Now that I have an official first post, I can get down to brass tacks. Things really irk me like...why isn't Stephon Marbury banned from the NBA for refusing to play and honor his contract? Last I heard, a player doesn't determine if and when he plays. The league has to step in and punish him - not just fine him, but remove him from his contract and refuse Knicks management to get any compensation for his loss other than a reduction of the salary cap. He's making a mockery of not only the Knicks and NBA but professional sports in general. The Knicks let this fester and it's becoming more farcical than the Chicago 7 trial. In fact, Abbie Hoffman would've never quit anything and used his tweaking of authority for a higher purpose than anything the likes of Marbury would ever understand. Same goes for Plaxico. If you think you need to carry a gun into a nightclub for protection, shouldn't you think twice about going into such a place?
Know what else is annoying? The current economic outlook. Okay, we all knew that several years of personal negative savings, record consumer debt and dizzying home prices were going to catch up with us. But why isn't Congress holding hearings to find what the f@#%$ really happened? If there was any hint of a foreign government or terrorism behind our mess, there would be a blue ribbon panel that would make the 9/11 Commission look like an aggravated harassment case in town court. Why aren't the heads of every top financial institution hauled before a panel to discuss how they balanced their own institutional risk and the public's trust at large? The problem is these financial institutions were allowed to grow so large (thank you Phil Gramm and the willing deregulationists who repealed Glass Steagall) that they had to get into more complex instruments so their CEOs and upper management can continue the earnings growth to justify their scores of millions in compensation. Any institution accepting any bailout money should require compensation packages not higher than those of federal government pay grades. So what if the "talent" leaves from these companies? As long as they get taxpayer money to preserve their jobs and bring their institutions down to soft landings, they'll have to abide by taxpayer pay scales.
Also annoying me are Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and every other no-talent celebrity who occupies more media coverage than the aforementioned economic situation. I would say that if we truly go into a depression for an extended period like a year or two similar to the early 1930s, we will see how important these celebs really are to us. And, once you take the Baby Boomer parents who fueled their children's artificially high standard of living with their technogadgets, unlimited credit lines and lessons of avoiding hard work and responsibility, it will be interesting to see how many will be willing to work at jobs deemed beneath their status. I'm sick of hearing how Gen Xers want their seat at the table without spending any time washing the silverware. They deserve their vacuous celebrity idols who are nothing more than the most extreme examples of a cyber-connected culture that truly has nothing important to say, yet manages to consume precious real estate in our media. Which brings me to...
Can anyone really believe the media (I won't even say "press" any more) is anything more than a vehicle to sell crap we don't need? At one time, you turned on the TV or radio for the immediacy of events and newspapers to interpret and understand what's happening around us. September 11 was a good example of this. We all saw events unfold on TV (or some of us experienced events firsthand that day), replayed over and over. But, for me, TV was a numbing medium like watching a Holocaust documentary. Events didn't hit home until I read The New York Times the next day in objective, hard facts. I can still remember the photo that since became "Falling Man." It ran inside the paper and put as much perspective on the day's events as a thousand minutes of CNN. Something about a static image and cold black type on paper that allows you to connect the synapses in your head and feel the impact in your own way instead of being told how to feel. Now, newspapers try to compete with the electronic media with their own web sites featuring updated articles and even video. Then when you read their printed pages, you see nothing but typos, jumps to nowhere and bad presswork giving photos a blurry double-image quality. When I was in newspapers, even the functional alcoholics who occupied the copy desk, layout and press had far higher standards and professionalism than what I see in many of today's papers. They could spot incongruous predicates, bad cuts and the slightest ink run off a photo's allotted borders.
I'm sounding more like my grandfather every day.
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Bill the Writer needs a few fans...it is a weak cover to (presumably) sign-up his wife as a follower on this blog. To prevent him from signing up his cat as Bill the Writer's Cat...someone had to step-up. Having known Bill for many years I can vouch for his propensity for writing and intellectual humor.
ReplyDeleteSomeone needs to lower the average IQ of this blog, which is my mission. I am also a new blogger and clearly lost across a generation gap, separated from those who use this as a standard media to communicate with the rest of the human race. This is much better than pounding out a 'Letter to the Editor' on an electric typewriter for the local newspaper.
That's it for now...I've contributed absolutely nothing to this thread...mission accomplished.
Hey KF,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for making my evening. I was kind of hoping that by dropping topical names of celebrities, that Google would magically bring people to my door.
But I'm very thankful that I'm diversifying my readers. After poring over converting a 40-page stage play script into a radio format for the BBC (yes, sounds impressive, but all on spec), I just thought I'd check out the ol' blog and lo and behold someone not biologically or legally connected to me posted a response!
Keep them coming. And, if you want potty humor you've come to the right place as well.
Having eaten turkey for the majority of meals for the past week, I've been regaling my 5-year-old son and his Diva-in-waiting 3-year-old sister with stories of the time we went to an out-of-state family party and got to drive home with my aunt's Labrador retriever. Let me just say dogs do not digest turkey very well...or perhaps too well and produce the CH4 (I can't seem to do subscript on the 4, so apologies to you PhD's out there) in the kind of abundance that would serve as a sulfurized Dutch oven out of the 1967 Rambler we were confined to for 100 miles. And, did I mention that the windows were fully raised due to inclement weather?
That's not even the funniest part. What's really funny is that out of my grandparents, parents and me in the car, no one wanted to point out the smell for fear of embarassing someone else in the car who truly had the gastric discomfort. After more than half the way home, it took the oldest one in the car, my grandfather who was driving to finally blurt out: "God ding it! Who's gotta use the bathroom?" as he rolled down the window, soaking his left shoulder with highway spray.
About that same time, as I was seated in the middle of the backseat, finally realized - much like Don Corleone in the Godfather after that meeting with all the other mobsters - it was the dog all the time.
Along the lines of good potty humor I can offer a reverse 'Life on Mars' experience from your 1970s flashback.
ReplyDeleteHere is an observation based on noxious plane experiences in past months. From the generation that brought you the mile high club comes the (g)assbomb. A large intestine cauterizing gas discharge that freely distributes through the cabin and ventilation system causing unsuspecting airline passengers to exercise their gag reflex. These dischargers seem to spread the joy over several hair raising installments.
The 40th anniversary of Woodstock is being celebrated with brown undies instead of brown acid.
I love travel.
Back to 'Life on Mars'...A great show. After abandoning the typical network night time dramas several years ago I'm hooked on this one. It works on several levels for me...as a young child of the 70s it brings back a lot of memories, especailly living close enough to NYC at the time. In addition, it also plays at a historic/social level. It juxtaposes some of the best and worst of 2008 vs. 1973. Well done. After a little Googling I realized that this is a repackaged British series that was broadcast a couple of years ago. Brilliant. Best thing since Fawlty Towers and The Young Ones. In any case...it's a must see.