Another animation recommendation

Uncle Skippy recommends "The Venture Brothers."

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Very funny stuff. Clever, weird, harkens back to some of the great action cartoons of my youth.

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Plus, anything with Patrick Warburton in it just rocks. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0911320/

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Except for maybe "Tak and the Power of Juju."

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Holding back on recommending "Drinky Crow." I have high hopes, but after watching two episodes, I'm still not sure. It has to be hard translating a four panel comic strip to a full length cartoon. It has potential, but I'm not sure that it has hit it's stride yet.

Old School v. Gangsta

I've blogged previously about my varied musical taste and so it won't come as a surprise to you faithful reader when I tell you that back in the day, I used to listen to Public Enemy quite a lot. Well, that music was on cassette so it's been a while since I listened to PE, but that changed a few weeks ago when I downloaded a couple of tracks off of "It Takes a Nation to Millions to Hold Us Down" on iTunes.

I started thinking about how amazing the music and lyrics were and wondered how the genre of rap got from Chuck D, to the hardcore gangster rap that predominates the charts now. Akon, to take an easy example, made up a criminal history to lend credibility to his album Konvicted. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0416081akon1.html?link=rssfeed

Chuck D, back when he was writing absolutely groundbreaking rap in 1995, complained in his lyrics that he was being unfairly painted as a criminal in "Don't Believe the Hype."

They claim that I'm a criminal.
By now I wonder how
Some people never know
The Enemy could be their friend.
Guardian, I'm not a hooligan.
I rock the party and
Clear all the madness.
I'm not a racist.
Preach to teach to all
'Cause some they never had this.
Number one, not born to run.
About the gun...
I wasn't licensed to have one.
The minute they see me, fear me.
I'm the epitome - a public enemy
Used, abused without clues.
I refused to blow a fuse.
They even had it on the news.
Don't believe the hype.

Why is it the perception of toughness or even being an outlaw, that is important now, rather than the respect as a human being that Chuck D said that he sought through his lyrics? And then this guy, http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/sports/football/Giant-Pain-Pierce-Spoke-to-NFL-Security-About-Burress-Team-Says.html?corder=&pg=1 is just an idiot. He claims he was carrying the gun to protect himself, but the NFL would have provided him with security if he believed he was really in danger. He was carrying the gun to meet the image created a perpetuated by artists like Akon. And ended up shooting himself in the leg and ending his NFL career because of it.

Is that an image worth striving for?

Why do all of my blog entries end in a question mark?

Uh, wait... Umm, right. Well, never mind.

SW:TCW: An update.

Just in case you were wondering if Jar Jar Binks is any more tolerable animated and on the small screen, the answer is a resounding "no." I'm still really enjoying SW:TCW, but the dreaded Binks was the central character of a recent episode and it was pretty horrible.

The whole concept of his character and race is just flat out annoying....

When is breaking the rules cheating?

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=3712372

This was oh, so much more timely a week ago, but I've been dealing with life and Thanksgiving a lot over the last couple of weeks and so didn't get a chance to write intelligently about this until now.

In case you missed it, this professional golfer was all the rage on talk sports radio because he turned himself in for using an unapproved ball on one hole in a qualifying tournament. That was important for a couple of reasons. First, the PGA, under its ridiculously draconian rules, disqualified him from the whole tournament. Second, and perhaps more importantly, because it was a qualifying tournament, it cost him his chance to get a tour exemption, that would have allowed him to play in all of the PGA tournaments this season without having to qualify. So, we are talking a pretty serious penalty for a pretty minor offense.

Because of all of this, he's being held out as a paragon of purity and a symbol for all that should be right in sports. "What a sacrifice he has made!" they all cry. "What a great guy, that he would take bread off of his family's table because he couldn't live with himself by cheating." "Would you do the same?" they ask. "Would you turn yourself in, knowing that you would lose your livelihood?"

OK. Wait just a second. Hayes didn't have a qualifier's card last year either and according to ESPN.com, he did okay. "He earned $312,152 this season, making just seven cuts in 26 events. He was 176th on the money list -- the worst showing of his career." Um, what "sacrifice" exactly was he making then? A pro golfer, even in his worst year, makes a LOT of money. Turning himself in didn't exactly mean that his family doesn't pay the mortgage this year. Did he give up more money? Yeah, probably, but I'm not ready to pass the hat for the guy. That's a heck of a safety net to fall into after "sacrificing" yourself to your high moral standards.

Look, he did an impressive thing. He did make a sacrifice and he deserves recognition. But he ain't exactly a Greek tragic hero, undone by his own character.

Anyway, I'm not so sure he isn't a little stupid. He turned himself in not once, but twice. "I realized there was a penalty and I called an official over," Hayes said, according to the newspaper. "He said the penalty was two shots and that I had to finish the hole with that ball and then change back to the original ball." For most competitors that would be the end of the story. He showed the ball to the official and they said the penalty was two strokes. But Hayes felt compelled to go beyond what the official had said and prove that the guy had made a mistake. When he got home, he looked up the list of approved balls, and found that his wasn't on it. So he says "Oooh, ooooh, PGA, you didn't punish me enough, even though I gave you the appropriate opportunity to do so and your official completely botched it."

No wonder they disqualified him.... He was making everyone else in the world look bad.

But if you feel sorry for him, it was because of his Titleist prototype ball that he got disqualified. He was doing them a favor by practicing with it and it screwed him. Apparently, there are sponsor and manufacturer exemptions at tournaments that would allow Hayes to make more money. If you think he deserves it for being such a stand up guy, write to ole Wally Uihlein at Titleist and tell him they should "Let Hayes Play!"


Mr. Wally Uihlein
Chief Executive Officer
Titleist/Acushnet
Worldwide Distribution Center
333 Bridge Street
Fairhaven, MA 02719

Wither the Wizards?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3722783

Holy smokes. Just in case anyone is wondering: It ain't Jordan that's the problem here. No Agent Zero and no Brendan Haywood and rotating dings among the starters has lead to the 1 and 10.
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I'm shocked though, I thought Eddie was one of the good guys and could get the 'Zards there. Maybe not now ....
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I guess you can't fire the injuries.

Maybe Now Everyone Will Stop Using it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081117/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_new_word
Often, once something hip is institutionalized, it soon becomes unhip and everyone stops using it. If that were the fate of "meh," it certainly would not bother YDS. It's now as overused as "D'oh" and all of the other Simpsons catch phrases.
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Although, I've never heard of the Collins English Dictionary. Maybe I'll hold out for Miriam Webster. Until then ... meh.

An Auto Czar?

http://http//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081113/pl_nm/us_usa_obama_autos_1
All kidding about the efficacy of the Drug Czar aside, I think this is probably a good idea. The auto industry missed the boat deliberately on alternative technology and Congress and successive White Houses have let them get away with it because there is so much lobbying and money flowing from Detroit to Washington to maintain the status quo.
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We should already have electronic and hydrogen cars available to us, but Detroit didn't see the money in it, and Washington let them play along. In my view, it is always government's role to make sure that the long view gets consideration, even if it isn't profitable now.

Instant Karma?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081115/ap_on_en_mo/eu_france_people_lohan

That wasn't nice.

Sigh.... is this the face of a racist?

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/11/12/2008-11-12_lindsay_lohan_calls_barack_obama_colored.html

A real head scratcher. Where in the world does a girl/woman like Lindsay Lohan learn the term "colored" anyway? No one I know under 40 has even heard of the term.... Only deep Southerners and KKK members even keep the word alive for anything other than used coloring books. And I'm pretty darn sure that the KKK wouldn't want to be around a drug addled lesbian like Lindsay ....

So much for MMA?

I don’t know exactly. I haven’t watched it again since blogging about it before. I’m not sure that it is because I’m not interested, or because I just haven’t run across it in my minimal TV watching. I see that the next “big” fight is coming up between two guys that I’ve heard of, but probably couldn’t pick them out of a line up (police or otherwise). This one is NOT on network TV but on pay per view.
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And at $45.95 per view, I don’t think I’ll be paying.

A blogging tradition since 2007

So, I’m celebrating one year since starting this blog. Thirty odd posts in twelve months would suggest a slow but steady pace, but being the smart person that you are, dear reader, you will notice that way more than half of those posts have been in the last couple of months. I guess I am hitting my stride as a blogger and enjoying this more.
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I look back at some of the things that I blog about and compare them to the things that I mention in my first post here. I have not really blogged about anything personal. Nothing about my X or my son, nothing about my family, and very little about my writing. I’ve even left my sports out of the discussion for the most part, choosing to go elsewhere (mainly here http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=f5aa559ffadbf2873e7224c247352eca&forumid=13 and here http://www.tarheelfanblog.com/) to read, and sometimes write about my favorite sports teams (DC United and North Carolina respectively).
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I guess that I am the kind of blogger that likes to make wry observations about the world around me and see if I provoke anyone to think about what they’ve seen. Maybe folks are having similar experiences and a small smile of recognition will play across their face as they read my latest. Maybe not. But if it does, well, that would be pretty strong satisfaction for me.
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But ultimately, this blog is for me. A blog, somewhat counter intuitively, given that it is posted on the worldwide web, is a personal undertaking. And as such, a blogger needs to write in the way that makes them comfortable and that makes sense to them. Because even though a blog is out here for everyone to read, chances are quite strong that no one actually will.
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But it is that chance, and that public nature of the blog, that makes me shake my head a little at bloggers who seem to live their lives just waiting for something juicy to happen in their real lives, so that they can run to the computer and blog about it immediately. Reporting about a fight with a loved one. A family squabble. A power struggle at work. A difficult client. Whatever. This part of blogging seems exhibitionist to me, and while I guess that is okay, it is not for me.
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David Sedaris writes quite openly about how his family is sometimes guarded around him, letting him know that they don’t want to read about whatever is going on in their family in his next book, or hear about it on NPR. It’s understandable on their part, but an assumed risk that they seem to accept time and time again. Having him as part of their family becomes more important to them than keeping their stories out of the public eye. And though his stories are unforgiving in tone and viciously funny, it is clear to anyone who can understand, that they are written with love. And perhaps, that makes it okay.
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Ultimately, if David Sedaris wasn’t willing to bare his soul, and that of his family with such complete vulnerability, he wouldn’t be one-third of the writer that he is. But he is an artist, and few can show through their writing the love that he does. And as a result, so much of the blogosphere comes off as whiny complaining by people about issues too trivial for anyone else to care about.
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And perhaps my blog is just the same with a philosophical patina laid across the surface. If that is true, I apologize and encourage you to stop reading. But if it is not true, the come along for the ride into the second year of Your Darn Skippy.

Perhaps we are all hypocrits

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1108/Rick_vsJoe.html?showall
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Joe the Plumber gets grilled. A victim of the 24 hour news cycle and, not surprisingly, his views don't really live up even to the scrutiny of a not-very-skilled interviewer. Should I feel schaudenfruede? Should anyone? I know many must, but I don't. Why don't we know more as an electorate? There is so much information out there. Shouldn't we be able to form intellectually honest opinions guided by a well formed moral compass? Shouldn't we be able to separate truth from spin?
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I worry that with so much information there is simply no way to know what is truth. So many complain about the liberal MSM, but why not change the channel? Buy a different magazine. Listen to a different radio station. Their truth is how they report it. I don't know that there is a "mainstream" to the media.

This is fun too.

Been meaning to try this and what better time than in the middle of the night? You have to register, but really, who gets enough spam? http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/main.html

This is fun

I've always been a SP fan. But here's me as a SP kid.

Now you try. http://www.southparkstudios.com/fans/avatar/?cid=cons:0;208134073;30224305;3111743;#/Notebook-notebook_centrino/

What does this say about me? A continuing series...

Sometimes just opening your email can lead to a crisis of identity. Case in point: A few days ago, I got this gem in my inbox:

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Dear Amazon.com Customer,

As someone who has purchased or rated books by William Makepeace Thackeray, you might like to know that The English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century: A Series of Lectures is now available. You can order yours for just $16.98 by following the link below.

The English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century: A Series of Lectures William Makepeace ThackerayPrice: $16.98.

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Really? Amazon thinks I might like to know that a series of lectures about 18th century humorists is available? I think I had better laugh, because if I don't I might cry.

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I hope none of my flesh and blood friends think I might like to know that The English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century: A Series of Lectures is now available.

Mirror, mirror ...

Just set this blog up to mirror the one I have on IMVU at http://www.imvu.com/catalog/web_mypage.php?user=12407173. I'll fill in as time goes by, so that both blogs are the same.

I also want to thank my friend, Greg, for being brave enough to blog here about his challenges as well. Read all about his adventures with his alien at http://gregsalien.blogspot.com/

That's all for now. There will be more. DS.

A Mite Too Seriously

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081023/ap_on_fe_st/as_japan_avatar_murder

Having your avatar hacked and murdered because it got married to someone in cyberspace that is not your spouse irl? This is a bad way to go. And a weird thing to get vitually murderously upset about.... But I will tell you that I have certainly met plenty of folks in IMVU who take their relationships in here VERY seriously. Which is fine, I guess, until you start to have negative emotions or associations about your interactions with people on IMVU.

Isn't there enough drama in our real lives that we should do our best to avoid drama in here? If someone gets too intense, too angry, too intimidating, too demanding, just leave them be. Don't we have enough difficulty with commitment irl to be trying to live up to "real" commitments with imaginary people?

I do my best to be non-judgmental, because IMVU is definitely about tolerance and letting people do what they enjoy. So if you are someone who takes their roles on here seriously, please don't take offense. I'd like to understand better.

But know beforehand that I don't quite get it.

Is it socialism yet?

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=10335179

Leslie Stahl from 60 minutes asks a banker the question that has been plaguing me since I heard that the government was buying a big ownership stake in the nation’s banking system. What is socialism if it isn’t when the government owns major stakes in the commercial sector? Now in the U.S., after the bank bailout, that’s exactly what it is. And oddly, McCain and Palin accuse Obama of being a socialist. Last I checked McCain was heavily involved in the bailout package as was Obama…

But why is it that when the banking sector is in crisis and needs to be bailed out, or in this case socialized, it happens immediately and when say, the healthcare sector is in crisis, there’s no action whatsoever and suggesting that the system might be socialized ends up with politicians losing their jobs?

I don’t know. I’m just asking.

Mistaken ... Herbs?

So, let me tell you about a bit of a weird experience. A couple nights back, I was in my living room with the sliding glass door open and for the second time, I started to smell this … smell. To me, it seemed familiar and reminded me of the great era of arena rock. Concerts like Styx, Molly Hatchet, ELO, and Kansas. Problem is, I never really liked the smell of burning marijuana. And I never really liked that minor headache that I would get after a couple of hours exposed to it. And I never tried it. Working in a security cleared job, now is certainly not the time that I’m going to pick up that habit.

The last time I smelled it, I sort of chuckled and decided to ignore it, but this time, I don’t know if the wind was different, but it really was bothering me. I was trying to do some work and I was getting a headache and thought that I was starting to have a hard time concentrating… So I decided to go out on the porch and see if I could figure out where it was coming from.

That’s where it got weird. Not only was the smell coming from my next door neighbor, it was not the guy sitting out there, it was the eight and a half month pregnant woman who quite non-chalantly said, “Hi. How’s it going?” Well, it still looked (and smelled) to me that she was sitting there smoking a fatty and I was just shocked. So, seeming quite rude I suppose, I just said “Could you not do that on the porch? The smell comes right into my apartment.” She apologized and told me that she didn’t know that my door was open and that, get this, the smoke was a “Chinese acupuncture treatment” for discomfort during her pregnancy. I thought to myself, yeah right, and said “Well, I guess I’ll just close my door.” And I did.

I felt awkward, but sort of justified. C’mon, does she think I don’t know what marijuana smells like? And eight months pregnant??? Sheesh! I may have pissed her off, but who really cares if that’s the kind of decisions she is making for her child? But if I felt bad, she must have felt worse, because when I got home from work the next day, there was a note on my door apologizing for bothering me and explaining that she does the “treatment” outside because it bothers her husband too.

Well, now what?

Rather than let it fester and have her worry that I didn’t accept her apology, I decided to knock on her door and thank her for the note and apologize if I seemed abrupt. She seemed very sweet and friendly and a little embarrassed, so I guess I did the right thing in knocking on the door.

But I’m still not sure about that smoke. Chinese acupuncture? C’mon.

Pop Music and the F word

I know. I'm late to the Seether bandwagon, but the two songs I just got, Remedy and Fake It are just rocking songs. I love the lyrics of Fake It and the Seattle grunge feel to Remedy takes me back. Not sure why I resisted with Seether, maybe it's because I was annoyed that the band has the same name as just an awesome song from Veruca Salt from 1994. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AI95BVkiW0

Anyway, at the same time I got the two from Seether, I got Buckcherry's Crazy Bitch. I don't like Buckcherry much as a rule, but I love the song Crazy Bitch. I don't know if it's the riff, or the lyrics, or what, but I just love the song.

Now, Fake It has fscking in it, but Crazy Bitch, well, that song is chock full of fsck.

I ordinarily buy the explicit version of songs almost as much because it annoys me to hear the actual lyrics edited out as any thought that the artists ought to be able to be heard in their original voice. I don't curse much myself, but I don't begrudge an artist their impulse to use colorful language in their lyrics. That being said, there is a lot of fsck in that song Crazy Bitch. But I think it's okay, like I think its okay that there is a bunch of shut in Gwen Stefani's song Hollaback Girl. It's not the pop music that was out when I was a kid and one thing is for sure ...

I'm not letting my son use my iPod.

The right words

http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/AnnaNalick/Breathe-2-AM--18656347

Occasionally (well perhaps rarely), a songwriter finds just the lyric that speaks not so much to your brain, or even your heart, but to your soul. Anna Nalick wrote a lyric like that for me in her song “Breathe (2AM).” She sings, “It’s 2AM and I’m still awake writing this song/If I get it all down on paper, it’s no longer inside me/Threatening the life it belongs to.”

That is definitely the way that I feel about the play that I’ve been writing. It’s dark and violent and when I let it loose to work on it (or let loose the emotions needed to drive it), it scares me. It really “threaten[s] the life it belongs to.” I’m jealous of twenty something singer/songwriter Anna Nalick, who can stay awake writing a song at 2AM because she doesn’t go to work to support a child every morning (or maybe she does, but I don‘t know that she does). And who writes songs, rather than plays. This play is inside of me and I have to wall it off pretty seriously so I can go about going to bed at a reasonable time, getting up and going to work, taking care of my son on the weekends, and generally living the life of an ordinary person, and not the life of a writer. Even when I have the rare occasion when I can write, I can’t always tear down that wall between the play and the rest of my psyche in order to really do good work on it.

It took me four years to finish my first full length play. This one won’t take that long, because in finishing the first one, I gained the confidence that I can actually do it. But it will take a long time and all of that time it spends inside me, it “threaten[s] the life it belongs to.”

Wait ... Did I Just LIKE That?

Once upon a time, I enjoyed watching a boxing match to some extent. For one, I used to spend a lot of time watching sports, any sport, on television. With my marriage, the birth of my son, and my eventual divorce, rearranged priorities meant that there was much less time to sit and watch sports on TV, and boxing was one of the first to go. But when I watched it, I enjoyed it. Part of it had to do with the fact that my grandfather boxed when he was young (and was Golden Gloves at Notre Dame). Part of it had to do with the fact that I enjoyed the “sweet science” aspect of the sport. Boxing is very much a technique driven sport (watch Million Dollar Baby again if you don’t agree) and I enjoyed watching fighters with good technique. For that reason, I preferred the lighter weight classes and amateur to pro boxing.

But anyway, as I said, I pretty much stopped watching it. I’m sure there is no causal relationship, but the sport seems to be pretty much dieing. If you need evidence, Evander Holyfield is fighting for the heavyweight championship. AT 47!!!

I had heard of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighting, but hadn’t been interested. It seemed too close to pro wrestling. Too close to being a blood sport. And the guys that were fans of the sport (including Jim Rome) didn’t seem like the kinds of guys that I wanted to have something in common with. So I never watched it.

Until Friday night. I was channel flipping a little because my son was with his mom for the weekend and noticed EliteXC fighting on CBS. I was intrigued because Kimbo Slice was scheduled at the top of the card, and I had heard him interviewed on ESPNRadio earlier. So I decided to check it out. Now I didn’t watch it start to finish--I kept channel flipping--but … wait for it … I sort of liked it. The production values were strong. The athletes were interesting. And the fights were … exciting. I was flabbergasted. Oh, and it helped that they spent a significant time with Gina Carano, the “Face of Women’s MMA” and that she has a really pretty face, a rock solid figure, and just the cutest personality. And she could totally kick my ass. mmmRowrrrr.

Anyway, not sure why I felt compelled to confess this here. AFAIK, no one reads this blog (except for my sweet ViePrivee. We will chat one day!!!), but I wanted to write about this weird experience just a little.

Last night, I heard there was some controversy as to whether EliteXC tried to orchestrate the fight with Kimbo Slice. I hope that’s not true. I don’t know how often I would really watch anyway, but I can tell you that if the fights are orchestrated the way professional wrestling “fights” are …

The answer is not at all.

Uncle Skippy recommends SW:TCW

http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/clonewars/

Got a chance to check out the first two episodes of Cartoon Network's Star Wars: The Clone Wars which premiered over the weekend. Uncle Skippy likes it and recommends it to you, faithful reader. It's total fun to see Yoda, especially jumping around and destroying droid after droid. The animation is cool and sharp and the art is engaging.

For those of you that saw it, it's in the same style as the feature film. I haven't had a chance to see the film because it looked too violent (even cartoon violence) for a six year old and when I go to the movies, I go with my son, so those are the movies I see now.

The only potentially annoying thing about the series is the frontline battle droids of the Seperatists. They are exceedingly dumb and their "personality" is truly grating. Hard to buy though that the Separatists would put up with such annoying droids making up the bulk of their battle forces. Why wouldn't you just program them to have a better and less insipid personality?

I guess there's an interesting story in their somewhere, if the Sith met the programmers to complain about the programming and the creators were just as annoying as the droids. They'd be like "What? What's wrong with their personality? They're just like us." LOL.

Or not.

Anyway, check in out Cartoon Network (Fridays at 9 ET) or the first episode is up on the web site (linked above, you're welcome).

Not the Only One

http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/waiting-for-schadenfreude/?em

A nice blog entry in the New York Times that shows that I'm not the only one wondering about my life choices while the financial crisis is going on. But I don't like the concept of schadenfreude. (except with respect to sports teams I don't like. hehehe. Dook, I'm looking at you.) Schadenfreude, or taking joy in other's misfortune, is bad bad karma, and just sort of mean. I know the folks that she is talking about made a lot of money and don't care how, but I still couldn't find joy in them being ruined....

Just me.

A Life Well Spent

Don't worry, I don't think this is a mid-life crisis, but with so much attention being paid to the financial crisis, and greed, and wealth (or lack of it), I've come back to a question that haunts me from time to time.

Hopefully without seeming too full of myself, let me tell you that I'm pretty sure I could have made a lot of money in my career. I graduated high in my class from a solid professional school and had some offers to make a lot of coin right after graduation. I didn't. I chose instead to go to work for the Federal Government and recently celebrated 15 years of public service. Needless to say, I haven't become rich working for the Government. I'm not starving, but I do drive a ten year old car with 150K miles on it (but it gets 36 mpg so who's complaining?).

So was that the right choice? Is a life of service (I almost said "was") worth the sacrifice of the extra money that I could have made doing other, more corporate things? I have always thought so, and almost believed so, but I've never been sure how I could put that belief into words. I was never quite sure how I would explain to my son (once he is old enough to understand even) why his father chose not to make all the money he could.

As with most other things, someone else has said it much more eloquently than I ever could. And not surprisingly, it is a quote from one of my heroes, John F Kennedy. On the occasion of the 1961 State of the Union address, he said: "Let every man and woman who works in any area of our national government, in any branch, at any level, be able to say with pride and with honor in future years, 'I served the United States Goverment in that hour of our nation's need.'"

And I am able to say that. And I say it with pride and with honor.

Bumper Sticker Politics

I don't want to make this a blog about politics, but it is election season and I'm bound to see things that make me think. And things that make me think, I want to share with you all. So, with that said, I saw this bumper sticker:

"Jesus was a community organizer and Pilate was a governor"

Now there is undoubtedly a partisan message in this slogan, but I'm really less concerned about that and more interested in what it points out about drawing conclusions on about a candidate based on one or two characteristics. Certainly, Obama is not Jesus and Palin is no Pilate. But hammering Obama because a big hunk of his previous experience is as a community organizer seems just as shallow as suggesting that Palin's experience as a wife and mother doesn't make up part of her qualifications to lead.

Ultimately, you need to know as much as you can about the whole person before you decide who is right to lead the most powerful nation on earth. What cynical political machinery assumes about you, is that you are willing to reduce candidates to cardboard cut outs with only one characteristic. The machinery banks on the fact that you will vote based on their caricatures. The machine assumes that you don't care enough to look farther.

Rage against the machine.

You're Only as Old as You ... Listen?

I was talking with a colleague of mine today and somehow we got on the topic of music and I described an artist as emo (I forget now who it was) and despite the fact that she is at least ten years younger than me (perhaps fifteen), she said "What's emo?" Well, I named a few emo bands (none of which she had heard of) and ultimately said "Well, its sort of post-grunge." And she said "Grunge?"

She then told me that that was how she knew she had gotten old. She no longer listened to or cared about new music. In her view, there was nothing on the radio worth hearing and she spends most of her time listening to music she already owns. Is that a definition of old? I guess...

By that count, I am certainly not old. I'm always listening for new music, and quite frequently really liking what I hear..But, I do admit to feeling somewhat creepy (and definitely old) when I think about the age of some of the artists that I like. I felt that way about Avril Lavigne's first album and feel that way again about Paramore. But I can't help it, even though Haley Williams is not yet 20, that band frikkin' rocks.

Really, though, what does it matter? If someone thinks that my age (44 btw) makes me old, the fact that I listen to Paramore isn't going to change their mind. Old is just a label that I can put on myself (like my colleague has) or that other people can put on me. It doesn't affect who I am, or how I feel, or how I live my life.

Or what music is on my iPod.

Of Raw Fish and Fast Food

There's a new "fast food" sushi restaurant near work. I've been hesitant to try it, because for one, I already have a carry out sushi place near work, and for two, it seemed extremely corporate--a sort of McDonald's with raw fish. The place that I usually go to is a very Mom and Pop sort of place or maybe two brothers and a daughter... in any event, very much a family operation. I like them, they know me, and the sushi chef there has an uncanny knack for keeping everyone's order in his head. Seriously, no matter how busy they are, I've never seen him write anything down.

So anyway, as curiosity overcame me and I decided to finally try the new place, I felt somewhat unfaithful as I entered the slick and eye popping newness of "Wasabi To Go." Now I try very hard not to be sexist, but the first thing I noticed is that there were three young women behind the counter. This was not a good sign, as I know the Japanese culture is pretty sexist and for the most part, women are not taught to be sushi chefs. I also try very hard not to be culturally biased, but I also took it as a bad sign that two of the three young women working there were not Japanese, but Hispanic.

Well, the sushi lived down to my greatly diminished expectations. The rolls were made on, get this, a MACHINE!!! All the sushi "chef" did was put the ingredients down in order. All the fish had been pre sliced and spending god knows how long losing its flavor.

The lesson here must be that "There is value in loyalty." Or something like that.

Uh, What?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080905/lf_nm_life/britain_music_dc_1

Again, what does this say about me? Sounds like a poorly designed study to me. Wealthy people like opera? Well, did they control for socioeconomic factors before drawing that conclusion. Heavy metal listeners are gentle, while indie lovers aren't? Really? What about emo indie?

Meh, I've already wasted too much cyber-breath on this dumb study.

RSSs and My Music

I'm still not really sure what an RSS is or how it works exactly, but I like the one that I picked up from iTunes that lets you all see what songs I've bought there lately. I think a person's taste in music says a lot about them, but I'm not really sure what my crazy eclectic taste says about me. That I'm crazy? That I'm eclectic? Who knows?

Speaking of taste in music, I make no secrets about the fact that I am older than most around the imvu ranch, but check this out. Not once, but twice, I've bought music from iTunes only to have it be a featured free download the next week. The first time was with Toy Shiny Guns last year and the second time was just this week with Black Kids. You ought to give this track a listen and this band a try. They really are very good. Sort of lounge meets Depeche Mode updated.... Anyway. What have you got to lose? It's free. But am I one step ahead of iTunes and thus really hip? Or am I just anticipating the next corporate push to mold us into one unvarying consumer? I know which one I want to believe....

Dallas and Death

No, no one died this week (at least that I know of) but I hope most folks know that John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. I went to the museum that they have on the floor of the building that the assassin Lee Harvey Oswald fired from. It's an interesting museum and although I've never been much interested in all the conspiracy theories, being there made me more curious about the different explanations disagreeing with the Warren Commission. It was genuinely chilling to be right next to where the shooter lay in wait to kill on of the great American presidents. A weird experience to say the least.

Dallas as a city didn't exactly win me over, but it wasn't as bad as I feared. Had some great TexMex (of course), a good steak, and some really good bar b q (didn't convert me from NC barbeque but that's another entry. The West End area of Dallas was quite decent, with some nice bars and good restaurants. I'm not champing at the bit to go back, but the edge has been taken off of my "hate." LOL.

Dallas

Speaking of ambivalence.... Headed to Dallas this week on a business trip. Always grew up hating Dallas from a distance, especially the Cowboys, but also the prime time soap. If anyone still remembers that!! I've always heard that downtown Dallas is pretty dead and that you need to go to Fort Worth or to Austin to have any fun. But on the other hand, this conference I'm attending apparently attracts a lot of law enforcement types and there is much, ummm, pushing the limits that goes on. We'll find out I guess, and someone has promised to send me some links for fun stuff downtown. Will my irrational hatred for Dallas survive the trip??? Tune in soon.

Olympics

Is it me, or is the fact that the Olympics are in China sucking the interest out of the whole thing? Not only will all the events be on at ODark30 in the morning, but I've got this moral ambivalence about the whole fact that they will be in China. I guess I'll still Tivo the men's and women's soccer and basketball and probably check in to see if Phelps beats Spitz's record (Mark Spitz inspired my own considerably less stellar swimming career). But I think I'll feel a little dirty about it.

Summer Movies

I like Ed Norton as much or more than anyone, but can anyone explain to me why in the heck they remade the Hulk? What a waste of perfectly good CGI. Iron Man has done well and deservedly so, but man, Marvel studios is really beating dead horses. Although, I shouldn't talk. The only movies I get to see are PG and under. But I love that boy....

Battlestar Galactica

Another pop culture recommendation from Uncle Skippy to you. Battlestar Galactica on Sci-Fi is just a brilliant program and it is in its last season as the colonists try to make it to Earth ahead of the cylons. Why the cylons won't just kill them all on Earth, I'm not sure, but there it is. I'll post a comment on each episode over in the IMVU group for feedback and discussion, so if you'd like to join us there, just click the linky. Frack!

Yo! MTV Raps!

Just had to mention that I was up way to late the other night and Yo! MTV Raps came on MTV2 (or was it MTVJams?). I had forgotten how great old school rap was. There are moments in rap in this decade, but they just can't compare to brilliant stuff that was being recorded in the late eighties early nineties before gangster gained such a stranglehold on the rap scene. The Fugees, Tribe Called Quest, classic Queen Latifah, just excellent music and amazing words paired beautifully. There were videos from all three on the episode of Yo! that I was watching. Can't forget DeLaSoul either. Three Feet High and Rising is one of the great rap albums of all time.

You kiddies out there, take a tip from one who knows and download some of this stuff. You'll never listen to today's rap the same again....

Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Metalocalypse

Just wanted to riff for a little on ATHF. If you haven't checked this show out; you simply have to watch. The show is stupid and brilliant all at the same time. Totally appeals to my absurdist sense of humor (honed at a young age on the Muppets and Monty Python).

Check out Metalocalpyse too. It comes from the group associated with Brendan Small, who worked on other great adult animation series like Home Movies and Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist. Maybe its because my brother is in a heavy metal band, but I just love the send up of death metal taken to the extreme. The counter conspiracy cracks me up as well.

Anyway, my recommendations to you.

Maybe I'm a Bad Blogger

January was my last post?!? I'm not sure why I don't blog more. I guess I'm not always motivated to do it. Just back from a family vacation. One house, two parents, two siblings, one son, one niece, and two foster daughters. It was nice, but it wasn't exactly margaritas on the back porch at sunset. Ah well, I guess that's gone for a while. Perhaps one day again.

Watching the Lady Tar Heels lose right now, but the men have advanced to the Final Four for a record 17th time. That I like....

Who's House? Heels' House!

I promise not to blog to much about sports, but my Tar Heels are 17 and 0, baby, and for all the things going poorly in my life at the moment, sometimes you got to just enjoy a sports team that you care about whomping up on everyone else. Especially NC State. LOL.

My Redskins are out (remind me to tell you why I am still a Redskins fan). But the Packers are playing well and the Plowboys are done as well. I'm ambivalent about the Patriots going all the way. It would be interesting to watch but folks from Boston are hard enough to take without 19 and 0 to brag about. JK Uncle Lance and Aunt Lolly!!