My Sick Mind

Whenever someone complains about bad officiating in sports, I say that the problem with leagues expanding to more teams is that there is a need for more officials.  More officials means more bad ones and that means there will be more bad calls.  The same is true of television.   Back in the 1960s (where I come from) television was confined to three networks, PBS and a few UHF channels that you needed a special antenna to receive.  Now - there are hundreds of channels, all in need of programming in order to fill their 24-hour cycle.  From that was borne such things as so-called "reality" shows and programs that do nothing but follow people around for days at a time, editing their activities down to a half-hour and showing it on television.  From that, we have created television stars where otherwise would have been just regular people doing their jobs.  That is where the problems start.   People like the Kardashian's, those housewives a...

 Photo by me. Others available on my Flickr page. http://www.flickr.com/photos/25812594@N06/sets/72157632449563618/  This isn't a music review site.  Mostly, it is a place where I gripe about stuff that gets on my nerves.  Occasionally, I will stumble onto something that makes me happy that I want to share with people.  Having been raised in the 1960s and schooled on music in the 1970s, I trust my instincts, and you should, too.  So, here goes. Through an interesting chain of events, I became acquainted with a guitarist named Chris Baker .  He had been playing with some mutual friends in bands and jam sessions.  Through Chris, the magic of the Internet and its marketing appeal, I found Amenti Rover . For an old music-head like myself, it's refreshing to hear young people ( real young people, not young people who I consider young) who get ... really GET music, and what emotion, drive and spirit are about when it comes to what I consider ...

OK, so that is the commercial for the Galaxy watch-thingy.  The first thing that strikes me about it is that its predecessors are all fictional devices that had no place in actual life.  There is a reason for that.  We never had the technology.  Now that we do, that doesn't give us an excuse to have another device that interrupts our daily lives to inform us of something coming in from the outside.   Seriously, are people willing to pay for this junk?   The second thing is that I can't imagine why anyone would want a device on their wrist that tells them that something in their pocket needs attention.  Isn't that the ultimate in redundancy?  Why would anyone pay for a device that tells them something that they already paid for?  The answer, I guess, is that it's possible.  We can invent devices that tell us what we already know.   Something I would pay for is a device that re-routes my calls to a person on t...

It's "The Holidays."   The time of year when we make excuses for our absence ("It's the holidays, and I'm so busy") It is the time of year when we are supposed to be kinder to our fellow man, "In the spirit of the holiday."  That's the idea.  When it's over, we can go back to being the despicable bastards that we are.  But for now, it's all "love one another" and "kindness" crapola. It's all too phony for me to believe.   The idea springs from The Bible - or we are led to believe.   There are conflicting ideas.  On the one hand, we are told it's a Christian celebration of our savior's birth.  On the other hand, we are told it's the season of Santa and his sack of toys, and that impossible idea that he brings toys to "all the good boys and girls of the world."  You can believe what you wish to believe.  The facts fly in the face of that...   When the Christ-child was born "t...

"It's the holiday season" or "It's the holidays " go the pre-packaged responses to things posed to people between now and the end of the year.  I would call them excuses, but others see them as reasons that they cannot either process information or accomplish tasks - other than the requisite shopping. We (you) burden ourselves with guilt-ridden gift-giving at Christmas.  The advertisements are filled with angst.  "Make this the perfect gift for the ones you care for."  "Tell them how much you love them with [fill-in the name of the item]." We (you) are supposed to find the ideal item that will express your deepest emotions when you find it, wrap it with paper and place it under a symbol of Pagan seasonal worship at this, the holiest of holy seasons. It's supposed to be a time of ... oh, I don't know, worship - gratitude - giving - you name it.  What it has become is a season of spending and financial sacrifice to prove...

It is both comforting and disconcerting to know that I got more responses from my previous post than the one on October 27, detailing the odd acts of humans .  But, such is life, I suppose.  Of all the things I have written on this page over the past 7-or-so-years, I would have thought that anus licking reference would have made the difference.  Au contraire.   The farther one travels, the less one knows. The less one really knows.   The difference between me and regular people is that I will tell you when I'm not "fine."  Fine is a nice texture for hair and a really great idea for slicing cheese - but it stinks when people ask, "How are you?" For one thing, they seldom want to know.  And for another thing, when you are honest with them, it throws them for a loop. (whatever that means) I'm not sure what people are expecting to hear when they ask (I think I know) or the alternate, "How's it going?" to which I generally reply, ...

It's difficult to know when the time is right.  When we are ready.  All of us think we have something waiting for us, something great on the horizon.  It's the lottery of life.  We believe.   If we were true to ourselves, we might know that this is (as they say) as good as it gets.  We have lived our life.  The struggle has reached its end.   There isn't anything greater than we have already known.  Nothing better than we have done.  Our best is behind us - whatever that is.  From now until the end, it's just playing out the string.   I have no children.   No legacy.  It's just me and my cat, and that's the best it will ever be.  I have over-stayed my welcome.  It's time to make a grand exit.   Now would be good.  

Occasionally, my mind drifts into thoughts that are not relevant.  Most of the time, those thoughts wind up here.  So, in keeping with that theme, here we go. The old TV show "All in the Family" featured a dialogue between Archie and his son-in-law Mike over one of Mike's friends.  The dialogue drifted into Archie's ideas about England.  Without looking it up, here is my recanting of the dialogue: ARCHIE :  This ain't England.  We threw England out of here a long time ago.  We want no more parts of England ... and for your information, England is a fag country. MIKE : What? ARCHIE :  Ain't they still picking handkerchiefs out of their sleeves?  The whole society is based on a kind of a fagdom. There is no more relevance to bring to the discussion, other than the idea that the show was broadcast in 1971.  The part where my mind drifted came in when I started to think about whether dialogue like that, or even a show like ...

Chris Christie was re-elected yesterday.  He won with 64% of the vote.  The newspapers called it a "landslide."  I suppose that's true, in a political sense.  In a sociological sense, 36% of the voting public thinks someone else should be New Jersey's governor.  To me, that's more like a marginal victory, especially when you do the math... Vote Count Percent CHRIS CHRISTIE 50,449 64.03% BARBARA BUONO 26,933 34.18% Let's take a look at the turnout, for a look at the mathematics... Registration & Turnout 193,820 Voters   Vote Count Percent Election Day Turnout 72,815 37.57% Mail-In Ballot Turnout 7,658 3.95% Provisional Turnout 0 0.00% Total 80,473 41.52% So, if you apply mathematics, you figure that 58.5% of registered voters didn't vote.  It sounds to me like Barbara Buono got hosed.  She should have been able to get the 110,000 registered voters who sat at home to come out and push ...

Who remembers "The Flintstones" theme song? [hand raised].... When you're with the Flintstones, You'll have a Yabba-dabba-doo time, A dabba-doo time. We'll have a gay, old time! [Wilma!] Well then, that was 1960.   A time when the word 'gay' meant happy.  If that show was produced today, the theme song wouldn't be exactly the same.  Words change their meanings over the years.  In the early part of the 20th century, making love to a woman merely meant wooing her.  Later, it would mean something completely different.   The melody of "Deck the Hall" is taken from "Nos Galan" ("New Year's Eve"), a traditional Welsh New Year's Eve carol published in 1794. There are plenty of examples of the word meaning "carefree," until the mid-1970s.  Perhaps it had a secret double-meaning?  An unspoken, implied meaning that was only included in hip publications and books - with a sly wink toward the...

 How can it cost less to mail me the ticket than it costs to print it at home or hold it at Will Call?   

Since you're still with me after Sunday's post, I'd have to say that there isn't anything else I could write that would offend you, so I'll just go after one of the more mundane topics rolling around my head.   Comcast (or Xfinity as they like to be known, for some reason) recently raised my cable bill $30. (Mine and everyone else's).  This immediately followed an incredible offer they extended to me to bundle-up my Internet with my television and telephone.  For the record (if there is one) I do not have a land line telephone, and I'm not particularly interested in having one, but their sales pitch included the phone, so it's part of the deal. The rate increase negated the incredible deal, and more importantly, made me think more than twice about the luxury of paying for television. It hearkened me back to the days when television was free.  Circa 1980, cable television invaded my neighborhood.  For the bargain price of $9.99 a month I co...

There's something on my mind, and since the title of this blog suggests that I let it out - here it goes.   If you're offended by sensitive topics, click here to be sent someplace where your needs can be better met.  Otherwise, read on.   I wander around the Internet.   It's what the Internet is for - wandering.  I stumble upon things that perhaps I shouldn't stumble upon, but so ... It's the reason we have fingers and free will.  One of the things I have stumbled upon in my travels is a web site devoted to homosexual men and their experiences with other men.   One of the interesting activities they indulge in is using their tongue on another man's anus.  I am as liberal as the next guy, but the practice of licking another man's ass isn't something that remotely interests me.   The problem I  have with it is that I do not associate it with the idea that men can be sexually attracted to other men.  I know th...

"Have you ever heard of insect politics? Neither have I. Insects don't have politics. They're very brutal. No compassion, no compromise."  - Brundlefly "The Fly" (1986)   Facebook is a happy place.   I'm not sure if I have covered that.  If I haven't, then yes , it is a happy place.  We post things about our vacations, the foods we eat and the friends we 'hang with' along the way.   I don't know if people still do it - since I've ceased to receive Christmas cards - but there used to be this thing that circulated where family members wrote letters updating others on their activities throughout the year. It was greeted with the same anticipation as a dose of The Clap.  And the vacation slide shows. Those were great invitations to receive, too.  "Hey, come over and look at photos of all the places you didn't go."   Combine those two things, and you have The Facebook Experience.   That's the "happy ...

Now that we have uncovered your deep-seeded need to be liked (or loved), let's now turn to your other need - to passive/aggressively face people on the Internet.  Oh - now.   The ease at which we confront each other on these posts and comments is of great sociological interest to me.  The distance and anonymity of the interaction leads to all sorts of interesting (and, dare I say, honest) commentary over what is proposed.  Here, one can be CrazyGuy99 and post a comment about what a jackass the poster is, and live to tell about it.  Chances are, the poster isn't aware of who CrazyGuy99 is, and even if he did know, the probability of retribution is minimized by the proximity of the commenter.  It's simple social math.   On the Facebook, however, the commenter is generally one of your (so-called) friends, and as such, their identity is known.  Even if your profile photo is that of a flower or a cat, your name is attached to the comment, ...

If there was ever an Internet site created for this generation, it's Facebook.  Why, you ask?   Because it feeds into our desire to be noticed.  There are 310 million people in the United States and approximately 7.16 billion on the Earth, consisting of the World Wide Web.  It is difficult to stand out in such a crowd.  Unless, of course, you promote yourself and raise your hand to the Internet and say, "Hey, look at me!"  That's what Facebook is.   It was created as many things are:  Innocently.   As a method to keep track of new friends and track down old ones.  The more people logged-on, the better your chances.  You might be searching for a lost high school sweetheart or making new "friends" (Facebook friends, as differs from real friends) or just hanging around to see what pops up.   What pops up are posts from people who are screaming "Hey, look at this!  I just bought a new thing/took a vacation/ate ...

Of all the fast-food-pretending-to-be-real-food restaurants, my favorite is Chili's.  Maybe it's because they can't seem to decide whether they're Tex/Mex or just a burger joint or it's those awesome Black Bean Burgers that I wind up eating with a knife and fork.  Either way, I enjoy participating in their identity crisis.   Now, they are welcoming us to the 21st Century with a new and (they say) exciting development.  The Touch-Screen .  Even though I loved it when Wawa instituted them several years ago, I'm not sure I want to go to a sit-down restaurant and talk to a computer.  It takes something away from the "Hi, I'm Brad and I'll be your server" experience.  Although, I don't understand why Brad cannot bring my order out.  Usually, it comes from whichever server happens to be standing by the kitchen when the plate goes out.  I suppose that's part of their policy.  But I digress.   At the Wawa, they would usually screw...

Forbes Magazine has published its annual list of the top-earning celebrities: Simon Cowell  $95 million Howard Stern $95 million Glenn Beck  $90 million Oprah Winfrey  $77 million Dr. Phil McGraw  $73 million Rush Limbaugh  $66 million Donald Trump  $63 million Ryan Seacrest  $61 million What is the common thread?   None of them do anything to directly benefit society.  They are either telling us how to behave, whom we should like or expressing some opinion, as though we cannot form our own ideas. You can debate the relative usefulness of each of these to society - or not.  It doesn't take a huge amount of evaluation to come to the conclusion that of the eight listed, none of them have any real day-to-day value to our lives, yet they earn salaries that most of us could live on for three lifetimes.  That is disconcerting. The question to ask is "Why does society value these people so highly?"  Afte...

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper used "the N word" (nigger, OK) in a fit of rage at a concert about two months ago.  The video of the slur came out yesterday and the Internet and other forms of media area worked-up over his poor choice of words. Opinion is divided as to his intent or the manner in which he spoke the word.  Some would say alcohol played a part and others would say that alcohol was a fuel in the fire.  Either way, he said it and that seems to be the problem. For those of us old enough to have been alive long enough to remember a world without cell phone video or YouTube links, the  incident is amazing.  Let's say, in 1985, this incident would have either gone unreported or have been reported with "word of mouth" testimony that could have been refuted by the defendant. The youth of today is totally wired-in with Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and other forms of instant media, where they can post video of whatever stupid th...

I was listening to a local radio show this morning, and they were interviewing a guy who had just won (for what it's worth) a Smallest Penis Contest.  Logic (and good taste) would make someone wonder why a man would enter such a contest, but that didn't seem to be the focal point of the interview. Among other things, the amount of money he won was in question. He won the princely sum of $200 for his efforts, along with a crown (of course) and a magnifying glass. For the record (as if there is one) his unofficial measurement was two inches when flaccid, which I didn't consider a World Record-Setting number, but nevertheless ... The thought occurred (which is dangerous, I know) that people seem more concerned with some form of fame than they do with their own personal image.  Modern television has become a showcase for embarrassing oneself, displays of scripted reality, and exposing our faults and foibles for entertainment purposes. Witness programs like ...

Lonely is as lonely does. Lonely is an eyesore. - Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses) " Fish " He's called The Lone Ranger, even though he has a faithful companion.  I'm not sure of the literary reference, but on its face it seems strange.  Those of us without companions in life have issues to confront that are foreign to many of you.  One is the experience of being The Lone Diner. I don't get out much.   Either because of economics or social inertia.  Either way, the difficulty of dining alone settles in whenever I do venture out with the general public.  It is more difficult strategically than logistically.  After all, there is almost always a "table for one," and the only social awkwardness comes in when I take up a table otherwise meant for a group of four.  That's their cross to bear for being so damned popular, I suppose. My recent trip to New York City reminded me of what goes into the experience of dining alone. I ...

I'm thinking back to when I was a child Way back fo when I was a tot. When I was on embryo A tiny speck. Just a dot. When I was a Hershey bar In my father's back pocket. - Laurie Anderson "Smoke Rings" The winner of "The Lucky Sperm Contest" was announced yesterday.  Princess Wigglesworth and Prince Valiant had a baby boy, and the world could breathe a sigh of relief as it apparently came out with ten fingers and toes and was of the proper race and pale skin color, in keeping with His Royal Highnessness. It got me to thinking - as such nonsense often does - as to how we are selected to win (or lose) these genetic lotteries.  How does the Royal Sperm become the Royal Sperm? I suspect that most of you haven't given much thought as to how you became who you are.  Either because it's pointless to consider or difficult to grasp.  Whatever, the notion is interesting to me.  Perhaps I am selling you short, and you have given t...

The defendant wants to hide the truth because he's generally guilty. The defense attorney's job is to make sure the jury does not arrive at that truth. Alan Dershowitz This week, I had first-hand knowledge of that idea.  I served three days on a Petit Jury in a criminal case that could have just as easily been decided by a team of monkeys.  But, it's our system and I'm proud of it. Even though I have been a registered voter for 37 years, this week was only the second time I have been selected to serve on a jury. Like many others, my immediate thought was, "How do I get out of this?"  However, my inner voice said, "If you were on trial, wouldn't you want someone like me on the jury?"  My answer was, "yes," and so I proceeded to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The selection process was interesting.   Approximately 75 of us gathered in the courtroom, and the judge randomly called numbers correspo...