Monday, February 6, 2012

Random Thoughts 11

The Super Bowl just got over.  New York Giants are the champions, and New England are apparently the Choke Champions.  Don't know why, but anytime I've ever watched football...and I can count on my hand how many in the past five years...when I see the Patriots play I could swear they could be called the Butterfinger Bozos.  But anyway.

The more I get told I should like Adele, the more I don't.  And I'll never like Jennifer Hudson.  Apparently she doesn't think her boyfriend David Otunga should lower himself so as to be connected to the WWE.  Not that she lowered herself from winning an Oscar to hawking Weight Watchers.

I'm skeptical about the Spider Man reboot movie coming this summer, but hopeful.  It's only been, what, ten years since Sam Raimi's version, why couldn't they just carry on, even with another director?  How many James Bond or Star Trek movies were made before they got reboots?

"The Dark Knight Rises" will have everyone talking when it comes out and kills the box office.  Chris Nolan movies have a tendency to hang around in theatres, so you won't see it crash and burn like, say a Transformers or Twilight movie.  It has me wondering what will happen to who in characters.  Will Alfred (Michael Caine) or Lucius (Morgan Freeman) die?  Will Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) himself get killed?  You know, in the comics, Bane - the main bad guy in 'Rises' - breaks Batman's back and the torch is passed on to another.  This is gonna be violent, dark and BIG.

The other night on the movie networks, they ran "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".  It was only the second time I saw it.  What a first rate villain that nurse Ratchid is, eh?  The nuances of that character... she appears to not realize she's such a bitch, that she's actually doing good.  And what a dark, appropriate ending for Randall with the Chief.  A ballsy one at that.  Nicholson at his finest.

I have a brother turning 60 in a few weeks.  Greg's a fine fella who throws a great party and is due to have a great one thrown for him.  That makes it three Cook boys to hit the 60's, and two sisters, one bro and finally myself trailing.  And honest to my God, none of the 'seniors' even closely acts like one.  Thankfully.

If Russia and China are going to veto the UN Council against action taken against Syria's tyrannical leader, then Harper should not be looking for business with China by sending people over there to drum up interest.  It only seems responsible.  Not that the Conservatives have a great track record on the world stage.

And while I'm on that topic, I have to say, I told you so.  David Alward is running NB into the ground like a pile driver looking for shale gas.  It's now possible that the refit for Point Lepreau may not work at all.  We had a chance to get rid of it, but now we're just plain screwed.  And 'Awkward' is making cuts in all the places he promised not to, namely to seniors.  Health care in NB will look like a pale shadow of what it once was, which wasn't much to begin with.

I wish Jane Taber and Craig Oliver would run for federal office.

How many more big rock acts will come to Magnetic Hill?  How many more are even left?  Rock and Roll, essentially, is dead.  Just listen to classic rock radio.  Most of what you hear, the players are either dead or done, and there's no one to replace them.  There's Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Van Halen, and maybe one or two others that would prove worthy of playing there.  Then we get into the non-rock outfits, albeit are still R&R Hall of Fame inductees.  Speaking of which... how does Madonna, the Beastie Boys, Blondie and Donna Summer get into the Rock Hall, but Rush, Kiss, Yes, ELP, Journey, Styx etc. don't even get nominated?

Can we please cut down on, or better yet, eliminate two overused phrases on the internet these days:  'just sayin'' and 'it is what it is'?

Go to THIS LINK to get a full look at my black belt test from a few years ago.  I'm going to be posting a ton of stuff to YouTube to share with my friends and family.  Lots of very good memories to rekindle.

I had this dream not long ago about being in a bed, by myself, lying there knowing I was dying.  I got up to look in the mirror, and looked at myself, and I said, "I'm going to die today".  How freaky of a dream is that?!  It might be the single creepiest ...well, nightmare I've ever had.  Last night I dreamed I was working at Vail's again.  A fate worse than death.

Last week Janice and me decided to take it upon ourselves to install a brand new toilet in the bathroom.  We didn't want to wait anymore or spend anything to get it done, so, we punched up some how-to videos on YouTube, and guess what?  We got 'er done.  We impressed ourselves so much, we went ahead and also replaced the household thermostat, again with how-to videos, and again got 'er done.  Next, we want to tear the house down and rebuild.  I jest... but seriously, we want to tear up the carpet left upstairs in the house and put down some kind of flooring.

My wife is doing bang-up business at her post office outlet.  It just keeps getting better and busier.  I expected nothing less than stellar results, and she's delivering.  Sorry for that.

While I'm on the topic of praise, our kid is continuing doing fantastic in school. She sat down and watched "Cuckoo's Nest" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" with us, and let me offer this:  She's got a sense of taste for stuff like that like no other kid her age I've ever known of.  I'm very, very proud of her level of maturity.

Speaking of the ladies, they're about to get back into taekwondo, I believe this week.  I won't ever say never for myself, but I really don't like the thought of putting myself at risk for another head injury.  But I used to like the sparring battles where I'd take and give the body shots, even if it meant a rib injury here and there.  For me at least.

That'll be it for this round of randoms.  Thanks for checking in and see you again.