Showing 21 - 30 of 47 posts found matching keyword: brian

Let's get together again in 2023

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If at first you don't succeed...

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The good old days...

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Fool me twice...

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With friends like these...

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I went to trivia last night and totally blew off the question "What did the 'u' stand for in the defunct UPN Network?" as too easy. I was certain the answer was "Universal." I was wrong.

I knew that it was Paramount's television network, but I incorrectly assumed that it had been a joint venture between Paramount and Universal. It wasn't. UPN was a solo Paramount project.

Perhaps I confused UPN with the Paramount/Universal joint venture UIP, formed in the 1970s to release their films internationally. Too bad for me, the 'u' in UIP doesn't stand for "Universal," either.

The correct answer, same for both UPN and UIP is "United." Thankfully, Friend Brian knew the correct answer. I applaud Brian for his trivia knowledge.

Brian, the next time I tell you that you are wrong about something, you can point to this post and say, "I was right about 'United'." Hopefully, the memory of this one time I was wrong and you were right will console you when I prove you are wrong about whatever we're talking about now.

APPENDIX 2014-09-17: Given that it is Batman and Football month, I should mention that one of the questions at trivia was "What Batman villain, according to one origin story, was originally known as The Red Hood?" That question really was too easy! Sadly, there were no questions about football.

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I woke up on Friday to a voicemail message asking if I wanted to attend the Dolphins/Falcons preseason opener that night. I had turned down the opportunity when Mom asked months ago, but in the pressure of the moment, I gave in and accepted fate.

This was all I saw of Stephen Jackson

The tickets had come to friend Brian through connections at his job, and he says he had a hard time finding someone to accompany him at the last minute. ("I said to myself, 'I'll call Walter. He'd never pass up football tickets!'," Brian explained.) Judging by the thousands of empty seats at the Georgia Dome, most people passed on the opportunity to pay $59.00 to watch a glorified practice.

The last time I attended a preseason game, it was to see Dan Marino take about 5 snaps. Not quite a decade back, I tried to get Eagles/Falcons Monday Night tickets, and ended up buying four Ravens/Falcons preseason tickets. (I blame that snafu partly on TicketMaster and partly on sleep deprivation.) I couldn't give those tickets away! The way I see it, going to this game for free is cosmic compensation for that wasted $300 all those years ago.

Preseason games in Atlanta draw about as many fans as reals game in Miami

I got my money's worth as the first-team Dolphins and first-team Falcons looked great last night on their opening drives. That wasn't too surprising. Offsenses always perform better than defenses at the beginning of the year. I considered it a better sign that the Dolphins' rebuilt O-line was able to protect Tannehill for a few plays. (The Dolphins didn't start giving up sacks until late in the game.) Maybe we'll be able to score some points this year.

Others were even more optimistic. "I think we could win the AFC East this year," said the Dolphins' fan behind me. "It's either us or the Bills." Given that the Bills haven't made finished better than .500 since 2004, I'd say those are pretty good odds. I wonder what the Patriots — division winner for nine of the last ten seasons — will have to say about that?

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I'm the round one center right

I recently joined some old friends for dinner. We set out for Olive Garden, but when Brian discovered the wait at Olive Garden would be 25 minutes, he insisted we head to P.F. Chang's, a restaurant I'd never been to before. It took us 10 minutes to get there. Fortunately, their wait was only 15 minutes. Thanks, Brian!

I'd never eaten at a P.F. Chang's before. I doubt I will again. Not that there was anything wrong with the food, but the service left something — almost everything — to be desired.

The woman who led us to our table handed us menus, introduced herself, and said she'd be our waitress. Excusing herself, she said she'd return shortly to take our drink order. She wasn't gone sixty seconds before another fellow came along, introduced himself, and said he'd be our waiter. Whatever.

The dude made some small talk with James, who is always desperate for more attention, and then took our drink orders. James ordered a Diet Coke with lemon, Brian ordered unsweetened tea with lemon and sweeteners on the side (because Brian), Mike ordered sweet tea with lemon, and I said I'd have what Mike was having. Pay attention; there will be a quiz later.

James ordered an appetizer of pork dumplings. The waiter apologized that they were out of pork (!) so James accepted a substitution of vegetable dumplings. Finally the dude leaves to get our drinks and appetizer while we continue perusing the entree menu. (I'm amazed you're still reading this, but hang in there.)

The waiter returns and apologizes again. It seems that there was some confusion and he is not our waiter, but he promises us that he has placed our appetizer and drink orders. He leaves, and moments later the original woman arrives with our drinks. No lemons or sweeteners. As she hands them out, she apologizes and tells us that there has been some confusion, and she will indeed, truly be our waitress. She then apologizes again, explaining that the restaurant is out of pork. Would we like vegetable dumplings instead? Sure, whatever. We place our entree orders. And could we get lemons for our drinks and sweeteners, please?

So we sit and wait for lemons, sugar, and vegetable rolls. A manager drops by our table. He apologizes for the confusion, then he apologizes because the restaurant is out of pork. Would we like some vegetable dumplings instead? Eyes roll. Brian, who I've seen chew out hotel managers and customer service representatives for lesser infractions, again politely asks for sweeteners for his tea. Proving why he's the man in charge, the manager materializes some sugar packages before leaving. I chastise Brian. "You just missed your last, best chance to get lemons."

Soon, the waitress returns with Mike's soup. She also proves me wrong by producing lemons. It's anybody's guess what happened to our appetizer. When asked whatever happened to our dumplings, she says, "I'll check," which is waiter-speak for "what dumplings?" At this point, I figured the wait staff was performing a vaudeville routine for us.

Eventually, we are served our entrees. No sign of dumplings. They're looking for them. "They disappeared from the window," our waitress explains cryptically. I decide that our dumplings are smarter than we are, and have probably headed back over to Olive Garden. The waitress promises that we will not be charged for the food we never got. Very polite of her.

It isn't until we've all gotten down to the business of eating that our waitress brings us a plate of vegetable dumplings. "No charge," she promises. Mike is brave enough to take a bite and declares them "okay." Hooray?

In the end, I left a $4 tip on a $17.92 bill, because I felt sorry for anyone who has to work in such a madhouse. I should probably thank them. In addition to making a meal out with my friends a very memorable affair, they also convinced me never to eat at another P.F. Chang's. Brian, next time we'll just wait for that table at Olive Garden.

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The final batch of movies watched in 2013:

223. (530.) Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
Terrific Otto Preminger directed psychological suspense movie with a weird tinge of incest. Hitchcock quality. Highly recommended.

224. (531.) Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
The first Myrna Loy/William Powell movie, and the movie that John Dillinger had just watched before Federal Agents gunned him down. It felt a little cliche for my taste, but it's always hard to tell how much of that cliche comes from others who have copycatted this. I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

225. (532.) Grand Central Murder (1942)
A wacky whodunnit, this film would have served as a fine undercard with a bigger production. Lots of comedy for a relatively straightforward murder mystery.

226. (533.) The Roaring Twenties (1939)
This movie title gives us the phrase we now associate with the decade of bootleggers. It's fun to see Bogart play a bad guy.

227. (534.) Miami Vice (2006)
Not as bad as I'd been lead to believe. This film has style and artificial pathos to spare, but it could have used an injection of humanity. Everyone is so serious! (And Colin Farrell's southern accent...? No. Just no.)

228. (535.) Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)
A Hitchcock comedy that is a little heavy on the suggestive and innuendo for the period That's not a knock, it's just a fact. Maybe I'm too prudish.

229. (536.) Frozen (2013)
Friend Cooper called and asked me to go to the movie, and this is what he chose. The film is front-loaded with exposition, mostly delivered in song. Once the singing slows down, the movie takes off, and I enjoyed myself. (I'm a sucker for Kristen Bell.)

230. (537.) Taking Woodstock (2009)
I don't know how much of this comedy was factual, but I can't imagine that it was too much. Best in Show aside, Eugene Levy so rarely appears in real documentaries.

That's 230 new-to-me movies in 2013, a vast majority of which were comedies (68). The actor I saw the most was Tom Conway, the actress, Myrna Loy (for the second year in a row). Alfred Hitchcock was by far the director I saw most often: 10 different movies! (I thought I had seen a lot of Hitchcock's movies before now. The man was prolific.) The writer's work most watched was Preston Sturges, who I came to sincerely appreciate. And, of course, the most common production studio was MGM. (Thank you, Turner Classic Movies!)

So what'll be playing in 2014?

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We probably should have seen it coming. After the injury-plagued season the Bulldogs have had in 2013, it shouldn't surprise anyone to see Senior quarterback Aaron Murray be carried off the field of his final home game with a knee injury.

UK 10, UGA 56

Otherwise, the game was all Georgia. Kentucky never put up anything amounting to a fight in this 56-10 rout. The biggest obstacle for the Dawgs was the cold. Boy was it cold!

The fans turned out despite the cold (and wind) to say goodbye to the departing seniors, including Aaron Murray. Poor kid. Friend Brian insisted on blaming Murray's knee injury on his decision not to slide on a play near the end of the first half with the score already out of reach. I prefer to blame a conditioning staff who have seen a disproportional number of kids in their care leave games with knee injuries this season. I'm no doctor, but when I see the top 6 offensive skill players miss playing time on the season with knee injuries, it seems to me that you're doing something wrong, guys.

(In fairness, there was a rule change this year that penalizes players for hitting helmets. I've heard that this has caused players to start tackling much lower, endangering knees. Maybe Georgia coaches have just been slow to adjust to this new style of defensive play. In any case, I expect better next year.)

Perhaps I should add that I overheard many fans lamenting the fact that UGA didn't wear black jerseys for the game. I didn't hear this rumor until the broadcasters discussed it on the pregame radio show. Who knows who started it. I'm glad the team wore their regular red jerseys. I don't think you should celebrate four years of hard teamwork by wearing someone else's jerseys.

With the 2013 home schedule in the books, I'd like to go on record as saying that this was probably the most talented Georgia team I've ever seen. If we hadn't been hit so badly by injuries, if the defense had managed to give up just one fewer touchdown per game, if the special teams hadn't played like retarded teams.... Oh, well. It was an exciting season anyway, with the game against LSU standing out as among the best I've ever seen in person.

Here's hoping that today's game won't be the last time we see Murray behind center for the Bulldogs. He'll be hard to replace.

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To be continued...

 

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