It's been a long time.....

I am a mess. On one hand, I don't really want anyone I know (that I haven't told this about) to be reading this, but I still want all kinds of validation about *what* I write. I think as of late I should be the poster child for clinical depression. So many things to write about, so few things I actually *want* to talk about. Perhaps classical bipolar stuff, I don't know. Some good things too...but who in hell actually wants to read those?

How do you begin to make "I am depressed" interesting to read? Hell if I know. I think it's probably situational, but I don't know. To add to it, I will tell you my sob story from the last few weeks. I caught what at the time seemed to be a flu/cold/something that I decided to ignore and let it go away. Well....bad decision, it didn't. It went on down to turn into bronchitis, which then took another week and a bunch of Zithromax to cure. In turn, this prevented me from working out in any way, and when you combine that with my usual response to feeling sorry for myself (food) I managed to gain a bunch of weight. (Maybe not a bunch, but I definitely got a bit out of shape). I may be joining those girls on their cross country trip to eat in every state in the Union if I don't fix this nonsense soon.

Empty. The cupboard is bare. I feel like I am out. Of caring. Of hearing. Of feeling. I do show up for work everyday. It sure beats living out of the street. So I write a bunch of lyrics. I don't want to list those here, since nobody will see them anyway. If they do, how do I keep them safe from someone swiping them? As IF someone is just gonna steal em and make a fortune on the illicit songwriter's market. SIGH. To quote Matchbox 20's Rob Thomas, I got a disease. Here are his lyrics:

I got a disease
Deep inside me
Makes me feel uneasy baby
I cant live without you
Tell me what I am supposed to do about it
Keep your distance from it
Dont pay no attention to me
I got a disease
I think that Im sick
But leave me be while my world is coming down on me

Just to make it clear, I have nothing to do with those lyrics, or else they would suck. Okay, enough ramblings. I am tired. I am empty. And I hurt my hand (somehow, without even knowing how I did it) so I can't even play the guitar. Crap. I think I will go lay down and feel sorry for myself. At least this way nobody else with then be subjected to maniacal ramblings. (At least not mine)

Shit.

Who Found This Review Helpful?

One thing that I have not understood in it's current implementation is the number of people who found it useful. This is usually found at the end of some sort of opinion. For example, while reading about the current iteration of the Apple Airport Extreme, it is possible to read user reviews. At the end of the review, you can select a little checkbox as to whether the review was "useful" to you or not. Now, I don't know about you, but when reading a negative review of something I have strong feelings for causes some cognitive dissonance, which I can somewhat resolve by clicking the "No" while I say something slightly more eloquent to myself than "This yahoo disagrees with my esteemed opinion, and therefore has all of the braincells of a slightly used piece of Coronet tissue".

I know that many of you will find this hard to believe (I say many with tongue planted firmly in cheek, since I have told all of ONE person about the existence of this blog...which I am sure should cause me to be thanked by the rest of the planet that has been spared the agony of reading it once....anyway, I digress.......

I Dont find the "did you find the review helpful" helpful. People who are pissed will pan it, those who like it will agree, and maybe those in the middle will be honest. But for me, it ain't helpful. For you, it ain't interestin'.

Under the "Ain't Life Grand" file....

I am now able to sit and listen to my beloved Los Angeles Dodgers via my cell phone. I just follow a couple of links, and voila, the game is on, and I can even choose the home or away broadcast. To many of you, this is old news. To the rest of you, this is not news. (Again, I say this sincerely to all NONE of you) It is pretty groovy to just whip out the cellphone (In an area with a compatible high speed data transfer of course) and be able to dial up a live baseball game. Yay. :) This is in addition to being able to listen via the laptop with any ol' connection of 56K or greater.

And to make things even better, right now, the Dodgers are winning. It won't last, but neither does life, and that makes it all the more precious.

Peace.

I really like a song called Every Home is Wired by Porcupine Tree. It seems that they were pretty prophetic in the sense of this story I found on the AP.

Just thinking about that for a minute, you must be pretty desperate to actually go to all that trouble to rig up a camera and hide it in such a manner. I wonder how many people have gone to this sort of effort? Remember back in the pre-Internet days when you would hear about some sicko who put a hole in a stall so he could watch people use the bathroom? Think about how easy that would be now, with technology, and especially wireless technology the way that it is. How many of us have been recorded? With the video perhaps floating around the Internet? It gives you pause.

From the Associated Press:

Updated:2007-03-23 14:52:59
Man Taped Roommates in Shower, Police Say
AP
MANCHESTER, Conn. (March 22) - A man landed in hot water after police say he hid a tiny camera in a shampoo bottle to watch two of his female roommates as they took showers. A male roommate, curious why the shampoo wasn't moved for some time, found wires protruding from the back of the bottle, then called police, authorities said. The camera recorded through a pinhole, and the images were sent to Steven Thibodeau's television, police said. Thibodeau, 25, had placed the camera to record the women showering and made video of one of them changing clothes, according to police. Thibodeau was arraigned Wednesday on 15 counts of voyeurism and one count of evidence tampering, which alleges he tried to delete some images. He was being held in jail on $250,000 bail. The defense attorney who attended his arraignment was out of the office Thursday and could not be reached for comment. Police said Thibodeau made a compilation video of one of the women, but they have no evidence he transferred the files to the Internet. It wasn't yet known how long the shampoo had been wired.

All The Young Dudes...

Looking at some statistics from the Review of General Pyschology:

91% of young women and 84% of young men approve of premarital sex. In the 1950's the numbers differed considerably, as 12% of women and 40% of men approved of sex before marriage.

(As reported in the March 2007 issue of Playboy magazine.)


It seems that the girls are really taking the lead on this issue. 7% of guys are really missing out. Where the hell were these girls when *I* was in high school?? Answer: Having sex with *other* guys. Damn.

It's been such a long time......

Sad news, the above words come from a song from the seminal self-titled album "Boston". Their lead singer, Brad Delp, killed himself a few days ago. It's really sad to imagine that someone who had achieved so much success, and brought enjoyment to so many people, suffered through so much pain that he felt the need to end his life. I hope that he finds the peace that he so desperately sought....

And Now For Something Completely Different:

What is going on with concerts these days? I received an email from some advance notice site saying that Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd fame) would be touring and performing the entire album "The Dark Side of the Moon" live. Now for purists, you might complain that it will be hard to do without the voice and guitar of David Gilmour, Mason, and Wright, and you would be correct. Nonetheless, I thought it would be interesting to investigate, and as a valued American Express cardmember (yeah, right) I could get advance tix.

WELL, imagine my surprise when I saw that the best seats cost $128 bucks apiece. Are you outta your mind??? Now don't get me wrong, I love live music. If I am not playing music, there is nothing I would rather be doing than watching live music (Well, OKAY, maybe a couple of things I would rather do, but I shall not elaborate....). Are we at such a point that we think that 250 for a couple of seats is good. (I know, I know, capitalism at it's finest) The true market response is to just not buy em and stay home, but wow, how many people can afford that?

Don't get me wrong, I am not whining, I am choosing not to go. (Okay, maybe whining a little) but wow, someone is making a bunch of money on this. The costs for going to a show are getting astronomical. For an upcoming performance by Porcupine Tree in Anaheim (a good band that you should definitely look into, they are a phenomenal band...) two tickets were $31 each, 62 bucks. Okay, definitely not too bad, and something I'd rather see than the overpriced Mr. Waters and company. But, our good friends at Ticketmaster included a $4.50 service charge (okay, I suppose they need to get paid for their "services") and then a "convenience charge" of $15.60 (I guess the convenience is that they are kind enough to allow me to purchase tickets from them....) for a grand total of $82.10 after everything is said and done. A 25% upcharge by the time you pay. Wow. I know the bands have no choice in this matter, but it is pretty sad.

How is your day?

Ramdom Thoughts

Okay, maybe just ONE random thought. First of all, I must secretly crave punishment, since I am currently watching a movie I rented today, called "Pulse". I am violating several sacred film rules. The first is "Any film, especially, but not limited to, the horror genre, based on technology, will suck much." Examples include the Sandra Bullock film "The Net" (Yes, I know, everything she has done and will ever do, sucks. But that's beside the point.) Others are "Fear.com" and something that was recent that was so bad that I can't remember what it was called.

The second, and even more sacred rule, is anything, and I mean ANYTHING with crapmeister Wes Craven's name on it will suck far worse than anything even Sandra Bullock can do. Yes, he accidentally stumbled on success with "A Nightmare on Elm Street" but anything else he has EVER done has been a festering pus filled boil. And that is not a compliment. Refer to "Deadly Friend", "The People Under the Stairs", and I have mercifully forgotten all of the rest of the steaming piles of crap that he has managed to void all over the silver screen.

So, I suck.

Another guarantee that it will suck is the fact that the "starlet" looks amazingly like a young Sarah Michelle Geller (not that it's a BAD thing). At least the director has managed to to steal some of the style of "Ringu" which is not such a bad thing. If you're gonna steal, at least steal something decent.

At least "Clerks 2" is waiting in the wings. I know that one won't suck.

I took some time to play with my XBox 360 today, and I wanted to play around with some of its features. I have it hooked up to the wireless network, so I can move it back and forth, which will hopefully keep it from being damaged by my two year old on a rampage. (I also bought the Best Buy 2 year warranty just in case......)

Anyhow, it seems the featured music download is some video by Jessica Simpson. Before you go rolling your eyes, please allow me to explain. My musical tastes currently run more to the likes of Pedro The Lion, Counting Crows, and Porcupine Tree, but I'll try anything once. (Twice if it's libido oriented, but that's another LONG topic for the not so faint of heart.....)

So I download the video (in 1080 HD) and proceed to watch it. I made it about 45 seconds before I could see no reason to continue. Could somebody please tell me why this woman has music videos? It starts with a gaggle of women explaining just "how famous" they wish to be. Then they prance into a bowling alley where the man who rents bowling shoes begins to fantasize about them licking his face...

FIRST, none of these women are particularly attractive. In fact, they seem empty, like little shells. They are obviously put in the video because they are somebody's idealized form of beauty, but for some reason, it sure doesn't seem to work for me. (I never thought I was someone who had incredibly high standards...) And Jessica, I'm sorry, but I keep expecting Austin Powers to jump out and grab her hair and yell "That's no woman, it's a MAN, baybee!"

So now I am wondering why I don't find these women particularly interesting or attractive. Maybe once you hit a certain age, they just don't appeal to you anymore. Perhaps I am just out of touch with popular culture, but I was just not impressed. None of them looked like WOMEN, I mean real women that you can talk to, not just about. Additionally, her singing was nothing particularly special either.

So, to conclude, I am not quite sure if I am out of step, just too darned old, or just that much more intelligent than the average consumer of such pap (Try not to burst my bubble by refuting this assertion too vigorously). YES, I am the same person that enjoyed an Alice Cooper concert recently, so an elitist I ain't.

So, to soothe all of these newly stirred self doubts that are circling around, I think I will go and watch "Viva Las Vegas", the oldie with Elvis and Ann-Margret. Now Ann-Margret, there's one lady I could stare at for an eternity, and she could do whatever she darn well pleased.....

I know that I have been wondering for some time when Disney would start selling clothing
and merchandise for gangstas and gangsta wannabe's. Well wonder no more! Pretty soon
you can get your Disney fix and still have all the urban attitude you can exude. "Whaddya
mean you don't have fresh churros? Dat's it, I will bust a cap in yo ***!" Here is the official scoop from the Disney Gallery's website, so get your Glock ready, yo.

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