Thursday, June 25, 2009

A day of losses


Today we lost two great talents, Farrah Fawcett and The King of Pop, Michael Jackson. I must admit that I never saw Charlie's Angels so I don't know much about Farrah Fawcett. However her passing is very sad nonetheless, especially at the young age of only 62. She gave us a first hand look at her courageous battle with cancer in a recent special called "Farrah's Story." Ms. Fawcett showed tremendous bravery and a strong will to overcome her disease, unfortunately she lost the fight this morning, my condolences to her family and friends.
The death of Michael Jackson came as a huge shock, as i'm sure it did to most of you. It is hard to believe that such an epic figure is gone, and a talent that comes along once in a lifetime has been lost. Michael has been in the public eye since he was very young, performing first with the Jackson 5 before embarking on his tremendous solo career. I grew up listening to his music, especially the album "Bad," which I had on cassette tape. In my opinion this is one of the greatest albums ever and contains my favorite Michael Jackson song, "Liberian Girl." We all know he had major issues, i'm sure his abusive father contributed to a lot of them, but I like to only judge his quality of music, not how he lives his life. There are only a few performers who could captivate a generation, John Lennon and Elvis being at the top of the list. I would add Michael Jackson to this category, and the influence he had (and will continue to have,) over popular culture is unparalleled. It feels very strange that he is gone, and it will take awhile to sink in. I could ramble on about MJ forever, but in closing I want to say that Mike will be missed, and the moonwalk probably looks even better in heaven.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Are the Nets crazy?



I am a huge Nets fan and I have always wanted to buy season tickets. When I came across a posting for exclusive ticket offers on my company's employee page I was excited and expecting to get a really good deal. The Nets never draw any fans, even when they are good they could barely bring in people to fill the seats. Now they are a joke and the newly named Izod Center is practically empty every night. I think after they basically dismantled the best team they ever had people pretty much gave up on them. Granted I loved the acquisition of Devin Harris but dumping Richard Jefferson was brutal. But I digress, I called the sales rep and spoke with him regarding different ticket plans, the cheapest being $2,500 for 2 seats for 41 home games (including the parking pass.) These particular seats are behind the basket in section 101, not horrible but certainly not a prime location. Ideally I would like to be sitting somewhere near center court, this would give me a great view of the whole floor. Sitting behind the basket gives me a great view of UCONN's finest, Josh Boone, airballing a foul shot, sounds thrilling.
The ticket rep I spoke with was a really nice guy and I felt bad he had to try and sell Nets tickets for a living, I think it would be easier to sell an iPhone to an Amish guy then to pawn off pricey Nets seats in this economy. He also explained that there is a no interest payment plan where I would pay $640 per month over the course of 4 months...that is exactly what I want to be doing with my money. Shelling out a good portion of my paycheck to eat $15 chicken fingers and watch the Nets lose to the Grizzlies by 35 points on a frigid night in mid January, thanks but no thanks. As you might have guessed I am passing on these tickets, even though I did contemplate buying them for a little while, my senses got the better of me. I should save my money for more important things...like a train ticket to watch them play in Brooklyn in 2020.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Trashy TV

Everyone watches crappy TV shows, whether its Rock Of Love, The Bachelor, or even Jerry Springer, we all watch programs that we know are garbage. In case you don't know I am not a psychologist and I don't care to analyze why people watch these shows, but it is an interesting phenomenon nonetheless. I am guilty of watching the Housewives of New Jersey (along with the NYC, Orange County, and Atlanta casts.) I love this show, you can call me whatever you want but this is great TV. These people are some of the biggest dolts I have ever seen, but their feeling of entitlement and "me first" attitude is priceless. A prime example of this is "The Countess," from the New York season. She was some model from Connecticut who married a random French Count, now she thinks she is the Queen of England.
My favorite cast is from Orange County, they are the most attractive and the least depressing to watch. I think its great how big of a douche bag Shane Keough is, and how his mother lets him treat her like crap, he is certainly an obnoxious SOB. I also find Vicki's insanely low self esteem to be pretty sad yet comical as well. She needs to be told she is loved about 500 times a day and hounds her kids about this to the point where they can't stand her.
I found the New York and Atlanta casts to be very weak, Atlanta especially since these women don't really work and were not particularly bright. It still escapes me why they need personal assistants when all they do all day is go to the spa and then plan a benefit dinner once every 5 months. The token gay male friend is getting pretty old as well, they treat these guys like accessories rather than people, its very lame.
The current New Jersey cast is god awful. Granted all of the cast members from each season are horrible people, (some worse than other,) but the Jersey group is particularly heinous. These women and their families, including the little girls who are repulsive brats, are sickening and portray the worst Garden State stereotypes. The overbearing Italian family with mafia overtones, gaudy jewelry, too much makeup, and bad accents. I think Obama said it best, "you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," that basically sums up the NJ wives. The finale last night was insanely stupid and horribly scripted. All of the wives and their families go to dinner and the biggest whore of the bunch Danielle, walks into the restaurant. She just happens to be carrying a book that details her criminal past, and that has been the source of much strife throughout the show. She decides to put the book down in the middle of the table during the meal (with no coercion from the shows producer of course.) All hell breaks loose, again totally not scripted wink wink.
I was happy to see the NJ cast hit the road, hopefully never to be heard from again. Another interesting tidbit, this season was comprised of only 5 or 6 episodes, making this one of the shortest series ever. If this is the best Bravo can come up with I think I'll be passing on the next bunch of housewives and returning to the gold standard of trashy TV....COPS!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Why I started a blog, and what you can expect to find here

Why did I decide to start a blog? Too much time on my hands, bored, just into anything trendy, i'm a lame son of a bitch? All of the above could be true, however I think there are some other reasons I wanted to do this. My brain goes a mile a minute, 24/7...365, I talk and think fast, the thoughts and ideas go through my head at NASCAR speeds, non stop. Most of these thoughts usually end up in the preverbal "trash can," in my cranium. So why not share them here on the blog and give people something interesting to read while they are bored at work.
When I was contemplating this blog I did not want to focus on one particular theme, I would like to allow my posts to touch on all different topics, with no restrictions (there will be no political correctness here.) I can assure you that some common threads will be sports, food, music, politics, and TV/movies. There is a playlist on the bottom of the page, I have loaded some of my favorite songs for your listening pleasure, feel free to scroll through them at your leisure. Check back for updates, hopefully you will enjoy what I put out there. Cheers!