Satan's Luau

Inadvertently X D

I went to the midweek site and got this message:

"You have caused a template loop due to improperly nested sub-templates"

Funny, because I think some surfers will think they caused it ... oh well

Posted by at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ah yes, the love theme from "The Spy Who Loved Me"
From a most unlikely cover band

Here

Posted by at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

RIP Cliff, the band ain't been the same without you

Posted by at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What ever happened to the punk ethic of having cheap rock shows? I know, in the grander scheme of things, the affordability of concert tickets is hardly a blip on the scale of importance regarding world problems

It had occurred to me recently that some of the BIG bands realized that as their audience gets older ... they must have more money, so we will charge them accordingly. I read an article that within the past handful of years, ticket prices for the BIG shows have doubled ... and some more than that

I know about all the conventional defenses for why this must be true ... oh the production, oh the lights, oh the fireworks, the laser show, the inflatable caricatures, the movable bridge, the flying drumkit ... someone's alimony payment ... or even better, someone's retirement account

It's funny but I wonder how it will be soon, when A) you can't go to the local brick and mortar to get ripped off buying music B) you can't see any videos of anyone who is not in the pop charts C) you can't hear anything on the radio that is not targeted to a demographic that is either too young for you or too old ... and worse-est of them all, you can't go to the show because you need more important things like gas in your car, the electric bill/cable/ payment du jour

I would like to see Mr. Joel ... but virtually the whole house is $95, even in the bleeders ... of course, not including the TicketBasterd charges, city surcharge, convenience fee for using the net, etc.

I certainly wouldn't mind seeing the Stones, for probably what will be "the last time" ... I heard this in 89 and 98 ... I'm thinking there won't be a 2013 or 2015 tour, famous last words HA. Anyways, I mean yes, the first 10 rows are $99 bucks ... but the rest of the field is $160 or $350 a seat?!?!?!? ... and I'm not even talking about the super premium seating packages ... err, EXPERIENCES (... yeah whatever) they have for $500, $600 or $700 per person (bring cargo shorts and sneak in your date), I guess for if you don't want to buy tix with the common folk. Yes, there are $60 seats up five sections on the top of the world ... is the best thing just being there? I'm not so sure I know anymore

Costly ... troublesome. It may be time to just give up being a music fan, what really is the point ... at this point

Posted by at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A special comment by Keith Olbermann on the FOX Clinton interview

Here

Posted by at 9:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I remember this one from LiquidTV, oh so many years ago
Still cool, even today

Great stuff from Plympton

Posted by at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A special comment by Keith Olbermann about why El Busho should say sorry

Here

Posted by at 9:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A special comment by Keith Olbermann on nine eleven, five years later

Here

Posted by at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I can understand the hype behind our local female prodigy. I can appreciate that many people would really like her to do well, and to some degree, I share that sentiment.

Her prodigious talent is really a tremendous thing, and people all over the world would love to see her play -- and are fascinated by the spectacle of a late-mid teens golfer doing well against her female competition.

I think the current issue concerning her is that no one is satisfied with just appreciating that she is good -- in fact, awesome in terms of all who have come before and now play -- there are always other questions that will tear at what she is trying to accomplish

I feel somehow now that the cliff has been jumped over, and there's no turning back. There is only the need for her to win ... win something, particularly win on the women's tour.

Note, I didn't say win on the men's tour, be respectable in her outings in that tour, or even make the cut. Her appearances on the men's tour are to me, pure spectacle -- and as shown this past couple of days, can appear highly contrived and poorly conceived -- and make her subject to at best, speculation, and at worst, ridicule

I look back maybe a handful of years and think of the top pro women's golfer's fray into the PGA at the colonial -- that was like, okay, I've proven everything I can on the women's tour, let me see how I fare in a men's event. She didn't make the cut -- and that ended that experiment

I realize that the dreams of youth are writ large -- in other words, there is no dream too big, too fantastic, when you are young. I've heard her mention the US Open, the Masters ... and playing on the PGA rather than the LPGA tour. In this case, I think the media, marketers, and pro tours (male and female) are fascinated by her awesome talent -- and it certainly is awesome for someone so young.

I have this feeling now when watching national sports media coverage, pundits, etc. that this whole play with the men thing is becoming a big joke -- and that they feel similar to how many of us here feel -- wouldn't it be better if she just won something, rather than pursuing playing men's events with little to show for it

The other thing that I am concerned about is this thing we see all too often with youth prodigies in sports, they burn bright then fade away quickly. I suppose there are more examples in tennis than any other sport. I would find it highly tragic if she went the way of fallen youth stars in the past, simply burning out, or leading a negative lifestyle because she never had a childhood

After questions about whether she would turn pro, whether she would continue to play with the men, etc. have all been answered -- what is left appears to be, when will she win, which is somewhat obvious

And two, when will people begin the inevitable move towards tearing her down -- I think that this is the most important of the questions. They took the money, they took to the biggest stage of celebrity/stardom, now can they withstand the high level of scrutiny that comes with it -- ironically, scrutiny that can only be quieted by winning

And then what? Will making a men's cut feed the beast of expectations? Finishing in the top 10, 5, or winning a men's event? Becoming the best female pro ever?

I just have this sinking feeling that she will fall short of these inflated expectations, or perhaps putting it in perspective -- she may not be able to reach them right now, but who can when they are only sixteen?

Posted by at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I find the allegations about the new miniseries on nineEleven (to likely air this weekend) highly disturbing. This past year has seen two movies related to the topic, and besides wondering if they are "too soon", there is always the question about if they are too fictionalized/dramatized a representation of the actual real events ... to be redundant, that actually happened

My three observations about the controversial miniseries

1. The series allegedly overemphasizes President Clinton and his cabinet's role in promoting the environment that lead to nineEleven, including fictionalizing events that suggest that we could have taken down OBL if the President wasn't so concerned about his personal Lewinsky scandal -- and that gross leadership misfeasance lead to missed opportunities to prevent terrorism

2. A major educational provider plans to give this movie to high schools as a teaching aid to learn about nineEleven. Again, this is a tricky fine line because this is not a historical movie, it is admittedly a dramatic interpretation of events. Given the historical importance of the event, would you want your child learning it from such a simplistic at best, and incorrect at worst, vehicle

3. Lastly, and I think this follows on with the first two points -- if it does fictionalize events to make the show more interesting, and if it takes a dramatic slant (some would say, right wing view) that the Clinton administration is largely to blame -- then it is not as the network claims, to be largely based in the nineEleven commission's report. So, it will drag a whole ton of people, ideas, and events through a dramatic reshaping ... and out of it will come (regrettably) some people's understanding of what actually happened, in other words, some people will learn the wrong thing -- and the network does not appear concerned about this eventuality

I just happen to think that no matter what the informational vehicle, the events of that day are too important to be reduced to entertainment, for entertainment's sake.

In many ways, I still do not feel that we as citizens know the answers to key questions as well. I don't think anyone is served by this kind of television, much less find it remotely useful to educate our children with about one of our country's seminal historical events

Posted by at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Did you know where your loved ones were last night?

If yours were like mine, they were stuck in the worst traffic jam in our island's history for six ... seven ... eight hours (minor, really). And there is more than a large part of me that feels that this could have been avoidable with some creativity and quick decision making on the part of our local government officials

Here are a few questions I had about what happened:

- If you knew the situation was severe, why didn't you (the government, the media) treat it as such and communicate it to people?

- If you knew that you were planning to demolish the bridge and shut down the freeway, what was the difference between doing it say, at 3:00 rather than 7:00 or 8:00?

- Where was the coordination between government organizations, the state, the city, and civil defense? Makes me worry if there's something real big that happens, you know, bigger than a pedestrian bridge being knocked into

Lastly, this is just an observation, but shouldn't we hold someone accountable for what happened? And I don't mean just the Army or the driver who did this.

Isn't it time someone in the government realizes or publicly admits to the fact that we all understand ... this place is way too overcrowded and has a very fragile, transportation system -- so why are we trying to grow our way out of problems, still?

Posted by at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This former sportscaster become the last of the journalists, actually doing NEWS on the tube ... actually raising questions about the direction of important issues facing this country ... actually informing us of things we should know

A special comment by Keith Olbermann

Here

Posted by at 9:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I actually want to see this -- disturbing, isn't it?

Posted by at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When seriously hip goes seriously wrong
Here

Posted by at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)