Casey Anthony is off to find the real killers.














Meal of Links

It's the American way. Making fun of Hitler.

Have you seen the light? The world's greatest light bulb.






















One of the most hilarious things I read today was Hollywood's reaction to the Tot Mom verdict via Twitter. Kim Kardashian, of all people, was shocked at the verdict. Prompting this response. Dexter Morgan was also trending high on Twitter, as if he were a real person who could take care of Tot Mom.

David Simon has a real knack for season-ending montages. He did it again with Sunday's season-ender on "Treme":



Simon talks about "Treme" here.

What's lurking in a navel? Strange stuff.

E-Harmony guy says don't get married. Wait a minute. What?

Exercise Yard

Nate Silver writes about the NBA lockout. The financial distress of the owners is a canard.

Visitor

9 Across: Jake LaMotta, e.g. (5 letters) Answer: Boxer

Well, it seems everyone can get their 15 minutes these days.

As I was watching the Indians-Yankees game last night, Homer Matt mentioned a disturbance in the bleachers. It was actually loud and had everyone in the crowd distracted. At one point, the second base umpire even called time.

Homer Matt then continued with some cryptic thoughts about how it appeared there were two females fighting. Then he realized what was going on and started chuckling. Yes, some clown decided to wear a LeBron Miami Heat jersey. Now, why it took 6 innings for people to get on this guy's case, I have no idea.

Any video you see of this event makes me wonder, did anyone in the bleachers know how to film? Jeezy creezy, I saw one video where the guy could not keep the jersey popper in the frame. Another was filmed so you had to watch with your head tilted 90 degrees to the right. I mean, there was nothing I saw remotely close to Zapruder-quality. Shocking.

Anyhow, here's an update on the guy. And, of course, in true fashion, he says, "Eff the haters!"

I've read comments on cleveland.com that bring out the old refrain, "Wait until the national media gets a hold of this". So what? Even Kornheiser on PTI feared for LeBron's safety upon his return game and intimated he may have to sit it out. Huh? Really?

This sounds like a lot of huffery from people who don't attend games. If you wear an opponents jersey, especially at a football game, you will get yelled at. If you wanna be a guy who fights about it, there are willing participants lining up. So, it should come as no surprise that this incident happened. And, if you see the videos, it's clear he's enjoying the reaction until he gets the boot. As does his friend.

Two days from now, it's forgotten.

Meal of Links

The annual energy consumption of the average American. I go at least 50% beyond the average of driving 12,000 miles per year.

Could it be the greatest music video ever? The backstory of "Take On Me".

You know, Daniel Schorr, the last link to Edward R. Murrow at CBS died last week. I happened to hear an interview he did with Bob Edwards in 2008 on Monday and he is sorta like "Zelig" in his career. CBS, Watergate, Nixon's enemies list, CNN, NPR. Ane he was also friends with Frank Zappa. WTF?

Leonardo DiCaprio was going to do a movie with Mel Gibson. Even though he likes Vikings, Leo decided to tell Mel, "Nope."

If it involves The Who, you know I'm gonna lap it up. One of my favorites...

"La-La-La Lies"/The Who



"Dexter" stuff. I knew Julia Stiles was in, but did not know Peter Weller had joined for Season 5. Robocop! Masuka has a fake ad.

Ellen leaves "Idol". Looks like Randy and Kara need to look for work elsewhere and quick.

Foreclosures. Vegas still leads with 6.6% of housing units in foreclosure. The lowest rates seem to be in places no one wants to live.

Exercise Yard

Jack Tatum, "The Assassin" died the other day. Steve Grogan didn't like him all that much.

Visitor

6 Across: Northwest Passage seeker (6 letters) Answer: Cabot

I hustled after work to get over to Cinemark to fit in a screening of "Knight and Day" before the NBA Draft. This is the Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz flick that opened yesterday. I thought the trailer was hideous, but since I won't be in line for "Twilight" next week, I'd thought I'd see this.

Actually, it wasn't bad. I can't really put my finger on why this is doomed to fail, but I can get close. The scenes that were meant to be funny, should have delivered more laughs than they did. And some of them were actually funny. But I don't know if the humor just sailed over everyone's heads or why it seemed to not consistently connect with the audience.

This was really a Cruise/Diaz vehicle, who probably shared 96% of the screen time. Paul Dano had a nice, small support role. Viola Davis and Peter Sarsgaard were basically wasted. Saw some new trailers today. Of course, "Inception" is getting a big push and I've seen this one for a while. But I saw the "Salt" trailer with Jolie. That looks promising. Those two are July releases.

Also saw the "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" sequel. And a first time for "The Adjustment Bureau" with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. And "Secretariat", as well. The first two are due in September, while the latter is an October release. There was one for the kiddies, "Rio", which said it is an Easter release. I'm assuming Easter 2011.

Meal of Links

Is it too hot to cook? Read this.

The Polaroid auction set some records. Including the Warhols.

Venezuela seized some US-owned oil rigs. The state-owned oil company wasn't paying the bills.

Will the Oscars move to January? Probably not. But, one argument, the Oscar bump, is a fallacy.

Sarah Palin is toxic. 52% react negatively if she endorses a candidate.

If you trust BP, listen up. Kevin Costner's water cleaning machine works.

Exercise Yard
































The World Cup lost another major soccer power as Italy failed to make the round of 16. It's setting up as a weird Quarterfinal as the matchups are dictating a couple of more will be gone by then.

The shift in power seems to be favoring South America, Asia and even CONCACAF (the US region) this time around.

BTW, here come the Mexicans.

Visitor

37 Across: "Annie" classic (15 letters) Answer: It's the hard knock

"Hard Knock Life"/Jay-Z

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there.




















A World Cup is never complete without that photo. And since Italy played today and dove for a penalty, well, there you go.

Meal of Links

Did Billo get a vuvuzela blown into his brain? Now he criticizes Michelle Bachman.

Bon Jovi fires his manager. But wishes him well in his future endeavors. In other music news, Live Nation introduced their new tiered pricing at a show at Chicago's Soldier Field. Eagles, Keith Urban and the Dixie Chicks. $895 up close plus $46 parking. Joe Barton has already apologized to Live Nation for the hate.

BP bails on the North Sea. Must maintain profitability.

Exercise Yard

The Florida Marlins had a giveaway last night. Not vuvuzelas, but air horns. 15,000 of 'em. Joe Maddon: "There are cool things and non-cool things. That's non-cool."

Visitor

None, on a gorgeous Father's Day.

On Sunday night, S. and I jointly celebrated our birthdays and headed over to the Rock and Roll of Fame for Chef Jam. This is the event that started last year at the Beachland Ballroom and mushroomed into this get together at the Rock Hall. Uh, I think it's stayin' there. They sold 1,000 tickets and they disappeared with about a week to go.

It was $50 per ticket. This got you all the food you wanted and beer, wine, pop and water were included. Mixed drinks were available at, I think, $7 or $8 each. 25 local restaurants were there. They were set up in the lower level and 3rd floor of the Rock Hall. There were two local bands plus Todd Rundgren played with the band assembled by the Crop as the headliner. Besides Todd, the other two celebrity-spottings were: Mayor Frank Jackson and Anthony Bourdain's nemesis, Michael Ruhlman.

Todd looks pretty good for 62, I must say. They played mainly the songs from last year, the Doobies "Long Train Runnin'", Hendrix "Fire", the Allmans "Whipping Post", Todd actually got to let loose on the old Nazz song, "Open My Eyes". For some reason, they played a lengthy version of Neil Young's "Ohio", which seemed odd for that sort of event. I don't mind that tune. S.? Well, she can't stand it. Then, of course, they played "Bang the Drum".

Here is what I ate:

Smoked pork butt with collard greens and black pepper cornbread. This was from Zach Bruell and was outstanding. Probably the best thing there.

Momocho had wild boar tacos. Terrific.

Bistro on Lincoln Park had an Allman theme with a grilled peach, cracked black pepper ice cream with a balsamic reduction. Yummy!

Johnny's ceviche was great. They called it yellow snow.

Sushi Rock had a sushi surf and turf.

Prosperity Social Club had an awesome jambalaya (with Frank's hot sauce available). That was a repeat visit and they easily had the largest portions.

Lago had some meatballs that were good.

Crop had some rollups that were good, as well.

Melange went all out, as usual. Their "Bad to the Bone" ribs had an unusually tasty ingredient...Watermelon in that sauce! Dill pickle popcorn this year.

Amp 150 had beef tongue with cabbage salad that was wonderful.

Dante had LSD (Lemon-Scented Doughnuts). I would have preferred BLFD (Bigass Lemon-Filled Doughnuts), but it was OK. This won the Maker's Mark prize for best use of the bourbon in a recipe.

We passed on some others and Bar Symon and Moxie ran out of their stuff earlier than most.

My impressions. Overall, it's a lot of fun and definitely for a good cause. But they could make better use of that big plaza they have. They should have some things outside. It certainly would ease the crowds inside. It was awfully tight moving about, although most of the crowd was gone by time Todd started. But that's mostly nitpicking. I'm sure the event grows in stature from here.

Meal of Links

In case you haven't noticed, it's Cheer Up Keanu Day. I think there is another one on July 1st.

GQ has an in-depth look at Deepwater Horizon before and after the explosion. So many topics are addressed, just an excellent piece. And here is some info on the chemical dispersants that BP continues to use. Even after directives have been issued.

The New York Times reveals its 50 most challenging words. Hey, "canard" is in there. I actually use that one a lot. I use it because it's in "The Natural". And we've all heard Jim Rome's phrase "wooden and laconic". Another good one, used in the crosswords, is "ersatz".

Where Americans are moving. It ain't here, folks.

Comedy showrunners talk shop. Seth MacFarlane references that "Family Guy" can't get Disney songs cleared and talks about who has sued them.

Tim Goodman recaps the past TV season. Probably time to take a look at some of these shows I've ignored.

"Psycho" is 50 this week. PopMatters has a daily celebration of Alfred Hitchcock going on.

Speaking of Bourdain, he has a new book out. "Don't blame Guy Fieri on me. That's not my fault. That's a radiation accident."

Exercise Yard

It's winter in South Africa and at some of the sites it's been pretty damn cold (at night, in the 20's this week), so I apologize for the lack of female fan photos. But I've caught up with a few.

She Has A Lovely Paraguays





























Hey, Nice Dutch Boys



























Don't Cry For Me, Argentina





























The World Cup is going pretty true to form with Japan over Cameroon a true upset. I actually have Japan in my pool. Huh? Shocking that North Korea scored a goal off Brazil today. Paraguay tied Italy, but this is not the Italy of 2006. New Zealand scored very late for a tie with Slovakia today.

I wanted to mention the Dutch. It's very seldom you hear the roar of the crowd over those damn vuvuzelas this week, but the most impressive guy so far (outside of Messi, of course) has been Eljero Elia, who is getting a loud response. He played the last 25 minutes or so in their win over the Danes and virtually each time he touched the ball, he made things happen. Look for him. Hard to miss, he has some sort of dreadlocked mohawk thing going on.

Visitor

31 Down: Celtic great Larry (4 letters) Answer: Bird

I took my niece (who absolutely loved it) to see "Marmaduke" yesterday. I could reference Nolan Richardson's "40 Minutes of Hell", but it wasn't that bad. The NY Daily News said "Marmaduke" makes "Furry Vengeance" look like a masterpiece. They also reference Son of Sam in regard to talking dogs. Ouch. Although, I find it hard to believe that the comic strip is still going strong. But, in this movie, Marmaduke is voiced by Owen Wilson. I thought I knew this plot before I walked in, but there was some strange stuff going on.

First of all, Marmaduke's family lives in Kansas. I think mainly to set up a "you're not in Kansas anymore" line. I think a dog said that. Yes, all of the dogs (and cat) talk. Anyhow, the family moves to "The O.C.". Again, solely so they can reference the TV show, "The O.C.". Refresh my memory, how long ago was that cancelled?

Well, Marmaduke's owner gets a marketing job with William H. Macy's organic food company, Bark Organics. He's run through several Marketing people in the last year. Apparently, the phrase "due diligence" never entered the brain of Marmaduke's owner. Of course, we find out Macy's employees have no time for their families and over the protestations of Marmaduke (they can't hear him, only other animals and the poor audience can), the family unit grows distant.

But Marmaduke is already off, finding new friends. He meets up with some mutts at the dog park, the lead female voiced by Emma Stone. She falls for our big lug of a dog immediately, but Marm has other ideas. Yep, he wants to hang out with pedigrees at the dog park, a place where not many owners go apparently. Anyhow, he falls for a collie named Jezebel, voiced by Fergie, who just happens to be the girlfriend of Bosco, the alpha dog, voiced by Kiefer Sutherland. Seriously, Kiefer narrating is bad because I can only think of Jack Bauer, his BOA commercials, "Phone Booth" and can't take seriously anything Bosco says. Then again, I'm not 9.

Eventually, Marmaduke is exposed as a fraud, loses his new friends (the mutts) and his newer friends (the pedigrees) after a party in which they have pretty much destroyed Marmaduke's home. So, when the owners come back, he is banished outside and decides to run away. Then the movie turns weird. Not weird in the sense that animals talk and I actually saw Marmaduke surfing. Weird in the sense they expose Marmaduke to actual danger.

As he's strolling through town, a storefront has a TV on, showing "Old Yeller". Disturbing on all counts, a storefront with a TV running? That ain't "The O.C." I know. But as every adult simultaneously thinks "Old Yeller", yeah, that's a great reference, Marmaduke goes further away. Somehow, he ends up on some railroad tracks, and then off into the woods where he meets Chupadogra, voiced by Sam Elliott. I'll say this, Sam earned his paycheck. His character was the former alpha dog, but in his own words, admitted these days he just avoids trains and the dog catcher. And he had some sort of dog cancer, because he coughed all the time. Anyhow, too old to terrorize Marmaduke or not really giving a shit, he instead offers advice. Marmaduke noticed his dog bowl and said, "Thanks, Buster." Then Sam goes for the Oscar with this line, "No one's called me that name for a long, long time...". My God, when Sam Elliott says that, I'm not thinking "The Big Lebowski" or "Beef, it's what's for dinner" or Coors commercials, I'm thinking Chupadogra just told me that! Sam Elliott, a true pro.

But wait, there's more. As Marmaduke's mutt girlfriend tries to find him and his family is out scouring "The O.C." for him, they locate him, of course, at the site of a water main break. While a crack security force has not secured the area, the girl dog falls into the sewer, Marmaduke (who complained about water and baths earlier) dives in after her, and immediately both get carried through the main. A fireman says they can get them two blocks from there, and they save the girl, but not Marmaduke. Why? He's too big. Wait a minute, isn't that a punchline? Anyhow, Marm's owner says where does that lead and the guy says there's a nearby aqueduct. OK, a bit dicey, but the owner dives in and saves Marmaduke.

So, the family unit is saved. The owner's job is saved because YouTube video of the rescue lands that big Petco account. And Marmaduke says the dog park should be a place where any dog can sit anywhere. Then Bosco loses the respect of everyone by being afraid of a bee. Marmaduke then tells his girl she has pretty eyes and everyone leaves the theater as all of the dogs are dancing to The Romantics and "What I Like About You".

Some random thoughts. Marmaduke has no doghouse, he didn't harass the postman, but he farts. See, I have a thing for Judy Greer, and I hope she got paid well, but after the farting, she gets to say stuff like "O-o-o-oh, Mar-ma-duke!". Wasted talent.

Dog jokes. They said "Cowabarka!" at the surf contest for dogs. Marmaduke tells someone that, "I'm all ears.", then he looks up and says "Yeah, I am." George Lopez voiced the cat in a very Cheech Marin way, so when they got shipped to "The O.C.", he grabs the cage and says, "I am not an animal...Oh, I guess I am."

I laughed out loud one time. Marmaduke's mutt friend described her perfect romantic date. Go to the junkyard, lay on a blanket, turn on some lights and have a radio playing some old music. Well, Marmaduke uses that info to take Jezebel there! Oh, you bastard. Anyhow, I hear the first notes of the song selection and start laughing..."Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye. Typically, no one else in "The C.O." got it.

Meal of Links

John Wooden died the other day at 99. Here are some of the great Coach's "Woodenisms".

Remember when the White House roof had solar panels? It's now a movie.

Edmonton gets special permission. For what, you ask? To allow bars to open early for the World Cup. O, Canada!

How you can get more plants for your garden. For free! With directions.

Exercise Yard

Danny Ferry's resignation as Cavs GM shouldn't really come as that much of a surprise. The main issue was his contract was up and I think the idea of signing up for more of this, with so many unknowns, is at the heart of the matter.

It's obvious he didn't want to fire Mike Brown, although I was on board with it. You had to do something. But if you fire someone of his caliber, you probably have to be prepared to find an equal out there. As he and Dan Gilbert are sifting through the list and backgrounds being developed, a couple of things stand out. Ferry is either not pleased with the direction the search is going or the candidates are not measuring up to Mike Brown. That's a problem, especially if the ultimate decision is Dan Gilbert's and not Ferry's.

It's obvious Gilbert will spend the cash and that's what you want from an owner. However, the ever-growing cap space issues will eventually catch up with the Cavs. They have had success wriggling out from it in the past, but eventually it will come back and bite them. Plus, the signing of Shaq and re-signing of Z didn't exactly help the team in the playoffs. So, whose decisions were these?

Finally, there has to be the issue of LeBron. Ferry has to be thinking in terms of how his GM position operates. If LBJ signs here for only three years (which I think ultimately will happen), the treadmill starts all over again. The very next day, speculation begins on where LeBron will wind up for the 2013-14 season. So, as GM, Ferry has the pressure to get these pieces/parts for an NBA title within a prescribed timeframe, with no luxury of any sort of internal player development. Maybe there's another place he will have ultimate authority.

I don't know anything about Chris Grant, Ferry's replacement. It's a good thing the Cavs had a succession plan in place. So maybe Grant is ready, as he seems to have added responsibilities each year since he's been here. It bothers me though that he seems to be responsible for the drafting of Christian Eyenga last year. We have compared him to the movie "Airplane!", where Robert Hays joins the Peace Corps and teaches the African natives basketball. Within seconds, they are doing Globetrotter antics and performing reverse dunks, etc.

It doesn't matter if you're good or not, you have to get something out of the draft and the Cavs just aren't getting it done. Either move up and buy a pick, trade it, do something. Maybe Eyenga stars someday, but how long do we wait?

Now, if Grant comes out of the box swinging with some sort of player trade before the draft, we can form an early opinion on his tenure.

Visitor

None, on a cloudy Sunday.

Things I've tried lately:

I had Key Lime Drink, fruitsense from Old Orchard. Absolutely terrible.

Of course, we've all had Sun Chips. But have you had them in that new compostable bag? Yikes, try and sneak that into a theater. They admit the bag is loud, because it's compostable, but wait for your neighbors to complain. I imagine even your pets are wondering WTF.

I'm normally bullish on Bush Baked Beans. But, my God, Giant Eagle Onion Baked Beans are really good. Much, much thicker. And cheaper. Sometimes, I think a fourth of those Bush cans are sauce, but the GE cans actually have lots of beans.

With Cinco de Mayo nearing and no Bohemia the other day at Johnny Mango, I opted for Modelo Especial on tap. Boy, that hit the spot on a warm day.

Lay's came out with this new type of natural potato chip recently. The Garden Tomato and Basil is an odd flavor, at first, but it's tasty thereafter. The Tangy Carolina BBQ needs some work (I think Snyder's BBQ is the best by a mile). I still lean towards the Lay's Baked or Kettle Cooked variety when I get chips, which isn't that often.

For bagged salads, I've been in the bag for Fresh Express for a long time. I always get the Romaine. But I think I'm being slowly converted to Dole's Leafy Romaine. It's at Marc's. I don't know, it seems to taste better to me.

Mid's Salsa Italiano, get the Medium. When you don't wanna mix your own, you could do worse in a pinch. Full price, probably not, but Marc's had a coupon.

The best-tasting normal Hot Dog and Hamburger Buns out there have to be Pepperidge Farm. But whenever I'm in the mood for whole wheat buns, most of them are pretty flimsy. But then I discovered Nature's Pride 100% Whole Wheat Bakery Buns. Now, we're talking. Easily handles any sandwich you make.

Meal of Links

The Top Ten reasons you should quit Facebook. Quit it? I'm barely on the damn thing.

Who knew? Polar bears and grizzly bears are now mating. I have no idea what the consequences may be.

That oil spill in the Gulf changes everything.

Exercise Yard

Hey, what was with all that low scoring golf today?

Ryo Ishikawa shot a 58 in Japan and Rory McIlroy shot a 62 at Quail Hollow.

Needless to say, they both won. Combined age of the winners? 38!

Visitor

None, on a really lazy Sunday.

"Rain On The Roof"/The Lovin' Spoonful



Check out the Monty Python-like audience at the end.

From personal experience; When eating a meatball sub at work, make sure the final meatball is secure in said bun. Otherwise it may ping pong between your pantlegs several times and you wind up looking like Harris Smith, I mean Plaxico Burress.

Meal of Links

Look through the spin of Black Friday retail sales. This is a simple primer on who to listen to when it comes to these sales forecasts.

A nice story that rewards hard work. But the business was sold and things will change. Trust me when I tell ya.

10 big energy myths. Build those windmills!

Exercise Yard

Soccer just can't get away from the racist chants. This time it's directed at Mido, as in "Mido, he's got a bomb, you know." Apparently, people think he's Richard Reid.

Visitor

29 Across: Actress Bullock (6 letters) Answer: Sandra