Republican Debate

If I were to vote Republican, I would have to vote for Ron Paul. My God, what a bunch of petulant assholes other than Paul and Huckaby. This means McCain and Romney. Goddam, I can't believe these are the frontrunners. I wouldn't vote for either of them just because of the shit-eating grins each sported when we watched them listen to Paul or Huckaby. My opinion is that the Republican elite-those that REALLY control the party-are shitting their pants at the possibility Romney wins. I think he is a weird motherfucker, apart from the fact that he's Mormon. Not that they are nice people. Hell, I had a flirting with that crew with a subversive purpose of seeing if I could hook up with a Mormon chick. Their beliefs, though, are a little bit weird for me. From the talk I'm hearing, the "traditional" Republican machine is lining up behind McCain, while all of the batshit talk show crew, like Limbaugh, Savage and Hannity are lining up behind Romney. All in all, it should be an interesting race, both for the Democrats and Republicans.

Cloverfield and the savage human

Just saw Cloverfield. Liked it a lot. It reminded me,in a sort of wierd way, of the Jimmy Stewart as the ordinary man in his films. The guys in Cloverfield are as ordinary as it gets. The power of the film is its chronicle of these ordinary folks as they try to simply, stay the fuck alive. I liked the "Jaws" angle where we get a glimpse here and a flash there of the monster. I found myself craning my neck in the theater, trying to see what the buildings were blocking.

Another part of the film addresses itself to an interesting theory on the idea of a person's desire to stay alive. I have always believed that when faced with a situation where they could be killed, a person - any person, not just some ultimate fighter or survivalist, turns into a fucking neanderthal and Incredible Hulk combined. By this I mean that when a person has to fight something that is going to very likely kill them, they transform into a savage human animal that will fight like the most savage wolf or tiger and find the superhuman strength to stay alive. This is evident in the scene in the subway tunnel when the small monsters attack our people. The girl, in particular, shows this savage, powerful human instinct. She uses whatever weapon at hand, in this case a pipe, and beats the crap out of the monsters until they can escape. Scared, cornered humans would act like any other animal - do anything, fight anything, be as savage as necessary to live.

No Sharing This Time

LSU is the national football champions. No sharing with USC this time. They did it with superior talent and coaching, as well as being battle tested, week after week, in the SEC. When they fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter, there was no panic, no worry. For three years now we have seen what a Les Miles coached football team can do when they have four weeks to prepare. Even though the score was sort of close, it was only because of a late, meaningless touchdown. LSU dominated with speed, but also with strength and execution. Ricky Jean Francois absolutely abused the OSU offensive linemen. Also, the value of Tommy Moffett, the LSU strength and conditioning coach, cannot be stated enough. All through the season we saw how much better conditioned LSU was, and it showed again against OSU. It is a good time to be a LSU football fan.

College Football

BCS Championship. LSU and Ohio State. Nothing much I can say about this one. However, I do want to comment on the Sugar Bowl. Georgia vs. Hawaii. I know, everyone last year said Boise State had no business being on the field with Oklahoma. With all due respect to OU, they aren't a red hot Georgia team from the SEC. Hawaii has never seen speed like Georgia has. The experts are saying that Hawaii's quarterback, Colt Brennan, is good enough to pick apart Georgia. He might be, but I don't think he has seen a defense like Georgia's. While they may not sack him they are fast enough to disrupt him. The DBs for Georgia are scary fast, too. Two words that, in my opinion will win the game for Georgia: closing speed.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

If I ever find myself in Cleveland again, I will probably visit the RRHOF. They just announced a new slate of inductees. Chicago is not there. Madonna is. Is this right? I don't think so. Granted, Chicago is a shell of their former self, but still, all they did is create and perfect a new sound. If taking rock music in a new direction isn't a qualification for entry, then I don't know what is. All I can guess that the powers that be just don't like Chicago. I think the Sex Pistols had it right when they refused to attend their induction and, in fact, sent a note calling the RRHOF a "piss stain." Well said.

LSU-BCS

Who'd have thought it? LSU in the BCS vs. Ohio State. What a wild, wild season. OSU was a lock as they were the only one-loss team that had a BCS-worthy resume (sorry, Kansas). Any one of the 2-loss teams might go. I think Georgia and Missouri, because they didn't win their conferences, shouldn't go. I know what you are thinking. Two teams from the past that didn't win their conferences went (Nebraska and Oklahoma). However, that was a different formula. If you use the formula they use today, those two teams wouldn't have gotten in.

That being said, I hope we don't get the attitude that since Florida crushed OSU last year, all we have to do is show up and we'll win. Nope, that won't work. OSU is a darn good team. The best thing about us that we have a month off to heal up. Oh, and Les Miles is staying. That is the most wonderful news of all.

Leopard!

I upgraded to Leopard. From what I've seen, I like it. I also got the new iLife '08 and iWork '08. The new iPhoto stuff is really neat. I haven't really messed around with IWork, so that is forthcoming. The best thing about Leopard is it is backups for idiots. I have been terrible about backing up stuff, and this does it for you.

Tomorrow I get to go to N.O. (yippee!) for a federal court seminar. The good thing about this is that it gets me admitted into all three federal courts here as well as the 5th Court of Appeals. LIke I'm going to be doing a lot of stuff in federal court soon. You never know, though, and I guess it is a good thing to have.

Deliverance and the Next Generation

This is Zoey





One of my favorite scenes is the "Dueling Banjos" from Deliverance. It was only years later that I realized that the guy playing the banjo with the kid is Ronny Cox. I guess it is my weirdness, but I like to imagine different characters from different films interacting. For instance, one of my favorite Star Trek - The Next Generation episodes is "Chain of Command" where Ronny Cox plays an (initially) asshole CO. Ever since I saw Deliverance, I thought it would be awesome if during the episode, Jellico (Cox's character) and Data pulled out the banjo and guitar and jammed.

Cold weather finally here. Loving it.

Top Gun and culture shock

This is Tom Servo


Although Top Gun is an okay movie, it has probably my favorite opening scenes of any movie (even the Bond films). I have to fight the urge to go to the nearest navy recruitment office when I see it.

If you folks want to experience culture shock to the nth degree, then do what I did the other day. I went to Whole Foods, followed immediately by a trip to Wal Mart. My God. It is like going from Beverly HIlls to East St. Louis.

Late for the bandwagon

One thing I may be guilty of is being late for the bandwagon on what is popular at the time. Three things, however, that I was NOT late for are: Cheers, Hill Street Blues, and Seinfeld. I loved all three of those shows way before they became popular. One current show that I was late for, however is Heroes. I remember last year with the "Save the cheerleader, save the world" tag thinking "this may be all right." It took me until two weeks ago to think - maybe I'll like it. As fate would have it, the first season is out on DVD. A quick trip to Amazon and wow - what a great show. I love the ensemble acting - I love the interaction between characters that don't know they are "special" With DVDs, and also with this one, the commentary is my favorite part. I only saw the one with the Indian guy, Jack Coleman (of Dynasty fame) and the guy that is Niki's husband. How cool is that? Pretty cool.

Jenna

I know, this is my second post about Jenna Bush. You might think I have a crush on her or something. Truth be told, I always thought Barbara was the cuter one. Jenna is in the news now because she wrote a book about a Central American girl with AIDS. I'll give her credit. When she could be doing cushy stuff here, she went to some of the most depressing places on earth to teach and to help. While we have to be realistic about this - she no doubt had a secret service detail and an entourage that would rival Jamie Foxx's, nevertheless she was there. Kinda like Al Gore being a journalist in Vietnam. While he didn't see the hell most soldiers did, he was in country and doing his duty. Same for Jenna. She seems to be a pretty okay girl and I wish her the best.

Torchwood

As a big fan of the X-Files, I was looking forward to a show premiering on BBC America called "Torchwood" It is about a group, outside of government control, called Torchwood. They investigate aliens and paranormal activity. It is great! I can't wait for the other shows. I love the British cast, and I it is set in Cardiff, Wales. I don't know if they shoot there, but if they do, it is a really pretty city.

The Blues Brothers

One of my fondest memories back in the Army at Fulda, was our (Mine, Dan and Roger's) ritual of watching The Blues Brothers. I saw it for the first time in years the other day, and it brought back those memories.
This was where Dan and I first heard "Sam and Dave".
Some of the viewings was with our roommate of a short while, Steve Lightner. During one of the wonderful dance numbers, the song "Think" sung by Aretha Franklin, one of the three background dancers is a big fat woman in a post office uniform. Steve loved watching her dance, remarking something like "look at that sister gettin' down!"

Another of the dance numbers, by Ray Charles, there is a huge cast of dancers - everyone dances - old, young, black, white, men, women - all together and wonderful. My favorite part is when it starts, and the group is dancing as one - and a guy comes into the scene, doing backflips, lands perfectly and in line with the other dancers.

Also, the concert scene - where they do the intro, finish and pose to a perfectly silent audience. Then, they bring down the house.

Vick

I agree with BIll Maher, a lifelong animal rights advocate, that I, myself, am not qualified to impartially impose a sentence on Michael Vick. I did read, however, that the judge that will sentence him has a Biscon Friche as a pet. One hopes he is informed that the fuckwad slimeballs that do dogfighting kidnap smaller dogs to use as "practice."

When the police made the initial investigation at Vick's home, the newspaper reported it was a drug investigation. One wonders if the person that knew what was going on at Vick's also knew that the police wouldn't put dogfighting on the priority list. Therefore, the informant told the police that it involved drugs, so they would then mobilze quickly - and, ergo, discovered a dogfighting operation.

Mexico has their shit together

While listening to coverage of Hurricane Dean on CNN International (my new favorite news channel), they mentioned that Mexico had busses evacuating the residents of towns along the Yucatan peninsula in Dean's path. Imagine that. Mexico having their shit together while we let the residents of New Orleans suffer.

Goin' to the chapel . . .

Well, well, well. It seems some young man happened to capture Jenna Bush's wild and crazy heart and they's gonna git hitched.
The lucky fella's name is Henry Hager and he is the son of the chairman of Virginia's Republican party. That's a surprise. Here's a picture of the cute couple. Doesn't he look like the mother of all Young Republican poster children?

Aw, shoot. I shouldn't be so cynical. After all, if I am in favor of anybody in love being able to marry, then I should be happy for Jenna and Henry. I am. I'll drink a Bombay and tonic to the young couple. Cheers!

2008 Olympics and home cookin'

Already on CNN International they are doing stories on how the Chinese expect to win the most medals at the 2008 games. Given that it is going to be in China, I would not be surprised if the home cookin', which is what we Southerners call the favorable calls due to home field advantage, sees this to be true. It is way to early to make predictions, but I think, given a level playing field, the U.S. should win handily.

For instance, the U.S. should rout the world in swimming. There was a rumor is that the Chinese held their best athletes back to save them for the Olympics. If they did hold them back, it was for fear that they would get beat anyway. But why deny an elite athlete the opportunity to compete against the best and see if they are truly the best swimmers?

However, in the subjective sports, the diving, the gymnastics, etc., the Chinese-leaning judges will give as many medals to the home team as they can.

Golf no longer an olympic sport. Never will football be an olympic sport. That's too bad.

LSU recruiting

One of the things that pains me to hear is the yearly bitching among the LSU faithful that we are not recruiting as well as other schools. First I digress. A booming internet industry has arisen within the last couple of years dealing with football recruiting. Prior to the internet age, there existed recruiting services whose primary job was to observe and subjectively rate high school football players, usually on a one-to five-star rating. These services existed in newsletter and magazine form and were only read by those in the football industry. With the advent of the internet, rabid college football fans everywhere had access to these previously inaccessable ratings, reports and news for the nominal fee of around twelve dollars a month. Suddenly, these rabid college football fans could see who their team was recruiting, who was interested in what college, and who committed (verbally) to what college. LSU fans could see, in real time, that we have, for instance, fourteen verbal committments, six of whom are "four stars" and eight are "three stars". This causes great consternation among the LSU faithful, who see that Georgia has four "five star" verbal commitments, Florida has four "five star commitments" and LSU has none. This, in the mindset of a LSU fan, means catastrophic failure in recruiting.

Now for the reality. The "star ratings" are as subjective as who you think the prettiest actress on television is. Sure there are a number of "five star" recruits that become all americans and stars of their teams. However, the number of three star, two star and other players who don't merit a "star" have gone on to become talented and fearsome college players. The message to LSU fans who fret over our recruiting is - chill out. These coaches know what they are doing and we'll be okay.

Klingons and BabelCon '07

On August 4, 2007, BabelCon '07 was held in Port Allen. I met four of my crewmates from the IKV Bayou Serpent: Commander Ri'par sutai-bortaS, Lieutenant Commander K'Allen vestai-bortaS, Lieutenant Ni'Vek and Lieutenant Torsha vestai-bortaS. We got into uniform, except for Torsha, who is expecting a new Klingon warrior in October. It was our privilege to meet Gowron at the airport. He knew nothing of this, and the look on his face when he rounded the corner to see four Klingons in full uniform was priceless. He was touched by this greeting. The next day at Babel Con, we mingled with the humans and got to meet Bob May, the original robot for Lost in Space, Lee Meriwether, Losira from TOS as well as Barnaby Jones' assistant, and Robert O'Reilly, of course. All were most gracious in giving autographs and taking pictures. They all gave presentations which were very interesting. Gowron told amusing stories of PIcard holding heavy cloaks for many takes, Gowron's Klingon teeth coming flying out and stories of his children. I was most honored to be included in this ship's mission, as well as to be privileged to meet these fine people. I bade farewell to my most honorable crew and wished them well until next time, which I home is soon.

All Things Klingon

Given the inordinate number of Star Wars posts, I only feel that it is proper to pay homage to my true calling, the Klingon Empire. Ever since the first original Star Trek episode "Errand of Mercy" with Kor, my heart has always been Klingon. This is even more true with the evolution of Klingons in Next Generation to an honorable and proud race. One of my favorite scenes is the in the episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" where the crew is subject to an alternate timeline involving the Enterprise-C. The Enterprise-C goes through a time rift in its own time and appears in the time of the Enterprise-D, altering the Enterprise D's future, which now involves a war with the Klingons instead of an alliance. We learn that in the Enterprise C's time, they are supposed to be destroyed defending a Klingon outpost against a Romulan attack. This incident, which the Klingons viewed as most honorable, was a key in forging the Federation/Klingon alliance. This episode tells us how highly and how prized the Klingons view honor.

In looking for informtion on the upcoming science fiction convention, BabelCon '07, I discovered there is a Klingon ship and crew in Louisiana, the Imperial Klingon Vessel (IKV) Bayou Serpent. The commander is Ri'Par sutai-bortaS, who was kind enough to welcome me in the crew. I took a Klingon name, B'ehrmaq, and proceeded to cobble together a Klingon uniform. The goal was to be in full Klingon uniform for the BabelCon '07. I would have gone to the convention anyway, but one of the guests was going to be Robert O'Reilly, who played Gowron in TNG and DS9.