It's being reported as an estimate that Michael Jackson was some $400 million in debt. To which I say, maybe I'm not doing that badly after all.
Thank you, God, for keeping me away from wealth and fame! With wealth like that, I guess I prefer my normal life.
Who's the happiest guy in the world that Michael and Farrah died? Mark Sanford. The news has forgotten him!
In other stupidity, how about Rush's assertion that Sanford's affair is President Obama's fault? Is it just me or does the party of "responsibility" always have someone else to blame for their troubles? That's a contradiction, in case you haven't noticed.
How did Obama manage to trip up Sanford in an affair. By passing the stimulus bill, which drove Sanford to distraction, so much so that he abandoned his wife and children and went to Argentina to have an affair with Maria. This is a great theory, because according to this theory Obama can do anything. Watch out, Rush, or he'll work his mojo on you...
As much as it'd be great if Obama were able to do this to his political enemies, of course Sanford was having an affair with Maria at least as early as July 2008, long before the stimulus. But how great it'd be!
I'm for people living double lives, secret lives as much as the next guy. Who doesn't like occasionally to dress up like Superman and jump off the chicken house?
But when you're a politician, and perhaps have your sights on higher office, we expect you to be settled down and a little more predictable.
Republican Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina is showing a whole weird side, and doesn't sound like someone we could count on. He gets stressed out (from the stimulus fight in South Carolina) so he runs away? What kind of demeanor would he have, let's say, as a presidential candidate? Now you see him, now you don't.
Couple it with all the conflicting stories. Either no one knew where this guy was or they were all lying. First he was on the Appalachian trail, then he claims he ended up somehow in Argentina, alone, he says -- he insists he was alone. He says he was driving the coast down there, apparently trying to clear his head.
Really, really nice. As flighty as they come.
I'm interested in how many Paul Simon references there are today. I checked the Google blogs search thing for the last day and there was almost 1,400. Exactly how many of these were related to the Kodachrome announcement, I don't know, but it looks like a bunch.
Some products I expect to be with us forever. I hadn't ever considered it, but I would never have thought I'd outlive Kodak film, for crying out loud. All because of our love for digital cameras. Which is understandable, because going to all the trouble and expense with film these days, for the average guy, is crazy.
I wonder what Paul Simon thinks about all the attention today!
There was a soap opera ending after 70 or 75 years. Before that Polaroid. Now Kodak.
We had a missing governor? That's a new one!
"It's 10 o'clock. Do you know where your governor is?"
In South Carolina they had to say NO there for a while, when Republican Gov. Mark Sanford went missing. Where he went, I don't know. Since I've never seen him, he's always been missing to me. But there are those who are in contact with him on a normal basis, and they were thinking, Hmm, he disappeared.
Someone was accusing him of "erratic behavior," and this sounds like something that would fit the description. But who hasn't felt like getting away from it all for a while? So if he's out catting around somewhere in disguise, that's his business.
Whatever he's doing, it's between him, his wife, and his shrink. And maybe his priest if he has anything to confess afterward. And being a Republican, he probably does.
This is the third in a burst of three "inner piranha" posts today. It suddenly came to me that this would be a good thing to do, after having written the first one. I will supply links after the third one is written. But I need to write while my inner piranha gives me the energy to do so, because as I said in the first two posts, and shall repeat, albeit not word for word...
My inner piranha tonight is a very tired fish.
You inner piranha is that force that allows you to be engaged actively with existence in an energetic, driving way. You see something, you go for it. You see a bargain, you grab it. You have an opportunity, you have seconds to spare, and it's Fish To The Rescue. He tears, chews, munches his way from start to finish. The shortest distance between any two points is not a straight line, it's a piranha who chews his way there, whether he has to make a circle to get there.
Every challenge you have, release your inner piranha and it will be dead meat. The fish has teeth like steel and an appetite to match. His drive is full of force. He arrives. That's what I do. I see an enormous task ahead of me. I have a method then of connecting to the void of every cell of my body simultaneously, which is where the piranha hovers up and down, like a carnival fish trapped in a tiny cup of water. The difference between these two fishes is that the piranha is a super hero and comes forth with unmatchable powers. The carnival fish is just hoping for a bigger cup.
So once I see the challenge and I make that connection, things start happening. I might raise my arms. I might raise my legs. But in any case, my body (mentally) becomes like a Swiss Army knife, able to do anything. Because the inner piranha is streaming forth, biting, chewing, drilling though to make dead meat of my task.
I get the job done. I have the willpower. I prevail.
But it's a give and take relationship, meaning I also have to give. The piranha needs to do more than work like a dog. It needs some downtime, some interesting things to do, some meat that is supplied is some way other than work. It wants to kick up its tail, settle back on its fins, and enjoy a plate of meat at a more leisurely pace. Just for the fun of it.
Lately, though, I haven't been true to my piranha's needs. And that doesn't bode well for the future, like let's say tomorrow. I might see a challenge, lift my leg and nothing will happen. Then I'll lift my arm and nothing's there. Soon the cells in which he lives will start shrinking, meaning he is shrinking, or, worse, has deserted me or has died.
Take care, dear friends. Take care of you inner piranha, and you'll have no better friend in your life.
[UPDATE: What is given above is the third of my three "inner piranha" posts today. The other two can be found, the first at Boy Leg and the second at Dada Boheme. Please note the many differences. This is a lot more work than I needed to do tonight. But my inner piranha wanted to get this accomplish, for his own purposes as much as my own.]
Christmas in June? 'Fraid so. At least on the music front.
In my never ending (foolish) quest to gather up all the decent castoff CDs of other people, I see a lot of Christmas ones. I can't even remember if I've bought any recently. There's nothing real memorable that sticks out.
Except this one ... "Now That's What I Call Christmas," a two CD set from 2001 that has "36 classic songs from Christmas past and present."
I was a little reluctant to get it since I already have lots of these songs on other CDs. Certainly Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song." And I'm drifted in with copies of Bing's "White Christmas," including a 78 rpm of the first version somewhere, unless it's broken, a few 45s, maybe on an LP, and then CD. Elvis' "Blue Christmas" I think I have three or four different copies. Perry Como's "Home For The Holidays" is probably on the Christmas CD I have by him, and just this last season I made an MP3 of the 45. Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" is a slightly different story. I only had a 45 till this past Christmas, at which point I bought her Christmas CD. Now here it is on this collection too. The Beach Boys' "Little Saint Nick" I have in rich abundance. So for the first CD, I have most of these elsewhere. Maybe not Elmo & Patsy's "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer." And I certainly don't have anything by Kathy Mattea. I'm not too sure who she is, although I've heard of her.
The second CD is more up to date, meaning I don't have too many of them. John & Yoko's "Happy Xmas" is pretty old, so I have that on the 45 and on a CD. But most of the others are probably new to my personal collection. Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime," I don't believe I've ever owned that, which is hard to believe. I don't really like it that much. Michael Bolton's on here. I wonder what that'll sound like. Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas," I always avoid stuff like that and didn't get caught up in it at all at the time. Mannheim Steamroller. I see their Christmas albums all the time, dime a dozen. Now that I mention it, I believe I did buy a couple of them in the last year. There's someone on here just called Joe, a track called "This Christmas." I don't know Joe or the song. But if it's a "classic song," I look forward to hearing it.
I hemhawed a little over spending a couple bucks for this one. But here it is.
This video is so hilarious. Hilarious and sad at the same time. Fox News is so transparently corrupt, there's simply no shame.
"North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July," says this news story.
Does North Korea have a death wish? I wouldn't want to live in North Korea if that missile gets anywhere near Hawaii. Bye bye Kim Jong Il. You'll meet another "great leader," in Hell!
What a miserable fool. How about putting some energy into helping your people with food and the other basics of life?
I was playing records out of a box (45 rpm) and came across an oldie that I'd totally forgotten.
It's one my family used to play, called "Greedy Old Dog" by Tex Ritter. It's actually in pretty good condition, which is surprising for all the times I remember playing it. But it sounds very nice still.
The lesson in this song is based on a fable (parable?) about a greedy old dog. He's got a bone in his mouth and is crossing a bridge on his way home. He sees his reflection in the water below but doesn't realize it's him. He wants to grab the other dog's bone and ends up dropping the one he's carrying. Pretty good.
Then Tex relates this fable to partners, men and women, that if you're stealing someone's sweetheart you might lose your own. But I don't think he means that the woman you're stealing is just a reflection of your own, i.e., the same woman. It's the greediness that's at issue.
The record is on Capitol Records, mid '60s.
The Republicans in Congress today, except for only five, voted "No" on funding the troops.
Has the big guy said "Today we're all Iranians" yet? Probably not, since it would conflict with the McCain Doctrine for the region, which was "Bomb, bomb Iran."
Ha ha. Speaking of Georgia and all of us being Georgians, what's happening in our adopted country over there? And why don't we hear much about it anymore? Shouldn't John McCain be leading the way on our continuing solidarity with the people and whoever that leader they had was?
In other Republican scandals, what's his name? -- Sen. John Ensign of Nevada admitted an extramarital affair. Something about blackmail. So it's good to get this out there early, especially with 2012 coming. Maybe he can squeeze in under the McCain Rule, which said an old affair was OK.
At least he didn't pull a John Edwards, wait till the campaign was over with to mention it.
I heard a guy today, apparently an arch-conservative, who was really giving President Obama the business. According to him, Obama has "already ruined everything." He was speaking of Social Security, health care, and perhaps the Easter egg hunt, depending on how that went, which I thought was more or less OK.
Later I was thinking it over, that nobody forced the Republicans to spend eight years governing like criminals and bigots (against African Americans and Hispanics). Nobody forced them to give up key demographic groups. Nobody forced them to lie constantly to the American people. Nobody forced them to screw over the country and the world. Nobody forced them to spend us into the deepest hole of debt ever. Nobody forced them to ruin the economy. Nobody forced them into an ignorant war of choice.
If anyone is to blame for Obama being president (and actually I'm quite delighted he is president), the Republicans can look in the mirror.
So to this guy ... and every other person in the world like him ... bellyaching about Obama and the Democrats ... may you suffer everyday in a terrible way for the next eight years. And after that, if the Republicans still haven't got their act together, may you keep right on suffering.
We suffered through the Bush years. Now it's time for a taste of your own medicine.
I've always loved this album. It's one of those sentimental favorites from youth.
I still have the original version I bought of this when it first came out, which is the cassette. I don't know if I've ever had the LP on this one, and I know for sure I've never had the CD. Just that cassette.
I went and got it out a couple days ago and I notice the original case isn't with the tape, so that's not a good sign. But the tape is still in good enough condition.
I hooked up my MP3 recorder to the cassette player and recorded it off, then put the track on the computer and separated the tracks and made individual tagged MP3s out of those. So now the album is also on my Ipod.
It doesn't sound too bad, pretty good in fact. I liked it. I listened to the first half, then into the second half while exercising and it sounded fine. Then the short track "Carney," then the next song, then finally into "If The Shoe Fits" before needing to turn it off and drive home. That song used to be a real favorite, but, I don't know, it's not my utmost favorite. It's still fun though.
I almost bought the MP3 download at Amazon, but it was almost $10. I could probably get a used CD for cheaper than that. And anyway, I already have this cassette ... I may as well get my money's worth, if I haven't already after all these years!
