Thoughts from the Other Side

Too many movies. . .

Yesterday we were waiting in the UGC Cinema bar for our 8:50 showing of Master and Commander (how cool is it to be able to wait in a bar for a movie?) and Zach pulled out his collection of ticket stubs from this semester. Its a pretty sizeable stack and I was rather amazed to see how many movies we've paid to watch since we've over here. At first I felt a bit guilty, like I should have been a better steward of my money, but then I started remembering some of the things we've seen. . .

Pirates of the Caribbean
Alien: The Director's Cut
Kill Bill vol 1 (twice)
Mystic River
The Matrix: Revolutions
Master and Commander

Those are some of the greatest movies I've EVER watched. In fact, Kill Bill, Mystic River, and Master and Commander have already become three of my favorite movies of all time. With that knowledge, the number of trips to the 'cinema' become bearable.

As for Master and Commander. . .

Most of our flat went to see this last night...it was going to be just me and Zach at first, but somehow we managed to convince Cat, Duncan, Curt, Lauren, and Lauren's roommate Emily to come with us. We opted for a later showing and then went to wait in the bar, which is actually very nice considering its location.

Anyways, I loved the movie. I'd heard about it from various sources and read a few reviews so I knew it was going to be good and I had a pretty decent idea of what to expect. What I wasn't ready for was the extremely intimate story which Peter Weir presents to his audiences. Most of the time I equate the title 'epic' with a large scope, something which features lots of people and places. Master and Commander is almost completely the opposite. The entire movie revolves completely around the one ship, never does it even try to involve other people. The only time it even comes close is when the ship stops to take on food off the coast of South America and we briefly see some natives helping to stock the ship. Other than that, the movie is about comraderie, leadership, bravery, and strategy, all of which are wonderfully shown in almost every character, even the boy officers.

Once again I was reminded why Russell Crowe is one of my favorite actors. How is it that this man can so easily convince audiences of the characters he plays? In the past few years he's received Best Actor nominations for his roles as a Roman Gladiator and as a 'mad' scientist. He's sure to receive another one for his portrayal of Jack Aubrey. Say what you want about his personal life, he's got to be one of the best actors in the business these days. I was also very impressed by Paul Bettany (the ship's surgeon) who also worked with Crowe in A Beautiful Mind. The two of them definitely have a kind of chemistry and I think that was a big part of why the movie was so good.

Now that I've seen the movie, I have this strong urge to go read the books it was based on. I may have to get the first one for my flight home. . .

Fire in the Church!

At around 7 am this morning, the furnace residing in the basement of my girlffriend Katie's church exploded causing the entire building to go up in flames. Thankfully the only person in the building was the headmaster of the church school and he managed to escape without injury. If the explosion had occurred an hour later the school would have been in session and more people would have been inside. From what Katie told me the firemen apparently had to shut down the entire downtown area surrounding the church while they were fighting the fire.

It doesn't look like firemen were able to save much from the building, but Katie said that the church has insurance and Mr. Magee has already had offers of places to meet from other churches in the area. At this point, everyone is just thankful that no one was injured. If you'd like to check out a few articles on the fire you can do so here and here.

Fever Dog

For those of you who got the 'Almost Famous' song reference, I apologize. This isn't about that movie. At some point last week I picked up something that caused a bad fever. I came down with it Friday morning and by that night my state of health can be pretty accurately summed up by my title. Thankfully it was only a short thing though and I'm already pretty much back to normal. Now if only this scratchy throat would go away. . .

Before getting nailed by the flu I did manage to go see Kill Bill again with Zach. I really feel conflicted over that film. On one hand, I think it is quite likely the most beautifully filmed movie I've ever watched. Its a real work of art and having seen it twice, I'm even more impressed by QT's abilities with a camera. There's a scene towards the end, when Black Mamba and O-Ren are squaring off in the garden which really takes my breath away. But then on the other hand, I really have a hard time overlooking the insane amount of violence taking place. Yes, its stylish and yes, its trying to pay homage to the old kung-fu methods, but was it all really necessary? I really want to like the movie, but I almost feel dirty for thinking that way. Can I justify the violence by glorifying the beauty? I just don't know. . .

Well, I'm off to go rustle up some grub. I'll probably come back later after I've eaten and advanced another hundred or so pages through The Picture of Dorian Gray. Its always nice to be able to enjoy the books that I'm required to read for school. I'm finding that to be the case more and more these days.

Interesting

I'm Gandalf. . .

A wandering spirit caring for a multitude of just concerns, you are an instrumental power in many of the causes around you.

And so am I, very dangerous: more dangerous than anything you will ever meet, unless you are brought alive before the seat of the Dark Lord.

Gandalf is a character from the Middle-Earth universe. TheOneRing.net has a description of him.

I wish I had a Scottish accent. . .

Not a whole lot to say today folks. My only class on this classic autumn Glasgow day (read: chilly and wet) was 18th century Scottish Literature in which we studied Robert Ferguson and I proceeded to nearly gnaw my left wrist off. I also tried keeping a tally of how many times the teacher flicked (or tried to flick) her hair out of her face. I gave up in the vicinity of 80 times after about 20 minutes. . .I kid you not. Of course, I also managed to take a few notes.

I've put up a new Jeff Kyle Quote of the Day for your mental stimulation as well so please be sure to take note, its not one to be missed. That's really all I've got to say for now. . . I'd like to leave you with the latest visual update of your friendly neighborhood (honorary) Glaswegians. I hope you enjoy.

Oh yeah, I really do wish I had a Scottish accent. It is incredibly relaxing to listen to and, in my opinion, the only accent which can make ancient poetry sound cool.

For your viewing pleasure. . .

. . .I give you my newest blog addition! The Jeff Kyle Quote of the Day!

Every so often (it won't actually be every day) I am going to select a quote from something Mr. Kyle has posted on Covenant's E-doors and put it up on my sidebar. All quotes will be completely accurate with no changes to grammar whatsoever. It is my hope that these quotes will prove inspiring to any and all who happen upon this blog. What exactly they inspire you to is largely dependant upon yourselves. . .I'm just here to provide the spark.

Any and all comments on the crassness, insensitivity, or sheer genius of this idea are warmly welcomed.

Craziness

Well, my flat had another party over the weekend. . .seems like we can't go for more than a couple of weeks without doing something crazy. I'm pretty sure we've completely destroyed any chance we might have had of forging friendly relations with the flat above us, what with all the noise we make on a regular basis. Oh well, they're a pretty anti-social group anyways. . .I've never seen more than one or two of them in any one place at a given time.

But back to the party, I'm fascinated by the amazing things a little alcohol makes us do. Seriously... What is it about this clear water-like substance which causes us to lose the handle on reality? Take Zach for example:

When looking over some of the pictures the next day, he told me doesn't really remember this being taken. The same thing happened to one of my other flatmates at a birthday party. We have pictures of her fashioning a shirt out of a heavy-duty black garbage bag and then wearing it, but she doesn't remember any of it. I find that incredibly amusing for some reason.

Anyways, this was a just strange party in general. Only a couple of people actually got drunk and yet, we still managed to have a water fight throughout the flat. It all ended with Curt and Cat swimming in the bathtub, Zach "swabbing the deck" as he referred to it, and Lisa and Laura (her friend) going off to the Reading Room to check their email (don't ask me why). As a whole, it was a great time. I've got plenty of great pictures and a few videos which I can use to blackmail Zach with many years from now when he's got kids.

I'm really going to miss all this fun when I have to leave. . .

Irresponsible Bowling

For some reason (don't ask me why) I watched Bowling for Columbine last night for the first time. My flatmates and I had just finished watching Rain Man on the BBC and didn't feel like sleeping yet so. . .we turned it on.

My reaction? Michael Moore is an extremely intelligent man who likes to shamelessy promote his political ideals by making simple people look stupid. Here is what I took away from the film:

-Canada is a wonderful utopia full of love and joy. . .a place where no one ever dies.
-White people working in the media are the true cause of violence in America.
-Charlton Heston is the spawn of Satan.
-Poverty-stricken women who must ride the bus (the free, government-provided bus) to work in the early hours of the morning are being taken advantage of.
-Dick Clark is a bad man who shouldn't be employing poor women. Instead, he should just give them money (which is also what the government should apparently be doing).

I'm not going to go in-depth on this documentary. . .it'd be waste of time and energy and really wouldn't serve any purpose other than to piss me off again. If you want to see a more graphic (probably) response which actually fits quite accurately with my own frame of mind, my roommate Zach should shortly be putting up his own statement. I'll be content to say that the man really is a bastard and it disgusts me that his work is being taken as fact by people around the world. He shamelessy exploited the benefits of a career in journalism (interview with Heston being the main example) and also used the handicaps of two victims to further his own personal agenda (Columbine kids at the Kmart headquarters). I won't even get started on his nifty camera work which allowed for only the most radical and blatantly stupid views to come forward (Michigan policeman talking about the 'killer dog' and the idiot protester who compared buying a Lexus to shooting a person). Basically, all Moore did was compile a large selection of people who said what he wanted to hear, and put it on a video. I found it to be quite inaccurate and very biased, irritatingly so.

I'll end with this thought. . .

If gun sales and gun possession are on the rise (meteorically so, apparently), and yet the actual volume of gun-related deaths is decreasing every year (as was stated on the video), then what exactly was Moore's point? If, as I gathered, he was trying to say that the NRA and the media are the culprits in the vast majority of gun deaths in our country, does it not completely undermine his purpose to say that the increase of gun ownership has actually decreased the level of violence? I find it incredibly interesting that the only response I had to this documentary on violence in America was to feel an overpowering urge to find Michael Moore and punch him in the face.

Senseless Blathering v 2.1

I know you all were waiting for the next version of Senseless Blathering. I can feel it. . . Or maybe you're just really bored and stumbled in here whilst surfing the latest Covblogs entries. Either way. . .you're here. . .I guess I better make it worth your while. But before I do, can I just say one more time how much I really like Evanescence? Come on, how many times does a decent band come around that just likes to rock HARD? This group does. . .I can't get enough of it.

But I digress. . .

I really need to stop procrastinating. I've got mountains of papers piling up on the horizon and at the moment I'm not doing much to plow through them. My current project is a presentation on The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle which I have to give for my Victorian Literature seminar on Monday morning. I've got a lot of really good ideas, but not a whole lot of actual sources and somehow, despite the incredible size of the University Library, all of Doyle's books have been checked out. So, I think I may be making a pilgrimage down to the Strathclyde University library tomorrow sometime. Perhaps the Mitchell Library as well (its the public library downtown).

The class system here is so much different than it is at Covenant. For one thing, I've pretty much stopped going to a bunch of my lectures for Restoration Literature. Why? Because its not worth it. I'm not required to be there, nothing that is being taught there has any effect on my studies here, and one of my profs even suggested that I NOT go as it may simply confuse the stuff I'm learning in my seminars (which are compulsory, by the way). My entire grade is made up of a combination of my seminar attendances and the papers I write for those seminars. Nothing else. I think Jared might like it here since he's currently frustrated with Covenant's systems of grading. . .

Anyways. . .aside from perfecting my skills of procrastination (which are quite good, let me assure you), I've been doing a decent amount of reading of late. I started in on John le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy the other day and so far I'm really enjoying it. I also manage to take part in the weekly quiz nights our Student Union puts on. My flat has a team which goes each week. . .so far we've come within two points of placing twice. We're going to get it someday. Prizes range all over the place from a new Xbox to £100 in beer vouchers. Unfortunately I'm generally not much help since many questions revolve entirely around obscure British music references and soap opera activities. My strengths come out in the film round.

Speaking of film. . .there are two more movies coming out this year that I'm eagerly awaiting. First, would be Master and Commander, the new Russel Crowe movie for the unenlightened. I've never read the novels that this movie is supposed to be based on, but its directed by Peter Weir (whom I really like) and its got Crowe in it so it can't be that bad. In fact, it looks to be quite good. That one hits the UK on the 28th so Zach and I will probably ride The Clockwork Orange downtown and catch it at the UGC. The other one is quite obviously, The Return of the King. There really isn't much to say here other than the fact that I'm counting down the days until it comes out. I'm of the opionion that everyone should be so anticipatory. . .if you aren't, chances are good you haven't seen the trailer yet. Do so, and you too will be ensnared.

I did see the new teaser trailer for Troy the other day. Once again, Troy is the new Wolfgang Petersen flick based on the events of The Illiad. Its a jam-packed casting list with Brad Pitt as Achilles, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Eric Bana as Hector, Peter O'Toole as Priam, and Brian Cox as Agamemnon. Its not supposed to come out until next May but they've already put out an initial poster and trailer. Check them both out. . .should be good.

So there. . .lots of stuff and lots of links. I'm off to my flat to try and get some reading done for my paper on the satire of Swift. I've also got to figure out what's going on with the party we are all planning to throw tomorrow night. Too many loose ends flying around at the moment. I leave you all with this. I know most of you probably won't get it (Josiah, Jared, and Ryan should easily get a kick out of it), but bear with me and just think about the words for a minute.

Until next time. . .

Is it really over?

I just got back from seeing The Matrix: Revolutions (no, this is not another Paris blog. . .you'll have to wait for more of those), and its really just now dawning on me that I've witnessed the end of the story. Its kind of sad really. . .sort of like finishing a really good book.

I really liked this movie. I remember coming out of Reloaded feeling rather let down, at the very least I was disappointed. Since then I've come to a certain appreciation of the movie which only repeated viewings can provide, but that's beside the point. I really like what Andy and Larry (the Wachowskis) did to bring this tale to an end. When you think about it, they could have taken it in so many different directions. I think the path they picked makes the most sense (though its still quite confusing in parts). For the sake of common sense, I'm not even going to discuss the technical aspects of this movie. I don't think there's anyone alive who would debate the sheer overwhelming triumph, both visually and aurally, that was displayed throughout the entire film. No, that's the easy stuff.

Its gets more tricky when it comes to actual substance. I have to say, even though I really love these movies I am getting tired of seeing Keanu Reeves try to wax dramatic or emotional. He just can't do it. One of the things that almost killed Reloaded for me was his line at the end when he says he won't let Trinity die because he loves her "too damn much." What is that? I can think of a million other lines that would have been much more appropriate and relevant to the scene at hand. Now, every time I think about it I have to smile because I find it so ludicrous. So yeah, I'm tired of Keanu. Hugo Weaving, on the other hand, has really impressed me. Particularly with his monologue at the end of Revolutions.

I quote:
"Why, Mr. Anderson ? Why do you do it ? Why get up ? Why keep fighting ? Do you believe you're fighting for something ? For more than your survival ? Can you tell me what it is ? Do you even know ? Is it freedom ? Or truth ? Perhaps peace ? Yes ? No ? Could it be for love ? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constrects of a feeble human intellect trying to deperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson ? Why ? Why do you persist ?!"

There's something there, in that speech, which really piqued my interest. Maybe its just the way it was delivered, I'm not sure. I need to watch it again so I can actually try to soak some of the dialogue up. Actually, I feel like that about the entire series as a whole. In a way, its all so slippery when it comes to actually stating something. There is so much symbolism and contradiction. . . Neo as the Christ-figure, Smith as the Anti-Christ, Trinity representing a perfect love which is setup as a standard for others, the Merovingian and Persephone and their broken, embittered marriage, Morpheus' unquestioning belief contrasted against Locke's cynical disbelief. . .the list goes on and on, trying to tie it all into some sort of deus ex machina. That last is ironic as the trilogy ends without ever resolving that conflict. Yes yes, a temporary peace is evolved, but as the Architect wonders at the end, how long will it last?

Well, this has turned out to be more of a collection of ramblings than a review, but maybe I'll get some discussion going on this. These movies are really incredible in their potential for discussion. I think I'm going to go back to my flat and enjoy a little conversation with my flatmates. . .perhaps some Loch Lomond scotch as well.

Paris Pictures!

Well, after spending a really long time labelling every single on of the the digital pictures I took, I finally have them organized into some semblance of categories. There's no way I can post them all here. For one thing it would take way too long to upload and for another I think Josiah would probably kill me for dropping that much stuff onto the Covblogs server. So with that in mind, I've picked out a bunch of really good shots from various places. For now I am going to start out with the pictures I took on Thursday morning at sunrise and while at Notre Dame. As more time becomes available I'll put more up in sequence.

Most of these will be in link form so it won't destroy any bandwidth those of you without broadband might have. However, to kick things off I want to put up one of my favorites. . . Enjoy.

That was one of the first pictures I took. It was Thursday morning and the sun was just coming up. After seeing the view I just had to sit for awhile and soak it all in (I sort of couldn't believe I was there I guess). I got a bunch of other sunrise pictures of Notre Dame and the Seine though and here are some good ones.

Sunrise on Rue Soufflot
Sunrise on the Seine 1
Sunrise on the Seine 2
Red Ivy on the Seine
Notre Dame 1
Notre Dame 2

From there I moved on around the cathedral and spent a good hour inside. I tried getting pictures with the digital, but the flash wasn't even close to being powerful enough. I took more with my dad's SLR, but obviously I can't post them until I have them developed (which won't happen till I get home). I eventually went outside and took a few shots of the front of the cathedral.

Front of Notre Dame
Gargoyles

At this point it was close to 10 so I went to get in line for the Tower stairs. Being at the front of the line I got to head up in the first group. All I can say is, climb that tower two or three times a week for a few months and you will be in amazing shape. I nearly killed myself (though I wasn't as bad off as a few of the people in front of me) getting to the top, but it was most certainly worth it. I took a lot of panoramas up there and while I'm not going to post them all I will put up some good ones.

Paris: Gargoyles and the Eiffel Tower
A Contemplative Gargoyle
Napoleon's Tomb and the Eiffel Tower (my favorite view)
Main Spire and the Seine

Shortly after that last picture I descended (carefully. . .nothing a 500 spiral stairs to give you vertigo) down to the courtyard again. Just before leaving in the general direction of The Louvre I got a guy from British Columbia to take my picture, and that's where I will leave off for today. I'll blog again tomorrow with pictures of the Arc de Triomphe and perhaps some from the Chateau de Versailles.

Just as a reminder, you can see full-size versions of the pictures I actually post by clicking on them. If any of you are interested in some of the other pictures I took here, but didn't post let me know and maybe I can figure out a way to get them to you (email or something).

Cheers!

And he returns

I'm back! Hehe. . .I went into my flat kitchen this afternoon and let out a "Here's Johnny!" in classic Jack Nicholson style. I mostly just got blank stares in return. . .

I now have a new favorite city. Paris, as is so frequently said by those who actually have the absolutely amazing privilege of going there, is incredible. Even though I was only there for a few days (Wednesday evening until this morning to be exact) I already feel as though its calling me back again.

*sigh*

But what an amazing trip. . . I got to do everything I was hoping to do. I saw the Pantheon, visited Notre Dame and climbed the towers (quite a hike), blitzed through the Louvre to see Mona Lisa, hiked the Champ de Elyssees (sp?) and climbed the Arc de Triomphe. . . I visited the Chateau de Versailles, struck a pose next to The Thinker, paid my homage to Napoleon's tomb, and viewed Paris at night from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Shoot, I even walked past Moulin Rouge last night (that windmill rocks). All of that is to say. . .I love Paris. Whether its having an amazing cup of cafe au laite in the morning (french coffee is awesome) or going to a bakery and getting a baguette for lunch, I don't think I could ever get enough of it.

Anyways, over the course of the last few days I took a grand total of about 170 pictures. Hehe, not all of them are actually on film. About 100 are digital and I'm going to weed through and post some good ones over the course of the next few days. I'll even toss up a little story about what I was doing around the time I took the pictures (that's what blogs are for, right?).

For now, let me just say that Notre Dame is one of the most incredible places I've ever been to. I know that for some people its just a cathedral, but for some reason I was completely overwhelmed at the fact that I was standing in the plaza in front of it, or sitting in the auditorium, or looking down at Paris from the bell-tower. The whole thing is just so symbolic. . .even though its the 21st century its still really easy to feel strains of Victor Hugo when you get near it. Maybe I'm just talking gibberish, but of everything that I saw over there, Notre Dame was by far the best part. I love the gargoyles.

Coming in second would be the Chateau de Versailles, specifically the gardens. The palace itself is pretty cool and its interesting to know that you are walking around in the same place that Louis XIV lived (sort of a White House-ish feeling, just add a couple hundred years and a lot of drama), but walking out of the palace into the gardens was pretty awesome. For those of you who don't know how the place is setup, the main chateau has been around for quite awhile and the gardens out back are HUGE. As in, they stretch out for over a mile in length. I walked most of them and its really fun. I liked the fountains. . .mostly because I'd seen pictures of them before and its always great to study something in a history book or whatever and then get to see it in person (cases in point being Mona Lisa, Eiffel Tower, all the stuff in the Musee D'Orsay. . .the list goes on forever). My visit to Versailles took the better part of the day, but it was well worth it.

I'll save the rest for later, to go with pictures. Right now I think I'm going to go and try to sleep for a little while. I've been up since about 5:30 this morning (which translates to 4:30 Glasgow time) and its coming up on 4 now. Both my feet are absolutely covered in blisters and it hurts to walk. Hehe. . .but its a good kind of hurt :) I'll be back again tomorrow with some visual entertainment.

Until then. . .au revoir

What a night. . .

Today was a pretty big day, though not much actually happened. I spent most of the day doing my laundry and getting ready for my trip to Paris (I leave tomorrow). I also managed to log a little Diablo 2 time on the laptop and did a little reading in the time that was left. I was able to gank a digital camera for the weekend from one of my flatmates. Zach's is still out of commission and Cat was kind enough to lend me hers as a substitute. This makes me quite happy since I can now post some pics of my newest excursion from across the big blue sea.

Anyways, the biggest event of the day (and actually one of the coolest of my time here thus far) was the Evanescence concert that Zach and I went to tonight. This was, without any doubt on my part, one of the best concerts I have ever been to. . .bar none. But first, a little backgound:

For those who don't know me, Evanescence has been one of my favorite bands for about two years now. They were first introduced to me by my Stonehenge RA Joel Pettigrew and hallmate Mott Hogg. Joel had been given a copy of the band's original CD, Origin (one of only 500 created) and we played that CD constantly. From the time I first heard it I couldn't believe that this band wasn't already climbing the charts. If you've never heard them you should drop by their webpage where you can listen (just select the option to stream the song) to their newest single called 'My Immortal.' That particular song is a favorite of mine and its been on both CDs they've released and is now being remixed once again. . .its awesome. Anyways, for a year they sort of floated around and no one I talked to had ever heard of them. However, this past year I was surfing the net and stumbled on a tracklist for the soundtrack to Daredevil (terrible movie, but that's not the point), and it featured Evanescence twice! I was pretty shocked at this. . .having not heard anything about them for a whole year and then all of a sudden seeing them featured on a major soundtrack. I was quite happy to hear this and even more so to know that their new CD (which has since gone triple platinum) was coming out very soon. I snatched it up, loved it, and I've been an even bigger fan ever since.

So. . .(phew). . .all that leads up to tonight and a really amazing concert. They played all their big hits and totally rocked the house from floor to balcony (where Zach and I were with a great, front-of-the-balcony view). I have now come to the conclusion that Amy Lee (lead singer) is the best female lead vocalist in the music industry today. I'm sure that will get some argument, but having heard the album, and (more importantly) having seen her almost destroy her lungs live, I have no doubt that she is the best. If you're reading this and you are at all a fan of heavy rock and awesome melodies. . .check this band out. That's really all I can say. Go see them. . .you will not regret it.

Well. . .after an amazing experience, I am now about to head back to my flat for the evening. I'm leaving for Paris sometime around noon tomorrow and most likely will not be blogging until I get back. Unless I get mugged and dropped into the Seine I should be back sometime on Sunday afternoon and you can probably expect at least a couple pictures to be up by Monday. We'll see what I can do. All your prayers are appreciated as I leave. I'm going by myself and I'm a little nervous, but I feel I've planned things out pretty well so all should be well. I hope you all have a great week and weekend.

Oh, and in case any of you have any doubts. . .

Pirate monkeys ROCK!! Hehe. . . .cheers.

The Buckeyes? Why?

As a Florida State fan it is taken for granted that I'd be anti-Florida Gators, but over the last 9-10 years I've come to accept them as a very good team and I've even given them a good amount of respect. This is something I cannot say for the Ohio State Buckeyes (or the Tennessee Vols, but that's another matter). Would someone please, PLEASE just beat the crap out of this team once and for all?

I am so sick and tired of them playing like a 1-AA team for the entire game only to pull a miracle play out of some crevice or fissure in their butts for the victory. I will concede that I was really happy when they beat Miami for the championship last year, but that's only because I didn't want to see Miami win. But seriously people, how can anyone actually root for this team? They went to the wire against PENN STATE for crying out loud. Maybe that would be something to brag about in the past, but in today's game JoPat's team has now lost 5 in a row. So the Buckeyes 'lit things up' for 600 yards against Indiana. . .well la-dee-frickin'-da! They're the HOOSIERS! When was the last time anyone thought the Hoosiers could play football? They have a basketball team. . .that's about it. And what the hell is a Hoosier anyways? The only win the Indiana football team has had all season was against the Indiana State football team (fear the Indiana St. Sycamores. . .be very afraid). And as if that isn't bad enough, Indiana State's only wins have come against those powerhouses at Murray State and Florida International (oh, and Eastern Illinois). Why those schools even HAVE footballs teams is beyond me. . .but hopefully I've proven my point.

I just can't understand why so many people get upset when the Buckeyes don't get any respect (though to my mind they get more than they deserve). They lost the only game they played against a team with medium talent (Wisconsin) and every other game has been a down-to-the-wire bumble fest (yes, bumble) against the dregs of the Big Ten and others (remember the 16-13 blowout of San Diego State?). I'm really just fed up with it. Here's to hoping that Michigan just destroys them at the end of the season. Turn that monster Chris Perry loose and let him stomp all over the field. I'll drink to that.

Thankfully not all of yesterday was wasted. V-Tech decided to play at their talent level and just laid waste to Miami all night long. I wish I could have watched that game. . .it must have been beautiful.

Oklahoma pushed aside any doubt that they do indeed wear the daddy-pants of NCAA football by throwing down a 52-9 wasting of Oklahoma State. I can only imagine how satisfying it was for the OU players to win a game like that. Everyone was saying that they would lose their third straight to the Cowboys and they answered by just whipping out their boomsticks and trashing the place, Bruce Campbell-style.

USC pushed away Wazzu's feeble attempts to claim the Pac-10 throne and put themselves in the very good position for the rest of the season. They should be #2 in the BCS standings which come out tomorrow and as long as they can avoid another collapse (a-la U of Cal) they should be headed to New Orleans to take on OU. . .which would be an amazing game, if I may say so myself.

I'm still holding out for the vague hope that my FSU 'Noles can whip up on the Gators and maybe, just maybe vault into second place. At the same time though I don't know if I'd want to see an FSU-OU championship. As much as I love my team I don't think they'd stand a chance. I'd much rather they went to the Orange Bowl and won (maybe against Miami?) and then made a title-run next season.

Speaking of the Gators. . .how much does it suck to be a UGA player right now?