It's about damn time...

Papi hit a home run!!! FINALLY!!!!!

FWA Player of the Year goes to...

Steven Gerrard!!!

The Football Writers' Association has awarded number 8 with this prestigious award. I can't think of anyone more deserving, either. This is Gerrard's second FWA award. Now, let's just hope that the Reds win their last 2 games of the season, and that Man. U. loses theirs, so that Liverpool can ascend to the top of the EPL and win the cup. Knock on wood.

Washburn's Top 5 of the Day

The Top 5 James Bond Villains (from the films, not the books, as I have not read all the books and would not be able to pass suitable judgement)

5) Francisco Scaramanga (from The Man With The Golden Gun) - The first villain I would like to discuss is the one played by Christopher Lee. Lee is probably one of the most famous actors to play genuinely evil dudes, and he pulls off Scaramanga falwlessly. Being the man with the golden gun means that he is supposedly the best (and most expensive) assassin for hire in the world. The theme song tells us a million a shot... not a bad way to make a living. The other reason I think he is a great villain is because, unlike other Bond foes, he actually looks upon Bond as an equal, as someone he actually WANTS to face because it will be a challange. Plus, Scaramanga lives on his own private island, a lush paradise in the south pacific where he also has a crazy solar powered ray gun/cannon thing. He also employs maybe the coolest henchmen in all the bond series, Nick Nack. And to top it all off... Scaramanga has three nipples!!!! Wow!!!

4) Hugo Drax (from Moonraker) - Hugo Drax is selected for two reasons. 1) I love his crazy far-out plan (mostly because it involves extremely hot chicks), and 2) because he has a kick-ass name. Hugo Drax's plan is probably one of the most far-fetched plans...and that is why I love it! Drax's plan is to wipe out the entirety of Earth's population and restart the human civilization ON THE MOON!!! Haha, but better yet... he is going to populate the moon by enslaving many hot and beautiful women, specifically selected for their looks and perfect figures, using them to satisfy his sexual desires and create a race of beautiful people. Crazy, I know... but genius, if you ask me. All in all, however, Moonraker is probably one of the worst Bond movies, only because it pushes the envelope a little too far. The only one that is worse is probably Die Another Day. That one is just gay.

3) Karl Stromberg (from The Spy Who Loved Me) - This one is a little weird. I picked Stromberg strictly for how whacky and crazy his world domination scheme was. Very similar to Hugo Drax, Stromberg had this master plan to destroy all life on Earth, only to build a futuristic new civilization in which he would be the ruler.... under the ocean. No lie, an entire civilization under water. Stromeberg probably, more so than most Bond villains, has the coolest secret lair of evil. Stromberg's lair is a massive, multi-pod shaped sealab with one of the coolest aquariums! And of course, man eating sharks. Stromberg also has a gigantic ship that opens up and literally swallows an entire nuclear sub full of American naval officers... and a few nuclear warheads, duh. Isn't that what every evil genius is after!? Hahaha...

2) Emilio Largo (from Thunderball) - I choose Largo as number 2, because he was considered to be the number 2 operative for the evil terrorist organization with seemingly endless funds, SPECTRE. The Largo character has technically appeared in two films (the re-make, Never Say Never Again). He is ruthless and is totally loyal to his superior at SPECTRE. It is his plan to attain stolen nuclear warheads to extort money from Great Britain. Not only that, but he keeps his hot mistress, Domino, held prisoner on his sweet-ass yacht. He is strangely obsessed with her and even has a hidden room in which he spys on her through a window disguised as a mirror while she dances and works out in the dance studio on board the yacht. All the while, the dude fashions a classic pirate-esque eye patch. Creeeeepy. Of course, Bond wins her over and she ends up shooting Largo in the back with a harpoon gun. Excellent!

and the number ONE James Bond Villain...

1) This one is a no brainer... Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the master mind behind S.P.E.C.T.R.E. and the obvious choice for number one, as he WAS number one. He is the most iconic villain in the 007 franchise and probably the biggest megalomaniac of them all. His image is unforgettable. No one can forget his pet cat or his unidentifiable eastern European accent. He has never been played by the same actor twice. His objectives and schemes were, above all others, far fetched and elaborate. He is so iconic, that Austin Power's Dr. Evil villain is modeled after him (in other words, Blofeld's actions have become the cliches for every super-villain to appear after). He has been the primary Bond villain in the most movies. For example, where as most Bond villains have only one (two at most) films in which they appear as a protagonist, Blofeld has a role in 6 Bond films (From Russia With Love, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, and a brief encounter, in which Bond eventually uses a helicopter to drop Blofeld down a factory smoke stack, in For Your Eyes Only). Technically, he has been in 7 films if you count the non-EON pictures film Never Say Never Again (which is technically just a re-make of Thunderball). So what was Blofeld's most evil plan??? Probably the plan revealed in Diamonds Are Forever, where he plans to hold the world for ransom and threaten the use of his death ray gun (positioned in outer space, of course) that is capable of destroying any target, anywhere on Earth. The detonator for such a device is disguised as an audio cassette tape of Scotland fife and drum classics (duh! Of course!) Another crazy stunt is how, according to Bond (in OHMSS), Blofeld cut his own ear lobes off so that he could wrongfully acquire the Blofeld family fortune because everyone knows that the Blofelds don't have ear lobes! (weird and just plain evil). To top it off, Blofeld's goons are supposedly responsible for the murder of Bond's wife, Tracy. So here's to you, Number One. SPECTRE rocks!

Manny... Where for art thou, Manny???

Oh, yeah... that's right, you're suspended.

This may sound naive and ignorant, but I was actually holding out and hoping that all players so close to my team (the Red Sox), and especially someone who was treasured (like Manny) as a key member of the two most recent World Series Red Sox teams had played it clean. I guess there is no way of knowing (right now) for sure how deep and how long he has played using enhancement drugs, but it is definitely on my mind, as I am sure on the mind of other Red Sox fans. It is embarrassing. Now it calls into questions some of the other hitters who posted big numbers in Boston... Papi??? Maybe it's not a coincidence that he is in a huge home run slump... could it be that when he was nailing all those homers in the past that he was enhanced... somehow??? I hope not. God, I really hope not. But, I have to wonder...


So what is for the future??? When A-Rod returns shortly, what are going to be expectations? What kind of reception will Manny get when he returns after his 50 day suspension??? Is he still a first ballot candidate for Cooperstown??? This is a guy that, while he was in Boston, I used to love watch hit. Now, when I see him hit, it will be with disparity. Can any of these players be trusted??? Baseball heroes are falling, hero after hero... For me, two guys I had always had revered with awe (Manny Ramirez and Roger Clemens, before his days in NY) have broken my heart and have made me question the legitimacy of all MLB superstars.

Thanks, guys.

Washburn's Top 5 of the Day

The Top 5 Favorite Holden Caulfield Quotes

5) "I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life." <--- this one reminds me of my dad...

4) "All mothers are slightly insane."

3) "All morons hate it when you call them a moron."

2) "I am kind of paranoid in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy."

...and the number 1 favorite quote...

1) "I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody."

Remember me????

Hi, sorry it has been awhile. Life has kind of been a little frantic as of late, especially with the wedding inching closer and closer each day. Not only that, I just feel I haven't had anything too terribly funny or important to say... although, every time I do think of something to blog about, I either don't have the time, or when I do have the time, I get tired and forget. Anyway... about the wedding...

Some crazy crap has been going on as of late. For one, thanks to the f'n Swine Flu or the H1N1 virus or whatever it is, our honeymoon plans are currently on the rocks. The sad thing is, we have already paid for everything (well, my credit card has paid for everything), and that includes the plane tickets, ugh. SOOOooo, I have been advised not to change my mind yet, as the situation does seem to be leveling off a bit in Mexico, and elsewhere in the world, but to instead start researching some other possible locations that I could transfer the funds to. We have looked at a few places in Punta Cana, but we had really had our hopes up for Mexico.

The other wedding news, invitations and gift registry cards have gone out and we are currently getting RSVPs back. You know what I don't get... when people get the invitations, why do they feel they need to bring people along with them that were NOT invited?!?! I don't get it. It is one thing if you at least ask first before just adding someone to the invitation, but when you just blatently put 4 or 5 down as attending, when the invitation was only for 2... I mean... what the hell?!? So, we are dealing with that mess too... I am afraid we invited too many. We shall see...

Good news... Red Sox beat the Yankees last night. I stayed up and watched the rain-delayed game until Damon and Teixera both hit back to back homers... that kind of left a rotten taste in my mouth and I turned it off. You think I would have been happy about that, seeing as they are both on my fantasy team, but I was more disgusted than anything. I was glad to see the outcome this morning though.