Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Random Thoughts: Tales from the bedside

Sore backs can be tough.  Really sore backs that keep you home from work are even tougher, so here I am with a RT blog for Ragnar.

There's a whole lot about Miley Cyrus in the media these days.  While her MTV performance left most of us a bit, well, disgusted -- I'm a whole lot more sickened that this Robin Thicke creep played along with it and shoulders no responsibility for his creepiness in the matter than with Miley herself.  And for the record, her 'Wrecking Ball' video is beautiful to me.  I don't see a slutty girl licking a phallic symbol.  I see a sad girl baring her soul after hurting from a deep relationship.  The timing after the MTV thing is just a little tragic, but people will think the worst sometimes.

I try not to comment on U.S. politics online as much as I used to, because I have a lot of American friends who disagree with my views, and I find my own comments to be a little soap-boxy.  I don't think it's my place to tell friends in another country what they should think about how their country is run.  But, it's hard to hold back sometimes.

Doesn't anybody stay together anymore?  Not just talking about celebrities.  I see people all around me breaking apart from their significant others after long relationships.  It saddens me, truly, that people have such a hard time finding happiness.

As I write this, my Red Sox are on the verge of winning their first World Series at home since 1918.  I got to see Fenway Park with my family this past summer, a dream come true for me after a lifetime of being a Sox fan.  The little boy in me came out in full force, and made me feel thankful for all of the blessings in my life especially this year.  I thank God every day for all I have.

It seems my wife is turning a corner on some major health issues these days, one of those many things I'm thankful for.  It was discovered recently she has IBS, and is being very successfully treated accordingly.  This makes her very happy, and concurrently makes me happy too.

How could I not have tuned in to 'Breaking Bad' sooner than I did?  One of the best shows to ever grace television.  Solid acting and writing and production value throughout the series.  It's refreshing to see a show bow out while still at the top of its game rather than fade into obscurity.  The success of 'BB', I believe, just may revolutionize how TV shows and even movies are written.  This is the first drama I've seen in a long time with such respect to the intelligence of its audience.

After a maddeningly disappointing few seasons of 'The Walking Dead', or all of them since the stellar first season, it seems that there is hope for the show after all.  This season is finally showing that there actually can be substance underneath all the style.  All they had to do is let the actors show their depth, rather than just do constant gross-outs with no meaning whatsoever. 

I do like watching pro wrestling, but WWE is probably the worst it's been in a long time these days.  It's become so dumbed-down that it's kind of insulting to watch.  I long for the old Bret The Hitman Hart days where the lines between fantasy and reality were much more blurry.  TNA has self destructed under the weight of Eric Bischoff's ego and mismanagement.

I love where I live and my province in my country, but it's just about unrecognizable under the 'leadership' of premier David Alward and his equally inept provincial goveernment.  I knew this all would happen too, as did many of us.  Skyrocketing taxes, cuts to health care, ballooning deficit, and minus population growth have quickly made New Brunswick the tin cup territory of the country.  An election to get these buffoons out of office can't come soon enough.

While I do love my baseball, I have equal disdain for bloodsport these days.  It's hard to watch things like UFC, football and hockey, which seem to thrive on destructive practices against fellow human beings.  My views toward a lot of these things have changed since becoming a father 17 years ago.  But, it seems only that it's all become worse as time goes by.  At least the violent nature of these 'sports' is beginning to get more spotlight coverage via their consequences, so that perhaps in due time, measures can be taken to restore the sporting aspect to these activities.

How about that Pope Francis?  This man may very well bring the masses back to the Catholic church, at least to some degree.  I'm happy to see the Catholic leader finally ween the spotlight off of topics like gay issues and abortion and shine more on suffering and poverty.  Not that abortion isn't deserving of its notoriety.  But there needs to be more attention focused on the poor and unfortunate.

I'm almost distressed at how little I care about music these days.  Rock and roll truly is dead, and has been for a long time now.  We're left with great music of the distant past to fall back on, because great music isn't really being made anymore.  In this era of karaoke singing contest TV shows and artists that have to 'feature' other artists in their songs to get sales, there seems to be little to no hope for music in general.

It's been a pretty good year for movies.  I've seen more shows this year in theatres than I have in a long time.  After seeing 'Gravity' here in town, we ventured out to Halifax to see it in IMAX 3D, where we've heard the experience is intensified.  We found this to be very true.  The movie is front-loaded with how-the-hell-did-they-do-that effects, and documentary style storytelling that left me gasping for breath at times for the two characters.  I don't want to spoil anything, but there is a Nolan-ish question about the movie's ending that begs debate not unlike 'Inception'.

It's going to be interesting to see where the Canadian senate scandal takes the nationally governing conservatives, with said party splintering apart with lie after lie being exposed from our prime minister.  This government has been so secretive and underhanded over the years that it's become scary.  Every single government has its scandals, make no mistake.  But this one is the worst I've seen in my lifetime.  We'll see how good the memories of Canadians are in the next election.  The trick is, is there a party competent enough to take over the reigns?  I don't see one single party in Canada right now that shows promise for our future.  Not one.

I guess that's enough tales from the bedside for now.  Chime in on comments if there's discussion to be had.  Thanks for reading.