This from the Orwellian file:
Holiday Display Task Force in Ft Collins, Co.
An example of some of the policy suggestions: Avoid snowflakes and red and green lighting--these things are too closely relatable to Christmas. My advice, remember this season to 'X' out--Xmas not Christmas!
The founder of the Weather Channel went apeshit over the idea of catastrophic man-made global warming yesterday. Check out this rant:
The Union of European Football Associations Champions League is the Major Leagues, the NFL of Soccer. They are having their championship, their Super Bowl this month...ON A WEDNESDAY. Man, that is bitchin. Nice going, Europe. The most important sporting event of the year is taking place on a wednesday. Now, NASCAR stupidly blows their load by having their Super Bowl as the first race of the season, but at least they have the sense to do it on the weekend. But I might have to tune in because one of the players has the same name as my Dad, with 1 extra letter (Stephen Gerrard, plays for Liverpool).
I cleaned the throttle body (TB) and combustion chamber on my car. It's probably never been done and doing so will improve gas mileage. It's pretty easy but I think it will need another cleaning. Anyway, I nearly screwed up my engine in the process, which could have cost me thousands of dollars. I purchased the appropriate cleaning agent at the dealer--never use generic cleaner that is not specific to combustion chambers. Then all you have to do is disconnect the air cleaner hose leading to the TB, this exposes the opening of the TB, and this is where you spray the cleaner into. Now, on my car there are two holes within the TB that you must plug up. I had no plugs that fit (or any other kind of plugs--who has plugs like this lying around??), so I used tape. Well, after you spray the cleaner in you need to run the engine in order to get it fully into the system. Thinking I might spray some more after the first go-round, I left the tape on. Well, this monumental stupidity nearly got the tape sucked into the engine. And once it's in there the only way to get it out is to tear down the engine. You only get so many of these "mulligans" in life and I hate using one up like that.
1:57 pm:
How long will it be before some secular Lefty mouths off on this? Over the next few days, we are going to hear how he is no doubt in Hell right now, something along the lines of "Well, he's probably turning a crispy brown right about now." Oh well, maybe Keanu Reeves can rescue him.
2:32 pm:
Bob Barker is retiring from The Price is Right. Barker is the man. He has been staple of American television for decades. I always loved how he would very subtley get frustrated and testy with the particularly dumb contestants. And he was nailing the hot presenter-babes while in his 60s.
Yeah, it was really a Scotsman who would have been first in flight. He would have, nah nah nah. He was working on heavier than air flight before the Wright Brothers. But he died. Darn.
Today is the anniversary of the Wright Brothers flight. Some people just can't give credit to the Yanks where credit is due.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/display...irst_to_fly.php
Well, he MAY have, but you can't really say he WOULD have because he uh, DIED. In a GLIDER accident.
Beck is right, take Z's body and wrap it in bacon and put a ham hat on. Maybe a pigskin suit would be better.
And now....the Top Gear car review!!
BMW Z4 M series
Richard Hammond says: BMW have stripped the car of the usual technological gadgets and created a raw performance car. A normal, basic manual transmission as opposed to the 2-in-1 automatic/manual paddle shift transmission that are now popular on high-end sports cars. Fun on the track, pedestrian in everyday life.
RFK Jr called Glenn Beck a fascist and corporate toadie during the Live Earth concert. Glenn is outspoken as not
buying into the man-made, iminent disaster global warming hysteria. Glenn had Jr on his CNN show and asked him what
the definition of fascism was. Jr responded "the American Heritage dictionary definition is government controlled by
corporate power".
Now the real American Heritage dictionary definition of fascism:
NOUN: 1. often Fascism a. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent
socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of
belligerent nationalism and racism. b. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of
government. 2. Oppressive, dictatorial control.
I happened to see Mission Impossible 2 the other day. It is both a great movie and a terrible movie. It's terrible
because of its title. The movie has nothing to do with the television series upon which it is based--it is in fact a
disgrace to connect it to that series. It is nothing like the TV series. It's great because it is an entertaining,
flashy film experience. The music is great, John Woo directs with flair and style. Movies are supposed to be
entertaining and as long as you push the words "mission impossible" from your mind, MI2 is fantastic. We need more
movies like this. This movie was supposed to usher in a new era of action film and in a limited way it has, but not
nearly enough in my opinion. Now, I still want diversity in movies, dramas etc. Take Prince of the City for example.
You don't know anything about this movie but it is an adult, interesting movie, well written and well acted. I suggest
giving it a look sometime when you have 2 hours to kill. It's a perfect example of interesting vs. entertaining. It's
not exciting. We need more MI2.
Just watched PTI with the two hosts commenting on a controversy surrounding NBC's Dateline and NASCAR. Dateline wanted to investigate anti-Muslim sentiments in the country, based on a Washington Post/ABC News poll showing increased bigotry in America. Naturally they chose a NASCAR event to find the bigotry. NASCAR fans are largely from the South, people with southern accents are bigots, ergo, there will be plenty of bigots at a NASCAR event. The Dateline crew had Muslim looking men walking around at the race at Martinsville, Va. No one bothered them, there were no racial incidents.
Wilbon was cool with what Dateline did, saying "NBC is trying to create news where news does exist".
Oh, so Wilbon is indicting the NASCAR fans as bigots, with no proof.
Neither one of the hosts mentioned that nothing happened to the two Muslim looking men.
That didn't stop Wilbon from saying: "if there is something untoward happening towards these gentlemen, that they said at a racetrack, then why is it happening"?
A lot of the time I like and agree with what Wilbon says. Then he pulls one of these and confirms to me that he has serious problems with race in this country.
So I saw the preview for "I Am Legend" starring Wil Smith. This is based on a Richard Matheson book of the same title and has been made into a film two times previously. You could say the story is about zombie/vampires--the Earth's population is killed by a plague and they turn into these living dead creatures, except for one remaining man....or is he really alone? Hmmm, living dead? Yeah, I think the first film version of this--The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price--was Night of the Living Dead before there was a Night of the Living Dead. Romero's zombie flick borrows a lot from the Price movie. In Last Man On Earth, people die and come back as zombie/vampires. They walk slowly and can be avoided pretty easily. They exist to kill Price. In other words, just like Night of the Living Dead, made three years after LMOE.
The second filmed version is "The Omega Man" starring Charlton Heston. It is really good though a bit dated, having been made in 1971 and is very much a 70s movie.
This new remake will suck. All I needed to see was a CGI deer, a CGI lion, and a central casting vampire snarling 6 inches from Wil Smith's face. Jesus. It will make a reasonably amount of money due to Wil Smith, but nothing spectacular. It will be completely forgotten 6 months from now.
I was semi looking forward to "Hitman", but the reviews have absolutely dogged on it. Apparently it is terrible.
"The Mist"? LOL. A lame excuse for King to preach about the evil that is the U.S. military and Christianity.
That leaves the new Coen brothers movie. HELL YEAH. Cannot wait for this. A dead solid no-brainer. It will be awesome.
This study is creating a buzz about perceptions of high-priced wines versus low-priced wines. Everybody is talking about this, man they are just goo-goo over this story. People in the study were more satisfied with wines labeled at a high-price over the same wine labeled with a low price. So what? How is this not a no-brainer to everyone? Of course people are influenced by price, not to mention product labeling in terms of looks and packaging. The perception is, high price means better and we all fall into that trap more often than not.
Now I will say that lower priced generics or store brand products at the grocery store are, by and large, crap. There are certain products that I will always pay more for the brand because the brand name product is just plain better. But for other products, the generic version is fine.
My No-Generic-Ever list:
peanut butter (Jiff)
barbeque sauce (no store brand ever, may try an unknown premium brand)
salad dressing (same as BBQ sauce)
spaghetti sauce (same as BBQ sauce)
cookie dough (only Pillsbury or Nestle)
Nutri-grain bars
Quaker oatmeal (the kind you add hot water)
baked beans (Bushs)
orange juice
Generic Ok list:
bread
100% fruit juice, e.g. cranberry/apple juice
ice cream
some cereals
Some recent cases in Ohio demonstrating how f'd up we are.
Case #1
A man's home is invaded by two robbers. One of the robbers stabs the man's son. The man has a gun in the house and shoots one of the robbers. Police arrive and while performing their investigation see a small bag of pot out in the open in his house. It also happens that the man disdains banks and keeps his savings in a safe in his house. Police seize every penny of his savings under the authority of a law that is intended to seize the profits of drug dealers. Eventually the city where the man resides takes his money...all of it, permanently. They take the money because they demand that he produce receipts, checks, etc. for the money and he doesn't have it. So they assume it's drug money. The guy is guilty until he proves that he's innocent. Bassackwards, sounds to me.
Case #2
Columbus Dispatch
Columbus, Ohio has an odd law that allows women to sunbathe topless in city parks. The police have begun an operation whereby they have an undercover policewoman hanging out at a park topless. This is done to catch perverts, etc. In one case a firefighter (the man had driven by the park on several occasions and seen her) went over to sit with her. I believe he went on his own volition but I'm not sure. This guy was a normal citizen by all accounts, was not suspected of any "perverted behavior" at the park. So he sits down and she begins to come on to him, eventually asking him to unzip and show her his wang, wanger, john thomas, you choose the term. I repeat, she asked him, he was not the one who offered to "pull it out". He then "pulled it out" and immediately several cops came rushing out of the bushes nearby to arrest him for indecent exposure. Way to go boys, you just saved the citizens from a real criminal there. Nice job. The judge was not swayed by defense claims of entrapment and found the guy guilty. What the hell, Columbus. Knock this crap off. Get your lady cop skanks to put a f**kin shirt on and leave men alone.
So I was having dinner at my wife's parents and her twin sister was there, the one who is a lawyer who works for the Ohio Supreme Court. For some unknown reason, my wife made a comment about global warming, not a political for-or-against comment, but a flippant comment about it hopefully being warm when we go to Cape May, NJ in June. Well, this started a mild shitstorm between her parents and her sister. Her sister believes Al Gore, the whole deal, a true believer. Her parents are evil conservatives, listen to Rush, and generally don't like Al Gore. I wanted to speak up during their debate, but I just didn't want to argue with Lora, she's a nice person. I know, I made a mistake. Just misinformed, thanks to the media. It isn't her fault. With few exceptions (the NYT did in fact run an article weeks ago about the mistakes in Al Gore's film), the mainstream media treats Al Gore's version of global warming--at least the man'made part--as gospel. And the only place you consistently get news of scientists who are debating this stuff is through Conservative outlets--and I know damn well she doesn't listen/read any of these (she really went off on Rush and Bill O'Reilly at one point). And it didn't help that her parents were not exactly doing a thorough job of presenting the other side. Oh well, next time I'll try and speak up, hopefully she'll respect my opinion.
A Cincinnati restaurant owner, Jeff Ruby, told O.J. Simpson to get out of his place in Louisville during the kentucky Derby weekend. Ruby's steakhouse in Cincinnati, The Precinct, is first-class, the absolute best meat you will ever put in your mouth. Simpson's lawyer is calling Ruby a racist and is sueing him. The case kind of falls apart, because of a couple things:
1. Michael Jordan was seated at the table shortly after Simpson left.
2. Ruby has pictures of himself...with O.J. at his restaurants in Cincinnati back in the day, before the Juice offed two people. O.J. was smiling.
There are plans to make another Star Trek film, going back to the era of Kirk and Spock, in an attempt to reinvigorate the franchise. This is, of course, the only way to bring back the magic of Star Trek and, if done correctly, will once again inject Trek into Pop Culture. However, this path is frought with dangers--dangers of serious movie-suckiness.
The problem is simple. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy ARE Kirk and Spock. Period. It will be very, very difficult to find 2 actors to take over the role--even if the film is set during their younger years. This problem can be demonstrated by taking a look at an attempt at a prequel from 1979. This prequel was called Butch and Sundance: the Early Days. Of course, it was trying to capture the greatness of the 1969 classic starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. The 2 actors chosen were Tom Berenger and William Katt. Berenger you should be familiar with--Katt starred in the TV show "Greatest American Hero" in the 80s. It was a disaster because Berenger and Katt were just poor imitations of Newman and Redford. It's not really an insult to them, they just aren't Newman and Redford.
I'm still all for the idea, I just have reservations. As long as the right people are trusted with doing it, it may turn out OK.
Then again, look at Ghostbusters II and those 3 Star Wars prequels...
Update:
I just saw a news report where JJ Abrams is denying some of the earlier reports about a proposed Star Trek film. He also says it will not feature the characters Kirk or Spock. Well. I guess never mind.
The right-hand turn on a red light, is, as even anti-American TV host Jeremy Clarkson has said, a great contribution to civilization by America. It kicks ass to able to turn right at a red light, knowing all the while poor saps all over Europe are not able to do this simple task. Yet sometimes it can become the source of road rage. You see, some people regard this traffic rule as meaning you do not have to actually stop, you can just roll through your turn. Not so. You do in fact have to stop, just as you would at a stop sign, and then you can be on your merry way.
The following happens to me on a regular basis. I'll come to a stop light in a right hand turn lane, and let's say there's no traffic around. I'll still come to a stop, because, well, that's the traffic law. And yet, about 75%-90% of the time, if there is someone behind me that person will go "Bakersfield Chimp". (That was the chimpanze that mauled the living hell out of his former owner in Bakersfield, California a few years ago.) They'll act as those I just raped their child, get all pissed off, tailgate, etc, etc. Fuck these people. They are just another segment of society that needs to be thinned out.
I mentioned a situation in kkk's blog about installing a ceiling fan/light in our bedroom at the behest of my wife. Well, there was no existing hole in the ceiling and in addition to not knowing what is needed to hang a ceiling fan where no hole existed, I also knew nothing about how to do the wiring. So enter my brother-in-law, who my wife recruited to do it. I have no idea if he volunteered or is my wife asked, don't know, don't care, I wasn't present when it was decided that he would do this. Of course, it was understood that I would be helping him. First, a quick background on this brother-in-law. He's married to my wife's older sister and has a 2 year old child. Early this fall we all went to Florida on vacation, where we stayed at a rental house. This guy was detached the whole time, didn't seem to interested in his family at all. One day we were at the beach and he volunteered to go back to the house and bring back some snacks for everyone. So he took off, and I found out later that he drove off to a burger place and had himself a meal before he ever bothered to come back to the beach. (Food seems to be this guy's main motivation in life--the entire vacation to him was getting to the next meal.) Then on the second to last day of the trip, we all went out to a nice restaurant overlooking the ocean. Before the dinner he had gone out and bought a fifth of Jim Beam and proceeded to get blind drunk. He got up during the meal and never returned. I went to go look for him (while his wife is sitting there embarrassed and mortified). I find him in a parking lot throwing up all over the place. His wife comes down, slaps his ass and comes back up to finish the meal. He wanders off while we drive back to the house. He shows up several hours later, etc, and it was awkward for the rest of the time.
So now they are apparently OK and life goes on. However, they were in a fight while this guy is over with me putting this damn ceiling light in. He is acting like a complete ass, taking out all this on me. I like to do tasks in a calm, patient manner, while he is the definition of impatience and it was only compounded by this fight he's in with his wife. Like I give a fuck about his problems, make your marriage better and quit acting like an ass. So on the last day of the "installation" he leaves without finishing the job, and I'm left to attached and wire the thing to the ceiling by myself, which should be a two-man job due to the weight of the thing.
And my wife wants to get THREE more lighting fixtures for the kitchen, the area between the kitchen and the living room, and the dining room.
Finalist: Toughest Man Alive, 20th Century: William H. Rankin, Marine Corps pilot
Book
Rankin survived a "fall" (he had a parachute) from 44,000 feet in the 1950s. The engines on his plane seized, he ejected, but his chute opened too soon. It so happened that he was above a thunderstorm at the time. He spent 40 minutes WITHIN the storm clouds being buffeted around. Finally he fell to Earth, still alive. He is the only known human being to have been inside the clouds of a thunderstorm.
Finalist: Toughest Man Alive, 21st Century: Alcides Moreno, New York City window washer
AP story
Moreno fell an incredible 47 floors from a NYC skyscraper when his scaffolding fell. When the scaffolding gave way, he laid down flat against bottom of the platform, an action which probably resulted in his surviving the eventual impact.
Sir Edmund Hillary died yesterday. He reached the top of Mount Everest seconds before his Sherpa companion in 1953. Chalk another victory/oppression up for the white man. Couldn't he simply have let Norgay go ahead of him, in the interest of political correctness?
Speaking of working on technical manuals, I recently came across a typo that resulted in a particularly hilarious sexual inuendo. There was a sentence in a document dealing with applying torque to a nut (tightening a nut on a bolt). In this case the word "torquing" became "tonguing".
This resulted in: "Hold nut stationary during tonguing".
Honorable Mention, Toughest Man Alive, 21st Century: John Coward
Link
This British Airways co-pilot successfully landed a Boeing 777 after the plane experienced a complete, catastrophic failure of both engines and the plane's electrical systems. This occurred seconds before the landing approach. Only a handful of people were hurt.
Actor Heath Ledger died. Nothing against the guy, but he's just an actor. Not a big deal really. But I expect a lot of hyperbolic praise will be forthcoming from the media, giving him near saint status.
Ohio has followed in the "progressive" footsteps of other parts of the country and has completely banned indoor smoking. This includes such niche establishments as cigar bars. That's right, a place that is deliberating catering to smokers now has to ban it and put up a silly little sign that says No Smoking and has a hotline phone number on the sign to call to report violators. Yes, the narcissistic ninnies have made sure that whiners and tattle-tales can call a number to tell on smokers. Like running to mommy to tell on your classmate for doing something wrong. There was a case where a useless ninny called to complain about "Anthony's", a local cigar bar. This person, when queried, had never been to Anthony's and has no intention of ever going, she just heard that people were still smoking cigars there even though the ban had just gone into affect (or effect?) that day.
Thankfully, the ban so far does not include plays being performed at the Aronoff Center, plays which include the character's smoking on stage. They did have signs at every entrance explaining that there will be lit cigarettes used during the production. But fear not, I do not doubt for one second that this too will eventually be banned, as it is in New York City for Broadway plays.
I've noticed that the FOX show "Drive" hasn't been on in a few weeks. Maybe it's been cancelled or just put a hiatus. It's not that great, but I mark out for a 1970 Dodge Challenger with a Hemi 426 being featured in a primetime network show.
I was watching G4 channel's coverage of the 2007 Comic-Con and they showed a
special announcement by the principal cast and director of the new Indiana Jones
movie. This was broadcast to the Comic-Con audience and featured Spielberg, Ford
and others. I liked it when Spielberg was muted when he said the title of the
new film (I'm sure a lip reader catched it and it will soon be spoiled all over
the internet).
But then Spielberg did something that could only appeal to the hardcore Raiders
fans: he brought out a chair with the name "Marion Ravenwood", followed shortly
thereafter by Karen Allen. Pretty cool if you ask me. Marion was one of my all
time favorite female characters of any movie. The fans always wondered why she
disappeared from the two sequels and now Spielberg has made things right. I just
hope he makes the movie right. There are those who will go nameless who are
opposed to this new sequel (kkktookmybabyaway) and they have a point. Last
Crusade was a fitting ending and Ford is a senior citizen at this point, etc. I
don't know, it's to big of an event for me to ignore it. I'll be seeing it in
the theatres for sure.
I tried the new Miller beer product called "Chill". You've probably seen the
commericals. It has lime and salt and is a Mexican recipe going way back. Last
week I was walking through Biggs and there was a lady handing out little plastic
cups of Chill along with chips and salsa. They were 25 cents to try so I gave it
a shot. It was good and the typical beer after-taste is non-existent. Works for
me, way to go Miller. PLus I love those Miller High Life commericals with the
guy removing Miller beer from places that have expensive prices, so Miller good
with me. Besides, Budweiser has George Clooney as a spokesperson, so I'll not be
drinking a Budweiser anytime soon.
The new sitcom based on the Geico Caveman commericals is making news. It seems
the producers/network suits/whomever have seen fit to announce that the show "IS
NOT A RACIAL ALLEGORY". Liberals everywhere must be saddened, I'm sure they were
looking forward to seeing race themes on the show as whites abused the poor
cavemen. Now I'm very skeptical of this show's success because only one of the
three actors from the commercial are going to be in series. Big Mistake.
GM and Ford's recent fiscal year has been horrible. GM alone LOST something like 4 billion dollars. Yet I'm happy because they are building powerful muscle cars that harken back to the high-horsepower heydey of the 1960s and early 1970s. Rear wheel drive cars with torquey V8s and prominent badging. A car guy's dream.
Now, it's true we have had 2 American cars that have been holding the fort for a while, but they were the only two. Of course I'm talking about the Corvette and the Viper. But those 2 were for the upscale set. A true muscle car should be available to the masses, a real blue-collar type. Recently things have picked up, starting with the retro stylings of the Mustang, and continuing with three new cars.
Dodge Charger. Well, they screwed this up, it could be argued, by giving the car four doors. To be a proper muscle car, it should have 2 doors, but I wouldn't mind owning one. The R/T had a Hemi and something on the order of 325 bhp. Now they have the Charger SRT8, 6.1 Hemi with 425 bhp and Ram Air hood. Kick ass.
Dodge Challenger. One of the great monikers from the muscle car era. A late comer, but very popular. A properly restored 1970 Hemi R/T Challenger will go for around 1 million dollars at auction. (A Hemi 'Cuda convertible sold for 2 million dollars a few months ago). This car is going to be simply awesome. It will have a Hemi of course, retro styling, and some nifty gadgetry like on-board telemetry.
Chevrolet Camaro. The Camaro is coming back after being killed off by GM in 2002. News of its demise was greatly exaggerated. Also sporting the retro styling craze, the design channels the famous 1969 Camaro, one of the most popular Camaros ever. With the comeback of the Camaro, we'll see if mullets and hair bands are far behind.
While the gasoline is coursing through my veins, I'll talk about the incredible Bugatti Veyron in my next post.
Phil Hendrie has announced on his blog that he is returning to radio on June 25th. He has signed a deal with talk radio network FM. I haven't heard anything on how many/what stations he'll be on, but he'll certainly be syndicated. TRN has AM stations and I guess the FM is a new thing.
I also have no idea what kind of show this will be. When he ended his radio show last year he said he was finished with not only radio but with the type of show he did (character-based satire). He said he was moving on to TV and movies (so much for that). Will he resurrect his old characters? My opinion is no. I'm betting that he will do commentary/politics infused with some satire. His blog has been nothing but politics with the occasional satire piece. He won't take callers--he hates talk radio callers. They are the very people he ridiculed and generally messed with on his old show. No, he'll try to invent some new type of talk show without callers and without his old characters.
Thomas Jefferson said coffee "is the favorite drink of the civilized world." Of course that was a slap in the face to England, a bunch of nancy-boy tea drinkers that we wished to distance ourselves from in any way possible. Those cats back in the early days of the country were crazy-mad coffee drinkers. Fast forward some 200 years and here I am in a typical office environment trying to get a decent cup of coffee. There are four avenues available to me.
1. Take part in the office coffee club. $5 per month or 25 cents per cup. No way, I have no control over who makes the pot, it could turn out watered down.
2. Bring in my own small coffee maker. Eh, too much trouble, I'd have to decide whether to bring the coffee I have at home to the office during the week and take it back for the weekend, or buy an extra can just for work....bah, the hell with it.
3. Stop at a coffee shop every morning. Haha, way too expensive. Plus, what if want a cup after I've been at work a couple hours.
4. Instant coffee.
Yep, 4 gets it. Now, which brand to buy. I've had Folgers and did not like it. I had Maxwell House and liked it. Then I bought a second batch and found it tasted different and thought they had changed the formula. They had not, but I'll get to that in a second. So thinking that Maxwell House had changed their coffee, I decided to try Nescafe Tasters Choice. Never had it, it's been around a long time, a name brand, I figured I couldn't go wrong. Plus they had those hip, cool commercials in the 90s that were like mini soap operas. Well, I opened it up for the first time and the odor was something on the order of dog shit. If you think I am exaggerating, I assure you I am not. So I went back and browsed the coffee aisle, and realized that Maxwell House has two different coffees on the market. I had bought the new one, called "Rich". It sucks. The old classic was still there and is better.
Now what to do about the 10 o'clock snack...
ABC is rolling out a new "Ten Commandments" tonight. While listening to the various promos I always bust out laughing whenever Moses talks, not to mention just the audacity of remaking a DeMille classic is really treading on thin ice. The reason I laugh is the ridiculous upper crust Amero-British accent that Moses is sporting. Now, Hollywood has always given the ancient Romans British accents. Fine, whatever. The Romans need to come across as Imperial, the ruling elite, etc. and nothing says elite like a good British accent. But here we're talking ancient Egypt. Hebrews and Egyptians for crissakes. An ancient Hebrew with a British accent?
All I can think of when I hear this guy's accent is Joan Collins in Dynasty. It's not really a pure British accent, more like a pretenious American blue blood trying to sound British.
At my workplace, I have the misfortune to have my desk (cubicle) near the break room. I get to hear the noises and conversations of everyone making lunch, whatever. Today I heard some lunkhead saying to someone "Don't drink from the tap! You should drink from the water fountain, the water in the fountain is treated!". Man, how did we get to the point in the US where people believe tap water is dangerous and/or unhealthy? Tap water is safe to drink and will not harm you. It is treated. Remember when the saying was "don't drink the water in Mexico"? They were talking about the tap water and it was because it wasn't treated, unlike the nice, safe water we have here in the USA. Nobody ever said "don't drink the water in Mexico...oh yeah and also don't drink it in the US either". Well, until now at least. For some reason, it has become the norm that you shouldn't drink form the tap, even though nothing has changed to make it less safe to drink.
In some instances, water from a water fountain will taste better, but it is no more safe. Taste is the reason you should drink from a water fountain or bottled water, not to avoid sickness. The bottled water you buy is from the tap, unless it says specifically that it is from a spring, such as Evian or Poland Springs. The bottling companies take the water from the tap and then do further treatments on it, mainly to improve taste and sometimes to introduce minerals and/or vitamins to the water.
Me and the Mrs went shopping for a cabinet thing for the basement, since we're moving the computer down there. We went to the frontgate outlet. Frontgate sells yuppie, expensive stuff for your home and patio. Right up my alley. We found a nice wood cabinet that had a chip in one of the corners and it had scratches from being a floor model and all, but it looked ok, especially for something that is going in the basement. This thing retailed for about $500-$600. We got it for $65.
I don't get the buildup to the Patriots/Giants game. In order to equal the 1972 Dolphins they will have to win the Super Bowl. Until they get to the Super Bowl, I'm not interested. And besides, aren't the Giants already in the playoffs, which means they'll probably be resting players at some point and/or not playing all out to avoid injury?
My Xmas haul: 3 CDs, Mission Impossible Season 3, Lightscribe DVD+R discs, Quesadilla maker, Gamestop giftcard, a papoose type baby carrier, automatic adjustable wrench, ceiling light fixture for our kitchen (which I get to install) and some cash.
This weeks South Park promises to be awesome for one simple reason--Stan's dad Randy plays a prominent part. Randy has become the show's best and funniest character, leaving Cartman and Butters in his wake. He's already kicked ass this season with his world record defecation (confirmed by a Swiss group that oversees fecal measuring accuracy). This week will follow the much praised Imaginationland Trilogy, which I thought started out great but fizzled at the end of "Episode III". Randy Is The Man.
Al Gore was asked a tough question about someone in the IPCC who disagrees with some of his conclusions regarding climate change. His response--
"He's an outlyer, he's no longer with the IPCC."
Way to confront an opposing view. Just call him an "outlyer" and move on.
Michelle Wie is attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open. I'm hearing many voices of idiocy from people who should know better. People are saying she shouldn't be allowed to do this, just stay on the LPGA, etc. Shut up, you dumbfucks. She's playing from the same tees. Everything is equal. The PGA is not a men only organization. Whoever you are, if you are good enough to play under the same rules as everyone else, you should be allowed to compete. If this were some bogus thing like having her play from separate tees, yes, screw that. But that's not the case here. Oh yeah, she's kinda hot, but I will not comment any further until she turns 18.
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry was arrested YET AGAIN a couple days ago. This time DUI and speeding. He just got through a court hearing for a separate arrest while in Florida. It's hard to figure how someone could be so damn dumb. But the Bengals should keep him, because in the Pros it's about winning and nothing else. If they cut him, someone else will pick him up and he could come back to haunt the Bengals down the road. Last I checked the Ravens had 2 star players get prison time, or at least were found guilty of some crime. Who cares, this aint high school. The Steelers new draft pick, Santonio Holmes recently got into trouble. But they'd do well to keep him because he'll help them win games. I hear guys on the radio saying "cut that creep Henry, we don't need that kind of player on our team". Oh really? You want a bunch of saints on your team and go .500? Can you imagine the shit the dudes back in the 70s did off the field in the NFL? Holy Christ, it'd make your hair turn white. This is the Pros baby, deal with it.
The French Open was NOT broadcast in HD on NBC over the weekend. I hate you, NBC...unless it was out of their control. I think they just use the French TV feed for their broadcast, so maybe they were unable to show it in HD. I'm still pissed though. And it looks like Martina Hingis is advancing nicely. The occasional skirt fly-up is the real reason I want the HD. Hingis appears to have really gotten into great shape. At least I'm honest.
Muslims terrorists--some Canadian citizens--were captured in Ontario. They were planning bomb attacks in Ontario. During the same week, the Ontario division of the largest trade union in Canada was calling for a boycott against Israel for mistreatment against Palestinians. Man, that is divine irony.
I watched Rob Zombie's "House of 1000 Corpses" over the weekend on the Independent Film Channel. Wow, what a mess. And talk about ripping off Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Oh, I guess the part where one of the killers uses the facial skin of one of his victims as a mask--just like Leatherface--was supposed to be a homage. Well, it was one clumsily done homage, I'd call it a rip-off any day.
And I've heard plenty about the sequel, "Devil's Rejects". And this leads me to the conclusion that Zombie is one gutless wonder. Sure, he has his killers torture and kill normal white people--in the case of "Reject's" an overtly Christian family is tortured and put to death. Zombie doesn't show any blacks or other minority group as victims. Nor do you see a Muslim family tied up and tortured. Zombie would not want to appear bigoted I'm sure and I guarantee he doesn't want to piss off Muslims. But cruelty against Christians is fun!
South Park's new episode wednesday did not disappoint. While Randy was not in the ep as much as I thought he would be, it was great nonetheless. Stan and Kyle play "Guitar Hero", score 100,000 points, and ultimately get dissed by the game in a homophobic finale. Randy had not one, but two classic tighty whitey moments, which has become his trademark.
Phil Hendrie's new show continues to be very good. He has kept the loony "guests" but has dispensed with taking calls from real people. Fine by me, the real callers were boring anyway. He has pissed off many of his fans for doing this and also pissed them off for his pro-Iraq war, pro-Bush stances. They just can't stand that he has these views--of course they had no problem with him when he expressed his very liberal views on his old show, pre-9/11. Besides, he still has a lot of liberal views, but the war thing tends to dominate. Anyway, you go Phil, you're awesome.
Clinton stiffs waitress.
No, no, Hillary....not Bill.
Or did she?
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/...of-the-tip.html
The only thing about this story that has any relevance is that media outlets are using the word "waitress". I thought this word was outmoded, outdated, and otherwise sexist. I guess it's ok since she is from Iowa, and well, you know, those folks out there aren't as sophisticated as the rest of the country.
