Here’s a shot we took on the Chicago River Architecture Tour which we highly recommend. E-mail me if you want it full-size.
Oh…I forgot last time. Shot with a 5 megapixel Kodak EasyShare DX4530.
Stolen from the queen of irrelevant media memes that somehow fascinate me. What were you listening to the year you graduated high school and (because I need to be a bit different) do you still listen to them?
1979 (*Still Listen)
The Clash *
The Cars *
The Tubes
The Ramones *
An EP of some synth band going by OMD that we saw at The Park West.
Blondie *
Eric Clapton *
Bruce Springsteen *
Roxy Music
The Kinks *
Patti Smith Group * (Her version of “Rock and Roll Star” still gives me chills and I grin when I hear “Frederick” because of a girl who used to sing in my ear, Tim-o-thy…long story…you’ll never hear it.)
The Who *
Meatloaf *
Joe Jackson *
Nick Lowe *
Dave Edmunds *
Rockpile
Elvis Costello *
Graham Parker
U.K. Squeeze * (Mostly for the guitar attack at the beginning of “Annie Get Your Gun”)
Warren Zevon *
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers *
Utopia * (Just downloaded a bootleg live concert off iTunes from 1979…Rundgren kills me…always has.)
Bob Marley *
The Police *
The Band (Soundtrack to The Last Waltz) *
Okay…okay…Soundtrack to The Rocky Horror Show (Original London Cast…I know that doesn’t make it better.)
Here’s a Handy Little Reference Guide to Music. And I can’t believe how much time I’ve spent on this post…
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Mostly harmless. Highly improbable. Giggled my ass off.
Some people, including a lot of Americans, see things happen and they assume the worst about everyone involved. They assume there’s a cover up. They assume the politicians are lying. Of course the U.S. Military is lying because we’ve never told the truth about anything ever. I know, I was one of those folks. I believed all that stuff even as I was joining the Air Force 21 years ago.
And then life happened. I grew up. I got some experience under my belt and realized that most conspiracy theories are crap. The reason that most conspiracy theories are crap is simple; Most folks when given the opportunity will do the right thing versus the wrong thing simply because it’s the right thing to do. I know…I had a hard time believing it myself at first, and as life went on it just became more and more apparent to me that the people I’ve met in the military aren’t walking around wondering exactly how they were going to do the absolute WORST they could. They strive to do the BEST they can. Almost every one of them. There’s another reason why the most elaborate military conspiracies don’t hold up under scrutiny…we’re just not that good at keeping bizarre crap quiet…but that’s another post for another day.
Scumbags don’t last long in the military. We usually weed them out in basic or advanced training. If not, we’ll get them during an exercise when the pressure is cranked up to above and beyond normal. Sometimes though…they slip through. Rarely do they make it to the higher ranks, and even when they do…we get them…because they’re the rarity, they’re the exception, and no one has unlimited, unchecked power because though the respect of their rank may get them some coverage…without personal respect, they just don’t last. The higher you climb the more eyes you have on you, both from above and below and if you don’t have that personal respect, you ain’t gonna make it long.
Basically the military’s dirtiest, blackest, most discusting secret is that we do the best we can on a daily basis to protect our country. That’s our job. Sometimes that means we try to take care of our own dirty laundry before the enemies of our country can find out we messed up and use it against the country as a whole. We aren’t always successful. Sometimes the whole world finds out that we screwed up and our enemies get to celebrate. That means we didn’t do our job as well as we should have that day.
Yes, I believe that if the press gets ahold of something, they have the right to publish it. Absolutely. The public has the right to know. You’ll forgive us however, if we aren’t eager to help make ourselves and our country look bad in front of the world as a whole. We’re weird that way.
…is just one of the taglines that will be ripped from Serenity. For all I know it could be from the TV Show. For the first time in at least a week or so, I bought something completely on impulse. I purchased the 4-Disk DVD set of Firefly off Amazon yesterday based almost solely on the Serenity Trailer and the ravings of several bloggers who are becoming increasingly more excited about the release of an apparent full out Western set in outer space.
At first I was a bit miffed at our own group here. How could you all not even mention this? Then I realized that Firefly was only on during the 2002 television season and for most of 2002 I was working 12-18 hour days and 6 day weeks. I was in survival mode. Eat, work, sleep, repeat. I don’t think I watched a whole lot of anything that year or the first part of 2003 and if I did, I probably wouldn’t have remembered it. And lets be honest here, most days I’m so self-absorbed I’m lucky to realize anyone else is on the planet.
Go watch the trailer, don’t have anything in your mouth. It’s action packed AND funny in the way that this crowd can fully appreciate:
“This is going to get pretty interesting.”
“Define interesting.”
“Oh God, oh God, we’re all going to die?”
Blackfive’s on top of it.
BACKGROUND:
On Thursday April 21st the United States Senate passed legislation yesterday creating Traumatic Injury Insurance that will issue active duty service members a payment ranging from $25, 000 to $100,000, should they incur a life altering injury while serving their nation. This legislation, known as the Wounded Warrior Bill, was introduced as an amendment to the Emergency Supplemental Funding Bill by Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, at the urgent request of three injured soldiers from the Wounded Warrior Project. The Traumatic Injury Insurance will make an immediate payment to the service member and their family within days of sustaining their injury to support them during their hospitalization. Additionally, the legislation passed will make Craig’s measure retroactive to the start of Operation Enduring Freedom, which began in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001.
Go read the rest of it and do that hoodoo that you do…
This is happening. Word over at Idol Tounges is that there are Vote For The Worst (VFTW) parties on college campuses. Lots of partying college kids with speed dialers dedicated to scewing the results.
Yes fans, the democrats couldn’t get students organized behind their candidate, but students can apparently organize on a national basis to keep who they consider the worst singer on American Idol.
In some ways, I’m very optimistic about the future of this country…I can’t explain it…I just am.
That’s just funny…it’s wrong…but it’s funny.
This is one of the reasons why Lebanon is so important, where else in the world can you buy a Christian cross and Muslim crescent put together like this? They’ve figured out the hard part without our help. All they need is a little support to keep it going toward a real democracy.
The URL for the Spirit Of America Lebanon blog is www.spiritofamerica.net/lebanonblog and the URL for the Spirit Of America Lebanon project is www.spiritofamerica.net/projects/96.
Financial support will be provided to the tent city demonstrators on Martyrs’ Square in Beirut through local protest organizers so that demonstrators can keep pressure on the foreign occupiers and world attention on the struggle for Lebanese independence. The fund will support the tent city demonstrators by supplying food, water, shelter and other basic necessities.
“The American people and all those who support freedom and democracy can join Spirit of America to help the people of Lebanon win their independence,” said Jim Hake, founder and CEO of Spirit of America. “The blog will provide ground level insight into Lebanon’s peaceful revolution to be free.”
Lebanon is at an historic crossroads. It has been under foreign occupation for more than a generation. As the result of pro-democracy demonstrations in Beirut, free elections and independence are within reach.
The Spirit of America mission is to extend the goodwill of the American people to assist those advancing freedom, democracy and peace abroad. Our objectives are to increase the reach, scale and impact of the informal humanitarian activities that take place on the front lines in troubled regions; contribute goods and assistance that can have a positive, practical and timely impact in the local communities where American personnel are involved; establish connections and strengthen bonds between the American people and those in countries struggling for freedom and democracy.
Spirit of America is a 501c3, non-profit supported through private sector contributions and in-kind support. 100% of all designated donations are used for project specific purposes. For more information and to support Spirit of America and this and other projects, visit the web site at www.spiritofamerica.net.
Up until this morning, I’d never heard of the Stereophonics. Judging by the 30 second blips I’ve heard on iTunes, they’re a combination of INXS when they were good, The Psychadelic Furs, and U2.
Star Wars may be a TV Show? Well, maybe it’s something that Boyo and I can watch together.
Bush Plans New Energy Proposals: Good, ‘cuz I’ve been tired lately.
On the President holding hands with Crown Prince Abdullah: Look, if you’ve ever been to Saudi or even been to an Arab neighborhood you know it’s just what they do…but yeah when my President does it I’m just kind of…shudder–ewwwwww. It’s a, “There’s no crying in baseball.” thing.
What’s with all the train crashes?
News Links via Google News.
Emily’s engaging in Last Waltz porn over on her site.
In case you don’t know…The Last Waltz is simply the best concert movie of all time…bar none…no…I don’t want to talk about it…if you believe differently, you’re just wrong.
Update: Emily asked if she could post my comment about a memory of a Rick Danko concert I attended in my youth on her main page. Hey, who am I to turn down a fellow Last Waltz fan?
Go check out SrA Brian Kolfage’s story over at Blackfive’s place.
“You never know when it’s coming, until its too late. You never think it’s going to be you, another statistic, injured or dead? When that mortar hit me I flew about six feet in the air and landed on my back, conscious, with my body parts splattered all around me. You wont think about death. I didn’t. I just wanted to go home and be with my wife, Nikki. I wasn’t scared, I was angry that it was me and not knowing what was going to happen to me. I was lying on rocks, I took a look around and saw bloody body parts everywhere, muscle, and skin. It made me more furious. Every doctor told me I wasn’t supposed live, but I did. I had a collapsed lung, two above the knee amputations, right hand amputation, and some internal injuries. when I woke up I had tubes down my throat, through my ribs into my lungs, in my stomach and numerous tubes where my legs were blown off, and I was on a respirator. What doesn’t kill me only makes me that much stronger”.
I don’t care who ya are, that’s about as badass as I’ve ever seen.
Beautiful Wife has been working hard on getting all of our pics on disk and in some semblance of order. This is one of my favorite views of the Hancock Building in Chicago as seen from the Lakeside Entrance of Lincoln Park Zoo.
…
I dunno, it’s something one of my trainers is always saying…I thought I’d throw it out there…I actually understand it sometimes…when I’m doing Tai Chi, but most of the time when I’m working out, all my mind is connecting with is, “If my abs were supposed to look like that, I’d be a gay man.” –not that there’s anything wrong with that.
…
In honor of today’s 15th Anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope, allow me to present one of my absolute favorite links that I usually check every day: The Astronomy Picture of the Day.
|
Your Inner European is Irish! |
 Sprited and boisterous! You drink everyone under the table. |
Like I needed a survey for that one…
Via Sondra K.
What musician or group do you really like that you think goes completely against your character?
Mine? Pink.
…that Randy Jackson from American Idol is actually an extremely accomplished musician. He’s the bass player on my favorite Springsteen track, and was in Journey? You’re not going to believe the tracks this guy’s played on. The things you learn on Jay Leno…I’m both absurdly proud and ashamed that I didn’t know this…
My question? Okay, he’s obviously got some serious cred as a musician and producer, what the hell is he doing on American Idol? Is he getting paid obscene amounts of money?
You know what happens at my age when you drink a six pack of Diet Coke with Lime during the course of a day when you also let your commando body-sculpting instructor take you through (groan) stations? You lay in bed awake staring at the ceiling petting a (very happy) cat until well past midnight, waiting to fall asleep as muscles you didn’t even realize you had twitch and fire off static electricity. When I was a teenager that was kind of cool, laying there with the stereo playing, running through the day over and over and over again… These days…not so much…moslty because my days are so bloody boring.
What’s that? Perhaps my own sense of humor or the absurd becomes a bit warped too? Well I suppose you could make that case…
You think after 7 years of not having any TV gigs that Lucy Lawless would have picked something better than Locusts. Although the alliteration is kind of cool…
What? You thought I was serious about takin’ a break…Jeez you people are easy.
Like I can keep dis crap in my head…I have no idea what I used for Anger Management before you all let me come play here.
–ducks–
Stryker mentioned in the comments of another post that there was something about the new Pope he couldn’t put his finger on, but he didn’t like him. Perhaps this will make it easier…
For all of us Star Wars kids…this guy is never gonna feel right.
Update: So no one could have TOLD me that Stryker did this bit on DW yesterday? I feel like such a twit…which isn’t rare…but nonetheless.
Associated Press, April 20 2005, AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Less than two years after it was plunged into a rape scandal, the Air Force Academy is scrambling to address complaints that evangelical Christians wield so much influence at the school that anti-Semitism and other forms of religious harassment have become pervasive.
There have been 55 complaints of religious discrimination at the academy in the past four years, including cases in which a Jewish cadet was told the Holocaust was revenge for the death of Jesus and another was called a Christ killer by a fellow cadet.
Two of the nation’s most influential evangelical Christian groups, Focus on the Family and New Life Church, are headquartered in nearby Colorado Springs. Tom Minnery, an official at Focus on the Family, disputed claims that evangelical Christians are pushing an agenda at the academy, and complained that “there is an anti-Christian bigotry developing” at the school.
You really need to spend some time in Colorado Springs to get the full irony of this…Dr Dobson and his folks have pissed off so many locals with their intrusive brand of Evangelism that they sell “Focus on You’re Own Damn Family” bumper stickers at the 7-11s.
Don’t look at me, anything I could say would be meaningless to this man. He previously ran The Office of The Inquisition which means not only do we have to endure pedophile jokes, we now have a Monty Python tie-in.
If it wasn’t so freaking funny it would be so very sad.
—–
Scott writes about his Mom’s feelings over at Dean’s World . May be the best Catholic/American post I’ve seen.
I’m going to start reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy because everything I read and see about the movie tells me that it’s going to be great and that DA would have loved it and that gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling…that may or not be white mice.
Your Linguistic Profile: |
| 60% General American English |
| 15% Upper Midwestern |
| 15% Yankee |
| 10% Midwestern |
| 0% Dixie |
In other words, I’m from Chicago…
via Michele
Before I completely lose my priveleges in the VRWC BX/Commisary, here’s a reminder that Spirit of America is in Lebanon and we need your help. Some guy named Michael Totten is Video Blogging as well.
The URL for the Spirit Of America Lebanon blog is www.spiritofamerica.net/lebanonblog and the URL for the Spirit Of America Lebanon project is www.spiritofamerica.net/projects/96.
Financial support will be provided to the tent city demonstrators on Martyrs’ Square in Beirut through local protest organizers so that demonstrators can keep pressure on the foreign occupiers and world attention on the struggle for Lebanese independence. The fund will support the tent city demonstrators by supplying food, water, shelter and other basic necessities.
“The American people and all those who support freedom and democracy can join Spirit of America to help the people of Lebanon win their independence,” said Jim Hake, founder and CEO of Spirit of America. “The blog will provide ground level insight into Lebanon’s peaceful revolution to be free.”
Lebanon is at an historic crossroads. It has been under foreign occupation for more than a generation. As the result of pro-democracy demonstrations in Beirut, free elections and independence are within reach.
The Spirit of America mission is to extend the goodwill of the American people to assist those advancing freedom, democracy and peace abroad. Our objectives are to increase the reach, scale and impact of the informal humanitarian activities that take place on the front lines in troubled regions; contribute goods and assistance that can have a positive, practical and timely impact in the local communities where American personnel are involved; establish connections and strengthen bonds between the American people and those in countries struggling for freedom and democracy.
Spirit of America is a 501c3, non-profit supported through private sector contributions and in-kind support. 100% of all designated donations are used for project specific purposes. For more information and to support Spirit of America and this and other projects, visit the web site at www.spiritofamerica.net.
Go on, git.