LOCAL NEWS FAA Approves O'Hare Expansion
Here's an article about how the FAA approved a $15 billion dollar expansion of O'Hare International Airport in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago. The airport, which was once known as Orchard Field Airport (which is why O'Hare's airport letters are ORD), has been the busiest airport in the nation during my lifetime. Currently, it is not the nation's busiest (I think someplace in Texas is??? but I have no factual evidence to support that claim)... as Midway is taking more and more traffic; and O'Hare is less and less able to handle high traffic. As such, O'Hare most probably needs this expansion... and (hopefully) more flights will mean lower costs of flying... so I can head to LA, Vegas, or wherever I want to go (Texas to visit all my new friends?!). One of the unfortunate sides of this story is that 500 homes will be destroyed so that the airport can expand. The article says that 2,600 residents will be displaced... and, more eerily, an entire cemetery (1,300 tombs) will need to be moved. I find it hard to image how frustrating it would be for the residents to have to move, but I honestly can't image being someone with a buried loved one whose casket and headstone will now have to be moved to another cemetery. Can't we leave well enough alone... leave people to rest in peace? I hate the thought of moving a cemetery... it makes me feel creepy. Oh well, I guess the FAA will go through with this whether I like it or not.
Have a good weekend... I'm off to Albion for Homecoming this weekend. Take care all.
Friday, September 30, 2005
PERSONAL UPDATE Glory Be to Gloria
A few days after I claimed that all people are heartless, ruthless, greedy, and completely devoid of good qualities... I was happily proven wrong. Yesterday I called XSport, my XGym, fully prepared to fight someone over the semantics in my contract, over the delays in shipping which I faced and the fairness of the necessity that I use certified mail, and over the outrageous clause of the contract which stated their ability to charge me even if I didn't want to be charged. In short, I was prepared to yell, get angry, and have it do me absolutely no good. Imagine my surprise when I actually got a hold of someone at XSport. She referred to herself as "Gloria" and was pleasant from the beginning. She told me that my cancellation certified mail arrived on the 26th (not the 29th, as I had feared), so it was on time. She said that there would be no problem giving me a full refund and making sure my membership was cancelled. And it was that easy... I talked to her completely aghast that it could have been that simple. I didn't have to argue or fight with anyone... they had half a grand of my money, but were ready, willing, AND able to give the money right back. As a brilliant woman once told me, "Things just seem to work out for you." Yes, apparently they do. Next stop, finding a J.O.B.
A few days after I claimed that all people are heartless, ruthless, greedy, and completely devoid of good qualities... I was happily proven wrong. Yesterday I called XSport, my XGym, fully prepared to fight someone over the semantics in my contract, over the delays in shipping which I faced and the fairness of the necessity that I use certified mail, and over the outrageous clause of the contract which stated their ability to charge me even if I didn't want to be charged. In short, I was prepared to yell, get angry, and have it do me absolutely no good. Imagine my surprise when I actually got a hold of someone at XSport. She referred to herself as "Gloria" and was pleasant from the beginning. She told me that my cancellation certified mail arrived on the 26th (not the 29th, as I had feared), so it was on time. She said that there would be no problem giving me a full refund and making sure my membership was cancelled. And it was that easy... I talked to her completely aghast that it could have been that simple. I didn't have to argue or fight with anyone... they had half a grand of my money, but were ready, willing, AND able to give the money right back. As a brilliant woman once told me, "Things just seem to work out for you." Yes, apparently they do. Next stop, finding a J.O.B.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
NATIONAL NEWS Senate Confirms Roberts as Chief Justice
At around 3 PM Eastern Time today, Judge John Roberts Jr. will be sworn in as the 17th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The Senate voted 78-22 in favor of Roberts... so this guy must know what he's doing. But excuse me for being a little worried as someone who hasn't been on the Supreme Court moves onto the court for the first time as the Chief Justice. I'm not "digging" that... if you catch my jive. It may be that Roberts is the best person for the job, I don't honestly know... and, frankly, I don't think anyone else knows either. Once one is given the supreme power of the Supreme Court, there is no holding that person back from doing and saying as they please. Granted, the justices are supposed to be blind and fair, but power does strange things to people, and we have no idea what it will do to Roberts. That's what I'm wary to support someone going from the lesser courts straight to the Chief Justice's chair. So, while I'm very interested in seeing how Roberts rules from the Court, I'm hesitant to be excited about his appointment today.
At around 3 PM Eastern Time today, Judge John Roberts Jr. will be sworn in as the 17th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The Senate voted 78-22 in favor of Roberts... so this guy must know what he's doing. But excuse me for being a little worried as someone who hasn't been on the Supreme Court moves onto the court for the first time as the Chief Justice. I'm not "digging" that... if you catch my jive. It may be that Roberts is the best person for the job, I don't honestly know... and, frankly, I don't think anyone else knows either. Once one is given the supreme power of the Supreme Court, there is no holding that person back from doing and saying as they please. Granted, the justices are supposed to be blind and fair, but power does strange things to people, and we have no idea what it will do to Roberts. That's what I'm wary to support someone going from the lesser courts straight to the Chief Justice's chair. So, while I'm very interested in seeing how Roberts rules from the Court, I'm hesitant to be excited about his appointment today.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
PERSONAL A Wedding And A Birthday
This weekend marked two large and significant days. The first, and only slightly less important than the second, was the Two year birthday of this here blog. Two years and seven hundred and fifty posts later... and the blog is still limping along. What was once my safety blanket--to keep me warm and hide me from dangers of the outside world--has, as of late, been a ghost of a blog packed with metaphors as if they were peanuts in a Snickers. *panting*
Wow... okay, what I'm trying to say is that I haven't updated recently and that I'm starting to worry about the future of my beloved blog. In the past, I used the blog because there was no one to talk to, so I talked to everyone. But now there's a lovely young lady in this city whom I can talk to whenever I so desire. I end up spending many of the nights here talking to her about my days instead of writing about them. I think, perhaps, things will change when CDubs gets internet at her apartment, meaning that I can write at her apartment at night. But, for right now, this blog is looking old and haggard on its second birthday.
The other significant day this weekend was Ken's Wedding. It finally happened... my best friend is finally married. And I feel even OLDER (if that's possible). I would love to explain what happened in detail, but I have a feeling that if I try to do the wedding justice, explaining the whole weekend instead of just finishing this post and posting it, I'll end up not posting anything for another week. So I'll just say that the ceremony was very nice, even though Abi's dad gave her a little too many jabs during the service; Stupid Ken looked stupid happy... *shakes fist* Stupid Ken; and I gave the most important public speech of my life--my first toast. I keep thinking about the toast... thinking I could have done better, that I could have better celebrated their special day, and beating myself up a bit for losing my focus when I swallowed back some emotion while talking about Ken's promotion to Staff Sergeant. Miss Chelsey told me to stop beating myself up, that Ken loved it and it was very good for a non-written speech, and she then shoved me into a wall until I moved on. As much of a turn-on as the physical violence was, she is right... Ken enjoyed the toast, and that's all that matters, isn't it? *shakes fist* Stupid Ken!
NATIONAL NEWS DeLay Indicted
Today a Texas grand jury has charged House Majority Leader Tom DeLay with criminal conspiracy. I've heard reports that both this is a major waste of time AND that there's no way he won't be found guilty. From what I've heard, it sounds a little like how they got Capone: Democrats have been criticizing DeLay--claiming he has poor ethical standards--and they may have finally caught him on a technicality. It sounds like DeLay took money from a private company for the Republican National party... but did so in such a way that is technically illegal in Texas, but not necessarily illegal in other states. If this is the case, there's no doubt in my mind that he's probably guilty... as the laws that differ from state to state I have always found silly, particularly if your focus is national, rather than on a state level... and I wouldn't be surprised if someone ignored state laws in lieu of national ones. I've been watching Fox News *gasp* and they are certainly trying to plant the seed that the "rogue" Prosecutor in this case is on a personal vendetta against DeLay. I find Fox News hilarious, as they keep bringing on different guests and starting the questioning to each one with "Hey, do you think this is a personal vendetta, as the experts are saying?" The experts AREN'T saying that! YOU are! Hilarious!
This weekend marked two large and significant days. The first, and only slightly less important than the second, was the Two year birthday of this here blog. Two years and seven hundred and fifty posts later... and the blog is still limping along. What was once my safety blanket--to keep me warm and hide me from dangers of the outside world--has, as of late, been a ghost of a blog packed with metaphors as if they were peanuts in a Snickers. *panting*
Wow... okay, what I'm trying to say is that I haven't updated recently and that I'm starting to worry about the future of my beloved blog. In the past, I used the blog because there was no one to talk to, so I talked to everyone. But now there's a lovely young lady in this city whom I can talk to whenever I so desire. I end up spending many of the nights here talking to her about my days instead of writing about them. I think, perhaps, things will change when CDubs gets internet at her apartment, meaning that I can write at her apartment at night. But, for right now, this blog is looking old and haggard on its second birthday.
The other significant day this weekend was Ken's Wedding. It finally happened... my best friend is finally married. And I feel even OLDER (if that's possible). I would love to explain what happened in detail, but I have a feeling that if I try to do the wedding justice, explaining the whole weekend instead of just finishing this post and posting it, I'll end up not posting anything for another week. So I'll just say that the ceremony was very nice, even though Abi's dad gave her a little too many jabs during the service; Stupid Ken looked stupid happy... *shakes fist* Stupid Ken; and I gave the most important public speech of my life--my first toast. I keep thinking about the toast... thinking I could have done better, that I could have better celebrated their special day, and beating myself up a bit for losing my focus when I swallowed back some emotion while talking about Ken's promotion to Staff Sergeant. Miss Chelsey told me to stop beating myself up, that Ken loved it and it was very good for a non-written speech, and she then shoved me into a wall until I moved on. As much of a turn-on as the physical violence was, she is right... Ken enjoyed the toast, and that's all that matters, isn't it? *shakes fist* Stupid Ken!
NATIONAL NEWS DeLay Indicted
Today a Texas grand jury has charged House Majority Leader Tom DeLay with criminal conspiracy. I've heard reports that both this is a major waste of time AND that there's no way he won't be found guilty. From what I've heard, it sounds a little like how they got Capone: Democrats have been criticizing DeLay--claiming he has poor ethical standards--and they may have finally caught him on a technicality. It sounds like DeLay took money from a private company for the Republican National party... but did so in such a way that is technically illegal in Texas, but not necessarily illegal in other states. If this is the case, there's no doubt in my mind that he's probably guilty... as the laws that differ from state to state I have always found silly, particularly if your focus is national, rather than on a state level... and I wouldn't be surprised if someone ignored state laws in lieu of national ones. I've been watching Fox News *gasp* and they are certainly trying to plant the seed that the "rogue" Prosecutor in this case is on a personal vendetta against DeLay. I find Fox News hilarious, as they keep bringing on different guests and starting the questioning to each one with "Hey, do you think this is a personal vendetta, as the experts are saying?" The experts AREN'T saying that! YOU are! Hilarious!
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
PERSONAL I Hate XSport Fitness... I Hate Them And Everything They Stand For
Yesterday, whilst going through my bills while shaking my head (a monthly routine for me), I noticed something different and unexpected about my credit card bill. Apparently my ex-gym, XSport, charged me $539 for a yearly renewal. I had to send them word via certified mail (for a whopping $5, by the way) by August 27th. I had received email confirmation that, as of August 26th (a Friday), the order had been processed, printed, and ready for shipment. No problem, I thought, they'll get it the day they need it... done. Well, after calling my father, my credit card company, my father again, and checking my email and the USPS postal site twice... I seem to have figured out the problem. My certified mail request, sent to USPS on Wednesday, was ready for shipment on Friday, but was not delivered until the following Monday. After reading through my gym membership contract twice (it was entitled "We have you by the balls now" coincidentally), I realized that I am very much without any leverage in this case. My membership says nothing about being able to cancel early for a fee... it says nothing of being refunded for ones money if one does not want a membership... and, according to my credit card company, I was late with my notice of cancellation and, in light of my automatically renewing signed contract, XSport was well within its right to charge me that fee on that day. I am, basically, screwed. There's nothing I can do. I could, perhaps, call XSport and beg to get my money back, or a portion of my money... but that depends on a business person having the heart to actually listen to me. *shakes head* I don't believe people in business even have hearts... so I don't think that will actually help. People are, by nature, heartless.
Yesterday, whilst going through my bills while shaking my head (a monthly routine for me), I noticed something different and unexpected about my credit card bill. Apparently my ex-gym, XSport, charged me $539 for a yearly renewal. I had to send them word via certified mail (for a whopping $5, by the way) by August 27th. I had received email confirmation that, as of August 26th (a Friday), the order had been processed, printed, and ready for shipment. No problem, I thought, they'll get it the day they need it... done. Well, after calling my father, my credit card company, my father again, and checking my email and the USPS postal site twice... I seem to have figured out the problem. My certified mail request, sent to USPS on Wednesday, was ready for shipment on Friday, but was not delivered until the following Monday. After reading through my gym membership contract twice (it was entitled "We have you by the balls now" coincidentally), I realized that I am very much without any leverage in this case. My membership says nothing about being able to cancel early for a fee... it says nothing of being refunded for ones money if one does not want a membership... and, according to my credit card company, I was late with my notice of cancellation and, in light of my automatically renewing signed contract, XSport was well within its right to charge me that fee on that day. I am, basically, screwed. There's nothing I can do. I could, perhaps, call XSport and beg to get my money back, or a portion of my money... but that depends on a business person having the heart to actually listen to me. *shakes head* I don't believe people in business even have hearts... so I don't think that will actually help. People are, by nature, heartless.
Monday, September 19, 2005
SCIENCE Men Want To Pee On Things... And Here's The Science
This article from TruthorFiction.com tells us of urinals in Amsterdam that have flies etched into the bowl. The purpose of these flies in the airport commodes? The flies improve male "aiming" some 80%, according to the Amsterdam airport. This could help prove that men want to pee on things... and could finally validate my golden shower fetish. What? No, it doesn't? Fair enough.
SCIENCE Cheese... What Dreams Are Made Of
Here's an article about new research claiming that different kinds of cheeses, eaten before bed, bring about different kinds of dreams. Chedder brought dreams of celebrities, Stilton brought weird dreams, and Red Lancaster brought about nostalgic dreams. What kinds of dreams did eating a cheese-head bring about? The Green Bay Packers winning; otherwise known as dreams of complete fiction.
This article from TruthorFiction.com tells us of urinals in Amsterdam that have flies etched into the bowl. The purpose of these flies in the airport commodes? The flies improve male "aiming" some 80%, according to the Amsterdam airport. This could help prove that men want to pee on things... and could finally validate my golden shower fetish. What? No, it doesn't? Fair enough.
SCIENCE Cheese... What Dreams Are Made Of
Here's an article about new research claiming that different kinds of cheeses, eaten before bed, bring about different kinds of dreams. Chedder brought dreams of celebrities, Stilton brought weird dreams, and Red Lancaster brought about nostalgic dreams. What kinds of dreams did eating a cheese-head bring about? The Green Bay Packers winning; otherwise known as dreams of complete fiction.
NEWS? I Can Harrrrdly Believe It!
Apparently, today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. So let everyone know that today is rated "arrrr" or that they should wear a "parrrrka" because it's "arrrtic"... I think the amount of bad jokes today will be a sign of the upcoming "arrrrmegedon." Sorry.
Apparently, today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. So let everyone know that today is rated "arrrr" or that they should wear a "parrrrka" because it's "arrrtic"... I think the amount of bad jokes today will be a sign of the upcoming "arrrrmegedon." Sorry.
PERSONAL Summer Daze
I almost got hit by a cab this morning. I'm not sure what woke me out of my daze first, the car's horn or the sliding sound of its tires breaking hard on wet cement... but it took me a couple seconds to realize that I had just almost been hit by a cab. What happened? Let's go back to the beginning...
This morning Chelsey and I woke up at 6:15. Today is her first day of work, and we wanted to make sure she got there on time (read: early). We left her apartment at 7:10... and got to the L in about fifteen minutes. At the Damon stop (simply five stops from the beginning of the line), all the seats on the train had already been taken, so Chelsey and I stood in the doorway. After five stops of seeing more and more people cram themselves into the doorway near us, wondering how we were all going to fit at each stop, we stopped at Belmont. Belmont is where people can first transfer from Red to Brown Lines or vice versa. Almost everyone standing left to transfer to the Red Line, then even MORE people got on to our car. Chelsey and I went from standing next to each other, to standing about four feet away, unable to see each other. And because of this, or because of the woman with the backpack pinning my arm back against the glass making it go numb, or because I kept hitting my hat on the tall man's arm in front of me, or because the woman next to me kept sliding her foot into mine, somewhere in between Armitage and Sedgwick I had a severe panic attack. I felt like I couldn't breathe, and I wanted to shove some of the people right off the train... or (the thought crossed my mind) to jump off the moving train myself.
And through all that, I thought of Chelsey. She has to make this trip every day. But you'll never hear her complain. You'll NEVER hear her complain. That's why she has me: I'll complain for her. It's a horrible way to go to work. Perhaps there were more people today because of the rain, but I have a feeling she'll be surrounded by idiot Chicago yuppies on her way to work every day.
My mind wandered and wondered and it seemed like an eternity before we were stopped at Washington and Wells, getting off the train to head to her building. We arrived a full half an hour early... causing me to wonder if we could have left ten or fifteen minutes later perhaps we could have avoided some of the morning L traffic. I was thinking about Chelsey's first day and how nervous I would be if it was me; where I could meet her for lunch, if she gets a full lunch hour; how frightened I was in retrospect at the panic attack that clouded my mind; and, before I knew it, a cab was honking at me and skidding to a stop in the middle of an intersection.
I almost got hit by a cab this morning. I'm not sure what woke me out of my daze first, the car's horn or the sliding sound of its tires breaking hard on wet cement... but it took me a couple seconds to realize that I had just almost been hit by a cab. What happened? Let's go back to the beginning...
This morning Chelsey and I woke up at 6:15. Today is her first day of work, and we wanted to make sure she got there on time (read: early). We left her apartment at 7:10... and got to the L in about fifteen minutes. At the Damon stop (simply five stops from the beginning of the line), all the seats on the train had already been taken, so Chelsey and I stood in the doorway. After five stops of seeing more and more people cram themselves into the doorway near us, wondering how we were all going to fit at each stop, we stopped at Belmont. Belmont is where people can first transfer from Red to Brown Lines or vice versa. Almost everyone standing left to transfer to the Red Line, then even MORE people got on to our car. Chelsey and I went from standing next to each other, to standing about four feet away, unable to see each other. And because of this, or because of the woman with the backpack pinning my arm back against the glass making it go numb, or because I kept hitting my hat on the tall man's arm in front of me, or because the woman next to me kept sliding her foot into mine, somewhere in between Armitage and Sedgwick I had a severe panic attack. I felt like I couldn't breathe, and I wanted to shove some of the people right off the train... or (the thought crossed my mind) to jump off the moving train myself.
And through all that, I thought of Chelsey. She has to make this trip every day. But you'll never hear her complain. You'll NEVER hear her complain. That's why she has me: I'll complain for her. It's a horrible way to go to work. Perhaps there were more people today because of the rain, but I have a feeling she'll be surrounded by idiot Chicago yuppies on her way to work every day.
My mind wandered and wondered and it seemed like an eternity before we were stopped at Washington and Wells, getting off the train to head to her building. We arrived a full half an hour early... causing me to wonder if we could have left ten or fifteen minutes later perhaps we could have avoided some of the morning L traffic. I was thinking about Chelsey's first day and how nervous I would be if it was me; where I could meet her for lunch, if she gets a full lunch hour; how frightened I was in retrospect at the panic attack that clouded my mind; and, before I knew it, a cab was honking at me and skidding to a stop in the middle of an intersection.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
NATIONAL NEWS This Is All I Was Asking For...
President Bush today, in a news conference with Iraqi leader Talabini, took full responsibility for the slow response time of our government in response to Hurricane Katrina. He said (according to Yahoo!) "Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility." Wow... and he went on to ask, "Are we capable of dealing with a severe attack or another severe storm? And that's a very important question and it's in our national interest that we find out exactly what went on so we can better respond." To me, this is a big deal. For someone in the government to take responsibility for something? Clinton did when his back was against the wall, Reagan never did... Hell, we impeached Nixon because we found him to be responsible, so taking responsibility is a very big deal. And it's not like Bush didn't tell us something we didn't know or did something illegal (as Nixon did), there isn't the same threat of impeachment... but today is a big step towards fixing the problem. As my weekly meetings tell me, admission of the problem is ALWAYS the first step. I think (I hope) we took a very big step today.
MOVIES Spoilers Abound!
Chelsey's visit this weekend brought with her thousands upon thousands (or a hundred) movies. With them, were dozens of movies that I have never seen. The following are my thoughts on two of them. CAUTION! SPOILERS! Good... let's talk then.
The first movie I saw of MCs was The Village. The Village is M. Night Shyamalan's political thriller. I say political because it really is an exposition on his feelings towards using fear to keep people in line. It is a though-provoking piece, but Shyamalan fails in a few key places. While this was supposed to be suspenseful, we never feel the immediate danger than comes with seeing someone die in the first five to ten minutes. Granted, looking at the whole scope of the movie, he couldn't kill someone off... but, still, I never felt worried that someone was going to die. Additionally, the "twist" at the end was M. Night trying too hard. By placing the Village in modern day, he went a little too far. If he had set the movie in, say, the 1940s or 50s, it would have been possible for the audience to believe that no airplane, helicopter, or any other vehicle show up in that valley. Additionally, the time-line of the plot doesn't really work. How could a whole village be built and raised to fear the woods in such a short time? For as much as I'd like to recommend it, simply for the sake of thinking about the creation of a village completely separate from the rest of the world... I can't recommend it. But, if you do want to see this one, watch it for the witty dialogue and interesting characters... not to be scared.
After Chelsey left, I watched I, Robot for the first time. I found it to be an interesting movie, actually. It did right what The Village did wrong... as the audience, right away, was worried for Will Smith's safety. To have the opening action of the movie be a suspected homicide allowed for the audience to fear for the characters (if they wanted to). I love Will Smith... I enjoy his acting, and I think he's got a lot of charisma. I, Robot didn't have any plot twists, and it seemed a fairly straight-forward plot... but I enjoyed the action and Smith's performance. And, besides, all those philosophy classes have given me an appreciation for robots with human personalities and traits. Whatever, I'd give it a thumb up. But someone else's thumb.
FOOTBALL Notre Dame Surprises Even Me
This weekend was a big football weekend, so let us start with Saturday. Notre Dame surprised me... but, considering I missed the entire game, any score would have surprised me. And, seeing as though I did miss the entire game, I can't really talk about it. Although I can ask if, perhaps, ND simply needs a new coach every season. Remember what they did under Willingham the first year? Is this team good because of Weis, or are they good because Notre Dame always gets talented, unmotivated players who need a new coach every year? I don't know. We'll see, though, as ND's schedule continues it's brutal run.
The Texas/Ohio State game was good, but I was (frankly) disappointed with both teams. Ohio State should have won, even though the better team (Texas) did win. The offenses of both teams proved to be pretty impotent... as the two quarterback OSU system is lame, and Texas goes only as far as Vince Young goes, since they have no running game without him. I look forward to the Florida/Tennessee game this weekend.
FOOTBALL Packers Surprise Me Too... In A Different Way
Sunday was also a day of football... and also a day for surprise. Though I didn't watch the whole game (my level 3 show meant only the first half for me), the Packers looked terrible. And, I'm sorry Lions fans, this win is no reason to celebrate. You only scored 17 points against a horrific defense. Next week, against the Bears, your defense and special teams had better score or you're in big trouble. Granted, the Bears' offense might not score even three points, but that doesn't mean your defense is any good. I want the Lions to do well, yes, but there's a lot of season left to be played, signified by Charles Rogers not being injured yet. I have no doubt the Lions will continue to get better... but beating Favre, in a dome, is nothing to celebrate. Beat us in Lambeau and then you can dance on my grave. You fair-weather bitches.
President Bush today, in a news conference with Iraqi leader Talabini, took full responsibility for the slow response time of our government in response to Hurricane Katrina. He said (according to Yahoo!) "Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility." Wow... and he went on to ask, "Are we capable of dealing with a severe attack or another severe storm? And that's a very important question and it's in our national interest that we find out exactly what went on so we can better respond." To me, this is a big deal. For someone in the government to take responsibility for something? Clinton did when his back was against the wall, Reagan never did... Hell, we impeached Nixon because we found him to be responsible, so taking responsibility is a very big deal. And it's not like Bush didn't tell us something we didn't know or did something illegal (as Nixon did), there isn't the same threat of impeachment... but today is a big step towards fixing the problem. As my weekly meetings tell me, admission of the problem is ALWAYS the first step. I think (I hope) we took a very big step today.
MOVIES Spoilers Abound!
Chelsey's visit this weekend brought with her thousands upon thousands (or a hundred) movies. With them, were dozens of movies that I have never seen. The following are my thoughts on two of them. CAUTION! SPOILERS! Good... let's talk then.
The first movie I saw of MCs was The Village. The Village is M. Night Shyamalan's political thriller. I say political because it really is an exposition on his feelings towards using fear to keep people in line. It is a though-provoking piece, but Shyamalan fails in a few key places. While this was supposed to be suspenseful, we never feel the immediate danger than comes with seeing someone die in the first five to ten minutes. Granted, looking at the whole scope of the movie, he couldn't kill someone off... but, still, I never felt worried that someone was going to die. Additionally, the "twist" at the end was M. Night trying too hard. By placing the Village in modern day, he went a little too far. If he had set the movie in, say, the 1940s or 50s, it would have been possible for the audience to believe that no airplane, helicopter, or any other vehicle show up in that valley. Additionally, the time-line of the plot doesn't really work. How could a whole village be built and raised to fear the woods in such a short time? For as much as I'd like to recommend it, simply for the sake of thinking about the creation of a village completely separate from the rest of the world... I can't recommend it. But, if you do want to see this one, watch it for the witty dialogue and interesting characters... not to be scared.
After Chelsey left, I watched I, Robot for the first time. I found it to be an interesting movie, actually. It did right what The Village did wrong... as the audience, right away, was worried for Will Smith's safety. To have the opening action of the movie be a suspected homicide allowed for the audience to fear for the characters (if they wanted to). I love Will Smith... I enjoy his acting, and I think he's got a lot of charisma. I, Robot didn't have any plot twists, and it seemed a fairly straight-forward plot... but I enjoyed the action and Smith's performance. And, besides, all those philosophy classes have given me an appreciation for robots with human personalities and traits. Whatever, I'd give it a thumb up. But someone else's thumb.
FOOTBALL Notre Dame Surprises Even Me
This weekend was a big football weekend, so let us start with Saturday. Notre Dame surprised me... but, considering I missed the entire game, any score would have surprised me. And, seeing as though I did miss the entire game, I can't really talk about it. Although I can ask if, perhaps, ND simply needs a new coach every season. Remember what they did under Willingham the first year? Is this team good because of Weis, or are they good because Notre Dame always gets talented, unmotivated players who need a new coach every year? I don't know. We'll see, though, as ND's schedule continues it's brutal run.
The Texas/Ohio State game was good, but I was (frankly) disappointed with both teams. Ohio State should have won, even though the better team (Texas) did win. The offenses of both teams proved to be pretty impotent... as the two quarterback OSU system is lame, and Texas goes only as far as Vince Young goes, since they have no running game without him. I look forward to the Florida/Tennessee game this weekend.
FOOTBALL Packers Surprise Me Too... In A Different Way
Sunday was also a day of football... and also a day for surprise. Though I didn't watch the whole game (my level 3 show meant only the first half for me), the Packers looked terrible. And, I'm sorry Lions fans, this win is no reason to celebrate. You only scored 17 points against a horrific defense. Next week, against the Bears, your defense and special teams had better score or you're in big trouble. Granted, the Bears' offense might not score even three points, but that doesn't mean your defense is any good. I want the Lions to do well, yes, but there's a lot of season left to be played, signified by Charles Rogers not being injured yet. I have no doubt the Lions will continue to get better... but beating Favre, in a dome, is nothing to celebrate. Beat us in Lambeau and then you can dance on my grave. You fair-weather bitches.
PERSONAL Sarge In Charge
Friday, after telling me that he both was going to be here last weekend AND that he was going to be headed to Mississippi instead of Chicago, SS Kenny Hoots arrived in Chicago. After deciding to meet in what amounted to a restaurant (Dave and Busters), Ken wanted to walk downtown to Lou Malnati's instead. *shakes head* Stupid Ken. We (Ken, MC, and I) had a lovely pizza and then headed back to my place. We were able to spend some time at my place, ordering flowers and making fun of Ken, before I had to wonderfully drive to Midway at 1 in the morning on a Friday night. If you're ever in the same situation, watch out for the madly swerving cars. And then have a nice night.
PERSONAL Apartment Shopping; Rounds 1 AND 2
This Friday and Saturday were round 1 and 2 of Chelsey's apartment hunt. I am pleased to say that after looking at about ten apartments all over Roscoe Village, Lakeview, and Ravenswood... we found a wonderfully large (and a little more expensive than we wanted to) place up in the Ravenswood area. It's beautifully residential... and I have no worries for her safety in the area. It will be a much longer commute than she wanted, I think... but the place is great and huge, and I think she'll find that it's worth the price and the commute. So give Chelsey a big congratulations if you talk to her... and give her some support, as her move is coming this week.
PERSONAL 9/11 = Level 3 Show
September eleventh marked my first level 3 Conservatory show. As part of the show, we started with a clam destroying the world scene that we had done a couple of weeks ago. In it, I was able to do an impression of our president, which I tried to keep as free from idiotic remarks as possible. I had a couple people say that it was a pretty good impression... and Tim said it was the best part of the scene. Then we did other scenes, and the musical improv section was so short that I was unable to sing. This upset Chelsey, who was looking forward to seeing me do my musical improv thing. I then sang randomly in my apartment about various things like breakfast or the virtues of warm towels. That's improv, you can use that.
SCIENCE Tooth Friendly Gummi Bears... Rhea's Revolution Is Finally At Hand!
Here's an awesome story I found about a new kind of gummi bear. It seems as though the University of Washington is experimenting with gummi bears made with xylitol. Xylitol is a "naturally occurring sugar" (whatever that means) and is the same loot found in sugarless gums. They say that xylitol can help reduce tooth decay because it attacks the bacteria in your mouth that causes tooth decay, making that bacteria less likely to stick to your teeth. The head scientist in charge of this study points to Japanese sugarfree gum with xylitol, which has a gum monopoly. Could a gummi bear, good for one's teeth, soon have a monopoly over gummi bears worldwide? Stay tuned...
NATIONAL NEWS Something To Incite The Rage Of Texans Everywhere
Not really... but I thought I'd get your attention. But, here is a very slanted top 25 list of the stupidest quotes from Katrina and the aftermath. I include it for 1) the simple fact that it will make liberals laugh and Texans cringe; and 2) I wanted to talk about a couple of the quotes. First of all, let's look at number three on the list: "It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that's seven feet under sea level....It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed." House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). As stupid as it is to talk about bulldozing buildings, my father has actually ask the question about re-building under sea level. Particularly since New Orleans is on the Golf Coast--and the Golf Coast seems to attract hurricanes--is it even wise to rebuild New Orleans? I told my dad that it is a testament to the human spirit and human ingenuity that we continue to "reclaim" the land from the sea. I pointed to Holland... and he even talked a little about Boston (check out the animation to see Boston's Harbor FILL), but it got me thinking: what is the point of rebuilding New Orleans? So we can have our cultural center back again? Food and music are, sorry to say, very mobile... Baton Rouge could be that cultural landmark. Is it that we, as a country, are too stubborn to even entertain the idea that we NOT rebuild? I actually think that might be it. I see this as roughly similar to rebuilding the towers in NY... as my father didn't want to rebuild them either, and I was all for it. We are rebuilding in New York to be defiant... and we must ask ourselves, as we rebuild New Orleans, are we trying to be similarly defiant? Because, if we are, Nature isn't going to be intimidated by our can-do spirit.
The second quote: "I mean, you have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving." Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA). Okay... maybe this quote is insensitive, but we're all thinking it! "Why are they staying?" we ask the TV, sometimes yelling because we just can't understand why people would stay in a toxic environment. While the freedom to put oneself in harm is one of the inalienable rights that we, as Americans, have... isn't there something to be said about a government protecting us from harm... even if we're putting ourselves in that danger? Personally, I'm all for people being able to kill themselves (either actively or passively) as it just means more for me... but let's pretend I care, just for a second. If I were to care about people, would it be alright for the military to forcibly remove people from disaster areas during states of emergency? I say yes. I say it's one of the staples of government to protect its citizens... even from themselves. This is the cornerstone of all mental health institutions in this country, is it not? As such, this concept is not foreign to us... and we should be willing to accept military "assistance" in these kind of situations as an unfortunate inevitability. I don't know, kids... what do you think? Should we force people from their homes if they're in danger, or should we let them make their own decisions, live or die?
Friday, after telling me that he both was going to be here last weekend AND that he was going to be headed to Mississippi instead of Chicago, SS Kenny Hoots arrived in Chicago. After deciding to meet in what amounted to a restaurant (Dave and Busters), Ken wanted to walk downtown to Lou Malnati's instead. *shakes head* Stupid Ken. We (Ken, MC, and I) had a lovely pizza and then headed back to my place. We were able to spend some time at my place, ordering flowers and making fun of Ken, before I had to wonderfully drive to Midway at 1 in the morning on a Friday night. If you're ever in the same situation, watch out for the madly swerving cars. And then have a nice night.
PERSONAL Apartment Shopping; Rounds 1 AND 2
This Friday and Saturday were round 1 and 2 of Chelsey's apartment hunt. I am pleased to say that after looking at about ten apartments all over Roscoe Village, Lakeview, and Ravenswood... we found a wonderfully large (and a little more expensive than we wanted to) place up in the Ravenswood area. It's beautifully residential... and I have no worries for her safety in the area. It will be a much longer commute than she wanted, I think... but the place is great and huge, and I think she'll find that it's worth the price and the commute. So give Chelsey a big congratulations if you talk to her... and give her some support, as her move is coming this week.
PERSONAL 9/11 = Level 3 Show
September eleventh marked my first level 3 Conservatory show. As part of the show, we started with a clam destroying the world scene that we had done a couple of weeks ago. In it, I was able to do an impression of our president, which I tried to keep as free from idiotic remarks as possible. I had a couple people say that it was a pretty good impression... and Tim said it was the best part of the scene. Then we did other scenes, and the musical improv section was so short that I was unable to sing. This upset Chelsey, who was looking forward to seeing me do my musical improv thing. I then sang randomly in my apartment about various things like breakfast or the virtues of warm towels. That's improv, you can use that.
SCIENCE Tooth Friendly Gummi Bears... Rhea's Revolution Is Finally At Hand!
Here's an awesome story I found about a new kind of gummi bear. It seems as though the University of Washington is experimenting with gummi bears made with xylitol. Xylitol is a "naturally occurring sugar" (whatever that means) and is the same loot found in sugarless gums. They say that xylitol can help reduce tooth decay because it attacks the bacteria in your mouth that causes tooth decay, making that bacteria less likely to stick to your teeth. The head scientist in charge of this study points to Japanese sugarfree gum with xylitol, which has a gum monopoly. Could a gummi bear, good for one's teeth, soon have a monopoly over gummi bears worldwide? Stay tuned...
NATIONAL NEWS Something To Incite The Rage Of Texans Everywhere
Not really... but I thought I'd get your attention. But, here is a very slanted top 25 list of the stupidest quotes from Katrina and the aftermath. I include it for 1) the simple fact that it will make liberals laugh and Texans cringe; and 2) I wanted to talk about a couple of the quotes. First of all, let's look at number three on the list: "It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that's seven feet under sea level....It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed." House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). As stupid as it is to talk about bulldozing buildings, my father has actually ask the question about re-building under sea level. Particularly since New Orleans is on the Golf Coast--and the Golf Coast seems to attract hurricanes--is it even wise to rebuild New Orleans? I told my dad that it is a testament to the human spirit and human ingenuity that we continue to "reclaim" the land from the sea. I pointed to Holland... and he even talked a little about Boston (check out the animation to see Boston's Harbor FILL), but it got me thinking: what is the point of rebuilding New Orleans? So we can have our cultural center back again? Food and music are, sorry to say, very mobile... Baton Rouge could be that cultural landmark. Is it that we, as a country, are too stubborn to even entertain the idea that we NOT rebuild? I actually think that might be it. I see this as roughly similar to rebuilding the towers in NY... as my father didn't want to rebuild them either, and I was all for it. We are rebuilding in New York to be defiant... and we must ask ourselves, as we rebuild New Orleans, are we trying to be similarly defiant? Because, if we are, Nature isn't going to be intimidated by our can-do spirit.
The second quote: "I mean, you have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving." Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA). Okay... maybe this quote is insensitive, but we're all thinking it! "Why are they staying?" we ask the TV, sometimes yelling because we just can't understand why people would stay in a toxic environment. While the freedom to put oneself in harm is one of the inalienable rights that we, as Americans, have... isn't there something to be said about a government protecting us from harm... even if we're putting ourselves in that danger? Personally, I'm all for people being able to kill themselves (either actively or passively) as it just means more for me... but let's pretend I care, just for a second. If I were to care about people, would it be alright for the military to forcibly remove people from disaster areas during states of emergency? I say yes. I say it's one of the staples of government to protect its citizens... even from themselves. This is the cornerstone of all mental health institutions in this country, is it not? As such, this concept is not foreign to us... and we should be willing to accept military "assistance" in these kind of situations as an unfortunate inevitability. I don't know, kids... what do you think? Should we force people from their homes if they're in danger, or should we let them make their own decisions, live or die?
Thursday, September 08, 2005
SPORTS Agassi/Blake... The Best Sporting Event of the Past Month That You Didn't Watch
Unless you were Jim, who beat me to the punch. Stupid Jim. *shakes fist* Last night, Andre Agassi came from two sets down to be James Blake at the U.S. Open. But that wasn't the only story of that wonderful night. Both players, Americans, had huge contingencies that stayed well into the New York night. Both players had incredible story-lines... Agassi being 35 and told to "hang it up;" Blake being only 25 and having been half paralyzed a year ago... unable to stand or (obviously) practice. I found myself rooting for whomever was losing (I only saw the fourth and fifth sets, unfortunately for me). I haven't been as into tennis as I was last night since Sampras retired. When Sampras and Agassi met back in the day (which I hear was a Wednesday), Agassi was my boy. But when Sampras retired, I stopped paying attention. Roddick has never interested me... as Mr. Sellers once said "He reminds me of the punks I used to play against"... what with his hats and his wealthy, tennis club demeanor.
Regardless, in an effort to figure out what to do while not sleeping, I found the Blake/Agassi match and started watching. Frankly, my surprise at the lack of interest in tennis is mirrored by Jim's. I DON'T understand why tennis isn't bigger in this country. It's mano-a-mano format makes for the kind of high sports drama that this country loves. And the lack of a clock controlling time of play makes tennis as interesting and intriguing as baseball... which means tennis should lend itself to sports movies as well as baseball does. I, actually, have an idea for a tennis movie that I think will be HUGE! TENNIS! MOVIES! They will be big! Mark my words! MARK THEM! WITH A HIGHLIGHTER!
Regardless again... I haven't felt the intensity of sports pressure on ME watching a sporting event like I did last night in a LONG TIME. It was awesome. Congrats to the ever classy Andre for winning and heading to the semi-finals. Let's hope he makes it to the finals... and maybe gets some DAP from the PTI guys.
Unless you were Jim, who beat me to the punch. Stupid Jim. *shakes fist* Last night, Andre Agassi came from two sets down to be James Blake at the U.S. Open. But that wasn't the only story of that wonderful night. Both players, Americans, had huge contingencies that stayed well into the New York night. Both players had incredible story-lines... Agassi being 35 and told to "hang it up;" Blake being only 25 and having been half paralyzed a year ago... unable to stand or (obviously) practice. I found myself rooting for whomever was losing (I only saw the fourth and fifth sets, unfortunately for me). I haven't been as into tennis as I was last night since Sampras retired. When Sampras and Agassi met back in the day (which I hear was a Wednesday), Agassi was my boy. But when Sampras retired, I stopped paying attention. Roddick has never interested me... as Mr. Sellers once said "He reminds me of the punks I used to play against"... what with his hats and his wealthy, tennis club demeanor.
Regardless, in an effort to figure out what to do while not sleeping, I found the Blake/Agassi match and started watching. Frankly, my surprise at the lack of interest in tennis is mirrored by Jim's. I DON'T understand why tennis isn't bigger in this country. It's mano-a-mano format makes for the kind of high sports drama that this country loves. And the lack of a clock controlling time of play makes tennis as interesting and intriguing as baseball... which means tennis should lend itself to sports movies as well as baseball does. I, actually, have an idea for a tennis movie that I think will be HUGE! TENNIS! MOVIES! They will be big! Mark my words! MARK THEM! WITH A HIGHLIGHTER!
Regardless again... I haven't felt the intensity of sports pressure on ME watching a sporting event like I did last night in a LONG TIME. It was awesome. Congrats to the ever classy Andre for winning and heading to the semi-finals. Let's hope he makes it to the finals... and maybe gets some DAP from the PTI guys.
NATIONAL NEWS/PERSONAL When You're Right, You're Right... But...
This is the time of night during which I would normally sleep, but not tonight. The reason? I've been struck by the comments left by a one Miss Becky pertaining to my Bush/Katrina diatribe. She made some excellent points. My zeal to blame the Republicans is totally misplaced in this instance... and my hatred for them is not unlike my hatred of musicals or religious groups. I like some musicals and, if pushed, would even gladly be in musicals if that's what my friends were doing (just like I will gladly vote Republican once I'm rich). Additionally, every person I've ever met who is part of a religious group is the nicest, sweetest, most caring person I could ask for... but zoom out and view their whole group at once and you're struck by the anger, hypocrisy, and bigotry within.
So, yes, I am sure there are red-blooded Republicans in the south helping those people far more than I am or ever will. Point well played. You were making good points. I was against the ropes, desperately blocking your combinations of blows, jabs and hooks... and then a punch below the belt: To make the claim that I must be 25 years of age or younger. To mistake my idealism for naivete... to, frankly, stoop to MY level of outrageous rhetoric was completely uncalled for. Bad form, Becky! You attack me as if Bush is your uncle and I have personally affronted your good family name. Perhaps it is naive of me to believe that the purpose of my elected government officials is that they protect me... and they rescue me when I'm in danger, particularly if that danger falls within this country's own border. Honestly, I've seen more aid come from sports teams than I have anyone in the government. And, perhaps again, it's naive of me to think that the President would get his hands dirty handing out supplies or loading up Red Cross trucks (think of the PR!)... but I honestly thought Bush was a President of the people. He was supposed to be "one of the guys"... someone who you could easily see yourself drinking a beer with, or watching a baseball game with. Isn't it right up his alley to get in there and get his hands dirty? People would have loved it! He could have worn his cowboy hat and said trite things about togetherness... just like any other politician would. But alas... only in my perfect world (where this wouldn't have happened in the first place).
I noticed your sarcasm about Bush controlling the waves and, perhaps, should have ignored Bush's trident as being "just for show." Yes, my zeal to blame Mr. Bush might be completely off-base and uncalled for (even though he, himself, said that the government's response was "not acceptable")... and, yes, I've seen pictures of the Kennedy era (thank you for not sounding condescending), but I'm feed up with the current administration. I've watched the country that I love go down the economic toilet for the past five years... I've seen hate and war mongering from my fellow citizens (not that THAT'S any different than history, but I never felt like we were so zealous under Clinton)... I've seen the separation of church and state slowly disappear... I've seen gay rights given and quickly abolished... and I'm ready for a change.
Ha! And to say that the people with the power in this country are currently NOT Republican, to me, is lunacy. Have you seen the Senate, Supreme Court, and White House? How are there checks and balances in this country if one party seemingly controls all three branches? That party, by the way, is not the Democrats (I'm old enough to know that much).
Would Kerry have handled this situation better? Well, I think so, but that's based on no empirical evidence what-so-ever... and just my belief that he's an insanely intelligent man (and, subsequently, my belief that intelligence is a magical cure-all). If he hadn't handled it better, I probably would have been talking about what a shame it was that marry-into-wealth Kerry couldn't get his wife to front some cash for the clean-up effort (As part of the whole "comedy training" thing, I try to be as much of a bastard as possible to as many people as I can). If Kerry would have handled it the SAME EXACT way, you'd hear the Republicans and the BBC (they always love jabs at our leaders) say the same poop about inaction that the Democrats (and the BBC) are saying about Bush (and the Germans are saying that Katrina is our [Bush's] fault because of our lax views on global warming. The GERMANS! I'm pretty sure they're older than 25). But, as the kids of my generation say, this is all a moot point. One cannot change the past, and I anxiously await our new President in 2008... whomever he or she may be.
Hey, in all honesty, how can you ever take someone who has played Yu-Gi-Oh!: Dawn of Destiny for over twenty hours seriously? ... What? I needed something to do in between recess and nap time. *rolls eyes*
This is the time of night during which I would normally sleep, but not tonight. The reason? I've been struck by the comments left by a one Miss Becky pertaining to my Bush/Katrina diatribe. She made some excellent points. My zeal to blame the Republicans is totally misplaced in this instance... and my hatred for them is not unlike my hatred of musicals or religious groups. I like some musicals and, if pushed, would even gladly be in musicals if that's what my friends were doing (just like I will gladly vote Republican once I'm rich). Additionally, every person I've ever met who is part of a religious group is the nicest, sweetest, most caring person I could ask for... but zoom out and view their whole group at once and you're struck by the anger, hypocrisy, and bigotry within.
So, yes, I am sure there are red-blooded Republicans in the south helping those people far more than I am or ever will. Point well played. You were making good points. I was against the ropes, desperately blocking your combinations of blows, jabs and hooks... and then a punch below the belt: To make the claim that I must be 25 years of age or younger. To mistake my idealism for naivete... to, frankly, stoop to MY level of outrageous rhetoric was completely uncalled for. Bad form, Becky! You attack me as if Bush is your uncle and I have personally affronted your good family name. Perhaps it is naive of me to believe that the purpose of my elected government officials is that they protect me... and they rescue me when I'm in danger, particularly if that danger falls within this country's own border. Honestly, I've seen more aid come from sports teams than I have anyone in the government. And, perhaps again, it's naive of me to think that the President would get his hands dirty handing out supplies or loading up Red Cross trucks (think of the PR!)... but I honestly thought Bush was a President of the people. He was supposed to be "one of the guys"... someone who you could easily see yourself drinking a beer with, or watching a baseball game with. Isn't it right up his alley to get in there and get his hands dirty? People would have loved it! He could have worn his cowboy hat and said trite things about togetherness... just like any other politician would. But alas... only in my perfect world (where this wouldn't have happened in the first place).
I noticed your sarcasm about Bush controlling the waves and, perhaps, should have ignored Bush's trident as being "just for show." Yes, my zeal to blame Mr. Bush might be completely off-base and uncalled for (even though he, himself, said that the government's response was "not acceptable")... and, yes, I've seen pictures of the Kennedy era (thank you for not sounding condescending), but I'm feed up with the current administration. I've watched the country that I love go down the economic toilet for the past five years... I've seen hate and war mongering from my fellow citizens (not that THAT'S any different than history, but I never felt like we were so zealous under Clinton)... I've seen the separation of church and state slowly disappear... I've seen gay rights given and quickly abolished... and I'm ready for a change.
Ha! And to say that the people with the power in this country are currently NOT Republican, to me, is lunacy. Have you seen the Senate, Supreme Court, and White House? How are there checks and balances in this country if one party seemingly controls all three branches? That party, by the way, is not the Democrats (I'm old enough to know that much).
Would Kerry have handled this situation better? Well, I think so, but that's based on no empirical evidence what-so-ever... and just my belief that he's an insanely intelligent man (and, subsequently, my belief that intelligence is a magical cure-all). If he hadn't handled it better, I probably would have been talking about what a shame it was that marry-into-wealth Kerry couldn't get his wife to front some cash for the clean-up effort (As part of the whole "comedy training" thing, I try to be as much of a bastard as possible to as many people as I can). If Kerry would have handled it the SAME EXACT way, you'd hear the Republicans and the BBC (they always love jabs at our leaders) say the same poop about inaction that the Democrats (and the BBC) are saying about Bush (and the Germans are saying that Katrina is our [Bush's] fault because of our lax views on global warming. The GERMANS! I'm pretty sure they're older than 25). But, as the kids of my generation say, this is all a moot point. One cannot change the past, and I anxiously await our new President in 2008... whomever he or she may be.
Hey, in all honesty, how can you ever take someone who has played Yu-Gi-Oh!: Dawn of Destiny for over twenty hours seriously? ... What? I needed something to do in between recess and nap time. *rolls eyes*
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
NATIONAL NEWS Chief Justice Rehnquist Dies
I know that this happened over the weekend, but I've wanted to write about it since it did, I just didn't know what to say. My views on Rehnquist are... well, no longer polite, considering his demise and I felt it in poor taste to say anything negative about the man now. This is why I will not and should not be a professor of law at Harvard. Someone who is, however, is Mr. Alan Dershowitz and I think he says what I could not. The following is NOT my writing but that of Mr. Dershowitz... Enjoy!
"Alan Dershowitz: Telling the Truth About Chief Justice Rehnquist
Alan Dershowitz Mon Sep 5, 1:16 AM ET
My mother always told me that when a person dies, one should not say anything bad about him. My mother was wrong. History requires truth, not puffery or silence, especially about powerful governmental figures. And obituaries are a first draft of history. So here's the truth about Chief Justice Rehnquist you won't hear on Fox News or from politicians. Chief Justice William Rehnquist set back liberty, equality, and human rights perhaps more than any American judge of this generation. His rise to power speaks volumes about the current state of American values.
Let's begin at the beginning. Rehnquist bragged about being first in his class at Stanford Law School. Today Stanford is a great law school with a diverse student body, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s, it discriminated against Jews and other minorities, both in the admission of students and in the selection of faculty. Justice Stephen Breyer recalled an earlier period of Stanford's history: "When my father was at Stanford, he could not join any of the social organizations because he was Jewish, and those organizations, at that time, did not accept Jews." Rehnquist not only benefited in his class ranking from this discrimination; he was also part of that bigotry. When he was nominated to be an associate justice in 1971, I learned from several sources who had known him as a student that he had outraged Jewish classmates by goose-stepping and heil-Hitlering with brown-shirted friends in front of a dormitory that housed the school's few Jewish students. He also was infamous for telling racist and anti-Semitic jokes.
As a law clerk, Rehnquist wrote a memorandum for Justice Jackson while the court was considering several school desegregation cases, including Brown v. Board of Education. Rehnquist's memo, entitled "A Random Thought on the Segregation Cases," defended the separate-but-equal doctrine embodied in the 1896 Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson. Rehnquist concluded the Plessy "was right and should be reaffirmed." When questioned about the memos by the Senate Judiciary Committee in both 1971 and 1986, Rehnquist blamed his defense of segregation on the dead Justice, stating - under oath - that his memo was meant to reflect the views of Justice Jackson. But Justice Jackson voted in Brown, along with a unanimous Court, to strike down school segregation. According to historian Mark Tushnet, Justice Jackson's longtime legal secretary called Rehnquist's Senate testimony an attempt to "smear[] the reputation of a great justice." Rehnquist later admitted to defending Plessy in arguments with fellow law clerks. He did not acknowledge that he committed perjury in front of the Judiciary Committee to get his job.
The young Rehnquist began his legal career as a Republican functionary by obstructing African-American and Hispanic voting at Phoenix polling locations ("Operation Eagle Eye"). As Richard Cohen of The Washington Post wrote, "[H]e helped challenge the voting qualifications of Arizona blacks and Hispanics. He was entitled to do so. But even if he did not personally harass potential voters, as witnesses allege, he clearly was a brass-knuckle partisan, someone who would deny the ballot to fellow citizens for trivial political reasons -- and who made his selection on the basis of race or ethnicity." In a word, he started out his political career as a Republican thug.
Rehnquist later bought a home in Vermont with a restrictive covenant that barred sale of the property to ''any member of the Hebrew race."
Rehnquist's judicial philosophy was result-oriented, activist, and authoritarian. He sometimes moderated his views for prudential or pragmatic reasons, but his vote could almost always be predicted based on who the parties were, not what the legal issues happened to be. He generally opposed the rights of gays, women, blacks, aliens, and religious minorities. He was a friend of corporations, polluters, right wing Republicans, religious fundamentalists, homophobes, and other bigots.Rehnquist served on the Supreme Court for thirty-three years and as chief justice for nineteen. Yet no opinion comes to mind which will be remembered as brilliant, innovative, or memorable. He will be remembered not for the quality of his opinions but rather for the outcomes decided by his votes, especially Bush v. Gore, in which he accepted an Equal Protection claim that was totally inconsistent with his prior views on that clause. He will also be remembered as a Chief Justice who fought for the independence and authority of the judiciary. This is his only positive contribution to an otherwise regressive career.
Within moments of Rehnquist's death, Fox News called and asked for my comments, presumably aware that I was a longtime critic of the late Chief Justice. After making several of these points to Alan Colmes (who was supposed to be interviewing me), Sean Hannity intruded, and when he didn't like my answers, he cut me off and terminated the interview. Only after I was off the air and could not respond did the attack against me begin, which is typical of Hannity's bullying ambush style. He is afraid to attack when there's someone there to respond. Since the interview, I've received dozens of e-mail hate messages, some of which are overtly anti-Semitic. One writer called me "a jew prick that takes it in the a** from ruth ginzburg [sic]." Another said I am "an ignorant socialist left-wing political hack .. You're like a little Heinrich Himmler! (even the resemblance is uncanny!)." Yet another informed me that I "personally make us all lament the defeat of the Nazis!" A more restrained viewer found me to be "a disgrace to the Law, to Harvard, and to humanity."
All this, for refusing to put a deceptive gloss on a man who made his career undermining the rights and liberties of American citizens.
My mother would want me to remain silent, but I think my father would have wanted me to tell the truth. My father was right.
Alan Dershowitz is a professor of law at Harvard. His latest book is The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can Be Resolved (Wiley, 2005)."
I know that this happened over the weekend, but I've wanted to write about it since it did, I just didn't know what to say. My views on Rehnquist are... well, no longer polite, considering his demise and I felt it in poor taste to say anything negative about the man now. This is why I will not and should not be a professor of law at Harvard. Someone who is, however, is Mr. Alan Dershowitz and I think he says what I could not. The following is NOT my writing but that of Mr. Dershowitz... Enjoy!
"Alan Dershowitz: Telling the Truth About Chief Justice Rehnquist
Alan Dershowitz Mon Sep 5, 1:16 AM ET
My mother always told me that when a person dies, one should not say anything bad about him. My mother was wrong. History requires truth, not puffery or silence, especially about powerful governmental figures. And obituaries are a first draft of history. So here's the truth about Chief Justice Rehnquist you won't hear on Fox News or from politicians. Chief Justice William Rehnquist set back liberty, equality, and human rights perhaps more than any American judge of this generation. His rise to power speaks volumes about the current state of American values.
Let's begin at the beginning. Rehnquist bragged about being first in his class at Stanford Law School. Today Stanford is a great law school with a diverse student body, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s, it discriminated against Jews and other minorities, both in the admission of students and in the selection of faculty. Justice Stephen Breyer recalled an earlier period of Stanford's history: "When my father was at Stanford, he could not join any of the social organizations because he was Jewish, and those organizations, at that time, did not accept Jews." Rehnquist not only benefited in his class ranking from this discrimination; he was also part of that bigotry. When he was nominated to be an associate justice in 1971, I learned from several sources who had known him as a student that he had outraged Jewish classmates by goose-stepping and heil-Hitlering with brown-shirted friends in front of a dormitory that housed the school's few Jewish students. He also was infamous for telling racist and anti-Semitic jokes.
As a law clerk, Rehnquist wrote a memorandum for Justice Jackson while the court was considering several school desegregation cases, including Brown v. Board of Education. Rehnquist's memo, entitled "A Random Thought on the Segregation Cases," defended the separate-but-equal doctrine embodied in the 1896 Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson. Rehnquist concluded the Plessy "was right and should be reaffirmed." When questioned about the memos by the Senate Judiciary Committee in both 1971 and 1986, Rehnquist blamed his defense of segregation on the dead Justice, stating - under oath - that his memo was meant to reflect the views of Justice Jackson. But Justice Jackson voted in Brown, along with a unanimous Court, to strike down school segregation. According to historian Mark Tushnet, Justice Jackson's longtime legal secretary called Rehnquist's Senate testimony an attempt to "smear[] the reputation of a great justice." Rehnquist later admitted to defending Plessy in arguments with fellow law clerks. He did not acknowledge that he committed perjury in front of the Judiciary Committee to get his job.
The young Rehnquist began his legal career as a Republican functionary by obstructing African-American and Hispanic voting at Phoenix polling locations ("Operation Eagle Eye"). As Richard Cohen of The Washington Post wrote, "[H]e helped challenge the voting qualifications of Arizona blacks and Hispanics. He was entitled to do so. But even if he did not personally harass potential voters, as witnesses allege, he clearly was a brass-knuckle partisan, someone who would deny the ballot to fellow citizens for trivial political reasons -- and who made his selection on the basis of race or ethnicity." In a word, he started out his political career as a Republican thug.
Rehnquist later bought a home in Vermont with a restrictive covenant that barred sale of the property to ''any member of the Hebrew race."
Rehnquist's judicial philosophy was result-oriented, activist, and authoritarian. He sometimes moderated his views for prudential or pragmatic reasons, but his vote could almost always be predicted based on who the parties were, not what the legal issues happened to be. He generally opposed the rights of gays, women, blacks, aliens, and religious minorities. He was a friend of corporations, polluters, right wing Republicans, religious fundamentalists, homophobes, and other bigots.Rehnquist served on the Supreme Court for thirty-three years and as chief justice for nineteen. Yet no opinion comes to mind which will be remembered as brilliant, innovative, or memorable. He will be remembered not for the quality of his opinions but rather for the outcomes decided by his votes, especially Bush v. Gore, in which he accepted an Equal Protection claim that was totally inconsistent with his prior views on that clause. He will also be remembered as a Chief Justice who fought for the independence and authority of the judiciary. This is his only positive contribution to an otherwise regressive career.
Within moments of Rehnquist's death, Fox News called and asked for my comments, presumably aware that I was a longtime critic of the late Chief Justice. After making several of these points to Alan Colmes (who was supposed to be interviewing me), Sean Hannity intruded, and when he didn't like my answers, he cut me off and terminated the interview. Only after I was off the air and could not respond did the attack against me begin, which is typical of Hannity's bullying ambush style. He is afraid to attack when there's someone there to respond. Since the interview, I've received dozens of e-mail hate messages, some of which are overtly anti-Semitic. One writer called me "a jew prick that takes it in the a** from ruth ginzburg [sic]." Another said I am "an ignorant socialist left-wing political hack .. You're like a little Heinrich Himmler! (even the resemblance is uncanny!)." Yet another informed me that I "personally make us all lament the defeat of the Nazis!" A more restrained viewer found me to be "a disgrace to the Law, to Harvard, and to humanity."
All this, for refusing to put a deceptive gloss on a man who made his career undermining the rights and liberties of American citizens.
My mother would want me to remain silent, but I think my father would have wanted me to tell the truth. My father was right.
Alan Dershowitz is a professor of law at Harvard. His latest book is The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can Be Resolved (Wiley, 2005)."
NATIONAL NEWS Helicopters Drop Sandbags As If They Were Hot: Was This My Dad's Idea?
Here's a story from Yahoo about the military dropping what Yahoo called "sand bombs" on New Orleans to lift it out of the sea. It sounds like Chinook helicopters are dropping crushed limestone and sand onto strategic locations to stop the waters. It's strategery, as the Man would say. (Speaking of, Bush just said he's going to have an "investigation" into what went wrong with the federal response to New Orleans. I could finish that investigation now. WE DIDN'T HAVE A PLAN. Ta da!) What's so interesting about this story? Well, my dad and I were talking yesterday and he mentioned that Boston's old harbor--the Boston tea party harbor--has since been filled by a near-by hill, and is now buildings. Ever want to see where the Boston tea party happened? You'll have to go into buildings now... weird, huh? Regardless, my dad said "Maybe we should just find a mountain we don't need and drop it in front of New Orleans." We then had a good time figuring out how a mountain from Utah's Monument Park could be cut from the Earth, airlifted via helicopters over Texas (preferably over residential areas... just in case), and dropped onto NO. It seems as though that's not far off from what's actually happening. My dad's the smartest man alive.
SCIENCE Saturn's Rings Different Than 25 Years Ago; Can Rings Age?
Here is a story about those famous rings of Saturn. NASA's Cassini spacecraft has made some interesting observations about Saturn's rings. Saturn's D ring--the innermost ring of Saturn--has grown dimmer since 1981, when the Voyager spacecraft flew past it. Additionally, a section of the D ring has moved 125 miles closer to Saturn itself. What does this mean? Well, scientists think that our Sun and it's planets once resembled Saturn and its rings... and they hope to learn more about the creation of our own solar system by studying Saturn. I'll give you more info when I know it and, until then, I'll keep looking up.
SCIENCE Parasitic Worms Cause Grasshoppers To Commit Suicide
Here's a story about some pretty scary worms. These worms, call hairworms, are parasites that live in grasshoppers. What scientists are saying is that the worms pump chemicals into the grasshoppers that somehow cause the grasshoppers to kill themselves by jumping into the water... and, while the grasshopper drowns in the water, the hairworm swims away while singing that circle of life song. Maybe they don't sing... but the repercussions of this natural phenomenon are intense. Check the link just to see the picture. It is sick. And, according to the article, these worms were an inspiration for the Alien alien. But I think this has a closer-to-home feel. Just think of the possibilities if it were possible that these worms could somehow brainwash their hosts... think of the military capabilities. The military would no doubt pump tons of funds into trying to figure out how these worms do what they do. And what if their was a way to chemically or electronically mimic the worms? Quite literally we could have a "Pod People" situation... with government controlled citizens walking around. Assassins? CEOs? Cops? Who knows the repercussions (hint: science fiction writers)? Interesting story... I say. But what do I know? I'm just a writer.
Here's a story from Yahoo about the military dropping what Yahoo called "sand bombs" on New Orleans to lift it out of the sea. It sounds like Chinook helicopters are dropping crushed limestone and sand onto strategic locations to stop the waters. It's strategery, as the Man would say. (Speaking of, Bush just said he's going to have an "investigation" into what went wrong with the federal response to New Orleans. I could finish that investigation now. WE DIDN'T HAVE A PLAN. Ta da!) What's so interesting about this story? Well, my dad and I were talking yesterday and he mentioned that Boston's old harbor--the Boston tea party harbor--has since been filled by a near-by hill, and is now buildings. Ever want to see where the Boston tea party happened? You'll have to go into buildings now... weird, huh? Regardless, my dad said "Maybe we should just find a mountain we don't need and drop it in front of New Orleans." We then had a good time figuring out how a mountain from Utah's Monument Park could be cut from the Earth, airlifted via helicopters over Texas (preferably over residential areas... just in case), and dropped onto NO. It seems as though that's not far off from what's actually happening. My dad's the smartest man alive.
SCIENCE Saturn's Rings Different Than 25 Years Ago; Can Rings Age?
Here is a story about those famous rings of Saturn. NASA's Cassini spacecraft has made some interesting observations about Saturn's rings. Saturn's D ring--the innermost ring of Saturn--has grown dimmer since 1981, when the Voyager spacecraft flew past it. Additionally, a section of the D ring has moved 125 miles closer to Saturn itself. What does this mean? Well, scientists think that our Sun and it's planets once resembled Saturn and its rings... and they hope to learn more about the creation of our own solar system by studying Saturn. I'll give you more info when I know it and, until then, I'll keep looking up.
SCIENCE Parasitic Worms Cause Grasshoppers To Commit Suicide
Here's a story about some pretty scary worms. These worms, call hairworms, are parasites that live in grasshoppers. What scientists are saying is that the worms pump chemicals into the grasshoppers that somehow cause the grasshoppers to kill themselves by jumping into the water... and, while the grasshopper drowns in the water, the hairworm swims away while singing that circle of life song. Maybe they don't sing... but the repercussions of this natural phenomenon are intense. Check the link just to see the picture. It is sick. And, according to the article, these worms were an inspiration for the Alien alien. But I think this has a closer-to-home feel. Just think of the possibilities if it were possible that these worms could somehow brainwash their hosts... think of the military capabilities. The military would no doubt pump tons of funds into trying to figure out how these worms do what they do. And what if their was a way to chemically or electronically mimic the worms? Quite literally we could have a "Pod People" situation... with government controlled citizens walking around. Assassins? CEOs? Cops? Who knows the repercussions (hint: science fiction writers)? Interesting story... I say. But what do I know? I'm just a writer.
Monday, September 05, 2005
PERSONAL Labor Day? Yeah, right...
Well, here I am. It's Labor Day and I am still without labor. There is very good news, however. Chelsey's job offer is for more money than we had originally thought. Finally, he says while sighing heavily, good things are happening to good people. I feel like MCs job will finally be the motivation I need to actually get that elusive job. Mr. James P thinks Chelsey should share the wealth and tell the other job she was offered to hire me. I think he's right; Dubs is being very selfish. Getting dozens of job offers and not tossing one my way... please! That's so rude. She's a rude gus.
Hee hee... That was fun. What the hell was my point? Oh yeah! It's Labor Day and I'm without labor. Right. What a shitty situation. I'm rapidly approaching a year without labor... and my goal is to have a job (a BETTER job) by the year's anniversary of that fateful day. Perhaps, on that day, I will say a prayer for she-who-must-not-be-named... as she will no doubt live her life devoid of people who love her. And, perhaps, that day would be the perfect time to bury my year-long bitterness. But don't hold your breath... I love being bitter.
FOOTBALL We've Got Ourselves A Game
Before the season started, I thought the Notre Dame/Michigan game (September 10th) would be a slaughter. There was no way, I thought, that ND could compete. Now, a decimation of Pitt and a terrible defensive showing against NIU later, and the ND/Mich game has an air of intrigue. I have no doubt that Michigan's defense will show up and play their best next weekend... but I don't know if their best will be good enough. Notre Dame's offense is better than I anticipated... and, from an article I read, better than they thought they'd be as well. Michigan's offense, however, is equally formidable. Mike Hart is a stud, running over linebackers on his way to the end-zone. Is Notre Dame's defense good enough to stop them? I doubt it. Now we have a back-and-forth type of game on our hands. What will make the difference? Michigan's special teams (oh! the forgotten special teams!) have a definite edge over ND... and will probably make the difference. If this game were to be played in South Bend, I would tip the scales back towards ND... but, in the Big House, the edge will go to Michigan. I'm excited for the game next Saturday... should be a good one!
NATIONAL NEWS What Does New Orleans Have In Common With The Third World... ?
Seeing the faces, the video, and the pictures of the people of New Orleans... is disturbing to say the least. But I can't help but notice something. Mute the TV and watch those same images... and you'll find yourself being able to believe that this is anywhere in the world. In fact, if the TV was muted and someone said that their was another tsunami someplace in southwest Asia or (probably more accurately) that a tsunami hit Africa... you wouldn't even think twice about it. So desperate is the situation... so BLARING the impoverishedness of our lowest classes in this country... that the situation in New Orleans is more easily believed to be a situation in a third world country. "How," one asks, "could this happen in the United States?" The answer to THAT question is simple... and one that will make people groan when I give it. It's the President. I'm sorry... but it's true for two reasons: 1) Such was the President's zeal (and I think zeal is an appropriate word for the fanaticism displayed by the administration) for attacking those who might attack us, that he was paying attention only to "without" and not "within." With all the resources and funds of the government going towards freeing (read: attacking) Iraq, who was paying attention to what was going on at home? Hint: No one, apparently. And 2) It takes someone who has never had to really work a day in his life to have the views that our President has. Abolish a government-secured retirement so that people can invest, win or lose, however they see fit? Sounds like a perfect idea to someone who's never had to worry about money. This idea... and the ideas he has, are all indicative of someone who's obviously never worried about having enough money. This is, I'm sorry to say, a very Republican view of the world. People can and should take care of themselves and, if they can't, they deserve whatever comes to them because they're lazy, etc. This is the view of someone who needs not worry about money. But what happens when a natural disaster destroys people's lives indiscriminately? Well, the Republicans will point to those people in the New Orleans area who were "smart enough" to get insurance on everything. I put "smart enough" in quotes because I could have easily replaced that phrase with the phrase "wealthy enough" and the sentence means the same thing. This is one place that the "bleeding heart" liberals have it all over the conservatives. Liberals would have a plan... or, at the very least, would drop everything to figure out how to help. Everything includes dropping their VACATION. *shakes head* For anyone who still thinks Bush is "the guy"... I can't think of another President in the history of the United States who takes more vacation days than this one. It seems like a third of his days are spent on vacation. It gives the impression that the President is like the President of the Galaxy in Hitchhiker's Guide... someone who is a figurehead, there to distract everyone from the real process of running the government. Speaking of distracting, where was I? Oh yes... taking the trite route by blaming the government. But the government is trying to help, see! Will wonders never cease, look who the Houston Chronicle reports the government hired to help clean up the storm damage? That's right... our good friends at Halliburton. You know, the company who has such close ties to Bush he might as well be one of them. Wait... wasn't he one of them once? O Draconian Devil! It all makes sense now! Well... whatever. I look forward to watching Halliburton phuk up NO like they did Iraq (but Iraq is so "weird" no one knows the difference!)... and we'll see that all time-frames for the clean-up are conservative. Conservative, get it?! I slay me! Regardless, I have full faith in the powers of the American Red Cross... so give what you can, or do what you can to help give. Thanks kids.
Update: I just saw a commercial for a Kohler generator. I suspect that the companies who make generators will subtly use the Katrina disaster to try to prove to Americans that they all need generators... "JUST IN CASE!" they'll say. Nice. No one... no one in the WORLD takes advantage of disasters and/or irrational fears better than Americans.
Well, here I am. It's Labor Day and I am still without labor. There is very good news, however. Chelsey's job offer is for more money than we had originally thought. Finally, he says while sighing heavily, good things are happening to good people. I feel like MCs job will finally be the motivation I need to actually get that elusive job. Mr. James P thinks Chelsey should share the wealth and tell the other job she was offered to hire me. I think he's right; Dubs is being very selfish. Getting dozens of job offers and not tossing one my way... please! That's so rude. She's a rude gus.
Hee hee... That was fun. What the hell was my point? Oh yeah! It's Labor Day and I'm without labor. Right. What a shitty situation. I'm rapidly approaching a year without labor... and my goal is to have a job (a BETTER job) by the year's anniversary of that fateful day. Perhaps, on that day, I will say a prayer for she-who-must-not-be-named... as she will no doubt live her life devoid of people who love her. And, perhaps, that day would be the perfect time to bury my year-long bitterness. But don't hold your breath... I love being bitter.
FOOTBALL We've Got Ourselves A Game
Before the season started, I thought the Notre Dame/Michigan game (September 10th) would be a slaughter. There was no way, I thought, that ND could compete. Now, a decimation of Pitt and a terrible defensive showing against NIU later, and the ND/Mich game has an air of intrigue. I have no doubt that Michigan's defense will show up and play their best next weekend... but I don't know if their best will be good enough. Notre Dame's offense is better than I anticipated... and, from an article I read, better than they thought they'd be as well. Michigan's offense, however, is equally formidable. Mike Hart is a stud, running over linebackers on his way to the end-zone. Is Notre Dame's defense good enough to stop them? I doubt it. Now we have a back-and-forth type of game on our hands. What will make the difference? Michigan's special teams (oh! the forgotten special teams!) have a definite edge over ND... and will probably make the difference. If this game were to be played in South Bend, I would tip the scales back towards ND... but, in the Big House, the edge will go to Michigan. I'm excited for the game next Saturday... should be a good one!
NATIONAL NEWS What Does New Orleans Have In Common With The Third World... ?
Seeing the faces, the video, and the pictures of the people of New Orleans... is disturbing to say the least. But I can't help but notice something. Mute the TV and watch those same images... and you'll find yourself being able to believe that this is anywhere in the world. In fact, if the TV was muted and someone said that their was another tsunami someplace in southwest Asia or (probably more accurately) that a tsunami hit Africa... you wouldn't even think twice about it. So desperate is the situation... so BLARING the impoverishedness of our lowest classes in this country... that the situation in New Orleans is more easily believed to be a situation in a third world country. "How," one asks, "could this happen in the United States?" The answer to THAT question is simple... and one that will make people groan when I give it. It's the President. I'm sorry... but it's true for two reasons: 1) Such was the President's zeal (and I think zeal is an appropriate word for the fanaticism displayed by the administration) for attacking those who might attack us, that he was paying attention only to "without" and not "within." With all the resources and funds of the government going towards freeing (read: attacking) Iraq, who was paying attention to what was going on at home? Hint: No one, apparently. And 2) It takes someone who has never had to really work a day in his life to have the views that our President has. Abolish a government-secured retirement so that people can invest, win or lose, however they see fit? Sounds like a perfect idea to someone who's never had to worry about money. This idea... and the ideas he has, are all indicative of someone who's obviously never worried about having enough money. This is, I'm sorry to say, a very Republican view of the world. People can and should take care of themselves and, if they can't, they deserve whatever comes to them because they're lazy, etc. This is the view of someone who needs not worry about money. But what happens when a natural disaster destroys people's lives indiscriminately? Well, the Republicans will point to those people in the New Orleans area who were "smart enough" to get insurance on everything. I put "smart enough" in quotes because I could have easily replaced that phrase with the phrase "wealthy enough" and the sentence means the same thing. This is one place that the "bleeding heart" liberals have it all over the conservatives. Liberals would have a plan... or, at the very least, would drop everything to figure out how to help. Everything includes dropping their VACATION. *shakes head* For anyone who still thinks Bush is "the guy"... I can't think of another President in the history of the United States who takes more vacation days than this one. It seems like a third of his days are spent on vacation. It gives the impression that the President is like the President of the Galaxy in Hitchhiker's Guide... someone who is a figurehead, there to distract everyone from the real process of running the government. Speaking of distracting, where was I? Oh yes... taking the trite route by blaming the government. But the government is trying to help, see! Will wonders never cease, look who the Houston Chronicle reports the government hired to help clean up the storm damage? That's right... our good friends at Halliburton. You know, the company who has such close ties to Bush he might as well be one of them. Wait... wasn't he one of them once? O Draconian Devil! It all makes sense now! Well... whatever. I look forward to watching Halliburton phuk up NO like they did Iraq (but Iraq is so "weird" no one knows the difference!)... and we'll see that all time-frames for the clean-up are conservative. Conservative, get it?! I slay me! Regardless, I have full faith in the powers of the American Red Cross... so give what you can, or do what you can to help give. Thanks kids.
Update: I just saw a commercial for a Kohler generator. I suspect that the companies who make generators will subtly use the Katrina disaster to try to prove to Americans that they all need generators... "JUST IN CASE!" they'll say. Nice. No one... no one in the WORLD takes advantage of disasters and/or irrational fears better than Americans.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
CALENDAR Happy September!
Well, kids, I've successfully gotten through another month without so much as a dollar to my name. September will bring about, I hope, some interesting changes. Ken's wedding (stupid Ken), the end of the run of my show, Albion's Caucasian Chalk Circle and a promise long over-due, College and Professional Football's return, MLB Playoffs, and--one can hope--my reentry into the world of the employed. Thursday also marked Miss Laura Jeannine's day of birth, so feel free to send your best wishes on to her. Also feel free to send your worst wishes onto her... she can take it. As for me, I only wish her good things like hockey tickets this year. Happy Birthday, dear.
PERSONAL Insomnia and Other Things That Keep You Up Until Four AM
Hey... can you believe it? That was me *points to picture behind him* only 12 hours ago. And now look at me! *hold up pants which are larger than I am* I was able to sleep! Enough of the "funny," I spent Wednesday night staying awake until 4 and Thursday night being awake until 3. Why? Various reasons... but the awake time allowed me to finish The Da Vinci Code in record time (for me anyway... for a book that big? Oh yeah... record time). Interestingly enough, my initial thoughts on the book after 33 pages were pretty accurate. Brown made his characters both intelligent beyond belief AND incredibly stupid. Near the end of the book, I was figuring things out chapters before the main characters were (the chapters were short, but Brown liked to give you something to think about in one plot thread and then switch to another thread for a chapter or two). The part that made me, quite literally, get up and go to a mirror saying "For the love of God"... was SO annoying!
Well, hopefully now that I'm done with the book I'll be able to sleep. If not, I don't know what I'll end up reading. The Da Vinci Code made me want to pull out my old philosophy books and read what great philosophers think about creation and religion. I also have a *gasp* women's philosophy/political thought book that I'm working my way slowly through. Yeah, I know. With women's philosophy I must be starved for good literature. Get it? I'm misogynistic? I'm sorry... please don't hurt me. I didn't mean it! It was a joke!
PERSONAL Burning Chicken and Other Lies Recipes Tell Us
Thursday night I was prepared to cook what was called a "one skillet chicken dinner"... complete with recipe. This recipe asked me to cook the chicken in a covered skillet (in olive oil) for 10 minutes. Okay, I can do that. So I did the above and started washing dishes during the 10 minutes I was waiting. After 7 minutes, I checked on the chicken and it was burning on the bottom! So I flipped it over and gave it three more minutes. After three minutes, I saw it was smoking a bit... and turned the range off. I figured it was probably still edible, but then I turned around and noticed my apartment had been filling with a light smoke. So I filled the skillet with cold water (to stop the cooking), opened my windows, and turned the AC on (to circulate the air)... saying "shit shit shit... the fire alarm's going to go off!" But, thank goodness, the smoke detectors in this building are apparently just for show. I did NOT set off the fire alarm... but I did lose three days of dinners. To say I was mad at myself would be an understatement... yes, I KNOW one must always watch meat while cooking it, but I stupidly believed the recipe. This lead to some interesting and creative cooking, as I didn't have anything else to eat in my apartment. Stupid food.
THEATRE Week 2... And The American Red Cross
Well, Thursday night was week two of my show. While we didn't have a sell out like last week, we certainly had a fairly full theatre. From what I heard from the writers and the director (and one of the cast member's girlfriend, who has seen the show both times), the performance was actually better this week as opposed to last. But the crowd was actually LESS into it. Why? The other group on the double bill went first and, from what I hear, they're pretty bad. So the audience had to be coerced to laugh again when we got on stage.
And the audience enjoyed our show, I think. After the show, I took the stage again. I had been asked by my director, David, to ask the audience to give what they could to an American Red Cross bucket we had set just at the door. As I explained our situation ("We didn't have time to have the Red Cross get back to us, so we had to make our own collection bucket"), the audience was completely silent. As I thanked the silent crowd for coming out and turned to head back stage, I felt as if I had ruined the good mood our show had created. One of the writers said that it was kind of a buzz-kill, and I said "Hey, thanks for coming out and seeing a comedy show while thousands are dead or homeless. Have a good night, selfish asses!" That got a little laugh from the cast... as we all felt a little somber after my "speech." The good news? We raised $80 for the American Red Cross... and we're going to be asking for donations for the next three weeks. It'll be my hope that we raise $500 for the Red Cross over the next few weeks. It's not a lot of money, but it's taking what I can do (entertain) and using it to help. I'm still mentally working on other ways I can use my ability to entertain to help those down in the New Orleans area.
FOOTBALL College Game Day
It's finally come... the first day of the college football season. I haven't been this excited for college football for a long time. Notre Dame was my team growing up... and then they decided I wasn't "Notre Dame" material, and I got a fabulous rejection letter reminding me I was white, didn't play football, and wasn't smart enough to make up for the lack of the other two. Ever since then, I've been indifferent to Notre Dame and most of college football. But, for some reason, this year I'm back. I'm interested in the team/school that rejected me (forgiveness is divine); I'm interested in Northwestern; I'm interested in Wisconsin (who have been my adopted team since ND too a break); I'm interested in Ron Zook coaching Illinois; I'm interested in Matt Leinart staying HEALTHY (I know I don't like USC, but I want good players to stay in college... and if Leinart stays healthy, maybe more kids will stay in college); and I'm interested in college football in general, just watching good games played by good teams. Now I sit, like a rabid fan literally foaming at the mouth *wipes mouth with towel*, waiting for the games to start. Let the games begin.
Well, kids, I've successfully gotten through another month without so much as a dollar to my name. September will bring about, I hope, some interesting changes. Ken's wedding (stupid Ken), the end of the run of my show, Albion's Caucasian Chalk Circle and a promise long over-due, College and Professional Football's return, MLB Playoffs, and--one can hope--my reentry into the world of the employed. Thursday also marked Miss Laura Jeannine's day of birth, so feel free to send your best wishes on to her. Also feel free to send your worst wishes onto her... she can take it. As for me, I only wish her good things like hockey tickets this year. Happy Birthday, dear.
PERSONAL Insomnia and Other Things That Keep You Up Until Four AM
Hey... can you believe it? That was me *points to picture behind him* only 12 hours ago. And now look at me! *hold up pants which are larger than I am* I was able to sleep! Enough of the "funny," I spent Wednesday night staying awake until 4 and Thursday night being awake until 3. Why? Various reasons... but the awake time allowed me to finish The Da Vinci Code in record time (for me anyway... for a book that big? Oh yeah... record time). Interestingly enough, my initial thoughts on the book after 33 pages were pretty accurate. Brown made his characters both intelligent beyond belief AND incredibly stupid. Near the end of the book, I was figuring things out chapters before the main characters were (the chapters were short, but Brown liked to give you something to think about in one plot thread and then switch to another thread for a chapter or two). The part that made me, quite literally, get up and go to a mirror saying "For the love of God"... was SO annoying!
Well, hopefully now that I'm done with the book I'll be able to sleep. If not, I don't know what I'll end up reading. The Da Vinci Code made me want to pull out my old philosophy books and read what great philosophers think about creation and religion. I also have a *gasp* women's philosophy/political thought book that I'm working my way slowly through. Yeah, I know. With women's philosophy I must be starved for good literature. Get it? I'm misogynistic? I'm sorry... please don't hurt me. I didn't mean it! It was a joke!
PERSONAL Burning Chicken and Other Lies Recipes Tell Us
Thursday night I was prepared to cook what was called a "one skillet chicken dinner"... complete with recipe. This recipe asked me to cook the chicken in a covered skillet (in olive oil) for 10 minutes. Okay, I can do that. So I did the above and started washing dishes during the 10 minutes I was waiting. After 7 minutes, I checked on the chicken and it was burning on the bottom! So I flipped it over and gave it three more minutes. After three minutes, I saw it was smoking a bit... and turned the range off. I figured it was probably still edible, but then I turned around and noticed my apartment had been filling with a light smoke. So I filled the skillet with cold water (to stop the cooking), opened my windows, and turned the AC on (to circulate the air)... saying "shit shit shit... the fire alarm's going to go off!" But, thank goodness, the smoke detectors in this building are apparently just for show. I did NOT set off the fire alarm... but I did lose three days of dinners. To say I was mad at myself would be an understatement... yes, I KNOW one must always watch meat while cooking it, but I stupidly believed the recipe. This lead to some interesting and creative cooking, as I didn't have anything else to eat in my apartment. Stupid food.
THEATRE Week 2... And The American Red Cross
Well, Thursday night was week two of my show. While we didn't have a sell out like last week, we certainly had a fairly full theatre. From what I heard from the writers and the director (and one of the cast member's girlfriend, who has seen the show both times), the performance was actually better this week as opposed to last. But the crowd was actually LESS into it. Why? The other group on the double bill went first and, from what I hear, they're pretty bad. So the audience had to be coerced to laugh again when we got on stage.
And the audience enjoyed our show, I think. After the show, I took the stage again. I had been asked by my director, David, to ask the audience to give what they could to an American Red Cross bucket we had set just at the door. As I explained our situation ("We didn't have time to have the Red Cross get back to us, so we had to make our own collection bucket"), the audience was completely silent. As I thanked the silent crowd for coming out and turned to head back stage, I felt as if I had ruined the good mood our show had created. One of the writers said that it was kind of a buzz-kill, and I said "Hey, thanks for coming out and seeing a comedy show while thousands are dead or homeless. Have a good night, selfish asses!" That got a little laugh from the cast... as we all felt a little somber after my "speech." The good news? We raised $80 for the American Red Cross... and we're going to be asking for donations for the next three weeks. It'll be my hope that we raise $500 for the Red Cross over the next few weeks. It's not a lot of money, but it's taking what I can do (entertain) and using it to help. I'm still mentally working on other ways I can use my ability to entertain to help those down in the New Orleans area.
FOOTBALL College Game Day
It's finally come... the first day of the college football season. I haven't been this excited for college football for a long time. Notre Dame was my team growing up... and then they decided I wasn't "Notre Dame" material, and I got a fabulous rejection letter reminding me I was white, didn't play football, and wasn't smart enough to make up for the lack of the other two. Ever since then, I've been indifferent to Notre Dame and most of college football. But, for some reason, this year I'm back. I'm interested in the team/school that rejected me (forgiveness is divine); I'm interested in Northwestern; I'm interested in Wisconsin (who have been my adopted team since ND too a break); I'm interested in Ron Zook coaching Illinois; I'm interested in Matt Leinart staying HEALTHY (I know I don't like USC, but I want good players to stay in college... and if Leinart stays healthy, maybe more kids will stay in college); and I'm interested in college football in general, just watching good games played by good teams. Now I sit, like a rabid fan literally foaming at the mouth *wipes mouth with towel*, waiting for the games to start. Let the games begin.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
PERSONAL THEATRE Opening Night With The Peanut Gallery
So my show (which runs until September 22nd, when I'll be forced to perform at 10:30 PM then hit the road after the show to be in BR for Ken's wedding weekend that next morning) opened this past Thursday night. We opened, surprisingly, to a fully packed house. I wasn't necessarily surprised that we were a full house because of anything besides the day and time during which we perform: Thursday night at 10:30? How many people are going to come out to see a sketch comedy show? Apparently enough to fill up the fabulously full-of-character Skybox (read: small and dank). The show went well, thank you very much... even though the second scene took the audience completely out of the show (it took the next two scenes to get everyone "back"). Like I had mentioned before, I had no idea how well or not well we'd be received since the cast and writers had our own little inside jokes, which kept us laughing throughout the rehearsals. I think, however, that the crowd enjoyed the show. For any questions you may have about the show, please contact my girlfriend c/o me... and she'll tell you that she's incredibly supportive. She won't tell you that, because she's modest, but I'll tell you right now that she's incredibly supportive... because she is.
PERSONAL FOOTBALL "Ouch" And Other Things Overheard As The Packers Got Trounced By The Hated Patriots
Notice the two headlines in both this section and the last. When stories overlap, I don't know what to do... so I'm giving you both headline tags. When I feel confident that you'll read a "football" headline without the "personal" tag, I'll drop the "personal" one.
Regardless, I went to see the Packers/Patriots game last Friday night with my dad. The Packer's defense was terrible. Absolutely horrible. I spent much of the first half hoping Tom Brady's knees would spontaneously explode (I even said my wish out loud and my dad thought that was pretty funny). The game was terrible until the second half when it started raining on us, HARD. At that point, we put on our rain jackets... and the crowd thinned out (the crowd did NOT leave. Packers fans don't leave the stadium! They were all inside, getting beers and brats [which I found out when I went in to get fried cheese curds]. I love Wisconsin). The only people left in the stands were the psycho fans who would stay in the stands in a preseason game in the rain... the atmosphere was electric (which was dangerous with the rain!). My dad and I ended up having a lot of fun in the rain... too bad we got slaughtered by that team-which-must-not-be-named.
My outrageous, based-on-little-factual-evidence prediction: Well, before the Lions/Rams game this past Monday night, I was very much prepared to say that Detroit would surpass the Packers this season in the NFC North (which, because of how poor the Pack play this season, would be Favre's last). But it looks like the Lions suck too. Now what? Well, Minnesota should easily win the division... but we've been saying that for years and Minnesota always chokes (because they SUCK!). After Minnesota, the rest of the division is literally up for grabs. So we might very well see the rest of the division line up as such: Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago. *shakes head* Those three teams are horrible.
FOOTBALL Cut Day OR "I Hate Y'all"
As Wide Receiver Peerless Price received (pun intended) word that he was going to be cut by the Falcons, he responded with "I hate y'all" as he left Falcons camp. Football rosters had to be cut to 65 yesterday (August 30th), and there are some surprising and interesting names on the cut list. As I mentioned, Price (who had one huge season in 2002 for Buffalo before Atlanta traded for him) made the unfortunate list of cuts. Also on the list, the equally disappointing WR Peter Warrick. When he left Florida State, they were saying Warrick was the greatest FSU Wide Receiver ever... but Cincinnati had a way of suppressing talent in the late 90s, and Warrick never really made the splash he was supposed to.
Some other interesting cuts: Bears QB Chad Hutchinson, goes from starter to cut in less than two weeks; Buccaneers RB Charlie Garner, leaves the Raiders, is replaced by a rookie in Tampa, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him on a roster come opening day; Broncos RB Maurice Clarett and DT Luther Ellis... Clarett went from first-round shoe-in to third round and cut in the same span of two years that Ellis went from Lions starter to cut--in '97 we were talking about Ellis the star defensive lineman, what happened?; Lions QB Timmy Chang, apparently is a product of the Hawaii throw-on-every-down system; Packers LB Hannibal Navies and G Matt O'Dwyer, Navies was a starter at LB for the Pack last season and O'Dwyer was talked about as having a clear path to a starting job at Guard; Texans TE Billy Miller, in 2002 his 51 catches were off the hook for a tight end... now his phone is what's off the hook; Jags WR Troy Edwards, who I always felt was horribly underrated... he's scrapy enough to be given consideration elsewhere (Eagles?); Dolphins QB Brock Berlin and RB Kay-Jay Harris, I never thought Berlin was any good with the Miami Hurricanes and I don't expect him to make a come-back in the NFL, but Harris was a star at West Virginia last season... he might find his way onto a team this year or next; Patriots QB Rohan Davey and KR Chad Morton, I bet no one even knew Morton was a Patriot because he wasn't one for long, but Davey has been Brady's back-up since Brady was good enough to need a back-up... did Davey miss his chance somewhere along the way?; Redskins WR Darnerien McCants, who made fantasy footballers cheer in 2003 with 6 touchdowns out of nowhere and has since gone back to nowhere.
Look for some of these players to make other rosters (or practice squads) before all is said and done.
PERSONAL Cable Shut-Off
As you probably all know by now, my cable was shut off this weekend. I've been scrambling to catch up with the news (and my emails) for the past day. Hurricane Katrina seems to be dominating the airwaves... even on sports channels. Speaking of sports, the US Open tennis tournament started and Andy Roddick is already out. Huh... surprise! So what I have been doing without cable or internet access. Let's find out...
VIDEO GAMES No Cable = Perfect Time To Catch Up On Video Games
Just when you thought it was safe to read this page again, I go and play NCAA Football 06 for like two days straight. What have I learned? I LOVE the new "Race for the Heisman" mode... as it allows me to play the games without all the recruiting and scheduling and personnel non-sense that usually takes me hours to complete. Don't get me wrong, I still love having total control of the team (and I'd still like to be able to change the players' numbers and equipment)... I just feel like I've never gotten the hang of recruiting players, and I agonize over who to recruit and how much, etc. Honestly, the off-season in previous NCAA Football games has taken me about half the time it takes to play all the games of the regular season... I spend HOURS trying to get everything just right. But, with the new Heisman mode, I was able to play two seasons in pretty much two days. This, I hope, will eventually allow me to import my player (a #42 RB for Notre Dame... can't change the numbers, see?) into Madden's new Superstar Mode, which is basically the same thing. I'm hoping that the Superstar mode will also allow me to get back to the business of just playing the games. Again, don't get me wrong, I love lots of customizable features, I just get bogged down by them sometimes when all I want to do is play the game. "Hello! You play to win the game!"... thank you Coach Edwards.
BOOKS No Cable = Perfect Time To Catch Up On Reading
Without cable I've also been able to catch up on some reading. MCW lovingly let me borrow two of her books--Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Da Vinci Code--and they couldn't be more polar opposite. First of all, let me say that I've already finished the Guide. It's whopping 216 pages took me all of a couple afternoons. Secondly, I'm only currently 33 pages into the Da Vinci Code so everything I'm saying about it is based on very little empirical evidence and could, therefore, be way off base. But this is what I mean by saying that they're complete opposite books: The Hitchhiker's Guide is a character exploration book. It's plot is hidden, yet simple... (revolving around the destruction of the Earth) and the reader simply becomes lost in the world Adams creates. We forgive Adams for not having much of a classical plot because the characters are so amazing. Adams gives such a sense of size and vastness to his story that you DO, actually, feel like it's some kind of Guidebook to something as large as a Galaxy. Everything in the book feels like it's part of a larger, almost infinitely connected story that would take far too long to tell. Being done with the book is like eating one Reese's Peanut Butter Cup... and you say "huh... I hope there's another one of those, because that was good."
The Da Vinci Code, however, is simply a dressed up plot. I care very little (read: not at all) about the characters, as I am treated to such dull exposition as "pain is good," which Brown feels he needs to repeat three times on a page so that the reader will understand his character and his character's motivations. Don't get me wrong, the book reads like such a factual text-book that one cannot help but feel that everything in it is a factual account of actual events (which is amazing in its own way), but I have a feeling that I will be most interested in what happens as opposed to who it's happening to. One reads this book not to understand human characters, but to unravel a very REAL feeling mystery. "A real-live mystery!" his readers say. With narrative faux pas such as telling us what the character knows to be behind him (when Langdon heads towards the Louvre) without the character actually looking in that direction, made me roll my eyes and want to gag just a little bit. Speaking of, all the French (and similar "heady" text [read: big words]) brings me out of the story just a little bit... and I wouldn't blame readers of Brown to feel like he's a genius simply because they don't understand what he's getting at half the time. You're a smart guy who knows what he's talking about... we get it! I'm hoping that, as the pages progress and he stops feeling the need for his horrible exposition, the book will pick up. Seeing as it's obviously a plot-driven book... I can't see how it won't pick up speed as it goes along, the characters swept away by the waves upon waves of plot. When Stephan King talks about books that hit you over the head with the hammer of plot, The Da Vinci Code will be one of the first books about which I think. I'm not saying that plot driven books are bad... but I'm just saying that, after I finish this book, I already know I won't be waiting for the sequel (unlike The Hitchhiker's Guide). See how they're about as different as you can get?
NATIONAL NEWS Without Cable, Guess Who Didn't Know About Hurricane Katrina
Ah... this guy *points to self*. It's surprising to me that, without cable or internet access, I had absolutely no idea what was going on around the nation or the globe. When I "came to" yesterday, I was aghast by the devastation that New Orleans (and Mississippi) is facing. Looking at the video from N.O., I can't believe how traumatic the flooding would be, as some of you know my "thing" about "drowning" and "water" in "general." I see that they had people inside the Superdome in NO to get out of the weather... and it must have been the most people in that building since Super Bowl XXXI. Zing! The Saints suck and this tragedy will either emphasize how much they suck, or will pull them together so much that they're the surprise team of the league. Regardless of my personal jabs at New Orleans football, lots of people in the area have been traumatically effected by the Hurricane.
Speaking of, and in the "how can this guy's life get worse" file, it seems as though Brett Favre's childhood house was destroyed by flood waters thanks to Hurricane Katrina--causing his mother and grandmother to hide in the attic Monday night while the waters filled the house in about 10 minutes. Favre, actually, has called this the toughest time during his pro career which, if you know Favre's story, is really hard to believe. He's actually on Fox News (gasp!) right now talking about his family. For some reason, Fox News is letting him talk and talk (live from Green Bay)... and I was unaware that his wife and children live down in Mississippi as well. His whole family is down there in the damaged area... and he said that his wife told him yesterday that they had a loaf of bread left to eat. That's all. I find it surprising that someone with power, money, and influence could have it so hard... but that just shows my ignorance. Everyone is effected equally when "nature strikes" (sorry... too much Fox). Favre talked about how he's been trying to figure out a way to get down there to help them, but there are no airports he could land in, no stores he could buy supplies in, no electricity he could store food with... I've rarely seen him seem more helpless. He's talked about driving a truck full of supplies down to Mississippi after the Titans game tomorrow night, but he might as well just skip the game and go help if he thinks he can. It's preseason, and it's not more important than his family. And that made me think... what if it was a regular season game? And the answer would be simple... it's still worth skipping the game to help. His consecutive games streak, the season, the team... it all wouldn't matter to me. Such is Favre's personal connection with the fans... and the fans love of him, that we wouldn't be upset if he missed a game, we'd be asking how we can help him. I guess there are more important things in life than football... even in Wisconsin.
PERSONAL Let's Call This Box Home For Six More Months
After viewing other apartments, talking with a few apartment type people, and talking to my parents about my possibilities, it was mutually decided that I would simply stay put in my apartment for six more months until I'm done with the Second City Conservatory. So, anyone who wants to know my new address... it's my old address. Until about March-ish, when I hope to have a job and a plan for what to do once I'm done with the Conservatory. Or else I'll end up poor and in Detroit...
NATIONAL NEWS Way To Go D Town! You're Now The Nation's Poorest Big City
According to this article out of Detroit, over one-third of Detroit residents are now living at or below the federal poverty line. Take THAT, Cleveland! The article also says that Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. The Michigan Democratic party has used these numbers to ask the Republican-controlled Legislature to take Dem. Gov. Granholm's recommendation to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.15. While I love the democrats, they're wrong here. I've actually got some experience with this. With unemployment rates so high, raising the minimum wage doesn't help people without jobs, it hurts them. The people who are without job are sitting on some money which is worth less if the minimum wage is raised. Think Time Value of Money... or some other accounting term I've long-since forgotten. Regardless, raising the minimum wage is not an intelligent way to tackle unemployment... even if it might be a short-term fix for poverty. Why not a long-term fix? Because, my dear ones, if everyone is getting more money, the poverty line will be raised, and these people will still be below that line. *shrug* Hard to wrap ones mind around how to fix problems this big... but congrats to Detroit, you scary, crappy city.
So my show (which runs until September 22nd, when I'll be forced to perform at 10:30 PM then hit the road after the show to be in BR for Ken's wedding weekend that next morning) opened this past Thursday night. We opened, surprisingly, to a fully packed house. I wasn't necessarily surprised that we were a full house because of anything besides the day and time during which we perform: Thursday night at 10:30? How many people are going to come out to see a sketch comedy show? Apparently enough to fill up the fabulously full-of-character Skybox (read: small and dank). The show went well, thank you very much... even though the second scene took the audience completely out of the show (it took the next two scenes to get everyone "back"). Like I had mentioned before, I had no idea how well or not well we'd be received since the cast and writers had our own little inside jokes, which kept us laughing throughout the rehearsals. I think, however, that the crowd enjoyed the show. For any questions you may have about the show, please contact my girlfriend c/o me... and she'll tell you that she's incredibly supportive. She won't tell you that, because she's modest, but I'll tell you right now that she's incredibly supportive... because she is.
PERSONAL FOOTBALL "Ouch" And Other Things Overheard As The Packers Got Trounced By The Hated Patriots
Notice the two headlines in both this section and the last. When stories overlap, I don't know what to do... so I'm giving you both headline tags. When I feel confident that you'll read a "football" headline without the "personal" tag, I'll drop the "personal" one.
Regardless, I went to see the Packers/Patriots game last Friday night with my dad. The Packer's defense was terrible. Absolutely horrible. I spent much of the first half hoping Tom Brady's knees would spontaneously explode (I even said my wish out loud and my dad thought that was pretty funny). The game was terrible until the second half when it started raining on us, HARD. At that point, we put on our rain jackets... and the crowd thinned out (the crowd did NOT leave. Packers fans don't leave the stadium! They were all inside, getting beers and brats [which I found out when I went in to get fried cheese curds]. I love Wisconsin). The only people left in the stands were the psycho fans who would stay in the stands in a preseason game in the rain... the atmosphere was electric (which was dangerous with the rain!). My dad and I ended up having a lot of fun in the rain... too bad we got slaughtered by that team-which-must-not-be-named.
My outrageous, based-on-little-factual-evidence prediction: Well, before the Lions/Rams game this past Monday night, I was very much prepared to say that Detroit would surpass the Packers this season in the NFC North (which, because of how poor the Pack play this season, would be Favre's last). But it looks like the Lions suck too. Now what? Well, Minnesota should easily win the division... but we've been saying that for years and Minnesota always chokes (because they SUCK!). After Minnesota, the rest of the division is literally up for grabs. So we might very well see the rest of the division line up as such: Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago. *shakes head* Those three teams are horrible.
FOOTBALL Cut Day OR "I Hate Y'all"
As Wide Receiver Peerless Price received (pun intended) word that he was going to be cut by the Falcons, he responded with "I hate y'all" as he left Falcons camp. Football rosters had to be cut to 65 yesterday (August 30th), and there are some surprising and interesting names on the cut list. As I mentioned, Price (who had one huge season in 2002 for Buffalo before Atlanta traded for him) made the unfortunate list of cuts. Also on the list, the equally disappointing WR Peter Warrick. When he left Florida State, they were saying Warrick was the greatest FSU Wide Receiver ever... but Cincinnati had a way of suppressing talent in the late 90s, and Warrick never really made the splash he was supposed to.
Some other interesting cuts: Bears QB Chad Hutchinson, goes from starter to cut in less than two weeks; Buccaneers RB Charlie Garner, leaves the Raiders, is replaced by a rookie in Tampa, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him on a roster come opening day; Broncos RB Maurice Clarett and DT Luther Ellis... Clarett went from first-round shoe-in to third round and cut in the same span of two years that Ellis went from Lions starter to cut--in '97 we were talking about Ellis the star defensive lineman, what happened?; Lions QB Timmy Chang, apparently is a product of the Hawaii throw-on-every-down system; Packers LB Hannibal Navies and G Matt O'Dwyer, Navies was a starter at LB for the Pack last season and O'Dwyer was talked about as having a clear path to a starting job at Guard; Texans TE Billy Miller, in 2002 his 51 catches were off the hook for a tight end... now his phone is what's off the hook; Jags WR Troy Edwards, who I always felt was horribly underrated... he's scrapy enough to be given consideration elsewhere (Eagles?); Dolphins QB Brock Berlin and RB Kay-Jay Harris, I never thought Berlin was any good with the Miami Hurricanes and I don't expect him to make a come-back in the NFL, but Harris was a star at West Virginia last season... he might find his way onto a team this year or next; Patriots QB Rohan Davey and KR Chad Morton, I bet no one even knew Morton was a Patriot because he wasn't one for long, but Davey has been Brady's back-up since Brady was good enough to need a back-up... did Davey miss his chance somewhere along the way?; Redskins WR Darnerien McCants, who made fantasy footballers cheer in 2003 with 6 touchdowns out of nowhere and has since gone back to nowhere.
Look for some of these players to make other rosters (or practice squads) before all is said and done.
PERSONAL Cable Shut-Off
As you probably all know by now, my cable was shut off this weekend. I've been scrambling to catch up with the news (and my emails) for the past day. Hurricane Katrina seems to be dominating the airwaves... even on sports channels. Speaking of sports, the US Open tennis tournament started and Andy Roddick is already out. Huh... surprise! So what I have been doing without cable or internet access. Let's find out...
VIDEO GAMES No Cable = Perfect Time To Catch Up On Video Games
Just when you thought it was safe to read this page again, I go and play NCAA Football 06 for like two days straight. What have I learned? I LOVE the new "Race for the Heisman" mode... as it allows me to play the games without all the recruiting and scheduling and personnel non-sense that usually takes me hours to complete. Don't get me wrong, I still love having total control of the team (and I'd still like to be able to change the players' numbers and equipment)... I just feel like I've never gotten the hang of recruiting players, and I agonize over who to recruit and how much, etc. Honestly, the off-season in previous NCAA Football games has taken me about half the time it takes to play all the games of the regular season... I spend HOURS trying to get everything just right. But, with the new Heisman mode, I was able to play two seasons in pretty much two days. This, I hope, will eventually allow me to import my player (a #42 RB for Notre Dame... can't change the numbers, see?) into Madden's new Superstar Mode, which is basically the same thing. I'm hoping that the Superstar mode will also allow me to get back to the business of just playing the games. Again, don't get me wrong, I love lots of customizable features, I just get bogged down by them sometimes when all I want to do is play the game. "Hello! You play to win the game!"... thank you Coach Edwards.
BOOKS No Cable = Perfect Time To Catch Up On Reading
Without cable I've also been able to catch up on some reading. MCW lovingly let me borrow two of her books--Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Da Vinci Code--and they couldn't be more polar opposite. First of all, let me say that I've already finished the Guide. It's whopping 216 pages took me all of a couple afternoons. Secondly, I'm only currently 33 pages into the Da Vinci Code so everything I'm saying about it is based on very little empirical evidence and could, therefore, be way off base. But this is what I mean by saying that they're complete opposite books: The Hitchhiker's Guide is a character exploration book. It's plot is hidden, yet simple... (revolving around the destruction of the Earth) and the reader simply becomes lost in the world Adams creates. We forgive Adams for not having much of a classical plot because the characters are so amazing. Adams gives such a sense of size and vastness to his story that you DO, actually, feel like it's some kind of Guidebook to something as large as a Galaxy. Everything in the book feels like it's part of a larger, almost infinitely connected story that would take far too long to tell. Being done with the book is like eating one Reese's Peanut Butter Cup... and you say "huh... I hope there's another one of those, because that was good."
The Da Vinci Code, however, is simply a dressed up plot. I care very little (read: not at all) about the characters, as I am treated to such dull exposition as "pain is good," which Brown feels he needs to repeat three times on a page so that the reader will understand his character and his character's motivations. Don't get me wrong, the book reads like such a factual text-book that one cannot help but feel that everything in it is a factual account of actual events (which is amazing in its own way), but I have a feeling that I will be most interested in what happens as opposed to who it's happening to. One reads this book not to understand human characters, but to unravel a very REAL feeling mystery. "A real-live mystery!" his readers say. With narrative faux pas such as telling us what the character knows to be behind him (when Langdon heads towards the Louvre) without the character actually looking in that direction, made me roll my eyes and want to gag just a little bit. Speaking of, all the French (and similar "heady" text [read: big words]) brings me out of the story just a little bit... and I wouldn't blame readers of Brown to feel like he's a genius simply because they don't understand what he's getting at half the time. You're a smart guy who knows what he's talking about... we get it! I'm hoping that, as the pages progress and he stops feeling the need for his horrible exposition, the book will pick up. Seeing as it's obviously a plot-driven book... I can't see how it won't pick up speed as it goes along, the characters swept away by the waves upon waves of plot. When Stephan King talks about books that hit you over the head with the hammer of plot, The Da Vinci Code will be one of the first books about which I think. I'm not saying that plot driven books are bad... but I'm just saying that, after I finish this book, I already know I won't be waiting for the sequel (unlike The Hitchhiker's Guide). See how they're about as different as you can get?
NATIONAL NEWS Without Cable, Guess Who Didn't Know About Hurricane Katrina
Ah... this guy *points to self*. It's surprising to me that, without cable or internet access, I had absolutely no idea what was going on around the nation or the globe. When I "came to" yesterday, I was aghast by the devastation that New Orleans (and Mississippi) is facing. Looking at the video from N.O., I can't believe how traumatic the flooding would be, as some of you know my "thing" about "drowning" and "water" in "general." I see that they had people inside the Superdome in NO to get out of the weather... and it must have been the most people in that building since Super Bowl XXXI. Zing! The Saints suck and this tragedy will either emphasize how much they suck, or will pull them together so much that they're the surprise team of the league. Regardless of my personal jabs at New Orleans football, lots of people in the area have been traumatically effected by the Hurricane.
Speaking of, and in the "how can this guy's life get worse" file, it seems as though Brett Favre's childhood house was destroyed by flood waters thanks to Hurricane Katrina--causing his mother and grandmother to hide in the attic Monday night while the waters filled the house in about 10 minutes. Favre, actually, has called this the toughest time during his pro career which, if you know Favre's story, is really hard to believe. He's actually on Fox News (gasp!) right now talking about his family. For some reason, Fox News is letting him talk and talk (live from Green Bay)... and I was unaware that his wife and children live down in Mississippi as well. His whole family is down there in the damaged area... and he said that his wife told him yesterday that they had a loaf of bread left to eat. That's all. I find it surprising that someone with power, money, and influence could have it so hard... but that just shows my ignorance. Everyone is effected equally when "nature strikes" (sorry... too much Fox). Favre talked about how he's been trying to figure out a way to get down there to help them, but there are no airports he could land in, no stores he could buy supplies in, no electricity he could store food with... I've rarely seen him seem more helpless. He's talked about driving a truck full of supplies down to Mississippi after the Titans game tomorrow night, but he might as well just skip the game and go help if he thinks he can. It's preseason, and it's not more important than his family. And that made me think... what if it was a regular season game? And the answer would be simple... it's still worth skipping the game to help. His consecutive games streak, the season, the team... it all wouldn't matter to me. Such is Favre's personal connection with the fans... and the fans love of him, that we wouldn't be upset if he missed a game, we'd be asking how we can help him. I guess there are more important things in life than football... even in Wisconsin.
PERSONAL Let's Call This Box Home For Six More Months
After viewing other apartments, talking with a few apartment type people, and talking to my parents about my possibilities, it was mutually decided that I would simply stay put in my apartment for six more months until I'm done with the Second City Conservatory. So, anyone who wants to know my new address... it's my old address. Until about March-ish, when I hope to have a job and a plan for what to do once I'm done with the Conservatory. Or else I'll end up poor and in Detroit...
NATIONAL NEWS Way To Go D Town! You're Now The Nation's Poorest Big City
According to this article out of Detroit, over one-third of Detroit residents are now living at or below the federal poverty line. Take THAT, Cleveland! The article also says that Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. The Michigan Democratic party has used these numbers to ask the Republican-controlled Legislature to take Dem. Gov. Granholm's recommendation to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.15. While I love the democrats, they're wrong here. I've actually got some experience with this. With unemployment rates so high, raising the minimum wage doesn't help people without jobs, it hurts them. The people who are without job are sitting on some money which is worth less if the minimum wage is raised. Think Time Value of Money... or some other accounting term I've long-since forgotten. Regardless, raising the minimum wage is not an intelligent way to tackle unemployment... even if it might be a short-term fix for poverty. Why not a long-term fix? Because, my dear ones, if everyone is getting more money, the poverty line will be raised, and these people will still be below that line. *shrug* Hard to wrap ones mind around how to fix problems this big... but congrats to Detroit, you scary, crappy city.
Monday, August 29, 2005
PERSONAL NEWS FLASH Live from Harold Washington Library--In Beautiful Downtown Chicago...
It's me. I can only give you the short version of this story, as I have 11 minutes left on this computer. Here's the short version: After an early weekend with my dad (watching the Packers get slaughtered by the Patriots), I came back to my apartment to find that my cable had been disconnected by accident. Some angry phone calls, and an hour and a half later, and the soonest my cable company can come back to my place to reconnect the cable they accidentally disconnected in the first place is Tuesday morning. That's tomorrow. So I'm without internet access until then. I'm sure I'll get back to everyone (and start posting again) tomorrow... but, for now, let's just say I have bigger fish to yell at until they fix what they broke. Thanks!
It's me. I can only give you the short version of this story, as I have 11 minutes left on this computer. Here's the short version: After an early weekend with my dad (watching the Packers get slaughtered by the Patriots), I came back to my apartment to find that my cable had been disconnected by accident. Some angry phone calls, and an hour and a half later, and the soonest my cable company can come back to my place to reconnect the cable they accidentally disconnected in the first place is Tuesday morning. That's tomorrow. So I'm without internet access until then. I'm sure I'll get back to everyone (and start posting again) tomorrow... but, for now, let's just say I have bigger fish to yell at until they fix what they broke. Thanks!
Thursday, August 25, 2005
"NEWS" The "P" Too Many Letters: Diddy Now Just Diddy
I just saw that Diddy, formerly P. Diddy, formerly Puff Daddy, formerly Sean "Puffy" Combs, is going to be hosting the 2005 Video Music Awards on MTV. This is not news. I'm going to be interested to see (read: I'm NOT going to watch) what Diddy does as host. I believe Diddy can now safely fall into the category of "people who are famous for being famous." I mean, what has Diddy done lately? Anything? Anything besides ridiculously changing his name again? Yeah... I can't think of anything either.
PERSONAL Apartment Viewing Monday
I went apartment viewing this past Monday. I would have said "shopping" but the word shopping implies that one can actually exchange money for goods and/or services. This is not the case... as I was simply spending my time viewing apartments for which I would not be exchanging money. It was good for me to reconnoiter, I suppose, but I'm a few weeks from actually having to move. I feel like I should be more prepared to move, both mentally and financially, and I'm really not. I was, however, upset enough last night with my elevators (both were broken at the same time) that I told Emcee Dubs that I WAS ready to leave this building and this area. And, honestly, I'm sick of not being able to walk down to a corner grocery/convenience store, or a bar... I mean, it'll take me five to ten minutes to walk to those places... and I really want something right on the corner that I can claim ownership of. "That's my bar!" I'll say, proudly smiling, arms akimbo. Do I sound lame? *sigh* I thought so.
PERSONAL Good-bye Gym Memberships: High Blood-Pressure Is Here To Stay!
Yesterday I emailed a letter through the USPS website to my gym. First of all, yes, I did say that I emailed something through the Post Office. Secondly, let me tell you that my stupid gym required me to send them something via CERTIFIED mail or else they would charge me $540 for a renewal! Grr to my X-Gym X-Sport! Do you even know what certified mail is? I had to look it up! It's an annoying and more expensive way to do business (that's their tag line). But a heavy *sigh* must go to my misspent gym membership. I'm just not meant to belong to a gym. What I need is something related to sports. I need to be able to play sports with people... that's the only way I'm going to get into shape. Stupid shape!
PERSONAL Tech Rehearsal Tuesday: Show Opens Tonight!
Yes, kiddies, after a couple months of rehearsal, the day is finally here. To say I'm excited for this show would be an understatement... as I actually have absolutely no idea how the audience will react to this show. I've been both impressed and disappointed by the writing and the acting... and have now grown to love the show so much that I don't know if it's funny or not. We, the actors (and the writers), have so much fun with the show that I'm not sure whether or not people will laugh as much as we do when we're rehearsing. I'm also going to be interested to see how I respond to having three hours of class and THEN trying to perform on stage. I have no idea how my body/mind will respond. My guess is that I'll be fine until AFTER the show, when I collapse into a heap of overweight, sweaty actor. Mmm... I'm attractive.
I just saw that Diddy, formerly P. Diddy, formerly Puff Daddy, formerly Sean "Puffy" Combs, is going to be hosting the 2005 Video Music Awards on MTV. This is not news. I'm going to be interested to see (read: I'm NOT going to watch) what Diddy does as host. I believe Diddy can now safely fall into the category of "people who are famous for being famous." I mean, what has Diddy done lately? Anything? Anything besides ridiculously changing his name again? Yeah... I can't think of anything either.
PERSONAL Apartment Viewing Monday
I went apartment viewing this past Monday. I would have said "shopping" but the word shopping implies that one can actually exchange money for goods and/or services. This is not the case... as I was simply spending my time viewing apartments for which I would not be exchanging money. It was good for me to reconnoiter, I suppose, but I'm a few weeks from actually having to move. I feel like I should be more prepared to move, both mentally and financially, and I'm really not. I was, however, upset enough last night with my elevators (both were broken at the same time) that I told Emcee Dubs that I WAS ready to leave this building and this area. And, honestly, I'm sick of not being able to walk down to a corner grocery/convenience store, or a bar... I mean, it'll take me five to ten minutes to walk to those places... and I really want something right on the corner that I can claim ownership of. "That's my bar!" I'll say, proudly smiling, arms akimbo. Do I sound lame? *sigh* I thought so.
PERSONAL Good-bye Gym Memberships: High Blood-Pressure Is Here To Stay!
Yesterday I emailed a letter through the USPS website to my gym. First of all, yes, I did say that I emailed something through the Post Office. Secondly, let me tell you that my stupid gym required me to send them something via CERTIFIED mail or else they would charge me $540 for a renewal! Grr to my X-Gym X-Sport! Do you even know what certified mail is? I had to look it up! It's an annoying and more expensive way to do business (that's their tag line). But a heavy *sigh* must go to my misspent gym membership. I'm just not meant to belong to a gym. What I need is something related to sports. I need to be able to play sports with people... that's the only way I'm going to get into shape. Stupid shape!
PERSONAL Tech Rehearsal Tuesday: Show Opens Tonight!
Yes, kiddies, after a couple months of rehearsal, the day is finally here. To say I'm excited for this show would be an understatement... as I actually have absolutely no idea how the audience will react to this show. I've been both impressed and disappointed by the writing and the acting... and have now grown to love the show so much that I don't know if it's funny or not. We, the actors (and the writers), have so much fun with the show that I'm not sure whether or not people will laugh as much as we do when we're rehearsing. I'm also going to be interested to see how I respond to having three hours of class and THEN trying to perform on stage. I have no idea how my body/mind will respond. My guess is that I'll be fine until AFTER the show, when I collapse into a heap of overweight, sweaty actor. Mmm... I'm attractive.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
LOCAL and NATIONAL NEWS Back To School, Back To School...
Well, it looks like the kiddies are back at the school thing. As I was walking past the Moody Bible Institute Sunday, I couldn't help but notice all the activity on the campus that had been dormant all summer. And, from what I hear, Albion is back at the ol' grind. The new class this year, the class of 2009, will graduate the same summer as my 10 year high school reunion. That's a scary thought, huh? How about this (which I brought up last night while we were messing around at tech rehearsal)... the freshman in high school, this year, were probably born in 1990. In eight years, there won't be a single college student who remembers the 80s. While they're better off without that music (gag), they will have never known the joy of Saved by the Bell, or MacGyver... or life *gasp* BEFORE CELL PHONES! *screams!* Here's me, wishing those who still have classes (heehee... so young) have an amazing year! Best of luck.
NATIONAL NEWS Wal-Mart: Always Bastards. Always
This is a fun story from Oregon. I'm using "fun" loosely. It seems a retired couple in Oregon forgot to pay for the $10 worth of 10 bags of steer manure during a recent trip to Wal-Mart. After explaining the hilarious mix-up to the city's attorney, the charges of shoplifting were dropped. The story ends there, right? Not exactly. Apparently a law in Oregon allows a retailer to "pursue civil penalties regardless of whether a person is found guilty or innocent of theft" the article says. And that's just what Wal-Mart did, demanding $175 in civil DAMAGES for the $10 worth of MANURE. Since the court costs would be several thousand dollars to challenge the civil action, the couple decided to just pay the $175. In a classy move (notice the sarcasm), Wal-Mart has decided to refund the money... a spokesman saying "It simply seems like the right thing to do." Um, I'm sorry, but to me the right thing to do would be to not charge $175 to someone who was not found guilty of anything. Call me old fashioned.
LOCAL NEWS Who Are These People?
Here's a story about how people in Chicago are paying $7 for tours of Chicago-land landfills. It actually sounds like a cool tour: a three-hour bus tour of over a dozen sites which include landfills, a recycling center, and a waste water treatment plant. Not sold? Haven't you ever wondered what happens to the stuff you throw away? Have you wondered $7 worth? No? Okay, I don't know how else to sell this tour to you then. You're so choosy. Let me guess, your mom chose Jif?
Well, it looks like the kiddies are back at the school thing. As I was walking past the Moody Bible Institute Sunday, I couldn't help but notice all the activity on the campus that had been dormant all summer. And, from what I hear, Albion is back at the ol' grind. The new class this year, the class of 2009, will graduate the same summer as my 10 year high school reunion. That's a scary thought, huh? How about this (which I brought up last night while we were messing around at tech rehearsal)... the freshman in high school, this year, were probably born in 1990. In eight years, there won't be a single college student who remembers the 80s. While they're better off without that music (gag), they will have never known the joy of Saved by the Bell, or MacGyver... or life *gasp* BEFORE CELL PHONES! *screams!* Here's me, wishing those who still have classes (heehee... so young) have an amazing year! Best of luck.
NATIONAL NEWS Wal-Mart: Always Bastards. Always
This is a fun story from Oregon. I'm using "fun" loosely. It seems a retired couple in Oregon forgot to pay for the $10 worth of 10 bags of steer manure during a recent trip to Wal-Mart. After explaining the hilarious mix-up to the city's attorney, the charges of shoplifting were dropped. The story ends there, right? Not exactly. Apparently a law in Oregon allows a retailer to "pursue civil penalties regardless of whether a person is found guilty or innocent of theft" the article says. And that's just what Wal-Mart did, demanding $175 in civil DAMAGES for the $10 worth of MANURE. Since the court costs would be several thousand dollars to challenge the civil action, the couple decided to just pay the $175. In a classy move (notice the sarcasm), Wal-Mart has decided to refund the money... a spokesman saying "It simply seems like the right thing to do." Um, I'm sorry, but to me the right thing to do would be to not charge $175 to someone who was not found guilty of anything. Call me old fashioned.
LOCAL NEWS Who Are These People?
Here's a story about how people in Chicago are paying $7 for tours of Chicago-land landfills. It actually sounds like a cool tour: a three-hour bus tour of over a dozen sites which include landfills, a recycling center, and a waste water treatment plant. Not sold? Haven't you ever wondered what happens to the stuff you throw away? Have you wondered $7 worth? No? Okay, I don't know how else to sell this tour to you then. You're so choosy. Let me guess, your mom chose Jif?
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