Tuesday, September 16, 2008

NFL Logos Going Right

I may not be the first one, but the other day I notices something as I was trying to look for a worthy addition to my otherwise abysmal fantasy football team. With the exception of one team, all the NFL team logos face or point to the right - excluding, of course, the "stationary" ones - letters and symmetrical symbols. Here's a list of the ones "charging", if you will, to the right:

- Ravens' raven
- Browns' helmet
- Texans' bull
- Jaguars' jaguar
- Titans' fireball
- Bills' buffalo
- Free Willy on Dolphins'
- Patriots' minuteman
- Broncos' bronco
- Chiefs' arrow
- Lions' lion
- Vikings' James Hetfield
- Falcons' falcon
- Panthers' panther
- Buccaeneers' flag
- Redskins' Native American
- Cardinals' cardinal
- Seahawks' ... seahawk
- And, last but not least (pun totally intended), Rams' ram

Only Eagles' eagle is facing left.

I don't know if it was a deliberate attempt by Philly to come up with a logo that defies the "Western logic" or the rest of the NFL. What I mean by "Western logic" is that languages written with a Latin-based alphabet are written from left to right (duh...), so it is natural for children growing up learning these languages as mother tongue to "think" from left to right too (Lacan's language-based psychoanalysis). Let's give a cinematic example: in Kubrick's film The Killing (1955), all the characters enter the scene from left to right. Kubrick later said that it was deliberate. I might be completely off the mark here, but I remember reading a quote by David Lean along the same lines.

Anyway, back to football. What is strange about the NFL logos isn't the fact that they face right, but that one team - by pure coincidence or pure rebellion - has a logo facing the other way.

Makes you think, doesn't it?

Peace.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Goodbye, Mr. Wright...

The music world has lost one of its most talented and elusive players. Rick Wright, Pink Floyd's legendary keyboard player, has passed away after battling with cancer. It is sad news indeed, as not only was he immensely gifted as a songwriter, but he was also a master of his instrument. Players such as Jon Lord, Keith Emerson, and Rick Wakeman are "superstars" in terms of rock keyboards for their showmanship and technical expertise. Wright, on the other hand, was more subtle. Take a listen to Floyd's "Echoes" or any song from Dark Side of the Moon (1973).

It's a shame that we will never get to see Pink Floyd in all its glory anymore - Syd Barrett, the founding member, also recently passed away. But, they left us a catalogue that deserves the epithet "unique" more than any other.

P.S. "Echoes" is playing in the background right now and it's killing me. What a song.

Peace.

Monday, September 8, 2008

And another Awesome Playlist!

There are some overlaps from the previous one, but also some new additions and long-forgotten gems:

Coming Home by Alter Bridge
Threshold by Audrey Horne
What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse by The Black Dahlia Murder
Falling off the Edge of the World by Black Sabbath
Reverend Wrinkle by Black Stone Cherry
Porno Star by Buckcherry
The Doom of All Fires by Cavalera Conspiracy
I Don't Want to Know (If You Don't Want Me) by The Donnas
Piranha by Exodus
Doomsday for the Deceiver by Flotsam & Jetsam
Executioner's Day by Heaven's Basement
The Mirror's Truth by In Flames
Rocket Ship by King's X
Ilyena by The Mars Volta
Bladecatcher by Mastodon
Bleed by Meshuggah
Bleeding Me by Metallica
Issizligin Ortasinda by Mogollar
While Your Lips Are Still Red by Nightwish
Stuff Is Messed up by The Offspring
Hessian Peel by Opeth
Shesmovedon by Porcupine Tree
My Global Mind by Queensryche
Morphine Child by Savatage
Sepulnation by Sepultura
Sacrifice for the Slaughter God by Skeletonwitch
Practice What You Preach by Testament
Jump for Joy by Warrior Soul
Living for the Weekend by Willie Stradlin
Alien Angel by 3

Peace

No More Perfection!!!

Great. You wait for six months to prove everyone that Patriots may not have been the perfect team, but the best team in the country and what happens? Tom Brady - they should have cast him instead of Brandon Routh in Superman Returns (2006) - gets injured within the first five minutes after tossing a awesome pass. He's out for the season and a return to glory for the Pats looks a lot harder now. The pass was intercepted, by the way.

Losing Brady should not be wholly detrimental to Patriots, because (read the first paragraph again) they want to prove themselves to be the best team. Unfortunately, Brady's input is so huge that his loss undermines any title hope the team, the pundits, the fans, and the players had. They are now a strong contender for a play-off spot - quite probably seeded - but I can't see them progressing any further. Matt Cassell should be an able replacement, but he won't reach the numbers Brady put on board last season. I hope he does and I end up eating my words. But, he won't. Brady's loss also means lesser numbers from Moss and Welker (and there goes my fantasy team). All in all, Patriots will finish the season with a handful of less games won than last year.

On the bright side, it was a stellar first week: Favre vs. Pennington (I wish they had mics inside the helmets of both); Panthers' last second touchdown (thank you San Diego defence); Falcons finally winning a game. And tonight we'll see if Rodgers can shut the Packers' fans boos as he sizes up Petersen and the Vikings. It's going to be good...

Peace.