Cobert, Commenting on his name:
It's FRENCH, bitch!
Daily Show spin-off "The Colbert Report" branches out successfully with the Daily Show format. Instead of fake news, Colbert offfers fake commentary.
It's quite good.
While Stewart does a stand-up routine (sitting down) as himself, Colbert plays a mostly right-wing character.
Nuf Ced - you like Stewart, you'll probably like Colbert.
And, in that, you can find "truthiness".
Prepare for a "Menage-a-Truth".
-Colbert
TF
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Can't We Alll Just Get Along?
Iranian President Ahmadinejad has now joined the elite group of intellectual giants known as "Holocaust Deniers". This is a logical step for someone who a few months back stated that Isreal should be "wiped off the map". Not that post-Shah Iran has generally been known for tolerance or anything else that once made Islam a great culture, but they are moving in the wrong direction.
I don't pretend to understand the nuances of Middle Eastern politics, but statements like this from a powerful Islamic nation, are going to help make things better about as much as, oh I don't know, invading Iraq, maybe?
Islamic nations clog up the UN with motions against Isreali human rights violations, as if they weren't every bit as guilty of such violations themselves. Islam and Women's rights just walk side by side with each other, don't they (ok, the women must walk 50 paces behind, spoke when spoken to..).
If only it were possbile to bitch-slap nations into behaving....ok maybe some strong words instead.
TF
I don't pretend to understand the nuances of Middle Eastern politics, but statements like this from a powerful Islamic nation, are going to help make things better about as much as, oh I don't know, invading Iraq, maybe?
Islamic nations clog up the UN with motions against Isreali human rights violations, as if they weren't every bit as guilty of such violations themselves. Islam and Women's rights just walk side by side with each other, don't they (ok, the women must walk 50 paces behind, spoke when spoken to..).
If only it were possbile to bitch-slap nations into behaving....ok maybe some strong words instead.
TF
Friday, November 25, 2005
An X-Mas Election
I don't know if you can open with an "aside", but:
"X" in "X-Mas" is not a modern attempt to de-Christ Christmas. In ancient Greek, "X" was pronounced "Christos".
I don't want a holiday election. Nobody does. The ones who say they really they don't want one, are the ones that are going to cause one - Harper, Layton, and to some extent, Duceppe.
There have been times in the history of Canada, or one of it's provinces, where the old government needed to be changed, such as when a long-term leader is out of steam and needs to retire. This is not one of those times.
This election has only 2 probable outcomes: A Liberal or a Conservative minority. We have the former already, and the latter would fall after a few months when they try to reverse the same-sex marriage laws or something else that only rednecks want to see.
Ok, I don't like Jack Layton -I hated him when he was in Toronto Politics.
Ok, I really hate Harper - if you want to live in a country like the USA, MOVE to that country. Look how well Conservatism is doing under Bush (stage note - seams: begin coming apart). Harper's one claim to fame is that he makes you miss Preston Manning, the real Manning with the glasses.
TF
"X" in "X-Mas" is not a modern attempt to de-Christ Christmas. In ancient Greek, "X" was pronounced "Christos".
I don't want a holiday election. Nobody does. The ones who say they really they don't want one, are the ones that are going to cause one - Harper, Layton, and to some extent, Duceppe.
There have been times in the history of Canada, or one of it's provinces, where the old government needed to be changed, such as when a long-term leader is out of steam and needs to retire. This is not one of those times.
This election has only 2 probable outcomes: A Liberal or a Conservative minority. We have the former already, and the latter would fall after a few months when they try to reverse the same-sex marriage laws or something else that only rednecks want to see.
Ok, I don't like Jack Layton -I hated him when he was in Toronto Politics.
Ok, I really hate Harper - if you want to live in a country like the USA, MOVE to that country. Look how well Conservatism is doing under Bush (stage note - seams: begin coming apart). Harper's one claim to fame is that he makes you miss Preston Manning, the real Manning with the glasses.
TF
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Commercials
Monica: I have big news
Chandler: What, that 5th dentist finally came around?
I worked for 4 different insurance companies from 1986 to 1995. At the third one, I was still a smoker and we had a real ventilated smoking room. First, sometimes my co-workers would mention a person’s name and I would not know who they were talking about. Then, they’d come back with “You don’t know her because she doesn’t smoke”.
Anyway, there were few topics where every person could contribute to the conversation. A certain movie? Some people had seen it. A book? Some people had read it. One topic that was universal was TV commercials. “My husband – some hotshot…”.
So I was drin… thinking about something: What if aliens could see our commercials from North American TV? What would they figure they knew about us? It would be like those archaeological digs where all we decide what we know about a group of people is based on their death and burial rituals.
I think they’d come up with something like this:
RE: 15. The Scottish: IT’S NO…OATMEAL. Italians: There was a commercial for a pasta sauce that was so authentically Italian that after the people at it, they all started singing opera. Can you imagine a bunch of black people where the fried chicken was so good that they all went out and started playing basketball?
TF
Chandler: What, that 5th dentist finally came around?
I worked for 4 different insurance companies from 1986 to 1995. At the third one, I was still a smoker and we had a real ventilated smoking room. First, sometimes my co-workers would mention a person’s name and I would not know who they were talking about. Then, they’d come back with “You don’t know her because she doesn’t smoke”.
Anyway, there were few topics where every person could contribute to the conversation. A certain movie? Some people had seen it. A book? Some people had read it. One topic that was universal was TV commercials. “My husband – some hotshot…”.
So I was drin… thinking about something: What if aliens could see our commercials from North American TV? What would they figure they knew about us? It would be like those archaeological digs where all we decide what we know about a group of people is based on their death and burial rituals.
I think they’d come up with something like this:
- Women are way smarter than men – men can’t cook, they know nothing about their children, the wife has to tell the idiot how to microwave a burrito over the phone. I think the wives have to dress them and wipe their asses. I can’t imagine most of them are smart enough to get drivers licences.
- Children are way smarter than adults.
- Animals are way smarter than people and they can “talk”.
- Everyone is married and there are no divorces.
- All couples are heterosexual.
- Until recently, all people were white.
- Until even more recently, all couples were of the same race.
- Life on earth involves a lot of jingoistic background music.
- People with perfect skin use acne cleanser.
- Everyone is thin except for those in weight loss commercials.
- Very few men loose their hair
- 21 year old gorgeous women (and men) won’t get dates if they use the incorrect shampoo, toothpaste or face soap.
- Everyone has a good job, except the people in ads for vocational schools.
- People have beer – they never drink it, they just have it around.
- You can make fun of people – as long as they are white.
RE: 15. The Scottish: IT’S NO…OATMEAL. Italians: There was a commercial for a pasta sauce that was so authentically Italian that after the people at it, they all started singing opera. Can you imagine a bunch of black people where the fried chicken was so good that they all went out and started playing basketball?
TF
God is a Real Jerk
God? He's my favourite fictional character
-Homer Simpson
The great thing about religion is that no part of it has to make any sense. Being a religious “thinker” or leader, is about the only job where that is true. If you design bridges, and you do it wrong, the bridges will collapse and you’ll never get another bridge gig, will you?
If you are a chef and people die after eating your food, you’re not going to be a chef very long.
Not so for fundamentalists down south – a unique form of asshole.
The Earth is as old as the literal reading of the bible says so men and dinosaurs lived at the same time. Bill Hicks had a good point: Why aren’t there dinosaurs in The Bible?????
Did you folks know just how much of an asshole their god is?
Ok, here goes: God creates men and women. He creates 10-15% of them gay, BUT demands that they pretend to be heterosexual. He prefers that they marry and have children and live a total lie (I guess bearing false witness against thyself is ok). If they do not do this, but live as gays and have a parade, God destroys New Orleans. You see. God is not only a jerk, he sucks at geography: San Francisco would have been a more logical place to send the Hurricane.
Then again, if God created these fundamentalists in his own image, it makes sense that he’d be an asshole.
TF
-Homer Simpson
The great thing about religion is that no part of it has to make any sense. Being a religious “thinker” or leader, is about the only job where that is true. If you design bridges, and you do it wrong, the bridges will collapse and you’ll never get another bridge gig, will you?
If you are a chef and people die after eating your food, you’re not going to be a chef very long.
Not so for fundamentalists down south – a unique form of asshole.
The Earth is as old as the literal reading of the bible says so men and dinosaurs lived at the same time. Bill Hicks had a good point: Why aren’t there dinosaurs in The Bible?????
Did you folks know just how much of an asshole their god is?
Ok, here goes: God creates men and women. He creates 10-15% of them gay, BUT demands that they pretend to be heterosexual. He prefers that they marry and have children and live a total lie (I guess bearing false witness against thyself is ok). If they do not do this, but live as gays and have a parade, God destroys New Orleans. You see. God is not only a jerk, he sucks at geography: San Francisco would have been a more logical place to send the Hurricane.
Then again, if God created these fundamentalists in his own image, it makes sense that he’d be an asshole.
TF
Earth Speaks
If I were The Earth, I wouldn’t think much of humans – if in fact I gave any thought to them at all.
You can write an opera? Well, here’s a Tsunami! Oh, they were quaint back a thousand years ago and I’d snicker every time they drew me flat with three continents and Jerusalem at the centre.
But, I liked my ozone layer and these bastards blew fucking holes in it. I like that rain forest and I don’t need my oceans warmer and my ice caps smaller.
And some of them are tying to “save” ME. What a joke!! I am in no danger. Humans are messing themselves up – I don’t need an atmosphere to be a planet – Mars gets along just fine and there haven’t been any sentient life forms there since early 20th Century Sci-Fi.
I remember the dinosaurs – I liked them but a big rock hit me and they all died.
These idiots are extincting themselves but they can’t really harm me. Big rocks, now those scare me.
The Earth
Thomas
You can write an opera? Well, here’s a Tsunami! Oh, they were quaint back a thousand years ago and I’d snicker every time they drew me flat with three continents and Jerusalem at the centre.
But, I liked my ozone layer and these bastards blew fucking holes in it. I like that rain forest and I don’t need my oceans warmer and my ice caps smaller.
And some of them are tying to “save” ME. What a joke!! I am in no danger. Humans are messing themselves up – I don’t need an atmosphere to be a planet – Mars gets along just fine and there haven’t been any sentient life forms there since early 20th Century Sci-Fi.
I remember the dinosaurs – I liked them but a big rock hit me and they all died.
These idiots are extincting themselves but they can’t really harm me. Big rocks, now those scare me.
The Earth
Thomas
The Golden Age
I think every major civilization has a “golden age”. It’s already there as far back as Homer (The Greek poet, not Marge’s Husband). In the past, things were better: men were braver, women more beautiful…Maybe it’s because wisdom and stories used to be told by the elders who (inaccurately) remembered being young and how wonderful it all was, all of the time.
I guess for my age group we’d have to pick the 1970s, but, by definition, a golden age cannot contain ABBA and Disco.
I remember being young and a lot of it was good and a lot of it was crap.
I remember a youthful body and if I really strain hard, I can remember having hair on my head. I also remember family members using words like “Nigger”, “Paki” and “fruit” at the dinner table. (I am composing this in Microsoft Word and the first two words pass the spell checker – isn’t that interesting). Some of them still use those words.
When I heard the first “Paki” joke I had to get clarification: “Do you mean people from Pakistan?” I wanted to make sure I was hating the correct people, not that it was difficult – anyone who’s skin tone, religion or sexual orientation differed from my own was on that list anyway. Good thing I never ran into a Chinese Protestant Lesbian – I would have had to stab her on the spot!
We were reading Shakespeare in Grade 9 – the bard used the word “chink” and we asked the teacher, I am not kidding here, what was a Chinese person was doing in a wall in Elizabethan England? Well, it turns out that word could also mean a part of a wall that had a crack in it. Well, that replaced fart and masturbation jokes for a few weeks when we could say “chink” and get away with it!!! “Hey Man do you have a chink in your locker?”
I think some people like their golden age so much they live there forever. What the hell does that mean? I mean, emotionally. So many people who are well into their 30s or older have that same grade 9 sense of humour and have not developed past that point.
I think I had more of a pewter age myself. If we could weed out Disco and ABBA, maybe it could be as good as bronze.
Thomas
I guess for my age group we’d have to pick the 1970s, but, by definition, a golden age cannot contain ABBA and Disco.
I remember being young and a lot of it was good and a lot of it was crap.
I remember a youthful body and if I really strain hard, I can remember having hair on my head. I also remember family members using words like “Nigger”, “Paki” and “fruit” at the dinner table. (I am composing this in Microsoft Word and the first two words pass the spell checker – isn’t that interesting). Some of them still use those words.
When I heard the first “Paki” joke I had to get clarification: “Do you mean people from Pakistan?” I wanted to make sure I was hating the correct people, not that it was difficult – anyone who’s skin tone, religion or sexual orientation differed from my own was on that list anyway. Good thing I never ran into a Chinese Protestant Lesbian – I would have had to stab her on the spot!
We were reading Shakespeare in Grade 9 – the bard used the word “chink” and we asked the teacher, I am not kidding here, what was a Chinese person was doing in a wall in Elizabethan England? Well, it turns out that word could also mean a part of a wall that had a crack in it. Well, that replaced fart and masturbation jokes for a few weeks when we could say “chink” and get away with it!!! “Hey Man do you have a chink in your locker?”
I think some people like their golden age so much they live there forever. What the hell does that mean? I mean, emotionally. So many people who are well into their 30s or older have that same grade 9 sense of humour and have not developed past that point.
I think I had more of a pewter age myself. If we could weed out Disco and ABBA, maybe it could be as good as bronze.
Thomas
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Hollywood
Is there a phonier place on earth? Can one even be imagined? How many things can we see get blown up, how many happy endings can we endure?
Since Hollywood only understands money, they had to get hit in the pocketbook this summer to realize they keep putting out the same shit and even once faithful movie goers are staying home. Corporate America has sanitized movies so badly that they have no oomph to them. Maybe the bad result this summer might send some moguls back to the drawing board
I’d put Tarantino in charge of Hollywood, myself. This would mean Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Madsen would be in 237 films each per year (104 of them in the same film).
Kill Shrek.
Star Wars Episode 14: Revenge of Mr Pink.
The Sicilian Patient.
A Beautiful Brain Spread All Over the Sidewalk.
The Godfather IV: The Apology
Yes folks – dialogue and scripts would be back in vogue. Actors would have to act.
But seriously, will this summer’s disaster mean Hollywood will get a lot better?
Fuggetaboutit.
Mr T.
Since Hollywood only understands money, they had to get hit in the pocketbook this summer to realize they keep putting out the same shit and even once faithful movie goers are staying home. Corporate America has sanitized movies so badly that they have no oomph to them. Maybe the bad result this summer might send some moguls back to the drawing board
I’d put Tarantino in charge of Hollywood, myself. This would mean Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Madsen would be in 237 films each per year (104 of them in the same film).
Kill Shrek.
Star Wars Episode 14: Revenge of Mr Pink.
The Sicilian Patient.
A Beautiful Brain Spread All Over the Sidewalk.
The Godfather IV: The Apology
Yes folks – dialogue and scripts would be back in vogue. Actors would have to act.
But seriously, will this summer’s disaster mean Hollywood will get a lot better?
Fuggetaboutit.
Mr T.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
It Got Louder
I grew up in the 1970s in an affluent Country far from genocides and wars and disasters. The World Wars ended almost 2 decades before I was even born (1963).
I did grow up as a citizen of a Cold War country, but long after it’s apex in the early 1960s (also before I was born). There was a scare when Reagan started talking about a “limited” nuclear war after taking office in 1981, but he chilled when Gorby came along.
History, in one way, is a series of wars, genocides and disasters. Starting with the 1990s they began again, or actually, continued. The Gulf War was the first time I remember Canada being at war. Then the Yugoslavian and Rwandan episodes showed that genocide was back.
September 11, 2001 was a shock – not because it was the long expected terrorist attack, but because of the enormity of its success. My money had been down on an attack at LAX. (That attack had indeed been planned but foiled at the BC – Washington border).
I had never imagined suicide bombers in North America – that seemed such a Middle Eastern and far away thing.
The invasion of Iraq showed that America had unlearned all of its lessons from Viet Nam.
The Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 has to rank as the biggest cyclical thing in my lifetime. Since I know some history, the last such major one in the Indian Ocean had been after Krakatoa erupted – in 1883 (none of my Grandparents had been born for that one).
I had spent the 1990s studying and even writing about the World Wars as they seemed too far away from the quietness of my times.
Then my times got louder.
TF
I did grow up as a citizen of a Cold War country, but long after it’s apex in the early 1960s (also before I was born). There was a scare when Reagan started talking about a “limited” nuclear war after taking office in 1981, but he chilled when Gorby came along.
History, in one way, is a series of wars, genocides and disasters. Starting with the 1990s they began again, or actually, continued. The Gulf War was the first time I remember Canada being at war. Then the Yugoslavian and Rwandan episodes showed that genocide was back.
September 11, 2001 was a shock – not because it was the long expected terrorist attack, but because of the enormity of its success. My money had been down on an attack at LAX. (That attack had indeed been planned but foiled at the BC – Washington border).
I had never imagined suicide bombers in North America – that seemed such a Middle Eastern and far away thing.
The invasion of Iraq showed that America had unlearned all of its lessons from Viet Nam.
The Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 has to rank as the biggest cyclical thing in my lifetime. Since I know some history, the last such major one in the Indian Ocean had been after Krakatoa erupted – in 1883 (none of my Grandparents had been born for that one).
I had spent the 1990s studying and even writing about the World Wars as they seemed too far away from the quietness of my times.
Then my times got louder.
TF
The Return of Critical Thinking in The American Media
Jon Stewart, pointed out, once again, something I had noticed myself (we think alike).
After 9/11, the media turned into patriots and stopped judging Bush and the administration critically. The obvious example was the lead-up to the war in Iraq. I have been watching CNN at least as far back as The Gulf War of 1991, although I always have been able to take it for only so long. The so called “liberal” media disappeared and Bush was allowed to invade Iraq with no plan whatsoever. I stopped watching CNN and any American news media for almost 3 years.
With the disaster of Katrina, the media finally regained its teeth and began to question yet another idiotic “planning” of the administration and how they bungled the rescue relief worse than anyone could have imagined.
Bush said nobody could have anticipated the levees breaking. Al Franken, on his radio show, pointed out that MR BILL the play-dough guy from old SNL was featured in a commercial for the Louisiana Wetlands and HE knew the levees might break.
Ted Koppell, to “Brownie” (as Bush called him): Don’t you people watch TV?
In Bush’s Truman Show – no.
Taking a vacation by playing guitar in California? Sounds great to me - unless you are The President when the largest displacement of Americans since The Civil War is taking place.
TF
After 9/11, the media turned into patriots and stopped judging Bush and the administration critically. The obvious example was the lead-up to the war in Iraq. I have been watching CNN at least as far back as The Gulf War of 1991, although I always have been able to take it for only so long. The so called “liberal” media disappeared and Bush was allowed to invade Iraq with no plan whatsoever. I stopped watching CNN and any American news media for almost 3 years.
With the disaster of Katrina, the media finally regained its teeth and began to question yet another idiotic “planning” of the administration and how they bungled the rescue relief worse than anyone could have imagined.
Bush said nobody could have anticipated the levees breaking. Al Franken, on his radio show, pointed out that MR BILL the play-dough guy from old SNL was featured in a commercial for the Louisiana Wetlands and HE knew the levees might break.
Ted Koppell, to “Brownie” (as Bush called him): Don’t you people watch TV?
In Bush’s Truman Show – no.
Taking a vacation by playing guitar in California? Sounds great to me - unless you are The President when the largest displacement of Americans since The Civil War is taking place.
TF
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
The Guns of Summer
The recent gang murders in Toronto have been a disgrace. But it cannot be blamed solely, or even primarily, on the cut to social programs. No amount of poverty puts a gun in someone's hand, nor does it force anyone to shoot a peace activist in a courtyard, or spray bullets hitting a 4 year old child. Anything short of absolute self-defense is simply not acceptable.
Racial profiling is certainly not the answer - this would make things worse and be about as effective as profiling blondes who speak really bad french as possibl schoolgirl killers.
The social cuts by Harris did a lot of harm. But it is not an excuse for violence.
Thomas.
Racial profiling is certainly not the answer - this would make things worse and be about as effective as profiling blondes who speak really bad french as possibl schoolgirl killers.
The social cuts by Harris did a lot of harm. But it is not an excuse for violence.
Thomas.
This Will Help?
Hurakan was a Mayan god (an evil one). This is why we call storms like Katrina "Hurricanes". Since modern people are way past that mythological stuff, that's where the religous part ends.
Well, no. Wednesday (Sept 1, 2005) has been declared a day of prayer by the Governor of Louisiana. Of course in and of itself I don't have a problem with this.
I wonder about the god they're praying to . If it is Hurakan, that would make sense: "Oh mighty one -please stop this!".
No - their god is a god of love and benevolance. But, he either causes hurricanes or at least allows them to happen. After this I guess you can pray to him to stop sending them...except he never does....
I wonder what the dinosaurs did to the Judaeo-Christian god, Hurakan or someone else to really piss him off.
Thomas.
Well, no. Wednesday (Sept 1, 2005) has been declared a day of prayer by the Governor of Louisiana. Of course in and of itself I don't have a problem with this.
I wonder about the god they're praying to . If it is Hurakan, that would make sense: "Oh mighty one -please stop this!".
No - their god is a god of love and benevolance. But, he either causes hurricanes or at least allows them to happen. After this I guess you can pray to him to stop sending them...except he never does....
I wonder what the dinosaurs did to the Judaeo-Christian god, Hurakan or someone else to really piss him off.
Thomas.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Six Feet Over (RIP)
There is nothing much good on TV - and even less that has any depth to it.
24 is a good rough-em up shoot 'em show. I don't watch "reality TV" -I watch 24 because it is unreality at it's best.
Six Feet Under is up there with I, Claudius and Hill Street Blues as TV about as good as it can get. Since it was HBO, they can swear and show peckers and boobies and talk about things that the corporate right wing sponsers of traditional American network television would never allow. There is a gay couple in the middle of it all, tons of drugs and booze, and abortions - all the things that bible-thumpers hate.
The Fishers and the supporting characters run a funeral home, so death is foremost a topic. What impresses me most about the series is when the characters react to something - and of course, do so in a really poor way - you know, just like real people often do. Or, they make great changes in their lives only to see this has no effect on their lives at all, or, even makes things worse. Tolstoy comes to mind as a great author who created characters and let them live on their own without his interference.
The writing was great and the acting was amazing.
Brenda is the character you hate loving to hate. Until you get to know her family and then you wonder how she managed not to be even more messed up than she is.
There are no white or black hats. Even sweet little Quaker Maggie has to deal with the fact that she fucked Nate to death.
The "guest" list of actors was none too shabby: "Ileana Douglas, Mena Suvari, Kathy Bates, James Cromwell, John Billingsley and Patricia Clarkson to name a few.
In this 24 world where flash is valued over substance, to have a series where plot was minimal and character was king was an achievement.
TF
24 is a good rough-em up shoot 'em show. I don't watch "reality TV" -I watch 24 because it is unreality at it's best.
Six Feet Under is up there with I, Claudius and Hill Street Blues as TV about as good as it can get. Since it was HBO, they can swear and show peckers and boobies and talk about things that the corporate right wing sponsers of traditional American network television would never allow. There is a gay couple in the middle of it all, tons of drugs and booze, and abortions - all the things that bible-thumpers hate.
The Fishers and the supporting characters run a funeral home, so death is foremost a topic. What impresses me most about the series is when the characters react to something - and of course, do so in a really poor way - you know, just like real people often do. Or, they make great changes in their lives only to see this has no effect on their lives at all, or, even makes things worse. Tolstoy comes to mind as a great author who created characters and let them live on their own without his interference.
The writing was great and the acting was amazing.
Brenda is the character you hate loving to hate. Until you get to know her family and then you wonder how she managed not to be even more messed up than she is.
There are no white or black hats. Even sweet little Quaker Maggie has to deal with the fact that she fucked Nate to death.
The "guest" list of actors was none too shabby: "Ileana Douglas, Mena Suvari, Kathy Bates, James Cromwell, John Billingsley and Patricia Clarkson to name a few.
In this 24 world where flash is valued over substance, to have a series where plot was minimal and character was king was an achievement.
TF
Sunday, August 28, 2005
What might qualify as the stupidest thing ever said?
Today I heard a CNN report on some church group that said... No kidding... Really I am not: America has failed in Iraq because America "allows" homosexuals and the dead soldiers are a punishment from god.
Even in the old testament God was not this much of an asshole.
Remember the "AIDS" arguments from the 80s that it was a scourge from God?.....well, I guess all those dead women and babies took the wind out of that argument.
America "allows" gays, you know, just like it "allows" gravity, the second law of thermodynamics, water freezing at zero degrees celsius....
Wouldn't it be nice if God sent a scourge that only killed stupid people?
TF
Even in the old testament God was not this much of an asshole.
Remember the "AIDS" arguments from the 80s that it was a scourge from God?.....well, I guess all those dead women and babies took the wind out of that argument.
America "allows" gays, you know, just like it "allows" gravity, the second law of thermodynamics, water freezing at zero degrees celsius....
Wouldn't it be nice if God sent a scourge that only killed stupid people?
TF
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Americans..Yet Again
I don't know much about trade agreements like FTA, NAFTA or the workings of the WTO. What many are arguing now is that The Americans are screwing us through NAFTA in a way that they could never do under WTO rules. This seems true enough to me - the zenophobia of the American Right has rarely been allowed to exercise it's "fuck the rest of the world" attitudes as it has under Dubya - in regards to soft lumber trade as well as to war.
I'm getting sicker and sicker of Dubyaism each day. He ducks Cindy Sheehan - won't even talk to her. Clinton would have...well there's an obvious joke here...well, he would have talked to her, that's for sure. The Bush party twins live a Hiltonic existence (as in Paris) while small town men and women are coming home in body bags.
As Jon Stewart said, Bush lives in "The Truman Show" - in another era he'd be shooting messengers all over the place, I'm sure. He can't take the world he's making based on Cheney's bald world order (could not resist).
While I'm casting slings and arrows, only in America would "Intellegant Design" (aka "Creationism") be considered as a "rival theory" to biological evolution. Rubbish. Only in America, amongst "first world" nations, is religion on the rise as a front and centre political force - witness Pat Robertson's "fatwa" issued on Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
Then again, only 51% of The Yankees are dumb-ass, bible-thumping, war-mongering isolationiasts. 49% are just like us.
TF.
I'm getting sicker and sicker of Dubyaism each day. He ducks Cindy Sheehan - won't even talk to her. Clinton would have...well there's an obvious joke here...well, he would have talked to her, that's for sure. The Bush party twins live a Hiltonic existence (as in Paris) while small town men and women are coming home in body bags.
As Jon Stewart said, Bush lives in "The Truman Show" - in another era he'd be shooting messengers all over the place, I'm sure. He can't take the world he's making based on Cheney's bald world order (could not resist).
While I'm casting slings and arrows, only in America would "Intellegant Design" (aka "Creationism") be considered as a "rival theory" to biological evolution. Rubbish. Only in America, amongst "first world" nations, is religion on the rise as a front and centre political force - witness Pat Robertson's "fatwa" issued on Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
Then again, only 51% of The Yankees are dumb-ass, bible-thumping, war-mongering isolationiasts. 49% are just like us.
TF.
Saturday, August 06, 2005
The A-bombs of 1945
World War II is slowly fading into history. The leaders of that era have been dead for decades. You have to pretty much be over 80 to have been a combatant. Even those who were children during the war are in their late 60s and 70s.
I can't stand up and say something about The 1991 Gulf War or the Bosnian civil war without people who were a part of it standing up and reacting to what I might say.
But, Hitler and Stalin are close to joining Napolean and Ceasar as the number of people who lived when they did gets smaller and smaller and soon becomes zero.
When no living witnesses are left, historians can operate with more speculation.
Which brings me to the 2 Atomic bombs that hit Japan in 1945. WW II was such a massive thing, decisions were sometimes made based on numbers of projected deaths. Oh yes, very heartless indeed, but how the hell else could it have been done? It is easy to look back 60 years and condemn The Americans for dropping those bombs, but I understand why they did it.
As an aside, they have not been used in any war since, by anyone, have they?
Maybe we've seen too many WW II movies where The Japanese are depicted as fools, perhaps even less than human. NONSENSE. They were a formibable foe. A conventional invasion of the Japanese homeland would have gone on for years and have entailed even more deaths of Japanese civilians than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined (not to mention the deaths of American servicemen).
Nobody likes to see those films about the radiation in those cities but you cannot light up a doob, crank up the U2, yell "No nukes" and rip those events of 1945 out of their context.
TF
I can't stand up and say something about The 1991 Gulf War or the Bosnian civil war without people who were a part of it standing up and reacting to what I might say.
But, Hitler and Stalin are close to joining Napolean and Ceasar as the number of people who lived when they did gets smaller and smaller and soon becomes zero.
When no living witnesses are left, historians can operate with more speculation.
Which brings me to the 2 Atomic bombs that hit Japan in 1945. WW II was such a massive thing, decisions were sometimes made based on numbers of projected deaths. Oh yes, very heartless indeed, but how the hell else could it have been done? It is easy to look back 60 years and condemn The Americans for dropping those bombs, but I understand why they did it.
As an aside, they have not been used in any war since, by anyone, have they?
Maybe we've seen too many WW II movies where The Japanese are depicted as fools, perhaps even less than human. NONSENSE. They were a formibable foe. A conventional invasion of the Japanese homeland would have gone on for years and have entailed even more deaths of Japanese civilians than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined (not to mention the deaths of American servicemen).
Nobody likes to see those films about the radiation in those cities but you cannot light up a doob, crank up the U2, yell "No nukes" and rip those events of 1945 out of their context.
TF
What People Say When a Plane Crashes
It was wonderful news that everyone survived the Air France crash at Pearson. When I first heard that a plane had crashed, I assumed there would be a lot of dead people.
As is often the case, Jon Stewart made a lot of the comments I had thought about myself and are now writing after I heard his.
First, "miracle"? No. I am with Stewart that we applaud the rescue workers that did an amazing job. "Miracles" are events that happen that can't ever happen - if the plane had been struck by lightning in order TO MAKE IT CRASH that would have been a miracle (Stewart's joke).
A cartoon in The Toronto Star showed an angel overlooking the plane wreckage. In a way, a lovely sentiment. Unless you think about such things a wee bit deeper.
Have you ever seen a plane crash on TV and 200 people die, and 41 people live, and the fact that 41 people live means, as the media would say, something like "God was watching over them - it was a miracle they survived".
Poppycock - if God was really watching over them - THE PLANE WOULD NOT HAVE CRASHED AT ALL.
Now, back to the angel at Pearson. I am not "up" on my 21st century theology, so I don't know if each airline trip is assigned an individual angel. If so, THAT ONE SHOULD BE FIRED for doing such a lousy job.
Maybe I am being too harsh - maybe there have been cut-backs in Heaven and each angel has 3 or 4 planes each to look over - in that case, I must concur that this angel WAS doing a great job.
Now those psunami angels?..fire their asses. Demote them to..um..Limbo?
TF
As is often the case, Jon Stewart made a lot of the comments I had thought about myself and are now writing after I heard his.
First, "miracle"? No. I am with Stewart that we applaud the rescue workers that did an amazing job. "Miracles" are events that happen that can't ever happen - if the plane had been struck by lightning in order TO MAKE IT CRASH that would have been a miracle (Stewart's joke).
A cartoon in The Toronto Star showed an angel overlooking the plane wreckage. In a way, a lovely sentiment. Unless you think about such things a wee bit deeper.
Have you ever seen a plane crash on TV and 200 people die, and 41 people live, and the fact that 41 people live means, as the media would say, something like "God was watching over them - it was a miracle they survived".
Poppycock - if God was really watching over them - THE PLANE WOULD NOT HAVE CRASHED AT ALL.
Now, back to the angel at Pearson. I am not "up" on my 21st century theology, so I don't know if each airline trip is assigned an individual angel. If so, THAT ONE SHOULD BE FIRED for doing such a lousy job.
Maybe I am being too harsh - maybe there have been cut-backs in Heaven and each angel has 3 or 4 planes each to look over - in that case, I must concur that this angel WAS doing a great job.
Now those psunami angels?..fire their asses. Demote them to..um..Limbo?
TF
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
"Good Speech"
"Euphemism" is derived from two Greek Words "eu" (good) and "pheme" (speech).
As far as I can tell, we use them in several ways:
1. To soften a word or phrase where a harsher word or phrase would be, well, too harsh. "Passed Away" is a common one for this example, as we use it when people are at a vulnerable point in their life, having lost a loved one.
2. To lie to people about what you are doing by calling it exactly the opposite of what it is. Bush must have 5 or more people working on his euphemisms full-time "Operation Iraqi Freedom" means the opposite of what it is: "Kill as many Iraqis as we have to, to achieve our goals". Orwell called this "double-speak".
3. To soften a condition so as to pretend a person does not have that condition. "diferrently abled" means if you cannot walk and are chairbound, we do not have to talk about it and we can pretend that you are not.
4. To out-an-out go so far with positive thinking that it becomes a total farce. Today's Toronto Star quotes one from the British Teachers' Association. No more will children fail - they will simply be in a state of "deferred success". That beats out the best (worst) one ever, that was pointed out by George Carlin: Not "learning disabled" but "minimally exceptional". On my list for sometime, also British, is "positive disrimination" (that's always been right up there with "reverse sexism" or "white slavery"). Well the dear old Brits call garbage "dust" and reffered to the carnage of The Great War as "the unpleasantness".
Tom.
As far as I can tell, we use them in several ways:
1. To soften a word or phrase where a harsher word or phrase would be, well, too harsh. "Passed Away" is a common one for this example, as we use it when people are at a vulnerable point in their life, having lost a loved one.
2. To lie to people about what you are doing by calling it exactly the opposite of what it is. Bush must have 5 or more people working on his euphemisms full-time "Operation Iraqi Freedom" means the opposite of what it is: "Kill as many Iraqis as we have to, to achieve our goals". Orwell called this "double-speak".
3. To soften a condition so as to pretend a person does not have that condition. "diferrently abled" means if you cannot walk and are chairbound, we do not have to talk about it and we can pretend that you are not.
4. To out-an-out go so far with positive thinking that it becomes a total farce. Today's Toronto Star quotes one from the British Teachers' Association. No more will children fail - they will simply be in a state of "deferred success". That beats out the best (worst) one ever, that was pointed out by George Carlin: Not "learning disabled" but "minimally exceptional". On my list for sometime, also British, is "positive disrimination" (that's always been right up there with "reverse sexism" or "white slavery"). Well the dear old Brits call garbage "dust" and reffered to the carnage of The Great War as "the unpleasantness".
Tom.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Another Hit
Anyone who's talked / e-mailed / messaged with me for more than 3o seconds over the past few years has heard me rave about The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. A new show that began in April is Pop-Cultured with Elvira Kurt (comedy channel) and anyone who loves Stewart will like this too. It's funny and delivers the same punches as Stewart, but from a Canadian perspective. She uses other performers, like Stewart, and, also like Stewart has a daily guest. (Also like Stewart I FF past the guest quite often).
Finally, I guess we all realized that sometimes the only thing worth watching on Saturday Night Live was "Weekend Update".
TF
Finally, I guess we all realized that sometimes the only thing worth watching on Saturday Night Live was "Weekend Update".
TF
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Celliquette
What :so now it's cellphones he's pissed with?
When I bought my first ever cell phone in 2004, I vowed to not do some things that I have seen others do with their cell phone. I won't even get into driving while chatting on one that isn't "hands free".
Some absurvations:
1. Why is it that the less interesting a conversation a person is having on a cell on a bus or in another enclosed public space, the longer it lasts. Also the louder it is. Polite people who take calls like "I'm on the train we're passing Mimico....6:20..ok.on the shelf above the fridge..k.bye" are wonderful people. Ones who "do business" on the train should all die miserable deaths...well not on the train right there....later..when they're alone.
2. I have seen teenage girls talk to each other on their phones when they are IN THE SAME PLACE - hope Mom and Dad have one of those unlimited plans or a second job (or a sound heart when they get open the bill).
3. A ringer does not need a sub-woofer. I'm not kidding: I've heard them that loud and with that much bass so you think some jackass is driving by in his car whose entire trunk is a subwoofer blaring hip hop.
4. If you are standing behind me and you start talking on your phone (with no ringer going off) out of the blue don't be suprised and give me a dirty look when I turn around and wonder, for all of a second and a half, if you are talking to me. I don't care if you are a gorgeous young woman and I am an old goat: This is a reflex developed over 3 and a half decades of life where nobody had cellphones and only insane people talked in public.
5. So your phone has an MP3 player? Excellent, my friend. But use the HEADPHONE JACK - I don't share my MP3s with you, show me the same fucking courtesty.
When I bought my first ever cell phone in 2004, I vowed to not do some things that I have seen others do with their cell phone. I won't even get into driving while chatting on one that isn't "hands free".
Some absurvations:
1. Why is it that the less interesting a conversation a person is having on a cell on a bus or in another enclosed public space, the longer it lasts. Also the louder it is. Polite people who take calls like "I'm on the train we're passing Mimico....6:20..ok.on the shelf above the fridge..k.bye" are wonderful people. Ones who "do business" on the train should all die miserable deaths...well not on the train right there....later..when they're alone.
2. I have seen teenage girls talk to each other on their phones when they are IN THE SAME PLACE - hope Mom and Dad have one of those unlimited plans or a second job (or a sound heart when they get open the bill).
3. A ringer does not need a sub-woofer. I'm not kidding: I've heard them that loud and with that much bass so you think some jackass is driving by in his car whose entire trunk is a subwoofer blaring hip hop.
4. If you are standing behind me and you start talking on your phone (with no ringer going off) out of the blue don't be suprised and give me a dirty look when I turn around and wonder, for all of a second and a half, if you are talking to me. I don't care if you are a gorgeous young woman and I am an old goat: This is a reflex developed over 3 and a half decades of life where nobody had cellphones and only insane people talked in public.
5. So your phone has an MP3 player? Excellent, my friend. But use the HEADPHONE JACK - I don't share my MP3s with you, show me the same fucking courtesty.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Men are from Omacron Theta 8, Women are from Omacron Theta 7
It's friday so who wants to be stir things up? I'll look at a topic that inspires very little debate: how men and women differ.
OK, I am more curious as to how we think they are differrent and how we used think they were different, in a different way.
What are the early 21st century sterotypes: Women are more artistic, care more for fashion and cosmetics (they have more of a flare for it), are much deeper thinkers than men and see life more as a whole. Women can have children and take care of them. Men make good worker bees, have tin ears and wooden eyes when it comes to art, and dress like they don't care, see things in simple terms and can never see "the big picture".
Go back to the late 18th century, and here is what you get: Men are great artists and novelists - women? Why, what a silly idea - they are good at pushing out babies, but men are much better at raising them. Women do not have a good enough grasp of the world the way men do that is required to create great works of art - they are simplistic. Only men can deal with emotions because men are simply more emotional, and feel things deeper.
The 18th Century European Nobleman wore powder and rouge on his face, a wig, and hose on his legs. Today, he'd better do that in the gay part of town or he'll be arriving home with less teeth than when he set out.
I wonder how men and women will differ in another 200 years.
Tom.
OK, I am more curious as to how we think they are differrent and how we used think they were different, in a different way.
What are the early 21st century sterotypes: Women are more artistic, care more for fashion and cosmetics (they have more of a flare for it), are much deeper thinkers than men and see life more as a whole. Women can have children and take care of them. Men make good worker bees, have tin ears and wooden eyes when it comes to art, and dress like they don't care, see things in simple terms and can never see "the big picture".
Go back to the late 18th century, and here is what you get: Men are great artists and novelists - women? Why, what a silly idea - they are good at pushing out babies, but men are much better at raising them. Women do not have a good enough grasp of the world the way men do that is required to create great works of art - they are simplistic. Only men can deal with emotions because men are simply more emotional, and feel things deeper.
The 18th Century European Nobleman wore powder and rouge on his face, a wig, and hose on his legs. Today, he'd better do that in the gay part of town or he'll be arriving home with less teeth than when he set out.
I wonder how men and women will differ in another 200 years.
Tom.
By the People, Adjacent to The People, At the People...
Sometime in the 1980s, in the US of A, it became not only a popular idea, but very close to dogma that governments need to be run "like a business". Since Canadians are independent thinkers we did not follow this course.....until a bit later in the 1980s. "Taxation" became a dirty word and raising taxes became as acceptable as B.O.
We have taxes for a reason - we need things done by governments such as defense, water, roads, education and (In Canadian provinces not named "Alberta") health care. Taxes are not wonderful things - if you wished to pick a single reason the Roman Empire isn't there any more, taxation could easily be that reason.
So we play a game when governments switch to the right and then to the left and then the centre and then the.....
The "tight is right" rightests slash taxes, and of course, Ontario under Harrissment is the obvious example, services have to be cut. Then taxes, evil, evil taxes, must be cut so far that a large deficit is run (see: Bush's America; again: Harris and Eves in Ontario).
Then, when the centre or left get in they have to raise taxes to a level higher than before the cuts just to get back to the pre-cut era, or call them something other than a tax. (Witness McGuity's health care "premium").
Can't we follow a more European model and stress not how much we pay in taxes - but more that we worry about what we are getting for our tax dollars?
In this sense, at least, "like a business" can be a good thing.
TF
We have taxes for a reason - we need things done by governments such as defense, water, roads, education and (In Canadian provinces not named "Alberta") health care. Taxes are not wonderful things - if you wished to pick a single reason the Roman Empire isn't there any more, taxation could easily be that reason.
So we play a game when governments switch to the right and then to the left and then the centre and then the.....
The "tight is right" rightests slash taxes, and of course, Ontario under Harrissment is the obvious example, services have to be cut. Then taxes, evil, evil taxes, must be cut so far that a large deficit is run (see: Bush's America; again: Harris and Eves in Ontario).
Then, when the centre or left get in they have to raise taxes to a level higher than before the cuts just to get back to the pre-cut era, or call them something other than a tax. (Witness McGuity's health care "premium").
Can't we follow a more European model and stress not how much we pay in taxes - but more that we worry about what we are getting for our tax dollars?
In this sense, at least, "like a business" can be a good thing.
TF
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Progress
Cellphone features are getting more and more elaborate. In Fact, there is a way that, if I am not near a computer but have my cellphone with me, if I am suddenly inspired with something I must share here, I can do it with my phone.
Of course, with my wide fingers that a jazz bassist would envy, that little keypad, and the invisibility of the screen in sunlight , I'd have to say that by the time I managed to get the message typed, I would probably already be home in front of my computer anyway.
Back when Edison was inventing half of the modern world, one of his inventions was the electric pen. It's always been my favourite "why" invention of all time (OK "Hip Hop" comes close...).
There is a word in German for this vyzehellvouldievaneedtodozis" - ok maybe it's old low German.....would you believe Assyrian???
Thomas
Of course, with my wide fingers that a jazz bassist would envy, that little keypad, and the invisibility of the screen in sunlight , I'd have to say that by the time I managed to get the message typed, I would probably already be home in front of my computer anyway.
Back when Edison was inventing half of the modern world, one of his inventions was the electric pen. It's always been my favourite "why" invention of all time (OK "Hip Hop" comes close...).
There is a word in German for this vyzehellvouldievaneedtodozis" - ok maybe it's old low German.....would you believe Assyrian???
Thomas
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Why?
I have never understood the reasoning that goes on in the brain of those who write computer viruses. When I was young and naive (you know, about 34) I asked my college I.T. instructor if computer viruses were ever accidently unleashed, the way a biological virus might be. He said no - they have to be crafted.
The latest thing is an e-mail that looks like it is from CNN with a clip taken from a cellphone camera in the London Underground. It's fake and contains a virus. I am actually a person who gets updates (headlines) from CNN e-mailed to me because I want to know right away what a country with it's head so far up it's own ass deems immediately newsworthy (um..actually most of the time I DO want to know this, to be honest). Ironically, as soon as I get the CNN headline, if it's something I want to know I then go to yahoo news or the CBC website. Most people should expect nothing sent directly to them from CNN so be careful, folks.
Back to my point - what kind of infantile mind enjoys fucking up other people's computers and their lives? Most of us rely on our computers for a multitude of things these days.
I understand phishing - this is pure fraud and theft, and theft has been with us forever.
Tom.
P.S. Addendum: For example, I just got a headline from CNN that the Space Shuttle launch has been scapped and this is something I wanted to know.
The latest thing is an e-mail that looks like it is from CNN with a clip taken from a cellphone camera in the London Underground. It's fake and contains a virus. I am actually a person who gets updates (headlines) from CNN e-mailed to me because I want to know right away what a country with it's head so far up it's own ass deems immediately newsworthy (um..actually most of the time I DO want to know this, to be honest). Ironically, as soon as I get the CNN headline, if it's something I want to know I then go to yahoo news or the CBC website. Most people should expect nothing sent directly to them from CNN so be careful, folks.
Back to my point - what kind of infantile mind enjoys fucking up other people's computers and their lives? Most of us rely on our computers for a multitude of things these days.
I understand phishing - this is pure fraud and theft, and theft has been with us forever.
Tom.
P.S. Addendum: For example, I just got a headline from CNN that the Space Shuttle launch has been scapped and this is something I wanted to know.
Green Tea and Bodywash
I was a normal kid - no allergies or asthma or anything beyond the usual measles and chicken pox. There were kids who were always sick (it wasn't their fault) but I wasn't one of them. I was not a chucklehead daredevil alpha male (I'm more a Theta or Epsilon).
I've found as I age, over time I get less and less masculine - no more 2 pots of coffee a day - maybe a few a month and the rest of the time it's green tea. I can't use bar soap or I itch all day - it has to be bodywash. We angle more towards the sick kids every day. Man, I'd hate to see how they are doing in their 40s....
TF
I've found as I age, over time I get less and less masculine - no more 2 pots of coffee a day - maybe a few a month and the rest of the time it's green tea. I can't use bar soap or I itch all day - it has to be bodywash. We angle more towards the sick kids every day. Man, I'd hate to see how they are doing in their 40s....
TF
Monday, July 11, 2005
An Unpopular Opinion Part Deux
At the core of any major religion that I know of is the belief that humanity is a special creation that merits special attention from deities or a single creator (I always loved the term '"unmoved mover").
The problem is: we are not.
Evolution is a "theory" like gravity is a "theory" or 1+2=3 is a "theory".
Evolution is not a set of dogmas, but a desciption of a process. Complex organisms evolved from simpler ones. That's it - no morality or necessity that we ever arrive on the scene.
Most people who never question evolution also tend to forget this: Just because Evolution came up with us does not mean that evolution was geared towards us or that we are even a good idea. We are just what it came up lately and we will be gone one day.
We have been "us" in the broadest stretch of what homo sapiens is for a million years at most and we have been exactly what we are for about 50,000 years.
Dinosuars were around for 150 MILLION years. Evolution seemed to really like them, but they've been gone now for 65 million years. This is because evolution did not see fit to develop a shield against asteroids.
How can any religion have much to say about the things it loves to go on about when the centre of it (us) has been here for 5 minutes in geological time and we may be a flash in the pan compared to T Rex?
TF.
The problem is: we are not.
Evolution is a "theory" like gravity is a "theory" or 1+2=3 is a "theory".
Evolution is not a set of dogmas, but a desciption of a process. Complex organisms evolved from simpler ones. That's it - no morality or necessity that we ever arrive on the scene.
Most people who never question evolution also tend to forget this: Just because Evolution came up with us does not mean that evolution was geared towards us or that we are even a good idea. We are just what it came up lately and we will be gone one day.
We have been "us" in the broadest stretch of what homo sapiens is for a million years at most and we have been exactly what we are for about 50,000 years.
Dinosuars were around for 150 MILLION years. Evolution seemed to really like them, but they've been gone now for 65 million years. This is because evolution did not see fit to develop a shield against asteroids.
How can any religion have much to say about the things it loves to go on about when the centre of it (us) has been here for 5 minutes in geological time and we may be a flash in the pan compared to T Rex?
TF.
Are we Next?
"The Base" and their sister cells have now struck everywhere but Canada: I guess it was a group of six nations who are unjustly keeping radical Islamists from setting up a theocracy that would make Iran or George W Bush cringe.
There is no reason to expect we will be spared. Tranist seems to be their favourite choice as it is a public place and you cannot screen millions of riders as you can an aircraft boarding gate. Vancouver and Toronto, maybe Ottawa and Montreal seem the likely targets.
I have no idea how to defend against this, short of turning towards a police state as The Americans have (who are always it seems 5 minutes away from doing that anyway).
What Dubya Tony and thier allies (including us) need to do now is to fight the war on terror by fighting the war on terror. Afghanistan made sense. For Iraq, Dubya used 9/11 as excuse to level Iraq which is what he wished his father had done in 1991. (Silly Bush Sr - listened to those UN people...).
I am sickened when, usually by accident, I see local American News and the lament for the soldiers killed in Iraq: They should ALL still be alive. Iraquis killed them BUT YOU A*&H*LES STARTED IT.
If "last throes" of an insurgency is this bloody I am not looking foward to "over": In Cheney double-speak, who knows what that will mean.
TF
There is no reason to expect we will be spared. Tranist seems to be their favourite choice as it is a public place and you cannot screen millions of riders as you can an aircraft boarding gate. Vancouver and Toronto, maybe Ottawa and Montreal seem the likely targets.
I have no idea how to defend against this, short of turning towards a police state as The Americans have (who are always it seems 5 minutes away from doing that anyway).
What Dubya Tony and thier allies (including us) need to do now is to fight the war on terror by fighting the war on terror. Afghanistan made sense. For Iraq, Dubya used 9/11 as excuse to level Iraq which is what he wished his father had done in 1991. (Silly Bush Sr - listened to those UN people...).
I am sickened when, usually by accident, I see local American News and the lament for the soldiers killed in Iraq: They should ALL still be alive. Iraquis killed them BUT YOU A*&H*LES STARTED IT.
If "last throes" of an insurgency is this bloody I am not looking foward to "over": In Cheney double-speak, who knows what that will mean.
TF
An Unpopular Opinion
999 out of a 1000 will disagree with me.
We are now at a point in world history where organized religion does far more harm than good.
I understand the importance of ritual (like the cannabalism of my youth: blood and body of Christ), and community and of a moral structure.
Yes, perhaps I'm letting a few bad apples..throwing..baby..bathwater....etc..etc..
Some not maybe very related observations about religion:
1. The only Bhuddist temple (sorry if "temple" is the wrong word) I have seen anywhere near my home is in Lorne Park, the richest area of Mississauaga. Yes, only those with everything need to cleanse themselves of it all.
2. Ever notice how well the Catholic church thrives best in the poorest of places? Wasn't it wonderful advice to tell women that condoms are not allowed on a continent where AIDS is a raging pandemic?
3. As Mark Twain said - religions are openly hostile to intellect and those who think for themselves.
4. Some people are gay. They're here, they're queer DEAL WITH IT. You can't thou-shalt away gayness. The Canadian Sikh leaders condemned same-sex marriage. You see, it's okay to condemn homosexuality, but it is NOT okay to condemn those who wear turbins. You can't just mete out human rights . You can't just close your eyes and pretend that gay people do not exist. And don't call it a "choice" - it IS a choice to wear a turbin, a yarmulka or a crucifix.
5. Most religions are anywhere from slightly repressive to openly hostile against women and having them in control of their reproductive choices. People who rule a country south of me, don't much care for women other than as breeders.
Oh well, I'm always mad at somebody....
Thomas.
We are now at a point in world history where organized religion does far more harm than good.
I understand the importance of ritual (like the cannabalism of my youth: blood and body of Christ), and community and of a moral structure.
Yes, perhaps I'm letting a few bad apples..throwing..baby..bathwater....etc..etc..
Some not maybe very related observations about religion:
1. The only Bhuddist temple (sorry if "temple" is the wrong word) I have seen anywhere near my home is in Lorne Park, the richest area of Mississauaga. Yes, only those with everything need to cleanse themselves of it all.
2. Ever notice how well the Catholic church thrives best in the poorest of places? Wasn't it wonderful advice to tell women that condoms are not allowed on a continent where AIDS is a raging pandemic?
3. As Mark Twain said - religions are openly hostile to intellect and those who think for themselves.
4. Some people are gay. They're here, they're queer DEAL WITH IT. You can't thou-shalt away gayness. The Canadian Sikh leaders condemned same-sex marriage. You see, it's okay to condemn homosexuality, but it is NOT okay to condemn those who wear turbins. You can't just mete out human rights . You can't just close your eyes and pretend that gay people do not exist. And don't call it a "choice" - it IS a choice to wear a turbin, a yarmulka or a crucifix.
5. Most religions are anywhere from slightly repressive to openly hostile against women and having them in control of their reproductive choices. People who rule a country south of me, don't much care for women other than as breeders.
Oh well, I'm always mad at somebody....
Thomas.
Friday, July 08, 2005
String 'em up!
Here's a case where if you can't accept the first premise, the second one really won't make be your cup of tea (or hemlock).
Capital punishment in the U.S. takes the lives of poor people and/or non-whites at a stupidly disproportionate rate to the general population. That nation thinks it is OK for the state to kill people.
Premise 2: It is not killing them fast enough. We in Canada becry "wating time" as a serious problem - waiting time for medical services. Republicans agree with us - but their "waiting time" is for executing those on death row. That's right - their government is not killing people FAST ENOUGH so a bill has been introduced to strip rights to appeals so that the poor black man who had the only lawyer he could get can get wrongly executed as soon as possible.
Milgaard...Morin..Truscott - aren't you glad we don't have the death penalty?
Oh, and I heard a capital trial costs 5 to 10 times what it costs to imprison a person for life.
TF.
Capital punishment in the U.S. takes the lives of poor people and/or non-whites at a stupidly disproportionate rate to the general population. That nation thinks it is OK for the state to kill people.
Premise 2: It is not killing them fast enough. We in Canada becry "wating time" as a serious problem - waiting time for medical services. Republicans agree with us - but their "waiting time" is for executing those on death row. That's right - their government is not killing people FAST ENOUGH so a bill has been introduced to strip rights to appeals so that the poor black man who had the only lawyer he could get can get wrongly executed as soon as possible.
Milgaard...Morin..Truscott - aren't you glad we don't have the death penalty?
Oh, and I heard a capital trial costs 5 to 10 times what it costs to imprison a person for life.
TF.
London
This isn't going to end soon.
It was only a matter of time before the terrorists hit London - we all knew that.
What is going to happen even more than it already is, is it will be a culture war: The West vs. Islam. Bush and Blair have already levelled two Islamic countries - one with an obvious tie to terrorism, 9/11 and subsequent attacks. Another, that, in 2003, had none at all. They succeeded in bringing terrorism to Iraq and now it's a war caused by a war.
Good people who happen to be Muslims and live in Western Countries are going to suffer more than they already have, for the actions of a few who use a peaceful religion as an excuse for violence.
I was literally shaking when I watched the WTC towers collapse in 2001. Yesterday, I was simply just angry that I belong to the same species that blows up subways and buses and has no regard for human life including their own.
As bad as Bush is, these people are 100 times worse.
What's next?
Tom.
It was only a matter of time before the terrorists hit London - we all knew that.
What is going to happen even more than it already is, is it will be a culture war: The West vs. Islam. Bush and Blair have already levelled two Islamic countries - one with an obvious tie to terrorism, 9/11 and subsequent attacks. Another, that, in 2003, had none at all. They succeeded in bringing terrorism to Iraq and now it's a war caused by a war.
Good people who happen to be Muslims and live in Western Countries are going to suffer more than they already have, for the actions of a few who use a peaceful religion as an excuse for violence.
I was literally shaking when I watched the WTC towers collapse in 2001. Yesterday, I was simply just angry that I belong to the same species that blows up subways and buses and has no regard for human life including their own.
As bad as Bush is, these people are 100 times worse.
What's next?
Tom.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
US Supreme Court
Give us your Hebes, your Spics and your Polocks,
.. so they may all be free to live
in their own part of town.
-Archie Bunker on "The Statue of Liberty".
If you have read Atwood's novel, you may notice that the Republic of Gilead is being set up south of us in "Jesusland".
The US supreme court has 9 persons - so a slim majority is 5-4. Sandra Day O'Connor has been the "swing" vote and she was about 50/50 for or against the Democrat or Republican viewpoint.
I think I'd be very suprised if Dubya doesn't put in a bible-thumpin' gun-totin' oil-baron in her place. Then watch gay rights be quashed, abortion outlawed and the obliteration of the separation of church and state.
We may have to tighten our border with all the refugess from the "red" states moving to Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver with the huddled masses yearning to be free.
We may have a section of Toronto called "Little Boston" where you can get the best beans in town.
"Freedom" to Dubya means only who and what HIS PEOPLE say you are free to do.
TF
.. so they may all be free to live
in their own part of town.
-Archie Bunker on "The Statue of Liberty".
If you have read Atwood's novel, you may notice that the Republic of Gilead is being set up south of us in "Jesusland".
The US supreme court has 9 persons - so a slim majority is 5-4. Sandra Day O'Connor has been the "swing" vote and she was about 50/50 for or against the Democrat or Republican viewpoint.
I think I'd be very suprised if Dubya doesn't put in a bible-thumpin' gun-totin' oil-baron in her place. Then watch gay rights be quashed, abortion outlawed and the obliteration of the separation of church and state.
We may have to tighten our border with all the refugess from the "red" states moving to Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver with the huddled masses yearning to be free.
We may have a section of Toronto called "Little Boston" where you can get the best beans in town.
"Freedom" to Dubya means only who and what HIS PEOPLE say you are free to do.
TF
Karla
Did anyone else catch that performance last night? It's nice to know that a person can be insincere in two languages. She admitted she, what, "made some mistakes"? OK: You kill one person and realize it was a mistake, but after the 2nd and the 3rd, that argument gets rather weak. And there would have been a 4th, 5th,6th..... had they not been caught.
Her boyfriend in prison is doing a few lifes for murdering his girlfriend. I can just see his first fate with Karla "Oh, you kill people? Why, ME TOO. It's so nice that we have things in common!!".
TF
Her boyfriend in prison is doing a few lifes for murdering his girlfriend. I can just see his first fate with Karla "Oh, you kill people? Why, ME TOO. It's so nice that we have things in common!!".
TF
Monday, July 04, 2005
That 70s dog
I happened to catch a re-run of "That 70s show" and they brought the weiner dog back - "oh we still have him? I haven't sen him for a year", says Eric. Yes, in tv-land dogs fade in and out of existence like a sub-atomic particle (element #204: Dachshundium).
That's still better than the oldest sibling losses of the 60s and 70s (Mike from "My Three Sons" and Chuck from "Happy Days").
And NO The Beaver did not "buy" it in "Nam".
Tom.
That's still better than the oldest sibling losses of the 60s and 70s (Mike from "My Three Sons" and Chuck from "Happy Days").
And NO The Beaver did not "buy" it in "Nam".
Tom.
Celebrity
I once saw "celebrity" defined as someone who is "famous for being famous". Elizabeth Taylor seemed to personify this - by the 1980s she hadn't done much acting for years.
Einstein and Gandhi deserved to be famous as did Stalin and Hitler for the opposite reason.
But sometime since the 80s, rock stars began to start preaching political policy and skinny blondes with chiuhuahuas had their every move publicized (includng their forays into porn) just because they are rich, as an ancestor of theirs did interesting things that made lots of money.
John Lennon stayed in bed for peace, which was fine, but Bob Geldof and Bono need to shut up now and then.
Tom Cruise is an actor with a very limited range (what he does well he does well and that's it) and I can't imagine the presses of The New England Journal of Medicine were stopped when he added to the sum total knowledge of psychiatry. I know nothing about scientology, but I know I don't like relgions with self-esteem so low they keep looking for people to join so they can feel better about themselves. I prefer my old religion, Catholicism, where they kick people out (or burn them at the stake..).
It's like the modern versions of the idols from teen mags of the 70s (where Donny Osmond's favourite colour and Shaun Cassidy's favourite food were discussed) have now moved into the adult news. When your acne clears up and you get a job, you are supposed to grow up, aren't you??
TF
Einstein and Gandhi deserved to be famous as did Stalin and Hitler for the opposite reason.
But sometime since the 80s, rock stars began to start preaching political policy and skinny blondes with chiuhuahuas had their every move publicized (includng their forays into porn) just because they are rich, as an ancestor of theirs did interesting things that made lots of money.
John Lennon stayed in bed for peace, which was fine, but Bob Geldof and Bono need to shut up now and then.
Tom Cruise is an actor with a very limited range (what he does well he does well and that's it) and I can't imagine the presses of The New England Journal of Medicine were stopped when he added to the sum total knowledge of psychiatry. I know nothing about scientology, but I know I don't like relgions with self-esteem so low they keep looking for people to join so they can feel better about themselves. I prefer my old religion, Catholicism, where they kick people out (or burn them at the stake..).
It's like the modern versions of the idols from teen mags of the 70s (where Donny Osmond's favourite colour and Shaun Cassidy's favourite food were discussed) have now moved into the adult news. When your acne clears up and you get a job, you are supposed to grow up, aren't you??
TF
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Blogpods
As I am composing this , half of my web browser shows the usual web page panel, and the other half has a window that plays, using the USB TV tuner, a little television. This saves me from craning my neck to look at my real television when I hear something that I want to see. This is one example of how electronic (including computerized gadgets) have changed soooo much, even in the last ten years.
I understand that I have more of these things then the average person ( what - you don't ALL have a TV tuner card??), but I would bet that all of you have a number of the same devices that have changed the way we do certain things. I will set this up comparing 1975, 1995 and 2005.
Movies
1975 You had to go to a theatre, or hope it was played on a local tv station (cut to shreds).
1995 You could go to a theatre, or rent or purchase the VHS tape. If you had 2 VCRs you could rent a tape and copy it. You could subscribe to pay-tv and watch/record it.
2005 All of the above, plus download it from the internet (not really legal) or rent/buy the DVD
(which you can illegally copy at home with a DVD burner).
Television Shows
1975 Pre-cable: You had 5 or 6 channels to choose from and you had to watch the broadcast or wait for the re-run.
1995 The above, or tape it on VHS and watch it later.
2005 All of the above plus many options including a DVD or a TV tuner box attached to your computer, or download the show off of the internet. For the digital options you can watch it on your PC as well as your TV.
Home Music/ Sound (pre-recorded)
1975 You went to the store and bought the vinyl or 8-track or casette. You could record your friend's record but there was a definite quality loss.
1995 mostly the same except CDs had replaced records. CD burners were new, so you could copy a CD with no quality loss at all, but this was expensive and nobody yet had it.
2005 The above for a "hard copy". If you can live with MP3 (I can't tell any quality difference) you can play it on your computer, stereo or hook the TV and the stereo together. One DVD can hold about 30 albums worth of MP3 on a single disk. A hard drive can store hundreds of albums. You can hook-up your portable MP3 player to your computer or your stereo...well, you get the point. I didn't even deal with "DAT".
Portable Sound (pre-recorded)(not including cars or boats)
1975 nada; squat; bupkes. You brought your guitar with you to the park.
1995 Casette players and CD players that skipped every 4 seconds.
2005 CD and casette players, MP3 players, portable DVD players.
Portable, personal Phone
1975 What????? What do you mean?? Your words: they say nothing. Banacek, on TV, had a phone in his car but he was f^&*'n rich.
1995 Analog cellphone - very big sized phone. expensive.
2005 Digital cellphones that take pictures, play MP3s, use GPS, surf the web and, oh yeah, make phone calls with airtime that is not very expensive. In Japan you can pay for parking with your cellphone.
Portable Radio
1975 small and not good sound, or large and took 8 "D" batteries that lasted maybe 3 hours.
1995 Much smaller radios - batteries last for hours.
2005 same as 1995 plus you can download radio files (podcast) and play on your portable audio
player.
Y'all see what I mean.
Tom.
I understand that I have more of these things then the average person ( what - you don't ALL have a TV tuner card??), but I would bet that all of you have a number of the same devices that have changed the way we do certain things. I will set this up comparing 1975, 1995 and 2005.
Movies
1975 You had to go to a theatre, or hope it was played on a local tv station (cut to shreds).
1995 You could go to a theatre, or rent or purchase the VHS tape. If you had 2 VCRs you could rent a tape and copy it. You could subscribe to pay-tv and watch/record it.
2005 All of the above, plus download it from the internet (not really legal) or rent/buy the DVD
(which you can illegally copy at home with a DVD burner).
Television Shows
1975 Pre-cable: You had 5 or 6 channels to choose from and you had to watch the broadcast or wait for the re-run.
1995 The above, or tape it on VHS and watch it later.
2005 All of the above plus many options including a DVD or a TV tuner box attached to your computer, or download the show off of the internet. For the digital options you can watch it on your PC as well as your TV.
Home Music/ Sound (pre-recorded)
1975 You went to the store and bought the vinyl or 8-track or casette. You could record your friend's record but there was a definite quality loss.
1995 mostly the same except CDs had replaced records. CD burners were new, so you could copy a CD with no quality loss at all, but this was expensive and nobody yet had it.
2005 The above for a "hard copy". If you can live with MP3 (I can't tell any quality difference) you can play it on your computer, stereo or hook the TV and the stereo together. One DVD can hold about 30 albums worth of MP3 on a single disk. A hard drive can store hundreds of albums. You can hook-up your portable MP3 player to your computer or your stereo...well, you get the point. I didn't even deal with "DAT".
Portable Sound (pre-recorded)(not including cars or boats)
1975 nada; squat; bupkes. You brought your guitar with you to the park.
1995 Casette players and CD players that skipped every 4 seconds.
2005 CD and casette players, MP3 players, portable DVD players.
Portable, personal Phone
1975 What????? What do you mean?? Your words: they say nothing. Banacek, on TV, had a phone in his car but he was f^&*'n rich.
1995 Analog cellphone - very big sized phone. expensive.
2005 Digital cellphones that take pictures, play MP3s, use GPS, surf the web and, oh yeah, make phone calls with airtime that is not very expensive. In Japan you can pay for parking with your cellphone.
Portable Radio
1975 small and not good sound, or large and took 8 "D" batteries that lasted maybe 3 hours.
1995 Much smaller radios - batteries last for hours.
2005 same as 1995 plus you can download radio files (podcast) and play on your portable audio
player.
Y'all see what I mean.
Tom.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Fromage
There isn't much French about me anymore except a mostly French name and a love of wine and (especially) cheese.
Now did you ever do something, you were pretty sure what the outcome would be, but you did it anyway? I was at the grocery store after work the other day and I was "out" of Brie (yeah like normal people are "out of milk" - [I had friends at unversity, a couple and the wife once said "honey, we're out of drugs"] but that is a double diversion).
Brie ain't cheap - not the stuff from France, anyway. But I saw a big wheel of the generic brand for a fraction of the price of the French stuff. So I decided to try it, but since my name, "Fortin", in the original French means in some regions of France (the ones that do not appear on the map), "he who hedges his bets" I also scooped the usual chunk of Brie as well.
Guess what folks - Brie made in Canada tastes just fine, as a nice cheese - BUT IT AIN'T BRIE - heck it's not even "runny" as The Monty Python "Cheese Shop SKetch" would phrase it.
Oh it won't go to waste -but before it's last tidbit is gone there will have been several real Brie slabs purchased and consumed.
Viva La Brie Libre
TF
Now did you ever do something, you were pretty sure what the outcome would be, but you did it anyway? I was at the grocery store after work the other day and I was "out" of Brie (yeah like normal people are "out of milk" - [I had friends at unversity, a couple and the wife once said "honey, we're out of drugs"] but that is a double diversion).
Brie ain't cheap - not the stuff from France, anyway. But I saw a big wheel of the generic brand for a fraction of the price of the French stuff. So I decided to try it, but since my name, "Fortin", in the original French means in some regions of France (the ones that do not appear on the map), "he who hedges his bets" I also scooped the usual chunk of Brie as well.
Guess what folks - Brie made in Canada tastes just fine, as a nice cheese - BUT IT AIN'T BRIE - heck it's not even "runny" as The Monty Python "Cheese Shop SKetch" would phrase it.
Oh it won't go to waste -but before it's last tidbit is gone there will have been several real Brie slabs purchased and consumed.
Viva La Brie Libre
TF
Monday, May 23, 2005
Liberal
We shall look into this,
When it has been determined,
That there is something to look into.
-Martin Short, playing Pierre Trudeau
Politically, I am a pretty orange liberal. Sometimes I think I let myself get too mad at the NDP beacuse I take them too much at their word, but man do they piss me off almost as much as The Reform Party does (and under Harper they are still the Reform Party). There is a history.
Back in 1991 I was working in automobile insurance and The NDP was threatening to take my career away so I hated the NDP as the enemy. They were going to take food out of my children's mouthes as they say (you know, if I had any). When Rae backed off on this because it would have made an awful mess, and because it was not a core "promise" on which the voters elected him, I was obviously relieved.
Rae was the only NDP-er I ever saw in power. I don't follow politics in B.C. Rae used to mouth-off as leader of the opposition, but when it came to actually governing, he knew the difference and he did a pretty good job. Bob suffered from the Joe Clark-Jimmy Carter syndrome: he was too nice a guy, he told the truth and he was not a great politician. (Examples of "great politicians": Bill Clinton, Pierre Trudeau, Bill Davis, Adolf Hitler).
Layton played his cards well - The NDP is The Liberals' conscience. Like Fred Flintstone and other cartoon characters, they are the little angel while Harper is the little devil (I am evil Homer....I am evil Homer...).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Linda McQuaig in The Toronto Star made a point that I had thought of myself years ago. This is something Americans don't "get". Not breaking promises and doing what you said you would do are not, just by themselve, indications that you are doing a good job in power. Two who kept their promises: Adolf Hitler, Mike Harris. If Paul Martin changes his mind (on one of the rare times he has mades it up in the first place), it is not automatically bad for that reason alone. If Dubya wants to play star wars in space let him and keep us out of it.
Martin does not totally deserve the Mr Dithers title - but he almost does.
Thomas
When it has been determined,
That there is something to look into.
-Martin Short, playing Pierre Trudeau
Politically, I am a pretty orange liberal. Sometimes I think I let myself get too mad at the NDP beacuse I take them too much at their word, but man do they piss me off almost as much as The Reform Party does (and under Harper they are still the Reform Party). There is a history.
Back in 1991 I was working in automobile insurance and The NDP was threatening to take my career away so I hated the NDP as the enemy. They were going to take food out of my children's mouthes as they say (you know, if I had any). When Rae backed off on this because it would have made an awful mess, and because it was not a core "promise" on which the voters elected him, I was obviously relieved.
Rae was the only NDP-er I ever saw in power. I don't follow politics in B.C. Rae used to mouth-off as leader of the opposition, but when it came to actually governing, he knew the difference and he did a pretty good job. Bob suffered from the Joe Clark-Jimmy Carter syndrome: he was too nice a guy, he told the truth and he was not a great politician. (Examples of "great politicians": Bill Clinton, Pierre Trudeau, Bill Davis, Adolf Hitler).
Layton played his cards well - The NDP is The Liberals' conscience. Like Fred Flintstone and other cartoon characters, they are the little angel while Harper is the little devil (I am evil Homer....I am evil Homer...).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Linda McQuaig in The Toronto Star made a point that I had thought of myself years ago. This is something Americans don't "get". Not breaking promises and doing what you said you would do are not, just by themselve, indications that you are doing a good job in power. Two who kept their promises: Adolf Hitler, Mike Harris. If Paul Martin changes his mind (on one of the rare times he has mades it up in the first place), it is not automatically bad for that reason alone. If Dubya wants to play star wars in space let him and keep us out of it.
Martin does not totally deserve the Mr Dithers title - but he almost does.
Thomas
R.I.P. Trial by Jury
I used to be "with it".
Then they changed what "it" was, and I wasn't anymore.
Abraham "Grandpa" Simpson
I have been an avid Law and Order junky since 1995. I picked up Law & Order Sports Utility Vehicle in 1999 and have watched it ever since. I refused, for 3 years, to watch a single episode of Criminal Intent. Then I watched one. Then I got hooked. Then I bought the DVDS...
Learning my Criminal Intent lesson, I watched Trail by Jury from the start. But Jerry Orbach was supposed to be in it and without him it just did not have "it". D.A. Lillith is always a treat to look at, but she was better when she was having sex with Frasier Crane or Commander Riker ( a good "character" actor). She was not strong enought to carry the lead in a drama series. Her sidekick (played by Amy Carlson) was just BORING.
I think us Lorderers like seeing cops more than lawyers - Mike Logan getting his butt burned, trying to predict which "perps" Eliot Stabler is going to belt, and what weird trivia Robert Goren will throw at a suspect (he's the most Columbo-esque detective in the franchise).
SVU and CI are both cop-driven and lawyers play a secondary role.
In fact, on the original Law and Order, they change the assistant to McCoy what, um, like every 4 1/2 epsiodes - they even threw a blonde in there to see if we were paying attention.
This Fall Mike Logan returns YEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH.
TF.
Then they changed what "it" was, and I wasn't anymore.
Abraham "Grandpa" Simpson
I have been an avid Law and Order junky since 1995. I picked up Law & Order Sports Utility Vehicle in 1999 and have watched it ever since. I refused, for 3 years, to watch a single episode of Criminal Intent. Then I watched one. Then I got hooked. Then I bought the DVDS...
Learning my Criminal Intent lesson, I watched Trail by Jury from the start. But Jerry Orbach was supposed to be in it and without him it just did not have "it". D.A. Lillith is always a treat to look at, but she was better when she was having sex with Frasier Crane or Commander Riker ( a good "character" actor). She was not strong enought to carry the lead in a drama series. Her sidekick (played by Amy Carlson) was just BORING.
I think us Lorderers like seeing cops more than lawyers - Mike Logan getting his butt burned, trying to predict which "perps" Eliot Stabler is going to belt, and what weird trivia Robert Goren will throw at a suspect (he's the most Columbo-esque detective in the franchise).
SVU and CI are both cop-driven and lawyers play a secondary role.
In fact, on the original Law and Order, they change the assistant to McCoy what, um, like every 4 1/2 epsiodes - they even threw a blonde in there to see if we were paying attention.
This Fall Mike Logan returns YEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH.
TF.
Americans
Once again I re-state what is symbolic of what is wrong with the American view of life (and even worse the Canadian because we do this crap as well). I am reminded of this as the Star Wars final prequel is out and making buckets of money.
In England, France and Italy, they judge a movie by whether it's any good as a movie. In Amurka, it is judged by how much money it makes. If this isn't dumb enough, they don't even adjust for inflation. It costs, what - $10 U.S. to see a movie - what did it cost to see Gone With The Wind or The Wizard of Oz - a nickel? a dime??
Another thought and I am paraphrasing someone else's words (I don't remember who). In England they take people who can act, and give them acting jobs. In America they take pretty people and try and teach them how to act. Canada follows the US lead on this. In fact, we export our pretties to Hollywood.
TF
In England, France and Italy, they judge a movie by whether it's any good as a movie. In Amurka, it is judged by how much money it makes. If this isn't dumb enough, they don't even adjust for inflation. It costs, what - $10 U.S. to see a movie - what did it cost to see Gone With The Wind or The Wizard of Oz - a nickel? a dime??
Another thought and I am paraphrasing someone else's words (I don't remember who). In England they take people who can act, and give them acting jobs. In America they take pretty people and try and teach them how to act. Canada follows the US lead on this. In fact, we export our pretties to Hollywood.
TF
Movie Reviews
These I watched for the first time in the last week.
Team America: World Police
The South Park guys move from cartoons to puppets. WARNING: Graphic scenes of puppet sex. The warning is because it's the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. It can't move totally away from South Park - you think "oh that's the Cartman voice" or "that's Mr Garrison's voice". If you like South Park and not Dubya, you will like this movie. The Team's theme song:
America
FUCK YA
We're here to save the motherfuckin' day.
The Incredibles
Animation this time. You get pretty much what you expect from this one. Certainly a good movie.
I, Robot
I was determined not to like this movie because it was going to be so different from the Asimov short stories that were bound together in the I, Robot book. But I haven't read that book in almost a decade so I have forgotten the details which means I wasn't comparing it to the book. Will Smith does his job, well, because the character seems to have been written for him. I guess in 2035 there are still "I'm Black" jokes, although there was only one in the movie so that's not bad.
The CGI was beyond good. The robots were awesome.
I think Isaac would have enjoyed it.
TF
Team America: World Police
The South Park guys move from cartoons to puppets. WARNING: Graphic scenes of puppet sex. The warning is because it's the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. It can't move totally away from South Park - you think "oh that's the Cartman voice" or "that's Mr Garrison's voice". If you like South Park and not Dubya, you will like this movie. The Team's theme song:
America
FUCK YA
We're here to save the motherfuckin' day.
The Incredibles
Animation this time. You get pretty much what you expect from this one. Certainly a good movie.
I, Robot
I was determined not to like this movie because it was going to be so different from the Asimov short stories that were bound together in the I, Robot book. But I haven't read that book in almost a decade so I have forgotten the details which means I wasn't comparing it to the book. Will Smith does his job, well, because the character seems to have been written for him. I guess in 2035 there are still "I'm Black" jokes, although there was only one in the movie so that's not bad.
The CGI was beyond good. The robots were awesome.
I think Isaac would have enjoyed it.
TF
Saturday, May 21, 2005
R.I.P. Enterprise
"With just the cat to talk to,
And I've so much to say".
- A Stan Rogers Song (can't remember the title)
in 1978 there was no Star Trek but there was Battlestar Galactica.
Again in 2005.
Much as I loved the first year of BG in 1978 and all it's campiness (Galactica 1980 was awful), the 2005 version is much better just as Deep Space Nine was much better than the original Star Trek, but owed everything to the series' that went before. On to Enterprise. Their 5 year mission continues on in syndication.
They did a lot right on Enterprise but they did the rightest stuff too late. With Next Gen, DS9 and Voyager all set in the same time frame, it was a good move to go back and going back to BK (Before Kirk) was a good move. But that meant we'd all want to see what we see in the latest Star Wars trilogy: it's ok to go back but you have to lead up to where it began. In SW we want to see Darth Vader evolve and Luke and Leia born. For Enterprise, we want to see events and species that lead right up to Kirk, Spock and Bones.
It was good that right there in the Enterprise pilot were The Klingons. YEAH. We all wanted to see the Human-Klingon war that had already cooled into cold war by Kirk's time. We did not get it. We got Ferengi and we got Borg. DUMBASS! These species were new to Picard - we Trekkers know our Trek history better than our own family tree.
Another thing Enterprise did was what all 4 series' after the original did way too much: re-hash old plots. I can't think of a perfect example here but I could come up with them very easily if I looked.
There was little direction by season 2. Season 3 did a year-long diversion which was very good.
Season 4 FINALLY showed us Tholians and those dog-faced people who hate the Andorians, and even Dr Soong's ancestor, but by the time the good stuff aired, Enterprise was cancelled.
I don't blame Enterprise for fizzling or UPN for cancelling it - after all, trek was bound to get stale after 19 seasons with one, sometimes two series going on.
Mr Berman, please give it a few years rest and let's come back fresh!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Good Characters from ENTERPRISE:
Archer, Flox, T'Pol, Trip and Shran (anything done by Jeffrey Combs always is),
The Vulcan Ambassador.
Characters that missed the mark:
Reed (good but inconsistent)
Hoshi (too "girly" in a 60s sitcom way but what a cutie!)
Travis (either he can't act or they gave him poor lines).
Best Guest Star (Shran considered semi-regular):
Brent Spiner of course!
Honorable mention to Joanna Cassidy: always a great actress! From Blade Runner babe to Vulcan wacky Mother.
Thomas
And I've so much to say".
- A Stan Rogers Song (can't remember the title)
in 1978 there was no Star Trek but there was Battlestar Galactica.
Again in 2005.
Much as I loved the first year of BG in 1978 and all it's campiness (Galactica 1980 was awful), the 2005 version is much better just as Deep Space Nine was much better than the original Star Trek, but owed everything to the series' that went before. On to Enterprise. Their 5 year mission continues on in syndication.
They did a lot right on Enterprise but they did the rightest stuff too late. With Next Gen, DS9 and Voyager all set in the same time frame, it was a good move to go back and going back to BK (Before Kirk) was a good move. But that meant we'd all want to see what we see in the latest Star Wars trilogy: it's ok to go back but you have to lead up to where it began. In SW we want to see Darth Vader evolve and Luke and Leia born. For Enterprise, we want to see events and species that lead right up to Kirk, Spock and Bones.
It was good that right there in the Enterprise pilot were The Klingons. YEAH. We all wanted to see the Human-Klingon war that had already cooled into cold war by Kirk's time. We did not get it. We got Ferengi and we got Borg. DUMBASS! These species were new to Picard - we Trekkers know our Trek history better than our own family tree.
Another thing Enterprise did was what all 4 series' after the original did way too much: re-hash old plots. I can't think of a perfect example here but I could come up with them very easily if I looked.
There was little direction by season 2. Season 3 did a year-long diversion which was very good.
Season 4 FINALLY showed us Tholians and those dog-faced people who hate the Andorians, and even Dr Soong's ancestor, but by the time the good stuff aired, Enterprise was cancelled.
I don't blame Enterprise for fizzling or UPN for cancelling it - after all, trek was bound to get stale after 19 seasons with one, sometimes two series going on.
Mr Berman, please give it a few years rest and let's come back fresh!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Good Characters from ENTERPRISE:
Archer, Flox, T'Pol, Trip and Shran (anything done by Jeffrey Combs always is),
The Vulcan Ambassador.
Characters that missed the mark:
Reed (good but inconsistent)
Hoshi (too "girly" in a 60s sitcom way but what a cutie!)
Travis (either he can't act or they gave him poor lines).
Best Guest Star (Shran considered semi-regular):
Brent Spiner of course!
Honorable mention to Joanna Cassidy: always a great actress! From Blade Runner babe to Vulcan wacky Mother.
Thomas
I wrote this one back in 2002: SPAM
This is what I get in my e-mail most days.
1. Apparently my penis needs to be enlarged - must be the case because I get three e-mails a day on this subject. Good thing - otherwise I would never have known that I had this problem. Just one time I wish I'd get told I need my brain made smaller.
1a: I need Viagra to make it work.
2. I need to spend more money on internet pornography. There is much I could do in this area because my average monthly expenditure, including taxes, shipping and handling is, ok I will round this off, $0.00. And most of the stuff I am supposed to buy includes barnyard animals, 18 year old girls who look 13 and involves acts that most of us choose to confine to the bathroom. This is just plain insulting. I am 39, single all my life, straight, and I am a total computer geek. Has it never occured to these people that a guy like me would have years ago figured out how to get any and all the porn off of the internet he needs FOR FREE????????????????
3. I don't gamble enough. Once again other than a poker game every few years I spend $0.00 a month on gambling. I certainly having nothing against gambling as long as you can still buy your daughter those $250 designer jeans she wants every six weeks and you don't loose your house, your spouse or your enitire family. Not for me - I drink, I smoke, and the very very very last thing I need is another stupid habit that costs me money.
(P.S. Maybe since I don't smoke anymore I should now take up gambling TF, 2005).
1. Apparently my penis needs to be enlarged - must be the case because I get three e-mails a day on this subject. Good thing - otherwise I would never have known that I had this problem. Just one time I wish I'd get told I need my brain made smaller.
1a: I need Viagra to make it work.
2. I need to spend more money on internet pornography. There is much I could do in this area because my average monthly expenditure, including taxes, shipping and handling is, ok I will round this off, $0.00. And most of the stuff I am supposed to buy includes barnyard animals, 18 year old girls who look 13 and involves acts that most of us choose to confine to the bathroom. This is just plain insulting. I am 39, single all my life, straight, and I am a total computer geek. Has it never occured to these people that a guy like me would have years ago figured out how to get any and all the porn off of the internet he needs FOR FREE????????????????
3. I don't gamble enough. Once again other than a poker game every few years I spend $0.00 a month on gambling. I certainly having nothing against gambling as long as you can still buy your daughter those $250 designer jeans she wants every six weeks and you don't loose your house, your spouse or your enitire family. Not for me - I drink, I smoke, and the very very very last thing I need is another stupid habit that costs me money.
(P.S. Maybe since I don't smoke anymore I should now take up gambling TF, 2005).
This was written back in 2002: Dachshund
Once upon a time many years ago, my grandfather had a dachshund named Dirky. Dirk's favourite spot was right on grampa's lap. One time, Dirk, who was still a pup at the time, chewed a rather large hole in grampa's sweater while he was sleeping until my grandmother came into the room, woke up Grampa, and fired the dog outside.
Well, on "That 70's show", they recently got a dachshund named "Shotzie". This week the whole family was over to Eric's place for Thanksgiving dinner. The last scene featured Eric's grandfather (played by Tom Poston) passed out drunk in a chair and Schotzie is right there on grampa's lap, licking himself. I howled for about 10 minutes after I saw that scene.
Well, on "That 70's show", they recently got a dachshund named "Shotzie". This week the whole family was over to Eric's place for Thanksgiving dinner. The last scene featured Eric's grandfather (played by Tom Poston) passed out drunk in a chair and Schotzie is right there on grampa's lap, licking himself. I howled for about 10 minutes after I saw that scene.
Sayings
"Money doesn't talk, it swears"
-Bob Dylan
These are a few thoughts that don't have much to do with each other other than most examine "sayings" or ideas. I am not sure if these are all original.
There was at least one road that did not lead to Rome - try the one from Pompeii in 79 AD about 2 seconds after Vesuvius stopped erupting.
In the 70s we hated drinking water out of a plastic container - better to get the "fresh" stuff right from the tap.
If the meek were to inherit the earth, they'd get muscled out of it as soon as the non-meek members of their offspring grew up and organized.
Most people, and Americans (and probably even me), who ally with one specific political party, speak as if their party should always be in power - but would we want a one-party system? Didn't we fight wars, cold or otherwise, to prevent just that?
In the 70s VW bugs and Austin Minis were cheap cars - now they are luxury vehicles.
A dog hates it when you blow in his face but get him in the car at 100 KPH and he sticks his head right out of the window and just loves it.
Some people like dogs, some cats, some birds and so on. I think almost everyone likes horses.
I don't think it's true that "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". If we are speaking of "it" in terms of it being capable of killing you, then whatever doesn't kill you probably weakens you and weakens you by quite a lot. Ok: If you're talking about Lance Armstrong then in that case I am wrong.
"Less is not more - MORE is more"
-Miss Piggy
Thomas
May 21 2005
-Bob Dylan
These are a few thoughts that don't have much to do with each other other than most examine "sayings" or ideas. I am not sure if these are all original.
There was at least one road that did not lead to Rome - try the one from Pompeii in 79 AD about 2 seconds after Vesuvius stopped erupting.
In the 70s we hated drinking water out of a plastic container - better to get the "fresh" stuff right from the tap.
If the meek were to inherit the earth, they'd get muscled out of it as soon as the non-meek members of their offspring grew up and organized.
Most people, and Americans (and probably even me), who ally with one specific political party, speak as if their party should always be in power - but would we want a one-party system? Didn't we fight wars, cold or otherwise, to prevent just that?
In the 70s VW bugs and Austin Minis were cheap cars - now they are luxury vehicles.
A dog hates it when you blow in his face but get him in the car at 100 KPH and he sticks his head right out of the window and just loves it.
Some people like dogs, some cats, some birds and so on. I think almost everyone likes horses.
I don't think it's true that "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". If we are speaking of "it" in terms of it being capable of killing you, then whatever doesn't kill you probably weakens you and weakens you by quite a lot. Ok: If you're talking about Lance Armstrong then in that case I am wrong.
"Less is not more - MORE is more"
-Miss Piggy
Thomas
May 21 2005
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