These ‘shops of the opening of CSI:Miami have had me in stitches. I’m pretty sure that this is now my favorite pun ever.

I had the opportunity to check out a Gotham Girls roller derby bout last night. Some observations:

• The event is dry, I assume because it’s held in a college gymnasium. Fortunately, they have a pre-party as well as an after-party venue.
• The teams have cheerleaders jeerleaders. The Queens of Pain also have a gimp mascot who skates around with a paddle holding up signs encouraging the crowd to “OBEY” and “SUBMIT”.
• The Bronx Gridlock uniforms are great.
• Beyonslay plays for the Bronx Gridlock.
• The amount of bench support the Queens got compared to the Gridlock was strikingly different. The manager for the Queens (Buster Cheatin’?) was very engaged, pretty much always waving and hollering at the skaters, while the Gridlock pretty much let the jammers and the blockers do their own thing.

A collection of totally unrelated things that I’ve learned from some of my recent travels:

• There are many places in New York City and Door County, WI that don’t take Discover Card. What’s up with that?
• Based on my extensive sampling of two coffeeshops in Cleveland, OH (Santa Fe Cafe and a Starbucks), Cleveland is unaware of the existence of French soda.
• There are a number of rivers in the United States that flow from south to north.
• Coast in Milwaukee has excellent coffee. I believe, but am not certain, that the server said that they got a custom roast from Boom Brothers. Either way, great espresso, and the food was better than a stick in the eye too.
• The “draft” in “Miller Genuine Draft” refers to the fact that the beer has not been heat-pasteurized. This is, of course, totally unrelated to what anyone who drinks actual, real, honest–to–god good beer means if they say “draft beer“.

This past Saturday, I watched the Hell’s Belles and the Double Crossers compete for the Ivy King Cup. The game was tight; in the end, the Belles took it, but the Double Crossers kept ’em to four points.

The bout between the Black Plague and White Unicorns was worth seeing as well. I think the announcers said this is the second year straight that Mike Ondolences has put in a winning bid in the “coach a bout” auction, and he’s been victorious both times.

My photos from the game are available on Picasa Web.

I finally got around to posting some reviews of Z Frank Chevrolet (BAD) and Reliable Auto (GOOD) on Yelp. While I was there, I couldn’t help but speak up about a few other places too.

We had a storm this afternoon. There was some wind.
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Following a tag from Emily…

1. I enjoy cold weather.
2. I eat and enjoy almost all foods, with notable exceptions being button mushrooms and raw celery.
3. I roast my own coffee.
4. I can reach over my toes and touch my heels when I stretch.
5. I don’t watch television when I’m at home.
6. I think Babylon 5 is the best television series ever.
7. I know the Greek alphabet, but am in no way Greek.
8. I get agitated when anything moves or makes noise unexpectedly on the Web.

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Just finished “Over There”.

It’s better. Not great, or even really good, but I wouldn’t brand it DNPIM like “Over Here”.

The first part of the episode was pure filler, though. Lookee, President Sheridan still hates ISN reporters. This matters how? And, he’s old, yes, but that doesn’t mean he has to ramble uninterestingly like a semi-senile great-grandpa. Also, you don’t have to explain your jokes. We can imagine that most Pak’Ma’Ra jokes are just like the one you told, thanks.

It helped a lot that Galen was in the episode. Apparently, JMS hasn’t forgotten how to write that character.

SPOILERS
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I just got my pre-ordered copy of Babylon 5: The Lost Tales
today. I watched the first of the two tales, “Over Here”.

Summary: It’s BAD. REALLY REALLY BAD.

The only thing worse than the acting is the dialogue, the special effects,
and the theology. And the acting isn’t great.

This isn’t a Babylon 5 story at all; you could have set it equally well in any “future time in space”. There are only three characters: Colonel Elizabeth “2-D” Lochley, Random Nearly-Apostate Priest Dude, and Asmodeus. Unfortunately, through centuries of overeating and lack of exercise, Asmodeus’s powers have reduced to those of an old window A/C unit: making the room cold, making the air smell bad, and occasionally catching on fire, so it’s not as interesting as you might think.

The thing that really pissed me off, though, was the ending:
SPOILERS
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