Archive for » January, 2007 «

31
Jan
Awesomely Bad Sports Graphics
By Max Univers | Posted on: January 31, 2007 |
Another post in the “Randomly Occurring Periodic Post About Something Design Related” series.
I’m a huge fan of the old ESPN Classic — the one that showed replays of old games all day, not the new one that shows boring original programs talking about how great the old games were. Why, you ask, would I want to watch old games when I already know who wins?
The biggest reason is that I’m fascinated by the graphics. I get a kick out of watching an old USFL game from a 1982 ESPN broadcast, especially for the early-CGI animation opening and bad music. I find this amusing. I also love any old NFL broadcast — CBS’ late-eighties and early-nineties CGI openings were hilarious in an “Inspired by Commdore 64″ kind of way. And 70s Monday Night Football? I’m not old enough to remember these, but the clips I’ve seen make me come to the conclusion that they are the most dominant in the history of the genre. Problem is, the NFL doesn’t allow re-airing of old telecasts, so you never see them.
The NBA has no such rule, and their old games are on all the time, both on NBATV and ESPN Classic. I love watching old NBA on NBC games, because I miss John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock” (better known as the “NBA on NBC Theme”, and the dramatic voice-over guy. “THIS is the NBA…on NBC!”

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29
Jan
Two of the Four Bands on my “List”?
By Max Univers | Posted on: January 29, 2007 |
Like most people, I’ve got a “list” of bands and/or artists I would pay any price under the sun to see live. John Mayer is most decidedly NOT on this list, but in no particular order, here is the people who ARE on the list:
1) Van Halen with David Lee Roth
2) Led Zeppelin
3) Guns N Roses (the Axl, Slash, Izzy version)
4) The Police
And you can add Hendrix to that list if someday they find that he’s been frozen for decades and has come back to life.
Anyway, you can see my quandary here. Two of the four bands on my list are indeed getting back together and touring this summer. My buddy Dick Herculanuum has already mentioned that Van Halen is one of the bands he would actually pay exorbitant amounts to see, so that makes two of us. Personally, I’m willing to pony up in excess of $200 to see this show. Seriously. I’ll eat Mac N Cheese so many days in a row that my skin turns yellow just to afford to go to a VH show. That’s the sort of sacrifice I’m willing to make.

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26
Jan
Time After Time
By Max Univers | Posted on: January 26, 2007 |
I was watching an old episode of My Name Is Earl on Thursday, the one that shows Randy’s many breakups over the years, and the resulting sing-along to “Time After Time” that is his mourning process. To keep from laughing hysterically, I tried to think about other things. Time seemed like as good a subject as anything. Ah yea, time.
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22
Jan
The Poseur Polyfro
By Max Univers | Posted on: January 22, 2007 |
Saturday, as you probably heard, Creighton lost to their heated rival Southern Illinois 58-57. As usual, my thoughts on the game are over at the Polyfro Basketball Blog.
I should have known what sort of night it would be when we came out of the Qwest Center to find a parking ticket on the windshield. When you have had season tickets for a long time, like I have, you learn things about an arena. For instance, you learn which parking lots give you the quickest exit. I’ve been to the Qwest Center over 60 times in just over 3 years, and what I’ve found is the parking lots south of the arena are best.
If you park in the Qwest lots west or north of the arena, not only is it $6, the parking attendants are so slow that it takes you 10-15 minutes to get into the lot. After the game? Yeah, there’s a reason so many people leave games early.
But in between the Qwest and the Holland Center, there are three privately owned lots that are $5, and you get in and out quickly. Actually, after the game, you can go pretty much avoid game traffic entirely. Plus, you’re close to the southwest entrance of the arena, which is where my seats are anyway.

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16
Jan
Gloves Are For Chumps
By Max Univers | Posted on: January 16, 2007 |

Holy schneikees, that is cold. Among other high-tech gadgets in my car such as the touch screen navigation system, XM satellite radio, and Digital Maintenance Readout (which routinely checks everything from chemical makeup of the oil to tire pressure — my oil life is currently sitting at 80%, incidentally), an outside temperature gauge is featured.
When I pull out of my garage in the morning, the temperature gauge reads as it always does, somewhere between 40-55 degrees. Then it quickly raises or drops as it adjusts to the actual temp. This week’s subzero temps have caused it to go berserk.
-10 degrees! That’s what it actually read last night about 11:30 pm when I was leaving the bar. You know, honestly, it was cold enough without the knowledge of exactly HOW cold it was. Somehow, knowing its -10 below makes it feel much colder.

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