Even Now...

It's easy to lose focus of what's important in life when things don't seem to be going my way.

The United States has a Congress that is not listening to it's constituents. (I know, they ARE politicians and are SKILLED Liars.)
Our country is on the verge of bankruptcy and our elected officials continue to spend money like a drunken sailor on leave.
It's like the old saying about falling from a high place; it's not the fall that kills you...
I feel for my kids and their entire generation (and those to follow) for the huge dump that is going to fall on them for OUR financial transgressions.

I loathe the fact you can't have a civil conversation in the U.S; verbally, or on the internet, about politics.
To compound the situation, all some folks need to know is I consider myself conservative (though I have libertarian leanings) to label me a ignorant, stupid, intolerant, uncaring, insensitive, Neanderthal. (I'm sure I left something out there.)
An then if I bring up my faith in Jesus... I might as well have been tried and found guilty at Nuremberg according to 'them'.

Look, I believe the scripture, but in this country, our constitution guarantees individuals rights regardless of what they believe in, what color their skin is, where they are from, or who they sleep with. I will be the first to admit, some of their rights have not been realized at this time. I do not want to see anyone discriminated against.
As long as it doesn't interfere with my life or my childrens'; people should have the right to live the way they want without persecution.

Anyway, I was a bit down this evening and needed something to redirect my mind...

Music ALWAYS helped me through my young adult years.
It still helps me as an old 'fogie'.

Hearing this (again) showed me that someone else understands how I feel...

Quick Hits...

I DID NOT watch the super bowl last night.
I have little interest in pro 'football'...
I actually watched The Adventures of Buckeroo Banzi, a movie so weak, I could never bring myself to watch it before. I'm NOT going into details because you've done nothing evil to me, so why would I inflict the story line on you?
There was some interesting casting but that's about it.

I did watch THE WHO during the super bowl's halftime (number 2 on my list of favorite bands.)
I received a phone call telling my they were coming on so I was more then happy to switch from fictional rocker Buckeroo to Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry, two of rocks major deities.
Not exactly the songs I wanted to hear, pretty predictible, but for a could of old geezers the young people watching got to see rock done right.
Daltry's voice is nowhere near what it was, but hey put 30 to 45 years on any part of your body and see how it performs. Townshend's backup vocals helped a lot.
And Pete's guitar play... what can I say?
Not the greatest player of all time, but the guy literally attacks his guitar and makes it do what he wants it to. (Almost like the late Keith Moon's manner of playing drums, but Townshend has more talent on his instrument... and I LOVED Moon's drumming for The Who!) btw, the was Zak Starkey doing a great job on drums during the performance, not his first time playing with the band... I bet Ringo was pleased.
Anyway, I think you get the point I'm biased concerning this band, and was satisfied with their performance.


Lastly... (is that really a word?)

The weather 'humanoids' are predicting up to 8 more inches of snow starting tomorrow...
My back IS NOT happy!

Arrivederci!

Robin Hood

Given the DVDs on my shelf, and the movies I feel stimulated my heart and mind (and I actually spent money on), I'd have to say Ridley Scott is one of my favorite directors.
I know Legend was not a great movie, but Scott's vision of what that world would look like made it so that even I, could watch a Tom Cruise movie.

I just saw a trailer for his next release... Robin Hood.
Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett star, so that's a good start.It could be wonderful, or dreadful, but given Ridley Scott's track record I have to think it will be the former.

Regardless, it will probably wind up on my DVD shelf.



...btw, LOTS of snow outside.
We are used to snow in central Ohio, but yesterday's storm HAD to be one in the top (or bottom) 3 worse driving days* I've been on the road in. (An ice storm and the 1978 blizzard, being worse.)
Cars off the road everywhere, and most folks were doing no more then 10 MPH.
At one point as I was driving up a steep hill to my house, my vehicle turned sideways and was sliding down hill. Fortunately, there were no other cars close to me... THAT was embarrassing, and a little scary.

Today I get to shovel the driveway some more, after spending most of my afternoon yesterday doing the same... I really have to save money for a snow blower.

Video games

If you see my profile you'll know I'm not spring rooster, but I still enjoy playing some video games.

I've never been a 'first-person-shooter' type person, though I've played and enjoyed several mixed genre f-p-s games, most notably "Dead Space". Deed Space incorporated the 'f-p-s' into a sci-fi/horror game. Nothing like dismembering human/alien mutants in a ship that is more claustrophobic then the Nostromo... or any haunted house in a movie.
I also enjoyed playing Assassin's Creed, another sci-fi themed game, where you are held captive and you are subjected to being tested and analyzed in a manner that your DNA or 'genetic-memory' takes you back to the life of one of your fore-fathers in the time of the crusades... your memories are of Altair, an assassin who you get to control... even though the events have already happened.

Both games feature almost realistic cutscenes and the game play movement is very realistic.
We've come a long way from the first Nintendo game console I owned almost 25 years ago.
Now, between my son and I, we have PS3, XBox, Wii, PSP, and a DSi.
Me, I like Sony electronics, always have from stereo equipment in the 70's, TV's in the 80's and 90's to gaming consoles in the 2000's.

Anyway, I hope my son doesn't kill me when he finds I returned to my video game first-love of Role Playing Games on his PSP by downloading Final Fantasy VIII.
I LOVE ALL THE FINAL FANTASY GAMES I'VE PLAYED and was excited to see this game in particular as I never played it.
To date, my favorite has been, FF7, but I've talked to many that love 8 and read posts from many, many more that prefer 8 to all others. So now I'll get to see.

Check out this clip from FF7 of the best 'bad guy' in video game history...


Sony's PlayStation Network is starting to add older 'classic' video games to it's list of down loadable games.
Heck, $10.00 American isn't bad for any FF game!

So I think I'll start playing it, or at least watching the opening scenes as soon as I post this message.
This is the perfect time of the year for video games. It's about 18 degrees F. outside right now and it's mid-day. Even our dog doesn't want to go out!
IT will take me weeks, or perhaps months to complete this game, It's long and I've just started school and so time will be minimized for me.

That's it for now...

A New Year... A New Doctor!

Born in the U.S. in the late 50's I grew up a child of the 'space race' and the original Star Trek, loved Forbidden Planet and The Day The Earth Stood Still.
I still love sci-fi today more then any other genre... the only thing worse then a young nerd, is an old nerd.

As far as TV, Babylon 5 is my all-time favorite show, and I contend, it is still the best sci-fi story to ever grace American TV screens. You can't get much more geeky then that... unless you know my second favorite show of all time is Doctor Who... The ultimate in geekiness.
I've watched the BBC's, Doctor Who since the mid-80's when Public Broadcasting aired the first Tom Baker episode, 'Robot' . I followed the show through Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christoper Eccleston, and most recently David Tennant. PBS eventually went back and ran Doctor's 1 - 3 respectively William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, and Jon Pertwee.
(Peter Cushing also played The Doctor in two British-made movies in the mid-60's... looooove those Daleks!)
As a result, I have every (available) episode in some recorded media, be it video tape, DVD, or on my DVR.

For those that haven't followed the show, you noticed I've mentioned different actors playing the part of The Doctor. For a show that is has first aired the night President Kennedy was assassinated in November of 1963, it was inevitable the show would have to change actors sometime... of course no one suspected the show would still be running 47 years later. There was a 16 year suspension of the series between 1989 and 2005, with the exception of an ill fated made-for-TV movie in 1996 in which they somewhat tried to 'Americanize' The Doctor...  what a waste of a potentially good actor for the part.
How do they successfully change the actor of the main character of a show and make it work???
Well, The Doctor is an alien, a Timelord to be exact. When a Timelord is severely injured they have a way to 'cheat' death... they regenerate into a different looking humanoid up to 12 times.

Regardless, January 1st in England, and the 2nd, in The U.S. viewer of the show saw the end of an era that brought the show to world-wide attention. David Tennant, the actor that picked up the torch of departing actor Christopher Eccleston (who is the fine actor that was part of the resurrection of the series in 2005... look for him an a film in production in which he plays John Lennon) left the show in a flash of light and destruction as he 'regenerated' into an new Doctor played by Matt Smith.
Smith is Doctor number 11, meaning there should only be one regeneration left. Of course sci-fi always allows for writers to come up with way to change the rules. The Doctor's arch enemy; The Master is well past his 12th regeneration and look pretty spry most recently in the form of actor John Simm.

Okay, I'll stop blathering and get to what I wanted to post...

  

Things to come this spring...

I read the news today, oh boy...

...actually it was everal nights ago I was reading the local newspaper online.
There was a bulletin about a double homicide committed just outside a near a town I spent my teen years living in.

Where I live is certianly not an urban environment, but nowhere is immune to this sort of event anymore.

I was saddened to find one of the names belonged to John, a friend from high school.
He traveled to Florida with me and two others to see the launch of Apollo 16. I'll never forget the screams he made when the shower water hit his beet-red skin after spending the day in that hot Florida sun.

John was in my younger brother's class and was like adopted brother for our high school days, and after.

THIS little adopted brother was a patriot.
He wanted to serve his country so bad, he quit school, and got his parents to sign on the line allowing him to join the U.S. Marines.
At 17, John took part in the evacuation of Hanoi, as the U.S. left Viet Nam in a hurry.
I know that stuck in John's throat, the thought of losing a war, but like all soldiers he knew that a war ran by politicians is never good for the country let alone those fighting it.

Any time he returned home on leave, it was the same old John with a different perspective.
One time when he was home on leave, about 8 of us went to see the Rolling Stones a Cleveland's Municipal Stadium.
We 'camped out' all night just out side the stadium... well, we ran around downtown Cleveland all night and checked back at the stadium occasionally to see what thousands of other concert goers were doing.
I'd have probably been terrified to run around an area like that, but the fact that 'John the Marine' was there seemed to give all of us a security blanket that made it fun.


from what the new said, last Friday, John was trying to help the other victim with a problem with her propane tank when the gunman came to kill her.
The shooter was the lady's brother, apparently there was some kind of family dispute and this guy wanted to settle it. John was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I haven't seen John on over 20 years, and this is not the way you want to see an old friend for the last time.
Tomorrow, I am going to his funeral to say a last goodbye.

Speaking of 'Classical Meets Contemporary'...

After listening to the 'pop' version of 'Jupiter' I was reminded of another classical/pop cross-over that was on the charts shortly after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon.

I do not know anyone that dislikes the last movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, aka Song of Joy.
Music like that, which stands the test of time deserves respect if nothing else.

So getting back to 1970's "Himno de la alegría", believe it or not, this song (and all the "Heyward/Lodge" Moody Blue's stuff) helped me to become interested enough to seriously listen to Classical music while I was still thriving on The Beatles, The Who, The Stones, and on, and on...