CAN'T BE UNSEEN: Face Cakes

I was doing a quick google search for face cakes for my new Hotness profile, and I stumbled onto this artist's webpage. The idea is brilliant, albeit gruesome. I'm sure this will be revisiting me in my nightmares. Enjoy.

More information on the artist and their creations can be found at this link here.

Greg Schiano - Once and Forever a Goon

I always thought Greg Schiano was a goon. Yes, he was a successful goon for a handful of years at Rutgers, and I believe he'll give Tampa Bay a decent handful of seasons as their new coach. At Rutgers, he had moderate success with a limited pool of talent as Rutgers (New Jersey's State University) is not typically among the top 5 schools listed by the state's top talent. He did ok with very little. But he always appeared like a goon. And I'll never forgive Rutgers football program for beating Louisville in 2006, ruining an otherwise perfect season.

Goon

I suspect that there is a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff going on. Schiano has been a target for a lot of college football programs for the past 4-5 years. His name has come up for Miami and Penn State among others. I would not be surprised at all if his stint in Tampa Bay is a temporary layover before he returns to the collegiate level albeit at another, more noteworthy program. If PSU's new coach fails to live up to expectations (and who wouldn't fail to fill the shoes left by Paterno?) I don't believe it will take long before Schiano is tapped to take over that program. And a very conspiratorial, subversive side of me suspects that Schiano's move was just to assuage hurt feelings from Rutgers before he returns to another college program.

*ahem*PennState*cough*

Please Ask Your Mom To Stop Calling Me

I Blew My Nose and New Music Came Out in the Kleenex

The Cave (Mumford & Sons Cover) - Alex Winston

Chad Valley - Shell Suite from Cascine on Vimeo.

Germany Germany - Natural from Germany Germany on Vimeo.

MINDSCAPE

Interesting Article on College Football and How the BCS is f^$*ing Everything Up

Slipping bowl attendance has BCS scrambling for reasons, fixes

First of two-part story

Since the Bowl Championship Series added a fifth BCS bowl game -- the BCS national title game -- after the 2006 regular season, attendance at the BCS bowl games has been on a steady decline.

In 2005, the last season before the addition of that title game, the Fiesta, Orange, Rose and Sugar bowls had a total announced attendance of 319,936, averaging 79,984 per bowl. This past season the announced attendance for those four bowls had dropped to 293,247; an average of 73,311 per bowl.

While there was a slight increase in 2010, this year's attendance numbers were 8 percent lower than the 2005 figures.

BCS Bowl Attendance
Year	Attendance
2005	319,936
2006	319,822
2007	312,433
2008	310,814
2009	298,528
2010	300,682
2011	293,247
Note: Figures do not include BCS championship games. Numbers are since 2005, the first year the BCS added a fifth game.

There is not one simple reason for the decline, which can be attributed to a variety of factors. Bowl officials mention the state of the economy as one reason, while others point to the exorbitant cost of tickets along with bad matchups requiring fans to fly cross-country for a midweek game played after New Year's Day.

Of the four BCS bowls, the Rose Bowl is the only event for which attendance numbers remain steady, in large part because it has featured its traditional Big Ten-Pac 12 matchup in five of the past six years.

The other three BCS bowls, however, have seen drastic decreases in attendance. The Orange Bowl's attendance numbers have slipped five of the past six seasons, while the Sugar Bowl's has decreased in four of the past six years.

"I will say that bowl attendance is still strong," BCS executive director Bill Hancock said. "Bowl games are immensely popular."

Hancock added that the 2005 regular season -- the final one before the fifth BCS bowl was added -- featured "some of the greatest matchups in bowl-game history" and that was another factor for the BCS bowls' decline in attendance since that season.

Overall, attendance at the 35 bowl games this past season was down about 2.5 percent from last season. Still, the most notable decline in attendance has been at the BCS bowls, specifically the Orange Bowl.

For the 10 years prior to the 2009 season, the Orange Bowl never drew less than 70,000 for each game. Yet in the past three years, the Orange Bowl has had an average announced attendance of 66,382 with the actual attendance much lower.

In the six years since the BCS title game was added, the Orange Bowl has had a 9.7 percent decrease in attendance compared with the 2005 season, the largest dropoff of the BCS bowls. The biggest reason may have been that in each of those six seasons, the Orange Bowl had the ACC champion paired against the Big East champion three times and an at-large team from the Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-12 one time each.

In that time frame, the Sugar Bowl had a 4.27 percent decrease in attendance and the 2012 Sugar Bowl between Michigan and Virginia Tech drew the bowl's second-lowest crowd since 1943. Since 2005, the Fiesta Bowl also has had a 3.65 percent decrease in attendance.

Compounding matters for the BCS bowls is that not only are fewer fans attending their bowls, but TV ratings also are on the decline.

The 2011-12 bowl season averaged 5.2 million viewers for 34 telecasts on ABC, CBS, ESPN, ESPN2 and Fox, down 15 percent from the 6.1 million viewers last year, Sports Business Journal reported.

"The ratings clock starts clicking down the more you get away from the Rose Bowl," a bowl source said. "You lose the buzz of a bowl game the further you get away from New Year's Day unless you have some spectacular matchup."

And, unlike Teri Hatcher's character on Seinfeld, this year's bowl lineup certainly was not spectacular.

The BCS bowls aren't the only bowls seeing a drop in attendance.

The Outback Bowl gets to choose from the nation's most rabid fan bases -- the SEC and Big Ten. Yet attendance at the Outback Bowl has declined in five of the past six seasons, dropping from 65,881 for the 2006 game steadily to 49,429 this past season. It always wasn't this way for the Tampa, Fla., bowl. Between 2000 and 2005, the Outback Bowl topped 65,000 in five of six seasons. This year's game failed to top 50,000 for the second time in three seasons and the actual attendance was only 40,002, meaning nearly 20 percent fewer fans were in the stadium than the number that was announced.

While the majority of bowls are experiencing dwindling attendance or rollercoaster-type numbers -- up one year, down the next -- the Champs and Insight bowls actually have flourished.

The Champs Bowl has seen attendance increases in nine of the past 10 seasons, while the Insight has had attendance increases in six of the past seven seasons. But those bowls are clearly the exceptions.

As far as what changes will be made to help bolster attendance for the BCS bowls when the new BCS cycle starts in 2014, Hancock said anything -- and everything -- is under consideration.

"Every idea is on the table for the future of the BCS, including moving away from midweek games after Jan. 1," Hancock said. "But it's too early to speculate about what changes, if any, might be made.

"Certainly there is no leader in the clubhouse. The [conference] commissioners will not make the decision in a vacuum."

Jamming on the Tip of My Tongue

I ought to blog more. I ought to listen to more new music. I ought to blog about more new music that I listen to.

GOBBLE GOBBLE - Boring Horror: GOBBLE GOBBLE - Boring Horror

Rubik - Laws of Gravity (music video, HD) from Pauli Olavi Ojala on Vimeo.

Pictureplane "Body Mods" remix by Extreme Animals from Jacob Ciocci on Vimeo.

College Football Look Ahead: Week 2 - Notre Dame at Michigan

Notre Dame plays at Michigan on Saturday. Analysts suggest this is a game that will be won or lost based on which team has the fewest errors. Notre Dame's offense was explosive in week 1. Unfortunately, when it really counted, the grenade exploded in Notre Dame's hands before they had actually tossed it, and this usually resulted in turning the ball over to USF. Michigan's defense, conversely, showed up in the second half against Western Michigan in week 1 while the much-touted offense shuddered and rode the shoulders of Denard Robinson. But if Michigan relies too much on Shoelaces, he will wear out quickly and prove ineffective.

This kind of game can be fondly referred to as a battle between to handicapped opponents. Or, as Trey Parker and Matt Stone prefer: A cripplefight.

College Football Round-Up: Week 1

And we're not even done with week one yet.

The big news?

#18 Ohio State (42) - Akron (0): Ohio State rolled despite having 8 players suspended. Luke Fickell did a fine job in his head coaching debut. Ohio State's defense shut out Akron. Braxton Miller and Bauserman both looked like solid quarterbacks. Their substitute running backs didn't have to work as hard because of this solid passing game. Carlos Hyde still performed well on the ground. This is still going to be a good team. I don't understand why the most recent three players were suspended ("accepting less than $300 at a charity event"), and I hope to see them back sooner than later.

Also awesome about this game? Urban Meyer called it. He oozed charisma and pro-OSU sensibilities. I want him to coach the Buckeyes. He is openly flirting with the Ohio State fans. Please let this happen.

Louisville (21) - Murray State (9): Louisville cruised over Murray State. But they didn't cruise with any swagger. They cruised in my old 1986 Toyota Carolla complete with its crappy stereo system, sagging interior trim, and rusting undercarriage. The team looked green. Really green. Still...this could be an 8-win team or a 4-win team. There's no telling yet, and playing in the Big East doesn't make this prediction any easier. So UofL looked poor, but it could have been worse. It could have looked like this....

Kentucky (14) - Western Kentucky (3): Kentucky looked bad. Really bad. I thought Louisville looked green, but UK really surprised me by how....it's hard to say without coming off as insulting....this team looked worse than Louisville. Granted, neither team has high expectations. And neither team was really tested (pick who's better - Murrary State or Western Kentucky). Louisville's offense at least has spurts of competence in the first half. I didn't watch all of the UK game, but I didn't hear much about UK having even brief glimpses of what their offense has looked like for the past 3 years. I think this is going to be a long year for both teams. I think UofL could go bowling. I don't think UK will, and that's only because of their conference schedules. I also feel better about UofL's chances of winning the Governor's Cup. That won't be anything to hang my hat on, but it's there.

Western Kentucky had this to say about their Kentucky opponents:

#11 Wisconsin (51) - UNLV (17): This was a really fun game to watch for one reason - Wisconsin's scary effective new offensive look. Russel Wilson adds a new dimension to Wisconsin, and that dimension is the dark, nebulous dimension that eats my favorite teams. I've come to expect Wisconsin to run, run, run, and then run some more. Now they're also throwing accurate long balls. This does not bode well for the rest of the B1G. I have some reservations of my own about how Wilson came to Wisconsin for one season and was named a Senior Co-Captain. I would be kind of pissed if I'd played with the Badgers for 3-4 years, put in my time, and then this new guy got the co-captain nod. That being said, it looks like he is going to earn it.

The bad news for Wisconsin? UNLV managed to poke some serious holes in their defense, and that is weird. Still, I see Wisconsin in the B1G championship game if they can right these wrongs.

Baylor (50) - #14 TCU (48): Baylor's Robert Griffin III (who is now obnoxiously known as RG3) ran amok on what was supposed to be a solid TCU defense. Unless TCU runs the table (which includes a game at Boise State) they have no chance of going to a significant bowl game. This sucks, because they were supposed to come into the Big East with a wealth of success. Ah well. Gary Patterson really needs to buy shirts that fit and don't make him look like a giant infant. ESPN loved showing a picture of him squatting and holding his game plan in his mouth for some reason. Baylor will surprise people in the (former) Big-XII minus 2. I texted Mike and predicted that RG3 will now be in every commentator's Heisman Hopeful talk. Bleh. Someone is going to "fucking kill someone."

HINT: It's this TCU fan.

Northwestern (24) - Boston College (17): This is a solid B1G win, and I'm impressed that Northwestern won despite not having Dan Persa. This is a good sign. Lee Corso and the College Gameday crew made the comment that Persa was the B1G Ten's best QB last year. This pissed me off because they're forgetting all about Denard Robinson and Terrelle Pryor. And Kirk Cousins for that matter. And some announcers suggested that Northwestern might surprise people and make it to the B1G Ten championship game. Not to ruin anyone's surprise, but they will not.

#23 Auburn (42) - Utah State (38): As crazy as this game was, it won't be the craziest game we see this season. Auburn was down 10 with 2 minutes left to play in the game. Utah State choked and handed the game over in the last minute. It was craziness. I did not think that Auburn would pull it out after being outmatched the entire game. Auburn fans were filing out of the stadium prematurely. I wouldn't be happy even WITH the win if I were them.Mike was quick to point out that this guy was playing for USU, all but guaranteeing that Sylvester Stallone (played in this case by Gene Chizik) would make a surprise comeback, probably jumping through a window or crashing through a wall in a car, to kill Wesley Snipes (played here by weird USU running back). If you watch this game and sync it with any mid-80's/early-90's action movie, you knew Auburn would win.

Michigan (34) - Western Michigan (10): Michigan kind of won this game in Brady Hoke's debut as head coach for the Wolverines. I italicize "kind of" because this game was not played in its entirety. After experiencing several rain delays, and because Brady Hoke's shirt was soaked to the point of nipple visibility, the game was conceded and Michigan "won."

Michigan's defense looked wobbly early but really came through after the first rain delay. They actually scored 14 of the team's 34 points. That's a huge improvement over last year's defense (led by Greg Robinson for reasons nobody that has ever watched Greg Robinson can understand). Mike is excited about this team. I'm really looking forward to next week's game against Notre Dame. Speaking of....

USF (23) - #16 Notre Dame (20): Despite almost three hours of rain delays here, this was my favorite game of the day/night. It started on NBC. USF went up 16-0. Then this happened.

And then God said:

Every time Notre Dame came out of a rain delay, they looked fired up, revamped, jazzed, and ready to right the ship. So God sent more and more rain. But even God couldn't overcome Skip Holz and his powerful Big East football. Notre Dame lost a stunner. Everyone I was texting with celebrated. I had never seen Bryan Kelly go Super Sayan before. It was a fun game.

#5 Boise State (35) - #19 Georgia (21): This game was irrelevant to me. It was a forgone conclusion. Georgia, perennially overrated and prone to sulking away after losses in big games, would be the over-matched team from an AQ conference that would lose to an overrated Boise State, solidifying the argument that WHEN Boise State goes undefeated through the MWC they should be entitled to play in the MNC game. Boise State has done it to Oregon and Virginia Tech in the past. Now it was Georgia, an even wetter paper bag that Boise State punched through.

Georgia will not be playing in any SEC championship game or any BCS bowl. They will not finish the season ranked. There will be concern in December surrounding whether or not Mark Richt will continue to coach there. It was a silly, overhyped game, and everyone knew it. Both teams tried to distract from this by wearing the silliest uniforms seen on TV in a long time (and that's saying something).

I read somewhere that if Boise State played in a BCS conference that they would be Iowa or Missouri, and I completely agree with this. Sometimes they have great seasons and deserve good bowl games. But to start the season at 5 and then earn nothing by beating up on MWC teams...doesn't say a whole lot. Right now Boise State fans are crossing their fingers and praying that TCU and Georgia go on to have GREAT seasons. Right now I don't think they will. And I think this will continue to be the albatross around Boise State's neck that I cannot look past. I *did* enjoy that the whiter-than-white Boise State QB had on a white-on-white uniform. Made me smile a little.

#4 LSU (40) - #3 Oregon (27): My favorite troll headline from this game? "Oregon has lost two games in the past two seasons - both to SEC teams." Trolling doesn't get better than this, and I'm just glad to hear it said about a team other than Ohio State. And what a great, fast-paced game it was! I knew it was going to be a scorcher when Les Miles ran out of the tunnel with his team, got lost, and ran in a different direction. Fittingly, he threw a lot of different offensive schemes at Chip Kelly's Oregon Ducks last night. It was an entertaining game to watch, and I really hope for good things for the Tigers this season. It will be interesting to see how they do against their SEC West cohorts.

Still, they looked sharp. Oregon didn't look bad. Not really. They just looked thin compared to LSU. It didn't help that their two best running backs both left the game at various points leaving a freshman RB to do his best against the stout LSU defense. To be fair, it would have been a much closer game if LSU hadn't choked 14 out of that freshman RB.

Games of note that I didn't follow:

• #25 USC (19) beats Minnesota (17): for no good reason, USC is again starting the season ranked in the top 25. An improved Minnesota team almost beat them. Lane Kiffin had nothing good to say about his team's second half performance. This is not a team that deserves a ranking this high. They will not finish in the top 5 of the Pac 12. That's my prediction.
• Penn State (41) beats Indiana State (7): Reports indicate that their offense is clicking where last year it tried to click but accidentally tripped on its own sock, fell, and cracked its head open on the bench. I don't have high expectations for this team, but I do think they will perform better than last year.
• #2 Alabama (48) beats Kent State (7): this surprised nobody. Alabama, like LSU, has an elite team, but I anticipate they will stutter once or twice in SEC West play.
• Purdue (27) beats Middle Tennessee (24): Purdue almost coughed up on itself and barely squeaked past MTSU. This does not bode well for what is supposed to be the second best team in Indiana. I'm actually looking forward to see how they'll perform against a rebuilding and improved IU team at the end of the season.
• #6 Florida State (34) beats Louisiana-Monroe (0): FSU could be the real deal. They'll be playing against a diminished Miami team this year, and their real tests will be their non-conference opponents, Oklahoma and Florida. I think those games could go either way. If they can come out with W's on those games, this will be a team that goes to a BCS bowl.
• #22 Florida (41) beats Florida Atlantic (3): Will Muschamp's debut went very well. Team Weis' offense performed with terrifying efficiency. Florida plays Alabama, @LSU, @Georgia, @USCe, and at home against FSU. If they can split those games, I believe they will win the SEC East and secure a spot in a decent bowl game. This was a cupcake game, though, and there's no telling how they will perform in two weeks against UT. Coach Deathstare is going to deal with his fair share of tough games, but I think he has the talent to excel. Should be an interesting team to watch this season.
• Houston (38) beats UCLA (35): And that's a wrap on Rick Neuheisel's coaching career at UCLA. Or it should be anyhow. Yes, UCLA was the underdog going into this game, but f'n hell, how many chances is Ricky supposed to get at that school? And why do they keep recruiting Mr. Glass from Unbreakable as their QB?
• BYU (14) beats Ole Miss (13): What a crap show. Both teams seem inept. BYU less so, I suppose. Ole Miss led 13-0 at the beginning of the fourth quarter (two field goals with a special teams score on a BYU fumbled kick return). BYU garnered 7 points as Ole Miss' defense sputtered out midway through the fourth. Then, with 5 minutes left in the game, Ole Miss' QB Stoudt fumbled the ball away, and BYU scored. Neither team seems super impressive. This is important to note, though, because this was BYU's first game as an independent this season.
• Syracuse (36) beats Wake Forest (29) in OT: I wish I had watched more of this. Syracuse under Doug Marrone has already improved dramatically after suffering through GregRobinsonfluenza. I don't think anyone in the Big East looks to Syracuse as an automatic win anymore. I also think Syracuse will give USC a fit.
• Less important: Cincinnati smoked Austin Peay with a sharp offense. Duke lost to Richmond. Pittsburgh struggled against Buffalo but won. Clemson struggled against Troy but put them away in the second half. Oregon State lost to an FCS team. UNC beat JMU in their coach's first game with the team. Miami (OH) played tough but lost to an overrated Missouri (#21) team.

Having college football back is glorious. Without having a drop of alcohol last night, I still *felt* it. It's weird. I was drunk with excitement and sheer joy.

August 2011 - Rejuvenating Music Videos

Ever since MTV piddled away that medium for which it was named (music videos), I've lamented on the general lack of access to the format. In college, when MTV was seizuring through all of their failed experimental shows that were not music videos, I took the liberty of using torrent sites to download any new music video I could get my hands on. Then, with a computer full of videos, I would load them into Windows Media Player, turn on shuffle, and sit back to enjoy the ride.

With YouTube and Vimeo, I don't have to do this at all. I still download the occasional music video to watch while I'm getting ready for work, but anymore I have come to rely on the internet. RIP MTV.

As fun and exciting as these music videos are, and despite how much I enjoy the music (video or no), I don't expect any of these songs will make it to any top 40 chart in the near future. My intention is not to say that IF MTV played videos that these would do well. What I AM saying is that these are the kind of videos that I used to stay up late to see played on MTV2 when none of the programmers thought they could make money by showing more MTV "Documentaries" (Pimp My Ride, Cribs, Teenage Mom, etc.) or Cockhouse shows (Jackass, Wonderboys, Viva la Bam, etc.).

Alex Winston - "Sister Wife" from stereogum on Vimeo.

ANR - "Big Problem" from stereogum on Vimeo.

Toro Y Moi - "How I Know" from Jonathan Montepare on Vimeo.

Get Real, Get Right from Asthmatic Kitty on Vimeo.

IS TROPICAL - THE GREEKS (official music video) from EL NINO on Vimeo.

More Brady Hoke Cartoons