66 Days and Counting...

With the election just 66 days away, the last 24 hours have kind of been ridiculous. First of all if you missed Obama's speech last night, you honestly missed one of the best political speeches I have seen in my lifetime. My cousin, a staunch Republican, was even impressed. It was the highest rated convention in television history. My favorite fact about last night was that more people watched it that the American Idol finale. That might sound like that should be how the world works, but when you look at the numbers, and the number of people who seem apathetic or disinterested in the world, it's huge. It was really something to see, and on the 45th anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, he grasped the notion of it without making it seem like he was trying to cash in on the inspiration of it.



click on the video and follow links to see all of the parts to the speech

Then today McCain made the out-of-nowhere choice for Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. It was, I suppose, generous of him to not announce it last night, but really, what is he thinking? It's kind of an insane choice if you ask me. I understand he wants to grab those possible Hillary votes, and also the conservative Republican vote, but it's bad for a few reason. First off, if he thinks he can get Hillary votes just because they are women, I hope he's wrong. I hope that people voting for Hillary were doing so for policy reasons and not because she was a woman, and on that Palin and Clinton couldn't be more different. It should hopefully backfire right in his face. Obama picked Biden in what I think was a smart move. He strengthened his 'weaknesses' but still added something to his campaign that it might have been lacking. Palin has as much foreign policy experience as me. Literally. She has as much national policy experience as me. Literally. Aside from being Gov. of Alaska for less than 2 years she has done nothing. She was on some school board or something before she became mayor of Wasilla. I have been to Alaska and I have been to Wasilla. There is nothing there at all. So little that we didn't even get out of the train, the tour guide told us that everything we see is the whole city. The only reason it has any notoriety is because it is the official starting point for the Ididarod. The big dog sled race. It's famous for having nothing there except for this. The city's name is derived from, "All I Saw," in reference to the dog race. All I Saw backwards is Wasilla. Truth.

Anyways, another reason it's awful is because of who she is. A terrible super right wing conservative. I know lots of republicans and some of my best friends are registered GOP lovers. But there's a difference between your average Republican and right wing Evangelical Christian Republicans. They are terrible. They are the people who send their gay children to christian rehab centers to cure them of their gayness. These are people who believe that they are the saviors of the world and their word is gospel. Aside from her anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, anti-renewable energy, she is also pro-guns, pro-drilling in ANWR, pro-oil and pro-Bush. If McCain added her to add some diversity and 'change' to his campaign, he failed. She is essentially an old white Strom Thurmond, only she's young and attractive.

Anyways, go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

Finally...

There are a few things that lets me know fall is fast approaching. The leaves start to turn, humidity becomes scarce, previews for upcoming tv shows start popping up, but perhaps best of all is tonight. The kickoff for college football. For being such a great time to play sports, the summer really sucks for watching it. Unless you are a die hard baseball fan there isn't a whole lot going on. I watch the tigers. When I'm around. And I'm not doing something else. But unlike the Pistons, the Lions or the Spartans, I don't plan my life/week/day around it.
















It all starts to change now though. Every saturday for the rest of the year is pretty much booked for me. Sure I'll go other places and have plans, but for 3 hours every saturday I get to root for a team that I love. It's something that I miss a lot during the summer. Once it's past mid-June and the NBA finals are over, thee really isn't anything going on in the world of sports until today. The Olympics are an exception. It's more than enough to hold me over until Oct. 28th when the NBA tips-off. I have long held the belief that the best time of the year is in November when you get to watch all of your favorite teams play, but waiting with anticipation for the season to start is also a pretty great thing.















Right now I am filled with so much hope and anxiety. Is this gonna be our year? MSU has a tendency to start out hot and then sort of fizzle away, but I can't help but feel that this is going to be a great year. National Championship? I don't know if I'd go that far; but I hope so.

Anyways, I just wanted to make sure I got this in before Saturday's big game ( @ Cal, 8pm on ABC). Go State! As always, go big or go home.

-M, p, z & shredder

Party Like a Rock Star...

If you haven't been watching the Democratic National Convention, you need to. I guess everyone's been saving their money speeches for this week and I'm sure Barack's will be no different tonight. Former president Clinton gave a great speech last night. Great enough, I think, to make everyone forget how annoying he became during Hillary's run. He made me admire him again and realize all over again why I wish he would have been able to run for a third term. Also, Steven Spielberg produced a tribute to US Veterans and it was pretty awesome. Then again, when has he ever done something bad that was related to the military or army?



Sadly though, the more people I talk to about politics or more specifically, this election, the more I realize no one cares. Despite everything in this country being in the shits, people still don't care enough to read a paper or watch the news. It amazes me to hear what little people know about an election as important as this one, and it demoralizes me to hear that they just don't care. I'm not sure what the notion behind all this apathy is? That maybe this election doesn't effect them? That it doesn't matter who the president is? That watching America's Got Talent is somehow more beneficial to them than deciding who to vote for?

I admit that I am not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to politics or the inner workings of lobbyists and congress, but I'm trying. And I'm also not trying to sound self-righteous. I love watching inane shows as much as anyone else, but I do have a problem when people don't pay attention to what's happening or know anything about what is going on, but pass themselves as people who care; concerned citizens. Doubtful. I'm fine with the people who willingly admit they don't care. It takes more self awareness to admit that. I don't agree with them, but I respect their decision to not care about the election and then not vote. What bothers me are the people that don't care but say they do. The ones who say they are voting for someone and then can't give an answer as to why. This is how Bush got elected twice. People don't pay attention to anything and then we end up with an awful president for 8 years.

Anyways, tonight Barack accepts the Democratic Nomination and will probably give one of the best speeches since the one he gave at the convention in 04. Watch it. It'll be on at least 8 different channels and he will probably speak around 9 though it could come earlier. Regardless if you are already voting for him, or voting for McCain, just watch it. Take an interest in the world you live in. I realize college football kicks off tonight. I'm not saying you need to listen to what a bunch of random suits have to say about every single line anyone has said during this election, or pretending like they have some insight into politics because I hate the pundits as much as anyone else. But I do think you should watch Obama's speech tonight and McCain's next week. It's important.

Sorry. That turned into a rant. Anyways, go big or go home...

-M, p, z & shredder

Mr. Scuffles...

I was just watching Man vs. Wild and Bear Grylls just blew my mind. He was fishing in a swamp with his hand. He was feeling underneath trees and sticking his hands in holes that may have contained catfish but also may have housed snapping turtles or alligators. He ended up using his fingers and hand as bait and caught a 20 pound catfish by letting it essentially swallow his hand. So I got on youtube to find it, only I couldn't, but I did find this.



It's bad like Reign of Fire. Only funnier. The kids' lack of enthusiasm is what keeps it from being actually hilarious. Instead it's just sort of unintentionally hilarious, only on a few different levels.

-M, p, z & shredder

Writing...

In an effort to make some supplemental income I have decided to join a few websites and write random things for them. Some of them will be reviews, most of them more inane blogs. But in order to make money, I have to get people to read them. I'm not sure exactly when money starts being made but it has to do with hits and advertisement. Anyways, I am doing a trial run kind of and want to see how easily (probably not very easy at all) it generates income and how many hits equate to money. So if you're bored check out a few postings. One is just my last blog I copied to see how to post things but the other two are essentially other blogs. Here is one and two.

Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

R: Consonant or Vowel?

This is quite random but I've been playing a lot of scrabble on facebook (challenge me if you dare!) and I've just come to the conclusion that, by all accounts, 'R' is a vowel. Mostly because I had two R's and no vowels, but also because R is unlike any other consonant in the alphabet.

A consonant is defined by "The place of articulation is where in the vocal tract the obstruction of the consonant occurs, and which speech organs are involved. Places include bilabial (both lips), alveolar (tongue against the gum ridge), and velar (tongue against soft palate). Additionally, there may be a simultaneous narrowing at another place of articulation, such as palatalisation or pharyngealisation." Basically I think this means that your lips have to touch, or your tongue or some type of differentiation in how you expel air as you speak.

If you go through the alphabet right now aloud or silently, it holds true for all consonants except for R. Basically, from what I read about how you sound a vowel, R holds up as a vowel. Obviously It's too late to change that alphabet around and making R a vowel doesn't make any sense. But still, someone like Webster or Oxford or whomever owes me an apology and a thank you 8 million dollars. As always, go big and what not..

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - I suppose the vocal cords might contract barely while saying R but that doesn't justify it being a consonant. if one were to make a Venn Diagram of vowels and consonants, I'm pretty sure R would be chillin in the weird oval in the middle.

Running Mate...

So my boy, Obama, is supposed to pick his running mate soon. I can't remember ever caring so much, or finding this particular selection as important as it is now. In 04 I was all about John Edwards in the primary and when he lost, the one thing that made me really want John Kerry as president was that J.E. was his running mate. In retrospect, I guess it's a good thing the Democrats didn't have another adulterer in the White House.

This election seems like a toss up though. It seems like there are people from both parties going over to the other side. People who liked Hillary might vote for McCain and people who hate Bush might be voting for Obama. I guess that's why his running mate is so important. It really will capture the votes that he needs to win some swing states. I think going with someone from Ohio or Pennsylvania would be a smart move if he thought it was going to come down to Ohio. The Governor of Virginia Tim Kaine, seems to be getting quite a bit of attention, but I don't know if he's my guy. I think he's got what Obama needs as far as getting a more conservative vote, or getting some of the Hillary votes that are going to McCain but I don't think he should be the choice.

If it were up to me, I'd be choosing between Gov. Richardson of New Mexico and Sen. Biden from Delaware, both of whom were presidential candidates. I know there hasn't been much mention of Richardson in VP talks but I think they are both great choices even though they have very opposing opinions on many things. I think Richardson would be the best for "change" and would help to usher in the new generation that Obama (hopefully not rhetorically) talks about all the time. He's very pro-alternative energy. Very pro-bringing-home-the-troops. Essentially he's a really smart left wing guy who isn't some crazy radical. On the other hand I think Biden brings in a little bit of reality to Sen. Obama's "fairytale." Biden is a guy who's been around for a long time and I think he is a really good person to bring in to counter all of McCain's "war experience." Biden knows his stuff and has really good foreign policy ideas as far as what to do in Darfur and about getting out of Iraq as far as energy dependancy goes.

I guess in a perfect world Richardson would be VP and Biden would be some sort of official or Secretary of State. But chances are that won't happen. To be honest, I think it's tough enough trying to elect Obama without adding a Latino to the ticket in Richardson. Unfortunately this country is still filled with people who would vote against either of them or both of them just because of their name or ethnicity. It boggles my mind that the number of people who believe Obama is a Muslim is actually increasing.

Anyways, we'll find out soon enough I suppose. Just wanted to put my two cents in before an announcement was made. As always, go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - just an fyi, i get a lot of the pics I post here from the nytimes as it's my homepage and occasionally I'll see something that'll make me want to blog or that I've been meaning to talk about. just wanted to mention that in case people thought I was stealing topics or thoughts from there.

Job Hunting...

So I've been out here for almost 2 weeks now and I've been job hunting for one of those weeks. While there are a lot of jobs that I could do, the reason I am in NYC is to find a job doing something (anything) in film or television. Unfortunately the job market for my specific niche is about the same as the entire job market in Michigan: it's awful. So I guess if I don't have any solid indications that something will happen in the next few days/week, I'll get off my ass and be a regular joe shmoe until I find a job that I want. Job hunting is the worst though. I am admittedly pretty awesome and it only takes a minute for me to prove it to most people (the only people that don't think I"m awesome are the ones that end up hating me which I'm okay with), but it's hard to prove it to someone when you can't even get an interview.

This is essentially my life right now:

Oh, you're looking for someone who has a degree with a background in writing and critical thinking who also went to film school and loves film and tv production and is wiling to start at the bottom even though you should put him at the top? What a coincidence! I happen to embody exactly what you're looking for!! Here's a cover letter and a resume...Hello? Hello?! Crap.















Anyways, other than that I have been kicking ass and taking names. Not really. I've been sitting around trying not to spend any money since I have none and organizing my small room to make it seem not so small. As far as the Olympics go, I've been watching a little randomly but only really interested in basketball. To be honest, I have this unnatural resentment to Michael Phelps. By all accounts he seems to be a nice guy and obviously a tremendous athlete. It has nothing to do with him going to U of M and hating him for that because I didn't really like him before he went there, I should actually be proud that he lives in the same city where I grew up. But for some strange reason I just can't get behind him. I mean I want him to win, but I feel like it's only because I feel like I have to or someone will strangle me with an American flag. I mean look at him, look at how excited and pumped he is. How does that not pump me up? Am I insane? Does anyone else feel me on this or am I alone?

I am also looking forward to this years fall tv shows. Last year there seemed to be about 50 new shows and I didn't really get to see a lot of them that I wanted to but all the ones I loved got renewed and will be on soon. It is very strange though the way TV has a "season" like they're a sports team. It's kind of silly really. My favorite show on TV is Psych. It's on USA on friday's at 10. It's hands down the funniest show on TV and I love a good funny/detective/buddy buddy show. But the best part? USA doesn't adhere to a 'season.' They air shows whenever they want. For Monk and Psych they have new episodes that air from July-Sept-ish and then Jan-April-ish. It's awesome. Everyone else has reruns of god awful BS shows like Two and a Half Men and USA is showing brand new hilarious high quality shows. I don't get why more networks don't capitalize on the fact they no one else is airing anything worth watching. I watch 2 hours of TV a week and it's on Friday nights from 9-11.

I'm just rambling. I actually had a few things I wanted to talk about but since I always fly off on tangents I can never remember them. Anyways, keep your ear to the grindstone. Go big..

-M, p, z & shredder

Olympics...

So the Olympics started. China spent over $300 million dollars on the opening ceremony which is kind of absurd for many reasons. Is it just me or does there seem to be a ton of hype behind this years summer olympics. I don't remember the games being so pumped. I have been really pumped about the new "dream team" for a long time but other than that, the only thing I really look forward to is diving. So I tried to watch some events that I don't usually pay attention to and I have to say, there is no doubt in my mind why they call them 'games.' Air rifle is an olympic sport? It's not a sport, it's a game. Anyways, they should put some crazy games in there that are fun to watch, like paintball and stuff. That would rule.

The PGA championship did all it could to grab my attention without Tiger playing in it. It literally took Ben Curtis reppin the D with a Lions hat, Sergio going for his first major, the fact that it was in Oakland Hills (the only major course I've ever played (and in the D)) and a putt on 18 for the win to keep me from changing it to America's Best Dance Crew (supa crew what!).

Sad weekend on the whole though. Issac Hayes and Bernie Mac were legends. Bernie Mac cracks me up. His voice slayed me and the looks he could give people with his eyes was ridiculous. He was the only funny part in any of the Ocean's movies and The Bernie Mac show might be one of the most underrated sitcoms.



Anyways, go big or go home.

-M, p, z & shredder