Lost in the Tubes: Funny Last Names Edition

• Come on… “Tyson Homosexual” is a much funnier name than “Tyson Gay.” We know how those right-wing fundamentalist Christians are with their humor. [Deadspin]
• Speaking of morality, an argument many law professors have been pushing in class lately has to do with the Internet and community standards. Mostly because we publish things like “Just say no to the club-footed ho.” Also dudes fucking sheep. Who knew it would be the Google that took the argument mainstream? [Slate]
• Know that argument the NRA (and Scalia, natch) put forward about people with guns in their homes being safer? Maybe not so fast with that one. [Washington Post via Above the Law]
• On a lighter, and yet somber, note: Jay Bilas hates that he’s been turned into a human drinking game and is imposing a moratorium on discussing players’ “length.”  Booo.  [With Leather]

Movie Madness: Wanted

We have a link to a very good review of Wanted in The Internet Is Your Playground this morning, but there are a few notable things about the film that are not discussed in the review (or that are only discussed briefly.)

Wanted does a spectacular job of presenting a set of rules for the film and sticking to those rules. The rules themselves are absurd, but that’s fine, as long as it’s consistent. There is nothing that drives me up the wall faster than a film that does not understand its own rules. I am willing to suspend my disbelief in any way that a filmmaker asks, as long as he is consistent in his storytelling. Talking animals? Alien robots that turn into cars and planes? Time travel? Sold, sold, and sold… as long as the rules do not change in the middle of the film. Examples after the jump!

Post-Mortem for This Last Weekend in June

Wasn’t that fun?  Another busy weekend for me and AL.  Not only did we manage everything on the Weekending, we also managed to get royally sunburned (or at least I did).  At any rate, this weekend saw…

• the D.C. and L.A. premieres of a truly wonderful documentary about the 2006 Homeless World Cup, Kicking It.  Seriously, if you live in the District, get down to E Street and watch, even if you don’t like soccer.  Or Homeless People.
• the OuterNational Music Tour’s stop at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in scenic Columbia, Md.  And rain.  Lots of rain.  Right in the middle of TV on the Radio’s set.  Good times, nonetheless.  I’ve never really listened to Thievery Corporation or Ladytron, but they weren’t bad – definitely better suited to a club setting than the big, open, outdoor vista.  Though I think that there was plenty of chemical indulgence going on regardless of the venue.
• and the highlight of the weekend, D.C. United’s utter dismantling of David and the Beckhams.  4-1.  The Black-and-Red head into their “international break” with an even .500 record at 7-7-1, and sit 8 points shy of the top of the table, even after their completely abysmal start to the campaign.  They have one league match scheduled for the month of July, and it’s a makeup game against Houston that was deluged out originally.  United will be occupying their time playing in the SuperLiga, a cash cow joint venture between MLS and the Mexican Premiera Division.

Look forward to this week after the jump.

The Internet Is Your Playground: Monster Back to Work Edition

• A review of the Dave Matthews Band show I attended at Nissan Pavilion on Saturday. The review is pretty fair, but I might have some thoughts of my own to share later in the day. [InRich]
• How the hell do you get a stress fracture in your sternum?!? Everyone is saying the right things at the moment, but this could be bad for Team USA, considering the limited number of bigs on the roster. But, really, more than that… how do you get a stress fracture in your sternum?? [ESPN]
• The South will rise again! And by “rise,” I mean “vote for Obama?” Being from the Deep South, I am pretty cynical about any plan he has to win states down there, but Virginia, North Carolina, and even Georgia might really be in play. [NYT via Wonkette]
• I love stories about Amy Winehouse. She is absolutely my favorite walking train wreck right now. So… did you see her take a swing at a fan? Really. While you watch, take note of how bad the performance is. It’s really beyond words. [TMZ and TMZ Video]
• Saturday was the second birthday of Kissing Suzy Kolber. One day, we hope Culturegeist sees a second birthday, but right now we’re still hoping for a one month anniversary. [KSK]
• Here’s a really solid review of Wanted. Take a look at it, because we’re posting a long piece on the film in an hour or two. [UGO]
• Have you seen the trailer for Pineapple Express? I don’t want to sound too ridiculous, but when I watched this, I thought it had a chance to be Lebowski-esque. [IMDB]

Finally, just because I’m in a good mood, here’s one of the great Family Guy adaptations. It should totally help you avoid a case of the Mondays.

Weekending… Because Sometimes, You Wait Till the Last Minute for No Good Reason

I meant to work on this more, but I promised you a Weekending, so here it is…

• Movies!  Documentary about the Homeless World Cup that you may have heard something about somewhere, plus the cutest little robot since R2D2.  Kicking It, exclusive to E Street Cinema and WALL-E, playing most everywhere.
• Concert of the weekend:  Thievery Corporation, Ladytron, TV on the Radio, and more!  The OuternationalMusic Tour; Saturday, 5:30 doors, Merriweather Post Pavilion.
• This guy David Beckham is in town for some kind of a game where they don’t use their hands.  There may be tickets still available even, though 32,000+ have been sold.  D.C. United vs. Los Angeles Galaxy; Sunday, Noon, RFK Stadium (ABC).

There you go, kids.  Now get out there and enjoy the summer weather before the rains come!

Lost In The Tubes: Wide Stances and Hookers for Traditional Marriage Edition

• Does this mean that muskrats use terrorist fist bumps? If so, why do Obama and McCain refuse to denounce the muskrat threat? [Wonkette]
• Wondering where D.C.’s most expensive restaurants are? I’m so happy you asked. [Gridskipper]
• Apparently, there’s at least one guy in D.C. who doesn’t watch the news… or look at newspapers… or participate in society… [DCist]
• Who better to step up and protect marriage than David Vitter and Larry Craig? Really? We have to do this? [The Carpetbagger Report]
• And I’ll send you to the weekend with some musings about feminism and gun ownership in the wake of the Heller decision. [Jezebel]

Goodnight, Sweet Prince

Today is Leitch’s last day over at Deadspin and Leitch has been quite an influence on Culturegeist. The AMT and I felt like we should provide him with some sort of farewell tribute… some heartfelt way of saying thanks… saying that we will miss him… saying that that the sports blogdom has lost its Vito Corleone.

Kickin’ It Old School!

Just a reminder that Kicking It, the documentary about the Homeless World Cup debuts in LA and DC today.  Tickets are already selling out (I couldn’t even get into the 7:10 show tonight…)  DC kids get your tickets right here.  Earlier post on the movie here.

Coincidentally, WALL-E also comes out today.  May as well make it a double-feature, right?

Look for a proper Weekending post sometime this afternoon.

The Internet Is Your Playground: Roast Celebrity Edition

• Big out-pouring of love for the Che of sports blogs.  Actually, strangely, uncomfortably, really moving.  Expect Juice to pile on for us later today.  [Deadspin]
• Yesterday’s surprise roast of Will on his second-to-last day as the Che of the internets was preceded by nothing less than a roast of … John Kruk?  [The Fightins']
• For the nerd couple who has everything, but really wants to have more Star Wars themed “dress up.”  [Gizmodo]
• One explanation why homosexuality might be genetic and yet still survives natural selection:  female relatives of gay men get it on at a higher rate than female family members of straight guys.  Horny guys everywhere just started asking about their gay friends’ sisters.  [Slate]
• So, the New Jersey York Red Bulls have the overpriced midfielder who used to be something really great.  He’s been hurt all season and hasn’t played much; he even missed the team’s roadtrip this week.  However, he played in a charity match against the likes of Thierry Henry and co.  Think the Jersey fans were pleased?  [Soccer By Ives]
• Whatever fans might be pissed at Claudio Reyna, still looked like a pretty great event.  [The Offside Rules]

The Internet Is Your Playground: You Could Be Next Edition

• Brook over at HTT is wondering if the government could do a better job of wooing top graduate students, rather than just presuming that the folks of pure mind and heart will reject the private sector. [Hometown Tourist]
• KSK has a 16 man bracket set up to figure out the toughest guy in the NFL through fan voting. You’ll find the bracket here and the voting should start today. [Kissing Suzy Kolber]
• Charlie Black, a McCain strategist suggested that a terror attack would be good for John McCain. Black backtracked, McCain ran away from it, but DarkSyde is wondering what you think would happen. It’s an interesting poll, go vote. [DailyKos]
• Jimi Izrael tries to remind us that, regardless of where you stand on the Imus comments, when we start censoring people, you could be next. [The Root]
• So, there were congressional hearings on horse racing, and those of us who are only casual fans probably did not hear much about them. This is a pretty good recap of the proceedings. [Bloodhorse]

Lost in the Tubes: Invisible Bloggers from a Galaxy Far, Far Away Edition

• “Billy” from the first Predator movie (who also dabbled in quality adult entertainment in the 70s as well as the U.S. penal system) is running for Senate.  As a Libertarian.  You can’t make this stuff up.  [Wonkette]
• The force is strong with Barack.  [Yeas & Nays]
• Ryan Avent has more on the wrong-headed (at best) and bogus (at worst) environmental opposition to developing Poplar Point.  [The Bellows via BeyondDC]
• So in the LA Times article that just won’t die a follow-up post on The Big Lead, McIntyre mentioned a KSK contributor by name.  Always remember, kids:  never take on  cavemen.  Especially when they’re smarter than you are they’re damn smart and have a rabid following.  [Kissing Suzy Kolber]

The Internet Is Your Playground: Portis in ‘08 Edition

• Obama’s aiming to pick up 14 Bush states from 2004 and strategically use his coattails to bring in local races. [Politico]
• MTV has always preferred a non-partisan approach to the election season, promoting voting as a concept and banning campaign ads on MTV itself. That policy has now changed, for better or worse. [AdAge via Gawker]
• Clinton Portis went on NFL TV to debut four new characters and he wants you to vote for the costume that he should use when speaking to the media this fall. [D.C. Sports Bog]
• Going from dating Anne Hathaway to being under indictment in Italy for conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering in a real-estate scheme … not a strong move. [WSJ Law Blog via ATL]

Culturegeist on Shaq and Kobe: We Freestyle When Called Upon

I am a graduate of Lousiana State University. I lived in Orlando in the early 90’s. My favorite athletes are the ones who say too much and who provide post game comments that don’t sound like they were written by their PR person.

So yes… Shaquille O’Neal is, quite simply, my favorite athlete on earth. I love the Big Aristotle, the Big Cactus, the Diesel, Wilt Chamberneezy. I loved when he was dominant on the court and I love what he says off the court… you know, like this stuff (after the jump!):

You Wanna Talk About the People’s Game?

Soccer, of course, is the world’s most popular sport.  Even in America, it seems, most of us play soccer at some point while growing up.  The 2006 World Cup championship match was watched by more than 700 million people worldwide.  I’m not sure there are 700 million households with televisions worldwide.

Soccer, like most sports it seems, is also a major form of escapism.  For those like me, it’s a chance to forget about the office, or the classroom, or problems at home, or whatever, and just lose yourself in something that has no actual bearing on your life.  For those who aren’t fortunate enough to have a laptop to use while blogging, however, it’s a much more literal form of escapism.  It can be a chance to escape poverty and earn a living by breaking into the professional ranks.

For those even less fortunate than that, it’s a bit of a combination.  It allows escape from the brutality of homeless life, and it may even help in survival.  This Friday is the L.A. and D.C. premieres of Kicking It, a documentary about the Homeless World Cup.  The event started in 2001, and has run every year since.  The film follows six of the five hundred participants of the 2006 edition in Capetown, South Africa.

Lost in the Tubes: Environmentalists Gone Wild Edition

• Can you still call Nats Park “green” if ExxonMobil is a major sponsor?  Survey says… [DCist]
• As a fan of D.C. United, I want them to build that stadium at Poplar Point.  As a fan of sustainable development, I think that United and the city can work out a way to build the stadium that will benefit both the team and the residents east of the river.  As a fan of the environment, I think Marc Fisher is full of it.  You can expect me to write more on this at some point.  [Raw Fisher]
• And I’m not the only one!  [The DCenters]
• Speaking of soccer, as a fan of the Colts and of the Dutch, how did I let this guy beat me to the punch on this explanation for the Oranje collapse against Russia Saturday?  [Dave's Football Blog via Deadspin]
• You know you’ve been wondering what this year’s “song of the summer” is.  Well, you can stop worrying your pretty little head.  Luke Burbank & Co. have done all the heavy lifting for you.  And the winner is…  [TBTL]