Memo to Glenn Beck
Next time Glenn, tell 'em this and no more:
Who is the white culture? It's not the one who sings "I Loves You Porgy" but the one who listens to it being sung.
--Bryce Martin
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Tell them how the weather was... -- Ernest Hemingway bryce_martin_1@Lycos.com
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Gaylord has worn out its welcome
People still arrive in Nashville only to soon be disappointed in finding that the theme park is closed. Not just closed but bulldozed and replaced with a shopping mall. Replaced not just recently but more than a decade ago.
It's a shock to those small but dedicated numbers who came back to relive some sunny summer days in more youthful times.
Many locals are not fond of Gaylord's theme park pullout, either. After all, Gaylord admitted the place was turning a profit when they canned the concept, just not the kind of profit they wanted. That washed out as one word: greed.
Gaylord was not done riling up the populace. When they nearly made the move to change the format of the legendary WSM-AM radio station, they were met with public outrage so deep it had a threatening undertone. They nixed that idea.
Folks started wondering if any institution was safe. What would get the ax next, The Grand Ole Opry? Well, some problems came about there, too. Some old timers on the Opry found their spots reduced considerably by the fresh-faced male hat acts who all sound like Pro Tools versions of Merle Haggard and the new wave of blonde girl singers who are, well, blonde.
Gaylord may be churning out the profits it likes but its image is kaput.
...
People still arrive in Nashville only to soon be disappointed in finding that the theme park is closed. Not just closed but bulldozed and replaced with a shopping mall. Replaced not just recently but more than a decade ago.
It's a shock to those small but dedicated numbers who came back to relive some sunny summer days in more youthful times.
Many locals are not fond of Gaylord's theme park pullout, either. After all, Gaylord admitted the place was turning a profit when they canned the concept, just not the kind of profit they wanted. That washed out as one word: greed.
Gaylord was not done riling up the populace. When they nearly made the move to change the format of the legendary WSM-AM radio station, they were met with public outrage so deep it had a threatening undertone. They nixed that idea.
Folks started wondering if any institution was safe. What would get the ax next, The Grand Ole Opry? Well, some problems came about there, too. Some old timers on the Opry found their spots reduced considerably by the fresh-faced male hat acts who all sound like Pro Tools versions of Merle Haggard and the new wave of blonde girl singers who are, well, blonde.
Gaylord may be churning out the profits it likes but its image is kaput.
...
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Self-Indulgent Touchdown Celebrants,
Or Watch Chad He Fun
Most of us can count to ten in Spanish, whether we have any real grasp of the language at all.
It's just one of those things we pick up early on that stays with us. That's probably why the Spanish words for "eight" and "five" are old hat to us.
But, for someone who lacks a grasp of his own native language, English, those two words must have really sounded neat to said adult who heard them for the first time.
Enter Chad Ochocinco, formerly Chad Johnson.
It's not surprising then that Mr. Tiny Brain also spends much spare time devising possible touchdown celebration antics. Considering the fact that he gets paid big money to score touchdowns in the first place -- call it his main job requirement -- and you get the idea that the guy doesn't spend a lot of time on heady diversions.
Using the excuse that he is just adding fun to the sport, the standard excuse, the fact is the majority of us up in the stands would just as soon -- prefer, actually -- that after he or someone like him scores, they just hand the ball to the ref and go on about their way. The only one who really thinks it is fun is the celebrant, he and the abettors who are doing the spring bounce at his side.
It's really all about him, not about adding some fun for us spectators. It's too much of an obvious self-indulgent display for us to get giddy over.
Please, grow up gentlemen. After all, it is a man's sport is it not?
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Or Watch Chad He Fun
Most of us can count to ten in Spanish, whether we have any real grasp of the language at all.
It's just one of those things we pick up early on that stays with us. That's probably why the Spanish words for "eight" and "five" are old hat to us.
But, for someone who lacks a grasp of his own native language, English, those two words must have really sounded neat to said adult who heard them for the first time.
Enter Chad Ochocinco, formerly Chad Johnson.
It's not surprising then that Mr. Tiny Brain also spends much spare time devising possible touchdown celebration antics. Considering the fact that he gets paid big money to score touchdowns in the first place -- call it his main job requirement -- and you get the idea that the guy doesn't spend a lot of time on heady diversions.
Using the excuse that he is just adding fun to the sport, the standard excuse, the fact is the majority of us up in the stands would just as soon -- prefer, actually -- that after he or someone like him scores, they just hand the ball to the ref and go on about their way. The only one who really thinks it is fun is the celebrant, he and the abettors who are doing the spring bounce at his side.
It's really all about him, not about adding some fun for us spectators. It's too much of an obvious self-indulgent display for us to get giddy over.
Please, grow up gentlemen. After all, it is a man's sport is it not?
-30-
Monday, September 07, 2009
Today's News: What a crock
Ludacris' charity is his own
In today's news, another example of the media abetting a celebrity who is using a tax write-off as if it was a gift of benevolence:
Talk about a one-man stimulus package: Grammy-winning rapper Ludacris has given away 20 cars to people who wrote about their struggles to keep their jobs for a lack of wheels of their own.
Ludacris said he was taken aback after reading thousands of essays by people struggling or unable to buy cars needed to get to and from work or find jobs. The 31-year-old rapper felt he could step in and move them ahead, partnering with a suburban Atlanta dealership for Sunday's...
And so on.
Ludacris and his team of advisors pulled the old double-coup. Make a charitable donation and do it in a way to garner as much publicity for yourself as possible. Since the media is always looking for a few feel-good stories to balance the top of the masthead negative ones, they will go along with the charade.
This is not meant to be a shot aimed at Ludacris. He's far too transparent for that. It's about all those who make mucho dinero and who follow the established pattern to keep as much of it as possible by loopholing Uncle Sam's codes.
The Fifth Estate is again reduced to a hovel.
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Ludacris' charity is his own
In today's news, another example of the media abetting a celebrity who is using a tax write-off as if it was a gift of benevolence:
Talk about a one-man stimulus package: Grammy-winning rapper Ludacris has given away 20 cars to people who wrote about their struggles to keep their jobs for a lack of wheels of their own.
Ludacris said he was taken aback after reading thousands of essays by people struggling or unable to buy cars needed to get to and from work or find jobs. The 31-year-old rapper felt he could step in and move them ahead, partnering with a suburban Atlanta dealership for Sunday's...
And so on.
Ludacris and his team of advisors pulled the old double-coup. Make a charitable donation and do it in a way to garner as much publicity for yourself as possible. Since the media is always looking for a few feel-good stories to balance the top of the masthead negative ones, they will go along with the charade.
This is not meant to be a shot aimed at Ludacris. He's far too transparent for that. It's about all those who make mucho dinero and who follow the established pattern to keep as much of it as possible by loopholing Uncle Sam's codes.
The Fifth Estate is again reduced to a hovel.
-30-
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Yahoo headline:
Kennedy memoir calls Chappaquiddick 'inexcusable'
Since Ted Kennedy's death, I have read such things as "we shouldn't focus on one bad thing in a person's life but their sum total." Or, some gibberish along those lines. One thing is all it takes. Ask most of the people serving time in prison for murder. Prison, by the way, is where Kennedy should have been when he died going back to when he let his "date" drown.
Are we supposed to be impressed that Kennedy would view his murder of a young girl as "inexcusable" years after while he was swilling his liquor and enjoying the fat of a family larder? Some people even like to point out how many years he "served" in office, overlooking the fact that Kennedy was a democrat living in a heavy democrat region -- meaning it was never likely he would ever have any competition.
But, I digress. The fact that Kennedy obviously didn't find his cowardly acts to save his own despicable ass "inexcusable" back then -- that's his real legacy.
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Kennedy memoir calls Chappaquiddick 'inexcusable'
Since Ted Kennedy's death, I have read such things as "we shouldn't focus on one bad thing in a person's life but their sum total." Or, some gibberish along those lines. One thing is all it takes. Ask most of the people serving time in prison for murder. Prison, by the way, is where Kennedy should have been when he died going back to when he let his "date" drown.
Are we supposed to be impressed that Kennedy would view his murder of a young girl as "inexcusable" years after while he was swilling his liquor and enjoying the fat of a family larder? Some people even like to point out how many years he "served" in office, overlooking the fact that Kennedy was a democrat living in a heavy democrat region -- meaning it was never likely he would ever have any competition.
But, I digress. The fact that Kennedy obviously didn't find his cowardly acts to save his own despicable ass "inexcusable" back then -- that's his real legacy.
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