i'll have a bloody mary and a steak sandwich and a... steak sandwich

ok, it's time to get back to basics here, folks... it's a new week and my mind's a little less cluttered so without further ado, let's get right into one of my favorite things, the random thoughts note...

• strange going for the sox right now... they'd won at least two games in their last three series before hitting st. louis last night and now, after two really lousy losses, they look disinterested, lazy and just plain bad... renteria's reverted back to his pre-yankee series self too... the poor guy - every time he screws up, either at the plate or in the field, it just kills them...
• saw the new star wars and after initially loving it i indulged in much deliberation before deciding it was just ok... the writing and acting still sucks and the actual, official turning to the dark side by the kid was too quick and not very convincing... but a) it looks like "citizen kane" compared to the first two prequels and b) being able to witness the advent of darth vader actually happen lends a lot to the movie just by virtue of what it represents to the whole series of movies, old and new... by the way - best scene, bar none, is when the emporer truly becomes the emporer... that and every close-up of natalie portman...
  
• haven't done knucklehead awards in a while, but the honor for the whole damn month has to go to redskins safety sean taylor... this guy is a real treat... hey sean - go to practice, talk to your (three-time super bowl champion) coach and leave the frickin guns at home, ok?
• anyone else love what's hapenning to the yankees right now? man, do they suck... every time i think the red sox have problems, i think about the yankees and my day brightens... $205 million, man... to me, what's more interesting than whether or not they get turned around is whether or not torre or cashman get fired or quit before the end of the year...
• watched the sox episode of that "queer eye" show since forests have been felled in order for some of our local hatemongers to wax poetic on the topic in recent days... the bottom line is it was totally harmless... there were a couple laughs, mostly surrounding millar pretending to be a flaming queen, but other than that, i just didn't get what the big deal is... in fact, the most interesting thing about it for me was that the whole thing was done to raise money for a bunch of kids who lost their little league field due to hurricane charley last summer and the team was from port charlotte, which you see a fair amount of in the show... it's strange, i've never been to port charlotte but i feel as though i know it like the back of my hand...
  
• pistons or spurs? spurs or pistons? it's like they're the same team...
• if you have hbo, you should watch "entourage"... it's damn funny, it's only a half an hour long and the entire first season is on demand... if you have any affinity at all for jeremy piven, one of the funniest actors out there, that's even more reason to watch... couldn't have been more perfectly cast...
• about the title of this drivel - it's a line from "fletch" and me and the big man and grandpa were discussing the pantheon of all-time funniest movies the other night... they said for them, a movie like "fletch," though hilarious, doesn't belong quite in the same boat with "caddyshack" or "animal house" or the like... i said i thought it did because even now, having seen it 2,354 times when it's on TBS at 4:30 a.m. and watch at all, i still laugh so hard that the tears start flowin... it was also the last really good movie chevy chase ever made... man, that's kinda sad...
• doesn't it figure that the sox are going to play the cubs in wrigley field for the first time ever this weekend and nomar won't be there? good thing he's leading the NL in all-star votes after playing just 14 games... then again, i shouldn't be surprised - millar's second in the voting for AL first basemen...

hey before i go, i just want to give a shout out to everyone for their kindness last week... you all know who you are - thanks... more to come soon... lates.