to the monsters. They don't know it, but they've discovered Master Crack and Phantasm.
DJ Nu-Mark, the scientist, collaborates with his lab partner, Cut Chemist to analyze some of the sledge left behind by the Heap. They recognize its nuclear-genetic patterns and create an enzyme that will allow them to control the beast. But before they use the enzyme, they decide to study the woman monster the Heap is following as well as the path of murders that follow the two.
Before the creation of the Heap, they notice that the mysterious path of sleepless military officials and scrambled electronics seemingly two steps behind the underground murders committed by Queen Kong. Since the creation of the Heap, no military or government departments have reported these experiences, but there are loads of police reports of accidents among truck drivers, most of the truckers reporting lack of sleep or scrambled equipment inside their trucks.
Using all of the resources at their disposal, and relying on the combined strength each individual's unique abilities, Jurassic 5 concludes that it is time to confront the monstrosities. After extensive research, they have put together a plan. Akil, the pilot, flies the J5 helicopter in front of the creature they have named Queen Kong. Zaakir, the daredevil dives out of the helicopter and, using his infra-red-monster-radar locates Queen Kong. Upon finding her, he uses his agility to scramble to avoid her punches and claws, and he straps a jetpack to her. Remotely, DJ Nu-Mark, the scientist of the team, detonates the jet pack, and Queen Kong is launched into space.
Unable to follow Queen Kong any further, the Heap lurches to the last location she had touched earth. Having tracked her as far as it could go, the Heap stops and begins wailing, crying into the air. Everything is going according to the plan Jurassic 5 had put together. Chali 2na, the strong and slow-witted member of Jurassic 5 dons his mystic Power Glove. The force of the Power Glove relieves him of his mind but gives him incredible size and strength. As his eyes go blood red he grows to match the size of the Heap and punches him with the Power Glove, unfazed by the Heap's toxic presence. With each punch, the Heap is slowly dissolved into smaller pieces until the monster is scattered into hundreds of small clumps of nuclear sludge.
Jurassic 5 is directed by Cut Chemist and DJ Nu-Mark to collect each clump in individual lead-lined containers, saving the planet. first epilogue of chapter eight: Cassius Johnson, the bank guard, is in a hospital, still unconscious from the original bank robbery/mutant bat fiasco. His wife is sitting by his side, holding his hand. She sits, night after night, waiting for Cassius to wake from whatever ailment he’s suffering from. The doctors say he’s not in a coma, but they can’t explain why he isn’t moving or responding to tests. Occasionally his eyes flutter, but they don’t open. His fists clench, but they never touch.
second epilogue to chapter eight: As the lead-lined containers are stored in J5's underground bunker, a pallet of containers is diverted to a waiting truck, driven by two shadowy figures. Cut Chemist signs off on the truck’s manifest and watches it leave J5’s compound. As the truck exits, Cut Chemist is seen shaking his head and yawning.
The truck’s occupants are actually Master Crack and Phantasm. Master Crack had infiltrated J5’s inventory system and Phantasm had hypnotized Cut Chemist. The two drive off with a pallet of Heap pieces.
Later in the night, DJ Nu-Mark notices Cut Chemist's change in behavior and realizes what has happened. The two entities of destruction that had followed Queen Kong and the Heap are not only still out there, but they infiltrated Jurassic 5's compound. "Master Crack and Phantasm will be back!"
CHAPTER NINE: THE TERROR (intermission)
CHAPTER TEN: DON'T TURN THE LIGHTS ON
With pieces of Heap, Master Crack and Phantasm reverse their westward trajectory and go back east. On the way, they are unknowingly affected by exposure to Heap. They don't notice the fact that they aren't stopping for food or drink as often. They don't notice that days and nights begin to shrink shorter and shorter. They don't notice that they're starting to develop secondary mutations. Phantasm is stretched and distorted even further. He begins to slip in and out of people's dreams unintentionally, and he has a difficult time distinguishing between dream and reality. Master Crack outgrows his skin and begins building "shells" out of metallic debris. He also develops a thirst for blood. The pair begin to resemble the monsters they are, losing their humanoid appearance.
They travel in the back of tractor trailers in the dark. Once they return to their city, close to the scene of the crime, a truck driver discovers them and screams in terror. They snap back to reality, realizing their mutated appearance. Using their combined powers, they discorporate the driver, spraying his remains on the walls of the trailer they had been riding in. Disgusted with their new appearance, they hide in the dark, waiting for their opportunity to either cure themselves or mutate the rest of the world into similarly disfigured creatures like themselves.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: DEMON WOMAN
Desperate to change their fates, Master Crack and Phantasm renew their criminal ways, systematically infiltrating government science centers. Phantasm re-enters members of the Jurassic 5 to learn what has happened to Queen Kong. When they learn that Queen Kong is still flying through space on one of Jurassic 5's jetpacks, Master Crack focuses his powers to the International Space Station. Once his conscience is transmitted on board, he begins to systematically focus his entity on building a space craft out of spare parts to harness Queen Kong's trajectory. Phantasm enters the dreams of the astronauts on board the ISS and manipulates their actions to assist in tracking Queen Kong.
CHAPTER TWELVE: BRAIN STEW
Combining their powers, Master Crack and Phantasm search the International Space Station to salvage anything they can to reach out to Queen Kong. They discover a special space reconnaissance experiment on board the space station testing the effects of human cloning in zero gravity. Reaching upon Master Crack's superior mechanical engineering ability, they create a colony on Mars to act as an incubator for the cloning of potential new bodies for themselves. The new colony will also act as a half-way point between Queen Kong's expected trajectory and Earth.
They conspire to send one unmanned space craft to retrieve Queen Kong and bring her to the colony to study how to return to their original bodies. Simultaneously they will begin cloning a squad of multiple bodies to use as hosts if they cannot revert their physical changes. If all goes to plan, Queen Kong will be back and in their laboratory and the pair of monsters will have a large supply of potential host bodies. Expending great power to achieve their goals, the two exhaust themselves both physically and mentally.
Meanwhile, on earth, Phantasm's power is stretched so thin that he accidentally makes a momentary psychic link with Cassius Johnson, killing him. Somehow Johnson's essence doesn't die, though. It is on a plane of existence within Phantasm's dream reality. Retaining all of his memories on earth, Johnson begins to live within Phantasm's dreams, systematically torturing the already-tortured monster. Johnson recognizes the monsters' plans, and he will exert as much of his will as he can to foil their schemes.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - SUPER DOME
Despite his best efforts, Cassius Johnson can't alter the course of the actions already in motion. Queen Kong is successfully snagged and returned the monsters' new colony. The clones are multiplying rapidly in the zero gravity incubation chambers. Master Crack and Phantasm are slowly depleting the life force out of the crew of the International Space Station. And the remnants of the Heap, recently brought to the space colony are slowly gaining sentience.
None of the schemers involved anticipated what was to happen next. Due to a freak accident caused by the dream-deprived and increasingly unstable Phantasm, Queen Kong's consciousness and mutation was spread to a newly-awakened squad of clones. Master Crack and Queen Kong fled back to earth, leaving an army of foul-mouthed clones on the space colony. Phantasm cannot handle the combination of abandonment by Queen Kong and Master Crack and the constant exposure to cannibalistic obscenities espoused by the Queen Kong clones. Each clone has a metal scalp, each one behaving lewdly, each one learning and growing from the technology left behind by Master Crack and Phantasm. The clones conspire to return to Earth to take vengeance upon those that created them.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE BEST
Back on earth, Cassius Johnson's steadfast wife buries him. She holds her chin high through the ceremonies, holding hope that the memories of her best friend and husband are enough for her to carry on. Little does she know that her husband's essence lives on. And he will be a savior in the coming days...
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: AIN'T NO GRAVE
He had been piggy-backing inside of Phantasm's dream world, and when the squad of Queen Kong clones was awakened he was given access to their collective consciousness as well. His presence is augmented with the addition of access to the clones' dreamworlds. He is able to travel the galaxy and land in his wife's dreamworld. He inspires her but simultaneously distracts her. He realizes the conundrum and transfers his conscience back and forth between his wife and the clones on Mars.
Meanwhile, the clones are organizing and begin using the leftover technology to rein in passing asteroids, boarding them, and guiding them towards earth.
Realizing the danger, Cassius Johnson taps into Phantasm's dreamworld and using his inherent power, transfers Johnson's essence into the body that had been buried. What Johnson's wife and doctors hadn't realized was that, though his body was still and non-responsive, he was still half-alive. With his conscience back home, Cassius Johnson was awake, and he began clawing and pulling at the coffin he had been buried in. He was convinced that he would be able to be with his wife again.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: TOO MUCH
As the Queen Kong clones board asteroids and make their ways towards earth, Cassius Johnson recognizes the danger heading towards his home. He is able to induce a sleep state with the help of his wife. In this sleep state he can enter the minds of the clones and force them to decomission their own asteroid spacecraft, committing kamikaze into the earth's atmosphere. But there are so many. Can Cassius Johnson destroy them all?
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: HEADS WILL ROLL
Cassius Johnson tries his hardest to destruct each of the incoming clones asteroids, but it proves too large a task. He channels the powers given to him by Phantasm and reaches out for help. He gets Master Crack and Queen Kong to commit their powers to stopping the invading clones. He reaches out to Jurassic 5 and gets promises of their assistance, as well. Things look to be up for heroes.
Unfortunately, some asteroids DO reach the earth. As they crash into the ground, the contingency of heroes fights valiantly, finishing most of the clones before they are able to crawl out of their individual craters. Some of the unarmed clones, shrieking foul-mouthed obscenities, escape their craters and begin attacking the heroes, most of them falling to the heroes. As asteroids crash into earth, in some places the asteroids strike the earth and break through the ground, exposing huge channels and caverns.
Queen Kong didn't realize it, but as she traveled underground across the country, in some cases she was passing through tunnels that were not man made, rather they had been dug by the same mutant bats that had erupted from the same bank vault tunnel that caused the manifestation of her powers. As the asteroids burn through the atmosphere and crash into the ground, tunnels and caverns are exposed, and thousands of these blood-thirsty bats join the battle. The bats and clones fight against the heroes, incapacitating many of them, decapitating several.
The battle ensues into the night where the bats have an obvious advantage.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: SOO TALL
As the battle rages on, Cut Chemist and DJ Nu-Mark of Jurassic 5 collaborate with Phantasm and Master Crack to isolate the issue before it spills throughout the entire world. They create a machine that will transport the heroes, the bats, and the clones back to the Mars colony. Once teleported, they will set off an EMP which will prohibit anyone from ever leaving the colony. It will be a costly sacrifice, but this ensures that the rest of the world will be spared from the evil of the bats and clones.
The detonation of the transportation bombs work seamlessly and everyone is transported where the fighting continues. In the midst of the fight, Chali 2na and Queen Kong detonate the EMP, locking all of the combatants on Mars. Nobody knows of the outcome. The International Space Station cannot reach the colony.
CHAPTER NINETEEN: NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
Back in New York, the population begins to rebound after the battles fought near the city. The tunnels are capped to prevent anything from ever escaping them again. The battlegrounds are scrubbed and sterilized to prevent any remains of the mutants, clones, or bats from spreading or growing or contaminating the surroundings.
Unbeknownst to the cleanup crew, however, the lead-lined containers housing the remains of the Heap are left in the back of one of the trucks Phantasm and Master Crack had been hiding in. The truck driver that had been exploded by the villains were never cleaned off the containers, and they begin to bubble and leak. It appears that the Heap will be back, growing from small parts of the viscera sprayed throughout the truck's bed.
Without anything to direct them, no Queen Kong to follow, the Heap Children absorb the intentions of the truck driver that they are growing from. They head in the direction of the truck's original destination, New York City.
CHAPTER TWENTY: CAROL ANNE'S THEME (from Poltergeist)
It appears that without the intervention of any heroes, New York City is slated to be destroyed by the killer babies, the Heap Children. However, before they get to New York, they must pass through New Jersey. And it looks like there might be a new hero undergoing a transformation in New Jersey right now...
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: HITCHCOCK OUTRO
Well that was a touching ending. Of course none of the story really happened. It was all made up. Just a tissue of lies out of some writer's head. You know, truth may be stranger than fiction after all. But tune in again next week when we have a real whopper of a tale to tell you. Good night.
Its crazy to me how much this guy's story relates to mine. And doing some quick research on the internet, it sounds like there were a lot of dudes like me in elementary schools around the country.
Cheyenne’s debut Before Latelywill be out October 12th, 2010 through sonaBLAST! Records. She recently released this new video for the track Friend, which was shot in homebase of Louisville, KY. The video was filmed in The Rathskeller Room of Louisville’s famed Seelbach Hilton Hotel and features giant puppets courtesy of Sean Hennessey and Squallis Puppeteers, as well as cameos from Louisville band Wax Fang.
I present to you, dear blog reader, the two pages in the October 2010 issue of Playboy that will be stuck together.
I love it when Playboy reviews spirits. I cut them out and add them to my recipe scrapbook. I shouldn't be so critical, because they didn't give any more or any less space to gin or rum when they reviewed different brands, but there is so much more of the story to tell.
Thanks to the additions of old cocktail recipe books from my father and from Dr. Pat I am in a fit of collecting old cocktails. This is, of course, in addition to my new fascination with infusing spirits at home (holla at this delicious homemade bacon bourbon).
This reminds me that I need to get up and running on the blog I'm writing dedicated to my new opinion of bacon.
I also hope Playboy doesn't reach out and ask me to remove this post. Hey, Playboy, just ask. Don't sue. Please.
Whew. I'm so glad its back, and I'm so glad I made it through all of it. This definitely set my high-water-mark for consumption of both football and bacon. Fortunately, I survived college football's first week and lived to tell the tale. I am little-school-girl happy that I upgraded the sports package I get through my cable provider. The Big Ten Network and Versus are welcome additions to the above-average sports lineup Cablevision was already providing (still can't get ESPN3 up here, though). So here's my take on the games that made or broke my first weekend of the season:
DAY ONE - on the first day, he watched college football, and he was pleased with what he had done.
Ohio State 45 vs. Marshall 7 - Ohio State exposed Marshall to a romance explosion all over Marshall's face. The crowd was way into this game. The Ohio State players were way into this game. Jim Tressell was an expressionless, calculating ninja assassin of a coach. Fun Fact? Marshall did not score any offensive points.
Its weird, then, that the seven points the team generated were on a blocked field goal return. One of Tressell's more adamantly-focused pieces of the team, Special Teams, choked badly on several occasions, but the blocked field goal being returned for a touchdown was one of the worst. If there's one thing that is going to be mathematically stewed about before the Miami game next week, it will be Ohio State's special teams. Otherwise, Terrelle Pryor, Boom Herron, DeVier Posey, Dane Sanzenbacher, and Brandon Saine (Brand InSane!) were all clicking.
The season and the game itself started off with a high note when Ohio State picked up the fumble from Marshall on the opening kickoff. I hope its indicative of them intimidating all of their opponents throughout the end of the year. I don't expect an undefeated season, and I don't anticipate playing in the national championship game. But I do see good things happening for this team. Yes, Miami also rocked and rolled in their opener over FAMU, but everybody rocks and rolls over FAMU. We'll see how that game plays out. I might feel differently about this OSU team after next Saturday.
Rutgers (31) vs. Norfolk State (0) - I want to see a Rutgers game in person this season. I really do. I didn't get to watch this game, but I read about it in the newspaper. Rutgers won big but didn't play big. Apparently they played like crap, and it makes me wonder how much more magic Greg Schiano has left in his tank. The good thing about Rutgers playing horribly is that it should make tickets affordable. They are going to FIU to play next week (and should win), and then UNC should beat them at Rutgers the following week. This is going to be a tough season for Rutgers if they continue to play at this level of intensity. They're lucky to have both Syracuse and Louisville going to play them AT Rutgers. I suspect they might serve as the only two conference wins unless something changes.
Pitt (24) vs. Utah (27) - This was a heartbreaker of a game, and I say that as a fan of neither team, but a hater of Utah. I also support Big East teams. I also "un-support" teams from non-BCS conferences when they're playing a BCS team. Yes, Utah is an emerging team on the verge of moving to an honest-to-God BCS conference, and yes they had a long home winning streak that wasn't going to be changed any time soon, but dammit....Pitt has the Wannstache on their side! This was the first inkling I had that the Big East wasn't going to do well this weekend. Despite some epic plays by a new QB and the dependable Dion Lewis and Jonathon Baldwin, Pitt couldn't come up with it here. Utah's coach is also a dick for calling timeout mid-kick TWICE when Pitt's field goal unit was mid-kick trying to, and ultimately tieing the game, sending it to overtime. It sucks that the Big East's highest-ranked team stumbled here, but I think it will serve as the exception to the Pittsburgh rule.
Thursday Games I Didn't Watch But Whose Outcomes I Enjoyed:
Minnesota beats Middle Tennessee State by a touchdown in the 4th quarter. MTSU was leading this game into the 4th quarter. They're not a bad team, but they shouldn't be threatening to beat Minnesota, not after the hype that Minn. (undeservedly) had going into this year. Still, a B10 win's a win.
USC beats Hawaii by 13 points in a high-scoring effort. I like the fact that Hawaii was still in this. I dislike USC. "Dislike" is an understatement. I think their #14 ranking is ridiculous, and I can't wait to see them crumble when they get into conference play. I have no personal aversion to Matt Barley or any of the other players on their team. Just dislike the coach and the essense of USC.
To wrap up the first day of the 2010 football season, I want to end on a high note. I absolutely love that you're back college football. Couldn't be happier. But Thursday? We can't keep meeting like this? Sooner or later work is going to find out. We have a good thing going here. Let's try to keep most games on Saturdays. I can understand the occasional tryst here and there (Big East and ACC football I'm looking at you), but c'mon. Give me a break. Let's compromise. I'll promise to watch as much of you as I can, either on TV or in person, and I promise to continue buying hats and t-shirts and jackets. But meet me in the middle. Not so many games on Thursday, ok?
DAY TWO - pace yourself
Arizona (41) vs. Toledo (2) - to be honest, I was so jacked for Saturday at this point, and tired from a long week of work and night full of football the night before that I barely checked into this one. This was more a curiosity for me to see how Toledo would do. And they weren't to terribly awful in the first 20 minutes. But good Lord almighty there were terribly awful for the rest of the game. I can't blame them for letting the wind to come out of their sails. Arizona looks better than I expected. Oh well. I played a lot of 2010 NCAA Football during this game. Also cooked and ate a steak and tomato pie. In other news, noticed that my chest hair is starting to reclaim the "M" I shaved into my chest for Mike's bachelor party. When you're noticing things like this instead of watching football, its a bad sign.
DAY THREE - Three shall be the number. No more. No less. Three shall be the number thou count, and the number of the counting shall be three.
Holy shit. College Gameday starts at 9 now. It is arguably one of the best feelings ever to roll over in bed, put on your glasses, click on the TV and see the ESPN crew talking football. AT 9 A.M. Not ten! NINE! Of course, everything before 10 is just pomp and circumstance. And every one of my sports channels was interviewing the same coaches and talking about the same players. But still. Last year, more than any other year before, I got wrapped up in College Gameday. This was for several reasons.
First, Saturday mornings I usually woke up early in the house I was sharing with Mike and Taylor. I would take our cans and bottles to the recycling center and then go to the grocery store and liquor store to stock up for the day. I'd get home and start on breakfast (eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, coffee, and fresh souls....just like Soul Calibur's Nightmare), and I'd review my menu for the day. Usually Mike and I would start drinking sometime around 11. As Gameday previewed what to expect for the next 12 hours, I would prepare some good food, talk some shit at Mike about Michigan, open the windows to let the breeze roll in, I would shoo away two shih tzu's (one sane, the other retarded), and I'd ready the grill or the oven for some cooking of epic proportions.
For the first time in six months, I got homesick yesterday morning. It wasn't because I received a dopey e-mail or letter from a friend or family member back home. It wasn't because I was reading facebook posts about the Louisville/Kentucky rivalry. It was when the College Gameday theme song came on at 10, and I remembered Saturday mornings at the house. I have definitely learned some things about myself since I moved up here. One of the most important lessons was that I'll need a porch and a grill at wherever I move to next. Friends and family are good things to have around. But damn it I miss being able to grill outside and sit and read and smoke a cigar and sip booze in the fresh air. I would move into the shittiest little bung-hole of an apartment tomorrow if it meant I could have an outside area. Good gracious.
Anyway, onto the games:
Opening Salvo - Noon Games: There really wasn't anything to write home about with the noon games. Penn State didn't look too hot beating Youngstown State, and unless something changes there I think they'll finish 4th (at best) in the Big Ten. Illinois lost to Missouri late in their game, which was kind of a bummer because I have a new co-worker that went there. Florida tripped over themselves, literally, to beat Miami Ohio, and I hope this is indicative of how their season goes. Overall, though, the noon games were kind of a bummer. So I didn't feel bad getting SUPER-amped about the 3:30 games.
Louisville (16) vs. Kentucky (23) - If you ask a UofL fan, nobody will admit that they expected Louisville to pull the upset. But in our hearts, we all held hope. I mean, its still Kentucky. Yes, we're a shitty football team now, but there's a light at the end of this tunnel. And yes, Kentucky is also a historically shitty football team. But for now, they're not as shitty. I didn't get to see this game, but I had enough friends texting me during the game, and CBS' gamecast tried its hardest to keep me updated, but it didn't really do a good job. I don't expect either team to have exciting seasons, but this was an interesting game to see play out. I will go ahead and claim "Moral Victory" for the Louisville fans. Things will get better for us. We've already survived through the Kragthorpe Valley, now we're climbing to the Strong Peak.
Michigan (30) vs. UCONN (10) - The Upset That Wasn't. Randy Edsall and his UConn team had SO much momentum coming into this game, and there was SO much uncertainty for Rich Rod and his Michigan team that nobody would have been surprised if Michigan lost another home opener. But for the sake of one of my best friends, I was seriously happy at the outcome of this game. In fact, I had planned on switching between this game and the Notre Dame/Purdue game, but I couldn't take my eyes off this one. I witnessed the emergence of Denard "Shoelace" Robinson and possibly the demise of a whiny, bratty Tate Forcier (he sat by himself away from his team with a towel over his head, appearing to sulk throughout the game).
Before the game, the media was really shitting on Rich Rodriguez and throwing out statistics that made him sound like a real bastard for the shame he has brought to the Michigan program. As soon as things started to click for Rich Rod and Denard Robinson, though, the same announcers were backtracking and explaining how Lloyd Carr had shorted the Michigan recruiting stable and didn't leave Rich Rod with a lot of depth to work with. They also explained that Robinson was "Pat White-esque," and really fulfilling the mobile quarterback role that Rich Rod's program NEEDED to be successful. So, the announcers explained, "get off of Rodriguez' back!"
Just like they did last year, I have a feeling that Michigan is going to be another sweetheart, come-from-behind team for the first 4 or 5 games. Then they'll drop one or two. Then a lot of attention will come off of them. I expect they'll do better than later year. If yesterday's game was any indication, they'll do a helluva lot better than they did last year. I feel good for this team, and I would be both surprised and happy if they finished the season in the top half of the Big Ten. I hope Rich Rod makes it for a while at this school, because I do think he's a quality coach. This was by far the funnest game I watched all day.
LSU (30) vs. UNC (24) - Usually, 90% of the time, I would pull for LSU to win this game. However, because of their shortage of players, and because so many people wrote this game off when they heard UNC left some 13 players at home for this game, I was pulling for the Tarheels. I generally dislike teams from the ACC, especially if they come from North Carolina. And I generally pull for teams that my friends have ties to (David). But the North Carolina squad was SUCH an underdog in this game that I couldn't help but pull for them, especially after the solid performance in the first quarter. And AGAIN in the fourth quarter! Wow! This turned out to be a very, very exciting game!
It was good to hear Brent Musburger calling a football game. Erin Andrews was there. Kirk Herbstreit. Yadda Yadda. And it might seem tertiary, but ABC has the best high definition cameras for sports. Better than NBC, the ESPNs, Versus, etc. Watching a good game on ABC Saturday Night College Football is a treat, regardless of who's playing. The fact that this was such a fun game only added to the experience. Great endcap to a day of quality games. The only thing better would have been the UCONN/Michigan game in the top spot, but neither of those teams were ranked, so I can understand why ABC settled on this one.
I'm beginning to think that Les Miles isn't as good a coach as people thought (myself included). Yes, he was exposed in last year's game against Ole Miss. In this game, too, it seemed that when UNC got their momentum going, he didn't know how to handle it. UNC would have won this game if their tight end hadn't bungled the ball on the last two plays. There was also a questionable no-call on the last throw, too. Les Miles doesn't ever seem to have intelligible answers, either, whenever he's asked about LSU shortcomings. I'm not saying he's a bad coach. I just wonder how much he benefited from the momentum Saban left behind at LSU before he jumped to the NFL (and eventually Alabama).
There's really no excuse for UNC still being in the game to the last play. Their secondary wasn't in the game. The top receiver and tailbacks weren't in attendance. UNC shouldn't have been in the game at all in the fourth quarter. Hell, they were down 20 points for more time in this game than they weren't! But LSU played loose and relaxed and allowed UNC to come back in the 4th. Craziness. Still, it made for a very exciting game. It also helped that both teams had some beautiful women in the stands cheering them on (remember how I said the ABC cameras were the best?).
Games I Didn't Watch But Followed:
Cincinnati falls to Fresno State - bummer for the reigning two-time Big East champion. Another bruise on Big East football this weekend. This must be weird for Cincy's QB, Zach Collaros, because he hasn't lost at anything. Ever. This was his first loss in football. He's also undefeated at Boggle, Shoots and Ladders, and the Simpsons edition of Scene It! In summary, Cincinnati will not repeat as Big East champion. New coach, hollow o-line. They'll be good. But they're a lot more vulnerable than they were last year.
Purdue falls to Notre Dame - the only reason I care about this is because Michigan plays them next week. Purdue isn't great, but they're ok. Denard Robinson will have to run pretty fast to compensate for a hungry Notre Dame team, anxious to overcompensate for last year's loss to Michigan. Also compensating for Charlie Weis (Captain Front Butt) (can't wait to see Charlie Weis, Mark Mangino, and Mike Leach on the CFB edition of Dancing with the Stars).
Auburn beats Arkansas State - even though Auburn's defense allowed a lot of points, the Gene Chizik era has arrived at Auburn. They demonstrated that they deserved to be ranked this season, and I predict they'll finish ranked, too. I also suspect that this team will upset the otherwise-comfortable status quo of the SEC hierarchy (LSU and Alabama). And seriously, Gene Chizik justlooks like a badass football coach. I can imagine him lifting weights with his furled brow.
Alabama beat whatever jobber was on their schedule - oh yeah, poor San Jose State. SJS went home with a paycheck, though. I like Nick Saban, but I'm not thinking his team is going to repeat this year. They have two phenomenal running backs on the team, but I don't know if that will cut it this year. The SEC race should be a tight one.
Florida State beat Samford - not to be confused with Stanford. Or any other significant team. Yes, the Jimbo Fisher era has started at FSU. But I still don't think that team's going to be any good this year. Especially when they start playing FBS teams and Christian Ponder gets hurt. I could be terribly wrong here, but I don't have a lot of faith in this team. They might beat Florida, too, though. This team might be interesting to watch.
Iowa smokes Eastern Illinois - this is only pertinent because Iowa almost got beat by Iowa State last year in their opener. Nothing to learn really from this game.
Georgia beat Louisiana-Lafayette - the only thing good about this game was Georgia's hot fans. The SEC Network's camera wisely strayed away from the hawt Georgia fan whose side boob was gradually showing more and more every time she jumped. I'll never forgive you for that, SEC Network. In other news, I suspect that the number of fans cheering for the Ragin' Cajuns will grow because anything True Blood-related ("Lafayette") seems to be picking up steam.
UCLA lost a close one to Kansas State - this was apparently a good game that I didn't watch.
Oregon massacres Nevada - I was reading some commentary on this game. Apparently Oregon put in its second string 8 minutes into the second quarter and Nevada is really just that bad.
Nebraska allowed Western Kentucky to score some points - Nebraska, you dicks. You could have shut them out, but no, when I pick your defense in college fantasy football you had to go and put in your 3rd string d-line, letting WKU to score 10 points. DANG IT.
Washington loses to BYU - This wasn't really much of an upset, but there were a lot of people making grand predictions about Washington this season. I still think that team has the capacity to win the Pac-10, but the Pac-10 itself isn't much to write home about this year. In fact, I'd say the Pac-10 will be the 5th best conference this year, behind the MWC even (but ahead of the Big East...damn it). Jake Locker looked good. Honestly, the Huskies could have won this game, but there was some slop here and there that should be polished in time for their conference schedule.
Oregon St. loses to TCU - F%&k! Another non-BCS school victory. I don't think I'd be as bothered by these schools if they weren't non-secular. But the thought of a victorious team whose ethos is Christians in Texas makes me think of Shelby County getting beat by the Southeast Christian Superdome football team. You want to know why America dislikes you, TCU? Is it because you have new "lizard-skin" uniforms (true story)? Is it because your coach looks like an angry lesbian (true story)? No. Its because you're a school that should be a pushover, yet you have the coolest mascot ever. A horned frog that shoots blood from its eyes. Damn it that's cool! And its wasted on a school that pisses me off at every turn.
The SEC loses to the BIG TEN - get used to it! OK....so that's not exactly the way it went. Northwestern beats Vanderbilt. And by the transitive properties of college football, Ohio State just beat every SEC team. Another moral victory!
Ole Miss lost to Jacksonville State in overtime - the dark gods are ready to reign back the SEC dominance. Tim Tebow has left the SEC. There have been inadequate sacrifices made in his absence. While he was in the conference there were dozens of African foreskins being sacrificed daily. Prisoners were being culled and subjected to the demigod's reign. The southern religious conservatives overlooked the fact that bible-verses were being scrawled on player's faces in black paint infused with blood and ancient herbs. The day of reckoning is nigh, SEC. Look no further than the Mountain West Conference. The ancient Mormon gods are coming to get you. Even the bloody-eyed lizard "Christians" are coming for you. Brace yourself for a dark, overcast season. Only Gene Chizik and his thunder-brow can save you.
On that note, I'm spent. I expect Boise State to beat Virginia Tech tomorrow, not because I want them to, but because I DON'T want them to, and the non-BCS schools have not been obedient this year.
