a shout-out to Lane' for sending me the link to this tidbit:
http://www.anycities.com/user/volkomen/iconwars.html

So I have been working on a "Concept" this morning that I have decided to entitle "The Bilateral Animal Approach to Entertainment Excellence." It is relatively simple.

First, "scientific" research has confirmed what we have Long suspected; ducks are funny. This is easy, basic stuff, people, so please follow along. A British research team, working for well over a year, has definitively linked Ducks with Humor. Therefore this constitutes the first prong in the Approach.

Second is the fascination with the Elusive Giant Squid. Like many people, I m an Absolute Sucker (ha ha, pun very much intended) for Any even Remotely Giant Squid-related programming, and thanks to our friends at the Discovery Channel (and, lets also be sure to give a shout-out to our buddies over at National Geographic -- you rock, kids!) there is now concentrated effort to document these elusive creatures which have never before been observed alive and in their "natural habitat." Some of our more "cynical" members of society may poo-poo this as a big waste of time, and try to tell us that this must mean the Giant Squid doesn'treally exist (Pilistines, damn you!), but that won't keep us from breathlessly watching the next Giant Squid documentary, with the inevitable 55 minutes of teasing foreplay, only to reaize in the waning moments they aren't goingto find one, or that the larval specimens they caught all died within hours of being placed in their holding tanks. No, we Like and Want even more excruiating cases of Nature Documentary blue-balls, because we just can't get enough of the zany Architeuthis.

So, that's about it. Giant squid and ducks... coming soon on the Jake Network...

thanks to a link through the Sports Guy's latest column, I came across the SuperSomics Peja Drobnjak Page. This stuff is almost too funny to be true... be sure to ask Jinkies the Cat a question...

We got our Butts Kicked in my indoor game tonight... They had Eight subs, and We had just Two... and they ran our asses into the ground... I played "well" in the first half -- even though I blew some Great scoring chances -- at least I was generating Chances -- but I just ended up blowing my Wad and playing a bad second half, just making dumb decision with the ball... but I was Very fatigued...

On a related note, my left knee seems to be Deteriorating, which is Bad, and I'm getting Concerned about it...
(are these Caps for Emphasis getting Out of Control?!??)

well, its Never too early to start thinking 'bout it:
coming in April, "Three-Oh Minus Two"

I actually Washed my car last week, but I've been parked under the tree out front of the house, and now there is bird poop all over it... dammit...

on a completely Unrelated note, I picked up the 'Rents from the airport earlier tonight -- they had flown to Colorado to see the Baby Gibson -- then looked at all the baby pictures they had, and emailed a bunch to myself, for potential POD material.

last Friday I was prepared to post a ranting "sports predictions for 2003" entry, but decided on a last-minute veto when I figured most of You don't really care too much about my protracted sports-related ramblings.

However, one of my key predictions was "a US soocer player will make a Major impact on a top European club team." As vague as that seems, I was incredibly encouraged to hear of Brian McBride's debut with English Premier League side Everton over the weekend. McBride is "on loan" from Columbus during the MLS off-season, and the top US target man is greating a great chance to show more of his stuff we got to see at Japan/Korea on a better-than-average side in perhaps the World's top domestic league. He scored just 10 minutes in to Everton's most recent match against Tottenham -- putting it by US golakeepe Kasey Keller, from Lacey -- and later assisted on Everton's 3rd tally in the 4-3 loss.

Another bold prediction I intended to make was that a Northwest team would make a Serious championship run. But not the Mariners, Seahawks, or Sonics -- rather the Vancouver Canucks. Of course, they responded to my never-published-prediction by losing two straight over the Weekend... but store it away. This team has all the Tools -- including perhas the best winger combo in the NHL right now in Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi, and their biggest Doubt, goalie Dan Cloutier, is getting better.
(on a side rant here, the fact that Naslund, the leading goal scorer in the League at the moment, was not voted as a starter demonstrates the Criminal Fallacy of "fan ballotting" to decided All-Star game starting lineups. Take a look at the lineups here, and tell me how many players from Canadian teams are on the list... it seems to me that Naslund should be starting for the West, and Marian Hossa, of the Ottowa Senators, should be starting for the East, as evidenced by the League-leading Goal-scoring chart seen here-- wingers score goals, that is their job and the single-most signifgant stat to lok at when deciding All-star selections. Now, as far as Defensemen go, so-called "Fans" seem to ignore the plus-minus stat -- in this man's opinion the single most telling gauge of a defenders efectiveness is goals scored For minus goals scored Against while that player is on the ice. I especially chortle with the selection of one Sandis Ozolinsch, widely known as a defensive laibility who, when with the Colorado Avalanche, was kept Off the Ice in the closing minutes of close games!)

this is something I wrote for a message bored (board) that Ryu has -- its the only "message bored (board)" I ever visit and/or post to, and even then sporadically at best, but that's another rant for another day -- anyway, I liked it, so I will share it with the mass public:

this doesn't Really have anything to do with Anything, but I've decided I want to start a couple of TV channels. The first would be LCDTV (Lowest Common Denominator T.V.) and would more or less strive to be that channel you surf to whenever the show you are actually Watching goes to commercial break. Lot's of T&A, a "Weather Girl" "dressed" in various stages of undress (bikinis, lingerie, dominatrix outfits, et al). I'd form a made-for-T.V. local pro wrestling league to broadcast, stuff like that.

The other channel would be the "Jake Network" and be a something like cross between ESPN Classic and the History/Discovery/Learning channels, with lots -- and I mean Lots -- of Simpsons re-runs. Like maybe an hour of Simpsons for every 2 hours of "regular" programming.