Can the boys in gold dodge a bullet this season ?

Sports Illustrated has Joey Porter on the cover this month and asks, "Do the Steelers have what it takes to make another Super Bowl run? I've been a Pittsburgh fan since I was in junior high, so don't get it twisted when I say their chances are getting slim. Most haters say last year's win was a fluke, but I disagree.
It was an excellent combination of good players, tenacity, a few trick plays and some good calls in our favor tht gave them the ring; and really, when isn't that the case? But with Jerome Bettis retired, Antwaan Randle El gone due to his free-agent status, and Big Ben not playing up to par in the pre-season after his motorcycle injury and now getting his appendix out, the outlook to another superbowl sort of grim. I'm still hoping they can do it, but unless A.) Big Ben really gets back into the game and excels and B.) Porter keeps up his game onslaught all season, then the odds are definitely against them.

Mel's creative genius continues with his next masterpiece

Mel Gibson, world reknowned actor extrordinaire and star of such classics like Bird On A Wire, Maverick, the Chili Con Carne Club, and (of course) What Women Want, has traded in his comedy/tragedy masks for a silky pair of puffy director's pants. His latest masterpiece, Apocalypto, is currently in the works - and not a moment to soon I might add. After his recent alchohol-fueled, Semetic loving-challenged tirade, the King of Malibu Rum needs a little redemption. The question remains, If Mel made the Passions and then it came out that he hated Jews, does this South American epic spell out Mel's unspoken hatred of Mayans? In my unbiased professional opinion, yes. When the end comes, can Mel outrun his fate?

Snizakes on a Plizane!!!!!!

With all the current worries about liquids on planes, only Samuel L. has caught on to the reality we should be fearing: snakes. This movie was as good - and bad - as I had hoped. It's not often you go to a movie knowing it's going to suck. Usually you have a slight hope that maybe, just maybe it'll redeem itself, only to be let down once again when the credits roll. When you know its gonna be ridiculous, you can let loose and just laugh till it hurts, as did everyone else at the theatre with us. Please go see this. I can guarantee you'll only be dissapointed if you go in thinking it will be good.

Moving on to (not bigger but) better things...

My new Macbook, baby...
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Last Tuesday I flew back to Hawaii, where I'm working on Island Football's yearly pre-season magazine. Being back on Oahu after a good twelve months on the mainland has had me kind of re-examining my life over the last year. I can easily say my circumstances have greatly improved; monetarily I may not be too much better off (haha), but my living situation and life direction have definitely recieved an upgrade. Last year I was desperate to work on the mag, broke after my month in China and working with my brother on a start-up web company. Now I'm living in L.A., taking Flash Design classes at UCLA and doing freelance web work; I actually had to turn down a full-time job oportunity because it came the day I was flying out. Last year I had scraps to work with and took a while to get paid; this time I had my flight paid for and they bought me a laptop worth over 2 G's as compensation, 2 weeks before I even flew over. I really feel blessed to be able to keep traveling around and still get paid. That freedom is something I've been reluctant to give up, so hopefully I can keep things rolling in the right direction.

Pray for Big Ben

Say a little prayer for Ben
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Yesterday Ben Roethlisberger was hit by a car while riding his streetbike in Pittsburgh. His head hit the other car's windshield and then was tossed a ways farther. The worse news is he wasn't wearing a helmet! Now I got a lotta love for Ben, and I've been a Steelers fan since the late 80's but damn, that was a dumb move. Especially when it is a on a street bike that can top 180 miles an hour. So please join in and pray he has a full recovery, and maybe gets a little common sense too.

Diet Pepsi, vindicated from claims of causing cancer (and being gay)

Ever since I started drinking Diet Pepsi, I never looked back. It all started a few years back when I spent a month in the Cook Islands working for a football magazine, riding modpeds and hanging out on the beach. Reality set in when I got home to Hawaii and I realized I was dirt broke. I mean bank-closing-your-account broke. Aside from having less than a dollar to my name, for some reason my biggest worry was I couldn't afford my daily Pepsi. My roomate decided to be the good samaritan, but with a twisted stipulation: He would only buy me Diet. I was appalled, however my disgust for sugar-free soda was superceded only by my addiction to caffination, and I eventually got used to it. The fact that I was removing so much sugar from my daily diet was very encouraging towards my pathetic attempts to live a healthier way of life, but there are always critics. The one complaint I always hear about Diet Pepsi (aside from it being gay) was the so-called "fact" that Aspartame, Diet Pepsi's artificial sweetener, caused cancer.

Now I decided this was a calculated risk I was willing to take, since my immediate family and relatives are highly prone to diabetes (and alchoholism, but thats another blog...), but not a single relative has cancer. Well, there's good news fellow Aspartame Addicts: Diet drinkers everywhere can now breathe a sigh of relief and now have some clinical grounds to stand on. A recent study by the National Cancer Institute has debunked the cancer causing blame on Aspartame. Read it and weep, critics. There are some claims that Artificial sweeteners can interfere with your diet, but that only applies if you are too stupid to read the calories clearly printed on the side of the package.

We want tacos! We want tacos!

Lakers played Phoenix today.Kobe was playing good in the first half, but his game play was more of a passing game, with only 15 first-half points. of course thats alot of points but this is Kobe we are talking about. After the half, he came back on fire, drilling shots from all over the court, scoring 19 points in the third. When it was all said and done, Bryant had 42 points total, making this game # 23 that he had 40+ points this season, tying Elgin Baylor for Laker with the most 40+ games in a season. Now it was a gimme that the Lakers would win, especially with T-Mac out on injury, but on an intersting side note Yao actually held his own finishing with 25 points. That's a long way from when he first came in the League and was getting pushed around all the time.
After Kobe's blazing 3rd and 4th quarters, MVP chants could be heard through out Staples Center. After Kobe sat out, the chant changed. Inaudible at first, it soon became clear. We Want Tacos! We Want Tacos! Apparently Taco Bell was giving out vouchers for tacos if the Lakers kept the opponents to under 90. Luckily for the hungry fans, Rockets only made it to 88. Rumor has it the Rockets were coerced to keep it under 90 by city officials for fear of riots.

Life after Lasiks Surgery

post-Lasiks web chat
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

If there is any advice I could offer to anyone considering corrective eye surgery, it would be to not get too in-depth in your research. I say this only because once you know exactly how it's done, you've seen tons of graphic images, and read a few "horror stories" on the web, it gets kind of scary! I wish almost that I was completely ignorant to the process, haha. It's been three weeks since I had the procedure, and my vision is pretty near perfect. Before the surgery I was incredibly near-sighted, like -7.15 or something like that. And now, it is fantastic. It was really blurry immediately afterwards, but it has been less blurry every day, and night vision is getting better as well. It can take months to completely heal and for your eyes to adjust. Life is good.

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I join the ranks of those suffering from the "Lost Effect"...

The "Lost Effect"... Originally uploaded by russdogg.

I got home from work just in time to religiously watch ABC's "Lost" in HD last night. After another excellent hour, they followed it up with "Invasion", a terrible aliens-among-us show replete with sub-par acting and cheesy special effects. The main character is pretty boy Eddie Cibrian, you may remember him from ESPN's lame duck poker drama Tilt. Half way through it, I realized I knew ALL the characters and storylines. How was this possible? It then dawned on me that I had watched EVERY episode, since it comes on right after the best show this season. Lost is just that good; so good it puts me in a drooling trance for another hour. It could have been test patterns or re-runs of that "Steve Urkle" show, and I would watch still it with a zombie expression, mouth agape. I dub this the "Lost Effect". I can't be the only one afflicted by this, can I? Are there millions suffering out there?

my parents riot their way through France

Gordon and Aileen love to smash things
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

The riots in France started the same day my parents went there on vacation. Coincidence? I think not! Yahoo news confirmed as much, as well as provided a more detailed map of my parents site seeing/ car burning trip. Reuters reports that my dad prefers to keep destruction close to the capital city of Paris, while my mom enjoys razing southern costal towns.

french Officer supresses riots with bladder

Riots are no match for my excess of body fluids!
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Riots turned out to be no match for one Parisian police officer - or " Les Flic" as urban youth in France have so eloquently nicknamed them - as he used only his power of urine and excellent bladder control to douse the flames of a burning car; no-handed no less.