Neda Agha-Soltan

From CNN.com -

Agha-Soltan was with a family friend who is a music teacher when she was killed. He appears to be the man who spoke to Press TV.
"There was no sign of a protest," he said. "We crossed the street to the other side to get a cab. ... When we reached this spot, a gunshot was heard. There was no shooting here. ... There were no security forces in this street. There were around 20, 30 people in this street. One shot was heard, and that bullet hit Neda."
"The bullet was apparently fired from a small-caliber pistol that's not used by Iranian security forces," the Press TV anchor said.
Iran has strict gun-control laws that bar private citizens from carrying firearms.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he had seen the video of Agha-Soltan's death and called it "heartbreaking."
"And I think anyone who sees it knows there's something fundamentally unjust about it," he said.
The shaky video of her death -- probably made on a cell phone -- shows her walking with a man near an anti-government demonstration.
After being stuck in traffic for more than an hour inside a subcompact car with a poorly working air conditioner, Agha-Soltan and the friend decided to get out of the car for some fresh air, a friend of Agha-Soltan's told CNN after her death.
The two were near where protesters were chanting in opposition to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Agha-Soltan, wearing a baseball cap over a black scarf, a black shirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes, did not appear to be chanting and seemed to be observing the demonstration.
Suddenly, Agha-Soltan was on the ground -- felled by a gunshot wound to the chest. Several men knelt by her side and put pressure on her chest in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
"She has been shot! Someone, come and take her!" shouted one man.
By then, Agha-Soltan's eyes had rolled to her right; her body was limp.
Blood streamed from her mouth, then from her nose. For a second, her face was hidden from view as the camera went behind one of the men. When Agha-Soltan's face came back into view, it was covered with blood.

And now you've got Ahmadinejad calling the whole thing "suspicious" and the Iranian ambassador to Mexico (seriously, Mexico) saying it could have been the CIA.

We live in a world of fools.

Here is a video of the scene. It's very hard to watch.

Brazil 3 - USA 2

Argh, we were winning 2-0 in the Confederations Cup Final before Brazil handed out a beating. A bright spot in the loss, my boy Dempsey had the opener. On another note, what the hell is going on in South Africa with all the noise makers at the games? It sounds like a swarm of locusts descending upon the field or Crocodile Dundee waving that lanyard thing of his around in circles. If they let people have the little kazoo/horn things at the World Cup next year, I'll be watching the games on mute. Then again, if the commentary is the same as it was for this game, that will be another reason to mute the game. How many times did we hear, "This is the first FIFA cup final the U.S. has been in." Also, quit sugarcoating the loss. We were dominated in the second half.

The obits - Billy Mays

Welcome to more of the Citizen Grant obituaries! Today, it was reported that Billy Mays was found dead at his house, KA-BOOM! He was found on the floor, scrub brush in hand, after apparently trying to OxiClean grape juice, red wine, and blood stains out of his carpet. But seriously, I think it was the other guy from "Pitchmen" who took out the sleeping, bearded king of the infomercial.

He made Thriller... Thriller

Well I guess the question I posed in my last post was answered quickly. Michael Jackson is dead. They said it may have been cardiac arrest. There's your triple: McMahon, Fawcett, and Jacko. I guess I'm glad I didn't splurge for those London comeback tickets.

First Ed McMahon and now Farrah Fawcett

Who will round out this threesome of celebrity deaths? Did you know Farrah died of anal cancer? Seriously. Anal cancer. They could have just put that she died after a long battle with cancer. Period. But no, they had to make me giggle morbidly when I read the words "anal cancer." Thanks CNN.

Alice in Wonderland

Tim Burton is making "Alice in Wonderland" so you know it's going to be visually insane. Here are some pics of Depp as the Mad Hatter, Bonham-Carter as the Queen of Hearts and Hathaway (mmm, at least in this pic) as the White Queen.

parasitic twins and giant tumors

Why are the subjects on the TLC and Science channel shows about people who have something abnormal growing on their bodies all from Asia? My guess is lack of adequate health care, but still, you'd think a few Americans would get a freakshow special for something other than being fat, midgets, or fat midgets. Where is our lobster boy? Where is our pinhead? Where is our 200lb tumor? Where is our woman with an otherwise normal body aside from her gigantic legs and feet? Where is our octopus man with his hairy, parasitic twin growing out of his abdomen that his wife keeps combed for the camera? C'mon America, we're attention whores and we can't even turn out a smidgen of freaky TV fodder. I guess the terrorists win.

Maxime Boisclair - the Haitian Great One

Maxime Boisclair is the only player who comes up when you google "haitian hockey." He currently plays in Canada, but has never been able to break through to the NHL. What they don't say in his mini-bio is how a kid from Port-au-Prince comes to the decision to play hockey. I will fill in the blanks.

Much like the Jamaican bobsled team, Maxime wanted to be an original. He crafted "sand skates" out of palm fronds and you couldn't go a day without seeing him gliding across the beaches, sand kicking up behind him as he blazed by the other boys playing football. His first hockey stick was improvised from an old goat leg bone. He used hard dirt cakes as pucks. The elders thought an evil spirit had inhabited his body. His father disowned him. No girls would give them a second look. Yet he continued to hone his skills with only the support of his mother.

When Maxime was 16, he left Haiti to go north to Canada to live with some distant relatives. His mother gave him all of her money and her love. When he arrived, oh how different he found the ice to be. So used to sand skating, it took him months of constant practice to master the ice. He finally had a regulation stick, gloves, and real pucks. No more goat legs and dirt cakes for young Maxime. The Canadian girls were drawn to him for his hockey prowess and Creole accent. He rose through the Juniors and found himself playing in the minors.

These days you can find kids all over Haiti trying to be like Maxime. The fights over old goat bones is fierce, but as Maxime says, this will toughen them up for the checks to come when they find the ice. Sand skates are huge now and Nike is even looking into making an Air Max.

Oh wait, there is a guy named Claude Vilgrain who actually played in the NHL.

And here's another guy named Maxime Fortunus who plays.

In my heart, Maxime Boisclair will always be the first and the great one, even though Claude played earlier and actually made it to the NHL.

Albert Pujols

This is the blurb from the score recap on MSNBC.com:

Cardinals 12, Royals 5: Albert Pujols (4-5, 2 HR, 2B, 6 RBI) can't be bargained with. He can't be reasoned with, He doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And he absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.

And that is why I love him.

Quote of the Day

"I got the whole wiener in my mouth." - Logan after finishing a hot dog.

Bill Hader

Another reason Tulsa, OK is awesome. Bill Hader is from there. Who knew?

FIFA 10 and Shutter Island

Hell yeah, Wayne Rooney is one of the players they chose to show off with new screenshots. By the way, Man Utd pulled Birmingham for the season opener on Aug. 15th.

For you non-football fans, check out the trailer to Martin Scorsese's new movie Shutter Island. It looks awesomely creepy.

The Dead Weather - Louisville, KY 6/11/2009

Oh, so sleepy today. We drove down to Louisville from Indy to see The Dead Weather last night. The venue was packed and hotter than hell. Seriously, Ted Leo at the Emerson hot for the opener and about 20 degrees hotter once Jack took up the drums and Allison Mosshart started pumping out pure sex on stage. We only got to stay through about 7-8 songs (~45min) since we had to drive back to relieve the sitter, but they sounded pretty good. It's tough to report any details from the show, because I don't know much of their music yet. It's not like you can go the show and get excited because they're playing your favorite track. I recognized "Treat me like your mother" and that was about it. They did get me excited about the album though. Jack wailed on the drums. Allison skulked around looking like she was ready to fuck right on stage. Jack Lawrence tore up the bass and Dan Ferrita played some very Jack White like guitar. I wish we could have stayed for the whole set, but such is life and really, they probably only played 4 or 5 more songs.

Oh, we did meet Ted and Alicia from Indy, so hello to them. Ted took some video, so you might want to search youtube in the near future.

Ronaldo on the front page

Wow, Cristiano Ronaldo is being offered $131M to go to Real Madrid. What's crazier is that it was on the front page of msnbc.com. To Ronny, if you want, I can fly over to England and help you pack. Have fun flopping in Spain you arrogant prick. He helped out the Red Devils for several years, but I for one am glad to see him go. And after checking espnsoccer.net, it looks like Manchester United is accepting the offer.

With United losing Ronaldo and probably Tevez and with rumors (or rumours since we're talking English football) of Vidic being pursued, what will happen to the champs?

Unicorns!!!

Here's something I learned in a sporcle quiz. A group of mice is a mischief. Walruses form an ugly. Eagles and owls are a convocation and a parliament respectively. But, the best has to be for animals of the magical nature. If you ever find a big group of unicorns prancing around on a hillside, you should call the group a blessing and in your very best Irish accent, you should say, "In all me days a-walkin' along this godfersakin' hillside, I never seen such a blessing of unicarns. Me pappy once told me, sonny, if you ever find yerself lookin upon those magical horny creatures, ye best run fer ye bleedin life before you catch one a them horns in yer arse."

By the way, here is a link with a load of other animal group names.

I'm stealthy like a cat...

Oh me oh my, I am in dire need of a nap. It is 11:45 and I have been at work for 6 hours already. I needed to get some compounds in and they all needed work, but I got all 3 in bitches. I rose at 5, got dressed in the bathroom and snuck out without waking anyone, not even the dog. I got gas, saw a flipped over car on Prospect street (no people inside, but it was exciting to get out, look and call the cops) and strolled in to the lab at around 5:40 or so. Now I need someone to keep my eyes open Clockwork Orange style for the rest of the day. I need to be rested as tomorrow night will be a night of listening to the Dead Weather in Louisville.

Now back to the car, it was flipped over in the middle of the road. The airbags had been deployed, but the driver was nowhere to be found. Was it a drunk who crawled out and ran? Was it a tweeker who chewed his way through the seat belt and scrambled out for more meth? Was it a terminator sent from the future to destroy the woman who will one day bear the child who will save humanity from the risen machines? I didn't see any blood, so I'm going with the terminator theory.

Carradine yet again...

Carradine was into deviant sexual behavior according to court documents. It was one of the cited reasons in his divorce from his 4th wife. The documents also say an incestuous affair was involved with a close family member of his. Does this mean he let one of his brothers have a go at his wife? Or does it mean he hopped in with his wife and a family member? Either way, ewwww.

Oh grasshopper

David Carradine may not have committed suicide as it has been disclosed that the rope was around both necks. That's right kiddies, he had a cord tied around his neck and his genitals. What a way to go out... on a wank (insert Michael Hutchence joke here). I don't know about anybody else out there, but I have never tied anything around my balls on a lonesome night. Me thinks that would hurt. Nor have I ever tried giving myself a yank with a noose around my neck. Call me old fashioned (or maybe just a purist in the art), but give me an old sock and a look at a naked lady and I'm good to go.

David Carradine

The Kung-Fu legend apparently hung himself in a hotel in Thailand. I had the pleasure of once sharing a beer with Mr. Carradine. It was at the Hard Rock in St. Thomas. We were on vacation with people from Lindy's work and heard that he was going to be playing music there. So we went just to say that we had gone. We sat towards the back and while he was waiting to go on stage he hung at the back as well. I offered him a beer from our table's bucket which he declined, but later when he had ordered an Antiguan beer he looked down at me, handed me the bottle, and said, "Here, take a nick offa this." There were maybe two more sentences spoken, but the beer was cold and good. He went on to get on stage and sing a few songs interspersed with stories about his career. He gave a newlywed bride a kiss and at one point told the crowd to "shut the fuck up" as he was trying to tell a story about a biopic he was in about Woody Guthrie. It was a fun night. Rest in peace David Carradine.

Happy 30th Lindy

It's my lovely wife's 30th birthday. Happy Birthday Goofy!

Charlie Murphy

Charlie Murphy is Leroy Smith, the man who motivated Michael Jordan. This is what you can find by clicking on ad banners on websites.

http://www.getyourbasketballon.com/home/index.html?cid=LS01GAW01#/smith