Sunday, April 29, 2012

"Lover Come Back"



My aunt, the drunk in the middle! LOL!

Trailer from the movie, "Lover Come Back." My aunt is one of the bunny dancers, last one on the left in the trailer. Still trying to see if I can find a full dance scene, though.

Be Careful In Arizona, You Could Be Pregnant Before Having Sex

Well, Arizona keeps ramping up the crazy. Now, you could actually be considered "pregnant" in Arizona, by law, two weeks before you even conceive! Yup, you read that right. By setting back the gestational period that is the countdown of when you actually are pregnant, to the date you last had your "period" as the beginning of a pregnancy, according to Arizona, you are fucking pregnant! Oh, I long ago stopped banging my head on my keyboard. The permanent indents to my forehead are a testament to the insanity I've read about and dealt with for the past ten years.

Arizona’s HB 2036 takes Nebraska’s 20-week abortion ban one step further by starting the clock on pregnancies at the woman’s last last menstrual period, which could be two weeks before fertilization.

Mitt Romney Is A Punk Ass Liar

I really couldn't say this better than karoli over at Crooks and Liars:

Today's picture concerns the auto bailouts and Romney's role in them. Mr. Fehrnstrom would like you to forget the title of Romney's 2008 op-ed, calling to "let Detroit go bankrupt." Or his 2012 op-ed, where he reiterated his 2008 stance.

But if you don't remember those, maybe you remember the primary debates, where he sneered at the bailouts (begun under George W. Bush, by the way) as a "giveaway to the UAW." If you don't, just watch the video at the top of the page.

Today we have the New and Improved Mitt Romney position on the auto bailout, courtesy of Fehrnstrom, via The Hill:

One of Mitt Romney's top advisers said Saturday that President Obama's decision to bailout Chrysler and General Motors was actually Romney's idea.

"[Romney's] position on the bailout was exactly what President Obama followed. I know it infuriates them to hear that," Eric Fehrnstrom, senior adviser to the Romney campaign, said.

"The only economic success that President Obama has had is because he followed Mitt Romney's advice."
[...]

"The fact that the auto companies today are profitable is because they've shed costs," Fehronstrom said. "The reason they shed those costs and have got their employee labor contracts less expensive is because they went through that managed bankruptcy process. It is exactly what Mitt Romney told them to do."

Welcome to the 2012 general election campaign, where up is down, right is left, wrong is right, and whatever you said yesterday is yesterday's truth because today is a new day with a new truth. This is the cynical Romney campaign at it's lying-est best.

This is an outright lie, and it wasn't Fehrnstrom going off the reservation. It was planned, it relies upon a gullible and uninformed public to accept the lie as truth because memories are too short to remember yesterday and for the most part, the part of the press that reaches the most viewers hasn't bothered to actually call a lie a lie or to pull them up short on any of the lies they've told, so why not?

This is what is infuriating so many people today. There simply is no restraint whatsoever on the aspect of telling lies. And it's not just limited to the political arena. It has permeated into the very fabric of our society, encouraging people to get what they want (or out of what they don't want) by lying. There are no consequences anymore.

I see it all the time in my job, with lawyers just making up shit. I keep asking myself "when did this become the habitual practice?" Lawyer jokes notwithstanding, many actually were, back in the "day" very good at speaking the truth to the lies. As a society, we have embarrassed ourselves into sinking so low that "he said/she said" is good enough to pass the smell test.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Kings Take Game One In Round Two

The St. Louis Blues team has always been the bane of hockey glory to the L.A. Kings.  It seems that every year when I was a season ticket holder, we could never get past the Blues.  That's not to say that the Blues will not come forth, but all my ill will toward the Kings' owners and others in the corporation(s) that own them aside, I have to root for the Kings in this round.  Home town girl, old school hockey fan, and despite my adoration for Brett Hull (LOL), I HATE the Blues!!!!!!!  Go KINGS!

Friday, April 27, 2012

Why Oh Why Can't I?








Eva Cassidy

Star Wars Party With MY FRIENDS!

Well, first off ...

Let's see if the video actually comes up.



If it does, I sure hope that, first, you enjoy the enthusiasm of the song, and second, enjoy the "What's Up Tiger Lilly" combined with those E-Trade commercials, for the technique.

Happy 7th Blogaversary To Me

Seven years, now, I have been blogging. I came out of the barrel straight shooting at everything that I saw was tearing apart this country, from the War on Terror, the actual invasion of Iraq, the stealing of elections around this country by Republicans through the use of electronic voting machines, and the new trend of Republicans to be ugly, angry and lying Americans.

As I watched how quickly the corporate entities put gobs of money into the hands of politicians (both Dems and Repugs), and then saw them become shills for corporate interests over the people, watched this country go through Hurricane Katrina and saw the stupidity that has become known as the Bush era, my faith in this country as a leader waned. To see the “media” consistently be called out as having a “liberal bias” while simultaneously spewing out bile and lies on a daily basis made my stomach ache, and my head spin. Truth was, and now is, irrelevant in today’s politics, and it has spread to the “liberally biased” media (cough, cough) such that, as posted and reported a few months ago, those that watch NO TELEVISION news programs are smarter than those that watch Fox News or other news programs (by smarter, just that they are more aware of the world and American news, as a whole, than those that are actually attempting to get their information from the media). I stopped feeling the need to use my blog to pass along relevant commentary to inform my readers of the stupidity and lies that were being tossed around by media and politicians (both parties) alike, and started to open up and share personal stuff, like my music, my interest in sports and my take on other issues non-political.

Make no mistake, though. I am still a ferverent liberal, and nothing will change that. But with SOOOO many blogs covering the issues of the day, it feels a bit redundant to just cut and paste what they say and then add my personal two cents. When I first started out blogging there were not many (if any) multiple host blogs. We were generally all just one person taking on the world. In the intervening years, bloggers gave up their independent voices and joined together to make super blogs (like Daily Kos, Think Progress, and AMERICAblog), just to name a few, and that made my ability to get the lede out before them all that much harder, especially since I still had a day job to attend to, while these blogs started accepting donations and paying their bloggers to work full time. That was just not going to happen in my world, even if I wanted to blog full time, it was never going to pay my bills.

I have been on Blogger since day one. I spent a great deal of time using my knowledge of html language to take one of their standard templates and redefine it to make it my own and not a copycat that I would see over and over by other bloggers. When Google bought Blogger, the first thing they did was try to force us to change over to their new, uh how should I phrase this, blogging for dummies format. Just drop and drag here and there, and voila, you have instant blog! Fortunately, I was able to withstand that, and was never forced to utilize their new format at that time. However, the other blogs that I created and manage, like my grandson’s and the one for my uncle, were subjected to the new format, and there was really nothing I could do, although I was able to still use html to tweak things to my liking.

But, this new forced change is horrendous. The posting options remind me of old school email choices. The layout sucks, most of the options do not work, such as the ability to look at older posts ... click, click, click ... goes nowhere. Try to upload a video or a picture and click, click, click ... nothing appears. Heck, for the past couple of years, most people come to my blog just FOR the videos and pictures !!!! If I can’t even get that stuff up with the new Blogger, what is the point?

At any rate, this is my blogversary, as they say, seven years and counting. I am still not sure what I will do with Carrie’s Bar & Grill. I am tempted to just leave it hear as it is, and make up a new place, still owned by Carrie, but just not a Bar & Grill, so to speak. Maybe take on a new persona for the blog, where it will be less political and more personal. And then find a new host and hopefully, like the posting options and features better than Blogger.

As an aside, during the time my blog was offline, one person was able to find a Goggle cache of the blog which I had no idea you could access. From 4/20 through 4/25, there were no posts, and when you tried to go to my blog, you got a page that told you the blog was no longer there. Except on 4/23, someone read like 6 pages and spent about 15 minutes on my blog, and when I clicked on the referral link, I was taken to a place that stated by Google it was the last known “cache” of my blog, and you could actually pull the entire thing up as if it was still working. Very interesting, to say the least.

Anyway, in closing, between yesterday and today, I see Blogger has begun to “fix” some of their problems, such as the label category (which when I tried to pull up the list of labels I have created it went nowhere, click, click, click) and I see that I can now access my prior posts. Let’s see if later on, over the weekend, I can pull up some pictures and videos. Not saying that would make me stay here, but at least until I find out what I want to do next, I can work within the new parameters I have been forced to accept.

Ahhhhh, America ... oops, I mean Corporatopia, the land of the enslaved and oppressed peoples, where we are all assimilated by the Borg.

UPDATE: 4/29/12: There was a link in this new Blogger that was entitled "old format" and when I clicked on it, voila, the old format came back, although at the top it says "this format will be disable in the future." We shall see. For now, I have the old Blogger options and page, so I'll keep on keeping on, as they say!

I Will Join AMERICAblog In Moving From Blogger

This from John Aravosis at AMERICAblog:

PS Sorry I've been blogging a bit less this week, but now that Google has launched Blogger's new interface, which is incompatible with both the iphone and the ipad, I'm only able to blog when I have my computer with me, which limits things greatly.  We're planning to finally move to WordPress.  It was a great 8 years with Blogger, but this latest upgrade was such a step backwards, we really have no choice but to move.
And I am sure I am not the only one, but this is by far the most read blog in the blogosphere, and if he's fed up with this new format and moving, then it surely underscores what the rest of us peon bloggers feel.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Got My Blog Back, But It Cost Me $3.00

Yeah, that's right.  Google actually charged me $3 to get it back.  And, on top of that, they tried to take an extra $1 out of my credit card, which I, of course, demanded they put back.  Asstwits.  Finally, though, I got the blog back.  Actually, I couldn't care less about this blog. But having the YouTube disappear was not what I anticipated.  More than likely, I will create a different type of blog on a different server, and just leave this one dormant for reference.  As far as I am concerned, Google sucks, and I am not going to be told how I can post or be forced to have to deal with Google's idea of "changes" that are supposed to "enhance" the experience.   Fuck them.  Look for me coming soon on a different network, with a different name, and a different style.

Friday, April 20, 2012

A Picture Says A Thousand Words

Unless, with NEW BLOGGER, you can't get any fucking pictures to actually show up!  FUCK THIS.  Where are my damn pictures that I have linked to like 60 million times??????

Fuck This New Blogger Update

Ok so this NEW blogger sucks ... it sucks so much I might actually decide to not blog anymore. 

4-20


In the state of Indiana a person convicted of armed robbery will serve about five years in prison; someone convicted of rape will serve about twelve; and a convicted murderer can expect to spend twenty years behind bars. These figures are actually higher than the figures nationwide: eight years and eight months in prison is the average punishment for an American found guilty of murder. The prison terms given by Indiana judges tend to be long, but with good behavior an inmate will serve no more than half the nominal sentence. Those facts are worth keeping in mind when considering the case of Mark Young. At the age of thirty-eight Young was arrested at his Indianapolis home for brokering the sale of 700 pounds of marijuana grown on a farm in nearby Morgan County. Young was tried and convicted under federal law. He had never before been charged with drug trafficking. He had no history of violent crime. Young's role in the illegal transaction had been that of a middleman—he never distributed the drugs; he simply introduced two people hoping to sell a large amount of marijuana to three people wishing to buy it. The offense occurred a year and a half prior to his arrest. No confiscated marijuana, money, or physical evidence of any kind linked Young to the crime. He was convicted solely on the testimony of co-conspirators who were now cooperating with the government. On February 8, 1992, Mark Young was sentenced by Judge Sarah Evans Barker to life imprisonment without possibility of parole.


There was so much talk in the 1970s about the decriminalization of marijuana, and the smoking of marijuana is so casually taken for granted in much of our culture, that many people assume that a marijuana offense these days will rarely lead to a prison term. But in fact there may be more people in prison today for violating marijuana laws than at any other time in the nation's history. Link
This is a MUST READ article.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Want To Feel Good? Watch This Video Of An Autistic Adult Singing The National Anthem

This actually made me cry.





It's an amazing thing to watch when people actually support one another. Things like this remind me that America is really not the hate mongering country that our politicians and corporations would like us to believe. Like how Fox and its minions continue to deceive their viewers into thinking that ALL of America is truly divided. It is not. It is only the dysfunctional government, i.e., congressmen and senators, state and federal levels, and whom they are beholding to (ah, those pesky corporate "persons") that have a reason to ramp up the divisiveness. Average, regular Americans are simply not hateful. It's a minority of our country, and a majority of our politicians that advance this ideology.

H/T to Pics and Random Stuff.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Mitt's Dog On Shuttle, (Not To Be Confused With Santorum's Man On Dog)

Ok, this is just too funny NOT to share!


Obviously, that's a Mittens take of his dog on the roof of the car!

Here are some earlier pictures I have in storage of the shuttle being transported back to home base after a mission.




Sunday, April 15, 2012

"Oh My God, Not The Secret Service, Damn It"

Uh, where were you when there was outrage over the Bush era criminal activities?

President Barack Obama, speaking for the first time about allegations that Secret Service agents hired prostitutes, said Sunday that "of course I'll be angry" if those accusations are proven true by an investigation.

Obama said the agents represent the United States and are supposed to conduct themselves with the highest levels of dignity anywhere in the world. "Obviously, what's been reported doesn't match up to those standards," Obama said in a news conference wrapping his appearance at a Latin America summit.

Ah, the faux outrage!

Get Over Axl, Will Ya?

With all the hoopla this year over Axl Rose’s refusal to accept the nomination to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I for one, am on the same page. I have long had a disdain for this organization, based on the fact that the original and primary movers and shakers of the organization had little to zero street creds insofar as “musicians and artists” were concerned.

I have taken some heat as of late, with outlandish statements that “all musicians are profoundly humbled to be elected to such a prestigious organization,” to which I have consistently replied, “bullshit.” It doesn't take much to get a group of publicity seeking artists to schlep to any event that there might be an award.

Rose’s name drew choruses of boos and catcalls from the audience of about 7,400 at Cleveland’s Public Auditorium, where the ceremony took place. But Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong, who delivered the GNR introduction speech, shot back: “Shut up. He was the greatest frontman to ever step in front of a microphone.” He paused, then added: "But he is ... crazy. And I can vouch for that."

[snip]

It was, however, comedian Chris Rock, during his introductory speech for GNR’s fellow L.A. inductees, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who provided what perhaps was the most salient point of the evening regarding Rose.

“A lot of people are disappointed that Axl Rose isn’t here,” said Rock as the ceremony stretched toward the 1 a.m. mark for the Chili Peppers’ performance. “But let’s face it, even if he was going to be here, he still wouldn’t be here yet.”

Here are just some of the reasons, put forth succinctly at the Wikipedia site.

The most frequent criticism of the Hall of Fame is that the nomination process is controlled by a few individuals who are not themselves musicians, such as founder Jann Wenner (who has filled the position of managing editor for Rolling Stone magazine), former foundation director Suzan Evans, and writer Dave Marsh, reflecting their personal tastes rather than the views of the rock world as a whole. A former member of the nominations board once commented that "At one point Suzan Evans lamented the choices being made because there weren't enough big names that would sell tickets to the dinner. That was quickly remedied by dropping one of the doo-wop groups being considered in favor of a 'name' artist...I saw how certain pioneering artists of the '50s and early '60s were shunned because there needed to be more name power on the list, resulting in '70s superstars getting in before the people who made it possible for them. Some of those pioneers still aren't in today."

There is also controversy in the lack of transparency in the selection process. Janet Morrissey of The New York Times wrote, "With fame and money at stake, it’s no surprise that a lot of backstage lobbying goes on. Why any particular act is chosen in any particular year is a mystery to performers as well as outsiders – and committee members say they want to keep it that way." Jon Landau, the chairman of the nominating committee, says they prefer it that way. "We’ve done a good job of keeping the proceedings nontransparent. It all dies in the room."

According to Fox News, petitions with tens of thousands of signatures were also being ignored, and some groups that were signed with certain labels or companies or were affiliated with various committee members have even been put up for nomination with no discussion at all. The committee has also been accused of largely ignoring certain genres. According to author Brett Milano, "entire genres get passed over, particularly progressive rock, '60s Top 40, New Orleans funk and a whole lot of black music."

Another criticism is that too many artists are inducted. In fifteen years, 97 different artists have been inducted. ] A minimum of 50% of the vote is needed to be inducted; although, the final percentages are not announced and a certain number of inductees (five in 2011) is set before the ballots are shipped.[24] The committee usually nominates a small number of artists (12 in 2010) from an increasing number of different genres. Several voters, including Joel Selvin, himself a former member of the nominating committee, didn't submit their ballots in 2007 because they didn't feel that any of the candidates were truly worthy.

The surviving members of the British punk rock band Sex Pistols, inducted in 2006, refused to attend the ceremony, calling the museum "a piss stain".
As to those that have said “no one has every refused this honor," well, the Sex Pistols did decline.

For me, it is also, the process and the games played by the nomination committee. So, I say “eh” to Axl. Not everyone in the music industry defers to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The "One" That Declined To Sail The Titanic

A very interesting post by Rainn Wilson and the Titanic.

As we've been reminded innumerable times over the past few weeks, one hundred years ago the "unsinkable" Titanic sank into the North Atlantic, taking with her more than 1,500 lives. The tragedy has made for some epic storytelling.

Of all the stories, one of the most extraordinary is that of a 68-year-old Persian who wasn't, it turns out, actually on the ill-fated vessel, but was supposed to be.

Abbas Effendi -- known as Abdu'l-Baha or "the Servant of God" -- was feted by the press in both Europe and the U.S. as a philosopher, a peace apostle, even the return of Christ. His American admirers had sent him thousands of dollars for a ticket on the Titanic, and begged him to ride in the greatest of opulence. He declined and gave the money to charity.

Read the rest of the post. For those that are aware of my faith, it should be a good read.


Abdu'l-Baha's talks pierced audiences with a radical simplicity. And yet he advanced ideas that Americans still wrestle with a century later: the need for true racial harmony and gender equality; the elimination of extreme wealth and poverty; the dangers of nationalism and religious bigotry; and an insistence upon the independent search for truth. Any of those ring a bell in 2012?

His mission of unity, spread throughout our nation one hundred years ago, should be celebrated alongside the messages of Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and Martin Luther King Jr.

In his very first public address in the U.S. -- at New York's Church of Ascension on Fifth Avenue and 10th Street -- Abdu'l-Baha hailed America's material progress in the arts, agriculture and commerce, but with a caution to also develop our spiritual potentialities.

"For man two wings are necessary. One wing is physical power and material civilization; the other is spiritual power and divine civilization. With one wing only, flight is impossible."

He gave the talk on April 14, 1912. Later that same day the Titanic struck the iceberg.

I was supposed to celebrate my 60th yesterday with a party. I ended up canceling it for many reasons. After reading the above, I am sort of glad I did.

Lord Stanley Is In The House

The first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs has been underway. There are some interesting match ups, and the Pittsburgh/Philadelphia series has been like watching the traditional fight where a hockey game breaks out! Today's game it seemed there were more players on both teams in the penalty boxes than there were actually sitting on the bench. Even several 5 minute majors and game misconducts, and the first period isn't even over.

From Adrian Dater over at Sports Illustrated:

Let's just get the most obvious unbelievable statements out of the way first:

- "I can't believe there was a game that saw 158 minutes in penalties without a deuce to Matt Cooke."

-"I can't believe there was an 8-4 playoff game in which Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin didn't get a goal."

- "I can't believe Marc-Andre Fleury's playoff goals-against average had actually gone down entering the final minute of the second period, when it was still just a 5-4 game for the Flyers."

- "I can't believe I saw hair pulling on a Sunday afternoon in which the TV fare wasn't a marathon of Bad Girls Club: Las Vegas."

- "I can't believe a team as clean as the Mario Lemieux-owned Pittsburgh Penguins could resort to garage-league hockey in a playoff game."

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Watching The Dems Squirm Over Hillary Rosen's Comments About Ann Romney, Oh My!

UPDATE: 4/15/12: Since the piece below has been rocking the boat for both sides, and with the Dems joining the Rethugs by saying Hillary Rosen was out of bounds by making such a statement about Ann Romney, I bring you the following from Think Progress. As always, for every side of the mouth Mittens says something, there is always an equally opposite statement coming out of the other side of his mouth!

Romney and allies cried that Democrats had declared “war on moms” after a Democratic strategist said Romney’s wife hadn’t worked a day in her life. Romney’s camp said this meant Democrats don’t value stay at home moms and motherhood, while they believe that women who stay home are doing real work.

But for every Romney action, there is an equal and opposite Romney reaction, and this morning, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes dug up a video of Romney from just January in which the Republican presidential candidate said he wanted to require women who receive welfare to work outside the home, even if their children are very young. He told a New Hampshire audience:

“I wanted to increase the work requirement,” said Romney. “I said, for instance, that even if you have a child 2 years of age, you need to go to work. And people said, ‘Well that’s heartless.’ And I said, ‘No, no, I’m willing to spend more giving day care to allow those parents to go back to work. It’ll cost the state more providing that daycare, but I want the individuals to have the dignity of work.”
===============================
This caught my eye this morning. I have mostly stayed silent with respect to the Republican circus that has been the nominating process for the next candidate for president (all of them are ignorant pieces of shit, as far as I am concerned). I don't particularly care who wins the election this year. I will still sit it out and not vote. I am not a fan of Obama, and quite frankly, I could give two shits if the stupid people take over. To me, that just means we crash and burn a lot faster, and we all know that we can't rebuild until we break. This current trend of plugging the holes with our fingers (or putting our fingers in our ears) is not stopping the bleeding of this country, or the world, so I, for one, am on the side that takes us down as fast as possible.

With that in mind, I do have to come to the defense of Hilary Rosen, who has both the Democrats and Republicans all trying to get their underwear out of their asses.

President Obama’s top political advisers moved rapidly late Wednesday night to distance the president from a Democratic strategist and adviser to the Democratic National Committee who said Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, had “never worked a day in her life.”

[snip]

And then, in a commentary on The Huffington Post, Ms. Rosen wrote a long defense of her comments, accusing critics of “faux anger” aimed at scoring political points.

“I don’t need lectures from the R.N.C. on supporting women and fighting to increase opportunities for women; I’ve been doing it my whole career,” Ms. Rosen wrote. “If they want to attack me and distract the public’s attention away from their nominee’s woeful record, it just demonstrates how much they just don’t get it.”

She added: “I have no judgements about women who work outside the home vs. women who work in the home raising a family. I admire women who can stay home and raise their kids full time. I even envy them sometimes. It is a wonderful luxury to have the choice. But let’s stipulate that it is NOT a choice that most women have in America today.”

Amen to that. I raised my daughter and worked. My daughter is a single mother who had been raising her son while attending college, but on welfare, food stamps, and pell grants, plus some scholarships (no help from the father, that's for sure). In my time, and in today's culture, women being able to stay at home and NOT work is an anomaly, not the norm. Well, unless you are the .01% like the Romney family, who can afford multiple cars, homes, boats, horses, and probably a lot of nannies. The rest of us 99% in America have to get by, raising a family with both parents working ... and in today's economy, with probably both parents on unemployment because the Romney's of this country "like firing people." I don't care if Mrs. Romney raised five kids or ten kids ... she did so with the kind of money monthly most of us will never see in a lifetime.

UPDATE: 4/13/12: I knew I knew the name "Hillary Rosen" but could not place where I knew it from. And although I concur with the comments and the intent of the comments she made, I realize now (thanks to an post over at AMERICAblog) that this is the same Hillary Rosen with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) the group responsible for pushing the lawsuits against individual file sharers, the one who brought down the original Napster, and helped create the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of which even I have had experience with by Blogger taking down a post of mine claiming it was in violation of the DMCA. I hate this woman! I am sure in by archives I have a lot of posts really badmouthing her.

4-9-52, And Then It Was 4-9-12

Well, I finally hit the big six-oooo last Monday. Since it was my usual night to go to the watering hole, that's what I did. For those that have known me most of my life, they know that I only celebrate my birthday, party-wise, every ten years. My 30th was very fun, as I lived on the beach, with a glass wall that overlooked the ocean. I had an open house all day, rock music blaring from the rather loud and expansive stereo system, plenty of champagne, food, and of course, lots of different and fun drugs! My 40th was a dinner party for a select group of people (about 20) held at a French restaurant on Franklin Ave. in Hollywood (across the street from the infamous Scientology Hollywood Guest Center), where "the girls" secretly got a male stripper (despite my "orders" to not even go there, damn it), lots of great food, and of course, booze! My 50th, I rented a six bedroom hacienda in Las Vegas and had many friends spend three days there celebrating. I brought in fresh live lobsters from Santa Monica, flew in my favorite chef from New York, and had a bang up celebration. The house had it's own bar, so there was, of course, plenty of booze!

My 60th was planned more than two years ago, and I sent out invitations back then. I was going to have it, "Sex and the City" style, on the rooftop of the co-op I have with a friend of mine in New York. Several months after the invites went out, the family problems started wherein my grandson eventually was forced to move to Chicago (and for which I am still handling the litigation costs for the fight to get him back to where he rightly belongs). With little left over for any real bash to be held in New York, I then went to plan B, which was to have a dinner party at my watering hole, for the same number of people (about 50) but without having to pay for a lot of trips to New York.

Eventually, as the time got closer, and I was spending money to send my daughter to Chicago every six weeks to visit with her son, I came to the conclusion that I would rather keep the money aside for future trips until this litigation ends (hopefully, with the outcome in my family's favor), and thus, canceled the spectacle that would have been my 60th.

Instead, I asked my friends to not even really come to the bar on Monday, and just let me be me with the locals. I thought it funny, though, that all of my gifts were shot glasses (except for the Survivor "real" buff that I got from one of my associates at work, although he also got me a Survivor shot glass, LOL), so I lined up all the shot glasses at the bar when I got there. It was fun. I picked one to use for the night, ordered "single" bloody mary's and had a few shots with the patrons. Although I did try to buy shots for my friends at the bar, I was treated to shots more than I paid for others.

Of course, my cousins bought me what appears to now be a yearly tradition - an Hawai'ian lei made of plumeria blossoms, which was obviously ordered and shipped here from the islands. I got one from them last year, and the year before, although that one was brought back direct from Hawai'i by a friend that was there just a few days before my birthday.

I did do a birthday party for about 16 of my family and friends last year at the bar, and it was fabulous, so I am not as tripped out by not having an actual 60th. I was sort of leaving it open to have a "party" later on this year, but I think I might start having them every five years instead of ten (laughing). Who knows if I will be around at 70, so I can at least look forward to planning my 65th.

Many thanks to my watering hole buddies that helped me celebrate in my regular bar, doing my regular things, and enjoying myself as I generally do there on Mondays.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

I Passed 30,000 Hits!

Pretty decent milestone for this simple blog! Of course, it would be THIS post that hit the 30,000 mark! Puff, puff!

Sunday, April 08, 2012

My Version Of Happy Easter

I watched the video today over at Rix's place, and it made me think of this Eddie Izzard piece from his famous one man show "Dressed to Kill" (which in its entirety is a MUCH WATCH if you want to bend over laughing hysterically!

Anyway, he did a bit about religion (spot on), but also about how the singing in Christian groups outside of Gospel singing, is drab and boring ... which is exactly what the video showed on Rix's page!



Let's see if we can bring it up a notch! Here is a Canadian gospel group, singing "Oh Happy Day!" - Choeur Gospel Célébration de Québec & Sylvie Desgroseilliers



Harlem Gospel Singers



Scene from "The Color Purple."



I know I put this "flash mob" gospel singing at Macy's in Chicago piece up before, but let's enjoy it again.



One of my favorite songs, Swing Down Chariot - this one by the Gaither Gospel Group.



The Lord's Prayer from the movie "Sarafina."



Funny how Whoopi is in a lot of movies with gospel singing (The Color Purple, Sarafina, Sister Act, etc.).

Going to close out with "Amazing Grace" by our dear departed Whitney.



May God be with you this Passover/Easter weekend. God most surely knows how much this planet is in need of some honest-to-goodness loving and sharing.

Steve Stamkos Hits The 60 Goal Mark!


WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP)—Steven Stamkos gave the Winnipeg Jets’ fans a reason to applaud on Saturday.

Stamkos scored his 60th goal of the season and Teddy Purcell had a hat trick, including the overtime winner, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Jets 4-3.

[snip]

Just 19 players have scored 60 goals or more in a single season. The group includes players such as Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Brett Hull.

Alex Ovechkin is the only player to score 60 since 1996. The Washington Capitals star had 65 goals in the 2007-08 season.

[snip]

After the game, 15,004 fans gave the Jets a standing ovation as players hoisted their sticks in the air to acknowledge the support that gave Winnipeg a reputation of being one of the loudest NHL buildings.

Gretzky still holds the record of 92 goals in a season. Brett Hull (my favorite player) ranks 3rd (The Great One holds #1 and #2 spots) with 86, followed by Mario with 85. I remember Teemu Selanne's record 76 goals as a rookie for the old Winnipeg Jets (which ties him for the #5 spot with Alexander Mogilny and Phil Esposito). During the down years in the NHL with the clutch and grab game playing in the 1990's and 2000's that made the NJ Devils a household name as perennial Stanley Cup winners, it has been hard to break the 50 mark, let alone 60. Only Ovechkin hit that mark, as noted above, in the 2007-2008 season.

No one will ever reach Gretzky's total goals scored, 894, or Howe's 801. I was at the Kings' game when Wayne scored 802, and broke Howe's record. Third in all time goal scoring is my favorite hockey player, Brett Hull, with 741.

Saturday, April 07, 2012

Thomas Kinkade Dies - Age 54





I have to admit I am an unabashed fan of Thomas Kinkade. Although I do not own a single painting of his, I have downloaded probably as many as twenty to thirty desktop themes using his many wonderful paintings.

I know that many in the art world have feelings about him from mild dislike to serious despising, mostly based on his mass marketing of his art work. I say "eh" to that. He does what he does to make money, but that does not make his work less unique.

Art from the self-described "painter of light" adorns many living rooms in America. It emphasizes simple pleasures and warm, positive images of idyllic cottages, lighthouses and colorful gardens.

"My mission as an artist is to capture those special moments in life adorned with beauty and light," Kinkade said in a message on his website. "I work to create images that project a serene simplicity that can be appreciated and enjoyed by everyone. That's what I mean by sharing the light."

He was only 54. I turn 60 next Monday. No more new and wonderful paintings from him.

RIP, Mr. Kinkade, and brighten up heaven a little on this Easter/Passover weekend.

Thursday, April 05, 2012

Land Of Make Believe

I was checking out my visitor links today, and, as sometimes occur, links with videos or music that I posted years ago, no longer "link." So, every now and then, I go and "edit" the post with another link. Sometimes they still disappear, like I always experience with any of my "Alley McBeal" posts.

Anyway, saw someone had linked to this post with a google search of Esther Satterfield. Of course, whatever "link" I had put in originally, no longer linked anywhere. So I put in a new one for now.

As I noted in the post, I had the great fortune of hearing Chuck Mangione in all his different incarnations, be it a quartet, a jazz orchestra or a symphony orchestra. (Current link to Mangione's website).

While this is a LIVE recording (which means, in today's world, she would never have survived American Idol or The Voice), to have had the experience to see her perform this song with Mangione conducting circa the late 1970's and way before anyone knew of him based on his one real big hit (and playing in) a full orchestra, well ... that's what we call magic!!!

Enjoy - Land Of Make Believe



"I once asked the Wizard of Oz, all the secrets of his land. He said just take a look around here. Seven dwarfs and Little Boy Blue, Uncle Remus and Snow White too. Now just between us, that's what's known as integration!"

Mangione, more recognizable ...

Feel So Good



Less recognizable.

Chase The Clouds Away

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Joan Kelly - U.S.S. Missouri And A Teenager's Crush

Back in 1953, my aunt was "crowned" Miss Welcome To Long Beach. (My mother was a regatta queen, but I will deal with that plus photos in another post!)

I received a rather interesting e-mail from an individual who was about 15 at the time, with an audio stream of a story this individual told about his youth, the U.S.S. Missouri, and my aunt. I turned it into a video.



Enjoy.

For more on "uncle Sid and aunt Joan" check out The Sticks And The Fedora.