There Was Nothing to Fear and Nothing to Doubt

I don't want to start a disturbing trend on this blog of linking to stories about Halo or video games, but this article on ESPN.com was just too good to let go. When I read the article I tried to cultivate some kind of arrogant ironic distance, but it's hard to maintain that type of stance when I'm a currently unemployed law student and the article's subjects are college dropouts with 3-year contracts that promise to pay out $250,000. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

In other news, yesterday Liverpool was saved from their second home loss in less than 5 days by an injury-time equalizer from Fernando Torres. "El Nino" headed home Steve Finnan's long cross in the 92nd minute to bring the Reds back on terms with visiting Tottenham Hotspur at 2-2.

The Reds now must wait until after the international break for a chance to return to the form that characterized their early success. On October 20th, Gerrard & Co. will face Everton F.C. in the semi-annual Merseyside Derby, and on October 24th, the Reds will travel to Istanbul for a Champions League Group A encounter with Turkish side, Besiktas JK. It's not going to get any easier from here on out, but if there's one thing that I've learned about the Reds so far, it's that they don't enjoy themselves unless their backs are against the wall.

Did I Drive You Away?

Congratulations to Ms. Kara Buckel for correctly naming "Not For All the Love in the World" by The Thrills as the Friday Song of the Day.

As all of you know, Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, will deliver their joint assessment of the U.S. military operation in the Middle East to Congress tomorrow. With the continual onslaught of information regarding Iraq, I often find it hard to see the forest for the trees, but I found this op-ed piece by Kimberly Kagan in the Wall Street Journal very helpful in seeing the big picture.

Thought of the Day: I wonder if you placed the real John Madden announcing a game alongside Madden '08 with the gamers replicating the plays, could you tell the difference between real Madden and Video Madden?

I'll tell you this, it won't be nearly as difficult as seeing John Madden's eyebrows in HD.

I Wandered Through the House Like a Little Boy Lost in the Mall, and an Astronaut Could Have Seen the Hunger In My Eyes From Space

Only a short post tonight, but I have big news. I played Dance, Dance Revolution for the first time this evening and loved it. It took me back to the days when I would gain the upper-hand on Nintendo's Track and Field by pounding my fists on the PowerPad (registered trademark) to simulate running instead of actually running on the PowerPad (registered trademark). As an aside, I was telling a very similar story one day in high school about hitting the PowerPad (registered trademark) with my fists and I hit the desk at the beginning of my Geometry class (before the teacher began) to demonstrate my ingenuous technique. Well, sure enough the teacher sent me to detention, but I digress.

Back to the topic at hand......

Dance, Dance Revolution, I may have no semblance of rhythm, but you get the Justin Scott seal of approval. Congratulations.