Current Events

1. The Oregonian yesterday led with the shocking story that an organization has found that cutting Medicaid will make health care even worse for the poor. Really? Taking away money from the healthcare program for the poor results in less coverage for the poor? Weird. I thought the prescription drug benefit was supposed to solve that. Also about health care, be prepared for a market-based solution to our health care ills in Dubya's State of The Union Address.

2. In Nepal, a king who's in charge by a coup, is trying to have elections but the people are refusing. Which seems alogical, but I guess the vote is mostly for show since half the country is controlled by Maoist rebels. A situation I can't really relate to.

3. In Vietnam workers went on strike in Ho Chi Minh City. The end result was the government increasing the minimum wage in all foreign- owned factories. Maybe my inner socialist is getting the better of me, but this seems like a huge deal to me. International laborers unite!!! I find it interesting that the European Chamber of Commerce reminded the Vietnamese Prime Minister that they put up shop there because, "the workforce is not prone to action." Wasn't prone to action will hopefully be the more accurate statement soon...

Artest for Stojakovic

The trade finally happens. And as someone who obsessively checks trade rumors, I have to say I feel some relief. I can finally move on. Until the Early Watson rumors begin flying that is...

But who got the better deal? I think definitely Sacramento. The team this year has felt stuck in the mud. Their free-wheeling pass happy team has been replaced by such perenial losers as Bonzi (because he's an asshole) and Shareef (who appears to have had a gypsy curse placed on him). It's also really hard to get a superstar. Artest might be crazy, but he's talented and not that expensive. He's definitely a risk worth taking. And it wouldn't surprise me if he can turn around their season for him, since they still are a deep team.

Indiana on the other hand? They got a great shooter who's totally slowed by injury and will be a free agent next season. Maybe he'll click with O'Neal. And maybe he'll show up in the play-offs. But probably they'll only be a little better than now and be bounced early from the post-season. And then he'll leave as an expensive free agent (since all free agents are over priced). So all they really succeeded in doing was getting rid of Artest's salary, which wasn't even really that high. Come on Donnie and Larry. You could've done better!

Wanted: New Pet Name

Alright. Since the last vote was such a resounding success, I thought the xpress riders could help me with another 2006 quandary. Unfortunately, due to negligent overuse, I have been banned for the remainder of the year using the creative pet names "baby" and "love" with my significant other. So, I thought you guys could help me figure out a new one use for this year. The candidates...

Honey:

Sweetie:

Marshamello:

Imitation Crab:

Sweet Baby Jesus:

My Humps, My Luscious Lady Lumps: 1

My Little Egg Basket: 1

3 Good Movies

Wife and I have been getting back on the movie train and have three I definitely recommend: Brokeback Mountain (heard of it?), Capote, and Brothers.

Bareback Mountain is certainly getting the press and is very good. It looks great, every actor is great, and it's so controversial that it's not (if you know what I mean). So see it, but I do have to say, and I hope I'm not just backlashing, that it was not perfect. I certainly will not be sad to see Gay Cowboys 1: The Wyoming Chapter win the oscar, but I will be rooting more for Capote. I might be alone on this, but I didn't totally buy the central relationship. It just seemed so ideal for the two of them. I feel like since the rest of their lives was so miserable that the writers didn't bother to add any real depth to Heath and Jake. And in the end, I found myself rolling my eyes a bit at every time they nostalgically longed for the return to Brokeback...

Capote, on the other hand, everybody loved, and I loved it even more. Just a fascinating look at the writer behind the scenes trying to get a story and growing increasingly and creepily attached to a killer. Seymour Hoffman is wunderbar plus, as usual, perfecting Capote. See it soon.

Brothers is this awesome Russian movies that came out around 5 years ago. It's about a young guy returning from Chechnya and going out to live with his brother, who ends up being a hit man. The original brother gets quickly embroiled in the criminal life. In many ways it is similar to a lot of American anti-hero movies, but the added bonus is its Russianess. I particularly was fascinated by the layers of seediness that grew so inbred that it appeared everyone was a criminal in some way. It made the vigilant nature of the star seem less moralistic than the American equivalents. There is a sequel as well, that I have not seen, and the main guy has become a bit of a Russian James Dean. After hitting it big as a rebel in the two Brothers' movies, he was engulfed in an avalanche a few years ago and never found. It makes you think...

Best Album 2005

Here are the nominees. Pick the one that you think is the best. For some that will be the one they like to listen to the most, for others the one they think will be remembered most in 10 years, and for others it's the one that makes them sound the most cutting edge. Whatever your fancy. But, to make the voting easier, you get 2 votes for the best album and 1 negative for the nominated album you think is least deserving. Have fun and may the best man win...




Sufjan Stevens "Illinoise"






Clap Your Hands Say Yeah "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah": 1








Michael Handley "Prime"








Chemical Brothers "Push The Button": -1





White Stripes
"Get Behind Me Satan": 1



MIA "Arular"

Nominations

All right. I thought it would be fun to vote on what was the best album of 2005. So, for this blog entry just say your nomination and then next week we'll vote. Now, I realize there is a good chance that the 5 people who comment on this site will nominate 5 different albums and then vote for their album, resulting in a 1-1-1-1-1 tie. But maybe not. So... Let's get some nominations up there xpress riders and see what happens.

Random Stats

Here are some statistics in last week's Economist I found interesting...

1. College tuition is 4 times higher in real terms today than it was in 1975.
2. China's economy appears to have passed up Britain to become the 4th biggest in the world, but it is only 1/6 the size of America's.
3. Japanese are more likely to make eye contact with a robot than a human being.
4. Half a century ago South Korea and Zambia had equal incomes. Today, an average South Korean earns 32 times the amount of an average Zambian.
5. There is supposed to be a big linguistic connection between Finland, Hungary, and the Finno-Ugrics of Russia. Today though, there are only 200 common words, 55 are about fishing and 15 have to do with reindeers.