North Royalton graduate Brandon Hynick pitched a perfect game for AAA Colorado! NICE!

While I've never pitched a perfect game, I have beaten Super Mario Bros. and Contra without losing a life.



Those giant crab-spitting penis things were tough!!

Jimmy Dimora has finally lost it:

Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora wants federal investigation

That's right, kids, George Bush is out to get him. Because the GOP cares what a fat guy in Cleveland is thinking.

I love watching the Cuyahoga Democrats fall apart, it's such a perfect "Told ya so" moment for me. While they got voted in year after year (based solely on "BUT I'M A DEMOCRAT, I HAVE TO VOTE FOR HIM!"), not only have we been screwed out of our tax money so he can gamble in vegas, but this do-nothing fatass has halted any progress the region has for future growth. Perfect. Vote Democrat! Look at what a good job they've done! Such a joke.

My first memory of Michael Jackson is my dad taking my sister Joy to Fisher's Big Wheel to get Thriller. I was a 4-year-old brat, and I had to go too, and my dad bought me a little red Lego truck so I would shut up.

We had the "Thriller" video on Betamax, and I used to get sooooooooo freaked out by it, particularly the part where the music cuts out, and it's just all the zombies moaning and looking extra creepy. Just what a 4-year-old needs :)

"Thriller" is still on most Halloween mixes I make. Perfect Halloween tune!

Also on Betamax, we had the video for "Can You Feel It" by the Jacksons. I loved it!! It's so corny now, but at that time, the graphics in it were like "WHOA, computers can do ANYTHING!"

I remember my next door neighbor Todd got the Bad tape for his birthday or something, and I was jealous (for some reason). I made sure to hi-speed dub a copy for myself, so I too could jam to "Liberian Girl" (huh?). "Dirty Diana" is still a fantastic tune.

It was at that point that Weird Al released his parody of "Bad" called "Even Worse", which I cherish to this day. But that's for another rant.

I also vaguely remember going to Disney World in the 2nd grade and watching "Captain Eo" at Epcot center. That was pretty cool.

Dangerous was one of the first CDs I ever had. I got it from Columbia House - 12 cds for 1 penny, who could resist? I remember the "Black or White" video premiering after a Simpsons episode, fantastic. The talk of 7th grade! It had MacCauley Culkin! And George Wendt! How could it not be epic?? (Let's not forget "Do The Bartman"!)

My favorite Michael Jackson tune is "Give in to Me" from the Dangerous album. Good times. I remember the video being premiered after his infamous Oprah interview, and he head lightning bolts shooting out of his hands. Whatever!

History was underwhelming. The video for "Scream" was cool though. The video for "You Are Not Alone" was NOT cool. Too much nude Michael Jackson. I do love the song "They Don't Care About Us".

Invincible was boring. "You Rock My World" was okay, but sounded like it came from 1992. The rest of the CD is meh.

It sucks that he died so young, and tragic how he let his personal life get so messed up. Quite a legacy of music though!

Man, when Prince dies, I don't know how I'm gonna cope.

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Ha - this is funny - Russian company Gasprom took over a Nigerian oil company - and the new company is called Nigaz! HA HA HA HA.

It's the 40th Anniversary this week of the Cuyahoga River going up in flames. I'm way too young to remember that, but I like that 40 years later, it's still the lasting impression most of America has of Cleveland.

To celebrate, here's Randy Newman's tribute - I still giggle every time he says "Cleveland, city of lights, city of magic!"



Fun facts:

This song was used as the opening track for Major League

this song used to be played every morning at 6am on AM 1220 when I was in high school (at that time it was still a sports station).

Me and Liam shared a lovely father's day together - if you look closely, you can almost see my balls in this picture:



And yes, he DID get me a tie. It was cute :) I also got my very first Father's Day Home Depot gift certificate. I'm officially old. Gah - and when I woke up today I have a full grey streak in my hair on the left side. Hooray?

Liam and Shayla played all day, while Kannon slept. Lazy bum! Liam's goal was to just push this car around the front yard at least 100 times. It's no wonder he slept for almost 12 hours last night.



More father's day pics here

I also did some extreme house-painting! The trim on our house is very worn, so I've started painting it. I am deathly afraid of ladders over 6 feet high, so this has been a shaky adventure. I think you'd get a smoother brushstroke if you sent Michael J. Fox up there.

Before/After

This album is awesome, and intensely creepy. A great listen for a rainy day, or if you're ferrying across the River Styx with Charon.

I spent the weekend in Chicago! good times. Liam got to play with his cousin Aiden. It's interesting to watch two baby boys "play" together. It's mainly a bunch of screaming and throwing. Then you go "boys! share!", hoping they'll somehow instantly learn human reasoning. But alas, they do not. Fun to watch though :)

More pictures on Flickr... here's some:

Liam loves playing air guitar in his pool!



And Becky loved her Barbie birthday cake!



Here's Liam and Aiden playing "No, MY shoe is better!"



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The DTV conversion sucks. I have cable, yet local channels are all choppy. Go figure.

Sweet - this year marks the 25th Anniversary of Purple Rain, and Spin magazine is doing a tribute issue and tribute album that features all 9 songs redone by today's indie stars.

Currently streaming on their site is a really cool, haunting version of "When Doves Cry" by Greg Dulli (from Twilight Singers) and Apollonia (yes, THE Apollonia!). It's super-sweet, like me.

BillyFact!: When I was 5, I used to get all excited when the video for "When Doves Cry" was on because I wanted a motorcycle like Prince! I also wanted a large-breasted Italian girlfriend.

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This probably makes me gay, but I like this song:

I love this song SOOOOOOOOO MUCH. However, this may be the most disturbing video I've ever seen.

Liam turned 11 months yesterday. As you can see, he's in training to be a rock star!

Here's him learning A-minor!



And here he is practicing his drum solo!