Catching Ducks

A new classic:

Labels: Sherlock, title sequence

Seen here:


"science facts: did u know that if you laid 3 elephants end to end on a basketball court, the game would be cancelled? what an incredible world we live in."

Labels: random silliness

Edited by Jen Campbell:


customer: Hi, I've got a book on reserve and I've come to pick it up.

bookseller: Sure, what's your name, and what was the title of the book?

customer: My name's Stuart and it was volume one of The Waverley Children's Dictionary.

bookseller: I'm sorry, I can't see that on our reserve shelf. When did you come in and reserve it?

customer: Oh, it was a while ago now.

bookseller: A couple of weeks?

customer: No... more like a year and a half.

bookseller: I'm afraid we only reserve books for a month and then they have to back out in the store. We don't have the space to keep them to one side for longer.

customer: But I was really looking forward to reading that!

Labels: books

Jayda Evans reports that Jazmine Davis and Talia Walton (and another player) will miss Thursday's game against Stanford for "violation of team rules".

That's two of their starters! I didn't think they'd beat Standford, anyway, but there's no way they can win without those two.

Labels: college basketball

"You're So Vain"


You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf, it was apricot
You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte
And all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner

You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you
You're so vain, I'll bet you think this song is about you

You had me several years ago when I was still quite naive
Well you said that we made such a pretty pair
And that you would never leave
But you gave away the things you loved and one of them was me
I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee

You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you
You're so vain, I'll bet you think this song is about you

Well I hear you went up to Saratoga and your horse naturally won
Then you flew your lear jet up to Nova Scotia
To see the total eclipse of the sun
Well you're where you should be all the time
And when you're not, you're with
Some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend

You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you
You're so vain, I'll bet you think this song is about you

Labels: music

Katie Smith has signed with New York. Their new coach, Bill Lambier, was her coach at Detroit. They won two championships together.

Labels: Seattle Storm, WNBA

I saw it here:


"if you’re ever feeling lazy just remember that the ancient greeks believed their gods lived on top of a very climbable hill but no one even bothered to check"

Labels: random silliness

From "Being Human 1955" (4.02):


Tom: I ain't done naught!

Annie: You haven't done anything.

Tom: Exactly!

Annie: No, Tom, I'm not agreeing with you. Your grammar is appalling.

Labels: Being Human

Today's game against Seton Hall was UConn's "Senior Night". Aside from tournaments, I think that means it was Kelly Faris' (and Caroline Doty's and Heather Buck's) last home game.


Here's a cool article about Kelly Faris and her dad.

And pictures!

Labels: UConn basketball

As quoted by John Altavilla, regarding UConn shooting 11-19 from the foul line in today's game against Seton Hall:


"Seton Hall's free throw defense was very good."

Labels: UConn basketball

Can't embed it, click here.

Still spooky, after all these years!

Labels: The X-Files, title sequence

From "Scar" (2.15):


Starbuck: You know, the President says that we're saving humanity for a bright, shiny future o­n Earth. That you and I are never gonna see. We're not. Because we go out over and over again until someday, some metal motherfrakker is gonna catch us o­n a bad day and just blow us away.

Apollo: Bright, shiny futures are overrated anyway.

Labels: Battlestar Galactica

From "Ahoy, Mateys!" (2.08):


[Veronica is helping Logan prove he's innocent of murder.]

Logan: Didn't your dad say that the cigar store's a front for drug dealers? I mean, that's gotta be something.

Veronica: Or not. Sometimes a cigar store is just a cigar store.

Logan: Well, I'll remember to be quippy when you're looking at twenty-to-life.

Veronica: Oh, you're being a jackass. It must be an even-numbered day. I do so prefer the odd-numbered days when you're kissing my ass for a favor.

Logan: Well, you find out why this plastic surgeon is trying to get me sent away for killing Felix, and I will make sure that all even-numbered days are removed from the calendar.

Labels: Veronica Mars

Swish Appeal has a nice article about four guard draft prospects, and how they've improved their draft stock this year (or not).

Three of the four are players that I think Coach Agler has taken a look at. (I know he's visited those three schools, and my understanding is that they are each the top prospect from each of those schools.)


Kelly Faris, UConn

There will always be questions about Faris' ability as a scorer and she hasn't played herself into being an elite prospect who could fill a starting role right away, but her overall efficiency combined with steady improvement over the course of her career - in which she has been overshadowed by WNBA-bound teammates – is encouraging. What we know is that she can fill a supporting role next to elite players and do it extremely well, which is something that's actually a valuable "skill".


Tayler Hill, Ohio State

Overall, Hill is an elite prospect, not in the sense that she'll single-handedly change a team's fortunes, but that she could almost certainly contribute something to a rotation right away on both ends.


A'dia Mathies, Kentucky

Mathies' athleticism and starring role on a top 10 team will probably help her get drafted higher than some players with better statistics, but the track record of inefficient college scorers in the WNBA hasn't been great in recent years.


The fourth player is Anna Martin from DePaul. Coach Agler hasn't been spotted at DePaul, and she was injured when DePaul played UConn, so I think we can skip her....

Labels: Seattle Storm, UConn basketball

I understand why they signed Temeka Johnson. She's a reliable (if short) back-up point guard.

Noelle Quinn....? I don't understand that.

And here's another one I don't really get: Nakia Sanford.

Veteran post player, but -- as someone on RebKell pointed out -- she lost her starting spot on the Phoenix Mercury to Krystal Thomas. (The Storm drafted Thomas in 2011 and then cut her halfway through the season.)

Labels: Seattle Storm

From "The Top Hat Job" (2.06):


Hardison: This is the vice president of the frozen foods division, Erik Casten. Erik with a K, Casten with a C.

Nate: And how is that relevant?

Parker: Oh, Eric with a C? Nice and friendly. Erik with a K? Evil.

Sophie: I didn't know that.

Parker: Everybody knows that.

Labels: Leverage

Despite the fact that I found a bunch of "opening credits for [tv show] in the style of Angel" videos, there is a serious lack of videos of the real opening credits on YouTube. (But this one for Community is kind of fun -- and really highlights that they've had a surprisingly large number of "fight" episodes on that show!)


There's this one, which is from season one, but is poor quality:




And then there's this one, which shows off the gorgeous song, but crams ALL the actors from ALL the seasons into one title sequence:

Labels: Angel, Community, title sequence

Alysa Auriemma is UConn Coach Auriemma's daughter. Her twitter feed is protected, so I can't see it, but luckily someone else collected her tweets about last night's game:


Aside from the fact [Brittney] Griner should have been thrown out of the game for nearly endangering a player's life, good game.

That being said, we are young and highly incapable of closing tough games. We don't have any players aside from KML [Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis] and Kelly [Faris] who FIGHT.

You know why we won all of those games when Diana [Taurasi] played here? Diana simply would not allow anything less than a win. We need that.

When the body runs out of gas, the mind should take over and push. We need the mental toughness down the stretch.

And holy shit I am a glass of wine and a sweater vest away from turning into my Dad. Getting off the internet before shit gets weird.

Also, someone who needs to have a mid-season check? Breanna Stewart. She has to get over the slump. Now.


[Breanna Stewart, the highly-touted freshman, played just a few minutes and scored no points. Morgan Tuck, on the other hand, had a very solid game for a freshman. Probably the best I've seen her play. Eleven points, I think, including a triple.]

Labels: UConn basketball

At 6pm Pacific, both of "my" college teams had televised games. Washington played Oregon State, and I assumed they'd win. Connecticut played Baylor, and I assumed they'd lose.

In the first half of the Washington game, the Huskies couldn't hit the broad side of the barn. They were playing decent defense though, and went into the half only down 18-22. (At one point in the first half, Jayda Evans wrote: "Folks are probably watching the matchup between No. 1 Baylor at No. 3 UConn on ESPN than this game on the Pac-12 Networks and that’s a good thing. UW is now 2-for-18 from the field and down 13-8 because OSU is 4-of-16 shooting.")

The second half wasn't much prettier, but Washington ground it out and won 49-44.

In Connecticut, it was a very different story. UConn came out of the gate on fire. At one point in the first half they had an eleven point lead. By halftime Baylor (the "Lady" Bears -- barf) had pulled to within three, but UConn had led all the way.

The second half was a different story. It was a battle back and forth for much of it, with many lead changes and a couple ties. By the last few minutes, though, Baylor had a small lead and held it until the end, winning 76-70.

I bet the media is going to fawn all over Brittney Griner and her 25 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. Which is a good stat line, don't get me wrong. But UConn's Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (who is only 6', mind you, nowhere near the 6'8" of Griner) had 26 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 blocks. I'm biased, of course, but I think KML's performance was the more impressive.


Edited to add: Midway through the first half, Brittney Griner got called for a flagrant 1 foul. (Which even the announcers agreed she deserved.) As everyone was running to the other end of the court, she reached out, grabbed Stefanie Dolson's arm, and threw her to the ground. Dolson didn't have the ball. Dolson wasn't anywhere near the ball. Hence the flagrant foul. Later in the game, underneath the basket, Griner did the same thing. The announcers thought it was another flagrant 1 foul, or at least a regular foul. Nothing was called this time. My point is: I don't like Brittney Griner.

But hey, she's going to play for Phoenix next year, so I can boo her to my heart's content!

Labels: college basketball, UConn basketball

From here:


"please learn how to use 'literally' because if you tell me that a boy 'literally took your breath away and stole your heart' i'm just gonna assume he choked you to death and then sold your heart on the organ black market"

Labels: grammar, random silliness

From "Busted" (3.01):


Michael: Mr. Seligman, I know you hate my guts. Personally, I hate yours, too.

Mr. Seligman: This is how you ask a favor?

Michael: But if you help me graduate this year, then you won't have to see me next year.

Mr. Seligman: Well, you do have a point there.

Labels: Roswell

From the Arkady Renko novel Stalin's Ghost:


Eva: [Zurin said] you are "familiar with Stalin issues"? What did Zurin mean by that?

Arkady: My father knew Stalin.

Eva: They were friends?

Arkady: That's hard to say. Stalin had most of his friends shot.

Labels: books

The 6'2" center for the UW Huskies, who is a legitimate contender for Pac-12 freshman-of-the-year:

Labels: college basketball

This actually reminds me of a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon...


"the english language may be difficult to learn but at least we dont insist on assigning genders to inanimate objects"


p.s. While I was looking for that Calvin & Hobbes strip I found this. Awesome!

Labels: Calvin and Hobbes, random silliness

They remixed the song and changed the style for season three, but I prefer the classic:

Labels: title sequence, Veronica Mars

From this post:


"[Kelly] Faris has 968 points, 725 rebounds, 490 assists, and 262 steals. Only Maya Moore, a four-time All-American, has ever scored 1,000 points with 750 rebounds, 500 assists and 250 steals in their career."

Labels: UConn basketball

From "Heartache" (8.03):


Dean: Wow. [I go] to Purgatory for a year, [and] all hell breaks loose. Check this out: Jogger in Minneapolis gets his heart ripped out.

Sam: I'm guessing [you mean] literally.

Dean: Only way that interests me. And then there's another article from six months ago. Same thing happens, also in Minneapolis. What's that tell us?

Sam: Stay out of Minneapolis.

Labels: Supernatural

The title sequence from True Blood: cool, creepy, and quite obviously from a pay cable show...

Labels: title sequence, True Blood

Bayliss: You never say please. You never say thank you.

Pembleton: Please don't be an idiot. Thank you."

Labels: TV

The pictures really sell it:


REAL MEN PLAY FOOTBALL

IN THE RAIN

OR IN THE SNOW

BUT NOT IN THE DARK, CAUSE THAT'S SCARY

Labels: sports

Some TV shows have good title sequences, some have boring title sequences, and some don't have title sequences at all.


I really like the title sequence for Due South, possibly because it features clips of Paul Gross looking ridiculously handsome.


Due South, early seasons:




Due South, later seasons:

Labels: Due South, title sequence

From "Crusader" (4.08):


Najara: Would you like to join our mission?

Xena: What's your mission?

Najara: To fight evil wherever we find it.

Xena: Can you be a little more specific?

Labels: Xena

Chris Hadfield is an astronaut on the space station. He tweets awesome space pictures every day. One day, he received a tweet from a different type of spaceman....


William Shatner: Are you tweeting from space?

Chris Hadfield: Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain. And we're detecting signs of life on the surface.

[later]

Chris Hadfield: With George Takei posting about our space comms, all we need is Leonard Nimoy to beam in and we'd have an away team! :)

George Takei: I'm fine with beaming down with the away team, as long as I don't have to wear the red shirt.

Chris Hadfield: I'm proud of being Canadian, but after [this] twitter conversation am starting to question wearing this red shirt.

Wil Wheaton: If you get into trouble with Nanites while you're in orbit, I know a guy who can help you contain them. He has experience.

Chris Hadfield: Wesley, we've talked about you being on the bridge. I believe you're needed in Engineering. :)

[later]

Leonard Nimoy: Cmdr Hadfield, Live long and prosper.

Chris Hadfield: I am not Spock either, but living and working in this spaceship comes pretty close. Life mirrors art. Live long and prosper, Leonard Nimoy.

[later]

Buzz Aldrin: Neil & I would've tweeted from the moon if we could have but I would prefer to tweet from Mars. Maybe by 2040.

Labels: random awesomeness, Star Trek

From "The Bank Shot Job" (1.05):


[In the midst of heist gone wrong...]

Hardison: We have bigger problems.

Eliot: What's that?

Hardison: Sheriff Coltrane called the FBI ... The real FBI. Now, the closest office is in San Diego, so they should be here in about forty-five minutes.

Nate: We can't worry about that now.

Hardison: When do we worry about it?

Nate: In about forty-five minutes.

Labels: Leverage

Today the Storm announced that they had signed Temeka Johnson and Noelle Quinn.

Johnson is short, but one of the better back-up point guards in the league. Sue Bird needs a proper back-up, so I guess this is fine.

But Quinn? I remember Quinn playing for LA in 2010. I think she played for Washington last year? I don't remember ever being even vaguely impressed with her game.


In related news: Tulsa must be hoping that Skylar Diggins lives up to her hype. They just lost both of their veteran point guards from last season. (Johnson to Seattle, and Ivory Latta to Washington.) They have the #3 pick in the draft, and everyone's assuming they'll take Diggins. If she isn't everything she's been hyped to be, they're in deep doo-doo.


Speaking of the draft.... Someone on the Rebkell forums pointed out that if the Storm miss the playoffs this year, the 2014 draft will have Odyssey Sims. I've wanted Sims to play for the Storm since the first time I saw her play, back in November 2010. I guess that's the bright side of having a bad 2013 season?

Labels: Seattle Storm, WNBA

From "Dead Guy Running" (3.09):


[They're talking about being on stake-outs.]

Fraser: I once stood watching an empty cabin for eleven days. 

Ray: Did you know it was empty at the time? 

Fraser: Not for the first nine days, no. 

Labels: Due South

The Storm announced today that Lauren Jackson will be missing the entire 2013 season to recover from her hamstring surgery.

She's had many injuries in the last few years, and I'm sure she needs the time to rest and recuperate, but.... I'm very sad.

They also announced that Ann Wauters has decided not to play in the WNBA this summer.

That leaves the Storm with very few post players: Camille Little, Ewalina Kobryn, and Tina Thompson (assuming she comes back).

Jayda Evans also reports that Jana Vesela and Silvia Dominguez will be fulfilling national team obligations this summer, so they won't be coming, either.

She did say that they were in talks with Abby Bishop, to see if she wants to try again in the WNBA. I'm not sure how I feel about that -- I wasn't really impressed with her in 2010.

The problem is, there aren't that many available post players. Kevin Pelton (who was the Storm's stat guy, until recently) suggests Kara Braxton as the top prospect, and that's a scary thought.

The good news is that they do have some extra money: Since LJ told them she would be gone for the entire season, they "suspended" her, which means they don't have to count her salary towards the cap.

This could be a tough season to be Storm fan.

Labels: Seattle Storm

I saw it here:


Tumblr #1: imagine if you could screenshot real life

Tumblr #2: camera. that thing you're talking about is a camera

Tumblr #3: guys maybe it's time we go outside.

Labels: random silliness

From this comic:


parent: No, you can't go.

teen: But all my friends --

parent: If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?

teen: Oh jeez. Probably.

parent: What!? Why!?

teen: Because all my friends did. Think about it -- which scenario is more likely: Every single person I know, many of them levelheaded and afraid of heights, abruptly went crazy at exactly the same time.... or the bridge is on fire?

Labels: comics

Labels: Community

According to UConn reporter John Altavilla, she has a 4.0 GPA this quarter.

I don't know what her major is, nor do I care. She could be majoring in figurative basket-weaving, and I would still think that that was impressive. Especially when you consider how much time she has to spend in practice, in the gym, and on the road.

Labels: UConn basketball

At the end of Supernatural's seventh season, Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Castiel (Misha Collins) were stuck in Purgatory. The beginning of season eight had many flashbacks to their time there. This interview asked the most important question about those scenes:


And of course, because serious journalism is very important to us, we had to ask both men why Castiel had a beard in Purgatory and Dean did not. "Well, it's because he's an angel, and all of his badass angel powers were congregating into his hair follicles because of the intense pressure of the atmosphere in Purgatory," Misha says.

Jensen's response is a little bit different. "The answer I got from the writers was 'Dean has knives,'" he says.

Labels: Supernatural

One of the reasons it's been interesting following Minnesota punter Chris Kluwe on Twitter is that it's an unusual point-of-view from the NFL. From the Superbowl today, right at the end of the game:


"Wonder if the Ravens take a safety here. Would make sense."


And a few minutes later:

"Don't wanna say I told you so, but... You know."


He then enters into a long conversation with his followers, explaining how the holding really didn't matter. (Basically saying the same things that Soto said at our party.)


He ends with:

"Long story short - that's a play we practice every year for just that situation."

Labels: sports

From "Bugged" (2.04):


Vicki: Who's gonna tell me what's going on?

Mike: It's best if you don't know.

Vicki: Best if I don't know what?

Henry: Telling you would kind of defeat the purpose of "it's best if you don't know."

Labels: Blood Ties

I mean, really.

There's a song I've been hearing on the radio, but when I finally heard a DJ tell me the name of the artist, it wasn't anyone I'd ever heard of before, and I was driving so I couldn't write it down right away, so of course I forgot.

And I couldn't remember the name of the song, or any of the lyrics, or anything helpful like that.

All I could remember was that at the end of the song, there's a sound like a boat creaking in the water. So I typed into google: "song with the boat creaking at the end"

The first three results were all about the song I was looking for.

I thought that was pretty impressive!

Labels: computers, music

Back in 1978, a group of Soviet geologists found a family living in the Siberian wilderness that hadn't had any other human contact for forty years. They were completely unaware of World War Two. They'd never seen cellophane. The two youngest children had never met anyone outside of their family, ever.

Crazy, creepy, and fascinating.


[h/t Go Fug Yourself]

Labels: random weirdness

From "The Frame Up Job" (5.11):


Sterling: [to the other Interpol agents] Arrest them both.

Sophie: On what charge?

Sterling: Theft?

Nate: We brought you back the paintings.

Sterling: Obstructing an investigation.

Sophie: We're helping you with your investigation.

Sterling: Being annoying and crazy!

Labels: Leverage