March 2007

03.08.2007 Comment...
The Fearless Vampire Killers
Deceased Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, who died in captivity in the Hague last year while standing trial for war crimes in a UN tribunal, still seems to haunt the Serbian nation. His grave in the eastern Serbian town of Pozarevac was recently desecrated in a bizarre incident. Serbian vampire hunters, wanting to make sure the late president remained dead, drove a three-foot wooden stake into the grave and through his heart, in accordance with old folklore and tradition.

The leader of the group, Miroslav Milosevic, who is not related to the former president, gave himself up to police who had launched an investigation. Milosevic said he and his fellow vampire hunters acted to prevent the former dictator returning from the dead to haunt the country, The Register reports. Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia condemned the desecration of the grave in a statement.

Slobodan Milosevic's daughter-in-law Milica Gajic responded to the incident on behalf of the family by saying she was shocked, and planned to sue the vampire hunters. She also accused the police of failing to protect the grave properly.

03.05.2007 Comment...
The History of Incredible Eagle
I have been questioned about the origins of the term "Incredible Eagle" many times over the past couple of years. I usually plead silence, preferring to maintain the exotic aura of mystery about this magnificent concept, but eventually the truth must come out. This is as good a time as any.

The story begins on a lukewarm Arizona evening in late 2003. Tuesday, November 4th to be exact. It was my senior year at ASU, my course load was bearable and life was good. The 4th had been marked on my calendar for the past several weeks as a reminder to go to Best Buy after class, for on this day Tenacious D released The Complete Masterworks on DVD. At this point I had caught only bits and pieces on HBO and was hungering for the anthology of their TV episodes and short films.

So it came to pass that I acquired this comedic goldmine. Each scene and every quote soon were dedicated to memory, and the characters lives were carefully analyzed and dissected. Kyle loves Jenny Craig Mac 'n Cheese and Jack loves video golf. In the song "Special Things," Jack Black explains that "when KG hits a tin cup shot on Genesis golf - that's a special thing!" This made a lot of sense to me, so I promptly went on eBay and purchased a copy of PGA Tour for the Sega Genesis.

The next 20 days were spent maintaining a pleasant level of drunkenness and watching Tenacious D every single evening. And of course playing a lot of Genesis golf, which is kind of the point of this whole story. See, the game came out in 1991, before anything too impressive could really be done to reward you for fine play. However, if you sink a birdie, text pops up on the screen and exclaims: "Great Birdie!". And if you sink an oh-so-rare eagle, the text announces... of course... "Incredible Eagle!"

The rest is history. Fortunately, some things never change. The spirit of incredible eagles everywhere lives on in this website, and golf video games continue to say awesome things when you make a spectacular shot. Thank you, Tenacious D. That's a special thing.