Mix and Match of This and That

Just for posterity: I passed my driver’s license exam at 11:50a.m on 05/07/93 at test site “MSWI” (Loomis Road) with a total of 9 points off.

AND

 on 12:57 PM on May 28, 2006 I purchased an XM Satellite Radio from Best Buy.

AND

on February 28^th, 1980 S. Pat Meir, SSSF presented me with the “Sweet Smell of Success” (inc a grape smelly sticker) certificate announcing that I knew “all his ABC’s visually!” J

(on June 6^th of that year she’d give me a similar certificate for general “good work in kindergarten”

 Not that the super-lame stuff is out of the way, let us proceed with the merely-lame. 

 Yesterday – or was it the day before? – we Redboxed “Snow White and the Huntsman”. Lisa and I both enjoyed the movie, and I for one thought the films were striking. However, it was mighty long and mighty dark, and one wonders what riches or enjoyment the Queen could take from an empire literally reduced to mud and ashes. Plus, while she is attractive enough, we both found it hard to believe Kristen Stewart was the ‘fairest one of all’, especially in a kingdom where Clarize Theron resides. Grade: B

Several weeks into the new fall season, I think our consensus is that Animal Practice, while amusing, is far from LOL and fails to live up to its potential. I don’t see it sticking around long-term without significant shifts in direction.

Matthew Perry’s new sitcom, “Go On”, on the other hand, is a keeper. It needs to develop and fine tune some things, and it remains to be seen how long the rather limited ‘group therapy’ angle can work, but it is a) well written b) well acted by all involved and c) actually, if only occasionally, LOL funny.

My reading has been severely curtailed recently, although I’m at a loss to explain why. My Nook e-reader deleted my library two months ago, and while I restored it from a backup the loss of my ‘shelves’ and whatnot were a crushing blow. Combine that with a switch of shifts at work and an uptick in my writing time and I find my desire to read is next to nil. I have to kick it back into gear to crack the long-desired century mark.

I did however; finish reading the Stephen King/Stewart O’Nan tale “A Face in the Crowd”. It’s a short story, so it doesn’t qualify for my reading list, but I thought it entertaining and admired the quick way it introduced you to the characters and got you into the action, something I’ve noticed seems to have been fined tuned by the late great Rod Serling. I rate the story an ‘A’.

I’m inordinately pleased to see, on a used book I purchased on Ebay, a sales sticker reading “Zayre”. There was a Zayre store on S. 27^th when I was growing up. It occupied the former site of Treasure Island, aka the current location of Pic ‘n Save and as I recall there was a dry cleaning shop inside Zayre just as you were exiting the store. Anyway, my Mom worked at both Treasure Island and Zayre’s, and the sight of this sticker made me happy. Of note: the book , “West to Cambodia” by S.L. A. Marshall, retailed for $3.50, but it was on sale at Zayre for $2.80.

[I believe I read the book sometime in the early ’90’s, but may read it again]

Some songs that are among my faves lately (and that haven’t been mentioned before), I Won’t Give Up by Jason Mraz, As Long as You Love Me by Justin Beiber, Taylor Swift’s We are Never Getting Back Together and Fun.’s latest release, Some Nights.

Ginger's K5 School Picture

An Update on YaYa's Arm Injury

YaYa got a full arm cast, as the break was rather severe, but won't need surgery. Three weeks from now they'll X-Ray it again, and maybe switch her to a shorter cast. Meanwhile, that's the end of volleyball for the year, and there's a chance we might have to scrap her bday party; it's a lazer tag party and to activate a shot you need the use of both arms. We'll take her there and have her try it out before we make the call.

The Annual Check-ups

A couple of weeks ago Lisa took the three youngest in for their psychicals  All good, all healthy, although Lu's glucose was high (subsequent tests showed it to be an anomaly . Lu had a fit about the blood draw, but Ginger took four immunizations without a whimper - she simply recited the ABC's each time, the enunciation of each letter growing a little more unsteady in anticipation (the jab usually hit around "I"). 

Smiley was deemed to be in the 85th percentile for height and weight with the other two in the 60th percentile. He has gone through a recent growth spurt and to the eye appears taller and broad shouldered, a far more mature look than he sported even a few weeks ago. 

YaYa's 6th Grade School Picture

Alex Karras

Alex Karras, former University of Iowa and Detroit Lions star (and more importantly Webster's Dad) passed away this morning at the age of 77. RIP.

Rosewood Lane

Lisa and I watched 'Rosewood Lane' this morning, a soft horror film about a woman (Rose McGowan) who moves into a house in the 'burbs and is terrorized by a nutso paper boy who seems to have supernatural powers. It's pretty solid. I think the movie should have been over ten minutes into it, when she should have caved in his skull when he broke into her basement to stalk her, but whatev. Grade: B-

My Thoughts - PBS

IMO, spending $450 million on PBS each year, to duplicate programming found on multiple stations and online, seems like a questionable use of our resources. This isn't 1975, when we had 3 stations and PBS was a breath of fresh air. 

Please skip the Big Bird/Elmo line of bull - Sesame Workshop earns a gazillion dollars in marketing and licensing. They don't need our pity, or our tax $ - move to syndication or a private network and they'd do just fine. 

 And for those who trot out the line that $450 million is chump change for the Feds, well, you're right - but it's that kind of thinking and ready acceptance of it that led to the waste in Washington in the first place.

Ted

I watched "Ted" this morning. It's ridiculous and low-brow, vulgar and devoid of any plot points you haven't seen 1000x before (well, maybe not the teddy bear on cashier sex; that was new). My verdict? Funny as hell. I LOL'd time and again and had tears streaming down my face. I didn't wet my pants laughing, but that's probably just because I'm dehydrated. Grade: A

What Would You Do?

Unpopular opinion of the day: few shows bother me more than “What Would You Do?” on ABC, the hidden camera show that professes to reveal how your average person reacts when exposed to a given situation in a public place. On its surface it’s a nice, wholesome show that shows plenty of Average Joe’s protecting the weak, minding the innocent, and doing right by all.

 I call foul.

Sometimes the situations are clear cut, say someone drops their wallet in a shopping mall, a man is beaten, a woman is verbally assaulted or a child is left seemingly unattended. These are ‘duh’ situations and devoid of ambiguity. Too often, however, there is an agenda at play. Underneath the benign surface the show is a bully pulpit enforcing the media’s idea of what’s right – aka, what’s Left – and using the power of television to force any and all objections to the side. It’s horribly slanted to portray X as righteous and any objection to X as wrong. Likewise it works to label anyone with an objection as misguided and ignorant , someone who would only act and behave ‘better’ if educated by the host  John Quiñones 

Legitimate objections?  Intellectual disagreements? A conscience?

“Blech, there’s no such thing!”, sayeth ABC.

Here’s the deal. I do think it’s in poor taste for a woman to breast feed her five year old in the middle of a restaurant. Yup, I do. I do not think illegal immigrants should be idealized and pitied, any more than I think they should be demonized and hated. I do not think any couple, regardless of race or gender, should make out in the booth next to me, unless that booth is situated in a strip club. I do not think it is any of your damn business if and when a parent decides to ‘force’ his kid to eat something on their plate, punishes them (without violence) or make them get a haircut and I question why you are perfectly ok with someone butting in during those private moments. If someone forces their child to steal from me because that family is hungry, I will not coddle them and say “that’s OK Bunkie”. If you had asked, I might have bought you some groceries; I have done so before. But if you steal and plead hunger, I call foul. Get food stamps. Go to a soup kitchen. Visit the food pantry. And don’t you dare call me ‘ignorant’ – I’ve had plenty of rough times, and I know what it’s like to stand in line for government cheese, thank you kindly.

So in summary: do not pretend you are the arbiter of good taste or conscience, and don’t confuse “politically correct” with “correct”. Your show is a sham, and I do not like it sam I am. I do not.

Here endeth my rant.