Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

My latest favorite TV show (Dark Matters, Twisted but True), which I am watching  right now, might well be my favorite just because I haven’t gotten sick of it yet.  It might also be my favorite because it’s on at a convenient time of night, after everybody else has gone to bed and I can watch something in English, uninterrupted.  It might be  my favorite because it’s on Discovery Science, and it makes me feel smart to watch it, even though zero intellectual energy is actually expended.  It might be my favorite because of the content – strange and little known tales from the history of science; always cool stuff.  But I think the real reason  I like it is because of the  format.

They intersperse experts talking about the case, in appropriately knowledgeable tones of voice, a narrator intoning the dramatic highlights in  a smooth but spooky voice, a la Vincent Price, and re-enactments that are almost comically overacted.  Not too serious, not too shallow.

They show a few different episodes per show, like they did on The Twilight  Zone and Believe it or Not, which  makes it good for people like me, who have eroded their attention span down to a 7 minute level from watching too much children’s TV.  I now consider the Disney Channel adult, because it’s not Minimax, or Duck TV.

Right now I’m watching an episode about a bunch of Russian skiers who died mysteriously and nobody is sure if it was a Yeti, or if they were killed because they saw some kind of secret test.  The case was never solved.  Before that there was the case of the French scientist who discovered N-Rays in 1904, but he was totally delusional.

Last night it was the guy who designed a “bat bomb” to drop  on the Japanese. Basically, it was about a million bats carrying little napalm capsules, but the program was scrapped because they burned down the base where they were testing and the A bomb was almost ready anyhow, but  it  was an interesting idea.

Rant is one of those words that gets thrown about too much lately – it’s used in comedy, in poetry and,  most egregiously, in the headlines of tabloid sites.

So, the first time I see somebody posting on facebook “So and so went on a rant” I usually ignore it even if it’s somebody I’m interested in.  But after you see it several times in quick succession, you realize that something has touched a nerve and might be worth watching.

Also, I must  admit, I haven’t followed American football for many years, so I’d never heard of Richard Sherman until an hour or so ago.  Still, hoping to see something glaringly  offensive, like maybe he mooned the fans, or physically  attacked somebody, I clicked on the video.

Scary Black Man Richard Sherman

When you analyze what he said, it makes no sense at  all that commenters on the internet are flipping out about how he’s the worst person in the world and a poor role model for children and he should be banned from the league and worse.

All he said was “I’m the best cornerback in the universe and I beat Crabtree and neener neener neener in his face.” (those were not the exact words, but pretty  close)  What everybody was reacting to was his tone of voice, his aggressive manner, but come on.  It’s football.  It’s testosterone.

I think part of the problem is that the reporter was clearly a bit shocked and offended and lots of people felt sorry for her, the sweet, little, white, girl reporter intimidated by the huge, scary, black man with the wild dreadlocks talking a little bit crazy.

But it was nothing.  He wasn’t yelling at her.  If she was intimidated, it’s because she misunderstood.

It reminded me a bit of Muhammed Ali, but even a bit more of Mr. T.  It was basically his “I pity the fool…” speech.

Looking forward to the Super Bowl.

I had a pretty good, constructive weekend, by my own standards.  By the standards of a kind of person who actually gets things done, it wasn’t  much, but that’s not the standard I have to live by.

Saturday Helena took the kids and drove up to the cottage so I had sleep-in until almost 11, which is really  late for me.  Had breakfast and wrote a very nice poem about breakfast.  Specifically the joys of eggs, ham, toast, and hash brown potatoes.  I like it when I can write like that, just about what I’m doing.

I watched a few hours of  TV in English, uninterrupted, which is a rare pleasure.  A couple of hours of weird weather around the world.  Did you  know there’s a place in Venezuela where there’s a thunderstorm nearly every night? I sure didn’t.  Just the right combination of ocean breezes and mountain lake and not being far from the equator.  Spectacular.

Went for a walk through the park, and then along the river, and wrote another poem, just about how wonderful Prague is, I’ve got a million of those.

Then they got home and she reminded me that I’m supposed to be working on the novel, which I’d totally  blown off.  Oh, well.

Today, Sam had a football game so I went up to watch that but took my Kindle because I didn’t  want to talk to anybody, starting reading Les Miserables.  That’ll keep me busy for  awhile.

Just finished watching “PercyJackson and the Sea of  Monsters,” I think it was called.  My favorite line….”Your crew is…..zombies?!” “They prefer to be referred to as dead confederate soldiers whose souls have been given in tribute to Aries.”

Good night, everybody.  Tomorrow another week begins.

Francois Hollande, the Prime Minister of France, is in trouble because he got caught shtooping a woman who wasn’t his wife, not caught like bare butt photograph caught, but the French tabloids are all over it and he’s not denying it so, yeah, probably.

Also, I only say he’s in trouble because that’s what one writes in situations like this.

His marriage is in trouble, I suppose, but I suspect that’s not a problem for him at all and, in fact, this is about the result he expected.

He’s leaving the one on the left for the one on the right

It doesn’t appear to be affecting his political career even a tiny, little bit.  The French tabloids are eating it up, but the public seems to be more entertained than bothered.  He’s not about to resign,  or anything like  that.

I like that.  His private life should be none of anybody’s business, as long as he’s doing a good job as Prime Minister, which I’ve got no idea.  So, this column is not to question his character, or his lifestyle, but rather his taste.

It’s kind of like I wrote about Woody Allen a couple of nights ago, the weirdest thing about him was that he left Mia Farrow, an incredibly beautiful woman, for Soon Yi Previn, who – I don’t mean to slander her, but she’s no Mia Farrow.

Here’s Francois Hollande, whose married to Valerie Trierweiler, who is totally gorgeous, and he’s dumping her for a woman who is slightly younger, but not at all better looking.

(actually, now that I look at their pictures a little closer before posting, they’re both hot)

I felt the same way about Tiger Woods.

Of course, one never knows what happens inside a marriage, but I can’t imagine that Elin Nordegren was so hard to live with as all that.

Guys are just greedy.