Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Not U2, But I'm So Sick Of It!
As it turns out, I'm really sick of McCain's campaign ads and speeches. None of them have a single redeeming quality. They're rife with personal attacks, sensationalistic language, and quotes that have been taken out of context in order to distort the opposition's stance. This isn't what he promised as a presidential candidate.
Both candidates promised campaigns that would be conducted with class, civility, and dignity. Attributes that should be a given when campaigning for the presidency. Yet McCain departed from this promise in an almost grotesque manner.
In the waning days of the campaign trail McCain has resorted to some despicable themes in his speeches and ads. He has painted the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, as a socialist, a terrorist, a radical, a Muslim, and anti-American. All volatile, dangerous, and irresponsible accusations. All in pursuit of the presidency.
Being President of the United States requires gravitas, dignity, diplomacy , judgment,and class. These are all words and concepts conspicuously absent from The Oval Office the last eight years with predictable results. Yet John McCain promises change if elected. Change isn't what you hear and see when listening to his speeches or ads. I ain't making it up.
Both candidates promised campaigns that would be conducted with class, civility, and dignity. Attributes that should be a given when campaigning for the presidency. Yet McCain departed from this promise in an almost grotesque manner.
In the waning days of the campaign trail McCain has resorted to some despicable themes in his speeches and ads. He has painted the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, as a socialist, a terrorist, a radical, a Muslim, and anti-American. All volatile, dangerous, and irresponsible accusations. All in pursuit of the presidency.
Being President of the United States requires gravitas, dignity, diplomacy , judgment,and class. These are all words and concepts conspicuously absent from The Oval Office the last eight years with predictable results. Yet John McCain promises change if elected. Change isn't what you hear and see when listening to his speeches or ads. I ain't making it up.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Football Sunday
As it turns out, we had a craving for some BBQ. Under that lid is some soon- to-be-off-the-chain ribs & chicken. I ain't making it up, either
Saturday, October 25, 2008
What, Me Worry?
Nevermind minor annoyances and drunken diatribes, though. Yesterday I woke up around 9 AM in good shape, which surprised me because Esteban, Corey and I took part in a little Friday Afternoon Clubbing (FAC). We get together on Friday afternoons and shoot the breeze while having a few cocktails. Yesterday the imbibe of choice was Absolut Los Angeles Vodka, which is nothing short of phenomenal, and it flowed for the better part of four hours. So you can understand why I was a bit amazed that I didn't have a punishing hangover.
At any rate, I'm sitting there wondering whether or not I'm developing a tolerance and watching a college football pregame show. Mostly because it amuses me, listening to the yammering of the Ted Baxters. They predict the future with such certitude they can't help but be amusing, on occasion. But Ted Baxter's entertainment value was surpassed by, of all things, a commercial. I'm sure the good people at John Hancock didn't intend to entertain. They did, nonetheless. The obvious and flat-footed attempt at scaring the audience into using their services drew a chuckle.
An appeal to fear occurs where one introduces the threat of an undesirable result to advance a position or conclusion. An arguer uses this form of argument when uninterested in proffering relevant evidence for their conclusion or position. The John Hancock commercials proved an obvious example of this fallacy.
In one of the commercials, a man is sitting at his computer and chatting with his wife. She tells him that she had to check the 65+ box on a financial form. He asks how long is plus. In response she types "For your mother it was 95." He then falls back in his chair in obvious consternation. Wow...what happens if we run out of money. Flash to the John Hancock logo. The argument: "If you don't go with John Hancock, you will run out of money."
In another, and this is the one that made me laugh, a man is chatting from his Blackberry with his wife. She's informing him that one of their acquaintances ran out of money and had to move in with his/her child. The man responds, "Move in with your kids? Ouch." Flash to the John Hancock logo. The argument: If you don't go with John Hancock, you will run out of money and end up living with your kids."
John Hancock introduces the undesirable result of running out of money during retirement. Then, as if this were not threat enough, marries the idea of running out money with moving in with your children. Then this irrelevant evidence is offered to sustain their position that you should employ the services of John Hancock. They chose this tact instead of producing relevant evidence to support their position, which is we should employ their services.
As it turns out, John Hancock chose an appeal to fear as an argument form. I suppose this isn't all that surprising or unusual in advertising, but given the current economic climate and the attending worries, it does seem a bit heavy handed and vulgar. An American population fretting over the condition of Wall St and its corollaries is an unseemly target for this garbage. I ain't making it up.
At any rate, I'm sitting there wondering whether or not I'm developing a tolerance and watching a college football pregame show. Mostly because it amuses me, listening to the yammering of the Ted Baxters. They predict the future with such certitude they can't help but be amusing, on occasion. But Ted Baxter's entertainment value was surpassed by, of all things, a commercial. I'm sure the good people at John Hancock didn't intend to entertain. They did, nonetheless. The obvious and flat-footed attempt at scaring the audience into using their services drew a chuckle.
An appeal to fear occurs where one introduces the threat of an undesirable result to advance a position or conclusion. An arguer uses this form of argument when uninterested in proffering relevant evidence for their conclusion or position. The John Hancock commercials proved an obvious example of this fallacy.
In one of the commercials, a man is sitting at his computer and chatting with his wife. She tells him that she had to check the 65+ box on a financial form. He asks how long is plus. In response she types "For your mother it was 95." He then falls back in his chair in obvious consternation. Wow...what happens if we run out of money. Flash to the John Hancock logo. The argument: "If you don't go with John Hancock, you will run out of money."
In another, and this is the one that made me laugh, a man is chatting from his Blackberry with his wife. She's informing him that one of their acquaintances ran out of money and had to move in with his/her child. The man responds, "Move in with your kids? Ouch." Flash to the John Hancock logo. The argument: If you don't go with John Hancock, you will run out of money and end up living with your kids."
John Hancock introduces the undesirable result of running out of money during retirement. Then, as if this were not threat enough, marries the idea of running out money with moving in with your children. Then this irrelevant evidence is offered to sustain their position that you should employ the services of John Hancock. They chose this tact instead of producing relevant evidence to support their position, which is we should employ their services.
As it turns out, John Hancock chose an appeal to fear as an argument form. I suppose this isn't all that surprising or unusual in advertising, but given the current economic climate and the attending worries, it does seem a bit heavy handed and vulgar. An American population fretting over the condition of Wall St and its corollaries is an unseemly target for this garbage. I ain't making it up.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Myspace, Facebook, And Other Annoyances
So anyways, last night Trev and I drank 2 or 20 cocktails. Naturally, that amount of alcohol doesn't exactly inspire high brow conversation.
"Dude, what's up with commercials anymore," Trevor seemed to ask out of nowhere, but then I realized I'd been spacing off.
"What, how annoying they are," I asked.
"No, they've always been fucking annoying because they just barge in and start selling you shit you don't want or need. Now they're nails being drug across the blackboard, or a drippy faucet."
"No shit. I'd do anything to make those free credit report dot com commercials go away. Seriously, when they come on, I immediately change the channel." We laughed.
"No," he says, "Vonage. That commercial makes me wanna kick someone's ass. It's enough that they're lying to me, but then they start in with the orange and that boing noise, and the line that I know is not there...ugh."
"Right, like it's a toy or something. I hate that commercial, but I hate the new Bud Light commercials even more. The ones that everyone freezes and this tool starts tarding me out. Drawing stupid analogies about shit that doesn't have anything to do with anything," I said, "All I can think is, 'please, make it stop.'"
"No, speaking of annoying," Trev was going to change subjects and it wasn't going to be pretty, "fucking old people and Facebook."
"I have to admit," I started, "I'm at a loss. I don't do Whorespace or Facebook."
"I know, you're too cool or whatthefuckever, but you get these fossils on there who can't operate their TV remote, and they open a Facebook account. Jesus Christ in a cardigan! Stay away from the goddamn computer, gramps."
I laughed, lifted my beer and said, "Well, here's no to free credit report dot com, Vonage, Bud Light, and old people on Facebook." It was right about here we knocked back our 12th Guinness, I think. It could've been the 15th, not sure. I ain't making it up.
"Dude, what's up with commercials anymore," Trevor seemed to ask out of nowhere, but then I realized I'd been spacing off.
"What, how annoying they are," I asked.
"No, they've always been fucking annoying because they just barge in and start selling you shit you don't want or need. Now they're nails being drug across the blackboard, or a drippy faucet."
"No shit. I'd do anything to make those free credit report dot com commercials go away. Seriously, when they come on, I immediately change the channel." We laughed.
"No," he says, "Vonage. That commercial makes me wanna kick someone's ass. It's enough that they're lying to me, but then they start in with the orange and that boing noise, and the line that I know is not there...ugh."
"Right, like it's a toy or something. I hate that commercial, but I hate the new Bud Light commercials even more. The ones that everyone freezes and this tool starts tarding me out. Drawing stupid analogies about shit that doesn't have anything to do with anything," I said, "All I can think is, 'please, make it stop.'"
"No, speaking of annoying," Trev was going to change subjects and it wasn't going to be pretty, "fucking old people and Facebook."
"I have to admit," I started, "I'm at a loss. I don't do Whorespace or Facebook."
"I know, you're too cool or whatthefuckever, but you get these fossils on there who can't operate their TV remote, and they open a Facebook account. Jesus Christ in a cardigan! Stay away from the goddamn computer, gramps."
I laughed, lifted my beer and said, "Well, here's no to free credit report dot com, Vonage, Bud Light, and old people on Facebook." It was right about here we knocked back our 12th Guinness, I think. It could've been the 15th, not sure. I ain't making it up.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
So anyway, I joined this site called Twitter. Their concept is you can inform your friends as to the most mundane happenings in your life via the cellphone or web. If it's by way of cellphone, you just send Twitter a text and they post the update. If it's by way of the web, you just log onto their site and post an update. This is fine,I suppose, but my first thought was, "Who cares what I'm doing? It's not as though I'm sitting around wondering what you had for dinner, or what you're doing this very moment. And if I was, I'd call. Then you could tell me how creepy it is that I asked."
Listen, this service, Twitter, answers a clamoring from all of us for peak or unusual experiences. We seek these out because the majority of our lives are banal, mundane, boring,quotidian, and plebeian. And we think our lives have to be more than this; supposed to be more than this. So we look to others to not only see what else we could be doing, but to also vicariously live another person's unusual experience. But 90 percent of life is banal, mundane, boring, quotidian, and plebeian. So if you sit around waiting for a peak experience or that "rush," you're going to wake up one day staring into your colostomy bag wondering where the hell your life went to. The answer is it happened while you weren't paying attention to it.
So the way I see it is pay attention to the little everyday experiences that you have. Really pay attention to your life. It's much shorter and fleeting than any of us normally contemplate. But in the meantime, I'm going to fuck around on Twitter. It's to the left of the page. Look for yourself. I ain't making it up.
Listen, this service, Twitter, answers a clamoring from all of us for peak or unusual experiences. We seek these out because the majority of our lives are banal, mundane, boring,quotidian, and plebeian. And we think our lives have to be more than this; supposed to be more than this. So we look to others to not only see what else we could be doing, but to also vicariously live another person's unusual experience. But 90 percent of life is banal, mundane, boring, quotidian, and plebeian. So if you sit around waiting for a peak experience or that "rush," you're going to wake up one day staring into your colostomy bag wondering where the hell your life went to. The answer is it happened while you weren't paying attention to it.
So the way I see it is pay attention to the little everyday experiences that you have. Really pay attention to your life. It's much shorter and fleeting than any of us normally contemplate. But in the meantime, I'm going to fuck around on Twitter. It's to the left of the page. Look for yourself. I ain't making it up.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Karma, Ain't It A Bitch?
Similar to existentialism,karma is one of those overused, but rarely understood words. Words that people use to make themselves seem more interesting at cocktail parties, or trying to seal the deal at last call. Not that I care if people use words they don't understand or fully understand, as is more often the case. Nor do I care when they misuse them, or for what purpose, as noble or ignoble that purpose may be. But yesterday I really cared about the word "karma" because it related to me.
Listen, karma isn't fate, predestination, or anything of their ilk. There isn't a karmic ledger out there with good action to be randomly rewarded on one side and bad actions to be punished in the same fashion on the other. Instead karma requires intent on the behalf of the actor,and the rewards or punishment are a direct result of that intentional action; i.e.,karma is cause and effect.
For instance, if you sleep with another man's wife, it doesn't mean that by some random cosmic justice for wrongdoers you will get blasted in the face by the side mirror of a bus while waiting to cross the street on the way to work. That's not karma. On the other hand, it's karma if the bus driver happens to be the husband of said wife, he found out, and set about caving in the entire side of your skull with his side mirror. In other words, if you plant a sycamore seed, you get a sycamore. If you plant an apple seed, you get an apple tree. If you plant shit, back away from the curb on the way to work. Put another way, it's not like you plant a sycamore seed and get a Bonsai tree. All of the effects are a direct result of your actions. So you want to make wholesome decisions as opposed to unwholesome decisions. Wholesome cause wholesome result; unwholesome cause, unwholesome result. Smart decisions as opposed to dumb ones; favorable results as opposed to unfavorable results. This is something that's on full display for Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys, and their fans.
The NFL Draft of 2004 presented Jerry Jones with the fortuitous opportunity of drafting Steven Jackson, who by all accounts was far and away the best running back in the draft. Not only did he have the size (6'2" 235lbs) and speed (4.42 at the combine), but he also proved to be durable by never missing a start. Inexplicably, Jerry Jones thought it somehow a good idea to pass over Steven Jackson and draft Julius Jones instead. Jones was of average size (5'10 208lbs) and average speed (4.49 over 40 yards). Not only that, but he also missed an entire season for a combination of off the field issues and academics.
This ill-conceived decision yielded a predictable result on Sunday. Yesterday saw Steven Jackson rush for 160 yards and 3 TD's on my beloved Dallas Cowboys. Not only that, but, prior to the game, Steven Jackson said that he was looking forward to playing against Dallas. It seems he wasn't all that thrilled to be passed over. You see, his favorite team was the Dallas Cowboys and he'd been given assurances that, if he was available, they would draft him. He was, and they didn't. Hey, plant a mango seed, get a mango tree. Plant shit; hey Jerry, move back from the curb. I ain't making it up.
Incidentally, there's a discussion to be had here about Jerry Jones passing over Randy Moss and now being saddled with the salaries of both T.O. and Roy Williams. But this post is longer than I anticipated and I have shit to do.
Oh, one more thing. If you're looking for a more comprehensive and nuanced discussion of karma you'll need to do some research. Or don't. I don't care.
Listen, karma isn't fate, predestination, or anything of their ilk. There isn't a karmic ledger out there with good action to be randomly rewarded on one side and bad actions to be punished in the same fashion on the other. Instead karma requires intent on the behalf of the actor,and the rewards or punishment are a direct result of that intentional action; i.e.,karma is cause and effect.
For instance, if you sleep with another man's wife, it doesn't mean that by some random cosmic justice for wrongdoers you will get blasted in the face by the side mirror of a bus while waiting to cross the street on the way to work. That's not karma. On the other hand, it's karma if the bus driver happens to be the husband of said wife, he found out, and set about caving in the entire side of your skull with his side mirror. In other words, if you plant a sycamore seed, you get a sycamore. If you plant an apple seed, you get an apple tree. If you plant shit, back away from the curb on the way to work. Put another way, it's not like you plant a sycamore seed and get a Bonsai tree. All of the effects are a direct result of your actions. So you want to make wholesome decisions as opposed to unwholesome decisions. Wholesome cause wholesome result; unwholesome cause, unwholesome result. Smart decisions as opposed to dumb ones; favorable results as opposed to unfavorable results. This is something that's on full display for Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys, and their fans.
The NFL Draft of 2004 presented Jerry Jones with the fortuitous opportunity of drafting Steven Jackson, who by all accounts was far and away the best running back in the draft. Not only did he have the size (6'2" 235lbs) and speed (4.42 at the combine), but he also proved to be durable by never missing a start. Inexplicably, Jerry Jones thought it somehow a good idea to pass over Steven Jackson and draft Julius Jones instead. Jones was of average size (5'10 208lbs) and average speed (4.49 over 40 yards). Not only that, but he also missed an entire season for a combination of off the field issues and academics.
This ill-conceived decision yielded a predictable result on Sunday. Yesterday saw Steven Jackson rush for 160 yards and 3 TD's on my beloved Dallas Cowboys. Not only that, but, prior to the game, Steven Jackson said that he was looking forward to playing against Dallas. It seems he wasn't all that thrilled to be passed over. You see, his favorite team was the Dallas Cowboys and he'd been given assurances that, if he was available, they would draft him. He was, and they didn't. Hey, plant a mango seed, get a mango tree. Plant shit; hey Jerry, move back from the curb. I ain't making it up.
Incidentally, there's a discussion to be had here about Jerry Jones passing over Randy Moss and now being saddled with the salaries of both T.O. and Roy Williams. But this post is longer than I anticipated and I have shit to do.
Oh, one more thing. If you're looking for a more comprehensive and nuanced discussion of karma you'll need to do some research. Or don't. I don't care.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Life is a Soap Opera
As it turns out, I haven't written a post in over a year. Not that it matters. I have found life moves at a glacial pace; think soap operas. Not that I watch them day after day, but I have deigned myself in the distant past. What never ceased to amuse, besides the absurd story lines and acting, is that nothing changed. You can stop watching for a bit, but when you tune back in there are no significant changes. The characters are still doing the same ridiculous things they were doing when you last watched. Of course there are minor changes, but not so much that you feel as though you missed something. That's the way life is--same ol' same ol' with minor changes.
One such change is that Trevor, in a paroxysm of feigned altruism, joined the Peace Corps. Feigned because Trevor joined with the idea that it would make admission to a graduate program a little easier, and pad his resume. Not that he really cared to help the indigenous, impoverished people of Georgia. I'm sure they will miss Trevor because the Russians abbreviated his stay when they started dropping bombs. Yeah, bombs have a way of changing your mind about a lot of shit, or so it's been said. However it goes, he got a new wife and all the supposed perks out of the deal. Supposed because it remains to be seen how much easier the admission process is going to be for him. To me, he didn't need to go live in squalor and dodge shrapnel to gain admission, a reasonable person would think he's smart enough. He just doesn't believe he is. Oh well, he'll figure it out one of these days.
Another new thing is my phone. A little while ago I bought a Voyager. I bought it because it has a QWERTY keyboard, which makes it easier to blog from, check and respond to email, and screw around on the Internet while standing in line at the grocery store. I ain't making it up.
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