Listening to Sonic Youth tonight...enjoy!
Schizophrenia
Sonic Youth
I went away to see an old friend of mine.
His sister came over...she was out of her mind.
She said Jesus had a twin, who knew nothing about sin.
And she was laughing like crazy at the trouble I'm in.
Her light eyes were dancing. She is insane.
(Her brother says she's just a bitch. With a golden chain.)
She keeps coming closer saying "I can feel it in my
bones. Schizophrenia is taking me home"
My Future is static. It's already had it I could tuck you in.
And we can talk about it I had a dream.
And it split the scene.
But I got a hunch It's coming back to me.
Aug 28, 2006
Aug 26, 2006
Wooden Shoes
Saw a guy tonight who wears only those wooden Dutch shoes. I've seen him around town before and never really noticed the guy. Last week I saw him and finally noticed his footwear. I asked around and he seems to be some kind of mad genius that invented something important in the 70's.
Now he wears wooden shoes.
I need to invent something stupid/lucrative that would allow me to be weird and wear something like wooden shoes. I mean, it wouldn't be wooden shoes because we already got a guy like that. But something like a cape. Or a suit with tails. Or spats.
Something with class. Cuz I'm all about the class, kids!
Now he wears wooden shoes.
I need to invent something stupid/lucrative that would allow me to be weird and wear something like wooden shoes. I mean, it wouldn't be wooden shoes because we already got a guy like that. But something like a cape. Or a suit with tails. Or spats.
Something with class. Cuz I'm all about the class, kids!
Aug 23, 2006
None for me, thanks!
I hope my last post didn't give you the feeling that I don't love little Riley or that I'm a bad uncle. The opposite is true for both those statements.
She's the daughter that I will never have. I say that with absolute certainty. I don't want kids of my own and I don't believe I ever will want them. One of the first things that shiny new lady love said to me on our first date was that she never wants to have kids, and was I okay with that.
Okay with that? I almost proposed on the spot. Well, except neither of us believes in the whole marriage thing, but you get my drift. Marriage...kids...sorry. Great for some, just not me.
So, in honor of my beloved neice I am posting the lyrics to one of my favorite Jimmy Buffett songs which he wrote about his youngest daughter. It always reminds me of Riley Grace. Enjoy!
Delaney Talks To Statues
Jimmy Buffett, Mac McAnally, Amy Lee
Delaney talks to statues
As she dances 'round the pool
She chases cats through roman ruins
And stomps on big toadstools
She speaks a language all her own
That I cannot discover
But she knows I love her so
When I tuck her 'neath the covers
Father, daughter
Down by the water
Shells sink, dreams float
Life's good on our boat
Delaney draws me pictures
She finger paints the sand
We chase the dogs and hop like frogs
Then I do my bad handstand
She's growing up too fast for me
And asking lots of questions
Some I know the answers to
And some I'm looking for suggestions
Father, daughter
Born by the water
Surf's up, sun's down
Life in a beach town
And some of the things I've seen
Maybe she won't have to see
But there's a lot I want to pass along
That was handed down to me
Delaney talks to statues
As she dances 'round the pool
She chases cats through Roman ruins
And stomps on big toadstools
She speaks a language all her own
Just a little like her mother
And she knows I love her so
When I tuck her 'neath the covers
Father, daughter
Down by the water
Shells sink, dreams float
Life's good on our boat
She's the daughter that I will never have. I say that with absolute certainty. I don't want kids of my own and I don't believe I ever will want them. One of the first things that shiny new lady love said to me on our first date was that she never wants to have kids, and was I okay with that.
Okay with that? I almost proposed on the spot. Well, except neither of us believes in the whole marriage thing, but you get my drift. Marriage...kids...sorry. Great for some, just not me.
So, in honor of my beloved neice I am posting the lyrics to one of my favorite Jimmy Buffett songs which he wrote about his youngest daughter. It always reminds me of Riley Grace. Enjoy!
Delaney Talks To Statues
Jimmy Buffett, Mac McAnally, Amy Lee
Delaney talks to statues
As she dances 'round the pool
She chases cats through roman ruins
And stomps on big toadstools
She speaks a language all her own
That I cannot discover
But she knows I love her so
When I tuck her 'neath the covers
Father, daughter
Down by the water
Shells sink, dreams float
Life's good on our boat
Delaney draws me pictures
She finger paints the sand
We chase the dogs and hop like frogs
Then I do my bad handstand
She's growing up too fast for me
And asking lots of questions
Some I know the answers to
And some I'm looking for suggestions
Father, daughter
Born by the water
Surf's up, sun's down
Life in a beach town
And some of the things I've seen
Maybe she won't have to see
But there's a lot I want to pass along
That was handed down to me
Delaney talks to statues
As she dances 'round the pool
She chases cats through Roman ruins
And stomps on big toadstools
She speaks a language all her own
Just a little like her mother
And she knows I love her so
When I tuck her 'neath the covers
Father, daughter
Down by the water
Shells sink, dreams float
Life's good on our boat
Aug 22, 2006
Life of Riley Grace
Well I mentioned a few posts down that I had a long weekend. Actually it's turning into a long week, but that's besides the point.
My youngest sister is on vacation at Disney in Orlando with my nephew to celebrate the little brat's sixth birthday in a few weeks. Uncle Earl, being the great guy that he is, is stuck watching her 3-year old daughter until this Thursday when they return.
Don't get me wrong, I love my niece. Love her, love her, love her. She's is the most adorable thing and she has a way of talking that linguists can't even figure out. She's the best. She also needs more attention than ANYONE I have ever met on the planet! With most kids her age (she will be four in the fall) you can just sit them down in front of the TV with some Barbie movie crap and they will become catatonic. I'm not saying that's a good thing, in fact, quite the opposite. But sometimes you need a little "me time", man!
Not with this kid. She is constantly up your ass. "Play a game wid me", "Let's go fow a wok", "I wan you to sa-pin me" and it goes on. That's last one was spin, by the way. She can't really say words that start with "s" as they were meant to be said. Sleep becomes sa-leep, story becomes sa-tory, and smell becomes sa-mell. You get the drift? Actually, it's kinda cool. Like she invented her own form of pig latin. My sister and I have entire conversations where we substitute our "s" words for her "s" words. It's fun. Try it!
Today she is at day camp for a few hours so I can get some work done (and yet I'm typing this), and then it is beach time where she tries to swim out past anyone else. Yeah, that's fun! Especially considering my previously mentioned fear of sharks on Slyde's blog. Oh, I should mention that we are going to a bay beach, not an ocean beach so there aren't any sharks in the water. But there is seaweed and jellyfish and either touching me will induce a shark attack-like high-pitched scream! Good times!
Is it Thursday yet?
Here's a not-so-recent picture of the little rug-rat. That's not flash-induced "red-eye", by the way. That's the demon who dwells within her, and its trying to get out. Help me!
My youngest sister is on vacation at Disney in Orlando with my nephew to celebrate the little brat's sixth birthday in a few weeks. Uncle Earl, being the great guy that he is, is stuck watching her 3-year old daughter until this Thursday when they return.
Don't get me wrong, I love my niece. Love her, love her, love her. She's is the most adorable thing and she has a way of talking that linguists can't even figure out. She's the best. She also needs more attention than ANYONE I have ever met on the planet! With most kids her age (she will be four in the fall) you can just sit them down in front of the TV with some Barbie movie crap and they will become catatonic. I'm not saying that's a good thing, in fact, quite the opposite. But sometimes you need a little "me time", man!
Not with this kid. She is constantly up your ass. "Play a game wid me", "Let's go fow a wok", "I wan you to sa-pin me" and it goes on. That's last one was spin, by the way. She can't really say words that start with "s" as they were meant to be said. Sleep becomes sa-leep, story becomes sa-tory, and smell becomes sa-mell. You get the drift? Actually, it's kinda cool. Like she invented her own form of pig latin. My sister and I have entire conversations where we substitute our "s" words for her "s" words. It's fun. Try it!
Today she is at day camp for a few hours so I can get some work done (and yet I'm typing this), and then it is beach time where she tries to swim out past anyone else. Yeah, that's fun! Especially considering my previously mentioned fear of sharks on Slyde's blog. Oh, I should mention that we are going to a bay beach, not an ocean beach so there aren't any sharks in the water. But there is seaweed and jellyfish and either touching me will induce a shark attack-like high-pitched scream! Good times!
Is it Thursday yet?
Here's a not-so-recent picture of the little rug-rat. That's not flash-induced "red-eye", by the way. That's the demon who dwells within her, and its trying to get out. Help me!
Aug 21, 2006
Victory is ours...
...victory is ours!
I want all the finest meats and breads brought to my table as we joyously celebrate this historic victory over our most ancient of foes. My men will drink the finest wine and bed the comliest wenches for Victory is ours!
I shall celebrate this day of days with grand festivals devoted to our valiant heroes, and I shall commission the building of the most opulant temple ever devoted to the Gods that walk amongst us!
Victory is ours!
PS - OK, that's the last time I will mention the Yankees historic 5-game sweep of the Red Sox for at least a few days. OK?
I want all the finest meats and breads brought to my table as we joyously celebrate this historic victory over our most ancient of foes. My men will drink the finest wine and bed the comliest wenches for Victory is ours!
I shall celebrate this day of days with grand festivals devoted to our valiant heroes, and I shall commission the building of the most opulant temple ever devoted to the Gods that walk amongst us!
Victory is ours!
PS - OK, that's the last time I will mention the Yankees historic 5-game sweep of the Red Sox for at least a few days. OK?
Thus far, thus good
After one of the longest weekends of my life (I'll explain later), it brings a smile to my face to see that the Red Sox had an even longer weekend than I.
With one more game to go this afternoon, the Yankees have crushed the hopes of the Sawx and their fans with four straight victories in Boston this weekend. Let's review some of the hi-lites for the Yanks:
- A real nice blowout to start the series on Friday afternoon.
- The longest regular-season 9 inning game in recorded history on Friday night.
- 18 (or 19) pitchers used by both teams on Friday for the double-header.
- Sal Fasano getting some time as a pinch-runner!
- Bobby Abreu reaching base safely in something like 17 or his 23 plate appearances. Not sure of the exact stats here, but it's ridiculous.
- Johnny Damon sticking it to his old team in Abreu-like fashion.
- Glorious comeback win last night with two HRs in the 10th by Giambi (5RBI last night) and Posada.
- Red Sox fans missing their last trains home. Ha! Twice! Ha Ha!
Anyway, probably ruining for the Yanks this afternoon by gloating like this, but so far the Boston Massacre 2 is going exactly as I planned it. Mwah-ha-ha!
With one more game to go this afternoon, the Yankees have crushed the hopes of the Sawx and their fans with four straight victories in Boston this weekend. Let's review some of the hi-lites for the Yanks:
- A real nice blowout to start the series on Friday afternoon.
- The longest regular-season 9 inning game in recorded history on Friday night.
- 18 (or 19) pitchers used by both teams on Friday for the double-header.
- Sal Fasano getting some time as a pinch-runner!
- Bobby Abreu reaching base safely in something like 17 or his 23 plate appearances. Not sure of the exact stats here, but it's ridiculous.
- Johnny Damon sticking it to his old team in Abreu-like fashion.
- Glorious comeback win last night with two HRs in the 10th by Giambi (5RBI last night) and Posada.
- Red Sox fans missing their last trains home. Ha! Twice! Ha Ha!
Anyway, probably ruining for the Yanks this afternoon by gloating like this, but so far the Boston Massacre 2 is going exactly as I planned it. Mwah-ha-ha!
Aug 17, 2006
A Bronx Tale
It's time to mention the great love of my life here on this hallowed site. A love that has endured decades, one that never judges me, a love as pure as the driven snow.
I'm speaking of the NY Yankees, of course. Make that the first place NY Yankees, thank you very much!
I became a Yankee fan at the ripe old age of 6. The rest of my family were Met fans, and why not? It was 1973 and the Yankees hadn't done anything of note since the early 60's and the Mets were just four short years off of their first World Series Championship. They made a truly miraculous run to the playoffs in '73 where they played the machine that was the Oakland A's in the World Series.
Having to be different, I chose to root for the A's in that series. Wise choice. At the time, my favorite player was Reggie Jackson so there was some merit to my interest in rooting against the Mets. My family couldn't stand me that year. The A's won and here was this little 6-year old asshole jumping for joy at the Met's loss.
I then made a conscious choice to become a Yankee fan. Couldn't really root for a team across the country, so why not root for the other team in New York? The Yanks were pretty terrible that next year, but they picked it up in '75 and '76 with World Series rings in '77 and '78. That was awesome! And then Thurman died and it all started to fall apart.
A lot of folks equate rooting for the Yankees to rooting for US Steel, but there has always been a sense of pride and dignity with that team...something that most sports franchises yearn for.
The Yankees begin a crucial 5-game set with the hated Red Sox on Friday afternoon. You know what I'm doing this weekend. May the baseball gods smile upon the true love of my life.
Go Yankees!
I'm speaking of the NY Yankees, of course. Make that the first place NY Yankees, thank you very much!
I became a Yankee fan at the ripe old age of 6. The rest of my family were Met fans, and why not? It was 1973 and the Yankees hadn't done anything of note since the early 60's and the Mets were just four short years off of their first World Series Championship. They made a truly miraculous run to the playoffs in '73 where they played the machine that was the Oakland A's in the World Series.
Having to be different, I chose to root for the A's in that series. Wise choice. At the time, my favorite player was Reggie Jackson so there was some merit to my interest in rooting against the Mets. My family couldn't stand me that year. The A's won and here was this little 6-year old asshole jumping for joy at the Met's loss.
I then made a conscious choice to become a Yankee fan. Couldn't really root for a team across the country, so why not root for the other team in New York? The Yanks were pretty terrible that next year, but they picked it up in '75 and '76 with World Series rings in '77 and '78. That was awesome! And then Thurman died and it all started to fall apart.
A lot of folks equate rooting for the Yankees to rooting for US Steel, but there has always been a sense of pride and dignity with that team...something that most sports franchises yearn for.
The Yankees begin a crucial 5-game set with the hated Red Sox on Friday afternoon. You know what I'm doing this weekend. May the baseball gods smile upon the true love of my life.
Go Yankees!
Aug 15, 2006
I'll take Manhattan
Didn't do my Monday morning Top 5 post like I said I was going to last week. It's a shame when a weekly tradition only lasts one week, isn't it? I listened to no music at all yesterday morning, in fact. Here's why:
So I was supposed to go to a simple dinner somewhere in town on Sunday night with shiny new lady love (we'll come up with a nickname soon) when she decided to kick it up a notch and head into NYC.
At first we decided to drive, but Sunday evening traffic into NYC is horrible due to all those Hampton-ites returning to the roost, so we bailed and hopped on the train. That's when things get interesting for me. Driving into the city is one thing. You have to be good. Can't drink too much because you have to drive home. Also you need to remember where you parked.
Taking the train means all bets are off, and this night...all bets were off. We started out the evening at a lovely seafood joint sitting outside on an equally lovely evening. It was one of those "early in the relationship" freaking awesome dinner dates. Even our waitress couldn't help but notice that we were gaga over each other. Fresh guacamole (sp?), awesome sampler of their four ceviche dishes, black bass in a chipolte sauce for me and a delish swordfish dish for her. Oh yeah, many beers and mojitos as well. Good stuff!
From there it was a short walk to Whiskey Blue in the lobby of the W hotel on Lexington Avenue. It's a nice, upscale hotel bar with a fantastic bartender making expensive drinks...all for little ole us! Tanqueray 10 gibsons were my beverage choice, while shiny new lady love went with vodka martinis. It was about right here when we knew it was going to be a long night.
After 3 rounds of martini lusciousness, I knew we needed to head over towards Penn Station because it was getting kinda late. But I also wasn't ready to head home and neither was she. So I suggested my favorite dive bar in Manhattan. One that I knew would still be open late on Sunday night...well early Monday morning at this point.
I pointed our cab driver over to Rudy's Bar & Grill over in Hell's Kitchen, the king of all NYC dive bars. It's one of those places that I really can't even describe. You have to go there to love it. Cheap draft beer, free hot dogs, worst bar floor in the history of bad bar floors, red tape holding together the pleather on in the booths, awesome juke box, and lots and lots of local flavor. Oooh, see what I did there? I did manage to describe it!
Anywho, in all my drunken days and nights at Rudy's I have never managed to make it to closing time at 4AM. Strike that objective off my list. At a little before 4AM (Monday morning...mind you) we finished our last PBR draft and we were whooshed out with the door getting locked behind us. I knew the next train wasn't for 45 minutes, so we had a nice leisurely stroll back to Penn and our awaiting train.
I still can't believe how many people were still out and about at that time of the morning on a Monday! I know its the city that never sleeps, but jeez there were a lot of folks! Anyway, long story short is that I blew off my work on Monday because we didn't get back to my place until after 6AM. Nothing like being out all night and seeing the sun come up before you hit the pillows. Larry Miller once joked about the 5 stages of drinking and said this "Let's be honest, if you're 19 and you stay up all night, it's like a victory like you've beat the night, but if you're over 30, then that sun is like God's flashlight." True dat...double true!
Anyway, it was one of those totally expected, absolutely magical NYC nights that seem to be getting rarer as I get older. Can't wait for the next one!
So I was supposed to go to a simple dinner somewhere in town on Sunday night with shiny new lady love (we'll come up with a nickname soon) when she decided to kick it up a notch and head into NYC.
At first we decided to drive, but Sunday evening traffic into NYC is horrible due to all those Hampton-ites returning to the roost, so we bailed and hopped on the train. That's when things get interesting for me. Driving into the city is one thing. You have to be good. Can't drink too much because you have to drive home. Also you need to remember where you parked.
Taking the train means all bets are off, and this night...all bets were off. We started out the evening at a lovely seafood joint sitting outside on an equally lovely evening. It was one of those "early in the relationship" freaking awesome dinner dates. Even our waitress couldn't help but notice that we were gaga over each other. Fresh guacamole (sp?), awesome sampler of their four ceviche dishes, black bass in a chipolte sauce for me and a delish swordfish dish for her. Oh yeah, many beers and mojitos as well. Good stuff!
From there it was a short walk to Whiskey Blue in the lobby of the W hotel on Lexington Avenue. It's a nice, upscale hotel bar with a fantastic bartender making expensive drinks...all for little ole us! Tanqueray 10 gibsons were my beverage choice, while shiny new lady love went with vodka martinis. It was about right here when we knew it was going to be a long night.
After 3 rounds of martini lusciousness, I knew we needed to head over towards Penn Station because it was getting kinda late. But I also wasn't ready to head home and neither was she. So I suggested my favorite dive bar in Manhattan. One that I knew would still be open late on Sunday night...well early Monday morning at this point.
I pointed our cab driver over to Rudy's Bar & Grill over in Hell's Kitchen, the king of all NYC dive bars. It's one of those places that I really can't even describe. You have to go there to love it. Cheap draft beer, free hot dogs, worst bar floor in the history of bad bar floors, red tape holding together the pleather on in the booths, awesome juke box, and lots and lots of local flavor. Oooh, see what I did there? I did manage to describe it!
Anywho, in all my drunken days and nights at Rudy's I have never managed to make it to closing time at 4AM. Strike that objective off my list. At a little before 4AM (Monday morning...mind you) we finished our last PBR draft and we were whooshed out with the door getting locked behind us. I knew the next train wasn't for 45 minutes, so we had a nice leisurely stroll back to Penn and our awaiting train.
I still can't believe how many people were still out and about at that time of the morning on a Monday! I know its the city that never sleeps, but jeez there were a lot of folks! Anyway, long story short is that I blew off my work on Monday because we didn't get back to my place until after 6AM. Nothing like being out all night and seeing the sun come up before you hit the pillows. Larry Miller once joked about the 5 stages of drinking and said this "Let's be honest, if you're 19 and you stay up all night, it's like a victory like you've beat the night, but if you're over 30, then that sun is like God's flashlight." True dat...double true!
Anyway, it was one of those totally expected, absolutely magical NYC nights that seem to be getting rarer as I get older. Can't wait for the next one!
Aug 12, 2006
Great Comic Book Covers, Batman!
Hey kids! Slyde and I were in discussions the other day to come up with our Top 5 lists for greatest comic books adapted into film and also the greatest comic book storylines that we own in our collections.
Yeah, yeah...grown men with comic book collections. Deal with it. I have to say that I feel partially responsible for a large portion of Slyde's collection. When we met back in the early 90's, he was buying only a handful of comics each month. Then he came over to the dark side and started collecting dozens each month just like I was. We collected like that for years...going to conventions, meeting up at obscure hobby shops, rooting through back-issue bins. Then I stopped. Just about cold turkey, and I still don't think he has forgiven me.
Anyway, in anticippppation of our posts about the above sometime next week (hopefully), I decided to thumb through my comic book collection and post a little something about my Top 5 Comic Book Covers. I only considered super-hero stuff because there are just too many beautiful covers by Dave McKean, Glenn Fabry and others on some non-conventional titles. Nope, strictly dudes and dudettes in spandex here.
Click on the titles to see a scan of each cover. Here goes:
Top 5 Comic Book Covers (in my collection...that include superheroes)
1. Wonder Woman #199 (vol 1) - art by Jeffrey Jones. OK, not the creepy actor from Ferris Bueller's Day Off Jeffrey Jones, but the fantasy artist. So I cheated a little bit here because there are no actual heroes in tights on the cover, but I just love it so much. It is a simple little noirish cover that could go on just about any pulp magazine from the 50's. A little bondage. Scary dude hanging around in the background. Damsel in distress. It's got it all. I don't believe I ever opened this one up. I bought it solely on the basis of JJ's cover. Awesome!
2. Swamp Thing #7 (vol 1) - art by Bernie Wrightson. This one is great. Not only do you have the familiar horror style of Bernie Wrightson, but you have a cameo in the book and on the cover by Batman! This was also (I believe) Bernie's last work on Swampy. Too bad.
3. Amazing Spider-Man #300 - art by Todd MacFarlane. There may be other covers from Spider-man that were better, but this one was just so iconic. Spidey in the black suit, first appearance of Venom. All those 300's on the cover. OK...that last part sucked, but it was a real fine example of MacFarlane at the top of his game.
4. Marvel Premiere #15 - art by Gil Kane. I'm a sucker for cover art from the 1970's and this is one of my favorites. It's the first appearance of Iron Fist (one of my favorite characters) and the art by Kane is exceptional. Usually is with that guy, whether he is doing Batman or the Green Lantern. He always seemed to be on his game. Check out that dragon tat on his chest. Niiiiice!
5. Doom Patrol #121 (vol 1) - art by Joe Orlando. This one is a little harder to explain. I'm not a fan of Joe Orlando's work, generally. However, this one dealt with the death of the main characters in the Doom Patrol. Big tombstones on the cover with an awesome "You Decide" balloon to put the weight of these character's lives in your hands! This was at a time when you just didn't kill off your heroes. But the title was ending so it made great headlines back in the late 1960's. Turns out three of the four members were found to have not perished (shocked I tell you) when DC brought the team back together in the 1980's. That's alright. Still a great cover! And it was the sixties, so you know that Elasti-girl was hiding a little mini-skirt behind that stupid tombstone. Rowr!
Aug 11, 2006
The Midnight Star
't senAs some of you may have guessed, I love a good bar. Irish pub, dirty local joint, posh NYC lounge, anything with a little style and a lot of booze. That's what I like!
I live in a town on Long Island that is populated with some interesting bars. We have Irish pubs, English pubs, townie joints, cigar bars, tex-mex bars, big NYC-style upscale bars, smoky bars (which ignore the state-wide smoking ban), coffee bars, outdoor bars, upstairs bars, sidewalk cafes, and a host of sushi bars.
I love all these places. I have friends at most of them, either on the staff or just regulars that only go to one place. Don't get me wrong, I have my favorites too. There are two bars that I spend most of my time at, but I like to dabble in the fringe joints as well. Keep up my contacts with the bar weirdos, you know.
Last night one of said weirdos dropped into favorite bar #1 just around closing time to have a few beers and some shots. About 3 of each in a 20 minute period. And the so-called "shots" he drinks are mind erasers. Phew! Anyway, he couldn't figure something out with his new cell phone. He had a missed call and he wanted to see what the number was. I helped him figure it out, then he asked me to help him change the volume on his ringer. To make sure it worked, I called him with my cell phone to hear the ring. All was well.
So we usher the drunken fool out the door, and I help my friend close up the bar. It was around 1AM. Fast forward to this morning when a phone call on my cell interrupts some boring work shit I was doing around 11AM. It was the drunk from last night. You see, he must have woken up and saw a missed call on his phone and now he knows how to find out the number. He just forgot a few salient details in that it was me who showed him how, and that I had called him to check the volume on his ringer. I smiled for 15 minutes straight after that call.
God, I love this town and it's drunken denizens!
PS - The title to this post refers to a character in a movie. It was someone who loved a good bar and was referred to as The Midnight Star because "I'm always there, but I shine brightest at night". Can you name the film?
I live in a town on Long Island that is populated with some interesting bars. We have Irish pubs, English pubs, townie joints, cigar bars, tex-mex bars, big NYC-style upscale bars, smoky bars (which ignore the state-wide smoking ban), coffee bars, outdoor bars, upstairs bars, sidewalk cafes, and a host of sushi bars.
I love all these places. I have friends at most of them, either on the staff or just regulars that only go to one place. Don't get me wrong, I have my favorites too. There are two bars that I spend most of my time at, but I like to dabble in the fringe joints as well. Keep up my contacts with the bar weirdos, you know.
Last night one of said weirdos dropped into favorite bar #1 just around closing time to have a few beers and some shots. About 3 of each in a 20 minute period. And the so-called "shots" he drinks are mind erasers. Phew! Anyway, he couldn't figure something out with his new cell phone. He had a missed call and he wanted to see what the number was. I helped him figure it out, then he asked me to help him change the volume on his ringer. To make sure it worked, I called him with my cell phone to hear the ring. All was well.
So we usher the drunken fool out the door, and I help my friend close up the bar. It was around 1AM. Fast forward to this morning when a phone call on my cell interrupts some boring work shit I was doing around 11AM. It was the drunk from last night. You see, he must have woken up and saw a missed call on his phone and now he knows how to find out the number. He just forgot a few salient details in that it was me who showed him how, and that I had called him to check the volume on his ringer. I smiled for 15 minutes straight after that call.
God, I love this town and it's drunken denizens!
PS - The title to this post refers to a character in a movie. It was someone who loved a good bar and was referred to as The Midnight Star because "I'm always there, but I shine brightest at night". Can you name the film?
Aug 10, 2006
Way too much info...
OK, so shiny new lady love was over my apartment last night. She goes to the bathroom to powder her nose and says that I am almost out of toilet paper. I ask her to check under the sink, but alas...no tp.
Alright, so I store this in my head to make sure that I go out early to the market to buy some when I am getting my morning java and paper. I forget, of course.
Fast forward to this afternoon. Sitting at my desk doing some mindless spreadsheet work when the urge hits me to drop the kids off at the pool. Feel free to replace that last line with whatever euphemism you prefer for crapping. Mind you, I'm also IMing with a friend of mine when I tell him that I have to run and crap.
I go to the bathroom and there it is. A roll of tp with maybe two sheets left on it. What the hell am I gonna do with two sheets? Alright, I alert my friend online that I need to run to the market to pick up tp because I am nearly out. Jump into the car and head to the nearest market which happens to be this 24-hour convenience store/deli kinda place.
I find the Scott's tissues and grab two rolls and stroll to the counter. Now everyone in the joint, customers and employees, have to know that I had one on deck and I ran out of paper. I mean, nobody runs into this place for just two rolls of toilet paper...so they gotta know, right? I curb my embarrasment and pay for my goodies and I run outta there, because things are getting critical now. Ya know?
But, much to my chagrin, when I get home I find that the urge to purge has passed. CRAP! Hope this doesn't turn into a Kramer incident, if you get my Seinfeld drift. Oh yeah, my buddy on the other end of the IM says he laughed so hard at my plight that it brought tears to his eyes. CRAP, CRAP, CRAP!!!
What do you think? Too much information?
Alright, so I store this in my head to make sure that I go out early to the market to buy some when I am getting my morning java and paper. I forget, of course.
Fast forward to this afternoon. Sitting at my desk doing some mindless spreadsheet work when the urge hits me to drop the kids off at the pool. Feel free to replace that last line with whatever euphemism you prefer for crapping. Mind you, I'm also IMing with a friend of mine when I tell him that I have to run and crap.
I go to the bathroom and there it is. A roll of tp with maybe two sheets left on it. What the hell am I gonna do with two sheets? Alright, I alert my friend online that I need to run to the market to pick up tp because I am nearly out. Jump into the car and head to the nearest market which happens to be this 24-hour convenience store/deli kinda place.
I find the Scott's tissues and grab two rolls and stroll to the counter. Now everyone in the joint, customers and employees, have to know that I had one on deck and I ran out of paper. I mean, nobody runs into this place for just two rolls of toilet paper...so they gotta know, right? I curb my embarrasment and pay for my goodies and I run outta there, because things are getting critical now. Ya know?
But, much to my chagrin, when I get home I find that the urge to purge has passed. CRAP! Hope this doesn't turn into a Kramer incident, if you get my Seinfeld drift. Oh yeah, my buddy on the other end of the IM says he laughed so hard at my plight that it brought tears to his eyes. CRAP, CRAP, CRAP!!!
What do you think? Too much information?
Aug 9, 2006
Dyslexics of the world, untie!
I seem to get this email in cycles every few months, but I thought I would pass it on. It's amazing what the human brain can do, even with very little effort.
fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55% of plepoe can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it .
fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55% of plepoe can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it .
Aug 8, 2006
Brad Neely Rules!
Yeah, I think I'm gonna stop with that whole "Earl on..." bullshit at the beginning of every post. It's only been a couple of days, but it was even starting to bug me.
OK, so I dig that George Washington video/song so much you would have thought that I might have looked up it's creator, Brad Neely, at some point over the past few months. Just to see if he has done anything else. Right?
Well, I just got around to it and lookee what I found. Neely has been in the limelight before. You can read the article, but lemme sum up. A few years back, Neely recorded an alternate soundtrack for the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone that is available on CD (or downloaded from the web). It can be played while watching the movie with the sound muted and by all accounts it's hysterical.
Apparently, Neely was hanging out at a bar with some friends making fun of this lone dude playing pool while listening to something on his headphones. They imagined he was listening to a Harry Potter book on tape and they were substituting funny/dirty alternative dialogue amongst themselves. His friends convinced him to "do" to whole book his way, and voila! "Wizard People, Dear Readers" was born.
I haven't heard this yet, but damn if it doesn't sound like something fun for Slyde and I to do one night. I'm sure it will never happen. I mean, I've been yearning to watch The Wizard of Oz with the sound off and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album on for what seems like decades now. Heard that was a hoot too.
One of these days...
OK, so I dig that George Washington video/song so much you would have thought that I might have looked up it's creator, Brad Neely, at some point over the past few months. Just to see if he has done anything else. Right?
Well, I just got around to it and lookee what I found. Neely has been in the limelight before. You can read the article, but lemme sum up. A few years back, Neely recorded an alternate soundtrack for the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone that is available on CD (or downloaded from the web). It can be played while watching the movie with the sound muted and by all accounts it's hysterical.
Apparently, Neely was hanging out at a bar with some friends making fun of this lone dude playing pool while listening to something on his headphones. They imagined he was listening to a Harry Potter book on tape and they were substituting funny/dirty alternative dialogue amongst themselves. His friends convinced him to "do" to whole book his way, and voila! "Wizard People, Dear Readers" was born.
I haven't heard this yet, but damn if it doesn't sound like something fun for Slyde and I to do one night. I'm sure it will never happen. I mean, I've been yearning to watch The Wizard of Oz with the sound off and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album on for what seems like decades now. Heard that was a hoot too.
One of these days...
Aug 7, 2006
Earl on Washington
George Washington
Saw this on Violet Blue's (very often NSFW) blog a while back, and I watch it at least once every few days. The tune gets stuck in my brainpan in a most pleasant way.
Some things you may never have heard about our first president:
1. He had two on the vine.
2. He made love like an eagle.
3. He killed his sensei in a duel.
4. He saved children (but not the British children).
A treasure trove of info to be gleaned from this little gem. A little strong language in there, so watch the volume if you are at work.
Absolutely brilliant! I've shared this with Slyde and a bunch of others before, but it deserves to be my first ever youtube.com post. Enjoy!
Saw this on Violet Blue's (very often NSFW) blog a while back, and I watch it at least once every few days. The tune gets stuck in my brainpan in a most pleasant way.
Some things you may never have heard about our first president:
1. He had two on the vine.
2. He made love like an eagle.
3. He killed his sensei in a duel.
4. He saved children (but not the British children).
A treasure trove of info to be gleaned from this little gem. A little strong language in there, so watch the volume if you are at work.
Absolutely brilliant! I've shared this with Slyde and a bunch of others before, but it deserves to be my first ever youtube.com post. Enjoy!
Earl on Mondays
Taking a tip from Jack Black and the film High Fidelity, I wanted to start a tradition here that I may or may not observe in the future. A little Top 5 of Monday morning songs that I am enjoying, along with the lyrics to one of said tunes.
No rhyme or reason to today's selection, just started off a little mellow before kickin' it in. Then I brought it back down again...there are rules to making a great mix tape. I don't follow 'em, but there are rules.
In no particular order:
Top 5 Monday morning songs
1. "Badfish" by Sublime
2. "After the Gold Rush" by Neil Young
3. "Havin' a Good Time" by One Groovy Coconut
4. "Hey Bartender" by (Hed) PE
5. "Love in a Library" by Jimmy Buffett (always gonna include Bubba)
"Badfish" by Sublime
When you grab a hold of me Tell
me that I'll never be set free
I'm a parasite,
creep and crawl I step into the night.
Two pints of booze
Tell me are you a badfish too? Are you a badfish too?
Ain't got no money to spend
I know the night will never end
Lord knows I'm weak
Won't somebody get me off of this reef
Baby your a big blue whale
Grab the reef when all duck diving fails
I swim but wish I never learned
The water's too polluted with germs
I dive deep when it's ten feet overhead
Grab the reef underneath my bed
Ain't got no quarrels with god Ain't got no time to grow old
Lord knows I'm weak
Won't somebody get me off of this reef
Ain't got no quarrels with God Ain't got no time to grow old
Lord knows I'm weak
Won't somebody get me off of this reef
No rhyme or reason to today's selection, just started off a little mellow before kickin' it in. Then I brought it back down again...there are rules to making a great mix tape. I don't follow 'em, but there are rules.
In no particular order:
Top 5 Monday morning songs
1. "Badfish" by Sublime
2. "After the Gold Rush" by Neil Young
3. "Havin' a Good Time" by One Groovy Coconut
4. "Hey Bartender" by (Hed) PE
5. "Love in a Library" by Jimmy Buffett (always gonna include Bubba)
"Badfish" by Sublime
When you grab a hold of me Tell
me that I'll never be set free
I'm a parasite,
creep and crawl I step into the night.
Two pints of booze
Tell me are you a badfish too? Are you a badfish too?
Ain't got no money to spend
I know the night will never end
Lord knows I'm weak
Won't somebody get me off of this reef
Baby your a big blue whale
Grab the reef when all duck diving fails
I swim but wish I never learned
The water's too polluted with germs
I dive deep when it's ten feet overhead
Grab the reef underneath my bed
Ain't got no quarrels with god Ain't got no time to grow old
Lord knows I'm weak
Won't somebody get me off of this reef
Ain't got no quarrels with God Ain't got no time to grow old
Lord knows I'm weak
Won't somebody get me off of this reef
Aug 6, 2006
Earl on booze
Ok, so I'm a little buzzed tonight so I came here to post something both clever and funny.
Then I read Spinning Girl's latest post about her third sober anniversary. Talk about a buzz kill. Well, not quite a kill but it certainly wounded my buzz fairly well.
All I have to say is good for her. I took her quiz (from AA) and scored a grand total of 3 "yes" answers. Honestly, I was a bit afraid of taking it because I thought it would confirm that I really did have a drinking problem, but (according to the test) I may have been wrong. I didn't even lie, or convince myself that I wasn't lying. There was one question which I teetered on that could have brought me to 4, but in the end I felt honest enough to answer it as a "no".
I still think that my health would be a little better off without my current use of alcohol, but there is so much that I would miss without it. Great friends, great times, and really great booze. That's what I would miss the most...the great booze. Everything else could and would continue, but I just really, really like good booze.
Anyway, more power to you Spinning Girl. Glad you recognized a problem and were courageous enough to deal with it. Let's hope the rest of us are strong enough to follow suit, no matter what the problem is.
Then I read Spinning Girl's latest post about her third sober anniversary. Talk about a buzz kill. Well, not quite a kill but it certainly wounded my buzz fairly well.
All I have to say is good for her. I took her quiz (from AA) and scored a grand total of 3 "yes" answers. Honestly, I was a bit afraid of taking it because I thought it would confirm that I really did have a drinking problem, but (according to the test) I may have been wrong. I didn't even lie, or convince myself that I wasn't lying. There was one question which I teetered on that could have brought me to 4, but in the end I felt honest enough to answer it as a "no".
I still think that my health would be a little better off without my current use of alcohol, but there is so much that I would miss without it. Great friends, great times, and really great booze. That's what I would miss the most...the great booze. Everything else could and would continue, but I just really, really like good booze.
Anyway, more power to you Spinning Girl. Glad you recognized a problem and were courageous enough to deal with it. Let's hope the rest of us are strong enough to follow suit, no matter what the problem is.
Aug 5, 2006
Earl on mindless web-surfing
Spent the day engaged in one of my more mindless bouts of web-surfing.
I was trying to find some minor-league statistics for a guy who played for the Columbus Confederate Yankees (oxymoron alert!) in the Southern League back in 1964-1966. Don't even ask why, but it involves a young lady that has caught my eye.
Anyway, seems as if the ole' internet hasn't quite caught up to my need for Class AA minor-league stats from before I was born. Sad. Well, not as sad as me spending an afternoon searching for said stats, but sad nonetheless.
One interesting tidbit I found is about a player named John Paciorek. He was the older brother of MLer Tom Paciorek who enjoyed a cup o' coffee in the bigs on one fateful day in 1963 for the Houston Colt 45's.
John's line in that game was as follows:
AB H R 2B 3B HR RBI BB SB AVG OBP SLG
3 3 4 0 0 0 3 2 0 1.000 1.000 1.000
Due to chronic back problems, the poor guy was never to play in the major league again. But what a day!
John isn't the only player to have a go at it in the bigs for just one day. Over 1,300 players enjoy this dubious honor. The most famous is probably Archibald "Moonlight" Graham who was a character central to the book "Shoeless Joe" and the movie it was adapted from "Field of Dreams".
So carpe diem, everyone! John Paciorek certainly did!
I was trying to find some minor-league statistics for a guy who played for the Columbus Confederate Yankees (oxymoron alert!) in the Southern League back in 1964-1966. Don't even ask why, but it involves a young lady that has caught my eye.
Anyway, seems as if the ole' internet hasn't quite caught up to my need for Class AA minor-league stats from before I was born. Sad. Well, not as sad as me spending an afternoon searching for said stats, but sad nonetheless.
One interesting tidbit I found is about a player named John Paciorek. He was the older brother of MLer Tom Paciorek who enjoyed a cup o' coffee in the bigs on one fateful day in 1963 for the Houston Colt 45's.
John's line in that game was as follows:
AB H R 2B 3B HR RBI BB SB AVG OBP SLG
3 3 4 0 0 0 3 2 0 1.000 1.000 1.000
Due to chronic back problems, the poor guy was never to play in the major league again. But what a day!
John isn't the only player to have a go at it in the bigs for just one day. Over 1,300 players enjoy this dubious honor. The most famous is probably Archibald "Moonlight" Graham who was a character central to the book "Shoeless Joe" and the movie it was adapted from "Field of Dreams".
So carpe diem, everyone! John Paciorek certainly did!
Aug 4, 2006
Baby steps, baby steps...
Hey kids! I finally decided to joing the Blogger community and step away from the comforting shadow of Slyde. I'll still stop in from time to time on his site (www.slydesblog.com), but I'll use this site to speaka my mind, whena I wanna speaka my mind. You have been warned! - Earl
Aug 2, 2006
Shark Attack!
By B.E. Earl
08/02/2006 04:20 PM EST
Hey guppies! We are currently in the middle of a ridiculous heat wave here in the Northeast. I’m spending the week house-sitting at my sister’s home while she and her family are on vacation. Unfortunately, much to my sister’s chagrin, my brother-in-law doesn’t believe in air conditioning. I mean, he’s not an atheist. He knows it exists, he just chooses to live without. So here I must make-do with a wonderfully shaded backyard complete with a fish pond, a beautiful in-ground pool and an even more beautiful cooler full o’ beer.
It’s rough, but I’m surviving. One of the things that is certainly helping is that the Discovery Channel is celebrating Shark Week with all sorts of great shark-like programming. I’ve mentioned my fascination with TDC previously, but I really become a zombie during Shark Week. I live for this shit!
I may have mentioned before that I was eight when the film Jaws came out. That is some serious shit to deal with when you are that age. Before Jaws came out, I was a normal, un-afraid kid. I swam in the ocean all the time. My folks would take the clan out to Jones Beach or Robert Moses Park and we would spend the day in the waves. After it came out, I was afraid to swim in a pool. Seriously.
Unfortunately, this is a phobia that has stayed with me all of my life. I’m still hesitant to swim in the ocean. I started to get over it a few years back when I was spending each summer vacation at a beach house on the North Carolina coast. I would swim out past the breakers and float for hours in the afternoon heat. Then while playing in the surf one day, a small hammerhead shark swam right between my sister and my brother-in-law while we all watched. This was right in the breakers! It was a small shark, probably no more than four feet or so long, but holy crap…it was right there where we were all playing in the surf!
The next morning, before the rest of the house arose, my brother-in-law took advantage of some nice early morning wind to go wind-surfing. I put on a pot of coffee and went down to the beach to watch. Soon he was so far out in the ocean that I couldn’t see him with a pair of binoculars. When he finally made it back to the beach an hour or so later, he told me that he couldn’t turn around (he is good but he still falls off a lot when he comes about) because he was being followed by a really large shark that was bigger than his 12-foot board! He had to wait it out until it the shark lost interest before he risked coming about. I would have had a heart attack right then and there!
So that was it for me. A couple of weeks ago out in Montauk, I dove into the surf once in the entire week I was there and I literally could not have run out of the ocean fast enough once I was through. I must have looked like such a pansy. 10-year old girls have more dignity about them.
My phobia, however, has only spiked my fascination with the creatures. As a kid, I read every book about sharks that I could find. I already knew about the U.S.S. Indianapolis by the time I actually saw Jaws, so I was really freaked out when Quint started telling the story. I could identify just about any type of shark just by glancing at a photo. I was obsessed.
I guess you can say that I’m still obsessed with sharks. My obsession nowadays seems to be limited, however, to occasional visits to www.sharkattacks.com and, of course, Shark Week on TDC. They seem to show most of the programming from previous years over and over again, but there is some new stuff here and there. Saw a great show last night about sharks in the Mediterranean Sea. Good stuff! How nice of TDC to fill an entire week’s programming to appease my appetite for real-life monsters!
08/02/2006 04:20 PM EST
Hey guppies! We are currently in the middle of a ridiculous heat wave here in the Northeast. I’m spending the week house-sitting at my sister’s home while she and her family are on vacation. Unfortunately, much to my sister’s chagrin, my brother-in-law doesn’t believe in air conditioning. I mean, he’s not an atheist. He knows it exists, he just chooses to live without. So here I must make-do with a wonderfully shaded backyard complete with a fish pond, a beautiful in-ground pool and an even more beautiful cooler full o’ beer.
It’s rough, but I’m surviving. One of the things that is certainly helping is that the Discovery Channel is celebrating Shark Week with all sorts of great shark-like programming. I’ve mentioned my fascination with TDC previously, but I really become a zombie during Shark Week. I live for this shit!
I may have mentioned before that I was eight when the film Jaws came out. That is some serious shit to deal with when you are that age. Before Jaws came out, I was a normal, un-afraid kid. I swam in the ocean all the time. My folks would take the clan out to Jones Beach or Robert Moses Park and we would spend the day in the waves. After it came out, I was afraid to swim in a pool. Seriously.
Unfortunately, this is a phobia that has stayed with me all of my life. I’m still hesitant to swim in the ocean. I started to get over it a few years back when I was spending each summer vacation at a beach house on the North Carolina coast. I would swim out past the breakers and float for hours in the afternoon heat. Then while playing in the surf one day, a small hammerhead shark swam right between my sister and my brother-in-law while we all watched. This was right in the breakers! It was a small shark, probably no more than four feet or so long, but holy crap…it was right there where we were all playing in the surf!
The next morning, before the rest of the house arose, my brother-in-law took advantage of some nice early morning wind to go wind-surfing. I put on a pot of coffee and went down to the beach to watch. Soon he was so far out in the ocean that I couldn’t see him with a pair of binoculars. When he finally made it back to the beach an hour or so later, he told me that he couldn’t turn around (he is good but he still falls off a lot when he comes about) because he was being followed by a really large shark that was bigger than his 12-foot board! He had to wait it out until it the shark lost interest before he risked coming about. I would have had a heart attack right then and there!
So that was it for me. A couple of weeks ago out in Montauk, I dove into the surf once in the entire week I was there and I literally could not have run out of the ocean fast enough once I was through. I must have looked like such a pansy. 10-year old girls have more dignity about them.
My phobia, however, has only spiked my fascination with the creatures. As a kid, I read every book about sharks that I could find. I already knew about the U.S.S. Indianapolis by the time I actually saw Jaws, so I was really freaked out when Quint started telling the story. I could identify just about any type of shark just by glancing at a photo. I was obsessed.
I guess you can say that I’m still obsessed with sharks. My obsession nowadays seems to be limited, however, to occasional visits to www.sharkattacks.com and, of course, Shark Week on TDC. They seem to show most of the programming from previous years over and over again, but there is some new stuff here and there. Saw a great show last night about sharks in the Mediterranean Sea. Good stuff! How nice of TDC to fill an entire week’s programming to appease my appetite for real-life monsters!
Jul 19, 2006
Such a Nerd!
By B.E. Earl
07/19/2006 08:13 PM EST
Hey kids! And no…I’m not talking about Slyde. I’m referring to myself, actually. I was watching TV last night and I realized that more and more I am watching the programming on The History Channel and The Discovery Channel. Yes, I know the more enlightened of you have been watching for some time now. But if it wasn’t reality TV, a Yankee game or a good movie, it was likely that I wasn’t going to watch it.
When did that change? When did I become an info-tainment geek? I have no idea, but those two channels have gradually become my daily stomping grounds in the land of cable. Here are some of the fun things that I’ve learned on the boob-tube in the past few weeks:
The Little Ice Age (14th - 19th century) – This was never in any history book I read while I was in school. This period was hi-lighted (in my opinion) by the Year Without a Summer in 1816 following the 1815 eruption of Tambora in Indonesia. Heavy snowfall and frost were reported that year in much of New England and Northern Europe in both June and July! 1816 was also known as the Poverty Year or as Eighteen hundred and froze to death. Many New Englanders, fearing the worst, struck out for the West in an unprecedented move to warmer climates. The wet and cool summer of 1816 forced Mary Shelley, John William Polidori and some of their friends to stay indoors. They invented a writing contest to see who could write the scariest story. The results were "Frankenstein" by Shelley and "The Vampyre" by Polidori! How awesome is that?
Saladin ruled! – Muslim warrior and famous enemy of the Crusaders from the 12th century who united the Arab states under his extraordinary military prowess. Saddam Hussein likened himself to a Saladin, often referring to himself as a “modern-day Salah al-Din”. Curious in that Hussein waged a war of genocide against the Kurds in Northern Iraq, while Saladin himself was a Kurd. That, my friends, is how I like my irony served.
Paper crossbows don’t work – Apparently it is nearly impossible to construct a crossbow out of cardboard and paper and use it effectively to escape from prison. Well, I guess I kinda already knew that already. Oh yeah, and a helium-filled football will only travel slightly more than a regular air-filled one.
Asteroids will eventually kill us all! – Large meteors, asteroids or comets have hit the Earth in the past. Some believe that the extinction of the dinosaurs was a result of a large collision with one of these objects. It has happened before, it will happen again! Wait…never mind. I learned that last one from the Charlton Heston introduction to the film Armageddon. See…movies are educational.
Bigfoot was REAL! – Well at least there may be some scientific evidence that both man and a giant ape classified as Gigantopithecus blacki co-existed in Asia around 300,000 years ago. Although tales of its enormous size, largely due to its name, are hard to substantiate, it is possible that this co-habitation led to tales of the Yeti and Bigfoot-type creatures in many mythologies. Neato!
Eureka! I've done it! I've at long last proved the existence of Grape Ape!"
07/19/2006 08:13 PM EST
Hey kids! And no…I’m not talking about Slyde. I’m referring to myself, actually. I was watching TV last night and I realized that more and more I am watching the programming on The History Channel and The Discovery Channel. Yes, I know the more enlightened of you have been watching for some time now. But if it wasn’t reality TV, a Yankee game or a good movie, it was likely that I wasn’t going to watch it.
When did that change? When did I become an info-tainment geek? I have no idea, but those two channels have gradually become my daily stomping grounds in the land of cable. Here are some of the fun things that I’ve learned on the boob-tube in the past few weeks:
The Little Ice Age (14th - 19th century) – This was never in any history book I read while I was in school. This period was hi-lighted (in my opinion) by the Year Without a Summer in 1816 following the 1815 eruption of Tambora in Indonesia. Heavy snowfall and frost were reported that year in much of New England and Northern Europe in both June and July! 1816 was also known as the Poverty Year or as Eighteen hundred and froze to death. Many New Englanders, fearing the worst, struck out for the West in an unprecedented move to warmer climates. The wet and cool summer of 1816 forced Mary Shelley, John William Polidori and some of their friends to stay indoors. They invented a writing contest to see who could write the scariest story. The results were "Frankenstein" by Shelley and "The Vampyre" by Polidori! How awesome is that?
Saladin ruled! – Muslim warrior and famous enemy of the Crusaders from the 12th century who united the Arab states under his extraordinary military prowess. Saddam Hussein likened himself to a Saladin, often referring to himself as a “modern-day Salah al-Din”. Curious in that Hussein waged a war of genocide against the Kurds in Northern Iraq, while Saladin himself was a Kurd. That, my friends, is how I like my irony served.
Paper crossbows don’t work – Apparently it is nearly impossible to construct a crossbow out of cardboard and paper and use it effectively to escape from prison. Well, I guess I kinda already knew that already. Oh yeah, and a helium-filled football will only travel slightly more than a regular air-filled one.
Asteroids will eventually kill us all! – Large meteors, asteroids or comets have hit the Earth in the past. Some believe that the extinction of the dinosaurs was a result of a large collision with one of these objects. It has happened before, it will happen again! Wait…never mind. I learned that last one from the Charlton Heston introduction to the film Armageddon. See…movies are educational.
Bigfoot was REAL! – Well at least there may be some scientific evidence that both man and a giant ape classified as Gigantopithecus blacki co-existed in Asia around 300,000 years ago. Although tales of its enormous size, largely due to its name, are hard to substantiate, it is possible that this co-habitation led to tales of the Yeti and Bigfoot-type creatures in many mythologies. Neato!
Eureka! I've done it! I've at long last proved the existence of Grape Ape!"
Jun 21, 2006
Wish You Were Here
By B.E. Earl
06/21/2006 10:30 PM EST
Hey kiddies! Earl again with some mindless musings, musical mayhem, misty memories and magical mushrooms. Ok, no mind-altering substances here, but I was on an alliteration roll. Thought I’d contribute a little some-some for my buddy’s blog here on the first day of summer (OK…it’s the first day of summer as I am typing. Let’s see when Slyde gets around to posting it).
(Editor's Note: Bite Me, Earl. I got it posted same day! So There! - Slyde)
It couldn’t be a more glorious day here on Long Island. I finished up some work around 3ish in the afternoon and took a walk down to the beach where my sister had taken my nephew, Cavan. Not the most normal of names, huh? But it’s actually the county in Ireland where my mother’s side of the family came from, and my sister was kinda sold on it. My father’s side of the family came from County Cork, and I’m glad she didn’t go for that. Corky would almost be too much for me to bear as an uncle. I mean I’m rapidly approaching 40, but that doesn’t mean that I’m too old to laugh at a kid named Corky. Funny is funny.
Back to the beach in our story. Our local beach is right down the block from my mother’s house in Blue Point, NY. It’s affectionately known as Mommy Beach by the locals because of the preponderance of moms and their kids. There must have been a sign posted today, however, because Mommy Beach turned into Hot Mommy Beach! When I was growing up, I can’t recall actually thinking that any of my friend’s moms were attractive at all. These women today…whoa! Way to go, ladies!
I mentioned that my mother lives in Blue Point. This is also where I grew up, although I’ve been on the north shore of Long Island for about 8 years now. For those wondering why the name sounds familiar, it may be because of its’ relation to Blue Point Oysters. Back in the early part of the previous century, Blue Point Oysters were the best oysters in the world and they were harvested from the waters surrounding our little town on the bay. Sometime in the 1920’s or 30’s, however, salinity levels in the Great South Bay rose to a level that became toxic to our poor oyster population. Some say that this was caused by a hurricane that swept over our barrier beach (Fire Island), flooding the bay and neighboring beaches. Any time you see Blue Point Oysters on a menu today they are most likely from the north shore out of the Long Island Sound.
Now all that lives in our bay are clams, and the harvesting of those are strictly regulated due to over-harvesting and pollution. When I was growing up, it seemed like everyone had a relative who was a clammer. My brother and my brother-in-law each made some money by clamming. I heard that last year only five or six clamming licenses were even applied for on the Great South Bay. Its amazing how quickly man’s influences on our surroundings can get out of hand. It’s too late for our oyster population, but maybe one day we can see a resurgence of the clam population in the Bay.
As for the musical mayhem portion of our program, I heard a couple of songs on the radio today that I hadn’t heard in a million years. OK…at least since I was in college. "Echo Beach" by Martha and the Muffins, and "Summer’s Cauldron" by XTC. It’s absolutely amazing to me that good, rare music like this is still played on the radio someplace. The station that was playing them was WFUV 90.7 here in New York which is a member-supported public radio station, of course. I guess that non-commercial radio is the only way we are going to hear these gems outside of our iPods.
Finally, this past weekend was Father’s Day here in the US. I qualified that because I’m not sure if it is on the same date in other countries. I know from a friend of mine that Mother’s Day is located elsewhere on the calendar in the UK, so maybe it’s the same with Dad’s Day.
It was a bit of a somber day for me as in two weeks it will be three years since my father passed away from a long battle with heart disease. The last time that I saw him before his final heart attack (and subsequent hospital stay) was when I took him out for dinner the Wednesday after Father’s Day three years ago. He was watching what he ate because of his condition, but boy did he enjoy himself. He always said that his favorite times in his life were having a meal with his family. He always began each meal with smile and a soft-spoken “good to be together” when his children were around. We still do that on the occasions that the whole family gets together for a nice meal like we do on Thanksgiving Day or other holidays.
Three days later I got a call at home from my sister telling me that Dad was in the hospital again, and it really didn’t look good this time. He hung on for a few weeks, but it was still a shock when he passed. It’s still hard for me to believe that it has been three years.
At his gravesite on Sunday, I found myself wishing that our first 26 years together were a lot more like our last 10. We were always close, but we really became friends in that last decade, and I find myself missing my friend more and more as the years pass on. I think about the trip I took him on down to the Florida Keys and I wish that we had done that more often. He said it was the best vacation he ever had been on. To quote Morgan Freeman from The Shawshank Redemption “I guess, I just miss my friend.”
With that in mind, I would like to wish a belated Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads and Grandpas out there, as well as to everyone else who has or had a father who was an important part of their lives like my father was. Cheers!
06/21/2006 10:30 PM EST
Hey kiddies! Earl again with some mindless musings, musical mayhem, misty memories and magical mushrooms. Ok, no mind-altering substances here, but I was on an alliteration roll. Thought I’d contribute a little some-some for my buddy’s blog here on the first day of summer (OK…it’s the first day of summer as I am typing. Let’s see when Slyde gets around to posting it).
(Editor's Note: Bite Me, Earl. I got it posted same day! So There! - Slyde)
It couldn’t be a more glorious day here on Long Island. I finished up some work around 3ish in the afternoon and took a walk down to the beach where my sister had taken my nephew, Cavan. Not the most normal of names, huh? But it’s actually the county in Ireland where my mother’s side of the family came from, and my sister was kinda sold on it. My father’s side of the family came from County Cork, and I’m glad she didn’t go for that. Corky would almost be too much for me to bear as an uncle. I mean I’m rapidly approaching 40, but that doesn’t mean that I’m too old to laugh at a kid named Corky. Funny is funny.
Back to the beach in our story. Our local beach is right down the block from my mother’s house in Blue Point, NY. It’s affectionately known as Mommy Beach by the locals because of the preponderance of moms and their kids. There must have been a sign posted today, however, because Mommy Beach turned into Hot Mommy Beach! When I was growing up, I can’t recall actually thinking that any of my friend’s moms were attractive at all. These women today…whoa! Way to go, ladies!
I mentioned that my mother lives in Blue Point. This is also where I grew up, although I’ve been on the north shore of Long Island for about 8 years now. For those wondering why the name sounds familiar, it may be because of its’ relation to Blue Point Oysters. Back in the early part of the previous century, Blue Point Oysters were the best oysters in the world and they were harvested from the waters surrounding our little town on the bay. Sometime in the 1920’s or 30’s, however, salinity levels in the Great South Bay rose to a level that became toxic to our poor oyster population. Some say that this was caused by a hurricane that swept over our barrier beach (Fire Island), flooding the bay and neighboring beaches. Any time you see Blue Point Oysters on a menu today they are most likely from the north shore out of the Long Island Sound.
Now all that lives in our bay are clams, and the harvesting of those are strictly regulated due to over-harvesting and pollution. When I was growing up, it seemed like everyone had a relative who was a clammer. My brother and my brother-in-law each made some money by clamming. I heard that last year only five or six clamming licenses were even applied for on the Great South Bay. Its amazing how quickly man’s influences on our surroundings can get out of hand. It’s too late for our oyster population, but maybe one day we can see a resurgence of the clam population in the Bay.
As for the musical mayhem portion of our program, I heard a couple of songs on the radio today that I hadn’t heard in a million years. OK…at least since I was in college. "Echo Beach" by Martha and the Muffins, and "Summer’s Cauldron" by XTC. It’s absolutely amazing to me that good, rare music like this is still played on the radio someplace. The station that was playing them was WFUV 90.7 here in New York which is a member-supported public radio station, of course. I guess that non-commercial radio is the only way we are going to hear these gems outside of our iPods.
Finally, this past weekend was Father’s Day here in the US. I qualified that because I’m not sure if it is on the same date in other countries. I know from a friend of mine that Mother’s Day is located elsewhere on the calendar in the UK, so maybe it’s the same with Dad’s Day.
It was a bit of a somber day for me as in two weeks it will be three years since my father passed away from a long battle with heart disease. The last time that I saw him before his final heart attack (and subsequent hospital stay) was when I took him out for dinner the Wednesday after Father’s Day three years ago. He was watching what he ate because of his condition, but boy did he enjoy himself. He always said that his favorite times in his life were having a meal with his family. He always began each meal with smile and a soft-spoken “good to be together” when his children were around. We still do that on the occasions that the whole family gets together for a nice meal like we do on Thanksgiving Day or other holidays.
Three days later I got a call at home from my sister telling me that Dad was in the hospital again, and it really didn’t look good this time. He hung on for a few weeks, but it was still a shock when he passed. It’s still hard for me to believe that it has been three years.
At his gravesite on Sunday, I found myself wishing that our first 26 years together were a lot more like our last 10. We were always close, but we really became friends in that last decade, and I find myself missing my friend more and more as the years pass on. I think about the trip I took him on down to the Florida Keys and I wish that we had done that more often. He said it was the best vacation he ever had been on. To quote Morgan Freeman from The Shawshank Redemption “I guess, I just miss my friend.”
With that in mind, I would like to wish a belated Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads and Grandpas out there, as well as to everyone else who has or had a father who was an important part of their lives like my father was. Cheers!
Jun 12, 2006
"I'll see you in Hell, Will Munny!"
By B.E. Earl
06/12/2006 4:16 PM EST
Hey cowboys and cowgirls! It’s yer old friend Earl here again with a little something for your perusal. I guess it has been a little while, and Slyde’s been bugging me to chip in. I had a few current thoughts on my mind that I was gonna write about, but that all changed due to the rainout of the Yankee/Red Sox game tonight. It’s been raining all day here on Long Island (and in much of the Northeast), and I was in the mood to just hang at home and watch a good movie in my pajamas. The rainout gave me an opportunity for just that.
I had one of five movies in mind for this cold and dreary evening. Five films that I had recently thought about and happened to have on DVD, so I wouldn’t have to bother with a trip to the video store. Snatch was on my list, I guess because of all the recent media surrounding the birth of Brangelina’s baby. Road to Perdition was number two, for really no reason at all other than that I haven’t seen it since first purchasing it on DVD. High Fidelity was also there because I have this odd fascination with all of John Cusack’s films, but I hold this one in a special place of honor. Bull Durham was right in there because, well, I WAS going to spend the evening watching baseball anyway and this is just about my favorite baseball film.
But no, I decided upon my umpteenth viewing of Unforgiven, the last greatest Western ever made. That last part was my own humble opinion, of course. I’ve been a fan of Westerns for a long time and if you had told me back in college that I would someday see a better Western than The Searchers or My Darling Clementine or The Wild Bunch, well I guess I would have told you that you were just plum nuts. But in 1992, Clint Eastwood did what I thought was impossible. Not only did he make a Western as good as those classics, but (once again, IMHO) he surpassed them. Just check out the simple and elegant title card that we viewers were greeted with that set the stage for what was to unfold:
She Was a comely young woman
and not without prospects.
Therefore it was heartbreaking
to her mother that she would
enter into marriage with
William Munny, a known thief
and murderer. A man of
notoriously vicious and
imtemperate disposition.
When she died, it was not at
his hands as her mother might
have expected, but of smallpox.
That was 1878.
What a fantastic way to start a film. “That was 1878.” With that one sentence we are given so much. No long backstory or exposition, just a simple peek into the world that we were just about to immerse ourselves into. From there the story unfolds. Will Munny (Eastwood) has become a pig farmer with two children from his marriage to Claudia. Times are hard, but he works hard at remaining a good man to his family in honor of his dearly departed wife. He has given up drinking, swearing, violence towards animals and killing. His wife had saved him from that life. As we are told time and time again in the next hour or so, “he ain’t like that no more”.
Over in Big Whiskey, Wyoming (what a great name) two cowboys were having some fun with the local whores when one of the young ladies giggles at the size of the teeny gun one of the fellas is packing. He proceeds to cut up her face in a fit of furious rage, and we now have the fuel that drives the rest of the film. Strawberry Alice (a ferocious Frances Fisher) convinces the rest of the whores to combine their savings to hire assassins to kill the two men who cut up poor Deliliah (a thoroughly underrated Anna Levine. I can watch The Crow just for her scenes especially when the Crow tells her that “Mother is the name for God on the lips and hearts of all children”. Her reactions were fantastic. Plus she has big cans).
Soon, The Schofield Kid (James Woolvett) comes looking for Will to help him out with the dastardly deed. His uncle had told him stories of Will’s past deeds and told him that he was the meanest son of a bitch he had ever met. Will joins up with the Kid, after convincing Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman), one of his former partners in crime, to accompany them. The town’s Sheriff is Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman), a former gunfighter himself who keeps the peace at any cost. The interplay between Bill and those entering his town to break the law drives much of the action for the rest of the film.
But action isn’t really what Unforgiven is all about. It’s about deconstructing some of the myths of the Old West that had previously been portrayed on the silver screen. In some cases by Eastwood himself. The Kid turns out to be a naïve young man who is star-struck at the thought of becoming one of the famous gunfighters that his uncle had told him tales about. When he finally sees how low and dirty the job of killing a man actually is (wonderfully represented by a killing in an outhouse), he finds he doesn’t have the stomach for it.
My favorite character in the film is W.W. Beauchamp (Saul Rubinek), a writer and chronicler of the Old West who has come to town with English Bob (Richard Harris). Bob has heard the tale of the whore’s gold and he has come to town to collect. Before he has a chance at contacting Alice, he is confronted by Bill who, in turn, proceeds to kick the living crap out of him. Beauchamp learns from Bill that English Bob is not the legendary gunslinger of yore, but a drunken coward who is lucky to still be alive.
Two tales are examined here. The Kid wants to know about something his uncle had told him about an incident in Lexington County where Will had killed two deputies who had come to arrest him with guns drawn. Beauchamp wants to know the real story behind the killing of a man named Corcoran by English Bob at the Blue Bottle Saloon. Will won’t or can’t comment on it as he insists he doesn’t remember what happened, although we find out from Ned that there most likely were more deputies than just two. Little Bill is only too happy to let Beauchamp know that Corcoran had done little to deserve being shot by English Bob, and in fact was unarmed at the time of his death because his weapon had backfired.
What is truth? What is myth? These are the answers Eastwood is searching for. Through the outsider’s eyes of Beauchamp, the moviegoer sees the transition from the deception of English Bob to the brutality of Little Bill and finally to the resignation and determination of Will Munny. Where is the honor in any of it? Was there any honor at all? Will Munny was a man just like any other man, he feels. His demons overcame his better angels in his younger days before his wife saved him. It’s only after the vicious and unreasonable killing of his best friend that we see those demons again. But it isn’t legendary skills with guns that lead to his success. It’s determination and luck. Will tells Beauchamp at the end of the film that he’s “always been lucky when it comes to killing folks.”
Will has no hope for redemption. He knows that he can never be forgiven for the things he has done even though he has done the best he could do to change the kind of man he is. When Little Bill utters his last words and tells Will that he will see him in Hell, all Will can do is accept it and respond with a soft-spoken “Yeah” before ending Bill’s life.
Friends often ask me what my favorite movie is. I usually respond that I love so many movies that it would be impossible for me to settle on just one. Every time I see Unforgiven, it becomes easier and easier for me to finally and truthfully answer.
“I guess they had it coming.” – Schofield Kid
“We all have it coming, kid.” – Will Munny
06/12/2006 4:16 PM EST
Hey cowboys and cowgirls! It’s yer old friend Earl here again with a little something for your perusal. I guess it has been a little while, and Slyde’s been bugging me to chip in. I had a few current thoughts on my mind that I was gonna write about, but that all changed due to the rainout of the Yankee/Red Sox game tonight. It’s been raining all day here on Long Island (and in much of the Northeast), and I was in the mood to just hang at home and watch a good movie in my pajamas. The rainout gave me an opportunity for just that.
I had one of five movies in mind for this cold and dreary evening. Five films that I had recently thought about and happened to have on DVD, so I wouldn’t have to bother with a trip to the video store. Snatch was on my list, I guess because of all the recent media surrounding the birth of Brangelina’s baby. Road to Perdition was number two, for really no reason at all other than that I haven’t seen it since first purchasing it on DVD. High Fidelity was also there because I have this odd fascination with all of John Cusack’s films, but I hold this one in a special place of honor. Bull Durham was right in there because, well, I WAS going to spend the evening watching baseball anyway and this is just about my favorite baseball film.
But no, I decided upon my umpteenth viewing of Unforgiven, the last greatest Western ever made. That last part was my own humble opinion, of course. I’ve been a fan of Westerns for a long time and if you had told me back in college that I would someday see a better Western than The Searchers or My Darling Clementine or The Wild Bunch, well I guess I would have told you that you were just plum nuts. But in 1992, Clint Eastwood did what I thought was impossible. Not only did he make a Western as good as those classics, but (once again, IMHO) he surpassed them. Just check out the simple and elegant title card that we viewers were greeted with that set the stage for what was to unfold:
She Was a comely young woman
and not without prospects.
Therefore it was heartbreaking
to her mother that she would
enter into marriage with
William Munny, a known thief
and murderer. A man of
notoriously vicious and
imtemperate disposition.
When she died, it was not at
his hands as her mother might
have expected, but of smallpox.
That was 1878.
What a fantastic way to start a film. “That was 1878.” With that one sentence we are given so much. No long backstory or exposition, just a simple peek into the world that we were just about to immerse ourselves into. From there the story unfolds. Will Munny (Eastwood) has become a pig farmer with two children from his marriage to Claudia. Times are hard, but he works hard at remaining a good man to his family in honor of his dearly departed wife. He has given up drinking, swearing, violence towards animals and killing. His wife had saved him from that life. As we are told time and time again in the next hour or so, “he ain’t like that no more”.
Over in Big Whiskey, Wyoming (what a great name) two cowboys were having some fun with the local whores when one of the young ladies giggles at the size of the teeny gun one of the fellas is packing. He proceeds to cut up her face in a fit of furious rage, and we now have the fuel that drives the rest of the film. Strawberry Alice (a ferocious Frances Fisher) convinces the rest of the whores to combine their savings to hire assassins to kill the two men who cut up poor Deliliah (a thoroughly underrated Anna Levine. I can watch The Crow just for her scenes especially when the Crow tells her that “Mother is the name for God on the lips and hearts of all children”. Her reactions were fantastic. Plus she has big cans).
Soon, The Schofield Kid (James Woolvett) comes looking for Will to help him out with the dastardly deed. His uncle had told him stories of Will’s past deeds and told him that he was the meanest son of a bitch he had ever met. Will joins up with the Kid, after convincing Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman), one of his former partners in crime, to accompany them. The town’s Sheriff is Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman), a former gunfighter himself who keeps the peace at any cost. The interplay between Bill and those entering his town to break the law drives much of the action for the rest of the film.
But action isn’t really what Unforgiven is all about. It’s about deconstructing some of the myths of the Old West that had previously been portrayed on the silver screen. In some cases by Eastwood himself. The Kid turns out to be a naïve young man who is star-struck at the thought of becoming one of the famous gunfighters that his uncle had told him tales about. When he finally sees how low and dirty the job of killing a man actually is (wonderfully represented by a killing in an outhouse), he finds he doesn’t have the stomach for it.
My favorite character in the film is W.W. Beauchamp (Saul Rubinek), a writer and chronicler of the Old West who has come to town with English Bob (Richard Harris). Bob has heard the tale of the whore’s gold and he has come to town to collect. Before he has a chance at contacting Alice, he is confronted by Bill who, in turn, proceeds to kick the living crap out of him. Beauchamp learns from Bill that English Bob is not the legendary gunslinger of yore, but a drunken coward who is lucky to still be alive.
Two tales are examined here. The Kid wants to know about something his uncle had told him about an incident in Lexington County where Will had killed two deputies who had come to arrest him with guns drawn. Beauchamp wants to know the real story behind the killing of a man named Corcoran by English Bob at the Blue Bottle Saloon. Will won’t or can’t comment on it as he insists he doesn’t remember what happened, although we find out from Ned that there most likely were more deputies than just two. Little Bill is only too happy to let Beauchamp know that Corcoran had done little to deserve being shot by English Bob, and in fact was unarmed at the time of his death because his weapon had backfired.
What is truth? What is myth? These are the answers Eastwood is searching for. Through the outsider’s eyes of Beauchamp, the moviegoer sees the transition from the deception of English Bob to the brutality of Little Bill and finally to the resignation and determination of Will Munny. Where is the honor in any of it? Was there any honor at all? Will Munny was a man just like any other man, he feels. His demons overcame his better angels in his younger days before his wife saved him. It’s only after the vicious and unreasonable killing of his best friend that we see those demons again. But it isn’t legendary skills with guns that lead to his success. It’s determination and luck. Will tells Beauchamp at the end of the film that he’s “always been lucky when it comes to killing folks.”
Will has no hope for redemption. He knows that he can never be forgiven for the things he has done even though he has done the best he could do to change the kind of man he is. When Little Bill utters his last words and tells Will that he will see him in Hell, all Will can do is accept it and respond with a soft-spoken “Yeah” before ending Bill’s life.
Friends often ask me what my favorite movie is. I usually respond that I love so many movies that it would be impossible for me to settle on just one. Every time I see Unforgiven, it becomes easier and easier for me to finally and truthfully answer.
“I guess they had it coming.” – Schofield Kid
“We all have it coming, kid.” – Will Munny
Jun 10, 2006
A Little T & A
By B.E. Earl
06/10/2006 8:11 AM EST
Hey kids! Sorry to disappoint, but the titular (hehe) T & A don't stand for what you were all hoping for. Nope, here to talk a little more about "T"equila and "A"ction movies.
First off, apologies to Elizabeth. I felt the need to correct her mis-spelling (did I just mis-spell that?) of mezcal on the feedback section of her site. I've explained that correcting folks is really the only chink in an otherwise glorious armor for me. It's a bad habit and I've got to work on it. To make things worse, it turns out that I was wrong to correct her! It can be spelled either way. Mescal or Mezcal. Unlike Liza, because it's Liza with a "z", not Lisa with an "s", because Lisa with an "s" goes "sss", not "zzz".
That being said, I was just going to share with you a little bit about the differences between tequila and mezcal. Because I'm an ass that way.
Tequila, while technically a type of mezcal, is only made from one varietal of agave. The agave tequilana Weber, blue variety or just what we gringos call the blue agave.
Mezcal can be made from any of five varietals of agave, with the most common one being espadin.
They are also distilled differently. Tequila is distilled at least twice while mezcal is distilled only once...giving it a harsher flavor. The agave hearts for tequila are either baked or steamed in above-ground ovens, while they are baked underground over charcoal and covered with palm leaves for mezcal. That's why you may taste a smoky flavor when you are enjoying your mezcal.
If you have never seen what an agave plant looks like, they are similar in appearance to cacti, but they are actually a succulent...like aloe. And they are HUGE! For some reason, I had always assumed they were about the size of a volleyball, but they are bigger than bean bag chairs. Really, really big bean bag chairs.
As for the action movie portion of our program, I was watching The Last Boy Scout the other day when I realized that this is where the evil started for Bruce Willis. Lemme 'splain. I love his films. I especially love when he steps out of character as he did in The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Great stuff.
What is that character that he gets to step out of occassionally? Why it's the character he first played in The Last Boy Scout. The former law enforcement type with the heart of gold who has witnessed or experienced some tragedy that has changed him into a world-weary, alcoholic private detective type. You know, the character that he played in Striking Distance or Die Hard: With a Vengeance or Mercury Rising or The Fifth Element or even Hostage and Sin City, to certain degrees.
Al of these films are a bit different, but the Willis character is pretty much the same. I guess John Wayne made a pretty fine living by just playing the Duke during his film career, but I never realized how often Willis has played this guy. The exact details are never the same, but you get the picture.
I wonder if there is a team of monkeys some place in Hollywood behind a door marked "Bruce Willis scripts" just banging away on keyboards. Does Willis even read these scripts or does his agent just sign him up and tell him that he's "you know, playing that guy again?"
That being said, I'm glad to see that John McClane will be back for one more outing as Die Hard 4 is currently in pre-production. Hopefully we will find out that he has gotten back together with his wife or that he has moved on since the last film. We need a little more of the wise-cracking hero we saw in the first two films and a little less of the world-weary alcoholic we saw in the third (and sooo many others!).
06/10/2006 8:11 AM EST
Hey kids! Sorry to disappoint, but the titular (hehe) T & A don't stand for what you were all hoping for. Nope, here to talk a little more about "T"equila and "A"ction movies.
First off, apologies to Elizabeth. I felt the need to correct her mis-spelling (did I just mis-spell that?) of mezcal on the feedback section of her site. I've explained that correcting folks is really the only chink in an otherwise glorious armor for me. It's a bad habit and I've got to work on it. To make things worse, it turns out that I was wrong to correct her! It can be spelled either way. Mescal or Mezcal. Unlike Liza, because it's Liza with a "z", not Lisa with an "s", because Lisa with an "s" goes "sss", not "zzz".
That being said, I was just going to share with you a little bit about the differences between tequila and mezcal. Because I'm an ass that way.
Tequila, while technically a type of mezcal, is only made from one varietal of agave. The agave tequilana Weber, blue variety or just what we gringos call the blue agave.
Mezcal can be made from any of five varietals of agave, with the most common one being espadin.
They are also distilled differently. Tequila is distilled at least twice while mezcal is distilled only once...giving it a harsher flavor. The agave hearts for tequila are either baked or steamed in above-ground ovens, while they are baked underground over charcoal and covered with palm leaves for mezcal. That's why you may taste a smoky flavor when you are enjoying your mezcal.
If you have never seen what an agave plant looks like, they are similar in appearance to cacti, but they are actually a succulent...like aloe. And they are HUGE! For some reason, I had always assumed they were about the size of a volleyball, but they are bigger than bean bag chairs. Really, really big bean bag chairs.
As for the action movie portion of our program, I was watching The Last Boy Scout the other day when I realized that this is where the evil started for Bruce Willis. Lemme 'splain. I love his films. I especially love when he steps out of character as he did in The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Great stuff.
What is that character that he gets to step out of occassionally? Why it's the character he first played in The Last Boy Scout. The former law enforcement type with the heart of gold who has witnessed or experienced some tragedy that has changed him into a world-weary, alcoholic private detective type. You know, the character that he played in Striking Distance or Die Hard: With a Vengeance or Mercury Rising or The Fifth Element or even Hostage and Sin City, to certain degrees.
Al of these films are a bit different, but the Willis character is pretty much the same. I guess John Wayne made a pretty fine living by just playing the Duke during his film career, but I never realized how often Willis has played this guy. The exact details are never the same, but you get the picture.
I wonder if there is a team of monkeys some place in Hollywood behind a door marked "Bruce Willis scripts" just banging away on keyboards. Does Willis even read these scripts or does his agent just sign him up and tell him that he's "you know, playing that guy again?"
That being said, I'm glad to see that John McClane will be back for one more outing as Die Hard 4 is currently in pre-production. Hopefully we will find out that he has gotten back together with his wife or that he has moved on since the last film. We need a little more of the wise-cracking hero we saw in the first two films and a little less of the world-weary alcoholic we saw in the third (and sooo many others!).
May 12, 2006
I Knew Someone Was Reading
By B.E. Earl
05/12/2006 11:00 PM EST
Hey kids! Earl here again, while Slyde is vacationing. There is a new show on CBS that I've become a fan of in recent days. It's called How I Met Your Mother and I started watching because I've had this little crush on Alyson Hannigan ever since I started watching Buffy a few years back. It's a harmless bit o' fluffy TV sitcom made watchable mostly by the hilarious turn of Neil Patrick Harris as the suited-up Barney. Funny stuff.
But check out this fishy bit o' dialogue that was used in this past week's episode. The main character, Ted, is bemoaning the fact that he is single because he is too picky with women. He wants the perfect woman, and he goes into deep detail about the type of woman she is. He finishes it up with the following:
Ted: "And she plays bass guitar like Kim Deal from The Pixies."
Marshall: "Or Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth."
Ted: "Any Kim from any cool band, really. Cant' be too picky."
Whoa, whoa, whoa...doesn't that sound a little familiar? Let me refresh your memory from a post of mine back on March 31, 2006. The topic was Sonic Youth and Pauley Perrette , but I originally started the whole thing by talking about Kim Director when I wrote this:
B.E. Earl: "Some of my favorite all-time women have been named “Kim”. Kim Deal from The Pixies, Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth, and I could go on."
Am I being ripped off here by the writers of a major TV show? What the hell! Where is my royalty check?
Actually, the chances that anyone who was a fan of that type of music back in the day were probably fans of both The Pixies and Sonic Youth, and if they were male they most likely had a bit of a thing for the aforementioned Kims. Still, I thought it funny and weird enough to write in about.
If you haven't seen the show, you should give it a chance. The five main leads spend most of their time in a bar getting drunk and hooking up (or trying to hook up) just like most of the twenty-somethings that I have ever known. Certainly a lot more believable than hanging out on a couch in a coffee bar all day and night long. I mean who has "Friends" like that?
05/12/2006 11:00 PM EST
Hey kids! Earl here again, while Slyde is vacationing. There is a new show on CBS that I've become a fan of in recent days. It's called How I Met Your Mother and I started watching because I've had this little crush on Alyson Hannigan ever since I started watching Buffy a few years back. It's a harmless bit o' fluffy TV sitcom made watchable mostly by the hilarious turn of Neil Patrick Harris as the suited-up Barney. Funny stuff.
But check out this fishy bit o' dialogue that was used in this past week's episode. The main character, Ted, is bemoaning the fact that he is single because he is too picky with women. He wants the perfect woman, and he goes into deep detail about the type of woman she is. He finishes it up with the following:
Ted: "And she plays bass guitar like Kim Deal from The Pixies."
Marshall: "Or Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth."
Ted: "Any Kim from any cool band, really. Cant' be too picky."
Whoa, whoa, whoa...doesn't that sound a little familiar? Let me refresh your memory from a post of mine back on March 31, 2006. The topic was Sonic Youth and Pauley Perrette , but I originally started the whole thing by talking about Kim Director when I wrote this:
B.E. Earl: "Some of my favorite all-time women have been named “Kim”. Kim Deal from The Pixies, Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth, and I could go on."
Am I being ripped off here by the writers of a major TV show? What the hell! Where is my royalty check?
Actually, the chances that anyone who was a fan of that type of music back in the day were probably fans of both The Pixies and Sonic Youth, and if they were male they most likely had a bit of a thing for the aforementioned Kims. Still, I thought it funny and weird enough to write in about.
If you haven't seen the show, you should give it a chance. The five main leads spend most of their time in a bar getting drunk and hooking up (or trying to hook up) just like most of the twenty-somethings that I have ever known. Certainly a lot more believable than hanging out on a couch in a coffee bar all day and night long. I mean who has "Friends" like that?
May 3, 2006
Cinco de Awesome!
By B.E. Earl
05/03/2006 4:15 PM EST
Hola, ¡cabritos! As you may (or may not) know by now, I have a fondness for the holidays. Not so much Christmas, Independence Day or Thanksgiving Day, but the holidays that are a bit more fun and have a whole lot more to do with drinking. I’ve already posted about Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day, so I thought it would be fun to muse on the fun that is Cinco de Mayo.
First off, some history. The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, as many people here in the US believe. Mexico declared its’ independence from Spain on September 15th of 1810. May 5th celebrates the victory of the Mexican army over the French (and certain Mexican traitors) on the morning of May 5th, 1862. You see, the French had come to Mexico along with English and Spanish troops to collect on certain debts from the Mexican government. England and Spain soon made deals and left. The French, however, decided to stick around and take over Mexico while the United States was in the midst of a Civil War. 4,000 loyal Mexican soldiers decided otherwise and trounced the French Foreign Legion. Some even believe that this battle assisted the Union in beating the Confederates in our own Civil War since Napoleon III was unable to supply the confederate rebels for the better part of the next year. Good stuff!
What does this have to do with my enjoyment of Cinco de Mayo? Nada! It’s all about tequila and chili for me! So, I’ve decided to give you my top five list of tequilas and my personal recipe for kick-ass chili. Let’s start with tequila shall we.
Tequila has become very popular here in the States over the past 10-15 years. So much so that there are now bars and restaurants that specialize in offering anywhere from 30-100 different types of tequila. Those places are awesome! Tequila is made from fermenting and distilling the sap of the blue agave plant (a succulent, not a cactus). You may have heard that tequila is a type of mezcal, which is true. All tequilas are a form of mezcal, but not all mezcals are tequilas. Got it? Alright, never mind. I could talk for hours about tequila, but I won’t bore you with the details. On to the list:
5. Cazadores (Reposado) – This unassuming bottle with the stag head label is just one fantastic tequila! Kentucky oak barrels are used to age the tequila giving it its’ rich, golden color. Drink it neat or on the rocks. Yummy!
4. Sauza Tres Generaciones (Anejo) – Featured prominently in Kill Bill 2, this simple, underpriced anejo is aged upwards of six years in small oak barrels. Very clean and smooth. My favorite to drink on the rocks with a twist of lime. Wanna have me some right now!
3. Don Eduardo (Silver) – Awesomely harsh tequila taste, and I mean that as a compliment. Maybe even a bit peppery, to me at least. Don Eduardo also makes a fine Anejo, but this is my favorite non-aged tequila around. Great as a shot, on the rocks or in a fantastic margarita!
2. Corazon (Reposado) – What a great bottle, and the tequila in it doesn’t disappoint. Aged in Canadian oak barrels, this is one damn fine sipping tequila. It also comes in a Silver and Anejo, but I like the taste of the Reposado the best.
1. Jose Cuervo Reserva de la Familia (Anejo) – I almost left this one off the list because it is so aged, so smooth that it almost doesn’t taste like tequila at all. Drink this one in a warm snifter and enjoy with your best friends. It’s like a little bit of heaven right there in a bottle.
I could have gone on and on about tequila, but I wanted to quickly get to my recipe for chili, so here goes:
Ingredients
1 ½ pounds ground sirloin
1 pound ground Italian sausage (sweet or hot)
1 large can peeled Italian tomatoes (not sure of the size, but the big can)
1 small can tomato paste (not sure of the size, but the smallest one)
1 bottle beer (user’s choice)
2-3 red, orange or yellow peppers diced (I like to mix it up for the colors)
2 green peppers diced
2 large onions diced
6 celery stalks diced
I large handful of jalepeno or similarly spicy peppers seeded and diced.
2 ½ tblspns ground chili powder
1 tblspn ground cayenne pepper powder
1 tblspn ground cumin
1 tblspn salt
- Add tomatoes (you can slice them up if you prefer, but include all the juice in the can), tomato paste, beer and spices to large pot on low-medium heat.
- Brown beef and sausage in large pan. Drain and add to pot.
- Sauté onions, celery and peppers in a little vegetable oil until onions are a little translucent. Add to pot.
- Bring to a slow boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 4-5 hours (or until the tomatoes break down) covered, stirring occasionally.
- Serve with sour cream, grated cheddar or Monterey jack cheese, tortilla chips and hot sauce for an additional kick.
As you can see, I do not put beans in my chili. I prefer just the veggies and the meat, but feel free to add some small red or black beans to the mix. Do so according to the directions on the bean packet, but then it won’t be MY chili recipe, now will it?
Enjoy Cinco de Mayo everyone!
05/03/2006 4:15 PM EST
Hola, ¡cabritos! As you may (or may not) know by now, I have a fondness for the holidays. Not so much Christmas, Independence Day or Thanksgiving Day, but the holidays that are a bit more fun and have a whole lot more to do with drinking. I’ve already posted about Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day, so I thought it would be fun to muse on the fun that is Cinco de Mayo.
First off, some history. The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, as many people here in the US believe. Mexico declared its’ independence from Spain on September 15th of 1810. May 5th celebrates the victory of the Mexican army over the French (and certain Mexican traitors) on the morning of May 5th, 1862. You see, the French had come to Mexico along with English and Spanish troops to collect on certain debts from the Mexican government. England and Spain soon made deals and left. The French, however, decided to stick around and take over Mexico while the United States was in the midst of a Civil War. 4,000 loyal Mexican soldiers decided otherwise and trounced the French Foreign Legion. Some even believe that this battle assisted the Union in beating the Confederates in our own Civil War since Napoleon III was unable to supply the confederate rebels for the better part of the next year. Good stuff!
What does this have to do with my enjoyment of Cinco de Mayo? Nada! It’s all about tequila and chili for me! So, I’ve decided to give you my top five list of tequilas and my personal recipe for kick-ass chili. Let’s start with tequila shall we.
Tequila has become very popular here in the States over the past 10-15 years. So much so that there are now bars and restaurants that specialize in offering anywhere from 30-100 different types of tequila. Those places are awesome! Tequila is made from fermenting and distilling the sap of the blue agave plant (a succulent, not a cactus). You may have heard that tequila is a type of mezcal, which is true. All tequilas are a form of mezcal, but not all mezcals are tequilas. Got it? Alright, never mind. I could talk for hours about tequila, but I won’t bore you with the details. On to the list:
5. Cazadores (Reposado) – This unassuming bottle with the stag head label is just one fantastic tequila! Kentucky oak barrels are used to age the tequila giving it its’ rich, golden color. Drink it neat or on the rocks. Yummy!
4. Sauza Tres Generaciones (Anejo) – Featured prominently in Kill Bill 2, this simple, underpriced anejo is aged upwards of six years in small oak barrels. Very clean and smooth. My favorite to drink on the rocks with a twist of lime. Wanna have me some right now!
3. Don Eduardo (Silver) – Awesomely harsh tequila taste, and I mean that as a compliment. Maybe even a bit peppery, to me at least. Don Eduardo also makes a fine Anejo, but this is my favorite non-aged tequila around. Great as a shot, on the rocks or in a fantastic margarita!
2. Corazon (Reposado) – What a great bottle, and the tequila in it doesn’t disappoint. Aged in Canadian oak barrels, this is one damn fine sipping tequila. It also comes in a Silver and Anejo, but I like the taste of the Reposado the best.
1. Jose Cuervo Reserva de la Familia (Anejo) – I almost left this one off the list because it is so aged, so smooth that it almost doesn’t taste like tequila at all. Drink this one in a warm snifter and enjoy with your best friends. It’s like a little bit of heaven right there in a bottle.
I could have gone on and on about tequila, but I wanted to quickly get to my recipe for chili, so here goes:
Ingredients
1 ½ pounds ground sirloin
1 pound ground Italian sausage (sweet or hot)
1 large can peeled Italian tomatoes (not sure of the size, but the big can)
1 small can tomato paste (not sure of the size, but the smallest one)
1 bottle beer (user’s choice)
2-3 red, orange or yellow peppers diced (I like to mix it up for the colors)
2 green peppers diced
2 large onions diced
6 celery stalks diced
I large handful of jalepeno or similarly spicy peppers seeded and diced.
2 ½ tblspns ground chili powder
1 tblspn ground cayenne pepper powder
1 tblspn ground cumin
1 tblspn salt
- Add tomatoes (you can slice them up if you prefer, but include all the juice in the can), tomato paste, beer and spices to large pot on low-medium heat.
- Brown beef and sausage in large pan. Drain and add to pot.
- Sauté onions, celery and peppers in a little vegetable oil until onions are a little translucent. Add to pot.
- Bring to a slow boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 4-5 hours (or until the tomatoes break down) covered, stirring occasionally.
- Serve with sour cream, grated cheddar or Monterey jack cheese, tortilla chips and hot sauce for an additional kick.
As you can see, I do not put beans in my chili. I prefer just the veggies and the meat, but feel free to add some small red or black beans to the mix. Do so according to the directions on the bean packet, but then it won’t be MY chili recipe, now will it?
Enjoy Cinco de Mayo everyone!
Apr 5, 2006
Extra Innings
By B.E. Earl
04/05/2006 10:21 PM EST
Yowza, yowza, yowza! Thought I would expand on my last Sonic Youth/Pauley Perrette post with a couple of odds and ends regarding both.
The radio station that I heard Sonic Youth on a few weeks back was something called the Radio X Underground Network here on Long Island. It can be heard on 94.7, 94.9 and 104.5 on your FM radio dial just about anywhere in Suffolk County. Unfortunately the signal is pretty weak in my hometown of Huntington, but hopefully they will correct that someday. Their tagline is “transmitting from the top of a really big tree in Ridge”. So they will never be confused with the old K-Rock. They play a healthy dose of alternative music that is currently missing from the rest of NYC/LI metropolitan area. Besides WFUV (90.7FM), it is the only radio station that I really listen to.
What I didn’t mention in my last post about hearing “Titanium Expose” on Radio X is that I had never heard it on the radio…ever! It’s the last song on Sonic Youth’s “Goo” album, and at almost seven minutes long it is not what you would call radio-friendly. The only thing I could think of was that it was on the soundtrack of Pump Up the Volume, a 1990 film featuring Christian Slater as a teenaged underground radio DJ. Then I became really sad because I knew it was on the soundtrack of that mostly forgettable film.
You see, my obscure film trivia knowledge is the biggest factor in my not leading a fuller, more important life. I’ve been known to say that the portion of the brain most people use to lead a normal life is filled with utter nonsense about movies in my brain. Anyway, back to our story.
I started to hear more references to Pump Up the Volume on this radio station on a daily basis. They play an audio clip from it between songs. “Are you listening…are you out there?” or something like that. They also played Concrete Blonde’s version of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows” which was also on the soundtrack. Maybe they feel they have a kindred spirit in the character that Christian Slater plays. Who knows?
Now, I own the soundtrack. It’s great! It’s got Ivan Neville, The Pixies, Liquid Jesus, Cowboy Junkies, Beastie Boys and Bad Brains performing with Henry Rollins! All great stuff! I just think that it is a little weird for a new and developing radio station to have a soundtrack from an obscure movie made 16 years ago on its playlist. Weird, but I love it! I may be the only person listening who loves it, and at 39 I’m probably not the demographic that they were looking for, but so be it. Talk hard! Steal the air!
As for the lovely Pauley Perrette , you can read an interview with her in the current issue of Risen magazine that is on newsstands now. That is, if you are able to find it. I went to Barnes & Noble to see if they had it, but nay…they didn’t even carry the title. Then I went to Tower Records and an extremely helpful sales clerk informed me that they carry it in the Music section and even spent five minutes or so trying to help me find it in vain. I thanked him and continued to peruse the magazine racks because I wasn’t quite sure if it was actually a Music-type magazine. Just about to give up, I found it on the bottom rack next to a Heavy Metal magazine and a video game rag.
After reading it, I’m not sure how to classify it. They feature interviews with will.i.am from The Black Eyed Peas, Anne Rice, Danny Trejo (how cool is that?) and Pauley Perrette. I guess you can say that they feature artists from all mediums, but there is a great focus on spiritualism and religion in each interview. Maybe I should have gleaned from the title (the sub-title is “it’s not what you think.”), but I just wasn’t sure. Either way, it is an intelligent and totally different type of magazine that strays far away from the normal interview fare. You gotta love a magazine that will ask the hard questions like “Where do you see yourself in 10,000 years?”
You can check out Risen magazine at www.risenmagazine.com, if that kind of thing floats your boat. It comes with my personal seal of approval. Yeah, I know…that and $3.60 will get you a double tall vanilla latte at Starbucks. Sigh.
04/05/2006 10:21 PM EST
Yowza, yowza, yowza! Thought I would expand on my last Sonic Youth/Pauley Perrette post with a couple of odds and ends regarding both.
The radio station that I heard Sonic Youth on a few weeks back was something called the Radio X Underground Network here on Long Island. It can be heard on 94.7, 94.9 and 104.5 on your FM radio dial just about anywhere in Suffolk County. Unfortunately the signal is pretty weak in my hometown of Huntington, but hopefully they will correct that someday. Their tagline is “transmitting from the top of a really big tree in Ridge”. So they will never be confused with the old K-Rock. They play a healthy dose of alternative music that is currently missing from the rest of NYC/LI metropolitan area. Besides WFUV (90.7FM), it is the only radio station that I really listen to.
What I didn’t mention in my last post about hearing “Titanium Expose” on Radio X is that I had never heard it on the radio…ever! It’s the last song on Sonic Youth’s “Goo” album, and at almost seven minutes long it is not what you would call radio-friendly. The only thing I could think of was that it was on the soundtrack of Pump Up the Volume, a 1990 film featuring Christian Slater as a teenaged underground radio DJ. Then I became really sad because I knew it was on the soundtrack of that mostly forgettable film.
You see, my obscure film trivia knowledge is the biggest factor in my not leading a fuller, more important life. I’ve been known to say that the portion of the brain most people use to lead a normal life is filled with utter nonsense about movies in my brain. Anyway, back to our story.
I started to hear more references to Pump Up the Volume on this radio station on a daily basis. They play an audio clip from it between songs. “Are you listening…are you out there?” or something like that. They also played Concrete Blonde’s version of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows” which was also on the soundtrack. Maybe they feel they have a kindred spirit in the character that Christian Slater plays. Who knows?
Now, I own the soundtrack. It’s great! It’s got Ivan Neville, The Pixies, Liquid Jesus, Cowboy Junkies, Beastie Boys and Bad Brains performing with Henry Rollins! All great stuff! I just think that it is a little weird for a new and developing radio station to have a soundtrack from an obscure movie made 16 years ago on its playlist. Weird, but I love it! I may be the only person listening who loves it, and at 39 I’m probably not the demographic that they were looking for, but so be it. Talk hard! Steal the air!
As for the lovely Pauley Perrette , you can read an interview with her in the current issue of Risen magazine that is on newsstands now. That is, if you are able to find it. I went to Barnes & Noble to see if they had it, but nay…they didn’t even carry the title. Then I went to Tower Records and an extremely helpful sales clerk informed me that they carry it in the Music section and even spent five minutes or so trying to help me find it in vain. I thanked him and continued to peruse the magazine racks because I wasn’t quite sure if it was actually a Music-type magazine. Just about to give up, I found it on the bottom rack next to a Heavy Metal magazine and a video game rag.
After reading it, I’m not sure how to classify it. They feature interviews with will.i.am from The Black Eyed Peas, Anne Rice, Danny Trejo (how cool is that?) and Pauley Perrette. I guess you can say that they feature artists from all mediums, but there is a great focus on spiritualism and religion in each interview. Maybe I should have gleaned from the title (the sub-title is “it’s not what you think.”), but I just wasn’t sure. Either way, it is an intelligent and totally different type of magazine that strays far away from the normal interview fare. You gotta love a magazine that will ask the hard questions like “Where do you see yourself in 10,000 years?”
You can check out Risen magazine at www.risenmagazine.com, if that kind of thing floats your boat. It comes with my personal seal of approval. Yeah, I know…that and $3.60 will get you a double tall vanilla latte at Starbucks. Sigh.
Mar 31, 2006
Six Degrees of Sonic Youth
By B.E. Earl
03/31/2006 11:01 PM EST
Hey kids! So I’ve made a pretty important decision in my life. I had previously decided to fall in love with Kim Director, but I’ve just changed my mind and found that my love must go to Pauley Perrette instead. By “previously”, I meant just earlier tonight. Confused? Lemme ‘splain.
I had just come back from seeing the new Spike Lee joint (wow, I hated typing that) Inside Man and I was looking up some things about it on IMDB.com. One of those things happened to be where Kim Director (who co-starred in the film) has been all my life. Apparently she had been in quite a few Spike Lee joints (ouch!) over the years, but I actually recognized her from Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 in which she played the yummie Goth Kim Diamond. Some of my favorite all-time women have been named “Kim”. Kim Deal from The Pixies, Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth, and I could go on. Still with me?
Scanning her acting credits on IMDB, I was sure that I was going to find her on “Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service” as the yummie Goth Abby Sciuto. I mean, I had seen the show all of one time so I was positive the same actor played them both. Right? Wrong! The aforementioned Abby Sciuto is played by Pauley Perrette who really looks like Kim Director in only the vaguest of ways. They are both attractive females with dark hair.
Digging a bit deeper it seems that Pauley P is a published poet and spoken word artist. She actually has a Master’s Degree in Criminology (who saw that coming?) and a real obsession with the study of forensics. She also has her own blogsite, http://www.pauleyp.com/blog/, where she writes an awful lot. Great stuff too.
I was thumbing through it tonight when I came across a posting from February 16th, 2006 in which she made a list of great things that included: “One Of Your Fave Obscure Songs Heard On The Radio In The Car”. I had to shoot her a quick email (that will most likely go unread) to explain that this had just happened to me last week with the song “Titanium Expose” by Sonic Youth! Kim Gordon’s band, Sonic Youth! See what I did there?
So I’ve now been listening to my old Sonic Youth CDs for the past few hours, and reading through the archives of her blog. Nice! I think I’ll have to start watching “Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service” more often!
03/31/2006 11:01 PM EST
Hey kids! So I’ve made a pretty important decision in my life. I had previously decided to fall in love with Kim Director, but I’ve just changed my mind and found that my love must go to Pauley Perrette instead. By “previously”, I meant just earlier tonight. Confused? Lemme ‘splain.
I had just come back from seeing the new Spike Lee joint (wow, I hated typing that) Inside Man and I was looking up some things about it on IMDB.com. One of those things happened to be where Kim Director (who co-starred in the film) has been all my life. Apparently she had been in quite a few Spike Lee joints (ouch!) over the years, but I actually recognized her from Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 in which she played the yummie Goth Kim Diamond. Some of my favorite all-time women have been named “Kim”. Kim Deal from The Pixies, Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth, and I could go on. Still with me?
Scanning her acting credits on IMDB, I was sure that I was going to find her on “Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service” as the yummie Goth Abby Sciuto. I mean, I had seen the show all of one time so I was positive the same actor played them both. Right? Wrong! The aforementioned Abby Sciuto is played by Pauley Perrette who really looks like Kim Director in only the vaguest of ways. They are both attractive females with dark hair.
Digging a bit deeper it seems that Pauley P is a published poet and spoken word artist. She actually has a Master’s Degree in Criminology (who saw that coming?) and a real obsession with the study of forensics. She also has her own blogsite, http://www.pauleyp.com/blog/, where she writes an awful lot. Great stuff too.
I was thumbing through it tonight when I came across a posting from February 16th, 2006 in which she made a list of great things that included: “One Of Your Fave Obscure Songs Heard On The Radio In The Car”. I had to shoot her a quick email (that will most likely go unread) to explain that this had just happened to me last week with the song “Titanium Expose” by Sonic Youth! Kim Gordon’s band, Sonic Youth! See what I did there?
So I’ve now been listening to my old Sonic Youth CDs for the past few hours, and reading through the archives of her blog. Nice! I think I’ll have to start watching “Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service” more often!
Mar 9, 2006
Skanks for the Memories
By B.E. Earl
03/09/2006 12:04 PM EST
Howdy kids! One of the great things about getting older (and maybe one of the only great things) is that big ole’ bag of memories that you can dip into every once in a while. You stick your head in, fish around and sometimes you wind up with a great big smile. Other times you wind up embarrassed as all hell, but hopefully the smiles outweigh the frowns when placed upon the scales of life. Wow…that sounded much deeper than I am really capable of. Oh no! Another downer for the memory bag!
Anyway, I happened to see that The Ska-talites are going to be playing a gig in NYC next week with their new lineup. Got me thinking about ska, which was the driving musical force of my life during much of the early and mid 90’s. So I dusted off my pork-pie hat (which I’ve always been too embarrassed to wear out of the house) and kicked it out with some of my old ska recordings the other night, and I discovered something. I really miss The Scofflaws.
The Scofflaws were/are a Long-Island-based ska band that were at the height of their popularity during the mid-90’s before the flood of ska-pop bands began to hit MTV. A part of ska’s “third wave” along with bands like Bim Skala Bim, they were a staple in NYC and Long Island clubs during much of the 90’s. Along with my good friend, I was a semi-regular at their gigs all over the Island. We must have seen them close to 50 times back then.
One fond memory was seeing them at a bar in Farmingdale one weekend. It was the end of their set and they looked to the audience for requests. We shouted out “Paul Getty” (a favorite of mine) to which Richard “Sammy” Brooks, their lead singer/saxophonist, replied “F**k that!” Well, the very next week we went to see them in a bar in Port Jefferson. Brooks stepped up to the mike at the beginning of their second set and said they were going to play “Paul Getty” for those two dudes up front who requested it the previous week. He said he felt bad about telling us off back in Farmingdale. Cool!
So I wound up listening to their CDs over and over again over the next few days. I looked them up on Google and couldn’t find any evidence if they were still performing. I know Buford O’Sullivan is doing his own thing nowadays, but even he said on his website that the common denominator to all the various incarnations of the Scofflaws was Richard Brooks. So maybe Brooks is still out there, skanking his way through gigs just like he did back in the day. I hope so. If anyone has any info, please drop a line in the comment section.
Maybe I’ll go see The Ska-talites next week. They’ve been around in one form or another since the mid-60’s, and they are still skanking. Looks like only Lloyd Knibb and Doreen Shaffer remain from the original band, and I’m surprised even at that. Saw them a few times in NYC a ways back and they were great! Maybe I’ll even wear my unused pork-pie hat. Probably not though. Too bad…it’s a great hat!
03/09/2006 12:04 PM EST
Howdy kids! One of the great things about getting older (and maybe one of the only great things) is that big ole’ bag of memories that you can dip into every once in a while. You stick your head in, fish around and sometimes you wind up with a great big smile. Other times you wind up embarrassed as all hell, but hopefully the smiles outweigh the frowns when placed upon the scales of life. Wow…that sounded much deeper than I am really capable of. Oh no! Another downer for the memory bag!
Anyway, I happened to see that The Ska-talites are going to be playing a gig in NYC next week with their new lineup. Got me thinking about ska, which was the driving musical force of my life during much of the early and mid 90’s. So I dusted off my pork-pie hat (which I’ve always been too embarrassed to wear out of the house) and kicked it out with some of my old ska recordings the other night, and I discovered something. I really miss The Scofflaws.
The Scofflaws were/are a Long-Island-based ska band that were at the height of their popularity during the mid-90’s before the flood of ska-pop bands began to hit MTV. A part of ska’s “third wave” along with bands like Bim Skala Bim, they were a staple in NYC and Long Island clubs during much of the 90’s. Along with my good friend, I was a semi-regular at their gigs all over the Island. We must have seen them close to 50 times back then.
One fond memory was seeing them at a bar in Farmingdale one weekend. It was the end of their set and they looked to the audience for requests. We shouted out “Paul Getty” (a favorite of mine) to which Richard “Sammy” Brooks, their lead singer/saxophonist, replied “F**k that!” Well, the very next week we went to see them in a bar in Port Jefferson. Brooks stepped up to the mike at the beginning of their second set and said they were going to play “Paul Getty” for those two dudes up front who requested it the previous week. He said he felt bad about telling us off back in Farmingdale. Cool!
So I wound up listening to their CDs over and over again over the next few days. I looked them up on Google and couldn’t find any evidence if they were still performing. I know Buford O’Sullivan is doing his own thing nowadays, but even he said on his website that the common denominator to all the various incarnations of the Scofflaws was Richard Brooks. So maybe Brooks is still out there, skanking his way through gigs just like he did back in the day. I hope so. If anyone has any info, please drop a line in the comment section.
Maybe I’ll go see The Ska-talites next week. They’ve been around in one form or another since the mid-60’s, and they are still skanking. Looks like only Lloyd Knibb and Doreen Shaffer remain from the original band, and I’m surprised even at that. Saw them a few times in NYC a ways back and they were great! Maybe I’ll even wear my unused pork-pie hat. Probably not though. Too bad…it’s a great hat!
The Late, Great Kirby Puckett
By B.E. Earl
03/09/2006 9:50 PM EST
Hey kids! Sad news this week from the world of baseball. Kirby Puckett, Hall of Fame centerfielder for the Minnesota Twins, died after suffering a stroke. Kirby was one of those players that made you love the game of baseball. His reckless abandon in the outfield, his huge grin and his semi-ridiculous body just made you want to smile when you saw him play. He was the centerpiece of a Twins team that won two World Series and he was a ten-time participant in the All-Star game. Yet, something has always bothered me about his first ballot selection to the Hall of Fame back in 2001.
It wasn’t the subsequent talk about his off-field problems. I’m not here to talk about that. Maybe he wasn’t as much of a “good guy” as baseball folks liked to think he was when he was playing, but the Hall of Fame voters ultimately shouldn’t decide whether or not someone is a “good guy” before voting him into the most hallow of Halls. The Hall is filled with players and managers that wouldn’t even come close to having “good guy” credentials in their resumes. And I certainly won’t go into details about the allegations about his character now that he has passed away. I don’t mean any disrespect to the man himself.
No. What I have a problem with was the automatic assumption that he was a first ballot HoFer after he retired early due to glaucoma, and the fact that assumption was proven to be correct in 2001. Take a look at Kirby’s career statistics alongside those of a contemporary of his whose career was also cut short due to a medical condition.
G AB Hits HR RBI Runs BB BA OBP SLG
Kirby 1783 7244 2304 207 1085 1071 450 .318 .360 .477
Player A 1785 7003 2153 222 1099 1007 588 .307 .358 .471
You might find it impossible to find two players whose career numbers come any closer than these two guys. And yet, Kirby was a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame while Player A has never seriously been given consideration for the Hall. Let’s look at some other stats, shall we:
WS Titles MVP Awards All-Star Games Gold Gloves Black Ink
Kirby 2 0 10 6 22
Player A 0 1 6 9 23
For those of you unfamiliar with the term “Black Ink” it refers to the number of times said player led the league an offensive category (Hits, BA, SLG, etc…). Kirby did possess two World Series rings as opposed to none for Player A, but I’ve always felt that argument to be a little weak. Post-season success has much more to do with team success rather than individual achievement. Player A has the one MVP award, however, Kirby did place as high as second in the voting once and third in the voting twice. Both players have an impressive record of All-Star appearances and Gold Glove recognition. So its got to be the post-season success that made voters hold one of these players in such high esteem, while the other is thought to be just short. Right? Take a look at their post-season stats.
G AB Hits HR RBI Runs BB BA OBP SLG
Kirby 24 97 30 5 15 16 8 .309 .361 .536
Player A 5 24 10 1 6 3 1 .417 .440 .708
Kirby certainly played a helluva lot more in the post-season than Player A, but when he did get the chance to play in the post-season Player A’s statistics were astronomical. And those numbers came in his last season as a professional when his skills had dramatically declined due to his previously mentioned medical issues. Who knows the gaudy numbers he could have put up had his team made the playoffs in any of his previous seasons in the big leagues?
So why the discrepancy when it comes to Hall of Fame votes? The answer is I honestly don’t know, but most analysts point to Kirby’s post-season success and heroics. Everyone mentions the home run he hit in Game 6, which allowed the Twins to take the World Series one game later. Very nice, but is it a career defining moment that makes him stand head and shoulders above Player A? And like I stated before, I think World Series titles are a testament to the team rather than the individual, but what the hell do I know.
For those of you who aren’t fans of the New York Yankees, Player A is none other than fan favorite Don Mattingly. To go on the record here, I don’t believe that EITHER player belongs in the hall. They were both great players, both considered to be sure-fire HoFers at the height of their careers. Both, however, were sadly forced to retire early due to their medical conditions. Glaucoma for Kirby Puckett and chronic back problems for Don Mattingly. 10 or 12 years, in my opinion, is just not long enough of a career to allow consideration into the Hall of Fame in most cases. Sandy Koufax is one of the exceptions to the rule. I think both Puckett and Mattingly come up just short.
The baseball world mourns the loss of Kirby Puckett, as it rightly should. Fan favorite and media darling that he was, he will be sorely missed. Maybe the timing of my argument against his induction into the Hall of Fame is a bit off. I’m sure it could anger some of his family, friends and fans that are faced with pain of his passing. I’m sorry for that, I truly am. Baseball, in the end, is just a small part of a man’s life and accomplishments. They should mourn the loss of the man, not the player.
03/09/2006 9:50 PM EST
Hey kids! Sad news this week from the world of baseball. Kirby Puckett, Hall of Fame centerfielder for the Minnesota Twins, died after suffering a stroke. Kirby was one of those players that made you love the game of baseball. His reckless abandon in the outfield, his huge grin and his semi-ridiculous body just made you want to smile when you saw him play. He was the centerpiece of a Twins team that won two World Series and he was a ten-time participant in the All-Star game. Yet, something has always bothered me about his first ballot selection to the Hall of Fame back in 2001.
It wasn’t the subsequent talk about his off-field problems. I’m not here to talk about that. Maybe he wasn’t as much of a “good guy” as baseball folks liked to think he was when he was playing, but the Hall of Fame voters ultimately shouldn’t decide whether or not someone is a “good guy” before voting him into the most hallow of Halls. The Hall is filled with players and managers that wouldn’t even come close to having “good guy” credentials in their resumes. And I certainly won’t go into details about the allegations about his character now that he has passed away. I don’t mean any disrespect to the man himself.
No. What I have a problem with was the automatic assumption that he was a first ballot HoFer after he retired early due to glaucoma, and the fact that assumption was proven to be correct in 2001. Take a look at Kirby’s career statistics alongside those of a contemporary of his whose career was also cut short due to a medical condition.
G AB Hits HR RBI Runs BB BA OBP SLG
Kirby 1783 7244 2304 207 1085 1071 450 .318 .360 .477
Player A 1785 7003 2153 222 1099 1007 588 .307 .358 .471
You might find it impossible to find two players whose career numbers come any closer than these two guys. And yet, Kirby was a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame while Player A has never seriously been given consideration for the Hall. Let’s look at some other stats, shall we:
WS Titles MVP Awards All-Star Games Gold Gloves Black Ink
Kirby 2 0 10 6 22
Player A 0 1 6 9 23
For those of you unfamiliar with the term “Black Ink” it refers to the number of times said player led the league an offensive category (Hits, BA, SLG, etc…). Kirby did possess two World Series rings as opposed to none for Player A, but I’ve always felt that argument to be a little weak. Post-season success has much more to do with team success rather than individual achievement. Player A has the one MVP award, however, Kirby did place as high as second in the voting once and third in the voting twice. Both players have an impressive record of All-Star appearances and Gold Glove recognition. So its got to be the post-season success that made voters hold one of these players in such high esteem, while the other is thought to be just short. Right? Take a look at their post-season stats.
G AB Hits HR RBI Runs BB BA OBP SLG
Kirby 24 97 30 5 15 16 8 .309 .361 .536
Player A 5 24 10 1 6 3 1 .417 .440 .708
Kirby certainly played a helluva lot more in the post-season than Player A, but when he did get the chance to play in the post-season Player A’s statistics were astronomical. And those numbers came in his last season as a professional when his skills had dramatically declined due to his previously mentioned medical issues. Who knows the gaudy numbers he could have put up had his team made the playoffs in any of his previous seasons in the big leagues?
So why the discrepancy when it comes to Hall of Fame votes? The answer is I honestly don’t know, but most analysts point to Kirby’s post-season success and heroics. Everyone mentions the home run he hit in Game 6, which allowed the Twins to take the World Series one game later. Very nice, but is it a career defining moment that makes him stand head and shoulders above Player A? And like I stated before, I think World Series titles are a testament to the team rather than the individual, but what the hell do I know.
For those of you who aren’t fans of the New York Yankees, Player A is none other than fan favorite Don Mattingly. To go on the record here, I don’t believe that EITHER player belongs in the hall. They were both great players, both considered to be sure-fire HoFers at the height of their careers. Both, however, were sadly forced to retire early due to their medical conditions. Glaucoma for Kirby Puckett and chronic back problems for Don Mattingly. 10 or 12 years, in my opinion, is just not long enough of a career to allow consideration into the Hall of Fame in most cases. Sandy Koufax is one of the exceptions to the rule. I think both Puckett and Mattingly come up just short.
The baseball world mourns the loss of Kirby Puckett, as it rightly should. Fan favorite and media darling that he was, he will be sorely missed. Maybe the timing of my argument against his induction into the Hall of Fame is a bit off. I’m sure it could anger some of his family, friends and fans that are faced with pain of his passing. I’m sorry for that, I truly am. Baseball, in the end, is just a small part of a man’s life and accomplishments. They should mourn the loss of the man, not the player.
Feb 28, 2006
Remember, Remember, the 5th of November
By B.E. Earl
02/28/2006 7:17 PM EST
Hey kids! One thing I forgot to mention about March 17th in my last posting was that it is the US and UK major release date for the new Wachowski produced film V for Vendetta. In anticipation of this event, I sat down last night and re-read my copies of the DC comic books written by Alan Moore that the film is based upon.
For those not in the know, ‘V for Vendetta’ was actually started by Moore in the early 80’s and never quite finished because the British magazine that was publishing the serial went under. Moore and DC Publications picked up the unfinished storyline in 1988 and finished it with reprints of the first part of the comic and new material. As Moore himself states in the preface, nothing much has changed (except the age of his daughter) since he first started the story as Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party were still ruling Great Britain. ‘V for Vendetta’ was his attempt to comment on a society that he felt was rapidly going down the wrong path.
The titular masked hero/villain, V, is a freedom fighter of unknown origins who not only is attempting to change the landscape of society in this future view of Great Britain, but is also on a vendetta against those who had seriously wronged him and others like him in the past. In this version of the future, Great Britain has survived a nuclear war that had destroyed much of the rest of the world. Having removed all American nuclear weapons from British soil by Parliamentary edict some time ago, they were no longer a prime first strike target. The nuclear winter and resulting famine and flooding, however, caused a drastic change in the government of the country. A fascist regime took over and soon Great Britain became a violent and corrupt Orwellian society.
Our hero, V, chooses Guy Fawkes Day in 1997 as his coming out party and actually succeeds where Fawkes failed in blowing up Parliament. The act is more symbolic than anything else as Parliament’s power had long since gone the way of the dodo. Along with his naïve young accomplice, Evey, V proceeds to rain destruction down on the fascist government and send the whole country into chaos. He also continues his bloody quest to hunt down his former tormentors and make them pay for they had done to him.
The graphic novel is extremely well written and intelligent, maybe even more so than ‘Watchmen’ for which Moore is more often lauded. The way that Moore was playing with the conventional form and content of comic books was revolutionary at the time. Even as dated as it seems now (the comic book’s future date was 1997/1998), we can see how well this story could translate into a timely piece of political filmmaking. I would love to see the Vicious Cabaret section from the comic book played out on the big screen, but I understand it has been excised from the screenplay. Too bad.
I understand that film is going to be different from the graphic novel, as should be the case with a work of this scope that has a multitude of secondary plots and characters. That is the great thing about adapted works of art. You always have the original to go back to. Moore himself has had nothing to do with this film having given away the rights long ago to his friend and collaborator David Lloyd. He has said that adaptations of his work have nothing to do with the work itself. Each should stand alone.
I’m hoping that this adaptation stands alone, but I’m also hoping that it contains enough of the wit and intelligence of the original to show the rest of the world the true genius that is Alan Moore. We shouldn’t have to settle for anything less.
02/28/2006 7:17 PM EST
Hey kids! One thing I forgot to mention about March 17th in my last posting was that it is the US and UK major release date for the new Wachowski produced film V for Vendetta. In anticipation of this event, I sat down last night and re-read my copies of the DC comic books written by Alan Moore that the film is based upon.
For those not in the know, ‘V for Vendetta’ was actually started by Moore in the early 80’s and never quite finished because the British magazine that was publishing the serial went under. Moore and DC Publications picked up the unfinished storyline in 1988 and finished it with reprints of the first part of the comic and new material. As Moore himself states in the preface, nothing much has changed (except the age of his daughter) since he first started the story as Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party were still ruling Great Britain. ‘V for Vendetta’ was his attempt to comment on a society that he felt was rapidly going down the wrong path.
The titular masked hero/villain, V, is a freedom fighter of unknown origins who not only is attempting to change the landscape of society in this future view of Great Britain, but is also on a vendetta against those who had seriously wronged him and others like him in the past. In this version of the future, Great Britain has survived a nuclear war that had destroyed much of the rest of the world. Having removed all American nuclear weapons from British soil by Parliamentary edict some time ago, they were no longer a prime first strike target. The nuclear winter and resulting famine and flooding, however, caused a drastic change in the government of the country. A fascist regime took over and soon Great Britain became a violent and corrupt Orwellian society.
Our hero, V, chooses Guy Fawkes Day in 1997 as his coming out party and actually succeeds where Fawkes failed in blowing up Parliament. The act is more symbolic than anything else as Parliament’s power had long since gone the way of the dodo. Along with his naïve young accomplice, Evey, V proceeds to rain destruction down on the fascist government and send the whole country into chaos. He also continues his bloody quest to hunt down his former tormentors and make them pay for they had done to him.
The graphic novel is extremely well written and intelligent, maybe even more so than ‘Watchmen’ for which Moore is more often lauded. The way that Moore was playing with the conventional form and content of comic books was revolutionary at the time. Even as dated as it seems now (the comic book’s future date was 1997/1998), we can see how well this story could translate into a timely piece of political filmmaking. I would love to see the Vicious Cabaret section from the comic book played out on the big screen, but I understand it has been excised from the screenplay. Too bad.
I understand that film is going to be different from the graphic novel, as should be the case with a work of this scope that has a multitude of secondary plots and characters. That is the great thing about adapted works of art. You always have the original to go back to. Moore himself has had nothing to do with this film having given away the rights long ago to his friend and collaborator David Lloyd. He has said that adaptations of his work have nothing to do with the work itself. Each should stand alone.
I’m hoping that this adaptation stands alone, but I’m also hoping that it contains enough of the wit and intelligence of the original to show the rest of the world the true genius that is Alan Moore. We shouldn’t have to settle for anything less.
Feb 24, 2006
Got Any Irish in Ya? Want Some?
By B.E. Earl
02/24/2006 10:37 PM EST
Hey boys and girls! St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and it is one of my favorite times of the year. Besides the weather getting warmer and Opening Day of the baseball season to look forward to, March 17th usually ushers in the beginning of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Good stuff indeed! But it is St. Patrick’s Day itself that is the centerpiece of the lovely month of March. So without further ado, I give you my Top 10 favorite things about St. Patrick’s Day:
10) The Quiet Man – Having this pearl on DVD doesn’t stop me from watching it every time AMC or some other station plays it during the days leading up to March 17th. Hey, they even showed it on Christmas Day this year and I watched it. John Ford’s tale of a retired boxer coming home to his birthplace in Ireland gets better with every viewing. Who would have thought that the Duke could play a romantic lead so well? I could do a Top 10 list of my favorite parts of this film alone. I could, but I won’t.
9) Corned Beef Sandwiches – Sure you can get them any time of the year, but don’t they just taste better on St. Patrick’s Day? Or you could go hog wild and get the full dinner with cabbage and great big hoarkin’ potatoes. Funny thing is that this only became an Irish-American staple after the immigrants made it to America because it was cheap beef. Go figure.
8) Andy Cooney – If you haven’t heard this Irish-American crooner do his version of “When New York was Irish”, well then I guess you simply haven’t heard it. My mom is a huge fan of this singer and we have seen him a few times upstate at an Irish resort. Plus, his brother teaches my nephew karate. So there! Oh yeah, and he also does a rockin’ version of “The Unicorn Song”. Can’t seem to get it out of my head once I’ve heard it though. Must…think…of…something…else! Aarghhhhhhh!
7) Black Bush – C’mon now, this is a PG rated blogsite so get yer minds outta the gutter. I’m taking about the Black label of Bushmill’s Irish Whisky. I just recently found out that it’s “Whisky” without an E if made outside of the USA and “Whiskey” with an E if it is made here. But then I saw a bottle of Maker’s Mark Bourbon that is made in Kentucky and they spell it without an E so maybe I’m just talking out of my ass. Good trick if you can do it.
6) Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers – I had a live album by these gentlemen some time ago and I only seemed to listen to it around this grandest of holidays. “Ahem, ahem…me mother’s gone to church. I ain’t supposed to play with you cause you’re in the dirt. It isn’t because you’re dirty, it isn’t because you’re clean. It’s because you have the Whooping Cough and eat margarine.” I still don’t have the foggiest what that means, but it makes me smile every time I hear it.
5) St. Patrick’s Day Parade – Not the one in NYC that is shown on the telly, but the one in Huntington Village which is always on the Sunday prior to St. Patrick’s Day. It pure drivel, but it’s a great day outdoors with my friends from town and it nearly always ends up with someone puking in one of the bathrooms at JD’s. Ah…good times!
4) Green Beer – Okay, I really don’t like green beer and I don’t know anyone who does. But I have to give props to all those bar owners who think that people actually do like green beer. The foine city of Chicago goes it one further and actually dyes their river green on St. Patrick’s Day. And we think the Dutch are crazy with all those Orange colored outfits at the Olympics. Strike that. The Dutch are crazy.
3) Irish Sweaters – I’ve got two hand-made Irish sweaters and St. Patrick’s Day is one of the only times I choose to wear them. It’s not that I don’t like them or they look bad on me. It’s just that I run a little hot most of the time anyway and these things make me sweat like a whore in church, and sweaty, chubby guys don’t get a lot of lovin’ from the ladies.
2) Irish Eyes – I love that on St. Patrick’s Day its cool to be Irish even for those without an Irish bone in ‘em (I refer you to the title of this article). Now I know that it’s cool to be Irish 365 days a year, but that’s because I’m just about 100% of Irish descent. I say just about because there is some debate over one of my grandmother’s claim to not being Irish. Her parents emigrated from England, but they were originally from Ireland. In fact her first cousin was Padraig Pearse who was a great poet and hero of the Irish Revolution. I think she just likeS busting our balls about the whole thing. That and she was Protestant.
1) Guinness – Mother’s Milk. The Black Stuff. Irish Viagra. Whatever you want to call it, St. Patrick’s Day is one of the only so-called holidays with an official drink. Lay down the Murphy’s Stout, put away the Killian’s Irish Red (made in America anyway) and save the Harp for another day. On St. Patrick’s Day we drink Guinness Stout. The only stout! Okay, we drink it the rest of the year as well, but damn it…we drink more on St. Patrick’s Day! Slainte!
02/24/2006 10:37 PM EST
Hey boys and girls! St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and it is one of my favorite times of the year. Besides the weather getting warmer and Opening Day of the baseball season to look forward to, March 17th usually ushers in the beginning of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Good stuff indeed! But it is St. Patrick’s Day itself that is the centerpiece of the lovely month of March. So without further ado, I give you my Top 10 favorite things about St. Patrick’s Day:
10) The Quiet Man – Having this pearl on DVD doesn’t stop me from watching it every time AMC or some other station plays it during the days leading up to March 17th. Hey, they even showed it on Christmas Day this year and I watched it. John Ford’s tale of a retired boxer coming home to his birthplace in Ireland gets better with every viewing. Who would have thought that the Duke could play a romantic lead so well? I could do a Top 10 list of my favorite parts of this film alone. I could, but I won’t.
9) Corned Beef Sandwiches – Sure you can get them any time of the year, but don’t they just taste better on St. Patrick’s Day? Or you could go hog wild and get the full dinner with cabbage and great big hoarkin’ potatoes. Funny thing is that this only became an Irish-American staple after the immigrants made it to America because it was cheap beef. Go figure.
8) Andy Cooney – If you haven’t heard this Irish-American crooner do his version of “When New York was Irish”, well then I guess you simply haven’t heard it. My mom is a huge fan of this singer and we have seen him a few times upstate at an Irish resort. Plus, his brother teaches my nephew karate. So there! Oh yeah, and he also does a rockin’ version of “The Unicorn Song”. Can’t seem to get it out of my head once I’ve heard it though. Must…think…of…something…else! Aarghhhhhhh!
7) Black Bush – C’mon now, this is a PG rated blogsite so get yer minds outta the gutter. I’m taking about the Black label of Bushmill’s Irish Whisky. I just recently found out that it’s “Whisky” without an E if made outside of the USA and “Whiskey” with an E if it is made here. But then I saw a bottle of Maker’s Mark Bourbon that is made in Kentucky and they spell it without an E so maybe I’m just talking out of my ass. Good trick if you can do it.
6) Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers – I had a live album by these gentlemen some time ago and I only seemed to listen to it around this grandest of holidays. “Ahem, ahem…me mother’s gone to church. I ain’t supposed to play with you cause you’re in the dirt. It isn’t because you’re dirty, it isn’t because you’re clean. It’s because you have the Whooping Cough and eat margarine.” I still don’t have the foggiest what that means, but it makes me smile every time I hear it.
5) St. Patrick’s Day Parade – Not the one in NYC that is shown on the telly, but the one in Huntington Village which is always on the Sunday prior to St. Patrick’s Day. It pure drivel, but it’s a great day outdoors with my friends from town and it nearly always ends up with someone puking in one of the bathrooms at JD’s. Ah…good times!
4) Green Beer – Okay, I really don’t like green beer and I don’t know anyone who does. But I have to give props to all those bar owners who think that people actually do like green beer. The foine city of Chicago goes it one further and actually dyes their river green on St. Patrick’s Day. And we think the Dutch are crazy with all those Orange colored outfits at the Olympics. Strike that. The Dutch are crazy.
3) Irish Sweaters – I’ve got two hand-made Irish sweaters and St. Patrick’s Day is one of the only times I choose to wear them. It’s not that I don’t like them or they look bad on me. It’s just that I run a little hot most of the time anyway and these things make me sweat like a whore in church, and sweaty, chubby guys don’t get a lot of lovin’ from the ladies.
2) Irish Eyes – I love that on St. Patrick’s Day its cool to be Irish even for those without an Irish bone in ‘em (I refer you to the title of this article). Now I know that it’s cool to be Irish 365 days a year, but that’s because I’m just about 100% of Irish descent. I say just about because there is some debate over one of my grandmother’s claim to not being Irish. Her parents emigrated from England, but they were originally from Ireland. In fact her first cousin was Padraig Pearse who was a great poet and hero of the Irish Revolution. I think she just likeS busting our balls about the whole thing. That and she was Protestant.
1) Guinness – Mother’s Milk. The Black Stuff. Irish Viagra. Whatever you want to call it, St. Patrick’s Day is one of the only so-called holidays with an official drink. Lay down the Murphy’s Stout, put away the Killian’s Irish Red (made in America anyway) and save the Harp for another day. On St. Patrick’s Day we drink Guinness Stout. The only stout! Okay, we drink it the rest of the year as well, but damn it…we drink more on St. Patrick’s Day! Slainte!
Feb 5, 2006
Wicked Smaht
By B.E. Earl
02/05/2006 8:54 AM EST
Hey kids! Have you ever watched a film and decided that you didn't really like and/or understand it at first only to decide at a later time that you actually did like it and that it has gotten under your skin a bit? This happens to me an awful lot. It happened just recently with a so-called classic horror film called The Wicker Man from 1973. As you know, both Slyde and I are big fans of the horror genre, but neither of us had ever seen this classic until I had the chance to purchase the DVD sometime last week.
Let me give you a brief set-up to the movie. In modern day (early 70's) Scotland, a policeman (Edward Woodward) from the mainland is lured to a small island in the Hebrides to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. He encounters a strange group of villagers who act as if they had never seen the girl before. He also encounters the islander's strange religious and sexual practices which is disconcerting to him as he is a devout (and quite repressed) Christian. Suspecting that the girl has been sacrificed or is about to be sacrificed as part of some neo-pagan ritual, he stays on the island in an effort to save the young lass. I'll not go any further in case any of you haven't seen this gem, but let's just say things start to go awry for our young, repressed hero.
I'm not quite sure why I gave it a thumbs-down after my first viewing. It surely wasn't what I expected. There were horror elements to be sure, but I certainly wouldn't classify it solely as a horror film. The first half of the film played out almost as a musical, if you can believe that. There were songs sung in pubs, in fields, around the maypole, and even one extraordinarily strange seduction sung by the landlord's daughter to the policeman while in different rooms! It also didn't go a long way towards explaining some of the strange imagery on the island, but I guess at that point I had already semi-given up on the film.
That next day, however, I found that it HAD gotten under my skin a little. I began to research a little of the background of the film and it started to fascinate me even more. You see, this film was the brainchild of writer Anthony Shaffer, director Robin Hardy and star Christopher Lee. In fact, Lee was not paid a dime for his acting in this film although he continues to call it his favorite film that he had ever worked in. This project was very close to his heart and he wanted to see it completed. Had he accepted his normal fee the film may never have gotten off the ground. Mr. Shaffer had wanted to do a smart, contemporary British horror film which then turned into a morality play, and partly made that weird left turn into musical/drama. The studio which had made the film (British Lion, I believe) was sold soon after shooting had completed and the new head of the studio, Michael Deeley, was not quite sold on the film. In fact, after an early viewing of the film with Shaffer and Lee, he asked them what they thought of it. They believed that it was one of the finest things that either of them had worked on. He replied that it was quite possibly the worst film he had ever seen.
Well, if the head of your studio believes that about your film it ain't gonna be easy to get them to distribute it. They tried to convince Roger Corman to distribute it in the US, but his offer was too low for the studio to accept. It soon found another distributor, but without the clout that Corman could bring to the table the film shot quickly to obscurity even though it drew rave reviews. However, it soon began to rise in the underground as a cult classic. Theaters were playing the film at midnight showings to sold-out audiences. With the advent of VHS (and DVD later on) the legend of the film has continued to grow. There are fanzines, websites and festivals dedicated to the film. One disappointing note is that the original negative to the film has been lost to history. It is believed that it was accidentally included in some garbage that was used for landfill in England's M3 motorway. Mr. Lee deduces that was a direct result of the dislike that Mr. Deeley had for the film!
So, with new information in hand I decided to watch the film a second time and damn if I didn't love it this time around! Even the weird musical scenes were a delight to watch. And the conflict between the repressed Christian ideology of Woodward and the neo-pagan joy of the villagers was especially juicy to behold. Britt Ekland (dubbed by Annie Ross to portray a Scottish accent), Ingrid Pitt (strangely, the producers kept her Polish accent) and Diane Cilento were all beautiful and quite magnetic on the screen. But it was the thoroughly delightful Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle that stole the show. He was funny, thoughtful, smart and not at all outwardly evil as the ringleader of the neo-pagans. A very different Lee than the one I had grown up on when he was doing all those Hammer horror films. He didn't look so awful in a dress towards the end of the film either. I guess you have to see the film to understand that last bit.
Now this classic is being remade for 2006 release with Nicolas Cage as the police officer. They've also switched locales from an island off Scotland to an island off the Puget Sound in Washington (or somewhere in Maine...I've seen both written). Now, I hate to bash a movie before it is released, but I am of the opinion that they should have left this one alone. If they had to remake it I would have preferred that the producers keep the Scottish flavor as the influence of the Celtic pagan rituals will be hard to maintain in an American version. And Nicolas Cage? Ugh!
Anyway, as I stated in the opening sentence, I like when a film gets under my skin a bit. This one had me researching Celtic pagan rituals which is not so easy since the history is murky at best. You see there was no written documentation of these rituals, so what remains today sometimes feels like a bad game of telephone...but played over a couple of thousand years instead of whispered around the room at a party. The maypole, the fire dance, John Barleycorn and the wicker man itself all are a part of early pagan practices although any specifics are hard to come by. This film left me wanting more, and I think that is one of the marks of a truly great piece of art.
02/05/2006 8:54 AM EST
Hey kids! Have you ever watched a film and decided that you didn't really like and/or understand it at first only to decide at a later time that you actually did like it and that it has gotten under your skin a bit? This happens to me an awful lot. It happened just recently with a so-called classic horror film called The Wicker Man from 1973. As you know, both Slyde and I are big fans of the horror genre, but neither of us had ever seen this classic until I had the chance to purchase the DVD sometime last week.
Let me give you a brief set-up to the movie. In modern day (early 70's) Scotland, a policeman (Edward Woodward) from the mainland is lured to a small island in the Hebrides to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. He encounters a strange group of villagers who act as if they had never seen the girl before. He also encounters the islander's strange religious and sexual practices which is disconcerting to him as he is a devout (and quite repressed) Christian. Suspecting that the girl has been sacrificed or is about to be sacrificed as part of some neo-pagan ritual, he stays on the island in an effort to save the young lass. I'll not go any further in case any of you haven't seen this gem, but let's just say things start to go awry for our young, repressed hero.
I'm not quite sure why I gave it a thumbs-down after my first viewing. It surely wasn't what I expected. There were horror elements to be sure, but I certainly wouldn't classify it solely as a horror film. The first half of the film played out almost as a musical, if you can believe that. There were songs sung in pubs, in fields, around the maypole, and even one extraordinarily strange seduction sung by the landlord's daughter to the policeman while in different rooms! It also didn't go a long way towards explaining some of the strange imagery on the island, but I guess at that point I had already semi-given up on the film.
That next day, however, I found that it HAD gotten under my skin a little. I began to research a little of the background of the film and it started to fascinate me even more. You see, this film was the brainchild of writer Anthony Shaffer, director Robin Hardy and star Christopher Lee. In fact, Lee was not paid a dime for his acting in this film although he continues to call it his favorite film that he had ever worked in. This project was very close to his heart and he wanted to see it completed. Had he accepted his normal fee the film may never have gotten off the ground. Mr. Shaffer had wanted to do a smart, contemporary British horror film which then turned into a morality play, and partly made that weird left turn into musical/drama. The studio which had made the film (British Lion, I believe) was sold soon after shooting had completed and the new head of the studio, Michael Deeley, was not quite sold on the film. In fact, after an early viewing of the film with Shaffer and Lee, he asked them what they thought of it. They believed that it was one of the finest things that either of them had worked on. He replied that it was quite possibly the worst film he had ever seen.
Well, if the head of your studio believes that about your film it ain't gonna be easy to get them to distribute it. They tried to convince Roger Corman to distribute it in the US, but his offer was too low for the studio to accept. It soon found another distributor, but without the clout that Corman could bring to the table the film shot quickly to obscurity even though it drew rave reviews. However, it soon began to rise in the underground as a cult classic. Theaters were playing the film at midnight showings to sold-out audiences. With the advent of VHS (and DVD later on) the legend of the film has continued to grow. There are fanzines, websites and festivals dedicated to the film. One disappointing note is that the original negative to the film has been lost to history. It is believed that it was accidentally included in some garbage that was used for landfill in England's M3 motorway. Mr. Lee deduces that was a direct result of the dislike that Mr. Deeley had for the film!
So, with new information in hand I decided to watch the film a second time and damn if I didn't love it this time around! Even the weird musical scenes were a delight to watch. And the conflict between the repressed Christian ideology of Woodward and the neo-pagan joy of the villagers was especially juicy to behold. Britt Ekland (dubbed by Annie Ross to portray a Scottish accent), Ingrid Pitt (strangely, the producers kept her Polish accent) and Diane Cilento were all beautiful and quite magnetic on the screen. But it was the thoroughly delightful Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle that stole the show. He was funny, thoughtful, smart and not at all outwardly evil as the ringleader of the neo-pagans. A very different Lee than the one I had grown up on when he was doing all those Hammer horror films. He didn't look so awful in a dress towards the end of the film either. I guess you have to see the film to understand that last bit.
Now this classic is being remade for 2006 release with Nicolas Cage as the police officer. They've also switched locales from an island off Scotland to an island off the Puget Sound in Washington (or somewhere in Maine...I've seen both written). Now, I hate to bash a movie before it is released, but I am of the opinion that they should have left this one alone. If they had to remake it I would have preferred that the producers keep the Scottish flavor as the influence of the Celtic pagan rituals will be hard to maintain in an American version. And Nicolas Cage? Ugh!
Anyway, as I stated in the opening sentence, I like when a film gets under my skin a bit. This one had me researching Celtic pagan rituals which is not so easy since the history is murky at best. You see there was no written documentation of these rituals, so what remains today sometimes feels like a bad game of telephone...but played over a couple of thousand years instead of whispered around the room at a party. The maypole, the fire dance, John Barleycorn and the wicker man itself all are a part of early pagan practices although any specifics are hard to come by. This film left me wanting more, and I think that is one of the marks of a truly great piece of art.
Feb 2, 2006
All About the Mommies
By B.E. Earl
02/02/2006 5:31 PM EST
Hey Kids! A couple of news items have been buzzing my brainpan lately and rather than just let them stew in my noggin, I thought that I would share my oh-so-unimportant thoughts with the Slydesblog community. Here’s (really) nothin’:
Big Momma’s House 2 – Now I know that I’ve previously poked fun at this totally unnecessary sequel, but it just opened this past weekend and it really struck a nerve. This film, for lack of a better word, actually grossed over $28 million in ticket sales on its’ opening weekend. That is about what my beloved Serenity made in its’ entire theatrical run here the US! Who the hell is actually buying tickets for this crap? Didn’t anyone see the trailers? There has to be some conspiracy! And why did Martin Lawrence need to make this film? Were there so many unanswered questions from the first one? Wake up people!
I am so sick of trying to make sense of the weekly box office tallies. I mean, I know that there is nothing but crap out there, but you know what I do when there isn’t anything worthwhile to see a the theatre? I stay home and practice my embroidery. I’m getting very good. I’m currently making a quilt with scenes from all the quality movies that Martin Lawrence has made in the past decade. It shouldn’t take me very long.
Cindy Sheehan – OK. I’ve got all the respect in the world for those who choose to protest the war. Especially a mother who feels that the President lied to us, and who also feels that her son’s death in Iraq was a direct result of those lies. I’ve supported her behavior in the past, and I even got a bit of a giggle about her protest outside the President’s Texas ranch a while back. Guy can’t even take a working vacation nowadays without getting protested on. But she has crossed that tenuous line of my compassion in the past week with last night’s arrest in the Capitol and her photo shoot earlier this week with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Let me tell you why (in my humble opinion, of course).
She was invited to the State of the Union address by a Representative from the great state of California (I still giggle when Ah-nuld says that word). She was given a pretty good seat not far from the President and she was told that there would be no protests allowed in the Capitol. She was then led to her seat and proceeded to take off her jacket where she exposed an anti-war T-shirt that she picked out especially for this occasion. Security then led her out of the building where she was arrested for demonstrating in the Capitol. That charge was soon changed to unlawful conduct. Now, I’m a fairly intelligent guy. I know what she was trying to do. She wanted to get arrested. She wanted her name to be in the papers today. I’m fine with that. But don’t you think it would have been far more effective for her to have played nice and just sat there the entire time with a stern look on her face for the entire nation to see? Her Representative from CA must surely have alerted the press to her attendance. A few dozen shots of her sitting with her arms folded, shaking her head at the President’s rhetoric would have made an even better story for the talking heads at CNN. Without her presence, the camera had only a few disapproving shots of Sen. Hilary Clinton to keep us going. I’m all for protesting the war, but sometimes I don’t believe that these people are thinking straight when they are trying to get their message across.
Don’t even get me started on her photo shoot with Chavez. Aw, you had to go and do it, didn’t you? You got me started. OK…I warned you. This is the one that really got my blood boiling. Does she realize whom she slipped into bed with this time? This is a man who has openly praised his good friends Fidel Castro and Mohammar Khaddafi. This is a man who does not believe in a representative democracy like we have here in the good ole’ US of A, but a participatory democracy…not that anyone has a clue as to what a “participatory” democracy entails. He is a dictator. If not in name then in actions. He led a coup d’etat in 1992 against the democratically elected Venezuelan government and spent some time in jail for it before he, in turn, was elected President in 1998. That doesn’t diminish his thoroughly un-democratic actions since he has taken office, at least in the eyes of his critics. Maybe dictator is too strong a word to use at this point, but he has taken steps to dramatically increase the power of the executive in his country while controlling the police, military, judicial and tax authorities. Do the math.
You may want to do a Google search next time before you run off for a photo op, honey! Who’s next? Osama bin Laden? Go for it! Just make sure you let us all know where and when that’s gonna be. I’m sure US Special Forces would love to join you.
02/02/2006 5:31 PM EST
Hey Kids! A couple of news items have been buzzing my brainpan lately and rather than just let them stew in my noggin, I thought that I would share my oh-so-unimportant thoughts with the Slydesblog community. Here’s (really) nothin’:
Big Momma’s House 2 – Now I know that I’ve previously poked fun at this totally unnecessary sequel, but it just opened this past weekend and it really struck a nerve. This film, for lack of a better word, actually grossed over $28 million in ticket sales on its’ opening weekend. That is about what my beloved Serenity made in its’ entire theatrical run here the US! Who the hell is actually buying tickets for this crap? Didn’t anyone see the trailers? There has to be some conspiracy! And why did Martin Lawrence need to make this film? Were there so many unanswered questions from the first one? Wake up people!
I am so sick of trying to make sense of the weekly box office tallies. I mean, I know that there is nothing but crap out there, but you know what I do when there isn’t anything worthwhile to see a the theatre? I stay home and practice my embroidery. I’m getting very good. I’m currently making a quilt with scenes from all the quality movies that Martin Lawrence has made in the past decade. It shouldn’t take me very long.
Cindy Sheehan – OK. I’ve got all the respect in the world for those who choose to protest the war. Especially a mother who feels that the President lied to us, and who also feels that her son’s death in Iraq was a direct result of those lies. I’ve supported her behavior in the past, and I even got a bit of a giggle about her protest outside the President’s Texas ranch a while back. Guy can’t even take a working vacation nowadays without getting protested on. But she has crossed that tenuous line of my compassion in the past week with last night’s arrest in the Capitol and her photo shoot earlier this week with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Let me tell you why (in my humble opinion, of course).
She was invited to the State of the Union address by a Representative from the great state of California (I still giggle when Ah-nuld says that word). She was given a pretty good seat not far from the President and she was told that there would be no protests allowed in the Capitol. She was then led to her seat and proceeded to take off her jacket where she exposed an anti-war T-shirt that she picked out especially for this occasion. Security then led her out of the building where she was arrested for demonstrating in the Capitol. That charge was soon changed to unlawful conduct. Now, I’m a fairly intelligent guy. I know what she was trying to do. She wanted to get arrested. She wanted her name to be in the papers today. I’m fine with that. But don’t you think it would have been far more effective for her to have played nice and just sat there the entire time with a stern look on her face for the entire nation to see? Her Representative from CA must surely have alerted the press to her attendance. A few dozen shots of her sitting with her arms folded, shaking her head at the President’s rhetoric would have made an even better story for the talking heads at CNN. Without her presence, the camera had only a few disapproving shots of Sen. Hilary Clinton to keep us going. I’m all for protesting the war, but sometimes I don’t believe that these people are thinking straight when they are trying to get their message across.
Don’t even get me started on her photo shoot with Chavez. Aw, you had to go and do it, didn’t you? You got me started. OK…I warned you. This is the one that really got my blood boiling. Does she realize whom she slipped into bed with this time? This is a man who has openly praised his good friends Fidel Castro and Mohammar Khaddafi. This is a man who does not believe in a representative democracy like we have here in the good ole’ US of A, but a participatory democracy…not that anyone has a clue as to what a “participatory” democracy entails. He is a dictator. If not in name then in actions. He led a coup d’etat in 1992 against the democratically elected Venezuelan government and spent some time in jail for it before he, in turn, was elected President in 1998. That doesn’t diminish his thoroughly un-democratic actions since he has taken office, at least in the eyes of his critics. Maybe dictator is too strong a word to use at this point, but he has taken steps to dramatically increase the power of the executive in his country while controlling the police, military, judicial and tax authorities. Do the math.
You may want to do a Google search next time before you run off for a photo op, honey! Who’s next? Osama bin Laden? Go for it! Just make sure you let us all know where and when that’s gonna be. I’m sure US Special Forces would love to join you.
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