I know some very talented people.

One of them is Pete Campofiori who I met a long time ago freelancing for one client and then again at another client. Although we don’t work directly with each other, Pete’s a good guy to be around and very funny. His sense of humor and whimsical nature shows through in his work and he’s got a style I have just fallen in love with.

Here’s a recently completed piece of his:

While the work is done on the computer, it doesn’t mean Pete doesn’t have drawing chops as he does breakdowns freehand working out an illustration before moving over to the computer to bring it to fruition. Pete’s blog has scads of his work and I can think of nothing better than idling away some time looking at it and just marveling at his talent. Take a look: Making Believe Blog

Covering all the bases.

Mets fans got an early Christmas present in the elimination of both the Yankees and the Phillies from the post-season last week. Sometimes that happens, things go your way. And speaking of things going your way, there is one man playing in the World Series (between two teams no one could have foreseen meeting up in the Fall Classic) who will walk away with a Championship ring no matter which team wins!

He played 61 games for San Francisco and 57 games for Texas during the regular season. Molina has sparkled during the postseason, batting .333 with two homers and seven RBIs in nine games.

Coming from a family of catchers who have all played on winners this should really come as no surprise but it does make for some interesting trivia.

Forward thinking.

The day is long past when our leaders actually led. It seems far too often nowadays the people who are in positions of power in our government take their cues from polls and by reacting than by leading the country in a new direction and anticipating events before they reach crisis stage.

In that vein I was reading about this the other day:

It may to many be a matter of surprise that so few vacant spaces have been left, and those so small, for the benefit of fresh air and consequent preservation of health. Certainly if the city of New York was destined to stand on the side of a small stream such as the Seine or the Thames, a great number of ample places might be needful. But those large arms of the sea which embrace Manhattan island render its situation, in regard to health and pleasure as well as to the convenience of commerce, peculiarly felicitous. When, therefore, from the same causes the prices of land are so uncommonly great, it seems proper to admit the principles of economy to greater influence than might, under circumstances of a different kind, have consisted with the dictates of prudence and the sense of duty.

Just imagine for one second if you will what the city would be like if they hadn’t thought in advance to meet the needs of a growing metropolis?

Tuesday RSA.

In what will more than likely become a regular feature I present the first RSA animate which I was turned on to by the inimitable Ganesha Girl.

Movie Mondays!

A very pleasant surprise, think of this film as a hybrid of the Michael Douglas’ film Falling Down and the Jake Gyllenhaal’ film Donnie Darko. Christian Slater most likely cemented his casting in the failed TV series My Own Worst Enemy with this role. Here though, Slater doesn’t have a secret spy alter ego. Slater perfectly captures the desperation of being adrift among the cubicles. Combining equal amounts of the real and the surreal, Frank A. Cappello crafts a true masterpiece. Elisha Cuthbert, William H. Macy and Sascha Knopf round out the cast in this offbeat and well-executed tale. Be sure to check out the extras on the disc and the alternate endings.

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.

Speaking as a Mets fan.

I can only echo the sentiments of these youngsters who were photographed outside of PacBell:

Now, I’m not big on kids doing this kind of thing but given the experience the Giants went through in Philly:

Signs, signs, everywhere there’ve been signs at Citizens Bank Ballpark during the NLCS. Some of them, held up behind the visitors dugout during Game 1, were downright nasty toward San Francisco Giants slinger Tim Lincecum(notes).

And that doesn’t even compare to what happened to the players in the Rangers bullpen at Yankee stadium as garbage and beer bottles were thrown down at the players from the stands:

Let’s hope the Rangers finish off the Yankees tomorrow and the Phillies are put out of their misery tonight. You know the old saw about the enemy of my enemy? Makes it easy to root for the Rangers and the Giants both.

What I’ve been doing (part the first).

Besides working (and trying to write too), I’ve been reading.

Well... maybe I should qualify that, this past weekend I read. There was this book I was interested in and I dragged my ass over to the local library which is really quite a nice place (and I have to keep reminding myself of that). Mainly I was there to become a good library citizen once more by returning an overdue book, paying the fines and insuring I don’t appear on a future episode of COPS because of my laziness.

While I was there though, I did manage to take out three more books (because I’m just a glutton for punishment) and then amazed myself by finishing one of them within 24 hours. And it’s a great book and I wanted to pass along info on it:

Welcome to Izzy Spellman’s off-kilter world. Equal parts Sam Spade and Bridget Jones, she’s a damn good investigator—if only her dysfunctional family would back off and let her do her thing. Izzy’s cynical—okay, wise—enough to realize that a primrose-covered cottage with a white picket fence is not in her future. That’s okay with her. Ever the jaded P.I., she catalogs her ex-boyfriends with calculated brevity, reducing her romantic misjudgments to curt summaries of name, age, occupation, hobbies, duration, and last words.

Miss me?

Well, things have been super busy over the last couple of weeks so something had to give. I’m going to try and get back in the groove once more that I had going throughout August and well into September.

Tonight, I was reading something where someone was comparing themselves to Sinead O’Connor (mainly they were lauding the fact that she had made the name Sinead popular around the globe). This lead to a discussion of the singer and caused me to seek out what I think is an absolutely beautiful song of hers which I wanted to share:

Movie Mondays!

Entertaining if only for a view into the life of truckers. Not something with broad appeal but certainly interesting for those wanting to take the time out to learn about this unique profession.

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!

Guinness is at the top of his game in Graham Greene’s charming tale bought to screen by Carol Reed (director of the classic The Third Man). At turns funny and alternately suspenseful, the film features Ernie Kovacs in one of his best roles on the big screen. Set in pre-Castro Cuba, Guinness plays a vacuum cleaner selling ex-patriot drawn into a world of intrigue. Produced right in the middle of a decade, which began with Guinness a featured player in The Ladykillers and ended with him in a strong supporting role in Doctor Zhivago, we get to see Guinness play to all his strengths. Burl Ives plays a fellow cynical comrade in this wonderful commentary on bureaucracy that rings true even today, well worth catching.

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!

If I had to sum this flick up in a single word, the word would be PUTRID! I had to watch this film FOUR TIMES – because I kept falling asleep on it! If you’re looking for something to put you to sleep by all means, this movie is for you! If you’re looking to be entertained, STAY AWAY! There are A movies, B movies, but this movie is so foul there aren’t enough letters in the alphabet to rank it as low as it should be ranked. If you want to see good, witty indie scifi go and check out Repo Man, if you want to torture someone, make them watch this 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.

Movie Mondays!

A bit ham-handed at times, Michael Moore’s documentary still manages to underscore the issue of why there has been no substantiative reform in the area of medical care, cost and coverage for American citizens over the last three decades. Focusing on diminishing benefits offered to Americans via employer health-care programs, the obstacles set up by HMOs to those who do have coverage and the absence of coverage for a growing number of the American population, Moore manages to get his point across comparing the US with countries who have government run health care in place. Taking the viewer on a world tour of those societies and comparing overall health data between those countries and the United States, Moore strongly makes the case for reform.

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.

One more reason to love the English.

In Ireland, the Great Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration between 1845 and 1852.[1] It is also known, mostly outside of Ireland, as the Irish Potato Famine.[2] In the Irish language it is called an Gorta Mór (IPA: [ənˠ ˈɡɔɾˠtˠə ˈmˠoːɾˠ], meaning "the Great Hunger")[3] or an Drochshaol ([ənˠ ˈdˠɾɔxˌhiːlˠ], meaning "the bad times").

I am the God of FUCK.

And I welcome you to hell.

There are insidious words that worm their way into your brain and take up residence there. I’m starting to develop a healthy respect and admiration for anyone who can continue to bang out words on a regular basis and make it look effortless.

I’ve been busy lately and I welcome it but, as a consequence, my unbroken string of daily posting (from the beginning of August right up through last weekend) came to an end. There is the old saw about getting right back up on the horse though so I’ll give it another go.

Today is a bit of an eventful day for me as it’s the day I celebrate a half century of shit, piss, sweat, swearing, sin and general deliberate acts of destruction. As always, I greet these days with a certain amount of reluctance although the alternative (being worm food) isn’t that appealing either.

Like many, I am altogether too happy to drone on and idle away the days without notice.

It is a beautiful day though and in many ways that is the best gift I could ask for. It’s a gloriously sunny and hot day more suited for July than September and I am very happy for that. I despise the cold, dank days of fall and the unseasonable day wards off any inklings I have of the headlong rush to winter. So why is it I sit in my house on a sunny afternoon instead of being out and about, feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin?

Probably because I need that day after a string of days just to be idle. I’ve been working (another wonderful present) and the routine while very agreeable is demanding. The luxury of not jumping out of bed, prepping for the day and rushing out the door is something to be reveled in. I really like working (most of the time) and it’s interesting to come to that realization. These are tough times, I know too many people who are either out of work or whose time of unemployment has lasted so long that they’ve given up the idea of working again entirely – if I was independently wealthy... but, I’m not so that’s not an option.

I think about today and the funny thing is that all around me there are signs of the many things I should give thanks for as if this is my own personal Thanksgiving.

Yesterday, I had a meeting with someone and the occasion meant stopping off at the company of a friend. Up on the wall in the offices was a framed newspaper article about that friend. It was impressive stuff, believe me but the rub is she’s not here anymore and by not here I mean she passed away. How does that work?

If the good die young does that mean anyone above the age of 90 is a miserably evil sonofabitch?

If that’s the case, maybe it’s good to be bad. Who knows? For now I’m just going to go out and enjoy my day.

Cleaning out the closet.

I’m housecleaning, meaning all the unfinished snippets, incomplete thoughts, directionless ramblings are getting thrown out on display so I can be castigated and mercilessly pilloried. At the very least the clutter will subside.

This jewel comes to you from September of ’06. I’m not entirely sure what it was that prompted me to pull song lyrics for posting on the blog. I’m usually better than that and not quite as sappy – the only thing I can think of is a flash of melancholy thinking about Madame X.

It is a really good song though and I was able to track down a live performance worth watching – Stevie Wonder still kicking out goodies even during the eighties (though people don’t think of the period as a productive part of his career).

Her parents said, girl don’t leave home
But her heart kept cheering her on
She had a real good man, steady job
But the two of them just weren’t in her heart


She only wanted to be close to me
To give me the love she knew someday I’d need
But I kept saying girl you’re wrong, go home


Long days, short nights when you’re on the road
For a pretty girl it’s a heavy load
And even so who’ll pay your fare
She said I’ll make it on a wing and a prayer


She only wanted to be close to me
To give me the love she knew someday I’d need
But I kept saying girl you’re wrong, go home

She said I’ve no right to tell her how life should be
Especially when the only one she ever cared about in life was me
But she agreed to go along with my final word


As fate would have life come around
My world started tumbling down
I lost my family, my friends and job
And set free the only one who stuck with me from the start


She only wanted to be close to me
To give me the love she knew someday I’d need
But I kept saying girl you’re wrong, go home


She said I’ve no right to tell her how life should be
Especially when the only one she ever cared about in life was me
But she agreed to go along with my final word, my final word


As fate would have life come around
My world started tumbling down
I lost my family, my friends and job
And set free the only one who stuck with me from the start


She only wanted to be close to me
To give me the love she knew someday I’d need
But I kept saying girl you’re wrong, go home
She only wanted to be close to me
To give me the love she knew someday I’d need
But I kept saying girl you’re wrong, go home
Go home baby, you better go home right now
Go home, little girl you better go home

Movie Mondays!

This movie harkens back to the sensitivities of the old Frank Capra classics. It’s a charming film, which works, in large part because of the chemistry between the two leads: Tea Leoni and Nicholas Cage. Both actors turn in exemplary performances; Cage as a man caught up in a life that might have been and Leoni as the wife he might have had. Cage and Leoni both have gone on to other films mining this genre successfully, here they hit all their marks giving us robust and mature performances. They are believable as husband and wife with all the right hints of sentimentality and warmth making this a very good watch. A family film letting you walk away with a positive message but not hitting you over the head in getting the message across.

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.

Håll dig till höger, Svensson

I’m at a loss for rant today or just about anything else it seems. It was a good week, a long week but a very good week. In my internet ramblings, I came across this little jewel which is quite interesting when you think about it. Imagine changing all the traffic in a country from driving on the left side of the road to driving on the right side of the road in a single day!

On Dagen H, Sunday, 3 September, all non-essential traffic was banned from the roads from 01:00 to 06:00. Any vehicles on the roads during that time had to follow special rules. All vehicles had to come to a complete stop at 04:50, then carefully change to the right-hand side of the road and stop again before being allowed to proceed at 05:00. In Stockholm and Malmö, however, the ban was longer—from 10:00 on Saturday until 15:00 on Sunday—to allow work crews to reconfigure intersections. Certain other towns also saw an extended ban, from 15:00 on Saturday until 15:00 on Sunday.

Bitches Ain’t Shit.

Unbelievable... (lyrics contain profanity nsfw)

Cleaning out the closet.

I’m housecleaning, meaning all the unfinished snippets, incomplete thoughts, directionless ramblings are getting thrown out on display so I can be castigated and mercilessly pilloried. At the very least the clutter will subside.

This jewel comes to you from August of ’06. When the storm comes (and I have no doubt it will) there will be a litany of people wondering where we failed but it was not that people did not voice their concern about the regime in Iran, only that we lacked the will to address the issue and put off dealing with it until it was a situation we could no longer ignore:

What are we waiting for?

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all key policy issues, said Monday that Iran was determined to press ahead with its nuclear program despite the Security Council deadline.

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization deputy head Mohammad Saeedi said the same day that Iran would “provide Europe with an exceptional chance for an understanding and a return to the negotiating table,” but insisted an enrichment freeze was “no longer possible.”

I have no issue with the Iranian people. How long will it take for people to wake up and realize that everything Iran is doing is a delaying tactic designed to allow them time to accomplish their goal? I am not saying we should send troops into Iran but, you have a regime that refers to our country as ‘The Great Satan.’ Does anyone honestly believe the government of Iran wishes us well?

“Broad economic sanctions, comparable to the isolation of Iraq in the 1990s, are no longer feasible,” Jeffrey Schott, a senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics in Washington, told a congressional committee. “Many Americans would question harsh measures that might push oil above $100 a barrel and trigger a world recession.”

As far as U.N. alliances in calling for sanctions, Russia, France and Britain have oil companies with interests in Iran. China is Iran’s second-biggest oil export market, and Beijing is negotiating a $70 billion deal to develop a natural-gas field, in exchange for imports of Iranian natural gas, the newspaper said.

————  ————

Iran remains a serious foreign policy challenge for our country and the democratic world at large. For nearly a quarter century the United States and Iran have been without diplomatic relations. With the images of our Embassy hostages seared so deeply into our collective consciousness, it is easy to forget that our countries once enjoyed excellent relations and, only a generation ago, 200,000 Iranians were studying in the U.S. The United States is proud to be home to a large community of extremely talented Iranian immigrants who preserve a cultural and personal bridge to Iran where diplomatic contact long ago broke off.

It is not with the Iranian people, but with the Iranian regime’s threatening and often irresponsible behavior, that our concerns rest. We have repeatedly made clear our grave concerns regarding the Iranian government’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and long-range delivery systems; its sponsorship of terrorism including its direct support to Hizballah and Palestinian rejectionist groups; its appalling human rights and democracy record; its support for violent opposition to efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East; and its interference in the affairs of its neighbors.

————  ————

With Iran feeling emboldened after the performance of its client organization, Hizbullah, in its war with Israel, and with the US facing deepening problems in Iraq, the Iranian leadership may not believe it has a lot to worry about, analysts say.

“The Iranians are feeling pretty confident and full of themselves right now, so that has probably only enhanced their calculation that they can defy anything the Security Council throws at them,” says Patrick Lang, a Middle East specialist and former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst.

————  ————

Beyond the issue of sanctions, however, there are experts who fear that confrontation could in due course mean military action.

Mark Fitzpatrick, senior fellow in non-proliferation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said: “This won’t drag on for years. There are two deadlines of sorts at the end of 2008. That is the earliest date by which some people think Iran could acquire a nuclear weapon. I think the date is more like 2010.

“And on November 2008, there is the US presidential election. President Bush will be inclined not to let this problem be passed on. There will be a growing mood in the US administration to take other action.”

————  ————

Iran 'attacks Romanian oil rig'

A Romanian oil company says one of its rigs stationed in the Gulf has come under fire from Iranian troops. A spokesman for the firm GSP said Iranian troops had seized the rig after firing from a nearby ship, and GSP lost contact with its 26 workers there.

Things I Love.

Rediscovering old music – there’s this guy on YouTube who has posted a whole library of music. The great thing is there is a lot of Zappa there (and I was a really big fan of Zappa back in the day). It’s all recorded well, good quality – well worth checking out!

Click here for RakyMaky’s YouTube channel.

Break out the white sheets!

The level of rhetoric continues to sink to new lows as evidenced by an email sent along to me today.

I am tired of this and have asked the person who sends me these emails repeatedly to stop sending them because I find them both reprehensible and offensive. It’s not that I don’t have problems with the way the administration has done some things (much in the same way I had problems with the way the Bush administration acted at times) but, I firmly believe that when the dialog lowers itself to such levels, no one is done a service.

And I know too there are people on both sides you simply cannot have a reasonable discussion with because they are far beyond reason.

I looked Dhimmitude up in google. This will scare you!
VOTING IN NOVEMBER IS A MUST IF WE HOPE TO TURN THINGS AROUND !!!
Subject: Word of the Day: Dhimmitude
Need something to get your blood boiling????
Has anyone heard of this new word? Dhimmitude?
Amish and other religious groups may be exempt from forced purchase of healthcare policies under Obama care. You know what other groups this could include ???Muslims and Christian Scientists may be exempt from having to have government healthcare.
Word of the Day: Dhimmitude
Unbelievable
I had my doubts so I checked with Snopes. There is an exemption for "certain religious groups" in the Health Care Bill. Obama supporters check it out yourself.
Had never heard the word until now---Type it into Google and start reading Pretty interesting. Note that Muslims and certain other religions are exempt from the Obamacare penalties and it is supported by law. We are surrendering from within! The prez is leading us right down the path to total Muslim control and you don't care! Maybe you voted for him but now the truth comes out. Maybe you should rethink what you have done.
Dhimmitude is the Muslim system of controlling non-muslim populations conquered through jihad. Specifically, it is the TAXING of non-muslims in exchange for tolerating their presence AND as a coercive means of converting conquered remnants to islam.
The ObamaCare bill is the establishment of Dhimmitude and Sharia muslim diktat in the United States . Muslims may be specifically exempted from the government mandate to purchase insurance, and also from the penalty tax for being uninsured. Islam considers insurance to be "gambling", "risk-taking" and "usury" and is thus banned. Muslims may be specifically granted exemption based on this. How convenient. So I John Smith, as a Christian, will have crippling IRS liens placed against all of my assets, including real estate, cattle, cars and etc. and even accounts receivables, and will face hard prison time because I refuse to buy insurance or pay the penalty tax. Meanwhile, Louis Farrakhan will have no such penalty and will have 100% of his health needs paid for by the de facto government insurance at our expence. Non-muslims will be paying a tax to subsidize muslims. Period. This is Dhimmitude.
Dhimmitude serves two purposes: it enriches the muslim masters AND serves to drive conversions to islam. In this case, the incentive to convert to islam will be taken up by those in the inner-cities as well as the godless Generation X, Y and Z types who have no moral anchor or belief in God! If you don't believe in Christ to begin with, it is no problem whatsoever to sell Him for 30 pieces of silver. "Sure, I'll be a muslim if it means free health insurance and no taxes. Where do I sign, brother?" Now all you Obama voters get in line for your free stuff!...However, I suggest you don't hold your breath!...
I recommend sending this email to all your contacts. This is desperately important and people need to know about it and what the past election has done to all of us!
PS Have you heard about the summit Obama is holding this month in DC for the future Muslim business leaders in the US ? He wants to increase their ability to begin business opportunities in the US for the Muslim community! Better start looking for a country that doesn't cater to the Muslims ~ Austrailia doesn't because this country will be overrun by Muslims like Europe is currently experiencing. And you thought our problem was the Mexicans!......

Movie Mondays!

Not as good as the first but still ably directed by Guillermo del Toro with a solid cast and a decent story. Hellboy II is better than a lot of the films in this genre but just doesn’t measure up to the standard set by its predecessor.

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.

Things I love!

Originally I thought this was a James Brown tune enjoying a revival (mainly because of a very distinct musical phrase with horns and guitars that sounded like it was lifted from Sex Machine.

It’s a great tune but like many things these days it isn’t at all original. It takes a great musical phrase (a sample) and plays off from it really well. It does it in an inventive way but it is a reminder once again how some of that old music still has life to it. The actual sample is from a song by a band called Dyke and the Blazers and it’s interesting to see the differences between the two. Here’s the original:

Cleaning out the closet.

I’m housecleaning, meaning all the unfinished snippets, incomplete thoughts, directionless ramblings are getting thrown out on display so I can be castigated and mercilessly pilloried. At the very least the clutter will subside.

This jewel comes to you from September of ’06 (the 6th day of September).

The anniversary.

I looked up today and I realized we are here already in September. When I write the words “The anniversary,’ I am sure some of you would imagine you know what I am about to write about but, you would be wrong.

See, as much people reach early September and focus on one event, life goes on for all of us. So, the anniversary I am talking about is the beginning of the journey of the EYOC. It is almost a full year now since the fateful day when EYOC had his major heart attack.

What got me thinking about it, was a funeral I attended last week. One of EYOC’s cousins passed, suddenly, abruptly and surprisingly. I made sure I went along to pay my respects at both the funeral and the wake. I did it because of two things.

First off, I remembered an essay I had heard awhile back on NPR. It was a brief essay but it stuck with me:

“Sounds simple — when someone dies, get in your car and go to calling hours or the funeral. That, I can do. But I think a personal philosophy of going to funerals means more than that.”

Second was the simple fact that during all of this drama over the last year, I was lucky enough to find out I have family. People who supported me through the worst of it and who were there to stand beside me.

EYOC is now permanently in a care facility. Considering how many times I thought he wouldn’t even be around to make it to his next birthday, that in and of itself is something amazing. The trips to the hospital, the back and forth between a ward and ICU those first few months, all of it was extremely stressful to say the least. Not because it wasn’t expected - people don’t live forever - but, because I knew dealing with everything in and around the EYOC was a mess requiring lots of cleaning up.

It would be enough to have someone get sick and to worry about their mortality but, to also have to go through the ordeal of managing their affairs and putting everything right, well let’s just say that turns up the voloume on a situation like that well past ‘11’ (if you understand the This is Spinal Tap reference).

Like everything in life though, the rain passes, the clouds part and sun shines upon you once more. I’m not painting life as a rosy garden, far from it. However, since January (EYOC’s last trip to the hospital) he’s done better. Probably a lot better than anyone expected. He’s walking a bit (with the help of a walker), he’s gained back some of the weight he lost during all those hospital stays and he‘s more or less comfortable where he is at. He certainly receives a lot more attention and care than I would ever be able to provide by myself.

Truthfully, I have a deep down sneaking suspicion he will be around for another decade even.

Things were hard but, they would have been a lot harder if it wasn’t for the people who stood by me. So, I reach this anniversary of almost a year with a bit of perspective - a knowledge of who...

Well that’s where I trailed off.

Truthfully, I consider myself very fortunate. Fortunate for all the help I received throughout the course of dealing with what was a very stressful situation.

Looking back I often wonder if I didn’t make a mistake (and I said to someone the other day it probably was a mistake) caring for the EYOC as long as I did. However, you can’t go back and change the past. In the long run I did what I did and while I feel I may have sacrificed greatly, more than I should have, I know too I did a very good thing and I don’t feel any regret about that.

The EYOC would pass away four months after I wrote this and again, the whole death thing when it comes is always a surprise. Whatever expiration date we are stamped with is invisible.

I really like this.

This is great!

NASA’s Top 40

Your Mission: Vote on your favorite! From the list below, listen to the wakeup song and communications to the shuttle crew from the Mission Control Center during past missions, select your favorite song, enter the required security code and select the Vote button. The two songs with the most votes will be announced during the mission. Updates of the exact dates and times that the winning songs will be played will be provided as launch of the mission draws closer. STS-133 is currently scheduled to launch on November 1, 2010. Click here for alternate page for visually impaired.

Cleaning out the closet.

I’m housecleaning, meaning all the unfinished snippets, incomplete thoughts, directionless ramblings are getting thrown out on display so I can be castigated and mercilessly pilloried. At the very least the clutter will subside.

This jewel comes to you from July of ’06. What prompted me to such a screed I don’t know but rereading it I find I still agree with what I’ve voiced.

I’d like a little of this, a little of that and oh by the way read my f**king mind while you’re at it.

So, the raging hormonal parade is in full bloom once again. Hello! I’m talking to you all you angry women out there who think life as a man is so f**king incredible.

Look my gender are stupid f**ks I’ll be the first to admit it - we think about sex way, way more than we probably should. And we objectify, boy do we ever objectify - we think about sex and women are involved in the equation. We like looking at women (now, I’m speaking for the hetero side of the man equation here - my homosexual brothers I believe exhibit an equal passion but just towards member of our gender), a lot. We like looking at them and thinking what it would be like to have sex with them...

Every day...

All day...

Every woman we meet. Even ones we don’t meet, ones we see in magazines, on tv, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Society is built up around that - whole industries.

Fashion.

You think there’s fashion because of men? Really, do you really think that? Men could give a s**t less what they wear. Don’t believe me? Do a poll, ask every man you meet how many pairs of shoes he owns. Then ask the same number of women. See what answers you get.

Do men have variety in fashion? Office attire for men - a suit, not a purple suit, not a pink suit, not a crepe suit. A suit, with a shirt and a tie and maybe suspenders if you want to be showy.

Now, what do women have? An array of colors, styles and choices to make. What are they based around? Dressing up a women so she looks good.

Do men wear makeup? Well? Anyone?

Why do women wear makeup then? If you can’t see your face outside of a mirror, why eyeliner? Why lipstick? Why rouge? Why eyeshadow? Anyone? Anyone?

Could it be possible that the reason fashions are this way, the reason the genders don’t all wear the same bland utilitarian uniform is because part of the underlying psychological thrust of women’s fashion is a certain theatrical or showy aspect. A way of drawing in an audience?

What? Oh, wait a second, it’s a question of getting that really cute guy to look at you when you’re wearing a low cut top but not the nebish, overweight geek with poor social skills. Somehow though he’s the one (the nebish) that notices and the cute guy hasn’t swallowed the lure and then damn how dare the nebish even assume the display was for him and how dare he look at you that way!

Oh, f**king please ladies.

Kreskin we are not.

Here’s another example for you... Mary Kay Louternou - married (with four kids mind you) runs off and sleeps with some 13 year old. Now, for a thirteen year old boy, this is a dream come true. If Mary Kay Louternou were a man her ass would still be looked up in prison, not only that, if man Mary Kay tried any of that crying sh*t, she’d wind up on the low end of the prison food chain.

Amy Fisher, shoots the wife of the guy she’s sleeping with. Shoots her! She’s out and she still wants to blame the guy! It’s his fault for sleeping with her! No, she didn’t get a gun and shoot someone, she’s not responsible for that - it was that evil, evil man!

Man doesn’t work stays home, cleans house, watches kids - the wife goes out and works somewhere. She’s looking at him wondering why he’s lazy and not working?!?! Huh? No domestic God of the house, just another lazy useless man.

Oh, and by the way, all you f**king princess, and goddesses and every other superlative to describe your gender - do you really buy into that if a man refers to himself that way?

I think that last paragraph underlines something that is very wrong in society today. You are not a princess or a goddess any more than any man is a prince or a god and referring to yourself in such terms will only identify you as a target for my ridicule.

Things I Love.

Shirley Manson’s voice over a driving, pounding beat:

Also, I can’t help but think this is the kind of thing that brings a smile to Grant Morrison’s face. Gotta love the whole Children of the Damned thing going on.

Less than two weeks away!



A big fave of mine and I am excited for the new season to begin! I've loved it since the first season but how can you not love any show that has a CAKE song as it’s opening theme?

Facebook am making me dumberer.

Is this really a surprise?

Teenagers who use Facebook while studying get exam results 20 percent lower than their classmates who simply stick to the books, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.

Movie Mondays!

It’s a movie that has it’s moments, unfortunately they are few and far between. Too much of the humor in Slippery Slope comes across as forced and therefore unfunny. There are slapstick instances which don’t truly work overall in the film as they are such a departure in tone and the script/dialogue just isn’t that good. Slippery Slope has a true indie feel, (not a bad thing) and even some good performances but even those efforts can’t save it. It really only rates about 2.5 stars, too clichéd to consider it something to go out of your way to see.

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.

Some people get it.

When people describe America it’s interesting what they compare it to. One man though made the comparison of the Untied States to a rattlesnake:

I recollected that her eye excelled in brightness, that of any other animal, and that she has no eye-lids—She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance.—She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage.—As if anxious to prevent all pretentions of quarrelling with her, the weapons with which nature has furnished her, she conceals in the roof of her mouth, so that, to those who are unacquainted with her, she appears to be a most defenceless animal; and even when those weapons are shewn and extended for her defence, they appear weak and contemptible; but their wounds however small, are decisive and fatal:—Conscious of this, she never wounds till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her.—Was I wrong, Sir, in thinking this a strong picture of the temper and conduct of America? The poison of her teeth is the necessary means of digesting her food, and at the same time is certain destruction to her enemies—This may be understood to intimate that those things which are destructive to our enemies, may be to us not only harmless, but absolutely necessary to our existence.

The author?

Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin is famous for his sense of humor. In 1751, he wrote a satirical commentary in his Pennsylvania Gazette suggesting that as a way to thank the Brits for their policy of sending convicted felons to America, American colonists should send rattlesnakes to England. 

Some history of the Gadsden flag and also a great passage that has since been attributed to Franklin, say what you will these guys were smart and all this time later it still shows.

Oh, the things we spend our time on.

I wound up last year taking so many pictures of comic statues because I was in the process of winnowing out the too many statues I had around the house that I built up quite a gallery. Even I’m a little amazed at it – click through to see what I’m talking about.

More FaceBook stupidity.

“You don’t know how disturbing this is,” Druzinski said, according to The Macomb Daily. A message seeking comment was left for Jons on Monday. “I would like to see her get some jail time, nothing major, a few hours or overnight,” Sheikh said. “This is the jury system. People need to know how important it is.”

After a woman serving on a jury decided to post on FaceBook she was looking forward to pronouncing the defendant guilty – unfortunately this was before the trial had actually gone to the jury. Yes, dummies there are some things you’re not supposed to share.

Why should we give a fuck?

President Barack Obama is a Christian who prays daily, a White House official said Thursday, trying to tamp down growing doubts about the president's religion. A new poll showed that nearly one in five people, or 18 percent, believe Obama is Muslim. That was up from 11 percent who said so in March 2009. The survey also showed that just 34 percent said Obama is Christian, down from 48 percent who said so last year. The largest share of people, 43 percent, said they don’t know his religion.

I’m being blunt about this and I’m being blunt about it pointedly because after everything is said and done why should I care what religion this guy is? Why should I care what color he is? All that matters is how he does his job and whether he does a good job or not?

I may have issues with our President based around some of his decisions and the direction the country is taking and the state of the economy but everything else? NO ONE’S BUSINESS!

And if he was Muslim what difference would it make? I thought religion in this country is only supposed to be between a man (or woman) and their God, isn’t that WHAT FREEDOM OF RELIGION MEANS? If you don’t like a guy, fine. Your opposed to the President and his policies fine. But please, stop trying to make this about color or religion or any other bullshit excuse. At least have the intelligence to come up with a decent argument about why you don’t like the guys policies.

It’s about time!

“Over the last few years, there's been a lot of focus on exercise and nutrition, but adequate sleep is arguably the most important element of productivity,” says Christopher Lindholst, co-founder of MetroNaps, which markets a napping chair called the EnergyPod to such companies as Google, Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG - News), and Cisco Systems (NasdaqGS: CSCO - News). The EnergyPod, which looks like Pacman with a really long tongue, boasts ergonomic support and a built-in music system with a headphone jack to eliminate background noise. “The EnergyPod is designed to provide some privacy, but it’s typically installed in a common area so you create an environment of awareness and acceptance,” says Lindholst. MetroNaps rents its EnergyPod for $795 per month.

I think it’s a great idea and long overdue but more in theory than in practice because I can’t see the office gossip machine not turning for anyone who takes advantage of the opportunity to nap during office hours.

I like napping and there are times when a nap really is a Godsend but I can’t see co-workers being forgiving of someone who disappears for a half hour.

Best line of the week.

I trawl the dating site looking for fresh meat but mainly haunting the journals and window shopping more than anything else. Best line of the week I’ve read so far:

nothing triggers a complete vaginal clamp down quite like the word “polyamory.”

Things I Love.

Kickass girl bands like the one in this video doing one of my favorite songs:

ACT NOW!

I’ve already entered but there is one day left for you to get under the wire — every year NBC holds a lottery for tickets to a performance of Saturday Night Live. Through the years, I’ve seen the show performed live three times, never the actual show mind you but the full dress rehearsal that runs earlier Saturday evening and which features skits that don’t wind up in the actual show (so it’s a bit of a toss up which is better to see, the Dress Rehearsal or the Live Broadcast since you 1. See the actor’s first pass which can sometimes be funnier than the broadcast because of miscues and the like and 2. There is stuff that never makes it to broadcast).

Well, you can only enter the lottery during the month of August so if you reading this click through and point your browser along since it only takes a moment or two to send an email off and enter. You never know!

Stand-by tickets are distributed at 7am on the 49th st. side of 30 Rockefeller Plaza on the mornings of the tapings. You may choose a stand-by ticket for either the 8pm dress rehearsal or the 11:30pm live taping. Aside from minimal, necessary breaks, all stand-by line members must remain in line at all times.

Isn’t it just a little creepy?

That the same people who make Tampax and Always are also the same people responsible for the Swiffer. Is there some repurposing of technology we’re not aware of?

Movie Mondays!

The fun continues in the second season of The Venture Brothers as their universe is filled out. When you have a cast of supporting characters with names like Dr. Girlfriend, Phantom Limb, Molotov Cocktease, the Grand Galactic Inquisitor, the Guild of Calamitous Intent, Baron Ünderbheit, Catclops, Girl Hitler, Dr. Henry Killinger and the Sovereign can there be anything but fun? Delicious puns and sendups abound in this homage to the old Johnny Quest cartoons. The Venture Brothers is a Johnny Quest cartoon after the three martini lunch, good bawdy fun!

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.