Everyone is picking Alabama to win it all again - but that's mostly because they finished #1 at the end of last season. Lots of teams have a legitimate shot at the title; it's all a matter of who catches the breaks.
Hey, Obama. Here's a thought. Stop trying to "bring us all together again". It ain't gonna happen. One quarter of this country is a bunch of white, right-wing, dittoheaded, tea-bagging racists. I don't want to be together with them. Frankly, they don't want to be together with you and me. This isn't a matter of "liberal vs. conservative" because they aren't conservatives. This is "equality/tolerance vs. racism/intolerance".
.
They've got 18% of Americans thinking you're a Muslim, and a few more than that thinking you're a foreigner. And they don't like furriners. And Muslims. And Mexicans. And gays. And women that want to think and speak for themselves.
.
So let's get the truth out. We're in this economic mess because of Dubnutz and his congressional minions. We're hated by the world because we are illegally occupying two Arab nations. The housing market is a shambles because of Reagan-initiated deregulation. And we're losing jobs to overseas because... well, actually that's kinda inevitable no matter which party is in control.
.
So speak up, Obama. You're too quiet. Americans have short attention spans. When all they hear is people like Beck-the-Speck and Failin' Palin ranting their bullsh*t, that's what's gonna stick in their minds. Expose their lies and shout them down. Your jittery Democratic congress will thank you.
The business trip to Fresno was extremely productive. And extremely hot. The high on Wednesday in Fresno was 110°F, which was six degrees hotter than Phoenix's 104°F. Lucky us, we got to be outside in that heat for quite a bit of the afternoon. But it was all worth it as we solved some nagging process issues.
.
I missed all the Arizona Primary hoopla on Tuesday. Not that the trip impacted my voting - both Liz and I have done early mail-in ballots for years. I gather John McCain kicked the bejeezus out of J.D. Hayworth, who can give Sarah Palin a run for the "dittohead with the lowest IQ" award.
.
And now I'm dead tired from a couple 13-hour workdays and the usual stress of airports and sardine-can-sized airplanes. It's time to read a couple pages in my book and fall asleep. Normal blogging to resume (hopefully) tomorrow.
Light posting for a couple days, as I'm off to Fresno on business. I want to thank the weather gods for making it super hot up there right now. Normal for them right now are highs in the mid-90's. Indeed, this coming weekend, they'll only get up into the mid-80's. But while I'm there, the highs will be 107°, 109°, and 105°F.
The concert was at the Celebrity Theater, which makes for an intimate setting, but at the cost of lousy acoustics. We were in Row 10, and off a bit to the side. Fantabulous! No cameras allowed, but these two pics come close to capturing the essence of show.
.
He opened with Bat Out Of Hell and then did his number from Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was a pleasant surprise. He only did the first three tracks from his latest CD, Hang Cool Teddy Bear, which is also a good album. Patti Russo was there, and did her usual superb job on the duets. The rest of his band was excellent as well.
.
They did all the hits we came to hear - Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad, Paradise By The Dashboard Light, I Would Do Anything For Love, You Took The Words Right Out of my Mouth, etc. There were about three songs that I had never heard before. They closed with a rousing rendition of the guitar solo from Lynrd Skynrd's Free Bird.
.
Meat Loaf is sixty-two years old (or, as he prefers it, "sexty-two"). You gotta figure he's not going to put up with the rigors of touring too much longer. So if he's coming to your town sometime soon, go see him. You won't be disappointed.
We're going to see him tonight, in the very cozy environs of Celebrity Theater. Presumably he'll be singing all the songs off his latest album, Hang Cool Teddy Bear. One also hopes he'll sing some of his old hits - Paradise By The Dashboard Light and I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That). We shall see. Those are rough on the vocal chords, and he's had recurring problems in that area.
.
This will be the second time we've seen him. The other time was about 15 years ago, right after Bat Out Of Hell 2 came out. Cheap Trick opened for him back then. Tonight, his daughter, Pearl, will do the honors.
40 people were injured, although I suspect for the most part that was due to other humans stampeding rather than the bull himself. And check out one of the girls in the picture below. She's leaning her elbows on the blue towel, and appears to have neither a care in the world, nor a clue as to what is going on behind her. Of course, she's a blonde.
.
Ironically, this was a special kind of bullfight where the bulls aren't killed. Mostly young men just run around, acting brave or stupid (take your pick), trying to avoid the bulls. Alas, our toro was eventually captured, penned up again, and because of his antics (or because of his intelligence and resourcefulness), was put to sleep.
If so, then you'll find Buko to be fantastic. Full review here.
On the walls! In windows! And you have to admit - creating MegaMan with colored Post-Its is just plain genius.
The purpose of that blog is to have a rational discussion about the Death Penalty. I happen to be in favor of it; my friend Ian is not.
.
It is a worthy topic, although I can't say it is something I am passionate about. Feel free to leave comments. If they are on-topic enough, I may even put them into a separate post. But keep in mind this is a civil debate, and snarky, inane, and abusive comments will be deleted. We are not out to convert each other; just discuss the reasons for our stances.
It's incredible to me that people are forgetting whose regime put us in this Recession. The dolts who preach that the way to balance the budget is to cut taxes for the rich, and spend, spend, spend.
2010; 99 minutes
Three middle-aged friends (plus the nephew of one) return to a Colorado resort where they (except the nephew) spent a wild weekend way back in 1986. The hot tub is on the fritz in a most unique way - it transports the foursome back to that weekend. Riotous antics ensue, with each of the trio getting a chance to change the course of their lives, even if it jeopardizes the nephew's existence. The hell with the Prime Directive!
.
What's To Like...
It's got time-travel. It's got T&A (for both the guys and the girls). It's got John Cusack and a very old-looking Chevy Chase. The "what if" scenarios are kewl. Stylistically, it's Dumb & Dumber merged with Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. The ending is great, and has a couple neat twists.
.
OTOH, it has way, way, way too much cussing. And a bit too much up-chucking. The first 20 minutes or so - until they actually go back in time - is boring. This ain't a film for the kiddies.
.
"One little change has a ripple effect and it effects everything else. Like a butterfly floats its wings and Tokyo explodes or there's a tsunami, in like, you know, somewhere..."
This is strictly for when you're in the mood for low-brow laughs. Since I'm a chrono-hopper, I probably enjoyed it a bit more than I should have. Liz thought it was just plain dumb.
.
The plusses outweigh the minuses by a bit. We watched this Friday night, after my brain had quit thinking, so it was a good choice. On a Saturday night, I'd probably rate it one less star. 6 Stars.
A long time ago, I played in the Phoenix City Scrabble Championship. That's not as impressive as it sounds. Anyone could enter (for a fee), and ISTR that prizes were minimal. It was a 4-round affair, and I finished 2-2. There were about 30-40 entrants, and your score was what counted, not your won-loss record. Belatedly, I realized that this means a defensive strategy is a losing strategy, for both you and your opponent.
.
The other thing I remember from that city championship was that sweet little old grandmotherly ladies are tigers when it comes to Scrabble. Which is not to say they are poor sports. It's just that, when you're retired, you can spend all day playing Scrabble with your fellow retirees.
No one knows exactly how it got its name. You can read the Wikipedia article about it here. One popular hypothesis, not mentioned by Wiki, is that townspeople called it that in order to offend the surrounding farmers, since this is in the heart of Amish country. I tend to doubt that, however, since you don't find any other nearby towns with "suggestive" names.
.
I took a photo of Liz beside this sign when we were vacationing back there in 1993. God only knows where that pic is now. If I ever run across it, I will scan and post it.
This year's competition turned deadly, with one contestant dead and another in critical-but-stable condition in the hospital. You can read the CNN report about it here. FWIW, this is not your ordinary sauna, which is heated to 60°-70°C. For this piece of competitive lunacy, the temperature is raised to +110°C. That's ten degrees above boiling water, for you non-chemists.
.
A typical winning time is somewhere around 3½-4 minutes. The two injured 2010 contestants were in the sauna for 6 minutes when tragedy struck.
.
Oh yes, there is also a women's competition in this insanity. It's nice to know that stupidity is gender neutral.
I've tried to argue this fact several times in Traffic School class, but the instructors had an absolutely sh*tty attitude towards physics.
Theater Release Date : 16 July 2010
Liz took it for a spin and reports that it has a bunch of Vrroooommmm! Now she wants one too.
Mitch Miller
I don't remember ever "singing along with Mitch", but I'm betting that my parents did, since it was a regularly-watched show in our house. I suspect it harkens back to their childhood days, before there were television programs and even radio broadcasts. Once upon a time, the usual family evening pastime was to gather 'round the piano and sing songs. Once upon a time, a song's commercial popularity was measured not by record sales, but by how many copies of its sheet music were sold.
Neither one of these comics made any sense to me this morning. And let's face it, Beetle Bailey and B.C. are not known for their cerebral humor.
While I admire his pluck, I'm thinking all of the imminent hits are going to be to his groin.
