Allergic symptoms
I have lost my speaking voice
Honking like a goose
Allergic symptoms
I have lost my speaking voice
Honking like a goose
Posted on July 02, 2011 at 01:10 PM in Haiku | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Have I ever told you that Pulp Fiction is one of my favorite films? Well, it is, and it isn't because of all of the violence as some of you might surmise because of my online moniker. No, I love that movie because of it's tightly written dialouge. I mean seriously, who doesn't love the "Breakfast Scene"? If you have ever seen this movie, you have probably spent more time than you care to admit chuckling about the "Royale with Cheese" or have said to more than one would-be know it all "Hey, check out the big brain on Brett!"
You don't do that? Well, I do... and I'm not ashamed.
A question that I often hear from people who didn't enjoy Pulp Fiction as much as I did is this: "Exactly what was the move all about, Bill... it didn't make sense to me." That is a fair question as the film was certainly non-linear. Rather than feed you a lot of BS on the duality of man, or the true conflict of good and evil, and certainly not to write a treatise on modern film noire (as if I could), I will say simply this: This movie was "about" two things, and everything else is just stuff.
Pulp Fiction is about a briefcase, and it is about what Marcellus Wallace looks like.
See my review from a few years ago, here (http://gunfighter1.typepad.com/warrior/2008/01/man-movies-6.html#tp)
Posted on July 01, 2011 at 07:28 AM in Film | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Getting shocked by a Taser is no fun. I hope that you will believe me on this... and if you don't, see for yourselves.
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 07:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
If I hear another person say "Happy" Memorial Day, I may commit mayhem.
There isn't any reason to be happy about this day. None at all. Clearly there is a real and growing misunderstanding about what Memorial Day is all about abroad in the land. I would like to take a moment to clear up the origins and history of this national holiday.
Did you know that the holiday we now celebrate was initiated by black freedmen after the civil war? Well, it was. The freed black population in and around Charleston, SC began this tradition by memorializing the dead Union soldiers buried at Hampton Park. In 1866, "Decoration Day" (as it was known then) was celebrated in Waterloo, New York. The number of cities, and states memorializing our war dead increased until it became a recognized federal holiday, being named "Memorial Day" by act of Congress in 1967.
Now that we know that Memorial Day is a holiday that we use to recognize the sacrifice made by our fallen soldiers, I have to ask you what is there to be happy about? Sure, we celebrate our freedoms, but that is what Independence day is supposed to be about, isn't it? We celebrate our living veterans, but that is what Veteran's Day is supposed to be about. We celebrate our serving soldiers, but that is what Armed Forces Day is supposed to be about.
No, my friends, there is no reason to be "happy" about our war dead. Those men and women are just dead… many of them having died furthering the agendas of our government, NOT securing or protecting American sovereignty. Those men and women deserve no less prayer, consideration, and recognition than any other dead soldier… maybe even more, considering the questionable causes we have sent our soldiers to die for.
As a veteran, and as an American who has known people who have died in battle (and after a battle because of psychological wounds manifested later), I want you to remember our war dead properly. I want you to stop thinking about Memorial Day as the "beginning of the summer season". I want you to stop thinking about Memorial Day as just another long weekend. I want you to THINK about these dead people. I want you to THINK about your own culpability in some of their deaths. I want you to stop waving flags and chanting "USA! USA!" when we send our soldiers to war. I want you to start thinking about ways to lessen our national penchant for expending the lives of our soldiers for bullshit reasons.
Think about it.
"Happy" Memorial Day? How about Solemn Memorial Day, instead.
May all of our war dead rest in peace.
Posted on May 30, 2011 at 10:09 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Craig Robinson is Michelle Obama's brother. You knew that, right? I'm sure you did... but if you think that the fact that he has written a book is only because he knew that he would find a publisher to put out anything that he wrote down just because he is the President's brother in law.... well, you might be right about that, too. You know how it is... there is always someone who wants to cash in on someone else's celebrity, isn't there? As true as those statements might be, they aren't the case when it comes to Craig Robinson's book "A Game of Character", because Mr. Robinson has some things to say that I think you'll like.
From what I read in this book, it is clear that Craig Robinson was shaped by the way he was raised... as most of us are. He was raised by hard working parents who instilled the values that we so frequently talk about in America, but don't always see. This book is going to inspire you.... and it won't matter a bit if you are a Republican, a Democrat, and Independent, or a None-of-the-abover.
If you happen to be a big fan of either Barack or Michelle Obama (and I openly confess to my own admiration of our President and his wife) you are likely to enjoy this book based on that alone, even though this book isn't about them. If you aren't particularly enamored of the President, you needn't worry, because this book isn't a love letter the the President or his wife.
If you are a sports fan, you will like this book, and if you aren't a sports fan, there is plenty for you, too, because this book isn't a love letter to the game of basketball, either.
To tell you the truth, I don't care much for basketball... so reading this book wasn't some sort of vicarious thrill ride for me. I'm not particulalry interested in Robinson's Ivy League education, or his success in the corporate world, even though rising to a Vice Presidency at Morgan Stanley is no mean feat. What I am interested in, as a family man, is the core of this book.
This is a book about character. This is a book about the rewards of hard work and effort. This is a book about determination. This is a book about respect.
Craig Robonson writes in a clean, conversational style, and if you don't get anything else out of this book, you will leave believing in the value of strong families, hardwork, study, love, and discipline.
You won't be disappointed.
Disclaimer: This review is presented as part of a TLC book tour. Although I was provided a free copy of the book, I was not compensated in any other way, nor was my review influenced by that fact.
Posted on May 19, 2011 at 07:29 AM in Books, Product Review | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
So... I haven't been around for a while. Let me tell you why.
The first five months have been painful for me. Not physically, although there has been some of that, but not enough for me to bother writing about, as physical pain and I are old comrades. No, I am talking about emotional pain.
My mother died on February 5th.
Remember when I told you, last year that my mother had been declared cancer-free, for the second time? Maybe I didn't tell you... honestly, I don't really remember. Anyway, after beating cancer last year, she had the bad fortune to take a nasty fall in the kitchen of her home. Of course, being a pretty tough old bird, she didn't bother to tell anyone for a couple of weeks... so when she went to the hospital with her friend who was later to be diagnosed with stomach cancer, she passed out. She was checked out and MRI'ed and X-rayed and massive bleeding on the brain was found. You know the drill from here, right? She had surgery, there was lots of clotting, she started having strokes and seizures. She was in a lot of pain. After nearly three weeks, the Doctors induced a coma, hoping it would allow her to stabilize with less of the pain she was obviously in. She died less than 12 hours later.
I went ot the funeral, of course, though I didn't want to... it was horrible. Oh, there were mourners... neighbors and old faces from my childhood that I haven't seen in 30 years. There were also siblings that I really had no interest in seeing. I drove to New Jersey that morning, and then went back to Virginia that afternoon. I got back in time to go to my Confirmation class. The other teachers had it covered for me, so I went home with the Joe's Special that I had gotten from the best pizza place on the planet.
This is Joe's Pizzeria. I lived within a 5 minute walk from this place from age five, until I enlisted at age 17. This place still has the pizza most beloved by almighty God. No, I'm not exagerrating. Have a Joe's special and you will know what I mean.
Anyway, a month (to the day) after my mother died, my father in law died. We went to his memorial service (a month after he died) in Milwaukee, Wisc., in April... and wouldn't you know it... it snowed. No, really. It freakin' snowed!
(Seriously... does it look like I am happy about any of this?)
So, we get back from Wisconsin, and a week later I am in Princeton, New Jersey to spend most of a week at the Princeton Theological Seminary. Why?, you ask?, because I have enrolled in the Certificate Program for Youth & Theology. We had a three day forum on youth ministry and then our cohort for the certification program met or the first time.
It was incredible. Trust me. I'll talk more about it some other time, when I have the words. I wouldn't really have brought it up in the first place, except that my presence there bears on the subject of this post. The day before the retreat ended, I found out that a colleague of mine, a two-tour veteran of the Iraq war... a man who had been treated for PTSD, killed himself... on his father's birthday... two days before his sister's wedding... using the gun I trained him with and issued to him.
Nice, right?
I suppose I have to see the divine in this as best I can. I was in a place where I was in a tightly-knit group of people who were able to help me get through it. I recieved a great amount of prayer and support from my new friends, and some really great advice from a new partner in ministry and pal that has allowed me to process all of this.
The first several months of this year haven't been kind to me... or maybe they have... I don't know. There is a lot going on in my head right now. I suppose I'l have to get back to you.
Oh, and I'm not sleeping well, which is why I am posting this at nearly one A.M. on a Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.
OK, enough crying in my beer... I have to go to sleep. I have to teach a class on response to the active shooter tomorrow, when all I really want to do is cover my head with a pillow and take a long nap.
Oh... lastly, my mother's friend... the one she went to the hospital with? he died, too, a few days after my father in law's funeral.
Peace be with you.
Wait. Sorry... I read this after I posted it, and it sounded rather morose. Let me end on a high note by adding that lots of good things have happened since the beginning of the year.
I already told you about my time at Princeton, which was an amazing and unexpected blessing.... let me tell you that I also lead a youth group from my church to a weekend-long event in Maryland; several babies were Baptized at our church, the most recent of which was just this past week. I have been named Confirmation Coordinator at my church; I have read many new books; I have touched, and been touched by others. I remain well-loved despite the fact that I'm probably not worthy... and I have cooked some really fantastic food.
Good night, Seattle!
Posted on May 18, 2011 at 01:12 AM in Scenes From My Life | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
...because a lock-out is what we were talking about, no matter what you think you know.
“You have reached the desk of XXXX XXXXXXX at the XXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX. I am sorry that I can’t take your call, but the party in control of the House of Representatives doesn’t feel that training our officers and agents is more important than partisan politics.
Please leave a message at the sound of the tone, and I will call you back after I return from being forced out of work, by those who only have to stop wasting money in Iraq and Afghanistan to achieve a balanced budget.”
Bleeeeeep! (#*&@$%#$#$)
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 08:42 AM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I don't think that it will surprise you to know that I oppose the current military intervention in Libya.
My reasons are basically the same as they were for the invasion and continuin occupation of Iraq, and are the same for my opposition to the escalation and and continuance of the war in Afghanistan. I don't think that I really need to enumerate them here... if you aren't familiar with my blog, look around, you'll see what I mean.
I think that there isn't a single, solitary good reason to this military operation, and I think that it should end immediately.
There, you know how I feel about it... but that isn't wht I really want yo talk about, my friends.
What I want to talk about is all of the noise coming from the Republican/Tea Party/whack-a-doodle news network (known by some as Fox News) echo chamber. Aside from taking a crack at our President, why are Republicans against this operation? It doesn't make sense to me that the people who thought that the invasion and occupation of two sovereign nations, in the name of freedom, liberty, and self-determination was a good idea, DON'T think that this operation in Libya makes just about as much sense.
How can you support one or two, if you can't support the other?
To tell you the truth, I don't see why the right-wing whackos aren't applauding our support of people who are actually TRYING to oust their dictator. No... instead, the Republi-dopes have taken another tack. They have used this militay operation, however ill-advised, for political purposes. Our airmen (and likely our Special Forces) are in harms way and the Republicans don't support them.
Amazing.
You know, if I was another sort of person, I might point out the hypocrisy of their position. If I was another sort of person, I might say that the Republican willingness to play politics with this issue smacks of a blatant anti-military bias. If I was another sort of person, I might say that their criticism of a President in a time of war was downright unpatriotic, communist, treasonous, traitorous, and all sorts of other bad things.
Good thing for them that I'm not that kind of person.
You people are a bunch of effing hypocrits, and I wish you great confusion as you destroy yourselves before the next Presidential cycle.
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:09 PM in Politics, Wars | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Yes, I know that I said that I was quitting... and I am certain that I still am (I think), but I think that I am going to have to wait for just a little while longer. I hope that the three of you don't mind. So with that said, may I share some photos with you?
This handsome chap is Charlie... but you knew that, right?
Doesn't he look dashing in his alma mater's sweater?
That's my boy... just bursting with school pride. No, really... he is a graduate of the explosive detection dog school at Auburn U.
This was the first time that I had ever seen a tattoo shop in a mall. This shop is located in the Florida Mall, in Orlando.
Can you believe that this child is dressed like this in Orlando? True enough... it was Christmas Day, 2010 (or maybe the day after).
Don't hate... Y'all know it's true!
Have you ever seen a pink hippopotamus?
I wouldn't have one on my lawn... even plastic, but I think that Flamingos are cool.
Soccer Girl taking pictures of a Gull at Epcot!
There, wasn't that fun? Well, it was for me, now excuse me, I am going to do some cooking... maybe you'll get some pictures of that.
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 04:44 PM in Scenes From My Life | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
If you have ever read my blog, you probably already know how much I love American history. You probably know that I also love the fact that American history is a living, breathing, changing thing that isn’t always what we are taught that it is.
Now, in this important new work, The Invisible Line author Daniel J. Sharfstein takes another stab at an important, but heretofore ignored part of the history of our great nation: Race. Now, it isn’t as if there aren’t enough people who want to write books about race and racism, but this is different. In this book, Sharfstein looks at the color line between black and white, and exposes in detail just how blurry that line has always been in our country.
For decade upon decade, we have been schooled about the color line, and what that has meant to our history. From the colonial period to the American Civil War, from the Jim Crow era to the Civil Rights movement, from Loving v. Virginia to the present, we have always had a pretty good notion where racial lines have been drawn in America… and which side of those lines we belonged on. The Invisible Line is a book that will make you question those lines in ways that you probably never considered.
This book is not about black people “passing” for white. This book is about racial migration. Not in the sense of how and why different racial groups move from place to place, but rather how people, in this case three families of black people went from black to white.
The Walls were a rising middle class black family in the Washington, DC area that started in bondage in North Carolina who eventually became white. The Gibsons were members of the planting class of slave-owning “people of color” as early as the middle of the 18th century. The Spencers were a poor family who settled in Kentucky and worked hard, lived and died, and straddled the hardening lines of what was and wasn’t black or white. Despite their social status, these families all had two things in common: their African American slave origins, and the fact that by the twentieth century, they were white.
In this book, Sharfstein tell us three tales… fraught with danger, subterfuge, adventure, success, failure, and triumph. These stories are as American as they come, and I won’t throw spoilers at you, but I think that if you have any interest in American history, you will enjoy this book.
Disclaimer: This review is presented as part of a TLC book tour. Although I was provided a free copy of the book, I was not compensated in any other way, nor was my review influenced by that fact.
Posted on March 15, 2011 at 07:16 AM in Books | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)