Fish Sticks, Mac & Cheese

So Carrie Underwood won American Idol last night, sorry but I do not like that show. However I do find it amusing when I see the fans and people that are over-the-top and who cry when the winner was announced. Hilarious when you consider that both she and Bo Bice will fade into obscurity in less than a year.

The FBI cracked down on a website to that boasted free downloads of movies. The big attention drawer here was the counterfeit copy of Star Wars Episode 3. To me, it is amazing that people set up these sites. The question is why? Sure they are sticking it to the man by giving away the product for nothing, but to risk felony prosecution, and not make any money for it, seems silly to me. If only these nerds could harvest this knowledge for good…

Miss Penny Hinkler wrote:
Stop thanking me for apparently supporting you. I am rejecting you.
IMBECILE.

It is my contention that anyone who visits my blog on more than one occasion is indeed a supporter of mine. So deny it all you like Miss Hinkler, but I am going to bid you a gracious “thank you” anyway.

So have you heard that online gambling sites have posted odds of a Michael Jackson conviction at 43%? It is sweet to know that the gambling community can reduce anything to odds. If interested, check out BoDog.com or TradeSports.com. I am not a gambling man, but I would bet he gets acquitted.

There is a drug being tested in Washington that could delay male orgasm, citing that premature ejaculation is a problem for ten to thirty percent of men. Interesting that the medical community can concoct this drug and Viagra to enhance the male sexual experience, but cancer and AID’s are still global epidemics. Don’t get me wrong, any advancement in medicine is wonderful, but don’t you think that the aforementioned afflictions should receive top priority?

So there is a watchdog group in the US known as the Dove Foundation that is urging Burger King to drop its Star Wars promotional merchandise. How flipping ridiculous is this? They argue that the movie is rated PG-13 and its images are used to promote kids meals. It is my contention that if parents feed their kid enough fast food for these images to effect them, that their kids will probably get too fat to act violently. Some people (ahem) need to find better purposes in life.

On a similar note, another group of yentas known as the Parents Television Council may seek action from the Federal Communications Commission to ban a “racy” ad featuring Paris Hilton. The ad is for, of all things, a burger joint in Texas and features Paris washing a car in a skimpy bikini. I am no fan of Ms. Hilton, except in video format of course, but who cares of she is in a bikini? The whole world knows why she is famous; a commercial isn’t going to hurt anyone. Hhmmm, excuse me while I cook myself a hamburger.

That’s all for today…Go Pistons, Go Suns….Wooo Hooo

Here’s my shot at becoming more interesting > Santa Claus, a smart Aussie and a dumb blonde are in a room together. All of them are starving. You toss in a piece of bread. Which one will get to it first? Answer > the dumb blonde gets the bread because the other two don’t exist.

Nah, according to some, “interesting” means just mindlessly insulting others on the basis of social class, weight, nationality, personal beliefs, etc. Personally I find it more interesting to comment on things happening in the world. You may not agree but, like reading this blog that is your choice. On to the news:

A doctor at Boston University has found that applying sunscreen to your skin may actually promote cancer. Apparently sunscreen slows the growth of vitamin D, which is actually a cancer fighting vitamin. Weird, next you’re going to tell me that smoking, drinking a quart of whiskey daily or vegetables are bad for you too. Ugh.

The NBA conference finals are set with the Pistons vs. Heat and the Spurs vs. Suns. Personally I hope Shaq plays and the Heat lose to the Pistons. I am also a big fan of Steve Nash, so it would be nice to see him win a championship. But my prediction is Spurs over the Heat in 6 games. You heard it here first.

A loophole was discovered in which New York state sex offenders received reimbursed Viagra from MediCare. Apart from the fact that this is like throwing gasoline on a fire, which has outraged many, what about the seniors who get refused for mediations they need from MediCare? Federal officials actually have to lobby and put forth a proposition to close this loophole. The healthcare system in the US is a joke.

Time magazine has released a list of the 100-greatest films of all time. They don’t rank them in order, they just list 100 films. I was a bit shocked that films such as Apocalypse Now, A Clockwork Orange, Fight Club, Ernest Saves Christmas and Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle are not on the list. Here is the link if you are interested > http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_en_mo/storytext/film_time_s100/15245470/SIG=1200vdcji/*http:/www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/the_complete_list.html
Oh well, maybe I need to come up with my own list? Let me know.

So I am not going to spend a lot of time on Episode 3, but I feel it is worth mentioning. I have been a Star Wars geek since the first movie in 1977. I was a little disappointed with the Phantom Menace, but liked the Clone Wars a bit more. Revenge of the Sith was worth the wait and worthy of all the hype. It has stuff for even the non-fan (if that exists) as it details the struggle within a man who is torn between the right thing and a loved one. Kudos to George Lucas on making an excellent film.

This week saw the ending of Everybody Loves Raymond. I got into this show only a few years ago, but I must say that I did like it. I have never watched in primetime, but manage to watch the repeats a few times a week and always laugh out loud.

There has been a breakthrough in stem cell research in South Korea. Apparently scientists there are able to clone human embryos from DNA, thus eliminating the need to take cells living cells from fetuses. This could result in a major breakthrough in the treatment of crippling diseases….in South Korea, as the US government is crippling scientific efforts to research this here. Bush actually stated to the media, "I'm very concerned about cloning…I worry about a world in which cloning becomes accepted." I think the President should be worried about other things, rather than catering to the religious right…but hey, that’s just me. Congrats to the South Koreans though as they surge ahead scientifically as we in the US, specifically Kansas, waste time arguing the theory of evolution vs. creationism in our schools. Wasn’t this being debated like a hundred years ago? Nice job Kansas, way to be on the cutting edge!

Rhetorical Questions to think about over the weekend?
1. will I get any readers to this blog?
2. will star wars episode 3 crack the $40M record for an opening weekend?
3. after appearing in a UK paper in his underwear, will Saddam Hussein announce that he has hired Ron Jeremy as his agent and pursue a career in porn?
4. how much ass does Yoda kick?

Have a great weekend...

Sorry no post yesterday. Of course I am busy as hell at work now, and that’s the only time I have to comment on life in general. So I got a ticket to see Star Wars Episode 3 tonight. To see the movie tonight, I wanted to get off work an hour early. So I had to plan ahead. I came in early yesterday and today to get caught up, and to make up for that hour I would be leaving early. Sad that anything fun that I would like to do takes so much planning. I miss the days of spontanaity. I am not going to go into the whole Whoa Is Me rap, because damnit I am psyched for Darth Vader…

Anyone with Episode 3 comments, please feel free to post?

So normally I write my daily blog entry little by little throughout the day while I am at work. OK, here’s a peak into what I do for a living, I scan the web for news related to my field to report on my company’s website. So this is why I tend to comment on the news in my entries.

That being said, have you heard what the President of Mexico said about America’s blacks? Here is the skinny: in a speech to the media last week, President Fox praised Mexicans living and working in the United States as hard workers. Then he went on to say “they take jobs even blacks won’t do.” That comment deserves a ‘way to go, dumb ass.’ In fact I have been thinking that I should delve out this award daily, maybe weekly. So there you have it, the “way to go, dumb ass” award for 5/17/05 goes to Mexican President Vincente Fox.

At first Fox was not apologetic, saying that his comments were "misinterpreted." The Mexican people were behind him saying that Americans were too sensitive. When the backlash started to mount, he apologized in a telephone conversation with, you guessed it, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

Now suddenly, Mr. Fox has decided to champion the relations between blacks and Hispanics. Come on dude. The only thing worse than prejudice and ignorance is prejudice and ignorance masked by understanding and empathy for PR purposes.

Reuters reported today that singer Kylie Minogue has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Looking past the obvious fact that she is an extremely attractive woman, she is only 36, which is rather young to get such an affliction. Strange, I wonder if there any factors that contributed to the diagnosis?, as the report i read doesn't get too much into it? If you know anything, please let me know. She cancelled the rest of her tour to undergo immediate treatment. I am not a fan of her music, but I guess she had several multi-platinum hits and is huge in Australia. Who’d a thunk it? Coincidently, many in her fan club hold dual memberships in the Baywatch fan club as well.

Reuters also reported that a 31 year old Norwegian man died while trying to parachute off the Eiffel Tower. In what has to be the greatest quote of the 2005 so far, French police were quoted as saying, “the jump didn’t happen quite as he wanted.” Seriously, that’s what they said! Remember my quote about truth being stranger than fiction?

Brian Nichols, the dude that was set to stand trial for rape in Atlanta; and then went nuts in the court room before his arraignment, stole a gun and shot a bunch of people; has entered a plea today of Not Guilty. They have several witnesses, as well as the whole thing on tape committing these crimes. Perhaps Mr. Nichols is unaware of Not Guilty actually means?

That’s about all I have for today, sorry I have been busy at work doing “actual work,” go figure! Oh, I will leave you with one final thing, if you ever feel like there are quite a few people out there with intelligence and worthy of some good debate and conversation; just log onto Yahoo, click on ANY news story, scroll to the bottom, and then click Discuss. It doesn’t even matter what the topic is, the conversation and posts are quickly reduced to morons who call themselves Cons(ervatives) and Lib(erals) arguing and calling each other names like 8 year olds.

If you have trouble figuring out which group you might fit into, ask yourself this: am I a racist, xenophobe, homophobe, bigot who praises Bush and his cowboy-like mentality? If you answered yes, please proceed to post as a Con, and begin bashing Libs. Popular insults include “queer, communist, hippie, fag, Jew, and the ever popular N word.”

If you answered No, ask yourself: do I empathize with criminals, would I give oral favors to Bill Clinton, or do I consider the Kennedy’s America’s royal family? If you answered Yes to these; log on a Lib and proceed to insult Cons as “rednecks, hicks, sheep-lovers.”

If you consider yourself above all this, please log onto my Blog, let me know of your Blog, and list my Blog on yours as a “Friend.” This exercise was a public service announcement to remind us of how genuinely dumb the masses really are. Here’s the rule to live by, “how ever intelligent and good you think people are; there are many, many, many, many, many, many fools out there.”

So last week Danica Patrick recorded the fastest time in qualifying at Indianapolis. I am no racing fan but I do love when things happen, anywhere, that piss off ignorant white males. Now before you get flustered, I am a white male, but I am not ignorant, and by no means are all white males ignorant, but the ones that are seem to be very vocal and, therefore, annoying. It is just that niche that makes racist, sexist, and generally ignorant remarks that irritate me so. For example, a few years back I was rooting for Sammy Sosa to top Mark McGuire in the home run race for no other reason than to upset the ignorance on my college campus that made the statement they were rooting for McGuire simply because he was white. Stupidity is all around I suppose. I couldn’t make this shit up, the truth is way stranger than fiction.

Speaking of truth vs. fiction, I saw the trailer for the film “Last Days” by Gus Van Sant. The only movie I have seen from him so far has been Elephant, which I loved. Being an avid Nirvana fan as you know from a previous post, I am eager to see this movie.

Let’s talk happenings: What’s the deal with the proposed US military base closings? It will reduce the American military presence in the world ( maybe a good thing ) but will cost people around the world jobs, not to mention force many American military personnel to be shuffled around. This is being backed by both Reps and Dems in Congress and will no doubt cause some resentment. Head’s Up for the 2008 election when the Reps do a 180 on this issue and come out looking like the saviors of jobs and such even though it was Rumsfeld initiative. Oh those tricky Republicans. And before you dismiss me as “Liberal” (not a bad thing by the way) I’ll have you know I am a registered Progressive due to reaching a personal limit on the bullshit I could swallow from the two party’s in power in the US.

On the lighter side: the Associated Press reports that in Minnesota a priest is under fire for denying communion to parishioners sporting rainbow sashes. Apparently the sashes are a support symbol by the Rainbow Sash Alliance, which supports the rights of gay Catholics. Ah the poor Catholic church. We keep thrusting them into the media for their clinging to 19th century ideals. Heaven forbid they move their thinking into the 21st century and allow equality for all…but this is the organization that openly excludes women from positions of power and openly dismisses and excludes gay followers as sinners. How an organization can operate in this day and age and express this kind of thinking is beyond me. But let’s face it, this is organization that threatened to execute Galileo for heresy if he published his discoveries that the Sun was the center of the universe (I am stretching this one, it wasn’t Catholicism specifically, but some form of Christianity).

In keeping with the religion topic, in Topeka Kansas a local school board is wrestling with the issue of teaching evolution. Here are the two sides of the debate in a nutshell: the “intelligent design” theory supporters argue that the universe is so vast and complex that a higher being must have created it. To embrace this logic, a higher being also created my wife’s thought processes, HTML and Dr. Phil fans. We all know the scientific approach of Darwin. I will refrain from what I believe here, and simply ask why creationism and Darwinism can’t both be taught as theories? Since neither one is 100 percent provable, present them both and leave it as that, or does that make too much sense? Why the uproar that if we provide kids with theory and let them decide what to believe on their own that that is SO terrible. I think we need to let people think for themselves, isn’t it bad enough that we are bombarded daily with slanted media everywhere we look? On that note, I will leave you today with a quote that I got from most college professors in my undergrad years (sure it was drilled into my head, but I think its apropos here) “Those who do not study and learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”

I just read the Associated Press headline that the new Holocaust Memorial in Berlin was vandalized. The memorial was designed by an American and just opened on Thursday, and a day later some moron goes and defaces it. I never fully understood the level of hate some people have. It is beyond me to feel this passionately negative about something. It is sad, really.

Also on the Associated Press today is the story about the woman who found that finger in her bowl of Wendy’s chili. When a restaurant (and I use that term loosely) needs to issue this statement, “Wendy's had said all the employees at the San Jose store were found to have all their fingers, and no suppliers of Wendy's ingredients have reported any hand or finger injuries,” its another sad state of affairs. Apparently she planted it there and the finger came from a dude that her husband worked with who lost the finger in an industrial accident months ago. So this shady lady had a severed finger for months? Well, that’s quite disgusting. As with the Holocaust Memorial defacing, if people would harvest this negativity and turn it to the positive, the world would be a better place don’t you think? Think of all the business they lost, not that I am feeling sorry for a corporation, but Wendy’s had to lay off a shit load of employees after this claim. I think you can agree that the last thing anyone wants is more unemployment.

About a week or so ago, the FBI made headlines stating they wanted to exhume the body of Emmett Till. For those not in the know about Till, he was the black child who was murdered in Mississippi in 1955 for whistling at a white woman. This is a fascinating case because, among other reasons, it happened only fifty years ago. I like to think that in some ways we have come along way. The FBI believes that if they do a proper autopsy on the body they will be able to determine if the Till murderers (now dead) had accomplices who may still be alive. The men who were charged with the murder by the way were acquitted by an all-white jury and then confessed to the murder in an interview in LOOK magazine just a few months later. You can read that excellent article by visiting: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/sfeature/sf_look.html.

Also in the news are idiots paying as much as $500 for tickets to the exclusive premiere of Star Wars Episode 3. Don’t get me wrong, I am as big a Star Wars geek as the next guy, and I will go see it opening weekend, but why pay $500 for a ticket to see it a week early? Same logic applies to people who “must” have the latest technology as it comes out rather than wait six months when the price bottoms out. If you read a previous post I did about me getting an iPod, you’ll see I believe in waiting out the fever and getting cool stuff after the buzz dies down. You could say I am intentionally a year behind in what’s cool but the fact is that with a mortgage and a baby, I can’t afford to be hip anymore. Excuse me while I go listen to Guns-N-Roses and long for the days of high school and no responsibility. My biggest concern then was where I was getting a keg from for the party this weekend.

Rhetorical Questions to think about over the weekend:
1. Will the new Will Ferrell movie tank?
2. Will Keith Richards make it through another tour before his heart kicks out?
3. Does anyone (but me) care that there is no hockey?
4. Is the runaway bride really a space alien trying to make her way back to Area 51 before her mother ship returned to its home planet? Before you answer, take another look at those eyes.
5. Did Paula Abdul sleep with that Clarke guy? Does anyone care? She should totally take the power back in this matter and say ‘yeah, I did him, and he wasn’t any good and he had a small wiener.” Watch Mr. Clarke shut up real fast.

Am I the only one sick of the Michael Jackson trial? But I guess I am not the one to ask as I didn’t even have any interest in the OJ trial, I just wanted justice and we all know what happened there. Anyway, MJ is on another level, he honestly doesn’t think what he has been doing is wrong. Now I don’t know what happened, nor do I claim to know all the facts, but I think that he slept with those kids in the way that every kid had a sleepover party when you were 10. MJ himself has the mentality of a 10 year old. I just read on Yahoo news that he is quoted as saying “Adults have let me down.” That’s all I am going to say about that, as it is just speculation.

Let’s talk Dave Chappelle for second. The guy is wildly successful (and damn funny I might add) and signs a huge contract extension with Comedy Central. Then he disappears, production is halted on the third season of his show, then he checks himself into a psych ward in South Africa. I ask myself why? What happened? I never understood the plight of celebrities with the ‘whoa is me’ thing, and the ‘you don’t understand the pressure.’ To me you’re getting paid obscenely so quit whining and produce what made you famous.

I stress this is what I USED to think. Recently I read the memoirs of one of my heroes, Kurt Cobain. Think what you want, but Cobain is to Generation X as John Lennon was to hippies in my opinion. He was our voice. Anyway, in his memoirs, the reader observes his decline and how all he really wanted to do was what he loved, write and play music. Sure, he signed the deal too and made records and millions of dollars; it was the American dream. But what no one thinks about, and I think he relayed it best, was how you overlook the fact that you can never look back. You can’t walk down the street anymore; you can’t hangout at a club with a few friends and suck back a few dozen beers. All that is gone and it can be a lot to deal with. You now have pressure to perform and paparazzi jumping out of bushes for a snapshot and digging through your trash. It happened to Kurt, and I think it has happened to Dave. I wish him well and hope the show will get back into production someday.

So my son is about seven weeks old now, and I know it is cliché, but having a kid changes everything. I have been pretty “all about me” for my entire life and I have to say that I love him more than anything. Ok, enough blubbering, this is not the Oprah blog, so onward and upward.

Let’s see what’s happening. I am thinking about getting an iPod to listen to at work and download music from the net. I am thinking about a 4GB mini, seems to be a good value for the money. I am at work now, not working obviously, but listening to Howard Stern on my Sony walkman, circa 1982.

I am a bit bummed about the cancellation of the NHL season. I didn’t miss it until now when the playoffs would be happening. Let’s look at sports for a bit>

Let me start by saying I have no interest in the steroids issue that now clouds professional sports. It doesn't matter to me. It is sad that people put their health on the line to succeed in an extremely competitive atmosphere. But what's sadder is the fact that we value sports figures to this extent. The Yankees make news headlines below Bush's visit to Russia, and ABOVE the impending social security crisis. It is diffucult to sympathize with these athletes when many hold out for more money, and people like TO state publically that $7M a year is not enough to feed his kids. What an ass!

In the NFL, the American sport of kings so to speak, Kellen Winslow is a moron. He is the second coming of Ki-Jana Carter, a star in college and an NFL never-will-be. I am relentlessly teasing the dude who has him in my fantasy football keeper league. TO is working his selfish magic in Philly. I am just waiting for Randy Moss to top TO’s jack-assery.

In the NBA, the playoffs are massive. It is nice to have Shaq in the East, but I still hate him. Steve Nash is the man, the MVP without a doubt.

MLB, sucks, boring, I hate the fact that the Yankee bandwagon is rolling once again now that they won five in a row. The daily coverage of them is disturbing. Am I the only one who realizes that the baseball season is an eternity and no games really even matter until July.

Sorry about the sports comments, it is just on my mind today and I thought it would be a good way to kick off the blog.