Filament Friday 12/13/2013

It’s Friday the 13th for the second time this year (next year we get only one – June 13th), but that’s OK, because I ain’t superstitious. I ain’t wore no bag over my head. Billy goat? Bah, humbug. I step on cracks, spill salt and say “Candyman” three times into the mirror every night before I go to bed. So why am I wearing this Saints jersey, just like I do every single Friday during football season? Shut up and read the links…

My kinda psychopath…

• Much of the last couple of weeks has been filled with the news of Nelson Mandela’s death, so with that in mind I open this week’s Filaments with the latest from Zen Pencils.
• Everyone knows Friday the 13th, but what about Saturday the 14th? I remember loving this movie as a kid and I just found out you can watch the whole thing on YouTube .  I might do just that and see how 7-year-old Dylan’s taste in movies was (Spoiler alert – it was just awful AWESOME. My taste in movies that is, I haven’t rewatched Saturday the 14th, yet…).
• How to open a can without a can opener. Reminds me of a joke, something about a mortician who ties all of the dead peoples shoelaces together, because it will make the zombie apocalypse hilarious.
• At one time or another I, and probably most of you, have been each of these people.
• I sent this to a friend to make him feel better…or worse…I can’t remember which, but it’s funny!
• Say bye-bye to runners taking out catchers on plays at the plate in MLB and remember David Ross as the answer to the new trivia question, “Which player was involved in the last two legal home plate collisions in major league history?” In the same game he got run over by Miguel Cabrera and then was tagged out after mowing down Alex Avila.
• As of this writing the Cubs have not traded Jeff Samardzija (let me double-check…nope, still not traded!), who’s name I can now spell without double-checking (it’s really not that hard). Cub’s Den has their usual thoughtful insights, but it’s the picture at the top of this article that helped this post make the cut.
• Watch 6′ 10″ Bernard James get stuffed at the rim by 5′ 9″ Isaiah Thomas.
• Not much Wizards news this week, as they’ve been off for several days and try to inch back towards the .500 mark tonight against Atlanta.
• There have been some pixels posted about the WizKids rookies, as Glen Rice, Jr. got his first career start and is showing signs of being a nice NBA player – if that jump shot starts falling again.
• Meanwhile, Otto Porter (aka #Slenderman) finally made his debut, but is still looking to make an impact. I have no idea what kind of player Porter is going to turn out to be, but I feel confident saying that it is way too early to start tagging him with “bust”. This time last year people were saying the same thing about Brad Beal.
• Truth About It thinks Porter isn’t aggressive enough.
  

  Bless Otto Porter. I’m not sure he realizes how many guys, hungry just to be in the NBA, are ready to be aggressive out of nowhere.

  — Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) December 13, 2013

   

• Good interview with Nick Young by TAI. I was a fan of Swaggy P and agree that he wasn’t the knucklehead that Blatche and McGee seemed to be, he just wasn’t, except for one thing (sometimes), a very good NBA player.
• As a new dad I’ve been surprisingly pleased at how…natural…it has all seemed. Most of the “new parent” advice I’ve read seems more like a review of what I’m already doing. Having said that, The Art of Manliness has some great advice, both about the basic required skillset and the basic required mindset.
• Just what was that 13 letter word?
• ESPN.com has a great profile on one of the Saints break-out defensive stars this year, the always enthusiastic Junior Galette.
• Heading towards the playoffs, the Saints are somehow both focused and relaxed.
• Normally I would say the Saints’ game this week against St. Louis is a trap, but recent struggles against the Rams should have Drew and Co. fired up and ready to go. I’ll make my official(-ish) prediction via this trash-talking tweet to St. Louis native Bradley Beal.
  

  @RealDealBeal23, big fan of you and the #Wizards, but my #Saints gonna whoop up on dem Rams this weekend. I’m thinkin’ 42-17-ish. Who Dat!

  — Even Losers Can Win (@evenloserswin) December 13, 2013

   

• If you haven’t heard, there’s a chance Sriracha will be getting harder to find.
• So, uh, here’s a song about Sriracha (kind of).
• Re-adjusting your perspective can be really cool.
• This made me make this face: o_O
• Sometimes you need to focus, but there are too many distractions. Maybe a little white noise would help?
• From Minute Physics, pink does not exist (ladies…wait, what?!).
• It’s been a while since I’ve gone camping, but next time I do, I’m using ALL of these tricks.
• Looking at this list of some pretty cool snowmen, I started to think, “Hey, me, you know who made REALLY cool snowmen? That Calvin kid…“
• Thinking I might make my own vanilla extract…
• This Brazilian kid is my hero for the day. To make more water drop from your eyes, use this.
• The Song of the Week for this edition of the Filaments is inspired by this excellent Wall Street Journal interview with Keith Richards about the creative process behind one of his (and my) favorite Rolling Stones songs, Street Fighting Man. There is some real interview gold in there, but my favorite line is, “If you think of a melody as a song’s shape, then the sound is its texture.”