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« August 2006 | Main | October 2006 »

YouTube My Way — Thanks

Practically everyone now knows about YouTube and the other sites that allow users to upload videos.  Most folks probably just check out the “top favorites”, or “most watched” videos and move on.  If you have time, perhaps you peek at the “most recent” to see what other new — and often bizarre — videos people are uploading.  (I mean who really wants to see all those videos in foreign languages, clips of drunk teenagers puking, 20 second posts of various video games, 8 seconds from a Pee-Wee football game from who knows where, kids humping and bumping to their favorite rock song, snippets of cartoons and people ranting about every subject imaginable?)

Not me, thanks.

No, what I’ve been doing with YouTube is finding clips of singers and groups that I remember seeing as a kid — and those that I am too young to remember.  And then I’ve been sharing them with my 12–year old daughter.

She shows me Eminem and I show her Elvis.  I tell her that when I was a kid we all had hair like Elvis until the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan.  The next day my brothers and I all ditched the ducktail haircut and the Vaseline Jelly we used to slick our hair back — we wanted to look like the Beatles.

She finds a clip by Green Day and I find Gary Puckett & the Union Gap. 

When she asked what I listened to when I was very young (really what my parents listened to), I show her Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline.

She then shows me The Killers and System of a Down and I tell her how the groups look a lot like the hippies of my generation — and I show her Steppenwolf with my favorite song introduction of all time for Magic Carpet Ride.  (The hair and the clothes of these guys is priceless.)

Next she shows me Panic At The Disco and when I comment on the eye makeup the singer is using she enlightens me with the startling revelation that some singers are gay.  I click onto Queen so she can see the eye makeup of my generation and finally finish her off with The Village People. 

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Thanks for the memories, YouTube.

Posted by on September 25, 2020 at 06:22 PM in Music, Web/Tech | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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Kingdom Come by Tim Green

Kingdom Come by Tim Green

A short review

This novel is well written, has clever plot twists, presents important moral questions, has fast pacing, and is crafted with precision. On Amazon, the author writes that he asked himself the one question of “what would you kill for?” as a starting point for the book. He also says the story is loosely based on MacBeth.

The plot revolves around Thane Coder and his chance to head King Corp., a mega real estate company. When the company goes public, the CEO promotes his son Scott ahead of Thane. Thane and his ruthless wife Jessica do not intend to let Scott step ahead of him. Thane — with his ambitious wife’s urging — murders the CEO and frames Scott for the killing. Things begin unraveling fast and Thane more often then not turns again to his greedy and conniving wife Jessica for advice. As the noose tightens, Thane and Jessica play cat and mouse games with the FBI and the Mafia while the tension mounts on every page.   

Sounds like a great story, right?

Well, it would be if the lead characters weren’t so despicable.  I hated Thane and thought even less of his wife. It’s difficult to recommend a novel when you’re constantly hoping that the main characters get what’s coming to them.

Unless you’re prepared to read an entire novel about people who are so self-centered and callous that you’re just hoping they die horrible deaths, this book is probably not for you.

Buy it here.

Posted by on September 25, 2020 at 12:16 PM in Book Reviews, Books | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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President and McCain agree on rules for Interrogations

In my mind Senator McCain is a honest-to-goodness war hero.  I can see why he’s been so concerned about legislation proposed by President Bush that would perhaps undermine the spirit of the Geneva Convention.  In essence, it appears that Senator McCain and others want to ban outright torture of terrorist suspects.  This is a worthy goal.

But, quite frankly, I have a hard time getting all worked up about it.

I mean, really.  Here we are wringing our hands and spending all this time and effort to making sure that we treat terrorists in a way that is not cruel, inhuman or degrading.  Yet, those same terrorists don’t follow the standards of the Geneva Convention at all — in fact they are completely barbaric.

Have we already forgotten the gruesome and horrific site of terrorists filming their beheading of our citizens and then airing it on the Internet?  These are the murderers we want to protect from violations of their personal dignity?

When these blood-thirsty fanatics kill servicemen and women — and even civilians — with absolutely no regard for any human rights, I’m sorry Senator McCain, but I have little sympathy for them.  With the atrocities they have already committed, I find myself wondering what they must think of our present concern for their welfare.

Posted by on September 22, 2020 at 03:07 PM in Current Affairs, Legal, Politics, Religion, War | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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The Cell by Stephen King

For some reason or other, I’ve read a bunch of books recently that I just haven’t gotten around to reviewing.  Rather than keep my opinion a secret, I’ve decided to write a short or “mini-review” of a few of them.

I’ll start out with a book that needs my review about as much as a Maine resident in January needs a bathing suit.  Stephen King has sold more books than practically any one who has ever lived.  He’s Maine’s most famous author — hell, he’s probably more well known than anyone who has ever lived in Maine.

Some of his recent books — to put it kindly — have been, let’s say, uneven.  Not so with latest effort (that I am belatedly reviewing).

The Cell — for all you Stephen King fans who say he hasn’t written anything good in the last 20 years or so (at least since the publication of It, and perhaps as far back as Pet Sematary or The Dead Zone) is the Stephen King of old.

The book begins with Clayton Riddell, an artist from Maine, walking up Boylston Street in Boston having just scored a comic book deal.  It’s October 1 and at 3:03 p.m. eastern standard time all hell breaks loose.

What later becomes known as The Pulse happens at that exact moment and everyone talking on a cell phone at that moment in time goes plain crazy.  King describes the scene in Boston in graphic detail.  It’s pure mayhem and King delights in shocking the reader. 

Clay and a group of survivors manage to escape the horror of Boston and the rest of the book details his trek back to Maine and the evolution of the people affected by The Pulse.

This is Stephen King at his best — the Stephen King of Carrie, Salem’s Lot and The Stand.

Buy The Cell here.

Posted by on September 22, 2020 at 12:00 PM in Book Reviews, Books, Business | | Comments (2) | TrackBack (1)

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No Hooters in Portland

Hooters

A business owner in Portland where I live recently made an application to operate a Hooters restaurant in the city.  Maine is apparently one of only 4 states in the country without a Hooters restaurant. 

Naturally, there was an immediate outcry. 

Jennifer Halm-Perazone, coordinator of Portland NOW, the local chapter of the National Organization for Women, said she thought the idea of Hooters coming to Maine was “just icky.”

Others expressed so much concern that the city counsel yesterday voted 6–3 to impose a moratorium on formula restaurants in that part of the city for a couple of months.  The moratorium only applies to chains that have at least 30 restaurants in the U.S.

What a load of crap.

The section of the city covered by this moratorium already has a Dunkin Donuts, a Cold Stone Creamery, a Starbucks Coffee and probably a few other national chains.  There is also, I believe, a couple of restaurants in the same part of the city that are local chains.

Isn’t it amazing that no one thought a moratorium was necessary until someone wanted a Hooters in Portland. 

Despite the fact that Maine’s economy is in the toilet and this restaurant would employ 60 – 70 people, the “prim and proper” of the city just don’t want it.  This vote by the city counsel simply reinforces that feeling that Portland is a bad place for business.  With all of the recent vacant storefronts, the city should be delighted that a new business wants to open up at all.

Here’s an idea — why not let the restaurant open and then see if people actually go there?  If folks don’t eat and drink there, it won’t stay in business.  Hmm … let the free market decide things … what an interesting concept!

 

Wake up people! 

 

Posted by on September 20, 2020 at 10:42 AM in Current Affairs, Food and Drink, Legal | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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Exhibitionists on the Web

Robert J. Samuelson, a columnist for the Washington Post, writes today about how everyone is striving to be noticed on the Internet.  From blogs, to MySpace, Facebook and YouTube, everyone is screaming for recognition.

To hell with privacy, bring on the viewers.

Is this a good thing?

Posted by on September 20, 2020 at 09:05 AM in Current Affairs, Web/Tech, Weblogs | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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The Pope’s Remarks and the Muslim Reaction

Pope Benedict XVI in a recent speech in Germany, quoted a 14th-century emperor as saying:

“Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

The Pope didn’t endorse this statement and his overall message was one of reaching out to Muslims for a religious discussion and an end to violence.

Instead, Muslim leaders took this statement as a slight against their religion and called for an immediate apology.  The Pope — even though his quote was taken out of context — did so.

Not good enough, say the Muslim leaders.  We want more.

In fact, several Iraqi terrorist groups called for attacks on the Vatican and some even urged that the pope be killed. 

There is a lesson to be learned from the Muslim response to the pope’s words.  Just imagine for a second that the facts were reversed — that some Muslim religious leaders said something offensive about the Catholic religion or about God that Christians believed was false.  What would our response be in that situation?

Catholics would probably say that the speaker was ill-informed, wrong or perhaps more — that the speaker was just a fool.  No Christian, however, would call out that the Muslim leader should be killed for speaking those words.

The difference between our response and that of the Muslim world goes to the heart of what the pope spoke about in Germany — the message that has been obscured by Muslim demonstrations, riots and violence.  Religious fanaticism makes rational dialogue impossible.

This fact of life is all too familiar to those politicians hoping for reasoned debate by the religious leaders and their followers in Iraq.  

Posted by on September 19, 2020 at 09:54 AM in Current Affairs, Religion, War | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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Laurel and Hardy Classic from YouTube

I love Laurel and Hardy. 

My favorite one of their movies is Way Out West where their job is to deliver a deed to a woman they haven’t met.  This classic movie has a wonderful clip on YouTube that occurs when Laurel and Hardy just get into town.  I laughed ‘til I cried when I first watched it.

Take a look.

Laurel and Hardy

Posted by on September 19, 2020 at 05:04 AM in Comedy, Film, Web/Tech | | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

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Did Nancy Grace Go Too Far?

After a tough interview with Nancy Grace, Melinda Duckett, a mother who claims her son had been kidnapped two weeks ago, committed suicide.  Before the interview was run on television but after the woman committed suicide, CNN still decided to run the interview.

The grandparents are blaming Nancy Grace for pushing her over the edge.

What do you think?

Click here to see part of the interview.

Posted by on September 14, 2020 at 11:27 AM in Current Affairs, Legal | | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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Profiling of Terrorists — Good or Bad?

A couple of weeks ago a local columnist in the Portland Press Herald I know personally (Victoria Mares-Hershey) wrote about the harmful effects of profiling.  She began her column this way:

“There are on-going debates about the legality and pragmatic necessity of ethnic profiling in the United States today, but little conversation on its effect on the people living in a civil society.

But the effect of such profiling — separating us by categories, such as “Muslin” or “Arab,” or “illegal immigrant” — endangers everyone’s freedom and life as a free American.  It puts us in those categories , some of which will be “better” than others.”

Victoria deplored the idea raised by House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King recently that airport screeners “should require people of ‘Middle Eastern and South Asian’ decent to undergo additional security checks because of their ethnicity and religion.”

I was especially struck by Victoria’s words the next day when I read another column in the same paper by Kathleen Parker, a columnist for the Washington Post.  Her position was just the opposite.

Parker wrote:

“After the foiled plot to blow up 10 jetliners flying from Britain to the United States, sensible people are reconsidering our government’s stubborn opposition to profiling.”

Parker notes that most terrorism in the recent past has been done by Muslim men between the ages of 17 and 40.  She then goes on to list 11 terrorist acts, beginning with the Munich Olympics in 1972 up to the Madrid and London train bombings in 2005 and 2006.

She argues that instead of closely examining airline passengers who typify a likely perpetrator — “based not on bigotry, but on evidence, history and common sense” — we search grandmothers and children with the same frequency as other passengers.

She says that we should listen to sensible Muslims, like Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, general manager of the al-Arabiya news agency who wrote:

  “It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but is is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims … We cannot clear our names unless we own up to the shameful fact that terrorism has become an Islamic enterprise; an almost exclusive monopoly, implemented by Muslim men and women.”

Both columnists present compelling arguments — what do you think?

 

Posted by on September 06, 2020 at 02:45 PM in Current Affairs, Legal, Politics, Religion, War | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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