NOW I'm pissed...

Oil hits >$140 a barrel and the price at the pump nears $5...OK, I took it in stride.

They closed one of my Starbucks locations. Big deal, there are 6 more within walking distance I can get to.

The swim is cancelled at the World AG Triathlon Championships AND they screw up the results, pretty much wasting the time and effort I put into the race. Sucks, but I had another race two weeks later and moved on.

But today, the fun folks at Hasbro and Mattel have really pissed me off. They have caused the shut down of Scrabulous, a Scrabble-like application on Facebook. Apparently, this is the second time they've done this - they killed a Google maps version of Risk last year (?). They'd threatened such action against Scrabulous since a suit was filed back in January, but everyone kept playing and the Indian brothers that created Scrabulous continued to play their hands (er, tiles).

Today, I signed on to Scrabulous and found a message telling me that it has been turned off. How else am I supposed to waste time between (OK, sometimes during) phone calls and work assignments? How else am I supposed to prove (or disprove) my intellectual superiority among friends?

This is a pretty dumb move by Hasbro/Mattel and flies in the face of what most organizations have learned about social networking and the nature of the Internet. OK, the brothers generate some $25,000 per month with Scrabulous. But - BIG DEAL!! How many times did I think of Scrabble before playing Scrabulous? Um....NONE!! Not in the last 5-10 years, anyway. So brighter minds might have approached Scrabulous more openly, tried to capitalize on their success, done cross-promotion, bought them out, etc. All this does is create ill will -- and TAKES AWAY SOMETHING I LIKE WITH NO SUBSTITUTE!

Basically, this sucks. I'd tell you the point value of "sucks", but my memory isn't that good.

Review of "The Dark Knight"

Movie reviews are new for this blog, but what the heck. Since I wrote it for Fandango, I figured I might as well share it.

The Dark (and Long) Knight
It's not often a 2:30 movie can hold your attention throughout, but "The Dark Knight" delivers, largely on the purple shoulders of Heath Ledger's performance. Aaron Eckhardt (and some pretty good makeup) was surprisingly good, even Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine meshed nicely with Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne and Batman personas. OK, Batman's gravelly voice was just a bit annoying, but it was Heath Ledger's psychopathic Joker that drives this movie. Even when not on screen, you know he's lurking; you know he's going to be back and his mania pervades the way that all the characters act. The sound is edited well and while loud, punctuates the movie well; I got just a BIT tired of the "Joker" music that would accompany some psychopathic episiode of violence he would commit, but that's a nit. Physically, emotionally and vocally, Heath Ledger's Joker has to be one of THE best performed villians of all time. The good news is that the rest of the cast (even Gary Oldman) works, too.

US Olympic Committee to focus exclusively on 3-5 events

Colorado Springs, CO: To help concentrate its competitive and marketing energies more precisely for future Olympic competitions, the USOC will eliminate nearly all sports from its ranks in favor of focusing more heavily on the following events:

- Swimming: 400 IM
- Track and Field: 100M
- Gymnastics: Balance Beam (women)
- Basketball: Men

Noting that recently televised Olympic trials competitions have had pathetic TV ratings (of course, track and field is being shown between 11pm and 1am on the east coast) and that most Americanscan't sit still for more than 3 minutes at a stretch, the USOC will narrow its portfolio to three specific events it feels are "draws" plus one that is always a joy...the US Men's "Dream Team" for basketball.

"If only Michael Phelps could fence, sail or wrestle", said USOC spokesperson Mitch Desmond. "Then we'd be able to keep these events and populate them with other US athletes." Indeed, the USOC feels that there are about 3 amateur athletes that viewers can actually remember and be interested in, notwithstanding an occasional interest in beach volleyball.

Athletes in "lesser" sports that will be eliminated were said to be exploring dual citizenship or defection in order to ensure their ability to compete in Olympic games going forward.

Amy Winehouse and Nelson Mandela - What's Wrong With This Picture?

I can't be the only one that - having heard or seen the Nelson Mandela birthday concert - thinks that it is just a BIT incongruous that Amy Winehouse was one of the headliners for the man that pretty much ended Apartheid in South Africa, spent YEARS in jail because of it and then led his country and citizens forward.

OK, I realize she is an "entertainer" and I personally like her music, but after seeing 3/4 of Queen (plus a Freddie Mercury substitute - not sure whom it was - that was pretty good), Winehouse came on to lead the entire group of singers in a Nelson Mandela song. Not only could I not understand what she was saying, but her Michael Jackson-esque skirt grabbing (he grabbed something else, but you get my drift) and less than rhythmic swaying seemed just a bit...far gone.

I should feel sorry for her, you say, since she's been recently diagnosed with Emphysema, the result of smoking pretty much anything that passed near her lungs? Maybe, but not too much - it IS her own choice.

One would think, though, that a better representative could have been substituted despite her music chart leading status. I don't know...Britney wasn't available?