Shaved, shivering, Shitgles, Double Feature
One of the things I had planned for my “crazy” weekend was I wanted to shave my own head. I have sported a high and tight hair cut for years but I never used one short length for everything. I always used a slightly longer attachment for the top. I also never did it myself. Ali always has been behind the clippers.
When I posted on FB about my head shaving intentions one of my buddies said he would pay to see video of that. Well I decided to oblige him and roll tape during the process.
Shaving your own head is more of a challenge than I expected. It’s difficult to evenly cut the hairs in the hard to reach areas like around your ears and the back of your head. Even after repeated trips to the mirror to observe my progress I still found stray hairs hanging out the next day. I also butchered my rear hair line. Ali will need to do some fixing when she gets home.
I woke up Saturday morning to some absolutely miserable weather, probably the coldest, rawest conditions since I moved to Florida in 2000. It was 41 degrees and raining. I decided to keep as much of my activities indoors as possible for the day. I kept myself busy around the house doing various things to keep me occupied.
Saturday night was the Eagles game, the chance the team had to make amends for their embarrassingly bad performance the week prior. I decided I would make my time viewing the game productive as well so I labeled timing chips for the half marathon during the broadcast.
I don’t really feel the need to go into great detail about the game, it was more or less a replay of the prior week. It was astonishing that the Birds were unable to do anything for a third time this year against the Cowboys. If anything, it was the most humiliating loss of the three. The Birds had revenge on their side, anger should have lit their asses on fire yet they once again came out and got dominated. Ok I said I wasn’t going to go into detail but I feel the need to expand and point some fingers.
For sure the entire team sucked, the entire team played with no heart, the entire team, coaching staff, management and ownership should be scratching their heads and wondering exactly what they have as a team there. Here are some things that stand out.
The defense is filled with holes. I am so sick and tired of seeing the Eagles secondary throwing shoulders instead of tackling opposing players. Macho Harris and Asante Samuel do this constantly, it infuriates me. Wrap your f’in arms around the guy and TACKLE him.
The offense, that can certainly be explosive, also is entirely one dimensional. Running the ball is a mere afterthought. The problem is when you are one dimensional if a team handles that dimension you are screwed. Such was the case with the Cowboys.
As always, fingers are pointing at Donovan since he is supposed to be the leader of the offense. To be fair, the offensive line was HORRIBLE on Saturday, McNabb was constantly running for his life. However once again, the few opportunities McNabb did have to hit open receivers he mostly missed. His 60% completion percentage is very deceptive since the vast majority of his pass attempts are less than 10 yards. He just is not good at hitting crossing receivers down the field consistently. He never has been and he never will be. Hell he even misfires on the short stuff a ton. How many times have we seen a 5 yard pass that is at the receivers ankles over McNabb’s career?
I’m not screaming GET RID of McNabb like many Eagles fans but I will say that I question the true intention of Eagles management. How many times are you going to give Donovan the opportunity to prove he is a big time QB? I think it is pretty well established what you can and can’t expect from him. If your ultimate goal is to win the Super Bowl I don’t think McNabb has the accuracy or mentality to get it done. He isn’t a clutch QB in my opinion. I would be fine with starting a new era at QB in Philadelphia. I appreciate what Donovan has done for the team over the years but I have a pretty clear understanding of where his ceiling is and I think we have bumped up against it for long enough.
Brian Westbrook is pretty much done I think. He has been injury riddled for years and after missing half the season, McCoy has done enough to justify cutting the ties with Westbrook and his big time salary.
Andy Reid drives me nuts. Sure his stoic, passionless demeanor has survived a dozen years of criticism in the football championship starved town of Philly. His win / loss record can not be argued against. However I just wish we had a guy with some fire in his belly. I love a coach that gets visibly pissed off when the team loses. I hate that when the Eagles lose Reid spits out the exact same line again and again. “I need to do a better job of putting my players in position to make plays” Andy is winning coach but at what point is a coach that is unable to win it all a true winner?
It’s a shame that the Eagles turned the momentum of 6 wins in a row into a disaster so quickly. It would have somehow been a less bitter pill to swallow if the team was at least competitive in the two losses. They weren’t. It was like the Cowboys were playing a high school team. I’m hoping there is some meaningful change on the team next year. At some point you have to realize that trotting out the same formula year after year is not going to magically produce different results. The Eagles need to be a well rounded team, just like their coaches physique.
Sunday the weather was very cold once again but at least it wasn’t raining. I decided to venture out into the 40 something degree air to do some outside chores. I bundled up wearing two sweatshirts, work gloves and a beanie to cover my freshly shaved head. Man it was cold. It’s a weird thing that happens to a human beings body when they are no longer exposed to cold temperatures for long periods of time. Despite spending 30+ years in PA winters where temps in the upper 40’s in January would be pleasant, I just can’t hack the cold anymore.
After spending a couple hours outside, which was plenty, I again retreated indoors. I decided to take in a couple movies I had that were on Ali’s “I don’t want to see” list, Bruno and Inglorious Basterds.
I had heard a lot of negative stuff from people that saw Bruno when it came out. Although I have also heard some people that thought it was hilarious. There seemed to be no middle ground, you either loved it or hated it. I would have to say I am one of the former. I can understand if you were homophobic or had a remotely conservative mindset that you would be extremely offended by various parts of the movie.
There were several parts where the tension created by Bruno was incredible. For example when he is sitting down with the religious dude who was going to convert Bruno from being gay to straight through the power of Jesus. After a dissertation by the gay converter Bruno stops the guy cold by saying he had perfect lips for fellatio. I mean the awkwardness was just incredible. You could feel the guy squirming through the tv. The film is filled with these type of moments and I loved them. Putting people that are obviously uncomfortable with gayness in close proximity with outwardly gay behavior produces some pretty amazing and funny results. Yep there are lots of visually shocking moments in the movie but if you realize that they are intentionally over the top and part of the plan they are easier to take in. I’m sorry but I liked it. B+
Inglorious Basterds was the second part of my home double feature. Having Brad Pitt and Quintin Tarrentino involved in a film meant it HAD to be good. This movie made the Ali not see list because I told her there was considerable graphic violence in it. Having Nazi’s scalped and smashed in the head with a baseball bat isn’t exactly family entertainment. However since it was just myself and the dogs watching it I had no reservations with taking it in.
Tarrentino has a really unique ability to make very compelling scenes where simple conversations become captivating, filled with drama and suspense. The movie is filled with these moments and yes of course there is tons of graphic violence which is typical in most of his movies. Ironically, although Brad Pitt once again does a great job portraying his role as the lead Nazi killer, the most interesting role was the one of the Jew Hunter. The actor that played him was BRILLIANT. If you despise on screen violence you would want to skip this movie. If you appreciate good movies you want to see this. To me it’s just as good as anything else Tarrentino has put out. I’d give it a solid A.
I’ve been giving more thought to my ultimate Camaro choice. I think I am going to go with the Inferno Orange color, despite Ali’s preference for the more civilized silver. I figure in the long run it’s my car, I should get what I absolutely want. I also am oscillating on the 1SS vs 2SS decision. The 2SS has a couple tech features that I would really like to have like the Homelink system which allows me to control the garage door as well as Bluetooth support so I can use the cell phone hands free in the car. It looks like there is about a 3k difference. For that money you get leather heated seats, bluetooth, a usb connectivity package, auto dimming mirror, the 4 pack of additional gauges, upgraded stereo, and navigation. It may be worth it, I’m not sure.
Ali comes back home tonight. I have to make sure I remember to clean up the remnants from my wild weekend before she arrives.