Amazon has The Coen Brothers Movie Collection for a mere $20!  That’s Fargo, Miller’s Crossing (one of the best movies ever), Barton Fink, Raising Arizona and Blood Simple for $4 a pop.  Go get some!

I’m usually pretty skeptical of the whole “video games cause crime” argument, but maybe those folks are right.

So much for having a life.

Finally, a use for Twitter!

Robert E. Lee was caught watching women dress at the Virginia Center Commons Sears:

First Robert E. Lee lost the Southern cause, now one of his more recent rear-guard actions has him in hot water in Henrico County Circuit Court.

It seems the rears that this Lee — of the 8000 block of Creighton Parkway in Mechanicsville — tried guarding were not among his assigned duties as an assistant manager at the Virginia Center Commons Sears in March 2006.

No, the rears in question were trying on bathing suits in the ladies’ dressing room, above which Lee had taken up a scouting post. The action has already earned Lee two convictions for peeping.

Now Lee’s being sued for $2.7 million — that’s federal currency, not Confederate bonds. The facts: One of Lee’s victims, a pre-pubescent girl, happened to glance up to notice Lee watching her through the ceiling tiles and reported it to store officials.

The Consumerist picked up the story too.

The804.com has a good rundown on Richmond media and blogs and it’s hard to argue with the assessment.

VCU and basketball coach Anthony Grant have agreed to a contract extension that would keep Grant at VCU through 2014.  Good for VCU and hopefully really good for Grant

VPAP has a new look.  I dig.

Twist is a neat little service that lets you see trends in Twitter threads, like how many posts are talking about Obama, Clinton or McCain in the last week or so.

Georgian officials have released footage of an unmanned UAV being shot down by a Russian MIG. It’s pretty chilling:

Gun owners are less bitter than non-gun owners:

According to the 2006 General Social Survey, which has tracked gun ownership since 1973, 34% of American homes have guns in them. This statistic is sure to surprise many people in cities like San Francisco – as it did me when I first encountered it. (Growing up in Seattle, I knew nobody who owned a gun.)

Who are all these gun owners? Are they the uneducated poor, left behind? It turns out they have the same level of formal education as nongun owners, on average. Furthermore, they earn 32% more per year than nonowners. Americans with guns are neither a small nor downtrodden group.

Nor are they “bitter.” In 2006, 36% of gun owners said they were “very happy,” while 9% were “not too happy.” Meanwhile, only 30% of people without guns were very happy, and 16% were not too happy.

Maybe they’re bitter with joy?

Can you smell what Barack is cookin’?

Why We Love The Knuckleball

Few pitchers are able to throw the knuckler, giving those who can a cult-like status. It generally requires very large fingers. As Hall of Famer Willie Stargell explained it, “Throwing a knuckleball for a strike is like throwing a butterfly with hiccups across the street into your neighbor’s mailbox”.

Yet there have been position players who have thrown it well. Mickey Mantle supposedly had a great knuckleball and Wade Boggs used it to retire three batters in his lone career pitching performance.

I may be a Yankee fan, but I’ve always liked watching Boston’s Tim Wakefield pitch (admittedly, I first saw him pitch when he was a Pirate, so I don’t feel too bad).  Waldo Jaquith caught this great shot of Wakefield in mid-pitch.  Not sure what I’m more jealous about, that he got to see Wakefield pitch live or that he got three free tickets seven rows up behind home plate.

A BIGresearch Simultaneous Media Survey says bloggers are typically younger white dudes who make less money but are smarter than those who don’t blog.