Monday Morning Coffee: G.T.S.T. Edition

Whilst the Admiral's bowels recover from the fourteen bowls of Skyline he ate this weekend, here's some loosely-sorted nonsense to get you through the morning.

(And, right off the bat, let's address the rumors: the Admiral vigorously denies any allegation that he was the Nebraska fan involved in this.)

You may have noticed that 80% of the posts and comments on AE's front page are in boldface font. As you may have guessed: this is not intentional. It seems there's a random, open <strong> tag messing with my program. First one to find it and fix it gets a bowl of Real Chili, on me.

So: what'd you do this weekend? (Poll below!) Mrs. Q and I attended the Wine & Dine Wisconsin thing-a-ma-bob at the Midwest Frontier Airlines Center. We wined quite a bit (and found an awesome spiced rum called The Lash), though the dining options were a little limited. Still, SOMEONE managed to make FIVE trips through the cheese-tasting line. Yes, it was a very proud day for me.

We can call off the search, everyone: there's finally an answer to the question, "Whatever happened to Danzig?" Apparently, it involves cats. Or he's making a roadside survival kit. I don't know which option is sadder. (Yes I do. It's the cats.)

Speaking of washed-up '80s rock stars: Dee Snider is going to be on Broadway. Eat your heart out, Hugh Jackman.

Marquette-Related Stuffs:

• We're less than two weeks from Marquette Madness, so that means Buzz's Boot Camp is up and running for the third straight year. The players seem to be doing OK so far, but I'm wondering what this "G.T.S.T." business is all about. (Note: if you're not following Dwight Buycks on Twitter, that last link might not work. Take my word for it; there was a "G.T.S.T." involved.) The smart money is on "Got To Stay Tough," but I'm not a fan of the smart money -- I think Dwight was telling the troops that he just "Got Ten Stinky Tacos," in honor of National Taco Day. (UPDATE: G.T.S.T. is actually short for "Grind Together Shine Together," we've since come to learn.)
  
• Cracked Sidewalks does the media recap thing much better than I do ...
• ... and they also cover recruiting much better than we do. Try as I might, I can't get into the recruiting thing. I feel like some kind of pervert paying that much attention to high school kids.
  
• And let's round out the Sidewalks trifecta with this note: on their home page, Cracked Sidewalks has a link to make a donation to Al's Run. Have a heart and chip in your buck-oh-five, would you? As Rob Lowe said on CS: "People that don't donate like kids getting sick. What kind of monster are you?"

In Rubie-Centric Marquette related news: I got into my first two Twitter Wars last week! Actually, wars is putting it too strongly. Twitter Tete-a-Tetes is more like it:

• First, 1250 WSSP's Doug Russell bristled at the suggestion that he's a Marquette hater. When I bristled at Doug's "running joke" that all Marquette students are spoiled rich kids, Doug wondered why Marquetters get so bristled about the topic. My attempts to explain my position failed -- 140 characters isn't much space when you're trying to explain that almost all Marquette students get financial aid, and the majority of us work through college and will be paying off our student loans for the next 30 years -- but Doug and I eventually found detente, and he agreed to knock it off.
  
• The early returns for the pro-MU Mr. Russell are promising, as he chastised the Badgers for their predictable pantsing in East Lansing. (Repeat after me: there are three sure things in life -- death, taxes, and the Wisconsin football team faceplanting when big things are expected of them.) Doug also gave Marquette the (very early) nod over UW in basketball, noting that Vander Blue is "the real deal."
• Then, on Sunday, Doug and I (and my boy @go_marquette) found common ground in Deadspin's trashing of the Spanish O'Donnell's "All We Do Is Win" YouTube video.
  
• Unfortunately, our mutual bemusement drew the ire of Jen Lada, who gave us each a paddlin' for mocking college kids in a public forum. Listen: I don't know that what I said qualifies as mocking the SODs; I'd never seen the thing before, and my honest-to-goodness gut reaction to it was: "What the hell is this?" More to the point: if I can't make fun of something that I think is lame, then the terrorists have already won.

Alright, let's wrap this baby up:

If you're giving out treats like these on Halloween, prepare to be egged, or to have a flaming bag of poo on your doorstep. (Note: the hell is a "Mary Jane"? Is that a pot brownie?)

The Admiral sent me a link about a Danny Elfman - Tim Burton box set. I don't know why I'm supposed to link to it, but I'm a loyal soldier, so: here you go. And while we're on the subject of stuff Ackbar wants to link to, here's Elvis Costello and someone named Nick Lowe playing "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?" in Frisco.

Nash Bridges gets PAID. By Mark Cuban. Walker: Texas Ranger will be the next one with his hand out .. and you DO NOT ignore Chuck Norris' outstretched hand.

Have you always wanted to see Gene Simmons' bizarrely-long tongue in HD? Dream no more, little dreamer.

No list of World's Strangest Vending Machines is complete without a mention of the vending machines in California that dispense weed. Anyway, I'll do my best to confirm the existence of the Italian pizza vending machine when I'm in Rome in a week.

Random Music Video of the Day:

A new day is coming for Marquette basketball, so it's time for Days of the New.