Sunday, March 31, 2013

How much gold is there?

Just ask the BBC.

The Walking Dead - 'Andrea' speaks

Holden says character's death was a late decision. I thought she would end up running the Governor's little town after he got killed. Instead, she got the final bite and the Gov. made off to ?????.

NFL -- the best defensive tackles

Geno Atkins is on top of the pile. He can play the run and rush the passer.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

The Braves assembled

From the Macon Telegraph. Here's a nifty preview of the Bravos by Bill Shanks.

NFL Draft- Top Dawg?

Will Ogletree be picked before Jarvis Jones? Bucky Brooks thinks it could happen. I don't think so.

Q&A with artist Ben Templesmith

Fangoria talks with '30 Days of Night's visionary.

NFL Draft notes

Possibilities in round one. From Sports Illustrated. Rams and Vikings both have two picks and plenty of holes to fill. How good can Joeckel be? The quarterback situation is a mess.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Lookouts baseball

This man looks like a stud. Cuban escapee will start 2013 season at Chattanooga. Local fans ether get up there and see him; he won't be there long.

Gordon Stoker, RIP

Jordanaire tenor sang backup for Elvis.

Tunes

The late, great Son Seals rips into 'On My Knees.' Hard to believe he's been gone almost 10 years.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Rick Hautala, RIP

Hautala remembered by his many friends and admirers. His book 'Glimpses' to be offered by Kindle for free.

James Herbert, RIP

British horror novelist outsold King in UK. 'The Fog' was his best known work.

Tunes: The Blasters

The Alan Thicke Show was a hilarious misfire, but this performance by The Blasters made me a fan of the band. Their records are terrific. And here is their second bopping tune. Rock and Roll Will Stand Hey kids, dig that fancy piano work!

Braves

The bobblehead lineup.

Drinks

Irish town Oks drinking, driving. Take that, Bloomberg!

NFL draft

ESPN's Draft Tracker is a lot of fun. Check it out.

Mitchell Boggs

Dalton's Mitchell Boggs takes on closer role for Cardinals. I covered Mitchell his senior year at DHS; he was a heck of a quarterback and I think he could have had a good football career at the right college. But I suspect he made the right choice. From the Post-Dispatch.

The human heart

Implant can warn of heart attack through link to smartphone. Story from ExtremeTech.

Fake 'hero' busted

Real soldiers tracked him down. We got fooled in Dalton by an asshole like this. Reporters need to verify these guys, not just accept their claims.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Monday, March 18, 2013

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Braves: Yunel Escobar

Former Brave settles into Tampa lineup. Escobar struggled to be consistent but still has the stuff to be an upper echelon shortstop. He was a lot of fun with the Braves, but drove Bobby Cox crazy.

Braves: Players carded

Topps issues new cards. Still got a box full of Johnny LeMasters and Dick Poles stashed somewhere.

A little Irish tunery

Ronan Tynan sings 'Amazing Grace' at the Reagan funeral and Guy Clark does 'Dublin Blues' and the Pogues add 'Body of an American before we close it out with the best Irish tune of all 'Danny Boy' by Trio Canig.

Civil War Georgia

Eli Lilly fought at Chickamauga. From The Chattanoogan.com

Roadkill a hit with drivers, diners

Roadside recipes for controversy More states put roadkill on the legislative menu.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The world at war

Pandemonium at Panmunjom. North Korea cranks up the insanity over embargo and military manuevers. Or is their leadership just crazy as batshit?

Braves: Bourn settles into Cleveland

Former Brave Michael Bourn expected to ignite Indians' offense. From The Plain Dealer. Good story.

Lansdale book to be filmed (hopefully)

'Cold in July' script written by the makers of "Mulberry Street" and "Stake Land." Filming could start in fall of this year. From the fine folks at Fangoria.

NFL: My look at free agency

I can't recall a free agency period that started as fast as this year. A lot of good players have been signed and released in the last 48 hours. I won't try to look at every nook and cranny, but here are some highlights. A. They don't have much money to spend but Falcons were thrilled when veteran tight end Tony Gonzalez said he would come back for another season at a reasonable price. They also were smart to re-sign safety William Moore and look ready to re-up corner Brent Grimes, though Tampa Bay is in pursuit of him as well. B. Armed with a pile of cash, the Dolphins have been loading up. So far the Fins have paid top dollar and added linebackers Dannell Ellerbee (from Georgia) and Phillip Wheeler (from Georgia Tech) and former Steeler wide receiver Mike Wallace. Miami also retained a quality free safer, Chris Clemons. The Dolphins still have $20 under the cap and are looking at Jets tight end Dustin Keller. But Miami has also suffered some serious losses including leading rusher Reggie Bush, tight end Anthony Fasano, linebackers Karlos Dansby and Kevin Burnett. Pro Bowl tackle Jake Long is likely going the free agent route as is starting corner Sean Smith so the Dolphins still need more help on the OL and at corner. Tight end too if they can't sign Keller. C. St. Louis swiped tight end Jared Cook from Tennessee and he will help make up for the loss of Danny Amendola who the Rams middle-of-the-field specialist. However Tennessee made some noise of its own by signing stud guard Andy Levitre from the hapless Bills, a solid veteran safety in George Wilson (also a former Bill), a very solid blocking tight in Delanie Walker and Jets leading rusher Shonn Greene. I have to question committing $10 million to a back to fill in for Chris Johnson, but Walker, WIlson and Levitre were excellent pickups. D. Supposedly Tom Brady isn't too happy that the Patriots let Wes Welker get away to the Broncos, but picking up a younger, cheaper (per year) Danny Amendola from the Rams was a pretty good comeback. He can do some of the same things Welker did, tough he isn't as explosive and does tend to get hurt. The Rams will miss him. A healthy Welker should be a great threat working the middle of the field between Decker and Thomas in Denver. Denver also added a good guard when they snatched Louis Vasquez away from the stupid Chargers. Peyton Manning should have even more time to find his three hoss receivers. E. Reggie Bush should form an effective tandem with power back Michael Leshoure. I guess the Lions have given up on Javid Best returning. F. Seattle added pass rushing end Cliff Avril with a two-year, $15 million dollar deal. Avril has averaged about 10 sacks and 35 tackles per year for the last three seasons. Pete Carroll loved pass rushers and Avril has delivered for Detroit in that regard. I'll have some more on free agency later this week.

Tunes: Mary Gautier

A little 'Mercy Now' Good for those dark days.

Redneck Rummage Sale

Lots of crap for sale this Saturday at the Rome Braves ballfield. See you there!

Cool stuff: Green Hornet

Black Beauty to be auctioned next month.

Saudis get medieval

Seven beheaded for theft despite useless protests of the United Nations. And these are our "friends" in the Middle East.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Braves: Martin Prado

Former Atlanta standout Martin Prado quietly doing his job for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Damn. I hated to see Martin get traded. The Braves may come to regret this one but I understand why they did the deal. Martin is a fine player who will contribute on and off the field. Gonna' miss him.

Braves: Tommy Hanson

Former Atlanta pitcher fitting in with his new team I hated to see the Braves trade Hanson. I know there are concerns about his velocity declining and his durability, but I still think he has the makings of a very strong starting pitcher. I was in the hospital and in coma when they traded him; boy was I pissed when I woke up and got the word.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Bloomberg buffonery

Judge takes a bite out of Bloomberg's ban. It may not hold up, but it's good to see a judge call bullshit bullshit.

Calling all (Philip) Dickheads

Man in the High Castle eyed for a film adaptation. From the NY Times.

WW II: A pilot's chivalry

Enemies discover a higher call. From CNN.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Comic books: Sound!

Marvel digital comics debut soundtrack feature at SXSW.

The human heart

Redesigned heart valve gets upgrade and positive results.

Comic books: A milestone for a webslinger

Spidey turns 50. The ol' boy still gets around pretty well. From The Atlantic.

NFL: Jarvis Jones

Bulldog stud linebacker gets the OK from doctor. Jones may have been the best player in college last season and should be a TOP 5 draft pick. I think the value of my autographed football just went up, not that I would let it go.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Civil War

Monitor sailors laid to rest. Famous ironclad dueled the CSS Virginia to a draw but lost fight with an Atlantic storm.

Eats and drinks: Craft beers

Craft beers larger aspirations cause a stir. From the New York Times.

My Days as a Filmmaker

My column from the Summerville News.

The Big Lebowski at 15

The Dude abides.

Comic books

Comic books can inspire kids to read, says Huffington Post columnist. Just wait'll her kid discovers "Deathlok the Demolisher."

The Walking Dead: Detente?

Can Rick and the Governor come to an agreement and prevent a bloody showdown? Hell I hope not. I want to see Darrell get the other eye. From TV Guide.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Drafthouse Rules

Alamo Drafthouse wishes texting customer well ... outside.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

My Feb. 28 column

In Search of the Splintered Splinter.

WW II and Korea vets honored

France honors Illinois man via Fox News and Arkansas seaman returns to wartime vessel. Also via Fox News.

Warren's World

Buffet bullish on newspapers.

Army men on the attack

When war was fun! From the Huffington Post.

Horror on the screen

Top 10 horror films you've never seen. Actually I've seen 9 of the 10 (missed the Japanese "House") and recommend them all. I'll offer a similar list of my own tonight or tomorrow.

Joe Lansdale's new comic

Crawling Sky 1 gets off to a good start, for Antarctic Press. Joe and Keith Lansdale worked with artist Brian Denham on this black and white western.

"Jack" wounded, but not slain, by skinny script

We saw "Jack the Giant Slayer" tonight and I am a fool for the medieval stuff. The movie works well enough, but never really takes off. The story hurtles from one action bit to another and they are entertainingly done, but the story is too thin. The romantic lead looks like a sissy and the princess is mostly dull. Ian McShane is wasted as the king. Stanley Tucci fares better but his role is too limited. Ewan McGregor is OK. Ewen Bremner is the movie's standout as Tucci's henchmen, but again his role is cut far too short. The giants are cool -- beautifully designed and menacing. Kids will like it well enough and it's not too scary for young ones. Here's a piece on the movie's opening weekend. And here's the IMDB link.

Econ 101

Factory work not the same as its once was but some jobs are back in the U.S. From the L.A. Times.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Falcons wield the axe

Robinson, Turner and Abraham cut. You can make a case for dumping all three players. I don't expect any of the three back for less money though Turner makes sense on a cheaper, short-term deal. Supposedly the Falcons are looking at Steven Jackson of the Rams and he would make sense too on a shorter deal. The Falcons want to stay good for years to come, not just load up for a 1-2 year period of excellence so they have to make these hard decisions. However, finding a pass rusher to replace Abraham is going to be tough; they'll probably have to gamble on getting one in the draft. Re-signing Brent Grimes and William Moore is important, more so with Robinson gone. The Falcons lost three legitimate players who have to be replaced with these cuts and it's not going to be easy.