Tag Archives: Al Gore

U2 and the Rules of Rock

28 May

Last night, we saw U2 in concert. They are not our favorite group, but some friends had extra tickets that they wanted to sell. We took them because U2 is a legendary band that people should see if given the chance and because we thought it would be a good show. In fact, it was a good show. However, it could have been a great show.

We got to our seats and saw a big wall.

I immediately thought they were trying to copy Pink Floyd, and, as the concert progressed, it was apparent that this was their version of The Wall.

Songs took the crowd through Bono’s youth with odes to his mother and to his childhood neighborhood. Then, the story took a turn as a comic book version of U2 was formed and flew too close to the sun before being brought back down to earth. Finally, the concert turned to the current state of politics and how America is a nation that can still be a shining beacon for the world.

Through all of that, there were great visual effects and moments of acting from Bono. At one point, he went from being a demon to talking to someone at home while cleaning up in a mirror.

All of that was fine. U2 is successful enough to indulge themselves in a little Rock Opera, and they have money enough to put together a visual spectacle. They were also low-key in their political statements for a band that has always been known for its politics.

However, through all of that there was one vital missing ingredient.

U2 did not play many of their hit songs. There was new stuff. There were deep cuts. There were homages to other artists. There were only a few songs that the casual U2 listener would recognize.

Throughout the day, I have been thinking about this and have come up with some ideas about what long-established bands should do during a concert. I call these ideas The Rules of Rock. Of course, they could also be called The Rules of Country. The Rules of Pop or The Rules of Any Genre of Music.

  1. If you have a song that reached Number 1 on the charts, then you should play it in concert. This would include “With or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” They did not play either of these songs, and I believe they are the only two singles to reach Number 1 on the US charts.
  2. If you have a song to which everyone in the building knows the words, then you should play it in concert. This does not have to be a Number 1 song. It could be something that was popular and people remember. “Where the Streets Have No Name” fits this category, but they did not play it.
  3. If you have a song that was the first semi-hit that put you on the map, then you should play it in concert. For a lot of people, “New Year’s Day” was the first sound they heard from U2, and it made them want to hear more. They did not play this, but it would have been a good idea.

I am sure that a ton of people left the concert happy with what they heard. Many people around us were singing along to songs that I have never heard. They cheered at some early U2 music that true fans of the band have probably grown to love. Certainly, those in the audience who Bono called out from the stage had a good time. Oprah Winfrey, Al Gore, former Republican Tennessee Senator Bill Frist, Ashley Judd, T-Bone Burnett, Ava DuVerney, Dierks Bentley. The list goes on and on.

As for us, we are not super fans or personal friends. We are people who wanted to hear the hits, and we did not hear enough of them.

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Collapse of the Snow Dome

5 Mar

This is my 600th post, give or take a few, and I thought about doing something in commemoration. Instead, this post will go in another direction.

Today is March 5. Spring Break is next week. Not long after that, we will have the first day of Spring. Why do I mention all of that? Because this is what everyone found when we awoke.image-23

March is supposed to come in like a lion. This time, it came in like a polar bear.

For the past several years, we have lived under the Snow Dome, and none of the white stuff has made it to the ground. Now, the Snow Dome has faltered, and I am not happy about it.

Al Gore has an office in Nashville. Once these roads clear, I am going to visit him and find out what went wrong.

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Watching the Blob – A True Learning Experience

25 Jan

The other night, I was skimming through the television guide and came across The Blob, the 1950s Sci-Fi/Horror movie. I have never seen a 1950s Sci-Fi/Horror movie that I did not like, so I tuned in to see what this one was all about. I had heard of it but, honestly, had gotten it mixed up with The Thing, which starred James Arness in the title role.

The movie was almost over when I turned it on. A group of people were trapped in a diner as the Blob engulfed it. Police and a group of teenagers were watching helplessly. It was typical 1950s Sci-Fi/Horror fare. That is when I started noticing some things that I did not anticipate.

The young man trapped in the diner was taking charge of the situation and seemed to be a major character in the movie. Then, the realization hit that he looked familiar. He looked like a young Steve McQueen. Hitting the Info button, I found out that it was Steven McQueen. I never knew that he was in The Blob or that he ever went by Steven.

With that information out of the way, I settled in to see what was going to happen to Steven and the rest of the group. There was a little kid; the owner of the diner; a woman who looked like the owner’s wife; and Steven’s girlfriend. At some point, the girlfriend said something, and I thought, “I have heard that voice before.”

It was Aneta Corsaut, who played Helen Crump on The Andy Griffith Show.

Here is the cute couple.The Blob

For those who do not know, The Andy Griffith Show is my favorite show of all time. I own a model of Mayberry and was a member of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club. Heck, I even shook hands with Don Knotts. As you can probably tell, seeing Helen Crump in The Blob was pretty cool.

That is when I started thinking. Helen Crump went from being Steve McQueen’s girlfriend in high school to being Opie’s teacher in Mayberry, North Carolina. She also went from being Steve McQueen’s girlfriend to Andy Taylor’s wife.

Getting back to the movie, the people trapped in the diner are saved when Steven figures out that the Blob is afraid of the cold. He sprays it with a fire extinguisher and yells to the guys outside that they need to get more extinguishers. the high school principal hops into a hot rod with some juvenile delinquent looking dudes and heads to the school. This brings us to the most dramatic scene that I saw.

As they rush to the schoolhouse door, the principal cannot find his keys. Everyone looks at each other trying to figure out what to do. Nevermind that a cop is standing there with a gun and could shoot the lock open. Instead, the principal picks up and rock and stares at it. With lives at stake, should he dare break the glass to open the door? After a dramatic pause, he does, and the schoolhouse gang comes to the rescue.

The people trapped in the diner are saved, and the Blob is completely frozen. Steve realizes it is not dead, and the police officer tells him that the military is going to take it to the Arctic.

Police Officer: At least we’ve got it stopped.

Steve: Yeah, as long as the Arctic stays cold.

I am sure this movie had some deep, underlying meaning from the time period. Probably something about how authority figures should listen to young people and not view them as a bunch of troublemakers. However, I learned a few more things.

1. You never know where life is going to lead. One day you are dating Steve McQueen, and the next day you are marrying Andy Taylor.

2. For many reasons, 1950s diners do not last forever. We have a great one in my town that could be on its way out. I promise that there will be a future post about that.

3. In the 1950s, juvenile delinquents drove some nice cars. These hot rods were top of the line.

4. Like them or not, principals have to make tough decisions – like saving lives instead of saving a pane of glass.

5. If Al Gore is right about global warming, then we are screwed. Stop worrying about a heat wave and start worrying about the return of the Blob!The Blob Ending

That dot landing behind the big question mark could thaw out at any time.

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The Stuff Staring Back at Me

25 Jun

The moving process began this evening, and a lot of things have been added to this humble abode. However, the moving has also dug up some old things that I haven’t seen in a while. The office has become a dumping ground until we can figure out where everything goes, and, as I sit here, a a lot of stuff is staring back at me.

One interesting item is a photograph of me and my dad with Al Gore. It was at a fundraiser when he ran for president back in 2000. Of course, that was an interesting election, and a lot of focus was placed on Florida and its hanging chads. People forget that Gore lost his “home” state of Tennessee. In my mind, that is what cost him the presidency. Around here, people know how that happened, but the national pundits never really paid attention to that.Electoral Map

There is also a paper bag full of old pictures. I think they are of me in my younger days. At least, that’s what my mom says. I haven’t looked at them. For someone who likes to study the past of others, I’m not too crazy about dealing with my own.

Do you remember when they used to sell Time-Life collections on television? There was one called The Old West, and each volume contained information about a different aspect of history. “The Miners”. “The Gamblers”. “The Ranchers”. The ads would say, “John Wesley Hardin once shot a man for snoring.”John Wesley Hardin

The commercials were cool. Now, I have the complete set. Those commercials could have started me on the path to be a historian.

There is also a decorative coffee mug depicting a fox hunting scene. It has the dogs, the red jackets and everything.

I’m looking at a dream catcher, a folding chair, a globe with pastel colored countries. There is even a couple of vent filters.

It’s amazing what people accumulate. I think that our stuff becomes part of who we are. I suppose that’s what archaeologists are here for. They look at the stuff of people to determine the essence of people. It makes one wonder what a future archaeologist will think about us. Do today’s archeologists get it right? Will the future archaeologists get it right? Someone digging into my stuff would think that I voted for Al Gore. They shouldn’t be so sure about that.

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I Promised Myself That I Would Not Write This Post

4 Jul

When I started this blog, I promised myself that I would stay away from politics. It is supposed to be a light-hearted blog with a few instances of seriousness from everyday life. I come to the blog world to escape from the other world, and I believe a lot of other readers to that as well. Except for a few attempts at humor at the expense of government officials, I have kept that promise to myself.

However, the Supreme Court’s decision on health care has led a lot of Internet people to provide their thoughts and opinions concerning the law and the state of politics in the United States. I have read a quite a bit; agreed with some; and, disagreed with others. Finally, I decided to break the promise I made to myself and espouse my opinions on the subject at hand.To prevent myself from going on a tangent, I will simply number my thoughts.

1. A lot of people bemoan the divisiveness of politics these days and wonder where we lost our civility. I am not sure we ever had it. Vice-president Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Senator Charles Sumner was almost beaten to death in the Senate chamber. Oh, and there was the time where the country thought it was a good idea to split and fight a war against itself. Compared to that, I think the screams of talking heads are relatively mild.

2. I theorize that today’s divisiveness began when Hillary Clinton got on television and stated that her husband’s affair with an intern was a “vast right-wing conspiracy”. I agree that he should have never been impeached, but no Republican forced him to unzip his pants for Monica Lewinski.

With that as a backdrop, George W. Bush won the 2000 election, and those on the left could not get over it. He stole it, and it was a travesty of America’s election system. Well, he wasn’t the first person elected to the presidency without winning the popular vote. On top of that, Al Gore lost the election more than Bush won it. Everyone focuses on Florida but forgets that Gore could not win his “home” state. He forgot where he came from, but those of us in Tennessee did not forget. If he had not taken Tennesseans for granted, then Florida would not have mattered. Besides, if I was running for president and my brother was the governor of a state, then I would expect to win that state, too.

3. This brings me to the hatred of our presidents. I know a lot of people who hate- HATE I say – George W. Bush. I also know people who hate -HATE I say- Barack Obama. Depending on who you talk to, each of them is, at most, the Devil himself or, at least, the worst president in history. Here is a fact, all – I say ALL – presidents do good things AND bad things. Nobody is perfect, and nobody can make everyone happy.

I don’t believe a president can be judged accurately until a generation has passed since their time in office. There is simply too much emotion involved for an unbiased -wait, that’s impossible in history too – a close to unbiased appraisal. In the old days, people hated Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and probably even George Washington.

Personally, I believe a person who is willing to take on the stress of that job deserves more than our vitriol. It doesn’t matter if we think they are a dumb frat boy who can’t speak English or a foreign-born Muslim who is a communist.

4. I do not like the health care law for several reasons. First, I believe it places more burden on small businesses during economic times when we should be lifting burdens to help them succeed. We need jobs before anything, and they create jobs.

Second, I believe that the federal government should stay out of our day-to-day lives as much as possible. This country was built on independence, not dependence. This means that they should stay out of our pockets with big taxes and realize that it is our money and not theirs. In fact, a flat 10% tax should work fine. It also means that they should stay out of the bedrooms of consenting adults and out of the decisions of pregnant women.

Telling us that we have to buy something is, in my opinion, interfering with our personal decisions. People say that it is good because everyone needs health insurance, but the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Telling us we have to buy a product is a slippery slope. What happens next? Will we have to buy an electric car from GM? Will a prohibition be placed on unhealthy activities such as smoking, drinking alcohol and eating fast food? You may think this is crazy, but we had prohibition once before. And, it was a disaster.

Simply, I do not like the health care law because the government should not be able to tell us what to do. It sets bad precedent.

I guess that’s all I have to say. I thought about going through all of the presidents and writing about the things they did while in office. That would take forever though. One day during a meeting, I got bored and listed the presidents. I then marked my opinion of them by putting a + by the ones I thought did a good job and a – by the ones I thought did a bad job. Maybe, I will put that list on the blog one day.

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Alterations

10 Apr

As Douglas MacArthur once said, “I have returned!” Although he was returning to the Philippines during World War II, I have returned to Tennessee from an excursion into parts unknown – the same place that a lot of masked wrestlers came from.

As happens a lot when someone is gone for a length of time. I came back to some alterations – not in my real life but in my blog life (which are quickly merging).

As I flew home, I couldn’t wait to open up the Surrounded by Imbeciles portal and see what I have been missing. Imagine my surprise to see a big red/yellow/orange map on a new look Site Stats page. It is a really cool addition, and it was interesting to see not only how many people have been looking in but also where they are located when they look. All this time, I have been thinking that people in a few states have been checking out the blog. In actuality, these blogs go all over the world. Imagine that! It makes me realize how big and impactful the Internet really is. Thank you, fellow Tennessean Al Gore! I know, an old joke that I have used before.

I know you blogging folks have probably been playing around with your maps. I just got into mine and found some interesting stuff. Obviously, the United States sits at the top by a wide margin. I write about the things I know, and most of that is in the United States. It makes me wonder what someone in Gabon thinks about some of my references.

Completing the top five are Australia, Canada, Indonesia and the United Kingdom. Other ones that I find interesting are Jordan, Barbados (because it’s a great island), Turkey, the Russian Federation (I wonder if Putin feels as if he is surrounded by imbeciles.), Malta, Bangladesh and Costa Rica (because, well, I just wanted to mention Costa Rica).

Anyway, I just wanted to get back into blogging mode after some time off and thank WordPress for their cool map. I always say that people should be able to read a map. That bitchy woman who gives you directions from the dashboard just isn’t the same as Rand McNally. I only wish that they could break down the states as well. Although, they may have done that, and I just haven’t figured it out yet. At any rate, it is good to be back in the blog world.

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Ro Ro Ro Your Robot

19 Mar

Robots have filled the imagination of humans for decades, and they have slowly become reality. We have machines that can work for us and build other machines. However, when most people imagine robots they don’t think about an arm programmed to put a part on a car. They think about something that walks, talks, thinks, and, on some level, can be our personal helper and companion. It is something like us but not like us.

As scientists and engineers have developed robots for the real world, writers and filmmakers have developed the robots of our imagination. With that in mind, I have put together a list of five robots from sci-fi and popular culture that were memorable to me. You won’t find anything from Star Trek or Star Wars (I know. They are androids and droids. In my mind, Data, C-3PO, R2-D2 and any other form of moving around intelligence is a robot.), but you will find some creations that are memorable and some that are obscure.

Gunslinger – Westworld is part of an adult-oriented theme park where people can live out their fantasies. There are areas based on the Roman Empire, a medieval castle and an Old West town. Robots populate the parks and guests can interact with them as if they were human. Believe me, when I used the terms “adult-oriented” and “fantasies” I mean it. Anyway, Gunslinger operates in Westworld and is the fastest draw in the West. Played by Yul Brenner and based on his character in The Magnificent Seven, he faces off against park guest Richard Benjamin.

When a malfunction strikes the theme park, the robots go out of control, and Gunslinger tries to really kill Benjamin. The robot chases the human through each historical era, and Benjamin knows he’s in trouble as he sees the bodies of other guests. He eventually defeats Gunslinger and escapes back into the real world.

Robot – A simple name for a great character. Lost in Space is one of my favorite shows, and Robot is my all-time favorite, uh, robot.

People remember Robot as the best friend of Will Robinson; as the hero of many episodes; and as the nemesis of Dr. Zachary Smith. As time passed, the show focused less on the rest of the Robinson clan and more on the relationship of these three characters. However, people may not remember that Robot started out as a bad guy working with Smith to destroy the mission. That’s why they ended up “lost in space”. Robot soon redeemed himself, but those early dark episodes remain my favorite.

Robby the Robot – Built in 1955, Robby the Robot is the first in a long line of robotic characters and may be the most recognizable.

Billed as himself, Robby starred alongside a pre-comedic Leslie Nielsen in Forbidden Planet, the sci-fi classic. In subsequent years, he appeared in Lost in Space to battle with Robot; in television shows such as Hazel, Twilight Zone, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, and Mork & Mindy; and in movies like Gremlins. Through this time and through the creation of new and more stylistic robots, Robby remains the king of them all.

Twiki – Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was one of television’s many attempts to build upon the success of Star Wars. It starred Gil Gerard and Erin Gray. However, the light-hearted aspect of the show (actually, there were a lot of light things about it) came from Twiki.

Admittedly, I didn’t watch this show very much and looked at Erin Gray a lot when I did. However, this little dude entertained me. Played by Felix Villa and voiced by Mel Blanc, this guy was always getting into trouble but also helped Buck get out of trouble. He was the perfect companion in the tradition of old western stars, Gabby Hayes and Andy Devine.

Al Gore – I know it’s an old joke. But, his family comes from a town not far from here, and he is a distant relative of mine. Also, he works out of Nashville, and one of my good friends is his personal assistant. I think that gives me a break on using a tired joke. Besides, he looks kind of like a robot.

Despite the look of a robot, there are other clues to his robot self as well.

1. He invented the internet and is an expert in global warming despite the fact that he has no known scientific training. He has also gone from being almost bankrupt after the 2000 election to being a millionaire hundreds of times over. These have to be signs of immense artificial intelligence.

2. He shows no emotion unless someone disagrees with his stance or he is in a massage parlor.

3. He claims to be from Carthage, Tennessee, but no one can remember his childhood in that town. It’s like he was suddenly created. Of course, that could be a sign that he is not from Tennessee at all but is actually a product of Washington, D.C.

That, my friends, is a list of five famous and not so famous robots. Are there any robots out there that you would consider your favorites?

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