Awesome Pictures....

Here are a few pictures symbolizing the optimistic feeling flowing through my body. I caught wind of them through the wonderful blog of John Dickenson. He talked about the great Boston.com feature The Big Picture. The pictures are really grand and majestic. John focused on the ski jump set. They made me feel that anything and everything is possible in 2009. Here are some of my favorites:

I Feel Good.

Maybe it's Bush leaving and people kicking him out the door...
Maybe it's a pilot's unbelievable heroism...
Maybe it's the Inauguration...
Maybe it's the Bulls beating LeBron last night...

I know the economic sky is falling, there are wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, pirates in Africa, etc. I just feel positive about the future. I think this time in history is full of opportunity to change our thinking and to get rid of dead ideas, like Matt Miller has been preaching.

They slayed all suckas who perpetrate and layed down law from state to state.

Age is creeping up on me. Run-DMC got inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. These guys were the 1st rap group that acted like a rock band. Bravado, guitars and leather. Their lyrics are still some of the greatest rhymes ever. "Peter Piper" still rocks the party. "My Adidas" is the 1st rap I memorized completely. I saw them on tour with L.L. Cool J (Cut Creator was perched on top of the largest ghetto blaster I had ever seen), Whodini and the Beastie Boys. When "My Adidas" was performed, everyone in the UIC Pavilion in Chicago(1986)hoisted their shoe in the air and "rocked to the beat with Lee on my legs and Adidas on my feet." "King of Rock" has the biggest intro at the time, with DMC proclaiming the throne behind one of the biggest beats you ever heard. I can go on for days with their music.

Big ups to Metallica for getting into the Hall, too. That was the thing about coming of age in the 1980's. Me and my peers listened to rap and metal. It is an angry young male thing.

Delicious Damages.

I can't watch this show looking straight at the screen. The angles of this show cut and slice. The twists are awesome. The acting is great. What I love about this show is the pain and twisting is in all of the actors' faces. The actors all have strong jaws that seem to be taut with tension at all times. The writing is just as tight. Here is my Top Ten Things about this episode:

1. I love the dramatic use of the time jumps. It makes the show appear to squeeze closer to some terrible truth. The clues about the ending get juicier as the audience gets squeezed in the vice.

2. William Hurt will get an Emmy for this role. His acting is so subtle, he acts with the gait of his walk. Some actors have such control of their movements-Denzel Washington is one that comes to mind. When he is walking toward his daughter as she is planting a tree for her murdered mom, his fatherly walk is great. He is a superb actor.

3. Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), getting it done. This woman has great calves. So is Claire Maddox (Marcia Gay Harden). Go for that cleavage girl! Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) is pretty easy on the eyes too. These women are sharp dressers, also. What is so great about these cable shows is the attention to detail they have. The sets, the clothes and the casting is top notch.

4. Wes Krulik (Timothy Olyphant) obsession with Arthur Frobisher (Ted Dansen). Clipping the news article was creepy and you knew once he opened the cabinet, there would be more clippings. I thought they would be pictures of Ellen, but no! Homeboy has more weapons of mass destruction than Iraq had in 2003. Did he work for Frobisher? The flash forward with him and Ellen in bed was interesting. The fact that she gets called out of the apartment and Tom Shayes(Tate Donovan) gives her the gun she waves and shoots the mystery person with is great.

5. Ellen's turn on Tom Shayes. One of the lingering story techniques I love about this show is how the audience is engrossed with the characters, without liking them all the time. The way Ellen turned on Tom, letting him hang himself was not cool. I like the trick of having Patty (she knew about the bribe since she bugged the office) save Tom from himself. Or is it more of Patty's games with Tom.

6. Ah a Luke Skywalker/Darth Vader moment between Daniel Purcell (William Hurt) and Michael Hewes (Zachary Booth). They pass by the elevator. The are both blond and Daniel seems to be extremely touched by meeting Michael.

7. What the hell is Daniel Purcell digging a hole for and what is he burning?

8. Claire Maddox, so timid in the car with Daniel Purcell. Are they having an affair? Is the a conspiracy concerning the documents?

9. The FBI agent-Agent Werner (Glenn Kessler) going through the divorce while trying to nail Patty Hewes. The realism with his partner-Agent Harrison (Mario Van Peebles) getting annoyed it a nice touch.

10. Uncle Pete (Tom Aldredge) is a disturbing man. Talk about the man who knew too much!

You should be watching Damages.

Favorite news story of the day, so far.

I guess you can only go so far with the "Idol" thing. Since I live in Austin, I might need to really investigate these allegations and interrogate the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

'American Idol' sues Texas strip joint.

Has it been 10 years?

On of my favorite writers and personalities, J. A. Adande, wrote this wonderful piece remembering the retirement of Michael Jordan. Jordan meant a lot to me, as a black man and as a Chicagoan. His dominance was so complete, he became a verb, adjective and adverb. For excellence people say that someone is the "Michael Jordan of" whatever the states subject. He did things on the court I had never seen before. J. A. Adande reflects:

The end of MJ's Bulls run, a decade later

Adande By J.A. Adande
ESPN.com
Archive

Jan. 13, 1999, the game's greatest player announced he was done (until 2001).

Ten years ago today, I stepped off a red-eye flight from Los Angeles, met up at O'Hare airport with The Washington Post's Michael Wilbon and caught the train downtown, then fought a Chicago wind so fierce we had to walk backward to hail a cab for our trip to the United Center to see the official farewell to the Michael Jordan era.

It wasn't the end of Jordan's career, as it turned out. There was that two-year comeback with the Washington Wizards. But Jan. 13, 1999, was the final moment of the basketball player as icon, a business perfected by Jordan in a way that never will be seen again.

There were more than 800 reporters in the United Center that day. I was part of a two-man team from the Los Angeles Times. Can you imagine more than 800 reporters from around the country converging to cover a retirement news conference today, with a bank of 25 cameras focused on one individual and a fleet of satellite trucks parked outside to beam his words to the world?
Michael Jordan Press Pass
J.A. AdandeThis is the press pass from MJ's retirement conference.

Wouldn't happen in baseball, although it's hard to judge because the greatest hitter and greatest pitcher of this era, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, still won't officially announce their retirements. Maybe they're afraid if they held a news conference, someone would show up with a subpoena.

The NFL is our most popular sport, but would Peyton Manning draw 800? Are there still 800 sports reporters employed in America?

It's not the athletes that have changed as much as the world outside the sports bubble. Media cutbacks mean fewer journalists to create the mythology, and more Web sites mean more opportunities to take people down. Every collegiate misstep speeds across the Internet so fast that by the time a player gets to the pros, he's already been pre-ridiculed. An early Jordan TV appearance just popped up on the Web; if YouTube had been around when Jordan was at North Carolina, he would have been so humiliated by that he probably wouldn't get in front of a camera again.

There'll never be another Jordan the way there'll never be another Johnny Carson or another Walter Cronkite. Individuals don't hold our interest that regularly and that long anymore.

For one thing, there are too many other issues that demand our attention, a shift that kept even Jordan from being the same Jordan in our eyes during his 2001 comeback. The wreckage of the World Trade Center was still smoldering when Jordan announced his return in subdued fashion after the Sept. 11 attacks. And in the athletic realm, Jordan's name was no longer bigger than sports itself.

When his debut in a Wizards uniform went against Game 3 of Yankees versus Diamondbacks in the World Series, almost six times as many people watched the baseball game. By the time his playing days were done, it seemed worthless to have another news conference -- those days were over, even for Jordan. Ultimately, his departure from Washington was documented by a single camera that caught his Mercedes zooming out of the parking garage after Wizards owner Abe Pollin told Jordan his services were no longer required in the front office.

Amid the current economic crisis, the last thing people are going to embrace is an athlete's popping up to pitch something superfluous to buy. Tiger Woods is probably the closest thing to Jordan on the American sports landscape, and even he has been victimized by downsizing in the new endorsement marketplace.

Jordan also benefited from the lack of a true challenger. At MJ's peak, there was no Bird to his Magic, no one with whom to share the accomplishments or divvy up the attention. All of Jordan's successors have had to do battle with Jordan himself, long after he retired. Going one-on-one with Jordan was nothing compared with competing with the memories of him, the moves glorified in highlight videos and even song. Unlike Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, Jordan never had to deal with the label of The Next Jordan.

If they carry that burden, they also have a ceiling placed on them by diminished expectations. People used to ask Jordan, in all seriousness, whether he could fly. He was compared to God. When Jordan retired that day in 1999, someone went as far as to ask whether he would use his spare time to help solve the world's problems.

"I can't save the world, by no means," Jordan replied, because apparently that needed clarification.

We no longer bother to ask our athletes to rescue us anymore. The best we can do is kindly request they don't shoot us in the club. In this environment, it's impossible for another athlete to become anointed. On that cold Chicago day 10 years ago, athletes still felt like historic figures worth chronicling. I still remember so many details about that trip, including checking into my hotel. Such is the legacy of Michael Jordan that even the person least familiar with his story could understand why I smiled at the coincidence as the front desk clerk handed me my key card and told me the number.

Room 2323.

24 is Back!, Part II ! 10 Thoughts on the last 2 hours.

Now we are cookin'!

Tonight's episode got back to the 24 we know and love. The double agents, the rogue agents, Jack turning on his friends and his friends forgiving him, the secret life of a Presidential spouse...

1. I am glad Tony is working the deep cover. I also like that Tony admits to Jack that he was on the dark side of the force for awhile so this leaves open the possibility that Tony and Jack will have more conflict.

2. I like the idea of the FBI hunting Bauer and that the pursuit might push agent Renee Walker into Jack Bauer mode. The hospital scene was cool.

3.Did I call this yesterday or what? The return of Chloe and she battled Janis in a hot geek chick showdown. Can't wait until they meet. But is the FBI turning into CTU (Jack-Renee, Chloe-Janis?)

4. Bill Buchanan all Zenned out and focused on some conspiracy. Where did he get the funds to do this? There is a can of worms there I think.

5. Is Henry, husband to the President, in danger? I can't quite get a handle on his security guy-Agent Gedge. He seems kinda creepy. I hope he isn't, I liked Aaron Pierce, the secret service dude from the past 6 seasons. By the way, he is the only character other than Jack to appear in all of the seasons of 24.

6. I think 24 is trying to insert some humor. The conversation between Jack and Tony as they are trying to escape the FBI offices is pretty funny. Sorry about that stuff about your wife. Sorry about almost breaking your neck. Plus as Jack drives the car over the edge telling himself "this is gonna hurt.." I wonder if they are going to add a little John McClane to Jack.

7. The action influences of new James Bond movies and the Bourne movies are evident. The car crashes, the breaking glass, the tight camera shots. This show is always ahead of the curve for network television. I think the void of the writers strike really hurt network TV more than cable. I am not so sure that Mad Men, Damages, Burning Bad or even the Closer or Leverage would have the audiences they have with the void of a show like 24 or Lost.

8. President Taylor is going to have a bad day. The conspiracy in her administration took out her son. That will be interesting. I wonder how Bill Buchanan knows about the it? Is he involved?

9. Why is Jack always attacking consulates and dignitaries?

10. Bill Buchanan has a something sinister about him this season. It's the beard and haircut making him mean.

24 will air on Monday nights, so I will have Wednesdays for Damages.