Go upstate and get your head together. Thunderbird is the word and you're light as a feather.

Quick Hitters and Random Thoughts

--There’s really no replacing Lance Zierlein at 1560 or on Houston radio for that matter. I could go over all the reasons why, but you listened, you know why. 1560 hasn’t been 1560 in a while to me. I have a feeling that goes for most of you as well. I don’t think Lance can really grasp how much he’ll be missed in the mornings. He and Granato were there every morning for us for years and years. They were taken for granted when all the shit went down at 610. Remember how awful morning sports radio was for those months while we waited for the reunion up the dial? I like Granato, I like John Harris, I like Justice, but how is anyone supposed to listen to 1560 in the morning and not think, “This would be a lot better with Lance.” I also think a lot of listeners just straight up feel betrayed by a station that was supposed to be for the listener, by the listener and of the listener. Instead it couldn’t make it to a 4-year anniversary without turning into a CPOD. Such is life. I hope Lance finds a new home on the air soon because Houston radio wouldn’t be the same without him and his cast of characters. Seriously, without him people are going to start remembering just how long their drives in to work really are.

--The artist formerly known as JayDirt1560 (now @JayDirt_) is not taking this well…


--No one watched because there was football on Thursday night, but that was a brutal loss for the Little League kids from Pearland. Up 7-4 in the final inning, one out away from Williamsport and then the kids did their best Astros impression. Tough.

--In other, better Little League-ish news, if I said one of the Bad News Bears is running for Congress who would you guess it would be? Of course you’d guess Rudi Stein. David Pollock is the guy and I like what he surmised would have been Rudi’s career path, “He probably became an attorney specializing in children’s sports injuries.”

--I would be glued to my television for Stark Week.


--“Napoleon masturbated, Gandhi, Joan Jett, Shakespeare … ” What a shock. Another well done episode of Louie. Liz Holtan who played Ellen, the Christian Against Masturbation, was really good. The episode wouldn’t have been half as good without her eloquent delivery of words that on paper probably just read flat or silly. Hopefully the next time I hear classical music it won’t remind me of Louie sitting in his pleasure chair.
Elevator chick - "It's just, like, there are zero dicks in there."

“I have only the courage for a perfect life. Anything below perfect, I don’t want it … I don’t even wanna be cold in the winter.”
Word. Masturbation and suicide episodes go hand in hand on Louie.

--After Wilfred vomits, “Just leave it. I’ll eat it later.”
To me there were not many other highlights than that. I don’t know if I just don’t like Kristen the actress or her part. Probably a little of both. All I know is things just come to a screeching halt whenever she’s on the screen.

--AV Club takes an interesting look at Sid and Marty Krofft and one of my personal favorites, Land of the Lost. Every once in a while you just have to throw in a Land of the Lost DVD to sing along with the theme song, laugh at Chaka and remember Sleestaks, not zombies, are our biggest unseen enemy.


--Numbers 40-31 of the 50 Documentaries to See Before You Die were this week. At 40 was When We Were Kings which was really good stuff. More than any other sport boxing is perfect for movies/documentaries. Biggie and Tupac at 39. I thought it was fine. @Fidoz from ApeDonkey with much more on it and all these. I never saw March of the Penguins at 38 because I never joined the penguin propaganda parade. Inside Job at 37 was really good. It's embarrassing how financially ignorant I am, but this movie explained things in a way that even I could understand. The interviews were perfectly described by Henry Rollins as the filmmaker Charles Ferguson turning the screws slowly on his subjects until they got all pissed and huffy. So much fun watching these guys finally get called to the carpet. I’m thinking I need to watch number 36 Taxi to the Dark Side. Paragraph 175 at #35 and Tongues Untied at #33 don't do much for me. In between those is Brother's Keeper which looks fascinating enough to make my next watch since it's on Watch Instantly. #32 is another all-time favorite for me that has the best rewatch value of any doc I've ever come across, Dogtown and Z-Boys. It's basically an origin story of skateboarding set in the Santa Monica area when a bunch of teens and pre-teens took their surfing moves to the streets. I can't imagine any documentary ever producing a better soundtrack. Hendrix, Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Bowie and the list goes on and on. Like The Kid Stays in the Picture it's remarkable how much still photograph material they have to play with in putting this together. In this case "they" is subject and director Stacey Peralta. If you've never seen this or feel like you have because you watched that crappy Lords of Dogtown do yourself a favor and watch the doc. I can't recommend it enough. I've known for a while that I need to watch Jesus Camp which is 31. Morgan Spurlock's meeting with Levi only reinforced that.

--I haven't kept up with the HBO documentaries this summer like I planned, but I loved this week's Superheroes. It tells the story of real-life "superheroes" who go around fighting crime in their own unique ways with their own unique costumes and names. The first guy we meet is Mr. Xtreme. What kind of fighting discipline does he employ? Glad you asked. It's a "super extreme death metal fighting system." Yeah, you're pretty much hooked from that point. Master Legend is a personal favorite out of all the heroes we meet because Master Legend has good crime fighting tips like, "When a man whips up a whopping thirst. That's what quenches it. Not some Kool-Aid." He's referring to the Busch Light he just chugged out of the back of his van. We're introduced to Conundrum who tells us he's a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with six years experience of free running, parkour and gymnastics. He promptly counters that with a clumsy fall. The Vigilante Spider describes his superhero life which includes a girlfriend so the director asks, "So you have a girlfriend?" Awkward pause. Vigilante Spider, "Ehh, I was speaking metaphorically."


--Because Bobby Flay doesn’t have his own channel yet he’s joining Worst Cooks in America not to be confused with Food Network Star.

--Aaron Sanchez is fine on Chopped, but the other Amazing Race-ish show wasn’t good and this Heat Seekers isn’t much either. Anyway Aaron will be in Houston in September to help transition the House of Blues restaurant into Crossroads. Apparently all HOB’s are getting a food makeover.

--Tinker from Friday Night Lights is going to be Mercedes’ boyfriend on Glee?! How did I never notice Tinker’s name is actually Tinker.

--I like this list of apps local chefs use. I'm a big fan of Ratio.

--The NFL is back, at least in preseason form, but the Tackle of the Week belongs to a police dog in Cedar Rapids. ‘Twas there that UW-Milwaukee point guard Kaylon Williams was getting pulled over while driving a friend’s car. He tried to be slick. It wasn’t a good idea. Kaylon pulled over and then when the cop got out of the car Kaylon took off again and was off-road and occasionally on-road driving before slowing the car down enough to take off running. Kaylon lost the cops temporarily and when they spotted him again they released a police K-9 on him. Yeah, the dog “tackled” him shortly thereafter. The dog couldn’t have taken much pride in it though considering he later found out Kaylon was nearly three times over the legal limit. There’d probably be less crime if the police had direwolf units to deploy.

--Uh, no thanks Big Lead. I have no desire to click on a headline that reads, “83-year-old great grandma gets breast implants.” However I will click on DearPhotograph.com. Very cool.

Questions, comments or if you're watching way too much preseason football...