Vote Fred!

Wild, Wild, West

The picture above was taken from just outside my back door at 7:00 A.M. this morning. It's a coyote sitting under a tree and howling at the neighborhood dogs.

Patriots V Giants 12/29/07

I really didn't think it would happen. I didn't think it could happen. But it did. I discovered something worse than Tony Kornheiser doing color commentary on NFL football. It's Bryant Gumbel doing play by play for NFL football.


Update 8:30 P.M. 12/29/07: Well that turned out to be a pretty good game. Patriots stayed undefeated, Randy and Tom got their records and the Giants played stand up ball and kept their starters in the whole game. The NFL definitely made the right move by allowing NBC and CBS to show the game. The NFL Network also scored some good points with their TV ads showing up the cable companies unwillingness to carry the NFL Network. (of course a lot of that has to do with the rates the NFL Network wants to charge)

Aliens V Predator ....Again....

Well they've made another Aliens V Predator movie...that should make my brother happy at least!

Benazir Bhutto

Sadly, her death was entirely predictable.

I was attending USC when Indira Gandhi was assassinated in nearby India. Like Bhutto, Gandhi rose to power as a member of a powerful political family, and served multiple terms as Prime Minister of her country. I had a Sikh and an Indian Muslim as two of my roommates at the time. When I got back to my apartment that night they were throwing a party and had invited all of their friends over. They were literally giddy with happiness.

I could only contrast their reaction to the weay the American people reacted when JFK was assassinated. There were no Protestants in the streets celebrating, the Republican Party did not rejoice. We were all stunned, sickened and saddened.

All in all, it was a pretty graphic demonstration for me of just how different cultures could be, and put the final nail in the coffin of multiculturalism as far as I was concerned. ( I was a Political Science/Internation Relations double major at the time)

There will be plenty of violence and celebrating in Pakistan in the week to come. Hopefully things won't get too destabilized.

Geico Commercial

Recently Joan Rivers has been getting some bad press because of the plastic surgery she has had done.

However this lady hasn't lasted as long in the business as she has for nothing. She captialized on the bad press, and turned it around by playing up the plastic surgery in a Geico Commercial. Good for her.

Tombstone

I just got through watching the last 25 minutes of Tombstone again. In my opinion, it's a pretty good version of the Wyatt Earp story, infinitely better than the Costner version, Wyatt Earp, that came out a year later.

I am generally not much of a Val Kilmer fan. I couldn't really tell you why...I've just never liked him much. However, his portrayal of Doc Holiday is masterful. He definitely deserved an Oscar nomination. I mean, just look at the nominations that year:

TOMMY LEE JONES in "The Fugitive", Leonardo DiCaprio in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?", Ralph Fiennes in "Schindler's List", John Malkovich
in "In the Line of Fire", Pete Postlethwaite in "In the Name of the Father"

Out of that list the only one I would place above him is Fiennes, and the only one to equal Kilmer would be Malkovich. Di Caprio? Tommy Lee Jones? That's just embarassing that there were nominated for those performances. (of course Di Caprio got the nomination via the patented "play a retard" route.) Then For Tommy Lee Jones to win it? For a second rate movie adaptation of a TV series? A crime.

Kilmer's Holiday is one of my favorite all time performances. I'm not a big movie quote geek, but I use some of his lines all the time....especially "I'll be your huckleberry". (nobody seems to get it however.....am I the only one who ever saw this movie?)

60 Minutes / Gays in the Military

I was flipping through the channels and watched a minute or so of 60 Minutes. They were doing a story on gays in the military. Two things:

1) I guess many gays refer to the younger generation as the Will & Grace generation. As in, they grew up watching gays in the media, as on Will & Grace, and so gays aren't frightening or foriegn to them. I can live with that.

2) One of the arguements Lesly Stahl tried to use was that the British military began allowing gays to serve openly in the 90's, and it hadn't affected their military effectiveness. Excuse me? The current British military couldn't even fight the Falklands Islands War today if it had to. It certainly couldn't defend their sea lanes or the British Isles from attack. Not too long ago we had the sad spectacle of British sailors wetting their pants instead of resisting the Iranians in the Gulf. Now I'm not trying to blame this on gays in the military, (the blame lies squarely with the Labor Party and it's neglect and even abuse of military budgets) but to argue that the British military is as effective today as it was in the 1980's is patently absurd.

That being said, I really have no beef with homosexuals. I do thing homosexuality is deviant, and should not be promoted as a healthy lifestyle, but as the Christians would say: hate the sin, love the sinner. I have friends, colleagues and family who are gay, and it honestly has no effect on my relationships with them. In fact some of them were apprehensive, given my personal politics, and how open I am about them. They expected me to get all Rev. Phelps with them. I've had to actually explain to them that I don't have to liker everything about a person to like them as a person, and that I'm sure there are things about me that other people don't like.

I don't think it is a good thing to have gays serve openly in the military, but I am open to the idea, as they young men on 60 Minutes suggested tonight, that times and mores are changing and that it won't cause problems with the current generation.

Journeyman 12/16/07

I was really of mixed minds about this show in the beginning. I was really geeking on the time travel, (even though it was in the People's Republic of San Francisco) but the whole family/soap opera angst thing was turning me off. I do like the way the brother finally came around though in the last couple of episodes. (him meeting up with Oliva was a nice touch) I don't trust the brother's girlfriend though. I think she's going to turn out to be a bad guy....a government agent working for an agency investigating/controlling the time travellers....like the fake FBI guy who was killed.

Unfortunately there are rumors that the series will not be brought back after the writer's strike.

Life 12/16/07

I really like this show. I like the main characters and their interplay, I like Arkin's character...in fact there's no casting choices I have a problem with. I was having a problem with the pacing though...the first five or so episodes were slow development...and then it seemed really rushed in the last couple of episodes. Then we come to the last three minutes of the last episode. I guess it was an OK plot twist to have the murderer adopt the daughter of the family he slaughtered, but it was way too fomulaic to have the arch villian kidnap her as the cliff hanger. We'll have to see how it develops though....

Heroes 12/16/07

OK...just to catch up.

I'm not as thrilled with this series as I was the first one. The motivations of the Adam/Kensai character for instance. Come on..would you really hold a grudge for 400 years? And what's with the magical blood? Do you also get the healing power with the transfusion? And if not why not...How about a bone marrow transplant...would that grant you the power? And If I had someone with that type of blood, I'd have them in an artificial coma and I'd be using them as a blood factory. After all, we are talking about immortality and the power to bring the dead back to life here!

Hiatus/ Christmas Thoughts

Sorry for the hiatus. It's just been one of those periods where I've pretty much said everything I wanted to say on other people's blogs. I guess I need to start blogging more about what I am writing on other blogs.

I've been involved in some Second Amendment discussions, some presidential campaign discussions, the abortion debate etc.

Then again, this isn't my favorite time of the year. I hate what has happened to Christmas.

Now remember, I am not a Christian. I am a deist. But I am utterly opposed to taking the religion out of Christmas.

Turning Christmas into a secular holiday has just turned it into a celebration of conspicious consumption and greed. Now don't get me wrong, I'm firmly in favor of capitalism. However capitalism is an economic system, not a moral one. We need public morality, now more than ever.

So it's really hard for me not to be a Scrooge at Christmas. At heart I really am a generous person, but don't tell me it's my obligation to be generous. I really hate obligations. (It's a big reason I'm not married)

And I try real hard not to bum out people who really are into Christmas.

Take the staff Christmas party out at work. I never go. My colleagues and friends are always trying to get me to go, but I just can't seem to convince them that I would be a real drag, and that I want everyone else to be able to enjoy the night.

So, Merry Christmas.

Schadenfreude

For the first time in my life I truly understand the emotional meaning of schadenfreude. O.J. Simpson held over for trial in Nevada, facing life in prison; and Barry Bonds finally indicted, facing thirty years (although most people concede it will only be a couple of years at most).

I'm not exactly happy, but I sure am smug.

Veteran's Day

Today was Veteran's Day. Thank you to all the veterans out there.

What some of you may not know, is that originally today's holiday was called Armistice Day. It marked the official end of combat in World War I. Because communication was so much less sophisticated back then, they had to set a time in the future to cease hostilities to ensure that everyone got the word. So the ceasefire was set for the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. It was changed to Veteran's Day to celebrate all of our veterans in 1952.

It's still celebrated as Armistice Day in France and Belgium.

It's a completely different holiday in other parts of Europe, including Germany, the Netherlands and Austria. It's St. Martin's Day, and celebrates a Catholic saint. (fittingly enough, he was once a Roman soldier)

In most of the Commonwealth (Including the UK, Canada and Australia) it's celebrated as Rememberance Day.

College Football 11/27/07

Crap. Unbelievably, it looks like USC is now playing for a shot at the Holiday Bowl. To be honest, this loss is easier to bear. It's on the road to a top 5 team. Oregon now have a legit chance at the BCS game if they win out.

In other news, Boston College needed last minute Flutie-like heroics to break the #2 jinx this week and beat Virginia Tech. Tennessee made a dramatic second half comeback over the other USC, South Carolina. The Cinderella season of South Florida has come crashing down with two consecutive conference defeats.

1) Ohio State - won (undefeated)
2) Boston College - won (undefeated)
3) LSU - bye
4) Oklahoma - bye
5) Oregon - won
So for the first time in over a month, no top 5 team lost. Of course two of them had byes this week.
6) West Virginia - won
7) ASU - won (undefeated)
8) Virginia Tech - lost to #2
9) Southern California - lost to #5
9) Florida - lost to #20
So, three losses in the top ten, all three to ranked teams, two to top 5 teams. That's a normal week of college football finally.
11) South Florida - lost to unranked
12) Kansas - won (undefeated)
13) Missouri - won
14) Kentucky - lost to unranked
15) South Carolina - lost to unranked
16) Hawaii - won (undefeated)
17) Texas - won
18) California - lost to #7
19) Michigan - won
20) Georgia - won
21) Virginia - lost to unranked
22) Alabama - bye
23) Auburn - won
24) Penn State - lost to #1
25) Rutgers - lost to #6

More Fire Pics From Yesterday

Scenes From My Backyard 10/22/07

The Winds Keep A Blowin'.......

The wind has been blowing pretty hard here the past couple of days. My neighbor came and knocked on my door this afternoon to let me know my tree had fallen on my car. I probably would have never noticed until tonight when I went out to put my trashcans on the curb. My brother and I just spent the last couple of hours cutting it up and moving it off my car.

College Football 10/20/07

Well a relatively calm week for this year, but




1) Ohio State - won (undefeated)
2) South Florida - lost to unranked
3) Boston College - bye (undefeated)
4) Oklahoma -won
5) LSU - won
So #2 goes down again........
6) South Carolina - lost to unranked
7) Oregon - won
8) Kentucky - lost to #14
9) West Virginia - won
10) California - lost to unranked
So four losses among nine teams that played in the top ten, three to unranked teams.
11) Virginia Tech - bye
12) Arizona State - bye (undefeated)
13) Southern California - won
14) Florida - won
15T) Missouri - won
15T) Kansas - won (undefeated)
17) Hawaii - bye (undefeated)
18) Auburn - lost to #5
19) Texas - won
20) Tennesse - lost to unranked
21) Georgia - bye
22) Texas Tech - lost to #15
23) Cinncinati - lost to unranked
24) Michigan - win
25) Kansas State - lost to unranked
So in a week with five byes in the top twenty-five, there were nine losses, six to unranked teams. And again, this was a calm week.

College Football 10/18/07

It just keeps going!

#2 USF just lost to unranked Rutgers.....