My Top 20 Lists

Movies
1. Ghostbusters
2. Cold Mountain
3. The Patriot
4. American Beauty
5. Wizard Of Oz
6. Best In Show
7. Christmas Vacation
8. Roger and Me
9. Back To The Future
10. Hoosiers
11. Ghostbusters II
12. Lion King
13. Elf
14. Fargo
15. Office Space
16. JFK
17. Karate Kid
18. Remember The Titans
19. For Love of the Game
20. Rounders

Honorable Mention: The Rock, Hotel Rwanda, Juno, Blood Diamond, Terminator 2, Parenthood, Big, Erin Brokovich, Shrek, Con Air, Bowling for Columbine, Total Recall, Borat, Murder in the First, Seven, A Time to Kill, Kiss The Girls, Along Came A Spider, Meet The Parents, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Harry Potter Series, The Hurricane, Rent

TV Shows
1. Six Feet Under
2. Law & Order SVU
3. Entourage
4. Friends
5. The Real World
6. Law & Order
7. Saved By The Bell
8. Growing Pains
9. Brothers and Sisters
10. Cheers
11. Family Ties
12. Dexter
13. The Biggest Loser
14. Greys Anatomy
15. Lost
16. Desperate Housewives
17. Wonder Years
18. Little People, Big World
19. Facts of Life
20. Doogie Howser M.D.

Music Artists
1. Garth Brooks
2. Tim McGraw
3. Brad Paisley
4. Kenny Chesney
5. Martina McBride
6. Faith Hill
7. Lonestar
8. Alan Jackson
9. Johnny Cash
10. Green Day
11. Sawyer Brown
12. The Beatles
13. Rascal Flatts
14. Brooks and Dunn
15. Dixie Chicks
16. Bruce Springsteen
17. Blink 182
18. George Strait
19. REM
20. Montgomery Gentry

Cities I've Traveled To
1. New York
2. San Francisco
3. London
4. Puerto Vallerta
5. Dublin
6. Washington D.C.
7. Chicago
8. Los Angeles
9. Las Vegas
10. Vail
11. South Padre Island
12. Philadelphia
13. San Antonio
14. Colorado Springs
15. Fort Lauderdale
16. Pensacola Beach
17. Portland
18. Atlanta
19. Nashville
20. Hilton Head

HELL YEAH!

Ding Dong Falwell's Dead

Let the joyous news be spread, the wicked old bigot at last is dead. For those of you who may view my opinion as harsh and cruel, let me remind you just what a hate-spreading idiot this guy was.

Basically Falwell's M.O. became blaming every bad event that happened on Earth on every group except religious fundamentalists. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, lets use Christianity as a tool to blame fellow Americans for 9-11. What a sad, confused life he must have led. And what a sad, confused life his followers and believers must lead.

Falwell quotes:

"If you're not a born again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."

"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."

"I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be."

"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way - all of them who have tried to secularize America - I point the finger in their face and say "You helped this happen." - In response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Wake up you sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed, let them know the wicked bigot is dead! Now if Pat Robertson and James Dobson can just kick the bucket as well, it will have been a great year for ridding the Earth of intolerent, narrow minded morons who use God and the bible to spread hate.

The Chicks Win Big At Grammy's

The Dixie Chicks had a big night tonight at the Grammy's - winning four awards including Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The Chicks have been criticized by fellow country artists Toby Keith and Reba McIntyre and some country radio stations - especially in the South - have refused to play their music ever since lead singer Natalie Maines criticized President Bush at a concert in London. First of all, according to polls, 70% of our country disaproves of the job Bush has done, so I never really understood why Maines' comments drew so much attention.

Second, what a slap in the face to the radio stations who have refused to play The Chicks' music. All year they have been refusing to play what is now conisdered the best song and best album of the year! All to show respect to someone who is going to go down as maybe the worst president in the history of our country!

The Big Mac

The Star Tribune has an interesting article on controversial Brooklyn Park mega church preacher Mac Hammond. The article pretty much sums up why I think mega churches are helping to ruin our society. Many of these mega churches are really businesses, not churches. And many of them spew irresponsible anti-islam, anti-gay, anti-abortion political messages on a daily basis, without getting their tax-exempt status removed.

The article highlights how Hammond recently warned his large congregation of the hundreds of thousands of Islamo-Fascists that could some day set off nuclear bombs in America and that a former employee of the church was shunned and called a baby-killer for wearing a John Kerry button.

Hammond's antics pretty much support my theory that mega churches are for the weak minded. They work for people who want to be told how to think, how to act, how to live and how to vote. And they work for people who want everyone in the world to think, act, live and vote the same. What a sad, simple life these people must live.

You want consistency? You got consistency

When Kevin McHale decided to replace Timberwolves Head Coach Dwayne Casey with Randy Wittman, he said he expected the team to play with more consistency. Well McHale has got his wish. The Timberwolves are now a consistently worse team than they were two weeks ago. After going 20-20 under Casey this season, the Wolves are now 2-6 under Wittman after a humiliating 28 points loss to Houston. The Wolves showed lackluster effort and Wittman was forced to bench Mike James - the point guard who McHale threw ridiculous amounts of money to in the off season - and Ricky Davis - the swingman who McHale brought here from Boston in the Wally Sczerbiak trade.

This franchise is a disaster. They have a roster full of overpaid players - some of whom have serious personality defects along with average on the court talent. They have a history of making poor decisions in the draft and an unbalanced roster that is guard heavy. Is trading Garnett the answer? I would be sad to see him leave Minnesota, but there is no evidence that exists that says the Wolves will ever be able to make a deep playoff run while he is still in his prime.

Focus On The Family Frauds

Evangelical pastor Ted Haggard - who resigned as senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs after admitting he had sexual relations with another man - has proclaimed himself "completely heterosexual" after three weeks of "intensive counseling".

THREE WEEKS?!?! It was that simple huh? They just counseled all the gay-ness out of him? O.k. two questions. Who do these people think they are? And how the heck do they get hundreds of thousands of people to attend their churches and follow their advice? I imagine these are the same people who watch the 700 Club and actually believe that Pat Robertson and God "talk" on a daily basis. If I was an evangelical and heard these things from my suppossed "leaders" I would consider them to have a serious credibility issue. But that's just me and I'm just an old fashioned Lutheran so I guess it's not my problem.

While I'm on the subject, I've decided that James Dobson may be the scariest man alive today, given the number of people that hear his message on a daily basis. This is a man who believes that men have the divine right to be the leaders of their family and that women have the divine obligation to submit to their authority. He disaproves of women with children under the age of 18 to work for income outside the home. He also advocates spanking. (Just what we need in today's society - a little more violence)

Now that my wife and I are expecting our first child I'm waiting for the day when someone offers us one of Dobson's books so that I can kindly tell them that Dobson isn't welcome in our home.

I Need A Lawyer

I've decided I need to sue the Australian Open for giving me insomnia. For the fifth straight night I find myself awake at 3am watching tennis.

Speaking of tennis, did anyone catch the Andy Roddick press conference after he got throttled by Roger Federer last night? Asked to comment on how he felt after the match Roddick said, "It was frustrating, it was miserable, it sucked, it was terrible - other than that it was fine." Another reporter then asked Roddick if he would sleep well that night. Roddick replied with, "That depends on how much I drink tonight." After his tennis career fizzles out, Andy might have a career in stand up comedy.

Boycott The Timberwolves

I've never been a huge NBA fan. Actually I was back in the day of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, but my interest in the league has waned considerably over the past dozen years. After the events of this week I have decided that I would rather spend my money on a Brittany Spears Oops I Did It Again album or a revolving tie rack than a Minnesota Timberwolves basketball game.

First off, the NBA is a flat out lazy league. The effort these grossly overpaid players give on the defensive end during the 82-game regular season is ridiculous. How else can you explain the enermous difference in points per game scored during regular season games compared to playoff games?

Secondly, the Timberwolves are a franchise run by a bunch of idiots. The leader of this group is none other than Kevin McHale - a perfect example that a smart basketball player doesn't always equate into a smart General Manager. McHale fired Timberwolves coach Dwayne Casey after Casey was at the helm for only a year and a half. The Timberwolves were 20-20 at the time of the firing and the 8th best team in the Western Conference.

All of the seven teams ahead of the Timberwolves in the standings have more talent than the Wolves do. Where does McHale think the Wolves should be at this point in the season? Not better than 20-20 given the fact that McHale has botched trade after trade, made crappy draft day decisions and allowed players like Chauncey Billups to leave via free agency. McHale should be the one looking for a new job, not Dwayne Casey.

McHale said that the main reason Casey was fired was because the Wolves were inconsistent through the first 40 games of the season. I guess McHale has a point. He has been consistent. Consistently bad.

Monson resigns

University of Minnesota men's basketball coach Dan Monson resigned today just seven games into the season. While the move probably needed to be made, it gives me further proof that athletic director Joel Maturi is a sheepish leader. If you are prepared to remove Monson just seven games into this season, he probably should have been fired immediately after last year.

With the roster the Gophers have this season there was never really any hope that this team would make the NCAA tournament. Monson realized this and decided to get out while he could instead of being forced to die a slow death.

All sorts of names are being thrown out by the local media on who should replace Monson including Flip Saunders, Rick Majerus and Trent Tucker. Personally I don't think any of those three will be on the sidelines of Williams Arena come next fall. Saunders will ask for too much money, Majerus probably doesn't have the will to take over a struggling program like the Gophers and Tucker is flat out not ready to coach a Big Ten program. I'm guessing Maturi will pluck an up and coming coach from a mid-major conference like the Missouri Valley or the Mid Atlantic Conference.

Someone put out the fire

Controversey continues to swirl around Minneapolis Fire Chief Bonnie Bleskachek this week. Personally I think she should be fired and paid no compensation. Bleskachek - the first openly lesbian fire chief in the country - has had four civil suits filed against her by co-workers alleging that Bleskachek forced them to have sex with her or they wouldn't be promoted. Bleskachek came out today and stressed the fact that nothing has been proven yet. If there was only one or maybe even two co-workers crying foul against her, I would maybe listen to her. But four?! C'mon. Something happened, and Bleskachek shouldn't be allowed to waste any money of the tax payers.

Drama at the CMA's

Well Entertainment Tonight is going to be all over this one. Did anyone else just see Faith Hill's reacation on camera when Carrie Underwood was announced as Female Vocalist of the Year? When Underwood's name was called out, Hill looked directly into the camera and with an angry face yelled "What?!" and then stormed away. I can't say that I blame her. American Idol is a cute show and all, and Underwood has had a nice start to her career, but she should not be winning female vocalist of the year yet. Should be interesting to see how Faith explains her reaction.