The Boo-b Tube...

Never was there a more appropriate term for a more appropriate day. It's Halloween, and a bunch of television news has trickled out over the last two days that is frankly, both mind boggling and horrifying.

In the Life section of yesterday's edition of The Gazette, Diane Holloway of the Cox News Service wrote an article about how NBC was being patient even though their show Friday Night Lights was losing viewers by the droves on a weekly basis. No matter where they shuffled the thing in their weekly lineup. I'm not a fan of Lights. It's Beverly Hills 90210 on a football field in Texas. But that's cool... different strokes for different folks and all that. 'Cept in this case, NO ONE is watching it. Yet, for some odd reason NBC is clutching on to it with the grip of a dead man. Why didn't they do this with what I feel is a FAR superior show in Kidnapped?

I've read that Kidnapped (which is on its way out after its initial 13 episodes have played out), along with CBS' Smith (which was axed after 3 episodes and also contained a stellar cast) are "too complicated" for the average mindless couch potato to grasp. Which makes sense considering that gawdawful shows like Dancing with the Stars, The Biggest Loser, and Extreme Makeover are what really excites the mass of sheep who sit in front of their TV screens every night with drool trickling down the side of their mouth.

I read Andy W's column in today's Colorado Springs Gazette, and found more horrifying news. First, let's address ABC and their slipping rating's juggernaut, Lost. So ABC is going to fulfill it's promise of not showing us Lost reruns by going off the air for 3 months?! NICE! I'm sorry, but that's out and out crap. My response? "Get lost, ABC. And take your lil show with you."

What I didn't know is that Fox's Prison Break is also taking this path. Why? ARGH!

Some days I just want to dress up like a gladiator and hack n' slash my way through the throng of sniveling, mindless bobble heads that run things.

Know what I mean?

This just in from the "WTF"!?! file...

While perusing the Food Section in Wednesday's edition of The Gazette I came across an article about one Justin Gignac. Justin is a "waste disposal manager." Or as some might say, an "art" collector. That is, if you call GARBAGE art. Seriously... he goes around the streets of New York City picking up stuff that other people throw away and stuffs it into little plastic boxes.

Sure... our world is chalk full of nutbags, and NYC has more than their fair share of them, but this particular wackjob - er, I mean "entrepreneur" - then turns around and sells his collected crap in a box to other nutbags (or as I like to call them - sheep, because they're as dumb as the woolly beasts) who are asinine enough to pay him $50 a pop for a Snicker's wrapper stuck inside a fifteen cent plexiglass cube and call it @*#$ing art! If you're so inclined - and please don't let me know that you are - check out his work at NYC Garbage.

Or... you can go outside, look into your trash can, and find the exact same thing! For free. Your choice.

I suggest that everyone stupid enough to have purchased one of these "works of art" be taken out behind the barn and beat unmercifully about the head and shoulders.

I may not be a proponent of Darwin's evolutionary speculations, but sometimes ya gotta wonder!

Well I'll be a...

The local weather dudes nailed this one! The snow started falling between 3:30 and 4:00 AM MST and kept on dropping until around 4:30 PM. When all was said and done approximately 24 inches had fallen up at our house on the north side of Colorado Springs. Thanks to my neighbor's snow plow (thanks for letting me borrow it, Bob!), after an hour and a half I was able to dig our driveway out.

I gotta give props to the Springs DOT, because this morning as we made our way to work (on the extreme far south side of town), the roads were in great shape! KUDOS!

The news coverage in our little village was done really well. KKTV (Channel 11) was all over it like a well oiled machine. Until they went off the air due to a power failure! Fortunately we have the hi-def Moxi box programming, so it didn't effect us much.

While I'm not a big fan of Shannon Brinias or Don Ward, I like the rest of the crew. And like I mentioned, Brian Bledsoe is THE MAN when it comes to weather men in this area. I hate - and even that's not strong enough - the Fox affiliate here, KRXM. Ironically, I enjoy Stephanie Pytlinski and Joe Cole the most out of all the anchors in the city, but detest nearly every other person (especially all the new people) they have on their crew. For starters, NONE of them should be on television. It's not that they're not attractive enough, they just don't belong on TV. Nor do many of them appear to have ever been in front of a camera before. I'm not saying I can do better, but then... that's not my job. Secondly, it looks like they're broadcasting out of someone's garage. HORRIFIC set, poor video quality... come on - I can do better with my Sony Handycam! I know they just went through a major revamping of the station, but it's looked bad for as long as I've lived here, so it's not that.

Speaking of weathermen... last night we watched "The Weatherman," starring Nick Cage. It was... interesting. Not good, not bad, just... weird.

Ok, back to shoveling the snow.

T-minus 9.5 hours until the Blizzard of 10-06 opens up a can of whoop ass all over Colorado Springs.

According to all the talking bobbleheaded weathermen around here, sometime after 9pm this evening we can expect a massive storm to roll into "our little village." A moisture filled warm front coming up out of New Mexico is going to collide with a frosty cold one coming down from the north - right above our wittle heads. They're predicting 30-50mph sustained winds, with gusts hitting the 60mph mark. The Springs proper is looking at getting upwards of 8 inches of snow, while those of us lucky devils up near Monument (which would be yours truly) might be seeing 14 PLUS inches. WOOOHOOO!

However, as predictions go here - who knows. They didn't call the 9+ inches we got in the middle of last week (Tuesday/Wednesay), but then predicted doom and gloom for the second one that hit over the weekend, that dumped - ZIP! I'd love to have a job being a weatherman. I mean, if Jillian Barberie (the ex-Fox Sports weather gal) can do it... anyone can. I'd say a good 80% of the time they're just straight up wrong. Who wouldn't want to have a gig where you can be right a mere 20% of the time and somehow manage to keep your job!? Although I gotta give huge props to Brian Bledsoe (weather dude for the Springs KKTV Channel 11) for taking meteorology to new heights around these parts.

I'll keep ya posted!

Let me rant a bit about myself before this blog gets too far.

I do more than post the view's of others and just agree with them. This is actually one of a two blogs I storm around in. My other blog, the original Ramblings of a Mad Man, is a game oriented blog that I do for GameDaily.com, which was recently purchased by the mega-conglom known as AOL. I serve as their Associate PC Editor. I limit that particular piece of cyberspace (as much as humanly possible) to ranting about the video game industry, its wares and moronic machinations.

On occasion (OK, more than that...) I would ramble about non-gaming topics. While I wasn't directly asked to stop, I was getting the ole "evil eye." Because I can't stop rambling, and I didn't want to lose my cushy gig at GD/AOL, I decided to start a second "Ramblings" where I could conduct my personal rants and raves about all things NOT associated with gaming. Politics, religion, sports, stupid people (politicians, religious leaders, athletes) doing stupid things... nothing will be off limits here. Of that you can be certain.

I meant what I said about Rich Tosches. The guy was great, and I'm sorry he's gone. Every place needs a person like Rich. Hopefully I can do him a modicum of service by picking up his torch and... you thought I was going to say "run with it," didn't you?

Oh no. In my case, it's... "light fires under the asses of the ignorant masses!"

Strap in and hold on tight boys n' girls... 'cuz the Mad Man is here to stay!

Andy Rooney (of CBS' long running news program 60 Minutes) is an old codger with insanely bushy eyebrows. But sometimes he drops the wisest nuggets 'o knowledge this side of Solomon. Here are some of them...

I don't think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers. The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America. Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America; and see what happens. The AC.L.U. and Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door.

Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.

I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason, that is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! ARE YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE?

I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an opinion.

I have the right 'NOT' to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off.

When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling, it is the Law of Probability.

I believe that if you are selling me a milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in English! As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American citizen, you should have to speak English!

My father and grandfather didn't die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours.

I think the police should have every right to shoot your sorry ass if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can't understand the word 'freeze' or 'stop' in English, see the above lines.

I don't think just because you were not born in this country, you are qualified for any special loan programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee shop, trinket store, or any other business.

We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms, so that decades later they could come over here and tell us our constitution is a living document; and open to their interpretations.

I don't hate the rich. I don't pity the poor.

I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television. That doesn't stop you from watching them.

I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that's better, and put your name on the building.

It doesn't take a whole village to raise a child right, but it does take a parent to stand up to the kid; and smack their little behinds when necessary, and say 'NO!'

I think tattoos and piercing are fine if you want them, but please don't pretend they are a political statement. And, please, stay home until that new lip ring heals. I don't want to look at your ugly infected mouth as you serve me French fries!

I am sick of 'Political Correctness'. I know a lot of black people, and not a single one of them was born in Africa; so how can they be 'African-Americans'? Besides, Africa is a continent. I don't go around saying I am a European-American because my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was from Europe. I am proud to be from America and nowhere else.

And if you don't like my point of view, tough!

Amen brother... AMEN!

The following was written by Ben Stein who recited it on a CBS Sunday Morning Commentary. It was taken from here http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/benstein2.asp. I may not have written it, but I sure as hell agree with every single word of it.

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?

I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.

If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.

But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

Recently someone added the following (not written by Ben Stein) to this piece. It combines older items about a TV appearance that Anne Graham Lotz (the daughter of evangelist Billy Graham) made just after the September 11 terrorist attacks and the false claim that the son of child care expert Dr. Benjamin Spock committed suicide:

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.

And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said
OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an
expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong,and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their
classmates,and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell!

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible
says.

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But,if you discard this thought process,don't sit back and complain about the bad shape of the world.