Anyone who has read through the genesis of this blog knows that it started out to record our time in England. Truthfully, it seems like those days were only a dream. I loved the time we spent there. In many ways their culture is just like ours. After all our nation was founded based on the promise of the Magna Carta recognizing that governmental legitimacy does not come from the top down but rises up from the people. And, they have buffalo wings! But some things are still very different. Take this story from the BBC.
The guy dies because drank a pint of vodka in four seconds and the coroner rules his cause of death is misadventure! When I think of misadventure the image that pops into my mind is actually English. It's of the Pythons in the Holy Grail prancing about the country side dressed as knights with men banging coconuts together. It's not a human being dying in a puddle of his own regurgitated blood after consuming too much alcohol in too short a time.
It kinda reminds me of a news story we heard one weekend while we were there (we only had TV when we were in hotels visiting other towns). Guns are basically outlawed over there so criminals have to be more industrious. A serial car jacker was operating on the motorways (our equivalent of interstates) using a large piece of lumber to threaten people to leave their cars. In the US, especially in the south, that would never have worked. He would have been shot long before he got away with a car.
So close yet so far away.
-J
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
I'm still here
I don't really have much to say, but I thought it was about time for another entry so enjoy some random thoughts.
The older I get, the more I have come to appreciate Supertramp and Steely Dan. It's Raining Again has become one of my favorite songs. I also downloaded a Robert Johnson Album off of itunes. It is easy to write him off as an early influence and not really listen to his music, but he was amazing. If he sold his soul to the devil to make that music, I still think he came out ahead.
Fall is probably my favorite time of the year. How do we know when its fall? The leaves change? No. The weather gets cooler? Have you been outside? Football season starts? No, but you are getting warmer. The answer is: Pumpkin Spice Latte is back at Starbucks. Generally, I try to go to CUPS or Seattle Drip to support my local coffe house. But, I wait every year for fall to roll around so I can get this seasonal treat. It's like a McRib for people that can read, it only comes once in a while so enjoy it while you can. I have already had one. Just as good as I remember. It goes well with changing leaves, cool weather, and football.
Recently it has been announced that Anna Nicole Smith took about 1,500 pills per month. I know that is a lot but why? Not why did she take the pills, but why does anyone care? It would be one thing if it were a cautionary tale. If Lindsay Lohan would pay attention to the story of Robert Downey, Jr. maybe she will become a star again. But how could Anna Nicole's story apply to anyone. Will there ever be another white trash bleach blonde idiot that becomes famous for being in Playboy and looking (kinda) like Marylin Monroe who models Guess jeans, marries a hundred year old oil tycoon, has a baby with somebody (jury is still out on the dad) and overdoses? It's hard to figure on that repeating itself. So like a post I wrote a couple of years ago about Princess Diana, we should just leave Anna Nicole alone.
Thats all I've got.
-J
The older I get, the more I have come to appreciate Supertramp and Steely Dan. It's Raining Again has become one of my favorite songs. I also downloaded a Robert Johnson Album off of itunes. It is easy to write him off as an early influence and not really listen to his music, but he was amazing. If he sold his soul to the devil to make that music, I still think he came out ahead.
Fall is probably my favorite time of the year. How do we know when its fall? The leaves change? No. The weather gets cooler? Have you been outside? Football season starts? No, but you are getting warmer. The answer is: Pumpkin Spice Latte is back at Starbucks. Generally, I try to go to CUPS or Seattle Drip to support my local coffe house. But, I wait every year for fall to roll around so I can get this seasonal treat. It's like a McRib for people that can read, it only comes once in a while so enjoy it while you can. I have already had one. Just as good as I remember. It goes well with changing leaves, cool weather, and football.
Recently it has been announced that Anna Nicole Smith took about 1,500 pills per month. I know that is a lot but why? Not why did she take the pills, but why does anyone care? It would be one thing if it were a cautionary tale. If Lindsay Lohan would pay attention to the story of Robert Downey, Jr. maybe she will become a star again. But how could Anna Nicole's story apply to anyone. Will there ever be another white trash bleach blonde idiot that becomes famous for being in Playboy and looking (kinda) like Marylin Monroe who models Guess jeans, marries a hundred year old oil tycoon, has a baby with somebody (jury is still out on the dad) and overdoses? It's hard to figure on that repeating itself. So like a post I wrote a couple of years ago about Princess Diana, we should just leave Anna Nicole alone.
Thats all I've got.
-J
Monday, August 16, 2010
Mosque and State
There has been some recent news (actually for a while now) regarding the building of a mosque near Ground Zero. A very vocal group of people think the President should step in and do something to stop it. He has said he will not do so. In this case, I think he is right... for all the wrong reasons.
Don't get me wrong, the reasons he has espoused are correct. He first said it was New York's decision. This is true. Zoning is and always has been, with some exception, the right of a state passed down to municipalities. Of course, the other problem with the President intervening in this type of matter is that it would be a clear violation of the separation of church and state.
The problem is the President is only using the states' rights and church and state issue when it pleases him. To be fair, both parties do this fairly consistently. That is one of my biggest problems with both political parties. But did Obama care about states' rights when he forced a healthcare plan down our throats? Did he care about the separation of church and state when he had a Ramadan feast? No. He is duplicitous.
Should the people that bought the property be allowed to build whatever they want there? As long as it is not a violation the answer is clearly yes. New York has already approved the plan. After all, isn't what makes our country great that we allow people to worship as they please, where they please?
-J
Don't get me wrong, the reasons he has espoused are correct. He first said it was New York's decision. This is true. Zoning is and always has been, with some exception, the right of a state passed down to municipalities. Of course, the other problem with the President intervening in this type of matter is that it would be a clear violation of the separation of church and state.
The problem is the President is only using the states' rights and church and state issue when it pleases him. To be fair, both parties do this fairly consistently. That is one of my biggest problems with both political parties. But did Obama care about states' rights when he forced a healthcare plan down our throats? Did he care about the separation of church and state when he had a Ramadan feast? No. He is duplicitous.
Should the people that bought the property be allowed to build whatever they want there? As long as it is not a violation the answer is clearly yes. New York has already approved the plan. After all, isn't what makes our country great that we allow people to worship as they please, where they please?
-J
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
In-flight magazine cover stories?
In the last two days there have been two pretty big news stories regarding airplanes. I will discuss them in reverse order.
Last night a small private airplane crashed into a mountain killing 5 of the 9 people on board including Sen. Ted Stevens. One of the four who survived was ex-NASA head Sean O'Keefe. Apparently, small plane crashes are not uncommon in Alaska as many areas are inaccessible by road and the weather is often bad. I guess the frequency with which bush pilots are used should not surprise me as I enjoyed Northern Exposure. Senator Stevens's first wife died in a similar manner. He of course, was disgraced and lost his seat after having been found guilty in a corruption trial (the verdict was later thrown out due to prosecutorial misconduct). But, for many years he was one of the most respected men in his state and in the US as a whole.
The second of the two, which came first chronologically, was a male Jet Blue flight attendant. He did basically what many of us would like to do at some points in our lives... he gave his job a giant FU. After a passenger hit him in the head with his bag and refused to sit down, the flight attendant went on the plane's PA and dog cussed the guy. When the plane landed he grabbed two beers, pulled the emergency door, and slid down the slide. He has been arrested but has also become a hero of sorts. However, I hardly think what he did was worth celebrating. He flipped out because a passenger was rude to him? Give me a break! What if everyone who had had a rude flight attendant flipped out on the flight attendant? There would be anarchy. Get a life bro. Also, who knows how his antics affected the ability of some of the passengers to make their next flight? Hero? Hardly. Try short sighted and immature.
-J
Last night a small private airplane crashed into a mountain killing 5 of the 9 people on board including Sen. Ted Stevens. One of the four who survived was ex-NASA head Sean O'Keefe. Apparently, small plane crashes are not uncommon in Alaska as many areas are inaccessible by road and the weather is often bad. I guess the frequency with which bush pilots are used should not surprise me as I enjoyed Northern Exposure. Senator Stevens's first wife died in a similar manner. He of course, was disgraced and lost his seat after having been found guilty in a corruption trial (the verdict was later thrown out due to prosecutorial misconduct). But, for many years he was one of the most respected men in his state and in the US as a whole.
The second of the two, which came first chronologically, was a male Jet Blue flight attendant. He did basically what many of us would like to do at some points in our lives... he gave his job a giant FU. After a passenger hit him in the head with his bag and refused to sit down, the flight attendant went on the plane's PA and dog cussed the guy. When the plane landed he grabbed two beers, pulled the emergency door, and slid down the slide. He has been arrested but has also become a hero of sorts. However, I hardly think what he did was worth celebrating. He flipped out because a passenger was rude to him? Give me a break! What if everyone who had had a rude flight attendant flipped out on the flight attendant? There would be anarchy. Get a life bro. Also, who knows how his antics affected the ability of some of the passengers to make their next flight? Hero? Hardly. Try short sighted and immature.
-J
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Back Home
I was in the Washington, D.C. area for a couple of weeks for work related training. I had a pretty good time while I was up there. It was probably hotter and more humid than it was here in Mississippi for the time I was up there. I also lived through my second earthquake (the first was in San Francisco when I was a kid) so that was something interesting. What was the most interesting thing I saw? That would have to be a guy covering his chocolate muffin with ketchup and then licking off the ketchup while he was eating the muffin. YUM!
I went to the National Archives and, as usual, was dismayed by my fellow Americans. There was basically no line to see the Magna Carta at the Archives. I thought, wow this is great, I can just walk up to the Magna Carta and look at it as long as I want. The problem came a couple of days later when I was at the Pentagon City shopping mall. I needed to buy a pair of boxer shorts. So to figure out the best place to do so, I went to look at the mall directory. There was a line at least five people deep. Yep.
-J
I went to the National Archives and, as usual, was dismayed by my fellow Americans. There was basically no line to see the Magna Carta at the Archives. I thought, wow this is great, I can just walk up to the Magna Carta and look at it as long as I want. The problem came a couple of days later when I was at the Pentagon City shopping mall. I needed to buy a pair of boxer shorts. So to figure out the best place to do so, I went to look at the mall directory. There was a line at least five people deep. Yep.
-J
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Rosebud
It is a pretty famous twist ending, so I do not think I will spoil anything for anyone by giving away the ending of Citizen Kane but the story is basically about the rise and fall and rise and fall of a man who has had the whole world as his playground and led a full life. The story is related as he is on his death bed and the word he mutters is Rosebud. At the end, the viewer sees that Rosebud is the name of the simple winter sled he had as a child. He had the entire world but in the end, the most happy he had ever been was as a child with Rosebud.
Enter LeBron James. Likeable guy, early twenties, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He was drafted straight out of High School to the Cleveland Cavilers, basically his hometown team. Now he is an unrestricted free agent and has his sights set on places that can pay him tons of money and give him a chance to compete for a championship, something he has never won. LeBron has strung out the process of this decision for some time now and has decided to announce on ESPN Thursday night. It seems strange for LeBron to make a move that reeks so much of a highly exaggerated self worth. When I heard he was making his announcement in that way I immediately thought, what nerve he has to think I even care. But now, after thinking about it, he never signed with a school to play in the NCAA. Yes, he was hyped while he was a child. Yes, he is the much celebrated first overall pick and nicknamed "King James." But he never sat at that table, covered by the national, or even local, news and put on the hat of the team he had chosen. He never had a signing day. And so, even though it seems a little over the top, maybe LeBron is looking for Rosebud.
-J
Enter LeBron James. Likeable guy, early twenties, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He was drafted straight out of High School to the Cleveland Cavilers, basically his hometown team. Now he is an unrestricted free agent and has his sights set on places that can pay him tons of money and give him a chance to compete for a championship, something he has never won. LeBron has strung out the process of this decision for some time now and has decided to announce on ESPN Thursday night. It seems strange for LeBron to make a move that reeks so much of a highly exaggerated self worth. When I heard he was making his announcement in that way I immediately thought, what nerve he has to think I even care. But now, after thinking about it, he never signed with a school to play in the NCAA. Yes, he was hyped while he was a child. Yes, he is the much celebrated first overall pick and nicknamed "King James." But he never sat at that table, covered by the national, or even local, news and put on the hat of the team he had chosen. He never had a signing day. And so, even though it seems a little over the top, maybe LeBron is looking for Rosebud.
-J
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Trees, Staring, and Inconsistent Glitter Faces
Yes, to tell everyone else what you Twitards know from the title of this post, Nicole and I went to see Twilight Eclipse tonight. My review- if you like the first ones you will like this one. If you found the first ones boring you will find this one boring. Its pretty much the exact same thing as the last movie except... um... uhh... oh yeah! There is a girl wolf. There are some super sweet action poses that Nicole would think were stupid if they were in Hot Rod, but since they are not they are totally rad (even though they were intended to be cheesy in Hot Rod whereas in Twilight they are totally serious). I am always happy to see Bryce Dallas Howard in stuff (in the series's Bewitched moment).
I do not get the appeal, and I do not think I ever will. It is what it is. Girls/women and Ben seem to love it (the same can be said for Bradley Cooper, although that I can see). Most men seem to be perplexed by its appeal. I give up and take my medicine every few months.
-J
I do not get the appeal, and I do not think I ever will. It is what it is. Girls/women and Ben seem to love it (the same can be said for Bradley Cooper, although that I can see). Most men seem to be perplexed by its appeal. I give up and take my medicine every few months.
-J
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)