| Jay McDonald (officially "Jason",
but most folks give up on the second syllable after a while)
Status: 31, married (just this year) with two step-kids.
Home: Pittsburgh, PA -- a relative lifer, and proud of it.
Skills That Pay the Bills: UNIX systems administration
Favorite Team: Pittsburgh Pirates, much as economics and ineptitude work
against them. I'm deliriously happy that Boni-failure sleeps with the
fishes. Also have a soft spot in my heart for the waterbug '85 Cardinals.
Favorite Player (current): Probably Sammy Sosa. Guy is a true player, but
still doesn't go to his head as much as it could. Would've been Tony Gwynn,
if he hadn't retired this year. Favorite Player (all-time): Kirk Gibson or
Kirby Puckett. Least favorite player (current): Bonds. I'll give him his
props on talent, but crapped all over the fans, and then has the nerve to
WHINE about how he's misunderstood when he's chasing McGwire. Least
favorite player (all-time): Hmmm... probably Bonds again. Though for some
reason, I recall having an irrational loathing of Tug McGraw back during
the heyday of the Pirates-Phillies rivalry.
Best ballpark moment? the year they played the All-Star Game in
Pittsburgh, I scored free tickets from a family friend who couldn't go.
Great game with an NL win. And the pregame standing ovation for Jimmy
Lelyand almost got me choked up... Worst ballpark moment? One year, I got
tickets to the game for my birthday ('77, maybe?) and Rennie Stennett
broke his leg. I was devastated, and he was never the same player after
that.
NOW, ON TO MORE WEIGHTY THINGS...
Three things always found in your fridge? 1) Diet Dr. Pepper 2) Uncle
Ben's noodle/rice bowls -- I steer toward the Chinese flavors 3) Egg
bagels, though I honestly don't know why the grocery store wants people to
refrigerate them.
Five CDs you'd take to the proverbial "desert island"?
[excluding "greatest hits" -- that's cheating] 1) Crowded House
-- Woodface 2) R.E.M. -- Life's Rich Pageant 3) Police -- Ghost In The
Machine 4) Led Zeppelin -- IV 5) Beatles -- Rubber Soul.
Five movies you'd take to the same desert island? 1) Goodfellas (but
strangely, "Casino" bores me)... 2) Die Hard 3) Braveheart 4)
Aliens -- "Game over, man! Game over!" 5) Raiders Of The Lost
Ark [Check this list again in a year... "Lord of the Rings" may
be there...]
Favorite actor? Brad Pitt... cuz he's so dreamy... Ummm... just kidding.
Actually, these days, I've really liked most of the things Kevin Spacey is
in. DeNiro, absolutely. Harrison Ford is in there somewhere too, though
his last few movies have been... well... errr... lame. Sean Connery,
because I like to imitate him, and he's so suave you actually believe he
could bag Catherine Zeta-Jones!
Speaking of Connery, Rank the Bonds. 1) Connery. The best, even though
they ran him out there a little too long, when he was getting gray and
paunchy. 2) Brosnan. Seems to have the right mix of Connery's suave and
Moore's humor. A little scrawny, physically, but not enough to detract
from his Bond-iture. 3) Moore. A little Moore was OK. Watching all the
Moore-era films together is a little too much cleverness for its own good.
4) Dalton. Too grouchy, and had that little "butt on his face"
cleft chin. 5) Lazenby. Puh-lease. All the other Bonds come out and shoot
the eye wearing tuxes, and he's got a turtleneck and a goofy hat? He
ruined his shot right there. Best Bond Villian? Picking Telly Savalas on
perverse principle is tempting, but Auric Goldfinger is the MAN. "No
Mr. Bond... I expect you to DIE!" Best Bond girl? It's been all
downhill since Pussy Galore. Teri Hatcher showed so much... er... promise,
but she ended up being "The One Who Gets Killed to Make 007 Take The
Mission Personally."
Favorite actress, in general? Are we talking actual ability to act, or
pure movie hottie-tude? Because there's a difference. Visually speaking,
I'd watch Sandra Bullock read the contents of a cereal box, but she can't
act her way out of a paper bag. For someone with some actual talent,
probably Gwenyth Paltrow.
Hidden treasures: P.J. O'Rourke, New Zealand (went there on honeymoon;
already figuring out how we're going to go back), Jim Rome (in small
doses), Star Trek:TNG re-runs on TNN, Ben & Jerry's special "Festivus"
ice cream (gingerbread and caramel in cinnamon ice cream), NZ musicians
like the Finn brothers, Bic Runga, and Dave Dobbyn -- great musicians, but
get no pub in the US.
Guilty pleasures: I would never spend actual cash on it (i.e. tickets or
PPV), but I occasionally find myself utterly hypnotised by WWF rasslin'.
Also, Howard Stern and Kid Rock's first album. Lastly, Will Smith -- on
the surface, there should be NOTHING I like about him, but I do. Go
figure. |
