The Wee Dark Hours

Whitney Houston

2012-02-12T07:28:00.000-05:00

As you have no doubt heard, she has died. It's not often the passing of a celebrity affects me enough to write about it, but this did. Of course, I'm saddened by the loss of any classic great talent, but usually it's expected because of their age. Whitney was not old, she was only 48.

I'm watching a block of back to back Whitney videos on VH1 as I write this. I would have been very disappointed if they didn't do this. It was my first thought after reading the news this morning, and I immediately tuned in. It looks like they pulled out every one in the vault.

Her music was never mine, not even back in her heyday in the 80's, but some artists appeal to me outside of my favored genres. She was one of those. Mostly it was just that one song, "I will always love you". I have always admired her amazing voice, and she was so beautiful.

Of course, no details have been released yet. Given her age and failing health (self-induced or otherwise), I doubt it will be due to natural causes. Her few public appearances in recent years pretty much painted that future.

It's well known her relationship with Bobby Brown caused her decline beginning many years ago. I can relate in a way, having endured a toxic relationship for nearly 6 yrs. But for me, the love was eventually turned off. Apparently it wasn't for Whitney. So sad. I could see her wowing us till the end if her life had taken a healthier turn and she had lived to a ripe age. Like Aretha, Tina, and even Cher.

R.I.P Whitney. You're with the great choir in the sky now. Sing on.

Good morning.

Music videos

2012-01-27T10:17:00.000-05:00

I've said before that I watch them. On VH1, VH1 Classics, and MTV (when they actually show music videos). Usually in the morning when all of these channels are running blocks of videos. Some they run way too much, some not enough, and I switch to something else when they've run my least favorites one too many times. It's still pretty good for short attention span TV.

There's a few that make me stop and watch every time they come on. I even recorded a couple so I can watch whenever I want. One of these is the The Black Keys "Lonely Boy". What a catchy and sing alongable tune! Who doesn't want to get up and dance along with that guy! Who is that guy? Some random (I assume) mature black man in button down shirt and suit pants getting his groove on in a lobby or something, and lip-syncing the song. Very low budget, but I love it!

Then there's Pitbull. Pitbull? This old rocker likes a rapper? Oh yeah, and not only that, he made my crush list. He collaborates with a lot of other artists. Don't think I've seen him all alone. I'll have to look around to see if there is any music videos he did alone. What is it about him? Interesting handsome face, sexy moves, gravely voice, and the man looks hot in a suit! The latest is "International" with Chris Brown. I like the tune and I can't take my eyes off Pitbull. The first time I heard of him was when he collaborated with Enrigue Iglesias (another crush) and they appeared on one of the dance shows. I admit I didn't pay much attention to Pitbull then, but he got my attention later. I actually like Chris Brown in this one, too. Probably not politically correct to like Brown, but everybody deserves the chance to redeem themselves and it looks like he really is trying.

One of the videos I'm so tired of seeing/hearing is Jesse J. When I first heard her, I thought it was Katy Perry. The voice and the song sounds like Katy, and when I looked at it, she even looks a bit like Katy. I like Katy Perry so I can't like someone who seems to be mimicking her. I'd really have to like the song, and I don't.

I actually tried to watch American Idol. It was an accident. I was DVRing Glee but it was preempted by an encore American Idol. I had read about the episode and was kinda curious to see how the girl handled the Dolly Parton/Whitney Houston "I will always love you.". I really like that song for the incredible range and test of a singer's voice, and I can't imagine anyone could do it better than Dolly or Whitney. So I watched (with a lot of fast forwarding) to see it. I was impressed by the girl, but not the show. As I thought I would, I got very bored very quickly. The only other notable audition was Jim Carrey's daughter. JLo remembered her as a baby. Gee, do you think that's why she was put through? I didn't watch her whole performance (boring), but I did watch the home movie clips just to see Jim Carrey. I like Jim Carrey.

Well, this post was mostly to write my love letter to Pitbull, and I don't have much else on my mind.

Good morning

I love technology

2011-12-28T04:58:00.005-05:00

My previous post about new gadgets got me to thinking about more gadgets. I have a lot of electronics, but none of it is top of the line stuff. When I want something, I watch for the price I'm willing to pay for it, and don't get it until then. If it's something I want/need right now, it's probably going to be low end. By low end, I mean cheaper brands which usually means lower quality. Although you can pay through the nose for high end crap.

I think about what I'd like if I had more disposable income. I'm not talking lottery-rich...that's a whole nother fantasy. I mean if I had a fairly decent bank of extra funds at all times. I'm lucky that I can have almost anything I want. I don't have expensive taste and I can usually afford that new gadget. But some I don't want so badly I'd go into debt for them.

A better tv. I don't need one right now. I'm content with the one I have. It's a flat screen HD tv, and bigger than the last tube tv. But a better one would be nice. Doesn't have to be bigger, I like the size I have now. Just better. Happily, prices for flat screens have come way down the last few years, and I can get a better one for less than I gave for the one I have. When I need it.

A new camera. A good camera is a fun toy. I have 2. The old one is a Minolta that I paid a fortune for before I retired (had more money). At the time, this was as close as you could get to a digital SLR. SLR didn't come on the market until several years later, and then they were so expensive, only professionals would afford them. This camera does almost what a SLR can do, or at least as much as I wanted it to do, but it has drawbacks. It's big and bulky for one thing. It's also a battery hog. It takes 4 AAs, and it chows through them in no time. I found an electric adapter for it, and now it just stays on the tripod with the stage for rabbit photo shoots. It also has issues...I guess it's aging. The other is a nice little point and shoot that I got at Overstock.com a couple years ago, and this is the one I can take anywhere. A digital SLR would be fun.

A tablet. Like an iPad, but not as a phone. Even if I had the funds for a fancy tablet phone with internet, I wouldn't own one. I prefer a plain ole flip phone for phone calls, and I just don't see me liking a tiny phone screen and keyboard for internet. The tablet with bigger screen would be for portable internet, and it would also be a toy. The other expense that might be included with this is the data plan. Something else I don't need, and I'm not willing to pay for right now. My little Netbook is serving that purpose without an extra data plan.

I didn't really need the Netbook, but I took advantage of the annual "tax free holiday" and got it at the same time as the desktop computer (which I did need). Saved quite a bit on both. I don't use the Netbook a lot, it's not very powerful as computers go. But it has come in handy, which is the reason I got it...for just in case. When I was without power for several days after the tornado, it got a lot of use. I bought a special charger for it during the outage that I can run off the car so I didn't have to worry about conserving the battery.

A Wii. I'm not really a gamer. I play little time-waster games, but I don't have much interest in the heavy duty type of games that you need a gaming console for. Wii looks like it would be a fun toy, so I'd get one if I had extra money. I might even get that new tv so I could dedicate the Wii to the old one, and keep the new tv for...well...watching tv.

You might have noticed a new computer isn't on the list. I don't want a new one. I love my current pc and don't see a need to upgrade again until it dies. Oh, but that reminds me...

Software. I'd buy some expensive software that I'd like to have but get by without.

Where do I go for my gadgets? Best Buy has always been the one for big ticket items like computers and tvs. Walmart is the best option around here for prices so I get small things there. I like The O for stuff that can't be found at Walmart.

BTW, if you're nervous about buying "refurbished" from The O, don't be. I've been very happy with everything I've got from there. Refurbished usually just means it was returned for reasons other than defect or damage, and usually doesn't include a manufacturers warranty (however, The O will stand behind it), but you save money on a perfectly good item. They also have good deals on new things that are just not the latest thing. If you don't mind an older version of a gadget, this is the place to go.

I usually buy myself something for Christmas from The O (like the little camera). They always run a free shipping deal at Xmas time. This year, it's a graphics tablet. I ordered it the day after Xmas and haven't got it yet. I've been looking at these for a while. I love playing with graphics and I think I'll like it. I went with a Wacom. It's (I think) the best, and I found a nice mid-range model. I saved a good $40 over what's in-store locally. Basically, it's so I can draw. I can't, not really. My mouse is a trackball controlled by the thumb. I love it because I have a hard time keeping a regular mouse on the desk. It tends to wander off, and I'm constantly picking it up to place it back where I need it. The trackball stays in place. I'm pretty good with it when it comes to editing graphics, but I still can't draw with my thumb. Can't wait to get my new toy.

Happy New Year from The Wee Dark Hours

Diversions

2011-12-10T14:01:00.003-05:00

Besides my daily routine of websites, I have some I visit now and then for entertainment.

The Hollywood Gossip is actually one of my daily stops, and it's linked over there in the sidebar. I think this is one of the best and most accurate celebrity gossip sites. I take their word for it, and they will redact an incorrect report if it turns out they were duped as well. I love how they make fun of the gossip rags' headlines (that probably aren't true). I especially love that they share my disdain for a lot of reality tv shows and their "stars".

A slightly related site is G4's Attack of the Show. I don't actually goto this site much, I watch it on tv. The reason it's included here is the viral videos. I see many of them before they appear the following day on The Hollywood Gossip, and often before anyone on Facebook shares them.

Another show I watch and have mentioned many times is The Soup. I catch some pretty good virals there, too.

People of Walmart is well...about the people who go to Walmart. I think it must be mostly evening and late night Walmart-goers because I don't believe I've seen anything like them. I'm out and about in the earlier times of day, so I mostly see oldsters, stay-at-home moms, etc. There's the occasional rock star wannabe lady of advanced years. The ones who make it on PoW have to be the more dysfunctional members of society. Anyways, it's a chuckle to see how much shame some people don't have. Seems to be regional. There have been some from my state, but I don't think my area. A lot from California and Florida where...ummm...unusual characters are a given. And the other southern states where...oh I hate to say it but you know what I mean.

You Are Not a Photographer makes fun of the people who think they are professional photographers. They don't pick on anyone who takes a bad picture. They go after the ones who decide their fancy new camera will pay for itself and open up shop. Then display their work which should make any intelligent consumer run hard and fast the other way. Most of these outstanding works are heavily photoshopped, which really points to their lack of editing and artistic skills more than their photography skills. You really don't need much skill to operate a digital camera, but you do need skill and talent to photoshop. My last visit to YANAP, I was delighted that they are taking submissions and will open up a new segment..."You Are Not a Graphic Designer". Can't wait. I can think of a few who should make the grade. Oh dear, I hope I don't end up there.

Speaking of that, there's Photoshop Disasters. This is stuff from print and internet media that was actually done by "professionals". It includes ads that you would think someone would have taken a little more care with. Sometimes you have to look close to see the PSD, because hey, who pays that much attention to print ads? Bet you will now.

Not Always Right is one I just found and haven't been all through it yet. The premise is conversations with customers, and should make for some chuckles.

Missouri Trailer Trash has been around for as long as I've had internet, and I'm surprised it's still online. You have got to see it! It's not updated anymore, but it's definitely worth revisiting from time to time.

Some more diversions from my links database:

Crank Dot Net
Cracked.com
Facebook Status Stalker
Awkward Family Pet Photos
Parodyville
Pravada.ru (from Russia with love)
Fireworks (you need a Java plugin for this one, so allow it and go play with fireworks)

Enjoy.

Very cool

2011-12-07T08:40:00.009-05:00

So I've had the Blue-Ray player for over a week now, and I'm very pleased. Netflix and music CDs work fine. Not so for the MP3 player. No place to plug it in, but there is a USB port on the front of the player. I tried to plug in the MP3 player that way, but that's not how it works. It tried to write to the player but good thing there was nothing to write to it or I'd have lost the files on the device. I guess the USB connect for the MP3 player is just for transferring files to and from it and charging the battery. But....

Something way cooler and much better! I can plug a USB flash drive into the BR player! I tested it with MP3 files and it was amazing. The sound came through the Bose rich and full. And there isn't a battery like for the MP3 player.

I only had one 4GB flash drive that I had picked up at a discount store. Functional but plain and black. I went on the search for a more attractive device to store the music on. Not only for aesthetics, but such a small black thing disappears when kept with the other black components. It could be lost.

Found some online, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to go that route. I made a point of checking any local store I happened to be in, but wasn't having any luck. The discount store where I got the other one didn't have any in stock. Then I tried Staples which is right next door. I thought that would be the logical place for something like that. Not really, unless you're a kid or a professional. The kid things were silly cartoon characters or skateboards on a display for stocking stuffers. Price was ok but none appealed to me. The real deal was in an aisle but they were all high end professional grade devices. And all black. I just wanted a reasonably priced 4-8 gigs in anything other than black.

Found it at Kmart. I don't do Kmart much but I did find my 1st MP3 player there when no one else had anything other than iPods and the like. I just wanted a plain music player, I don't need graphics and video. I liked it so much, I got a 2nd better one (not an iPod) later. So I tried Kmart for the flash drive. They had a good selection and I got one that was pretty much perfect for my need. Not too small, not black, and only $10. It has a loop so I can attach it to something making it less losable and easily identified as the music files. I'll look through my craft stuff for a charm or something.

So now I have another good option for music in the house. I like it! BTW, most of my MP3s were freebies. Some were burned from CDs I had bought. When I first got the cell phone, I was roped into the free trial apps, one being Rhapsody. The app was free, but that doesn't mean the music is. It's not. I went crazy before I realized I was paying for each song I downloaded. Quickly put a stop to that and cancelled the apps.

I learned how to search for free music online. There are lots of sites that offer free downloads, you just have to know what to look for. Can't find all the music you might want, but most of what I wanted was out there for the taking. I mostly listen to classic and oldies rock and almost all those old tunes can be found. I listen to Dish Network's audio channels (Sirius) and jot down any song that I liked. Then I search the free sites and usually find it.

So I have a pretty good size collection of MP3s now. Enough for more hours than I'm likely to listen to at one time. And there's still room for more on the 4GB players and flash drives.

Oh and I think I'll embrace the flash drive way of backing up files. I hadn't done that, and I'll keep an eye out for more in the future. In the meantime, I have an immediate use for the black drive that I hadn't considered before. There's a program I wouldn't mind having on the Netbook, but backing up the files was cumbersome. I had to unplug an external drive from the desktop puter. The flash drive will make that so easy!

I love technology!

Good morning.

Black Friday

2011-11-30T04:16:00.019-05:00

Nope, didn't participate. Never have, never will. There's nothing I need or want badly enough to join that insanity. I did poke around the net on Cyber Monday, but there weren't any deals for me.

So I went in Walmart on Monday. Still not really needing anything but on the lookout for things I kinda wanted. It was a calm normal day for shopping. The insanity was over, and Walmart staff had cleaned up the mess I'm sure was left in the wake. Kudos to the staff! I wouldn't want to be them.

One of the departments I always cruise is electronics. I've been wanting a Blue-Ray player so I've been watching prices. It's one of those things everybody will need someday. Like when we had to give up VHS for DVD, Blue-Ray will make DVD obsolete eventually. I hadn't made the commitment yet, and still bought DVDs. I looked at BR players online to see what prices were doing, and I read reviews of the ones that interested me. One thing I saw was that not all are as good for DVDs. They are supposed to play them, but some brands had issues with older DVDs. That worried me, I've got quite a library now.

They are already pushing BR harder. The last DVDs I bought were the final installments of Pirates of Caribbean and Harry Potter. I was pretty disgusted that they were only available in a Blue-Ray/DVD combo pack. I was forced to pay BR price for the DVD. OK, maybe not forced exactly. If I'd waited, I'm sure I'd have found the DVD only price. But I wanted them now, and it would give me a chance to see what all the fuss is about Blue-Ray. When I got a BR player.

Back to Walmart. I cruised around looking at this and that, not seeing anything I needed/wanted, at least not at a price I was willing to pay. As I wheeled into electronics, there it was on an end display. BR player for $49! Score! That was the price I was willing to pay to give it a try. It was an LG which had always been one of the cheapest brands, but also one with less than stellar reviews. For that price I'd risk it. I could always return it if I didn't like it.

So far so good! Set up was easy. I only had to take the audio and video cables out of the old player and plug them in. Just in case, the BR player sits on top of the old one so I can quickly hook it back up. BTW, it's considerably smaller than the old DVD player. That's a plus. So is the remote, but that's not that great when it's black with tiny buttons. I think all remotes should be silver so you can see what you're doing in dim light.

Another issue in reviews was sound. BR is supposed to be better, but some consumers had issues with sound not being converted correctly by some sound systems. One mentioned the Bose 3-2-1 in particular. Damn, that's what I have. I've had this thing for many years, it's the oldest component in my "home theater". It has a DVD/CD player built in but that damn thing burnt out after the 1st year. Word to the wise - don't buy combo units. Part of it will die, and usually sooner than a separate component.

I do love the Bose, though, and would probably buy another one when the time comes. For my needs and space, it gives excellent sound, and I don't need a new one yet. They did come out with a new system based on the 3 speaker concept from the 3-2-1. Highly expensive, but hopefully by the time I need it, the price will come down.

So I tested it with the BR of Pirates. I didn't want to watch the whole thing again, I had just seen it, so I just watched bonus features. OK yeah, better picture. I don't have a high end TV (actually pretty low end) so I didn't expect the best picture that could be had, but I could tell the difference. It was like the difference between HD and regular TV. No problem with the sound. I couldn't tell if it was better, it sounded the same to me...excellent.

What surprised me was that DVD looked better. I can't remember which are the oldest ones in my collection so I pulled out one that should give a good test. I used the SyFy version of Dune which I've had for a few years. Very sharp and detailed picture. I really noticed it on pause. It might be that the old DVD player (almost as old as the Bose) is wearing out or was never that good to begin with, but it was definitely an improvement. I'm pleased. I also got hooked into watching the entire Dune series again. Got through 3 of the 5 discs last night.

The next test is Netflix. I'm expecting the latest in the mail. I checked to see if Blue-ray costs more. Of course it fucking does! $3 extra a month. Don't think I'm willing to pay that for 2 out at a time. Since DVD looks better anyways, I can live without it. If Netflix tries to force me into a higher priced BR package, that's probably the day I quit Netflix.

I suppose I'll be buying BR from now on. It's hard to resign to paying the higher price, but I guess it really isn't that bad. At Walmart, where I get all mine, it's $3-$5 difference. That's actually about what I used to give for DVDs. If I could force myself to wait a little longer, I could probably pay less as older stuff always gets marked down. Doubt that will happen. When I buy a movie, it's one I've been waiting for.

Oh just remembered there's another test. Music. I haven't had a good CD player in the house since the Bose player died. I just listen to Dish Network's audio channels. I'll have to check the manual to see if there's an MP3 hook up. That would be cool. I have it in my car which is much better than storing a CD collection out there. Most of my music is MP3 files, anyways. Don't see the jack on the front of the unit. Would be rather inconvenient if it has to go in the back.

Good morning.

Agnostic or Atheist

2011-11-27T06:55:00.013-05:00

In the Beginning, I stated I'm agnostic. I've always referred to myself this way in the belief that it's the best word to describe my lack of belief in a higher power, my lack of religion. I felt Atheist didn't fit me as Atheism seems to be a religion itself, a crusade of sorts. But I'm not out to convince anyone else to not believe the way I do. I just have no religion, no beliefs.

If I didn't already know this, an experience in school made me realize it. This was an extracurricular literature class on Mythology. We were assigned to write a theory of afterlife, a myth about it. I couldn't. I had no concept of afterlife, no idea, no fantasy of what it would be like. I had nothing. I cheated and drew on an obscure element from mythology and very vaguely built on that. Basically, I wrote about Nothing. I never felt I successfully completed the assignment. If the assignment was an exercise in imagination, and I think it was, I surely failed there. I couldn't imagine it.

After seeing some online discussions that made me question the label I gave myself, I thought it would be a good idea to research some terms. The following definitions are taken from Dictionary.com.

Religion:
1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.

Doctrine:
1. a particular principle, position, or policy taught or advocated, as of a religion or government: Catholic doctrines; the Monroe Doctrine.
2. something that is taught; teachings collectively: religious doctrine.

Deism:
1. belief in the existence of a God on the evidence of reason and nature only, with rejection of supernatural revelation ( distinguished from theism).
2. belief in a God who created the world but has since remained indifferent to it.

Theism:
1. the belief in one God as the creator and ruler of the universe, without rejection of revelation ( distinguished from deism).
2. belief in the existence of a god or gods ( opposed to atheism).

Atheism:
1. the doctrine or belief that there is no God.
2. disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.

Agnosticism:
1. the doctrine or belief of an agnostic.
2. an intellectual doctrine or attitude affirming the uncertainty of all claims to ultimate knowledge.

Agnostic:
1. a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience. Synonyms: disbeliever, nonbeliever, unbeliever; doubter, skeptic, secularist, empiricist; heathen, heretic, infidel, pagan.
2. a person who denies or doubts the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study.
3. a person who holds neither of two opposing positions on a topic: Socrates was an agnostic on the subject of immortality.

Paganism:
1. pagan spirit or attitude in religious or moral questions.
2. the beliefs or practices of pagans.
3. the state of being a pagan.

Pagan:
1. one of a people or community observing a polytheistic religion, as the ancient Romans and Greeks.
2. a person who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim.
3. an irreligious or hedonistic person.

Ok then. Now I know. Let's pick this apart a little to see if I can figure out where I am.

I'll start with Religion and Doctrine. The definition of Atheism includes doctrine. Atheists "teach" their doctrine, same as Christians or Buddhists. Sounds like religion to me. Interesting that Agnosticism also includes the word doctrine. Maybe doctrine is actually just ideas.

There's a fine line between Deism and Theism. Deists acknowledge a creator, but that was the end of its role in earthly life. Theists believe that this creator is in control of daily life and destiny. Both believe in a higher power. Definitely not me.

As I thought, Atheism is a doctrine, a teaching, a belief, a religion. I suppose its doctrine could apply to me, but it still isn't quite right. I don't believe there is no god, I just don't believe in the concept of god, I can't imagine it. Believe it or not, there is a bit of difference there. I think the main reason Atheist doesn't apply to me is that I'm not trying to convince everybody else. At the same time, I reject anyone's attempt to convert me. You can't and you won't.

I think Agnostic is still the best label for me. I think we don't and will never know the truth. Whether because there is no way to know, or there isn't anything to know, I don't know, and it's not important that I know. Two of the synonyms for Agnostic are nonbeliever and pagan.

Hmmm, I could be Pagan. "a person who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim"; "an irreligious or hedonistic person". That definitely describes me, except that modern paganism is a practicing religion, which doesn't apply to me.

I guess I'll stick with Agnostic. That's still as close as I can get. Maybe we need a new word.

Good morning.

I knew it!

2011-11-24T05:27:00.007-05:00

It was the software! What am I talking about? I'm just so pleased, I'm starting at the end.

I have Verizon mobile broadband for internet. This is my only option for highspeed, other than satellite and I did not want that. The price I pay for living out in the sticks. I had the 3G modem and it was good enough. Big improvement over dialup which was all I'd ever had before.

Then Verizon offered a $10 break on the monthly bill if I switched to 4G modem and plan, and the modem was free after rebate. I figured, what the hell, might as well go for it to save $10 a month. I'll get 4G here eventually I hope.

That damn thing has done nothing but give me fits! I never had this much trouble with the old 3G modem. I had to install new software as the old wouldn't work with the new modem. Don't have 4G here yet, but it's supposed to connect to 3G when 4G isn't available. Which it did. Some of the time. It was the rest of the time that pissed me off.

I think what was happening was that it was detecting the 4G signal from the big cities about an hour from here. But it wasn't strong enough to connect with it. Once it detected that signal, it left the 3G signal and I had nothing. Not only that, but the software constantly phased out. Don't have another word for it. It wouldn't stay connected, grayed out the connect button so I couldn't reconnect, and there were long delays while it attempted to reset to a signal. And I sat here fuming and swearing. I often had to close the 'ware and unplug the modem to force a reboot. I have the modem on a long extension cable so I could hang it high in the window to get the best signal (2-3 bars). I found it helped to hang it lower (like 18" from the floor!) to avoid detecting the 4G signal it couldn't connect with. Even then, the 'ware was still wonky.

After an especially frustrating morning, I called tech support, and the guy walked me through some steps to get to some hidden settings. For some reason, these settings are only available with a password. Once there, I saw what I had been wanting all along...a way to make the modem only connect to 3G. Now why couldn't that option be available in preferences? It certainly solved that weak 4G signal glitch.

At the time, I didn't think to write this password down, and I needed it to fix my other device, the Netbook. A little googling about the issues, and I stumbled across the password. Guess it's not really a secret. Cool. I didn't have to call tech support again.

But the software was still wonky. I was still shutting down/rebooting, unplugging/plugging the modem to force a reset. And it seemed to be getting worse as though the 'ware was degrading with each reboot.

I had mentioned to the tech guy that the 'ware needed some work. Maybe he heard me, or maybe I'm not the only one who had problems. Every now and then, I'm asked to check for updates. In hopes something new would happen, I always did. Finally FINALLY an update was ready! Took a while to download and set up, but when it did, the first thing I saw was the 'ware looks different. Kept my fingers crossed that appearence wasn't the only thing changed.

I do believe it's fixed! The 'ware has been stable. The password still works so I could set to 3G only on my own. The only complaint I have is that the widget (connect button thingy on my desktop) is bigger and uglier.

Now all I need is 4G. I was told that we were supposed to get it here, but the tornadoes this spring put that on hold. I guess they had to replace some damaged equipment on the towers, and they weren't ready to go to 4G. Now it will probably be longer before we get it since they had to install new equipment. Why they didn't just go to 4G then, I don't know. As long as I have reliable and reasonably fast internet, which I do, I can wait.

Still can't view videos like everybody else, but I can sometimes. I sure don't spend as much time as everyone else seems to on them. Probably even when I do have 4G, I won't do that as much. My plan does have a bandwidth limit, and so far, I've never used more than half my allowance. Since it usually takes longer than I care to wait to download a video, I'm very selective about the ones I waste time and bandwidth on.

Happy Thanksgiving. I give thanks for a decent internet connection again.

Good morning.

Random ruminations & rants

2011-11-22T07:31:00.002-05:00

Happy start of the holidays. A thing than annoys me about the holidays (besides starting earlier every year) is what it does to my tv time. My shows skip weeks or go on hiatus until it's over.

Did I mention I hate the K's? Yeah I did. The K's, of course, are the dysfunctional family of Kardashian fame whores. Especially Her Kimness. Come on! Did no one see the whole wedding thing and quick split was a publicity farce? That's what the K's do. Any and every thing to keep their names in the news, and make money off it. There's no talent, no skills, no nothing. Kim came on the scene after a leaked sex video and for some reason this produced a franchise (or something). She claims she's a role model for her young fans. Really? For what? To show young girls you just need to be pretty enough and crass enough, and you too can be famous and rich. The Jersey Shore drunken sluts fall into this same category. I just wish everybody would quit talking about and taking pictures of them and they'd go away. It happened to Paris Hilton and she actually had a claim to fame - she was already filthy rich.

No, I have never ever watched any of those shows, or any other stupid has-been "stars" realty shit. Oh and then there's Rob K on DWTS. I want to hate him, but I don't. He's actually dancing ok, and seems rather humble. I don't believe he deserved to be in the finals, but he has that mysterious K fan base keeping him on. Wait, maybe that's not it. Her Kimness didn't last very long when she did it. Curiouser and curiouser.

What else is on my mind? How about murder trials? I should add I didn't follow the trials as closely or religiously as some, but I read enough to form opinions.

Dr. Murray - Michael Jackson. I talked about this a year ago. Do I agree with the charges and verdict? Not really. He should have been charged with malpractice, but of course that wouldn't do for the powerful Jackson family. They needed redemption for Michael and his estate. In my opinion, this weak and gullible doctor was caught up in the fame and money, and only did what his patient asked.

Casey Anthony - her baby. The entire country was caught up in this mess, and it was sensationalized to death. Everyone still thinks she pulled an O.J. I'm not so sure, and I think the jury did the only thing they could. What I got from it all is that the baby's death was an accident, perhaps due to neglect. It became a crime when the mother was directed by her controlling father to cover it up. Then it looked like murder, and so she was charged. They couldn't prove murder so they had to let her go. If they had charged her with what it really was, like negligent homicide or conspiracy (I don't know all the legal terms), they could have put her away for a while, and everybody would be happier.

What else? Politics. I hate politics and don't follow it that closely. I feel we will never know just what the government is up to. My political news mostly comes from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, and he shows why the Republican candidates are all clowns! I can't believe anyone is seriously considering any of these idgets for President! Who would I vote for? Ron Paul. He's a liberal Rebublican - an oxymoron. I know he'd never get there. He's not even on the radar right now. I haven't seen yet what the Democrats have to offer. If I have a political leaning, it's Democrat because I'm liberal, middle class and union, and I remember the good years under Democratic presidents. The country began the mudslide in the Bush years, and poor Obama hasn't been able to clean up the mess they left. Congress fights each other on every thing he tries to do, and nothing is getting done. His administration will be referred to as a failure, but it wasn't he that failed, it was the Congress that refused to work with him. It's our government that sucks, not the president.

Good morning.

What I'm watching.

2011-10-30T09:20:00.002-04:00

There's a few interesting new fall shows. I'm pleased the networks (or at least one or two of them) are spending a little money. They should have banked quite a bit after saving off the drek that is reality TV.

I just watched Grimm. Here's a different take on the classic fairy tale. It started with a twisty Red Riding Hood theme. I'm assuming there will be other tales and monsters as there's only so much you can do with Red Riding Hood. It's a little grotesque but not too gory. I can't take much gore.

About that. I will rarely watch anything rated R for violence. I just don't enjoy it and it will bother me. Fantasy violence I can take. It's not real. But the kind of things humans can do to each other...that's too real.

Once Upon A Time. Pretty easy to see this is another fairy tale theme. I haven't completely grasped this yet. I guess that was the plan. It's basically Snow White. There seems to be a fairy reality alongside or before our real world, and the characters are here now, and maybe they know it, maybe they don't.

Revenge. I'm hooked. A crafty young woman is destroying everyone responsible for her father's death in very elegant ways. How handy that she just happens to have piles of money at her disposal. Hasn't said yet where that bank roll comes from. I guess her inheritance.

Ringer. It seems pretty up front at first glance. Twin sisters trade places. But now it's not clear just where the one twin is. She faked her death, we know that, but so far, I can't tell if she's on the other side of the world or right there messing with the other twin's life. And I think the recently disappeared best friend is actually alive and well and still besties with the "evil" twin.

Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries are stacked on the DVR. I like to save them for a marathon watching. I always save the last episode of the previous season, too. That way I can remember what happened way back then.

In movies, I just watched The Green Lantern. I bought this one. I liked it a lot and it was a worthy addition to the comic book section in the DVD library.

I also bought the new Pirates of the Caribbean. I had heard Chris Gore review it, and he pretty much got it right. He asked, "Did we really need another Pirates movie?". It was OK (hey it's still Jack Sparrow/Johnny Depp), but I didn't like it as much as the others. Maybe partly because Elizabeth and Will aren't part of the story. I didn't like Barbarossa's cleaned-up gentleman persona, either. I much prefer him as a scruffy pirate, which happily he returned to at the end. This one ended as though it was really ended. I don't expect another installment, and that completes the collection in the library.

I rented Thor. Decided I better rent first before I waste money on it. I liked it more than I thought I would. I might buy it later for the Mythology section.

Sucker Punch (rented) was a strange flick. It was dark and a little bloody but in a comic book way. Gotta appreciate the art. Might buy it later. It's worth seeing again for the art and fantasy, and maybe it will make more sense the next time around.

When a movie in the library comes around on my Dish package, I'll DVR it if it's been a while since I saw it. Knowing is one of those. I can't remember but I think I rented before I bought it. Not the greatest movie (I don't think it did very well) but there was so much I liked about it and I knew I'd want to watch again. I remembered how it ended but forgot how it really ended so that was cool. I love the biblical mythology that was woven into the story which was part paranormal, part Sci-Fi.

Well, that's all I got for now.

Good morning.

DWTS - week 4

2011-10-18T13:07:00.003-04:00

Still bored. What does it say about me that I'm still watching? But here I am.

Nancy Grace is the one to watch for flubs, and she flubs BIG. There was the nip slip and then the fart the following week. I didn't catch either in my viewing but saw them thanks to YouTube. Last week she managed to get by without anything too embarrassing, but she really messed up the end of their routine when she nearly ended up on her ass. I love watching her face after each of her dances. Blinking fast with tightly clenched lips. Since I missed the nip slip, I didn't understand until later why she had such a mortified face then. She didn't miss a beat for the fart, and it's been said that it was Tristan and not her. His face didn't stay quite as straight, but that reaction could have been to either case. Since Nancy is holier-than-thou on her show, I like seeing her so humbled. Oh yeah, raise your hand if you only watch (or vote) for Nancy so you can hear Tristan talk another week. He's Irish, you know. I love the Russian accents, but I could listen to him all day. He's not hard on the eyes, either.

A few things were said that said it all, and I can only paraphrase since I'm too lazy to look it up. One of eliminated stars who was one of the better dancers said, "This is clearly not a dance competition." Another who also danced well but is also gone said something to the same effect. Carrie Ann said, "Don't take it so seriously." To which Tom added, "Yeah, have you seen the trophy?" So there you have it. This isn't about dancing, it's about who has the most fans. This has to be so frustrating for the pros. They're competitors themselves and train their partners as though it's a real competition.

Who has the most fans so far? Ricki Lake is actually dancing well and holding her own. Of course she has Derek which is a big plus. Chaz is consistently in the bottom but makes it back over dancers much better than him. We know who his fan base is and it must be huge. J.R. has the rest of the sympathy vote, and he really isn't bad. The Kardashian brother is for some reason getting raves from the judges and of course whatever fan base the K's have is keeping him on. David Arquette is also getting underserved raves from the judges, but I doubt he has the fan base to hold him.

The raves from the judges? Yeah, they are still handing out higher than deserved scores across the board. What game is this?

I'm sure the flaming gay guy will be gone this week. He's an amusing novelty but absolutely no dance skills there, and Chaz has all that particular fan base locked up. I expect Hope the soccer player to go soon. She's an odd looking woman. Rockin athlete's body but doesn't look all that good in the outfits. An athlete needs to have natural dance skills to go far in this competition, and she doesn't.

This week we were treated to performances by The Bangles. I didn't even know they were still together but apparently they are (or most of them) and touring now. Jeez, how unfair they've barely changed and they can't be much younger than me! I'm not even sure they're younger. Where was I in their heyday? That was sometime in the 80's which would have made me about....OK never mind, I guess they are younger.

Good morning.

I think I hate sports.

2011-10-04T13:13:00.004-04:00

Actually, I know I do. I hate sports when they encroach on my personal time. Case in point. I've been eagerly awaiting the new season of The Good Wife. 2 of the last 3 weeks, it was preempted by (I assume) some damn sports event. Well, not exactly preempted. Worse. It was run in entirety. Later. Later as in the DVR only recorded the first half of the episode. If this is going to happen all the time, I now have to waste DVR space recording the program that follows to make sure I get the whole episode. Fine.

This brings up another annoying thing that the powers that be do. Running an episode past its allotted time slot. Since I'm setting up timers so tightly (back to back on different channels, 2 in one slot, etc), I can't tell it to record an extra 2-5 minutes or it messes with another timer. So I often miss the crucial last couple minutes that set up for the next episode. Grey's Anatomy is one that does this, but at least I'm also watching Private Practice which comes right after. I miss a few beats while I switch recordings, but at least I get the last words. Not always the case with other shows, though.

Speaking of The Good Wife. Last week (got the whole thing) there was the hottest most honest sex scene I have ever seen ever. Yeah, on primetime network tv. He had her against the wall and you only saw their heads the whole time. I was mesmerized.

Dancing With The Stars. Bored now. If sports gotta mess with my programming, take this one. Won't hurt my feelings a bit. The judges have gone soft and are giving high scores across the board. Well, I guess that's their only option since everybody is equally mediocre and boring.

I've already given up on The X Factor. The auditions were kind of interesting for the really bad ones, but that's why we watch the auditions, you know. Now that they've got through that, it's just too boring for me. And it's conflicting with other things I'd rather watch.

Verizon rant. I just invested in a new mobile broadband modem. The offer lowered my data plan by $10 a month if I got the new modem and 4G plan. Well, saving $10 is good, and with the rebate, the modem was free. Right now, that's all that's good about it. The problem is I don't yet have 4G here. The modem is supposed to connect to the 3G signal in the meantime. It does, but not reliably. In fact, I think I have a faster connection than I had with the old 3G modem. When I have it.

I'm thinking the problem is the new software. It looks the same as the old one, but it doesn't work the same. It's fuckin wonky, and I think I know why. I just found out that the big cities about an hour from here just got 4G. I think the modem is detecting that 4G signal, but it's not strong enough to connect. I'm left in limbo with no connection because the software can't resolve it and it gets stuck on the 4G signal. After much cussing, rebooting, and pissed offedness, I learned that if I unplug the modem and then plug it back in, it forces the software to reset, and I get the 3G connect button back. In the time it's taken to write this much, it disconnected more times than I counted.

I'm trying something else as I write this. I was barely getting 2 bars with the old 3G modem, and hanging it high in the window seemed to help maintain a reliable connection. It looks like this modem is more powerful, and maybe by placing it lower, it won't be so sensitive to that faint 4G signal. I tried it sitting on the desk the last couple days but it was still wonky. It's now hanging lower than my desk top. So far so good.

Good day.

Of Facebook and DVR things.

2011-09-22T04:32:00.007-04:00

I have yet another rant about Facebook and I'll get to that in a minute. First, I'll talk about TV. Summer shows have ended and the fall season is finally here. The DVR is filling up fast!

It's really getting hard to juggle the schedule to see everything I want. Remember...the DVR can only handle 2 shows in 1 time frame. It really helps that many of the cable shows are aired more than once, and I can usually find it in another time slot to free up the prime time slots. I've had to pass on a couple sitcoms, but I know I can catch them later in reruns.

I learned early it's better to NOT use the handy DVR button that automatically records every episode of a particular show. Instead, I spend time flipping through the program guide and manually setting each recording. There's a lot of back and forthing when conflicts arise from too many sets in a time frame. More resets as I forget I already have that one on the DVR or set to record. I almost forget that obscure show on a cable channel I don't watch regularly. There's some mental labor involved, and the thumb gets a workout on the remote.

Dancing With The Stars started this week. Meh. The producers had originally stated they wanted more A and B list stars and less controversy. Yeah right. What did they end up with? You got it. Well, there's Chaz Bono. I guess he's interesting for the controversy, but for me it's about his A-list pedigree. I'm looking for Cher to sit in the audience, or perform. She better! I suppose you could consider Chynna Phillips and Ricki Lake B-listers so there's that. Mostly we got more reality "stars" and Z-listers. Oh joy, another Kardashian. That means we get to see more of the K's because they're sitting in the audience. I really hate the K's. I don't really expect this particular K to last long on the show. He has the same K lack of talent. Any standouts yet? Nah. It's actually a pretty (low) level playing field at this point. Chaz surprisingly didn't suck too bad! First one off was that tall sports guy, I don't have a clue who he is. He gave himself a stupid name, didn't have an endearing personality, and he was a big klutz on the dance floor. I rooted for him to be gone and yayed when he was. Can't wait to see what The Soup and The Daily Show have to say about Nancy Grace. She's a running joke on both shows.

Sad to see the season finale of Eureka. That was way too short! And Haven, I was just getting into it. Warehouse 13 and Alphas are near the end of their seasons, too. Where did Sanctuary and Leverage go? I'm pretty sure the season wasn't over. I hate when they split a season.

Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, Nikita, The Good Wife, Harry's Law, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, and Big Bang Theory are back. New shows are Ringer (had to watch, I'm a Buffy fan), The Lying Game (these two are very similar in concept), and The Secret Circle. I'm also checking out The X Factor. I never got into American Idol, I prefer dancing to singing competitions, but I'll give it a try.

Oh yeah. America's Got Talent got it right. The most deserving act (Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr.) won, and the runners-up will have successful careers.

And now The Whenever Rant.

Facebook even made my local news this week. Maybe you read the uproar about the latest changes? Shit flew out of the fan, and of course over and over again as it was copied/pasted/posted/reposted. I was amused, and a little riled as evidenced by this rant.

Don't you get it!? You are Facebook's bitches, people! Slaves, buttmonkeys...FB has you by the short curlies. It gave you a taste and then got you addicted. There's even a fucking phone just for Facebook (surely funded by FB), and I'm sure there are FBers who just had to have it for their fix. FB is FREE, you have NO SAY about anything. Sure, FB addresses privacy and security issues. They have to in order to avoid law suits. But the rest, you are just their little junkies.

Facebook is in the business of making money. All those changes are to make sure it keeps making more money, and they don't give a rat's ass whether you like it. Every time you click within FB, they make a buck. Every status post, every game, every copy/paste, every photo uploaded or viewed, every friend or group or page is another click...another buck. That's why they keep suggesting new friends. That's the reason for this new format where the "top stories" go to the top of your feed (yeah, I don't like it either). Frantic reposting of every protest (and other causes) is just adding more money to their bank account. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that FB employees start some of the things that go viral.

Do you get any of that vast fortune? Profit sharing? No, you do not. Not a penny. If you spend a good portion of your day on FB (epic numbers of people apparently do), it's like you went to a job and didn't get paid. You made money for the company, but you don't get any.

You really want FB to feel your displeasure? STOP! Stop doing anything in there. Stop posting and reposting. Stop playing games. Did you know games are one of their biggest money makers? Get your "friends" to stop. Just say no. Remember that slogan? It was about illegal drugs, but it applies to any addiction. And that's what FB is for too many people...an addiction. At the very least, don't be sheep. Only use it when you have something REAL to share. How about a Facebook Free Day! Nobody in the world use it for one whole day. You better believe FB will notice that!

I also don't get that people think FB is a substitute for a business website. I see too many home businesses based almost solely in FB (and not done well). Hey, just because Mark Zuckerburg made a fortune from FB doesn't mean you will. Believe me, you won't. FB is a good tool in conjunction with a website, but you still need a site to conduct good and successful business. Myself, I won't do business with anyone who doesn't have a functional and UPDATED website.

Sure, I go there everyday, OK several times a day. I'm retired, I have time on my hands. But I do way more reading than writing there, and I don't click around that much. Sometimes I get the urge to respond to something, and then back off. Do I really want my opinion there? Does anybody really care if I do? I really only use it to communicate with my real friends. I use the Like button only when I really agree with something. Ugh, my English teachers would smack me with a ruler for over-using "really", but I didn't have another word handy.

End of rant. Maybe I'll start hanging out at Twitter to see if anything interesting happens over there.

Good morning.

Prequels Wish List

2011-09-05T16:34:00.006-04:00

I have piles and shelves of paperbacks. Most are Sci-Fi and Fantasy series. I love a good series. One book is never enough about a good story for me. I love prequels. I love when a series takes me back to the history of the first books. I've been thinking about prequels as I read the latest books in my favorite series.

This might be gibberish to anyone who hasn't read them. If you like an intricate story that takes a while to read, give them a try. I'm attempting to avoid spoilers in case you do decide to check them out. I've listed the series in the order they should be read.

Dune - Frank Herbert. In my humble opinion, the best Sci-Fi series EVER. Frank died after the 6th book (Chapterhouse), and his son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson collaborated and wrote the rest based on Frank's notes. I have all 15 on the shelf, and another was just published. However, it seems it might not be worth getting just to fill out the series. The last one (Paul of Dune) was mid-point in the chronology and didn't give anything new. Rather boring, even. Reading customer reviews, it sounds like the latest is the same.

So anyways. Brian and Kevin wrote several prequels to the original Dune, and these were excellent. They explain a lot of things. Like what started the Butlerian Jihad. Why the Houses are enemies. Why "thinking machines" are outlawed. How the other elements of computerless technology came about. Where the Navigators came from.

The Butlerian Jihad
The Machine Crusade
The Battle of Corrin
House Atreides
House Corrino
House Harkonnen
Dune
Paul of Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse: Dune
Hunters of Dune
Sandworms of Dune

I'm also adding the movies that were based on the books. The original movie "Dune" was the best in my opinion as it was more true to the book. The 2nd was produced as a 2-part mini-series by the Syfy Channel and includes "Children of Dune". I liked this as well but the characters weren't all portrayed as in the books. For instance, Paul was blonde. In the books and original movie, he's dark haired. His mother Jessica was an earthy rather plain light-complected woman, but in the books and original movie, she's the dark exotic beauty.

On my Wish List is a prequel about the Bene Gesserit. This was barely mentioned in the prequels and it's something that has always fascinated me. Who were these women called witches and how did they develop their abilities? And most important, when and why did they begin the breeding program that pretty much defined their existence and produced Paul and Leto?

The Black Jewels - Anne Bishop. Bishop is relatively new on the scene and she killed it with The Black Jewels Trilogy. I've read this series at least 3 times. Maybe more. Each time a new book in the series comes out, I have to go back and read one or two of the others. After the trilogy, she wrote Dreams Made Flesh which was a prequel of sorts in that it tells 2 stories about things that are mentioned in the first books. With the exception of the last book (Twilight's Dawn), the rest in the series are more like side stories. They do give some new information, but don't focus on the main characters in the core story.

Daughter of the Blood
Heir to the Shadows
Queen of the Darkness
Dreams Made Flesh (this could actually be read first since it includes 2 prequels)
Tangled Webs (side story only important because it's referred to in later books)
Twilight's Dawn
(the next 3 are side stories and a somewhat separate series)
The Invisible Ring
The Shadow Queen
Shalador's Lady

On my Wish List is a prequel far in the past. I want to know what the dragons did, why they died out, and why 2 survive? Why did one become human (sort of)? Who were the first recipients of the dragons' gifts? What exactly are the Jewels? Well, I know where they came from, but how is it that they store the Blood's powers, and why do some get the darker more powerful Jewels? Who (or what) is Geoffrey the Librarian? He seems to have been around for nearly as long as the dragons. Was he one of the first Blood? What about the caste system, and why isn't it about which Jewels are worn? It seems to be something inherited in some way, but what? I get the feeling that it's an animal aspect which might mean the Kindred became Blood before humans. The Eyriens have bat wings so they're not completely human. And the rites that bestow the Jewels, I want to know more about that. I want to know a lot more!

I have a Kindle now, and I'm loving it. It's kind of hard to go back to books, and especially hard to decide what to do about my series. Some of them are getting very worn. I'm thinking I will get e-copies of my favorite series when the budget allows so they will always be together. That could get expensive! I have some series over 20 books long! I'll talk about a few other series next time.

Good morning.

Rethinking Netflix, and what's on the DVR

2011-08-12T07:06:00.008-04:00

There isn't a movie rental store nearby, and Netflix was the best way to see new releases. However. Netflix isn't very good about getting those new releases available in a timely fashion so I'm waiting almost as long as it takes for it to go to a movie channel. I don't take any extra movie channels, and never use pay-per-view. It can be a long while before they show up in the ones that are included in my Dish Network package.

Netflix recently changed their pricing and packages, and a lot of people weren't happy about it. One change is in DVDs by mail. I can't stream movies so I have to stick with DVDs. I didn't mind that so much since that bill would go down by only subscribing to DVDs. Since I got the DVR, I don't watch rented movies as much. They often sit around for weeks while I catch up on the DVR. Netflix was getting their money's worth out of me, instead of the other way around. So I cut back from 3 out to 2 out. But (grr) not before Netflix soaked me for the new bundle package bill.

I do buy DVDs but only the ones that fit in my library. Like Sci-Fi, fantasy, comic books, etc. Even those are sitting waiting for me to get to them after the DVR. Is Netflix worth it at all anymore? I'm thinking not. I think I could live with waiting for movies to show up in my Dish package. Or maybe occasionally using pay-per-view for the ones I really want to see now.

What's on the DVR.

So You Think You Can Dance just wrapped up. The winner Melanie was predictable. I was bored this season. Way too much contemporary (samo samo) and not enough of other styles. Very few routines I wanted to rewind and watch again. A lot of new choreographers were brought in, but there wasn't anything exciting and new. Even hip hop was bland under these new choreographers, and even the regular ones. One new premise that I liked was mixing the All-Stars with the usual contestant pairings. The top 20 danced with each other, and then the top ten got the All-Stars as well as each other. That worked for me since I enjoy seeing the All-Stars again, but I think the contestants need to dance with each other as well.

A note on a particular choreographer. Mark Ballas (Dancing With the Stars) was brought in for the semi-final and had Sasha and Tadd for his version of a cha cha. It was so painful to watch, and the judges felt the same. Sasha is a fierce and beautiful dancer (2nd place) and B-boy Tadd has proven he can take on pretty much anything. That they couldn't do justice to a cha cha (the beginner's dance on DWTS!) speaks for the choreographer, not the dancers. Mark is so desperate to prove himself as an edgy choreographer, he ruined it for these 2 outstanding dancers. Just as he did for his partners on DWTS. It's time for Mark to go away, maybe concentrate on his music career instead. He can do anything he wants there.

America's Got Talent. Does it? I think America ran out of talent. The only things remotely interesting this season are the light shows. As of now, there are 3 light shows I think. A guy on a black light painted bike, a variation of Fighting Gravity from last season, and Silhouettes. No really good singers or magicians, or anything. I'm not into stunt acts and there are a couple of those. Even You Tube didn't yield anything amazing this season other than the guy on the bike.

I like Howie Mandel. Always have, and I thought the show would improve with him on the judge panel. Not so much. I'm so over his feud with Piers. Piers is the voice of reason. Most of the time. Sometimes I don't know what he's thinking when he puts something really bad through. Because he's a comedian, Howie seems to think anything trying to be comedic should go through, even if no one but him is laughing. Sharon is the buffer between these two, but too often she goes for the adorable, such as kids and animals. Everybody seems to forget this competition is for a prize that includes a Vegas gig. That means they have to draw paying customers and provide a show worthy of the admission price.

Covert Affairs (USA). The main reason I watch this is to see Auggie (Christopher Gorham). He's one of my crushes these days. I was so glad for the episode that focused on him and how he lost his sight. Surely he and Annie will hook up someday? It's obvious that he is in love with her, just a matter of time until they both realize it.

Warehouse 13 and Eureka (Syfy), and Leverage (TNT) are back! Yay! Nuff said.

Haven (Syfy). This show was gone for too long, and I completely forgot about it until this 2nd season. I like it. Would have been nice if they had rerun last season to get us back up to speed.

Alphas (Syfy). Interesting, but I'm not sure if it can sustain itself. The most interesting character is the strange autistic boy.

Suits (USA). I like court room dramas, and this is one of the best new concepts since Boston Legal. It's slick and funny.

Franklin & Bash (TNT). It's Ok. It's a lot like a recently canceled court room drama (title escapes me right now) but with younger guys.

I'm also catching up reruns of Harry's Law (NBC). I hope that means it will be back in the fall.

I've recently become an avid Daily Show (Comedy Central) viewer. This is the way to get political news! Jon Stewart cuts through the crap to get to the heart of what's wrong with our government and the media that covers it. I tried to watch the Colbert Report that comes on afterwards, but I got sick of it always being about Steven Colbert. Can we say full of himself?

Attack of the Show (G4). This is for geeks. I fast forward through much of it, but watch for certain things. Around the Net samples viral videos. The Feed gives technical news, Gadget Pron reviews gadgets. There's the occasional celebrity interview that I sit through because they're stars of current or past sci-fi things. Oh yeah, and Chris Gore gives DVD reviews. This guy is far from most anyone's idea of sexy (makes me think of a bulldog), but he's another of my current crushes. I'm really tired of the hosts' attempt at comedic banter that goes on for way too long. I have to fast forward through that, too. Kevin comes off like a douche bag and Candace as a ditz. Then for some reason there's squeaky voiced Sarah who was apparently a Playboy model. I guess she and her hooker outfits are for the nerd boys who watch the show.

Some of my guilty pleasures: (none are very well written or acted, but I can't help myself)

Teen Wolf (MTV)
Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family)
Nine Lives of Chloe King (ABC Family)
Gossip Girl (CW, in reruns)
Royal Pains (USA)

Good morning.

The Story of Everything

2011-06-20T07:25:00.013-04:00

This was an episode of "Into the Universe" with Stephen Hawking, on the Science Channel. Hawking is one of the greatest minds in this generation, if not THE greatest. Imagine if he could procreate. The brain power that could be achieved by the human race in future generations. But that's a topic for another time. This is about the episode and where my little brain went with it.

I'm always fascinated by things that refute the Bible. I watch documentaries on such religious studies. A religious person might think these documentaries are on the side of religion, but if you pay attention, and I do, these documentaries raise more questions than they answer, and they actually question doctrine. The religious scholars who comment in the shows never say this is absolutely so or otherwise. Maybe it was edited to keep the whole thing objective, but I think these scholars are really saying this one fundamental thing. We don't know, we can't know. We just can't.

So I look to science for the best guess. This episode started with the Big Bang (of course) and Hawking's and his colleagues' theories on what happened. He says it started with one thing. Just one tiny atom. Hydrogen.

Genesis - creation. People took the Bible so literally that they believed the universe and all that's in it was created in 6 days. Science has proven that's just plain silly. So religion tries to adjust their flawed beliefs to fit the current science. Then science learns more, and more flaws appear. Christians believe their "Genesis" is the true story of creation, and the rest are just myths, including scientific theory. They are all creation myths. Yes, even the Big Bang Theory. The stories are created to explain the things that can't be explained. Science has just taken it to the next level - the logical level, and they use proven science to tell the story.

From the science arose another version of creationism called "intelligent design". This was how some religious factions compromised to acknowledge the science. It attempts to rationalize the concept of deity by saying that nothing is random, something...some "mind" had to be at the beginning to create it. In the beginning there was Nothing, and then "intelligence" created Something.

Here comes the part where my brain went. If there was nothing, where was this intelligence? It couldn't be there, nothing was there. If it was there, then there couldn't be nothing. What if there was always Something? Not an intangible "intelligence", but a real physical Thing. Hawking said in the beginning there were hydrogen atoms with their gravity and space, but he didn't speculate on how the first atoms came into existence. What if it was always there? Not magically zapped into existence by some deity. Hydrogen and gravity and space. Just THERE.

If we try to apply time to this idea it falls apart. Time implies a beginning. Scientists can only speculate on how long it took for things to happen. Their beginning point is the events leading to the Big Bang because that's as far back as they can go with the science. We can't know how long things were there waiting for something to happen, so we can't know whether or not it was always there.

Religion says the creation of life is too complex to have happened randomly. Hawking said that it could. A couple of hydrogen atoms randomly collided and created a new element and a different gravity. This new element's gravity and energy affected the atoms around it, and created more elements in new configurations. The chain reaction was unstoppable. Eventually this vast array exploded and blasted all those new elements and energy out into space, and those little pieces continued the process that led to life as we know it.

Religion says God is perfect, and everything he does is perfect. If a perfect deity had created the first atoms, they would have been arranged perfectly. That would have been the intelligent, logical thing to do, right? But intelligent design theory doesn't go that far. It simply says that the first thing, the first building block was created by intelligence. They can't give up the idea of deity because their religion won't let them.

Hawking's science says it was random, and it could only be random because it wasn't perfect. If all the little hydrogen atoms had been arranged perfectly, the exact same distance from each other in any direction, nothing else would have happened. They would have just sat there in that arrangement forever. But they weren't arranged perfectly. The arrangement was random, and the atoms' gravitational fields affected the space around them randomly. The concept of a building block created by deity is flawed because there would have been nothing else to cause a reaction. Even if this deity created the randomness necessary for things to progress as they did, it couldn't create the specific events that led to the first atoms coming together, the ones that led to us. Because it's random, it would be unpredictable and therefore uncreatable.

If that's true, and I believe it more than any religious text, life is the result of happenstance. Why is that so hard to digest? Why must there have been a mystical brain to create it? We weren't created by a god, we created god.

My inner geek wants to believe that time travel will answer all our questions. But will it? Anyone who has ever read or seen a time travel story knows that traveling back in time can and usually does change the future. The tiniest change in the past can radically change what happens later. The very act of traveling back to when those first atoms came together could change everything, because the existence of our time machine (or the device that allows us to view the past) in that time and place would affect how those first atoms come together. We might be a very different form of life. Or maybe we don't happen at all.

Good morning.

Rants on the Road

2011-06-18T05:08:00.003-04:00

I'm in a rural community, but it's fairly modern, but I swear, drivers around here think they're on a farm access road or something. I come from a state known for bad (and angry) drivers, but the ones around here take the cake. I'll say it...these old farmers and farmers' wives are too old to be driving! I'm getting up there, but when the day comes that I can't drive right, take away my keys!

My first week here I saw 3 fender-benders in one day. That might not sound like much. Where I come from, you see at least one a day, and they usually during rush hour. This was not that. It was mid-day. Kids were in school, people where settled in at work, traffic wasn't heavy. No one was going particularly fast or trying to. In fact, traffic was rather slow. There was no excuse that I could see. I didn't get it. What the hell was going on here?

As time went on, I began to see what was going on. I think part of my problem is that because I'm retired, I'm usually out and about during the times of day the older also retired population is on the road. So I see more of what the old folks do, and it's scarier than a kid with cell phone in hand.

The kinds of things I see way too much:

Driving too slow. You know the joke. Can't see the driver's head so it's probably a little old lady hunched over the steering wheel. Or there's a hat just showing above the seat back. At least they mostly stay in the right lane, but you are at their mercy if you need to stay there for a turn and it takes forever to get to that turn.

Pulling out in front of you. What...is my car invisible? That's bad enough, but then they don't GO! They pull out, make you brake hard, and then just poke along like they're the only ones on the road. Are they ever surprised to look in the rear view mirror and see a car on their tail which they apparently didn't see coming when they pulled out? Do they look in the rear view at all? I get the feeling they can't feel the gas pedal or don't have the strength or reach to push it down.

About that. How can anyone drive effectively and safely when they are so close to the steering wheel their chin is practically against it? You've seen it. Elbows fully folded and tight to the chest, peering over the top of the steering wheel. You need some elbow room to maneuver. Most newer cars have a driver seat that can be adjusted a lot. You can raise it up, put the back away from the wheel while still keeping in reach of the pedals. You can adjust the steering wheel, too. Most of these seniors have newer cars, and it's often a nice sedan. It has all of those lovely adjustments. If your body is too old to fit any adjustments, you are too old to drive!

Speaking of nice cars, that's another running joke. Nice sedan = senior citizen. Beware. I'll add to that old truck = old farmer. Or sometimes shiny new one. My point is if it's driving like an old farmer, it probably is.

This next one is special. I mean really special and I'd never seen it before I moved down here. Stopping in the middle of the road and what...? I don't know, looking for a turn? Looking at a map or the directions? Looking at that thing over there? What??? I'm not talking about a country road. That's acceptable IF there's no one behind you. I'm talking about a divided highway with fast moving traffic. They just stop! Oh and there's no warning they are going to do something so stupid. You're clipping along at the speed limit or even over it, and then whoa...stop. Boy, have I been surprised by that brilliant move one too many times. And guess what? It's an old timer. You are not on the farm, dipstick!

Do I need to mention turn signals? Nobody...NOBODY...uses them! I want the guy behind me to know what I'm doing next. I really want to know what you intend to do. Is it that these old southern drivers didn't get drivers training? Oh that's right, they learned to drive on the farm in old trucks or tractors that didn't have turn signals. I want to know how in the hell they even pass a driver test when getting their license renewed. I think it should be mandatory every year after a certain age, and that would include the eye exam.

A little story about that. Back in the day, it was mandatory to take the written test every few years. I think now it's only required for those with a few accidents on record. I was renewing my license, and this little woman came up to me and begged me to help her with the test. I just looked at her and shook my head, and she looked back with pleading eyes, saying she didn't understand the questions. Or I don't know, maybe she couldn't read. Yeah right, lady. I'm going to help YOU get on the road. I watched as she went to other people. Don't know if she ever got it. Hope not. If she did find a soft-hearted but dumb soul, I hope he was as dumb as her and they both failed.

Where was I? Then there's the turns themselves. Most modern highways have right turn lanes. I see old drivers come to a near stop in the moving lane and then make the turn. The turn lane is so you can ease into the turn without disrupting traffic too much, you know. What did you think it was for...parking?

I'm going a little off topic now. Not much, this is still about the rules of the road. Now it's about shopping. Shopping carts, shopping aisles. Why do shoppers suddenly revert to British rules when driving their carts? If everybody drives on the right side, everybody keeps moving in an efficient fashion. Why is that so hard? It should be 2nd nature, you're already doing it in your car. Other things you can apply. Like looking before pulling out into an aisle.

One that annoys me to no end! Stopping in the middle of the aisle. Look around. Are there other people in the aisle? They probably want to go around you. Nooo. They have to excuse themselves, and usually louder than should be necessary, and more than once since you are oblivious. Pull the hell over! That's what you'd do on the road, isn't it? Isn't it???

It gets worse. Socializing in the middle of a busy aisle. Suddenly stop to chat with someone going the other way. Neither of you look around to see if this is a good place for a chat. I feel a bit uncomfortable having to interrupt your important conversation to say excuse me. And again more than once and louder since you didn't hear me the first time. One of the chatters is even facing me, but for some reason I went invisible.

I wish shopping carts had horns, or maybe those little hotel desk bells. Wouldn't that be cool? Not only would we get the oblivious ones' attention, it would get everyone's attention and they'd be embarrassed. Might get annoying but I think it's a fine idea. Maybe they'd learn.

I will admit that I'm guilty of occasionally stopping in the aisle without looking around. But I always realize what I've done right away and correct quickly.

One last rant. Cell phones. I notice if someone is following me too close, and I pump my brake lights in hopes they see I'm slowing down or coming to a stop. I'm really nervous if they have a phone stuck to their ear, and these days, 3 out of 5 do. If ever someone rear ends me while on the phone, I'm going to make the report call and then dash their fuckin phone on the ground!

It's polite to allow someone to pull in front of you when they are stuck in a parking lot waiting for a traffic jam to clear. I will let anyone in that position in. I'm just sitting there anyways, it's not going to slow me down any more. But if you are on the phone...no. Sit there and finish your damn call. You aren't paying attention anyways, so you won't notice me giving the go wave. I'm not going to sit there and wait for you to notice.

Well, I've gone on long enough about this. I will probably revisit this rant again sometime. There's more.

Good morning.

Random thoughts

2011-05-19T05:43:00.003-04:00

Recently the term "act of God" was mentioned online. In particular, a car-deer crash. The insurance company calls this an act of God and waives the deductible.

Think about this. Why is a deer running out in front of your car an act of God? Did God in his infinite wisdom send one of his creatures to crash your car? Why would he do this? Were you in his radar? Why would such an important personage care about your car so much that he felt that it needed to be destroyed. Oh wait. This is one of those tests God is always sending, huh? Your faith needed to be tested so he wrecked your car by killing an innocent and beautiful animal.

I appreciate that insurance companies recognize there are some things we can't control or prevent. But why call it an act of God? Wouldn't "natural causes" be a better term. And really, does it reflect the kind of god we'd want? The bible toters say God is wise and good, blah blah. It's God's will if you survive a disaster, and it's a measure of your faith how you get through it. Bullshit. It's dumb luck if you survive and a measure of your strength how you get through it. Your strength comes from within you and not some intangible outside force.

I was thumbing through a Reader's Digest the other day, and a letter to the editor caught my eye. It was from a Jehovah's Witness in response to an article about door to door sales. I kind of remember the article and it gave tips on how to handle unwanted door-knockers. This JW felt he had every right to knock on your door, take up your valuable time, and spew his theology. I should mention it's not just JW who do this. Many Christian denominations do it, too. They feel their right to religious freedom is the right to infringe upon your freedom. Where did they get this idea? From their bible of course, and they take what they want literally. Interesting that they don't take everything in the books literally, just the parts that work to their advantage. In this case, the advantage is to recruit more members to fill their church's tills.

A few years ago, a family member was accosted by JW on Christmas Day! No shit! He couldn't believe it either. In the midst of their brunch and opening gifts, this band of JWs wanted them to listen to their sermon and of course convert to their way of worship. Which apparently doesn't include one of the main Christian holidays.

Enough about that. TV time.

Dancing With The Stars. What a great season this has been! The best I can remember in a long time. It was about dancing. The stars who deserved to stay are still dancing, the ones who didn't cut it are gone. Plain and simple and honest. We're down to the finals and it's going to be a close call. The freestyles are next and we're looking forward to it.

Hines and Kim. What a guy! I think the entire country is madly in love with him and it helps that he can dance. Unfortunately, Kim's injury (her neck was seriously sprained attempting a difficult trick in rehearsals) has them both gun shy and the freestyle might not be as outstanding as it could be.

Kirstie and Maks. I'm actually surprised she made it to the finals over Ralph Macchio, but he did lose ground with less than great judge scores. I'm sure the tallies were very close. I love her too, and she and Maks get along so great. But one thing has bothered me. Who the hell is dressing her??? I get that she's a full-figured middle-aged woman who can't get away with skimpy costumes, but most of her outfits have been horrible! Even for the elegant dances that called for beautiful flowing gowns. They've looked more like bad bridesmaid dresses with extra bling, or silly Halloween costumes. UGLY!

Chelsea and Mark. What a cutie she is! And she is a really good dancer. Mark is my bitch here. I've decided I really don't care for him. He is supposed to be showcasing his partner's strengths and instead seems to be channeling his inner choreographer wanna-be. He always outdances his star instead of being the frame and support he's supposed to be. The judges have called him out more than once for his edgy routines. It's similar to how Lacey Schwimmer (brought onboard as a pro fresh off her successful run on So You Think You Can Dance) was called on the carpet for showboating her edgy style at the expense of her star. Mark justifies it by saying Chelsea is young and the routine should be young. Young doesn't mean edgy, the judges still want traditional ballroom. In one of the early weeks, his routine was so out of the box, even Carrie Ann didn't like it. She said there's a time and a place and this wasn't it. That particular routine was really good, but not for then. It would have been a great freestyle. What's left if you've already done freestyle more than once. I am looking forward to their freestyle and hope he doesn't go overboard for Chelsea's sake.

I'm sure it will come down to Hines and Chelsea, but I'm not taking bets on either. I can't call it.

Smallville. The much anticipated series finale was kind of anticlimactic and a little confusing. From the beginning, it was said that Clark wouldn't wear a cape and he didn't. We were teased by glimpses of the red and blue suit, and it was even hinted that Clark's mother sent it to him. In the end, he did wear it, but we didn't see the whole thing. Just that final image of him tearing off his shirt to reveal the suit as he leaped into the sky. Yes, he finally learned to fly. Lex Luther returned from the dead as expected so the mythology is as it always was. I really liked the small story in the background of the last few seasons about how Martha Kent entered politics and then used her connections and resulting power to help her son in his battles. She went from a simple farmer's wife to a formidable woman.

BTW, you're right if you're thinking I'm a closet comic book nerd. At a young age, I was ridiculed by my "peers" for my fascination with comic books, and subsequently left them behind. If not for that, I'd probably be a comic book junky to this day. Instead, I indulge in film based on comic books.

There were a lot more season finales this month, and summer reruns and a few summer series will start up. Mostly notably (for me) So You Think You Can Dance starts in 2 weeks. Yay!

Maybe I can catch up on Netflix now. They've got their money's worth out of me lately! I've held movies for way too long while I watched what I had on DVR. I had to, the disk was nearly full almost every night. I've got a few series in waiting to watch in their entirety after the season finale, and they take up a lot of space. Looking forward to Supernatural and Merlin marathons.

Good morning.

DWTS - week 3

2011-04-05T07:46:00.003-04:00

I am really enjoying this season! It's pretty even as far as how the stars are dancing, with some better than others and some worse than others.

I'm really really enjoying Kirstie and Maks. I can't believe how well she's dancing, and Maks loves her. That was too bad about Maks's stumble in the rumba last night, but they pulled it up. I think if not for that, they would have got a high score, maybe the top. So right now, they're my favorite team.

Unfortunately, the station lost service in the middle of the show, and I missed several dances. Wish it would have been some that I didn't like. Like Wendy and Sugar Ray. Sorry, I see them gone very soon. Not crazy about Romeo either so I could have missed his routine.

That's another thing I'm liking about this season. Voters are actually voting for good dancers! The bottom 3 last week were the worst dancers and it wasn't about their popularity. Sugar Ray was there, and these venerated old-timers usually stick around for a while.

There is something on my mind about the order of the dances. It seems to me, things should start with the easiest dances. Cha Cha is always first, and that's simple enough for a first Latin. I think Waltz would be a better first ballroom. But then they throw Jive in the 2nd week and Jive is not easy. The stars should have a chance to get their feet under them before they tackle it. Not only that, but it's one of my favorites and I like to see it done well. Rumba would be a better 2nd week dance because it's slower and the dancers can practice technique in it.

So what else is on the DVR? I'm suffering through the spring hiatus on many of my favorites. Hate that. I'm into it, I don't want a break.

Smallville. I have no idea what is happening here. They promised this final season would wrap up the Superman mythology, but so far it's been kind of disjointed. Like the Lex-clone now known as Conner. Is he the future Superboy (is there a Superboy?) or will the Lex DNA take over to make him the arch-villain again? I'm thinking the latter as there was always Lex, wasn't there? Lois lost her edge, and I don't care for her. I love the Chloe-Oliver (Green Arrow) dynamic, but I'm sure it's not going to be a big part of the rest of the series. Last we saw, they got married in Vegas and went off into the sunset. Yeah, disjointed. I guess what I was hoping to see was the reformation of the Justice League including all the former members of Watchtower. And will Clark not learn to fly until the very end?

Supernatural. The season is stacked on the DVR, and I haven't seen any of it yet. I'm looking forward to a marathon watch. Also waiting for it to pick up after the spring break. I might have to add this series to the library.

Merlin. Also stacked, and another that might be library-worthy.

Being Human. I'm not sure if I like this. The problem is there is 2 versions. The original British version that I saw first. I thought it was canceled when Syfy picked it up and made an American version with new actors. Then it seems the British version is still being produced. Color me confused. I don't know which to watch, and usually forget to check the BBC listings for it. This is not a show I fret about missing.

The Event. This is another one that irks me with the long breaks. I've lost momentum. Hey, if the break will be that long, at least run reruns so we can catch up again.

Other stuff I'm watching:
The Good Wife
Grey's Anatomy
Private Practice
Ordinary Family
Harry's Law
Nikita
Hellcats
Gossip Girl
Vampire Diaries
Mr. Sunshine
Big Bang Theory
Glee
House
Sanctuary (coming back soon)

Dish Network added Starz channels temporarily to my line up. Supposedly free for a year. I don't take movie channels, that's what Netflix is for. I have adjusted the Netflix queue as Starz showed some of the things I had saved. But I'm here to tell you, the Starz line-up is not going to make me want to pay for it. I find maybe 2 or 3 movies a week that I want to watch, and then they are run over and over again before anything new comes along. Why would I pay for that?

Speaking of Netflix. I like a la carte movies, but it's so frustrating that new releases aren't released when they are released elsewhere. What's up with that? At one time I thought about switching to Blockbuster because they did release them right away, but it's a good thing I didn't. The local Blockbuster is closing shop and I think they might have given up the movie via mail concept.

Till next time.
Good morning.

Dancing With The Stars - week 1

2011-03-23T07:24:00.003-04:00

OK!!! Now this is the DWTS I fell in love with! Fun, happy, no drama or controversy, no divas or dickheads. No outstanding dancing out of the gate, but mostly not horrible either.

Most of the sports stars I don't know from anything, but I liked all of them. I think the football guy will go far on his sweet personality. A few people I've never heard of, but that's not unusual. Surprises from people I do know.

Ralph Macchio and Kirstie Alley came out on top. I admit I'd heard that Ralph wowed before I watched it. DVR, you know. Kirstie, now she was a surprise. I've always liked her, and sad she's had so much up and down in her life, and that tabloids tore her to pieces for it. She looked and danced great! 60? Really??? I'm very happy for her and hope she sticks around for a while. It looks like Maks finally has a partner who won't piss him off too much.

Wendy Williams was a disaster. I don't really know her because I don't watch that kind of stuff, but I know of her from my fav clip show The Soup. I guess her personality is best(?) sitting down.

There might be a dickhead in Romeo. Turns out he's the son of the king of dickheads Master P who had the lowest scores ever (2's) and somehow managed to stay around way too long. It took those low scores for the judges to finally get him gone. What happened back then was that Romeo was supposed to go on but was injured so his dad stepped in. And we suffered. Romeo is already showing his cockiness which doesn't endear him to me, but at least he's taking the dancing seriously.

Maybe a diva in Kendra. She wasn't a bad dancer, but I just don't have a lot of respect for reality "stars". She's not as cute as she thinks she is.

Good to see Dmitry back on the floor this season. He's one of my fav pros. His super model partner wasn't bad so hopefully I'll get to see more.

All in all, an enjoyable season shaping up. I don't have any favorites yet, but I think this season won't piss me off.

BTW, what the hell was going on with Brook's dress? Why was there a big floppy hat stuck on her hip? Where's the fashion police when you need them?

Good morning.

Musings about a Michael.

2010-12-31T06:24:00.007-05:00

Am I the only one who thinks Michael Jackson killed himself? The doctor being investigated in his death says that's the case, although he doesn't say it was on purpose. But it entered my head the instant I heard he died shortly after his 50th birthday.

Think about it. The guy was a nutjob. Ok fine, we'll use the more polite term eccentric. He did a lot of strange things to further his fame and notoriety, and some that didn't seem to serve any purpose. What better way to go down in history (ala Elvis) than to die at the milestone age of 50 with a final record in the works? He'll be adored and revered for all eternity just like Elvis, and he would have known that. He also had to know that thanks to the things he did to his face, he wouldn't age gracefully.

Don't get me wrong. While not a fan, I do appreciate his contributions to music and dance. Elvis is revered for the same reasons, but I don't think he killed himself. He was just a victim of his own excesses. Michael, I have my doubts. He was obsessive about his "health", and other than the drugs he had access to and the things he did to himself, was probably in fairly good shape.

I'd even go so far as to say he had help. He could pay someone (that doctor?) to provide him with the drugs to do the job. Who knows but the ones involved...that record may have been finished before he died.

Just saying.

Happy New Year from The Wee Dark Hours.

World Religions Simplified

2010-11-21T07:30:00.003-05:00

Even though this blog is linked to it, I feel the need to preserve this piece of wisdom in some small way. This is one of the most hilarious internet things I've ever seen, and it would be a shame if it was lost to the ever-changing dynamics of the web.

World Religions Simplified

Taoism = Shit happens.

Confucianism = Confucius say, "Shit happens."

Buddhism = If shit happens, it isn't really shit.

Zen = What is the sound of shit happening?

Hinduism = This shit happened before.

Islam = If shit happens, it is the will of Allah.

Sunni = If we do shit to Shiites, it is the will of Allah.

Shiite = If we do shit to Sunnis, it is the will of Allah.

Judaism = Why does shit always happen to us?

Christianity = Christ died for your shit.

Protestantism = Let shit happen to someone else.

Catholicism = If shit happens, you deserved it.

Evangelicalism = Shit happens—praise the Lord!

Jehovah's Witneses = The end of shit happening is near.

Christian Science = Read about shit happening.

Televangelism = Send money or shit will happen to you.

Mormonism = Shit happens to Gentiles.

Scientology = Engrams happen.

Animisim = Spirits make shit happen.

New Age = Visualize no shit happening.

Rastafarian = Smoke that shit.

Humanism = People allow shit to happen.

Atheism = There is no such thing as shit.

Agnosticism = Maybe shit happens...maybe not.

That sucked.

2010-11-21T04:10:00.006-05:00

Yeah, I'm talking about DWTS final Three. I loved Joel McHale's (The Soup) take on it! "In the most sexually charged moment in the show's history, we watched as Brandy got fucked." Bleeped of course, but there's no doubt what he said. I bout fell outta my chair!

In other news, a guy shot his tv after Bristol was moved into the finals, and some idiot sent an envelope containing white powder to the DWTS set. The DWTS producers must be dancing all the way to the bank!

So what is going on here? There's conspiracy theory, and I'm inclined to believe it. Look at other seasons that kept really bad dancers for way longer than we should have had to watch them. I look at polls on various gossip sites and what have you, and everyone seems to be for the better dancers. And yet, we are forced to watch a mediocre dancer in the finals over someone who had real talent. We miss out on the final routines we were looking forward to, and now must watch what we know will not be worth watching.

Many state that it's not a conspiracy. They say Bristol simply has a following in the fan base that relates to her and her tribulations. Shy girl with no performing talent or experience, teen pregnancy. Maybe. Kelly Osbourne went this far on the same premise (except for the preggers part), and she and Bristol are about equal for talent. No, I take that back. Kelly grew into a real performer, and she had an appealing personality.

So how would a conspiracy go down? Easy. There's email lists, Facebook, Twitter, etc, and they can all connect with each other. A wide spread campaign to overload the voting system would not be hard to pull off. Maks mentioned it in one of his comments. People who wanted to vote, couldn't. Phone lines and internet polls were jammed, software glitches denied votes, voters cheated by using multiple email addys. Easy.

Was it about Sarah Palin and/or politics? Maybe. She was certainly stumping pretty hard for her cub. The current political scene is certainly charged on both sides.

The judges were partly to blame. They gave Bristol better scores than she deserved. I guess they try to boost the confidence of someone like this. They did it with Kelly, too. They've been more ruthless in the past, it's time to take off the kid gloves again. BTW, one of the judges (Carrie Ann?) begged Brandy & Maks to come back and do their Free Style routine. Don't know how they'd work that in. Maybe in the finale when all the stars come back for an encore. I hope they do. We who watch the show for dance wanted to see it.

The question of how all this will affect the show came up. Will celebrities want to go on it when they know that the system can be skewed so badly? Viewers will suffer more and more lesser "stars" instead of the favorites we want to see. I can see the producers scarfing up all this publicity and looking to see where they can generate it again in future casting. The show will become more about controversy than dancing, and it will not be pretty.

I wonder when the next season of So You Think You Can Dance begins? I need an honest dance competition to cleanse my palette. Hey! Idea! What about an honest, no celebrities, ballroom competition ala SYTYCD? Show us real people learning ballroom. No fan base, no politics, just honest voting for the best dancers.

I'll mention the nonsense that is Skating With The Stars. Nope, not watching. I watched a little the last time they tried it, but it was dumb. I knew a few of the names back then and even fewer now. It was a flop then and it will be again. Give it up. You can't ride on the success of DWTS, and unlike dancing, skating is not something just anybody can do.

Can I also mention the absurdity that is the PSA for abstinence, safe sex, and teen pregnancy? Bristol and the Situation talking abstinence and condoms? Really??? Who came up with this ridiculous thing? Who wrote the script? Who thought this was a good idea?

I won't shoot my tv if Bristol wins (oh please god forbid!), but I sure won't be happy. I'm resigned to the fact that one of my favorite shows has become a parody of itself.

Good morning.

DWTS - week 6

2010-10-27T05:56:00.006-04:00

Dancing With The Sh(hhh). What a load of crap.

OK yeah, Jennifer's paso doble was a bit frantic and there were those stumbles, but I don't think she deserved to be in the bottom 2 under the lowest scores and worst dances. I thought it a slap in Brandi's face that Bristol was chosen for the encore. Brandi earned the best score of the night with an outstanding performance, but we had to watch Bristol's wooden tango with stupid air guitar and KISS tongue waggle again. BTW, that was her idea. She thought it would show her personality that the judges were begging for. Really? That's the best you got? How many people are there in Alaska? Must be quite a few.

You know what would have been nice? If the judges had chosen Jennifer for the encore. She could have redeemed herself by getting it right, and maybe left a better impression for voters next week. The judges know she can dance, we know she can dance, she had a bad night. It would have been a nice thing to do.

Speaking of personality, or lack thereof. Another reality "star" bites the dust. Audrina is gone. I'm not sure how I feel about this. She's a good dancer and I would have liked to see more of her over the other not better dancers. But her blank expression was getting boring.

The show the night before included viewer-voted top 10 dances from all seasons. I really enjoyed that so it was worth holding on the DVR to watch again. Why has no one made DVDs of past seasons? I'd buy it. IF. It would have to be just the best scoring dances. Like 8 and above. I don't want to see the worst wasting DVD space (and my money), and I don't want the backstage drama or filler packages. I just want to see the dances. It could include the special performance dances shown on results night. Yeah, I'd buy it.

What else is on my mind this morning?

Have I mentioned I watch music video channels for short attention span tv? I finally saw the Willow Smith MV. There was a lot of hype about it and I figured it was just Papa Will pushing the publicity. I liked it. Tasteful for a young girl and it's cute. Every time I see her face, I can't get over how much like she looks like Will. No way he can deny her! Before Will was a successful actor, he was a rapper, and it looks like Willow inherited that gene, too. This probably wouldn't be worth mentioning, but Will has always been one of my fav actors so I've been paying attention.

As I'm writing this, I just realized that her name must be a sort of "jr". Never occurred to me before. I think I did notice that son Jaden was a play off his mother's name. Did Will and Jada sit down and come up with that plan? "If it's a boy, we'll name him after you. If a girl, we'll name her after me." How fortunate (and kinda eerie) that they got one of each so they could go with it.

Another MV got my attention. Christina Perri - Jar of Hearts. It's set as a contemporary dance routine. What was especially cool about it was the familiar faces from So You Think You Can Dance. Kathryn and Allison. I thought I saw Lauren as well, but research only showed the 2 names I recognized. I feel like I watched these talented young people grow up and it's great seeing them getting work on film. That's a trend I'd like to see more of.

What else do I stop and watch? Adam Lambert - If I Had You. I like him. It's not my usual listening music (that would be rock) but it is singable. I like his glam style. It's his own and I just love the top hats.

Good morning.

DWTS - week 2

2010-10-03T07:15:00.010-04:00

Ok, I have some standouts now. Not necessarily because they are good. Just that they stand out in this musing mind.

Jennifer Grey. A front runner. She is dancing very well. In pre-show interviews, she said she was hoping she didn't disappoint fans because she didn't have any real dance training. And the only dancing she did was what...20 odd years ago in that movie? So not bad at all. I have to talk about her face. There was some tabloid hoopla when she got that nose job. She had a unique and recognizable face with the nose she had. Ok, it was big, but there are a lot of successful actors with prominent beaks and they wouldn't be the same without the snout. I'm sure I'm not the only one who can't see the Jennifer we knew.

Audrina Patridge. Another front runner. I don't know her face, but then I didn't know a few other front runners in previous seasons. She can dance and might make it to the end.

Florence Henderson. The token senior citizen. Is she in good shape or what?! But she is 72 so she's not as flexible as this kind of dancing requires. At least she's not hogging the spotlight like other seniors before her. This kind of proves that stars and pros might not be randomly matched. Corky Ballas is usually paired with the older gals.

Brandy. You'd expect a musical star to have more musicality and dancing skills. Not here. She's already got into a snit with her partner Maksim, and you just don't piss Maks off. She's looking like the token diva.

That real tall sports guy. Yeah, don't know him. Basketball? I have to wonder how the partners are paired up. Random draw from the hat or assigned? Whatever, giving him to much shorter Cheryl wasn't a good choice. It makes him look more awkward than he already is. He's not dancing horribly, but I can't get past how dorky they look together. Since they panned to her several times, I'm guessing (without googling) that Eliza Dushku (one of my favorite actresses) is his other half.

Margaret Cho. Comedian. I remember her from back in her earlier days. Didn't care for her then. Too harsh and grating. She is more subdued now, or least for the show, and she's in better shape than the last time I saw her. I noticed the costume designers have been covering up her sleeve tat. Doesn't really go with ballroom style.

The Situation. This dink is a hoot! I'm sure he came into this thinking he is all that. He's all that hilarious. His face and guido accent kills me! He's built a bit like that skateboard champ a few seasons ago. Normally proportioned from the waist up and then shorter from the waist down. And he's pigeon-toed! If the show wants a comedy element, he's the man.

Everybody else. Don't know them. Don't know their names. Don't know their faces. Don't know the reason they're "stars". I think there's another guy that's not dancing too badly, but like I said.....don't know him.

There was an interesting thing. Sarah Palin. Oh yeah, forgot to mention Bristol Palin. See there? She didn't stand out. Where was I? Sarah Palin was in the front row rooting for her daughter and skarfing up the publicity. While the cameras were backstage, booing was heard out in the theater. Right after that, they went to Tom sitting with Sarah for an interview segment. There's much speculation that the booing was for Sarah. The show is feigning innocence, and even the judges denied knowing what the boos were for. Someone said maybe it was for the scores. That's live TV for you.

One last note. Brook Burke. The token beautiful co-host. She looks great in a dress, but her interview skills are worse than last season. The less she says, the better off are we.

Good morning.

What's on TV

2010-09-21T07:14:00.013-04:00

Dancing With The Stars. Ouh gawd. There is nothing there. Nothing. D-listers, E, F, Z listers. Stars? Not. A few names we know, but more than a few gained their fame dubiously. Did they learn nothing from the Kate Gosslin and Kim Kardashian fiascos? Reality "stars" can't do anything but act badly in their reality shows. I've said it before...they are scraping the bottom of the barrel. Loyal viewers are cheated and forced to watch crap dancing. Ok, nobody is forcing us, but we watch because we always have. I can't even see a potential winner and I no longer give a rat's ass. It's time to put this show out of its misery. While watching this sad season premier, I thought of a great way to go out with a bang. Bring back all the previous winners, give them new pro partners, and let's see who really is the DWTS champion. I guarantee it would be one of the highest rated shows ever!

Somehow, the results show wasn't DVR'd. I thought I had it scheduled. Doesn't really matter. Like I said, I'm not as avid about this show as I used to be, and the results are available the next day. The Hoff was first off. That's surprising. He wasn't very good but neither were less well known names. In fact, nobody was any good! There was a rumor a while back that there was a movement out there to sway voters. Not sure exactly what that agenda was but it seemed to be to keep the underdogs around as long as possible. Perhaps there are a lot of Hoff haters out there?

So what else is on the DVR?

Warehouse 13. I love love love this show! I love the stories about the mystical objects. I love the characters. The crossover with Eureka was genius!

Eureka. Oh yeah, love this one for the same reasons. Sort of like Warehouse but with high-tech objects.

Smallville, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries. I lumped these all together because I haven't watched the season premiers yet. Looking forward to them. Especially Smallville. This is the final season, and it's supposed to wrap up the mythology.

The Good Wife. Good story line, and I really like seeing Chris Noth again. Sexy man! However, Julianna Margulies in the title role is so wooden. Is the character supposed to be that serious and deadpan? I hope Cary sticks around as the villainous element. I'm fascinated by his interesting face. Makes me think evil elf.

Gossip Girl. What can I say? I gotta watch. I like most of characters except Serena. She is such a flake, I just wanna smack her! It's ironic that the bad seeds (Blair, Chuck) are actually the likable characters, where Serena as the "emotional" one is the least interesting. I keep expecting drool to drip off her strange lower lip pout.

Haven. This one kind of lost me. I started watching it, and the plot was thickening. Then it went off air for a while. I have the rest on the DVR but haven't watched it. When this happens, I stack it and watch it all at once. Otherwise, I lose track of what is going on. So I'll keep stacking until the season final. What are the PTB thinking when they do this? And they wonder why they lose ratings. We move on to something we can count on to be regular.

House. I hadn't been watching this before, but am now caught up via reruns on other channels. I'm sure (I hope!) that there aren't successful doctors like this out there. Even for fantasy, this is over the top. House is such a spoiled ego-maniacal brat. That anyone puts up with his shit is so unbelievable. How scary to think a doctor would just start pumping a patient full of drugs or break into their home to figure out what's wrong. Yeah, makes me want to go to a hospital. Now he and Cuddy have finally hooked up. Saw it coming, but didn't want it to happen. He doesn't deserve her or any other good woman.

The Soup, Web Soup, The Dish. Now this is the way to watch reality tv! Love Soup's Joel McHale and Web Soup's Chris Hardwick. Funny cute guys. The Soup should be an hour show. The Dish's Danielle Fischel...shut the fuck up! More air time is spent on her not funny commentary and stupid skits than the clips. I'll add Fashion Police to this paragraph. It just started running weekly after Soup. I like looking at celebrity fashion (even though I'm far from a fashionista myself), but this show seems to be Joan Rivers stage. She's not as funny as she thinks she is, and when she tries to make her plastic face laugh (at her own one-liners), well it's just plain creepy. BTW, when did Kelly Ozbourne become a fashion critic? Ozzy's tattooed punk daughter all growed up after her successful stint on DWTS.

Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. I really like these comedies, but unfortunately, they are on nights of other things. The DVR can only handle 2 at a time, and it has to be tuned to one of them. That's ok, I can catch them later in reruns.

Shows already past season finales:

America's Got Talent. I'll start with the beginning. Why oh why do the judges keep really awful talent? We had to watch some horrible things more than once, and they should never have made it past the auditions. That god-awful clown-face old woman pretending to sing. The stupid guy with poor English doing ridiculous impressions. Things like this were actually pitted against real talent in the same category. What an insult to the talent. Ok, I kinda get it...it's about entertainment and ratings, but it looks to me like they cater to the same people who watch reality shows.

It did finally come down to the best talent. I was mesmerized by Jackie Evancho. I've never appreciated opera before. This little girl was literally not of this world. I watched her performances over and over. I was sure she would win. I loved Prince Poppycock for his outrageous flamboyance. He puts more time into costume and makeup than Lady Gaga. His cover of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody was perfection. Fighting Gravity is very cool and different. Go frat boys! And then there was Michael Grimm. The winner. I'm glad it worked out this way. Jackie and Fighting Gravity will have careers regardless. How could they not? There's probably a niche for Poppycock. Grimm deserved it the most. Not only a great talent, but he is so humble and reserved. Not to mention totally crush-worthy. I can't resist a cute guy in a cool hat. I could see him filling the hole left when the world lost Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Persons Unknown. I don't know what to think about this one. They definitely hooked me, but now I have to wait a really long time to see where it goes next. Who are the masterminds behind the kidnappings and what is their agenda? Teasers said we would find out in the season finale, but of course that didn't happen. BTW, you call that a season? What was it, 10 episodes or less?

Covert Affairs. I liked this. It seems to show what the spy business is really like. My main reason for watching could very well be Auggie. Another hot guy with a fascinating face. Couldn't they give him a cooler name? This was another too short season.

I know I mention the DVR a lot but I just love it! I couldn't live without it now. How nice to be able to record 2 shows at the same time, and watch something else recorded earlier or on DVD. I can skip past the stupid long pauses with ominous shark music before announcing a talent show result. I can skip past Brook's vapid interviews to the judges' scores. Oh yeah and of course, the commercials. Skip skip skip. DVR is good.

Thanks for the blog fodder.

2010-08-30T05:59:00.010-04:00

What follows is a recent email exchange in response to my Craigslist ad. This is typical of the mentality and writing skills of the local CL users. Comments in italics are my asides. As you'll see at the end, I felt it in my best interests to save this exchange for my own protection. And to share with you, gentle readers, whoever you may be.

Tue, Aug 3, 8:03 pm
Buyer: if still available and can be picked up wed eve after 5pm please call xxx-xxx-xxxx thanks

* Cool. I just love getting emails like this. Probably thumbed on a tiny phone keyboard. I'm not calling until I have a better sense of the kind of person I'm dealing with, and right now, first impression is not good. I sure don't want my number stored on a nutjob's phone.

Tue, Aug 3, 9:10 pm
Me: Yes, it's still available and can be picked up most any time.

Wed, Aug 4, 5:47 pm
Buyer: R u available thurs eve?
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

* Yup, as I thought...fancy phone in the hands of an idiot. Isn't that damn thing on your person at all times? Why a full day for the next contact? Wednesday came and went and now you want Thursday.

Wed, Aug 4, 6:26 pm
Me: Yes I can be.

Wed, Aug 4, 6:37 pm
Buyer: I am coming from xxxx, it would be after 4, does the [item] break down or do u have measurements. Thx
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

* Wow. A reply in just a few minutes.

Wed, Aug 4, 8:35 pm
Me: The measurements are in the ad. The [item] is 2 separate pieces, but that's as far as it breaks down.

* Most any other time I would have given the measurements as a convenience for the buyer. In this case, the immature texts didn't deserve a detailed reply.

Fri, Aug 6, 2:40 pm
Buyer: I'd like to try to arrange a time to view/pick up for sat, avail?
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

* 2 days until the next contact??? No, I don't consider this a serious inquiry, and no longer feel the need to be accommodating.

Fri, Aug 6, 3:49 pm
Me: No, sorry, Sat isn't good. Sunday or any day after that. Please make up your mind. You've changed it every day. I'm not giving out my address or phone until I have a firm commitment from you on when you are going to come and get it. Get back to me when you know for sure. I check my email several times a day. I would think the fact that you're sending from a Blackberry means you do, too. No reason I should have to wait 24 hrs to get a response from you.

* Yeah, I'm getting a little annoyed.

Fri, Aug 6, 3:52 pm
Buyer: Look you don't have to rude, I work crazy long hours and things change min to min, my patients are more important than a [item]! Besides you expect someone to travel 1+ hours to you and you refuse to meet! Get over your self!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

* Here we go. And looky there...caps and punctuation. Meeting wasn't mentioned in this exchange. This reminded me that this person had contacted me before and in the same manner.

Fri, Aug 6, 5:16 pm
Me: Hey I tried real hard not to be rude. I could've been a lot ruder. You're pretty damn rude yourself for assuming everyone should bow to your last minute decisions. I told you why I couldn't meet. It won't fit in my car. No problem if you don't want it. Hope you find what you're looking for elsewhere.

Fri, Aug 6, 5:36 pm
Buyer: Like I said my patients are more important, I wasn't rude, I didn't expect you to bow, but labor knows no bounds, you can shove the [item], if you contact me again I will file harassment!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

* Really. Now you're giving me grins, lady.

Fri, Aug 6, 6:19 pm
Me: Wow, you can write a complete sentence! Maybe if your other emails were written like an adult instead of like a texting kid, I might have given you the benefit of the doubt. Keep that in mind the next time you try to conduct business via your fancy little phone. Not really worried about a harassment charge. I have this entire exchange saved. You contacted me first, you went off on me first, and you've been wasting my time for several days.

Fri, Aug 6, 6:26 pm
Buyer: You contact me via your fancy phone too and was rude first, and texting is short and sweet dumb fuck!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

* Ah...there it is...the CL mentality.

I considered taking this further as I was enjoying getting her blood pressure up. I wanted to tell her that my not-so-fancy phone isn't text-friendly, and I was typing on a big fancy computer keyboard with all of my fingers. Among other things. I decided to let it go. I'm sure she felt very satisfied for having the last word (notice her "intelligent" very last word), and maybe I made her ragtime a little better.

Right after this exchange, I removed the item from that bigger city's list and moved it back to my own. I had posted farther due to a lack of sincere response in my area. The very day it went up again, it was flagged and deleted. Gee, I wonder who the flagger was?

Since then I've been amusing myself with the daily CL drama. Hate to admit it's one of my "must check" sites every time I go online. Ads go up, ads come down, and it's fun to see which and how fast. The occasional jab at the flaggers that you have to catch before it's deleted. I've yet to see a response from the flaggers themselves. Maybe they did post some. There have been a few pro-flagger posts that looked a lot like this buyer's last send. They mostly cower under their Almighty Flag. You don't need reality TV to see the dregs of society. It's all right there in your friendly neighborhood Craigslist.

Craigslist - an internet tyranny

2010-07-11T07:17:00.015-04:00

tyranny - arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority.

tyrant - a sovereign or other ruler who uses power oppressively or unjustly.

Craigslist is one of the most popular free classifeds sites in the country, and maybe the world. Everyone knows it, many use it. It's also one of the most unfriendly free classifieds. It's poorly organized, the rules are vague, and the entire thing is governed by tyrants according to their agenda. It is a tyranny.

One of the reasons CL is so popular is its simplicity. No fancy site graphics or advanced webpage dynamics. Just simple HTML links. Anyone can use it with little internet knowledge. As evidenced by the poor communication and writing skills of many of the ad posters, it doesn't take much intelligence either.

You'll notice that I do not provide a link to Craigslist. Even though I sometimes use it, I won't endorse it in any way. But it doesn't matter. Anyone can find it with a simple google.

For the uninformed, the Craigslist Flag is the all-mighty weapon available for anyone to wield. You don't even have to be logged in to use it. Don't like that ad? You can flag it. For any reason at all. Enough flags, and the ad will be deleted. The ad poster isn't given an explaination for being flagged. They have to figure it out based on the rather vague Rules and Terms Of Use. Those same rules and TOU are interpreted by the flaggers however they choose, and it will be according to their personal agenda.

I've been a victim of CL flaggers on more than one occasion. In most of those cases, I had no idea why my ad was flagged. It was similiar to other ads that seemed to be allowed. Or were until the flaggers caught up with them. I couldn't find the reason in the rules.

So I logged in one day and went to the forums. You have to be logged in to use them. There's a flag forum where you are supposed to get help with your ad. Here's what I learned.

- There will be someone manning the forum at all times. Who are these "helpers"? My guess is they are flaggers who apparently have nothing better to do. I saw nothing that made me think they were actual CL employees. I base that assumption on the many rude replies. Flaggers are often rude, small-minded, and many are probably somewhat illiterate.

- You'll get short, curt, and often rude replies to your honest questions. Of course, you'll be referred to the Rules and TOU. Which doesn't tell you much. That's why you are asking the forum.

- When I asked why my ad was flagged, I was told (rudely) that I should have read the email that was sent. Didn't get one...ever. I was told to check spam folders. Did...not there. Oh, I take that back, I did get one, just one, in another email account. Not in the spam folder, BTW. What did it tell me? NOTHING! It's a form email that gives the link to TOU, etc. Right back where I started.

- According to this forum "moderator", my ad was in the wrong category. Ok, I'll buy that. Sort of. In this case, it was a pet accessory. I put it in the Pets category. That's logical, right? I saw other similiar items in that category. He/she said it belonged under General sales. This is where more CL unfriendliness comes in. Who looks under General for pet stuff? There is a huge list of categories for just about everything you can think of. General is for things that don't fit anywhere else. Why isn't there a category for pet supplies? Wouldn't that make sense? It's not like it's an uncommon thing. Far from it. Most other classifieds think it merits its own category. Why not CL? It would certainly cut down the misplaced ads and the "need" to flag.

An added note to the above. Posts requesting items in the related category are also flagged/deleted. Why? Because they are supposed to go under Wanted. Again, who would look there? Remember, we're dealing with a largely uneducated group of users here. They see the word Pets and go there for anything pet related. What they find is extreme tyranny.

- I was told it takes "several dozen" flags to get an ad deleted. Really? And only one flag per person. REALLY? So there are 36+ (my definition of "several dozen") people sitting there at any time just waiting to flag whatever they don't like. I find that hard to believe. Just today I went into the forum again, just to look around, and found one post that says one flag will do it. In the next line, it says two. So which is it? Do just one or two people hold this power (tyrant) or does it really take a host of flaggers?

Flaggers. I wonder if they are proud of that label? I'm sure they think of themselves as diligent upholders of the "law". What they really are...little tyrants with nothing else to fill their days. Here's what I've learned about flaggers.

- They wield absolute power (again, the definition of tyrant). If they don't like the way your ad is worded...flag. If you try to fix it to suit them...not good enough, you've already been flagged and will continue to be flagged. If you piss them off...flagged. Any flagger having a bad day can go and flag any and everything to make themselves feel better and more powerful.

- They flag based on their own agenda. Most flagging occurs in the Pets category. I've yet to figure out just what Pets is for. They say so a pet can find a new adoptive home. Yet, many such ads are flagged. According to the rules and TOU, a "rehome fee" is allowed, but the flaggers decide whether it is acceptable, and for most of them only free is acceptable.

- Flaggers will respond to your ad just to feel you out. If they don't like your response, the ad is immediately flagged/deleted. Again, I find it hard to believe it takes many flags to do this. I've only got one response and then my ad was gone.

- Flaggers are regional. Some areas don't suffer from the ever-present tyrants, others are apparently made up of small-minded people with way too much time on their hands.

One of the more interesting categories is Rants & Raves. This is under Personals where there are practically no rules. It's R-rated and pretty much anything goes. Here you can see the mentality of regional users. In my area, they are extremely crass, mostly uneducated, bigoted, and barely literate. I've looked at other areas (larger cities, for instance) and the intellectual level seems to be higher.

Oddly, I've been flagged here as well. I've ranted about CL itself, and apparently that's prohibited. I'm not even using foul language (well, maybe a few 4-letter words). The flaggers are alive and well even here, but they don't seem to mind the obscene and often bigoted comments made by others. Tell me again it takes a bunch of flags to delete a post. I don't think so.

So enough from me about that. If you are fed up with the Craigslist Tyranny, I highly recommend eBay Classifieds. It's user-friendly, intelligently organized, and you can sell whatever you want as long as it's not illegal. It worked for me. Help take down the tyranny by supporting other avenues.

SYTYCD - week 2

2010-06-26T08:25:00.003-04:00

Don't think I like the new format. There were only 11 contestants (more about that in a minute), and they were partnered with a past contestant (the All-Stars) by random draw. It's hard to just keep your eyes on the dancer without watching the All-Star. Since this is partner dancing, both dancers have to contribute and play off each other. In the previous format, both dancers were judged, and the chemistry between them counted for a lot. Then if their partner was voted off, they got the other one left without a partner. It was interesting to see how the new partnership went. Sometimes, a dancer was changing partners all the time. That's actually a good thing. If they get work, they will have to be able to adjust this way. I guess in that respect, the new format does force them to adjust immediately. They won't have the same partner every week.

About the 11. A strange thing happened here. The original plan was to have just 10 contestants - 5 boys, 5 girls. The judges couldn't decide between the final 2 boys and changed the game by keeping them both. Seems to me that to be fair, they should have kept another girl as well.

So what do I think about the dancers this season? There are several very young people. By that I mean, they look and act young. A tiny little girl was voted off 1st week. Another this week. There are 4 boys that are just that...young boys. Everyone loves them, they are so cute, you can't not love them. But there are more mature dancers that I think should go farther.

I think it will be a male that wins this season. The girls are dropping like flies. My pick is Alex. He's an interesting case. Amazing, outstanding dancer! He had to drop out last season after he aced auditions because of his commitment to a dance company. They released him this season so he could take his shot at the big time. He's so technically perfect, he's having a hard time giving of himself. At least that's what the judges say they want more of from him. Their continued criticism of his lack of personality could cost him.

One of the things about the new format is all about the All-Stars. When the contestant pulls their name out of the hat, they get the dance style of the All-Star, as well as the chorographer(s) in that style. So if Twitch is drawn (how great to see him again!), the dance will be hip hop. There are some styles that don't really fit anywhere. Bollywood (one of my favs) I think they just use an All-Star at random, or maybe one that has danced the style before.

What else? Oh yeah, America's Got Talent. I haven't seen a lot of really Vega-worthy acts. Supposedly, this is about earning a headline gig in Vegas, and I think of what I'd want to see in a Vegas show. Flashy, unique, and maybe funny come to mind. There was the light show group. That was pretty damn cool. Actually, that's the only one that comes to my mind right now.

Some of the worst things were voted through to Vegas tryouts. That incredibly clownish old woman playing a portable piano badly, and singing worsely. How dare anyone murder Patsy Cline like that! Good god, doesn't she look at herself in the mirror after putting on her clown face. I get the feeling she thinks she looks good. That face would knock a sleeper out of bed as a nightmare.

Social Networking

2010-06-25T12:04:00.008-04:00

Facebook, Twitter, and the like seem to taken over the internet and peoples' lives. Yeah, their lives. Some people actually live for Facebook. Cell phones are now equipped with Facebook apps so that Facebookers won't miss a single second. God forbid they do.

Yes, I have a FB account. It was a way to reconnect with old friends and family, and I can see its value in that respect. But is it an effective communication tool? Is it really social networking? Not from what I've seen. I've acquired a rather large collection of "friends", and the news feeds tell me what they are up to. What are they up to? Silly FB games, mostly. My FB page is cluttered with this shit that I don't care about. It's interesting that once a player became bored with the game, I don't hear any more from them. I tried a few games at first but became bored even faster than my friends.

Oh there's a few that post some personal status reports now and then. Some obscure thought they had, or song lyric they heard. Maybe what happened to them that day, or what they plan to do. Or they try to generate some comments and/or sympathy with a vague reference to nothing. "Vaguebooking" is a new word created for that last activity.

There's a commercial on tv for one of the cell phone companies that says it all. A serious guy is giving a "news report" with a fancy phone in his hand. He reads, "This just in from Facebook...the search is on for cute boots." It's hilarious that the company running the ad is poking fun at itself, the apps it offers, and the people who will buy this product.

What I see is that other more effective forms of communication are being used less. Especially forums and groups. I see less activity on forums, and that's sad. Forums are a great reference tool. Members post their questions, get answers, and it's arranged so that someone else can easily access the info they need. On FB, it's just a hodgepodge with no organization. How is that better communication? I've even seen forum posts that reference FB. "If you saw my FB, you'd know...". Only "friends" would know, you know. Why mention it at all if you aren't going to talk about it?

Another thing I see is that FB can cause strife. Someone makes a comment, usually vague or in regards to something no one knows jack about, and someone else assumes it was directed at them, and gets pissed. Then it's a dominoes stack as it reverberates down the line. If your FB and others are set up so that "friends of friends" can see what's going on, you don't have to be a friend to get the feed, you'll get it because one of your friends did.

What do I use FB for? Not much. It's just too public for my taste. I don't really like when someone posts on my wall because then I feel obligated to reply. I prefer to do that more privately. Like I said, it was a way to connect with family and old friends, but that's as far as it went. Even a lot of those people are using it less and less. Haven't heard a peep out of many of them for quite a while. Oh wait, maybe they blocked me because of all the crap that comes through from my other "friends" that they don't want cluttering up their FB page.

Dis & Dat on TV

2010-06-07T08:00:00.003-04:00

So You Think You Can Dance has begun. Just finished up the auditions and Vegas Week will decide the 10 contestants. Not sure how I feel about this new format.

Past seasons' favorites will be paired up with the 10. That will be pretty cool, but it sounds like a shorter season. I liked the old format where dancers who lost their partner to eliminations were paired with another who lost their partner. This new way, no one gets a 2nd chance. They are saved or eliminated on their own merit (and their semi-pro partner's ability to show them off) instead of 1 girl and 1 guy. Like I said, probably a shorter season.

About the auditions. There is so much fluff and filler that we don't get to see more auditions. That's why we watch the auditions, you know! We wanna see the good, bad, and ugly. The goofs who think they can dance are hilarious! I love the snits and tantrums. The flaming gay boys are the worst divas! They think they are all that, but they are just all that silly. They add comic relief. Focusing on a sob story makes no sense if the audition didn't make the grade. I could see it if the audition made it to the final contestants, but most of them don't. Show more auditions in that space!

And another thing. There hasn't been enough variety. Mostly we've seen contemporary dancers and for the most part, they all look the same. Not many B-boys or other styles have been shown and I like to see unique. Have we just run out of talent in those areas?

Speaking of talent, America's Got Talent has also started. Sure am glad these 2 shows aren't in the same time slots. Not that I think AGT compares to SYTYCD. It's more like The Gong Show vs. American Idol. At least my DVR can handle 2 time slots at a time.

This is another show filled with unnecessary filler. I don't frackin care about the sad sob stories! Show me the goofy auditions. IF they make it to the contest, then you can fill in the back stories. But even then I don't give a rat's ass.

So far, I've only seen one audition that impressed me. Another humble guitar strumming singer like that chicken farmer last season, but much better looking. Now he has talent!

Howie Mandel replaced The Hoff as a judge. I like that. It seems there is less tension between the judges now. Maybe just the transition as Howie settles in, but he has such a quick wit I'll enjoy him. He's up there with George Carlin as one of my favorite comedians.

Just watched the season finale of Flash Forward. They're killing me! I literally stomped my feet and swore out loud at the end! Questions were not answered. Well ok, some were, but more were raised. I guess that was the plan for a cliffhanger ending. It's gonna be a long long wait to season 2. They better not cancel it on me!

Some of my other must-watch tv is coming back, as well as some interesting new ones. I'll say it again...thank the techno-gods for DVR. It's the only way to watch tv!

By now you are probably thinking, "What, is this blog just about tv?" Well, for now I don't have anything else to rant or rave about so yeah I'm talking tv. I'm sure something else will occur to me eventually.

DWTS - Season 10 Finale

2010-05-26T08:11:00.003-04:00

Aaaah. Nicole & Derek! All is well with the world.

This is the first season (I can remember) that the final 3 all deserved to be there. Nicole rocked all the way. Evan slipped a bit, and Erin rose steadily. I admit, I didn't see her in the final 3 at first, but I'm glad she was.

I thought it was very cool that they all chose the Argentine Tango for their final dance. Wonderful to see this dance done well, and in 3 completely different routines.

But WTF was up with some of the fluff that filled the 2 hours?

Why oh why was Kate Goslin given such an important spot??? She danced as horribly as ever, in fact, worse, but they made a big production out of her spot. She got special interview time, in which she plugged her reality shows, of course. Ridiculous and ugly waste of time!

Buzz Aldren's spot was pretty cool with the "beam me down, Scotty" thing, but his attempt at a Paso Doble was out of this world sad.

Pam Anderson didn't get enough air time. If Kate got to do her thing (whatever that is), why couldn't Pam do hers. I'm sure it would've been something to see.

And a really big WTF for the Jake/Vienna thing! I don't understand why this particular spouse-to-be (maybe) who wasn't a contestant rated dance floor time.

The other real contestants only got a minute of exposure for their encore dances.

What I'd like to have seen more of instead of that drek was more of the audience celebrities. Many were there from previous seasons but there wasn't enough air time left to more than flash past their faces, and then not even all of them rated face time I'm sure. If it wasn't for Nicole's mention of Gladys Knight at the end, we might not even have known who that was.

I enjoyed the college dance team contest, but I would've preferred the junior ballroom contest as in past seasons.

For the most part, a pretty good season, and I'm so glad America has finally recognized that this is a dance contest, and good dancers should win.

Next week, my favorite dance show - So You Think You Can Dance. Can't wait! America's Got Talent also begins. Not my favorite, but I watch for the circus.

Random musings

2010-05-17T06:19:00.004-04:00

DWTS - week whatever it is:

Coming down to the finale with 4 standing.

Nicole and Derek danced an outstanding Paso Doble! I mean show-stopping, perfect score, encore, outstanding! As you know (if you've been reading along) this is one of my favorite dances and I love to see it done well. It was done so well!

The other 3 stars...soso. Judges thought so, too. Go, Team Nicole!

My very favorite dance show is coming back soon. So You Think You Can Dance. Yay! The teasers say we'll see our favorite past finalists paired with contestants. That will be very cool!

So what else is on my mind?

The subject of regional stereotypes came up. In particular, the south. Being northern-bred and raised, I was among the masses who bashed the south a little. But only a little. I worked with many southerners who migrated north for jobs and I was used to the drawl and other quirks. I was even married to a southerner for a while. Yeah that didn't last too long. In that case, north and south didn't mix.

Having traveled around the south some, I've noticed differences in southern accents, tastes, and culture. Some of the differences might be due to the how the ethnic population is concentrated.

For instance, in South Carolina, barbeque (shredded pork on a bun with red sauce) seems to be a staple of the state's diet. There's a BBQ joint on nearly every corner. There's also a larger population of African-Americans than in the other southern states I've frequented.

In the north, the BBQ sandwich isn't that common even though blacks make up a good portion of the people. BBQ refers to cooking outside or sauce, not a sandwich.

In Tennessee, African-Americans aren't common, but Latinos are. So we have more Mexican restaurants and very few BBQ joints.

The thing in Tennessee that makes me feel a bit out of place more than anything is religion. At least in my county. There's a church or a sign for a church on every corner. This has to be one of the churchiest states in the country! I overhear church talk...meetings, groups, god bless, etc, everywhere I go. Even my bank manager writes a sermon in the little newsletter that goes out with bank statements. Church seems to be the main industry. Maybe this is why the state is so poor. My earlier blog about the lack of economic contribution from the church could explain this. Religion also plays a big part in the politics of the state. Yet again, church and state are not separate.

Of course, this means Sundays are pretty dead around here. Oh sure the big chains are open, and weekend flea markets are big business. But I can't even get local news on tv on Sunday. One Sunday in one of my first years here, I headed for the big flea market and a little shopping in town. The entire world was dead! Closed. Nada. No traffic. Not even Walmart or McDonalds could be found open. WTF! Then I remembered it was Easter Sunday. Really??? I had never seen that before. Christmas maybe, but not Easter.

What else? How about music?

I'm a rock & roller. At least I can find decent rock stations here. It would probably kill me if the only music was country and gospel. One of my guilty pleasures for short attention span tv is music videos. If I can't find anything to watch but want to watch something, I'll tune into MTV, etc. VH1 Classics is my favorite for classic rock videos, but I like current pop videos on MTV, Fuse, etc, as well. Love the graphic artwork. One of the unlikely (for a rocker) musicians I like to watch is Lady Gaga. She's a freak show and I can't stop looking! Brittany Spears is another wreck I'll slow down for. Anything unusual, especially if it involves dance, gets my attention.

BTW, I can remember when MTV was all there was, and videos was all it did. 24/7 music videos. I even remember the first video, "Video Killed The Radio Star". Sure is a shame that much of the day is taken up with stupid reality shows. I do enjoy the occasional musician biographies and chronicles, but when I tune in, music is what I want to see and hear.

One last musing brought to mind by that last paragraph.

Reality shows. What a waste! People watch them, so the stations keep producing them, and since there's no stars or script or anything, the producers make them for next to nothing. I find it so appalling that viewers support this shit. People desperate to be famous or infamous will do anything to appear on these shows. Apparently an awful lot of small-minded people get off on these public displays of human desperation. Those of us who have a brain are hard put to find quality prime time tv. Thank the techno gods for DVR and DVDs.

All for now.

DWTS 5th week

2010-05-05T06:13:00.005-04:00

Actually, I can't remember what week it is. There are now 5 left standing.

Alas, Pam was booted. Too bad. I was really impressed. She was gracious, cute, and subdued. It wasn't all about her figure, and the costumes even played that down (as best they could). She was amazing when portraying characters. She channeled Marilyn Monroe and Dolly Parton perfectly. I was a bit disappointed by her Argentine Tango (as a brunette, no less). She could've killed with that dance but it came off too soft.

I meant to blog when Kate was gone but didn't get a round tuit. So a belated YAY! Jake was also gone last week. Poor little bachelor cried and his tv fiancee looked crushed.

My picks are still Nicole and Evan, and I think they'll be the last two standing. I hope Derek comes up with a kickass free-style to clinch the deal for Nicole. Evan is really good, but his skating style shows too much for most of the dances.

I would have preferred Niecy left before Pam. She's not a terrible dancer, but Pam was better.

Surprisingly, Chad (football guy) has grown into a decent dancer. I don't think he'll win (god I hope not!), but he's not that hard to watch now.

Erin hasn't improved much. She was good, but she's still just good.

I see either Niecy or Erin leaving next week.

What else I'm watching:

"Flash Forward" I love love love this show! I stack a few episodes up on the DVR and watch several in one sitting. I want more more more!

"Merlin" I thought it was cancelled after its run last year, but they've picked it up again. SyFy ran the 1st season back to back so I DVR'd it to watch again.

"The Vampire Diaries" I have mixed feeling about this show. Elena is annoying. Stephan is not good-looking. But I've fallen in love with Damian. He's such a bad boy with a spot of good in his undead heart. I could watch his facial expressions all day!

"V" Not my fav but I'm watching to see where it goes. I never saw the original series so I don't know the story other than what I've seen so far.

"Smallville" This season is a little hard to watch. There's the season's bad guy Zod played by an actor (don't know his name) I've seen in the same type of roles elsewhere. His spitting sneer is getting a little old. I'm fascinated by Chloe's dark side, and her affair with Green Arrow is an unexpected pleasure. The Lois angle? Meh. Lois is annoying but I guess that was the character from the beginning in all the Superman mythologies. BTW, when is Clark going to learn to fly?

"The Soup" Why is this show only a half hour??? Joel McHale is so cute and funny, and I'm sure he could fill an hour. I also watch "The Dish" which is similar but I wish they'd keep her comments shorter. An awful lot of time is wasted on those stupid skits and ramble-ons she does after each clip. You could fit a couple more clips in that time.

"Glee" How can you not love the song & dance routines?

"Grey's Anatomy", "Private Practice", "Supernatural" (currently catching up the previous seasons)", "Happy Town".

Returning soon:

"Warehouse 13" I thought it was cancelled but it's coming back. Cool!

"Leverage" Another show I really liked. It's just plain fun!

All for now.

DWTS - 2nd week

2010-03-31T08:29:00.011-04:00

Oh boy, here we go. This is going to be another crappy season. We'll be suffering through some seriously bad dancing. What the hell is wrong with America?!

Nicole the Pussycat Doll is my pick. She can dance! She's not a diva! Derek is her partner! No-brainer! Of course, we know voters are idiots so that won't matter.

Erin the broadcaster is right behind her for the best female. I can't believe Bruno hasn't mentioned her legs. They go on and on, and he's mad for long legs. I don't really expect her to be around for long. She's not famous enough.

Evan the skater is so far the best male. He just needs to get control of his talent and skills.

No other male is impressing me at this point.

Shannen the actress was kicked off. Too bad. She had potential. She definitely wasn't the worst dancer.

Pamela the sex kitten was in the bottom two. WTF??? I guess this proves most of the voters are women. They would hate her. Ok, she's over the top but she doesn't apologize for herself, her choices, or her actions. Girl just wants to have fun and she does. In my humble opinion, that's class. Oh and BTW, she's a pretty good dancer. Hey, Pam, dial down the sex a bit. Give women a reason to like you.

Niecy the comedian. Not funny. She's not a terrible dancer, but not great either. I'm already tired of her weak attempts at comedy relief.

So we have to suffer through more dancing from the worst dancers.

Kate the mom. That's her only claim to fame. She has a pile of kids, put them on TV, and her marital breakup was big news. How stupid. She is a really really bad dancer, and a whiney bitch with no personality. To make her patient partner Tony want to quit proves how insufferable she will be. I did not want to see any more from her. But there she is thanks to all the bleeding-heart housewives out there with texting phones in their hands.

Buzz the astronaut. Ok, I get that he's a hero, but he's too old for this. It's so painful to watch. I give him credit for having personality. Something the other mediocre dancers lack. *Off-topic: Did his wife use the same plastic surgeon as Joan Rivers? They have the same "Joker" face. Creepy.

Chad the football guy. Ugh. Does he ever smile? He's still there only because he's a black sports star. They always hang around too long.

Yeah, it's looking like a pisspoor season for those of us who tune in to see good dancing.

One more note. I was glad to see the end of Samantha Harris as co-host, but Brook Burke is no better. I guess it was the writers' fault after all. Same dull interviewing style. Drew Lachey's short stint as co-host was so much better. He could ad-lib. Oh wait, maybe that's it. He was competition for Tom's ad-libbing.

DWTS

2010-03-12T19:41:00.009-05:00

Hey there. Long time no write. Haven't had a rant or anything in a while but now I do.

Dancing With The Stars. Ok, by now you know I love dancing shows. This used to be one of my favs but it is getting rather old. Samo samo ya know. I fear its day has come. They are scraping the bottom of the barrel for sure.

The new dancing cast was announced. Oh yeah real exciting. Well, there are a few interesting possiblities.

Nicole Scherzinger - The Pussycat Dolls front woman. I see her going all the way, she already can dance sexy and she has a personality.

Evan Lysacek - Olympic figure skater. Skaters have proven to have the natural talent and grace to pick up the ballroom dances.

Pamela Anderson - well you know who she is. She'll probably hang around for a while due to her fan base, but I just can't see her as a ballroom dancer. Pole dancer maybe. She and Nicole should draw in the male viewers.

Niecy Nash - Reno 911. I'm not a fan of this show, not my taste in humor, but she might have what it takes.

So what's left?

Kate Gosselin. Oh pulease! Why is this person even famous? It will kill me if her sympathizers keep her around. But that's the way it goes with this show. A better dancer will be voted off.

Shannen Doherty. She's admitted to live stage fright and I'm sure it will show.

Jake Pavelka. A Bachelor. So? I think those "matchmaker" shows are the most stupid waste of air time ever devoted to people desperate to be on tv. And no, I don't watch them. Although...there was that one Bachelor reject who came very close to winning by virtue of her talent for [gasp] dancing.

Buzz Aldrin. The token old person. No one will ever live up to George Hamilton in that catagory.

Some female sportscaster. Pretty, maybe she'll be able to dance, but will anyone care.

Some soap star. They've proven to have a little talent. Except for Susan Lucci.

Some football star. Pffft.

I am so glad to see the end of Samantha Harris as co-host. I love DVR, I could FFWD past her insipid backstage interviews.

BTW, I should mention I don't vote on any of these shows. I just sit back and rag at the stupidity of the ones that do. Hey it costs to vote. Valuable minutes on the cell bill or valuable time on slow dialup.

In other TV talk.

Some of the shows I got into are finally picking up again. After I've completely forgotten what was going on way back before the Xmas season. Sure would be nice if they'd rerun the earlier episodes so we can catch up again by the time the new shows air.

So what, you might wonder, was I watching?

Flash Forward. This is one I'll probably add to my DVD library. Fascinating storyline and characters. Can't wait to see where it goes.

V. Yeah, I'm hooked but it's not library-worthy.

Smallville. Actually on hiatus for I don't know how long. I love how they are bringing the Superman mythology together. My favorite episodes are the ones that tease at the Justice League to come. I also love Clark's dark look in the long leather duster. To this day, I can't get over his resemblance to Christopher Reeves, the most iconic Superman.

Some were cancelled and I'll miss them.

Dollhouse. An awful lot of questions weren't answered.

Warehouse 13. Now this show had a lot of stories to tell!

Sanctuary. I have mixed feeling about this one. It started out really cool with interesting "abnormals" but then sort of fizzled by focusing on the caretakers too much. Some of the more interesting characters were killed off. Come on, give us more of the mythology the show was based on.

All for now.

SYTYCD

2009-12-19T05:06:00.002-05:00

The winner is Russell! Yay! I felt so on because it came down to my picks. I was surprised Catherine left in 3rd place, but it was so tight for the final 3. Jacob was 2nd. He was sooo goood! I would have been as pleased if he won. But it was Russell, another street dancer like Joshua two seasons ago.

So now that's over, what do I watch? It's the Xmas season, there's nothing much to watch anyways.

The Best Dance Show

2009-11-25T17:25:00.004-05:00

So You Think You Can Dance. I love love love this show! It's honest, refreshing, and it's not about a fan base, it's about who is the best dancer. As it should be.

The judges don't score, but their opinion counts for a lot when it gets to the viewers' votes. There are guest choreographers, and some of them were dancers in previous seasons. Occasionally different judges.

I like the judges for the most part, but Mary Murphy gets on my nerves big time. Her horrible screechy voice is bad enough when she talks in a normal tone. Thank god I DVR so I can zip past her banshee wails. She's gotten real old real fast.

So what's going on this season. I haven't really picked favs yet. I can't remember all the names. I know who I don't care for. "Legacy". This guy is really winning over the judges, and I have to admit he's a pretty good dancer most of the time. But he's a crybaby! I hate that. So I'm against him. I'm not too crazy about his name either. The last one-name guy was Stitch, but he was good! Really good and really likeable. His name suited him. I don't get where this guy Legacy gets his name. Uh oh, am I the bad guy bashing a dancer for something other than his dancing? Maybe. I just don't care for him. So there.

Ryan (half of the husband/wife ballroom pair) is pretty good but he's too pretty for me. His wife is just as good looking and it almost looks like a genetic experiment when they are seen together. Like they both said, "I found someone who looks just like me". Weird. But both are pretty good dancers in the styles they've been given.

I love some of the new dance styles they're bringing. Last season they introduced Bollywood, and there's already been a great Bollywood routine this season. Last night, there was the Lindy Hop and that's so cool. I'm not real crazy about Contempory or Jazz, but sometimes they are interesting routines. Broadway and Disco are usually fun to watch. I like Hip Hop type routines if they are set to hard hitting music. Set to softer music, they just don't wow. Of course, any Ballroom is good to see.

All for now.

I'm a dancing fool.

2009-11-25T16:28:00.005-05:00

Well, more accurately a dance-watching fool. I'm hooked on the dancing shows. Didn't get into the singing shows like American Idol. America's Got Talent is the most annoying talent show I've ever seen. I'll rant about that in another blog. Right now I want to talk dancin.

The first show that caught me was Dancing With the Stars. Oh yeah! Glitz, glamor, fun, celebrities, and pretty darn good dancers. And some really bad dancers for laughs. I was hooked big time.

Then I became really annoyed. The fans have way too much clout. Bad dancers were saved while good dancers hit the road. I heard through the web grapevine there was a site or something that encouraged voters to back the underdogs. And we had to suffer through more bad dancing while the better dancers were cut.

Lowlight 1: Master P or whatever that rapper was called. He was saved time and again and he wasn't even trying to dance. He looked like he hated it but was just honoring his regretted commitment. He was a big galoot gulumping around the stage with his little pro partner making the best of it. It was the worst thing! The judges tried to get him off with low scores, and the rapper fanbase kept saving him. Finally the lowest judge scores ever got him off.

Lowlight 2: Cloris Leachman. Oh criminy! What the hell was that! Why was she still there for so long? She didn't dance. She hobbled. She tried to steal the show with her unfunny antics and wasted everyone's time. Because she's an 82 year old woman, everyone tried to be nice and go along with her bullshit. Good dancers left, and we suffered.

Lowlight 3: Sabrina (can't remember her last name). This girl could dance! Right out of the gate, she was winning judges' hearts. And boom...week 3 and she was voted off! What!!! Everyone was stunned! I can't even remember who else was in that season, but I do know no one could hold a candle to her dancing talent. She would have been a contender for the Mirrored Ball. She never got the chance. And we had to watch less talent.

Lowlight 4: Emmet Smith (last name?) The football player. He won. On his fanbase, not his dancing ability. The runner up was better. Sure he was likeable. I liked him. But he was a big football guy. He was not that light or agile on his feet.

This last season was such a disappointment, I wonder if the show is in its death throes. No big stars that we could really get behind. Ok there's Donny Osmond and a few other names we knew, but it's looking like the show is scraping the bottom of the barrel now.

I do like some of the new things they've added to the show, like the dance-offs and team dances. I enjoy Kenny Mains and Jerry Rice on that recap thing they do. That's pretty funny.

Since it's fresh in my mind (I should of been blogging these things all along, eh?) I'll rant about the finals.

Donny Osmond won. Whoohoo. Not. He had the entire state of Utah behind him. Jeez, his family alone would cover a majority vote! I saw it coming and hated it. Mya so had it! She was the best dancer from the getgo, and having Dmitri for a partner was a plus. Kelly Osbourn made it to the finals over a better dancer. She annoyed me with her little girl voice and demeaner. I want to watch great dancing! Not fans' choice that has nothing to do with dancing.

Ok ok, Donny can dance but he wasn't the best dancer, and this is a dancing show, dammit!

I do admit Mya and Dmitri blew it with their lackluster Freestyle. They could have rocked our world. I don't understand why Dmitri backed off more challenging choreography. He's usually a risk-taker. In the rehearsal footage, Mya wanted to be more daring but he won out for some reason. Too bad. I think that lost it for them.

So now we have to listen to them go on and on about Donny's win. blah blah.

Oh and my favorite ballroom dances? Pasa Doble, Quickstep, Jive, Samba, Tango. I love to see them done really well and with good music.

In the next installment, I'll talk about the best dance show.

Daily Gripe - amateur web designers

2009-04-14T19:04:00.012-04:00

Why is it that anyone who owns Dreamweaver or some such software assumes they are a professional web designer? They begin advertising their services, sometimes for outrageous prices. In some cases, these (often young) amateurs actually do have some talent, but more often than not, their own websites are very childish and sometimes downright disasters.

Case #1: A young person who cannot even spell advertised that he would build sites for a fee. A sample of his writing skill: "i built websites." He claimed he had built many sites. When asked to provide links to sites he had done, he said he had done one for his mom who bought it from him. His mom? Nice, Mom. I appreciate your boosting your child's confidence, but to encourage him to go into business because he created one website?

So I tried to visit his site. I could not get in there. Something on the home page was hanging up my browser. BTW, I have IE, the most commonly used browser, which can handle anything reasonable. I couldn't get past this logjam. He explained it was a media player and his mom wanted it there. Ok. So I asked for an internal link so I could get in. He provided a page with the extension ".php". Now this is a format for things like forms, guestbooks, etc. Not appropriate for a static webpage. Again, I was unable to view the page. Another person tried as well, and found the same problems. She was able to get farther than me, and discovered very oversized photos.

I have to rant about spelling. This young person cannot spell, or doesn't try. I shudder to see what the site looks like if I ever get in there. There's nothing that peeves me more than poor spelling and grammer on a website. I can forgive an occasional misspell, but across the board is unacceptable. Hey, I'm not a perfect speller either, but I keep a dictionary handy. Capital letters where required, commas, periods, and paragraphs are simple things that make it readable.

I believe texting will be the demise of proper writing. Young people are so busy texting, they are forgetting how to form a sentence with fully spelled words and punctuation.

The next major fault of amateurs is images. As mentioned, this site's photos were way too big. For someone with a slow connection like me, that's a sin. A web designer needs to have the software and knowhow to properly optimize images. Even in this day of high speed connections, there are still many out here on dialup, and any webmaster worth his salt will build for everyone, not just their own computer.

So how do you tell a young person he doesn't have the talent or skills to charge for his work?

Case #2: A little over a year ago, I took over the maintenance of a club website. It was designed by a someone who charged professional fees for their services. This wasn't a pro, it was just a person who had web publishing software. I don't own any special software. I read and write pure HTML. In order to work with this site, I had to go through the entire thing and rewrite it. I had to weed out unneccessary and redundant code so I could see where the hell I was. I bet I cut the file size by half! This webmaster did have a good eye for design, but didn't have a clue as to how a webpage works. I preserved the original look of the site with a few tweaks. It's clean, loads fast, and easy for me to maintain. BTW, I'm not charging for this service. It's my contribution to the club.

Just because you own the software and built yourself a site, it doesn't make you a professional. Professionals earned (usually) the right to call themselves pros by taking classes, and proving they have the skills. Even though I have most of the skills, I'm self-taught and don't consider myself a pro by any stretch. Why do these people think they are when they don't even have the skills? All they have is some software. And they can't spell!!!

The Ultimate Scam

2009-03-22T07:27:00.006-04:00

scam: To defraud; swindle to obtain property or services unjustly. A fraudulent or deceptive act or operation.

Our great country was founded on one of the greatest scams of all. The Constitution guarantees certain unalienable rights and freedoms, but something actually took them away. Organized Religion. Religion is one of the richest businesses in the world, supposedly separate from government, and yet it enjoys tax exempt status, and has input in every government decision.

For whatever reason, man has always had a need to believe in something greater than himself. In the beginning, myth explained things that early man couldn't explain. Along the way, certain myths became doctrine perpetuated by powerful men. Doctrine became law. Freedoms were taken away, and despicable acts were employed to enforce the law, and ensure the powerful retained their power.

And then came the Bible. A collection of stories and myths that became belief and law. So strongly did the powerful enforce this belief, it now commands most of the world. No one knows who wrote the Bible (although they say they do), but how can they know unless they have a time machine? Aesop's Fables or Grimm's Fairy Tales could just as easily have been the basis for a religious text, having been written by numerous people of which we know little about. So who's to say the Bible wasn't just a collection of bedtime stories? Well, the all-powerful Church said this is Truth. Gullible and frightened people went along with it, and the Church became richer and more powerful.

Don't get me wrong. I think the Bible is a very good book of rules to live by. Do not kill, do not steal, etc. And maybe a fractured history, although riddled with myth. But hey, so is the Illiad. There's some evidence that the New Testament was written in response to the political times (the oppressive Roman empire) and has no relevance in modern times. If this is true, and it makes perfect sense, religion was based on politics.

We are currently in one of the worst economic situations in history, and taxpayers are paying the price for the fixes. However, one of the richest sources of tax revenue isn't required to help. Organized religion. The Church is tax exempt under the cover of charity work, but seems to have more money than even big business.

Businesses can write off their charity contributions, and gain some tax relief that way. Organized religion is big business. Why is it not required to operate in the same manner? Churches have employees to pay just like a business. They own land and buildings (expensive land and buildings!) just like a business. People pay to use their facilities and services which generates income just like a business. Business has political ties, and although religion is not supposed to interfere with government, it's a well-known fact that it does. Organized religion manages to use its wealth to sneak around the restrictions to get its agendas accepted. Religious agenda becomes the law of the land, and they don't have to pay.

Religious freedom? It doesn't exist. We are supposed be allowed to practice our faith as we please, and that includes not having faith. Organized religion has dictated what we can and cannot do, even if we don't believe in it. Non-believers are supporting the Church through taxes and government decisions. Perhaps more than the members of the Church.

So why are we, the people, allowing this to happen? Because most of us don't have the money or power to do anything about it. Our country is in big trouble as the very things it was founded on are being eroded away in favor of those in power. Yes, religion is the Ultimate Scam.

In The Beginning.....

2009-03-17T09:15:00.008-04:00

.....God created....... oh wait, that's debatable.

Fair warning to readers who stumble across this. I am an agnostic and liberal child of the 60's. I'm opinionated, and confess to a little intolerance for some things. Rants will happen.

If I offend anyone, I apologize in advance. But not too much. This is my opinion and you chose to read it.