According to Wikipedia, it’s called the 2000s. However, that seems more likely to reference the century than the decade. What about the Ohs (00s)? Back at the turn of the previous century, they referred to the 1900s as the aughts. (ought-1, ought-2)

So how should we refer to the previous decade? And which word sums up the decade?

The other day I stopped in Starbucks and ordered a coffee and a muffin. My muffin was packaged in the bag above. I read the copy printed on the outside of the bag. I almost couldn’t believe it. I read it once … then again. It read like it’s written by an 8 year old kid!

Here is the copy as it appears on the bag:

Hi,
We’re making a change. Using simpler
recipes and taking out artificial
ingredients. So your food not only
tastes better, it is better. It’s a good
start. But we think it’s a good one
Hope you do too  Enjoy.

Your Friends at Starbucks

P.S. More to come.

Missing punctuation, capitalization errors and overall – it lacks style!

Everybody looking at the photo above instantly recognizes exactly what it is. The big difference is what people call it. I listed a few examples – basket, buggy, cart – for starters.

I have to tell you it drives me crazy when I’m at the grocery store and I hear someone refer to it as a “buggy.” A buggy? Isn’t that what parents use to push around their little baby as in “baby buggy.” Just the other day at the grocery store I heard a little old lady ask her husband rather loudly.. “ARE YOU GOING TO GET A BUGGY HENRY?  HENRY, THE BUGGY, GET A BUGGY HENRY!  I had this horrible expression of disgust on my face. I can’t really say why it bugs me so much but apparently it does. Of course the loud screeching voice didn’t help matters.

On the other hand, I don’t really mind the reference – Basket.  Although I don’t personally use the term, it doesn’t really bother me. I can sign off on basket. It seems to fit. But not as well as cart. I like the term cart. Let’s face it, you’re shopping on the internet, do you click the buggy button. Uh, NO!. It’s called a shopping cart. And that’s just the way I like it!

What are some of the names you have called it?

According to Stimator.com that is. After four years of blogging and I can cash out for an unbelievable $6,174! Wow, really?

Here are a couple of other sites I checked:

Mashable.com – 18,276,753

Techcrunch.com – 15,105,868

Check it out a site for yourself here.

Clearly not all airlines are created equal. Flying Continental Airlines is something else. Sitting up straight in my seat with my knees jammed into the seat in front of me is absolutely no fun. I guess once you fly jetBlue or Virgin American, the others just don’t stack up!

When it comes to the characters voices,
YES, THE SIMPSONS ARE BETTER!

The most annoying thing about watching South park is the similar two sounding voices used for every character.

South Park’s incredible arsenal of voices:

Trey Parker & Matt Stone:

The Simpson’s voices:

On the other hand Dan Castellano voices over twenty characters on the Simpsons. The key difference is that they actually SOUND different. Wow. Imagine that. Even Mel Blanc, who was famous for the voice of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, etc., started to sound the same after awhile. Dan is amazing. He really brings out the characters personality though his versatile voice. And the talent doesn’t stop there – every character is brilliantly voiced. Each character is distinct. The polar opposite of South Park.

Dan Castellaneta

Homer Simpson
Abraham Simpson
Krusty the Clown
Barney Gumble
Groundskeeper Willie
Mayor Quimby
Hans Moleman
Sideshow Mel
Itchy
Kodos
Gil Gunderson
Squeaky Voiced Teen
Blue-Haired Lawyer
Rich Texan
Louie
Bill
Arnie Pie
Mr. Teeny
Yes Guy
Scott Christian
Assistant Superintendent Leopold
Charlie
Gary
Frankie the Squealer

Hank Azaria

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
Moe Szyslak
Chief Clancy Wiggum
Comic Book Guy
Lou
Carl
Dr. Nick Riviera
Snake
Kirk Van Houten
Captain McCallister
Bumblebee Man
Superintendent Chalmers
Professor Frink
Cletus
Dredrick Tatum
Pyro (a.k.a. Chase)

Harry Shearer

C. Montgomery Burns
Waylon Smithers
Ned Flanders
Principal Skinner
Otto
Reverend Lovejoy
Dr. Julius Hibbert
Kent Brockman
Jasper
Lenny
Edde
Rainier Wolfcastle/McBain
Scratchy
Kang
Herman
Gil
Poochie
Burn’s Lawyer

Trey Parker and Matt stone have done a brilliant job with both writing and satire. However, after their first low budget year on the air, they should have hired some outside talent.

Although I love South Park, I had to stop watching because I couldn’t stop focusing on the same sounding two or three voices rather than the characters themselves. A good friend of mine thinks this is a silly argument but none the less, I can no longer watch without hearing Trey or Matt.

It’s true that the Simpson’s just celebrated their twentieth year on the air. That is no small feat. By comparison, South Park only has a few more years before it catches up. It’s not that the Simpson’s are necessarily better than South Park. Let’s face it, Southpark is laugh out loud funny. Brilliantly written. It’s the voices that killed it for me.

So you finally signed up for Facebook. You filled out your profile and you’ve already started inviting friends. You’re adding applications, sending drinks, goofy cards, images, games, and the like to everyone you know. You’re even inviting friends who are NOT on Facebook. You are a Facebook madman! You’ve uploaded 20 or 30 of the most embarrassing photos of your friends you can find. You are adding cute little comments on each photo. You’re posting links to funny Youtube videos, links to your blog, and general Ha Ha funny links. You are one happy social networking freak!

So how long do we have to wait for you to post your photo? IT’S CALLED FACEBOOK! WHERE’S YOUR FACE? When I search for John Smith, and several thousand John Smiths show up, how the hell am I supposed to distinguish you from the other John Smiths with the default Facebook sillouette showing up? Go ahead friend, PLEASE, PLEASE POST A PHOTO OF YOURSELF!

Here are a couple of tips:

1. Avoid using blurry photos
2. Avoid using dark, dimly lit photos
3. Avoid using photos where you are hardly recognizable
4. Avoid using photos where 5 or more people appear in the photo

Here’s another fun little trick. Instead of posting a photo of yourself, you cleverly post an image of your cute little son or daughter. Adorable. I get it. You love your child. Is it necessary to post their photo where your profile photo should be? Hmmm … I’m going to go with NO! How about starting a new photo album with photos of your child. That would be a great place to start.

So for all my friends out there. Grab a hold of the clue bag and dig deep for a clue. Post a clear, cheerful, fun photo of yourself and make us all proud!

A severely damaged piece of mail arrived today courtesy of the US Postal Service. It was so badly mangled that the address could be barely be seen. The Postal Service placed what was left of the mail in a plastic bag that read:

WE CARE

Dear Postal Customer:

We sincerely regret the damage to your mail during handling by the Postal Service. We hope this incident did not inconvenience you. We realize that your mail is important to you and that you have every right to expect it to be delivered in good condition.

Although every effort is made to prevent damage to the mail, occasionally this will occur because of the great volume handled and the rapid processing methods which must be employed to assure the most expeditious distribution possible.

We hope you understand. We assure you that we are constantly striving to improve our processing methods in order that even a rare occurrence may be eliminated.

Please accept our apologies.

Sincerely,

Your Postmaster

I felt much better after reading that message. It warms my heart to know that the US government actually cares. They’re just doing their best and this sort of thing should be expected. Who could blame them for mangling an occaisaional piece of mail? Certainly not I.

Thank you Postmaster for your apology and kind hearted words. I wish you a happy new year and eargerly look forward to your next coorespondence.

Maybe I expected too much but the Dark Knight didn’t quite cut it for me. I loved the last Batman, don’t get me wrong – great story, plot, etc.

Before I get into what didn’t work, here’s what I did like.

Christian Bale is by far the best batman cast out of all the Batman movies. I’m a huge fan. If he’s in a movie, I’ll probably go see it because of him. Michael Caine was brilliant as Alfred. Played perfect. Morgan Freeman beautifully portrays the integral Lucius Fox character to a tee.

Here are my top five miscues:

1. The casting of Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes.
   This was a train wreck decision. I questioned the casting of Katie Holmes in the last Batman however, Katie would’ve been a better choice. Ms. Gyllenhaal is indeed a talented actress but I just felt like I was watching the understudy on screen instead of the real actress. She didn’t really pull off the soft sophisticated persona that should have been. I didn’t buy Maggie as the subject of desire the two most eligible bachelors are lusting after. It didn’t work. Sure it was a surprise to kill off the love interest but too be honest, I didn’t really care. I didn’t get enough of the character to care.
2. Health Ledger’s as the Joker
   It was a bit creepy watching the movie knowing that Ledger is not longer with us. He had a solid performance without a doubt. Although, I just couldn’t help thinking that he was doing a bad Johnny Depp impression. At times I almost forgot I was watching Health Ledger on screen. He came across as kind of wimpy. So he’s a psychotic clown.. I get it. But that goofy voice didn’t seem to fit. The lip licking started to annoy me as well.
3. Anthony Michael Hall as Mike Engel
   Again, I love Anthony Michael Hall. Heck I love anyone that uses three names. Most of the time when you hear about someone with three names it’s on the news when we’re learning of a new mad man on the loose. This character could have been left on the cutting room floor. It really didn’t fit at all.
4. Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon
   The Gordon character was underplayed. Gordon is a pivotal character in the comic books but here appears as an afterthought. Such a great talent wasted. Oldman was great as always. I just wanted more.
5. Not enough chasing or cool gadgets
   So the Batmobile is cool. It’s so dark in the movie and there is such limited time with the batmobile. The motorcycle was big and clunky. It looks great once it hits full speed but it must be tough to manuever. It left me wanting more gadgets, more chase scenes and less dialog. I guess I’ll have to wait for the next Bond flick.

Photo by Margarita Gonzalez

This is the third time that I saw Radiohead play live. First in 1995 when they opened for REM in support of “The Bends.” REM lead singer Micheal Stipe boldy praised the band saying “They’re so good, they scare me.” He commented on Radiohead for a total of three times during their performance that night. But let’s get one thing clear – I was there to see Radiohead. It is still one of the most memorable shows I’ve seen.

I also saw Radiohead in 2003. The funny thing is that I don’t remember much of the show. I remember Thom Yorke putting in a good performance but that’s about it. It was a good friend of mine that reminded me that I even attended the show in the first place!

Fast forward to last week. Radiohead was opening their North American tour in West Palm Beach, Florida. West Palm Beach Florida? What an interesting choice since most bands skip South Florida altogether because of the location. Once a band plays Tampa, it’s straight down to Miami for a quick set up and tear down and another 7 hours before the equipment gets out of the state. Yorke commented during the show that the band spent the previous three days in Miami preparing for the show. Perhaps it was the sunshine that attracted the band.

Yorke addressed the audience like a nervous school child making an appearance at his first recital. He sauntered up to the microphone and said “Hello” with the usual normal tick. The band chose ‘All I need’ to start things off – immediately followed by ‘Bodysnatchers and ‘There there.’ I was really looking forward to hearing ‘Weird Fishes’ which was eventually played the 10th song in. This is when the concert started for me. Something rather strange happened though. Close to the ending, the band stopped playing. They had botched the ending and Yorke quickly huddled up with his band mates around their drummer, Phil Selway. After some chatter they quickly returned to where they left off. Selway counted them off and they played the ending correct.

I really don’t think too many people really noticed the screw up. However, Thom – in his pursuit of perfection – played it again the way it was written. [see videos here] Afterward he exclaimed to the audience that they really should have practiced that one or something to that tune.

All and all I would say it was a great show. The big missing for me was the more musically inspired numbers. I would have liked to have heard more of the classic Radiohead before they discovered synths. Not that the later stuff isn’t great, it’s just that I wanted to hear the guitars roar. A little less prefab action and a bit more guitar driven music.