Just Rankings...

Super Mario Galaxy: 9
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass: 5
Radiohead, in rainbows: 6
Rilo Kiley, Under the Blacklight: 6
Cold War Kids, Robbers & Cowards: 7
The White Stripes, Icky Thump: 9
Lucky Magazine: 1
Flight of the Conchords, Season 1: 9
Chuck, Season 1: 9
Heroes, Season 2: 6
The Office, Season 4: 8
30 Rock, Season 2: 7
Football: -10
Basketball: 9
My Fantasy Football team: 5
My Fantasy Basketball team: 7
Tvsquad.com: 6
Joystiq.com: 7
Tmz.com: 4
ACME Burger Company: 10
Market Street Grill: 7
Red Robin: 5
La Puente: 6
TGI Friday’s: 3
Cracker Barrel: 1
Burgers: 9
Steaks: 6
H&M: 10
American Apparel: 6
IKEA: 9

/ Real + Virtual /

I don't often have visceral reactions to products.

Unlike most consumers, I spent Black Friday taking migraine medication. I tossed my latest issue of Wired because half of it was holiday advertisements. I have even been known to mute commercials.

Yet I was intensely drawn to this singular messenger bag. (I hate to break the suspense but) you probably know the one I am talking about -- it's red and yellow, smells like polyethylene.

It was [commodity fetishism] at first sight.

The few weeks I spent mulling over the purchase were all a ruse to demonstrate false financial restraint when in fact I knew I was going to purchase the bag from the moment I saw it.

Beyond just the immediate emotional impact, the bag appealed to my intellect. FREITAG, the Swiss company behind my infatuation, specialize in products made entirely out of recycled goods. Not only was the product ecological (my messenger bag was a post-industrial Frankenstein built from a menagerie of truck tarps and bicycle inter tubes) but also entirely unique (a pre-industrial craft contingently based on pan-European truck tarp fashion).

I only mention all this as an excuse to post an image I found yesterday of their new headquarters in Zurich. Like all of their products, the building is made out of recycled materials. As they write: "The standard 20-foot shipping container was chosen as the basic building block for the construction of an asymmetric tower of 9 containers rising from a 4 x 2 base... The base is used as a sales outlet, while the tower has become a striking landmark between two main international transportation routes. The circle, from product to building to product, is complete."

How cool is that?

"You just keep on trying until you run out of cake"

Unlike Ben, who likes to invest in fruit, I've been "reverse investing" in my debt. Which, right now, is Rachel's car, my Civic and my student loans. Rachel's car is giving the biggest payout. With every dollar I pay early, I "earn" about 7.9% a year. The civic is next, around 6%. And the student loans are the worst with about a 4% rate (that could fall to 3.5% by summer).

My NPV= -$2,000. My goal is to have a NPV>$0 by the end of the year. And then, in 18 months, to have all debts paid off, some cash, maybe some real estate assets and thus a much greater NPV.

Unfortunately, that's a year-and-a-half away. And right now most of my assets are in automobiles. Which is pretty much like saying I have all of my money in fruit. Sure, they have value and I could cash them out. But every day I don't they decrease in value until, eventually, they're worthless.

But that's something to worry about later. And, anyway, I'm planning on keeping both cars until they die. Considering that the Saturn has less than 60,000 miles and the Civic less than 30,000 miles, that shouldn't be anytime soon.

(My NPV is also skewed. It doesn't include any of my "things." CDs, DVDs, Wiis. I could probably clear another couple thousand dollars if I sold all of that. But it's unlikely that I would anytime soon. So I'm not including it. And I digress.)

You've Come a Long Way, Baby

I was waiting for Mark to make this historic post, but I guess he wasn't eyeing the counter as closely as I had thought.

Yes that's right. Post #500.

In celebration, I thought I would give you a little behind the scenes look at the old Hid. We have been on the beat for a full two and a half years now, and since then we have developed quite a substantial readership of Brad and my exes.

But we also get quite a few drop-ins from Google. What were they looking for before they stumbled upon our Garden of Earthly Delights? Here's the Countdown:

#5 It was the best of times it was the blurst of times

#4 R.C Willey Warranty

#3 Spit Roast Sexual Act

#2 Clive Owen's Feet

And at #1: I'm gonna come after you like a spider monkey

A kick in the teeth.

Subscribing to the New York Times is one of the few pleasures in my life.

You can imagine my displeasure then when I saw this article on Monday's front page.

The average options grant for a new Google employee — or “Noogler” — who started in November 2006 was 685 shares at a price of roughly $475 a share. They also would have received, on average, 230 shares of stock outright that will vest over a number of years.

The Nooglers might not be talking about second homes in Aspen or personal jets, but they are talking about down payments on a first home, new cars and kitchen renovations.

Son of a bitch.

The Way Things Change

My brother-in-law insults the Smashing Pumpkins at me. Which is my fault. Because I insult U2. And a number of other bands I don't care about.

The big difference is that I don't care about the Smashing Pumpkins anymore. Or Radiohead. Or Chuck Palahniuk. Or Nintendo. Or, well, anything like that. I don't seem to have a favorite anything right now.

Except maybe some TV shows. The Office. Heroes. 30 Rock. Man, some of those are good. Maybe I should really be writing about how the writer's strike is going to force me to watch movies, play games and do.


Or I should be looking for recommendations. Got any?

Netflix Two Cents: Bio-Dome

Bio-Dome (1996)

Verdict: I wouldn't know because I lost the disc and now have to give Netflix $20 dollars to replace it. Don't tax my gig so hard-core cruster!

Revenge of the Nerds

I love it when people get what they deserve.... unless it's Logan getting a job. (Is that joke outdated?)

From the New York Times: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has sued the architect Frank Gehry and a construction company, claiming that “design and construction failures” in the institute’s $300 million Stata Center resulted in pervasive leaks, cracks and drainage problems that have required costly repairs.

The Final Countdown

Here's (Brad's) initial take on the draft and the way teams are shaping up.

Boz-Tang Alliance

Kevin Garnett. Don't really need to say much more about that, Garnett will be a fantasy force this year, he's always been a great passing big man, but he's never had anyone like Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to pass to. I've also heard that Boston might use him at Center which would help out Kiefer's team immensely. Andrew Bynum may be great someday, but he isn't today.

The forwards on this team are crazy good, I love Rashard Lewis playing with an inside presence like Dwight Howard. Ron Artest and Manu Ginobli fell a lot farther in the draft than I thought they would, and Kiefer's default autopicks netted him both of them.

Starting the season B-Tang is looking at some injury problems. Spending a second round pick on Wade was risky. But some solid value in the later rounds with Gerald Wallace, Ginobili and Artest may make up for it.

BTA's weakness is the guards after Wade and Ginobili. Even with Wade Kiefer's probably not going to win the assist category any week, and picks like Jamal Crawford and Cuttino Mobely won't really help.

The Alliance will be a tough team to beat every week. If Wade is healthy at the end of the year they'll have a chance to take it all.

Zombie Overlords

We can all call Mark names for taking Kobe Bryant, but it was probably the safest pick at the number two spot. (You suck Mark.) Kobe doesn't miss games and he piles up numbers. He'll help you in every category, he doesn't even turn the ball over that much when you compare him to other guards. Mark's second pick, however, can hurt him. Dwight Howard be great for points, rebounds and shooting % but his turnovers and FT % will hurt. He's one of my favorite young players, but the Overlords will have to hope they can make up for his shortcomings by having efficient players around him. I'm not sure they do. TOs and FT% will probably hurt Mark all year with players like Roy, Randolph, Marbury, and Wallace all bringing him down in one or both categories.

Those players all bring a lot to the table in other categories though, I like the pick of Wallace and later Paul Millsap to balance out the Overlords' prolific offense.

Overall I'd say the Team of the Dead made solid picks and should be competitive all year.

nell on earth

Besides having the best team name Nell, with the third pick, took the player I think will be tops in fantasy land this year. Ohio's own LeBron James. Deron Williams at 19 was probably a stretch, but T-Mac at 30 was a steal, so maybe those two picks balanced out. (Don't get me wrong, Deron will be great all year, better, even than Chris Paul, who was taken a round before him, if he continues to stroke from 3 point land like he has so far this year he will have been worth the 19th pick). I also like Josh Howard a lot with the 35th pick, but after round 5 Nell seemed to lose her way.

nell on earth made some quality picks along the way, (Rip Hamilton, Richard Jefferson, and I liked Nocioni and Garcia with her last two picks) but the good was overshadowed by picks like Andris Biedrins at 62 and Mike Dunleavy at 94 (though Dunleavy has been playing out of his head so far this season). Come to think of it, Nell may know something I don't, Damien Wilkins (who?) and John Salmons (again?) have played pretty well out of nowhere.

nell on earth have a lot of players with a lot of upside, so with a little luck the rest of us could be feeling the fantasy pain.

Quartz

Peter (aka Mark's dad) probably has the most fundamentally sound team in the league. Nash, Duncan, Bell, Mo Williams, Grant Hill. . . I wonder if that will translate into fantasy wins. You really can't argue much with Quartz' first few picks, you know what you're getting when you pick Nash and Duncan. Johnson was also a solid pick at 20. If Kirilenko can return to 2005 numbers he'll have been a steal at 29, if he can't he was a reach.

Luke Walton deserves to be slapped at least once a day, and I think he went too early at 45. I think Quartz will want more than 9 points and 5 rebounds from him per night, I'm not sure he'll get it. Darko could thrive in Memphis and make Peter (Mark's dad) look like the smartest (wisest?) guy in the league. Personally I think he started speculating too early, Darko, Hill, Jianlian, Magloire and Knight all seem like overly optimistic picks to me.

That Shaq O'Neal can be picked in the second to last round says a lot about how many steps he's lost, but I think he'll produce some good weeks for Quartz if their manager (Mark's dad) can be patient enough to wait until January for him to show up. I like Kapono with the last pick. Immediately after I picked his teammate (Garbajosa) with my last pick I wished I had picked Kapono.

Quartz have a solid and well-rounded team, I don't really like the way Peter's (Mark's dad's) Util and bench spots are looking right now, but if a couple of those speculative picks pan out he'll be sitting pretty.

NBASUX

Patriot lover (and puppy kicker) Trevor Lindsay brings his fantasy football skills to the basketball arena. Can Trevor be the two sport star that Bo Jackson was? In short, no.

Just kidding, Trevor ended up with a pretty good team. I was surprised to see Marion fall to number 5. Chris Paul at 12 was a real reach and only a Bostonian could pick Al Jefferson when Tracy McGrady is still on the board, but Danny Granger could be the next Gerald Wallace, and how can Rajon Rondo not pile up assists with the Big Three catching passes in Boston? Brad Miller will bounce back this year (I think) and Al Horford could challenge Durant (picked 6 rounds earlier) for rookie of the year. (stranger things have happened). But Chris Kaman T? The guy looks like Golem bred with that huge guy in the superman shirt from Goonies. No way he continues to get 18 points and 16 boards a night, look for 10 and 8 and maybe look elsewhere.

I'd be willing to bet that NBASUX doesn't win the Turnover category more than 3 or 4 times this year.

NBASUX's manager may have the charm of Bill Bellicheck, but he's pretty good at winning too, not to be overlooked.

Shot Callaz

I guess I shouldn't give Trevor any grief for picking ugly players when my first choice was Dirk Nowitski. But come on, what doesn't the guy do? Pts, rebs, 3s, both %s, even a few assists and a block per game. I think my second pick Amare Stoudamire will be in the top 5 fantasy players at the end of the season and was glad to see him make it back around to me at 11. I'm also really excited about Josh Smith this season, although 22 might have been too early to take him. He blocks like Kirilenko but rebounds better and has an offensive game. And he's only 21. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

It's difficult to critique my own team, of course I liked it, I picked it. I did find myself worrying about assists and Barbosa, Ford and Conley Jr. were all probably taken a bit early. I'm counting on Luol Deng to have a great year, and maybe I banked too much on Kevin Martin's numbers last season, or he may just be the best player nobody's ever heard of. Kevin Durant should have a good year, but he might have gone early too.

I think ya'll better watch out.

Dribbling

I should thank Ian, because without him I'd probably have the worst team name in the league. And we can all thank Ian's autodraft for taking guys like Mike Miller when much better players were still on the board. But, Dribbling do have a solid foundation. Gilbert Arenas is no schlub, Yao Ming will be huge if he can stay healthy (same with Camby). Carter, Billups and 'Sheed might be getting older, but they can still produce solid fantasy numbers.

If Ian's aging and injury prone team can escape the injury bug (and if Ian checks in once every few weeks) this team could surprise people.

Docktor Schooliosis

Personally I'm not high on any of the good Docktor's first 3 picks. They certainly won't be total bust, and Logan wasn't there for the first part of the draft, so he can't be held completely accountable, but they're just not quite what I would have hoped if I were managing Schooliosis.

Logan did make up for taking an aging but still solid point guard with the first pick by picking only point guards with the rest of his picks. Hinrich, Miller, Harris, Jack, Duhon, Blake. If you need a PG talk to the DR.

There are some great players on this team, if Gasol does what many experts are projecting him to do he'll be huge for Schooliosis. And I, for one, LOVE Iguodala this year, Anthony will score a ton of points if nothing else. Aldridge will be off the chizain. There's definitely something to work with here. With a little tweaking this team will challenge anyone.

November primary

No, this is not an oracle of Mitt Romney's inevitable victory in the Electoral College next year.

It is a map of televison markets and the football game they will be airing at 4:00 EST. I will let you guess which color represents Oakland vs. Houston. Please take special note of the Bay Area.

Red state, blue state: this is something we can all agree upon. [Mitt 08'.]