Here we go!

 Witness to history in the making. 

Also, congratulations to KJ - the new mayor of Sac-town. 

For more basketball fun, check out Steve Nash and recent viral vids released by Vitamin Water: here, here, and here.  There's one with Baron too. 

books

I had a sudden urge to read a non-medical book last week and picked up Roddy Doyle's Paula Spencer at a book sale.  Despite its generic title, this book packs punch.  Its blue-collar rawness is beautifully honest and Roddy Doyle's timing is impeccable.  I don't remember the last time I read a book with no chapter breaks (making it even more difficult to put down).  It's a sequel to another book he wrote 12 years ago.  Maybe I should've read that first, but Paula Spencer sucks you in so fast, you don't really care. 

And also (just to rub it in some more), props to the reviewer who gave Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 3 out of 5 stars...  a disappointing end to a phenomenal series.  Other reviewers also clearly did not buy into the hype as evidenced by the 1 and 2-star reviews on Amazon. 

Currently Reading Paula Spencer By Roddy Doyle see related

arrrrrgh... rants, matey

... because Talk Like A Pirate Day is coming this Friday.  Get your eye patches and peg-legs ready! 

More absurdities from Down Under.  Check out my school's library opening hours for this semester.  That's a total of eight hours on the weekends.  EIGHT!  And if you're thinking, "I guess that's alright for Arts students.", check out our Biomedical Library opening hours. 

And then maybe you're thinking, "Why study when they've got awesome social outlets?".  Well, check this out:

(Let's not harp on the fact that some of these kids are only a year removed from their own senior prom.)  This is our annual big hoo-rah the medical school students' society puts together.  I've never been to one.  Why?  See below. 

Tickets are $100 per person!  Even if I was as loaded and socially-inclined as many of my classmates, it doesn't take an accountant to realize dropping $100 on a weak, soon-to-be-regurgitated dinner and free flowing alcohol is not money well-spent, even if I drank 'til I bled Grey Goose.  There are even numerous sponsors, but yet ticket prices are still prohibitive.  But somehow, every year tickets sell out.  Proof that the majority of medical students here have financially generous parents?  Perhaps.  Also, the lure of ethanol here is unreal.  I constantly marvel at how Australians remain productive with their alcohol intake.  It is genius. 

Call it what you will, but when I see things like this I miss AACA Semi-formals. 

Collapse imminent.

It took the first-round unravelling of my beloved Nash-era Suns for the media to start ramping up the heat on Robert Sarver (possibly the stingiest rich guy ever) who has screwed Suns fans over since Day 1.  Bill Simmons sums it up beautifully here. 

Steve Kerr (Suns general manager) has his work cut out.  He's a U of A guy, an astute NBA commentator/columnist, and has a great head for all things basketball.  But the mess Sarver has put the team through in is tough work for even the best strategist.  Good luck. 

Not all the blame is on the owner though.  Amaré needs to stop trying to be "The Man" and just grow up, mentally and defensively.  Basketball is a team sport.  And Marion and Joe Johnson should be given a good thwack if either are ever caught saying "I just want to win a championship." when they were arguably inches from winning it if they had stayed in Phoenix and not asked to be traded.  Their accusations of the Suns management underrating them are probably true, but isn't a NBA championship worth checking your ego for an extra year? 

Have you guys seen how much Kerr has aged?  His wrinkle count has at least doubled this year every time a camera catches him in the stands at home games.  And he's lost the cheeky grin he had in the years when he was doing broadcasts.  Guess you can't blame him with the way our season's turned out. 

Hang in there. 

"Hi Phoenix, I've just squandered the best years of your two-time MVP point guard for a bag of Skittles! SKITTLES!!!"

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

This was a rockin' weekend b/c Pikl flew back for his graduation.  I met him two years ago and discovered we shared the same fondness and respect for Nadesico.  A match made in anime-heaven was formed and things took off from there.  He's getting into the US adaptation of The Office (a mockumentary of a paper supply company in Scranton, New Jersey) and in combination with the post-strike episodes of season 4 finally being released April 10th, I thought it only right to share its deliciousness with you - plus it's so frickin' good.  Also, every other time I mention it in Melbourne no one else (777 excepted) gets it (possibly read: I couldn't market gold to hobos.) or says "Yeah...  I want to see the British version." (Words like "elitist" swirl on the tip of my tongue and the notion that the Queen has dominion on more than just their currency is reinforced.). 

Although it's billed as a sitcom, in order to be truly appreciated one must start from the first episode of season 1.  It was a bit of a slow start with some earlier episodes spending time on character exposition and fleshing out the relationships between the workers.  There were still many funny moments to be had; the basketball episode was awesome (check out Dwight's shirt during the comp).  Then season 2 came along and I was bait.  And season 3 just took it to another level.  I'm still not won over by Steve Carell elsewhere on-screen, but his Micheal Scott is irreplaceable.  And Dwight Schrute is nerd central! 

Much of the appeal for me lies in the subtle humor, relying on the unspoken body language or facial expressions of the actors and the deft camera angles.  The show also does a wonderful job of adapting the original Office (by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant in the UK) to Americana.  The original was fantastic, the British humor is actually funny, and it deserved all the praise and awards heaped on it.  I am trepid of the American butchering that so often occurs when foreign work is imported, but the US Office staff should be commended for going beyond cheap imitation for the sake of money and stepping it up and injecting a good dose of quality, innovation, and heart into the adaptation.  By using the mockumentary format, the viewer is quickly drawn in and emotionally invested.  It's quite easy to see pieces of you and your friends in the characters. 

It will be interesting to see where the show goes from here.  I personally think they should have stopped at the end of season 3.  The first bit of season 4 had lost some of its bite.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the rest. 

Either way, if you haven't seen it, go watch the first three seasons in your spare time.  Rent it.  Buy it.  Borrow it.