In Texas, the new big deal is red light cameras - to catch people running red lights to 'protect the public safety" [and generate $ 75 bucks for each 'catch.'] - fuggedaboutit. I've got a better idea.
What we need in this burg is MEDIAN CAMERAS to catch the idiots who are going 75 down the freeway and ignoring the signs for two miles [90 seconds at 75 Mph] and then cut across two lanes and the median to SHOVE themselves in line for their exit, forcing you, the driver who knows where the hell he is going to slam on their brakes and almost get plowed by a two ton Doge duelly. These are usually prevalent at splits of major freeways like the 635 turnoff from eastbound 114 in Grapevine, the 183 / 820 interchange in Hurst and the 121 north turnoff from eastbound 183. I know these well because I drive them five days a week - feel free to add your own. $ 100 bucks a pop and five demerits on the license - 20 demerits and you lose your license. Period.
I have suggestions about people yammering away on their cell phones in mile a minute traffic like they're sitting at their kitchen table... ever take a gander at people on their cell phone and driving? How many of them are holding the phone to their left ear so they can't see what the hell is beside them in the left lane? I saw 6 Saturday afternoon between the 820 / 183 merge and the 183/ 121 split - about 8 miles. HANG THE FUCK UP AND DRIVE, you aren't that important.
ADDITIONALLY, I offer up loss of license for anyone cutting across two lanes of traffic [or more] in less than 5 car lengths. Scoff at me, say it can't be done - I saw it TWICE on the way home. Never a goddamn cop when you wanna see one. I'd suggest the death penalty for this, but I'm in a forgiving mood.
Monday, May 28, 2007
I don't care what Nate says - Kings of Leon Aha Shake Heartbreak SUCKS and the Killers Sam's Place ROCKS.
The new Wilco, Sky Blue Sky, is merely good - I had a long piece written on it, but the bottom line is "It's okay." It's not the buzzing of a Muzzle of Bees that A Ghost Is Born was [which was also merely okay], which will please some people, but it's got no high frequencies on it and it's very very quiet - it's the other extreme. It has almost no edge. Not that Jeff Tweedy is staying up nights thinking about how to please the people who buy his records.
I am tired of VH1 and their endless parade of awards shows. Why the fuck are we patting ZZ Top, Genesis and Ozzy Osbourne on the ass and giving them another statue to clutter up their houses? What is it with this obsession? It's as bad as Rolling Stone patting themselves on the back for surviving for forty years when they haven't been relevant for the last 25 or 30.
I've been reading too much Chuck Klosterman, but he's right on about some things. Rock and roll with a hall of fame goes against everything rock and roll used to be for. In Fargo Rock City, he points out how the early rock critics - Bangs, Lenny Kaye, Dave Marsh, et al remembered a time before there WAS rock and roll - when it was new and fresh and dangerous still. And that's what Jann Wenner and company obsess over, trying to bring back or really hold onto the danger and newness, which is why they still laud everything by Springsteen, the Stones, etc. But me and Chuck don't remember a time when rock and roll wasn't there and wasn't Big Business. Are we jaded by that? Possibly. Maybe that's why at 40 I am finding it hard to find something about new music that still gives me a chubby.
The new Wilco, Sky Blue Sky, is merely good - I had a long piece written on it, but the bottom line is "It's okay." It's not the buzzing of a Muzzle of Bees that A Ghost Is Born was [which was also merely okay], which will please some people, but it's got no high frequencies on it and it's very very quiet - it's the other extreme. It has almost no edge. Not that Jeff Tweedy is staying up nights thinking about how to please the people who buy his records.
I am tired of VH1 and their endless parade of awards shows. Why the fuck are we patting ZZ Top, Genesis and Ozzy Osbourne on the ass and giving them another statue to clutter up their houses? What is it with this obsession? It's as bad as Rolling Stone patting themselves on the back for surviving for forty years when they haven't been relevant for the last 25 or 30.
I've been reading too much Chuck Klosterman, but he's right on about some things. Rock and roll with a hall of fame goes against everything rock and roll used to be for. In Fargo Rock City, he points out how the early rock critics - Bangs, Lenny Kaye, Dave Marsh, et al remembered a time before there WAS rock and roll - when it was new and fresh and dangerous still. And that's what Jann Wenner and company obsess over, trying to bring back or really hold onto the danger and newness, which is why they still laud everything by Springsteen, the Stones, etc. But me and Chuck don't remember a time when rock and roll wasn't there and wasn't Big Business. Are we jaded by that? Possibly. Maybe that's why at 40 I am finding it hard to find something about new music that still gives me a chubby.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Stick and Puck Talk
Okay, I wanted Buffalo and they got ousted by the Ottawa Senators. Yes, I am a Penguins fan, but there was no way this was their year - they made the playoffs as a 4 seed when no one even had them in it, but this was their learning year.
But 2/3 of the way through this TiVo'd game 6, it looks like the Anaheim Ducks will take out the Detroit Red Wings. I like Nick Lidstrom, he's one of the best defensemen in the game, but I like Scott Niedermeyer, Chris Pronger and Francois Beauchemin more.
A lot of people will be surprised by Anaheim, but this is a team that went to the Cup finals in 03 and the Western Conference finals in 06. Jean Sebastien Gigeure has won the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP already, in a losing effort.
The former Dominator, Dominik Hasek looked TERRIBLE in the first two periods, as if the only goaltending move he knew was laying on the ice like he was making a snow angel. If his personality is as bad as rumors say, I'd say he's done in Detroit. Again. Did Detroit suffer the same fate as Buffalo last year, untimely injuries to their D [Mathieu Schneider, Nik Kronwall]? Possibly. Schneider surely would have helped with moving the puck and been a threat from the blue line with a good shot. But that's the breaks.
So, Anaheim CA, USA vs Ottawa ON, Canada.... this should be interesting. UNFORTUNATELY because of TELEVISION this series won't start until Monday - Game 7 would have been Thursday, then four day between games? Pffft. This needs to go back to every other day like it used to be. And the games in California will start at 500 PDT so they can get on TV at 800 on the East Coast. Fuck that shit, too.
I think Anaheim is on a roll and they have the experienced players to step up. Scott Niedermeyer especially from all those years in the swamps of New Jersey knows how to shut Ottawa down. Still, one can't just write off the Heatley - Alfredsson - Spezza line just like that. Still, I think Anaheim's defense can shut them down the way they shut down Detroit's big line of Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Holmstrom and Ottawa doesn't really have a great scoring threat other than their main line. Anaheim seems to be getting great contribution from the Perry - Getzlaf - Penner line and their shutdown line of Rob Niedermeyer - Pahlsson - Moen is really really good right now.
I'll take Anaheim in 6.
Fort Worth Back in the Hockey Business [Sort Of]
As expected, the ownership of the defunct Fort Worth Brahmas of the Central Hockey League has signed up to play games at the Blue Line Ice Complex in North Richland Hills next season. It's smaller than Will Rogers and word is that they are talking about a FEW selected dates at Tarrant County Convention Center and / or Will Rogers.
We've hired former Shreveport player Dan Wildfong as coach and signed goalie David Cacciola. Only 21 more players to go.
More Strange Memories
Why should I find myself thinking about being a child visiting my Uncle Louie and Aunt Patsy back in the 70s when they were living with Patsy's parents - Eddie and Ellie. They lived on Maple Avenue in Ambridge, typical two storie Archie Bunker lookin' house. My cousin Angela and her husband and kid live there now, and Grandma El lives with Louie and Patsy.
For some reason I found myself thinking that I don't ever recall going upstairs in that house, though I an sure I must have since that was where the bathroom was. Evenings spent in the kitchen listening to Myron Cope and the Pirates games on the AM radio. Different times, different times - no cable, no 150 channels on TV, just sittin' in the kitchen with a pop and listening to the game, rootin' for the Pirates - Richie Hebner, Manny Sanguellen, Steve Blass, Rennie Stennet, Al Oliver, Richie Zisk, Dave Parker, Frank Tavares, Kent Tekulve, John 'The Candy Man' Canderleria and of course 'Ol Pops' / 'Chicken on the Hill' Willie Stargell. Those were some great teams in the 70s. Unfortunately, they were always up against The Big Red Machine in Cincinnati. I liked Johnny Bench, but I hated the Reds because they were always on TV and I could only get the Reds on radio in Charleston WV, which was DOUBLE annoying because we had the Pirates AAA team! I did get to see some of the Pirates from the 79 World Series team when they were in the minors - Candeleria, Omar Moreno, Mario Mendoza, Tavares and the great side armed closer Kent Tekulve. I got to see Steve Blass, MVP of the 72 series on a rehab assignment.
Different times. I've often noted how baseball was my priority in those days when I was 7,8,10. When we'd go up to Pennsylvania in the summer, Uncle Choo would take me to a game if he could - I must have seen the Bucs play the Mets a dozen times... but I could be just as happy sittin' in that kitchen with a cold root beer and the radio.
Okay, I wanted Buffalo and they got ousted by the Ottawa Senators. Yes, I am a Penguins fan, but there was no way this was their year - they made the playoffs as a 4 seed when no one even had them in it, but this was their learning year.
But 2/3 of the way through this TiVo'd game 6, it looks like the Anaheim Ducks will take out the Detroit Red Wings. I like Nick Lidstrom, he's one of the best defensemen in the game, but I like Scott Niedermeyer, Chris Pronger and Francois Beauchemin more.
A lot of people will be surprised by Anaheim, but this is a team that went to the Cup finals in 03 and the Western Conference finals in 06. Jean Sebastien Gigeure has won the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP already, in a losing effort.
The former Dominator, Dominik Hasek looked TERRIBLE in the first two periods, as if the only goaltending move he knew was laying on the ice like he was making a snow angel. If his personality is as bad as rumors say, I'd say he's done in Detroit. Again. Did Detroit suffer the same fate as Buffalo last year, untimely injuries to their D [Mathieu Schneider, Nik Kronwall]? Possibly. Schneider surely would have helped with moving the puck and been a threat from the blue line with a good shot. But that's the breaks.
So, Anaheim CA, USA vs Ottawa ON, Canada.... this should be interesting. UNFORTUNATELY because of TELEVISION this series won't start until Monday - Game 7 would have been Thursday, then four day between games? Pffft. This needs to go back to every other day like it used to be. And the games in California will start at 500 PDT so they can get on TV at 800 on the East Coast. Fuck that shit, too.
I think Anaheim is on a roll and they have the experienced players to step up. Scott Niedermeyer especially from all those years in the swamps of New Jersey knows how to shut Ottawa down. Still, one can't just write off the Heatley - Alfredsson - Spezza line just like that. Still, I think Anaheim's defense can shut them down the way they shut down Detroit's big line of Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Holmstrom and Ottawa doesn't really have a great scoring threat other than their main line. Anaheim seems to be getting great contribution from the Perry - Getzlaf - Penner line and their shutdown line of Rob Niedermeyer - Pahlsson - Moen is really really good right now.
I'll take Anaheim in 6.
Fort Worth Back in the Hockey Business [Sort Of]
As expected, the ownership of the defunct Fort Worth Brahmas of the Central Hockey League has signed up to play games at the Blue Line Ice Complex in North Richland Hills next season. It's smaller than Will Rogers and word is that they are talking about a FEW selected dates at Tarrant County Convention Center and / or Will Rogers.
We've hired former Shreveport player Dan Wildfong as coach and signed goalie David Cacciola. Only 21 more players to go.
More Strange Memories
Why should I find myself thinking about being a child visiting my Uncle Louie and Aunt Patsy back in the 70s when they were living with Patsy's parents - Eddie and Ellie. They lived on Maple Avenue in Ambridge, typical two storie Archie Bunker lookin' house. My cousin Angela and her husband and kid live there now, and Grandma El lives with Louie and Patsy.
For some reason I found myself thinking that I don't ever recall going upstairs in that house, though I an sure I must have since that was where the bathroom was. Evenings spent in the kitchen listening to Myron Cope and the Pirates games on the AM radio. Different times, different times - no cable, no 150 channels on TV, just sittin' in the kitchen with a pop and listening to the game, rootin' for the Pirates - Richie Hebner, Manny Sanguellen, Steve Blass, Rennie Stennet, Al Oliver, Richie Zisk, Dave Parker, Frank Tavares, Kent Tekulve, John 'The Candy Man' Canderleria and of course 'Ol Pops' / 'Chicken on the Hill' Willie Stargell. Those were some great teams in the 70s. Unfortunately, they were always up against The Big Red Machine in Cincinnati. I liked Johnny Bench, but I hated the Reds because they were always on TV and I could only get the Reds on radio in Charleston WV, which was DOUBLE annoying because we had the Pirates AAA team! I did get to see some of the Pirates from the 79 World Series team when they were in the minors - Candeleria, Omar Moreno, Mario Mendoza, Tavares and the great side armed closer Kent Tekulve. I got to see Steve Blass, MVP of the 72 series on a rehab assignment.
Different times. I've often noted how baseball was my priority in those days when I was 7,8,10. When we'd go up to Pennsylvania in the summer, Uncle Choo would take me to a game if he could - I must have seen the Bucs play the Mets a dozen times... but I could be just as happy sittin' in that kitchen with a cold root beer and the radio.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Don't Want to Get Legal - Go Home and Stay There
This is the kind of stuff that drives me mad - we offer a chance to people who wanted to come here so badly they broke our laws to get here and who live in fear every day of being sent back to whence they came from and being poor and with no hope of opportunity or making something of themselves - and they say "Well, you're making it TOO HARD for me."
Fuck you. Go Home. Stay there. Don't take the Yankee Greenback Dollars with you, leave them at the border.
Just like people staging protests for rights for illegal immigrants waiving Mexican or other foreign flags and shouting in Spanish or whatever - that's not going to win the hearts of the people in middle America, and putting down America is not going to do it either.
Look, Amnesty in 86 by President Reagan was supposed to stem the tide because it would make good citizens of the 3-6 million illegals here. And now in only 20 years we're looking at an immigrant population of 12 - 20 million. Sure, it'd be nice to get them on the tax rolls and paying into Social Security and Medicare and property/ school taxes and all that. Instead of draining the system, contributing to it.
"But we're making it too hard for them." Screw that. You'e being offered an opporitunity to be here without fear and buy into the American Dream - isn't that what you came here for? Now you want to balk about the rules? No sympathy....
This is the kind of stuff that drives me mad - we offer a chance to people who wanted to come here so badly they broke our laws to get here and who live in fear every day of being sent back to whence they came from and being poor and with no hope of opportunity or making something of themselves - and they say "Well, you're making it TOO HARD for me."
Fuck you. Go Home. Stay there. Don't take the Yankee Greenback Dollars with you, leave them at the border.
Just like people staging protests for rights for illegal immigrants waiving Mexican or other foreign flags and shouting in Spanish or whatever - that's not going to win the hearts of the people in middle America, and putting down America is not going to do it either.
Look, Amnesty in 86 by President Reagan was supposed to stem the tide because it would make good citizens of the 3-6 million illegals here. And now in only 20 years we're looking at an immigrant population of 12 - 20 million. Sure, it'd be nice to get them on the tax rolls and paying into Social Security and Medicare and property/ school taxes and all that. Instead of draining the system, contributing to it.
"But we're making it too hard for them." Screw that. You'e being offered an opporitunity to be here without fear and buy into the American Dream - isn't that what you came here for? Now you want to balk about the rules? No sympathy....
Illegal immigrants question Senate deal
By PETER PRENGAMAN, Associated Press Writer
Thu May 17, 9:16 PM ET
LOS ANGELES - David Guerra wants to be legal, but he says the path to citizenship offered by the Senate on Thursday would be too risky and too expensive, and could end up driving him deeper into the shadows.
Guerra's wife and children in El Salvador depend on the $300 he sends home each month from his job as a day laborer. Key provisions of the legislation would require him to return home to apply for residency, pay a $5,000 fine and spend thousands more in application fees.
That would be disastrous for his family, he said, and, worse, he's not sure he can trust U.S. immigration authorities who have been rounding up and deporting his fellow immigrants for months.
"If I go home, who is going to guarantee that I'll be let back in?" said the 44-year-old who lays bricks, clears weeds and does landscaping.
Across the nation, illegal immigrants, many of whom toil in dirty, low-paying jobs, sharply criticized the Senate's immigration overhaul package as overly burdensome and impractical.
"Where would I find $5,000? In two years, I don't get $5,000," said Daniel Carrillo Maldonado, an illegal immigrant who was looking for construction work outside a Home Depot in Phoenix.
The agreement between the Senate and White House would allow illegal immigrants to obtain a special visa. After paying fees and the fine, they could get on a path to permanent residency that could take eight to 13 years. Heads of household would have to return to their home countries first.
Some illegal immigrants said returning home presented another major hurdle: Applying for residency at U.S. embassies in their home countries.
Amy Ndour, a 23-year-old illegal immigrant from Senegal who lives in New York, said she would be willing to pay the $5,000 fine, but not return home because her family there depends on what she earns as a hair braider.
"I'm helping myself" here, she said. "I'm helping people there too."
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Strange memories this night, screaming.. well, not screaming across the Metroplex, lallygagging along at a peaceful [mostly] 62 M.P.H. or so, singing along with the Tragically Hip [modern Canadian band with a 60s sounding name] and the Yardbirds [60s era band famous for guitar players]... getting on Interstate 30 thinking about a night a few years back after my oldest niece the Shelby was born, sitting out on the back porch of my sister's house with my brother in law Cory with a couple of beers and a couple Macanudos talking about life and nothing and staring at the stars... it's been a while since I had a good cigar...
I had actually been thinking of some other things, starting to compose a letter to El Paso in my head and forming the questions and watching the traffic flow around me when I was distracted by the grand song on the CD player... and then there I was in Burleson again...
Memories always blindside you. Not like driving in a car where you can look in the mirror and see what's coming up behind you. Why I should be thinking of sitting on the back porch of my brother in law's former home smoking a stinky cigar? But there you are. I guess it's like letting go of a tow rope when water skiing - something I have never successfully done mind you, but when you let go of the work and the other things that occupy one's mind, you just kind of sink into the lake of your memory and whatever is there is there.
At least most of the time I remember good times. I see beat up Hondas on the freeway and I think of someone I wasn't able to help or reach and my heart gets a little down. I guess sometimes I can see those in the mirror sneaking up on me, ha ha.
I had actually been thinking of some other things, starting to compose a letter to El Paso in my head and forming the questions and watching the traffic flow around me when I was distracted by the grand song on the CD player... and then there I was in Burleson again...
Memories always blindside you. Not like driving in a car where you can look in the mirror and see what's coming up behind you. Why I should be thinking of sitting on the back porch of my brother in law's former home smoking a stinky cigar? But there you are. I guess it's like letting go of a tow rope when water skiing - something I have never successfully done mind you, but when you let go of the work and the other things that occupy one's mind, you just kind of sink into the lake of your memory and whatever is there is there.
At least most of the time I remember good times. I see beat up Hondas on the freeway and I think of someone I wasn't able to help or reach and my heart gets a little down. I guess sometimes I can see those in the mirror sneaking up on me, ha ha.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
As a few of you know, I am a 40 year old man who reads 'graphic novels.' We used to call the comic books, but these are no longer the Superman / Batman / Spider man stories; these are stories for adults told in comic book form. Sort of. Although I still go to the comics store to buy them. Who would have thought in 1975 when I used to buy comics at the 7-11 that one day there would be a whole store devoted to comics, Lord of the Rings, D & D, etc.?
Anyway, I seriously cut back on my titles about two years ago when Transmetropolitan and Cerebus ended their runs and the Hellblazer movie was in production - I liked Hellblazer for a while then it got weirder and weirder. Cerebus I was bitterly disappointed with the ending, as I had been with Preacher.
Now my last book is coming to an end: Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise. The last issue will be out at the end of the month and that will be it for me and comic book stores. For a long time in the 90s I got my books and a bunch of posters at a place called Stage and Screen in Dallas, first off McKinney and then off Oak Lawn. My friend Oliver's roommate CJ worked there for a while.That seems sometimes like a lifetime ago. I've been through the ends of The Sandman, Hate, Preacher, Cerebus, Sandman Mystery Theater and dozens of 3-6 book series and specials. And now I only have a few hundred left.
I packed up a whole bunch a couple years ago to take to Lone Star and sell, but they wanted an itemized list based on their 'Buy' list and though I could have made a few bucks that way, I didn't want the hastle and I took them to Half Price and got about a nickel each. I hope someone who really wants them finds / found them there.
I also got a box of my old comics from my Mom's about a year ago. 70s Superman, Batman, Action, Detective, Shazam, Flash, etc that used to keep me quiet in the back seat on car trips. Some dry and brittle, lots of pages and covers missing. It was a short trip back to a simpler time before DVDs and video games.
Anyway, it'll all be over in the next six weeks. Is it really sad? Not really, but in a small way, it's another door closed in my life.
Anyway, I seriously cut back on my titles about two years ago when Transmetropolitan and Cerebus ended their runs and the Hellblazer movie was in production - I liked Hellblazer for a while then it got weirder and weirder. Cerebus I was bitterly disappointed with the ending, as I had been with Preacher.
Now my last book is coming to an end: Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise. The last issue will be out at the end of the month and that will be it for me and comic book stores. For a long time in the 90s I got my books and a bunch of posters at a place called Stage and Screen in Dallas, first off McKinney and then off Oak Lawn. My friend Oliver's roommate CJ worked there for a while.That seems sometimes like a lifetime ago. I've been through the ends of The Sandman, Hate, Preacher, Cerebus, Sandman Mystery Theater and dozens of 3-6 book series and specials. And now I only have a few hundred left.
I packed up a whole bunch a couple years ago to take to Lone Star and sell, but they wanted an itemized list based on their 'Buy' list and though I could have made a few bucks that way, I didn't want the hastle and I took them to Half Price and got about a nickel each. I hope someone who really wants them finds / found them there.
I also got a box of my old comics from my Mom's about a year ago. 70s Superman, Batman, Action, Detective, Shazam, Flash, etc that used to keep me quiet in the back seat on car trips. Some dry and brittle, lots of pages and covers missing. It was a short trip back to a simpler time before DVDs and video games.
Anyway, it'll all be over in the next six weeks. Is it really sad? Not really, but in a small way, it's another door closed in my life.