Something to think about...

Something to think about:

You can reach a situation where things or refinement and culture can be considered elite and things that are crass and ignorant can be considered to be real and of the people. When you begin to have the mass and the populace believe that they should strive for something that is not worth striving for, then tremendous amounts of energy goes into the worthess and the maintenance of that which is worthless. It's a battle we fight, even within ourselves. You have to actively pursue knowledge. It's out there for you. You gotta go out and get it, you gotta want it and you have to keep wanting it.

Wynton Marsalis on American Masters.

Wait Till Next Year

History repeats itself, just like you would expect a stomach full of weiners to do. Takeru Kobayashi, at the ripe age of 27, won won the Nathan's Famous international hot dog eating contest on the Fourth of July for the fifth consecutive time, eating 49 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Good to win the mustard belt, but not enoughto beat his world record of 53 1/2 that he set when he won last year's contest.

Coming in number two, just as she did last year, was Amreica's hope, Sonya Thomas, The Black Widow. She beat her personal best performance from last year and set an American record by downing 37 hot dogs in12 minutes. If Sonya can continue to whittle away the gap between her and Kobayashi, maybe next year will be the year she captures the mustard belt.

Smell the Mustard!

As the Fourth of July approaches, let take time to acknowledge the holiday is more than merely a day of national remembrance of the founding of our nation. We should remember it is also a time to celebrate one of America's favorite past times: massive consumption of food. That's right, the greatest competitive eating contest is nearly upon us, the 90th Nathan's Famous July Fourth International Hot Dog Eating Contest begin tomorrow. Brace yourself. Here's a sneak preview:

On July 4, 2005, the eyes of the world will focus on Coney Island for what is
believed to be the 90th installment of the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July
International Hot Dog-Eating Contest. Four-time world champion Takeru Kobayashi
of Japan will look to make history as he defends his title against top eaters
from around the globe. According to archives, the contest has been held
since 1916. This year, as in 2004, the event will be televised as a live,
one-hour broadcast on ESPN. Kobayashi, who secured his fourth straight win on
July 4, 2004, by consuming 53 ½ Nathan's Famous hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes, weighs only 144 pounds. His main competition this year is expected to come from Sonya Thomas, a 100-pound, 37-year-old Korean-born resident of Alexandria, VA, and Rich LeFevre, a 135-pound, 60-year-old resident of Henderson, NV. Both
LeFevre and Thomas hope to bring home to American soil the Coveted Mustard
Yellow International Belt, competitive eating's greatest prize, akin to the
Master's green jacket of golf or the Vince Lombardi trophy to football.

Go Sonya! Bring back the belt! Thomas however will will find it difficult to cut the mustard on July Fourth, Kobayashi is a force of nature. At the 2002 Glutton Bowl, Kobayashi ate 17.7 pounds of pan-seared cow brains losing in the final round to an Alaskan Brown Bear.

One must wonder if Nobuyuki Shirota will be among the 20 competitors vying for the belt. Shirota ate 38 hot dogs and buns last year and was Kobayashi's closest competition. Though at this time the full list of qualifiers does not appear to be available, I find the silence about Shirota odd. Perhaps he has chosen to concentrate on longer duration eating contests and sit out the frenetic 12 minute Nathan's contest. He has after all twice bested Kobayashi in the past in long duration eating competitions.

Stay tuned.

Kid Various Would SO Have Bought A Naked Zorro T-Shirt

Apparently, there is this guy who is running around Bucks County, Pennsylvania in nothing but a pair of tennis shoes and a Zorro mask.

The trick is that some brilliant guy started using the police sketch (it's public record, no?) and started selling it on T-shirts, mugs and other stuff. That's awesome!

For some reason, although this is a guy who is obviously disturbed and possibly dangerous, the idea of some guy running naked through the suburbs as "Naked Zorro" strikes The Kid as humourous.

Unfortunately, given the publicity, the guy selling "Naked Zorro" T-shirts is no longer selling them. Maybe that's a good sideline for The Kid...

Hmmmm.