Right now, the Senate is waffling on their support of President Obama's bold, green economic recovery plan.
Obama and the House of Representatives have already said yes to a green stimulus plan which includes $500 million for the Green Jobs Act! Their recovery plan will create good, green jobs for America - but only if the Senate gets on board now.
I took action on Green For All's web site. Please do the same: tell your Senators to get on board, and pass Obama's green recovery plan.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
The Big Cactus is a big mistake...
...for the coach's pick as an All-Star reserve that is.
Shaquille O'Neal was chosen as a reserve for the Western Conference All-Stars this year, and I don't think it was a proper choice.
Not over Al Jefferson. Not even over Andris Biedrins, who plays for my favorite team, the Golden State Warriors.
Just so I don't look too biased for mentioning Biedrins, let me say that Shaq isn't a better center than Denver's Nene either.
I'm mostly basing these conclusions on statistics. I don't know that that's the best way to back up an argument about something like this. But I believe it's a darn good way.
Shaq isn't even in the top 100 of Yahoo.com's Fantasy Basketball average player rankings (based on per game stats). A player like that does not deserve to be an All-Star, and it doesn't matter that we're not talking about fantasy hoops here.
The truth is that the players whom most people would consider to be All-Star caliber fall somewhere in the top 50 in the Yahoo.com rankings. You can't play fantasy basketball and win without an All-Star caliber player on your team. But like I said, Shaq isn't even top 100.
The funny thing is that he isn't even on a particularly good team this year, so saying that his team's record had something to do with it isn't really all that true. Nene's Nuggets have a better record than O'Neal's Suns, but Nene doesn't get to play in this year's game.
But O'Neal is a more popular player. He just isn't, however, the best player available for the All-Star game. And that diminishes what I think is the point of that game in the first place, which is to see the best players in the NBA play against each other.
But that's just me.
Shaquille O'Neal was chosen as a reserve for the Western Conference All-Stars this year, and I don't think it was a proper choice.
Not over Al Jefferson. Not even over Andris Biedrins, who plays for my favorite team, the Golden State Warriors.
Just so I don't look too biased for mentioning Biedrins, let me say that Shaq isn't a better center than Denver's Nene either.
I'm mostly basing these conclusions on statistics. I don't know that that's the best way to back up an argument about something like this. But I believe it's a darn good way.
Shaq isn't even in the top 100 of Yahoo.com's Fantasy Basketball average player rankings (based on per game stats). A player like that does not deserve to be an All-Star, and it doesn't matter that we're not talking about fantasy hoops here.
The truth is that the players whom most people would consider to be All-Star caliber fall somewhere in the top 50 in the Yahoo.com rankings. You can't play fantasy basketball and win without an All-Star caliber player on your team. But like I said, Shaq isn't even top 100.
The funny thing is that he isn't even on a particularly good team this year, so saying that his team's record had something to do with it isn't really all that true. Nene's Nuggets have a better record than O'Neal's Suns, but Nene doesn't get to play in this year's game.
But O'Neal is a more popular player. He just isn't, however, the best player available for the All-Star game. And that diminishes what I think is the point of that game in the first place, which is to see the best players in the NBA play against each other.
But that's just me.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
A couple more for my consideration.
I saw two of this year's "Best Picture" Oscar nominees this week, Slumdog Millionaire and Frost/Nixon.
One of these should be added to my "Standout movies of 2008" list in my last blog entry. And the winner goes to Frost/Nixon.
The only "Best Picture" nominee left for me to see is "The Reader". I think I'm going to need to regard that one as a classic immediately after the final credit rolls in order for it to be deserving of its Oscar. The critics already believe it to be the very opposite of that, so I don't have much faith that it'll be anything more than a movie labeled one of the worst Oscar pics ever if it gets the golden statue.
I'm getting more interested. Unfortunately, I don't remember seeing it still being shown at any of the theaters I frequent. And who knows if I might end up choosing to watch Notorious instead. I would've done just that if there had been any more showings of it left at the times I went for Slumdog and F/N.
For sure though--I'm catching Puff/Big before Kate/Leo. Revolutionary Road is supposed to be better than The Reader, but I can wait for the DVD.
One of these should be added to my "Standout movies of 2008" list in my last blog entry. And the winner goes to Frost/Nixon.
The only "Best Picture" nominee left for me to see is "The Reader". I think I'm going to need to regard that one as a classic immediately after the final credit rolls in order for it to be deserving of its Oscar. The critics already believe it to be the very opposite of that, so I don't have much faith that it'll be anything more than a movie labeled one of the worst Oscar pics ever if it gets the golden statue.
I'm getting more interested. Unfortunately, I don't remember seeing it still being shown at any of the theaters I frequent. And who knows if I might end up choosing to watch Notorious instead. I would've done just that if there had been any more showings of it left at the times I went for Slumdog and F/N.
For sure though--I'm catching Puff/Big before Kate/Leo. Revolutionary Road is supposed to be better than The Reader, but I can wait for the DVD.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Top of the '08
Okay, ball starts rolling here...so hello.
My personal:
Standout movies of 2008
The Incredible Hulk
Doubt
Pineapple Express
Iron Man
Kung-Fu Panda
Chaos Theory
Redbelt
Persepolis (actually released in U.S. in December, 2007)
Flash of Genius
Sex & The City
The Bank Job
In Bruges
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Visitor
How She Move
Leatherheads
Definitely, Maybe
Son of Rambow
Get Smart
Mamma Mia
Wanted
Tropic Thunder
Cadillac Records
Gran Torino
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Pride and Glory*
I was going to post other lists for books and music, but really, I largely spent far less money on those the past year than I did on movies. It's too complicated for me to try to break down the reasons why right now, but they're not a lost cause for me...yet.
Note: There was a list for "A Top Of The Head List of Favorite Websites, if not in 2008, then lately" but then I started cheating a little with the list so I just removed it. I might do it another time.
Anyway, there you go. Derrick does lists, for one.
*I realized I forgot to put this movie in the list the first time I posted this entry.
My personal:
Standout movies of 2008
The Incredible Hulk
Doubt
Pineapple Express
Iron Man
Kung-Fu Panda
Chaos Theory
Redbelt
Persepolis (actually released in U.S. in December, 2007)
Flash of Genius
Sex & The City
The Bank Job
In Bruges
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Visitor
How She Move
Leatherheads
Definitely, Maybe
Son of Rambow
Get Smart
Mamma Mia
Wanted
Tropic Thunder
Cadillac Records
Gran Torino
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Pride and Glory*
I was going to post other lists for books and music, but really, I largely spent far less money on those the past year than I did on movies. It's too complicated for me to try to break down the reasons why right now, but they're not a lost cause for me...yet.
Note: There was a list for "A Top Of The Head List of Favorite Websites, if not in 2008, then lately" but then I started cheating a little with the list so I just removed it. I might do it another time.
Anyway, there you go. Derrick does lists, for one.
*I realized I forgot to put this movie in the list the first time I posted this entry.
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