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Don Knotts [1924-2006]

Actor Don Knotts died Friday, Feb 24th in Los Angeles. A truly irreplaceable comic, Knotts made people laugh all his life. Granted, I caught him near the end of his career rather than at the beginning, as I was a huge Three’s Company fan from the day that show started until the day it ended. Knotts played Ralph Furley, the charismatic landlord for Jack (John Ritter), Chrissy (Suzanne Somers), and Janet (Joyce DeWitt).

It’s a tad frightening to see famous people go, even if their old. Three’s Company was a show I watched regularly throughout the 1980s, and even on re-runs years later. Heck, I own the DVDs to the show, and it’s as funny now as it was then. Sadly, with John Ritter dying unexpectedly in 2003, and now Don Knotts, two comedic geniouses are gone, but in better places.

For more information on Don Knotts, please see his entry at the IMDB (Internet Movie Database).

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Cheney, an Earthquake in Jersey, and Safe Ports

So a lot has happened in the last week. VP Dick Cheney shot someone in the face. This person then apologized for being in his way. Something is fishy there; doesn’t the burden of proof/responsibility rely on the shooter? Something tells me that perhaps Cheney might have been drinking, and this might be one big “cover up” to protect his job?

Next, an earthquake in northern New Jersey registered 2.6, just barely enough for humans to feel.

And yesterday it was announced that an UAE (United Arab Emirates) firm has won a contract to take over 6 U.S. seaports, from Boston to Miami. Umm…hello? Did we just give control over what goes in and out of a port to a country that has sponsored terrorism? We did. Two of the alleged 9/11 hijackers came from the UAE, and money laundered for 9/11 was found linked to banks within the UAE. How is it that Bush has allowed a firm in a country linked to terrorism to gain control over what goes in and out of American ports?

Sure, people will say I have a political agenda, or I’m not being PC, but this is what I say. Go fuck yourself. We should not be relinquishing control of these ports to any foreign government, much less a government with a less than steller record on terrorism.

Call me crazy, but I hope someone puts a stop to it. Luckily, there is quite a bit of bipartisan objection to the UAE firm gaining control, but it sounds like it’s falling on deaf ears at the white house. Apparently, if the President doesn’t listen, those against this contract stated that they will try and freeze the contract. We’ll see what happens.

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Bareback Mounting

What is it with this movie Brokeback Mountain? I mean, what’s the big deal? So, the guys are gay. How is this movie different than any other love story. Granted, I probably won’t go see this movie while it’s out in the theatre, but I’ll probably make it a Netflix rent when it comes out on DVD. This being said, why the big fuss? Because it’s two gay guys in a love story rather than a man and a woman? Don’t we all have something better to do then to make a big production out of love between a couple? Whether it be a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, or a man and man, what is the big deal?

While this movie may be good and indeed well acted, directed, and produced, I fear that too much attention is being made to the general issue of sexuality. I think the media response to this movie exemplifies our cultural issues with sexuality and homosexuality, similarly to how other movies show our issues with racism and violence.

Anywho, that’s my rant. For those with a comedic bone in them, check out the links below related to Brokeback Mountain, or “Bareback Mounting” as I like to call it.

Broke Mac Mountain
Broke Back To The Future
BrokeBack Top Gun

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Blizzard of 2006

I thought the Winter here on Long Island was never going to come. It hasn’t been warm. It hasn’t been snowy, though we have had a lot of rain. It even rained on Christmas and on New Years. It snowed once, but it was a bullshit 4 inches back a few weeks ago.

And then this weekend hit. NYC got more than 23 inches of snow, and out here on Long Island, we got close to 30 inches. I think the news said that it 23 inches was the second largest snowfall in NYC since they started keeping records, which date back to the mid 1800’s.

As luck would have it, I snuck into NYC last night to see “Wicked”, and instead of staying in NYC (for fear that the Long Island Rail Road would shut down), I left NYC last night and came back to the Island. As it turns out, trains still did run, even through all that snow.

The familar “On or close to schedule” message for those familiar with the LI double R. (Thissss is the train to Huntington….stopping at….Woodside, Kew Gardens, The Hillside Facility, Carle Place, Mineola, Westbury, Hicksville, Syosset, Cold Spring Harbor, and Huntington. Change at Jamaica for the train to Brooklyn and all other stations. Please help us with our clean train campaign, and desposit all garbage in the recepticles on the station platforms. Once again, this is the train to Huntington. All aboard!!)

Anywho, at my house was a decent 25 – 30 inches of snow, which took me about 2 hours to snowblow as it’s a bit on the long side. Winter finally decided to show up, and it’ll be interesting to see if they plowed the parking lot at work when I show up tomorrow late. 🙂

Both Old Man Winter Mother Nature musta worked together on this SOB storm, because it was a dooozy.

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SuperBowl XL & Laundry

Seattle Seahawks vs. Pittsburgh Steelers.
2/5/2006
Detroit, Michigan.

I didn’t really have a whole heck of a lot of time this year to actually watch the game. Actually, I hardly watched any football the whole year. I caught about 15 mins of a game back in the beginning of January. It’s not that I dislike football, it’s just I’d rather play Xbox, or do something else. At any rate, I make an effort to watch the Superbowl every year, but this year I had a lot of work to do around here that was time sensitive (like clean underwear for work on Monday AM), so in lieu of going out or to a friend’s house to watch it, I just watched it here at my place as I tended to other things.

And boy, am I glad I did.

Between a horrible first quarter, atrocious refereeing, some poor play calling, and a less than stellar Rolling Stones performance, I’m glad I wasn’t paying all that much attention to the game like I normally would have. That being said, I also missed out on a lot of the cool commercials, which is one reason I watch the game to begin with. Not to worry though, here are some links that offer all of the commercials for viewing in case you missed them:

Google Video
Superbowl-Ads.com
AOL’s Superbowl Ads Videos

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Freedom of Speech Violated Again

Cindy Sheehan, anti-war protestor is escorted out of the State of the Union Address & Arrested

President Bush’s cronies have done it once again. Cindy Sheehan, popular anti-war and anti-administration protestor was escorted out of the State of the Union Address on 1/31/06 for wearing a t-shirt, and was later arrested for the same offesne. A second woman, Beverly Young, wife of U.S. Rep Bill Young (R) of Florida, was also escorted out of the State of the Union address. Both women, wearing t-shirts that voiced a simple opinion were told to leave.

Sheehan’s t-shirt said: “2,245 Dead. How many more?”
Young’s t-shirt said: “Support the Troops.”

U.S. Capitol Police have later apologized to both women, and are recommending that all charges be dropped against Sheehan.

However, the issue is larger than “a simple mistake in protocol”. It is evidence yet again of mere dissention and disagreement with the viewpoint of the current administration will result in the stifling of your opinion, and being arrested for wearing a piece of clothing expressing a point of view.

Simply disagreeing with the Bush Administration is a punishable offense.

People, let’s wake the hell up and get this guy out of office. It’s ok to say that the emporer has no clothes.

P.S. – Don’t get me wrong, I think Cindy Sheehan’s meeting with Hugo Chavez this week discussing the toppling of the U.S.Empire might be construed as treason, so for that I would tend to disagree with her. That being said, she had a son who fought and died in Iraq, which makes her point of view much more riviting and passionate then mine.