July the fourth in the market town
Farmers have come for miles around
Bringing their wives and children.
I knew it would not take long to find a fourth of July reference in the world of prog rock. One of the wonderful aspects of the genre is just how accomplished the artists are musically. Many have had a […]

read more from this topic.....

I watched this show when I was a child.  My sister and I used to watch it early Saturday morning, back when cartoons were something worth waking up for.  I loved it in all its cheesy glory.  We even had some ViewMaster slides that told the story of several episodes from this first season.  Imagine […]

read more from this topic.....

I love finding hidden things or tough references in television shows and movies.  The speech about Orion from Drillbit Taylor?  Yeah, that’s from Blade Runner.  The town Henry Gates on this show is supposedly from?  Yeah, that’s a town I bike through all the time.  Why was that character reading The Third Policeman?  I know […]

read more from this topic.....

Women are crazy.  No offense, but this is a safe place and I can say it if I want to.  There’s nothing wrong with being emotional and I’m certainly not saying that men are usually a paragon of exemplary sanity.  But some women just go out way past the deep end and things get complex […]

read more from this topic.....

We all have fantasies about unique ways that great sums of money could enter into our lives.  The young heiress is bored of hooking up with good looking and interesting guys, so she decides to spend the rest of her life with me.  I help an old lady cross the street and she ends up […]

read more from this topic.....

I already have my BA degree.  Most of the people I know are adamant that I should go on and get my Masters in something, anything.  Of course, the logical step after that is to really bore down and get my PhD in something that’s at least somewhat related to what’s come before.  But when […]

read more from this topic.....

(London, UK) The renowned British Cellist, Tony Woollard, will be in Concert for Autism when he participates in the popular Woodford Festival 2009. Woollard has performed around the world. The autism fundraiser is in aid of the British autism charity, the UK Autism Foundation.
The concert is scheduled to be held under the banner of the […]

read more from this topic.....

The public is rarely surprised when another Hollywood celebrity dies of what is suspected to be an overdose or reaction to drug abuse.
Is the abuse because celebrities have those around them who help them get drugs (what is called “co-enablers”)?
Is it because wealth enables them to do whatever they want, without anyone saying “no, wait […]

read more from this topic.....

[This is part II of the series. Part I is available here]
One of the important principles suggested for the National ID Card scheme in the previous part is to de link data from the ID device. For this purpose the data required to be associated with a person is divided into three categories. (or more as required). […]

read more from this topic.....

Barbra Streisand doesn’t just sing a song, she adds a dramatic element to a performance that few other singers can match, and that is oh, so evident on her new 3-disc DVD release: Streisand The Concerts.  The singer is the music industry’s top female artist with 50 Gold, 30 Platinum and 13 Multi-Platinum albums to […]

read more from this topic.....

When this show first came out, I was unimpressed.  I’m sure I caught an episode or two, at least partly, but since I didn’t know the story, I remained not invested in the struggles of Charlie or the love triangle of Sawyer, Jack and Kate.  I didn’t care about the monster that was ripping down […]

read more from this topic.....

I am not a sailor.  I’ve been out a couple of times and have hated it with great passion each time.  Nonetheless, although I can’t stand sailing, it still seems very interesting to me.  It’s just a guy in a boat, fighting against nature.  It’s you and your wits and a sweet boat out in […]

read more from this topic.....

It’s an American fantasy to be a spy.  You get to lie, you get to wear cool clothes and sleep with beautiful women.  You get to drive fast, you get to shoot people and things blow up all the time.  What white guy from Middle America wouldn’t want that life?  It’s like how we live […]

read more from this topic.....

(London, UK) British parliamentarians have commended the hard work of the UK Autism Foundation who are campaigning non-stop on behalf of the poor, particularly during the credit crunch and the recession.
CDA Events Management Services recently organised a successful fundraiser for the UK Autism Foundation called ‘Scope for Hope.’ The autism charity dinner was held at […]

read more from this topic.....

This show is one of my mother’s favorites.  She has a lot of favorite television shows, but there is usually something wrong with them that keeps them from being her true favorite.  There might be too much violence or too much sex or too much swearing.  Those facts put her favorites and my favorites into […]

read more from this topic.....

Steven Bochco is one of the true pioneers of modern television.  With the introduction of Hill Street Blues, he changed the face of television by making story arcs that last for more than one episode.  When he made L.A. Law, his winning streak continued.  Yet, in my opinion and the opinion of many media critics, […]

read more from this topic.....

There’s something about a David and Goliath fight that resonates with everyone.  Deep down, most of us feel that we are the David in some of the stories in our lives.  So when an underdog takes up arms against an oppressive power, we take note and it perks up our spirits.  It is a quintessentially […]

read more from this topic.....

I have not yet read the book that this movie is based off of, although I do have it on my bookshelf.  It sits with other books I haven’t read yet, the biography of Che Guevara, most of the works of J.D. Salinger, most of the works of Ayn Rand and The Grapes Of Wrath.  […]

read more from this topic.....

I love Samuel L. Jackson.  Everyone should and there’s no doubt about that.  I like to pick on him because of some of the scripts he chooses (Snakes On A Plane anyone?).  But he’s also been in such classics as Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill 2.  He was the best part of The Spirit and […]

read more from this topic.....

I like movies about Soviet Russia.  I’m not saying I liked Leninism or even Communism.  But it’s nice to see a movie about the Russian people during Soviet times that doesn’t attack them for not being Americans.  Odd as it may sound, one of Ayn Rand’s early novels, We The Living, does this, but mainly […]

read more from this topic.....

Everyone has heard the Christian Bale rant by now.  It’s old news.  No one listens to it anymore, which is a tragedy.  I still listen to it and there are some great remixes out there that put it to a nice house music beat.  I thought it was hilarious and it only makes me like […]

read more from this topic.....

When I initially heard of this movie, I was not very excited to see it.  I thought, and still do think, that John Woo is a director who just likes to blow things up, a Hong Kong Michael Bay.  I didn’t, and still don’t, like Ben Affleck and I didn’t know who Aaron Eckhart was.  […]

read more from this topic.....

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I adore Cold Way spy movies.  All the uncertainty, all those winding back streets in dirty parts of Europe, all the twists and quintuple crosses.  Who can’t love a movie like that?  And although those days are past, it’s still a nice escape to watch a movie so […]

read more from this topic.....

If there is one company that has changed the way movies are made in the last twenty years, it would have to be Pixar.  They introduced Computer Generated Imagery on a level of technical sophistication that no one else had ever come close to and they continue to push the boundaries.  They have crafted some […]

read more from this topic.....

I’ve never wanted to be a firefighter.  I have a couple of friends who were training to become firemen themselves, but it never seemed like something I really wanted to do.  I’m not scared of fire or ladders or hoses, but it’s still not quite my thing.  However, if it’s what you want to do, […]

read more from this topic.....

My passport lapsed a couple of years ago.  I’ve been meaning to get one for quite some time, but have never gotten around to it.  It’s not that I don’t want to leave the country and see other parts of the world – I certainly want to do that.  I simply don’t have the money […]

read more from this topic.....

There seems to be a lot of derision for people who are shock comics.  Most people would mention people along the lines of Sarah Silverman or Howard Stern.  Stern just isn’t funny, so I don’t even know why people are still talking about him.  I understand people looking down on shock comics.  It’s not hard […]

read more from this topic.....

I like being an early adopter.  It doesn’t matter of what, I just like being among the first.  If I’ve heard an indie song before it’s on a television commercial, that means you’re pretty awesome and counts for some serious indie cred.  I had a Twitter account several years but didn’t use it until recently, […]

read more from this topic.....

It is rare to see a black and white movie these days, even on channels specifically for old movies.  That’s a tragedy, because two of the best movies that were made in the last hundred years were in black and white.  Those would be, of course, To Kill A Mockingbird and High Noon, starring Gregory […]

read more from this topic.....

I have never been to New Orleans and I’m not a fan of humidity, so I don’t know if I’ll ever go there.  But it is one of the bastions of jazz and so I would like to visit it for that reason.  Of course, I don’t particularly like New Orleans jazz, but that’s because […]

read more from this topic.....