I Ate Today . . .

. . . in the same restaurant that this famous picture was taken. I don't know if still has the same floorplan, but the picture was actually framed and hanging over one booth that seemed to be the focal point of the room. And that "Manny's Territory" banner was still there - although I have no idea what it means.

Story here.

CNN Loves It Some Bridgeport

From today's Headline News.

First, it replaces Fort Worth as a noteworthy city.

And, when we pan out, it takes the place of both Fort Worth and Dallas

King Of Kong: Fistful Of Quarters

I played Donkey Kong about 20 times in the 1980s, never lasting more than a couple of minutes. I really don't even like video games -so much so that I don't even own a Playstation or other gaming system. So I was surprised that I really, really liked this documentary (released last month) about two guys competing against each other for the world record of points in that classic arcade game. It almost bordered on the bizarre.

I heard about it after it won the DFW Critics award for best documentary.

Random Mug Shots

The Houston (Ex) DA Is A Coward

Heck, I don't care if you had an affair, but if you're going to resign because of it don't say, "I have come to learn that the particular combination of drugs prescribed for me in the past has caused some impairment in my judgment." Puuuhhhhllleeeezzzzzeeee.

You've spent your life pointing the finger at people, demanding accountability, preaching about "consequences for your actions." Sir, you should demand the same of yourself. I wouldn't care if you chose to stay in office, just don't go making excuses.

Doesn't Mean Much To Me . . .

. . . but I'm reminded that the Daytona 500 is this weekend.

More Flash

From The Morning News:

The man, who police said goes by the name Dean Kelly, has approached students at the Dedman Center for Lifetime Sports, Moody Coliseum and nearby Park Cities Plaza.

SMU Chief of Police Richard Shafer said Mr. Kelly has been claiming to be connected to MTV. He approaches female students and asks if they want pictures taken. He also leads them to believe that a professional makeup artist will be at the photo shoot.

However, after arriving at the location of the photo shoot, the girls found no makeup artist and equipment of a quality that seemed below the standards for a professional photographer, Chief Shafer said.

Mr. Kelly first takes pictures of the girls clothed, and then eventually asks them to pose without their garments, Chief Shafer said.

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. You can just show up at SMU, pretend to be from MTV, and girls will actually show up and let you take their picture? I wonder if that would work at Weatherford College - Decatur Branch?

Give Me . . .

. . . passion. Flash. Give me sensuous. Flash. Give me 'natural head against rock with me standing over you' look. Flash.

(Gallery here.)

Online Dating Tricked Up

You can search the web site of the Wise County Jail for a list of inmates, but you can't see their pictures.

In a jurisdiction where photos are available, the guy above came up with a creative plan.

(I'm off to Jacksboro this morning - bravely, I might add, into the teeth of cold front. Kinda like a Storm Tracker!)

Texas Monthly . . .

. . . calls the King/Tison representative race to be "the most talked about House race in the state." It also links to the video of King sucking up to energy companies and raising money in Houston which, I'm pretty sure, is not located in his district of Wise or Parker counties.

(On an unrelated note, can you believe the number of Hillary and Obama ads we're seeing?)

The Male Wise County Resident . . .

. . . is the Angry White Man. (I rarely just post a link to an article but this one was sent to me by a faithful reader and epitomizes, I believe, the average Wise Countian. Or at least those that post here quite a bit.)

Thursday Afternoon Pick Me . . . Uh, Wait

And Another

Basic facts: Meet Emily Jones. She's 23 and engaged in some type of sexual conduct with a high school senior in Texas. All of it occurred off school premises.

Appearance: She looks a tad stressed in the picture. Kind of like she hasn't slept in a couple of days because she knew the arrest was imminent. I'm pretty sure she's thinking, "This can't be good for my teaching certificate" or "Happy freakin' Valentines Day to me." But I bet she cleans up nicely.

My Verdict: A "not guilty" in less than two minutes. Sheeesh. The "victim" was either 17 or 18 which would have made their conduct legal but for that teaching position she has. Err, had. She's suffered enough. On behalf of the State Of Texas, I apologize to you Emily. Now let's get back to the War on Drugs.

Next case.

(Thanks to the emailer who actually sent me this clip - on the same web site - about Phil King engaging in truly offensive conduct with energy companies. Now him, I'd convict. Edit: Here's a transcript of the damning story here if you don't want to watch the video.)

Random Lunch Time Decatur Sight

I don't know much about gas pumps, but this "don't look right."

Random College Sports News

If you care about Texas or Aggie basketball, you'll be interested in this. (Edit: And, on another note, A&M has hired this guy as defensive coordinator for the football team - he swallowed a bullhorn somewhere along the way.) If you care about Baylor or Notre Dame football, you'll want to see this. If you want to see Danica Patrick being shot (as in, "with a camera") for the new Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, click here.

Change Gears

I was going to post about how The Today Show always seems to have a person's attorney accompany them whenever interviewed. Take for example this lady/former mayor of Alice who stole that dog from her neighbor. She brings her lawyer along today who looks like The Godfather but never utters a word. Honestly, he didn't look alert enough to utter a word.

But, when I go to grab a screen shot of the moment, I noticed something I didn't when I saw it the first time. Check out the caption under "Dog Fight."

Edit: The whole video, which was pretty bizarre, is here.

Edit: A commentor made a reference to a shocking Jane Fonda moment later in the show. New clip, with the apology, here.

This Couple . . .

. . . from the Wise County Singles Club wishes you a Happy Valentines Day.

Received Around 4:30

Message: "Bad wreck on 380 between Bridgeport and Decatur. Lots of cops. Know what it is?" Nope. Not a clue. Anyone?

This Post Is For Me

Because my therapist told me I should post it and take six hydrocodones with a pitcher of rum and coke. This clip happened last night. I was actually walking across my living room when it stopped me down and sucked the life force out of me. It's really no big deal other than it is Exhibit A as to why I hate ESPN's Chris Berman. In it, he narrates the famous 1982 kick off return between Cal and Stanford and then . . . it happened. He started doing his stupid 'Whooop!" What's that? Think "waterboarding." Only worse. He's been doing that crap for 20+ years and he still thinks its funny. He actually prepared for the clip and thought, "Hey, that 'whoop' thing I do will absolutely kill during this clip. People out there will love it!" Now if I can only manage this child proof cap . . . .

Myth Buster?

I just got an email attaching this photo claiming it was shot in Iowa Park. "The guy who shot it is Delbert Eaton IIII and is 6 foot tall and weighs about 220 lbs. He was in a deer stand about 100 feet south of Smith Road and saw the cat pass him downwind carrying a turkey in his mouth He then saw it pass him upwind after dropping the turkey. When the cat passed him again (closer this time) downwind, he knew that it was hunting him. So BOOM!!"

But even the emailer was skeptical. And so am I.

I unleash you, dear readers, to confirm or deny. The truth is out there.

Hmmmm

In 2007, 18 students in Texas scored a perfect 2400 on the SAT exam.

The racial make-up:
11 - Asian
4 - White
2 - Left Blank
1 - "Other"

Edit: And I wonder what the total percentage of test takers were Asian to start with? Makes the 11 perfect scores even more interesting.

Ten-Sion

I'm really not interested in whether Roger Clemens took steroids, but this morning there is some huge tension in Congress where Clemens and his former trainer are testifying and sitting at the same table. (Sidenote: Congress has that much free time?)

Clemens says the trainer never injected him with steroids. The trainer says he did. Somebody's lying. Big time.

And this gem came from the trainer a moment ago: "I told the investigators I injected three people -- two of whom I know confirmed my account. The third is sitting at this table."

Clemen's head might explode right in front of the cameras.

Dude!

There is so much gold in this thing. -There's a little bit of Eric Cartman's: "You will respect my authority!" -There's some Pulp Fiction Samuel L. Jackson: "Say [dude] one more time. I dare ya! I double dare ya!" -And I love the cop himself, "A dude is someone who works on a ranch!!!"

You Know Your Career Is On Its Last Legs When . . .

(Thanks emailer)

What's Up, Playa?

40-year-old Gary Coleman has revealed to Inside Edition that he's secretly married to 22-year-old Shannon Price.

Ye without sin, cast the . . . .

And Now For Something Completely Different

If Jesus . . .

. . . were a pastor in a Fort Worth church who considered giving the homeless a place to sleep at the facility, tried to minister to sex offenders, and think about allowing gays to have their picture in the church directory, I wonder what would happen?

Uh, these days he'd be the ex-pastor of the Broadway Baptist Church.

Be Still My Beating Heart

Although I'm not a fan of the slicked back hair.

I Hate Driver's License Hearings

Wienermobile Wreck On Sunday

That's just funny. I don't care who you are.

(Thanks emailer.)

I Don't Know What I Think

In Burleson: High school girl ends up pregnant, has the baby, and will graduate with As & Bs. The high school yearbook plans on doing a short story on her. Principal sees the draft and yells foul. Says it glamorizes her position and goes against the school's "abstinence only" policy. School board now involved.

Messenger Update

I know they've been switching servers over at the Messenger, but does everyone, like me, see a very old version of the Update pop up every now and then?

Dan Henry Has Lost His Mind

So I'm sitting around tonight, uninspired by the lack of news, but I do have a remote interest in the weather since I hear there is a chance of storms.

So I check out Fox 4 and see that Dan Henry casually mentioning that we might see gusts up to 70 mph tonight. (See top graphic.) 70? Freakin' 70? Is Hurricane Katrina coming through? Did the number "70" just show up on the screen and you just "read it"?

And then, seconds later, they put up the graphic for "Overnight" "7 AM" and "4 PM" with the maximum winds at 20.

Color me confused.

Monday Afternoon Pick Me Up

Yeah, I saw this over at AnObiter's blog and, unlike her, I'm generally against posting pics of scantily clad women. But this is Britney, and we need to celebrate her being released from the hospital. I found myself going into depression during those very dark days.

Or I could have posted the youtuble clip of Denise Milani at Ticketstock this weekend.

Random Mug Shot

30 Years?

I've casually been following the Collin County trial of this guy who was accused of hiring a hit man to kill his wife. The hired gun, allegedly feeling pangs of guilt, didn't go through with the hit but instead told the wife about the plan. But the crazy part was that the wife testified at trial that she supported her husband and didn't believe he wanted her dead. Which, by the way, is exactly the way I'd want my wife to act if I planned her death. Which I'm not. Because I'm not married. And I wouldn't think about it even if I was. Really.

Anyway, the Collin County jury just slapped him with 30 years in prison. And that's for a failed murder for hire.

Worst. Luck. Ever.

Story.

Another link here. (Been hearing complaints that people are having trouble reaching some widely read sites with Embarq which is not good news since my office is in the process of switching over to them.)

Craziest Ransom Note Ever

Random Grammy Thoughts

I've had the show on in the background tonight and will occasionally glance up:

- Made me smile when I saw Morris Day and The Time reunite for Jungle Love. (Although Rihanna jacked it up with that dang Umbrella Ella Ella Ella Ella song spliced in the middle of it.)
- Hannah Montana (or whatever her real name is) presented with Cindy Lauper. Unstable.
- Cher, from what I could see, looked great.
- Tina Turner (who is extremely overrated - how many times can you sing "Proud Mary"?) came out and beat us down with a montage of songs. And...get this....she was wearing pants. Those legs may have finally given way to old age.
- Beyonce is the hottest gal that just happens to be black I have ever seen. Then, again, I don't see people in color.
- I wonder about the back up dancers. Who are they? Is this their biggest moment ever? What else do they do for a living?
- I like a couple of the Foo Fighters' songs but, for the love all things sweet and clean, do you have to scream into a mic?
- George Lopez is not, and never will be, funny.
- Most uncomfortable moment of the night: Kayne West was rambling on like an idiot, the music comes up to let him know he needs to rap it up, he gets mad, he then starts talking about his dead mother and announces it would be "in good taste" to turn the music off.
- Aretha Franklin is a big as an SUV.
- Greatest line of the night was directed toward the pompous Kayne West by Vince Gill (who was given the award for Best Country Album by Ringo Starr): "I just got handed an award by a Beatle. Have you had that happen to you yet, Kanye?"
- I think they had to medicate Amy Winehouse so she could perform.
- You know, I'm just a bumpkin from who grew up in the country, but I stop down every time I hear Andrea Bocelli sing.
- Jerry Lee Lewis is alive? But I'll give the guy credit, he belted out "Great Ball Of Fire" like a born showman.

Developing...

Down Goes Jessie

Since I don't watch Desperate Housewives, I don't know who Jesse Metcalfe is. But he got sucker punched over the weekend and dropped as hard as Ali did when he was hit by Frazier. TMZ (good grief, how did that site get so famous so quickly?) has the video here.

U2 3D

Movie Review: Outstanding.

Secret Video Of My Saturday Night

He's Got To Be Smarter Than That

From a new book by Texas Gov. Rick Perry:...

"Whether it is protecting the rights of pornographers, molesters, perverts, terrorists, garden-variety thugs, or those merely hostile to a belief in God, the ACLU is there to provide aid and comfort, in additional to a well-funded legal arsenal," Perry writes.