Updates and such.

First off, let me say I love my friends.....the GoG has a great sense of what's what in the world. I will again plug their blogs a bit here. The Discourser of course is required reading. He has a great view of the world and is a really good writer. I expect to see him published some day. The Professor has an analytical eye on the world and you may very well learn something from reading his blog; he's very thorough in his explanations. SuperGoober just wrote a rant about the media's sensationlizing the Swine Flu issue.....much like myself he sees it as irrational and irresponsible. The Warden's blog is just great reading. If you believe that when there is no more room in Hell the dead will walk the earth, then his blog is for you. Wayfarer's travelogue is still a great read even though he's been home for months now. Another great writer. NTT's Brain is still sketching (he never stops) and his blog is filled with his artwork. The Perfectline will make you wish you were a Gearhead and make you want to buy a track car. The Craftsman's Wife will touch you with the continuing tale of Max the Wonder Baby.

Now for your regularly scheduled post:

New movie recommendation. Rent "Burn After Reading". It's a Cohen Brothers movie and it shows. It's a crazy little journey into the lives of some crazy little people who are willing to do anything for themselves. Narcissists with good intentions but not enough brains to be really dangerous. Funny movie.

Heroes.....it was better than last season that's for sure, but, well I don't know. I will keep watching because I want to see Network SciFi succeed, especially now since the SciFi channel doesn't really show SciFi anymore. The problem I'm having with Heroes lately is it seems the characters never learn from their past mistakes and keep on spiraling downwards in the same vicious cycle season after season. For awhile there it looked like we were going to get an actual Hero Team vs a Villan Team......it won't happen though...not sure why. It would be cool...I'm not talking spandex and masks here but it would be good.

What is with that anyway? We Comic book geeks watch TV too.....we SciFi geeks and Fantasy geeks......make something for us. Yes I know "Big Bang Theory" is technically a Geeks Sitcom, but honestly I haven't watched a sitcom since "Cheers" and "Night Court" went off the air. Yes, I'm that old so shutup. Hell I used to watch "Welcome Back Kotter", "MASH" and "Taxi" religiously. So you see, if they can't make them on par with those, it's not worth watching. Some would argue that "Seinfeld" was in that realm...I disagree. I never found it funny. It was a show about a bunch of self-centered, shallow people. Just not funny. Hell to this day I still laugh out loud to episodes of "I Love Lucy". That was one funny lady. Not being into "Battlestar Galactica" (sorry GoG...just never got into it....) it has been years since I watched SciFi Channel. I remember watching it alot back in the day. They would always show some old SciFi show daily during the 7pm hour. "Sliders", "Quantum Leap" stuff like that. Now it's guys hunting for ghosts and wrestling????? I mean yes, there's your Fiction but where's the Science part??? Side note: Not really sure if Ghosts are Fiction or not I've seen some things and experienced some things I really can't explain so I really can't say if it is indeed Fiction or not. Wrestling on the other hand; Fiction. Bunch of Stuntmen slapping and throwing each other around. I loved "Farscape" and "Stargate" until that show started to become unwatchable. Never watched "Stargate: Atlantis" because it was basically a SciFi channel spinoff and I've had bad experiences with their spinoffs. See the horrible example of "Wizard of EarthSea".....They really pissed me off with their interpretation of Harry Dresden in "The Dresden Files" series. That was not the Harry Dresden from Jim Butcher's novels; not even remotely close. The only thing they did well was to make Bob the Skull have a human form that he can project to talk to Harry. A talking Skull with their budget would have been really cheesy. As it was Harry didn't even have a real Wand or Staff, it was a drumstick and a hockey stick. Just annoying and I'm glad it got cancelled. Seriously, the way the books are written you could have just filmed it almost page by page.

I am liking this new series I've caught on Spike called "Most Dangerous Warrior" or something to that effect. They basically take two types of warriors from History and run tests on each one's weaponry and tactics, crunch the numbers, and run them through a computer simulation to see who would best who. The two I've seen so far are "Samurai vs. Viking" (Samurai won) and "Ninja vs. Spartan" (the Spartan destroyed the Ninja).

That's it for now...remember check out the blogs in the links sections and I will be back with another Rant about something soon.

Someone Gets it besides me!!!!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/04/29/onthejob042909.DTL

Great article about a book called "Free-Range Kids" or something to that affect. The author of the article is a new Father and wonders if all of these Child Safety products we have out now are just fearmongering......he thinks so, and so do I. Good read.

Porcine Mexican Zombies

Bet that got your attention.... So apparently the paranoia of Post 9/11 America still exists (I should know better with all the "Obama's gonna take yer guns" talk I hear all the time) in the fact that people are freaking out over the dreaded SWINE FLU!!!!!!!!!! ZOMGBBQ!!! Yep that's right, the EVIL Mexican Zombies are pouring across our borders to infect us with Pig Flu..... because they have such high standards of health care and their Government is sooooo functional that 150 people died in Mexico City alone. This ain't Mexico City folks. The CDC issued the alert but said to "not worry" and to wash your hands and use Purell if you think you've been around someone who has flu-like symptons. In other words DON'T PANIC!!! This isn't Resident Evil, the hordes of infected Porcine Mexican Zombies aren't coming for you to bite you and turn you into one of them. Yet, friends of mine on a message board are saying everyone should use the coming Pandemic to restock their emergency supplies. In other words, put up the plastic duct tape it in place. Get out your Dr's Masks and lysol and stock up on non-perishable food and water and for God's sake (and this is really just because those damn Liberal Democrats and their Messiah Obama are gonna take yer guns....) stock up on you Assault rifles and ammo. Besides, if there were real Zombies coming, The Warden would tell us....he's the ever vigilant one on that front.

What is Cool?

This is one part observation and one part rant.  Those that know me, know I like to people watch.  It's an interesting way to get a glimpse of the way people present themselves to the world in general.  On TV you see all kinds of examples.  Local merchants who do their own commercials are the best ones for finding unique and humorous things to observe.  Take the Nashville Dodge/Nissan commercials.  They have this blonde, model named Jolene who does their commercials.  She's always dressed nicely in a business suit, but she does the funniest things, and they aren't meant to be funny.  Somewhere she went to Spokesmodel school and it shows.  She does three hand gestures throughout the entire commercial and they all look too rehearsed and not even remotely natural.  And they seem to be done in a certain order.  Hands together, fingers intertwined then she goes to hands in front of her spread apart, then it's one hand down one arm bent slightly with her index finger pointing and emphasizing whatever it is she is saying at that point.  Or there's this Larry Stovesand guy...he owns a Lincoln/Mercury dealership.  He's an older man, that seems to always wear a sweater vest and comes out walking around a car on his lot talking about it real fast.....but what's funny is Larry seems to have no clue about any of the technology that goes into his Ford/Lincoln/Mercury vehicles.  His commercials have statements like the following in them: "It has the Sync, whatever that is...it's got everything" or "It's got auto windows, locks and the trunks go up and down by themselves, it's got the Bluetooth..ummm it's loaded..."  Look Dude, if you are selling vehicles, new vehicles, then know what the Hell is in them and what it does okay?

 

Now back on Topic.  What is cool?  I remember back in school we defined cool based on the group you hung with.  I was never cool because I hung with band geeks....although in that circle I was kind of cool because I was a drummer....and we were the bad boys of the band; at least the trouble makers if not the bad boys.  If you were one of the Highriders or Stoner types, you were cool if you wore any of the following: A black leather vest, combat boots w/steel toes, a Derby Jacket (I had one of these) or an untucked, unbuttoned flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up worn over a rock t-shirt of some kind...or any kind of cool t-shirt.  You also listened to Rock music.  I aspired to be a Highrider, but didn't like vests, Mom wouldn't buy me a pair of combat boots (they were like 65 bucks...I got the 25 dollar hiking boots instead) and I didn't have a cool muscle car all jacked up in the back, nor did I smoke dope or cigarettes.  I knew folks in this group but was a peripheral member.  If you were a Lowrider, you had to be Latino of some kind (not necessarily Mexican but from a Spanish speaking Country), had to wear a flannel shirt but only buttoned at the top button, and the sleeves had to be buttoned too.  Under that you wore a Wife-Beater t-shirt (you know the tank top kind).  You also had to have your hair slicked back and held in place with either a hair net (still not sure why they did this) or a bandana.  Oh, and the bandana had to be partially over your eyes so you had to tilt your head back to see.  Oh, and you had to talk with an over-exaggerated Latino accent and say things like "yo holmes" or "eh esse"....I never aspired to be part of that crowd, but I knew members of that crowd....and they were all American born and didn't have accents until they proclaimed themselves Cholos or Lowriders then all of a sudden, instant Latino accent.  Then there was the Jocks.  To be part of that crowd you had to like sports, be involved in sports, and be a complete ass to everyone who wasn't in sports with you.  These were the dillweeds that threw you in the garbage can as a Freshman, pantsed you, and basically picked on you if you weren't one of them.   I know, some of these clowns never grew up.  Most of these guys now have crappy jobs because they pissed that sports scholarship away at College by drinking way too much and failing school, crappy marriages because they only married for looks and when they got middle age and fat and bald the cheerleader left them, and they are alcoholics because something is needed to dull the pain of the real world not being like highschool.  Their bitter tears of agony are like sweet wine to me.....remember what Bill Gates said "you should be nice to the Nerds and Geeks because one day you may need a job and they will be running the Corporations of the Future".  The last group was the Preppys.  If it was a polo shirt and had an alligator on it, they wore it.  Sometimes they wore two polos and had one collar popped....God that looks soooooo stupid.  They'd wear Top Siders and have a sweater slung over the back of their shoulders and tied around their neck.  They were insufferable jerks then, and most of them are insufferable jerks now.  These are the "entitled" folks who think it's all about them.

 

I look back on all these types of cool and laugh.  I mean, if you think about it, we all looked stupid.  Yes I wear polos to work now, they are casual enough but not too casual that you don't look professional at work.  I still sometimes wear the untucked, unbuttoned flannel shirt over a T-Shirt....it's comfortable and when you are running errands on a Saturday that's what you want; comfortable.  To me, cool doesn't matter anymore.  I'm a 44 year old married guy, I don't need to be "cool".  I have nice clothes I put on when my Wife and I go someplace special, but I honestly buy for comfort or work now.  I've never understood "fashion" nor do I care too.  I've noticed some new trends in "cool" in the last several years that I must address for they, like our attitudes of "cool", look absolutely stupid.

 

1. Leaning when driving.  Have you seen these guys?  And trust me, it's always a guy.  So I got behind this monkey going home yesterday.  He was driving slow...then fast, slow, then fast.  He kept adjusting his lean, I guess he needed to get it right, constantly.  What I mean by lean is these clowns don't sit upright in their drivers seats.  No, the have to lean towards the passenger seat while leaving their left hand on the steering wheel.  This clown kept adjusting his lean which was causing the slow fast driving pace.  If you do this and are reading this I have just one statement to make:  You don't look cool doing this, you look stupid.

 

2. Driving slumped down in the car so low that all anyone can see is your head.  These clowns wonder why the Po Po is always pulling them over.  Gee, might as well mount a big sign saying "Suspicious" on the car.

 

3. Wearing the ball cap sideways.  Why?  It can't be comfortable and it makes you look like you can't dress yourself properly.  You are not cool.

 

4. The falling down pants syndrome.  We loved jeans in school and we liked them to stay up.  So much so that we bought these strips of leather called BELTS and even got belts with a snap on them so you could change out the belt buckle (they had some badass belt buckles back in my day.....you know the space tape rock band ones.....I still have a Van Halen belt buckle somewhere).  Apparently some of these kids think that your pants falling down and your underwear showing is cool.  No, you look like you were dressed by a blind retard.  I know that was cruel...the blind retard part.....but it serves as a good description.   This is not cool, you look really stupid.

 

5. The Goth Kid.  Oh Lord help us and save us from the bitter, moody teenager.  These ones like to dress like they come out of a Tim Burton movie or like Tim Burton himself.  Black hair, black nail polish (guys and girls), black eyeliner (again boys and girls), enough metal stuck in their face and bodies to set off a security detector at the airport.  Teens are moody in general, these kids take it to the extreme.   Guess what vampire boy, life sucks.  You don't know suffering and pain...you only think you do.  Try being married to my Ex-Wife.  Oh wait, that's misery you might like.  By the way, Goth Kid, you don't look cool.

 

6. The Jock Kid.  Not much has changed here.  The only exception is that junior may be on roids to amp up his game.  You will still grow up to be a Manager at a Fast Food restaurant, still get fat and bald, still be an alchy and still have a crappy marriage.  You were never cool, nor will you ever be.

 

7. The Redneck Kid.  Out here this kid is the next right wing conservative to drive a pickup with a gun rack and wear Realtree Camo to formal events.  These kids have a confederate flag on their pickups and a sticker that says "It's heritage, not hate".......sure it is.  Definitely not cool, and will most likely live in a trailer somewhere.

 

These are the kids....now onto the adults: 

 

8. The Prada Queen.  She's botoxed, lifted, enhanced and wears enough makeup to choke a horse.  She shops at stores where crap is way overpriced just to say that she did.  She worships at the church of Name Brands and Labels and will kill for the latest and greatest ones.  She is high maintenance and shallow and it's all about her.  Definitely not cool; just annoying.

 

9. The Golf Pro Wannabe.  He is in business so he HAS to golf.  He has embraced it wholeheartedly, it's in his blood.  He looks for any excuse to play, and he's really not that good.  Oh, he will buy every gadget known to man to help him improve his swing but he will never use them.  You are not cool.  Tiger Woods=Cool.  You=Not Cool.

 

10. Mr.. Keeping up with the Joneses.  Oh yeah, if everyone else has one, so will he.  The early adopter, buys the first version which ends up being obsolete in a few years, but hey he had to have the first one.  No one is impressed, but you.

 

Now for what is cool, at least to me:

 

The Parents who do whatever they can to make their children happy, within reason.  I'm not talking about buying Junior everything he wants, but encouraging Junior to do his/her best in whatever they want to get in.  These folks are cool.

 

The Cops (The Warden fits in here) and Firefighters who aren't slackers and take their jobs seriously and put it all on the line.  Those folks are cool.

 

The Teachers/Principals (Discourser is one of these, the Prof is another) who actually give a shit about the kids under their supervision and actually try and keep those kids on track.  Those folks are cool.

 

Honor, Integrity, Selflessness......these are cool concepts to me.

 

Your pants falling down around your ankles and your boxers showing???? Not so much.

Take a seat Coach, you've earned it.

I was saddened to hear that John Madden had decided to retire from broadcasting this year. One of the formost authorities on the Game of Football, he added a much needed pizazz to the color commentary of each game. He and Al Michaels and Pat Summerall are some of my favorite commentators of all time. Howard Cosell may be a "legend" but truth be told the guy was kind of an ass. Joe Buck, the Nerdiest and most boring commentator ever, I could do without. I still remember your biased commentary during the Angels/Giants World Series schmuck boy. Blatantly obvious biased commentary too. As a Raider fan I barely remember Madden coaching my beloved Silver and Black. I do remember him being larger than life and not quiet when he was pissed. He would stalk the sidelines, chewing up the field. I don't think he ever sat still long enough to get an ulcer or anything like that. When he stopped coaching and became a broadcaster, that was when he truly shined. Many have teased about his "man crush" on Brett Favre or the way he would mumble streams of information while drawing on the screen and explaining the game he loves so much. Sad to see him go, but hey, he's earned it. Now if we can just get rid of Joe Buck.....

RIP Dave Arneson

http://airsoftsteve.blogspot.com/2008/03/gary-gygax-tribute.html

Click on the link to read my tribute to Dave's partner, Gary Gygax. So today we have lost the Co-Creator of D&D Dave Arneson to cancer. I bet there's one heck of a game of D&D going on in Heaven right now. I toast you Dave and Gary, thanks for making a game that us Geeks could actually socialize around. I roll my D20 to you as well.

Carry on Dungeon Master

Smell that? That's extremist Right Wing Desperation is what that is.....

The far Right Extremes of the GOP have finally lost it. They have seriously gone Bat Shit crazy. They come out and admit that Rush Limbaugh is their new spokesman now. Wow...really? Look those on the Extreme Left don't even acknowledge Michael Moore as anything other than a guy that makes controversial documentaries and you pin your Parties' re-emergence on Rush????? Apparently Fox News has decided that they really aren't going to be reporting anything close to fact or truth anymore. Nope, they are apparently going to broadcast nothing but opinion and fear mongering, disguised as news. Hell they even have Alex Jones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Jones_(radio_host) who is a known Conspiracy Theorist and fear monger as a host now weekly and tout him as "The Great Alex Jones". This guy's radio show basically caused some loser still living with his Mom to strap on his AK and a vest then wait for the police to arrive (his Mom called them because she thought he was going to off her). When the cops showed up he picked them off one by one. Why? Because Alex Jones convinced him that Obama was going to steal his guns. There is currently no Obama Administration Gun Bills in the Senate or House. But hey, gun stores are doing great business as the uninformed are heading there in droves to buy up all the ammo they can get their hands on. Hmmm...remember that comment about Guns and Religion??? Yeah figured you had. Look, nothing wrong with owning guns okay, but seriously Obama isn't going to take your damn guns from you. He wouldn't be the first President to try and he wouldn't be the first President to fail. He's a bit too busy worrying about important things like, oh The Economy, every freaking country in the Middle East hating our asses, Afghanistan where Osama Bin Laden is still hiding and mocking us....you know like Bush said "Mission Accomplished"????? Can I honestly just say to these fools; enough!!!! K??? Seriously stop your freaking whinning. But yet these douches often come back with "well you guys said all this crap about Bush and no one got mad..." whah whah whah....Bush deserved every little bit of hatred thrown his way. We are in this mess because of policies he let happen. He took global sympathy over 9/11, pissed on it, wrapped it in shit then sent it back to those that sided with us saying "take a big bite of this...". That's why Bush was universally hated...okay with the exception of 26% of the Population.... Obama is trying to solve a big mess here dumbasses. Instead of attacking the man, why not try coming up with solutions yourselves. Oh wait, you don't want to do that because it would mean the end of your "beloved, non-regulated, free market"....yeah like the Free Market ever existed. Please.

Morons

First off let me make a disclaimer: I love California and San Francisco and the Bay Area in general. Hell I was raised there and lived there for 40 years before moving to Tennessee.

With that being said, what the Hell is wrong with people in the Golden State lately? In the past couple of months I've read some stupid shit that just needs to be addressed. First off, Vaccinations. Apparently more and more parents now a days are so self-involved and think "they know best" that they are opting not to vaccinate their children. This lead to a new story about some uppity rich couple who took their non-vaccinated kids to "summer" in Switzerland where the contracted measles. When these kids got to school amongst their uppity rich friends the measles spread like an epidemic.....to all their non-vaccinated friends. Why no vaccinations you say? Well because of a Jack Ass named Jenny McCarthy. Who? Exactly.....a bimbo who used to do MTV and posed for Playboy has become an advocate for the Nanny State, scared shitless generation. Her son is Autistic and she believes it's because of the vaccinations he recieved. Even though Medical Science says differently.

Before I continue, another disclaimer: Yes I bash the Pharmaco's on here alot, but as the Wayfarer and I discussed, it's their marketing tactics they use to get ungodly wealthy off of things that help us and should be readily available. It's the scare tactic marketing techniques that create said Jack Ass, moronic parents as illustrated above. Now back to your regularly scheduled Rant.

I trust science. I know many a person in that field. I was vaccinated, my parents before me, my kids, etc. I don't have Autism nor do any of the people I've mentioned. There seems to be a rise in Autism yes, but maybe it's because we know what to diagnose now where before mild cases may have slipped through with the label of Special Ed Student or what have you. I don't believe that Vaccinations cause autism, there is no medical link. What these self-absorbed assholes will end up doing is causing the reemergence of long dead viruses that have been kept at bay by generations of Vaccinations. But hey I guess they want their kids to get Polio, Small Pox, Tuberculosis, Measles, Mumps, Chicken Pox, etc than run the risk of their kids becoming autistic.

The next example of "fine" Bay Area parenting comes from a Blog on SFGate.com that I know better not to read. The Mommy Blog. This woman is a self-important, self-absorbed, has more money than sense Mother who thinks that her words of "wisdom" will help the average Middle Income Mother. Yeah, the average Middle Income Mother can afford to shop at Whole Foods Market, Draegers and Molly Stones.....suuuurrrreee she can. No said Mother can afford Safeway or Albertsons or Cala...even Trader Joes but as we all know Trader Joes is great for couples or singles but not for shopping for families. You'd have to buy a bit more of everything to feed a family. Anyway, this woman states that there is an article somewhere that links childrens shampoo to cancer. I know, wait it gets better..... She sees a friend, a fellow self-absorbed Uber wealthy Mom-type (probably driving a Hummer and carting her 1.5 kids around town in it) and she comments on how this woman's hair looks so silky and shiny. This woman says it's because her family has stopped using shampoo and that their natural oils help their hair look like it does. Okay so now being unhygenic is trendy. WTF people!!!! Her hair is shiny because of the freaking grease in it!!!! So this woman decides she wants to go shampoo free so takes her family off of it. Uhhhh...screw you lady! I hope she doesn't have kids....oh wait she does.....I bet her kids get the crap teased out of them at school...."hey grease head....don't you ever shower Pigpen???" Let's see, they have had a kids shampoo product out for about 100 years or so....I believe it's called Johnson's Baby Shampoo!!!!!! You know, the "no more tears" kind of shampoo........Hell I know adults that use it. Guess what, generations of kids have used that shampoo and haven't gotten cancer from it. Lord strike these idiots down please......

I've noticed it's a certain age group......it's the folks that were kids in the 80's....not a Teen in the 80's like I was...no little kids...say 7-8 in the 80's...that's who it is. Apparently this generation grew into the whiniest bunch of self-entitled dumbasses ever!!! Okay not every single one of them, but there seems to be an age group with these stories and they all fall into that generation....some anyway, I believe Jenny McCarthy is in her 40's or almost there....but I digress.

Then his Mayorness, Gavin Newsome, wants to put a toll on street usage by cars during commute hours. Apparently Market is getting so packed with cars from people trying to get to the bridges that it's causing pollution issues of all kinds, air, noise, etc. That's great Gavy....just freaking smart. Drive more businesses out of San Francisco why don't you. Soon there will be 2 companies that call that place their home and the Peninsula will be the booming place to build an office park. I also can't believe some people and the whining they do. As you know, out here I still hear almost everyday about President Obama and his "New Socialist Agenda"......I swear this is going to go on for the next 8 years....Yeah I said it...8 Years bitches!!!. Well apparently in SF the rant is they don't have enough money, that no TV shows call it home etc. So on a Sunday past they took one of the freeway ramps and closed it off so they could film a SFX shot for a new TV show that may be based in SF. They blew up a tanker truck and it was apparently really cool. Here where the gist of most of the comments on the article : "Great...polluting the air...go back to Hollywood we don't want you. Oh, I was inconvienced by helicopters flying over my house....blah blah blah whine whine whine......" Lord folks, STFU!!!!! Please? Freaking self-important morons.

Then there's this new article......folks are feeding their pets unprocessed/raw food. Yeah, that's what Fluffy the Cat and Socks the Dog need...raw freaking meat. MMMM that lovely raw chicken sitting is his bowl.....you know with it's potential for freak Salmonella.....E Coli, etc. Why do you think every label for Chicken says to wash your hands after handling and make sure it's thourghly cooked......I admit, the animal food companies screwed up by buying tainted goods from China.....that's a whole nother topic for a whole nother day......but they have learned. Purina makes some of the most nutritious food out there and they have for years. Panther and Malinky do just fine on Friskees Select with beef and chicken thank you very much (it's a Purina brand BTW.....).

I guess since these folks back home can't afford to flip houses anymore and spend money like water and leverage themselves to the hilt they have to have some kind of entertainment. I don't condone finding another alternative, I really don't. But come on folks!!! Seriously, vaccines not only protect your child from dibilitating diseases, they protect other people's children as well. Stop thinking about just yourselves. There are plenty of natural shampoos out there, you just have to look, and like soap you just have to use it. Wash your damn hair, and if you don't want to wash yours, then wash your damn kids hair. My StepDaughter used to go visit some neighbor kids to play, and would always come back with Head lice.......every time to the point she wasn't basically allowed to play with those kids.....never had a recurrance of it..hmmm maybe those kids Mom was a "no-shampoo" Mom.....Hygene is important, and something to teach your damn kids. Hollywood makes TV shows and Movies and often times uses real locations to shoot footage. Said shooting is agreeed upon by local Officials and paid for; handsomely I might add. You know, money that goes into the coffers of the City....you know the money you were bitching that the City doesn't have. You live in San Francisco....a well known City, a beautiful City that Screenwriters like to use as a backdrop. Live with the minor incoviences. Hell Mythbusters did an explosion test in Yolo County (a little tiny area in way Northern California) that got out of hand and blew some windows out, etc. Discovery Channel paid for all the damages and had them all repaired within the week of the incident with gushing apologies from the Mythbusters and the Network. Newsom; stop trying to drive all business out of the City...idiot. The transit only works if you work in the Financial District. If you work any where else it will require you to get up at 3 am and transfer from Bart to Bus to Street Car to even Taxi just to get to work. It's easier to freaking Drive. Don't penalize folks because of your inept system. Fix the system. As for the pet food thing....meh I know folks that swear by Iams and the really expensive brands, then I know folks like my Parents, who used to feed our dogs dry food with fresh cooked chicken chunks thrown in as a treat. But they still fed them store bought food. Don't get the cheap crap and get a name brand.

And please, for the love of all that is Holy, STOP YOUR FREAKING WHINING AND WAKE THE HELL UP!!!!!!!!!!

Stop the insanity now!!!!

Movie reviews and recommendations..also game reviews

Recently we rented two of the new releases, one we loved, the other I rented for myself and was really disappointed in.

First up we have "Righteous Kill" with DeNiro and Pacino. Okay, right there makes it worth watching as far as I'm concerned. It was a great movie, and just when you thought you had it figured out, you didn't. Loved it.

Next was "Wanted". I wanted to like this movie about a secret order of assasins who can curve bullets by flick their wrists at the right time as they are shooting a gun.....okay that last bit always made me scream "I DON'T THINK SO!!!!". The actor that played the Faun in Narnia plays a kid who's Father is a member of this order and he's got all the right stuff to become one of them. Okay, that's great, but apparently part of the training is getting tied to a chair and having the shit beat out of you. Not sure exactly what that does to train you to be an elite assassin, but whatever. The "twist" was lame, and the motivation for the "ex assassin taking out his former mates" was really dumb too. The action was okay and yes the curving bullet trick was kind of cool. This film could have been better, but it wasn't.

Now for games. As you know we have a Wii. After getting burned by Activision (of all companies....but I digress) we have taken to renting games before we buy them. Thank God too. Store policy at a lot of retail stores when it comes to media (and they tell me it's not their policy it's the manufacturer) is if you open it, it can't be exchanged for your money back, only for the same product (in the case of it not working). Even if the game sucks and infuriates you, you can't get your money back. I understand why; too many people buying a game/CD/DVD, taking it home and making a copy, then taking it back and getting their money back essentially getting the item for free. Thanks you cheap, thieving bastards!!!! We bought a game called "Block Party" by Activision. On the cover of the box are examples of all kinds of sports; badmitton, frisbee, bocce, etc all the kinds of games you'd play in your neighborhood as a kid. Not a single one of the games on the front cover is in the game. NOT A SINGLE ONE!! I had to check the disc to make sure there wasn't a mistake. Nope, what you got was some bizarre game of kids playing games like "garbage bag hammer toss" or "wheel the Unicycle across the clothesline, or shoot the flies that are eating your cake!?!?!?!?!? No music, and the characters you use look like toddlers and sound like them too. Activision totally misrepresented the game. Could I get my money back? Nope. So after learning that lesson, we have opted to renting them at Hollywood before buying them. Here's a list of the ones we've rented and recommendations on them.

Deadly Creatures: Great graphics and gameplay. You switch between playing a Tarantula and a Scorpion making your way through the Sonoran Desert. The movements of the animals were recorded from motion capture sensors placed on an actual Scorpion and an actual Tarantula. Great game, but I beat it in 3 days. Unlike other games of this type, there's no replay value whatsoever. The collectibles that you find just open up more concept art....ooooooooo.... what would be cool is if they had a deathmatch mode or a battle mode where each player/player vs CPU picks either one of the main critters or one of the countless others that you run into during the game to fighi it out. Rating: Fun but no replay value. Not worth 40-50 bucks, more like 20.....you're better off renting it and playing it for 3 days. It will be worth your 8 bucks.

Sims 2 Castaways: Fun game, but it only lets you save one game at a time, so if multiple people in the household want to play, all their hard work is overwritten by the next person playing it. What possessed EA to not let you have multiple save slots is beyond me.
Rating: Fun if you're the only person playing it. Not worth it if there are multiple people in your household sharing your Wii.

Animal Crossing: City Folks: What a great game. We've actually not deleted our saved info for this game and plan to purchase it. This is one of those, slow paced, walk around talk to your neighbors/interact/fetch/collect type of games. You start by naming your City, then up to 4 members of your household can live in it (each with it's own save slot). The great part of it is if you have a friend that has the same game, you register each other's machine's "friend code" and via Wii Connect, you can "travel" between Cities and visit your friends City that he has created. It also uses the Wii speak module so you can chat with that friend as well.

Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility: One of those strange Japanese Final Fantasy looking type games, but plays like Animal Crossings or a Sims game. You farm/fetch, etc and make friends on this land you live in. The problem with it is it seems to have a function in it that keeps kids from playing on the Wii all day that you cannot disconnect. Your character loses energy so quickly that you tire easily and are only limited in the time you can actually get on and play the game. Stupid concept, and it's what's keeping us from buying it. Hell if I pay 40-50 bucks for a game I want to play it as long as humanly possible if I want to. You want to limit my playing time, then charge 20 for your game.
Rating: Fun game, but it has a built in limiter that is frustrating as all Hell so this is a no buy for us.

Carnival Mini-Golf: Lots of fun, but once you've unlocked everything it's pretty much done. Sure you can replay the courses, but they are the same three holes every time.
Rating: Fun, but no replay value after you've unlocked every thing. Not worth the high price.

Monster Truck 4x4 World Circuit: For 20 bucks you get a racing game that comes with a plastic steering wheel that you put your Wii Remote in. Even after unlocking all the vehicles, etc it's still one I play alot. My 5 year old Grandson loves it too. Great for kids.
Rating: Fun game, and worth the 20 bucks. You get a great game with a controller accessory for 20 dollars....very rare for the Wii

We Love Golf: What a great golf game this is. Regular Golf with several levels to unlock and several mini-games/tournaments as well. It also works via Wii WiFi so you can play against a friend via Wii Connect.
Rating: Great game, lots of fun. It has this great taunt feature that you can use to make a snide comment (pre-programmed based on the character you are playing) on your opponents Wii Remote (each one has their own speaker).

Rockstar Games Pro Table Tennis: This is a fun one, and it wears you out playing it.
Rating: Real fun, and worth buying if there were others willing to play against you. Playing the computer is fun, but against a friend is even better.

Star Wars Clone Wars Lightsaber Duels: This game is okay. It's basically a fighting game with characters from Lucas' latest Star Wars crap item he's packaging. The artwork is even the same as those used on the CG cartoon. Battling the other characters is pretty cool (you can even buy Wii remote light saber holders....) but in the single player mode it's repetitive and gets old quick.
Ratings: It's okay, but then again I tend to look down on all things Lucas since those pieces of crap he called "Prequels" came out..(yes I'm still bitter). If you have other humans to play against it's great fun.....

Nascar Kart: It's Mario Kart with Nascar Drivers. It's fun, but it's not Mario Kart.
Rating: Buy Mario Kart which is one of the best racing and battling games ever. This one is okay.

My Sims: We just bought this one and it's fun. Like Animal Crossing, but unlike the other sims games. The characters are a bit cartoony, but thats okay. The essence of this game is building stuff. You build houses for characters and move them into your town. This is an EA game like Sims Castaways, but it has 3 save slots so 3 people can actually play the same game.
Rating: fun and addicting. Nice casual game.

That's it for now. More to come later.

A Couple of Things

"This depiction is soo absurd it should be an offense to anyone's intelligence. If you can't cook pasta without being driven to suicidal panic you should be institutionalized." SuperGoober commenting on my Ad post...

See, SG gets it. He was referring to those ads for the microwave plastic pasta cooking devices. The ad shows some poor, harried Housewife desperately trying to cook spaghetti for her brood the old fashioned way; you know a pot of boiling water.... Apparently this woman is so uncoordinated that she just can't seem to carry a pot of water/with cooked spaghetti in it to her sink and poor it into a collander. She splashes, she struggles, her hair is all unkempt and it looks like she's about to take Hubby's shotgun and suck on the business end of it and end it all!!! Yeah, good point SG.....totally nuts. A lot of ads have stooped to that level; the scare tactic. Take the Netflix ads.....some poor soul forgot to take back the movie they rented to the video store, or some poor soul just HAS to get a movie NOW!!!! and they go rushing to the local store all unkempt (I've used that word twice now.....) and stressed out. The tagline is "Take the drama out of renting..." What drama? Nothing against Netflix, it's a great service from what I've been told, but give me a break. I know from friends experiences that sometimes you have to wait for those "hard to find" movies to arrive from Netflix just like when they are all rented out at the store. Yes there are not late fees, but whatever. Hollywood video gives you 5 days for movies and games, even new releases. If you can't get around to watching something or playing something in 5 days, you shouldn't have rented it to begin with. The one's that really get me are the Pharmaco ones. We have two new vaccines now that if you don't get them or someone you loved vaccinated it will rain fire and brimstone, dogs and cats will live together and there will be mass hysteria!!!! Enter Gardasil and Menatra (sp?). The first is for Human Papalova Virus....essentially the virus that causes Cervical Cancer.......not sure of the percentage chance of getting CC, but apparently because this company has now created a Vaccine for it, the percentage chance is much higher than it was.........same with Menatra(sp?) which is for Menigicacul Menigitis......basically Mono.......their ads bascially make it sound like all teenagers should be decontaminated on a daily basis because they are writhing crocks of Menigicacul Menigitis. How many people do you remember getting Mono in school? I remember one, and she recovered and didn't die or have any long term effects because of it. Apparently though because of this new vaccine, Mono is rampant in the current teenage population. Let's see, I have a 14 year old Step-Daughter, she has some teenage friends and a boyfriend her age. I've met all these kids and not a one of them are a writhing crock of menigitis; of any kind! The one billboard ad I saw that was this bad was in Cookeville, TN. There's a local pest control company who put up a billboard that has a sleeping, precious little snowflake of a blonde blue-eyed infant sleeping. Crawling near said precious little snowflake is a HUGE (in comparison to the baby) Black Widow Spider......the tagline says something to the affect "Sleep Safe?" or something like that. In other words....if you don't hire these folks, giant Black Widow Spiders (in comparison to the baby, about the size of a silver dollar....that's a damn huge Black Widow) will sneak into your home and kill your baby.

Now to the next item on the agenda. Businessweek published a list the other day about the Unhappiest Cities in America. It used the criteria of crime rates, divorce rates, suicide rates, unemployment, etc. Portland was apparently number 1 on the list because of the weather....and Nashville was number 8. Now alot of people out here were annoyed by that; I look at them and say "what they Hell are you smoking?" Nashville, the City where a couple of years ago two spoiled, rich, youths were walking along the riverside one frosty winter night, high and drunk, and decided to roll some poor sleeping homeless woman into the river. They thought it was funny. She ended up drowning. They are now in jail screaming everytime Bubba anally rapes them. The same City where gang banging thugs abuse the privalige of After Hours clubs by always getting into fights that end in a shooting or a stabbing. Yes, out here there are clubs that re-open from 2am to 6am after clubs are supposed to be closed by law. The catch? They don't sell acohol during those hours. The problem? They allow you to bring your own alcohol in. Yeah, that's not going to be a problem.....noooooooo not at all. High divorce rate, oh yeah. Lot's of Teens who are repressed by parents who just tell them "it's a sin to have sex so don't do it" and don't actually talk to their Teens about the real consequences of having sex before you are ready. So far our talk with my Step-Daughter seems to have sunk in. These same Teens then rush to the altar to get married and end up divorced years later because the person they slept with and that got them pregnant/they got pregnant wasn't Mr/Ms Right but Mr/Ms Right Now. The same City where just last night someone shot a homeless man in the face. The Police say it was an apparent robbery. Now let me get this straight, you are trying to rob a HOMELESS MAN.....for what? His cardboard box???? The poor guy is on the streets...that means he has enough change to by booze and that's it. The same City where little punks don't even wait anymore for people to be away from their house before they rob the place. No, these punks bust in, tie everyone up, sometimes rape the women, then rob the place blind. Oh yeah, and they usually shoot someone even when they are being cooperative. The weather in Middle Tennessee is weird to begin with....I can see that being a factor. The freeways are in need of some serious fixing in places. Heck, for awhile there it seemed like there was nothing but construction delays and that certain projects would never get finished. The same City where Downtown is loaded with tons of vacant buildings that seem to have been empty for years. Don't get me wrong, at least Nashville isn't Memphis.....Thank God it's not Memphis. Let's just say that Memphis is a cross between Oakland, Harlem, Brooklyn and Detroit. The City just needs a change that's all...yeah if there was any money.....I'm glad I live in the Burbs.....I've always been glad I've lived in the Burbs actually.

Ads and Advertising.

Behold the picture of the Salesman of the Centure....it's true. Ron's my Hero. This guy started with the Ronco Pocket Fisherman and the Ronco Record Vacuum in the 70's...for all you little kiddies out there thats Record as in Vinyl album.....he had tons of crap coming out all the time. He was the originator of the term "now how much would you pay?" This guy has made a mint convincing us we need to pay, in 4 installments of 19.95, for his useless plastic gadgets. Okay...yes I'm guilty of once owning a Popeil Pasta Maker.....

In all seriousness though, you gotta love Ron.....you see that Showtime Rotisserie oven of his, and you can't help but say to yourself "Set it, and forget it...". You know you do.

Remember the Ginsu Knife....it slices, dices....you can cut through a nail and still slice a tomato paper thin......

Lately we've been having some fairly bizarre items appear on our TV....some that are truly funny.

Ah yes...One size fits all....that's right it's the Sunggie! Yes, you too can purchase a backwards bathrobe with big sleeves that makes you look like a reject from some Cult. Seriously you look like you stepped out of the Spanish Inquistion Skit. (Google Monty Python for the reference). Seriously for 20 bucks you can scare your neighbors as they think you are going to sacrifice small animals to Satan or something. Hell, just get a fleece blanket......we got some on sale at Penney's for 7 bucks a piece.....or better yet, put on a damn sweater......

Speaking of Spokesmen........

Don't you want to stick an ice pick in this guys head everytime you see him on TV? Seriously, I don't think Billy Mays has an inside voice. This guy yells more than Dora does! He talks in all Caps for Christsake!! I think that the only way any of the stuff he sells works is if you yell at it at his volume. Oxy Clean uses the power of oxygen; the oxygen coming out of Mays' lungs at full volume that is.....

Then there's this Douchebag....

Oh yeah...the Vinnie the ShamWow guy......hey the Shamwow is German and you know they make quality stuff.......this guy reminds me of all those guys you see at the County Fair in the Commercial buildings selling crap just like this......or doing cooking demonstrations with new, non-stick cookware......or even demoing a Ginsu knife.....they talk fast, they know all the tricks, and odds are if these guys didn't look normal they'd be working a Carny somewhere trying to get you to throw darts at a balloon.

I love the other ads that we are subjected to as well. I remember a Gillette ad that was like mind control or something. It was in Black and White with all these images of their razors, and sports cars, and hot chicks and it was narrated by some guy in an almost hypnotic voice talking about quality, and class, and being cool and the tag line was "I need to have that feeling again...." I stopped using Gillette razors (the Mach 3, etc) ones awhile ago when it got to the point that the replacement razors cost more than the damn handle itself!!!! Seriously the handle plus 2 razors costs 7.99 - 9.99. Four replacement blades cost in this range, depending on the color scheme.....15.99-22.99.....WTF??? If you have the vibrating one, those are green and orange, they cost more than the grey and blue ones for the non-vibrating handle. Guess what, the freaking blades are the same damn thing but with different colors!!!! I go to Sam's and buy the disposable ones (shut up you whiny Eco freaks......one way or another metal and plastic are going in the landfill....)......you get 32 blades for about 25-30 dollars.

The ads I truly love, are the one's that make me laugh. If you are going to advertise to me, entertain me. The Bud Light "Real Men of Genuis" radio ads are some of the funniest ads around. I actually turn them up so I can hear them. I don't drink Bud Light, nor would I if you paid me, but their ads are damn funny.

The ones I hate, are when they work ad placement into a TV show and they aren't real subtle about it. On CSI they drive Yukons. You see the company Badge on the car, and even see the name of the make of the vehicle on the side in the shot sometimes, but it's logical for it to be there because the actor is getting stuff out of the SUV speaking lines. Then you will see a few ads for the Yukon during the commercial break. That's subtle. In the second season of Heroes, Claire was driving a Nissan Rogue. This was pointed out to us blantantly by Noah, her Dad, saying "Claire I bought you a new Nissan Rogue". When it was stolen, she said "Sorry Dad, they Stole the Nissan Rogue". Way to make me almost not watch a show. Damages and Leverage did the same thing. Cadillac sponsors Damages, and they had Glen Close getting into her Escalade Hybrid (they pointed this out very blatantly) and their was a Mini Cooper parked next to it.....she basically said the commercial (there's a commercial where they compare the City MPG of the Hybrid Escalade to the City MPG of the Mini Cooper) word for word. Okay, so a scene in a good Drama that had nothing to do with the current episode, or any episode for that matter, was turned into a commercial....the same damn commercial they showed during the next commercial break. In Leverages they have been driving a Hyundai Genesis.....talked about a lot during that particular episode.....they even showed them playing around with the GPS screen and this little Hyundai Genesis screen came on........

I know these cable networks don't have the big budgets the Networks do, but give me a freaking break okay!!!

It's March.....And it's still freaking cold!!!!!

Seriously, I'm shooting Pickipsy Phil or whatever the name of that ridiculous Ground Hog is.  Cold weather sucks.  K...I'm tired of it.  I have a Pond to dig damn it!!!  I have bikes to ride with my Wife.....I have a fence to re-do.......we even found plans for a screened building that we like.......seriously this is getting annoying!!!  We have buildings to build at the Airsoft field....I went out there yesterday and we were bundled up working...damn arctic wind blowing through.....  Please Spring...get here soon...pretty please......

Nature in the Burbs

Back when I lived in California there was some wildlife that would mix with the suburban sprawl of the various places I lived in.  The City I grew up in had lots of sparrows and black birds but that was it.  I knew there were numerous amounts of deer that would haunt the hills above I-280....you'd sometimes see them on the side of the road....usually they were standing and eating but other times they were smeared across said side of the road....and a Hawk or two would circle overhead playing on the thermals from the Interstate.  One City I lived in had a trail up the street from the apartment building and deer and other critters lived there.  At night, the deer would creep down to my kitty corner neighbor's yard so they could eat his flowers.  Heck Cathy and I saw a dog sized Raccoon duck into a storm drain once.  Then there were the squirrels.  The grey one's were common, but in the last City I lived in there were hoards of the black ones.  Cute little things too.  When I moved to Tennessee the first thing I noticed was Cardinals.  Actual freaking RED birds......like the sports teams mascot, but real!  We don't have Cardinals in California....we have annoying Blue Jays, Canadian Geese (who are a nuisance because they crap EVERYWHERE) and Seagulls who, if you've ever attended school at the Discourser's Site like I did, would ascend on the playground in a scene reminiscent of the Birds at lunch time.   To attract more birds to our yard, we've bought some bird feeders..actually  3 of them came with the house.....we also have a hummingbird feeder and a feeder where you put sticks of food so you can feed Woodpeckers.  We also now have a butterfly house.  I saw a Bat house, but you have to put them so far away from humans that it wouldn't be worth it....hey Bats eat mosquitoes......that's a good thing by me.   Over the years we have had our share of visitors to the yard.  Tons of Finches....the usual brown bodied, black headed ones and a few Golden Finches.  We have a few bird families that come around as well.  We have the Dove couple (brown doves not white), the Robin couple and the Cardinal Family.  The Woodpecker is pretty cool too.  He's got a black body with white spots and a bright red head.   Of course our Diva Kitty Panther thinks it's Kitty Buffet time...although she hasn't figured out that the bell on her collar warns the birds in advance of her coming.  Panther's brother and sister, Cubby and Pandy, also think it's buffet time.   We even have a Falcon that hunts our yard sometimes.  I saw him one morning with a blackbird pinned down, noshing away.  It was damn cool!!  Nature at work right there for all to see.  Heck the Falcon must have a mate or something because the other day two of them were circling the yard looking for food.   Of course we have the other visitors.  Possums have been seen in the yard as well as wild rabbits.  We even had a skunk that was a regular visitor for awhile there.  Our one stray cat Pumpkin found out about Mr. Skunk the hard way......needless to say, Pumpkin was banned from the house for a bit.   

Award Shows

I remember back when I used to watch all the Award shows; Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, etc but then in 1977 when a certain movie that was years ahead of it's time in Special Effects, etc got only an award for effects (you know the one I'm talking about....it was the second film by some guy named Lucas.....something about a Death Star and a Villan named Vader???) and then when the Grammys would ignore your record if it wasn't "Top 40" or if your name wasn't Michael Jackson, it was then I realized that these shows really didn't award things that should have been awarded. Take this year for example. Slumdog Millionaire apparently won Best Picture, but until it had been announced that it was nominated for Best Picture, myself and everyone I know hadn't heard about this movie, but yet it was nominated for Best Picture. Huh??? Heath Ledger won an Acting award, and as the Joker he was brillant. Something tells me though if he hadn't died he wouldn't have won it. Alot of the awards are given as "hey sorry we've snubbed your ass for so long but you are an Icon now and we'd look like real assholes if we didn't give you something". Clint Eastwood got one for "Unforgiven"...it was a good movie, but not his best. When "Return of the King" won for Best Picture I was pleased, but honestly the Academy gave it that because you can only ignore box office performance to a certain extent. Back to my earlier example, Star Wars. I believe Out of Africa or something like that won, yet Star Wars box office was off the chart!! I know I saw it multiple times as did most of my friends at the time (I think my Dad got tired of sitting through it with me) but yet it wasn't considered Best Picture. These award shows are also way too long and have all kinds of useless musical numbers, etc (okay except for the Grammys which is about music, yet then again some of those performances are stupid and lame). Oh, apparently God and Jesus are Agents because most of the acceptance speeches usually have "I'd like to thank God/Jesus because withouth you I wouldn't have won this.." Uhhhhhh, no...don't think so. Neither God nor Jesus had anything to do with you winning. Speaking of the acceptance speeches.....give me a break with some of these....."I'd like to thank blah blah, and blah blah, oh and blah blah....." why not just thank everyone involved by saying "Thanks to all the great cast and crew I worked with.....you helped make this moment". There, simple and sincere. No one gets their panties in a bunch because you forgot them, and no one gets their panties in a bunch because you mentioned so and so first......here is the perfect speech: "Thank you for (insert name of award here). I'd like to thank my Parents for letting me follow my dream of becomming (insert what you did to win this award; ie actor, singer, etc), [this section for actor only] I'd like to thank the cast and crew that I worked with on this project; it's because of your assitance I'm standing here. [for musician only] I'd like to thank my Producer(s) and the production staff and the rest of the gang (fellow band members/session musicians)...I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. [next part is for both] I'd also like to thank the fans out there who, saw the film/watch the TV Show/bought the CD, if you didn't like it, I wouldn't be here." There see? Honest and to the point. Honest because if your parents didn't encourage your creative side then you'd be a cubicle jockey like me. So yeah, they deserve thanks. It takes a great Cast and Crew plus a good script to make a great movie. Hell you can take a lame script and make the movie great as long as Cast and Crew are top notch. The actors are only as good as the director. Look at the new Star Wars movies. Lucas stopped trying, said he'd rather direct in the editing room than waste time and money trying to get the "perfect take". Thus the wooden performances by some great actors in all of those movies. So yeah, they deserve their props. Same with Producers and the production staff when it comes to making a record. Puddle of Mudd is one of those bands that has one deceptive song that is pretty much not what the rest of their album sounds like. Same with Soul Asylum. One song gets over-produced and sounds perfect; eveyone loves it and you buy their album. The rest of the album sounds like a different band took over. Thus Singers/Bands owe alot to their Producers. Movies and Records and TV shows become popular because people watch/buy them. Most of the Authors that I read get this, and are very friendly and considerate of their Fans. Yes Fans can get a bit crazy, but these Authors get it. George R. R. Martin attends a certain Con each year. He usually invited everyone along that wants to come on a Pizza/Pub crawl. Now you might not get to sit by him, and he's sure not buying, but you are invited to join him; and he will usually say "hey" to you. E.E. Knight himself sent me a few PMs on his Ning fan site...basically saying Hi and thanking me for reading his stuff. I was a bit shocked, but pleased. The guy gets it. I think it's easier for Authors to get it because their industry is often in danger of going away. Amazon and others are trying to push digital readers on us, and one day they make catch on, but for now we still like our actual books. Actors get so pampered and spoiled that they treat their fans like crap (not all, but a good lot of them do). This makes me not want to help further your career by seeing your movies. Tom Cruise is one of those that does this. I pretty much refuse to see any movie he's in no matter how good it is, just because he's in it. Him and his crazy Cult Religion and arrogant manner can go die in a corner for all I care. I understand some fans can get out of hand, but there are those of us that just want to shake your hand and say "I love your work..thanks". I remember running into Robin Williams coming out of a sword shop at Ren Faire once. I held out my hand and said "I just want to say it's great to meet you and you have always made me laugh". He shook my hand, said thanks, then said "I have to catch up with my son but thanks again" and left. He took the time at least to acknowledge a fan. Heck Claudia Christian took fencing lessons from us and had a few beers with the gang at the Cardiff Rose at Faire one year. Now that was fun, and she appreciated being treated like a person and not a celebrity. All I have to say is thank God the Oscars weren't on CBS.....I'd be pissed if I had to miss the Amazing Race for that drek.

Blatant Blog Plug and more Folks who can't drive

If you are one of those that believe in the coming Zombie Holocaust, then click on The Warden's Blog on my links list and read away. The Warden will tell you all the best tips on how to Survive the Zombie Holocaust. His years in LE have given him a tactical advantage on the walking dead. Also check out The Discoursers Blog, which usually centers around the crap one has to deal with when one is a Middle School Principal. Check out Supergoober's Blog for his insights into the human mind (he is a Psychiatrist after all) and general other things of interest (cars, sports etc). Also give a peek at NTTs Brain's sketch a day. He's an artist that works at a major video game design company and his sketches are great. For the continuing Advertures of Max the Miracle Baby, check out Lizz's Am I a Funny Girl blog. It's all about being a first time parent and the trials involved with dealing with a premature Baby....whew it was a rough ride but Max seems to be doing well. Also check out the Professors Blog and The Perfect Line's Blog (when they update them). The Professor will give you insight into Politics, Gaming, Geekness, Teaching and life basically. The Perfect Line will give you insight into Cars....racing...and Drums.

Now for the Rant part of our program:

If you buy a muscle car/sports car, drive it like one. Seriously, The Perfect Line and the Super Goober are the only people I know who have Sports Cars that drive them like sports cars!!! Out here Ford Mustangs are very popular, but most of the people that drive them bought them for the fact that they are a Mustang; thats it! I got stuck behind some moron this morning in a new, blue Mustang who drove like this: slooooooowwww FAST...slooooooowwwww FAST....sloooooow FAst.......... Not sure what they Hell they were doing, but I was getting ready to declare Car Wars on this schmuck! Helpful driving hint moron: If you are too busy doing other things in your car instead of DRIVING then pull the Hell over and do what you need to do so you can get to the process of driving. I also don't get the folks out here on the Interstates. At certain times of the morning there is ample room to drive the speed limit; 70 mph. Yet, these Morons have some kind of phobia about driving that speed I feel like I'm the only one moving as I zip around them from lane to lane just so I can drive the legal posted limit!!!! Seriously folks, if the road conditions are perfect, the legal limit is 70...why not drive it? The THP will not give you a ticket for going the speed limit...they will actually ignore you. Oh, and if there are brake lights 15 miles ahead of you and no one in front of you, DON'T SLAM ON THE BRAKES RIGHT NOW!!!! Apparently these dumbasses want to make sure they come to a complete stop before they cover that 15 mile gap. I'd say get those brakes looked at if it takes you that long to stop.....

Karma Sure is a Bitch....

Click on the blog entry title to read the full article on SFGate.com.

It seems that some people actually regret going on Reality Shows....gee you don't say? Of course they do, Attention Whoring only leads to a moments fame then nothing. At least on Survivor or The Amazing Race you can actually win a Million bucks for your Attention Whoring. Anyway, back on topic. This Family in San Francisco was on the lame ass reality show Wife Swap and apparently he claims he was told by the directors to play up the SF, wealthy, Liberal to the hilt. His Wife was swapped with a lady from Missouri and apparently this dude was an absolute douche to this woman. So bad in fact that he and his wife were kicked off of the boards of Non-Profit Orgs they belong to and had potential business partners tell them to take a hike. And now he regrets it......Moron!!! What gets me is folks go on these shows but yet don't get the fact that if you are an ass, it's going into the final edit...seriously. The bigger a douchebag you are, the more TV time you get. But, at what cost? On Survivor last year there was a guy named Randy who was a Wedding Videographer. He was the miserable Old guy who lived alone and didn't care about making personal relationships with anyone. He was a complete Douche and therefore got a lot of airtime. He of course was voted off and didn't win the cash, which is usually inevitable on these shows. Now what I don't get is if you watch this show, you know what happens to "that guy/girl" but yet these dumbasses think they're going to be the exception to the rule.

Just a few more ranting things....

A few more rants about my fellow Tenneesseans and things in general.....

Out here there is a State law that was a reaction to an unfortunate situation that can afferct LEO's at any time (that would be Law Enforcement Officers for those that don't know). It is well known that drunk drivers are drawn to the flashing lights of Police Cruisers that are parked on the side of the freeway like moths are drawn to a flame. Drunk Drivers have been known to take out a Cop and the person they have pulled over before. The accident that caused this law to be passed wasn't a result of a Drunk Driver, but the result of a Semi driver falling asleep at the wheel. So now, because of one overworked truck driver, we have to move over (that's the name of the law the "move over" law) one lane to the left, only if you are in the slow lane, and drive slowly past the Emergency vehicle that is stopped on the side of the freeway. Now it can be any vehicle with flashing lights; fire truck, paramedic, cop, TDOT rescue truck....it doesn't matter. Oh yeah, there's one little caveat that folks forget about this law; if you can't get over safely, then you have to slow down to at least 30 as you pass the Emergency vehicle. So why discuss this you say? Well, I discuss this because my fellow Tenneseeans forget that last part and this "law" causes more issues than it saves lives. The minute someone sees a cop, etc on the side of the freeway it's SLAM on the brakes and jump over a lane as fast as possible. I've seen this behavior almost cause more wrecks. In talking with some of my Trooper friends out here, they agree that it's really not a great law. I see why these guys get killed though. They still approach the stopped vehicle on the Driver's side. In California, the CHP awhile ago started approaching your vehicle from the Passenger Side; basically not having their backs to traffic. They approach from the rear and slowly move from the left rear (driver's side) to the right rear then to the passenger side of the car. This way they can see what you are doing before they come to your window to talk to you. It keeps them from being suprised when someone pulls a gun. Good plan I say.

The other thing about my fellow Tennesseean's that annoy me is the propensity to be NICE!!! Now normally that's okay and a pleasant surprise, but not while driving!! The exit I use to get off of the freeway always has a lot of Semis on it because there is a large TA Truck Stop facility. The amount of semis and people's fear of them out here (you hear all kinds of horror stories about Semis taking people out......well if you didn't come up on the side of them and slow down maybe there'd be no problem. It's called PASSING....this means you speed the Hell up and flash your lights and honk your horn so the driver of said Semi knows you are there....) causes making a simple left turn from a light to be one of the feats of Hercules!! Then there's two other lights you have to get through before you can continue on the road I use to go home. Between the first and the second light is the driveway entrance to the Truck Stop. Folks coming out of it, just like folks coming out of any non-protected driveway DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY! This means they have to wait for the cross traffic to be clear. Now, some of my fellow Tennesseans have this overwhelming urge to STOP and let the big, loaded Semi out of the driveway......and no, they usually aren't making a simple right turn and going our way. NOOOOOO they are turning left, across traffic. These NICE folks usually do this when the second light has turned GREEN!! Yes, instead of driving forward and continuing the flow of traffic, they stop and impede it. Well Mr. Semi, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth drives out of the driveway, across both lanes of forward traffic (so you can't even go around the Nice asshole) and then stops....they do this because our light which was green has now changed to red and the traffic coming the other direction's light has changed to green and they are proceeding forward. By the time this traffic has cleared, our light has changed to green and then back to red again by the time Mr. Semi has completed his left turn. So, Mr Nice Folk has now made me and about a dozen or so folks miss the light twice AND has backed up cars down the on ramp onto the freeway. Why? So they could be NICE!!!

The other day I ran into the other "neighborly" type of driver out here....the car to car talker. Oh yes, these morons see their idiotic friends in the car next to them so they both roll down their windows and keep pace with each other talking while driving....meanwhile behind them, is everyone else being slowed down because of these narcissitic assholes who have to have a conversation. Hey pal, why not pull your asses off to the side of the road and let the rest of us FREAKING Drive.....I usually give them the horn, and they give me looks. I proceed to then give them the horn some more and then give them half of a peace sign to emphasize what they and their stupid friend should go do to themselves. Wish I had a carry permit sometimes.....a few warning shots might make them realize they are not the only people using the roadways...

This morning was the one's I hate the most....The Helpers/Nosy Noras. We got up to one intersection, and I notice what looked like a fender bender. Three pick ups were all off the road and there was plastic all over the roadway. The light was green and we proceeded through the intersection when all of a sudden we stopped....for no apparent reason. Well the reason was that Joe Helper in a white pick up in front of everyone decided he was going to save the world today so he stopped......mindless of the fact that there was a loaded semi and about 8 cars behind him going through an intersection at about 45 MPH.......we all slammed on our brakes to avoid causing an even bigger wreck which would have been Joe Helpers fault. Now, did Joe Helper get out of his vehicle and help out? HELL NO! He stopped to ask if everything was okay, then when it was clear that his great assistance wasn't needed he started off on his merry way again. Thanks ASSHOLE....you were such a help. Look folks, if you think you can render assistance to accident victims, that's great but do me one little favor; PULL YOUR FREAKING VEHICLE OFF OF THE DAMN ROAD!!! Actually this is what you should really do; keep driving, dial 911 and report the accident to the local PD/Highway Patrol or whatever authorities. Trust me, unless you are trained to save lives you are only being a hinderance by stopping and trying to help. I knew a guy that got killed because he decided to pull over and help some accident victims. He walked around a large vehicle and right into traffic and was run over. All because he was trying to be the Good Samaritan. This jackass this morning didn't even get out of his truck...nooooooo Mr. Helper just wanted something to brag about at work..."yeah dudes, I was rolling along in my truck and I saw these other trucks all smashed up....I stopped because someone had to do something and when I saw it was all okay I moved on. But man I would've helped if I could." Wow, you're real brave Moron!!! You probably forgot to mention how everyone else behind you had to slam on their brakes and how you almost caused another wreck trying to be a superhero. Look folks, unless you can fly, stop time, run real fast or have super strength, just pull the frak over and call the cops. The PD are trained to handle these kinds of things, and if you say there is an accident, the PD usually show up followed by their good friends Firemen and Paramedics.......these people are trained to deal with accidents. Not you Mr. Helper Construction Worker guy in your white pick up with your Real Tree Camo hat.

It's February....where's the rants?????

Supergoober says he needs a rant....okay one rant....coming up!

It's February, the shortest month of the year, usually the rainiest back home, and it's time to celebrate the following things:

1. George Washington's Birthday......we celebrate the General who won this Country it's independence from overtaxation at the hands of the corrupt British Parliment by doing the following: In elementary school you have some super cheesy plays they make you do, then you cut out cherry trees and silouettes of Washington. You still have to work that day, unless of course you work for the Federal Government or are a Teacher. Department stores have President's Day sales.....because nothing says Happy Birthday George Washington like a blender, costume jewelry or new sheets for your bed. Oh, and you also usually have some cheesy local furniture guy or car dealership owner dressed up as Washington holding an axe near a cherry tree saying stupid shit like "We cannot tell a lie, we're chopping down prices!!!"

2. Abraham Lincoln's Birthday.....we celebrate the President who freed the slaves and had to deal with the South getting all rebellious and bent out of shape because they couldn't oppress Black People anymore (my Southern friends out here love that one.....I often hear bbbbut it's about State's rights.....yeah the right to own Human beings isn't a right.) by doing the following: In elementary school, while some guys are dressed like George Washington and performing some cheesy skit the teacher would usually get the tall kids and put a big construction paper stove-pipe hat on their heads and a fake beard and they'd be Lincoln. You still have to work, unless like I've stated above you work for the Government or are a Teacher. Also as mentioned above, Department stores have a President's Day sale to commemorate this occassion, and the same cheesy local furniture guy/car dealership owner also dresses as Lincoln (when he's not dressed like Washington) saying stupid shit like "Four score and seven years ago, I'll make you a deal..."

Oh by the way, several years ago they decided to combine the two Birthdays into one day and call it President's day. This means the kids only get one day off of school, unlike us old folks who remember getting two days off of school because of the individual birthday celebrations. Ha ha.....

3. Black History (awareness.......that's such a stupid term....Black Awareness Month...c'mon...) Month. We celebrate by doing the following: nothing really.....the network's have little 30 second spots in between shows with a Black Celebrity reading off some fact about a famous Black Person in history, and you get to see snippets of Martin Luther King, Jr's speech but that's about it. I can't even imagine what kind of cheesy crap they do in elementary school as my generation apparently didn't need to take a whole month just to be "aware" of Black People in history.

4. Groundhog Day. Not sure the origins of this stupidness, but apparently their is this magical giant hamster that comes out of the ground and depending on whether or not he sees his own shadow we somehow either get 4 more weeks of winter or not. I think it's bad if he sees his own shadow. So if that is the case, and since I hate winter, I suggest we kill all of the Groundhogs on January 31rst each year and that way their evil shadow magic won't affect our weather. Who's with me??

5. The BIG ONE....the one Holiday that was made violent in the 30's by Al Capone as he chose that day to whack a bunch of rival gangsters.....the one day that is an official conspiracy between the Florist Industry, Restaurant Industry, Greeting Card Industry, Jewerly Industry and KY, Trojan and Victoria's Secret....yep I'm talking about Valentine's Day......you know the day when guys who usually ignore the women in their lives for the other 364 days of the year make up for it by buying extremely overpriced flowers, crap jewelry from Kay or Zales, a cheesy card that says something like "Valentine, when I see you the flowers bloom and the birds sing!!! blah blah blah..." and dinner at their favorite restaurant which miraculously has a "Special Valentine's Menu" with only two choices on it, chicken or beef with the usual sides and drinks for only.....75 dollars a person........all in the hopes of getting laid. Oh, and they usually buy these women lingerie as a gift.....yeah nice gift. Dude you won't go to the store and buy a freaking box of maxi pads for the woman nor will you go shopping with her, but you will go buy filmy underwear for here to wear one night a year. I know what you are thinking....he's sleeping on the couch tonight......nope. Cath and I talked about this before, and we share the same opinion. Her attituded is why do you need one day to show your love for someone, you should show it all the time. I love my wife, I truly do. I hear this year because the economy sucks florists and restaurants are complaining they don't have the sales.....well here's a tidbit for you.....LOWER YOUR DAMN PRICES!!!! Freaking dozen roses is anywhere from 30-150 dollars depending on where you go. For damn flowers that will die in a week or two. I usually buy my Wife a plant, something she can re-plant out in the yard or leave in a pot in the house. I will also buy my Step-Daughter some flowers too......she likes it and she's a good kid.

So there's my rant, and looking at the calendar I see there's two more weeks until March....yay March where we celebrate nothing, well I do since it's both my Parent's birthdays (3 days apart). Since it's an empty month I'd like to propose Italian Awareness Month/Italian History Month. The Networks will run little snippets like "Today in history Frank Sinatra sang his first song" or "Al Capone committed his first crime" or something like that. We can have those furniture/car dealership guys standing on a boat saying "Mama Mia we've crossed the ocean to bring the land of opportunity to you!!!!". We could have Nintendo's Mario and Luigi as the official mascots and run an all day "Soprano's" marathon on A&E combined with every Rat Pack movie and all three Godfather's on AMC.

5 Years Ago Today

I married my Best Friend Cathy. We were married in the Redwood City Courthouse weeks before the Scott Petersen Trial started (so we avoided the whole media circus) at that same Courthouse. Liv was 8 years old I believe and was part of the ceremony; she wanted to carry her stuffed cat instead of flowers. It was cute. Our reception was at Fresh Choice and we spent our Wedding Night at Chuck E Cheese (figured treat Liv a bit since the whole day was about us). It was actually nice because while Liv was playing the games and such, Cat and I sat in the booth relaxing after a hectic day. I love you Cathy even more as the years go by. Here's to many more.

Narrow Minded People

I'm still coming down off of the high that was Tuesday's inauguration, but not everyone in this great Nation was so elated. It was fairly sad to say the least, here in my office they made an announcement that the IT guys would have the live streaming webcast of the inauguration playing in the training room. Out of 150 employees, most who will benefit from Obama's tax cuts, only 8 showed up. A few others were watching History being made from their desks, but really it was about a dozen people total. The rest; still dining on their meal of sour grapes and sipping a nice hot mug of "oh woe is me". People on the street were interviewed and some of the typical mouth breathers said shit like "well he should really re-take the oath....he screwed it up so it's not official..." Or my favorite "he's not MY President..." Really dumbass? Who's President is he? If he's not your President, then may I see your citizenship papers please...oh you were born here? Guess what Hillbilly...he IS YOUR DAMN PRESIDENT...so SUCK IT!!! Such talk of succession coming from a Southern State....why that's never happened before......if it comes to that again, I am hearby volunteering to be a spy for the North...right now. Actually more like a spy for the West. First off, the Chief Justice screwed up the Oath not the President. The President paused to let the Chief Justice get it right but it just came out wrong. To be official, the oath was retaken on Wednesday. There whiny bitches....you happy now??? Oh, hey did you notice that Koran Barack and Michelle were holding...you know the one he took his oath on? Oh wait, it was the Holy Bible that Lincoln had used to take his oath on......to all the morons I heard say that and actually believed that; don't you feel real stupid about now? Probably not as you didn't feel stupid then nor will you ever feel stupid. Now you've got Rush and other mouth breathing, irrelevant Neocons mocking the Inauguration and people's overwhelming feelings of elation and hopefulness. These short sighted, narrow minded asshats want the man to fail....they want our Country to come crashing to the ground. And you dickheads claim to be Patriots. Yeah right, my ass is more Patriotic. I see the pictures of the Civil Rights movement of the 60's. The firehoses being sprayed on young, Black people who just wanted the same rights as every other human being in this damn Country. I see the racists, narrow minded White Southerners riding down the streets flying the Confederate Flag......these same assholes years later have the audacity to tell me it's "Heritage not Hate". Yeah, keep telling yourself that. I bet it's the only way you can sleep at night. Here's your Confederate Heritage: Slavery, hatred, racism, open rebellion against the Country you claim to love so much, narcissim, arrogance, ignorance, narrow mindedness and defeat. Yeah that's such a great Heritage to be soooo damn proud of. I dropped a friend of a friend from my facebook list for his moronic comments. On the day of Hope and Elation he posted on his wall "Why do people put their faith in Obama when it's God they should be putting their faith in...." he went on with some other drivel which I quickly ignored. I wanted to reply, but figured I'd just drop the dude. Here's my reply to that. God doesn't run this Country. God doesn't care about this Country or any other. God is probably really pissed off at us for the way we've treated each other and others for the past decade or so. God isn't going to lower my taxes or help my Kids get through college or lower the cost of Health Care. No, a human being is going to do that. God doesn't give a rats ass about politics or the United States of America anymore than he does about other Countries. To these 22%ers and other narrow minded people who chose to ignore history on Tuesday, I say this: I feel sorry for you; I really do. You have officially become irrelevant. The world has moved on, and you chose to be left behind (hee hee....I bet they hate that fact especially the Fundies and Bible Thumpers). The world has chosen to look past skin color for once in the history of Mankind and bestow great responsibility upon someone who has proven, so far, to be a smart custodian of said responsibility. To the doubters and closed minded people I further say this: enjoy your four/eight years of misery. Instead of whining and wallowing in self pity get your damn party's head out of it's ass and start examining why you lost a crapload of Senate seats and the Presidency. Here's a hint; The Jebus Squad isn't going to get you elected, so pandering to them will get you nowhere. To be honest, Republicans and Democrats don't really exist anymore. The President is so Centrist that he's like the balance bubble on a level. A sure way for you to lose again; pin your hopes on Palin.....go ahead make that mistake yet again. The Pres is a religious man; he's made that clear. What he doesn't do is make it the focal point of every damn conversation he has. His Faith is between him and his God. That's how it should be. This Country was founded by Deiests not Bible Thumping, Fundamentalists. Not everything is God's Will or Faith based okay? Lot's of people are real tired of that crap. No your kid doesn't get to pray in a school my taxes pay for. To bad. If you want your kid to pray in school, then enroll your precious little snowflake in a Religious school. You pay for it okay? I want the teachers that are teaching my child to TEACH THEM....not preach to them. They go to school to learn; to become intelligent, productive members of society....Society as a WHOLE, not your little pocket world of Christianity. Keep it to yourself, I'm not impressed with your imagined level of holier than thou status. You aren't anymore of a Child of God than I am. Your not anymore saved than I am. Besides, I'm freaking Italian....we run Heaven if you didn't notice. Where do you think the Pope lives? In New York? No he lives in Rome. See what you did; made me go off on a tangent against Religion again. Back on track now. I guess this is how it felt to be a Bush supporter in 2000 eh? I won't say I agree with the statement Bush stole the election, we will never truly know what happened. I will say the whole situation was highly suspicious and was very embarassing for this Country. In conclusion I will say this: The train is leaving the station heading towards the New World Order. It's not too late to get on board and join the team.