The joys of journaling

Each night before bed, I make time to record the day’s events and my thoughts on them in my journal. It is a practice that I got into back in grade school. Back then, we recorded our thoughts in whatever subject we happen to be studying at the time.

Journaling is a great way to chart your personal growth, and to reflect on your past memories.  Plus, if you a kid, you can pass it down to them, or if you get famous, you can publish them and give the world an insight into your mind.

Some say that keeping a journal is strictly for women, typically between childhood and adolescence, usually stopped because the girl becomes interested in the boy next door. That’s not entirely true. Great men if history have kept journals. Men such as General George Washington, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, Nepoleon, and President Ronald Reagan, just to name a few.

Some even consider online blogs to be a journal.

Getting started is easy. All you need is a quiet place in which to write, a journal (duh), a pen (preferably a fountain pen, but you can use a ballpoint one as well, just no pencils) and a comfortable place to sit. You can use an app or the Word app on your computer, just make sure that if you go that route, make sure that it is passcode protected.

If you’re unsure how to get started, your local library may have some books on the subject, or you can even use the internet to get tips.

However you choose to go, just enjoy the hobby in good health.

Feel free to leave your ideas on the comments page and share your thoughts with others. Thanks for reading.

The truth is out there

As I pen this, I am watching Penn&Teller: Bullshit! They are debunking alien abductions, and that got me thinking about them. Before I begin, just let ne say that I do not believe in alien abductions, nor will I. I simply believe that the universe is so large that there simply has to be outer life.

My father used to say “There has to be life out there, to assume otherwise is foolish” and he was right. When you take into account the enormity of the universe and couple that with the finite amount that we humans have probed, it is logical to assume that other life exists in our universe. Now, just because we haven’t found it does not mean that it isn’t there. We haven’t found the Holy Grail, but that it doesn’t mean it’s not there.

Now, maybe the other life out there is as advanced as we are, and can only probe a finite amount, as well. Doesn’t mean that we don’t exist to them, nor do I believe that they don’t exist to us.
Maybe they didn’t have a Dark Age like we did and they have spent more time developing their own space travel, and the “UFOs” that the people have seen (people like me, if you recall) are simply exploration vessels sent by them to investigate us the way we sent Curiosity to Mars.

I don’t believe that crop circles are signs from above, the way many of the “believers” claim. In my mind, we explained it as kids looking for some fun. The reason I have the comfort, is because when I was a child, my dad and I watched a program about the kids who did it. When interviewed, the kids admitted to doing it as a gag!

It can also be asked why we haven’t seen any solid evidence of aliens. Its simple; no one can agree on what the aliens look like. For the majority of people, they all have the same impression of little grey men with big heads, tiny bodies, and big almond shaped eyes. Steven Speilburg had the same idea for his movie “Close Encounters if the Third Kind”. Even if the aliens landed on the White House Lawn, people would say “They aren’t what I saw; not real”. I believe that the other life forms that reside in the massive universe WILL NOT LOOK LIKE US! Maybe their planet was formed the same way, but their evolution took a different turn. Maybe their life is a race of lizard-people where they have developed the ability to speak, and act like humans, but are reptilian, or maybe cats took the dominate species. (Ask anyone who owns a cat, and that theory is true!)

The answer to the question if life in the universe, is akin to the answer to religion. Many people claim many things, but ultimately no one can prove or disprove anything. I believe in the other life in our universe, but if you don’t, fine,just let me believe in my ways and I will return the same courtesy to you.

Thanks for reading, and let me know your opinion on the matter

Movies aren’t entertaining

As I sit her penning this entry, I cannot help but wonder if Hollywood gas run out of original ideas. This is not a new trend, as Hollywood has always taken one media and made it into a movie. The greatest movie, Casablanca, was a stage play that got ok reviews, and the producers bought the Riggs to make a movie from it.

The major complaint that I have is this: Hollywood is relaunching old franchises and trying to make new ones. Brandon Routh was supposed to be the new Superman, but after Superman Returns failed, he was never seen again. This year, the folks over at DC Comics are trying it again…….and from what I have read, I will not be anticipating this movie. Another failed venture was Friday the 13th. The Jason Vorhees Slasher piece was great in the 80’s but bombed when they took that kid from Supernatural (who no one bought as a teen) and pairs him with Willa Ford and threw them into Camp Crystal Lake. If they had bothered to watch the original, they would’ve known that Jason’s mother was the original killer, and we didn’t see Jason until the end of he first movie. Not to mention that he didn’t get his trademarked hockey goaltender’s mask until the third movie …..

Hollywood also tried to take television shows and tried (and failed) to make them into movies, none of which had any connection to the original source material. The Dukes of Hazzard is one that springs to mind. In the original, Bo and Luke where on probation for running shine (illegal grain alcohol) and Uncle Jessie somehow got the feds to take that probation in exchange for not arresting the family. In the movie, Bert Reynolds played Boss Hogg. Already a disaster of a casting idea. Bert is well over six feet tall, whereas Sorrell Brooke was maybe five and a half feet tall. The idiot who played Roscoe was a bastard who I’m sure was a racist; the original Roscoe P. Coltrane was a bumbling idiot, but was a fun guy. Not to mention Catherine Bach was the fantastic Daisy Duke, and casting Jessica Simpson because he had double D cup titties was horrible…she cannot act, nor sing.
The Honeymooners, Josie and the Pussycats, Scooby-Doo, Get Smart, 21 Jumpsrreet, The Munsters, Starship Troopers, all where horrible films; all bombed at the box office. Its as if Hollywood decided to watch TV and make movies from a thirty second clip.

Remakes, or “reboots” as Hollywood called them are worse. Anyone remember the Johnny Depp abortion “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”? Didn’t think so. The Tom Cruise War of the Worlds was horrid; no explaination for how the martions got on Earth, no real character development. It’s as if they said “Tom Cruise and aliens. Orsen Wells is dead, lets do it!”. Pass.

Even their original ideas are piss-poor. Take for instance Independance Day staring Will Smith. My father and I watched it just to make fun of how bad it is. My father had the right thought when he said “Who the fuck is the idiot who thought that Will Smith and aliens where a good match?” Will should’ve stayed with his Auntie and uncle in Bell-Air…

Hollywood us back to making comics into movies. They started with the Batman serials in the 40’s and it looked to be halted until DC made Superman I. The first Superman was fantastic, as was the second one. That is when they should’ve stopped, but they made three and four…..Richard Pryor and Christopher Reeves was not a good casting. Both where fantastic actors in their seperate fields, but putting them together? No. Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr. was a great film, but do to the producer’s decision to cut Terrence Howard from the film made me decide not to watch it. The great Batman franchise almost died when they made Batman Forever and decided to make Batman and Robin… Nipples on the Batsuit, anyone? Luckily for us, Christopher Nolan came around and made the franchise work. Not bad for a remake… Spiderman was a great film. Spiderman one, that is. Two was OK, whereas three killed the franchise so quickly, that it cursed the Broadway play named after it! They are “Rebooting” the series with another guy soon….. Daredevil and Elektra where both flops, no matter how good Jennifer Garner looked in leather … The first attempt at the Hulk, the one directed by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon director Ang Lee was so bad that Mr. Lee is no longer making American films, and I can only guess that he is hiding in the Orient somewhere hoping people forgot him. The Fantastic Four was bad, despite having Jessica Alba as Sue Storm and Julian McMahon as Dr. Doom. Michael Chickless as The Thing was not very good, either. His acting wasn’t bad, just his suit looked faked! Marvel and Hollywood tried in the 70’s to make The Fantastic Four and Captain America, but thankfully neither saw the light of day!

Hopefully some day, Hollywood can make a new, ORIGINAL film that will hold the audience’s attention…but my crystal ball does not hold that answer

Robin Hood

In addition to the previous blog, I was thinking how Robin Hood made no sence to me. And here’s why:

First, I know that history has probably given the fable far more than it started out to have, but we have to deal with what we have, and what we have is a man who takes from the richband bestows the welth to the poor. Would that nit create an endless of cycle of which people where now defined as ‘rich’ or ‘poor’? It seems to me that this character, if he is real, would have quite the conundrum on his hands, no. The original rich people, which I assume is the Aristocracy would now be paupers, and the paupers would now be the aristocracy, which would mean that he has to take from the former paupers (now the aristocracy) and give back to the aristocracy (the originals who became the paupers, remember)….. My head hurts just thinking about it, how he managed to keep it straight is beyond me!

Of course, we could assume that he didn’t take all the welth that the original aristocracy had and gave only a portion of it to the poor. If we do, however, we soon realize that the fabled ‘Hero of Nottingham’ was no more than a socialist. In medieval England, he would’ve been beheaded in a public square, or worse for taking the weigh of nobility and bestowing it to the poor. I did mention that history has mire than likely fattened up the fable if Robin Hood, but then again, it is history. History will do that.

Of course, the subject has to be broached of who defines ‘rich and poor’? Did Robin Hood or his Merry men do it? Or did Robin Hood simply take from thoes who had it and give to those who didn’t? That version makes since to me, I don’t agree with it, but that I can make out and not need any headache pills afterward. And who knows, maybe the people he took from where going to give the money to charity, assuming the had charity back then…? Maybe the poor where not money-rich, but felt rich because they had a loving family and a place to sleep at night. If that is what they defined as rich, then so be it.

All of these thoughts really do go through my mind, which is why I cannot fathom the possibility of many myths and legends without consulting logic and reasoning first.
Do you have any questions that I can answer? Maybe you have a topic that you would like me to discuss? If so drop me a comment or a message and let me know. I do not guarantee any answers that you want, only my opinion

Reasons why I have television

Maybe this should’ve been called “Reasons Why I Should NOT Have a Television”….. As any American does, I watch a lot of TV. Because of that, I can no longer watch it,  and here’s why.

When the Kool-Aide Man bursts through a wall and shouts “OH YEAH!” how does he not hit a stud? Does he know that mist houses are spaced sixteen inches on center? Does he carry an invisible measuring tape with him? How does he know he wont hit a wire and electrocute himself? Does he have access to the blueprints and electrical diagrams to every building in the world? What if he does his a stud, would he break and die?

How does SpongeBob build a fire underwater? His does he have electricity in Bikini Bottom and how does he drown in a lagoon in said location. Also how us every member of his family a natural sea sponge, and he is the only kitchen sponge? Are the characters of Bikini Bottom the only inhabitants of their species? How and why did Plankton marry a super smart computer wife? And for that matter, if wants a damn Krabby Patty,  why not just buy one? The menu says that they are only $2!

In Tenacious D’s film “The Pick of Destiny” when young JB leaves home, do his über religious family go looking for him? The film never says anything of his family after the late Ronnie James Dio tells him to go to Hollywood …this has plagued me for many moons.

In Pokémon am I the only one who wonders how they can eat Pokémon and train them? It must be like how we humans raise animals as pets and food. That is the only explanation that I can fathom. Also, his has Ash stayed ten for almost, if not more than, fifteen years? Also, his did Pikachu drop so much weight between seasons one and seasons two?

In the Fairly Odd Parents, how does his father keep his job if he is a bumbling fool? Not to mention that no one knows that stuff just happens and then didn’t happen… I have the same problem with the Power Rangers. How did they manage to destroy the entire town of Sunnyvale and no one was calling for them to pay the city damages, or try to arrest them. I also have to ask how they managed to destroy the same stretch of city and no one ever died. How many tines did the same office buildings get demolished by the enemy and the Megazord in that show? Just think about the poor sap who decided to work late that night. I can only imagine that business where fleeing Sunnyvale after long. And for that matter, why did no one ever ask where all of these monsters came from? They just sorta showed up and destroyed the town and then poof gone. What the firetruck?

I have a basic understanding of the world of physics so maybe that is the crux of the issue; physics have ruined the realm of ‘make believe’ for me. Speaking of make believe, did Mr. Rogers really want us to be his neighbor? I would be remiss if I did not ask why, in the neighbourhood of make believe, did he put the castle of King Friday RIGHT NEXT TO THE TEAIN TRACKS? It’s his imaginary land, there could’ve been a dinosaur or two, or some lasers and some explosions, or an assassination attempt on the king, not just a handful of puppets. Also, how pedo was the name “Mr. McFeely? ” if I had that name or knew someone with that name, I would get a really cool nickname, or use my given name. Hell Dong is a better name thatn Mr. McFeely. What happened to Mrs. Rogers? Did Fred Rogers kill her in his imagination?  Did she leave to join King Friday and his harem of girls?

Scooby-Doo is another show that irritates me. How did the gang not know that Shaggy was a pot head who was so stoned out of his mind that he thought he talked to his dog and that Fred and Daphne where shagging at every chance they got? Was Velma the only smart one in the group? Also, how was it that they debunked a billion ghots and yet Shag and Scoobe where STILL AFRAID OF THEM? Seriously Norville, lay off of the pot a while; I get that it was the ’70s but enough is enough!

Yes, I realize that the examples I gave are all from the realm of television and thus not subject to the laws of the real world, but at some point a creator or writer or someone had to ask ‘what the frak are we doing? If you have any problems to add, or just want to tell me to lay off of the TV a while, shoot me a comment or a message. Thanks all for reading this rant

Barberblues

Today brought about new beginnings for me. Today I had my first real barbershop experience.

I’ve had my haircut countless tines in the past, but always by women. I always wondered why, a week later, I looked like crap. I found out recently that it’s because women cannot cut a man’s hair properly.

Well, today that changed. I found my new shop, Barberblues online. I booked my visit and waited. A long agonizing wait. Not at the shop, mind you, the wait was with me. I was excited to visit a man’s barbershop.

I walked in, and a man asked me “Do you have an appointment?” I told him I did and took my seat. The shop played NOTHING BUT BLUES MUSIC, which is my favourite genre and I looked around at all of the manly hair removal items. Razors, shaving brushes and creams, and not a female to be had. I did mention that this is a man’s barber, did I not? 

I took my seat and waited for the man ahead if me to finish. While I waited, I read the men’s magazines sitting on the table; not pornography, mind you, but sports and men’s publications such as Details and Gentleman’s Quarterly.
The chair inwhich I sat was beautiful. Comfy and perfectly placed for some great people watching. The atmosphere of the shop was light and jovial. The two barbers working that day were all to egar to talk with their customers. The other barbers that I’ve been to have all been closed off from their customers. Usually the only dialog heard is “What do you want? ” And that’s it.  At this one, they passed the tine with sports, and whatever you want.

Then they called my name. I walked over to the chair. It was time to see if I had found my new shop. The first thing that I found was that the barber chair was soft, like it should be. I assume that some people are more difficult to handle than others, but while u was there, my barber asked if he should take off the curls. I responded with “A regular man’s haircut”. I figure any man who cuts a man’s hair should know what that is. He said he “got me” and proceeded to do his thing. He said that he was a good pool player, but couldn’t work and play at the same time. I haven’t played in such a long time that I have probably forgotten how …..

When he finished up, he applied the shave cream AND USED A STRAIGHT RAZOR TO FINE TUNE THE EDGES!  Women don’t do that. He also notified me that he was going to apply some aftershave to the areas inwhich he took a razor to. It was enough to wake a man up!

I walked out of there with only a modest sum of $16 minus the tip out of pocket, and finding a new barbershop. The next time u go in, it will include a shave and a haircut. I have found my new barbershop, indeed! Thank you