Babe of the Week for June 11, 2010 is...

Scarlett Johansson!!!

I can't tell if she's a real blonde or not, but she certainly has a very erotic and sultry look about her. Woody Allen definitely brought out the loveliness she possesses in the two films he featured her in, "Match Point" and one of my all-time favorites "Vicky Cristina Barcelona".

Here she is on location in Spain with The Woodman himself-



I love her as an actress. She has the ability to quietly bring out great performances from the other actors she works with. This is what makes her stand out in my opinion. Not only does she look loook mahvelous, dahling , but she is great at what she does. We know Hollywood loves blonde white girls with big tits, but this is not the only reason she gets work. She can actually act.

Fania Lives!!!

"SIEMBRA" LIVE-
The Fania catalogue is known all over the world as the definitive treasure trove of Afro-Caribbean music-a library of epic proportions that includes hundreds of timeless albums. What many people don't know, however, is that the vaults of Fania also contain dozens of rare recordings that have yet to see the light of day.

Beginning a long standing effort to finally make the entire contents of its catalogue available, Fania is releasing a stunning recording of Rubén Blades and Willie Colón in concert, taped in 1980 at New Jersey's Capitol Theatre.

At the time, Blades and Colón were touring to promote Siembra - considered by many as Blades' magnum opus. The sonics of the original tapes are clear and warm, making this release one of the most exciting live albums in the annals of salsa.

The majority of the Siembra album was performed during that evening - including a raucous extended version of "Buscando Guayaba," and a superb reading of the mega-hit "Pedro Navaja." Fans of the leaner, highly atmospheric Metiendo Mano will be delighted to know that Blades and Colón chose to include two tracks off that LP: "Plantación Adentro," as well as the socially aware anthem "Pablo Pueblo."

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Above is a copy of the newsletter I just received via email announcing the release of the live recording of what is hands down the most influential Salsa album ever recorded. World-wide it has sold over 25 million copies since it's release date in 1978.

This is a must-have for any fan of Salsa music, and I must give the new owners of the Fania label huge credit for promoting and issuing this great music. It is rare that Latino culture gets celebrated in mainstream media aside from the usual stereotypical buffoonery of hot Latin lovers and all that other minstrel-type bullshit not even worth mentioning.


Here is a brief synopsis of what happened to the label and it's music. Jerry Masucci, who together with Bandleader Johnny Pacheco founded the label in 1964 and heralded the rise of Salsa from it's home base in New York City, found his power and influence waning as artists began to leave for more lucrative offers elsewhere. After Masucci retired and left the music business in the early 80's, the Fania catalog floundered, with the master tapes languishing in a warehouse in Upstate New York.

The Fania All-Stars in all their glory-

In 2005 a Miami-based company called EMusica purchased the rights to the back catalog and began releasing many of the old titles. Around 300 were released before EMusica sold it's interests to another company. All of the titles that were released during this time were remastered and released with new liner notes in both English and Spanish. Unfortunately those titles were available for a very short time and are currently out-of-print. The current company has stated that these titles will be replenished, but as of yet it is only selling CD's in downloadable form.

Salsa, though it was primarily dance music played in small clubs, took off and the major acts of the label, dubbed the "Fania All-Stars", soon began filling stadiums all over the world. This was due to the fact that the musicians themselves were some of the best in the world. As an avid fan of the music, I am hoping that the catalog gets released again in CD form. I only managed to collect around 70 of the 300 or so remastered CD's before EMusica went busto. Let's hope the new company holds true to their word.

Many of these legends of Latin music are no longer with us, but it's up to us to keep their legacy alive-

Crackhead...

Jim Joyce, the well-respected professional baseball umpire of 22 years, fucked up one of the most obvious calls I've ever seen in my life. The play wasn't even close. That's why Armando Galarraga should file a protest against this call. He has gotten one of THEE most difficult sporting feats taken from him in the ninth inning when he was only two outs away from the third perfect game thrown this year. Just take a look at these photos-



Joyce was right on top of this call, and it's beyond anyone how he could have gotten it so wrong. I began screaming at the TV and was convinced he blew the call because he had placed a bet on the game, but that doesn't make sense. No one could have predicted Galarraga was going to pitch a perfect game, so this was not at stake. Besides, the umps never leave the field so there was no way Joyce could have stepped away to make a phone call to his bookie.

GM was kind enough to give Galarraga a free Corvette and the fans were definitely behind him for his efforts-



For his part, Joyce apologized to the pitcher and admitted he did blow the call. Galerraga exhibited plenty of class even as the play happened. If it were Roger Clemens at the mound when this play transpired there would have been a brawl. I've seen fights occur over plays much closer than this in local softball tournaments. We don't often see such collective grace by both parties involved, and there was hope that Bud Selig would do the right thing without blinking. I hope you're still not blinking, because Bud Selig has shown yet again that all he is is a bureaucratic buffoon.

Not only has Selig denied this young man his place in history, but he also stated that he will be dragging his feet on instant replay and will not implement it until next season AT THE EARLIEST. I wonder what this dribbling baboon of a commissioner has on his administrative plate that is more important than the issue of instant replay in baseball. Every other sport has it, it is one of the features of modern-day sport in the 21st. century. What baseball needs to do is take a meeting with Selig and send him a message-PROGRESS IS GOOD. We need instant replay in baseball, it's only right. Human error is not something we have to live with anymore. We have technology to aid us in getting things right. But Selig won't budge, because he is happy collecting those fat paychecks from MLB and sitting on his ass. Which is why instead of offering him a contract extension, the baseball owners should have gotten together and sent him out the door the Sicilian Way-

Film Recommendation of the Week...

Priest
Release date March 17, 1995.
Running time 1 hour 45 minutes.


Very controversial movie when it came out, and just as timely today as when it was initially released 15 years ago. Many intertwining issues going on that have challenged the Catholic Church for the last 30 or so years. Here is the synopsis from Wikipedia-

"Father Greg Pilkington, newly assigned to St. Mary's parish in inner-city Liverpool, is startled to discover Father Matthew Thomas is engaged in a sexual relationship with rectory housekeeper Maria Kerrigan. Moreover, Father Thomas is a left-wing radical and an outspoken proponent of Liberation Theology, leading his to constant clashes and bickering with the Bishop—who nevertheless appreciates his abilities.

While the young protagonist's personal traditional conservatism and religious beliefs are offended by the older priest's blatant disregard for his vow of celibacy, he struggles with his own homosexual urges, especially after he meets Graham at a local gay hangout and the two embark on a physical relationship.

Meanwhile, student Lisa Unsworth has confided she is the victim of sexual abuse by her father, who confirms her story, but both have revealed their secret in the confessional, and Father Greg is required to honor the sanctity of the Sacrament of Penance and not reveal what he has been told, despite the fact the girl is suffering emotionally and physically. He tries to warn her mother to keep a close watch on her, but the naive woman believes her daughter is safe while in the care of her husband.

When Mrs. Unsworth discovers her husband molesting Lisa and realizes the priest knew what was happening, she verbally lashes out at him. Adding to his torment is his arrest for engaging in sexual activity with Graham in a parked car. When he pleads guilty to the charge, the story is headlined on the front page of the local newspaper and, unable to face his parishioners,

Father Greg relocates to a remote rural parish headed by a disapproving and unforgiving priest. Father Matthew convinces him to return to St. Mary's, and the two preside over a Mass that is disrupted by the loud protests of those opposed to Father Greg's presence on the altar. Father Matthew demands they leave the chapel.

The two priests then begin to distribute the Eucharist, but the remaining parishioners ignore Father Greg and line up to receive communion from Father Matthew. Lisa finally approaches the younger priest, and the two fall into each other's arms sobbing."

The Cycle of Bullshit...

1) The Most Tested Athlete in the World-

This what I like to refer to as a "rectum derived statistic". Why? Because whoever came up with it pulled it right out of his ass. Here are the official numbers that beg further research. The actual numbers clearly contradict this ridiculous claim that no one from Lance Armstrong's camp has ever been able to substantiate. For verification, we would need the number of tests done for ALL the other top cyclists. But that is the MO of the Armstrong camp-make vague, bombastic statements that their fanboys slurp up like chum and then call anyone a hater for having the audacity to question their bullshit.

(I got this information from a post on the Weightweenies site. I would like to thank the poster named "icebreaker" for looking into this matter and getting some hard numbers out there for all to see)

"This is Lances' testing history from 1999 to 2004, as published in L'Equipe in 2005-these numbers are the total number for each year, not just the Tour de France.

1999: 15 urine tests
2000: 12 urine tests
2001: 10 urine tests
2002: 9 urine tests
2003: 9 urine tests
2004: 8 urine tests and 1 blood test for the detection of hemoglobin synthesis.

UCI controls from 1999 to 2004 in total = 63. or 10.5 per year.

You think that is more tests than people who were riding a full year's program, and winning or placing - people like McEwen for instance.

63 tests in 5 years."

Keep in mind that for all intent and purposes Armstrong stopped riding after July almost every single year after he won his first Tour in 1999. The cycling season goes on until October. Top riders who race all year get tested WAY more than this, given that during a stage race like the Tour the leader usually gets tested daily, as does the winner of each daily stage. He didn't seem to get tested all that much for someone who won as many stages and for the number of days he rode as the leader at the Tour.


2) Armstrong Never Tested Positive-

Those tests in section 1 above were all urine tests. With no blood testing, which is much more precise and thorough it's as if he was never tested at all, because everyone knows that those urine tests administered by the UCI are a joke. You really have to have a bad doctor or team director to fail one of these. So the point is moot.

Here is a list of riders who have podiumed alongside Armstrong in each of his 7 Tour wins along with their situations regarding PED's-this list comes courtesy of poster "Johnny Rad", also of the Weightweenies site-

1999, GC
1. Lance Armstrong
2. Alex Zülle-admitted doper; suspended/Festina Scandal of 1998
3. Fernando Escartín-Rode for infamous Kelme Squad, but never implicated

2000, GC
1. Lance Armstrong
2. Jan Ullrich-alleged doper; suspended/retired (Alleged ties to Operation Puerto)
3. Joseba Beloki-alleged doper; Once Squad (Manolo Saiz, director sportif at the heart of the Operation Puerto Scandal)

2001, GC
1. Lance Armstrong
2. Jan Ullrich-alleged doper; suspended/retired
3. Joseba Beloki-alleged doper;

2002, GC
1. Lance Armstrong
2. Joseba Beloki-alleged doper;
3. Raimondas Rumšas-alleged doper; suspended (His story deserves a post all to itself)

2003, GC
1. Lance Armstrong
2. Jan Ullrich-alleged doper; suspended/retired
3. Alexander Vinokourov - alleged doper; suspended (transfusion of another person's blood)

2004, GC
1. Lance Armstrong
2. Andreas Klöden-alleged doper (Freiburg Clinic Scandal)
3. Ivan Basso-alleged doper; implicated and suspended (Operation Puerto)

2005, GC
1. Lance Armstrong
2. Ivan Basso-alleged doper; suspended (Operation Puerto)
3. Jan Ullrich-alleged doper; suspended/retired (Operation Puerto)

Somehow, Armstrong was able to dominate every single Tour from 1999 to 2005 without ever being seriously challenged, by riders who all had clouds of suspicion over their heads. So for the sake of arguing, let's just say most of them were doping while they raced against him. And he was able to beat them handily while riding clean.

Does any sane person believe this? Give me a fucking break already. That is not humanly possible. It is physiologically impossible to pull something like that off.

Curiously enough, when some of his urine samples for the 1999 Tour were retroactively tested, six of them came up positive for EPO. He of course came out with the usual denials, blaming unreliable chain of custody of said samples, mishandling/improper storage, a French conspiracy, etc. But there it is. Of course, the Armstrong Tifosi will hear none of it, screeching about the country's collective bitterness at needing the United States save them from the clutches of Nazi Germany in WWII. Yes, folks-this is how it's been described on some of the cycling forums. I swear if Einstein could have come up with a formula to measure the quantum expansion of stupidity, he'd have to re-write it after reading some of these explanations.

3) Cycling has the most intensive anti-doping program in pro sports-

What this latest revelation tells us is that testing in pro cycling is an absolute joke. Floyd Landis stated that he doped throughout his whole career and got caught for a substance he wasn't even taking at the time. This part I don't believe, but right now it's beside the point. The point is, as much as cycling pays lip service to their supposedly tough anti-doping measures, a rider who can pony up the requisite cash has access to the expertise necessary to circumvent the tests.

Ricardo Ricco, the disgraced Italian rider who recently finished serving a two-year ban for the new generation EPO drug CERA said exactly the same thing. When he confessed, he said with all the times he used the drug it was a surprise to him that he wasn't caught earlier.

Here is an excerpt from the New York Times article entitled "Cyclists Find New Way to Use Old Doping Tool"-

"In a research paper published five years ago, Michael Ashenden, a prominent Australian exercise physiologist and a scientific adviser to the cycling union, and scientists at the University of Montpellier in France injected two athletes with EPO. Ashenden said it took only about a week for the laboratory in France to devise a dosing program that escaped detection, assuming that athletes are not required to provide samples in the middle of the night.

The biological passport, which cycling introduced two and a half years ago, attempts to overcome problems with conventional tests by analyzing blood samples of athletes regularly for signs of unnatural, long-term patterns that indicate manipulation.

Ashenden and the French researchers have recently repeated their earlier experiments. Somewhat to their surprise, they found that the bodies of the test subjects adapted in a way that hides microdosing from the passport program. For various practical reasons, the passport tests measure only the concentration of red cells in athletes’ blood, not the total amount of red cells in their bodies.

Microdosing, however, appears to increase users’ blood volumes significantly. So although EPO raises users’ overall red blood cell level, its concentration stays constant because of the increased blood volume.

The body’s adjustments, Ashenden said, also disguise changes to other markers in the blood that would normally prompt an investigation under the passport program.

Ashenden said that the group also found that athletes could receive the same benefits from EPO with much smaller doses than they used in their first experiments. (To avoid providing a how-to guide, the group has not published its dosage information.)

Despite improvements to the urine test, Ashenden said that microdoses still evaded it, assuming that the samples were not taken from athletes in the middle of the night. Although it is theoretically possible under WADA’s rules for testers to wake up athletes, they have been reluctant to take that step because athletes already complain about the intrusiveness of testing.

“Small injections we previously thought didn’t have a biological impact do work,” Ashenden said."

And how hilarious is it that the one person quote to rebuke this information is none other but Dr. Michele Ferarri, the most notorious doping facilitator in pro cycling-

"Not everyone accepts the researchers’ conclusions. Among them is Michele Ferrari, the controversial Italian sports medicine doctor whose clients have included Armstrong. “It’s a bit like playing Russian roulette,” Ferrari said in an e-mail exchange. “There is absolutely no microdose that can be taken without the risk of getting detected by out of competition controls within a 12-hour window.”


Now how would our good friend know this if he wasn't an astute practitioner of the fine art of EPO administration for use as an athletic performance enhancer? Hmmm...

Inquiring minds wanna know, doctor.


I want everyone to pay attention to the above photo-it comprises all the Tour de France winners from 1996 to 2006. Every single one of them have either admitted to doping, were caught doping, retired under pressure from doping allegations or are currently under suspicion. One way or another, this has got to stop. Pretending the past doesn't matter, or wishing to sweep it under the rug only means that the perpetrators get a clean slate. They don't deserve a clean slate. They deserve to get hounded until they either fess up, leave the sport or preferably both.

The only people who would make such statements are people who have something to hide about their past. There have been concerted efforts from the aggrieved parties to stimey, genuflect or otherwise cast aspersions elsewhere. The only way this gets cleaned up is when the most powerful and influential people in the sport who have derived great profits from aiding and abetting the cycle of doping to be exposed once and for all. This will only happen if more people step up to the plate and speak their truth.

Floyd Landis finally tells the truth...

Floyd Landis, the disgraced pro cyclist who has the dubious distinction of being the only Tour de France winner to ever have his title stripped for failing a drug test, has recently announced what has been obvious to many who are familiar with the sport-that he used PED's (Performance Enhancing Drugs) throughout his whole career.

This revelation in and of itself is not nearly as shocking as what came next. Landis has, in a couple of sentences, rocked the pro cycling establishment with his claim that while riding for the US Postal team from 2002-2004 there was an organized conspiracy to dope, and that the whole machinery was orchestrated by Lance Armstrong and implemented by the director sportif of the team, Johan Bruyneel.

I'm not going to rehash the bullshit that's been regurgitated by the various camps on this matter. UCI president "Fat" Pat McQuaid was demonstrably vociferous in his dismissal of Landis as a rogue character who has an agenda to destroy cycling. Armstrong accused Landis of extortion and posted emails from Floyd and some doctor associated with Landis as proof. Other riders and team directors made it a point that cycling should "move forward" from all this and forget the past.

These are the exhortations of people deeply entrenched in a corrupt system who, while paying lip service to the notion of a cleaner sport, are all scared of the 800-pound gorilla in the room-Lance Armstrong, who by the way not only represents a tainted past but his influence is one that could very well shape the future of the sport. If the allegations are cooberated by others with eyewitness testimony, better to rid pro cycling of Armstrong NOW before he poisons another generation of riders who all want to grow up and be just like him and will no doubt adopt the same measures he did on the way to becoming the kingpin of pro cycling.

These accusations could very well go down as the ravings of a lunatic, and let's face it-Landis has more then his share of credibility issues. From fighting his positive doping test, to writing a book proclaiming his innocence, to soliciting and accepting funds from fans to help counter the costs of his legal defense (which was estimated at around $2 million dollars), to the absolutely despicable phone call to Greg Lemond by his then-manager Will Geoghegan ridiculing Greg about the abuse he suffered as a child, to the French Authorities putting a warrant out for his arrest for computer hacking into a French anti-doping lab.


Many serious issues to set aside if one is willing to give these latest allegations any credence. And from reading the various cycling forums, Landis has already been convicted and hanged in the court of public opinion. But Landis may have people who, willingly or not, may be forced to give testimony to the shenanigans during Armstrong's reign as Tour champion. The USADA has procured the services of one federal agent Jeff Novitsky, he of the BALCO investigation, and according to an article in the London Sunday Times Davis Walsh has reported that one of the people who has agreed to cooperate is Lance Armstrong's ex-wife Kirsten.

This little detail adds a whole new twist to this tale. Right now we have no idea what she'll reveal, if anything. Certain former teammates who currently make their living off cycling are not going to be able to brush this aside if Mr. Novitsky comes knocking on their door. I understand their position. When your livelihood is on the line, the first thing you think about is your family. The second thing you think of is your own scrawny neck on the line.

There is a lot of conjecture out there in cyberspace over what may happen. Right now everything is quiet, and the only ones making noise and squirming like water rats are the ones who've been implicated. Ireland's Fat Pat McQuaid, the residing King Nutria of the UCI, cycling's governing body, has said that it was a mistake taking the "donation" from Lance Armstrong, which is proving to be a problematic little detail in and of itself. Was it $100,000 like he has recently stated, or was it the $500,000 as originally reported? Fat Pat also doesn't know exactly what happened to the "change" left over after allegedly using the money to purchase an apparatus for dope testing that cost $88,000. What happened to the leftover funds, Pat? That type of money certainly does buy a lot of corned beef and cabbage eh, you fat fuck?

Gotta Go to Mo's...

If you're shopping for athletic training gear, you gotta go to Mo's. This sporting goods store has been around forever, and they're a staple in every inner city neighborhood here in NYC. In the past, they've had some unfortunate floor spacing issues that made browsing an impossibility, and most of their clothing was straight-up garbage, the type of ill-fitting, low quality crap you'd find at a typical ghetto discount store, where the clothing is thrown haphazardly into huge bins.

But recently there's been a change. I have to give it to this store for evolving with the times. I stepped into their Fordham Road store in the Bronx and was extremely pleased with what I saw. Employees actually approaching customers, much more floor space devoted to walking around the clothing racks as opposed to everything being crowded, and separate clothing lines in their devoted floor space.

And the quality of the stuff they sell has definitely gone up several notches. Don't get me wrong, they still have to cater to the public assistance crowd and there is no shortage of inexpensive, cheaply manufactured clothing (hey, you can't expect the children of Section 8 housing subsidies to walk around naked now, do you?), but now they carry product lines from Under Armour, Adidas and Nike. And not their bullshit lines either, but the real thing.

For anyone wondering, the 'hood is the best place to seek out those bargains when it comes to basketball/running/training apparel. That's nothing new. But the difference now is you can get the same athletic gear ou'd find at the Sports Authority, Paragon or Macy's in downtown Manhattan for a little bit less. Plus, there is the added incentive for any red-blooded American male of loitering on the corner of Grand Concourse and Fordham Road and watching some of the most beautiful Puerto-Rican girls in the city walking around shopping with their friends and family. I'm telling you, this shopping district rivals Castle Hill and Washington Heights for stunning young latinas.

But I digress. Where were we? Oh yeah, Modell's. It's been my experience that while they don't carry EVERY item from a particular sports clothing line, they do offer some nice stuff. Let's face it, there are certain items that just won't sell in the hood due to cost. That's the reality, and sometimes you'll have no choice but to go downtown and pay those bullshit full retail prices if there is a particular item you need that Modell's doesn't stock.

And there is always the internet, but it's not always what it's cracked up to be. For example, I found the Adidas TG basketball shorts on sale for $12.50. That is a hell of a price for such high-quality gear. Try finding such prices anywhere else in the city. Such sale items are not advertised on the internet, so you actually have to go outside on occasion and step into a store to see what's happening.

Two things-one, you won't find everything on sale at close-out prices, but if you're patient and look around hard enough you'll find something at a great price. Nothing wrong with a $5.00 discount on an item like a workout t-shirt, especially if you are looking to buy more than one.

Two, there are Modell's all over the city, so you don't necessarily have to go to the 'hood if you're a fraidy cat. But don't be scared. Head uptown and walk around the other shops in the area, have a slice of pizza and stare at the insanely gorgeous latinas. Fordham Road is safe during business hours for even the biggest chicken-shit motherfucker. Some of these women look as if they've been genetically enhanced, so for me a shopping trip to Modell's is a no-brainer.