wordsmithlind

An F/A-18D fighter jet crashed in a San Diego neighborhood today killing three.  Lucky for the US military, and in the usual twist of irony, the pilot of the doomed vehicle survived.  Looking at the pictures of the wreckage, maybe conservative San Diego and San Diego County will see the parallels in the senseless destruction of this home and the “purposeful” destruction of homes in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, amongst other places, and maybe now San Diego County and the rest of the pro-war faction of the United States will see the evils of modern warfare.  Just a passing thought, something to think about.

Pakistani militants are stepping up their attacks by destroying over 160 US and NATO vehicles at two transport terminals.  The vehicles eventually would have made their way to Afghanistan to fight “the war on terror.”  The US and NATO ship supplies through Pakistan as Afghanistan is a landlocked country, now they will have to think twice.  If more of these attacks are to happen, retaliation will be eminent.  The question goes back to an earlier blog, will Bush do it alone or with Obama’s blessing?  And if he fails to do so, will Obama do it as he stated about Iran in his speech in Berlin, Europe will join the US in any more action in the war on terror?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081207/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan;_ylt=AmNvEyaoagb1KdrvSzHFCT1vaA8F

Yes, a shameless self-promotion for none other than myself, hence the “self” part in self-promotion, and since no one reads the news on Friday, what better time than now?  Recently I began writing post game stories for the Chicago Blackhawks on www.chicagosporting.com.   The stories are short and sweet and they recap the main highlights of the game.  For those who do not know, the Chicago Blackhawks are a professional hockey team from the National Hockey League (NHL).   It is a great time to be writing for Chicago Sporting about the Hawks as they are at the beginning of a renaissance and becoming a household name in the Chicago area again.  Just a few years ago they were named the worst franchise in sports, now they are in second place in the Central Division, go figure.  So, hesitate not, read away.

Everybody’s favorite pop phenom went there, oh, yes, she went there; she called the United States conservative.  Here is the daughter of a country musician calling these here United States a conservative country.  Maybe Miley’s little comment will open some minds and open some eyes about this country, the US media is failing to do that, politicians fail to do that, most other celebrities fail to do that.  How is it that this recently turned 16 year-old has the balls to say what so many others have failed to?  Could this be a turn around in American politics, American social norms, and American ideology?  Probably not, but maybe some of Miley’s fans won’t grow up to be the middle-class, suburban conservatives that their parents want them to become.

   http://omg.yahoo.com/news/miley-cyrus-wants-to-work-with-annie-leibovitz-again/15993?nc

Once again a blog I wrote on the side.  No buyers so here it is……. 

Jerry Seinfeld and Larry King got into a bit of verbal tiff on King’s show recently.  King asked Seinfeld about the end of his show, Seinfeld, by saying “You gave it up, right?  They didn’t cancel you, you cancelled them.”  Seinfeld responded in characteristic Seinfeld manner by donning a smirk and sarcastically answering back after a brief, playfully insulted pause, “You’re not aware of this?  You think I got cancelled?  Are you under the impression I got cancelled?”  A few moments later, Seinfeld hilariously asks King with his patented rising voice, “I was the number one show on television, Larry.  Do you know who I am?”

            There are moments in this brief clip where Jerry Seinfeld and Larry King both seem to be irritated by each other, but only briefly and in passing.  For Seinfeld (and Seinfeld) fans, this is a very funny clip.  Those who are in the know are aware that Seinfeld is making fun and not actually insulting King (“Can we get a resume in here for me, for Larry to go over?”) nor is Seinfeld actually insulted.  He takes King’s comments in good spirits, laughing before he says, “75 million viewers, last episode,” and both Jerry Seinfeld and Larry King are able to laugh about it.  Larry King fans may see it otherwise, but anyone who has watched Seinfeld more than a handful of times knows when, and how, to take Seinfeld serious.  A casual Seinfeld viewer may not see it this way, they may see a man who no longer in the spotlight and insulted at the discredit to his career.  This is absolutely not true.  Just look for the smirk and you know when to take Seinfeld serious.  This little squabble between Jerry Seinfeld and Larry King is nothing more than playful banter from a very funny comedian done in his most characteristic way.

Another sad stray from our political circus ‘08.  Here is another attempt at getting paid on the side.  It did not work out as planned, so here is for all to read for free……………………

In Family Guy Patriot Games, Peter becomes a star for the New England Patriots after meeting Tom Brady at his 25^th high school reunion.  Peter’s ridiculous antics spoof the many aspects of professional football (Peter repeatedly spanking a player for a job well-done, a towel fight in the shower with Tom Brady, and his terrible attempt at acting in his role in a television commercial).  The episode hits a low spot about halfway through when Peter goes into a lengthy (almost two and a half minutes) and not so funny song and dance number to put extra, unneeded emphasis on his showboating ways.  Family Guy Patriot Games gets back on course when Peter is booted from the Patriots and is traded to the hilariously named London Silly Nannies, the worst football team in all of Europe.  Peter then goes on to pump the Silly Nannies full of steroids and then challenge the New England Patriots to a grudge match.             

I found the Stewie and Brian storyline in Family Guy Patriot Games to be much funnier than the main story and it completely steals this episode.  With Stewie acting as a bookie and Brian the gambler refusing to pay, Stewie gives Brian’s life a hilarious living hell with Goodfellas style beatings, demanding “Where’s my money, man!  You got ‘til five o’clock, you hear me, you ‘til five o’clock…clean yourself up.”  I think these are some of the funniest Stewie and Brian interactions (and bloodiest) in the history of the show.  After repeated beatings, Brian finally pays up only to torture Stewie with the knowledge that revenge is inevitably on the way.

Family Guy Patriot Games is not the funniest episode ever, but it does deliver all that is expected from a Family Guy episode with its jump-cut jokes and its senseless storyline.  

A brief blog about nothing really except an advertisement for other writings that I have done that appear on another blog.  I wrote album reviews for Johnny Cash’s At Folsom Prison, Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, and The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds (begins: After hearing…).  They appear on www.oldsongs.com.  Unfortunately, I am not credited as the author, but hey, a ghost write is a ghost write, and what more can one say, that is how the wheel goes.  In the future, hopefully in the next couple of days I will get back to writing.  Right now I am in suburbia and there is quite a bit to say about it, along with the struggle of looking for a job while having no real home along with the opposite struggle of trying to find an apartment without having a job.  An endless circle of struggle.

As I laid in my tent this past May while volunteering in northern California doing fire prevention, I grew bored of listening to the Oakland A’s game on the radio of my MP3 player. The silence of the forest lost its allure after the first couple of weeks, so I flipped through the channels until I found a station to suit the moment. Immediately the first song I heard took over my ears as nothing had in a long time. Who would have thought a song about a fire-breathing dragon could have such power; it was passive circus music, it was eclectic originality, it was non-pompous indie rock. The only way to categorize it properly would be to put it in the same category as Sgt. Pepper’s, which is a category all to its own. When the organs and accordions drew silent, I frantically grabbed a pen and the first scrap of paper I could find and wrote down what the DJ said, or I thought he said. “El Olio Wolf…El Olio Olof…El Olio…what?”

Upon my return to civilization a week later, I googled my interpretations of the name— I was close, El Olio Wolof. I went to every record store in Santa Cruz, including Borders, but none had it. It could be ordered, but I did not have time for that as I was returning to Chicago the next day. I did the same in Chicago. Nothing. How does no one have this? This is some of the most original music I have ever heard and this has to be one of the best bands no one has ever heard of. (I caught a glimpse of few more of their songs courtesy of myspace.)

Since then I have acquired this album and have not stopped listening to it since. Individual songs do not exist; it is a whole and complete album about dragons and mystical lands, created with the same imagery that fills a child’s imagination. Do yourself a favor and get this album and listen to it three times in a row without realizing. My former thoughts have held true, this is one of the best bands that no one has heard of.

http://www.myspace.com/eloliowolof