Now Is Too Soon

Video: Time to Motivate…

It’s been a long time… we never left you

School’s out for Summer, so it’s back to the lab. The following are from the Fall ‘08 Blazin’ Hope show in LA. Don’t let the hook on the second video fool you, we’re still NorCal to the fullest (when in Rome, ya know?).

Broken World iTUNES | CD BABY

Wince at the Sun iTUNES | CD BABY

The Middle Passage iTUNES | CD BABY

Oblique Brown iTUNES | CD BABY

Dust…available for download

The Daily Show Rips CNBC a New One

The Daily Show works its magic and exposes business TV as infomenrcials for Lex Luther and Friends.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=220252&title=cnbc-gives-financial-advice

Having a hard time embedding the video, but do yourself a favor and take a look at this before ever taking what these financial shows say at face value.

Digital Only EP

The new Digital EP from Oblique Brown coming soon…

A Word From Our Sponsor

Ray here.  Just a quick word from the basement while Chee’s away visiting the Subcontinent.  I’m in the process of migrating the Himalayan Project home base to our nifty new WordPress.com blog.  With all of the changes in the internet of the the last decade (hard to believe we’ve been at this as long as we have), from blogs to digital distribution and social networking sites, I think this new format is the best way for non-techies to easily update fans/friends and keep the various HP tentacles attached.

And yes, we’re still making new music (“we’re”, being mostly Chee).  Hit up the Facebook or Myspace pages some of the latest rough cut offerings.

HP Olympics Coverage: Congrats Chee & Ray Get The Senior Discount In China

Ray: So first and foremost, congratulations to Chee and his brethren from the Subcontinent on Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal performance in some random shooting event (OK, OK, the 10-meter air rifle), India’s first individual win in Olympic history. Kingfishers are on me!

In other news, ethnic pride wants me to be excited about the Chinese women winning the team gymnastics gold, but the strong visual evidence that they circumvented the 16-year-old age limit makes it feel kinda tainted. Apparently, faking age documentation is relatively common in international gymnastics, but IOC President Jacques Rogge thinks it’s up to each country’s sports federation to police itself on the age issue. According to the what I read in the SF Chronicle, he said the IOC couldn’t possibly “go and check every one of the 10,500 athletes present.”

Ummm, hi? Bullshit? This isn’t a P.A.L. baseball game we’re talking about here, we’re talking about the Olympics (insert Allen Iverson saying “Practice”). The Olympics (insert Jim Mora saying “Playoffs!!??”)! And last time I checked, I can’t think of another one of 100 or so sports that has a problem with athletes breaking age limits, so what’s the problem here Jacques? They manage to steroid test the athletes, right?

On a side note on gymnastics, how about that Alicia Sacramone, huh? What an amazing… athlete (relax, she’s 21… with strong visual evidence).

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Ray: For the 2008 NFL season, Chee and I decided to spice up our fantasy football play and created the InterGalacticMastersLeague, a running 2 team heads up league pitting only the best vs. the best.

The rules are simple. The league consists of just TheMrRainman and Macaca’s Minions (Yahoo forced us to also create to dummy teams, but they’re scoring won’t factor in). We are only allowed the following players: 1 QB, 2 RB, 2WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 2 DL, 2 LB, 2 DB and one bench player. Each team is only allowed to make 4 waiver wire moves per week. The weekly winner earns $10 and the winner of the InterGalacticMasters Bowl winner gets an additional $20 bonus.

The idea for the league came up in a conversation about what it would be like if only the best talent played each other every week. Draft took place this weekend and the results are in:

TheMrRayMen
QB	Tom Brady
WR	Terrell Owens
WR	Braylon Edwards
RB	Adrian Peterson
RB	Brian Westbrook
TE	Kellen Winslow
K	Rob Bironas
D	Mike Vrabel
D	Patrick Willis
DB	Ed Reed
DB	DeAngelo Hall
DL	Mario Williams
DL	Jason Taylor

Macaca’s Minions
QB	Peyton Manning
WR	Randy Moss
WR	T.J. Houshmandzadeh
RB	LaDainian Tomlinson
RB	Steven Jackson
TE	Jason Witten
K	–empty–
D	Antonio Cromartie
D	E.J. Henderson
DB	Marcus Trufant
DB	Adam Jones
DL	DeMarcus Ware
DL	Osi Umenyiora

Let the games begin… Go Rainmen!

Update 1/4/09

The InterGalacticMastersLeague proved to be a lucrative experiement for The Rainmen.  We went 12-4, including a 1 point win in the $30 InterGalacticBowl. Congratualtions to Adrian Peterson, Patrick Willis, Ed Reed, Mario Williams, Jason Witten and DeMarcus Ware for being the only players to maintain their pre-season status as InterGalacticMasters throughout the year.

RIP Bernie Mac

Ray: Add another person to the Russert List. Some of my favorite Bernie Mac moments – anytime he talked about his sister’s kids, the interrogation scene in Ocean’s 11 (“Blackjack… might as well call it white jack”), and coining the word “Boodipssy” (“smells like a combination of bootie, dick and pussy in here”) in How To Be A Player.

They’re Here! They’re Finally Here!

Ray: Try as I might to be jaded about Olympic sports – what with all the doping that’s been coming to light recently – once that cheesy opening montage and speech comes on at the start of the open ceremony telecast, I’m hooked. Let the games begin.

Things I’m looking forward to: the 100m showdown in track, the Redeem Team in hoops, judo, the possibility of a Nadal vs Federer match for the gold and Michael Phelp’s run at history (even if they’re not all gold, it’d still be an amazing feet).

Thing I’m getting tired of: people who want to separate the politics from the sports. Last time I checked there aren’t a lot of events that attract the eyes of the world all at once. And really, if politics didn’t factor into how the games run and it’s just “China’s turn”, then we would have had an Olympics in Africa or South America by now. Given China’s status in the world and I’m glad that they’re hosting at this time because it shines a light on both the positive and the negative that’s taking place there. I am though, already tired of some of the hypocrisy from the NBC script writers when they described the new China as “a land of many, controlled by the few.” Ummm, last time I check, that’s every industrialized country. And correct me if I’m wrong, but I looks a lot like the new China took a lot of inspiration from the old US.