Ripped Off

I invented something, but really, it can be said that my friend Dan and I invented it together, and made it the most hilarious thing in the world.

We even conned a lot of our friends into doing it, or into being unwitting participants by stealing their cameras, doing our 'thing', and leaving them to discover our pure genius later when viewing their photos.

Some call it Shake Face, some call it Jiggly Face, but whatever the name, everyone acknowledges the inventors, and that together, we made it 'famous' within this town and beyond.

My favorite of me became my myspace default photo. Paloma calls it Duckface:



One of my favorites of Dan:



My friend Erin emailed me a link to a website the other day. Jowlers.com rips us off, and gives us absolutely no credit.

Total, and utter, bullshit. *We* invented it. *We* made it funny. someone else takes credit.

Years ago, the Knockoffs played at the Troubadour in L.A., and after the gig (we were still pretty wound up) Dan, Tom, and I invented something else.

It started as a simple request; "Hey Dan, suplex me onto the bed." With that, we cracked ourselves up at 3:00 a.m. capturing each other on film in mid-flight from bed to bed.

Ted Angel made a book about the Knockoffs, with people close to the band telling their favorite Knockoffs stories. I told the story of the night our brilliant concept came together at the Farmer's Daughter Hotel.

Here's proof that we were/are the funniest band on the planet. A couple of photos, one of Tom H. flying effortlessly, and another as he's about to administer the dreaded Flying Elbow Drop.





Years later, I stumbled upon this site, bedjump.com.

Again, total and utter bullshit. *We* invented it. *We* made it funny. someone else takes credit.

Originators rarely get their due, I suppose, but the originals are always, without question, seen as the best by those truly in the know.

You Oughta Be In Pictures

An extremely great story about the Almost-Iranian-Hostages, and their CIA led escape. Story from Wired (via metafilter).

A 'cute' slideshow.

On a, somewhat, related note, here's another story of a covert CIA mission involving a vessel owned by Howard Hughes. I probably saw it several times crossing the Benicia Bridge when it was 'mothballed' at Suisan Bay with the Naval Reserve Fleet.

The Flying Dutchman

I can't sleep, and I haven't posted in a few days, so here's a picture of Dutch Savage for you. His official site is a great read too, if you're so inclined.

Here, Dutch clenches his fist in the dreaded Coal Miners Glove, the spoils of being the first to capture the glove from a pole, and turning to use it on his opponent. This was called, simply enough, a Coal Miners Glove Match, invented by Dutch himself.

Oscar The Grouch Drives A Van

Have you taken a look at Keith Lowell Jensen's new website, trulyawfulstuff.com?

As usual, from this great mind of I Can't Believe It's Not Comedy, he slays me over and over.

While the awful stuff referenced is more of the 'awfully tacky' variety, I came across something I find disturbingly awful today.  

The company I work for has an automotive glass division. My co-worker had the pleasure of working on this van today.

The first picture here doesn't show quite the magnitude of this fellow's cigarette ash collection in the step next to the driver's seat, but if you look close, you can make out a soft drink lid being engulfed within.



The next picture shows (and again, I must stress that these pictures just don't do the scene justice) our clean living friend's collection of dispensed coffee in poker cups (the paper cups are adorned with a 'hand' of poker) an endless array of empty McDonald's bags, and various other forms of refuse sharing the cabin of the van.



Here, another view from the front to the back, with my jovial co-worker Sal (the lucky guy working on the van) waving enthusiastically (with latex gloves on, naturally).



And lastly, a view from Sal's vantage point from the last photo. the 'Rags In A Box' seem to keep the trash from impeding the use of the rear of the van which, although not evidenced by this photo, was covered in leaves and other earth derived debris.

If you look closely to the left, and past the glare of the window, you'll see a bulging green garbage bag.

My theory is that he knew someone would be working on his van, so he decided to tidy up a bit.



Anyone who knows me, even remotely, will have no trouble believing that when the van was first brought to my attention, I immediately began gagging and dry heaving, much to all of my co-workers' delight.

I wonder what the bucket's for.

Click the photos for a larger view.

Can You Live This Fantasy Life?

My fantasy baseball team is a lot of fun, although I'm getting killed in the pitching stats.

I was too late adding Gil Meche on Monday after Loaiza was finally put on the 15 day DL, and of course Meche turned in a monstrous day, pitching seven innings and giving up only one earned run.

Ted was really the one that turned me on to the guy on draft day, and I'd been chomping at the bit to pick him up after Loaiza didn't make his start against the River Cats last Thursday.

A.J. Burnett's 27.0 ERA, along with Justin Duchscherer and Derek Lowe each sporting a 13.5 average, made Joe Borowski's 9.0 average not seem so bad. Thankfully, my number one pitching pick. Daisuke Matsuzaka, pitched a beautiful seven innings, Armando Benitez picked up his first save, and the afforementioned Duchscherer picked up a win tonight. My pitching staff might actually be coming around.

One of the last picks I made was for my starting second baseman. A big time sleeper, I saw potential, but I have to admit, I picked him because we went to the same high school (though twelve or so years apart). Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox is pulling through for me in a big way, leading all of my batters with .500 average.

Two more days of week one, and if my bats stay hot, and the earned runs come down, I could actually have a shot of sitting atop the league.

Wreslemania 23 (and #3, too)

Wrestlemania is two hours away. It's the 23rd installment, and I remember Wrestlemania III twenty years ago like it was, well, twenty years ago. Ha! All kidding aside, it seems like it was only just a few years ago.

Wrestlemania III is famous for a few things in wrestling circles, the most famous being the Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant match in which Hogan body slammed Andre, the first time in his career that the move had ever been initiated on the Giant.



The 450 pound King Kong Bundy attacked midget wrestler (or little person wrestler, if you will) Little Beaver.



Ricky Steamboat defeated Randy 'Macho Man' Savage in possibly the greatest match in Wrestlemania history. It's certainly my favorite, and it's one of the rare occurrences in wrestling fan geek-dom that most everyone agrees on it's (the match's) brilliance.

Part 1



Part 2



Alice Cooper made an appearance with Jake 'the Snake' Roberts.

I'll leave you with a bit of 'Mania trivia: Howard Finkel is the only person to ever appear on every single Wrestlemania Pay Per View, something not even Vince McMahon has done.