If Rosie Says It, It Must Be True

Some time ago I wrote a post about the World Trade Center disaster and the dumb asses that believe the US had let it happen or had an actual part in the planning. Now the Queen of dumb asses has jumped aboard the stupid train (too many metaphors?). I'm having a hard time gauging my feelings on the fact that more and more people are going nuts in this country. I hear the ratings on the View are going down hill, I hope that's true. It gives me the hope that you really can't go around spouting half-baked notions and not be held responsible for it. I've noticed that Rosie has disabled her comments on the site, that's a damn shame, I had a few things on my mind.

Please...too much...must stop...laughing

My output on the ole blog has slowed down considerably the last few months. I've been busy with an honest to God life for a change. It's been nice, although I wish I could still post more than I have been. I've got more time now though because I'm in Puerto Rico and Lisa is in Ohio. So while she's been doing yard work, applying to Ohio State for the fall semester, giving Moon medicine two times a day for ear wax and painting the bathroom, I've been learning to give speech commands to my Mac.

Even with all of this down time I still haven't felt much like posting. I've had several things that would lend themselves to a little rant but I just couldn't reach that "must write about " plateau. What has got me to stop everything and put finger to keyboard is something I came across on iTunes celebrity playlist. If you have iTunes and you want a real hoot, check out Melissa Etheridge and Al Gore's playlist. They have a copublished list because Melissa wrote the theme song for Al baby's movie.

Melissa's picks are of course the same call to arms drivel that all celebrities like to listen to up in the Hollywood Hills. "Not Ready To Make Nice", "Ohio" (what no CCR?), "What's Going On" and of course "American Idiot". Great show of originality Melissa. I hear John Mellencamp put out a protest album, couldn't squeeze that one in? I love her little bon mot for "Won't Get Fooled Again". "This song is so much more than a T.V. theme song. We did get fooled again, and Roger Daltry's immortal scream should be our call to action." She's not even fired up enough to use an exclamation point. The italics was mine just to punch it up. I had to check and make sure I wasn't already reading Al's comments. So no surprises on this one. The best was yet to come...

Al Gore, posterchild for personality deficit disorder, gives us a mixed bag indeed. Hey look, it's Neil Young again! At least Al has picked something a little more contemporary from the aging rocker cum model train tycoon. To Al's credit he doesn't have the single mindedness of Melissa. He's picked a few tunes that are as bland as he is. I fell asleep listening to the 30 second sample of the Dido song. I believe (and this is just a theory) the same woman that was his fashion consultant for the 2000 election campaign is also picking his music. How else to explain, the Black-eyed Peas and Mos Def. I love the fact that Mos's song has an explicit warning, do you think Al beams with pride when he sees a lyric warning label on albums? Do you think he had to ask Tipper for permission to down load Mos Def's song? Or do you suppose they listen to Twisted Sister and Frank Zappa? I've always imagined Al and Tipper as the parents in "Surrender". You know, on the couch with the Kiss records out. Get some AL!!!

Notes From An Island

Well, a little over two weeks ago I was freezing in Williamsburg, Virginia and now I find myself sweating buckets on Vieques Puerto Rico somewhere in the Caribbean. It's a fairly pretty spot. The work looks easy, just a ton of paperwork. I may be here for awhile (or two months). I'm hoping for two months myself. For some reason even though the flight is shorter than if I were flying from Ohio to California, it feels like a million miles from Lisa and Moon. Maybe it's the exotic local (I actually so two horses, one with an egret on it's back, walking down the middle of the road). Or maybe it's being on an island, sort of like Wake. Whatever it is, I'm experiencing a little homesickness right now.

I plan on taking a walk tomorrow and getting some pictures. I'll try to post some here. I guess some of Heartbreak Ridge was filmed here.

Lousy With History

Lisa, Moon and I are enjoying Williamsburg, Virginia for the last few weeks. Virginia is a beautiful, historic place. I'm short on patience to write any so I'll just do a quick rundown for my own benefit.

Saturday was George Washington's Birthplace, Sunday was Yorktown and Jamestown. This weekend it should be Washington D.C. Lisa has never been and is really excited. I've been there quite a few times but I'm looking forward to seeing it with her.

UPDATE: We had a great time in Washington D.C. My friends, Dan and Andrea showed us around. They are great hosts and Andrea whipped up an awsome Salmon dinner. The low point (the only low point) was that I saw the climactic of Open Range twice but still haven't seen it all the way through. It looked pretty good.

Undefinable

Today was an incredibly beautiful day for the 12th day of December. According to my Dashboard Accuweather widget it was 75 degrees today! It's actually been like that for the last week and a half. I feel a little guilty saying it but I'm enjoying the global warming. I've been driving around enthralled by the feeling of youthfulness. I've been experiencing that phenomenom I refer to as first day of springitis. It's been raised to a a new level though. I've been in a state of heightened euphoria lately. I think part of it can be attributed to a sharp upturn in my understanding of mutual funds and my 401k. I've followed these things on and off for as long as I've had them but until lately I've been taking a hands off approach. A few things have happened in the last few months to change all that. It seems the hands off thing has worked and I've now got enough in the 401k to attract my attention. I've been talking to a co-worker who is pretty knowledgeable and what he's said has clicked and my knowledge elevated by one step. I still don't really know what I'm doing but I'm much more effective at it. So it's good to know that while I won't be retiring any time soon, when I do retire I won't be eating catfood cursing the bankrupt social security fund. I will probably be knee deep in melted glacial water as global warming really heats up.

Guitar Godhood Explained

This article in Esquire by Chuck Closterman encapsulates many of my own closely held beliefs.

One of the first YouTube clips I ever saw was lost footage of a godhead ax solo Prince performed at the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony; just last month, I was sent a YouTube file of a ten-year-old playing Led Zeppelin's "Bron-Yr-Aur" acoustically. Both were semitransfixing. But if these performances had been given to me as MP3 files, I wouldn't have cared about either. (I would have listened to the Prince track once and ignored the Zep kid completely.) This illuminates one of those depressing paradoxes about rock 'n' roll: Very often, profoundly exceptional guitar playing is boring to listen to.2

The article makes many good points. Although I would disagree that Stave Vai's Passion and Warfare is boring to listen to and Poison songs are NOT better than Frank Zappa's songs!

My Project Truck

Thanks to Four Wheeler magazine online and their Project Fiery Redhead truck I've been inspired to refurbish my own red F150, big Pinky. Of course I have no background, skill or inclination in automotive endeavors. I figured this would be a fun project to learn on. Reading through the articles it looks easy enough. I know those words have been uttered before. Usually right before the screaming profanities. Right now I'm in the pre-planning stages which involves laying around looking at automotive catalogs and fantasizing about how cool my truck will be when I do all the wonderous things to it I have planned. I'm very excited as you can imagine. I hope to be posting some of my progress here in the coming months (more likely, years), stay tuned in, it might be entertaining.

Some Things That Don't Disgust Me

The penguins from March of the Penguins.

The Barber Motorsports Museum

Daniel Craig and Casino Royale. The best James Bond movie since Live and Let Die, they were all down hill after that. I like the trend of making old series good again. Batman Begins and Superman Returns really reinvigorated those two franchises.

Hidden River by Adrian McKinty. It's not exactly the Mickey Spillane, Damon Runyon combo Frank McCourt claims on the cover blurb but it's a pretty neat procedural set in Denver.

My current favorite beer, Spaten Pils.

I thought I'd do a positive post to counter my last grumpy post.