I'm going to be eating leftover turkey for weeks.

Since we're officially in the Holiday season, radio stations are going to be playing Christmas music. Again, and again, and again. There are some holiday tunes that are great, and some that are just. Plain. Awful. 

So let's look at some holiday-themed discussion questions!

• Favorite Christmas-themed song?
• Least favorite Christmas-themed song?
• Real or fake tree?
• Do you brave the Black Friday crowds?

In the news today/interesting links:

Five ways the video game industry is screwing you.

Ten highly anticipated video games you'll never get to play.

China's first homegrown jet makes a trial flight.

"Dirty Jobs" is off in Yakima picking hops for a new episode.

The world's oldest person dies at 115.

I think it's been about a month since I put up one of these.

Today's interesting Links

Own a copy of LittleBigPlanet? Don't be surprised if your levels disappear and don't be surprised if Sony doesn't give a rat's ass.

7 Methods for Coping with Tragedy (Courtesy of James Bond)

6 people who died in order to prove a (retarded) point.

7 Most Impressive (and depressing) geek collections.

The 5 Most Ineffective Anti-Drug PSAs of All Time

Today's potential discussion topics:

• If you could steal any instrumental musician's talent, who would it be and why?
  
• What annoys you the most about your job?
• Does Shareef really not like it if you rock the casbah?
• What's your favorite cheesy 80s music video?
  
• You're trapped in an elevator with Kenny G, Hitler, and Mussolini. Your gun only has two bullets. What do you do?

Posted over at Lookout Landing earlier...

If you've been to any sort of college or professional sporting event in Seattle, you've seen Ed McMichael, The Tuba Man. Sadly, The warm tones of his tuba after games won't be heard again.

Ed McMichael, the Seattle Sports Tuba Man, murdered at 53.

Ed was one of my earliest professional sports related memories. I remember listening to him in front of the Kingdome as a child in the mid-90s. I've had a few brief chats with him outside of Safeco and Qwest over the last few years. He was as friendly a fellow as anyone.

Rest in peace, Ed. Seattle has just lost a beloved piece of our sporting culture.

via seattlepi.nwsource.com

Post-game bitching goes in here. Try to keep the reactionary fanposts to a minimum. Actually, if you're thinking of creating a fanpost and there's nothing constructive to say, it would probably be best not to post it.

If you don't feel like bitching about football, let's talk music.

This is a great cover of a classic Bobby Blue Band tune "Farther up the Road."

One of the four people in this music video doesn't belong. He's sort of Londonbeat's own Brian Russell.

A few weeks ago we talked about things we hate. Let's talk about things we like.

-Rain

-Thunder storms

-Pumpkin pie

-House, MD

-Doctor Who

-West coast jazz

-Felix Hernandez

-Adrian Beltre

-Marcus Trufant

-Matt Hasselbeck

-Yamaha brand saxophones

-Intel brand microprocessers

-NVIDIA brand GPUs

-Cake that isn't a lie

-Campy sci-fi movies

As always, normal commenting guidelines apply.

It's about midnight, and it's a raining outside. High winds expected again in the Everett area today.

Why am I up so late? I've got to DJ a dance this week and one of my old 1/8" to XLR cables has gone bad and I'm too cheap to buy a new one. In other words, I'm cannibalizing some old cables and soldering them together.

Anyhoo, interesting links of the day:

New Nintendo DS will have a camera built into it, so you might want to wait a little while before buying one PositivePaul.

Deus Ex 3 details emerging. I loved the first Deus Ex and liked the second one. I can't wait for a third one.

Adam Savage gets drunk then runs on a treadmill. Captured in high-speed for your enjoyment.

Next Knights of the Old Republic game to be a MMORPG fuck you Bioware.

Remember DooM? Boy this takes me back.

So does this one.

Potential discussion topics

• Bill Murray is interested in Ghostbusters 3. Would you watch it?
• Best root beer: Thomas Kemper. Y/N?
  
• Do you enjoy thunderstorms?
• Has anyone read The Name of the Wind? 

Last week we discussed a lot of Top 11 lists. Here's my Top 11 Favorite Video Games of All Time. Your list/thoughts?

1. Chrono Trigger
2. Super Mario World
3. DooM
4. Half-Life 2
5. Deus Ex
6. System Shock 2
7. Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
8. The Dig
9. Final Fantasy VI (III in Japan)
10. Mass Effect
11. Xenosaga

I'm off to play Doctor Frankenstein with these audio cables again.

In the news today:

• Boating at night is stupid. One dead, nine injured in another late-night boating collision.
• Merv Griffin's company sues Ed McMahon. Heyoo.
• Holy shit: Phoenix lander spots snow falling on Mars.
• Metallica drummer hates the internet, tells children to get off his lawn.
• People are paying for LittleBigPlanet beta keys. I still don't even want to buy a retail copy when it's released.

Other potential discussion topics:

• I haven't seen Ironman. Should I buy a copy on DVD?
• Has anyone played anything on the PS3 that's not named Uncharted: Drake's Fortune or MGS4?
  
• Why did I purchase a PS3 when it just sits on top of my desk never to be turned on and played with?
  
• Any Doctor Who fans here?
• Has there been confirmation that Robert is king of the gnomes?

Tags are incoming, you needy bastards.

Fuck you Scrappy.

In the news today:

Mirror's Edge has a release date now.

Peter Molyneux takes a break from over-hyping his games to badmouth the PS3, claims the console is still waiting for a defining title.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed released, sucks.

The secret Guitar Hero instrument is actually a MIDI import feature and that is awesome.

The OLPC XO laptop finally, FINALLY, is shipped to another country.

New Minneapolis bridge opens, 13 months after collapse.

Other potential discussion topics:

• Am I the only one here who doesn't watch/enjoy hockey?
  
• Has anyone else installed the iPhone 2.1 software update? How's it working for you?
• Anyone here use the Asus eeePC?
  
• The Microsoft Natural Pro keyboard: Best keyboard ever?
  
• I've got a $200 gift card to use at Fry's. What should I buy?
• Fall movies: anything worth seeing?
  
• Who here loves rain?

Well it's 8AM and no one else has put up the OTFPOTD yet. Looks like I'm doing it again, you lazy jerks.

In the news today:

Hundreds of turtles found crammed in one house.

Hurricane Ike strengthens, Texans warned to get out or face "certain death."

A new Seinfeld/Gates commercial is out. I don't care what you people say, I think they're amusing.

And my latest Large Hadron Collider/Half-Life headline...

Crowbar, headcrab, and Half-Life strategy guide shipped to CERN.

Portal ported to the Atari 2600.

Other potential discussion topics:

• What should I do this weekend?
• Should I drink my can of coke now or later?
• Why does my boss insist on buying shitty HP laptops?
• Why are HP laptops so terrible?
• Should we make suggestions to NOLA? 
• If so, what suggestions?
• Anybody play a good video game recently?
• I have three LCD flat-panel monitors in my cubicle. Does this give me the right to cackle like an evil madman? 
• Who is going to watch the House season premiere next Tuesday?

Bloomquist heads home, reluctantly.

SEATTLE -- Willie Bloomquist and the Mariners went their separate ways on Wednesday, possibly forever.

It appears that the love between Willie Bloomquist and Seattle is gone. By all indications, little Willie Ballgame is not pleased with the Seattle front office.

"I think they understood where I was coming from but were worried that my leg wouldn't quite be healthy enough. The bottom line is that I wanted to be out there, and I was very, very disappointed with their decision. There were other options."

 

"I told [general manager Lee Pelekoudas], 'you're my boss and you will do whatever you want to do anyway, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with it,'" Bloomquist said.

Obviously we don't care, but someone does. Oh yes, someone will miss Willie dearly...

The Safeco Field broadcast booth. Mike Blowers takes a seat next to a slumped over Rick Rizzs.

Mike: Morning, Rick. Dave Henderson left a message for you. Seems to think you need to encourage Felix to go on a mean streak.

::Rick doesn’t respond, he seems to be crying::

Mike: Rick, you okay?

::Rick sits up, his eyes red and cheeks soaked with tears::

Rick: It’s Willie. I think he’s leaving me.

Mike: Oh, Rick. You know these things happen. Players come and go all the time.

Rick: But Willie... I mean, I thought we had something special. I thought he was the one!

Mike: You’ve got to let Willie go. There will be other scrappy little ball players. How about that Tug Hulett kid?

Rick: Tug insists on hitting those selfish home runs that go over the fence, not the gritty in-the-parkers like Willie! Oh, do you remember that in-the-parker in Houston? When Willie slid into home plate I wanted to jump out of the booth and run on to the field to-

Mike: Rick this is unhealthy. You’re obsessing over him! You’ve got to move on. How about Luis Valbuena? He seems like a nice fit for you.

Rick: You know I can’t love those darkies.

Mike, to himself: Good God, Rick, you’re one xenophobic bastard. No doubt about it.

Rick: They all leave me, Mike. Greg Dobbs, Charles Gipson… They always leave me. What did I do wrong?

Mike: Nothing, Rick… Hey, you want me to go pick you up some Rally Fries? They cheer me up every time my wife tells me I’m the dullest person on the face of the planet.

Rick: Yeah…that sounds nice. Thanks, Blow… You know, I’m sorry I didn’t appreciate you more when you were playing in Seattle. It’s the whole…

Mike: Possessing something that resembles talent thing?

Rick: Yeah, that.

::Mike stands up and pats Rick on the back. As he leaves the booth and walks to the concession area, he bumps into Dave Niehaus.::

Dave: Mike, have you seen Rick yet?

Mike: Yeah, he’s pretty upset about Willie.

Dave: God dammit. Scrawny little fucker’s already going through Willie withdrawal symptoms. I’m calling in sick, tell Sims that he’s on Rick’s suicide watch today.