As Far As You Know

YouTube makes it absolutely clear that some folks have WAY too much time on their hands. In that spirit, check out this amusing little clip.

Even though he (somewhat accurately) refers to being a Yankees fan being like "cheering for Microsoft," this piece by Salon.com sports columnist King Kaufman is pretty entertaining.

The world is new again.

Today was the first day of classes here at Choate. After a week of pre-season training camp and orientation activities--which explains my absence in cyberspace these past days--we are finally up and running with a normal routine. This term I am teaching two history electives (Modern Japan and Use And Abuse Of Power). Then, come winter, I am on sabbatical leave.

The ranks of the cross country team swelled with many newcomers today, too. No doubt there are more to come; internal recruiting efforts are in overdrive!

And Memorial House is full of eager faces, both new and familiar.

There is something comforting in this annual rite of opening school: a sense of renewal and rebirth and starting over. In this period before tests are taken and athletic contests scored, all things are possible.

Some choice excerpts from the interview with "Comic Book Guy" (from The Simpsons, of course), courtesy of TVGuide.com:

TVGuide.com: Numerous reviews of Superman Returns cited homoerotic undertones in the film. Did you get a sense of that?

Comic Book Guy: No, and neither did the eight guys I saw it with.

TVGuide.com: Heath Ledger has signed on to play The Joker in the next Batman film. What are your thoughts on that casting choice?

Comic Book Guy: To me there is only one true Batman villain: King Tut. A true hero to all us full-figured fans.

TVGuide.com: Currently, Joss Whedon is working on a script for a Wonder Woman film. If you could give him one piece of advice, what would it be?

Comic Book Guy: Make sure Wonder Woman wears a Wonderbra. Oh, baby.

You can view the entire interview here.

The Lleyton Hewitt match earlier in the week spoke volumes about Andy Roddick's rebound under the tutelage of Jimmy Connors in recent weeks: Roddick was much more effective against his nemesis Hewitt, particularly with a devastating down-the-line backhand that has been sorely missing for the last year or so.

Today, Roddick advanced to the final with some quality tennis against Mikhail Youzhny. Though Roger Federer will be tough to beat in tomorrow's title match, Andy is in a much better frame of mind than he's been in a long time. Perhaps the final will resemble the genuinely competitive 2005 Wimbledon final the two played?

Maria Sharapova leaves the ranks of the "one Slam wonders" by winning her second major at the U.S. Open tonight, besting Justine Henin-Hardenne, 6-4, 6-4. Sharapova knocked off the top two players in the world in succession, eliminating Amelie Mauresmo in the semfinal a day before.

(In case you missed my earlier posting on the topic, here is the link to Maria's Nike ad, which has been in heavy rotation on USA Network and CBS the past couple of weeks.)

Heading into her second retirement from the pro tour, Martina Navratilova teamed with Bob Bryan to claim the U.S. Open mixed doubles crown--her 59th title at a Slam event. That she achieved this just shy of her 50th birthday is amazing.

Roger Federer was just too good. In spite of a Andy Roddick's improved physical and mental approach to the game, when the Swiss player broke at a set all and 6-5 to take the third, you knew the steamroller was about to flatten Roddick in the U.S. Open men's singles final. Federer put on a show in the fourth set, seemingly winning points at will with a dazzling array of groundstrokes, serves, and net play. The key statistic of the night was 59 winners to 19 errors for Federer: an amazingly high quality of play. He nailed down major title #9 and--like Tiger Woods, who was sitting in the courtside box with the Federer party--leads one to wonder just how many more lie ahead for this player at the peak of his powers.

Steve Jobs is preparing another "turtleneck and jeans" address tomorrow to unveil Apple's new crop of toys. Last week brought the relatively quiet upgrade to the iMac line. The speculation on the Internet is that Apple will announce new iPods, movie downloads (as suggested by the "It's Showtime" tagline for the event), and perhaps some sort of integration with home theaters. Jobs does like to trot out surprises, so we'll see if there's "just one more thing" to wow the faithful. The presentation starts at 1pm EDT.

I went and ordered me one of the snazzy new iPod Nanos, mostly because I can use it and the Nike+ Sport Kit during workouts. I watched the Steve Jobs presentation on QuickTime tonight to get a sense of the other new Apple toys. Not a lot of groundbreaking stuff, really: no new video iPods, no iPhone, no bridge to the home theater (at least not before early 2007). But I will say the new iTunes 7 is quite impressive.

I ordered a replacement for my ReplayTV remote control, which has been missing since just before I left for Africa in early July. Without the remote, the DVR has been pretty much useless to me. Now that the new TV season is at hand, I ponied up the $30 so I could access the machine again and begin to record some shows again.

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the American Library Association's Banned Books Week later this month, Google Books has created this site to encourage readers to explore the supposedly controversial works of literature.

Aaron Sorkin, creator of Sports Night and The West Wing, returned to television with the premiere of Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip this evening. The first show had a lot of the feel of The West Wing: witty, talky, interesting character dynamics, and top-notch production values. I'll be keeping it on my DVR list to record this season.

"Eltonius Johnson" is what my friend Chuck calls Sir Elton John, whose new album out this week, The Captain And The Kid, is a sequel of sorts to the 1975 smash Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy. The latter traced the story of Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin from their days of obscurity right up to their big breakthrough in America. The new CD updates their autobiographies with material drawn from the early 1970s to the present day. It's been getting stron reviews and is well worth a listen.

The U.S. version of The Office returned for its third season tonight with an absolutely hilarious season premiere. I really thought this show would crash and burn two years ago in a lame attempt to capture the magic of its BBC predecessor. After a slow start, though, the series has gotten better and better. Based on the first new episode, it looks like the third season will continue this trend.

I started Frank Rich's The Greatest Story Ever Sold, a fairly scathing analysis of politics and culture in America between 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. No doubting Rich's power as a prosesmith; he writes elegantly and convincingly, even more so in book form than in his weekly New York Times columns.

I got a flat tire on August 31. I got my tire repaired today. So it's been over three weeks since I've needed to drive my gas-guzzling Ford Explorer. I've either been able to drive my scooter around town or I've taken a school-owned vehicle for work-related travel.

I calibrated my new iPod Nano with my Nike+ shoes, measuring 400 meters at both walking and jogging pace. The Sport Kit provided a chip for the shoes and a device that connects to the bottom of the Nano, such that a runner can get feedback during a workout on distance, time, pace, calories burned, etc. All the data can by synced with the Nike+ site to track overall progress with some nifty graphs and reports.

Amazon delivered a HEAVY package today, containing the new book by and about U2. It's more than the average coffee table book, with hundreds of pages of interviews and pictures of the band drawn from the past 25+ years.