are we seriously that sensitive/retarded/blind?

i hate to add to the "blogosphere" uproar over rachael ray's dunkin' donuts commercial fiasco, but seriously, wtf is up with people nowadays. it's a fukking scarf. look at the difference in these two pictures.

this is a keffiyeh. this is a black & white headdress commonly worn by arab men. it has a "connotation" attached to terrorism, though that's as ignorant an attachment as being terrified of all "brown skin people" because they are terrorists.
this is a black & white scarf... A SCARF!!! with a different pattern!!! around her neck!!!

are we that xenophobic that we have to CREATE racism/fanatacism where it doesn't exist? do we hate that much, that we are twisting in our heads what we see into something that is big, bad, and scary? it's not there. get over it. if i was a part of the dunkin' donuts franchise, i'd say "fukk ya, it's a scarf, i ain't pulling the advert, so shut up and go buy some donuts from me". i might bankrupt the company, but i'd be a broke man who didn't pander to a small racist faction in the community and their small-minded stereotypes.

that's my rant... haven't done that in a while.

quickly 2

for some strange reason, about a year ago, i bought "the muppet show - season 1". i'd heard that there were some pseudo-adult jokes in it, that kids wouldn't normally get, and i was a kid when i watched it back in the day. i've watched the first 5 episodes, and TheMom probably thinks i'm nuts. i was actually excited talking about it the other day in how I PERSONALLY am rediscovering actors that i thought were new to the biz, but have been busy at it since at least 1976, the year "the muppet show" debuted.

por ejemplo, joel grey was in episode 3. i saw this young dancer/singer and said to myself, "he reminds me of the 'sloane clone in alias. that same guy played at sorcerer with a tail in buffy, the vampire slayer on TV." so i went to imdb.com, looked up his name, and holy shite... it's the same guy, he's been acting since the 60's, and i just see him for the first time on action-dramas in the 2000's. i tell TheMom about this, and she says he sang "cabaret", which i wouldn't've known except that he sang it on "the muppet show" episode.

episode 5 of the same season had rita moreno as the guest star. i was surprised at her first skit where she's wearing a skirt with a slit ALL THE WAY to her waist, and as she's dancing, she's manhandling a french puppet, and throwing back drinks like a sailor. i thought she seemed familiar, and after a while, it dawned on me... she's "sister pete" from HBO's oz. man alive. again, i thought she'd just started acting or something since i'd never seen her before. then i found out from her imdb profile she was in west side story in 1961. i haven't seen west side story since music class in elementary school, so of course, i wouldn't recognize her from that. i guess it's not much to be excited about, i just think it is so neat to see them now, and then recognize them from 32 years ago on a kids show.

and on a side note before i go, i noticed another thing funny, speaking of oz. i don't watch any of the law & order franchises, though TheMom loves 'em. sometimes, when we are in the kitchen talking and it is on, i'll look up and recognize someone. i think whenever they need to cast for law & order they go through the old cast list for oz. of the 33 oz characters listed on the main oz page of imdb.com, 23 of them have been on one of the law & orders. i was going to list them here, but that's just a little over the top. there are also two oz characters on Showtime's dexter. i just notice stupid stuff. i'd be smart if i could put my brain to more efficient and useful endeavors.

hung...

i'm REALLY surprised that TheMom hasn't blogged about the phil spector trial verdict yet. this is like the only thing she's watched on TV for the past who-knows-how-long. she gets in the chats, on the forums, she IMs about it. now that it's over, i'm not sure what she is going to do. she'd be a horrible juror. so biased, in this case. she thought the guy was guilty a few days in. i can see her bullying the 2 standouts. hah. sorry, TheMom, that it didn't turn out the way you'd hoped. good luck finding something else to entertain you. try a book! love ya.

random photos

here are a few random pictures from trinidad. sadly, since i've been working 13.5 hours per day for the last 3 weeks, i haven't had much time to go out and see the sites. the first day off we had, i slept a lot of catch up then watch some football at a local bar/hotel. we had last monday off for "republic day" and decided to go to maracas beach, the best beach in trinidad. it's normally a 1 hour drive, but due to the holiday traffic, it took us 4.5 hours. it was painful. we worked late that day until 9AM, putting the turbine casing down, then had the driver rush us home to get showered before we were supposed to leave at 10AM to go to the beach. well, 10AM came and went, then around noon, we get a call from the dayshift guys that we are now leaving at 12:30PM (MAN, i could've gotten a nap!). so, we hit the road, stop for some $$$, and some beers. there is only one 2-lane road in and out of maracas beach, and apparently, all of trinidad was on it in front of us. you have to go way up into the rainforest-like mountains, above a sort of cloud line, and then back down to the coast. we finally made it there around 5:00PM or a bit later, parked the car, and went to a bar-type place right on the beach. we listened to music, looked at girls, wandered the crowd, and just generally relaxed. i was told to try the "bake and shark", but forgot to in all the jolly-works. also, island girls must have some unique butt muscles that no other girls have. i don't know what the move is called, but it's become popular in hip-hop videos and strip clubs lately. it's that booty bounce things, but these girls are doing it like effortlessly, like they don't even need muscles, they just turn on and off some sort of anti-gravity field around their asses. i should've gotten video, but i digress. on the way back to the hotel, we stopped off at one of the station guy's mom's house. he wanted the site lead to meet his sister. strange. we had a few more drinks, and went home. that was a longer story than expected. well, i guess that helps to explain two of the pictures. here you go...

we had to stop by the side of the road for drinks since the trip took so long. this is a picture across the valley (through some fauna) above maracas beach.

we are still in traffic but maracas beach is FINALLY in sight.

i had to get passport photos for my visa in trinidad. i went to a quickie-photo shop and found out that brittany is still looking decent SOMEWHERE in the world... as a generic picture in quickie-photo shop picture frames.

this is at my hotel. i found this guy in speedos, passed out (those are 2 beer bottles beside him) at 9:30AM!!!

well, that's all for now. back to work.

is this a nervous breakdown?

i seriously doubt it, but i can't get the strangest songs out of my head:

• luke bryan - all my friends say


• spice girls - 2 become 1


• robert palmer - addicted to love


• the killers - bones

AND, i'm seriously concerned about that britney boy. are kids nowadays really that crazy, especially over pop stars? i mean she's no elvis presley, or the beatles (but i didn't see all the woo-hoo about them either). i'm hoping he's just a really good actor trying to use youtube as an audition for crazy-person roles. still, i shouldn't be concerned. i need to sleep. i think i have the insomnia again. damn nightshift.

joey "jaws" chestnut... american hero?

i'll be writing about the salt lake city trip soon, it's just tough, sorry, but i will.

until then, i'll keep you busy with some hilarity. some of the BTBz got together earlier in the week and we ended up kind of accidentally watching the 2007 nathan's hotdog eating contest. takeru "kobe" kobayashi was the favorite despite being "day-to-day" due to jaw arthritis and a removed wisdom tooth. his main competition, joey "jaws" chestnut, stood by his side as they competed against a slew of other competitive eaters from other specialties (boiled eggs, strawberry shortcake, french fries, etc). earlier in the year, chestnut had beaten kobe's record set last year at nathan's (54-1/2) by eating 59 in 12 minutes. in the end chestnut bested kobe and set a new nathan's and world record of 66 hot dogs to kobe's 63. 66 dogs in 12 minutes is like 1 every 11 seconds, bun and all, PLUS they drink water/juice/etc to wash it down. that is just insanity.

now that i'm done with that recap, here's the part i wanted to talk about... the announcers. announcing a hot dog eating competition has to be the kind of thing they give to interns and guys who are waiting to retire. i don't know, but i'm guessing there's not a lot of prestige to it. they informed us that if you have a "reversal of fortune" (you can probably guess what that is considering the massive amount of food ingested so quickly), you are disqualified. it's funny that had to come up with a euphemism for a bodily function that might occur during the competition.

still, the funniest was the commentary that the announcer was giving. here are a few of my favorites. keep in mind, the competition was on independence day.

• This would be the greatest moment in the history of American sports if Chestnut can bring the belt home to Coney Island


• He [Chestnut] may have indeed changed the course of this nation . . . Chestnut is a true American hero


• ... the entire free world is focused on these two men


• and my favorite... you google "hero" tomorrow ... "American hero", you're gonna get Abe Lincoln, possibly Neil Armstrong, Taylor Hicks, and then this man, of course, Joey Chestnut

i think this guy is confused, taylor hicks is an american IDOL, not hero, and likening a competitive hot dog eater to real american heroes like the men and women fighting for our armed forces is just abominable (that's for BTVJGJHo at the BTBz).

either way, that announcer certainly was entertaining.

more e.e.

i'm telling ya, i can't get enough of this guy. if you didn't know, e.e. cummings doesn't title his poems. they are categorized by the first line of each. here are three i've read recently and liked.

i like my body when it is with your
body. It is so quite a new thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.
i like your body. i like what it does,
i like its hows. i like to feel the spine
of your body and its bones, and the trembling
–firm–smooth ness and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like,, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz
of your electric fur, and what–is–it comes
over parting flesh....And eyes big Love–crumbs,

and possibly i like the thrill

of under me you quite so new

----------------------------------------------

it may not always be so;and i say
that if your lips,which i have loved,should touch
another's,and your dear strong fingers clutch
his heart,as mine in time not far away;
if on another's face your sweet hair lay
in such a silence as i know,or such
great writhing words as,uttering overmuch,
stand helplessly before the spirit at bay;

if this should be,i say if this should be—
you of my heart,send me a little word;
that i may go unto him,and take his hands,
saying,Accept all happiness from me.
Then shall i turn my face,and hear one bird
sing terribly afar in the lost lands

----------------------------------------------

l(a

le
af
fa
ll

s)
one
l

iness

him and bukowski... they make me mad that i don't try harder. that i engineer instead of poetize, that i sell out so i can buy out.

a jessica dream

a couple nights ago i had a dream about jessica simpson. strange enough because i don't think about her more than what i read on my blog reading adventures. and you know what... she's pretty intelligent despite what people might think. we had some in depth conversations about real estate. we were sitting on a ledged cliff over-looking the sea and somehow we could zoom in on places around the world, and they kinda materialized in the air in front of us. we were debating on whether to but a huge, old roofless church in ireland or a villa in spain. i can't recall what we chose, i must've gotten distracted or something. and wouldn't ya know it, TheNephew woke me up before we could celebrate our house purchase. jeez.

well, that's about that, i guess.

i knew it would happen...

well, two things actually.

i knew britney would snap someday. i figured it would be more "climbing the HOLLYWOOD sign in a drug-induce haze" or "sending in photos to be the next penthouse pet" kinda snap, but shaving her head bald... yeah that counts. if she wanted to do it to be all "punk rock" that'd be cool, but it sounds like it was more of an "episode". good luck to her, maybe penthouse is right around the corner.

AND, i knew sirius and XM would merge. about 5-6 months ago when i got home from india, i was talking to someone (conveniently enough, i forget who) about how i thought XM was floundering (more subscribers but WAY less content), and i figured they'd get together within a year. i should work in vegas.

not much other news going on here, waiting for an assignment, trying to figure out when and where jules and i are going to meet up next. i'm getting stir-crazy. jules made out a plan for me to do a bunch of things i want to do for an hour a day, but i can't even get THAT started, how is that?

oh yeah, and i watched the daytona 500 in columbus with the BTBz. mark martin was SOOO robbed of that win. i drove home from columbus today listening to sirius 128, the NASCAR channel, and despite about 70% of the callers calling in agreeing with me, the host was bitching and moaning that no one was appreciating that we watched one of the best daytona 500 finishes in history. granted, we did, but we also saw a gross failure on NASCAR's part because it was the last lap. synopsis... coming out of the last turn on the last lap, a buttload of cars behind the two front-runners (harvick and martin) got tangled up causing a huge wreck collecting most of the 43-car field. mark martin was in the lead when the wreck happened, but harvick had enough momentum to take the lead at the finish line. several years back, NASCAR changed the yellow flag rule for the safety of drivers. it used to be that when the yellow flag waved, you raced back to the finish line. this was all well and good until a few years ago, i believe it was dale jarrett was collected in a wreck and stuck in the middle of the track just in front of the finish line with the field bearing down on him to get to the line. so NASCAR put GPS transponders in the cars and sensors in the tracks so that when the yellow flag is out, the field is frozen in the order they touch the next sensor. no racing back to the flag.

so this radio show host's best argument was that the wreck was BEHIND the two guys running for the lead, so there was no need for the yellow. completely ignoring the reason NASCAR came out with the new rule. he just forgot about the 41 cars (minus the wrecked ones) barreling down on the finish line since the yellow wasn't thrown. what about the safety there? sacrifice the rule and the losing drivers' safety for an "untarnished" win that i don't believe was valid. NASCAR has had issues in the past with inconsistent punishments depending on the driver/team/etc. it looked like they were making progress in remedying the possible favoritism, but this race, first of the season, just really disappointed me in the judgement at the end. i'm not really a fan of either driver, but a rule is a rule, and it should've been implemented, nevermind that the race would've been won under caution... it happens, get over it.

i guess i'll have to get over it myself. BTVJGJHo over at BTBz might be able to expound on the mass media aspect of this. he was on a roll when i left after the race.

they will be missed

RIP anna nicole smith

RIP benny parsons

click photo for NASCAR link
1941 - 2007