DOG: TuneGlue

I found the coolest relationship software that can graphically link the relationship between musical artists.

It's called TuneGlue. To start off with you enter the name of an artist. Then you click on that artist and choose the Expand option which displays direct relationships. Then you can go wild and expand as far as you want while the graphic creates an ever expanding web of relationships between artists.

I chose Seth Walker who Still A. While recommended in my latest What Are You Listening To. And sure enough there is a relationship between Walker and my featured artist this time, Michael Burks. Twice removed via a guy named Charlie Wood. But there nonetheless.

I invite you to check out and play with TuneGlue. You will be surprised at the creative relationships between artists.

DOG: Stillers Draft Analysis

And with the 32nd pick the Pittsburgh Steelers select... Eric Wood, C, Louisville

With the NFL Draft just 3 short weeks away... Here's the Steel City Slant on the 2009 NFL Draft as it impacts the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is not a prediction of who the Stillers will draft. This is not a mock draft of all the teams. This is an article for our loyal readers which gives some insight into the draft and some names to keep track of no matter who the players get drafted by.

I will mention some players I am actively rooting for to become Pittsburgh Steelers. I have an extremely poor history with this. Hardly anybody I ever want to be a Steeler ends up being one. This goes clean back to 1970 when I wanted either DT Mike Reid of Penn State or WR Walker Gillette of Richmond and we got Terry Bradshaw of Louisiana Tech. Reid was a great NFL player for the Bengals but ended up quitting football to become a concert pianist after only 6 or 7 NFL seasons. Gillette was a first round pick for the Chargers but was a marginal NFL player for 7 seasons. The lone exception to my horrid streak? Franco Harris. I hope this year is an exception too. So, in the vernacular of the true Stiller fan, here we go...

At the top of my wish list for this year is a 6-4, 310 C-G out of Louisville, Eric Wood (pictured above). This guy started every game he was eligible to play (47) in for 4 years at Louisville. He addresses a need on the offensive line at more than one position. Initially rated as a Round 2 or Round 3 selection he is moving up the charts from his workouts. With us drafting at 1.32 I wouldn't mind picking him in round 1 as I am pretty certain he will not be around by 2.64 unless we trade up in round 2 to get him. He just sounds like a Steeler, looks like a Steeler, and says he'd most likely fit into a "hard hitting franchise like the Steelers." If you look deep into his eyes you can see Mike Webster in there.

Another possibility for the Center position is 6-4, 311, Alex Mack of California. Mack is the top rated Center going into the draft but may have a tougher time at Guard. Plus he is from California which indicates he is "soft" right there. But the report is that he gets down real low and exerts great leverage over the opponent. So he's a possibility even though he may be gone by 1.32.

A longershot for the later rounds, possibly round 6 or 7 is Blake Schlueter, a 6-2, 290, Center from TCU.

Another early round choice to fill an offensive line spot could be Duke Robinson a 6-5, 329 Guard from Oklahoma. He is pretty highly rated, and for that reason I just don't see us getting a shot at him but he's an interesting prospect.

The only Tackle I'm going to mention is 6-6, 318, Jason Watkins of Florida who has had a visit with the Steelers so he's a definite possibility in rounds 4 or 5 most likely.

OK so that addresses the offensive line, widely acknowledged by Stiller fans as our area of greatest concern.

Next up is Cornerback and Safety. Our second greatest area of concern with the aging of DeShea Townsend and the departures of Anthony Smith and Bryant McFadden.

There are two cornerbacks I'd like to see us draft but I don't think we'll get either one of them because they are too highly rated and we are drafting last. But if one of these guys would happen to fall into our laps (a la Santonio Holmes) I'd be happy seeing either one in black and gold. And they are Alphonso Smith (5-9, 193) from Wake Forest and DJ Moore(5-9. 162) out of Vanderbilt. Both are "shorties" with the speed and athleticism to cover anybody all over the field. I expect both to be gone by mid round 1 however.

More realisitically, Domoique Johnson at 6-1, 197 from Jackson State in about round 5 could be our pick. And in the 7th round or as a UFDA, look at 5-11, 185 Darren Banks from little West Liberty State down in West Virginia. He's met with the Steelers as well.

On to priority number 3 as I see it, the aging of the defensive line.

Aaron Smith, Brett Keisel, Casey Hampton, and Chris Hoke, our 4 best defensive linemen are all on the wrong side of 30 and so are their backups. So we need not only some depth here but finding a player who can be a starter in year 2 is vital.

At the top of my wish list for defensive line is Pereia Jerry, a DT from Ole Miss who could translate to a 3-4 DE at 6-2, and 299. Again, Jerry is highly regarded and is probably someone's round 2 selection, most likely not ours.

A name that is often linked to the Steelers is another college DT who translates as a 3-4 DE and that is Jarron Gilbert (6-5, 288) from San Diego State. Gilbert will probably go in round 3 and we have two selections in that round. So I'd say he has a chance depending on how the front office feels about him.

Dorrell Scott (6-3, 312) from Clemson is also a possibility, most likely in round 4 or later.

A couple linebackers to keep your eye on, because you just don't know how many quality linebackers Tomlin thinks he can use, are: Connor Barwin (6-4, 256) out of Cincinatti and Larry English (6-2, 254) from Northern Illinois. I can't imagine either one going any later than round 3, and probably higher. But we'll see.

We've got a WR slot up for grabs with the departure of Nate Washington and I've got a couple guys to keep your eye on for filling that slot. First and foremost is Brian Robiskie of Ohio State. His dad is/was an NFL player and coach. Plus we'd have a pair of Buckeyes in Robiskie and Holmes if we could get him. He's not afraid to block which is a necessity at WR anytime Hines Ward is on your team. He's probably round 2-3 material so again we'll just have to see how the cookie crumbles.

Another couple of possibilities at WR are Juaquin Iglesias (6-1, 210) from Oklahoma and Mohamed Massaquoi (6-2, 204) from Georgia. Both of these guys could go anywhere from round 2 through round 4. Steelers have expressed some limited interest in Massaquoi but I'd imagine it'd depend on how far he dropped.

Now for the miscellaneous and "Best Player Available" possibilities.

There are two guys who are tops in this category. First, Fullback Frank "The Tank" Summers, at 5-9 240 from UNLV who could be the short yardage guy we've been missing since Bettis retired. Maybe we can replace "The Bus" with "The Tank?" And second is WR/QB Pat White (6-0 197) of West Virginia. White could be the possibility at WR if the guys I mentioned above in that category aren't available. White looks like no better than a 5th rounder but most likely a 6th or 7th rounder. He has already stated that he's a Steeler fan and would love to play in Pittsburgh. Which is to be expected having spent his last 4 years setting offensive records in Morgantown.

In order of preference, here's the players I'd love to see us get with no regard for the round in which we get them.

1. Eric Wood
2. Pat White
3. Brian Robiskie
4. Jarron Gilbert
5. Frank "The Tank" Summers
6. DJ Moore
7. Peria Jerry

Also wanted to mention that the fullback from Texas A&M who scored a ton of TDs as a junior and was highly regarded a year ago, Javorksie Lane, has been scratched from my list. Apparently Mean Joe Greene attended Lane's workout on campus and Lane had ballooned from his playing weight of 270 up to 290 and ran a 40 yard dash in which Casey Hampton could have beaten him. When asked, Greene said that having difficulty managing weight when you know you're being timed for the pros is often indicative of other potential problems. I guess it's kinda like wearing a t-shirt and cutoffs to a job interview. Anyway, don't look for Javorskie Lane to be a Steeler.

So that's what I've got here a few weeks before the draft. I doubt much will change between now and then. I'll let Fan grade my scouting after we see who the Steelers pick. Based on my track record it'll be very few to none of these guys. But we shall see.

FAN: The Next Twitter, New Killer Social App

This just in, if you Tweet, stop, it's over. There's a new killer app that's taking over social web 2.0. Before we get to the new app, let's take a virtual walk down internal memory lane. Remember the early 90's when most companies started using email? Wasn't it great? You didn't have to call anybody in your office. You got 7 or 8 a day. It was all internal and it was fabulous. Then you got hooked up at home on sweet, sweet dial-up. AOL. NetZero. ...remember how happy you were when yo uheard the fuzzy scratchy noise meaning you finally connected after dialing only 11 times! Yes kids, there was a setting on your dial-up app where you told it how many times to redial in case your retarded provider didn't have enough lines in your area. Your office probably connected to the outside world and now you could send and receive email virtually all day. Sigh. Then you got bored, right? You started receiving jokes. You got the same jokes from 18 different people. You were going to get paid by Bill Gates to forward email. You were warned about this virus and that virus. You chuckled at the forwarded emails containing the origins of such famous sayings as "the whole nine yards" and "don't look a gift horse in the mouth". Boring. But then came adding pictures to email and it was fun again. For a few months. Your friends would scan in a photo of their kid and email you a file that took 2 minutes to download even at 56k. You would give up after the top of the baby's head and eyeballs were finally painted on the screen. Chat rooms came and went. Forums were full of scary trolls. Email was boring again. The thing that changed was the amount you would get. You had so much to answer and so many to send that you started making them much shorter. Instead of a few paragraphs you sent one paragraph. Maybe two. I know, instead of sending out emails about myself I'll start a blog. I can write a few paragraphs again and I don't have to send all those long emails. Now my friends know what I'm doing if they read my blog. This is so cool! Enter texting. Now I don't even have to talk to you! I'll just text your phone so you don't have to check your email. Perfect. We can text back and forth like we're talking. It's too hard to type all those letters so we'll make up abbreviations. idk. srsly? fu. Social networks sprung up out of nowhere. I'll leave my blog entries and updates on MySpace. Huh, what? You don't remember MySpace? It was Facebook before, well, Facebook. Now I can leave even shorter updates on Facebook. A few sentences here....a few sentences there. "Don't bother me at work today, I'm very busy." "Hey it's Friday, guess who is going to get shi-at faced tonight?" People got really tired of the long Facebook entries. People were writing like 3 or 4 sentences. I don't know about you, but I don't have time for that. It was literally taking me 8 or 9 minutes a day to read all of my friend's updates. Tweet Tweet. Somebody turned me on to Twitter. I could run Twitter while I was online and see what my people were up to. "Boss is a dickhead" "Going to Pilates home in an hour". I could get them on my phone and I wasted fewer time.....until now. I got a Tweet this morning to check out Bla.com or Bla for short. They kind of ripped off Twitter, but not really because they are forcing you to choose you words, or word more wisely. You see, Bla only gives you 8 characters and you can only transmit 8 Blas per day. Old school if you think about it. We're back to 8 bytes. Badass. I checked a friend's Bla's yesterday. Oh yeah, no more getting confused about how to use the words "Twitter" or "Tweet"......a Bla is simply a Bla submission. It's recursive use of the word itself. Is that correct? Should I just say "It's recursive"? Anyway. I checked her Blas.

6:52 - awake 7:41 - Trfc sux 8:14 - @work 9:27 - bozstill 9:28 - dickhead 11:32 - strbux 2:31 - daywtend 5:22 - trfc sux 6:14 - mcd drvt 7:10 - ihvbrats 8:22 - fnlykdbd 8:23 - vodka 8:37 - vokda2 9:11 - vofkda 10:21 - hubfrsky 10:22 - noefnway

I hear the makers of Twitter are frantically working on a monosyllabic vertical. Sup

DOG: What Are You Listening TO? #6

Michael Burks - I Smell Smoke

It's been a few weeks since I posted one of these of my very own. In the spotlight today at my house is the music of Michael Burks. I don't know how the sounds of such a hot blues guitarist could have escaped me for so long but this guy just burns. His sound is a bit like that of Albert King, perhaps because Burks too uses the "Flying V" guitar favored by Albert. But Burks also uses a Les Paul and has a sound all his own. Anyway he's at the top of my list for right now.

The rest are:

5. Downchild Blues Band: Live At The Palais Royale

If you want to hear the band upon which the Blues Brothers is based, this is it.

4. Robin Trower: Living Out Of Time - Live!

This live album is much better than most of his studio stuff.

3. Eumir Deodato: Prelude and Deodato 2

Can't get that Brazilian music out of my head... don't really want to.

2. Fela Kuti: The '69 Los Angeles Sessions

The more I listen to Fela the more I like him. This album fuses Afro-Beat with American Funk. One listen and you'll recognize that funk music did indeed come from Africa too.

FAN: Amish Beliefs

So my little princess is studying the Amish in social studies. My wife made like Alex Trabek while we tried to beat each other with the answers. I learned things while playing the game the last two nights that I didn't know before. I don't want to get into that because I feel a little silly when my nine-year-old knows things that I don't, but a hilarious thought came to my head while soaking up all the Amishisms. I understand, as part of their belief system, not using automobiles. I understand not having televisions and or radios. I understand not using electricity. I'm not sure if there is a certain date (year) that is used to cut-off all technological advances....I don't know that much about it. And no, that's not the funny part to me. What's funny to me is that listed among the Amish facts under the umbrella of simplicity, not decorated and the like is this gem: The Amish do not wear belts. Hmmm. I'm gonna hafta let that one maronate a bit. Belts? Surely they aren't comparing a piece of rope with a knot in it to "mysteriously catching magic voices out of the air and playing them on this box born of Satan". I can just hear Ezekiel screaming in anguish the day his son ran up to him saying "Father, Father, look Father...Hence forth this ropeth holdeth up my trousers, sir". His father's scream ended with a right hand across the mouth that sent the youth stumbling backwards onto the ground. As he slowly wiped the blood from his lower lip while looking up into his father's enraged eyes, he'll never forget the words he spoke "Jebadiah, you have disappointed me son. We have given you shelter in our house with no spark strings. We have fed you with our corn and cattle. We have given you fancy book learnin'. We have given you everything son, and you....you.....you slither the evil serpent around your tiny waist....to hold your pants up like magic, boy.....like a warlock.......this is how you repay us?". The dude in the picture is wearing GLASSES. He can't wear a belt? Are their shoes slip ons or are they allowed to tie them? Seriously. Think of how stupid that is. There has to be a better reason and I will research it later tonight. When I'm done laughing. They can use rope to lift the side of a barn but not their pants?

FAN: Ravens are Chicken of Steelers

While reading Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback, I was a little shocked to read this:

The NFL doesn't have great options for the Steelers for opening night, Sept. 10. San Diego, Green Bay and Tennessee are the best ones (the Ravens have requested not to be prime-time fodder for the Steelers for the fourth time in three years), and I'm hearing the Titans are favorite sons here. Roethlisberger-Collins. Young stud versus old. And don't forget the infamous towel-stomping incident -- I know the Steelers haven't. Good matchup if it happens. Very good. The football world approves.

The Ravens don't want any part of us in prime time. That's hilarious. What a lousy attitude. Ray does sort of resemble a chicken when the camera is on him and he's going through his very tired dramatic act. If he would have switched teams I bet he would have went to the NFC just so he'd only have to play us one more time in the next 4 years. Losers.

DOG: No Jokin', We Be Smokin'!!

After consulting with Emmitt Smith for an appropriate title...

Well, spring was definitely in the air today. From the incessant hammering of ole Woodpecker on my trees and telephone pole at 7:00am and the warm sunshine, to the soft wafting of apple smoke across my back yard. Spring has sprung. And that means it's time to do some outdoor cooking!

So, a few months back my boss, who is an avid hunter and outdoorsman, asked me if I wanted any venison or trout to cook. I always jump at the chance for game meat so I said 'yes.' Apparently other folks did too and instead of my usual couple of venison steaks and half a dozen trout I got 3 skinny venison steaks and two wild turkey breasts. He said, "Nobody wanted the turkey breasts and I figured you'd know what to do with them better than anyone anyway."

Armed with two huge wild turkey breasts I proceeded to mix up a brine of honey, sherry, lemon juice and salt. And I brined the breasts overnight in the beer fridge in the garage. This morning about 11:30, with the sound of ole Woodpecker still in the background, I fired up my first batch of Cowboy charcoal. By 12:30 I had them bad boys on the grates. And at 12:45 I added my first batch of apple wood to the fire.

A couple of my buddies came over with the intention of watching NCAA basketball. But it was such a nice day and the smoke smelled so good, we just sat out on the patio, tended the smoker, and drank beer for 3 hours while the turkey slowly cooked.

At 3:30 I served up a couple of outstanding turkey breasts. I was surprised at how well they came out and how good they tasted. Up until today the only kind of Wild Turkey I had tasted came in a bottle from the liquor store. But now I'm thinking I might buy some turkey breasts at the grocery store and do this again.

If anybody wants the recipe, just say so in the comments.

FAN: New Steelers Plate

So, almost 3 years to the day since I last changed my plates, and I think this one is a bit more obvious. I used to see people in my rearview mirror trying to figure the other one out so I'm hoping this one sinks in right away. I'm a little pissed that I didn't get SIXBURG or SIXBERG, but this is cool too. I sent the form in on Monday after the Super Bowl. The only way somebody got it in faster than me was to have an inside source start the processing on Monday morning for them with a form prefilled. Had to be. HAD to be. My only concern with this one is that people may associate it with PITT as in Panthers...and mistake the 6SB for class of '65 or something. I doubt it and it's good to be driving around Eagle country with it. I love it. I hope I get to change it next year too!

FAN: Obama Gets Retarded Karma

The liberal left would have crucified Bush if he said it.

FAN: Hilary Swank on American Idol?

I think it's cool that Hilary Swank guested on AI this week. I never knew she sang country. Apparently she's a big deal at the Grand 'Ole Orthodontist. She looks much older than when she first appeared on the scene in Boys Don't Cry. I told my daughter she looked like a skeleton with hair. Scary. Some of the faces she made while singing the duet with Carrie Givesmewood were priceless. She almost looks worse than that other country singer, Lyle Lovett. (Shudders) I love it when celebrities age poorly. Hard livin', man. Happens all the time.

FAN: Slanted Captions: Turtle Love

"Shit Roger, again? We aren't supposed to do anything that fast."

FAN: Will Ferrell Broadway Bush

HBO ran Will Ferrell's Broadway show live last night and it was pretty good. While it wasn't a laugh a minute, some parts were hilarious. A Condi Rice look-alike pops out at one point and they do a 3 minute dance that looks like a 'Lil Wayne video. He's really good as George W. Better than he ever was on SNL. If you get a chance, check it out. Even if you swing to the right, it's hard not to appreciate this.

DOG: Love In The Time Of Cholera

After Fan's Pan of Righteous Kill, I'll give you a movie that is an absolute must see. It's called Love In The Time Of Cholera and it is a masterpiece. It's from 2007.

Based upon a novel by Gabriel García Márquez it takes place in Columbia between roughly 1880 and 1930. It creates a juxtaposition between the organized and the dissheveled styles of two men in love with the same woman. The sex scenes are realistic to the point of hilarity. The "body count" of our hero would make Wilt Chamberlain embarassed!

The acting is superb. The story is great. The stark reality of it will jump out and grab you. It is a love story beyond compare. This is the best movie I've seen in quite a few years. Please do yourself a favor and check this one out.

FAN: Cobolsaurus

I switched jobs (again) a few weeks ago. It's weird for me because after spending 13 years with one company and close to 4 with another - I've now hopped around a bit for my last 3 stays. I keep telling myself I'm looking for the last place to stay another 12 years. That will put me out of the game just around the time Princess finishes college and then if I want to still work at 52, I can go be a greeter at Walmart and kiss the corporate life goodbye - or at minimum work for myself and who cares if I hardly make anything. What's interesting to me about this stopover is that so far I haven't run into a Cobolsaurus. I've seen plenty of female BAradactiles, though....and I swore the big asteroid that hit took them all out, but when I make some arcane reference to a "copybook" or an "88 level variable" nobody laughs or wants to wax poetic about their past. Is it I that needs a mirror? C'mon! I haven't written a line of COBOL since 1997. It just so happens than coming out of school in 1991 afforded me insight into a different world. I'm young enough to talk architecture with today's Geese and Mavericks but I can still complain about them with people who understand VI and JCL and get a kick out of it when I say I used to know a girl in ops who had the best IDCANS. Will dinosaur industries like insurance still have batch jobs running 10 years from now? I don't know. The new model seems to be more dynamic. HTML gets thrown into a folder and some "listener" is waiting for it and it gets updated automatically. Who knows? Who cares anymore? I want to go work on some cool ass software somewhere. Of course, only if it will pay me the amount the insurance industry is paying me and only if they can promise to stay in business for a few years. Otherwise, I may as well just get comfortable somewhere where the asteroid has already hit, even though it's not "Google Type" cool software. I think you have to move to Seattle to do that and I'd end up shooting some fashion-coffee drinking wiki twitter freak.

FAN: De Niro Owes Me Some Dinero

I love a few Robert DeNiro movies. Love them. Goodfellas is one of my all-time favorites. I liked Casino a lot as well. Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, the list goes on and on. Notice anything about the list? That's right, they're all over 12 years old. Meet The Parents was good and it's 9 years old as well. It may be time for Bobby to fade away. If you look at his recent list on IMDB, it's pretty lame. I got all exctied when I heard about Righteous Kill with Al Pacino. It would be their first pairing since Heat where they barely shared the screen if I remember correctly. Well, I laid out $6 for the HD version of Righteous Kill last night on On Demand and while it didn't suck, it was far from good. I had it figured out well before the reveal. Even the scenes at the end that maybe would have been brilliant 15 years ago - looked like they were simply mailed in. In fact, I got angry at some scenes wondering why the acting wasn't better. Maybe the lines just weren't there, but I wasn't feeling this movie at all. Carla Gugino is nice to look at, but how believable is it that a 66 year-old guy would be banging a hot 37 year-old? Hollywood cracks me up. Maybe if the guy was loaded, but he's a cop.

DOG: BANG! The Real Kurt Warner

Today I'm going to turn all the followers of this blog on to one of the funniest sites EVER.

If you have a sense of humor and you like NFL Football then you're gonna love BANG! Cartoons. And remember folks, the truth lies just below the surface of humor.

The most recent cartoon is about Kurt Warner's post game interview with Andrea Kramer but be sure to check the archives. Pot-shots at the stupid abound on here, Pacman Jones, Mat Millen, Jerry Jones, Bill Belichick, John Madden, Al Davis are all satirized in truthful fashion.

Enjoy and bookmark in your favorites.

FAN: What Are You Listening To? #5

We had an intern at my last company that I kind of took under my wing. He was 21 and a lover of music. He liked both old and new stuff and when we traded, I had little time to listen to everything as it was close to 10 gigs of music. As I was perusing some clip links, I caught this fantastic performance of Death From Above 1979 on Conan O'Brian. It's a duo consisting of only Bass and Drums. Cool. Max even runs over to cover the drums for a while. Pretty cool. You have to hover the mouse around the dead black space until you find the controls for the player. Anyway, they were in the stuff I took from the intern and I've now listened to it all day. Read more about them here. They disbanded already and there isn't much of them out there - but I really dig the one studio album that they put out. If they got together with The White Stripes I guess they would have a full band. Sorry Stilladog, I stole your column! I didn't think you'd mind.

FAN: Blind Idol

Yes, American Idol has a blind finalist. I don't know about you, but I just can't see him winning.

RIM SHOT.

I am so ashamed of myself.

FAN: Marquis Cooper Was A Steeler

I had no idea Maquis Cooper was a Steeler in 2007. None. I thought the name sounded familiar, but after looking he wasn't active for very many games. If my choices were being a Raider or letting go of the boat, I guess I would have done the same thing.

DOG: Snow Day Literature

So, I got the much anticipated phone call at 8:00AM this morning that work was called off today on account of snow. I was a bit surprised because when I awoke at 4:00AM we had less than an inch of accumulation. But every day you don't have to work and still get paid is a good day!

Now I had the enviable task of figuring out how to enjoy my bonus day off. First off, sausages, biscuits, gravy and scrambled eggs. Next, up to the computer to float through cyberspace and see what I encounter. And what I encountered was a piece of literature I was first exposed to in 1970. George Orwell's 1984.

I downloaded it and dumped it into iTunes. And I have to say it is shocking at how accurately it depicts our current society. In fact, downright scary!

Everything from revising history to match the "official" version of the past to an all-knowing government which uses pervasive and constant surveillance of the populace... reminds me of going to the grocery store last week and reading the signs on the light poles that say the parking lot is under video surveillance 24 hours a day.

Anyway, much of 1984 depicts (predicts?) life in America in the early 2000s. If you've already read it, I still recommend a revised reading. If not, you have to check it out. If for no other reason than to understand the traffic citation you got from the camera at 4th and Main last month.