This is Epth Nation

Epth is a state of mind, not a place. Reading this will give you a virtual drivers license in that state, but you'll still need to be 21 to purchase alcohol. And you can't get any there anyway, so stop asking.

Monday, March 06, 2006

News Stories I Missed Last Week

Since I had two birthdays, caffeine withdrawal, and the Bucks' crushing and depressing loss to the Knicks last week, I all but ignored several important and insane stories that came over the news wire. Many of these stories made me say out loud, "What is the deal with that?" Now, in belated and quick-hit form, I will deal with them...

George W. Bush did this tour of India and Pakistan where he tried to convince them he was just a normal guy. He played cricket in Pakistan over the weekend, for pete's sake. Anyway, India and Pakistan hate each other, and it probably wasn't the best idea to give India a bunch of stuff relating to civilian nuclear power before traveling to Pakistan. Islamists in Pakistan were mad, but Bush is still alive, and the Paki government reaffirmed that they indeed hate terrorists so don't attack them. I think we can sense that India is more our ally at this point, so if there's any war, we want them to have more of our stuff.

According to a study by the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, almost half of North and South American kids will be "fat" by 2010. This means that our schools will be even more filled with laughter. Everybody loves a fat kid like a fat kid loves cake. Plus, fat kids are naturally more jolly than their healthier counterparts.

Or maybe the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity is just looking for an attention-getting headline and a reason to exist.

Of special interest to people who download music legally is this article from some Indian paper about the Department of Justice's investigation into the Music Labels. It seems that finally somebody noticed the RIAA's collusion, and remembered that collusion is bad. Price-fixing by the record labels? Wouldn't be the first time. In fact, you could argue that they price-fix every time they get the chance. Tell me again why online piracy is the biggest threat to artistry in America...I don't remember anymore.

In killing news, another attractive white woman was killed in a tricked-up way, and it was all over the place. In a story sure to be ripped into a 2006 episode of "Law and Order," Imette St. Guillen was killed in a way unbefitting such a family blog, and Fox News certainly thought it was big national news. I wish we cared as much about the non-white/unattractive/male murder victim. This bias has been commented on before, so I won't get into it now. I bring it up purely to mock this online article from Fox News, which took three people to write and includes such professional-sounding phrases as "psycho-killer," "sicko" and "sex maniac." It also wildly speculates on the manner of her death. It must have taken three people to come up with all that colorful phraseology.

In Sports, the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA lost two games in a week for the first time since like November. It was awful for many households who have Mavs fans in them. Believe me, I know. But don't panic -- despite the claim that they're "healthy," you can clearly see that they miss the injured Devin Harris a lot. Also, their second-best player, J. Ho., missed the second loss, and wasn't all that healthy for the first one, the loss to the Spurs. Have no fear, little Mavericks flock.

Thus ends all NBA talk on this blog until the end of March Madness. With the Bucks' loss to the Knicks, it is officially College Basketball Season here at Epth Nation. And just in time, because Duke lost not once but twice last week. Huzzah! I don't trust Wisconsin at all, but Marquette has a chance to make it to the Sweet 16, I think. As always, it depends on the brackets. you know you love them.

Last but maybe not least, the cowboy melodrama Brokeback Mountain didn't win Best Picture, but then again neither did Saving Private Ryan, so maybe everyone should remember that Oscar is blind and deaf and dumb before making any comments today about how they're all going to gay hell. Actually, I don't travel in circles that mention gay hell, so I have no idea what people are saying. I didn't see any of the five movies up for Best Picture anyway. Or any of the movies that had actors nominated. You could argue that I didn't see one good movie this year. Oh, except Grizzly Man, but that wasn't even nominated in the documentary category. As always, I think I watch too much TV.

3 Comments:

  • At 9:47 PM, Blogger pete said…

    Mike,

    Melissa and I saw Crash. We really liked it. The stories were well woven and allowed you to look at race from lots of differnt angles. It was eye opening and a decent mix of gritty/real and hopeful/inspiring. I encourage you to take a look.

    Pete

     
  • At 8:17 AM, Blogger drew said…

    i agree with pete about Crash. you can definitely find things to dislike about this movie, but you can do that with any film. maggie and i thought the movie, on a whole, was wonderful, and would definitely watch it again soon.

    we also saw capote, which was slow, but intentionally so. i'm a tad biased because phillip seymour hoffman is by far my favorite actor in hollywood, but he really shines in this movie (like he does in just about every movie he's in), and this time he gets to play the main character AND finally win an oscar.

    and what's really funny is that we watched Walk The Line the night before the oscars, and as soon as it was over, i said "eh, it's like Ray only with white people." i think the government was tapping chuck's apartment in vail and giving my material to jon stewart. definitely skip this movie. reese witherspoon had no business winning the oscar for her performance and although joaquin (sp?) did a great johnny cash, the controversial parts of cash's life were completely glossed over to make him look better. shocking.

     
  • At 11:40 AM, Blogger Mike Pape said…

    Yeah, I'm going to have to see Crash. I've been getting a bunch of positive reveiws from people about it.

    They're definitely bugging Chuck's apartment, though it's doubtful that they're affiliated with J. Stewart, whom they are also probably bugging. Maybe they got their wires crossed.

     

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