Showing posts with label Videos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Videos. Show all posts
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Music On My Mind
I caught the last few minutes of Southland the other day and the music made me stop and listen. I told my mom I thought it was Willie Nelson and due to the wonders of YouTube, I found it. I've listened to the Bob Dylan original and I have to admit that Willie does the song a little better. This is the version from the last few minutes of Southland, a show that I think I need to add to my viewing schedule.This is the full Willie version, I apologize for the German, but the video is definitely worth it.It baffles me how I can have Glenn Miller, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Dusty Springfield, The Monkees, Beatles, MC Hammer, Joan Baez,Three Dog Night, Whitesnake, Alvin and The Chipmunks, the Four Tops, Bobby Brown, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, the Pretenders, Depeche Mode, Gnarls Barkley, Oingo Boingo, Peggy Lee and Finger Eleven on the old iPod. And who could forget Roger Miller?Love that song ever since I saw him on Red Skelton.
This one is for the teabaggers who have forgotten what it was really like in the fifties and early sixties.BBB
This one is for the teabaggers who have forgotten what it was really like in the fifties and early sixties.BBB
Monday, February 15, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
The Woman Can Sing!
I've always been fond of Rufus Wainwright's version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" but kd Lang knocked it out of the park last night for the Olympic opening ceremonies. Shivers ran up and down my spine. NBC is vigorously protecting its copyright of the Olympics, so here is the link. It is well worth watching, you can feel the emotion she puts into singing it and you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that she is not lip syncing while she delivers the best rendition I've ever heard.
If you don't want to install the Silverlight whatever on your computer, here is kd singing it at the 2005 Juno awards, another impressive performance.
BBB
If you don't want to install the Silverlight whatever on your computer, here is kd singing it at the 2005 Juno awards, another impressive performance.
BBB
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Couldn't Keep Quiet Forever
Waah, waah, waah. So Obama has broken every single promise he ever made to the people who worked and got him elected and now everyone is surprised that the people are revolting? What drugs are you people on? Obama got what he wanted and then reverted to the same person I met when he was a young man at Occidental College. Just like every other president we've had since 1980 he speaks out both sides of his...mouth. The really sad part is, voting for the other guy out of anger is only going to make things worse. Such is our lovely political system, a two party affair that the rich control and the poor serve. And any idea that the individual citizen mattered was removed by the Supreme Court this morning. Our individual political contributions are going to mean nothing. Actually, less than nothing.
To lose the Kennedy seat to a GOP representative that stands against everything that the Kennedy brothers stood for, isn't just mindboggling, it was inevitable. My thoughts are best expressed by Jon Stewart.
Democrats have balls? I admit I'm surprised, I didn't even know they had gonads.
Thank God the Kennedys who gave so much are gone, they might have been tempted to kill themselves to see how far the America that two out of three of them died for has turned into "it's not my problem, it's everyone else's and they must be trying to take what little I have even if it isn't as worth as much as it was last week and I just won't stand for it!"
When did we become a nation of taking the good stuff for ourselves and punishing or restricting those who want the same things? Oh, that's right. Ever since we started slaughtering Indians because they lived on land we wanted and then used slaves to turn that land into crops that not only sustained a family but enabled that same family to "lord" it over those who owned shops instead of land. Just like every other period throughout human history.
What my father neglected to tell me all the times he swore that America was a few steps away from a police state was that one of the first steps was for the people to become sheeple. Like the Germans, Russians, North Koreans, Iraqis, Iranians, Pakistanis and Afghans before us, sheeple believe that someone else will save them. And if takes a loss of opportunities, liberties, freedom of movement, then so be it. And so it will be.
Thanks to an education system that rewards standardization and punishes individual thinking.
BBB
To lose the Kennedy seat to a GOP representative that stands against everything that the Kennedy brothers stood for, isn't just mindboggling, it was inevitable. My thoughts are best expressed by Jon Stewart.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | |
| Mass Backwards | |
Thank God the Kennedys who gave so much are gone, they might have been tempted to kill themselves to see how far the America that two out of three of them died for has turned into "it's not my problem, it's everyone else's and they must be trying to take what little I have even if it isn't as worth as much as it was last week and I just won't stand for it!"
When did we become a nation of taking the good stuff for ourselves and punishing or restricting those who want the same things? Oh, that's right. Ever since we started slaughtering Indians because they lived on land we wanted and then used slaves to turn that land into crops that not only sustained a family but enabled that same family to "lord" it over those who owned shops instead of land. Just like every other period throughout human history.
What my father neglected to tell me all the times he swore that America was a few steps away from a police state was that one of the first steps was for the people to become sheeple. Like the Germans, Russians, North Koreans, Iraqis, Iranians, Pakistanis and Afghans before us, sheeple believe that someone else will save them. And if takes a loss of opportunities, liberties, freedom of movement, then so be it. And so it will be.
Thanks to an education system that rewards standardization and punishes individual thinking.
BBB
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Pump Up The Volume
Will I pay to read the NY Times online? Of course not. I've been boycotting the Washington Post for a year and to tell the truth, I haven't missed much. Do the reporters deserve to get paid? Of course, especially when they do their job. And let's face it, for the past twenty years they haven't. They've been going after ratings, not reporting the news. Or, as the saying goes "if it bleeds, it leads".
For some reason the Fourth Estate sold its soul for access. Not to report the news, but to make the news and they, along with the "candidates" they've chose to "represent" us, have pretty much destroyed everything this country was founded upon and held as a shining beacon of freedom to the world.
Not that I enjoy sounding old, but when I was a kid the remote control was whoever Dad asked to change the channel. Usually between NBC and CBS until that upstart ABC started to become popular, and if the picture was too snowy you fiddled with the rabbit ears until there was a relatively clear picture. And if it got snowy when you moved away, you got sent right back to hold it into position until the show was over. You got to put your arm down during the commercials or if the picture mysteriously got better. All for the price of the television.
When I was twelve we moved to Lompoc, which received one station and that was from Santa Maria. Fortunately there was this thing called cable and for about six bucks a month we got much clearer stations and some of them were from Los Angeles which was a couple of hundred miles away. And they showed most of their stuff in color. With less roller derby.
Then Showtime came along. Dad loved it. He said it released us from the puritanical beliefs of the few who thought that fun was illegal. I think it was because he enjoyed watching those girls(1:48 is when the guys watching start hyperventilating) do the exercises.
Now it costs me thirty dollars just to get the basics on television. Due to technology and the old television dying, I pay extra for HD because HD televisions look better that way and now that everything is digital they get me for the SyFy channel. What a racket.
After I left home and joined the Army I lived without television for many years and didn't miss it. I watch more of it now because it isn't safe to walk at night in most neighborhoods, movies are ten dollars at the theatre and most local libraries have either closed or cut back their hours and their varieties of books. Which leaves the internet.
I've been using the internet regularly since I got my first computer back in 1996, an IBM Aptiva. I originally had a 28.8K modem, followed by a 56.6 that I installed later. I (as in me) upgraded the RAM twice as well as increasing the 75 Pentium processor to a little more than 200. I was one of the first in San Diego to get cable and couldn't understand why it wasn't available to everyone. I still remember watching Princess Diana's funeral on cable and marveling that it was only a few seconds behind the broadcast networks. Then I got the bill.
I now pay $57.99 for internet access and I refuse to pay for Showtime or HBO on television (thank you Netflix!) because I already pay more than enough for the less than ten channels I actually watch, why would I pay more for content that other countries enjoy for much less?
Once I discovered the internet, my interest in books took a back seat. For years nobody had ever seen me without a book and all of a sudden books were history. Television news, which was rapidly becoming infotainment was watched rarely, if ever. The internet had everything and it was much faster with a greater variety than newspapers which left my hands dirty. No more dead tree editions for me.
Online I read Canadian, British, German, French, Israeli and Chinese newspapers, foreign newspapers do have English versions. Even al-Jazeera had been known to print true journalism, unlike some of what passes for newspapers here in the states. The United States press long ago ceased to be über alles, but the citizens don't know it because news is as censored as if the sixties editors of Pravda were running today's news organizations.
So why would I want to pay to read the NY Times? Or any other paper online? I don't, and I won't. The last time NY went behind a paywall, that experiment didn't last long and cost some of their best writers their readership. Newspapers are once again getting the stupid idea that if they hide their content behind a paywall that bloggers will disappear and people will start reading the papers again. I would love to have had some of the drugs they were passing out at those meetings.
Citizen journalism isn't going to disappear, it will be enhanced by people who are actually interested in getting the unfiltered news to a starving public and don't need millions of dollars to do it. It won't be long before someone starts a channel devoted to news around the world, not what Fox and CNN think are the important news around the world delivered by bobbleheads that can't speak for themselves without a wire attached to their ear.
Will the NY Times miss my money? Probably not for a while, but just like the Titanic, hubris goes before a fall. Or obsolescence as the case may be. Then they'll try to shut down the internet, which I doubt the young people will put up with for longer than a day or two. Has anybody paid attention to the furor when Twitter goes offline? Imagine if the the whole internet crashed and it wasn't the result of a war or natural disaster. Kids may not think that protesting the war, torture, or elimination of the Bill of Rights are important, internet and cell phone access is a whole different kettle of fish.
And to show that this isn't really such a radical idea, Christian Slater long before he was forgotten.
BBB
For some reason the Fourth Estate sold its soul for access. Not to report the news, but to make the news and they, along with the "candidates" they've chose to "represent" us, have pretty much destroyed everything this country was founded upon and held as a shining beacon of freedom to the world.
Not that I enjoy sounding old, but when I was a kid the remote control was whoever Dad asked to change the channel. Usually between NBC and CBS until that upstart ABC started to become popular, and if the picture was too snowy you fiddled with the rabbit ears until there was a relatively clear picture. And if it got snowy when you moved away, you got sent right back to hold it into position until the show was over. You got to put your arm down during the commercials or if the picture mysteriously got better. All for the price of the television.
When I was twelve we moved to Lompoc, which received one station and that was from Santa Maria. Fortunately there was this thing called cable and for about six bucks a month we got much clearer stations and some of them were from Los Angeles which was a couple of hundred miles away. And they showed most of their stuff in color. With less roller derby.
Then Showtime came along. Dad loved it. He said it released us from the puritanical beliefs of the few who thought that fun was illegal. I think it was because he enjoyed watching those girls(1:48 is when the guys watching start hyperventilating) do the exercises.
Now it costs me thirty dollars just to get the basics on television. Due to technology and the old television dying, I pay extra for HD because HD televisions look better that way and now that everything is digital they get me for the SyFy channel. What a racket.
After I left home and joined the Army I lived without television for many years and didn't miss it. I watch more of it now because it isn't safe to walk at night in most neighborhoods, movies are ten dollars at the theatre and most local libraries have either closed or cut back their hours and their varieties of books. Which leaves the internet.
I've been using the internet regularly since I got my first computer back in 1996, an IBM Aptiva. I originally had a 28.8K modem, followed by a 56.6 that I installed later. I (as in me) upgraded the RAM twice as well as increasing the 75 Pentium processor to a little more than 200. I was one of the first in San Diego to get cable and couldn't understand why it wasn't available to everyone. I still remember watching Princess Diana's funeral on cable and marveling that it was only a few seconds behind the broadcast networks. Then I got the bill.
I now pay $57.99 for internet access and I refuse to pay for Showtime or HBO on television (thank you Netflix!) because I already pay more than enough for the less than ten channels I actually watch, why would I pay more for content that other countries enjoy for much less?
Once I discovered the internet, my interest in books took a back seat. For years nobody had ever seen me without a book and all of a sudden books were history. Television news, which was rapidly becoming infotainment was watched rarely, if ever. The internet had everything and it was much faster with a greater variety than newspapers which left my hands dirty. No more dead tree editions for me.
Online I read Canadian, British, German, French, Israeli and Chinese newspapers, foreign newspapers do have English versions. Even al-Jazeera had been known to print true journalism, unlike some of what passes for newspapers here in the states. The United States press long ago ceased to be über alles, but the citizens don't know it because news is as censored as if the sixties editors of Pravda were running today's news organizations.
So why would I want to pay to read the NY Times? Or any other paper online? I don't, and I won't. The last time NY went behind a paywall, that experiment didn't last long and cost some of their best writers their readership. Newspapers are once again getting the stupid idea that if they hide their content behind a paywall that bloggers will disappear and people will start reading the papers again. I would love to have had some of the drugs they were passing out at those meetings.
Citizen journalism isn't going to disappear, it will be enhanced by people who are actually interested in getting the unfiltered news to a starving public and don't need millions of dollars to do it. It won't be long before someone starts a channel devoted to news around the world, not what Fox and CNN think are the important news around the world delivered by bobbleheads that can't speak for themselves without a wire attached to their ear.
Will the NY Times miss my money? Probably not for a while, but just like the Titanic, hubris goes before a fall. Or obsolescence as the case may be. Then they'll try to shut down the internet, which I doubt the young people will put up with for longer than a day or two. Has anybody paid attention to the furor when Twitter goes offline? Imagine if the the whole internet crashed and it wasn't the result of a war or natural disaster. Kids may not think that protesting the war, torture, or elimination of the Bill of Rights are important, internet and cell phone access is a whole different kettle of fish.
And to show that this isn't really such a radical idea, Christian Slater long before he was forgotten.
BBB
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Humor From Dummies
I love ventriloquists and have since I was a little girl. Paul Winchell got me started, Wayland Flowers was brilliant without needing to be seen (Madame was risque in a way that she couldn't be today) and Jay Johnson (remember when Jodie hid Bob and Chuck was so desperate that he used a grapefruit to talk instead?) sealed the deal. Jeff Dunham is talented with an unfortunate tendency to be racist, but Achmed the Dead Terroristdoes crack me up.
So, last night I'm searching through the Netflix watch instantly offerings and I stumble across Terry Fator. I don't watch reality shows that don't involve cooking so I missed him on something called America's Got Talent. I don't know who he was up against, but Terry definitely deserved to win. From Michael Jackson to Patsy Cline the man definitely has talent. As a commenter so aptly pointed out, most of can't even sing with our mouths open.
It occurs to me that I am finally getting the most out of Netflix. Mom goes to bed early and I slip on the headphones and can watch some of the stuff that I like but mom doesn't. Isn't technology wonderful?
BBB
So, last night I'm searching through the Netflix watch instantly offerings and I stumble across Terry Fator. I don't watch reality shows that don't involve cooking so I missed him on something called America's Got Talent. I don't know who he was up against, but Terry definitely deserved to win. From Michael Jackson to Patsy Cline the man definitely has talent. As a commenter so aptly pointed out, most of can't even sing with our mouths open.
It occurs to me that I am finally getting the most out of Netflix. Mom goes to bed early and I slip on the headphones and can watch some of the stuff that I like but mom doesn't. Isn't technology wonderful?
BBB
Friday, November 20, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Star Trek 2009 Gag Reel
Update: Boo hoo! Paramount pulled the clip so I've added this one. It isn't as good but it's still funny.
Too funny. (I'm leaving it up in case Paramount comes to its senses).
BBB
Too funny. (I'm leaving it up in case Paramount comes to its senses).
BBB
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Dumb De Dumb Dumb
Did you see Wolf Blitzer on Jeopardy! Thursday night? What an idiot and I say that because he didn't know anything.
I've watched Jeopardy! since it was Art James and Don Pardo and this was one of the worst performances I've ever seen by anybody. When they do a Celebrity Jeopardy the answers aren't as difficult as they are during regular play and nowhere near as difficult as Tournament play. More along the lines of the Kids Tournament whose contestants are between ten and twelve years old.
It was Wolf, Dana Delaney and Andy Richter. After the first five questions, Andy took off and never looked back. 32 questions correct and 2 wrong. Dana was pretty accurate, 11 correct and 2 wrong, but Andy was quicker on the trigger and she didn't get much of a chance to give the correct question. And Wolf? 5 right and 6 wrong. William Hurt's character in Broadcast News would probably have done better. Try and convince me the news isn't scripted.
Wolf was negative going in to Final Jeopardy, they gave him a $1000 dollars because it's for charity and he still missed the final question. Category was Famous Actors and the answer was:
It looks like actors and comedians have as much right to voice their opinions on politics as the newscasters do and with a little more knowledge to back them up. No wonder the Daily Show and the Colbert Report are considered trusted sources for news. They may be comedians but at least they know something besides reading from a teleprompter. I wonder how many people sent Wolfie this.
It should be his new theme song.
BBB
I've watched Jeopardy! since it was Art James and Don Pardo and this was one of the worst performances I've ever seen by anybody. When they do a Celebrity Jeopardy the answers aren't as difficult as they are during regular play and nowhere near as difficult as Tournament play. More along the lines of the Kids Tournament whose contestants are between ten and twelve years old.
It was Wolf, Dana Delaney and Andy Richter. After the first five questions, Andy took off and never looked back. 32 questions correct and 2 wrong. Dana was pretty accurate, 11 correct and 2 wrong, but Andy was quicker on the trigger and she didn't get much of a chance to give the correct question. And Wolf? 5 right and 6 wrong. William Hurt's character in Broadcast News would probably have done better. Try and convince me the news isn't scripted.
Wolf was negative going in to Final Jeopardy, they gave him a $1000 dollars because it's for charity and he still missed the final question. Category was Famous Actors and the answer was:
Ironically, he lost the leading role in the 1960 play "The Best Man" because he didn't look presidential.That has to be the easiest Final Jeopardy answer they've ever had. And he missed it. Seriously. How could anybody over the age of fifteen not know that it was Ronnie Raygun? Wolfie, did you even bring your thinking cap to the show? I guess not knowing the definition of irony and being incapable of remembering that only one actor has been elected president would preclude one from using logic to figure out the question. Plus, he proved he couldn't spell and he didn't know where Jesus was born.
It looks like actors and comedians have as much right to voice their opinions on politics as the newscasters do and with a little more knowledge to back them up. No wonder the Daily Show and the Colbert Report are considered trusted sources for news. They may be comedians but at least they know something besides reading from a teleprompter. I wonder how many people sent Wolfie this.
It should be his new theme song.
BBB
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Musical Whiplash
I'm trying to get to sleep so I set the timer on the iPod and it obviously wasn't ready to turn off for the night.
You're So Vain - Carly Simon
Worked It Out Wrong - Chris Isaak
Street Life - The Crusaders
Just A Little - The Beau Brummels
From The Beginning - Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Car Wash - Rose Royce
Kiss You All Over - Exile
You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine - Lou Rawls
Dripping Springs, Tx - Pollo Del Mar (YouTube can be so helpful)
How will I ever get to sleep if I keep bouncing to the music?
BBB
You're So Vain - Carly Simon
Worked It Out Wrong - Chris Isaak
Street Life - The Crusaders
Just A Little - The Beau Brummels
From The Beginning - Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Car Wash - Rose Royce
Kiss You All Over - Exile
You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine - Lou Rawls
Dripping Springs, Tx - Pollo Del Mar (YouTube can be so helpful)
How will I ever get to sleep if I keep bouncing to the music?
BBB
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Winelight
Not to minimize anything that has happened, but this week has been sheer agony watching everyone tying themselves into knots either defending, advocating or being ashamed of the recently confirmed revelations of torture performed by US citizens against suspected, but not confirmed, terrorists. I asked mom, the woman who grew up under Hitler's regime and had her home bombed above her by the Allies when she was a child, if she ever thought that these issues would come up again in her lifetime and she said "NEVER!" quite loudly. She may have dementia and Alzheimer's may be robbing her of today, but she clearly remembered the travesties of her youth and the bogus arguments (I was just following orders) to justify the immoral behavior of the original Axis of Evil and was quite adamant about that these atrocities were never supposed to happen again.
Comedy isn't going to provide relief at this point but music doth soothe the savage beast. Or at least it did in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I love this album and when times were better I listened to it with a glass of champagne, some caviar and a bubble bath to start the new year off with a relaxing and sensual moment. If only this was all it would take to cleanse our national palate.
BBB
Comedy isn't going to provide relief at this point but music doth soothe the savage beast. Or at least it did in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I love this album and when times were better I listened to it with a glass of champagne, some caviar and a bubble bath to start the new year off with a relaxing and sensual moment. If only this was all it would take to cleanse our national palate.
BBB
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Fascinating, Just Fascinating
Another entry in the too much time on their hands category. Absolutely fascinating.
I especially liked the Pong game, that was quite ingenious.
BBB
I especially liked the Pong game, that was quite ingenious.
BBB
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Lex Luthor Bailout
Jon Hamm does a wonderful job as the psychotic Lex Luthor in this spoof of the bank bailouts. I just might have to rent the Mad Men DVD.
BBB
"Lex Luthor Bailout" with Jon Hamm - watch more funny videos
BBB
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Life Without Credit
Russ over at Scholars and Rogues, has an excellent article about credit cards being equivalent to usury and used George Washington as an example as to some of the other reasons why our Founding Fathers started the Revolutionary War. One of my college professors had told us stories about ol' George's spending habits so it wasn't a total surprise but if the Founding Fathers thought that 5% interest was robbery, I wonder what they would think of us putting up with 30-36%?
I no longer carry credit cards, they won't let me have one. They don't even send me offers. Which is okay by me because when I run out of money to pay my bills and unlike my government and huge corporations, I stop spending. I just wish there weren't so many bills left over. The last few years of taking care of mom has taken a severe financial and emotional toll as it has for many in my generation. Every month I run out of money about two weeks before I run out of month. And just like a lot of other people we are falling through the cracks.
I don't own video games, I don't go on vacation to exotic places, I don't go out to eat very often and unlike some women, I only own two pair of shoes and one purse. I hate clothes shopping which is unfortunate since mom has magically disappeared almost everything I own several times. So, where did my money go? Rent, food, cell and gas. At the end of the month rent is not going to be an issue because unless a miracle happens we'll be homeless and that bill will go the way of the dodo. Thank goodness my two year contract is up with DiSH on the 17th and I can cancel the cable without penalty. Which I can also do with mom's phone as of yesterday since no one calls her and even though I have it set to answer when she flips it open, she misses most of my calls and uses it mainly to see the time. I can't justify the expense so there's another $10 a month saved.
Last year when gas was getting close to $5 a gallon here in San Jose I put myself on a gas budget. I bought a $100 gift card at Costco at the beginning of the month and when it ran out, I walked or stayed home. And even though I am not within walking distance of anything important such as food, I cut my driving by over 70%, a practice that continues to this day though now the requirement is one tank per month.
Could I use a credit at this moment? You betcha. When I bought the used 1994 Infiniti I checked Carfax for everything except how much it cost to tune it up. It never occurred to me that it would be more than $100. Boy was I naive. Depending on the place it is anywhere from $942 to $1200. Mainly for labor. You have to take half the engine off just to get to the spark plugs! Which can only be platinum. As tight as things are I would need to spread that amount over twelve months and hope that nothing else goes wrong. If I'm not willing to take that chance why would a creditor? So, I'm cleaning it and selling it this weekend.
Fortunately I do have an iPod and it will help entertain me while riding the bus. Since public transportation was one of the things that the Governator decided wasn't important enough to be funded and he had to give corporations a $1B tax break, I will walk a mile or two to get to a bus stop where I can pay higher fares and go fewer places. It's tough losing one's autonomy in California, the state isn't designed for it. On the bright side, there is the added benefit of increasing my cardiovascular health and helping me to lose weight.
Like a lot of people I've cut back everywhere I can, I even live in a crime ridden area because the rent is cheaper. Mom and I would like to move out of the state but we can't for three reasons. One, we don't know anything or anyone in the places mom wants to go so we would have no idea about the quality of the neighborhood. Two, she loses her Medicaid until residency is established and the drugs the doctor just put her on are as much as her Social Security each month so that presents a huge problem but three is the kicker. It seems we need a credit card to rent a truck. Not pay since they are only to happy to accept cash, just as security to rent.
It's sad that our nation has become the laughingstock of the world. Our news exports scenes of beautiful people doing nothing but attending parties or adopting babies while the poor and the middle class are blamed for not being one of the beautiful people. Hospitals are content to let people die in the waiting room, food banks are teeming with more people than they can healthfully feed while restaurants are throwing out unused food by the tons as the dinner rush becomes the dinner trickle. Meanwhile, those that have not only blame those that have not, they seem to spend every waking moment trying to get the last penny from those that don't have it to spare and then call them deadbeats because the have nots can't afford all the new rates and penalties on what they already don't have.
How many tent cities will it take before the populace can drag themselves away from AmericanIdol Idle and see that the flood waters of debt are at their doorstep and still rising? How much longer will the people tolerate bailing out the banks when they can't bail themselves out of the mess they're in? Especially without a job. Telling people not to live above their means when everywhere they turn all they see is stuff that they are brainwashed into needing is like telling an eight month pregnant teenager that sex is even better after you have the baby but abstinence is the way to make your parents happy. Some other advice needs to be given.
There's a reason why Clara Cannucciari is becoming so popular that she is getting ready to release her first DVD at the age of 92. She knows a Depression when she sees one. Cooking from scratch is an art, cooking with cheaply available ingredients is magic in the land of Mickey Ds, Whole Foods and tight budgets. I remember many of those meals from when I was growing up and you know what? They still taste good. Comfort food rocks. I may like caviar and champagne but fried potatoes and club soda taste just as good when you're hungry. Plus, you don't need credit to enjoy them.
BBB
I no longer carry credit cards, they won't let me have one. They don't even send me offers. Which is okay by me because when I run out of money to pay my bills and unlike my government and huge corporations, I stop spending. I just wish there weren't so many bills left over. The last few years of taking care of mom has taken a severe financial and emotional toll as it has for many in my generation. Every month I run out of money about two weeks before I run out of month. And just like a lot of other people we are falling through the cracks.
I don't own video games, I don't go on vacation to exotic places, I don't go out to eat very often and unlike some women, I only own two pair of shoes and one purse. I hate clothes shopping which is unfortunate since mom has magically disappeared almost everything I own several times. So, where did my money go? Rent, food, cell and gas. At the end of the month rent is not going to be an issue because unless a miracle happens we'll be homeless and that bill will go the way of the dodo. Thank goodness my two year contract is up with DiSH on the 17th and I can cancel the cable without penalty. Which I can also do with mom's phone as of yesterday since no one calls her and even though I have it set to answer when she flips it open, she misses most of my calls and uses it mainly to see the time. I can't justify the expense so there's another $10 a month saved.
Last year when gas was getting close to $5 a gallon here in San Jose I put myself on a gas budget. I bought a $100 gift card at Costco at the beginning of the month and when it ran out, I walked or stayed home. And even though I am not within walking distance of anything important such as food, I cut my driving by over 70%, a practice that continues to this day though now the requirement is one tank per month.
Could I use a credit at this moment? You betcha. When I bought the used 1994 Infiniti I checked Carfax for everything except how much it cost to tune it up. It never occurred to me that it would be more than $100. Boy was I naive. Depending on the place it is anywhere from $942 to $1200. Mainly for labor. You have to take half the engine off just to get to the spark plugs! Which can only be platinum. As tight as things are I would need to spread that amount over twelve months and hope that nothing else goes wrong. If I'm not willing to take that chance why would a creditor? So, I'm cleaning it and selling it this weekend.
Fortunately I do have an iPod and it will help entertain me while riding the bus. Since public transportation was one of the things that the Governator decided wasn't important enough to be funded and he had to give corporations a $1B tax break, I will walk a mile or two to get to a bus stop where I can pay higher fares and go fewer places. It's tough losing one's autonomy in California, the state isn't designed for it. On the bright side, there is the added benefit of increasing my cardiovascular health and helping me to lose weight.
Like a lot of people I've cut back everywhere I can, I even live in a crime ridden area because the rent is cheaper. Mom and I would like to move out of the state but we can't for three reasons. One, we don't know anything or anyone in the places mom wants to go so we would have no idea about the quality of the neighborhood. Two, she loses her Medicaid until residency is established and the drugs the doctor just put her on are as much as her Social Security each month so that presents a huge problem but three is the kicker. It seems we need a credit card to rent a truck. Not pay since they are only to happy to accept cash, just as security to rent.
It's sad that our nation has become the laughingstock of the world. Our news exports scenes of beautiful people doing nothing but attending parties or adopting babies while the poor and the middle class are blamed for not being one of the beautiful people. Hospitals are content to let people die in the waiting room, food banks are teeming with more people than they can healthfully feed while restaurants are throwing out unused food by the tons as the dinner rush becomes the dinner trickle. Meanwhile, those that have not only blame those that have not, they seem to spend every waking moment trying to get the last penny from those that don't have it to spare and then call them deadbeats because the have nots can't afford all the new rates and penalties on what they already don't have.
How many tent cities will it take before the populace can drag themselves away from American
There's a reason why Clara Cannucciari is becoming so popular that she is getting ready to release her first DVD at the age of 92. She knows a Depression when she sees one. Cooking from scratch is an art, cooking with cheaply available ingredients is magic in the land of Mickey Ds, Whole Foods and tight budgets. I remember many of those meals from when I was growing up and you know what? They still taste good. Comfort food rocks. I may like caviar and champagne but fried potatoes and club soda taste just as good when you're hungry. Plus, you don't need credit to enjoy them.
BBB
Monday, March 09, 2009
You are the best. I love you lots.! 
Sunday, November 02, 2008
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