I have two cats, that we rescued back in January. I absolutely love them. Im not even a cat person. They are a lot of fun. One of them, Duke, the boy, loves to go outside. In fact, everytime I open the front door, he goes flying out. When he gets out, he does the same thing every time. He runs along the outside wall of the house, then comes running back. We obviously try to stop him every time because there a million bad things that could happen to him. He could get picked up by someone else. He could eat rat poison. He could drown in the many waterfalls and streams. He could catch a disease from another cat. He could get run over. You get the point. Plus, everytime he runs out, he gets in trouble. Then we become more vigilant about watching the door. Everytime he leaves the house, it gets increasely worse for him. This got me thinking. How much smarter are we than this cat?
We chase our whole lives pleasures and pains that will kill us. There are a million reasons why we shouldn’t do some of what we do, but the second the door opens we run. We don’t even think, we just run. I look into Duke’s eyes and as smart as he is, I know I’m not looking at an intelligent being. He’s not pondering the inner workings of my brain, he is watching my nostrils expand and contract and getting ready to pounce.
What happens when God gazes deeply into our eyes?
Everytime I see a new trailer for this movie, it seems as if the story changes. You never know what Shyamalan is up to. I don’t believe he will dissapoint. He has to be one of the best writer/directors of the modern era. And he is young. It will be interesting to see what he is doing in 10 -15 years.
Visit the new Lady in the Water website
Jorge Larrionda
Remember this name. This man cost US a win against Italy.
He isn’t the best italian striker. He isn’t the US goalie who let a goal go by.
This man is a referree. The judge of the game. His job is to moderate play. Keep it fair.
He accomplished this, as long as your idea of fair is cutting off both of a mans legs and then asking him to walk. This was the worst calling of a game I have ever seen in any sport. No wonder the US doesn’t care about soccer. Some ref from Uruguay who has actually been suspended and kicked out of the world cup before because of his inconsistancies, decides who lives or dies. Obviously FIFA who rank just two above the french on the “things for americans to hate” list, won’t do anything about it. If they don’t be careful they could pull out in front of germans during the olympics.
This man should at least be fired. I would go as far as to say the bookings shouldn’t be carried out. He managed to take off two of the most important players of the game. Not only that but he did it in a matter of 5 min. A slightly late (wasn’t even late they both got the ball) slide tackle isn’t as bad as an purposeful elblow in the face. This same ref then went on to call a US goal back and the later let a Italian handball in the box slide.
The upside to all this, is that it was one of the most thrilling games I’ve ever watched. Almost as good as the Denver vs. Greenbay superbowl. The US won the game in all aspects and if we don’t move on in the world cup, at least this US team has advanced the cause of soccer in America.
June 22 you should be watching US vs. Ghana at 9:00 a.m. PST.
Another consumer rights group, similar to the Beverage Health Wellness Coca Cola Institute called the Competitive Enterprise Institute has released a video promoting the good the CO2 does for us. This is meant to counter the after effects of An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore’s new documentary on global warming. It’s sorta like Deep Impact, Twister, and Day After Tomorrow mixed together. I wonder who they picked to play Al Gore. I’ve always kinda seen him as a older Heath Ledger.
I got an email today from ticketmaster wanting me to buy tickets to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in L.A. Which caused me to think:
Who has ever been or goes to the circus?
Also since when did the Pepsi and Coke of circus become one?
Sneaking under the circus tent with your girlfriend though, is a pastime I wished I could have experienced.
But from what I hear the circus world is so corporate now. Some of the best guys are gone. Big head, small body guy quit last month actually, he’s now working at Best Buy. Last week, I saw the boy who can eat his own face at Trader Joe’s buying formula. He is so grown up now, I can’t believe it, you wouldn’t even recognize him.
I guess since we can destroy the whole world with one bomb, that an elephant balancing on a ball isn’t that impressive any more.
For more circus news go here.
And this wouldn’t be complete without video of midgets on motorcycles in a metal cage.
I really dislike most of the internet videos that are techno remixes of a movie, tv show, etc. In fact I hate most internet videos with a few exceptions (by internet video I mean a video made stricly for the internet). I always hated hamster dance and I can’t stand Isengard. I’m sorry if I alienate my reader and the junior high kid I payed to click on my links a couple times a day (I know if you’re clicking or not so you better keep doing it). But here is one that was very well done, has a purpose and includes a great song.
First of all, that is one of my favorite songs. Second I really thought about what that person was saying (not Bono, the person who made the video). I didn’t take offense that someone was critisizing MY president (I did vote for him and stick with the fact he was and is a better choice than Kerry). Finally someone who disagrees with Bush hasn’t turned to the “all republicans are hics and stupid” political position. I have been listening to “progessive” talk radio in the mornings. I was listening to a convservative station but I found I disagree with most things I heard, so I decided to try a liberal station. I must preface my next statement with this: I do tend to lean slightly more right than left, so I make no claims as this being a completely nuetral position (which doesn’t exist by the way).
The progressive station in no way is moving foward. They are stuck in 2000 when the election was “stolen” from them. They haven’t recovered. I have not heard one new idea or critism on this station that I have not already heard. It’s a scared cat trapped in a corner. Both of the shows I have listened to, morning and afternoon, existed solely to mock republicans and the Iraq war. If this station truly represents the “liberal” agenda, then we should be doing everything we can to keep these people from running this country.
The conservative shows I listened to, for the most part seemed to be actually progressive. Most of the hosts don’t simply follow the republican talking points (though all agree killing innocent babies that havent had a chance at life is much worse than killing murderers, rapists and child molesters). The purpose of the shows wasn’t to battle liberalism, though they did do that. They presented solutions to ongoing problems, critisism to republican and democrat agendas, and thought provoking interviews from both sides.
So what’s my conclusion? I don’t actually rejoice in conservative radio “winning”. This country needs several responsible (moral, socially, environmentally) parties to run correctly. Right now we’ve got a scared cat and big fat lazy dog.
And to make this post have any worthwhile content…more on Bloody Sunday.
The biggest sporting event in the world is upon us. I usually watch a game here and there. Though I have played soccer I have never been a big “fan” of the sport (meaning watching games, keeping up with players and stats). This was until I went to a game with a friend who is really into soccer. It was absolutely the most entertaining sport I’ve ever watched. The excitement at a soccer game is like have those final tied minutes of a NBA Final with Jordan in it, expect its that way 75 minutes of the game. For every other country in the world this is the holy grail. Especially in a time where America is spoken poorly of in many countries around the world. How much better would it feel to beat France, than for Boston to beat a team from New York?
Check the tv listings here and try and watch some games.
If you feel like you don’t know whats going on read 32 Teams in 32 Days.
World Cup Art Exhibit from Don’t Be Hastie
Upton Sinclair, letter to John Reed(22nd October, 1918)
American capitalism is predatory, and American politics are corrupt: The same thing is true in England and the same in France; but in all these three countries the dominating fact is that whatever the people get ready to change the government, they can change it. The same thing is not true of Germany, and until it was made true in Germany, there could be no free political democracy anywhere else in the world - to say nothing of any free social democracy. My revolutionary friends who will not recognize this fact seem to me like a bunch of musicians sitting down to play a symphony concert in a forest where there is a man-eating tiger lose. For my part, much as I enjoy symphony concerts, I want to put my fiddle away in its case and get a rifle and go out and settle with the tiger.
This was coming from the mouth of a extreme socialist who’s spent his life writing books attacking american buisness and institutions. Right now there is this huge wave of “I hate Bush/Corporations/Democracy/Babies/Goodness/Kindess” which is really stemming from I hate capitalism.
I definitely don’t love capitalism. I hate that money is the stick we measure success by. I wish we could live in a country where you could have a nice clean place to live, food to eat, family and friends, and that would be enough. Where no one had power over someone else. All this consumerism would go away. (Oh yeah its called the christian heaven, funny how the early church were extreme socialists). But every society where the government has been used to create a perfect society has failed horribly. The good thing about capitalism is that there is no way to achieve absolute power because everybody can get money and in that case every can achieve power. In socialism or communism or…scientology, the power and knowledge must be kept in a ruling elite that decides where to “spread the wealth”. And as in capitalism, this power corrupts people. The difference is that in socialism you can’t do anything about it. In socialism you can only take power back by force because besides power itself, there is no motivating factor. But in a democratic capitalist system, you simply take away money and power is lost.
We don’t vote for our government when we go to the polls, we vote when we pay our taxes.
