Mad world

This is the last time I'm going to post on this issue.



hat tip to Making It Rain

tagged: K-State, basketball, Bob Huggins, KSU, chump, sports

Somebody needs a Hugg

I thought sleeping on it might give me a different perspective.

I was wrong.

(WARNING: What follows is utter self-indulgent crap, written therapeutically to help me advance through the 5 stages to Acceptance. I apologize in advance.)

There really aren't any words to describe my thoughts toward Bob Huggins. Phrases come to mind. "Punched in the gut," "Kicked in the balls," "Stabbed in the back."

But really, it takes a picture to describe my current attitude:

I know what you're thinking, because I'm thinking the same thing. "It's just a game. Not important in the grand scheme of things."

That's part of what makes this so hard. It isn't important, I mean really important. Isn't it strange how we humans attach so much emotional value to the most trivial and superficial things? The ladies at the office are the same with Grey's Anatomy (shudder).

But, here were are. The day after Bob Huggins nuked the renascent basketball program at K-State I can't help how hellapissed I am.

Sure, I'm pissed at Huggins for being a dirty, rotten, lying, stinking, back-stabbing, deceptive, deceitful, cowardly, conniving, no-integrity, double-crossing, double-dealing treacherous whore.

Absolutely I'm angry for the way he took advantage of the best things about Kansas and K-State supporters and left like a thief in the night.

But the worst part, what I'm most bitter about, is that I took a chance on him in the beginning.

I freakin' defended that guy. When people (mostly on Internet message boards) said he was a lowlife and K-State would live to regret it if they hired him, my response was that everyone deserves a second chance. You just don't know him. Give the guy a break. He's a good guy, just misunderstood. Let him show that he really is a stand up fella.

And up until two day's ago I would have said the same thing. Innocent until proven guilty and all that rot. K-State just a had a great basketball season and they were primed for an even better season next year.

Gawd, I was like Mark Ratner defending Mike Damone. What a chump I was.

Anyway, this whole thing has reminded me of these lyrics from Pink Floyd's Animals:

You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need
You've got to sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street
You've got to be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight
You've got to strike when the moment is right without thinking.
And after a while, you can work on points for style
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake
A certain look in the eye, and an easy smile
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to
So that when they turn their backs on you
You'll get the chance to put the knife in.

tagged: K-State, basketball, Bob Huggins, KSU, chump, sports

It takes a Village

While KCMo deals with witches in city hall and murderous east-side gangs, the inner suburbs of Johnson County are now engaged in a destructive turf war.

According to The Star, the Prairie Village city council told Leawood to foxtrot oscar with its preposterous plan to lease a traffic island for the next 99 years.

Two years ago, the Leawood Arts Council had designed a sculpture, called "Porch Lights," specifically for that island, without realizing the land belonged to Prairie Village. When the error was discovered, Leawood requested to lease the island for 99 years. In addition to paying for the sculpture, Leawood would have maintained the property and done additional landscaping. Under the lease, if Prairie Village decided to terminate the lease early, it would have to reimburse Leawood for all costs. If Leawood broke the contract, it would have to restore the island to its original condition.

Can you imagine! The unmitigated gall of some people! The sheer temerity. Just who the hell do these Leawood Arts people think they are? Thank goodness for council members like David Belz, who wasn't willing to kowtow to Prairie Village's southern neighbors.

"I don't like how this has come down," said council member David Belz. "They (Leawood City Council) want 99 or nothing. They didn't do their homework, and now we have to decide whether or not we want a structure there or not."

I say definitely NOT! I'm with Belz. Who needs a stinkin' art project when you've already got a perfectly good weed-infested, crumbling curb patch of dirt.

It's high time some cities learn who really runs things here in Johnson County!

tagged: Kansas, Prairie Village, Leawood, public art, Johnson County

Volunteer opportunity

Tony at TKC tipped me (no homo) to this news item:

Porn shops and strip clubs are soon to get a hard time (hehe) in Kansas City

In the interest of community service, I would like to hereby humbly volunteer to donate my valuable time to this very worthwhile cause. I know that it will be a sacrifice to spend hours pouring over "adult literature" and documenting abuses at the area porn shops and strip clubs.

It will mean many nights spent away from my family and in the company of drunks and topless dancers, but if it means a better tomorrow for our fair city, I'm willing to accept this burden.

So I'll meet the rest of you at Diamond Joe's Friday night?

tagged: Kansas City, strip club, adult bookstore, porn shop, Diamond Joe's

YouTube Tuesday: I can't believe the news today

A few weeks ago I linked to a movie/pop song mashup that I called Once Upon a Time in a Cage.

I posed the question about how much mashups (taking two or more works of art and melding them together in a new product) could actually be called art. Thanks to John B at Blog Meridian, the post and the video received some significant discussion at Clusterflock.

Fast forward two weeks to when I stumbled upon today's YouTube Tuesday submission. Judging from the number of views on YouTube, this one has been around for a while and probably you already have seen it, but this is a great example of taking existing video, chopping it up and re-editing it to form a completely new original piece.

Enjoy.


tagged: movie, YouTube, video, George Bush, Sunday, bloody, U2, mashup

Prairie Earth*

I took the family on a weekend trip to central Kansas (Salina, if you must know) to hang out with the in-laws for a couple of days.

Driving west on I-70 we were treated to some amazing skyscapes as waves of billowing clouds, the remnants of violent Kansas thunderstorms, passed overhead.

The alternating moments of shadow and sunshine cast on the rolling grasslands made for dramatic and breathtaking views of the prairie springing to life.

It's easy for even life-long Kansans like myself to miss these vistas as we keep our eyes on the highway zooming past us at 80 miles per hour. I personally tend to be more attentive for the flashing lights of a Kansas state trooper than to hillsides painted in tall grass green and redbud red.

But for whatever reason, I noticed it last weekend. And I saw today that National Geographic has also noticed it.

Writer Verlyn Klinkenborg and photographer Jim Richardson (a Kansas native) documented the nation's last stand of tall grass prairie and the cycle of renewal that preserves it in Splendor of the Grass. They were good enough to put the entire article and image gallery online, so be sure to check it out.

And try not to miss it the next time you're heading west.

*Apologies to William Least Heat Moon, a Kansas City native, who also documented this ancient patch of ground in his book PrairyErth.

tagged: Kansas, prairie, Konza, environment, William Least Heat Moon, National Geographic

Around the Bloch

With the grand opening of the new Bloch Building at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art just two months away, the organization is moving into a promotional phase.

I received an email from my inside source, Matt the Architect, with a link to an "e-preview" of the building's interior. It's not as much a video as a slide show in video form, but still a good preview of what the experience will be like.

I've been kind of a booster for this project for the last few years. I think it's a really cool juxtaposition to have this modern glass "building on its side" next to the neoclassical structure of the museum proper.

That said, I have a couple of lingering questions about the Bloch building. With only 60 days to opening, it's looking kind of plain. I thought they might hang some paintings or quilts or something. I bet you could do a nice farmers’ market in there, but that’s just one of many possibilities. Also, I think they need to paint the damn thing already, maybe add a nice shag carpet and some drapes.

tagged: Steven Holl, Nelson Atkins, art, architecture, Kansas City, museum

Friday Blogthing: Apparently I'm also a Japanese schoolgirl

I never really put much stock in these online quizzes/surveys/personality tests.

But it's spooky how accurate a profile about your bathroom habits can be (except for the caricature of the Japanese school girl. No way my eyes are that big).

What Your Bathroom Habits Say About You

You are very independent and self-centered. You don't solve other people's problems - and you don't expect them to solve yours. Your idea of fashion is jeans and a t-shirt. Clean, if you're lucky. You are a little shy and easily embarrassed. You often wonder if you are normal. In relationships, you are practical and realistic. You have a romantic side, but you only let it out when it's appropriate.

What Do Your Bathroom Habits Say About You?

tagged: bathroom, habits, Friday, blog, quiz, profile, test

Cool change

So I walk in to Starbucks across the street yesterday for my customary afternoon double espresso.

I give the barrista my order, make a little small talk and whip out the two bucks to pay for my tiny cup of concentrated caffeine.

As you know, a double espresso at Starbucks costs about a $1.85. I typically give two dollars and tell the kid behind the counter to drop change into the tip jar.

I'm guessing the barrista knew this, because when he rang up my charge the register showed that I was owed change of $9,999.12. Some tip!

tagged: Starbucks, coffee, tip, change, barrista, dollar

Slogan time again

The Kansas City Star, apotheosis of journalistic integrity that it is, has launched a contest for a new unofficial city slogan to go with the new ideas and administration of the new KCMO Mayor Mark Funkhouser.

And since I riffed severely on the state of New Jersey when they were going through their state motto crisis, I thought I'd try to give equal time to Kansas City, Mo. So here are a few lame thoughts to go with the lame thoughts posted as comments to The Star's article:

• Kansas City: Jazz + Funk = Junk.
• Kansas City, leading the way in steel-plated streets since 1993.
• Kansas City, the loosest slots aren't in the casinos, they're in Westport
• Kansas City: In Your Face, Omaha!

tagged: Kansas City, slogan, contest, Missouri, Omaha, Mark Funkhouser, jazz