Beating a dead horse

Despite a previous post of mine, I honestly don't have anything against Marcel Marceau (I do hate mimes though; they rank lower than clowns in my book and there's only two clowns I like, Bozo and Krusty), but this is a pretty funny joke, as told by David Letterman on his Late Show:
"Marcel Marceau died. He mimed, 'Call an ambulance!' By the time they figured out, it was too late. Finally, after all these years, he really is trapped in a box."

Various and Sundry

-The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (I can spell both his first and last names without looking them up; no really!), is in New York City at the invitation of Columbia University. His visit has sparked numerous heated discussions by protesters, some in favor of Ahmadinejad's appearance, others most decidedly not. The nation is being treated by tv news to the viewing of a stereotype, that of New Yorkers yelling at each other in the street. Rightly or wrongly, it's how the rest of the nation views the citizens of NYC (when we're not solemnly thinking about 9/11): as loud, obnoxious boors screaming at each other in public. I'm sure Mayor Bloomberg is thrilled
-Good Rex, Bad Rex, it doesn't matter. He's the only Rex the Chicago Bears have, and he is "our quarterback," sayeth Coach Lovie. What are the alternatives? A 10-year veteran of questionable quality and a relatively untested rookie. And just when did Keith Olbermann get so smart? He very accurately stated that bad quarterbacks are a Bears tradition, with some notable exceptions along the way, such as Jim McMahon. There have been 13 starting QBs in the past 8 seasons and 40 since 1960. That's not good. How many different quarterbacks have started for the Green Bay Packers in the last 205 regular season games, 225 including playoff games? All Bears fans know the answer to that one.
-Speaking of McMahon, he probably wasn't a "great" quarterback, certainly not in the technical sense, but he played bravely, or at the very least tolerated pain awfully well. He once finished a game during which his kidney was lacerated. And he is the only Bears starting QB with a (winning) Super Bowl ring.
-Marcel Marceau died yesterday at the age of 84. Show of hands from everybody who knew he was still alive. How about another show of hands from people who knew who he was or what he did? And just how does a mime make a living anyway? Perhaps he earned a little cash at the Paris McDonalds, where he would have had to learn how to mime the question, "Would you like fries with your Le Big Mac?"
-Company Will Monitor Phone Calls to Tailor Ads According to this New York Times article, a media company will offer toll free calling to those who are willing to let the company eavesdrop on their conversations. Based on the conversation an ad will pop up on the users cell phone screen. I'm sure people will sign up for the free phone time, especially since no one cares about privacy anymore, as evidenced by people having very loud conversations very publicly when they really should be behind closed doors, but this new means of target advertising has an Orwellian feel to it.
-It's safe to be a Cubs fan again. I never had any trusty in Dusty and I thought Sammy was a cancer in the clubhouse. Sweet Lou is the man to lead us to the promised land. I am now officially on the bandwagon.

Please welcome...Autumn

How did I get stuck here?

Please, no head jokes

With all this fuss over the war in Iraq and who should be president and how will O.J. get away with a crime yet again, the one thing I think we can all agree on is that no one should ever find a snake head in one's can of beans.

Ok, brain, I don't like you, and you don't like me

Thinking is difficult. That's what makes writing- thoughtful, creative, discourse inducing writing- difficult. I avoid writing because I avoid thinking because I avoid anything that seems like work and thinking is, quite often, work. I prefer to do nothing, my rationale being that deep down inside I'm a bit of a perfectionist and since I'll never do anything perfectly, why do anything. I really wouldn't mind waking up everyday, putting on the same t-shirt and shorts and sitting around reading. And napping. It's only 9am, but I'm ready for a nap. My main goal in life is to watch "The Simpsons" re-runs at 5, 6, and 10:35pm. Alas, idleness does not lead to riches, at least not so far. I've got the idle part down but I'm still trying to figure out how to be idle and rich. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

My World Series prediction

You heard it here first, folks (maybe): The Boston Red Sox will beat the CHICAGO CUBS in 6 games. There, I said it, I meant it. The Cubs are going to the World Series!

The Voodo Chile lives on

James Marshall Hendrix, better known as Jimi, died on this day in 1970. That was 37 years ago. Thirty-seven years is a long time, yet one could argue that his music, as well as the music of his 1960s peers, is sill listened to and regarded by many as the music of rocks greatest years. Part of that is certainly because of nostalgia. The baby boomers age like everyone else, whether they care to admit it, and as they near their retirement years they probably look back whistfully at a time when the world was rapidly, sometimes violently, changing. The boomers reflect upon whatever part they played in that change, large or small, and realize they may have made a difference in the world.

But another reason love for the music of that era remains strong is because it was like nothing ever heard before. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, American soul from Motown and Stax, supergroups like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, all changed the very notion of what music could be. While the music may live on partly because of a need for people to listen to what they loved when they were young and seemingly carefree, and partly because it was the soundtrack to world-wide upheaval, the music of that era is beloved still mostly because a lot of it was just pretty darn good.

As for Jimi Hendrix, he was a guitar virtuoso with a style really unlike anyone else at the time, or even now really. An inspiration to many, including Robin Trower and Stevie Ray Vaughan, he is someone who is even now paid homage to by other great guitarists like Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton. Hendrix was truly an original. And he was indeed a voodoo chile, voodoo chile...