28 January 2008

Ready to feel old?

No it's not one of those lists about how modern kids have never used a rotary telephone. Think back to one of the JFK-type moments for our generation. One of the events that most folks can say where-they-were, what-they-were doing when they heard the news. Not Reagan being shot, not the start of the 1st Gulf War... this time I'm referring to the Challenger accident. Today is the anniversary of that sad day.

Now the part that at least gave me a "feeling old" moment earlier:

Not that today is the anniversary...but that it was 22 years ago. That's right; kids born after that happened are now old enough to drink in public.

22 January 2008

Fire for Effect

So some of you probably wonder where i've been, since i obviously haven't been blogging. For whatever silly reason, I cannot log in here from my work computer. Which sucks since that means I cannot bore you to death with my ramblings whilst on your (the taxpayer's) dime. So I must do it from home on my dime. Ce la vie. Interestingly, I CAN login at work to leave comments, just not new posts. Go fig.

Anywho, I'll cut right to it: I felt inspired to write something after reading The Cap'ns last post, plus it's been a while too. So a little topicality for your amusement:

Random observation: I can't help but laugh at people who drag themselves out of bed WAY before sunrise, do whatever they need to do at home, then drive to the gym to be there when they open at 0500. They are doing this presumably for better health, lose weight, blah blah. They go into a business, which operates on a premise that goes something like this: the aspiring athelete walked into the door sometime in the past, and told the proprietor that they would give them some of their hard earned money every month in exchange to be able to go inside, and lift up something heavy. Or maybe run in place. Which is fine if that's what they want to do. I do it (except for the paying for it part).
Anyway, this person has now made a sacrifice of some of their time and some money. And what do they do upon arrival? Park AS CLOSE to the front door as possible!!!!!! Heaven forbid we have to walk across the parking lot!! And don't play the weather card; i've seen it plenty in the summer when it's very comfy outside. Noticed that again the other day. Idiots.

So onto more serious topics: I like D's post earlier about the new Disney flick. Fantastic. I'll take his points even further. Yes, there are plenty-o-Americans who will buy into it, or not see the harm in the message, if it'll keep the kids occupied for a couple of hours. You know who else will enjoy this and buy into an implied message? A good chunk of the world populace that aren't Americans. Our "buddies" overseas will get a good laugh outta how well this does and this is the kind of crap we like and believe in. Which will work out well; then they'll just send they're animals to overthrow us. Maybe they'll rent "Idiocracy" too, to paint a complete picture. If you haven't seen this, it is mildly amusing until you realize this is where we are headed (unless you want to argue we might already be there). Not so funny after that.

Oh well; as I believe it was Leddawg who pointed out once upon a time when you look at someone like this...just say to yourself "more jobs for me". I think it would feed nicely into a fantastic essay i read several years ago which asked the question " are we going the way of Rome?". Well researched, well written, well argued, and quite frankly should scare the shit out of anyone with 1/2 a brain that reads it.

Plus, think of the irony in that description of G-Spot or whatever that film is called: it is being produced by a company, started by a man who became a billionaire and who's company has taken over certain nitches in the world (pop culture particularly). It produced legions of children and adults running around with plastic mouse ears on their heads. We even refer to warm, fuzzy movie endings as "Disney endings". And now plenty will pay money to go see a barnyard critter packing heat. Sweet; now they're defining who the "good guys" are too.