Random Thought for Thursday 4/7/11

Facebook -- it really is everywhere!!

So here is one more in the Facebook Ubiquitousness series, and this one is to be retro-paired with the post from 3/10/11 that mentioned how it (FB) was railed against from a NJ pulpit for destroying marriages. In the spirit of being fair and balanced (literally -- not in some Murdochian way served up with a double dose of irony), some pastors are actually embracing the digital mediums to reach the younger generation.

One interesting twist, a quote pulled from the article in the first link below -- "Social networking tends to have a democratizing influence [in that] everyone gets a say, and that's not usually how religion works."

What if Christ announces his return through a twitterfeed? Are you a follower??

PROFESSOR DELL DeCHANT CREDITED WITH THE ABOVE QUOTED COMMENT:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-12-17-facebookfaith17_ST_N.htm

THE FEATURE FROM MY 3/10/11 POST:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/11/anti-facebook-pastor-taking-time-off-/1

JUDGE FOR YOURSELF -- MURDOCH ADMITS TO MANIPULATING THE NEWS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K2pLo8JV5Y

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 4/6/11

Parkour on G4.

Used in a sentence: "I have discovered too late in life what would have been my passion if I had been any kind of athletic in high school -- courtesy of an eight episode series featuring Parkour on G4."

I remember when I first saw this sport of free-running (in a Madonna video of all places) and I just stopped in my tracks mesmerized by the guys moving constantly and flying through the air over and around obstacles (and, by the way they moved, "obstacles" was no longer able to be the word used to describe the things in their path).

Now that I've seen the tournament (called Jump City:Seattle), I think it to be a touch of diving without the water, a dash of gymnastics without the uniforms, a dose of fearlessness and preparedness for an occasional broken bone, a dollop of break-dancing, a smidge of oneupsmanship and an inspiration of striving to just take flight -- with a lot of inside language and names for moves that go over my head.

Alas and alack, I'm no longer anything close to fit. And even when I had a fighting chance, I wasn't really anything close to fit then either (my Presidential fitness scores dragged down my academic performance) and so my choices for high school gym electives leaned toward the golf and the archery (because, at least there if I was bad, I only made myself look the fool and didn't hurt a team). Who knows, if they could have covered the insurance and offered it, maybe I would have chosen to be a student of the parkour?!

JUMP CITY SEATTLE ON G4:

http://www.g4tv.com/jumpcity

MADONNA's JUMP VIDEO ON YOUTUBE:

http://www.g4tv.com/jumpcity

"ALL THE BEST" PARKOUR VIDEOS:

http://parkour-videos.com/videos/blane/

Random Tune for Tuesday 4/5/11

Looking through the cassettes for today's post, I decided to settle on an album from Phil and Mike (and the other Mechanics?) from 1991 for the next in my alphabetical series of AtoZ Musical Eccentricities (the cassette years). In particular, the first song on that album's playlist always hit home for me, as it is about a boy who leaves his childhood behind a little early when he runs away. That being said, don't read too much into my connection to it though, as the scenario in the lyrics doesn't quite fit my past -- except for the first two stanzas which are spot on!

G IS FOR GENESIS ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSwpW_QKz_I

Random Memorial for Monday 4/4/11

Gone but not forgotten: Maggie Simpson's speaking part.

When I grew up, Liz Taylor was someone who adopted Michael Jackson, sold White Diamonds and raised awareness and major funds for charities and organizations long before it was hip to do so. I can barely recall the curse she put on Luke and Laura, and I have Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf on the old DVR to watch some upcoming weekend, but I knew of her much more as a personality more than an actress.

For her courage to take a stand, for her fierce independent streak, for the fact that she's now made Maggie Simpson a mute, Liz Taylor -- you will be missed.

OF COURSE, SHE HASN'T "REALLY" SPOKEN SINCE 1992 ANYWAY:

http://www.four.co.nz/Maggie-Simpsons-one-word/tabid/1699/articleID/69643/Default.aspx

SHE PUT HER MONEY WHERE HER MOUTH WAS:

http://www.looktothestars.org/news/6006-elizabeth-taylors-charity-legacy

THE WEDDING AND IT's SOAP OPERA AFTERMATH:

http://generalhospital.about.com/od/topmomentsinghhistory/a/LandLWedding.htm

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 4/3/11

What the Palm Desert area is talking about this week (I'm midway through a vacation of sorts on the Left Coast):

Between the shootings last evening at parties gone wrong in nearby Cathedral City, the hole in the Southwest plane that caused an emergency landing after a "nose dive" and the government shut-down looming by week's end ... I have to now get through two more nights of being social at bar clubs in the area (does every angry drunk have a gun nowadays?) before I find out if my flight out with Southwest (on Tuesday originally ...) is on track (and not caught up in the 600 or so cancelled flights this weekend that have to be reworked into the system on planes that don't have sky-light options). Regardless, I need to get back home to Chicago before the FAA and the rest of the government gets furloughed during the partisan squabble.

Me thinks adventure might lie ahead ...

A COACHELLA HOUSE PARTY WITH 100 FLEEING TEENS:

http://www.kpsplocal2.com/Content/Top-Stories/story/Three-Teens-Shot-in-Coachella/qoPC1bRa8Uihf7mbVMDpqg.cspx

THE "SKYLIGHT" FEATURE, COURTESY OF TWITPICS!:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20050000-71.html

IF THEY SHUT DOWN AROUND TAX TIME, CAN I GET ALL MY MONEY BACK?:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/370533

Random Soapbox for Saturday 4/2/11

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

... for goodness sakes, boys and girls -- let's all keep our alcohol fueled activities in check.

On the alcoholic continuum (ranging from practicing Muslim on one end to Charlie Sheen on the other), I fall somewhere near the middle, comfortably positioned between social drinker and occasional binger. I will schedule my evenings of debauchery (and, as I age, the day or two for recovery thereafter) and I do look back frequently to marvel about how quickly one Guinness can become eight or ten -- but I still have found a way to minimize any extremely unsafe situations (it helps that I'm mostly a happy individual when under the influence).

As the generation behind me launches into spring break, I am troubled with the faster!more!now! atmosphere that has advanced insta-buzz tricks beyond the beer funnels or jello shots of my youth to the latest (and increasingly more dangerous) trend of "eyeballing vodka". I imagine some accident akin to "you've got peanut butter in my chocolate/chocolate in my peanut butter" is to blame, but the hard core partiers looking for instant inebriation are now taking shots of pure vodka directly through the eyeball.

I'm sure the alcohol IV is right around the corner ... but please save those kinds of stunts for Jackass 4-ever (or whatever version the oft testicularly tortured Johnny Knoxville is on now). Can't we all just draw the line at drinking through a straw when it comes to "accelerating my buzz" innovations?

IT's ALL THE RAGE IN ENGLAND:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278583/Young-people-drinking-neat-vodka-EYE-quick-buzz.html

YOU CAN ALWAYS GO THIS ROUTE--GUINNESS HAS MORE BUZZ PER UNIT:

http://www.guinness.com/

JUST IN CASE YOU FALL TO THE EDGE OF THE CONTINUUM:

http://www.aa.org/?Media=PlayFlash

Random Flashback for Friday 4/1/11

It was a picnic, but not in the William Inge kind of way. A celebration, but without Kool and the Gang origins. A union-like sponsored gathering, but not with overtones like those in the hallways of government buildings in Madison.

It was ... the group scene in LVC's production of The Pajama Game from 1991 ... I believe to the lyrics of something like "this is my once a year day".

Good times. Breaking in the new scrim. Fighting management to get the workers' a raise. Isn't it funny how some things don't really change!