Tuesday, June 30, 2009
My take on Michael Jackson...
I was heading into the mountains of West Virginia when the news hit, so my knowledge of this situation is incredibly limited.
All I can say about Michael Jackson is that he was a musical genius who clearly couldn't handle the pain inflicted upon him during his childhood.
Obviously, he became a nut job and did some really inappropriate shit during his life, but instead of dwelling on that negative stuff, I'll choose to remember his music. Very few people can touch him in terms of influence.
What's your favorite Michael Jackson tune? Here's mine...
"Human Nature"
The change at 2:09 is just amazing...
Monday, June 29, 2009
NFL Network Stinks!
I wrote this a few weeks ago at work but I wanted to spread the word.
I can't take it anymore. The NFL Network is a great concept that has turned into garbage. This is the fourth time in five weeks there NFL Classic Game of the Week, billed as "the greatest games in NFL history" is from 2007 or 2008. And for about the 100th straight week, Tuesday they will show their 30-minute NFL Game of the Week blocks from 2006...Do these bozos know they played football before 2006? It sure doesn't seem like it. Anyway here's what I wrote. Feel free to contact them and voice your opinions because basically they are stealing everyone's money right now with their tired programming and instant historianism.
Were you excited when the NFL Network started up? I know I was. I am a football junkie who would choose NFL Films and classic NFL games over anything else television, internet or cinema has to offer.
Unfortunately, just like ESPN Classic (which is now nothing more than ESPN 3 or ESPN Boxing/Poker/Billiards/Bowling/none of the favorite sports most people enjoy the most), the NFL Network has dropped the ball and seemingly done everything it can to annoy its viewers.
In a recent commerical in which it pats itself on the back, the NFL Network brags about how it has "access to 40 years of NFL Films and thousands of games." That is true so here is my novel idea...Show them!
Instead of using this awesome arsenal at its disposal, the NFL Network subjects its viewers to eight or more hours of the same of NFL Total Access show. Do we really need to hear the same news repeated for eight straight hours...especially in the offseason? No. Show it once in mid-evening and once around midnight and that suffices.
When Total Access is not on for the 50th straight time, NFL Network usually forces the same old "Top 10" shows they are so proud of or the same "NFL Follies" episodes over and over and over again. NFL Films also created a series called "Lost Treasures" around the turn of the century consisting of about 10 or so episodes...and they replay these over and over and over and over and over and over...you get the idea.
Think about the miles and miles of NFL Films this network has at its disposal and yet they show the same tired programs over and over, robbing the true NFL junkie of what he craves the most.
Speaking of what the junkies yearn for, the thousands of games this network brags about having? At most they usually show one from the past in its entirety per week. And even then it's often the same games they have shown repeatedly. For example, this week they are showing the 2008 Eagles-Cowboys Monday Night Game they have shown as a 30-minute Game of the week as a 90-minute game replay...you get the idea. They do this often, so much so that one wonders if the NFL Network thinks there are only about 10 classic games in NFL history.
And who is the one dubbing some of these selections as classics? On the table for next week? The Cowboys trouncing the Bills, 52-17 in Super Bowl XXVII. Wow, what a thriller that one was! What's next, Super Bowl XXIV in which the 49ERS humiliated the Broncos, 55-10 as the Classic of the Week?
Now here's something that really will bend your mind. Even though this is the NFL Network they show college and high school games at times. You are the N-F-L Network! And don't try to tell me, "well these guys might be pros one day." That's all well and fine--but they aren't right now. If you are going to call yourself the NFL Network then you canát be showing non-NFL related games or shows. That defeats the entire purpose of calling yourself the NFL Network.
This is ridiculous. NFL fans deserve better. The NFL Network is taking our money then laughing at us as they show the same tired programming. Let your voices be heard and go to the NFL Networkás web site and demand them to change their ways and become a truly fan-friendly network. Email Roger Goodell while you're at it. The commissioner is big on disciplining players or teams that don't comply with personal conduct policies. Well, Mr. Commissioner your NFL Network steals money from the public every day without giving them the programming they desire so maybe you should punish it.
Here's my suggestion for their punishment: Make their programmers actually do some work, comb the miles of NFL Films and games they have at their disposal and make them show it throughout the week. What a concept, huh? The NFL Network actually showing an array of NFL films and games.
That's the kind of change your network needs, Mr. Commissioner.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Fox News: We turn the bad guys into Democrats!!!
The Republican governor of South Carolina is a very naughty boy. And I thought he was against stimulus packages...
A brilliant move by the 76ers...
They're officially going back to their classic logo, and a variation of their uniforms from the glory days of Dr. J and Charles Barkley.
This begs the question: What's your favorite sports logo? You can find a bunch of choices here.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Best song to end a party?
This one could go a few different ways. In a shock move, I'll take my cues from a fantastic film, Dazed and Confused...
"Tuesday's Gone" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
It's perfect, especially if your party ends at 11:57 on a Tuesday night...
Monday, June 22, 2009
Possibly the height of the human experience...
Promise me you'll listen to the whole thing. Then try to tell me it wasn't worth it...
"Common People" by William Shatner/Joe Jackson
Go get this movie immediately...
I'm not the biggest Clint Eastwood fan by any stretch, but Gran Torino was incredible.
It was easily the best movie I've seen in the past few years...
Here we go again...
I'm back a week earlier than anticipated. More on that later.
The stuff I said in my last post was true. I haven't had the time to effectively run this site for awhile now, but that's life. I can suck it up and do my best.
On the political side of things, much of my inaction was spurred on by feelings of disappointment in both the Obama Administration and the "strong" Democratic majority in Congress.
At times, President Obama seems far more interested in making Republicans happy than enacting the agenda he laid out to the American people last year. He's been brilliant on many fronts, but he's falling victim to a desire to appear bipartisan rather than being an effective President.
As far as the Democratic leadership in Congress goes, I've never seen a more frightened group of politicians who hold nearly total control of both chambers on Capitol Hill. If a meaningful overhaul of health care in America isn't passed by the Democrats in the House and Senate, even if that means making a bunch of whining elephants cry, then they deserve to get their asses kicked at the ballot box next year. The American people are strongly in favor of a public option, and Democrats have the numbers to make it happen. A wide majority is worthless if you don't use it to help the people who elected you.
So there's that.
Other political stuff has been interesting: Sarah Palin struggling to stay relevant even though she's not, and Republican Senator and Promise Keeper extraordinaire John Ensign admitting to having an affair come to mind.
At the end of the day, though, it's the non-political stuff that makes me want to keep this site up and running.
I was very thankful to hear from so many of you that you'd miss this site if it went away. It wasn't my intent to have people talk me out of closing up shop, but you guys did a very effective job of it!
So I'm back, and we'll keep this thing going. We'll have some fun and let the political stuff take a back seat for a little while. I'll still bring it up when the mood strikes, but we'll change the overall focus of the site for the foreseeable future.
Thanks again for the kind words. I feel refreshed and ready to begin again...
Monday, June 15, 2009
Part 2 - Keepin' in light
One magical day I learned that the angle of the dangle is inversely proportionate to the heat of the beat. I also got to hear one of the sickest choruses ever put on tape.
Pursuit of Happiness - Cigarette Dangles
Sunday, June 14, 2009
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Friday, June 12, 2009
Let's see if absence really makes the heart grow fonder...
If I'm honest about it, my heart really hasn't been into the content of this blog for awhile now. An increasingly hectic schedule makes it nearly impossible to keep things fresh around here.
For that reason, I'm gonna take a few weeks off and see what happens. Maybe I'll feel a wave of creativity, or maybe I'll just shut this thing down. Time will tell.
In the meantime, I hope the other contributors to the site continue to do their great work. John, Rich, G, Chris please feel free to keep it up while I'm out.
Thanks!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Some purple loveliness to brighten up your afternoon...
My axe, just back from a tune-up courtesy of Mark Kane at Fat Sound Guitars...
What I mean by a "trend"...
As you read the following accounts, don't forget that Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano was pilloried by Republicans for releasing a report titled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment" back in April...
July 2008, Knoxville, Tennessee...
Police found right-wing political books, brass knuckles, empty shotgun shell boxes and a handgun in the Powell home of a man who said he attacked a church in order to kill liberals "who are ruining the country," court records show.April 2009, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
Knoxville police Sunday evening searched the Levy Drive home of Jim David Adkisson after he allegedly entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and killed two people and wounded six others during the presentation of a children's musical.
Knoxville Police Department Officer Steve Still requested the search warrant after interviewing Adkisson. who was subdued by several church members after firing three rounds from a 12-gauge shotgun into the congregation.
Adkisson targeted the church, Still wrote in the document obtained by WBIR-TV, Channel 10, "because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of media outlets."
The man accused of fatally shooting three Pittsburgh police officers and injuring two others was alternately described by friends as "an easygoing, fun-loving guy" and a known gun enthusiast who was prepared to die after he woke up on a bright spring Saturday morning.May 2009, Wichita, Kansas...
...
Perkovic said Poplawski feared "the Obama gun ban that's on the way" and "didn't like our rights being infringed upon."
The Kansas City man charged with assassinating abortion doctor George Tiller in his church a week ago warned Sunday that more violence is coming.June 10, 2009, Washington, DC...
"I know there are many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal," Scott Roeder said in one of two phone calls to the Associated Press from prison.
An 88-year-old gunman with a violent and virulently anti-Semitic past opened fire with a rifle inside the crowded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday, fatally wounding a security guard before being shot himself by other officers, authorities said.
The assailant was hospitalized in critical condition, leaving behind a sprawling investigation by federal and local law enforcement and expressions of shock from the Israeli government and a prominent Muslim organization.
Law enforcement officials said James W. von Brunn, a white supremacist, was under investigation in the shooting and that his car was found near the museum and tested for explosives. The weapon was a .22-caliber rifle, they added. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss the investigation just beginning.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Yet another pissed-off right-winger with a gun...
When do we start to call this a trend?
Some info on James W. von Brunn, the guy who took a gun into the Holocaust Museum in D.C today...
This is from his bio, apparently written by himself or someone sympathetic to him: "In 1981 Von Brunn attempted to place the treasonous Federal Reserve Board of Governors under legal, non-violent, citizens arrest. He was tried in a Washington, D.C. Superior Court; convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for eleven years by a Jew judge. A Jew/Negro/White Court of Appeals denied his appeal. He served 6.5 years in federal prison. (Read about von Brunn's "Federal Reserve Caper" HERE.) He is now an artist and author and lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore."
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Apparently, terrorism does work...
Sad...
The family of slain abortion provider George Tiller says his Wichita, Kan., clinic will be "permanently closed."
The Tiller family says in a statement released by his attorneys on Tuesday that it is ceasing operation of the clinic and any involvement by family members in any other similar clinic.
Monday, June 8, 2009
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Thursday, June 4, 2009
How is this even remotely possible in this country?
I can't believe I'm reading this correctly...
Medical bills are involved in more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies, an increase of 50 percent in just six years, U.S. researchers reported Thursday.Got that everybody? Even if you've got a good job with good health coverage, one major illness could break you.
More than 75 percent of these bankrupt families had health insurance but still were overwhelmed by their medical debts, the team at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University reported in the American Journal of Medicine.
...
"Unless you're Warren Buffett, your family is just one serious illness away from bankruptcy," Harvard's Dr. David Himmelstein, an advocate for a single-payer health insurance program for the United States, said in a statement.
"For middle-class Americans, health insurance offers little protection," he added.
Anyone care to explain why that's acceptable?
To what extent does Rush want Obama to fail?
I understand that he wants Obama's ecomomic policies to fail, even if it means the nation would fall deeper into recession.
But what about on the national security front?
Are Rush and the rest of his ilk in the Republican party also hoping for another terrorist attack on US soil so they can point the finger at President Obama?
I'm curious, although I doubt he'd have the balls to honestly answer the question...
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
If I had a creative bone in my body...
...I'd hope to someday be able to write a song that's half as good as this one.
"Annie Get Your Gun" by Squeeze
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
"Beefy sluggers are like porn stars, wrestlers, NBA centers and trophy wives: When it goes, it goes."
Ouch. Zero bat-speed. Cheating on fastballs and still behind the pace. Is Big Papi done? Anyone who expects to be called "Big Papi " deserves this sort of ending. It's all part of the rich tapestry excuse we for a sport ("baseball") that helps to get us through the summer until the real sport of America, NFL football, begins.
Another armed right-winger takes his cues from Fox News?
Just how "pro-life" is it to murder someone in cold blood at their church?
UPDATE: An interesting take on the Tiller murder from Josh Marshall:
Roeder, the suspect in Tiller's murder, had apparently twice tried to vandalize another clinic in the last two weeks -- and in a way that suggested it might be setting the stage for a more serious break in. An employee at the clinic managed to get Roeder's license plate number and reported it to federal authorities, only to be told that nothing could be done before a grand jury had been impaneled.
It seems difficult to imagine that similar suspicious behavior, let alone actual vandalism, would have generated such a passive response if the clinic had been a synagogue or a federal building and the suspect had an Arab name.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Puhleeze
Many moons ago there was a single video of a man being beaten by police officers that not only managed to spark mass conflagrations in the second largest city in the US but also sent out a ripple effect of anger and animosity the likes of which I'd never seen in my lifetime (although I know some here have seen/been in far worse.) But the cultural implications were far reaching and this was borne of just a single image. While the expediencies were actually self-effacing, the failure of our own ideology manifested itself in our own domain and rightfully so. We should be holding ourselves to a higher standard - that's what makes living here really awesome.
But the concept that our endless pursuit of civil liberties and demands for complete transparency aligns with the beliefs of all of those off of our shores is wishful thinking. I'm not making the claim that we should be white-washing reality by any stretch. But reality is that sometimes ideology must be compromised for the greater good. Al-Maliki has simply stated that the truth cannot be handled. Everyone already knows what's happened - let the torture porn find its way into the trash where it belongs. Unless, of course, we're also going to subsequently flood our own population too with the images of 18 year old boys and girls blown to pieces by RPGs to keep our voyeuristic quest for justice from being half-assed.
This embarrasses more than politicians. This sh*t embarrassed me to be human.
For every minute we spend looking into the abyss...
