Lobster in a Bucket

Sound Game

This is kind of a simple game. But it's pretty fun. I am actually pretty polished at making strange noises. As you can see, I did pretty well.

You Judge

Well, Graduation is out from the estimable Kanye. Kanye may be the first hip-hop artist to shamelessly rip-off white musicians to make his music empire. And don't get me wrong, shameless rip-off are just fine, and Kanye does it real well. As evidence, examine the new Kanye video for Good Life, from the new album.

Then watch this little gem. From French dance-geek duo Justice. The song is D.A.N.C.E. This band also beat Kanye for an MTV Europe best video award. If you can't beat em, join em.

Week 2 Wrap-up

Well I did about as well this week as last. Except, I'm much more disappointed to see Auburn a loser. That kind of sucks. The Notre Dame game wasn't a big surprise, although there were positive signs of what the Clausen future could hold for us. I thought Auburn would be a lot more potent on offense. And we were more potent, except when we threw away most of the second half turning the ball over. Brandon Cox also was a huge disappointment. I'm not sure if he felt the need to carry the team, or what, but he threw multiple dumb passes.

On the plus side, both teams saw dramatic improvements from their o-lines. For next week ND has to find a way to make a running game happen. They can't continue to have 0 yards on running for the game. It won't work. Cox has to stop throwing interceptions. As a 24 year old senior, his decision-making is inexcusable. The whole offense has to carry more of the load for them to win in the SEC.

Overall 2-2

Week 2 Predictions

Notre Dame vs. Penn State
Well. It's not looking like a good year for the Big 10. But I think that Penn State can go into tonights game pretty confident that the game is theirs to lose. It's hard to imagine that the offensive line, has improved enough to let Clausen, who will at best be a pocket passer, do his thing. Hopefully this game won't look as ugly as last weeks, but I'm not optimistic. Look for ND to get a touchdown.

Penn State 34 Notre Dame 10

Auburn vs. South Floride
A couple years ago this would have just been another cake non-conference game. But thanks to the rigors of the BCS, teams like Auburn have to make a challenging schedule outside of the conference games or risk losing in the BCS rankings. South Florida is a solid team that should post a good record over the season. That said, while last week close call against their opening team wasn't a shock, be shocked if this game is ever in question

Auburn 24 South Florida 7

At Work

When I left World Harvest Mission this August after more than three years in service, I thought to myself. I don't have to go to work for 5 or 6 more years. I was very excited about this fact. And I still am, but the truth is I am still working very hard. I've just traded the austerity of the cubicle for the austerity of the 1950s Notre Dame library. In this scene the only company I have are the fluorescent lights in the background. People, not so much.

DIY, Ikea, and this Modern World

Ikea is kind of the grand-daddy of design on the cheap. They've done it very well. My parents drooled over Ikea when I was a kid, and my friends do today. They've done a great job of offering affordable, and beautiful things. And they'll still make plenty of money for the forseeable future. But as this article touches on, I think that people are becoming more and more dissatisfied with the whole idea of buying beautiful. We want to make it, or hack it.

I think our dissatisfaction is in part because anti-corparate sentiments are at a high. Yuppies and anarchists hate Wal-mart. So we don't want to just buy from stores all the objects that we use to express our identity. And as the NYT articles says, our lives are more and more devoid of tactile work, so consequently, we need more tactile fun. And also I think our sociability and productivity depends on technology that might as well be magic for all we know. My ipod, cell phone, car, laptop etc. As the majority of our lives are spent dependent on these things that we don't understand, it makes perfect sense that we'd want to exert control over the furniture, the food, the decorations, and even the tech objects that we do "get".

I think this is where the whole DIY movement comes from. Magazines like Make, it's little sibling Craft, and many others don't seem to lack for user submitted content. Me, I like to make my own bread. Not pumpkin date loaf, or anything fancy. Just bread that I can eat three meals a day, with whatever else I'm scarfing down.

Rural French History

First Weekend Wrap-up

Well two games later I'm 1-1 barely. My Auburn score prediction was only about a touchdown off. But the game was really k-state's under the last 5 minutes. But Auburn kept it close, and the players and coaches have developed a culture of winning close games. So we pulled it out. By 10 points no less. Auburn 23 K-state 10.

The other game I watched, the game that I actually went to, went about as badly for my team as it could have. Notre Dame has almost no positives to go with out of this game. The o-line was incredibly porous. The kicking game anemic, and the defense doesn't have the lateral speed to contain quick offenses. On the plus side, the new Clausen kid managed to move the ball well enough, and his passing looks pretty snappy. But he won't be much good without an o-line that can't handle more than three defensive linemen. The game atmosphere didn't blow me away either. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful stadium and the students have a special relationship with the team, but the SEC and Notre Dame bring pretty much the same list of intangibles to the game atmosphere.

Auburn has a tough schedule ahead but the next three weeks are doable games, although South Florida is not a cake team. After that Auburn has to face LSU, Florida, Arkansas, and Georgia on the road. It's the toughest set of road games that I think anyone has to play. Notre Dame may be in 2nd though for road schedule. Next week they have to play a good Penn State team and I find it hard to imagine that they'll be anywhere near prepared in a weeks time. Right now Weis probably doesn't even know who his starting QB will be.

Football Weekend

I'm a major big-time college football fan. My first love is Auburn. But I think that I can have a crush on another team too. Right now Notre Dame is looking like a likely target. I have student tickets there this year, and if I want them, probably for the rest of my twenties, maybe beyond. (I'm a first year history Ph. D student). That said, I want to blog these two seasons.

Auburn vs. Kansas St.

K State is a team on the rise, and Auburn has been at it's most consistent in the past few years. I fully expect a ten win season from my Tigers, even with the toughest road schedule in the SEC. K State is good, but I really can't conceive of them pulling an upset in Auburn on T-dub's watch. Plus Brandon Cox is going to have a break-out season. Not on the scale of Jason Campbell's senior year, but much improved from last year.

Auburn 27 K State 10

Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech

No one is expecting Notre Dame to do much this year. They've got a really tough schedule, and a lot of young players. If they can't beat Tech today, we're in for a long season. But I don't have a lot of confidence that this will actually happen. But I'm sure there's about 2000 fans prayer under the outstretched arms of touchdown Jesus. We don't need a miracle to win today (that would be October 20th vs USC), but I expect it's going to be close.

Notre Dame 31 Georgia Tech 30