Cru Jones Society

 

Happy Friday grows up so fast. It seems like only yesterday is what a gleam in the eye of Senor Limon. Now it’s 65 and demanding a discount at the early bird special. It’s tired of working, and we hope you are too. This week we have crocodiles, Jim Tracy, Reading Rainbow, and of course a demotivator. So put the TPS reports aside, let the phone go to voicemail, and read on so you’ll still have time for Wheel.

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As you may have noticed, since we haven’t shut up about it, we just got back from Vegas. While out there it was hard to miss the monstrosity that is the CityCenter Complex. The giant construction project is right smack dab in the center of the strip. It was also hard to miss the effects of the recession on the town as our cab whizzed down the street with no fuss on a Saturday night. The city is banking on the completion of the CityCenter Complex to help “fix” these “problems.” We would put up with the construction and poor economy if it means that Vegas is cheap and less crowded. Then again we’re selfish pricks like that.

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Vegas often conjures up images and thoughts of the mafia. And when most of us think about the mafia we think of fat Italian guys in suits muscling people out of their money and striking fear into the hearts of those unfortunate enough to cross their paths. This fear is usually issued with guns or bodily harm. But as it turns out, the mafia in Italy does things a bit differently, they use crocodiles. At least they did until one was seized by the police. We’re still not sure if this is a mafia boss in Italy, or villain boss in a Disney movie.

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If you enjoy reading crujonessociety.com, you may owe a little something to Reading Rainbow. The show has been instilling the joy of reading into children for 26 years. But now that is all over. Due to a cut in funding, Reading Rainbow will not be renewed. Here are the thoughts from the show’s host Geordi La Forge, er Lavar Burton.

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Before anything can be read, it has to be written, and that requires writers. But sometimes writers are treated unfairly and go on strike. Perhaps you remember the Writers Guild of America strike that forced us to watch reruns and actually had no affect on movies at the time. More likely, you don’t. But they did go on strike and demanded more money and the usual shit people on strike demand. But it appears that may have all been for nil since Variety reports, ” Writers are now getting fractions of what they were paid before the strike, and new scribes are being presented with take-it-or-leave-it deals calling them to work for scale.” Good job with your strike, and stop crying for having a job many of us would kill to have. We’re normally not cool enough to read Variety. We got this story form @raycornwall on Twitter and proceeded to enjoy his blog, adventuresofray.com, so a thanks to Ray.

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Onto sports. Jayson Stark is one of our favorite baseball writers. The Colorado Rockies are our favorite baseball team. And what the Rockies have done since May 29^th has been incredible, and big part of that is due to Jim Tracy. To show exactly what we’re talking about check out this wonderful piece on Tracy by Stark. It really is no wonder why David Eckstein of the out-of-the-race Padres told reporters he hopes the Rockies make the post season.

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Thanks to CJS regular Deuce for this entertaining piece about how ridiculous it can be to park for a Cubs game. We think it’s nice to see a large market news program air a segment that could easily fit into a local news broadcast for a much smaller town. Seriously, this reporter could slide flawlessly in amongst the group doing the news in Tucson.

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Our last sports link is another reader submission. This one from Flickerbock. Upnextinports.com gives us sports photos taken and the most perfect moment and then funny captions are added. We could sit here and describe a few of our favorites, or you could just check it out and waste some time reading them all to find your own favorites. Since the latter involves the fundamental idea of showing not telling, let’s go with that. Enjoy.

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People into punk rock are often labeled as degenerate drains on society by those who feel it is necessary to judge people without knowing them. In reality, a lot of punks are very socially and politically active and seek to make the world better. Case in point: Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman. In addition to using the tour to get great music out to fans, Lyman has also used it to help a lot of charities, non-profits, the environment, and start a blood drive to help save lives. For these efforts Lyman will receive the Billboard Humanitarian Honor. We are always happy to hear about somebody in a position like Lyman’s doing more than what is expected and giving a lot back to the community. Lyman, we salute you.

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How about a quiz featuring three of our favorite 80’s movies: The Goonies, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Stand By Me? You’ll get a line of dialog, and then you have to figure out which one of those movies it’s from. Very simple, no cheating and begin!

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We got another addition of the AV Club’s “Taste Test.” There is no chicken on chicken artery attacking sandwich this time. Instead they are focusing on one of our all time favorite foods, peanut butter. You may be asking, “What’s so weird about peanut butter that it would make it into this feature?” Well the AV Club got wind of peanut butter flavors form P.B. Loco. Check it out, then go make me a sandwich!

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Jeopardy is beloved by both the young and old, except the contestant interview part. But it doesn’t look like that is going anywhere for awhile. We want to help you prepare if you ever find yourself on the show. We don’t want you to run the Goonies, Ferris Beuller, Stand By Me category then chime in with a half hearted story. So tell us what your Jeopardy contestant interview story would be. It can be real or fabricated, just keep it under 30 seconds and send it to staff@crujonessociety.com and we’ll throw it up on Monday.

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Damn teenagers and their parts of cars. In my day we had the whole thing.

 

lee.s.hart@crujonessociety.com