Very strange, and it's making me a little queasy, but it is hard to find good platformers for the Wii (a fact I find odd, given that Nintendo essentially corner the market in that genre) and I'm pleased to have one finally.

Baron Davis, just after administering two of 'em to AK-47. That dunk has got to be the best single play I've seen in an NBA game since Jordan left the Bulls. Oh... My... God... what a basketball game. I don't really care if GSW wins the series or not from a personal standpoint, but it'd be a shame for them to not go all the way, for two reasons:

1. They have heart, and they're good sportsmen.

2. They're entertaining as fuck to watch.

This Utah-GSW series is probably the best playoff series I've ever seen, I have to say.

Seriously, though...

1. If you have to take a trip to Seattle, stay at the Edgewater. One of the nicer hotels I've stayed in in this country, if not the nicest. Not that expensive, considering, and we had a balcony right on the water (from whence I took the above photo)).

2. Attending a Morrisey show as an objective bystander, it's amusing to note the marked difference between guys that are at the show because their girlfriend wanted to go and guys that are there of their own volition.

3. I'll note again that Seattle isn't exactly a walker's town. My dogs are barkin' like a motherfucker today.

4. You wouldn't necessarily drink a pinot noir with chicken, but I did, and it's just a matter of finding the right pinot. Willamette Valley ftw. Although it should be noted that I payed $70 for a bottle that I could have picked up at the winery on the way to Seattle for $19. The perils of living in wine country yet drinking outside it.

5. It really is Frank's world. We just live in it.

This year, for some reason I can't quite put my finger on, we started watching basketball again. Elle has watched almost every first-round playoff game, and I've been shuffling in and out of the room for the highlights, but during that course of events, I've decided that I _really_ am quite fond of the Golden State Warriors. Last night's game, where they put the Dallas Mavericks down like a mule with a broken leg, was one of the better basketball games I've seen, and this is coming from someone that has watched a couple hundred Bulls games when they were at their best.

If you don't follow the sport, there are 8 teams in the playoffs. The team that won the most games in the year (in this case the Mavericks) plays the team that won the least games during the year (obviously the Warriors) and so on. We knew it was gonna be a tough row to hoe for Dallas after the first game, but last night was exceptional, and is the sort of sporting event you don't see very often, if ever. It is essentially the same as Seabiscuit beating War Admiral, an incredibly unlikely event that, due to skill, persistence, and a certain amount of luck, comes to pass.

Anywho, that's about all you'll see me write about that sort of thing, so savor it. We're heading up to Seattle for the weekend; Matt Walker is playing drums for Morrissey, so we're gonna hang out, have dinner with Matt, and catch the show. Should be fun.

And about this Joan Baez thing? She was going to perform for wounded vets at Walter Reed with John Cougar or whatever, and the Army said "thanks, but no thanks," and people are making hay out of that. Quite frankly, I think that the Army was trying to protect the wounded troops from cruel and unusual punishment. I mean, have you ever actually listened to a Joan Baez song? God bless her for her politics (she makes me look like a raving Nazi, she's so far to the left) but as a musician, well, that would be the audio equivalent of water-boarding.

Which, when you think about it, is exactly what it is. It's not easy taking these kinds of pictures with a consumer camera, even a good one. I took about 20, and this is the only one that turned out worth a shit.

Okay, so here's the deal: a lot of times when you meet someone that lives in this part of the country and you say "shit, dude, doesn't it rain like all the time there?" they usually respond with "nah, it's nice, mostly."

Let me tell you from personal experience that they're bullshitting you. It rains here all the time. There's about three months out of the year where it doesn't rain that much, but otherwise, you can pretty much count on rain for at least part of every day. To be clear, I'm not complaining. I actually quite like it now, and when we go somewhere that it isn't as pervasively damp, it is a relief to get back to the Valley, where everything is mossy and green.

Anyways, the point of all this is thus: one of the things that happens here quite often is the "sun shining while it's pouring rain" thing. In the midwest and east coast, you might experience this once a year, maximum. Here, it is quite common. However, it's not an easy phenomenon to take a picture of, and I've been trying for several months. Today I got my best one yet, shown above. It still doesn't accurately represent the fact (pictures never do) but it's as close as I've got.