Why so quiet?

I haven’t been writing so much lately because I’ve been preoccupied. There are just too many things to do and not enough time or energy to get the all done.

Of course primary among these is the continuing search for work. Much as I might like to live a life of leisure it’s just not in the cards at the moment. My pocketbook cries out in pain and continually urges me back to the workaday world.

However, these are tough times and finding another gig isn’t the easiest thing with so many people out of work. That’s not an excuse as much as a statement of fact. If you have to find work, you find it. Don’t complain because it just keeps you from accomplishing what needs to be done.

I should be putting more time into the search but sending out materials blindly is futile and the past experience has proved more fruitful ground lies within the network I’ve built up over the course of my career so I just keep making the rounds on that front.

In the meantime, there are a few more pressing things in the neighborhood needing to be addressed. The weather turned a few weeks back and the nights have gotten particularly cold. No biggie really and certainly not as if we are deep in the heart of winter but time for the heat to be turned on once again.

When you own a home, you view heating season as a necessary evil. Another expense (heating) but something you can’t really avoid.

Last year, just before the season started, I finally took the plunge and replaced my furnace. I couldn’t avoid it and though I was loathe to part with the money, the desire to keep warm won out.

It took the guys who installed it a bunch of tries to get everything right - they were here three, maybe four times before I could say things were in working order but even then I wasn’t entirely happy.

I got a deal thankfully due to a relative who owns a plumbing company but I would rather it hadn’t taken his guys so many tries to get it right (I don’t want to cost him money in trying to help me out). The guy he sent was shortly let go soon after and I could understand why.

After he finished getting everything installed, my utility room became a crazy quilt of wiring. It was just the job the guy did and while it bothered me a great deal, I certainly wasn’t going to do anything about it until the heating season was over.

Then just as the heating season was coming to an end, the thumping noise I heard every time there was a strong wind culminated in the exhaust chimney on the roof getting knocked over. Not a big deal since I was turning the boiler off but, something that made the local building inspector leave his card in my door letting me know it was noticed and had to be fixed - no exhaust from furnace equates to carbon monoxide poisoning, a pretty serious thing.

Even though I have a carbon monoxide detector in the utility room there are some things you shouldn’t take a chance with.

I had turned the heat off though so it wasn’t something needing immediate attention and then I got a nice streak of work. The work lasted a few months and truthfully when the weekends rolled around I wasn’t quite up for crawling around on the roof. As the gig ended, I figured on having the latter part of the summer to do all those nagging jobs around the house I had left unattended because I would finally have the time and some better conditions to work in.

But, I had the scooter accident.

Crawling around on the roof became a non-starter with a broken leg and rib so more weeks passed. The cast came off in September and even after it was off (and to this day) I’m still working my way back to where I was before the accident happened.

Damn though, it’s been cold!

So I got up there a few weeks ago and got the piece down off the roof and finally took a look at it. It was old and unusual, I hadn’t seen anything like it before. I took it over to the aforementioned relative to take a look at and even he was awash in disbelief as he had never seen anything like it himself.

He opined I might be able to get another one custom fabricated but of course that would involve tracking down a place where they could do the work. All in all, it would be a lot more involved, complicated and expensive than I could want or imagine.

The one thing I do have right now those is time... time and tools.

I got about doing what I needed to do to get things running.

Another thing is this: when you do a project yourself (around the house) you really want to do a good job. I’ll even go one better, you want to do it perfectly because if you are going to go through the trouble of doing it yourself it’s just not worth it to do it and then have to call someone in to fix it. Why even make the attempt when you could have just called in someone to do it to being with?

I set about breaking out my books (thank you Time Life Home Improvement Library) and got busy.

First it was cutting the pipe down, removing the crimped and damaged portion. Then it was figuring out just what would need to get done on the roof and getting the supplies (shingles, flashing, nails, roofing cement). Next was making sure I had all the tools I would need to do it.

Before I did that though I rewired everything in the utility room – this took a few days but now everything there is artfully done, streamlined and in code. I reran metal conduit around (instead of over the top) of the boiler and used the existing conduit tubing to run wiring instead of taping it to copper pipe like the guy had done.

I finished that over the weekend.

The last few days have been spent up above. I imagine it’s quite the sight to see me scrambling around my roof. My neighbor came home at one point and commented on how very adventuresome I am.

This struck me as funny because he scuba dives, something I would never do but, he is afraid of heights. I don’t consider myself adventurous at all. I had a rope tied off to a tree on the opposite side from which I was working on so I couldn’t go over the edge and after three days (not full days, a few hours at a clip), I am done!

The edge of the roof there? That’s about a 20 ft. drop. Doesn’t sound like much but you don’t want to fall (especially not with a bum leg that is still recovering).

The shingles look really, really white but they’re just the normal asphalt gray. The big problem is taking pics with a camera phone, they just aren’t the greatest pics.

Am I happy with the job and how it came out?

 Not entirely, I’d say I’m maybe 85% with how it wound up.

Am I glad it’s done?

GOD Yes!

But best of all, I am now toasty warm!

Now, that wasn’t all that surprising, was it?

The Yankees won the World Series, wow.

Is anyone really shocked or surprised by this?

Well, it took them two games longer than I thought it would but it appeared the Phillies couldn’t win any games that weren’t started by Cliff Lee. What with the crappy postseason schedule based entirely around the desires of the networks the Phillies might have actually won the series if they had drawn out the seven games further - maybe the next thing we’ll see is the World Series taking on a game a week format so it runs seven weeks.

Again, I’m not surprised the Yankees won. As far back as the middle of August I was talking to a cousin (who is a Yankee fan) and noted quite matter-of-factly the Yankees would go all the way this year.

The main reason I thought they would was because they had something they didn’t have in a long time... a team.

The Yankees over the last decade have been known for breaking the bank and moving Heaven and Earth to get the highest priced free agent available but they never seem to have given much thought to how well their acquisition will fit in with the overall scheme of the club.

Notable about the teams of the 90s was the fact that even though there were stars on those teams, there were a lot more "grinders." Grinders being the kind of players that go out each and every day and play hard. Those Yankee teams had a toughness and a business-like mentality that was unmistakable and it was a big factor in why the franchise was so successful throughout the period.

This year’s edition is unlikely to enjoy the rampant success the 90s teams did. I honestly don’t see the Yankees repeating next year. A lot of things have to go your way to go all the way in baseball and truthfully as good as the Yankees are, they just aren’t built for the back to back to back success enjoyed from 96 to 00.

Now, I’m a Mets fan but I was a former Yankee fan and all through the earlier part of this decade I couldn’t help but feel a certain deja vu incited by the actions of the franchise compared to the way the Yankee teams of the eigthies and early 90s were built. The Yankees made some big mistakes too over the past few years, is it a coincidence the year the team finally went out and got a decent first-baseman they did better?

Jason Giambi was never the second coming of Mickey Mantle, Mike Mussina while a 300 game winner was never a leader on the team and let‘s not forget the debacle that was the Kei Igawa signing or the Carl Pavano contract. There are names and then there are names but those names should send chills down the spine of any Yankee fan.

Mind you, this is a club with a lot of promise. Promise to contend and make things at the very least interesting but what the Yankees do this off-season will tell 6baseball fans a lot about whether or not they are going to revert to the dysfunctional ways of the early part of the decade or if they are really dedicated to going into a bold new direction and creating another dynasty.

Let’s talk about the infield first.

Catcher: Jorge Posada as a catcher, Posada’s days are numbered. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he doesn’t evenly split time between DH and catching next season. The biggest question the Yankees have is what to do until Joe Mauer becomes a free-agent (if Minnesota doesn’t lock him up before then) and what Plan B will be if he should wind up not being available. Jose Molina is a stopgap at best and the Yankees should be looking right now to develop someone in their minor league system to be their catcher of the future (whether they draft or trade for this person).

First Base: Mark Texiera will be a fixture for years to come the only question is who will be the backup and at the moment Nick Swisher looks to fill that role.

Second Base: All knocks aside, Robinson Cano has provided the Yankees with steady defense for years now. When you place him against Jeter, Rodriguez and Texiera it’s a tough comparison but he IS ONLY 26! There are a lot of teams that wouldn’t mind having a player like Cano man second base and there is a lot to be said for a durable player who has hit over .300 in three of the five seasons he’s played in so far. You don’t fix what isn’t broken.

Shortstop: The Yankees are locked in on Jeter. He will sign another contract with the Yankees and most likely retire a Yankee. If not at the end of his next contract, sometime shortly thereafter. When the day comes for the Yankees to find a new shortstop or have someone replace Jeter it won’t be an easy thing because he is one of the most beloved Yankees of all time.

Third Base: A-Rod finally won. He made it to the World Series and was on the winning side. He did it in a season where he missed significant time to injury and stayed out of the headlines once he did return to playing. The rub with A-Rod though is this - for all his talent, for all his gaudy numbers, even with the big contract it is just a matter of time. New York fans are merciless. They do not suffer fools gladly and A-Rod has shown time after time after time a proclivity to self-destruct. Immensely talented, A-Rod will have a slump, he will back a back page headline (or maybe even a front page headline again) and when that time comes he will take the team down with him. The problem is he’s not going anywhere - he’s got the contract and the years so the Yankees are married to him until the inevitable ugly divorce.

Outfield: Here is the Yankees biggest question mark. Swisher will be with the team next year and is only 28, there is no doubt he can man right field for a few more years. Plus, he’s a clubhouse guy, the kind of teammate other players like having around if only to stay loose. Melky Cabrera IS ONLY 24! Fans forget this far too easily. The biggest question the Yankee organization has about Melky is whether he’s going to mature into another Bernie Williams or if he’ll wind up being Roberto (don’t call me Bobby) Kelly. The answer to that question will affect the Yankees more than people realize in the coming years. Brett Gardner is 25 and there is no reason not to think he can’t play left field. Certainly he can man it until such a time as the Yankees need to go out and find another big bat for the outfield.

Say goodbye to:

Johnny Damon. The Yankees simply shouldn’t give him the contract he‘s looking for in terms of money or years. The best indicator of why they shouldn’t is Game 6 with Damon pulling up lame. Damon is going to break down more and more as time goes on - he’s 35 and the money the Yankees would be obligated pony up to resign him could be put to better use elsewhere.

Hideki Matsui. Fans haven’t seen the last of him but with Posada looking to spend more time at DH in the future does it make sense to overspend for a part time DH? California, Detroit, Boston and the White Sox are all possible destinations.

As far as the bench goes, I leave it up to others to spend time mincing about those details.

Pitching?

The Yankees starting rotation is set for several years. Of course CC Sabathia is back and so is AJ Burnett.

The difference between the Yankees and other teams is that they have a potential number one pitcher on the disabled list. Chien-Ming Wang would be slotted into the three spot on this team but on many other teams would be considered a number one pitcher. The Yankees (and all of baseball) are eager to see just what Wang will have next year, if he returns to form and wins another 19 games (as he did in his second and third seasons) the Yankees will have a formidable punch.

Andy Pettitte hopefully will re-sign with the team. Pettitte is often undervalued by the Yankees and did win 14 (’09), 14 (’08) and 15 (’07) games over the last three seasons. The man flat out knows how to pitch and is a good teammate. Very few teams could contemplate having such an experienced hand at the number four position in their rotation.

The five spot?

Phil Hughes. The 23 year old should be given the chance to crack the rotation and if he doesn’t succeed then Chad Gaudin can easily spell fifth starter.

One thing people will notice in a discussion of the starting rotation is the absence of a name - Joba Chamberlain. There’s a reason for that.

Much as you have to respect the man’s accomplishments, Mariano Rivera will be 40 in 2010. When closers lose it, they lose it fast. It happens quickly and without warning, one day they’re just not the sure thing they once were and it happens to all the great closers of the game. Yankee fans have been spoiled by Rivera; really, really spoiled.

As a former Yankee fan I suffered through a lot. First, biting my nails every time Dave Righetti entered a game and then watching a succession of mediocre pitchers try to be closers after Righetti left (Steve Howe anyone?). Steve Farr was a bright spot but it wasn’t until John Wetteland arrived Yankee fans could breath a sigh of relief when their team was ahead entering the ninth inning. Rivera was tutored by Wetteland and in similar circumstances should be tutoring Chamberlain the same way. Let’s face facts, the great Joba Chamberlain starting pitcher experiment was a mediocre success at best and a great closer is infinitely harder to find. Chamberlain should get moved to the bullpen and be given the eighth inning role.

Besides, if the Yankees truly had someone in their bullpen they could rely on they wouldn’t have pitched Mariano more than an inning per game during the post season. The Yankees can fill in the bullpen around those two anyway with Chamberlain in the eight inning role and Mariano in the ninth inning role they’ll only be looking for middle and long relievers and there are always more than a few to choose from.

Even so, with all the things the Yankees have going for them, dynasty will be a hard feat to pull off.

Movie Mondays!


I was pleasantly surprised by this movie... I’ve seen other Besson movies - Le Femme Nikita, The Professional and The Fifth Element - and this film is very different from those movies. I was reminded of Jim Jarmusch’s Down By Law, not just because the film was shot in black and white but, also because of its pacing. This is not the big over-the-top action spectacle you may be looking for if you’ve watched the aforementioned Besson films and if that is what you are seeking, you’ll be disappointed. However, it still is a film worth seeing. It’s a quiet movie with a lot of dialogue and since it’s all subtitles with no English track be prepared to focus closely on the film if you truly want to enjoy it. It has a simple message about a man at the end of his rope seeking redemption and finding it from an unlikely source. While I can’t say I ever warmed up to Jamel Debbouze’s character, Rie Rasmussen is infinitely watchable. Plus, the film lovingly shows Paris at its most beautiful, The City of Lights is really another character in this film. There are a lot of nice small details in this flick in dialogue, in composition, in pacing but if that’s not what you look for in a film, don’t waste your time.

I’m repurposing content by taking my NetFlix reviews and posting them here on the blog. If I could figure out a way to do it, I’d post some kind of link for people to connect and make me their friend on the service. Unfortunately, it isn’t altogether clear how one would do that - so if you know a way, pass it along. In the meantime, I’ve got steady content for at least a year.

Movie Mondays!




While James Nesbitt may not be familiar to American viewers, he is an absolute revelation in this re-imaging of the classic Jekyll/Hyde tale. I reserved this out of curiosity more than anything else and was extremely and pleasantly surprised. The series entails only six episodes spread across two dvds but, it’s incredible bang for the buck. The lead character portrayed by Nesbitt (Jekyll) has taken to leading a strange if troubling double life, forcing him to isolate himself from those he loves. It opens with him hiring a woman to accommodate the demands of both him and his alter ego. The woman (portrayed by Michelle Ryan the lead in NBCs recent Bionic Woman) finds herself drawn in by the gentlemanly Jekyll. However, as the story progresses it becomes apparent that not everyone around Jekyll has his best interests at heart and friend may really be foe. The question is whether or not Jekyll can come to an understand with his darker half and in the process overcome those forces arrayed against him. It’s a highly entertaining series that actually left me wanting more - I’m not sure if the BBC plans to revisit this property somewhere down the road but, I hope they do. Even I wasn’t expecting the reveal at the very end. Good acting and pacing all-around make this a highly enjoyable watch!

I’m repurposing content by taking my NetFlix reviews and posting them here on the blog. If I could figure out a way to do it, I’d post some kind of link for people to connect and make me their friend on the service. Unfortunately, it isn’t altogether clear how one would do that - so if you know a way, pass it along. In the meantime, I’ve got steady content for at least a year.

Confused?

Don’t be, I’m just having trouble keening how the whole new blogger thing works. I resist these jumps in technology fervently and find myself struggling because I like to have a full and complete grasp of how things work.

Undoubtedly things will be in disarray over the next few days (weeks).

 The sound of sphincters.

So much for my prognostication skills. Today all over Yankeeland you can hear the sound of assholes clenching as the Yankees manage to drop the first game of the Series by an impressive 6 to zip score. Is Cliff Lee really that good? Are the Phillies?

Looks that way.

Although I have to admit to being surprised myself over the game last night as a Met fan I really can’t say I’m all that upset.

Four and out.

I was looking through the predictions for the World Series yesterday and today. On Yahoo sports, the prediction was 6 or 7 games with three of the four pundits picking the Yankees.

I’m going to call it four and out. Don’t be surprised if the games are exciting and close but the Yankees wind up winning with a sweep of the Phillies. I said to more than one person BACK IN AUGUST (I can verify this), the Yankees would go all the way.

Aside from statements about mystique and aura being a pair of dancers, there has been something about this year’s Yankees team that had been sorely lacking since the late 90s. Namely, they’ve been a team! Sounds strange, no?

Still, the mark of a World Series champion is not the stars on a team but how well all the players work together and the magic of this season has been how the Yankees have been in first place throughout most of the season with nary a headline to show for it.

Note - this is probably the swansong for Hideki Matsui and Johnnny Damon in pinstripes. Yankee fans should not expect them back next season, not when in all likelihood Jorge Posada will be DHing more and Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera are capable of playing full seasons in center and left field.

The key to the Yankee season has been finally getting a true first baseman in Texiera after several years of hands of stone Jason Giambi and also getting the double punch of CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett.

Mind you, Joba Chamberlin will be in the bullpen next year and your Yankee rotation will most likely be Sabathia, Burnett, Wong, Pettite and Hughes.

These are heady times for Yankee fans to say the least and they do deserve to win it all. So, as good as the Phillies are, expect the Yankees to be just a little bit better when it counts and for them to provide one or two squeakers in their four game sweep of the Phils.

Now, if only my beloved Mets manage to go out and get Matt Holliday and either Roy Oswalt or Roy Hallady we may have another ten year anniversary of the Subway Series. That’s about all that’s left for Mets fans to root for this time around.

There are screams...

...and there are screams. In keeping with a little of the whole movie motif (from Movie Mondays), here’s a little tidbit of trivia for you to pull out the next time you go to the movies:

The sound effect originates from a series of sound effects recorded for the 1951 film Distant Drums. In a scene from the film, soldiers are wading through a swamp in the everglades and one of them is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator. The scream for that scene was recorded later in a single take along with five other short pained screams, which were slated as "man getting bit by an alligator, and he screams." The fifth scream was used for the soldier in the alligator scene—but the 4th, 5th, and 6th screams recorded in the session were also used earlier in the film—when three Indians are shot during a raid on a fort. Although takes 4 through 6 are the most recognizable, all of the screams are referred to as "Wilhelm" by those in the sound community.

Yes, the Wilhelm Scream is quite popular, check out the list of movies its been used in (via IMDB).

Finally, here’s a fun little video from YouTube:

Movie Mondays!


This is where it all begins!!! If you’re one of those rare people who hasn’t seen an episode of LOST or watched one and wondered what was happening, you must do yourself the justice and watch this series from the beginning. I clearly remember coming to LOST without expectations but after the two-hour premiere I was hooked! You will be too! Is it sci-fi? Is it supernatural? Is it romance? LOST squarely has a foot in all these genres and the ensemble cast assures the viewer at least one character will become a favorite. LOST is the kind of series with many layers and plot threads, some may seem disposable at first, but beware! Often they’re not. It begins with a plane crash, one of the most breathless, uncomfortable to watch sequences ever to be shown on television and from there we are introduced to the strangers who survived the crash of Oceanic 815. A motley crew of conflicting personalities trapped, having to figure out a way to survive as they are cast into the role of modern day Robinson Crusoes. Just where have they landed though? What is the history behind this mysterious and dangerous island they find themselves on? Will they be able to find their way back to civilization? We learn about the characters through flashbacks as they learn about each other. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s vastly entertaining and if you have you will probably want to rewatch these episodes to remind you of the twists and turns this tortuous trail has taken over the four seasons of the series!

I’m repurposing content by taking my NetFlix reviews and posting them here on the blog. If I could figure out a way to do it, I’d post some kind of link for people to connect and make me their friend on the service. Unfortunately, it isn’t altogether clear how one would do that - so if you know a way, pass it along. In the meantime, I’ve got steady content for at least a year.

Sunday Mass - Vita est Lavorum.

I’m not a churchgoer per se, but I must profess to liken the sermons of one particular cleric so without further ado I give you Father Guido Sarducci on secret of life:

Cleaning tips.

I was in the process of making dinner tonight and I reached into the freezer to pull something out. It was then I took the plunge and decided a few long term residents were long overdue for eviction.

In the process, I realized there are a couple of simple rules you should apply to food storage:

If you can’t remember when you bought something, it is probably time to throw it out.

If you can’t tell what something is by looking at it, it is probably time to throw it out.

True story... I looked into the freezer compartment and there was a white block of something, it easily flaked off the main mass. There was a bit of freezer burn on it and when I opened it it smelled vaguely like cheese (which I think it was) but I won’t take a chance and I tossed it.

I also had some hot dogs (which I couldn’t quite remember how long ago I had bought) and some chicken breasts (which seemed as if they had been transformed into some kind of igneous-like rock) and some other cold cut meat. How long can you keep stuff in the freezer anyway? I’m kind of at a loss to figure out how long things can be in the freezer without going bad. If anyone has the answer to what the time frame is I would appreciate it.

Still, tonight a few things got tossed. Like I said, I just won’t take a chance (especially after having a really nasty bout of something a few years back).

While we’re on the subject, how long can you keep canned stuff around? I don’t have anything around here dating back to the Great Depression but that’s a question I wouldn’t mind the answer to as well.

There must be something wrong with me.

So, I’m listening to the radio this morning when I hear the snippet of a song. Thing is I like the snippet I hear and in relatively short order I’m able to track down the tune. I’ve got a special place in my heart for certain kinds of music, give me a group with a good female lead singer and a catchy melody and I’m hooked (one of the reasons I really wound up liking bands like The Breeders, Veruca Salt and others.

This tune is really poppy though and I like it a lot. It’s total bubblegum music or at least what was referred to as bubblegum music when I was a kid.



So, I listened a bunch of times and kept thinking how there was something in the hook that sounded like a song I had heard before. This happens to me a lot... well, not a lot but when it does it bugs the hell out of me until I can figure out what other tune is being referenced in the cobwebs of my brain (I’m still trying to figure out what the song is that the theme from Futurama keeps reminding me of).

Today though, I got lucky. I listened a bunch of times and I think I’ve figured it out. So after you listen to the tune above listen to this oldie but goodie below and tell me whether or not you don’t think the two are slightly related.

Movie Mondays!



Don’t make assumptions or get turned off by the title either because this is a highly entertaining film and one of the best I’ve seen in awhile. Stephen Chow takes the standard conventions of the genre and churns out a jewel of a movie. Kung Fu Hustle is a film that pays great homage to its predecessors at the same time having a lighthearted sensibility that never descends into mocking tone. The characters may be two dimensional and the story a bit simplistic but that doesn’t stop it from being fun! The fight scenes are choreographed wonderfully, the set design and effects are amazing, it’s a tour de force that holds up under repeated viewings. This is a real movie lover’s movie and entertaining for those seeking out the kind of Saturday matinee fare that made going to the movies fun. It’s a treat for a broad range of ages and a delight to watch!

I’m repurposing content by taking my NetFlix reviews and posting them here on the blog. If I could figure out a way to do it, I’d post some kind of link for people to connect and make me their friend on the service. Unfortunately, it isn’t altogether clear how one would do that - so if you know a way, pass it along. In the meantime, I’ve got steady content for at least a year.

Am I the only one?

Tonight on 60 Minutes they had this interview between Drew Barrymore and Anderson Cooper. Nothing earth shattering there, two children of privileged names sitting down to shoot the sh*t.

Thing is there were a lot of closeups on Drew’s face.

Now, I like looking at Drew Barrymore, she’s a pretty girl and I still have an old copy of Interview magazine around here somewhere with some spectacular photos of her in it. I mean even in her mid-thirties she still is killer but, the thing that always sticks with me whenever I see her and the one thing which never seems to get any kind of ink is something I always notice.

Look at the girl’s face... I mean really, really look at it close.

Everytime I see her, I wonder to myself if she didn’t have some kind of mild stroke somewhere along the way.

I’m not trying to be mean, I just wonder if something happened. Something that never made it into the press but had an effect. Drew commented at length during the interview about her wild past. As a young star, before she even entered her teens, her abuse of drugs is well documented. She was in rehab at a very early age. She put the kind of mileage on her young body that wouldn’t occur until many people’s late teens or mid twenties. Lots of drugs and lots of hard living, the kind of thing that catches up to a person.

So, is it totally unimaginable somewhere along the line she overdid it? Moreover, she overdid it to the point that it had a lasting physical effect on her?

One side of her face seems... lazy? I don’t know if that’s the right word for it. Sometimes, when people have had a stroke they lose the ability to control muscles or even if they don’t totally lose use, their control of those muscles is diminished from what it would normally be. And it’s not just her face... her speech has been affected to. You can hear it, a slightly perceptible lazy tongue (the syrupy kind of speech which reminds me of Sylvester the Cat).

Like I said, I’m not trying to be mean because I think she’s a beautiful girl. I just wonder to myself if we’ll ever learn whether or not that‘s the case.

Sunday Mass.

I’m not a churchgoer per se, but I must profess to liken the sermons of one particular cleric so without further ado I give you Father Guido Sarducci on higher education:

Sex sells.



As if there was any ever doubt, at the very least there are quantifiable results. Normally, my photo stream on Flickr doesn’t get a ton of traffic. There are photos that do generate views (for some reason a picture I took of some people dressed as Gambit and Rogue seems to be of great interest) but I can see by the stats how much traffic the stream gets.

The other day I posted some more photos from a Charles Gatewood lecture I attended at the Museum of Sex. I had been going through the ton of photos I took and managed to clean up a few and figured I would get them up into the stream.

Man! I almost set a record! I came close to getting a 1000 views in 1 day! Ten times what I would consider a good day for the stream and mainly because there was some skin showing. People go crazy over these things, don’t get me wrong I happen to love looking at naked women but it’s not something that causes me to lose my mind when it does happen.

Movie Mondays!




A noble effort that falls short, Immortal could at best be considered a passable movie. Enki Bilal brings his graphic novel work to life and unfortunately it doesn’t translate as well as it might have. While there is no denying Bilal’s creativity, he falls victim to the trap many autuers succumb to in translating his work from one medium to another. Bilal is so concerned with staying true to his source material, he unfortunately fails to edit himself by cutting out unnecessary scenes or plot threads. As a result, the story plods along at ponderous pace repelling only the most dedicated viewer. This film also marries animated and live action characters (a la Roger Rabbit or the Star Wars movies). While in some instances it makes perfect sense, in others it only serves to distract the viewer. It winds up being overkill when an actor in prosthetics would have much better served the purpose. Other reviewers have made comparisons to The Fifth Element and if you’ve seen Besson’s movie you’ll note similarities in tone and style. However, Besson succeeds where Bilal fails. If you’ve read any of Bilal’s work in Heavy Metal or Metal Hurlant, you’ll probably want to seek this out just to see what Bilal did but, if you’re have only a cursory knowledge of Bilal’s work you will more than likely be better served watching Fifth Element which is a better paced and tighter film.

I’m repurposing content by taking my NetFlix reviews and posting them here on the blog. If I could figure out a way to do it, I’d post some kind of link for people to connect and make me their friend on the service. Unfortunately, it isn’t altogether clear how one would do that - so if you know a way, pass it along. In the meantime, I’ve got steady content for at least a year.

Amazing!

Got this forwarded to me by my friend Bill and it really is worth a watch.

Somewhere...

I was out running errands the yesterday. We’ve had the first signs of the end of the year coming and truthfully, the colder months and shorter days are not my favorite time of the year.

I can feel the promise of winter’s chill in my bones and I absolutely despise it.

Yesterday had been a strange kind of day, the sun peeked out behind the clouds and gave the false hint of warming things up. It was one of those fall days where it had been mostly overcast with that telltale Autumn chill. Just a cold, gray day for the better part of Thursday.

It never rained but it looked much of the time as if the skies would open up any second. Certainly, it was the kind of day where if you have your choice, camping out underneath a blanket with an old movie and some a hearty bowl of soup or a warming cup of hot chocolate would be one’s preference.

Still, I got out there and as the afternoon drew to a close the sky did clear up just long enough for the sun to wave goodbye as it dropped below the horizon. The dark clouds made their way eastward still pregnant with all the moisture and I looked up wondering if they would make a last ditch attempt to wet everything and everyone down.

And there it was!



You don’t see them often, especially not in the fall but a wonderful and well-defined rainbow blazed across the sky.

It was just beautiful.

So much so, I stopped and just stood there looking at it. I’ve seen rainbows before so that’s nothing new but, they don’t show up often. I thought I should take a few moments if only to appreciate the fleeting beauty of the rainbow while I could.

I was in the parking lot of a local supermarket and a few other people noted the phenomenon and could be seen pointing skyward to their companions. I snapped off a few shots with the cellphone camera and watched as slowly but surely the light dissipated.

The thought struck me how there was a good lesson here. There is beauty in the world around us all the time but we miss it. All it takes to see it though is just taking a single moment to look up – in essence moving away from being so engrossed in the trivialities of our day.

Brilliant!

Perhaps one of the funniest things I’ve read in awhile. An ode to Windows from a Windows user (via The Guardian):

I know Windows is awful. Everyone knows Windows is awful. Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it’s there, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Please excuse our appearance.

While we undergo some renovation.

Funny headlines.

I saw this one and I had to figure it was something that slipped past an editor:

Outrage: Qaddafi Pitching A Tent On Trump Property

An important milestone.

Very quietly now a significant anniversary comes upon us.


What makes it all the more interesting to me is to contemplate what it means. You see, we are almost at the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. This means there is a generation of Americans today to whom the Cold War is a distant memory.

If anything was emblematic of the Nuclear Arms Race it was the Berlin Wall. The prevalent feeling among us all at the time of two nations locked in a death struggle that might be triggered at any moment leading to the end of the species. It wasn’t something people thought about every waking minute but it was something that overshadowed all events on the world stage.

It was like watching a boxing match between two great fighters that neither fighter could win.

Nobody could even believe it would ever end and if it did end, the consensus was it would end badly for everyone involved. It would end with the proverbial bang and not the whimper and we would all be poorer for it.

When the moment came and it actually did end, no one could have imagined the speed at which events would move. The Berlin Wall was the symbol of the Cold War and when it ‘came down’ it was the symbol of the Cold War‘s end.

I just find it amazing there is a group of young people coming of age today who never knew those times as intimately as those of us who lived through it. Click through on the image above to be taken to the Wikipedia entry on the Berlin Wall. It’s really worth reading.

I think we have forgotten how dangerous these weapons are and it’s something we should think about when there are nations who we would consider to be more radical and less stable seeking to obtain the capability to add nuclear weapons to their arsenals.

More photography.

As I had said, I had been procrastinating about the whole photography thing.



There were a couple of things around here I had to take pictures of and as I get the morass cleared away I can finally start getting around to doing some of the things I had been meaning to do for a long time. I actually purchased backdrop a couple of years back thinking it would come in handy for taking pics. Well, it did.

I have to say this was such a quick makeshift setup, I basically put the backdrop on a long pole and then draped it down behind my drawing table using my worklamps for the lighting sources (along with natural light). I was more concerned about getting everything done as quickly as possible and getting them out and over with so there are some instances where I could have done some cropping.

Overall though I am surprisingly pleased with the results.

Not bad.

I’ve been taking some photos of some things today. I had been meaning to set up my camera with the background and the right lighting. It was the thing that was holding up the works (aside from the whole leg thing). I’m pretty happy with the results:

When you care enough to send the very worst.

I have a lot of pet peeves. This is fine in some cases because some of the people I love the most in my life, people who have become important to me through the years are just like me in that sense. They’re prickly people (not to be confused with Pricks). They just like to pull aside the veneer of banality and insincerity and view things as they really are.

One of my pet peeves is the ‘E-card.’

I got an E-card notification today and straight away deleted it. I just won’t even waste my time going through the hassle of logging into a site to view one of these things. It used to be they were bad enough before Flash was so prevalent but now, they’re just insufferable. I sometimes think it would be worth it not to have Flash at all if we could avoid these inane animations that are part and parcel of the E-card.

The other thing that bothers me is to view these stupid things, in many cases you have to create an account and give up more of your personal information to another stupid website just so you can get even more spam in the future.

To me, an E-card borders on the insulting.

It says, I couldn’t be bothered to drag my ass out from behind the computer and get and spend the time getting a physical card. I couldn’t be bothered to actually take out the time to write you a note and address an envelope and put a stamp on it. It tells you everything you need to know about how important you are to the person sending it.

Look at it this way, how do you view receiving email versus someone sending you a letter?

I’m sure some of it has to do with my age. In an era where people text message back and forth to one and other (even breaking up with each other via text message), it can hardly be at all surprising people send E-cards. Yet, I like acknowledgment of a holiday or a birthday to come commercial free and E-cards don’t.

We’ll be getting to your greeting right after a short ad from our site sponsor!

When I go to pick up the mail whether it’s at the box or at the house, there are certain things that never even make it out of the building (at the box) or into the house. They immediately go into the recycling bin. E-cards are like other forms of spam and get the same treatment.

Simply Amazing!

I caught this last night and I have to say I thought it was really good. Makes me wonder if they’ll ever actually do something like this (with real actors). I kept thinking how there would be this point somewhere down the road (150 years from now) where this would be considered high art.

BLASHPHEMY!

Today is September 11th the anniversary of the terror attacks in Manhattan, Washington DC and Shanksville, PA. We have big events in Manhattan and Washington but what happened in Shanksville always sticks with me more.

Before I go off on a sidetrack here though, it’s the eighth anniversary and again there is the same ceremony, the ‘reading of the names.’

I’m going to utter the unthinkable, it’s time to move on.

It’s not that remembering the day isn’t important, it’s not to diminish what happened but, we don’t focus so intently on Pearl Harbor Day. We acknowledge it on a level but, we don’t obsess over it. Thinking about it, I don’t readily believe the nation ground to a halt eight years after the event either. A memorial was built and there is a remembrance to mark the day for those who choose to do so.

Neither should we do that with 9/11.

I sometimes wonder if our society here hasn’t become a nation of drama queens. This publicizing of grief seeming to be more about garnering attention for the bereaved than about true mourning. I always see these kinds of things on the news where a person gets shot or is in an accident or something along those lines (whatever the latest news event we focus on so ratings can increase) and suddenly a makeshift memorial springs up.

LOOK! I LEFT A CANDLE!

People die each and every day. It happens all arounnd us and we can be certain one day our number will be up too. Every day people die for the most pointless of reasons, creating thousands of small tragedies for the people they’re connected to.

Life doesn’t stop though.

We move forward, the world moves forward.

While 9/11 was and is something of a pivotal event for our nation, I believe the time is coming where we need to move past it. By obsessing over our grief, by indulging ourselves in it (and I say this with the greatest sense of irony), THE TERRORISTS WILL HAVE WON!

I never have been so crazy about some of the things that came out of that day eight years ago and am frustrated by the things that have been forgotten in the years since.

Perhaps the most terrifying thing for anyone who cares about personal liberties and freedom should be the fact of how easily, how readily, how quickly our government was able to shut the nation down. How all the borders were sealed, all the planes removed from the sky, how everything came rapdily to a grinding halt. On the one hand it was an amazing feat but since then we have often been told our government needs even more powers to insure our security. In retrospect and looking at what our government was so easily able to accomplish, I think it is sobering and a warning to us moving forward about how we should be wary of giving over to much power to the institutions we choose to rule over us.

If you can shut down a nation this large in just a few short hours, how much more power does the government need?

We have increased security at airports now and we’ve spent millions (possibly billions) of dollars to that end. People take their shoes off, they can’t take things onto planes with them (even the most innocuous of items) but all that money was just for show, it really wasn’t necessary to spend to the level we spent and even then the money that was spent only made air travel more difficult and onerous (putting more secure doors between the cockpit and the passengers probably was the smartest thing to be done and between that and having air marshals undercover on flights may have been all that was necessary).

Yes, it’s not about common sense.

What we‘ve forgotten from that day?

Well, for one PEOPLE WERE NICER TO EACH OTHER. I mean people were just more humane and patient with the people around them. It was something especially apparent in New York. While most of us were shell-shocked, people just went out of their way to be courteous and respectful of one and other.

People worked together. Not just on a personal level but in the government as well. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if some of the idiots running around ranting and raving about their political opponents could remember that? (No one Republican or Democrat is getting a break on that in my book) If we had just a sliver of that today, I have to imagine our government would be a lot more effective and more things would get done.

People volunteered. It appeared a lot of people in our country finally recognized what it meant to accept their civic duty.

It seems to me a lot of those things have been forgotten in the years since September 11th. Yeah, we’re real good at the public spectacle of mourning but wouldn’t it be better, wouldn’t it show more acknowledgement and respect to the people who lost their lives if we held those lessons close to our hearts especially on the anniversary of such a tragic event? Instead of having them read off the names in a pit where a bunch of people died, wouldn’t it be better to rememmber how much our nation pulled together in the days and weeks after the tragedy?

The Shanksville thing?

You know, that appears to be an afterthought in all of the marking fo the day but to me those people on that plane, for me they embodied the lesson to bring out of that day. Just as people were nicer to each other and all the things I believe we’ve forgotten as listed above, what happened on United Flight 93 was Ground Zero for it. The passengers stopped something terrible from happening at the sacrifice of their own lives. This is not a slight against any of the rescuers who lost their lives on that day because they exemplify that too but, those people when they found out what was going on decided to put a stop to it. Even now thinking about it, I am amazed.

It’s what I like to think is the spirit of our nation, what our national identity is and should always be about (many different people of different backgrounds coming together).

I’m sorry for the people who were lost but I think we should move on. In that I mean, stop with this spectacle and start by making this day into something productive.

FREE STUFF!

Twomorrows seems to have a half price sale every year in September and as part of the sale they also make select issues of some of their magazines available for download (pdf versions of course). Really a no-brainer for anyone who is into comics at all, click through to go to the site where you can download:

INSANITY DEFINED.

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I am now down to 5 days and counting until my second cast comes off. This is a wonderful prospect, being without a cast after seven weeks. Wearing a cast is akin to having a weight attached to one’s leg, it’s like having the heavy metal ball and chain attached to you in the same manner depicted in old cartoons.

The last week or so has seen undeniable progress in that for over a week now I haven’t been compelled to use crutches or the rollator. I’ve been using a cane and sometimes I don’t even need that. I hobble around with my ball and chain (the cast) and make my way around with an unseeming gait.

I look forward to my freedom.

Quite a few people when finding out about how my accident occurred responded immediately by asking me when I would be getting rid of my scooter. It’s really quite interesting in a way, how the assumption is always the scooter is the cause. It’s interesting because I could have been riding a bicycle and managed to injure myself just as much. I could have been in a car accident and sustained even more severe injuries.

In both those instances though, I don’t believe people would have responded the same way. If I had had an accident riding a bike, I don’t imagine the first response would have been people asking me if I would be giving up riding a bike, nor do I think if I got into a car accident people would assume I would be giving up driving.

I had an accident and one of the things they are very adamant about in the MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) course is, an accident is the result of several factors and not a single factor. The convergence of a series of factors that when taking alone would not result in a problem.

After I had the accident, one of the first things I was doing was going over everything in my mind and trying to assess what the factors were that lead to the accident.

There were dry conditions so it wasn’t a question of that being part of it but, poor traction did play a role. I went across a road marking and found out much to my dismay, road markings aren’t applied with traction in mind. You’ll notice when you’re on a train platform the warning markings (usually broad yellow lines) have some texture in them, something road markings don’t. Painted surfaces are more slippery.

I took a curve a little faster than I should have. Instead of doing between 25 and 30 mph, I should have been going at most between 20 and 25 mph (maybe even slower).

I was leaning into the curve a lot (because of my speed). While leaning in and of itself made sense given the speed at which I was going, again I should have been going just a little slower.

Finally, I opted not to wear the correct protective gear. It was a beautifully sunny day and instead of wearing a jacket as I normally do, I opted to just stick with a t-shirt. I wasn’t wearing the riding boots I normally wear when I ride, just regular men’s boots without any support for the ankle and shin. And of course, I had jeans on.

The jeans surprisingly took a lot of punishment.

The protective gear I did wear though did it’s job. The helmet protected my head, although because I was wearing an open face helmet I got hit very hard in the side of the face from the impact of hitting the road surface and the goggles I was wearing cut into the area around the eye socket.

The gloves I was wearing (masonry gloves from Home Depot) managed to protect my hands.

I got some nice road rash on my arm, but I was wearing a t-shirt. If I had been wearing leathers, or even the jacket I normally wear when I ride, it’s not as bad and I may even not get any scraping at all. The banged up knees don’t happen if I’m wearing knee pads. The ankle doesn’t get injured as severely if I’m wearing the proper boots with the proper support and protection (if it gets injured at all).

So, again it wasn’t just one thing but a number of things that lead both to the accident and the injuries I sustained.

I like riding and I try to be a careful rider. The other thing I noticed and was thinking about after the fact was I was getting more comfortable in my riding skills. This is a bit of a double edged sword in a way, because the only way you get better is by riding but at the same time you should never lose the caution you have as a new rider. Plainly put, I should have been more careful, I have no one but myself to blame for the accident.

So, I am given the choice of getting rid of the scooter (option one), continuing to ride without taking heed to the lesson my accident provides me (option two) or continuing to ride but taking even more care when I choose to do so.

I’m going with option three.

What does that mean? Well, I ordered a new helmet (because once you have an accident with a helmet, the helmet is shot). The new helmet is a full face helmet. Also, I just ordered new riding boots - whereas I had boots before and they came up above the ankle providing support, I had always wanted (even before the accident) to get myself better boots so I got myself a pair of racing boots which specifically have padding in them to protect the lower leg. Of course, you have to wear protective gear for it to work.

So, I’ll be back out there. I’ll be taking it slow (not a bad thing) but I’ll be back out there nonetheless because sometimes you do have to accept a certain amount of risk if you’re going to enjoy life.

Talk about chops!

I’m missing work these days. Missing in the sense that I was really, really enjoying my last gig. It may sound strange to some people but I really liked the place I was working at and the people I was working with. Sure, everyone has their ‘moments’ but overall, I found myself quite content.

Again, I liked the people I was working with and one guy in particular really astounded me one day when I happened to be walking by and noticed something he had up on his screen.

I know a lot of people who either draw for a living or have a passion for it. Lots of very talented people who are always talking about learning how to use the computer to create artwork. Even the most talented of people find themselves in something of an uphill battle trying to find the same deftness they have with more traditional means of creating art.

Well, the guy I worked with? He got there. Take a look:


And click on the image to go over to his website where you’ll see and incredible display of his work. Personally, I’m amazed he‘s not doing this to earn his keep.

I’ve long since given up arguing with a-holes.

I was talking a week or so back about the impact of words. I always take their measure seriously and as I had stated earlier continually fret about them. Well, specifically I fret about what comes out of my mouth because I know how harmful words can be.

I lived in a predatory environment for the bulk of my life and because of that, there are certain things that trigger within me under certain circumstances. I can go from 0 to 60 very quickly, think along the lines of elephant gun versus fly swatter and there are instances where a deft touch is the better application. In those moments, I struggle not to use the elephant gun because using a big gun is my first impulse.

Strike hard, strike fast, strike without mercy and win.

Anyway, another of the things fascinating to me is how we can have very clear double standards about who it is okay to insult and who it isn’t. I’ve railed about this in the past at length. If we are going to use the yardstick of Political Correctedness in our speech and our interactions, then it logically should be applied evenly across the board to everyone and not just to certain groups.

Thing is, it’s not.

It has been very apparent to me for some time now there is a strong undercurrent of hypocrisy in the whole discussion of Correctspeak. However, I’ve long since realized there is no way possible you can argue with a moron. These are people who hold up their conviction as a shield to logic. The image that comes to mind is of the person sticking their fingers in their ears loudly chanting, “La, la, la, la...”

The double irony of this can often be it’s people who are ‘liberal’ who act this way.

They’re just right and others are just too stupid to see or understand it. There‘s no room for discussion so why bother even trying to have a conversation?

The other day, I saw something I found so incredibly offensive it stirred within me a desire just to put my foot through the computer monitor. It was posted by someone who in the past has gone on at great length about the slights towards various groups they themselves support. Again, this is a person of supposedly ‘enlightened’ views so it was quite amazing to see how readily they embraced something so offensive and so totally directed at a specific group.

You go watch it for yourself, I won’t embed the thing here. I leave it up to the person to seek it out and make their own determination.

I came away afterward though realizing a few things (mainly about the person who posted it):

Christianity does not qualify for the same respect as other religions (whether it is Judaism, Islam or a host of others because as far as I know most religions do involve prayer).

It’s okay to make perjorative statements if you are liberal because you are ‘enlightened.’

Some people are so amazingly stupid, they’ll never get it.

You want me to take you seriously? Show the same respect and courtesy for the things others hold dear as you want the things you hold dear to be shown. This is coming from someone who isn’t a bible-thumper either, I’m not even a church goer or anything but talk about just plain foul. The only thing I could think of was the old line, ‘If I wanted to hear from an a-hole, I would have farted.’ In the moment I saw the thing and read what the person posting it wrote, I pretty much lost all respect for the person in question and it’s not even worth it to say anything to them about it because you can’t argue with stupid people.

My 2008 resolution (or was it ’07)

I haven’t bought a comicbook in well over a year. One year I made a resolution just to stop with the whole Wednesday fix thing, it was getting way too expensive and it was time to get the monkey off my back.

It’s been at least 20 months, could even be something like 32 months, I can’t be sure anymore but it has been a long, long time since I even thought about buying a comicbook. This is about the only thing that could make me even think of setting foot in a comic shop and it is entirely justifiable.

Click on the image for the five page preview:

The continuing adventures of Mini Madoff.

I felt obligated to post some epilogue to the whole Mini Madoff story only because it’s all quite telling. Not that the outcome was any different than what I had anticipated (the biggest surprise of all would have been getting paid by this clown).

Again, when the subject about the unpaid invoice was broached, Mini Madoff replied in the body of his email with the following: ********** bill-I paid all my bills. Send to me and I will submit to accounts payable dept.

After Mini Madoff got his bill, he started singing a different tune: In Florida last 5 days. FYI-I owe zero, that is right $0, in all my business relations. Very high credit rating too. So you can answer, and I would be very interested in your answer, to the eternal question...“What would u do if you were me???”

I don’t speak parasite, I replied very plainly... pay your bill.

There was a flurry of emails over the next several days. In them, Mini listed a litany of excuses why he shouldn’t be obligated to pay for the services he received.

The marvelous thing in all of this was Mini couldn’t produce a canceled check or any proof of payment for something he did use – he put out his magazine, used the cover I designed, just never paid for it.

He cried how the invoice was from over a decade ago (must be a statute of limitations on unpaid debts), described how great his credit rating is, just about everything but providing the proof of payment or acknowledging he used the piece (and all the other work he got for free before that) at the very end as he put it: So I should just send you money cause you want it?

Ummmm, no. You should send me the money because you never paid for services rendered you frigging leech. A sense of entitlement does not allow you to skate through life living off the fruits of others’ labors.

Throughout the whole exchange I kept flashing to the image of Bernie Madoff angrily pushing his way through a throng of reporters, angry that they dared question his integrity and called into question the caliber of his morals! Meanwhile, the truth of it was, he was nothing more than a common crook, a well-dressed mugger, a flim-flam artist and the people who paid the most? His “friends” - people who put their trust in him and wound up paying the price for it.

Friends like those I don’t need.

Guys who aren’t satisfied unless they have it all. Tightfisted losers who sniff around looking for “favors” and who can’t be bothered to show a modicum of appreciation, recognition or acknowledgment when others help them (never mind actually paying for something). The kind of bottom dwelling scum who always look to cut corners except where their own comfort is concerned, the ones who don’t pay their bills as exemplified by my “friend” Mini, my pal.

Good riddance.

Saturday Morning Cartoons.

I’m excited and you should be too. It can’t come soon enough.

Helping out our neighbor to the south.

There may be many among you who are unaware but, one of our country’s closest neighbors is undergoing a crisis of rather severe proportions:

Cuba, in the grip of a serious economic crisis, is running short of toilet paper and may not get sufficient supplies until the end of the year, officials with state-run companies said on Friday.

But wait! There’s hope:

The good news: Day-old copies of the Communist party’s newspaper Granma, a traditional substitute, are available for less than a U.S. penny. And that’s six to eight full, if rough, pages per day.

Thinking about it, made me realize we are really a very selfish nation. What do I mean? Well, it’s fairly obvious we have an abundance of ass-wipes in this country and we should really be helping out the impoverished people of Cuba by exporting some of them to their needy country. We could send two rolls of toilet paper along with each one as well.

Krying for Kriminals.

Yes, we live in Bizarro World folks. That’s about the only way you can describe it. People in this country have blinders on when it comes to certain people and the very people who railed about the shortcomings of Bush Jr (someone who I gave no great love for) now weep inconsolably over the death of a murderer.

Anyone else?

They would have spent 40 years (or at least a portion of it) in prison - for manslaughter, for leaving the scene of an accident, for driving while intoxicated. The rules are different for the recipients of adoration from the Kult of Kennedy. Money and privilege mean there are a different set of standards and punishment doesn’t take the form it would for you and me.

The Lion of the Senate?

Better described as The Lying of the Senate because there is no question a man never did more to distance himself from his own behavior than Ted Kennedy did over the course of his lifetime.

He got forty years more than the woman he killed and even after avoiding being incarcerated for that misdeed the stories about his drunken escapades continued for another two decades.

Make your own judgment though:

Chappaquiddick incident.

St. Petersburg Times - Sep 1, 1969

The Free-Lance Star - Sep 2, 1969

Frustrated Grand Jurors Say It Was No Accident Ted Kennedy Got Off Easy

My own Madoff moment.

I have funny story to tell, it somewhat reminded me of the whole Bernie Madoff thing in a way. Bernie Madoff for those of you who have been in a cave is the financier who bilked people out of millions. He’s really just the latest in a long line of swindlers this nation produces, people who manage to get amazingly rich, display this veneer of respectability while at the same time being one small step removed from the guy who holds someone up in an alleyway with a gun, crooks to put it simply. Well-dressed crooks but crooks nonetheless who operate behind the facade of being respectable businessmen.

There are a lot of guys out there like that, guys who run businesses who seem very successful because they operate in margin, taking money in and not paying it out. Using it for all kinds of luxuries they shower upon themselves but simply not paying their bills.

I’ve been lucky for the most part, I GET PAID. One way or the other, I’m sure to get paid. Without going into detail, it’s something I take very, very seriously and when dealing with people who don’t pay their bills, I find since they operate in a world where rules don’t apply to them, well... rules shouldn’t apply to me when it comes to exacting the monies due me out of these people or at the very least the equivalent in trouble.

I’ve had a few clients through the years who have given me problems but I can count on the fingers of one hand the ones I didn’t get my due out of and it was only because of my own reasons that was the case.

This is one such instance...

I had a person who I had worked with for awhile and through our association at work we became friends. Even after neither of us were at the company we worked for we still managed to get together socially and stay in contact.

Over the years there were several times when I was approached by this person to lend my assistance to them in the form of working up a design or a page layout for some kind of project they were launching. Always with the promise of either more work in the offing or some kind of payback down the road. I didn’t mind helping the guy out as long as he showed his appreciation somehow.

Thing was, I kept getting approached but nothing ever materialized. What seemed to be happening was that whenever this ‘friend’ needed help of my specific expertise I would be the first person to get the call but there never seemed to be any kind of paying work and even further it was apparent no acknowledgment even in the form of the occasional lunch or something occurred.

Well, after a couple of times of doing the favor it just became clear it was a one way kind of thing and as much as I don’t mind charity, this was not a person deserving of such consideration.

So, there came a day when I was approached yet again to ‘help out’ on another project. After some discussion, I made it very clear to the party involved my work on the project would be billed at my normal rate and at the end of whatever work was performed they should well and full expect to be invoiced for it.

Now, I’ve heard this phrase before... see if you are familiar with it, it runs along the lines of something like this: ‘If you ever want to get rid of a friend (friend emphasized because of the sarcastic inference), lend them money.’

Likewise, if you want to rid yourself of someone who continues to try and take advantage of you, give them a bill. I did the work and billed the guy and what happened? Exactly what I expected... phwesh! GONE!

So, years pass.

A few months ago, out of the blue, who should get in touch with me again? Yep, you’ve got it, the very same friend. Of course, we caught up with one and other about our respective lives (bearing in mind, we had been friends and enjoyed the other’s company socially, the guy is very much a mensch). Round about the tail end of the conversation, my friend mentions in passing he’s launching a new magazine geared specifically for the Manhattan market and maybe I’d like to do some ‘work’ for him in the form of mocking up some cover designs.

You’ve got to love some people’s temerity.

I mention I’m really kind of busy and I put it as delicately as I can in saying I’ve never been paid for any kind of work I’ve done for him in the past. I simply can’t afford to devote my time to non-paying work at the moment. He assures me payment won’t be a problem, as he put it, “I always pay my bills!”

Well, in vernacular I am familiar with, ‘Momma didn’t raise no stupid children.’

I beg off and shortly afterward he starts sending me emails with comps of the cover asking me for my opinion on them. I give him my input and when the second batch arrives, I make it quite clear I’m not going to art direct the project without billing him and that pretty much ends me getting the comps (thankfully).

We shot a few more emails back and forth and in one of them I raise the specter of this project that I never did get paid for and he sends me back an email assuring me he paid all his bills on the specific project and if I find an invoice to send it along and he’ll ‘give it to the girl’ to check out.

Bad move.

I keep all my bills, I mean I have records on invoicing going way back so in relatively short order I’m able to find the bill and I send it along with a note.

Later that day I got the angry phone call, What was this about!? The bill was from fourteen years ago!! Blah, blah, blah, blah. I listened calmly but I was about to go off somewhere and couldn’t have an extended conversation so I had a very response, “You didn’t pay the bill, do you think I’m lying?”

Nevermind, I didn’t charge interest for the fourteen f*@#&ng years the guy didn’t pay me, I didn’t know there was a statute of limitations on these things. Again, I just calmly said the above and then begged off the phone explaining I couldn’t really talk at the time but that the caller should read the email and then decide for himself how he wanted to handle it.

Obviously I won’t be holding my breath waiting but it history is any indication? I should be getting another call about a project sometime round about 2023.

Oh, before I forget.

So, I was also getting these emails recently. I’m a kinda middle of the road guy when it comes to the other great touchstone of our lives, namely politics. I kept getting these emails about the current president or the speaker of the house, I guess the intent was to spread that general air of discontent over a series of like-minded people.

Which is fine, we need to have a dialog and all that. There should be some kind of profusion of opinions when it comes to these things.

However, one of the things I really can’t abide is out and out bullsh*t lying. What I mean is when a statement or action is attributed to someone and it’s just fake, didn’t happen, wasn’t said, was said by someone else or just is absolute and utter crap.

Example: Politician (insert name of hated politician here) said today he is going to surrender all American women to the Middle East, sell all of the veteran’s down the river, spend every last dime we have until our children’s, children’s, children’s children’s future is mortgaged, open our borders to anyone at anytime who wants to come in and enjoy a welfare state.

Look, there are a lot of issues I stand solidly with what would be considered the ‘right’ on but there are a surprising number of issue where I would be considered ‘left’ leaning. When I get an email like the example above, the first thing I do is to go to SNOPES.COM to check out whether or not it’s just the latest round of internet bullsh*t making the rounds.

The really unfortunate thing is when I get one of these things and I see the email trail of the many addresses it made it’s way to (is it any wonder we are a nation of sometimes idiots). To me, this is one step away from the kind of garbage we see in every dysfunctional government to come down the road. It’s as if the internet birthed thousands of Joseph Goebbels and it’s not about the facts but more about swaying opinion to your side in absence of facts and painting some group as the villain.

In the last few weeks, I got about three of these things. The first time I checked it and saw it was a fallacy and let the sending party know. The second time I got another checked it again to see it was false and again let the party know and asked they not send me anything else like it until they checked their facts first, the third time I got one and again found out it was fraudulent and wrote back a carefully worded statement asking the person if it was their intention to spread lies about current events and whether or not they thought it reflected on their own character in any way.

The third one did it, I’m just too much of a party pooper.

But here’s the rub, I had to put up with the same kind of crap from a totally different set of people during the eight years that Bush was in office. I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now.

What I fail to understand is how people can so readily attribute such foul, foul deeds and misstatements to their neighbors. To well intentioned people who are serving in the government trying to make our country a better place and even if you don’t like a specific person (politician), can you at least show some kind of respect for the office they hold?

Can people at least be mature enough to make that kind of distinction? You can run across a nasty cop every now and again but at least have the respect for the police who put their lives on the line. Show respect for their office, is that a concept that is so hard to grasp?

And if you can’t at least grasp it and you can’t get your facts straight, do me a favor leave me out of your discussion because I have the feeling anything I have to add will only upset you anyway.

I won’t be doing that again for awhile.

Today was an interesting day and it was a day of contrasts. I say a day of contrasts because it was one of those days where a couple of things happened and in retrospect they were all quite telling.

The last few weeks, I’ve remained somewhat low-key. I get stuff done but, I don’t push it. I simply can’t because I get tired a little easier than I would normally. It doesn’t mean I don’t try to get stuff done but, I understand my body is still very much in the midst of the recovery process.

Now, I’m three plus weeks out from my accident (actually 25 days). Most of my bruises are healed. The scraping on my arm is just about gone, the bruises on my knees almost gone as well, the stitches are out, the swelling gone, black and blue gone. Another week and anything at all in terms of skin should pretty much be healed over. In less than a week my cast comes off too (hopefully)!

Just because the cast comes off doesn’t mean everything will be okay with the leg but at least I’ll be able to start strengthening it again. My ribs hurt still (and at the strangest times).

However, I’ve pretty much come through it all without much of a bump. There’s been a slew of stuff I had to take care off and while I’m not making the progress I would like to make in terms of speed I am making progress.

The best thing in all of this?

I didn’t put the weight on that I lost over the last few months. Even better still, I had to go to the doctor today and the way things are looking I am coming off the two blood pressure medications I’ve been on the last few years! So, I’m very happy about that. This is something I’ve been working towards for awhile and I want to keep that momentum going forward. The less pills I have to take the better off I am because in means I’m keeping my body healthy through diet and exercise. I’m still struggling with modifying both but I’m getting there and I’m very happy about it. So that was the great news of the day.

The bad news was of course I was told I am headed for eternal damnation by a friend of mine. I could probably be a little more worried under different circumstances (like it coming directly from whatever higher power makes those kinds of determinations) but, it’s always interesting to hear someone pass judgment on you so readily. It’s even more interesting when the person doing it ignores others in their close circle who are rife with “sin.” Like the close friend of the man opining on my final destination, the close friend who frequented prostitutes for decades right up to the day he started going out with his current wife (something he obviously does not broadcast). The same close friend who has remained unemployed for years living like a leech off this woman.

I guess we are measured sometimes with an uneven ruler and what applies to one doesn’t apply to the other. It is telling though and means I take those words with a grain of salt.

I can sit through a lot actually. During the same conversation I was told of a nearby convent that stood atop the unmarked graves of countless killed in the womb babies – I kid you not. When you hear that kind of thing, how can you respond?

Sometimes, I think how much impact our words have. Even I am not aware of this (although I worry at great length about it) and lob the occasional missile forth doing untold damage and once that damage is done, a simple sorry won’t heal things over.

I don’t generally like to talk about certain things.

Maybe, I should qualify that. I like to talk about things and I like the space to disagree but at the same time to have a dialog you’ve got to be willing to see the validity of the other side and there are many times I get the sense there is room for only one opinion in the discussion and it isn’t mine so I shut down. It may not be apparent but I do it nonetheless and as I walk away I am saddened by it. How much can you take to heart and how much can you steel yourself against and allow to roll over or pass through you?

I don’t talk about religion because people do crazy things in God‘s name. People say crazy things in God’s name but often it really doesn’t seem to me as if it’s God at all these people talk about, more their own screwed up view of the world. I keep having this image of God (like right out of the Sistine Chapel thingy) with God sitting on some kind of stone throne and just cringing looking down at our planet because we f*%& it up so often and we attribute our screw-ups to Him.

Anyway, I was condemned today... well you know what I’ve heard? Hell’s really not so bad because it’s a DRY HEAT.

Tacky! Tacky! Tacky!



I love this! It’s in such poor taste, it epitomizes just how overboard the whole cult of Obama thing is. As it grows you go from President Barry to Chicago activist Barry, New York college student Barry and finally high-school Barry!

Separated at birth.

Spy Magazine used to have a great feature called Separated at Birth. They would have pictures of people who showed an amazing resemblance to one and other – one of the better ones was Dino the Dinosaur (from the Flintstones) and Daryl Strawberry (of the Mets at the time).

In the spirit of that I give you my own SaB. In this instance, it’s a local weatherman on the FOX NY affiliate - Craig Allen who sometimes during the newscast depending upon the angle bears a striking resemblance to Russell (David) Johnson the actor best know for portraying The Professor on Gilligan‘s Island.

Decide for yourself: