Deep thoughts cheap shots, and bon mots - the third.

So"Mad Men" is getting even better. I'm on episode #7 of Season One and although I'm still appalled by the smoking and the sexism, the ongoing character development is awesome and the story line now with the agency debating/discussing Nixon vs. Kennedy is priceless! Oh wow, Draper was just a total dick to his wife, though.

Saw lots of tourists out tonight taking pictures of cable cars in the fog--as much as I snark on the tourists, they are good at helping me remember some of the cool aspects of living in the City.

Football sure is gay sometimes. Am watching (for not much longer, as badly as it's going) the Florida-Kentucky game and the announcer has just repeated the probably at least partly apocryphal story of Tebow telling his coach to not be afraid to lean on him, to "ride that horse." Yes, the announcer said more than once, Tebow said to his coach, and I quote, "Ride me!" My god, they look like worldbeaters but also Kentucky looks like absolute shit--kind of like Cal did earlier. And the morning started off so promising with Kansas winning and LSU looking like anything BUT worldbeaters against Miss. State. Oh well.

Um, Outback "Steakhouse" is actually promoting their third $9.99 meal as coming with a "wedge salad?" Seriously? What's next? Free tap water? Fewer ratdroppings in your "loaded" baked potato? Sorry, but I feel justified in slamming Outback coz their ower is a major homophobe. Or am I getting him confused with the owner of Carl's Jr.? Sigh. So many homophobes, so little time to expose and mock them all.

Let's end with a comparison of why we'll eventually succumb to the Germans and/or Chinese. They just don't put up with shit like we do. Witness from "News of the Weird":

Two formerly well-off retired couples in Germany, whose nest egg was largely wiped out by investments in sub-prime Florida mortgages, vented their anger by kidnapping their investment adviser, James Amburn. They took him to the vacation home of one of the couples near the Austrian border, bound him like a mummy and beat and tortured him over several days, fracturing two ribs, in repeated attempts to punish him and extort his own property as partial compensation for their losses. Police rescued him after he managed to send a coded message by fax.

Crisis Intervention: A certain bridge in Ghangzhou, China, has become popular for suicide (12 attempts in a 45-day period in April and May), and with each incident, traffic is slowed or halted for hours while crews attempt to talk the distraught person down or perform rescues. Mr. "Chen" was on the ledge in May, according to an Agence France-Presse dispatch, but he couldn't make up his mind about jumping. One frustrated motorist, Lai Jiansheng, ended the suspense by walking up to Chen and pushing him off. Chen survived, and Lai was arrested.

So the question is: should we turn over our financial leaders to the Germans or to Lai Jiansheng? Discuss.

Deep thoughts, cheap shots, and bon mots - the second

So whose clever idea was it for me to move back in to the City, start grad school back up again, and start a new job back at Director level, all within the course of a month? I mean, I do like keeping busy, but....

Anyway, as a result, my blogging is going to be scaled back to twice a week--at least for now. Yeah, I know, boo hoo! :)

In other news, for some reason--so far, at least--I have yet to be capable of writing about what's going on with Kyle. I guess it's just so appalling I want to escape thinking about it as much as possible. What's wild is I'm hearing from quite a few people that his/our story is not really so unusual--at least in regards to Kyle's...er...um...."lack of succes." Can't decide if that makes me feel better or not.

Saw "The Hoax" the other night and am struck at another example of the decline and fall of the American Empire. In "the old days" we had much more interesting crazy rich people like Howard Hughes - which makes the descent to Paris Hilton that much more deplorable.

Although I'm a little late to the party, I have to agree that "Mad Men" is an excellent show. The acting, the sense of place (NYC), and especially time (1960)....and my GAWD the smoking! It's amazing to think people used to smoke like that! And the sexism! Unbelievable!

So I've finally come up with a good, simple, and yet comprehensive, driving rule that will address a myriad of issues--from people not utilizing the left lane on the highway properly, to taking corners too slowly, to not turning right on red, to not accelerating on hills to maintain their speed, etc. The new rule is this: Just Get The Fuck Out of My Way! Look for it soon in the CA DMV manual.

Have to give a shout out to District 9 - definitely one of the more original Sci-Fi movies I've seen in some time. And also has some telling lessons on compassion, bigotry, and just what it is that makes us human.

Finally, I don't know if it's the worsening civility in this country, but I find myself considering turning vigilante. As most of you may know, parking in the City is a challenge at best. So it is all the more frustrating and annoying to see the losers who park right in the middle of a space between two driveways, when if they'd just pulled forward or backwards, another car could fit in front or behind. I saw just such a scenario tonightright across the street from my apartment.

I was in such a rage I wanted to either let the air out of a tire or even key the effing car! Instead, I left a snitty note on their windshield "thanking" them for being so considerate and warning them that if I saw them parked like that again, I wouldn't be so "forgiving" next time.

So here's my question: technically, what they did is not illegal--and yet, they have a neghborhood parking sticker, they have to know how difficult it is to find parking and now they've been--granted, not so politely--chastised; so would I be justified in "punishing" them if I saw them do it again? Discuss.

I honestly feel like part of why people are so selfish and clueless nowadays is because no one is called on their shit and we've been "psyched out" of using shame anymore. When I was young, I was definitely made to feel ashamed when I did something wrong. There was none of this "validation of my feelings" and/or concern to not send one into a "shame spiral." And that's probably why people like Venus Williams and Kanye West and that dick of a SC congressman pull the shit they do.

Word.

How "The Reader" is like "I Love You, Man"

So, wow, I "finally" "broke down" and saw "The Reader" after picking it up from Blockbuster when they didn't have the 2nd disc from the 1st season of "Mad Men." They had the 1st and the 3rd discs, but oh no, not the 2nd coz someone in Petaluma was out to get me before I moved!

Anyway, I can see why Kate Winslet won the Oscar. In an odd way, it reminded me of, no kidding, Paul Rudd's performance in "I Love You, Man." Both portrayed someone struggling with an inability to "connect" on some level--and watching the both of them in, admittedly, wildly different roles struggle with who they are and/or were was often very painful to watch.

A bit of a stretch, I know, but I can't help it, that's what I thought of.

But it's obvious that Stephen Daldry, the director, is aiming for the title of "Most Heartwrenching" what with this, The Hours, and Billy Elliot.

So I'll really be curious to see what he does with "The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier & Clay."

Anyway again, would be curious to hear back from folks who've seen this movie with their thoughts about what "The Reader" says about morality, and if--SPOILER ALERT--you would have done the same thing as the boy and turned around and walked out of the prison w/o seeing her. And, most importantly, what did you think of her in the end?

Although the movie was VERY painful to watch at times, I'm one of those people who likes being taken out of his comfort zone, who likes having his "code" and concepts of morality challenged. It's part of why I like "Dexter" so much!

Hmmm, I feel a poll coming on...

I kinda think that what happened in Nazi Germany was SO. VERY. BIZARRE. that it is nearly impossible for us today to judge the "everyday citizens" who failed to do.......what exactly? It's easy to look back and see how horrible it was, but how will we be judged for allowing the things to happen that did under Dubya? And NO, I am not directly comparing Hitler to Dubya.

Not directly. :)

Besides, on the other hand, I kinda feel like the guy in the law seminar who was screeching at Michael and the Professor that, no, we don't need to know why they did what they did, we need to know how "you" could let them get away with what they did and why you didn't kill yourself once you found out. Oooh, snap!

This same young German law student, in the mid-60s, claimed in the movie that not only were there thousands of camps throughout Germany, but that everyone, everyone (his emphasis) knew. I would be curious to know how true this is. I confess to having this naive fantasy that a good chunk of Germans didn't know so very much about what was going on, but is that just to protect my own moral sensibilities as a fellow human being?

It's bad enough when individuals, and governments, composed of "human beings," commit atrocities--it's almost inconceivable when an entire nation does. Hard stuff.

Poll on how comfortable you are with being taken out of your comfort zone:

http://www.micropoll.com/akira/mpview/644733-195723

Coming soon: Why I think Baby Boomers should lose their drivers licenses, and is it too soon for me to be bitching about the tourists? :)