Silflay Hraka

There’s nothing like the smell of invective in the…..mid-afternoon.

What makes this year special is that the Blue Devils have gone from being loathsome to being contemptible. Two weeks ago, Duke’s Gerald Henderson punctuated a blowout loss by viciously elbowing North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough. This wasn’t just the play of a goon—it was the play of a loser.

Overmatched at skills like running and shooting, the Blue Devils have gone to a walk-it-up offense, backed by their usual grabby, rugby-rules defense. It’s ugly to watch—Duke scored fewer than 80 points in all but three games—but it’s also ineffective. The Devils lost at home to Florida State, were swept by Maryland and North Carolina, and got bounced from the play-in round of the league tournament. It’s a résumé that would get some schools into the NIT. It earned Duke a healthy No. 6 seed in the NCAAs. Even in eclipse, they still know how to work the officials.

Some thoughts that surfaced while I wasted five minutes of my life reading gossip about Sylvester Stallone, of all people. Before long, I’ll have descended so far into moral opprobrium that I’ll start linking to panty-less Britney photos.

All I want is a classy chassis.’ Speaking in that inimitable Italian-American nasal voice straight from New York’s famously tough Hell’s Kitchen district where he grew up, Sylvester Stallone pronounced “classy” to rhyme with “sassy.”

There’s some other way?

Stallone looked wrinkled and overweight on the Rocky promotional tour

Yet he was so manly I skipped a period!

Stallone was on the threshold of becoming famous. And it did not take much imagination to see why. His sculpted upper arms bulged out of his tank top and the muscles in his rippling racehorse thighs clearly showed beneath a figurehugging pair of grey track bottoms.

Which is it, “wrinkled and overweight” or “rippling racehorse thighs” and “figurehugging pair of grey track bottoms?” Also, gay much? Also, “figurehugging?”

“A lot of punishing hours and selfdiscipline must have gone into honing this superb bodywork, I reflected.”

Why in the world would an editor allow a first person point of view in an article that has no byline? Or to spell “self-discipline” like that? I suspect there’s an ESL class somewhere in the writer’s recent past.

“I look at my body as a wheelbarrow to haul around my mind,” he said.

I look at my body as a 13 year old Dodge Omni with a bad paint job and questionable suspension to haul around my mind. Also, the wife tells me the emissions system needs serious work. Yet it’s still a better vehicle that a wheelbarrow. The only thing one hauls around in a wheelbarrow is crap meant for the rubbish heap.

The body, the brain, the sentimental script and naked ambition, not to mention, we always thought, the punishing drive, scored a couple of Oscars for his now legendary creation, Rocky.

“A couple” is two, not three. No wonder “journalistic accuracy” has become a oxymoron.

However, there is also a maximum tariff of five years in jail for its possession.

That word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

For in starring in a sixth Rocky movie, he astounded his public.

Is that you, Carolan?

Far from resorting to hormones to achieve the sculpted physique for which he is famous, his methods focus on a body-enhancing protein diet, or as he colourfully puts it: “I eat anything with a face on it.”

As for eating the faceless–that’s right out. The man has standards, after all.

He even has his own food company producing a protein pudding…

He’ll gladly show you the milking machines.

I’m going to try something a little different with this week’s Carnival and get right down to business. Don’t get too excited. I’m still going to talk a lot, I’m just going to intersperse my commentary in with the posts a little more.

The reason behind this is that the first two posts at least provide personal reference points for me and I plan to use them to tell you what’s on my mind.

Kid Various kicks of the Carnival with a really good discussion of the movie ‘300′, which I went to see on Saturday. Most of the talk about the movie, strangely enough, seems to focus not on the fact that it’s mediocre at best once you get past the beautiful cinematics, but on the underlying themes.

Yes, the plot is thin and the acting ham-fisted, but you’d have to be pretty thick to miss the parallels between the Spartan-Persian conflict and the current “War on Terrorism”. A small, lonely, devoted band of white men stand between the evil, enslaved Persians and the ideal of Democracy and freedom. There are also many Christian themes brought out in the movie. There’s a scene in which Xerxes promises King Leonidas power over the entire world if Leo will only kneel and worship before him. And the movie ends with a shot of Leonidas, arms outstretched, sacrificied in death so that the world may live. It’s pretty obvious stuff.

The coolest part is that ‘300′ matches the comic almost frame for frame. And the comic was first published in 1998, three or four years before the “War on Terror” even began. Frank, you’re a prescient being.

In the end, the movie is a gorgeous piece of film and builds on the effects in “Sin City”. It still isn’t great, but it’s entertaining. It did make me want to see how “Return of the Dark Knight” would look on the big screen. And who would play the Dark Knight himself? Ed Harris.

Natalie also sparked some memories with A visit to the Musee du quai Branly. This time last year, I’d just gotten back from a week spent in Paris. The trip was much on my mind last week and I couldn’t help thinking of the places I’d been and the person beside me for most of the journey. I found myself wandering the narrow alleys of St. Germain and Montemarte in my mind. I found myself praying again in the Basilica du Sacre Coeur and taking in the night lights from the river Seine or from atop Le Tour Eiffel. I even heard the metro trains in the passing of the MARTA.

BTW, Mom, That Girl and I are speaking again. As of yesterday. Thought you’d like to know. I’ll keep you apprised of any changes in our status as friends.

On with the Carny, sans personal asides for the duration.

DWSUWF presents The Partisan Hypocrite Test. Take this test to find out if you’re a partisan hypocrite or not. I’m not. Hint: if you can spot the similarity between Scooter Libby and Bill Clinton, you’re not a hypocrite.

Alan K. Henderson uses Ann Coulter as an excuse to give us Henderson’s Rules Of Name-Calling. The one rule he missed is “no name-calling”.

Sholom sent in two posts for this week’s Carny but I have a non-strict rule against two posts from the same individual in one edition of CoTV. I present the first I read. Anarcho-Judaism: Come, let us rejioce! I think he really means “rejioce” as it’s spelt that way with great regularity.

Wayne Hurlbert presents Business ideas: Understanding wisdom. I don’t know what he’s talking about but maybe I’m not ready to hear it yet.

Okay, just kidding. I’m a smart-ass. What can I say?

Andrew Ian Dodge channels our very own Bigwig in Camoron wants to stop you flying. They’re two sides of the same coin, ladies and gentlemen.

Jack Yoest presents Job Interview: How To Tell If the Candidate Will Lie, Cheat, Steal?

I know I promised no more personal asides, but I lied. I have to say that everyone I know at work is uniformly wonderful to work with. I’ve never met a larger group of smart, dedicated, hard-working, competent individuals. And my boss doesn’t even read this blog.

Marsha Hudnall brings up another subject close to my heart. Diet and Fitness: Binge Eating Overtakes Other Eating Disorders. MA, hope you’re alive and well out there and I hope you beat it.

Riversider echoes a German Trade Unionists Call For Mobilisation.

Leon Gettler tells how Conrad Black fell for website hoax.

Lastly, Madeleine Begun Kane defends her right to free speech in Why I Don’t Hate My Hate Mail.

Also lastly, Lisa gives Rubber ducky birthday party ideas.

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That’s it for this week’s CoTV. Thanks to all for their good submissions. If you’d like your post to be considered for inclusion in the Carnival of the Vanities, please submit your post through Blog Carnival. Your post may or may not be included in this space at roughly the same time next week.

Until then, thanks for visiting and enjoy the Carnival of the Vanities.