I am going to take a break from the whole Michael Jackson saga tonight. Though I could write a page on the rumor that his kids are not actually his kids (and that he didn’t legally adopt them, which is required if the mom is a surrogate) or how the family really should ask for their money back on that whole “sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber will allow me to live to 150” thing I have another topic on my mind at the moment that I would like to share.
Moving from Kansas to Delaware has resulted in my leaving the Bible Belt. As a result I do not see nearly as many interesting bumper stickers on cars as I drive to and from the office and in a way I kind of miss them. They made the drive interesting just in the myriad ways that they could infuriate me. Tonight I want to examine the one that drove me the most batty: “In case of rapture this car will be unoccupied.”
Now for those of you less inclined to these sorts of topics the rapture is what will happen sometime around Armageddon (whether it is before, during or after is actually a subject of debate but most people bet on before because well, otherwise what is the point.) The idea is that right before the world goes to hell and the End Times arise all of the faithful will be whisked up to heaven so that they can avoid the pain and torment. Consider it getting early admission to college from a more theological standpoint. Most discussions of the rapture tend to focus on things like “Will peoples’ clothes be taken with them or will all of their belongings be lying in piles on the ground” and “How many planes will crash due to the pilots vanishing?” The people who are left behind are always assumed to be stunned and confused by the events as though none of them had ever read up on the subject beforehand.
On the surface most people wouldn’t find such a bumper sticker to be reprehensible. Yes, summarizing your faith on a bumper sticker is tacky but I wouldn’t consider that to be inherently bad. I just have a huge problem though with what this statement means and what it implies. While it may be applied as a statement of faith in my eyes it does not come across that way at all. Instead of saying “I believe” it says “I am guaranteed to go to heaven and you are not.”
First off, most people would say that this statement does contain the sin of pride. One can profess one’s faith but boasting of it is another story. But what really bothers me is something that is more theological in nature. When I read those bumper stickers it makes me think that this person believes that they know the will of God so well that they are certain that they are one of the chosen because wouldn’t it be awkward if the rapture happened and they were still behind the wheel? In my view (and again, take this for what it is worth) God’s will is by nature unknowable and while you can hope you are on the right track you can never be certain. There is always doubt. I try to live a life where I help others and try to make sure that I leave this world in better shape than when I found it. I hope that when my time comes that I can look back at pride with what I have done and hope that wherever I go next that I will be on the right path. But I expect no guarantees and would hate to live a life where I ever felt like I had a free pass to paradise.
So if you feel the need to express yourself via a bumper sticker please choose wisely. You can even discuss your faith if you want, just be certain that what you are saying matches what you truly believe. And try not to set me up for easy jokes like my bumper sticker of “In case of rapture I will be breaking into your house.”
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Bubbles the Chimp could not be reached for comment
Did anyone else have a strange desire to be in the autopsy room when they worked on Michael Jackson? Now like most people who aren’t directly involved in either the medical or morticiary professions I prefer to keep as much distance between myself and cadavers as possible but this one would have to be fascinating. It would be like a real life case of Alien Autopsy. Certainly there is a lot of mystery as to the cause of death and what led up to it but the bigger mystery has always been just what did he do to himself over the years. Does he in fact have a nose? Can we prove once and for all just why his skin color changed? What was up with his hair anyway? This is probably the first autopsy where cause of death is one of the least important questions on the table.
Also, I love the fact that his three kids…let me hold up there for a moment. Michael Jackson had three kids? I knew that he theoretically had children and would occasionally dangle them out of windows but can you even comprehend the thought of Michael Jackson as a father? It seems so far out of the realm of possibility that the entire concept is meaningless. Anyway, the big push is for the kids to be given to Michael’s parents because we all know that Joe Jackson has always been a loving and caring father. You know, other than all of those alleged beatings and everything. Plus, if they were able to raise LaToya to be a fine and upstanding citizen I am sure that they can do the same for these three.
Since I am on a Michael Jackson kick I might as well go over something else that someone asked me today: whose death was more shocking and more meaningful: Lennon, Elvis or Michael Jackson. For shocking the answer is pretty simple in that it would be John Lennon. I know that it was nearly thirty years ago but the guy was murdered in front of his apartment building. No one anticipated it and while he wasn’t as much in the public spotlight from a musical perspective as Paul McCartney he was still important. After that I would go with Elvis and then with Michael Jackson. I say this mainly because a) we all know that Michael has not been the picture of health in recent years as most people don’t walk around in surgical masks at all times and b) up until last week no one gave a damn about what Michael Jackson was up to. Musically, Michael Jackson has been meaningless for at least fifteen years and his death, while shocking and sad, is not going to cause a major impact on the music world.
To be honest, the most shocking and significant death in terms of musical impact in my lifetime is that of Kurt Cobain. Here was someone in his musical prime who not only dies young but does it by taking his own life (unless you are more conspiracy minded and then Courtney Love may play a bigger role.) We lost all the music that he would have created but even more it marked the end of grunge and the end of the importance of Gen X as the cultural leader. We saw that our heroes were frail and no one rose to take up the banner. In a few years we were awash with the Spice Girls and boy bands and the entire musical landscape had changed. So when people talk about the impact of the events of last week remember what they are stacking up against.
Also, I love the fact that his three kids…let me hold up there for a moment. Michael Jackson had three kids? I knew that he theoretically had children and would occasionally dangle them out of windows but can you even comprehend the thought of Michael Jackson as a father? It seems so far out of the realm of possibility that the entire concept is meaningless. Anyway, the big push is for the kids to be given to Michael’s parents because we all know that Joe Jackson has always been a loving and caring father. You know, other than all of those alleged beatings and everything. Plus, if they were able to raise LaToya to be a fine and upstanding citizen I am sure that they can do the same for these three.
Since I am on a Michael Jackson kick I might as well go over something else that someone asked me today: whose death was more shocking and more meaningful: Lennon, Elvis or Michael Jackson. For shocking the answer is pretty simple in that it would be John Lennon. I know that it was nearly thirty years ago but the guy was murdered in front of his apartment building. No one anticipated it and while he wasn’t as much in the public spotlight from a musical perspective as Paul McCartney he was still important. After that I would go with Elvis and then with Michael Jackson. I say this mainly because a) we all know that Michael has not been the picture of health in recent years as most people don’t walk around in surgical masks at all times and b) up until last week no one gave a damn about what Michael Jackson was up to. Musically, Michael Jackson has been meaningless for at least fifteen years and his death, while shocking and sad, is not going to cause a major impact on the music world.
To be honest, the most shocking and significant death in terms of musical impact in my lifetime is that of Kurt Cobain. Here was someone in his musical prime who not only dies young but does it by taking his own life (unless you are more conspiracy minded and then Courtney Love may play a bigger role.) We lost all the music that he would have created but even more it marked the end of grunge and the end of the importance of Gen X as the cultural leader. We saw that our heroes were frail and no one rose to take up the banner. In a few years we were awash with the Spice Girls and boy bands and the entire musical landscape had changed. So when people talk about the impact of the events of last week remember what they are stacking up against.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
I'm leaning towards the Canyonerro though
You know, if I was a celebrity I would be looking over my shoulder right about now. They seem to be dropping like flies. Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett? Their deaths were at least anticipated. Michael Jackson’s death was more of a shock but given his life story an early demise was never out of the question. But now we have lost Billy Mays for OxyClean as well? That is one huge shock. Even more shocking: Keith Richards is still listed as “alive” according to Wikipedia.
Here is the wonders of automatic link scripting for you. Under the headline: “Billy Mays dead at 50” Yahoo listed several other links this afternoon including, and I kid you not, “10 household cleaners for under $10.” I’ll admit that I have not spent much time wondering how my obituary would read other than knowing that it will set the record for the greatest number of “awesomes” ever listed in an obituary. However, I sincerely hope that my life’s work will not be summed up into a link on the wonders of baking soda. Just a thought.
Switching gears from the dark bunting that is now haunting the celebrity landscape I want to talk about a significant milestone that I reached in the past week: my car broke the 80,000 mile barrier. For a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am that is a rather significant accomplishment. I’ve driven every single one of those miles and this is the first time I have ever owned a car that has made it that distance. Now I love my car. It has gone across the country with me and has played every single CD that I own (thanks to the wonders that is the random CD project.) But it is time to face facts that the car is getting a little old.
This became readily apparent when Kim visited a few weeks ago. As we were driving around she went to lower her window only to be met by some horrific sounds as the window motor broke. Now, to put this in perspective, my passenger side window has probably only been lowered a couple dozen times in the eight years that I have owned the car. I typically don’t have passengers and no one in their right mind rolls down the windows in winter. This leads me to face the choice of fixing the window or buying a new car and I have sided with buying a new car. Clear choice, obviously.
Now as most people know I have little knowledge of cars and would like the assistance of the blogosphere in guiding me to the ultimate new car purchase. First, some background on myself. Over my lifetime I have driven A) a ’77 Chevy Impala, B) an ’89 Chevy Cavalier, C) a ’95 Pontiac Grand Am and D) my ’01 Pontiac Grand Am (the last three of these I purchased myself, the last two new.) Clearly I have been a loyal GM customer but given all of the recent events and the fact that Pontiac is no longer even going to be a brand I have to reconsider my choices. I would definitely like to stay with an American car even if it is made in Mexico while the Japanese car is made in Kentucky. Don’t ask me why, I just think it is a better thing to do. And finally, this luckily does not need to be a midlife crisis mobile. I already have the woman of my dreams and if she had no problem dating me after seeing my current car I figure any choice I make will be viewed as an improvement. I don’t need to prove myself via my wheels.
So please write comments and / or email cars you think that I should look into. The first one that has caught my eye is the Ford Taurus SHO, which was named Car of the Year by Esquire, which might give it a bit of that mid-life crisis cache but for crying out loud, it is a Taurus. I also want to look at a Prius mainly because I get a better parking space at the office if I drive an alternative fuel vehicle. Other than that I am wide open to suggestion. Only you, anonymous internet user, can help me solve this quandary.
Best of 120 Minutes: Ok, here is one of my many problems with all of the Michael Jackson coverage. Even though he is apparently the voice of my generation I never really cared for much of his music. Yes, I had Thriller on cassette but so did every other person on the planet so you can’t hold that against me. It is just that when people were buying Bad and Dangerous I was listening to World Party talking about the importance of proper shipping techniques. That is probably why in my mind Michael Jackson was always a sideshow.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Martin Zellar & the Hardways “The Many Moods of Martin Zellar”
2) Jeff Buckley and Gary Lucas “Songs to No One”
3) Blue Mountain “Tales of a Traveler”
4) R.E.M. “Green”
5) Alain Vinet Mouvement “Day by Day Volume One”
Here is the wonders of automatic link scripting for you. Under the headline: “Billy Mays dead at 50” Yahoo listed several other links this afternoon including, and I kid you not, “10 household cleaners for under $10.” I’ll admit that I have not spent much time wondering how my obituary would read other than knowing that it will set the record for the greatest number of “awesomes” ever listed in an obituary. However, I sincerely hope that my life’s work will not be summed up into a link on the wonders of baking soda. Just a thought.
Switching gears from the dark bunting that is now haunting the celebrity landscape I want to talk about a significant milestone that I reached in the past week: my car broke the 80,000 mile barrier. For a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am that is a rather significant accomplishment. I’ve driven every single one of those miles and this is the first time I have ever owned a car that has made it that distance. Now I love my car. It has gone across the country with me and has played every single CD that I own (thanks to the wonders that is the random CD project.) But it is time to face facts that the car is getting a little old.
This became readily apparent when Kim visited a few weeks ago. As we were driving around she went to lower her window only to be met by some horrific sounds as the window motor broke. Now, to put this in perspective, my passenger side window has probably only been lowered a couple dozen times in the eight years that I have owned the car. I typically don’t have passengers and no one in their right mind rolls down the windows in winter. This leads me to face the choice of fixing the window or buying a new car and I have sided with buying a new car. Clear choice, obviously.
Now as most people know I have little knowledge of cars and would like the assistance of the blogosphere in guiding me to the ultimate new car purchase. First, some background on myself. Over my lifetime I have driven A) a ’77 Chevy Impala, B) an ’89 Chevy Cavalier, C) a ’95 Pontiac Grand Am and D) my ’01 Pontiac Grand Am (the last three of these I purchased myself, the last two new.) Clearly I have been a loyal GM customer but given all of the recent events and the fact that Pontiac is no longer even going to be a brand I have to reconsider my choices. I would definitely like to stay with an American car even if it is made in Mexico while the Japanese car is made in Kentucky. Don’t ask me why, I just think it is a better thing to do. And finally, this luckily does not need to be a midlife crisis mobile. I already have the woman of my dreams and if she had no problem dating me after seeing my current car I figure any choice I make will be viewed as an improvement. I don’t need to prove myself via my wheels.
So please write comments and / or email cars you think that I should look into. The first one that has caught my eye is the Ford Taurus SHO, which was named Car of the Year by Esquire, which might give it a bit of that mid-life crisis cache but for crying out loud, it is a Taurus. I also want to look at a Prius mainly because I get a better parking space at the office if I drive an alternative fuel vehicle. Other than that I am wide open to suggestion. Only you, anonymous internet user, can help me solve this quandary.
Best of 120 Minutes: Ok, here is one of my many problems with all of the Michael Jackson coverage. Even though he is apparently the voice of my generation I never really cared for much of his music. Yes, I had Thriller on cassette but so did every other person on the planet so you can’t hold that against me. It is just that when people were buying Bad and Dangerous I was listening to World Party talking about the importance of proper shipping techniques. That is probably why in my mind Michael Jackson was always a sideshow.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Martin Zellar & the Hardways “The Many Moods of Martin Zellar”
2) Jeff Buckley and Gary Lucas “Songs to No One”
3) Blue Mountain “Tales of a Traveler”
4) R.E.M. “Green”
5) Alain Vinet Mouvement “Day by Day Volume One”
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The ending of pop culture eras
Well, I guess I won’t have to struggle for a blog topic tonight.
First off, I just want to say that the luckiest and unluckiest guy on the planet right now is the governor of South Carolina. He is lucky in that from this moment on no one is going to give a rat’s ass about him jetting off to Argentina to be with his mistress. It is now gone from the cultural zeitgeist. But man, if he could have just held off one more day for his press conference it would have been the best defusal of a scandal ever.
But I’ll start with the death of Farrah Fawcett. She holds an interesting place in pop culture history and one that I am only tangentially involved with. See, she was before my time. She left Charlie’s Angels when I was a wee lad of five and outside of reruns I never watched her episodes and no matter what I was too young to understand the jiggletastic wonder of the show. But for one moment in time she was the most desired woman on the planet if just for a television show, a poster and really, really good hair. That is probably the best definition of how huge she was. Every teenage boy had a poster of her in their bedroom and women everywhere went to the salon for the Farrah Fawcett look.
Her career did not age well. Yes, she did pull off some strong performances in made for TV movies but she never got past the 70’s bombshell phase. Every appearance harkened back to Charlie’s Angels, which is sad in a way. To have your entire life tied to one moment isn’t the healthiest way to live. I even find it tough to find a modern equivalent. Online people have said Pam Anderson or Jennifer Aniston but I tend to fall in the Jessica Simpson camp. She is someone who became famous but no one was ever quite sure why. We all knew that she had talent but that it was mainly her looks that carried the day. And no matter what happened we knew that she would remain in the headlines long after her mainstream popularity had vanished.
Then we have the more shocking death of Michael Jackson, which has completely usurped all of the coverage of Farrah’s death as well as the continuing unrest in Iran. There may never have been such an enigma in the mainstream of popular culture to the point that I am conflicted in writing about his death in any sort of personal way. Because I don’t know how to discuss it without speaking ill of the dead. Here you have one of the top music artists of all time and in the eighties and early nineties he was the man hands down whose later career became a parody of itself. On top of that you have antics that continued to make little sense: marrying Lisa Marie, dangling the baby from the window, and the plastic surgery that brought him to the point where not only did he not look like his former self but he scarcely looked human just to name a few. Then there are the allegations that were never proven in court but that make an all out media blitz mourning his death a bit unnerving.
So I will focus on his career. There is no one who exemplified the 80’s better than Michael Jackson. Thriller and Bad were the be all and end all of the era. Yes, it was the age of hair metal but every single person knew every song on those albums. They were that huge. We really were huddled around our TVs to see the premiere videos for Black or White (including the bizarre crotch grabbing on top of the car) and Remember the Time (look it’s Magic Johnson!) I had friends who looked forward to his performance at the Super Bowl halftime show. No matter how odd he was people cared about what he had to say.
I think the best way to look at his career is that he suffered from the tragedy of fame. It takes a certain type of personality to stand in front of the spotlight and accept the accolades and I don’t think Michael ever had it. He was raised to be a star almost from birth and as a result he had no grounding as an actual human being. If you switched him at birth with a child from another family in Gary he probably would have grown up to be a quiet, sensitive guy who sang in his church choir and kicked ass on the dance floor but he would never have tried to be famous. I think he spent most of his life trying to escape his fame and recapture the dream childhood that no one ever has. If there is a tragedy to this story that is it.
First off, I just want to say that the luckiest and unluckiest guy on the planet right now is the governor of South Carolina. He is lucky in that from this moment on no one is going to give a rat’s ass about him jetting off to Argentina to be with his mistress. It is now gone from the cultural zeitgeist. But man, if he could have just held off one more day for his press conference it would have been the best defusal of a scandal ever.
But I’ll start with the death of Farrah Fawcett. She holds an interesting place in pop culture history and one that I am only tangentially involved with. See, she was before my time. She left Charlie’s Angels when I was a wee lad of five and outside of reruns I never watched her episodes and no matter what I was too young to understand the jiggletastic wonder of the show. But for one moment in time she was the most desired woman on the planet if just for a television show, a poster and really, really good hair. That is probably the best definition of how huge she was. Every teenage boy had a poster of her in their bedroom and women everywhere went to the salon for the Farrah Fawcett look.
Her career did not age well. Yes, she did pull off some strong performances in made for TV movies but she never got past the 70’s bombshell phase. Every appearance harkened back to Charlie’s Angels, which is sad in a way. To have your entire life tied to one moment isn’t the healthiest way to live. I even find it tough to find a modern equivalent. Online people have said Pam Anderson or Jennifer Aniston but I tend to fall in the Jessica Simpson camp. She is someone who became famous but no one was ever quite sure why. We all knew that she had talent but that it was mainly her looks that carried the day. And no matter what happened we knew that she would remain in the headlines long after her mainstream popularity had vanished.
Then we have the more shocking death of Michael Jackson, which has completely usurped all of the coverage of Farrah’s death as well as the continuing unrest in Iran. There may never have been such an enigma in the mainstream of popular culture to the point that I am conflicted in writing about his death in any sort of personal way. Because I don’t know how to discuss it without speaking ill of the dead. Here you have one of the top music artists of all time and in the eighties and early nineties he was the man hands down whose later career became a parody of itself. On top of that you have antics that continued to make little sense: marrying Lisa Marie, dangling the baby from the window, and the plastic surgery that brought him to the point where not only did he not look like his former self but he scarcely looked human just to name a few. Then there are the allegations that were never proven in court but that make an all out media blitz mourning his death a bit unnerving.
So I will focus on his career. There is no one who exemplified the 80’s better than Michael Jackson. Thriller and Bad were the be all and end all of the era. Yes, it was the age of hair metal but every single person knew every song on those albums. They were that huge. We really were huddled around our TVs to see the premiere videos for Black or White (including the bizarre crotch grabbing on top of the car) and Remember the Time (look it’s Magic Johnson!) I had friends who looked forward to his performance at the Super Bowl halftime show. No matter how odd he was people cared about what he had to say.
I think the best way to look at his career is that he suffered from the tragedy of fame. It takes a certain type of personality to stand in front of the spotlight and accept the accolades and I don’t think Michael ever had it. He was raised to be a star almost from birth and as a result he had no grounding as an actual human being. If you switched him at birth with a child from another family in Gary he probably would have grown up to be a quiet, sensitive guy who sang in his church choir and kicked ass on the dance floor but he would never have tried to be famous. I think he spent most of his life trying to escape his fame and recapture the dream childhood that no one ever has. If there is a tragedy to this story that is it.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
And where are the Dinobots?
Ok, I have to start with the photo of Courtney Love that is making the rounds in which Courtney looks like, well, it is tough to describe what she looks like. Let’s say you started with the skeleton of Courtney Love and then added a small layer of skin. That is pretty much it. It isn’t that she looks unhealthy but more like I can’t comprehend how she is still upright. Zombie Courtney Love would look healthier than she does right now and I do not talk about zombies lightly. I know I often recommend that My Beloved Lindsay have a sandwich but in this case Courtney needs to spend a good month at a smorgasbord.
Also, I hate to disappoint everyone but I will not be going to see the new Transformers movie this weekend. Not even with twin jive talking robots providing the comic relief in much the same way that Jar Jar did during the prequels that shall not be named. I really have no desire to see this one. The first one at least had the draw of seeing your favorite cartoon brought to life along with the desire to see how badly they ruined Megatron. (Seriously, what could be better than his transforming into a gun? How do you change that?) Now it is just two and a half hours of noise and poorly designed robots and if I wanted to experience that I would just run my Roomba.
Finally, in the news story that is so bizarre even I couldn’t have made it up we have the governor of South Carolina making people realize that yes, South Carolina has a governor. I mean, outside of an old Benson episode I never realized that they even had any form of organized government. First off, I love the fact that a governor can just disappear. I have to inform my company of every step I take but he can just take off and leave and no one on his staff or in the government has a clue where he is.
Then we have the wonderful stories passed along. “He is hiking the Appalachian Trail”, “He has a history of going off by himself” and “No, it is not unusual for him to disappear without warning on Father’s Day” are some of my personal favorites. In reality we find him returning from Argentina of all places. Now I have a history of going off grid at times but I’ve never thought of taking off to Argentina especially with New Orleans being a much closer flight. And now we find out that the trip to Argentina was to see his mistress which only leads me to wonder why he couldn’t find a more convenient mistress. I mean, if you are going to ruin your life you should at least not have to bring a passport with you. At the end of the day we have a ruined political career, a family ripped apart on national television and an increased amount of attention on the women of Buenos Aries. I thought that I had seen everything in politics but this one is rather unique.
Wednesday Night Music Club: I’m in a Death Cab for Cutie mood at the moment. Let’s embrace it, shall we?
Also, I hate to disappoint everyone but I will not be going to see the new Transformers movie this weekend. Not even with twin jive talking robots providing the comic relief in much the same way that Jar Jar did during the prequels that shall not be named. I really have no desire to see this one. The first one at least had the draw of seeing your favorite cartoon brought to life along with the desire to see how badly they ruined Megatron. (Seriously, what could be better than his transforming into a gun? How do you change that?) Now it is just two and a half hours of noise and poorly designed robots and if I wanted to experience that I would just run my Roomba.
Finally, in the news story that is so bizarre even I couldn’t have made it up we have the governor of South Carolina making people realize that yes, South Carolina has a governor. I mean, outside of an old Benson episode I never realized that they even had any form of organized government. First off, I love the fact that a governor can just disappear. I have to inform my company of every step I take but he can just take off and leave and no one on his staff or in the government has a clue where he is.
Then we have the wonderful stories passed along. “He is hiking the Appalachian Trail”, “He has a history of going off by himself” and “No, it is not unusual for him to disappear without warning on Father’s Day” are some of my personal favorites. In reality we find him returning from Argentina of all places. Now I have a history of going off grid at times but I’ve never thought of taking off to Argentina especially with New Orleans being a much closer flight. And now we find out that the trip to Argentina was to see his mistress which only leads me to wonder why he couldn’t find a more convenient mistress. I mean, if you are going to ruin your life you should at least not have to bring a passport with you. At the end of the day we have a ruined political career, a family ripped apart on national television and an increased amount of attention on the women of Buenos Aries. I thought that I had seen everything in politics but this one is rather unique.
Wednesday Night Music Club: I’m in a Death Cab for Cutie mood at the moment. Let’s embrace it, shall we?
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A toast to the sidekick
Thought that I would write about this tonight. Losing Ed McMahon brought this point to the front of my brain and the older I get the more true I find it to be. Maybe it is a sense of growing old and losing one’s youth or maybe it is the fact that I have seen society change so drastically in my twenty some years of cultural awareness that I can’t figure out how we got there from here. It will make more sense as I write it.
(Though I do want to say I love the fact that after I mentioned at work that he had died I was asked how he died. Just once I would like to have the answer be “in a shootout with the police after a failed bank robbery attempt” or “murdered by a team of ninjas.” Much cooler way to go than just natural causes.)
I think what people forget about what it was like to be a part of Gen X growing up is that we fall into the last generation to experience an awful lot of things. We may be the first generation online and the first to experience cable as part of our youth but neither of those were ever present in our childhood years. Cable is the example that I am going to focus on here. Yes, we had cable television in our house but as opposed to today when every television in the house would be hooked up we simply had the television set in the living room connected to cable. This meant that except for those moments when you were home alone you seldom had full control over what you watched and given my huge family that was a rare moment indeed. Even sneaking out and watching late night tv was forbidden given the risk of being caught as you walked down the stairs, flipped on a switch and watched something in a room that sat directly underneath your parents’ bedroom. All of this is to say that unlike kids today I didn’t have a hundred channels in my bedroom to choose from.
Instead I often settled for a black and white set with an aerial that taught me many of the practical applications of Maxwell’s equations at a very young age. And when you are eleven or twelve, especially on a summer night, you begin to want to test the boundaries. To do things that you know that you aren’t supposed to do just to see what they are like. Nothing horrible (at least not in my case) but something that gives you a sense of having complete control of your life is like. For me that was staying up late to watch the Tonight Show.
I really would stay up late, turn the lights off in my room so my parents wouldn’t notice, and watch the show. It just seemed so adult to me. Almost forbidden in a way that I didn’t quite understand. I knew why I wasn’t supposed to watch Benny Hill due to the horrors of seeing women run around in their underwear. That wasn’t the case with Carson but you knew that there was something there that you weren’t supposed to see. It was like sneaking into an uncle’s poker game without anyone noticing.
That is what Carson and McMahon were at their best: your favorite uncles. Johnny was the kind and inquisitive one with a refined but ribald sense of humor while Ed was the lovable drunkard who laughed at everything. They could make it seem as though if all the cameras were turned off they would spend their evening doing the exact same performance for themselves. And there always was that slight sense of danger. Carson was the master of the literate entendre. It was only risqué if you were smart enough to notice.
I tolerated Ed on TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes. While I never won anything from Publisher’s Clearing House I applaud him for his effort to get people to buy magazines. I can even forgive him for unleashing Sinbad onto the world as a result of Star Search. I just wish that I could once more get that thrill of staying up late and watching something I wasn’t supposed to. I don’t think kids today experience that. Partly due to Leno being too tame (Conan and Dave are a bit more on the edge) but more because they have the world at their fingertips. They become desensitized too quickly and I think that takes the wonder out of life. Sometimes life is better when things are simpler.
(Though I do want to say I love the fact that after I mentioned at work that he had died I was asked how he died. Just once I would like to have the answer be “in a shootout with the police after a failed bank robbery attempt” or “murdered by a team of ninjas.” Much cooler way to go than just natural causes.)
I think what people forget about what it was like to be a part of Gen X growing up is that we fall into the last generation to experience an awful lot of things. We may be the first generation online and the first to experience cable as part of our youth but neither of those were ever present in our childhood years. Cable is the example that I am going to focus on here. Yes, we had cable television in our house but as opposed to today when every television in the house would be hooked up we simply had the television set in the living room connected to cable. This meant that except for those moments when you were home alone you seldom had full control over what you watched and given my huge family that was a rare moment indeed. Even sneaking out and watching late night tv was forbidden given the risk of being caught as you walked down the stairs, flipped on a switch and watched something in a room that sat directly underneath your parents’ bedroom. All of this is to say that unlike kids today I didn’t have a hundred channels in my bedroom to choose from.
Instead I often settled for a black and white set with an aerial that taught me many of the practical applications of Maxwell’s equations at a very young age. And when you are eleven or twelve, especially on a summer night, you begin to want to test the boundaries. To do things that you know that you aren’t supposed to do just to see what they are like. Nothing horrible (at least not in my case) but something that gives you a sense of having complete control of your life is like. For me that was staying up late to watch the Tonight Show.
I really would stay up late, turn the lights off in my room so my parents wouldn’t notice, and watch the show. It just seemed so adult to me. Almost forbidden in a way that I didn’t quite understand. I knew why I wasn’t supposed to watch Benny Hill due to the horrors of seeing women run around in their underwear. That wasn’t the case with Carson but you knew that there was something there that you weren’t supposed to see. It was like sneaking into an uncle’s poker game without anyone noticing.
That is what Carson and McMahon were at their best: your favorite uncles. Johnny was the kind and inquisitive one with a refined but ribald sense of humor while Ed was the lovable drunkard who laughed at everything. They could make it seem as though if all the cameras were turned off they would spend their evening doing the exact same performance for themselves. And there always was that slight sense of danger. Carson was the master of the literate entendre. It was only risqué if you were smart enough to notice.
I tolerated Ed on TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes. While I never won anything from Publisher’s Clearing House I applaud him for his effort to get people to buy magazines. I can even forgive him for unleashing Sinbad onto the world as a result of Star Search. I just wish that I could once more get that thrill of staying up late and watching something I wasn’t supposed to. I don’t think kids today experience that. Partly due to Leno being too tame (Conan and Dave are a bit more on the edge) but more because they have the world at their fingertips. They become desensitized too quickly and I think that takes the wonder out of life. Sometimes life is better when things are simpler.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Simple things are not my forte
When I started this blog back in the heady days of 2004 (back when My Beloved Lindsay was still a fresh faced eighteen year old) one of the main goals was to track my journey in finding love while stuck in Kansas City. It was a road fraught with danger and adventure and my being rejected in numerous creative and disconcerting ways. But over the years there was one constant: I could always be counted on to do something incredibly stupid. Always well meaning of course but I am a master of the act that makes people wonder just how I earned so many diplomas. Now that I have found the girl of my dreams (or found her again or she found me or I should really explain the whole chain of events one night because it really doesn’t fit in an aside) I had hoped that my days of well intentioned foolishness were behind me. Oh how wrong I was. So now, part one in an ongoing series called “Yep, I am an idiot.”
Kim and I are at the moment part of a long distance relationship (I’ll explain the whole situation later.) What this means is that all of our time together is dependent on flights and airports and the will of numerous factors that are controlled by the unseen hands governing the universe. This means that we never know precisely when the other is going to appear at the airport. However, it is readily apparent that if a mistake can be made I will be the one to make it.
First time was when we both flew into Chicago to celebrate her birthday. We had timed our flights so that we would land within twenty minutes of each other and could meet up with minimal hassle. Which was a great plan except I neglected to take into account the wonder that is the Philadelphia airport in which a soft mist can put the entire airport in a panic and as a result Kim landed in Chicago when my plane finally took off from Philly. There are many things a woman would like to hear on her birthday. “Go to Harry Carry’s at the airport and start drinking without me. I’ll be there in a few hours.” is not one of them.
Then there was Kim’s flight up to Philly a few weeks ago. Again, we have the wonderful Philly weather to blame as it was just one of those continually rainy day. Kim called me when she got on the plane on time so I looked at the airport information online. They had her flight as two hours late. Southwest had her flight as thirty minutes late. I leave work to pick her up betting on her being forty five minutes late. I am five minutes out of my parking lot (and a good fifty from the airport) when my phone buzzes as she texted me that she had just landed thus causing me to say once again “Find a bar and have a beer. I am on my way.” For the life of me I still can’t figure out how two hours delayed becomes on time in the span of ten minutes but no matter, I’m still the idiot.
This Friday may just take the cake, though. I fly in to Florida and Kim tells me that she will be at the airport early to pick me up (she has also been late on occasion but that is neither here nor there.) I land on time, text her that I landed and walk to the far door of the baggage claim area to wait for her. Now, I could have walked out the first door I saw and then just walked up the sidewalk to have a full view of all of the cars that were there. It isn’t a big airport and it isn’t much of a walk. That would probably be labeled as intelligent. Instead I walk directly to this one spot because, well, I’ve always stood there when she’s picked me up. I looked briefly to see if her car was waiting farther down but apparently not hard enough because for ten minutes we waited fifteen yards apart without seeing one another. It is amazing that I can fly across the country to see her, have that be my only desire in the world, and still when I land I stand in one spot because all of the other times I have stood there her car has magically appeared in front of me. As I am often forced to admit “Yes, I am an idiot.” Luckily I am adorable enough to get away with it. Most of the time.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Cowboy Junkies “200 More Miles”
2) Beth Orton “Best Bit”
3) Hank Williams III “Lovesick, Broke & Driftin’”
4) Mindy Smith “One Moment More”
5) U2 “Rock’s Hottest Ticket”
Kim and I are at the moment part of a long distance relationship (I’ll explain the whole situation later.) What this means is that all of our time together is dependent on flights and airports and the will of numerous factors that are controlled by the unseen hands governing the universe. This means that we never know precisely when the other is going to appear at the airport. However, it is readily apparent that if a mistake can be made I will be the one to make it.
First time was when we both flew into Chicago to celebrate her birthday. We had timed our flights so that we would land within twenty minutes of each other and could meet up with minimal hassle. Which was a great plan except I neglected to take into account the wonder that is the Philadelphia airport in which a soft mist can put the entire airport in a panic and as a result Kim landed in Chicago when my plane finally took off from Philly. There are many things a woman would like to hear on her birthday. “Go to Harry Carry’s at the airport and start drinking without me. I’ll be there in a few hours.” is not one of them.
Then there was Kim’s flight up to Philly a few weeks ago. Again, we have the wonderful Philly weather to blame as it was just one of those continually rainy day. Kim called me when she got on the plane on time so I looked at the airport information online. They had her flight as two hours late. Southwest had her flight as thirty minutes late. I leave work to pick her up betting on her being forty five minutes late. I am five minutes out of my parking lot (and a good fifty from the airport) when my phone buzzes as she texted me that she had just landed thus causing me to say once again “Find a bar and have a beer. I am on my way.” For the life of me I still can’t figure out how two hours delayed becomes on time in the span of ten minutes but no matter, I’m still the idiot.
This Friday may just take the cake, though. I fly in to Florida and Kim tells me that she will be at the airport early to pick me up (she has also been late on occasion but that is neither here nor there.) I land on time, text her that I landed and walk to the far door of the baggage claim area to wait for her. Now, I could have walked out the first door I saw and then just walked up the sidewalk to have a full view of all of the cars that were there. It isn’t a big airport and it isn’t much of a walk. That would probably be labeled as intelligent. Instead I walk directly to this one spot because, well, I’ve always stood there when she’s picked me up. I looked briefly to see if her car was waiting farther down but apparently not hard enough because for ten minutes we waited fifteen yards apart without seeing one another. It is amazing that I can fly across the country to see her, have that be my only desire in the world, and still when I land I stand in one spot because all of the other times I have stood there her car has magically appeared in front of me. As I am often forced to admit “Yes, I am an idiot.” Luckily I am adorable enough to get away with it. Most of the time.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Cowboy Junkies “200 More Miles”
2) Beth Orton “Best Bit”
3) Hank Williams III “Lovesick, Broke & Driftin’”
4) Mindy Smith “One Moment More”
5) U2 “Rock’s Hottest Ticket”
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Creditors will be allowed to claim his hair as an asset
It is one thing when you find out that one of the idols from your youth has fallen from grace. It is another when one of those guys you were kind of aware of but never really liked one way or another suffers a major setback. Thus was my reaction to the news that Bernie Kosar filed for bankruptcy after being $19 million in debt. We all remember Berine Kosar in that if someone asked you "Hey remember Bernie Kosar?" you would answer yes in much the same way that if someone asked you "Do you remember on Perfect Strangers how Balki and Larry fell for the pair of roommates and how convenient it was that they each fell for only one of the two and, wouldn't you know it, each of those two only fell for the proper member of the Balki and Larry duo?" Meaning that you are answering in the affirimative but it is not a topic that arises in typical day to day conversation.
Incredibly, he owes $1.5 million to the Cleveland Browns. I think I have a good working relationship with my boss but I probably couldn't pull off getting that large of a loan and that is given the fact that I am still providing them with some value. Less surprisingly, he owes his ex-wife Babette $3 million and this should just teach you one thing: Never, under any circumstances, marry a woman named Babette.
Switching gears a bit the events in Iran are fascinating to me as much from a media coverage perspective as anything else. All of the news channels are struggling to show how this is breaking news when they have very little to actually show. Since the Iranian government has cracked down on reporters in Tehran most of the main people are reporting on the events from places like London. But, in a sign as to just how much the world has changed over the past decade or so, the entire world is aware of what is going on due to stories and pictures being posted online. Watch some of the actual footage from the rallies earlier in the week and see how many people in the crowd have digital cameras. This is one of those tipping points in the way people live in that it shows that the ability for the government to squash a major story is becoming nearly impossible. As long as there is a working internet connection someone will figure a way for the story to get out.
Still, you do see the networks trying to figure out how to deal with the fact that the majority of their footage is shaky, hand held images in a foreign language taken from YouTube. Most of the talking heads are pretty oblivious to precisely what is being shown in the videos. I can't blame them, neither can I, but it does make for some strange newscasts. They want to treat this like a 24/7 story but they just can't figure out how.
Last note. Today is the summer solstice and as always I remind people to take to heart the words from The Great Gatsby: we never do anything to celebrate the longest day of the year. So light a candle tonight to make the day last as long as possible. Daisy Buchanon would appreciate your efforts.
Best of 120 Minutes: Going to do something a little different tonight. Here is a video that would be on 120 Minutes if the show still existed in anything close to its normal form. See, there is still wonderful music out there that no one has ever heard of it is just that now while we are able to access it all it is a lot more difficult to be exposed to it.
Incredibly, he owes $1.5 million to the Cleveland Browns. I think I have a good working relationship with my boss but I probably couldn't pull off getting that large of a loan and that is given the fact that I am still providing them with some value. Less surprisingly, he owes his ex-wife Babette $3 million and this should just teach you one thing: Never, under any circumstances, marry a woman named Babette.
Switching gears a bit the events in Iran are fascinating to me as much from a media coverage perspective as anything else. All of the news channels are struggling to show how this is breaking news when they have very little to actually show. Since the Iranian government has cracked down on reporters in Tehran most of the main people are reporting on the events from places like London. But, in a sign as to just how much the world has changed over the past decade or so, the entire world is aware of what is going on due to stories and pictures being posted online. Watch some of the actual footage from the rallies earlier in the week and see how many people in the crowd have digital cameras. This is one of those tipping points in the way people live in that it shows that the ability for the government to squash a major story is becoming nearly impossible. As long as there is a working internet connection someone will figure a way for the story to get out.
Still, you do see the networks trying to figure out how to deal with the fact that the majority of their footage is shaky, hand held images in a foreign language taken from YouTube. Most of the talking heads are pretty oblivious to precisely what is being shown in the videos. I can't blame them, neither can I, but it does make for some strange newscasts. They want to treat this like a 24/7 story but they just can't figure out how.
Last note. Today is the summer solstice and as always I remind people to take to heart the words from The Great Gatsby: we never do anything to celebrate the longest day of the year. So light a candle tonight to make the day last as long as possible. Daisy Buchanon would appreciate your efforts.
Best of 120 Minutes: Going to do something a little different tonight. Here is a video that would be on 120 Minutes if the show still existed in anything close to its normal form. See, there is still wonderful music out there that no one has ever heard of it is just that now while we are able to access it all it is a lot more difficult to be exposed to it.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Your fandom frightens me
Sign Number 327 that you are spending too much time on Facebook: You become a “fan” of “Flipping the pillow over to get to the cool side.” I have had five friends publicly state that they are a fan of this. I am completely flabbergasted by this. Not that I don’t do it myself, of course. Just that I have never felt the need to become part of an online group of like minded individuals in regards to their beliefs towards pillows.
On the gossip front: Jon and Kate are getting divorced! This would be horrible for the kids if, you know, they hadn’t already had their childhood stolen from them in an attempt to garner ratings and / or visits from Emeril. The best part of this story that I have read recently is that Paris Hilton and My Beloved Lindsay just hate Jon and Kate with a passion because they have taken over the covers of all the weekly gossip rags. They can’t believe that they have lost all of this publicity and are now trying every stunt imaginable to get back to their place of honor in the supermarket checkout line. Sometimes I wonder if I have been successful in life. I mean, I’m not famous and even in this little corner of the internet I am happy to get 25 readers a day. But to be honest I’ll take this over being upset that I am not on the cover of Us Weekly any day of the week.
On the whole Sarah Palin / David Letterman fiasco: Yes, the joke was borderline bad taste. No, it wasn’t as big of a deal as people made it out to be. An apology and a get over it are fine. I’m more concerned about Olive Garden pulling their advertising from the show. Not because of the fact that the company is making a rather interesting moral stand but more due to the fact that this implies that people still want to eat at Olive Garden. With all the other restaurant chains going out of business how in the world do they stay open? I know when I think about getting an authentic Italian meal I head straight for the biggest chain restaurant that I can find.
That is about it for tonight. Just had a long day in the office that featured layoff announcements. Hiring me into your company is apparently equivalent to inviting in a plague invested rat into your house. Wherever I go, layoffs are sure to follow. I should be fine and if not, well, I could always go back to selling ringtones. Because once you discover the secret to exactly why some people feel the urge to pay $2.50 for a Shakira ringer someone will always pay you to share that bit of knowledge.
Enjoy the weekend everyone.
On the gossip front: Jon and Kate are getting divorced! This would be horrible for the kids if, you know, they hadn’t already had their childhood stolen from them in an attempt to garner ratings and / or visits from Emeril. The best part of this story that I have read recently is that Paris Hilton and My Beloved Lindsay just hate Jon and Kate with a passion because they have taken over the covers of all the weekly gossip rags. They can’t believe that they have lost all of this publicity and are now trying every stunt imaginable to get back to their place of honor in the supermarket checkout line. Sometimes I wonder if I have been successful in life. I mean, I’m not famous and even in this little corner of the internet I am happy to get 25 readers a day. But to be honest I’ll take this over being upset that I am not on the cover of Us Weekly any day of the week.
On the whole Sarah Palin / David Letterman fiasco: Yes, the joke was borderline bad taste. No, it wasn’t as big of a deal as people made it out to be. An apology and a get over it are fine. I’m more concerned about Olive Garden pulling their advertising from the show. Not because of the fact that the company is making a rather interesting moral stand but more due to the fact that this implies that people still want to eat at Olive Garden. With all the other restaurant chains going out of business how in the world do they stay open? I know when I think about getting an authentic Italian meal I head straight for the biggest chain restaurant that I can find.
That is about it for tonight. Just had a long day in the office that featured layoff announcements. Hiring me into your company is apparently equivalent to inviting in a plague invested rat into your house. Wherever I go, layoffs are sure to follow. I should be fine and if not, well, I could always go back to selling ringtones. Because once you discover the secret to exactly why some people feel the urge to pay $2.50 for a Shakira ringer someone will always pay you to share that bit of knowledge.
Enjoy the weekend everyone.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Heck, just give us two hours of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow
What does it mean that all I can ever think about when I watch the news coverage of Iran is that what I most want to hear at this moment is the cogent insights of The Iron Sheik? I really need to know what the master of the Camel Clutch and the possessor of not one but two loaded boots has to say on the possible onslaught of democracy in his homeland. Someone get a microphone in front of him, stat.
On a related note, I just found another reason to enjoy living in Delaware. I live about fifteen minutes away from the minor league ballpark here and in August they are going to have G. I. Joe night. Now that alone is reason enough to get me to go to the ballpark, possibly in a Destro costume. (Destro: teaching children that arms dealing is a noble profession since 1983.) But on top of that there will also be an appearance by Sergeant Slaughter. I might as well start camping out in front of the stadium now. I mean he is both a former WWF champion and the living incarnation of a cartoon character. Those are pretty much my only two goals in life.
I have heard however that the G.I. Joe movie is going to suck big time. On the lines of “worst screening scores in the history of the movie studio.” I’m still not sure how one can screw up writing a G. I. Joe movie but they apparently have done it. I could write the movie to be either a thriller, action, espionage or satire in an evening given enough junk food and the ability to allow Dr. Mindbender to be in at least two scenes. Heck, I could spend twenty minutes discussing Cobra’s training methods, which mainly consist of instructing new recruits on how to properly yell “Cobra” and how to stand perfectly exposed on poorly designed military vehicles.
In a way I wish that they would stop pimping out all of my childhood memories for what often turns into a sub-par Will Ferrell vehicle (did he really need to destroy Bewitched and Land of the Lost for me?) I know that the idea is that the movies have a built in audience so they don’t have to spend as much time working on things like plot and characterization but I think they really miss the point. I have no desire to see a Transformers movie because I prefer my memories of the cartoon. Nostalgia works because we don’t have to take the time to realize just how threadbare the storylines were. Sometimes memories should just remain as memories.
Wednesday Night Music Club: I listened to this Richard Thompson song today and felt compelled to share it. Still the best cover song I have ever heard.
On a related note, I just found another reason to enjoy living in Delaware. I live about fifteen minutes away from the minor league ballpark here and in August they are going to have G. I. Joe night. Now that alone is reason enough to get me to go to the ballpark, possibly in a Destro costume. (Destro: teaching children that arms dealing is a noble profession since 1983.) But on top of that there will also be an appearance by Sergeant Slaughter. I might as well start camping out in front of the stadium now. I mean he is both a former WWF champion and the living incarnation of a cartoon character. Those are pretty much my only two goals in life.
I have heard however that the G.I. Joe movie is going to suck big time. On the lines of “worst screening scores in the history of the movie studio.” I’m still not sure how one can screw up writing a G. I. Joe movie but they apparently have done it. I could write the movie to be either a thriller, action, espionage or satire in an evening given enough junk food and the ability to allow Dr. Mindbender to be in at least two scenes. Heck, I could spend twenty minutes discussing Cobra’s training methods, which mainly consist of instructing new recruits on how to properly yell “Cobra” and how to stand perfectly exposed on poorly designed military vehicles.
In a way I wish that they would stop pimping out all of my childhood memories for what often turns into a sub-par Will Ferrell vehicle (did he really need to destroy Bewitched and Land of the Lost for me?) I know that the idea is that the movies have a built in audience so they don’t have to spend as much time working on things like plot and characterization but I think they really miss the point. I have no desire to see a Transformers movie because I prefer my memories of the cartoon. Nostalgia works because we don’t have to take the time to realize just how threadbare the storylines were. Sometimes memories should just remain as memories.
Wednesday Night Music Club: I listened to this Richard Thompson song today and felt compelled to share it. Still the best cover song I have ever heard.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Might as well retire my headphones
(For those of you who were wondering just what I meant when I wished everyone a happy Bloomsday here is the explanation. The novel Ulysses takes place on June 16th (a date chosen by Joyce because that is he when he first met his wife, Nora Barnacle) and it is tradition in Dublin and amongst all hyper-literate people to spend the day celebrating the greatest novel ever written. In Dublin people trace out the exact route the characters take throughout the day (I’ve walked parts of it when I’ve been there.) On my way to work I drive past this prep school and today I saw a man dressed like James Joyce. Made me happy or at least mildly content to be in Delaware.)
I am aghast at all of these spurious claims that My Beloved Lindsay stole jewelry from the set of a photo shoot. Think of all the other possibilities. What about the photographer or the makeup artists? What about the possibility of a team of elite, highly attractive, female cat burglars entering the building, stealing the jewelry via a string of intricate acrobatic maneuvers, and escaping unnoticed? It’s like people think Lindsay would just walk off the set with a bunch of diamonds just so she could pawn them for drug money. Come on, how likely is that?
Ok, I was just flipping around the web searching for music to listen to while I write and just found out that one of my favorite websites ever, fabchannel.com, went under three months ago. This is horrible news for me. Fabchannel was one of those sites that made sitting in an office in Kansas bearable. Their concept was incredibly simple. They would film concerts in Amsterdam with high quality video and audio and post the full concerts online. They had an advertisement or two in the mix when you called up the concert and several links to buy the CD on Amazon but that was about as intrusive as it got. Sadly, the constant fighting with the record labels have proven too much and they have been forced to shut down.
This to me is just a big sign as to how stupid the music industry is at the moment. This was a wonderful set of relatively cheap promotion just sitting out there and they end up just tossing it away. These are shows that the average consumer was never going to see so it is not as though that they were risking ticket sales. Obviously if the show sucked they would have the right to pull it to protect their band’s image. They would even have a complete, professional grade, concert to release on DVD if they so desired. I spent hours listening to The Frames, Josh Ritter, Damien Rice and Arcade Fire on this site. I became bigger fans of all of those acts as a result and have seen them all in concert. That is how you promote music in the new media landscape.
I wish that there would be a better venue for really high quality music to be presented to the public. I mean in the 120 Minutes sense of the term. One show, one location on the web where there is just a dedicated stream of new and interesting music. Thanks to the Long Tail it is so hard to find music that is good because there is just so much stuff out there. First person who figures out a way to that will become very wealthy indeed.
I am aghast at all of these spurious claims that My Beloved Lindsay stole jewelry from the set of a photo shoot. Think of all the other possibilities. What about the photographer or the makeup artists? What about the possibility of a team of elite, highly attractive, female cat burglars entering the building, stealing the jewelry via a string of intricate acrobatic maneuvers, and escaping unnoticed? It’s like people think Lindsay would just walk off the set with a bunch of diamonds just so she could pawn them for drug money. Come on, how likely is that?
Ok, I was just flipping around the web searching for music to listen to while I write and just found out that one of my favorite websites ever, fabchannel.com, went under three months ago. This is horrible news for me. Fabchannel was one of those sites that made sitting in an office in Kansas bearable. Their concept was incredibly simple. They would film concerts in Amsterdam with high quality video and audio and post the full concerts online. They had an advertisement or two in the mix when you called up the concert and several links to buy the CD on Amazon but that was about as intrusive as it got. Sadly, the constant fighting with the record labels have proven too much and they have been forced to shut down.
This to me is just a big sign as to how stupid the music industry is at the moment. This was a wonderful set of relatively cheap promotion just sitting out there and they end up just tossing it away. These are shows that the average consumer was never going to see so it is not as though that they were risking ticket sales. Obviously if the show sucked they would have the right to pull it to protect their band’s image. They would even have a complete, professional grade, concert to release on DVD if they so desired. I spent hours listening to The Frames, Josh Ritter, Damien Rice and Arcade Fire on this site. I became bigger fans of all of those acts as a result and have seen them all in concert. That is how you promote music in the new media landscape.
I wish that there would be a better venue for really high quality music to be presented to the public. I mean in the 120 Minutes sense of the term. One show, one location on the web where there is just a dedicated stream of new and interesting music. Thanks to the Long Tail it is so hard to find music that is good because there is just so much stuff out there. First person who figures out a way to that will become very wealthy indeed.
Monday, June 15, 2009
And no more Ring Dings?
For those wondering, I have picked up the Facebook domain “kcgatsby” in an effort to continue to expand the kcgatsby brand. Even though I no longer live in Kansas City and no one gets the Gatsby references I am going to stick with this domain in every form. So thanks Facebook for providing me with yet another domain that I will quickly forget about. Facebook: Reminding you daily why you lost touch with people in the first place.
(And please, for the love of God, stop telling me about what is happening in your game of Mafia Wars. No one cares. Unless there is real violence and / or strippers involved no one ever will care.)
So there was a lot of interest in my discussion on my great need to lose weight. Several people stated that I should have a goal besides losing twenty pounds and finally getting to a weight that is deemed “healthy” by the medical establishment. I am definitely keeping that goal but others would be useful. One suggestion was that I train for a mini-triathlon. I am going to have to shoot down that idea because a) I haven’t ridden a bike in twenty five years and b) I try to avoid any sporting competition where I am at risk of drowning. (This reminds me, did anyone ever figure out last year if there actually are lifeguards at the Olympic swimming venue? That is my biggest unanswered question from Beijing.) While I have the utmost respect for people who compete in triathlons I am not going to be one of them.
My best goal would be to run in a 5K, run being the optimal term. I do put in 5K on the treadmill on a regular basis. On Saturday I did it in 45:30 (horribly bad), late last fall I broke 40 minutes (more respectable) and my all time best back when I was nineteen was about 28 minutes. My goal would be to simply beat my age. Run a 35 or 36 minute 5K which would mean 12 minute miles which would mean I would have to jog the entire way. It is not a huge goal and I would certainly love to break 30 minutes but it is one that I could accomplish without damaging my joints too badly. That is one of the problems with some of these goals: I have such a history of injury that I have to be careful about precisely what I do.
That leaves diet as my next area of focus and dear God have I gotten bad at that lately. Mainly in that I have been snacking like a madman and that is probably the biggest reason behind my weight gain. There is an easy solution to that though as I am the one in charge of my grocery shopping, cooking and overall food intake. This does mean an end to the Hostess food group (as well as its less popular twin, Dolly Madison) and I will start having to eat things like salads. Yet it is what I have to do.
Anyway, next question to the blogosphere. What do you think is the best way to start back up in an exercise routine? Especially when you are forced to spend much of your day stuck behind a computer and have an hour long commute to deal with it? Until then, have a Happy Bloomsday. “and yes I said yes I will Yes.”
(And please, for the love of God, stop telling me about what is happening in your game of Mafia Wars. No one cares. Unless there is real violence and / or strippers involved no one ever will care.)
So there was a lot of interest in my discussion on my great need to lose weight. Several people stated that I should have a goal besides losing twenty pounds and finally getting to a weight that is deemed “healthy” by the medical establishment. I am definitely keeping that goal but others would be useful. One suggestion was that I train for a mini-triathlon. I am going to have to shoot down that idea because a) I haven’t ridden a bike in twenty five years and b) I try to avoid any sporting competition where I am at risk of drowning. (This reminds me, did anyone ever figure out last year if there actually are lifeguards at the Olympic swimming venue? That is my biggest unanswered question from Beijing.) While I have the utmost respect for people who compete in triathlons I am not going to be one of them.
My best goal would be to run in a 5K, run being the optimal term. I do put in 5K on the treadmill on a regular basis. On Saturday I did it in 45:30 (horribly bad), late last fall I broke 40 minutes (more respectable) and my all time best back when I was nineteen was about 28 minutes. My goal would be to simply beat my age. Run a 35 or 36 minute 5K which would mean 12 minute miles which would mean I would have to jog the entire way. It is not a huge goal and I would certainly love to break 30 minutes but it is one that I could accomplish without damaging my joints too badly. That is one of the problems with some of these goals: I have such a history of injury that I have to be careful about precisely what I do.
That leaves diet as my next area of focus and dear God have I gotten bad at that lately. Mainly in that I have been snacking like a madman and that is probably the biggest reason behind my weight gain. There is an easy solution to that though as I am the one in charge of my grocery shopping, cooking and overall food intake. This does mean an end to the Hostess food group (as well as its less popular twin, Dolly Madison) and I will start having to eat things like salads. Yet it is what I have to do.
Anyway, next question to the blogosphere. What do you think is the best way to start back up in an exercise routine? Especially when you are forced to spend much of your day stuck behind a computer and have an hour long commute to deal with it? Until then, have a Happy Bloomsday. “and yes I said yes I will Yes.”
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Surprisingly, things have changed in 4 1/2 years
As has probably been obvious I have been struggling for topics the past few weeks and I have finally figured out why that is the case. Pretty much everything that has existed in my go to well of blog ideas is no longer accurate. Lets run through the list…
1) Make fun of Kansas: Still done occasionally but now that I no longer live there I have much less material. I could theoretically spend time making fun of Delaware but to be honest the state is so boring that it really isn’t worth the effort of making fun of it. The posts would be along the lines of “For some reason people in Wilmington feel that jaywalking is a perfectly acceptable thing to do. Not just a quick dash across the street. I mean a leisurely stroll across a four lane street with people driving forty miles an hour. Last week I saw four people (including one who was using a cane) amble across the middle of the street, against the light, on a road that has an expressway on ramp. I slammed on my breaks and I was already stopped at a light.” Just doesn’t seem nearly as interesting.
2) Make fun of the ruling party in Washington: There are many reasons why this blog is called Battling the Current and one would not be apparent unless you have been around since the beginning. I started this site the week after George Bush won reelection and it was my dislike of the current state of politics and the mood of the country that I was battling. Well, now my guy is in charge and anything that I would like to complain about (a rather silly health care plan, the seemingly endless press conferences that ruin my TV schedule) are now my own damn fault. It takes all the fun out of writing about it when all my rants have to start with “I know I voted for the guy but…”
3) Talking about concerts: It is rather surprising but I have not been to a single concert since I moved here. That wasn’t entirely the plan; there have been a few that I have wanted to see but just did not get around to attending. Part of this is good because after doing forty shows a year for four years my ears could use the break. But I do feel a bit out of the music scene. The biggest issue is that opposed to KC where the shows would literally be minutes from my apartment now I have to drive an hour, often to a different state, to see a show. I just can’t pull that off on a school night anymore. I’ve gotten too old.
4) Stories from nights out at the bar: My nightlife routine has drastically altered from my days in KC. Again, most people, particularly my medical staff, would consider that a good thing. It is one thing to know everyone on the staff. It isn’t even a bad sign when they start pouring your drink before you even technically order it. But when you walk in and the bartender tells you that you are late maybe it is a sign that you are spending a little too much time in the place. I would go out more except a) most of the cool bars are a drive from my apartment and hence make me be extremely cautious about how much I drink and b) now that I have a girlfriend my need to be out at the bars is greatly reduced. This leads to the final one.
5) Complaining about my bad luck in relationships: Yes, I know we all loved my bad relationship stories. We all laughed as I had a librarian dump me because I didn’t pay for dinner. Or when the girl I was talking to at the bar ran off with a guy in a penguin suit. Or even the blind date when I asked about her parents only to find out that they had both died when she was in high school thus resulting in the most awkward silence I have ever experienced in my life. Such great memories. Now I find myself saying every day how lucky I am as I find myself living in what can only be described as a movie script, possibly starring John Cusack. I do see myself writing more about my new found good luck in relationships, especially as I still have a few of my bumbling moments, but it might take a little while for me to get there.
So with that out of the way I’ve decided that I will need a few more major topics. Based on the reaction to my post last week I think that documenting my progress on getting in shape will be a big one. Just to level set everyone here is my workout from Saturday, my first time working out in about three months. Three miles on the treadmill, no incline, forty four minutes, and various parts of my body hurt like hell today. Not exactly the proudest moment of my athletic career. Still, this is the start to my goal of losing twenty pounds and breaking 190. Let’s see how long it takes me.
Best of 120 Minutes: I actually heard this song while shopping this weekend. It is still one of my favorite songs from the late 80s. I didn’t even know it was a cover song for a good decade.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Paul Burch and the WPA Ballclub “Blue Notes”
2) Jay Farrar “Terroir Blues”
3) Richard Thompson “1,000 Years of Popular Music”
4) The Subdudes “Street Symphony”
5) Lisa Hannigan “Sea Sew”
1) Make fun of Kansas: Still done occasionally but now that I no longer live there I have much less material. I could theoretically spend time making fun of Delaware but to be honest the state is so boring that it really isn’t worth the effort of making fun of it. The posts would be along the lines of “For some reason people in Wilmington feel that jaywalking is a perfectly acceptable thing to do. Not just a quick dash across the street. I mean a leisurely stroll across a four lane street with people driving forty miles an hour. Last week I saw four people (including one who was using a cane) amble across the middle of the street, against the light, on a road that has an expressway on ramp. I slammed on my breaks and I was already stopped at a light.” Just doesn’t seem nearly as interesting.
2) Make fun of the ruling party in Washington: There are many reasons why this blog is called Battling the Current and one would not be apparent unless you have been around since the beginning. I started this site the week after George Bush won reelection and it was my dislike of the current state of politics and the mood of the country that I was battling. Well, now my guy is in charge and anything that I would like to complain about (a rather silly health care plan, the seemingly endless press conferences that ruin my TV schedule) are now my own damn fault. It takes all the fun out of writing about it when all my rants have to start with “I know I voted for the guy but…”
3) Talking about concerts: It is rather surprising but I have not been to a single concert since I moved here. That wasn’t entirely the plan; there have been a few that I have wanted to see but just did not get around to attending. Part of this is good because after doing forty shows a year for four years my ears could use the break. But I do feel a bit out of the music scene. The biggest issue is that opposed to KC where the shows would literally be minutes from my apartment now I have to drive an hour, often to a different state, to see a show. I just can’t pull that off on a school night anymore. I’ve gotten too old.
4) Stories from nights out at the bar: My nightlife routine has drastically altered from my days in KC. Again, most people, particularly my medical staff, would consider that a good thing. It is one thing to know everyone on the staff. It isn’t even a bad sign when they start pouring your drink before you even technically order it. But when you walk in and the bartender tells you that you are late maybe it is a sign that you are spending a little too much time in the place. I would go out more except a) most of the cool bars are a drive from my apartment and hence make me be extremely cautious about how much I drink and b) now that I have a girlfriend my need to be out at the bars is greatly reduced. This leads to the final one.
5) Complaining about my bad luck in relationships: Yes, I know we all loved my bad relationship stories. We all laughed as I had a librarian dump me because I didn’t pay for dinner. Or when the girl I was talking to at the bar ran off with a guy in a penguin suit. Or even the blind date when I asked about her parents only to find out that they had both died when she was in high school thus resulting in the most awkward silence I have ever experienced in my life. Such great memories. Now I find myself saying every day how lucky I am as I find myself living in what can only be described as a movie script, possibly starring John Cusack. I do see myself writing more about my new found good luck in relationships, especially as I still have a few of my bumbling moments, but it might take a little while for me to get there.
So with that out of the way I’ve decided that I will need a few more major topics. Based on the reaction to my post last week I think that documenting my progress on getting in shape will be a big one. Just to level set everyone here is my workout from Saturday, my first time working out in about three months. Three miles on the treadmill, no incline, forty four minutes, and various parts of my body hurt like hell today. Not exactly the proudest moment of my athletic career. Still, this is the start to my goal of losing twenty pounds and breaking 190. Let’s see how long it takes me.
Best of 120 Minutes: I actually heard this song while shopping this weekend. It is still one of my favorite songs from the late 80s. I didn’t even know it was a cover song for a good decade.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Paul Burch and the WPA Ballclub “Blue Notes”
2) Jay Farrar “Terroir Blues”
3) Richard Thompson “1,000 Years of Popular Music”
4) The Subdudes “Street Symphony”
5) Lisa Hannigan “Sea Sew”
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Turn your TVs to digital tonight
I’ll have to admit one of the nice things about living in a high rise apartment is that it is really cool when it rains. Especially given all of my windows there is just this whole sense of epicness with a good rainstorm. I will also say that of the things I miss about Kansas I am surprised that one of them is the thunderstorms. You just don’t get those end of the world type storms out here. Sure, it rains but you never seem to get that whole “wall of water with occasional funnel clouds” that made life in Kansas so exciting. I actually miss it.
Your big celebrity news of the day is that Chastity Bono is becoming a man. For those of you whoever wondered what the answer was to the question “I wonder how screwed up one would become by having Cher as a mom” there is your answer. I’m all for people living their lives however they see fit (as long as it doesn’t harm others) but this is taking it a little bit to the extreme. I’m not sure if I will ever be able to watch Celebrity Fit Club the same way again. I’m not sure if Harvey approves of this or not.
I watched Top Chef Masters last night, which is essentially Top Chef with, you know, actual top chefs. They have a pretty kick ass lineup of chefs in the competition include my personal fave John Besh. Next trip to New Orleans I am eating in his restaurant. I don’t care who I will have to bribe to get a table. Reviews of the show have been mixed. On the negative side you do not get a chance to grow and love the contestants as for the most part it is one and done and it is all for charity so there is little drama. On the other hand the food that is created is absolutely spectacular given the circumstances. I do not believe that anyone has ever made a risotto in a dorm room using only a microwave, toaster oven and hot plate. However, the making macaroni and cheese in the shower is something that has probably taken place before. There are things that take place in dorms that you would never wish to understand.
Also, I would like to remind everyone that the switch to digital television starts tomorrow. So for all my blog readers still using analog television sets I must ask “How the hell do you have internet but not digital television? Is it that difficult to ask for cable?” I will guarantee you that the next few days will be filled with stories about people who are suddenly dealing with the fact that they can’t watch television. Especially with this happening on a Friday so they will end up missing the cliffhanger on all of their stories. But really this should hopefully be a non event. I’m not sure if it will be of any benefit to anyone in the long term but hey, we will be long past the age of static.
Your big celebrity news of the day is that Chastity Bono is becoming a man. For those of you whoever wondered what the answer was to the question “I wonder how screwed up one would become by having Cher as a mom” there is your answer. I’m all for people living their lives however they see fit (as long as it doesn’t harm others) but this is taking it a little bit to the extreme. I’m not sure if I will ever be able to watch Celebrity Fit Club the same way again. I’m not sure if Harvey approves of this or not.
I watched Top Chef Masters last night, which is essentially Top Chef with, you know, actual top chefs. They have a pretty kick ass lineup of chefs in the competition include my personal fave John Besh. Next trip to New Orleans I am eating in his restaurant. I don’t care who I will have to bribe to get a table. Reviews of the show have been mixed. On the negative side you do not get a chance to grow and love the contestants as for the most part it is one and done and it is all for charity so there is little drama. On the other hand the food that is created is absolutely spectacular given the circumstances. I do not believe that anyone has ever made a risotto in a dorm room using only a microwave, toaster oven and hot plate. However, the making macaroni and cheese in the shower is something that has probably taken place before. There are things that take place in dorms that you would never wish to understand.
Also, I would like to remind everyone that the switch to digital television starts tomorrow. So for all my blog readers still using analog television sets I must ask “How the hell do you have internet but not digital television? Is it that difficult to ask for cable?” I will guarantee you that the next few days will be filled with stories about people who are suddenly dealing with the fact that they can’t watch television. Especially with this happening on a Friday so they will end up missing the cliffhanger on all of their stories. But really this should hopefully be a non event. I’m not sure if it will be of any benefit to anyone in the long term but hey, we will be long past the age of static.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Forgotten Video Games: Volume One
In what may become a regular feature, at least on days when I am really struggling for topics, I am going to go back to my days at the arcade to discuss some of the favorite video games of my youth. Tonight’s selection: the wisdom that was Paperboy.
When video games started off they were an escape. You were transported to a land where you were a man in overalls saving a blonde woman from a large monkey or defending the earth against an onslaught of aliens who moved in a predictable, repetitive pattern or a yellow blob being chased by ghosts. This changed with Paperboy, the first game to take your pathetic life and turn it into a video game.
Yes, long before The Sims allowed you to sit at home and play a game in which you relived your life Paperboy allowed you precious training for your future career. It was kind of like The Last Starfighter except for the Berwyn Life instead of the Rylan Star League. The concept of the game was as simple as could be. You were a paperboy and your job was to deliver the papers to the proper houses.
There are several things about this game that made it great. First, the controller on the arcade game was a makeshift handlebar and anything that caused a variation from the joystick and button combo of other games made it interesting. Second, there was an immense sense of humor to the game. Errant tosses could result in broken windows and irate customers chasing you down the street. This also resulted it becoming maybe the first game that you ever played to lose. On a higher level if a run went badly you would simply try to cause as much damage as possible. It was much like Dr. J and Larry Bird One on One in that respect (the only game where who won or lost mattered less than who got to shatter the backboard.) But mainly it just made you feel like you were riding a bike, which given that I was nine years old at the time I probably could have done for real instead of virtually. Still, that is progress for you.
Wednesday Night Music Club: Let’s celebrate a child star turned good with some Rilo Kiley tonight.
When video games started off they were an escape. You were transported to a land where you were a man in overalls saving a blonde woman from a large monkey or defending the earth against an onslaught of aliens who moved in a predictable, repetitive pattern or a yellow blob being chased by ghosts. This changed with Paperboy, the first game to take your pathetic life and turn it into a video game.
Yes, long before The Sims allowed you to sit at home and play a game in which you relived your life Paperboy allowed you precious training for your future career. It was kind of like The Last Starfighter except for the Berwyn Life instead of the Rylan Star League. The concept of the game was as simple as could be. You were a paperboy and your job was to deliver the papers to the proper houses.
There are several things about this game that made it great. First, the controller on the arcade game was a makeshift handlebar and anything that caused a variation from the joystick and button combo of other games made it interesting. Second, there was an immense sense of humor to the game. Errant tosses could result in broken windows and irate customers chasing you down the street. This also resulted it becoming maybe the first game that you ever played to lose. On a higher level if a run went badly you would simply try to cause as much damage as possible. It was much like Dr. J and Larry Bird One on One in that respect (the only game where who won or lost mattered less than who got to shatter the backboard.) But mainly it just made you feel like you were riding a bike, which given that I was nine years old at the time I probably could have done for real instead of virtually. Still, that is progress for you.
Wednesday Night Music Club: Let’s celebrate a child star turned good with some Rilo Kiley tonight.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
When I sit around the house I really sit around the house
As I mentioned on Sunday I was on a clothes buying frenzy this weekend. There were several reasons behind it. One was, as Kim duly noted, the fact that I have the fashion sense of a color blind lemur. Another reason was tougher to come to grips with. A lot of my clothes, including the few pieces that could be considered tasteful, no longer fit. I have, for lack of a better term, become fat.
Well maybe more like pudgy or a little wide around the midsection. For those wondering at the moment I am 6 foot 1 (just like the Liz Phair song) and 210 pounds (just like the…ok, don’t have a witty pop culture reference there.) That puts my Body Mass Index in the Overweight range. At 227 pounds I would be considered obese and I need to get down to 189 to be back in my healthy weight range. So yes, I am closer to being obese than healthy at the moment, which is a rather frightening thought.
It is really difficult for me to even get my head around the idea of being overweight because for most of my life I was the exact opposite. When I finished my sophomore year of college I weighed 145 pounds for a BMI of 19.1. This is somehow considered healthy on the BMI chart though trust me it wasn’t. Unless being able to see your ribs and collarbones is the new definition of health. I was happy when my metabolism slowed down enough that I could get into the 160s but things just spiraled out of control from there.
This obviously leads to a slight problem when it comes to clothes. I know what I used to wear and since I cannot bring myself to admit that I am anything other than a skinny, lanky kid I end up buying clothes that are several sizes too small for me. Hence nothing I own fits right or looks good on me so I had to redo my wardrobe to address the current state of my body.
Now my goal is to get rid of a lot of this weight. I really need to get down to 190 as I am really carrying too much weight. I cannot pull off the argument that most of my weight is muscle unless I have somehow created the most powerful midsection in the world. I was on a good exercise kick earlier this year but I lost the momentum and have spent most of the past few months on the couch enjoying the entirety of the Hostess brand lineup (I even bought a box of Ding Dongs for crying out loud.) This will have to change and change in a hurry.
At some point I’ve come to the realization that I am no longer a kid. Now on some levels that just means that buying vintage Star Wars action figures may not be the best use of my income. But mainly it is a result of my coming to grips that my body does not act like it used to. I can’t bounce back from a late night like I used to. Injuries take longer to heal. Weight stays on more than it should. I am at that last portion of my life where I can make wholesale changes to my physical makeup and make them stick. I really need to do so. Ideas / advice from the commenters out there?
Well maybe more like pudgy or a little wide around the midsection. For those wondering at the moment I am 6 foot 1 (just like the Liz Phair song) and 210 pounds (just like the…ok, don’t have a witty pop culture reference there.) That puts my Body Mass Index in the Overweight range. At 227 pounds I would be considered obese and I need to get down to 189 to be back in my healthy weight range. So yes, I am closer to being obese than healthy at the moment, which is a rather frightening thought.
It is really difficult for me to even get my head around the idea of being overweight because for most of my life I was the exact opposite. When I finished my sophomore year of college I weighed 145 pounds for a BMI of 19.1. This is somehow considered healthy on the BMI chart though trust me it wasn’t. Unless being able to see your ribs and collarbones is the new definition of health. I was happy when my metabolism slowed down enough that I could get into the 160s but things just spiraled out of control from there.
This obviously leads to a slight problem when it comes to clothes. I know what I used to wear and since I cannot bring myself to admit that I am anything other than a skinny, lanky kid I end up buying clothes that are several sizes too small for me. Hence nothing I own fits right or looks good on me so I had to redo my wardrobe to address the current state of my body.
Now my goal is to get rid of a lot of this weight. I really need to get down to 190 as I am really carrying too much weight. I cannot pull off the argument that most of my weight is muscle unless I have somehow created the most powerful midsection in the world. I was on a good exercise kick earlier this year but I lost the momentum and have spent most of the past few months on the couch enjoying the entirety of the Hostess brand lineup (I even bought a box of Ding Dongs for crying out loud.) This will have to change and change in a hurry.
At some point I’ve come to the realization that I am no longer a kid. Now on some levels that just means that buying vintage Star Wars action figures may not be the best use of my income. But mainly it is a result of my coming to grips that my body does not act like it used to. I can’t bounce back from a late night like I used to. Injuries take longer to heal. Weight stays on more than it should. I am at that last portion of my life where I can make wholesale changes to my physical makeup and make them stick. I really need to do so. Ideas / advice from the commenters out there?
Monday, June 08, 2009
Pick a topic, any topic
I have to start off with a sentence I never imagined typing: “Bret Michaels nearly decapitated onstage at the Tony Awards.” Personally, I feel that this should become an added feature of every awards show. One aging hair band front man is invited to perform with a measurable, though unlikely, chance that his head will end up in the fourth row. I can guarantee you that this will turn into a major ratings success.
And while I did not watch the Tony Awards (even Doogie Howser as the host wasn’t enough for me) it is interesting to see that Billy Elliot came away with all of the awards. A musical about the dancing son of a British coal miner doesn’t seem to be quite the typical Broadway hit but it appears to work. Maybe it was the Elton John score. Though if that is the case then the Spider Man musical with a score by U2 might be a favorite next year. I’m not making that up. It is the most ludicrous thing I have read in a year and I spend much of my free time reading pro wrestling websites.
Another topic that I must discuss is that while there are numerous ways to die in this world David Carradine’s method is last on my list of how I want to be found. Even if the rumor is true and ninjas were involved it still would be the most embarrassing way to go. I mean, can anyone ever listen to an INXS song the same way after Michael Hutchenhence died? It was worse when the story was breaking and CNN had the headline “David Carradine dead, hanging in closet”, which seemed to imply that the morgue in Thailand operates a little differently than the one I see on CSI. It just shows the importance of verb tense.
I’ll end with one last piece of Kansas City news because, honestly, Delaware actually is more boring than Kansas City. It appears that over the weekend the performance by DJ Jazzy Jeff was ended early at the Power and Light District due to either a) he was playing the music too loud and damaging the sound system or b) he was playing music that was, ahem, not in keeping with the community standards. To which my responses are, a) who designs a soundsystem to be used by major acts as long as they are quiet and b) I know that KC is conservative but come on it’s DJ Jazzy Jeff. His biggest hit is “Parents just don’t understand.” It’s stuff like this that explains why I never went to the Power and Light District when I lived there.
And while I did not watch the Tony Awards (even Doogie Howser as the host wasn’t enough for me) it is interesting to see that Billy Elliot came away with all of the awards. A musical about the dancing son of a British coal miner doesn’t seem to be quite the typical Broadway hit but it appears to work. Maybe it was the Elton John score. Though if that is the case then the Spider Man musical with a score by U2 might be a favorite next year. I’m not making that up. It is the most ludicrous thing I have read in a year and I spend much of my free time reading pro wrestling websites.
Another topic that I must discuss is that while there are numerous ways to die in this world David Carradine’s method is last on my list of how I want to be found. Even if the rumor is true and ninjas were involved it still would be the most embarrassing way to go. I mean, can anyone ever listen to an INXS song the same way after Michael Hutchenhence died? It was worse when the story was breaking and CNN had the headline “David Carradine dead, hanging in closet”, which seemed to imply that the morgue in Thailand operates a little differently than the one I see on CSI. It just shows the importance of verb tense.
I’ll end with one last piece of Kansas City news because, honestly, Delaware actually is more boring than Kansas City. It appears that over the weekend the performance by DJ Jazzy Jeff was ended early at the Power and Light District due to either a) he was playing the music too loud and damaging the sound system or b) he was playing music that was, ahem, not in keeping with the community standards. To which my responses are, a) who designs a soundsystem to be used by major acts as long as they are quiet and b) I know that KC is conservative but come on it’s DJ Jazzy Jeff. His biggest hit is “Parents just don’t understand.” It’s stuff like this that explains why I never went to the Power and Light District when I lived there.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
We can rebuild you...
Many people know that I have constantly begged to be placed on a reality show. Now usually this has been in an attempt to be placed on a show where I could win a boatload of money and prizes. However, we all know that my best shot for a show would be What Not to Wear or Queer Eye for the Straight Guy or any of the other personal makeover shows because as we all know my fashion sense is lacking any sort of direction. Well, thanks to my wonderful and amazing girlfriend, I have taken my first step towards no longer needing the help of television personalities to dress myself.
First off, it is much tougher to purge one’s closets than you would ever imagine. You would think that since I have moved across the country several times that I would have created a rather sleek wardrobe for myself just out of packing necessity. And it is true that I donated bags worth of clothes to Goodwill when I moved from Kansas City with others tossed out because they weren’t even fit for the homeless (don’t ask.) But even with that I have bins of clothes and closets filled with nearly two decades worth of stuff I have had to struggle to part with. But that was the first step in creating my new persona at least in the sartorial sense.
Though I will have to say, having your girlfriend go through your closet and say “Oh tell me you’ve never actually worn this” as she finds ten year old shirts of the paisley variety and a handful of sweaters worthy of Bill Cosby is rather disconcerting. I would like to say that I at least did not actively wear much in the pile that will soon be donated to charity but even on a good day my taste in clothes can be best considered bad. That is one of the curses of being an engineer. The dress code essentially ends at “remember to wear pants.”
Then it was off to Joseph A. Banks for a complete wardrobe upgrade. Props to Jerry our ever helpful guide through the racks as we improved my sense of style in pretty much every possible social situation. I think I spent two hours trying on clothes, which is about one hour and fifty five minutes longer than I ever have at any other moment in my life. This probably explains my closets as my shopping style involves mainly entering a store, looking at the first rack of clothes that looks decent and purchasing the first item that seems to be vaguely my size. This time it was a full team effort and I would say that I was refitted from head to toe except that we forgot to buy me a hat.
(Side note: as I was going in and out of the dressing room Jerry would refer to Kim alternately as “my wife” and “the boss”, which just made the whole experience that much more enjoyable. We were having too much fun to correct him on the first part and the second part in this instance was pretty accurate.)
So when you see me walking around now hopefully you will see me in a different light. Like someone who walked out of a catalog. Yes, I’m still the same person that I have always been but hopefully I will look better in doing so. Sure, it might have been nice having a camera crew there but I think I had the best company in the world instead.
Best of 120 Minutes: Let’s start the week on a high note, shall we? Withdrawl in disgust is not the same as apathy.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Jon Dee Graham “Hooray for the Moon”
2) R.E.M. “Monster”
3) Josh Rouse “The Best of the Rykodisc Years”
4) The V-Roys “Just Add Ice”
5) Coldplay “X and Y”
First off, it is much tougher to purge one’s closets than you would ever imagine. You would think that since I have moved across the country several times that I would have created a rather sleek wardrobe for myself just out of packing necessity. And it is true that I donated bags worth of clothes to Goodwill when I moved from Kansas City with others tossed out because they weren’t even fit for the homeless (don’t ask.) But even with that I have bins of clothes and closets filled with nearly two decades worth of stuff I have had to struggle to part with. But that was the first step in creating my new persona at least in the sartorial sense.
Though I will have to say, having your girlfriend go through your closet and say “Oh tell me you’ve never actually worn this” as she finds ten year old shirts of the paisley variety and a handful of sweaters worthy of Bill Cosby is rather disconcerting. I would like to say that I at least did not actively wear much in the pile that will soon be donated to charity but even on a good day my taste in clothes can be best considered bad. That is one of the curses of being an engineer. The dress code essentially ends at “remember to wear pants.”
Then it was off to Joseph A. Banks for a complete wardrobe upgrade. Props to Jerry our ever helpful guide through the racks as we improved my sense of style in pretty much every possible social situation. I think I spent two hours trying on clothes, which is about one hour and fifty five minutes longer than I ever have at any other moment in my life. This probably explains my closets as my shopping style involves mainly entering a store, looking at the first rack of clothes that looks decent and purchasing the first item that seems to be vaguely my size. This time it was a full team effort and I would say that I was refitted from head to toe except that we forgot to buy me a hat.
(Side note: as I was going in and out of the dressing room Jerry would refer to Kim alternately as “my wife” and “the boss”, which just made the whole experience that much more enjoyable. We were having too much fun to correct him on the first part and the second part in this instance was pretty accurate.)
So when you see me walking around now hopefully you will see me in a different light. Like someone who walked out of a catalog. Yes, I’m still the same person that I have always been but hopefully I will look better in doing so. Sure, it might have been nice having a camera crew there but I think I had the best company in the world instead.
Best of 120 Minutes: Let’s start the week on a high note, shall we? Withdrawl in disgust is not the same as apathy.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Jon Dee Graham “Hooray for the Moon”
2) R.E.M. “Monster”
3) Josh Rouse “The Best of the Rykodisc Years”
4) The V-Roys “Just Add Ice”
5) Coldplay “X and Y”
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Top 20 artists of the decade
So I came across this list the other day of the top selling artists of the…naughts? The first decade of the 21st century? How can we be nine years into this decade and we have yet to come up with a name for it yet? Anyway, here are the best selling (apparently in terms of discs sold) artists.
#20: Celine Dion: 17.6 million
#19: Kid Rock: 17.6 million
#18: Johnny Cash: 17.9 million
#17: Dixie Chicks: 18.3 million
#16: *NSync: 18.4 million
#15: Alan Jackson: 18.5 million
#14: Metallica: 18.5 million
#13: Rascal Flatts: 18.8 million
#12: Josh Groban: 19.1 million
#11: Nickelback: 19.2 million
#10: Jay-Z: 19.4 million
#9: Creed: 20.4 million
#8: Linkin Park: 21.1 million
#7: Nelly: 21.2 million
#6: Kenny Chesney: 21.4 million
#5: Britney Spears: 22.9 million
#4: Toby Keith: 24.2 million
#3: Tim McGraw: 24.3 million
#2: The Beatles: 27.6 million
#1: Eminem: 31.1 million
Let’s see what we can learn from this list as it is rather fascinating. First off, we can see the impact of the rise of iTunes as I would be hard pressed to point to any of these twenty artists and mention any significant work in terms of sales in the past three to five years. The list is loaded more towards what was big at the first half of the decade.
We also have the back catalog wonders in Johnny Cash and The Beatles. Now both of them did have some pretty significant releases this decade but in reality all of those sales are coming from people returning to their music. In my mind, people going for back catalog will actually want the CDs and not an iTunes track. Add to that the Josh Groban and Celnie Dion sales, which mainly come from less technically savvy people and therefore move more physical product than virtual product.
You certainly cannot discount the country music field with seven of the top twenty. Though even I am amazed that people are still buying Alan Jackson records. I didn’t even know that he was still making music. I am happy to see the Dixie Chicks on the list as they are a group that deserves their success. As opposed to say, Nickelback or Creed for whom the world would be better served if they both met with a case of permanent laryngitis.
But it is the decade of Eminem and by a pretty significant margin. Again, most of this is from his work at the start of the decade when most people bought CDs as opposed to digital tracks and he undoubtedly was the biggest act at that time. I also can’t question his talent because he can bring it when he wants to. I do wonder at times that his humor tends to cross the line into Weird Al territory. Some of his videos and songs seem to be more of a parody than anything else and the whole Bruno bit from the MTV awards just shows once again that he is playing the role of Eminem. I’m not sure if that is a bad thing (Bono has been playing Bono for two decades now) but for someone whose entire persona is built upon him being real it casts an odd tinge to the entire piece.
#20: Celine Dion: 17.6 million
#19: Kid Rock: 17.6 million
#18: Johnny Cash: 17.9 million
#17: Dixie Chicks: 18.3 million
#16: *NSync: 18.4 million
#15: Alan Jackson: 18.5 million
#14: Metallica: 18.5 million
#13: Rascal Flatts: 18.8 million
#12: Josh Groban: 19.1 million
#11: Nickelback: 19.2 million
#10: Jay-Z: 19.4 million
#9: Creed: 20.4 million
#8: Linkin Park: 21.1 million
#7: Nelly: 21.2 million
#6: Kenny Chesney: 21.4 million
#5: Britney Spears: 22.9 million
#4: Toby Keith: 24.2 million
#3: Tim McGraw: 24.3 million
#2: The Beatles: 27.6 million
#1: Eminem: 31.1 million
Let’s see what we can learn from this list as it is rather fascinating. First off, we can see the impact of the rise of iTunes as I would be hard pressed to point to any of these twenty artists and mention any significant work in terms of sales in the past three to five years. The list is loaded more towards what was big at the first half of the decade.
We also have the back catalog wonders in Johnny Cash and The Beatles. Now both of them did have some pretty significant releases this decade but in reality all of those sales are coming from people returning to their music. In my mind, people going for back catalog will actually want the CDs and not an iTunes track. Add to that the Josh Groban and Celnie Dion sales, which mainly come from less technically savvy people and therefore move more physical product than virtual product.
You certainly cannot discount the country music field with seven of the top twenty. Though even I am amazed that people are still buying Alan Jackson records. I didn’t even know that he was still making music. I am happy to see the Dixie Chicks on the list as they are a group that deserves their success. As opposed to say, Nickelback or Creed for whom the world would be better served if they both met with a case of permanent laryngitis.
But it is the decade of Eminem and by a pretty significant margin. Again, most of this is from his work at the start of the decade when most people bought CDs as opposed to digital tracks and he undoubtedly was the biggest act at that time. I also can’t question his talent because he can bring it when he wants to. I do wonder at times that his humor tends to cross the line into Weird Al territory. Some of his videos and songs seem to be more of a parody than anything else and the whole Bruno bit from the MTV awards just shows once again that he is playing the role of Eminem. I’m not sure if that is a bad thing (Bono has been playing Bono for two decades now) but for someone whose entire persona is built upon him being real it casts an odd tinge to the entire piece.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
I got your answers right here...
Since DJ did make a valiant effort this afternoon to answer the trivia questions posed last night I feel that it is my duty to provide the answers here as long as whatever helpful pieces of information I have to go along with them. Here we go…
1) What are the names of the two members of the Insane Clown Posse?: As all good juggalos know the answer is Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. Insane Clown Posse is also the answer to the question “What band got the most mileage out of having their album banned at Wal-Mart?” If it wasn’t for that fact no one would ever have heard of these guys.
2) In what gourmet food shop did the Facts of Life girls work after graduating from Eastland Academy?: Edna’s Edibles. This is the store that Mrs. Garrett opened and the girls went to work at after they reached an age when acting as though they were high school students was so unbelievable that they had to change the entire plot line. Also, did it surprise anyone else that not a single one of the girls went to college? What the hell type of prep school was it?
3) According to the WWE, how many times was “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair world champion? Per the WWE, Ric Flair was a 16 time world champion. What is interesting is that no one has ever figured out exactly how they got to the number 16. Depending on how you want to count it you can get anything up to 22 times. Being a pro wrestling historian is much harder than you would think.
4) What fictional government agency has an annual budget of 348 million pounds sterling, which is less than defense, social security, health, housing and education?: That would of course be The Ministry of Silly Walks. No wonder the British fell behind the Japanese who have a man who can bend his leg back over his head and back again with every single step.
5) What Saturday morning show (Chris’ all-time favorite) featured the characters Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky?: The Banana Splits. Ok, it wasn’t on Saturday mornings when I watched it but it was originally. Best theme song ever. One banana, two banana, three banana, four, four bananas make a bunch and so do many more.
6) What Stephen King mini-series featured a performance by Traci Lords?: The Tommyknockers. Get it, Traci Lords? Knockers? Sigh, I still find that funny.
7) On G.I. Joe, what was the collective name of Zartan’s gang of thugs?: This would of course be the Dreadnoughts and if there is any justice they will be in the G.I. Joe movie. Nothing better than some wide Australian stereotypes wielding chainsaw as part of a wide reaching, well funded but surprisingly inept terrorist organization. I mean, given how much it must cost to operate Cobra on a day to day basis you would think that they would expect a slightly higher success rate.
8) Who is Charlie Brown’s favorite baseball player?: Joe Shlabotnik. My favorite memories of summer involve going to the library and picking up collections of Peanuts cartoons. I was so happy when I learned how to read cursive because it meant that I could understand all the pen pal strips.
9) What was the name of the beer chugging MC on the first season of The Man Show? The Fox, who died at the end of the first season (for real.) Show was never quite as good after that.
10) What is the name of the Edmonton based Canadian Football League team? They are the Edmonton Eskimos. Half credit to those who answered Roughriders as that is the default name for all CFL teams. I’m not kidding. They have one team called the Roughriders and another called the Rough Riders. Is it that tough to come up with a name?
11) What classic television sitcom is considered by many to be an allegory to hell with each character representing one of the seven deadly sins?: The answer is Gilligan’s Island and here is the explanation. Mr. Howell is greed, Mrs. Howell is sloth, Ginger is lust, Mary Anne is envy (because she wants to be Ginger), the Professor is pride and the Skipper is both gluttony and anger. That leaves the red clad Gilligan as the devil whose antics continually damn the other six to an eternity on the island. I have no idea if this is true or not but I want it to be.
12) On The Facts of Life, what is Tootie’s real first name? Dorothy. Save that piece of information as it is an ultimate trivia question.
13) In Peanuts, what is the name of Lucy and Linus’ little brother? Rerun, who is responsible for one of my favorite lines in the last years of the Peanuts strip. “Yes Ma’am I’m writing a story. It’s about this kid in kindergarten and how the stress is slowly destroying him. Every morning he….Ma’am? Well, I have another one here about some purple bunnies.”
Tomorrow, an analysis of the top 20 selling artists of the decade. Should be pretty fascinating and / or scary. Stay tuned.
Wednesday Night Music Club: A Filter song that is better than it ever has any right being.
1) What are the names of the two members of the Insane Clown Posse?: As all good juggalos know the answer is Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. Insane Clown Posse is also the answer to the question “What band got the most mileage out of having their album banned at Wal-Mart?” If it wasn’t for that fact no one would ever have heard of these guys.
2) In what gourmet food shop did the Facts of Life girls work after graduating from Eastland Academy?: Edna’s Edibles. This is the store that Mrs. Garrett opened and the girls went to work at after they reached an age when acting as though they were high school students was so unbelievable that they had to change the entire plot line. Also, did it surprise anyone else that not a single one of the girls went to college? What the hell type of prep school was it?
3) According to the WWE, how many times was “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair world champion? Per the WWE, Ric Flair was a 16 time world champion. What is interesting is that no one has ever figured out exactly how they got to the number 16. Depending on how you want to count it you can get anything up to 22 times. Being a pro wrestling historian is much harder than you would think.
4) What fictional government agency has an annual budget of 348 million pounds sterling, which is less than defense, social security, health, housing and education?: That would of course be The Ministry of Silly Walks. No wonder the British fell behind the Japanese who have a man who can bend his leg back over his head and back again with every single step.
5) What Saturday morning show (Chris’ all-time favorite) featured the characters Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky?: The Banana Splits. Ok, it wasn’t on Saturday mornings when I watched it but it was originally. Best theme song ever. One banana, two banana, three banana, four, four bananas make a bunch and so do many more.
6) What Stephen King mini-series featured a performance by Traci Lords?: The Tommyknockers. Get it, Traci Lords? Knockers? Sigh, I still find that funny.
7) On G.I. Joe, what was the collective name of Zartan’s gang of thugs?: This would of course be the Dreadnoughts and if there is any justice they will be in the G.I. Joe movie. Nothing better than some wide Australian stereotypes wielding chainsaw as part of a wide reaching, well funded but surprisingly inept terrorist organization. I mean, given how much it must cost to operate Cobra on a day to day basis you would think that they would expect a slightly higher success rate.
8) Who is Charlie Brown’s favorite baseball player?: Joe Shlabotnik. My favorite memories of summer involve going to the library and picking up collections of Peanuts cartoons. I was so happy when I learned how to read cursive because it meant that I could understand all the pen pal strips.
9) What was the name of the beer chugging MC on the first season of The Man Show? The Fox, who died at the end of the first season (for real.) Show was never quite as good after that.
10) What is the name of the Edmonton based Canadian Football League team? They are the Edmonton Eskimos. Half credit to those who answered Roughriders as that is the default name for all CFL teams. I’m not kidding. They have one team called the Roughriders and another called the Rough Riders. Is it that tough to come up with a name?
11) What classic television sitcom is considered by many to be an allegory to hell with each character representing one of the seven deadly sins?: The answer is Gilligan’s Island and here is the explanation. Mr. Howell is greed, Mrs. Howell is sloth, Ginger is lust, Mary Anne is envy (because she wants to be Ginger), the Professor is pride and the Skipper is both gluttony and anger. That leaves the red clad Gilligan as the devil whose antics continually damn the other six to an eternity on the island. I have no idea if this is true or not but I want it to be.
12) On The Facts of Life, what is Tootie’s real first name? Dorothy. Save that piece of information as it is an ultimate trivia question.
13) In Peanuts, what is the name of Lucy and Linus’ little brother? Rerun, who is responsible for one of my favorite lines in the last years of the Peanuts strip. “Yes Ma’am I’m writing a story. It’s about this kid in kindergarten and how the stress is slowly destroying him. Every morning he….Ma’am? Well, I have another one here about some purple bunnies.”
Tomorrow, an analysis of the top 20 selling artists of the decade. Should be pretty fascinating and / or scary. Stay tuned.
Wednesday Night Music Club: A Filter song that is better than it ever has any right being.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Test Your Knowledge!
Ugh. I had planned on writing something nice and creative and hopefully funny tonight except that circumstances beyond my control (as in the unplanned installation of a waterfall in my bathroom) has resulted in my spending several hours away from my task at hand. As a result I am going to cheat tonight and post some old trivia questions I wrote for a category entitled “More Stuff That I Am Embarrassed I Know.” Test yourself with these legendary questions (no fair using Wikipedia.) I’ll post the answers tomorrow.
1) What are the names of the two members of the Insane Clown Posse?
2) In what gourmet food shop did the Facts of Life girls work after graduating from Eastland Academy?
3) According to the WWE, how many times was “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair world champion?
4) What fictional government agency has an annual budget of 348 million pounds sterling, which is less than defense, social security, health, housing and education?
5) What Saturday morning show (Chris’ all-time favorite) featured the characters Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky?
6) What Stephen King mini-series featured a performance by Traci Lords?
7) On G.I. Joe, what was the collective name of Zartan’s gang of thugs?
8) Who is Charlie Brown’s favorite baseball player?
9) What was the name of the beer chugging MC on the first season of The Man Show?
10) What is the name of the Edmonton based Canadian Football League team?
11) What classic television sitcom is considered by many to be an allegory to hell with each character representing one of the seven deadly sins?
12) On The Facts of Life, what is Tootie’s real first name?
13) In Peanuts, what is the name of Lucy and Linus’ little brother?
1) What are the names of the two members of the Insane Clown Posse?
2) In what gourmet food shop did the Facts of Life girls work after graduating from Eastland Academy?
3) According to the WWE, how many times was “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair world champion?
4) What fictional government agency has an annual budget of 348 million pounds sterling, which is less than defense, social security, health, housing and education?
5) What Saturday morning show (Chris’ all-time favorite) featured the characters Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky?
6) What Stephen King mini-series featured a performance by Traci Lords?
7) On G.I. Joe, what was the collective name of Zartan’s gang of thugs?
8) Who is Charlie Brown’s favorite baseball player?
9) What was the name of the beer chugging MC on the first season of The Man Show?
10) What is the name of the Edmonton based Canadian Football League team?
11) What classic television sitcom is considered by many to be an allegory to hell with each character representing one of the seven deadly sins?
12) On The Facts of Life, what is Tootie’s real first name?
13) In Peanuts, what is the name of Lucy and Linus’ little brother?
Monday, June 01, 2009
I once doubted myself just to see what it feels like
I have a new idol. Who the hell wouldn’t want to punch a magician?
I’ll start with the Air France disappearance, which immediately made everyone in my office think it was a new promotion for the DVD box set of Lost. For all we know, maybe the smoke monster really did bring the plane down. I will say this though as a veteran of a number of trans-Atlantic flights. I’ve always had a hard time sleeping on planes so I was happy when American Airlines started allowing you to call up a little inflight graphic of where you actually were and how fast the plane was going. For someone who is as data obsessed as I am this proved to be a very useful feature. However, you do find yourself looking at a map that features Goldfarb, Greenland and wondering why it was chosen to be highlighted. Then you realize, “Oh, that is probably the one airport that we can try to reach if something goes wrong.” That and those moments when the entire map is water makes it even tougher for me to fall asleep. I just feel better when I am over land.
Also, apparently something happened at the MTV movie awards last night. That is very much a tree falling in the forest with no one around type of moment. I know part of it has to do with my age as I am so far out of MTV’s target audience but even so is it really a part of the cultural framework anymore? It has nothing to do with music or with movies and when was the last time there was a decent Rock N Jock game? Nickelodeon and Disney have a much bigger pull on popular culture than MTV at the moment and that is rather disturbing.
Staying in the news, as the proud owner of General Motors (hey, if it is my tax dollars at work I’m going to put it on my resume) I have to say that I am looking forward to the day where my push for tail fins and bigger cupholders produces greater profits than the world has ever seen. Actually, as someone who has only owned GM cars I have to say that I am saddened by all that has gone on. I’m one of the few people who actually likes Pontiacs and have had mine last a rather surprisingly long time without requiring any significant maintenance. (Well, other than the security system failing and believing that I was trying to steal my own car. Twice.) They really are good cars and a pretty sizable portion of our economy so it is a bummer to see them fail. I do think that we have touched bottom with the recession though we still will be in it until the end of the year. I’m just expecting it to be a long slog back to where we were before and there will be a lot of pain along the way.
Anyway, I’m off to grow a beard.
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