Back to the blog(?)

...probably not.

Well, another actor died recently: Heath Ledger. Everyone seems surprised. I guess good looking, rich people aren't supposed to die doing drugs. That's just for the ugly and poor. I was flipping thru the channels last nite, and no fewer than nine were carrying some sort of Heath Ledger story, whether it was about how his work on a film made him tired, and he was so into the character he wasn't sleeping and had to take multiple Ambiens. How there was evidence of prior drug use ("I told him to watch it," so said Jack Nicholson--or something to that effect). Profiles on his family. His work.

Blah, blah, blah. The man was no hero. Just a good-looking guy who had some talent in the acting game and was "blessed" with some good roles.

I'm tired of hearing about this stuff. So tired, I may take an Ambien or ten.

Maybe I'll die and people will compare me with Heath Ledger. Nah, they would just say I was a copy cat. Or, more probably, there would be no mention of it at all, except a brief obit, should anyone care enough to send one to the paper.

My battery is running low, so signing off.

Say good night, Gracie. "Good night, Gracie."

My odd thought of the day

These kinds of things keep me up at night.

Why do they have directions on shampoo bottles?

I'm guessing if you are old enough to read and don't know how to use shampoo, you have more pressing issues than some soiled follicles.

My new favorite New York Post headline

My old favorite New York Post headline was from years ago when Hideki Irabu was stinking it up for the New York Yankees. There was a picture of the "Fat Toad" himself, after blowing a game, with the headline: "Hideki 'I Robbed You'". It was referring to how Irabu got a huge contract for a shitty performance.

However, I now have a new favorite. Ii saw this on a CNN piece about Paris Hilton. Paris, Britney and Lindsey together in a car with this caption:



Priceless!

Poor Elliot Mintz!

Poor Paris Hilton’s press rep Elliot Mintz. He took the fall for his employer’s stupidness. He said he should have been clearer when she asked him about the terms of her probation.

What?

Wasn’t she there when the judge said her license was suspended? Maybe she was high.

But if I had a question about my probation, I wouldn’t ask my press agent. I would ask my LAWYER! You know, the guy whose job it is to keep track of that stuff. That’s like asking your stylist about your tax deductions.

What part of “suspended license” did she not understand? According to Mintz, he told Paris her suspension was for only 30 days and she could drive to work. Work? What the hell job does she have?

Well, someone had to take the fall. It’s never Paris’s fault. How could it be? She’s ‘hot”.

I hope he got a nice, under-the-table severance package.

When will Wolfowitz quit?

I'm a big fan of Paul Wolfowitz. He's a very bright guy, and he knows his shit.

But he fucked up.

I don't think he is trying to advance America's agenda through the World Bank, even though the two entities mission is parallel in many aspects. I especially applaud his efforts to take away aid from corrupt countries. Why though millions and millions to governments, when only a portion of that gets through. It makes those firms who fund raise on behalf of the police look like altruist organizations.

But if you are going to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk. I know he didn't extort millions of dollars, or have sex with one of his teenage staffers. But to push for a huge raise and promotion for your girlfriend is clearly a conflict of interest that should not be overlooked.

While I think he is doing a good job, he has to step down to keep the credibility of the World Bank.

Sucks to be him.

Not much going on

Not much going on here. But I come up with a million things to put in here (rants, mostly), but when it comes time to post them, they are long gone.

Couple of things, though:

I've been on a semi-warpath with people's forum postings on various message boards. What's with the text-message shorthand? It's not like they have to post in 20 seconds to their friend who's gonna respond right back. They are message boards, not chat rooms!

Plus, why not use some white space and capital letters and punctuation? It doesn't take much effort to hit the enter key every now and again, or hold down the shift key to at least start a sentence.

I'm frustrated just typing this stuff.

My, other, new blog

I've created a new blog chronicling my World of Warcraft experience:

BG's WoW Blog

Feel free to stop by and comment...

American Idol mania

It seems everyone (American Idol fans, at least) is saying what a crappy season American Idol is having. How there is a dearth of talent or good-looking people or whatever.

But they keep watching. Every week.

If it sucks, why watch it? Will it miraculously get better? I doubt it.

People amaze me sometimes.

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

Jeez! I haven't posted since July! What have I been doing since then? Not much, sadly. I'm working now, so I don't have my mornings and afternoons free to muse. Although I do get some time (not much) to post at Wannabebig Forums.

There have been many times that I wanted to post, but I got really lazy
for a while. And then IT happened. For some stupid reason, I decided to try Blizzard's World of Warcraft. Dumb idea. It is now a part-time job. So much to do, so
little time.

I'll post more of what I've been doing and what I'm thinking about a little later.

I'm trying out a new (free) editor called Nvu (pronounced "N-view") that can be downloaded at: Nvu.

Later, I'll try adding some pictures or tables or lists, and maybe jazz
up the text with some color.

Ta ta for now...

Tired of Tiger Tears...

Is anyone tired of seeing Tiger Woods crying yet? When he won the British Open on Sunday, all we saw were pictures and video of him breaking down whilst giving his speech. Am I the only one thinking that this crap is played out? The guy died, like two months ago!

I understand that he took some time off, and that his first time back would be news. But wasn’t his first tournament back on Father’s Day weekend? I’m thinking that someone wanting to purge the emotional demons of his father dying would pick something less public that Father’s Day for God’s sake!

Methinks Tiger (and the networks) knew what he was doing, trying to drum up ratings.

All we hear that weekend was how brave Tiger was for playing, and how he must be constantly thinking of his father. I’m sure he was. Mr. Woods was a big influence in the man’s life. But so are a lot of fathers. No one says anything about the train conductor or airline pilot who go back to their job two months(!) after their father died. (Between you and me, I’d rather know if the pilot of a plane recently had a parent die than a pro golfer.)

Now, Tiger (finally!) wins a tournament and people are saying he won it for his Dad. Bullshit. Do you think he played any harder this week than he did in the past few weeks? I would think that if Tiger could win at will, we woulda won on Father’s Day. Christ, what would that have been like?

How come Chris DeMarco wasn’t on the back page of the New York Daily News? He lost his mother only 2 weeks before the tournament, not 2 days!

Everyone now thinks I’m just an insensitive lout. But, I really am just railing out against the hero worship in sports, and how the lives of celebrities mean more to us than the lives of the people around us (see the pilot bit above).

They say people like to live vicariously through the lives of celebs. Well, tell ya what folks, each and every one of us will have somebody close to us die sometime in our lives. So there is no need to get our virtual kicks (or sobs) via somebody who doesn’t even know our names.

And, lastly, I don’t blame Tiger (mostly). I blame the media and the general public alike. The media says it only puts out this crap because people want to see it. The people say that if it’s news the TV stations will put it on and they’ll watch.

Idiocy makes strange bedfellows, indeed…

Children's game goes pro...

Anyone see this? Last week, ON TELEVISION, was the "2006 World RPS Championships." That is RPS as in, you guessed it, Rock Paper Scissors.

Jesus! People will make a competition out of anything! What makes it worse is that people get paid to win this. And, on top of that, there are companies who bought ad time when this whole friggin' thing was televised!

There is even a website for the World RPS Society. There you can find instructions on how to play, strategies, trading cards (!?), tournament results, etc.

They refer to those who "compete" in their tournaments as "pro's". There are even "Pro-Am's". What would distiguish someone as a pro as opposed to an amateur is beyond me.

What strategy can there be in this? There are 9 possible combinations with the exact same percentages of winning, losing and tying with each throw (33.333%). I guess you can "study" your opponent to see if he or she tends towards any patterns. You can make "gambits" by throwing the same thing a bunch of times in a row: "I just know Pepe won't throw 'rock' five times in a row..." These are things we did as 9 year olds trying to figure who gets first ups in kickball or who has to go up and kiss the ugly girl.

And how lazy are we to watch this stuff? Being there is one thing--maybe your buddy or girlfriend is in it. (Even that is lame, though.) But how about sitting at home, expending zero effort, watching people do this? What's next? The world coin-flipping championships? Or, the finger-throwing thing? You know, when you say "let's shoot for it," call odds or evens and proceed to throw either one finger or two; I'm not sure what that's called.

I have to admit that I tuned into it for like a total of 10 seconds. They were interviewing a woman who just won a match. She said (and I quote, or at least paraphrase pretty well): "If I hadn't thrown rock just then, my life would have been changed forever."

Life changing forever? Her life must be very shitty if the RPS championships is a "life-changing" experience. Had she not won, what would have happened? Those multi-million dollar sponsorships might not have rolled in. The paparozzi might not be tailing her with the same vigor as they do for Britney Spears. Those cover pieces on Time, People and Wall Street Journal might not have happened.

Maybe I'm missing a big money-making opportunity by not producing TV shows involving the most idiotic of premises. Maybe there is a Wiffleball, or speed reading, or sand trap raking (for the golfers in the crowd), or lawn mowing competition in need of televising.

How about a spelling bee or cup stacking or rock, paper scissors? Wait. Those have been done...

(almost) Employed!!

Well, BG, after a year and a half, is now almost officially employed! I start a job on Monday, June 12! It's in the glorious field of pension plans. Not only pension plans, but the compliance testing and government filings thereof! Exciting stuff.

But, it's great to get back to work. I say "almost" because I haven't got my first paycheck yet. That is when I'll be officially employed.

I will be knee-deep in HCE's, top heavy tests and form 5500 filings.

Stop! I know you are jealous.

Not only am I a geek; I'm a pension geek. Don't tell my girlfriend...

Find Your Seats, Please

A while back, I wrote about automatic teller machines being part of America's growing illiteracy problem. (ATM's: Americans' new illiteracy problem) Well, I think I found another one: simply finding our seats at a ballgame or concert.

I find this really baffling. Most venues have their seats broken up into large sections, or levels (field boxes, loge, mezzanine, orchestra, etc), then smaller sections, then rows, then seats. The small sections usually are denoted by numbers like 10, 213, 405 in stadiums and arenas and letters in theatres. The rows are usually letters, though some sections are so big, they use double letters or numbers. And we all know the seats are numbered in almost all cases.

So, to me, all it seems to take to reach seats is really just a rudimentary understanding of the Latin alphabet--the one English, Spanish, French and many other languages use--and a second, rudimentary, familiarity with the Arabic numeral system.

How hard can it be to read the ticket, glean which level on which we are sitting and then find the section and ultimately the row and seat? If we are lost or misdirected, many times an usher is around to help us. I will grant this: some venues are confusing when it comes to finding the sections due to poor design, poor signage or both. However, that does not excuse the utter lack of common sense people have when trying to find rows and seats.

It is very simple, people! 1) Look at the ticket 2) Find what's labeled as "Row". 3) Remember that letter or number. 4) Look down at wither the ground or the side of the last seat of each row. The row letter should be shown there. 5) Go up or down the stairs and find the row that matches the one on the ticket. Sound simple?

Well, anyone who has been to a venue of even modest size that had reserved seating has to have seen packs of people who look like they are more lost than a tourist navigating a Middle Easter bazaar. It is totally amazing at the stupidity of some people.

And all these stupid people ruin the experience for the rest of us thinking humans attending the event.

Another thing that pisses me off is when people try to enter a row from the wrong end! If you have seats 28, 29 and 30, why would you try to enter the row on the end where there are seat #'s 1, 2 and 3?? OK. Maybe you didn't know how wide the row was. fair enough. But when you have to get up (in the middle of an inning!!), please look around an pick the path of least resistance. That is, pick the shortest, or, more importantly, the least crowded way to the end of the row!

A few things to remember: Rows go in alphabetical order, with row A being closer (or lower) to the action than row B. B is closer than C, etc. Try to enter and exit a row at the point of least resistant, i.e. least crowded. If you are not sure, ask an usher--there is no shame in asking directions.

And before I sign off, one more rant: If there is a group of four guys, why do they each have to go to the bathroom, get something to eat or drink, or get up to make a phone call at different times?

I have a feeling all those stupid and lost people at stadiums and arenas and theatres are the ones who take forever at the ATM's.

New posts coming...

Why can't people find their seats at a ball game or a concert, etc...

No high school diploma, wanna get into college, no prob!!!

I will get to these very soon...

So who's excited for the new Miami Vice movie? Or how about Poseidon? Yet two more motion pictures in a string of 70's and 80's television shows and movies redone and moderized for today's sophisticated movie goer. Do we really need this? Is Hollywood so intellectually bankrupt that is has to crank out retreads and treatments of old television shows on an almost daily basis?

I guess the only way people between the ages of 25 to 45 (a very key advertising demographic, by the way) will go to the movies without their kids is if they are drawn by pure nostalgia. It is sad when people's sense of being is wrapped up primarily in the programs and movies they watched growing up. (Don't get me started on all the 70's and 80's music popping up in commercials...)

Remember the 50's wave of nostalgia that whipped through in the 70's? American Graffiti started it, and along came Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley and a host of other shows and products reminiscent of the 1950's. What makes that wave different is that it was based on a time and aura. They evoked memories of the way life was lived (though idealized). People re-lived their memories of their lives and lifestyles. Today, people are re-living the memory of the lives they lived vicariously through characters in tv and movies--things that already idealized (or parodied) the times in which they were set.

There seems to be a 15-25 year lag now between when something is popular and when Hollywood repackages it and sends it back out to the masses. So what shows or movies will we see 20 years from now?

• 7th Heaven (starring Freddie Prinze Jr as the father)


• Shawshank (a remake of Shawshank Redemption)


• Idol: Making of a Superstar (We may see this one this summer!)


• Frasier (starring James Van Der Beek as Frasier)


• NYPD Blue (but set in Vegas)


• Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Yes! A gameshow becomes a movie!)


• Friends (starring any kid who is on Nickelodeon now)

Where did it all start? I blame The Brady Bunch Movie. There may have been others, but for me, that where this downward spiral began.

You know what? There will be more movies using video game licenses. There have been a few, unsuccessful ones so far, but with kids these days living vicariously though video games instead of tv, you know that movies based on the games will be popular 15-20 years from now. Are you ready for Madden '99: Big Hits on the Big Screen in 2018, or the Kingdom Hearts live-action movie in 2021? They are coming. Maybe even sooner than you think...