Riddle Me This, Jishman

So, I first saw this article a week ago on ESPN.com while I was talking to a NASCAR fan here (yes, they do exist north of the Mason-Dixon). She was talking about her new Dodge Truck (yes, a Hemi) with “all the fixin’s” as she called it. In and of itself, it never really struck me as anything surprising, I knew a lot of NASCAR fans who owned trucks, but then while filling up my water, I wondered if NASCAR’s need to name the engine makers in their cars (and IRL’s and the other racing associations) influenced car/truck purchases. I mean, is it possible that NASCAR fans see and hear about Dale Earnhardt’s Dodge Engine and think to themselves, “I could totally use that engine in my car”?

Truth be told, probably not. I can’t imagine that my friend would be so easily swayed by her favorite sport. (I mean, its not as if I wear under armor to work simply because football players do.) But its more than that, isn’t it?

NASCAR is more than a sport to a lot of people. To them, its not quite religion, but its something they’re very passionate about. Toyota picked up on that (in addition to other things), and now they’re both making trucks where people most use them (they have a new plant in Texas) and are making engines for the Nextel Cup Series, starting in 2007.

Is it possible that NASCAR fans are influenced in their car purchases by the engines in the cars of their favorite drivers? I don’t know, but I thought I’d put it out there to see what people thought.

Courteousy of Bram:

David Hasselhoff! Oooga Chacka Oooga Ooga! Go back to Germany, David!

Thanks Avi!

Last Fall, I heard the song “One Love” and wanted to buy the new Hootie & the Blowfish album.

Yesterday, my wife bought me the album, Looking For Lucky. This is by far one of their best albums ever. I may be biased because I like almost all of their stuff… I could do without Fair Weather Johnson… but everything else is good… but this album is one of their best.

You should check out their website where they stream “One Love” from this album. Hootie & The Blowfish official web site. I can’t wait for them to come to the New England area this year. I missed them last year because they played the same date as the NERFL draft but this year, I want tickets to as many dates as possible (and if they are travelling with Big Head Todd & The Monsters again… don’t miss that ticket, they are awesome together!!!)

And just in case you were ever wondering if you could ever send a song to an EX- to get even with them, Hootie and the Blowfish have written that song, excerpt from “Get Out Of My Mind”:

I’ll be there for you
I remember when I said that I would
Always love you, too
I lied
Don’t come around no more

Buy this album!!

UPDATE: I just found a link to see the video for “One Love” and “Get Out of My Mind”

ANOTHER UPDATE: It Appears “get Out Of My Head” (which can be heard streaming at the official site…different songs, different times you visit) is being released to Radio Stations this week… call in, request it… it’s an awesome song!

For those who don’t know me, I work at a used and rare book store in downtown Detroit. No celebrity sighting today, but I pulled a bunch of old programs from 1950s college football games for some people looking for a gift for “John.” Yeah, they meant John Madden.

It used to be Meg Ryan in the late 80s and the early 90s but has the time come to crown a new America’s Sweetheart?

It appears, according to AskMen.com, that more men want Jessica Alba for their girlfriend then any other woman.

Jessica Alba has come a long way since her days as the Dark Angel, but is she about to nudge all movie actresses into the dustbin as she rises above the crowd to become America’s Sweetheart?

It appears she might… and Jessica, if you are reading Riddle Me This Jishman (you should be reading this site but we know you’re not), I for one agree that you just might be Hollywood’s new America’s Sweetheart!

To read the article, click here

In the winter doldrums, especially the black hole of sports hell that comes between Super Bowl and the NCAA basketball tournament, TV is filled with ridiculous awards shows. I think anyone who tries to be someone or has the ability to get stars to show up for an evening of self-promotion and patting themselves on the back, has an awards show.

Well, here is one award show that will never show up on network television with actors telling the world how horrible they were in a certain movie or saying, “God, how did my agent ever talk me into that movie?!?!”

Anyway, The Razzie nominations have been released and I can’t think of a better time to remind everyone that even the “Hollywood Elite” make some pretty bad films…

My favorite new nomination goes to Tom Cruise:

Tom Cruise earned three Razzie nominations, as worst actor for “War of the Worlds” and two of the five slots in a new Razzies category for most tiresome tabloid targets. Cruise was nominated there for his anti-psychiatry rant and for his very public romance with Katie Holmes.

Katie, what were you thinking?!!!!!!!!!!

(more…)

So, i know I’ve been talking about Love Monkey to alot of different people. But seriously, if you like music, you like witty banter, and you love watching guys falling flat on their faces, you’ve got to watch this show.

First of all, for the buildup:
Its a show about a music lover, Tom (aka Tom Cavannaugh, aka Ed), who’s looking for the next great singer/band for a GOLIATH records. Obviously by the sound of their name, it must be ominous and we know something bad will happen to him in the first episode. Well, yeah, he gets fired for having an opinion (Booo — big companies!), but it ends up being better for him as he goes on a path of righteous self-discovery and renewal (hello, cliche!).

Now that I’ve said that, I don’t really care about how cliche and lame the plot seems. I love it! I agree with Dead Things On Sticks, this is a GREAT show. Possibly even my new favorite new show (no, no, don’t worry, it would take a lot to bump “How I met your mother” off that perch).

Granted, yes, it has all of my favorite buttons: inclusion of obscure music references (and not so obscure ones), idealistic commentary on the state of music and radio, “Grant’s theory” (a very thinly veiled reference to the “Tao of Steve” — seriously, get Donal Logue on this show and it would RULE!), plus add in buddy comedy commentary, and this show has plenty of great story lines coming up. Loving it! Watch it! Put it on your Tivo’s, NOW!!!

Here are a few other sites with commentary:

Jossip

Scotter

Here are some professional (ie non-bloggers) reviews:

Variety

NY Metro

Maybe you’ve seen this? I’ve only been reading him for a few days now, but he seems on line for a few things. Check him out!

I made a mistake with the first calculations… I wrote the equation with one error. I have input the information and posted the Big Board back over at my site… please feel interested to check it out and add your own input.

Apple wins again. I’m actually a bit surprised this hasn’t been done before internally. For Apple to offer recorded classes/lectures through the iTMS is just great. Man, it must be worlds easier to be a student now a days.

And starring in Aaron Sorkin’s return to TV is………. MATTHEW PERRY!

Initially, Chandler…ahem, excuse me, Perry, who initially turned it down, now has apparently signed on to be the main character, joining Steven Weber and D.L. Hughley. Man, I hope this show is good, because the demise of West Wing makes me so sad. This might make me rethink my hatred of NBC.

It’s food. It can’t hurt you. Okay, maybe the baby food squash was nasty-smelling. Maybe baby cereal tastes like wallpaper paste. But what on earth can you have against applesauce? It tastes good, it’s good for you. There is no need for you to scream like we are torturing you. I was waiting for the ICRC to break down our door and arrest us for violating the Geneva Convention.

I saw you eyeing our calamari at lunch BTW. You won’t be getting that for a while, so eat the damn applesauce.

I am still shaking my head at this one. How stupid do you have to be to get a tattoo from a “door-to-door tattoo salesman” with a homemade gun? At least Bram will always, always have a job.

The follwoing article, I guess, is supposed to show another difference between men and women. I guess, it is supposed to show a disconnect for men; that we enjoy watching bad people suffer.

But a new brain-scanning study suggests that when guys see a cheater get a mild electric shock, they don’t feel his pain much at all. In fact, they rather enjoy it.

Okay, who was dumb enough to sign up for a study where you are going to be given a mild electric shock?! I bet the reason the guys had no issue with them getting an electric shock is because they thought, “hmm… if you are dumb enough to sit there and let someone shock you, well, what the heck do I care?!”

And just for the record, we all (men and women alike) find it quite humorous when things happen to people. If we didn’t, blooper shows, outtakes, and America’s funniest Home Videos wouldn’t have been so succesful… we all laugh about it even when we shake our heads and wonder how they (the people on AFV) didn’t see that coming.