NY times article on feminism

Fantasy NBA

My team Cowbell Champs, in draft order (6th pick):

Rd 1: D. Nowitzki
Both Dirk and Marion fell to my lap at 6th. I may come to regret this, but given Dirk's sure 20+ and 10 plus 3's, blk and stl, I had to choose him over Marion in the Suns' unstable lineup. Either way it was a steal.

Rd 2: Yao Ming
Maybe a bit high for the first center off the board at pick 14, maybe controversial picking him over Shaq, BMiller and BWallace at center and Brand and JO'neil at PF, but I have a hunch that with a full summer of rest and training pluse Swift at his side this China man is going to break out in a big way.

Rd 3: M Bibby
I needed a good PG for balance after gettting 2 quality bigs. Either Bibby or Baron Davis. I figure Bibby is the safer pick.
(update 10/31/05: found out that Bibby actually is having troubles with a sore foot; if I had known I would've taken Davis!)

Rd 4: J Richardson
First mistake of the draft: I meant to get Richard Jefferson. But Richardson could be even more explosive this year. His rebounds also fit well with my big team philosophy.
(update 10/31/05: Jimmy offered me Richard Jefferson plus Pierce for Yao...wow)

Rd 5: R Wallace
I was hoping to get Artest here but he was gone 3 picks ahead. I stuck to my pre-draft stragegy of getting 2 centers in the first 5 rounds. Other center elegible guys left are Curry, Chandler, and Big Z. Should have taken Ilgauskas...dammit.

Rd 6: A Iguodala
Just have to have my favorite AI. He should be even better this year, above average stats across the board. I consider him a mini KG or Kirilenko.

Rd 7: M Camby
Camby plus Rasheed kind of make up for Zigauskas I suppose. Round 3 numbers with round 10 health. We'll see if Camby's ouchies hold up this season for me. I had him last season too and sold him high for Kurt Thomas and that worked out for me in the playoffs.

Rd 8: M Jaric
Strictly back-up point guard role. Though a lazy defender he somehow gets a steal every game. It was between Jaric, Cassell and Chris Paul... I'd rather have a PG who plays with KG.

Rd 9: C Butler
Have a feeling Butler will more than make up for the loss of Hughes for the Wiz. Prediction: 20 and 7 plus one stl and blk each, 45% shooting and less than 2 turnovers. As good as VC without the whine. You first heard it here.

Rd 10: B Simmons
Think his 16 and 7 will remain fairly constant from last year, and with Mason gone his scoring should be up a bit. A steal at Rd 10 if both holds up. Could have taken Al Harrington here though.

Rd 11: A Jefferson
This is where I started gambling. Probably the Celtic with the most upside. Increased PT (worrysome: only 15 m/g during preseason) will hopefully make him into a borderline double double guy. If I get 9-9-1 blk from him I'll be happy and Eddie will be really, really pissed. Other candidates here: Troy Murphy or Kwame.

Rd 12: Rafer Alston
Backup backup point guard. Gotta have an AND1 guy on my team, but will probably be the first guy I cut.

Rd 13: J Przybilla
I knew I could get him with my last pick, I can't believe everyone fell asleep on this guy! I'll save my last words when he posts regular double doubles with a couple of blks per game.

Overall, not a bad draft. The only tough pick here is Rasheed and Camby--with my pre-draft strategy of getting 2 quality centers early, how could I have forgotten about Ilgauskas!?. Camby at 7 is still a questionable gamble when I'm not really desperate at center, but I'm happy with everyone else and I am deep enough everywhere to absorb Camby's ouchies.

With this lineup (even with a limping Camby) I should dominate just about every team in rebounds and blocks, go into each week with a sizable advantage in steals, FG%, and turnovers, be marginal at points and assists, and probably tank FT% and 3pt. That's a safe 5-4 every week.

One year ago today

Things are pretty slow around here, so I think it'll be a hoot to take a trip in the time-machine to check out what I was yammering about exactly one year ago today.

Land of the free

In this series titled "Propaganda", Eolo Perfido, a French
photographer takes a shot at the essence of contemporary America.

I think the photos are great and they hit hard. But, can someone tell
me what's the guy doing with the car battery?

The Canon of Sci-fi movies

decreed by some schmoe named John Scalzi.

Anyway, out of his 50, I've seen 29 (bolded).

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!
Akira
Alien
Aliens
Alphaville
Back to the Future
Blade Runner
Brazil
Bride of Frankenstein
Brother From Another Planet
A Clockwork Orange
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Contact
The Damned
Destination Moon
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Delicatessen
Escape From New York
ET: The Extraterrestrial
Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (serial)
The Fly (1985 version)
Forbidden Planet
Ghost in the Shell
Gojira/Godzilla
The Incredibles
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 version)
Jurassic Park
Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior
The Matrix
Metropolis
On the Beach
Planet of the Apes (1968 version)
Robocop
Sleeper
Solaris (1972 version)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
The Stepford Wives
Superman
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
The Thing From Another World
Things to Come
Tron
12 Monkeys
28 Days Later
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
2001: A Space Odyssey
La Voyage Dans la Lune
War of the Worlds (1953 version)

scuse me while I kiss the sky

update 10/28/05: Speaking of jumping. Two of my 3rd year students, 石田康介 (Ishida Kosuke, high jump) and 金田修平 (Kaneda Shuhei, javeline throw) have been in Yokohama this whole week for the Junior Olympic trials.

update 11/05/05: Ishida: 22nd. Kaneda: 8th.

Nori and Nari

During 3rd year English classes, the students were instructed to write as many sentences using passive tense verbs. Here's what Kodani Noriaki (3A) wrote:

My mechanical pencils were used by Nari.
English is taught by Jeff and Honda.
I am called me Nori by my friends.
My hair is cut by hairdresser.
My dictionary is published by Souichirou hukube.

Nori's paper was handed in at the end of the class. Here's what Kodani Narihito (3B), the twin brother of Nori, wrote 2 periods later on the same day:

Nori's mechanical pencils are used by me.
English is taught by Jeff and Honda.
I am called Nari by other students.
My hairs were cut by beautician.
Our textbook is called Sunshine English Course 3.

Prefectural Ekiden results

The equivalent of state championship (out of 35 schools):

Girls: 11th.
Boys: from 3rd overall after 3 runners, to 21st final result.

かわいそう。

Fantasy NBA 05

Twist your cap and pop your collars, 'cause you're coming to the Mecca of fantasy basketball.

We got the starting 5, and we need 7 more to--WHOOOOOMMPPPH--ignite the next revolution of basketballism. Bring your smoove 'n groove and join "brothas of the same mind, unblind."

http://basketball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/nba/
League ID: 60064
Password: tastymonkey

(commissioner's note: vegetarians welcome)

Come with game, come with juice, come with 'tude, but don't come with yo' momma's pump fake. 'cause we don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk.

My name is Raef LaFrentz

RAEF LAFRENTZ! I was drafted 3rd overall goddammit!

A good week

Last week was a good week.

On Wednesday, Onishi Akiko (大西晶子) won the Western Tottori English recitation contest. She will be going to the Chugoku regionals in a couple of months. I coached her along with 2 other girls (尾古百合恵 and 徳永紗代子) for two weeks leading up to the competition. I take just a bit of pride in it, though it was mostly due to their own hard work.

On Thursday, I passed my driving test on the 4th try. Luckily the post-victory celebration did not go out of hand and neither driving center nor the tester was damaged, because the mob was emotionally drained and reliefed and just grateful that the whole saga is finally over.

On Friday, both our boys and girls ekiden teams (check 9/6/04 and 10/1/04 entries for more on ekiden) won 3rd place in the Western Tottori Jr. High meet. They also placed first in our gun (郡, county) which means that they're both going to the ken (県, state) meet. 山本健太 ran 3km at 9:43 and clocked the fasted time for the meet (he's also the best basketball player in our school, although he plays like and models after Allen Iverson which is a shame). At the enkai afterwards, my JTE drunkenly confessed that he may be falling in love with another woman beside his soon-to-be fiance, I wrestled with another teacher on the street (scored two takedowns but was unable to turn in on the concrete), and apparently two other teachers went to a blow-job club (I found out only much after when I ran into another teacher in the drinking district).

And I was not even hungover or tired the next day. On Saturday I found out that my car was way too decrepit to warrant another year of driving. The engine is leaking and the mechanic at Matsui did not recommend fixing it and pay another year of car tax. The good news: he has another modestly souped-up silver Wagon-R available to me for 17 man. It was the same year as my red one, but has been owned by the auto shop's owner's cousin and was in good condition. I am now deliberating whether to buy the car, or scrap everything and just rent for the next 10 months.

And I killed two mosquitos in my apartment on Sunday night. A good week indeed.