the predecessor to the jon stewarts and the stephen colberts of the world…the one who is the missing link between the fake news of snl and the fake news phenomenon of today(see dl hughley with his show on cnn…cnn!)is craig kilborn. the former sportscenter anchor turned faux headlines anchor turned(now)actor and behind the scenes producer used to have a daily moment of zen on his show. the kids would call it a wtf??? its a crazy, unbelievable, can’t make this up scene that leaves you speechless…and in wonder. i won’t(can’t)do this daily but will post whenever i see something….wow?

here’s your moment of zen:

Founder of Islamic TV station accused of beheading wife

NEW YORK (CNN) — The founder of an Islamic television station in upstate New York aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes has confessed to beheading his wife, authorities said.

last year i called my friend leo, leonardo and leopold, for christmas, noel and leotard.

last month, i called him leopatra, leoben(for bsg), leometro and bibliotecha

this month i’ve called him fileo fish and leodis.

so i asked our friend leo chen one day, if his name is short for anything or is it just leo? he said….just leo. it got me thinking where that name came from. then we just started making up origins of the name. and started calling him permutations of leo.

so for the next year, i’ll present one a week until we’ve exhausted the possibilities. i currently do not have 52 versions but only enough to get started. you can help if you’d like.

this week…..i will call my friend leo, leodore as suggested by step on me!

for most of this month, i will have entries based on suggestions by you! thanks so much for your suggestions! we had some of them on the list already but others we did not and they have been added! let me know if i don’t give you your props!

Posted under leo-graphy

when people come into the city, we are always surprised by where they want to visit or to go eat. they are equally surprised that we do not frequent those places or want to go eat there. no. i do not want to eat at ruby tuesdays , bennigans or tgifridays in times square. then they ask where we go……so here are the places we like…not the best or the cheapest or whatever category….just where we go and go on a regular basis…

projected for a summer opening, the upper west outpost opened closer to early fall….a downer at the time but time hurtles so quickly that all debts are forgiven…and i am thrilled that i no longer have to trek to madison square park for the best burger in the city. there are a few uws drink specialties but otherwise, its the same familar menu with great, fresh steer and dense uniquely flavored shake and ice cream options. ice cream flavors change seasonally and a new flavor is featured everyday.

the biggest difference from the original of course is that the uws shack is inside! there’s seating but its limited….i tend to go during off hours when there’s not as much traffic. large groups would not be recommended. i like to use the seating in the basement since that has not caught on yet. other than the line out the door the first week, the crowds have been on the thinner side with a slow trickle of business.

and here’s the money shot….the best d-mn burger in the city. padma from top chef also said so. then again, she married salman rushdie of her own free will. i look forward to the summer when i can take a run down to the shack on my sabbath, eat a greasy burger and down a fatty shake, go home and take a nap.

i was thinking that we need a mascot for duh!journal….or a funny pages section….or at least one regular comic strip. most newspapers and magazines have at least one of these. even the new york times….on sundays….in their magazine is a weekly strip. so i scoured the earth and am going to post the sasquatch ads from jack links beef jerky.

here’s one that never aired on tv! it was an internet exclusive and it will be obvious soon why….

these videos communicate duh! because the humans in the videos mess with the monster known as sasquatch with disastrous results. you don’t mess around with monsters!! what makes it double duh! is that the dumb@$$e$ buy, consume and enjoy the product the commercials are selling giving the subtle subtext of dumb@$$e$ eat and like our beef jerky; we’re dummies! and you can be just like us! by eating our products!

sure you could look them up on google or youtube…..so what would be the point of watching them here?….but isn’t that the case with any video that’s posted? maybe you have found out about the videos here….will watch them elsewhere….and relive them here as i post them periodically.

this movie was largely ignored by the oscars because i don’t think people knew what to do with it: the story of a racist old guy with a heart of gold? its about a korean war vet finding a whole new world right in his neighborhood because of reverse gentrification…his widely white reality is now populated with hmong and african americans. he doesn’t like it and he lets them and us know about it. however, a couple of kids find their way into his life and perhaps heart….and soon their problems become his.

i went to see this with a chinese friend of mine and we were laughing our heads off because of the racist jokes aimed at asians. the white folks in the audience didn’t feel that comfortable laughing. they didn’t know if they could! it was hilarious once you realize that clint doesn’t mean any of it but is trying to capture a reality that alternates between harmless and hazardous.

despite its abrasive outer shell, this is an old fashioned movie(in a good sense)exploring themes of life, death, love, family, revenge and redemption. there is meaning in the world and it is found in….(insert climatic point).

a personal sidenote is that i appreciate how the movie depicts faith, god and religion: mocked, naive, real, transformative, broken, life giving, subversive, incarnational…many aspects are fairly explored as opposed to the usual simple caricature usually offered.

i would watch this over and over again. clint eastwood dishes out reality and philosophy a mile a minute with sharp biting humor. i may even buy this if the price comes down. theresa may have liked this as well….i should have bought her but she is wary of my indie movie tastes.

most people would think that the new u2 video is my favorite video of the season…..
Get On Your Boots

but in reality, i like this mad, mad, mad world video. its all kinds of crazy. you’re in for a treat if you haven’t seen this yet…..

they may not always bring it in concert…but this video brings it!

this is not just another blah blah blah story where we are in the front row for another top bill. we were actually content not to be in the front row because of theresa’s pregnancy…she didn’t want to be crushed. she also needs to move around….and she needs to pee..and there’s no way getting back to the front once you depart. so we started off here. off to the side still with a great view. besides, we had church earlier in the evening and didn’t want to rush, cut out on hanging out with people just because of pit tickets.

we knew we would not be in the front row….

and theresa is not unhappy…that’s her regular smile. the frown smile. she’s in the pit at msg. that’s good enough. and baby seems to be excited…..she’s kicking up a storm.

then 3 giants moved in front of us and blocked our view! and we could see…the backs of big white dudes.

there was a spot in the front row open all night and i made the last second call to go up there. i think people did not embrace this spot because they thought it was too far left but it was better than standing behind that wall of goliaths. in fact, we were in a great spot! its the front row after all!

every band seems to artificially designate msg as the pinnacle of their career. perhaps its just nyc. perhaps its hype. perhaps its the acoustics….or perhaps it really is magic…this place and the people….

whatever it is….because of it…they bring their a-game!

the music was non-stop tonite. no chance to breathe. and what was wonderful was they played a longer concert. gone was the shorter 16 track teaser. in its place, the killers pumped out 20…almost in the u2 range….and yet another challenge to chris martin and his band.

again, the new songs made sense live. i don’t know what happens in translation from songwriting to studio ….but sometimes the spirit is diminished so they can be singles for mass consumption. live is the way they were intended to be!

i wanted to hear more of the new album though they played a hefty chunk of it.

in nyc, we got the favorite ‘on top’ which has not been played anywhere else on this leg. i still would have preferred another new track especially one of the slower ones that i have a hard time wrapping my mind around. also…i’m less motivated to be patient with them on my ipod. when its live, i’m held captive.

all in all….not bad for showing up late….front row railing is still front row railing…….and the killers always put on a great, great show!

with no new tickets from here until delivery…this might be it pre-baby.

post-baby? stay tuned.

duh!journal scours the earth for dumb behavior….some low brow…some high minded…all duh!

perhaps this is more whoops!journal than duh!journal…but there are a ton of people feeling pretty dumb and they are not named steinbrenner nor are they wearing yankee pinstripes…..

Rodriguez Faces Test at Ballpark Reopening

By the time the news broke that Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez had tested positive for steroids in 2003, the invitations had been out for weeks.

“The University of Miami,” they read, “cordially invites you to Dinner on the Diamond as we commemorate the Grand Opening of Alex Rodriguez Park and Start of the 2009 Hurricane Baseball Season.”

Boasting a personal appearance by Rodriguez, who donated $3.9 million to Miami’s project to renovate its ballpark, the invitation heralded the arrival of a “new era in Hurricanes baseball.”

What Miami did not anticipate was Rodriguez’s becoming the latest major leaguer to be linked to steroids.

On Saturday, six days before the scheduled dedication of Alex Rodriguez Park, reports emerged that Rodriguez had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs six years ago.

But the news is not expected to change Miami’s decision to rename the stadium, the sports information director Mark Pray told The Miami Herald. Still, because the event is a fund-raiser that depends heavily on Rodriguez’s popularity and charisma, the dedication could turn into an early gauge of how much his image will suffer.

A call to Rodriguez’s publicist was not returned, and several messages seeking comment from the Miami athletic department were also not returned Sunday.

Rodriguez did not actually attend Miami, but over the years he has become a patron of the baseball program. As a high school standout in baseball and football, he signed a letter of intent in 1993 to play both sports for the Hurricanes. But when the Seattle Mariners selected him with the first overall pick in the amateur draft that year, his signature on a professional contract took precedence.

As with most steroid matters these days, the Roger Clemens saga offers a parallel. A month after George J. Mitchell’s report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball linked him to steroids in December 2007, Clemens was scheduled to appear at a convention for the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association. At the time, the organization said that it was happy to give Clemens the benefit of the doubt and that he was still eager to address a group of about 1,000 coaches on his rigorous workout routines. Clemens spoke to the group in January 2008.

But the Texas group was not counting on Clemens to help it raise money.

Miami’s athletic department, charging its guests $75 each and $1,000 to sponsor a table at Friday’s dinner, has made its goals for Rodriguez’s appearance clear. He will be joined by Miami’s athletic director, Kirby Hocutt, the baseball coach Jim Morris and the 2009 Hurricanes team.

Rodriguez’s donation, the largest in the baseball program’s history, went toward upgrading and constructing facilities like a clubhouse, meeting and video rooms, a press box, four V.I.P. luxury suites and a weight room.

****************

maybe this is duh!journal crystal ball style….predicting how dumb people will feel and look like the people who will pay to show up to the event. and the officials running the event will feel at least conflicted playing nice to their million dollarsponsor.

this event has not happened yet! you can get still tickets in attempt to appear in the pages of duh!journal!

last year i called my friend leo, leonardo and leopold, for christmas, noel and leotard.

last month, i called him leopatra, leoben(for bsg), leometro and bibliotecha

this month i’ve called him fileo fish.

so i asked our friend leo chen one day, if his name is short for anything or is it just leo? he said….just leo. it got me thinking where that name came from. then we just started making up origins of the name. and started calling him permutations of leo.

so for the next year, i’ll present one a week until we’ve exhausted the possibilities. i currently do not have 52 versions but only enough to get started. you can help if you’d like.

this week…..i will call my friend leo, leodis as suggested by david!

for most of this month, i will have entries based on suggestions by you! thanks so much for your suggestions! we had some of them on the list already but others we did not and they have been added! let me know if i don’t give you your props!

Posted under leo-graphy

when people come into the city, we are always surprised by where they want to visit or to go eat. they are equally surprised that we do not frequent those places or want to go eat there. no. i do not want to eat at ruby tuesdays , bennigans or tgifridays in times square. then they ask where we go……so here are the places we like…not the best or the cheapest or whatever category….just where we go and go on a regular basis…

when we feel like indian food light or fake indian food or indian food for white people, we head here. and that’s not a slight. we approach this place like we approach other americanized ethnic food…we like it for what it is with our eyes wide open for what it is:that being light, healthy, satisfying wraps and rice plates.

and the wraps are humungo! this is a lot of food for the money.  the wraps are called dosas….we tried the
Avocado, Fresh Tomato, Arugula & Cheese w/Chicken, Smoked Turkey,Spinach,Jack Cheese & Balsamic Roasted Onions and a few others each served with your choice of chutneys: Cilantro, Curry,Mango, Tomato, or Peanut.

here’s a shot of the special: vegetable of the day, basmati rice, soup, grilled naan bread, chutney and yogurt with grilled chicken.

for quick food that you can feel good about literally and figuratively, come here….especially in the summer when you don’t want to be weighed down.

i was a bit apprehensive and suspicious when theresa told me about this place just because i’m not down with americans watering down things for their purposes…..but we were there when a clan of indian folks came in…i’m talking 15 to 20 family members and they seemed to have a good time whooping and hollering….so maybe it ain’t that fake? or maybe its just yummy to them too. and i must admit….