Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been reading the Grand Vizier’s site for a while now. He commends this post to you. Your Maximum Leader can certainly hope that the intifada is winding down. Of course, the cynic in your Maximum Leader says that the insurrection isn’t winding down to an end; only giving itself time until the next generation of suicide bombers turns 13.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader will continue with the sports theme today.
First, he directs your attention to this post from Keith Burgess-Jackson. What is it about baseball that inspires people? Your Maximum Leader’s library contains a few sports books. Most of them about Baseball. (One hockey and two football - but one football book is actually a Vince Lombardi bio so that might not count all the way.) Of the sports books that your Maximum Leader has read (more than he owns in fact) the baseball books stand out. They have an almost epic flow to them. They read well. Other sports books don’t stand up that well…
As forthe AirMarshal’s post on the NHL… The professional hockey game is dying in the US. It is being killed by overexpansion and self-importance (well put by Boswell in fact) that renders it dumb to the rest of the sports world. Your Maximum Leader well remembers so many hockey games. He saw his first game in 1976. It was a Washington Capitals game. The Caps were so bad then. Indeed, your Maximum Leader went to probably 10-15 games a season from 1976 to 1980 without seeing a Caps victory. All losses or ties.
Through the mid-1990’s your Maximum Leader would have listed his favourite sports as (in decending order): hockey, baseball, football. Then hockey started it’s declining spiral. As your Maximum Leader noted in his recent post, he hasn’t watched a Stanley Cup finals game. This is the first time in decades he hasn’t. He only went to one hockey game this year. He just feels the quality of the game has declined so much that the game is hard to watch. And neither the owners nor the players seem to care much for the desires of the fans. If your Maximum Leader were to name his favourite sports now he would say: footbal, baseball, and sometimes hockey.
It is sad really. Your Maximum Leader feels as though he has lost something that should be more important to him than it is. Ah well.
Carry on.
Thomas Boswell argues, in the Washington post that Hockey is on its way to losing its status as a “Major” sport. I hate to say it, but I completely agree.
MaxLead and I have been going to Hockey games together for almost two decades. My wife and I have been Season Ticket Holders for the Washington Capitals. We, along with MaxLead and his dad were in the building in ‘98 when Detroit skated with the Cup on Washington Ice. Seeing the Stanley Cup presented in person has been one of the highlites of my life as a sports fan.
However, Hockey has been in decline since the fall of ‘94. Hockey went from strenght to strength in the two decaded ending with the Rangers Cup win in ‘94. the 1994 NHL playoffs were as good as sports get. Great comebacks, upsets, guaranteed victories. The Rangers/Devils series was IMHO the best playoff series in modern hockey history.
Then Bettman came into his own. The lockout killed any momentum that the NHL had gained, and set it back in terms of popularity and revenue. Yet despite playing hardball in that they shut down the league, the owners came away losing. No Salary Cap, No Revenue sharing. Same old shit. In order to make up revenue, the league over-expanded. In addition, NHL officials lost their whistles some time in the mid 90s. The game on the ice slid to a grinding halt.
Simply put, the product on the ice blows now. It’s horribly boring to watch. Today’s NHL bears no resemblence to the game of Gretzky, Kurri, Gartner, Bossy, Lemieux. Today’s game is almost unwatchable for me. And the NHL has noone to blame but itsself. They’ve tinkered with the rules, added teams, changed uniforms, yet the problems remain undealt with.
How to save the game?
1. Contraction. Eliminate about 10 teams. Sorry, but it has to go. Move 10 franchises to the minors.
2. Salary Cap. Lower salaries.
3. Make sure next season happens at all costs.
4. Media blitz. Get the players out in the community at all costs.
5. Fix officiating. Call ALL penalties. Open up the ice, and speed up the game.
None of this will happen, however, and the NHL is doomed.
I forgot the big “P”. Porn. Darn it.
You want more traffic Mr. Maximum Ledhead? You got it.
Amateur Naked Lesbian Jpegs? Don’t see any here. Midget Housewife Voyeurs? Not a favorite topic here. Celebrity Anal Sex Mpegs? Maybe the Minister of Propaganda can help out here, but you really won’t find any Famous Nude Buttholes here.
Update from your Maximum Leader: What? You forgot: cheap viagra, peni enlargement, boobs, and so many others…
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was doing a little review of last month’s site server statistics. He promises not to bore you with lots of details but let your Maximum Leader say this, he really appreciates the Poet Laureate, Kilgore, Annika, Dr. Rusty, Dr. Burgess-Jackson and Anna for all the traffic they send on to us here at Nakedvillainy.
And your Maximum Leader must commend the AirMarshal for his booze posts. We have received 5 visitors in the first 2 days of June from people searching for the words “Sam Adams Triple Bock.” Google results here, Yahoo results here. As we all know, after sex, booze is an easy sell. So keep booze-blogging going!
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is saddened by the passing of the great writer/historian William Manchester. Your Maximum Leader, a great Churchill fan (perhaps a Churchill worshipper), now will never get to read the final volume of his “Last Lion” series. If you want to get a feel for what Churchill was like, read the opening chapter of Manchester’s “The Last Lion: Alone.” It details a typical day in Churchill’s life at Chartwell, his home in Kent, in the early 1930s.
Rest in Peace William.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is an even handed leader much of the time. In that spirit we get this message from a loyal (but not like-minded) minion.
From: Victor Littlebear
To: Maximum Leader
Subject: The Bushiad and The IdyosseyThe Bushiad and The Idyossey
I think this may be right up your alleyVictor Littlebear
Your Maximum Leader responds: Thank you Victor for the link to your site. While your Maximum Leader doesn’t share your political views, he does tip is floppy (bejeweled) cap in your direction for writing such a great peice of satire. Your Maximum Leader even sees that your site was lauded by that recent Palme D’Or winner, Michael Moore. Your Maximum Leader is sure that the Minister of Propaganda will really enjoy this.
Carry on.
FPS = First Person Shooter. It’s the type of game first popularized by Castle Wolfenstein and Doom. And, yes, the US Army has published one such game. Check out the homepage here, and the free download site here.
… and there are a lot of them here. History nuts, that is.
It’s an official Naval photographic gallery of historical events. click here. Dig around on the web site, though. Lots of stuff in directories that don’t appear to be linked. Click here for a directory listing of all sorts of things. All related to Naval photos, with some Leathernecks and Jarheads throw in for good measure.
Lastly, a site that lists U.S. Navy ships Listed by Name. I don’t think it’s a complete list as it doesn’t seem to have recent subs. Not sure what else is missing, but it’s damn huge none the less. It includes a brief history of the ship, and some photos. My personal favorite is the Yorktown.
There have been a series or articles in the media and stories on TV and radio this weekend that have tried to shed WWII in new light. Mostly, to me, it seems like Boomers are trying to understand the war and falling short.
Here’s an essay by Anne Applebaum on the Warsaw Uprising. Here’s a book review or Matthew Parkers book on the Battle of Monte Cassino. The Foreign Minister here may attribute this trend to “The Liberal Media” and maybe he’s right. I don’t know. I tend to see it as more generatioal. These two stories are from the Washington Post, a liberal media source, so take that for what it’s worth.
The trend goes like this. A Boomer writes an article on WWII Realizing “Hey, it wasn’t glorious. Rather, it was nasty, mean, cruel, and sometimes ambiguous.” This then leads to the conclusion “You want to glorify the war, but it wasn’t like that at all.”
Let me illuminate Boomers as to why we glorify the Greatest Generation, and why WWII stands tall in our minds and hearts. The task facing America was mean, nasty and all consuming. It also was a fight that needed to be fought. And the Greatest Generation comming from a cynical depressed America that still remembered WWI laid down everything they had to fight the fight. They went to war sacrificing dreams, hopes and lives for a greater cause. We all bask in the glory of their achievment daily through exercise of freedoms, liberties and the prosperity that America achieved following the war.
Reading Applebaums column is like watching a kid finally understand 1+1=2. “Oh my GOD” she realizes at the end
Perhaps there is no such thing as an entirely “good war” after all.
THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT! WWII vets knew that it would be horrible going in, but they went anyway because it was the right thing to do. People who stayed at home put aside their lives to contribute to the War effort. Yes, Ann, “In fact, for millions of people, World War II had no happy ending. It had no ending at all.” In the words of Henry Higgins, By Jove, I think She’s Got it!
WWII was a fight against horrible evil that killed tens of millions. And we sacrificed big time. It was a horrible time on the planet. And we overcame. Big Time. That’s the whole point. We don’t glorify it because it was a fun party. The GI’s didn’t head to Guadalcanal expecting a Luau. They went knowing they could die. And they may have been ambivalent about the ideology behind the whole thing, but the knew one thing. They knew they were on the right side.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader just doesn’t have any blog in him today. So rather than the pithy commentary you are used to allow your Maximum Leader to just to a pityful link dump.
But before the link dump… Your Maximum Leader, Mrs. Villain, and the Villainettes were pleased to host the Minister of Agriculture, Mrs. Smallholder, and Smallholderette to the Villainschloss. We feasted on venison hunted on the Smallholder’s small hold, and had a breakfast of eggs from the Smallholder’s chickens. It was good to have them here, and we hope to see them again very soon. (Probably pretty soon as Mrs. Villain is likely to deliver the little Villain any day now.)
On to the link dump…
Your Maximum Leader figures you all are paying close attention to the housing plight of the Poet Laureate. You’re not? Well read all about it here and here.
You know something… Your Maximum Leader really likes that Dr. Rusty Shackleford. He again linked to your Maximum Leader in a very funny link dump of his own. If you haven’t seen the good Dr’s recent post containing all of the war posters you need to. Of course, as propaganda posters go, few are as good as Soviet posters. Indeed, the Minister of Agriculture has one of his own… Which reminds your Maximum Leader of a wonderful exhibit he saw at the Guggenheim in New York years ago. It was a great collection of new socialist realism art and architecture.
Speaking of art exhibits. This is one your Maximum Leader will endeavour to see when it comes to DC.
Of course film is an art form… But is the presence of Jennifer Love Hewitt (aka: the “Sex” Goddess of the MWO) in this film enough to make your Maximum Leader want to see it? Probably not. But if one of the Villainettes really wanted to see it badly, he could be talked into taking them to a matinee.
Speaking of sex… Your Maximum Leader knows it isn’t his most recent post. (Which is here and very good.) But thoughtful post. Of course, being an intelligent woman, Andi mentions that she reads this site, and tips her sword to your Maximum Leader for reading the Illiad. Your Maximum Leader does prefer the poetic rendering as well, Andi. But the prose is making for a good read too.
Do you minions ever read this site off the blog roll? You should. Some days there is something so funny there it makes your Maximum Leader’s day.
What’s this? You mean that Halliburton isn’t winning every new government contract worth over $50,000! Damnit… Congress should investigate this.
Is your Maximum Leader the only one who thinks that the Iraqi Governing Council dissolving itself and turning power over to the new interim government with a minimum of whining is a good sign? Yeah they didn’t have much choice in the matter. But they really didn’t fuss much.
Read Derb’s May Diary. If for no other reason than your Maximum Leader respects his knowledge of martial poetry. If only there were a collection of such poems….
Why can your Maximum Leader, a hockey fan, not get all caught up in the playoffs? He doesn’t know. Go Flames! Your Maximum Leader needs to find something he likes about Canada right now. (Okay, other than Skippy.) They certainly aren’t acting like our friendly neighbours to the north.
And if your Maximum Leader may quibble with the good Dr. Burgess-Jackson. Isn’t it “buck-nekkid” and not “buck-naked?” We ought to try and get the dialect correct.
And if you have ever needed a quick bunch of definitions concerning naked, nekkid and such. Allow your Maximum Leader to use the definitions provided to him by the good Keith Roots. (Who, by the way, should contact your Maximum Leader if he is reading this.) Nude is the artistic state of being without clothing. Naked is the normal state of being without clothing. Nekkid is the state of being without clothing coupled with vigourous action.
And finally, regardless of what she says. Anna is the shit.
Carry on.
