John's Blog

NJ Assemblyman Neil Cohen recently resigned after child porn was found on his office computer. Normally, that wouldn't even be worth mentioning except that the dude looks like a "separated at birth" version of The Godfather's Frank Pentangeli. Let's hope his detention facility has nice bathtubs.

Tags: politics, pedophiles, The Godfather, gangsters, separated at birth

"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull."
W. C. Fields

Tags: quotes

A kinder, gentler John I Am sure isn't what we've seen so far. Thank God he promised to take the high road, since I can't begin to imagine just what nefarious swill he'd be spewing if he hadn't made the pledge to run a positive campaign.

Between the false claims, misrepresentations, and his failure to comprehend many global and domestic problems it's hard to imagine how anyone can take him seriously. Yet both voters and the mainstream media continue to let him get away with this crap, remembering the war hero or the moderate maverick he used to be.

Despite the legacy of the last poor choice we made for the Presidency, recent polls suggest that there are many willing to make the same mistake one more time. It looks like many Americans make this important choice with about the same amount of thought that goes into deciding what deodorant to purchase. That's probably not fair, since they may give that a bit more thought.

But since McGrumpy continues to insist that Obama can't pass the "Commander in Chief Test", here's a few questions to see how he does on the test.

Tags: YouTube, politics, pointless rambling

Why should cats have all the fun? Turn off your spellcheck and caption your favorite canine at Ihasa hotdog. I'm sure I've linked to this before, but this one never grows old!

Tags: humor, dogs

Every time this stupid ad for the Mohegan Sun Casino comes on TV it drives me insane, although be advised that's not a very long trip. It disturbs me on so many levels.

Seeing people just break into song and dance bugs me, since that seldom happens in real life. Sure, one of the guys at work breaks into "show tunes" all the time, but that's an entirely different thing. (And don't even talk to me about "Mamma Mia!" since I've been working to get those ABBA songs out of my head for years, and I'm not going to reverse that progress willingly!)

Using a cheesy Toto song and giving it new lyrics isn't in itself a problem. But hearing Toto reminds me that I've made many questionable choices in the past, since at one time I really thought the band was pretty good. The fact that they sold a ton of albums indicates that plenty of others made the same choice, but so little of it holds up well today. Fairly or not, I rarely find myself nostalgic for much of the pop music of that era.

What really bugs me the worst is seeing the main character sing the line "At the Sun". Fans of "The Wire" will remember him as playing the managing editor "at The Sun" in season five. I'm sure that had to have been a factor in the casting decision, but whatever cuteness they thought this brought to the commercial is lost on me. But after seeing a commercial for the remake of "90210" where I saw that Tristan Wilds (Michael from "The Wire") is in the cast did it become apparent to me why this bugged me so much.

The plot-lines, cast, and storytelling style in "The Wire" were unique and more original than most other TV series. With a few notable exceptions, most cast members were largely unknowns, so when you buy into the show you identify the actors with their characters much more than with other shows requiring less of a commitment. Seeing the actors playing other parts kinda' ruins the illusion; you know it's just a TV show but it felt far more real, honest and intimate than the other TV fare that's out there. It would be far more convenient for me if the actors just avoided taking other parts. I hear good things about regional theatre.

Tags: YouTube, TV, commercials, The Wire, pointless rambling

"What was most striking about the Obama speech in Berlin was not anything he said so much as the alternative reality it fostered: many American children have never before seen huge crowds turn out abroad to wave American flags instead of burn them."
Frank Rich

Tags: quotes, politics, news

A few bits of unnecessary knowledge:

96% of people put the peanut butter on first when making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Every year about 7 people gets killed by sharp objects in the dishwasher.

There is enough iron in a human being to make one small nail.

An adult giraffe's kick is so powerful that it can decapitate a lion.

During their periods womens middle fingers shrink. No one knows why.

Dolphins can swim and sleep at the same time.

The word “lethologica” describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.

Tags: trivia

Not that I was planning a visit anytime soon, but with only "1 MILF" this really doesn't seem like a place I'd have much interest in as a destination. (And thanks to stefike13 for the pic!) Another destination I've been avoiding has been blogging. What started as a "short break" has apparently evolved into a "clean break". Oh sure, occasionally I hear or see something and I think "I've got to blog about that" but when those thoughts occur they are rapidly displaced by apathy for the idea. I'm not sure if I've just given in to a total lack of discipline and motivation, or if it's just another manifestation of what must be a full-blown case of AADD.

Although I've been busy, it's not like I can point to a list of endeavors or accomplishments that have occurred as a result of my newly refocused (or should that be unfocused?) attitude. Unless you count finally getting around to watching the first four seasons of The Wire on DVD; WOW, why did I wait on that? I have been a little more disciplined about working out, and I've been reading more (BOOKS, as opposed to endless web surfing) but that's about it. I AM a little worried about my tendency to try to right click and Google material that might merit more info while reading these things called books, but eventually I'll get the hang of it. I do occasionally lurk at some of the blogs I used to frequent, but my motivational crisis seems to extend to commenting as well.

I suppose I should be ashamed of doing the cliched "why I'm not blogging" post, but then again I've never had that much shame. Pretty much every topic or idea out there has been done by somebody else before, and likely it's been done better. That's the reason that blogging suddenly "got old" for me, the realization that I was just doing the same thing again, and again. And seldom were my rehashes any better. The "fun" somehow disappeared. But I can't totally let it go, since there's this small irrational part of me that believes it will magically become "fresh" and the motivation will return.

You just never know when the urge to jump up on the blogging soapbox and passionately wail away might hit you, so I'll keep my options open. I'm sure I've probably chased away most of the people who used to check things out here, but that can be liberating, since sometimes the best conversations are those you have with yourself. This was always something I've always done for my own amusement and the occasional moment of catharsis, so playing to an audience really isn't an issue. It's anyones' guess how this whole mood swing will play out.

Tags: blogging, pointless rambling

"Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most times he will pick himself up and carry on."
Winston Churchill

Tags: quotes

One who never has a problem "finding a voice" is our dog Chelsea. Here's a clip from the other day, when she had a "minor" barking outburst, for no apparent reason. Had there been a real reason (squirrel, rabbit, or person walking by) the outburst would have been elevated to an intensity (and noise) level about three times what we see here.

So when I saw this satirical clip from The Onion, "Tiny Dog Has Been Barking Nonstop For 6 Years" it certainly hit close to home...

Tags: YouTube, dogs, humor, videos