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Faith of the Heart.

My daughter knows all the words to the "Star Trek: Enterprise" theme song and will sing it in its entirety, over and over -- often unprompted.

On the one hand, my kids are freakin' awesome. But on the other, it's one of the most stupidest songs. Ever. Plus, it's from "Enterprise," the worst Trek series. Ever.

So, you win some and you lose some.

Annual Hall of Fame Speculation.

With the enshrinement today of Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. in the baseball Hall of Fame comes the urge to forecast into the future and guess which current MLB players will eventually join them. So, allow me to be presumptuous enough to do just that. I've tried to be as complete as possible, breaking down the players into three categories (ignoring the ones who will never, ever have any chance of making it).

For the moment, I'm going to ignore all the steroid speculation. With the state of public opinion on the issue changing every year, it's too hard to get a fix on what the BBWA voters will think of any particular player a few years down the road.

The Automatics
These guys have already done all they need to do to deserve to be in the Hall. Right now, they're just playing out the last few years of their careers:
Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Tom Glavine, Ken Griffey Jr., Trevor Hoffman, Randy Johnson, Jeff Kent, Greg Maddux, Mike Piazza, Mariano Rivera, John Smoltz, Sammy Sosa, Frank Thomas

The Next Wave
Project their current level of production out just a few more years and (barring catastrophic injury or meteor strike or anything like that), they too will be among the Automatics:
Carlos Delgado, Vladimir Guerrero, Roy Halladay, Todd Helton, Derek Jeter, Andruw Jones, Chipper Jones, Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Pudge Rodriguez, Johann Santana, Gary Sheffield, Alfonso Soriano, Ichiro Suzuki, Jim Thome

The Wannabes
Sure, they're among the best of their era, but they just don't have enough to push them over the hump and should remain stuck in Steve Garvey-ville (or, Jim Kaat-ville if they're pitchers):
Garret Anderson, Carlos Beltran, Johnny Damon, J.D. Drew, Adam Dunn, Jim Edmonds, Julio Franco, Eric Gagne, Nomar Garciaparra, Troy Glaus, Luis Gonzalez, Torii Hunter, Kenny Lofton, Magglio Ordonez, Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettite, Scott Rolen, Curt Schilling, Omar Vizquel, Billy Wagner, David Wells, Carlos Zambrano, Barry Zito

The Young Guns
Could these youngsters eventually make it? Only time will tell. If they're still producing in 10 years like they are now, look for them in the one of the above three categories:
Erik Bedard, Lance Berkman, Miguel Cabrera, Carl Crawford, Prince Fielder, J.J. Hardy, Matt Holliday, Ryan Howard, Scott Kazmir, Russell Martin, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jake Peavy, Brad Penny, J.J. Putz, Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes, C.C. Sabathia, Ben Sheets, Grady Sizemore, Mark Texiera, Chase Utley, Justin Verlander, Brandon Webb, Dontrelle Willis, David Wright, Chris Young (the pitcher), Ryan Zimmerman

That's a lot of names. And yet, I have the feeling there's someone I'm missing...

Milestone Trifle.

This is officially the 100th post since I moved Idle Musings over to Blogger. So, uh, "go me!" I suppose. If I was as on-the-ball about blogging about my personal life as I am about keeping up my other blogs, this would probably be the 1,000th post or something. But still, it is what it is.

Having said all that, it seems like there should be something more to say here, no matter how insignificant. So with that in mind (along with the fact that "The Simpsons Movie" opens today) I offer you this, my avatar from the movie's web site.

Not bad, given the somewhat limited options available. The Simpsonizer is out there, too, but I don't have any good pictures to feed into it right now.

Truth be told, I'm not all that fired up to see the movie. I like the show well enough, but I haven't watched it in years and my life doesn't really feel incomplete without it. Maybe I'll eventually watch it on video. Maybe.

A New Blog in the Family (and Some Good Reads).

While I may be on an extended vacation, I haven't been entirely idle. Check out DesukoTube -- daily, if possible.

Also, I've been spending a lot of time over at the uber-groovy Good Reads. Come on by, sign up and friend me, why doncha?

What I'm Reading.

As usual, in lieu of actual substantive content, I'm giving you a list of links. These are new-ish-to-me blogs that I've been spending quality time with lately. Hopefully you'll enjoy them, too...

Uni Watch: Dissection of the fascinating minutiae of sports uniforms and equipment, led by Paul Lukas of "Beer Frame" fame.

Qomics for Queers: Daily snark of comics page standards. Not as prolific as the Comics Curmudgeon, but pretty good and with a homo-normative slant.

Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke: I always knew something was up with that bastard.

Judge a Book By Its Over: The abysmal world of cheap paperbacks gets the snark it deserves.

Monkeys for Helping: The Internet regurgitates its detritus all over your monitor. You've been warned.

Ha, Ha! You're Pwned, Strunk & White!

Your English Skills:

Grammar: 100% Spelling: 100% Punctuation: 80% Vocabulary: 80%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?

This is How the World Ends: Not Just With a Bang, But With a Grope.

Here's a news report that's enough to leave you shivering in the wee hours of the night.

I'm afraid my copy of "How to Survive a Robot Uprising" doesn't address this one.

We may finally be doomed here, folks.

My 15 Minutes of Yule.

Coming out of hiding to pimp myself a bit... Back before Christmas, I shared a holiday mixed CD with CaptainOT over at the Christmas Yuleblog. He's been spending every day of the new year reviewing the various comps he's received, and today he gets to mine. (Thanks, Cap!) Check it out, yo!

Come to My Movie Spot.

Since I'm just sooooo conscientious about keeping always up-to-date (ha!), I've gone ahead and started a new blog. It's called Desuko Movie Spot, and I'll review all sort of movies over there. My plan right now is to post new reviews at least a couple times a week, possibly more than that depending on demand. Anyway, go check it out!

A New Blog?

Anyway... I'm thinking of starting a new blog, dedicated to movie reviews. It would be similar to the reviews I included in my old ULV site (which still exists, by the way, depsite being all but forgetten by me and everyone else), but would have more in-depth commentary, as well as a few extra bells and whistles. (It would focus more on older films rather than current releases, and cover a wide range of genres, eras, etc.)

So, to coin a phrase... is that something you'd be interested in?

Any suggestions for a name would be welcome, since that's my biggest hangup on the project right now. Also, I'm thinking of using something like WordPress rather than Blogger -- anybody have any recommendations on one versus the other, or even other alternatives? You input would be greatly appreciated.

Cool Web Things.

Once again, I forego any sort of substantive content in favor of a bunch of links. (Apparently I have a life. So sue me.)

Want to know how popular your name has been throughout history, check out the Baby Name Wizard. It seems that approximately 10,000 billion Erics were born in same year as me. But I'm unique, dammit! (Flash required)

Anyway, if you had trouble in high school physics, you might want to skip this one. For the rest of you, enjoy this thought experiment in what the 10th dimension might be like. (More Flash required)

Want to know what's playing on the radio right now anywhere in the country? Of course you do. (Need I remind you that you need Flash to view this?)

I think I've posted this before, but they've changed URLs and done a nifty redesign. Check out JoeSportsFan's Worthless Card Collection. (No Flash required. What are they, Luddites?)

Monkey portraits!

Finally, Bizarre Records makes me wish I had the money to go vinyl hunting more often.

Two Things That (I Hope) Are Completely Unrelated.

First off, there's this story. It shouldn't come as any surprise that there's another story emerging about corruption and shady dealings from the Bush Administration. But what is a surprise is that it doesn't involve power-hungry proto-fascism, but rather good ol' fashioned 19th century-style graft. There's something oddly refreshing about that.

Secondly, there's Justin Timberlake's song, "SexyBack." Um... what the hell? "I'm bringing sexy back"? Where the hell did it go? I was unaware that "sexy" was ever out of style. And as much as I appreciate Justin's efforts to bring it back, I'm not sure I'd want anything he's touched.

Building a Monster.

Got Flash installed? Want to see the most obnoxiously self-serving splash page/intro on the web? Look no further than guitar god Edgar Winter. Don't forget to stick around after the intro to see the welcome video on the index page. And get ready to... RAWK 'N' ROLL!!!

Some Words on 9/11.

I know this is about a month behind the fact, and I also apologize for not offering much in the way of content lately besides video posts, but this is too important not to share.



Well said, Keith.

Video Blogging #3.

In this edition, we look at the biggest thing in Japan -- Hard Gay! Have you ever wondered what would happen if a high strung leatherman wandered the streets of Tokyo harrassing strangers? Well, here's your answer.

First up, Hard Gay asks folks what they're doing for Father's Day...



Now, Hard Gay works at a ramen shop...



As a Japanese television sensation, it's only right that Hard Gay should be featured on the cover of The Television magazine. At least he thinks so, so he tries to talk his way into a photo shoot. Here's part one...



And part two...



Look out! It's the Hard Gay Dance!



And finally, here's an un-subtitled bit in which Hard Gay meets an overly-ardent imitator and comes out on top...



HOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Video Blogging #2.

In this episode, we learn why making music should be left to the professionals...

First, there's Lionel Davis, who's going to send you home with a mattress on your back:


This guy's probably Internet Famous already, so there's no need for an introduction. Here's Cool Tak:


Staying in Asia, here are some Korean soldiers making poor use of their free time:


And finally, here some actual professionals, the Village People, trying for an '80s comeback and just getting it all wrong:

More of My Geekish Past.

There's a great piece over on ESPN's Page 2 in which their writers share they favorite baseball card memories, and solicit similar submissions from readers. (If you read it, be sure to check out the "Trip to the Topps Factory" sidebar as well.) Anyway, here's what I sent in (short and sweet, because of their 200-word limit):

There were a lot of memorable baseball cards from my childhood collecting days, but one in particular really illustrates my silly obsessiveness about collecting.

When I was 8, I came across half of a 1978 Topps Sparky Anderson card on the playground of my elementary school. Someone had apparently torn it in half, crumpled it up and threw it away. The fact that the card was now worthless meant nothing to me – in my eyes, it had plenty of value since it was one I didn’t have yet. So, I scoured the school grounds looking for the other half, only to come up empty. That didn’t deter me, though, as I proudly took home the left half of the card, taped it to a piece of paper cut to the exact size of a full card, and proceeded to draw in the right half of the card. (At least, what I imagined the right half of the card to look like, since I didn’t have a picture of the whole card to work from.) And in it went with the rest of my collection, where it stayed for many years after that.

Damn, I was a dork.

R.I.P., Syd.

I know I'm a day or two late with this, but I just had to give a melancholy nod to the passing of Syd Barrett. He had apparently been fighting cancer for some time, and it finally caught up with him at the age of 60. That's twice now he's been taken from the world, but now he's finally found his peace.

Got RealAudio? Have a listen to Terrapin in his memory.

Arts and Crafts Time.

The best thing since the Macquarium... it's the iPod Retro Radio!

Since I don't own and iPod, can someone make this and verify to me that it works? Cuz that would be so kewl, man....