floorpie

Pearl Harbor at 65

Pearl Harbor survivors are meeting for the last time today on the 65th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The reasons are pragmatic: the nearly 500 remaining survivors are in their 80’s and 90’s… and it is, shall we say, somewhat unlikely that a sizable number of them will survive for a 70th anniversary. My favorite quote:

“How I never got hit, I don’t know,” said Chun, who was later drafted and served in the Korean and Vietnam wars. “I’ll tell you a secret: When your number comes up, you’re going to go. Well, every morning I get up, I change my number.”

.: Wii investigating strap problem
.: Autopsy to be performed on James Kim

As variously reported, c|net senior editor James Kim has been found dead in the Oregon woods after trying to find help for his stranded and lost family. He is survived by his wife and two young children.

I remember James from back in his TechTV days, and more recently from his c|net video reviews. Although I of course didn’t know him, it’s still very sad… especially considering the way he was trying his best to save the people he loved.

Thai Town!

So, it was obviously time to get the band back together.

The good part: getting together 20 of our friends to cheer him on.
The bad part: paying the bill. All I know is that there are a lot of people with hangovers that need to remember just exactly how much alcohol they drank to get there, and who paid for it.

It was awesome. Even if the bartender at the “burlesque” club nearby almost ripped my head off for taking a picture.

Last night I saw Brothers and Sisters, Celebration, Blood Bothers, and the headliners: …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead last night at the Henry Fonda Theater on Hollywood Blvd.

For those of you who haven’t been there, The Fonda is an excellent venue. Beautiful inside like a goddamn theater as opposed to some kind of auditorium or dingy bar venue (not that dingy bar venues don’t also have their may merits). A large stage framed by ornate molding and curtains looks out on to a fairly large open area (all tickets are “general seating” [read: mosh pit] for rock shows) with a balcony area above.

Upstairs is an open-air lounge (ostensibly for smoking) with a view of Hollywood Blvd., a second bar, couches and chairs, mood lighting, and even semi-private rooms with more couches and chairs. In fact the balcony reminds me of some of the hipper lounge|bars I’ve been to, lately.

One thing the lounge area lacks? Fucking outdoor heaters! And with LA plunging into the snowy depths of the high 50’s, thin-skinned Angelenos like myself were freezing in the light breeze.

But anyway.

Brothers and Sisters? Meh, they were OK. I wouldn’t see them if they were headlining, yet, but they had a good sound and were fairly entertaining if only for the fact that there seemed like there were 20 of them on stage and we were to assume that they were all brother and sister.

Celebration? Pretty much the same as above except that they were better and the singer sounded a lot like she also fronted the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs.

Blood Brothers? Holy f’ing shit! These guys were awesome. Totally frenetic on stage and screaming their heads off. I have no f’ing idea what they were saying, but it sounded good. And the lead singer was channeling Mick Jagger with the head shaking, hand on hip metrosexual swagger, and pouty lips… so you can’t go wrong there.

…AYWKUBTTOD? The people I came to see. The, unfortunately, suffered from horrible mixing, where you couldn’t hear any of the keyboards, one of the guitars crapped out 2 minutes into the show, and the vocals were turned way down. It got better as their set progressed, but even with the audio problems their show was awesome, and for one reason: stage presence.

There are 6 guys in AYWKUBTTOD, and all are apparently multi-talented, because they kept switching instruments! The lead singer would become the keyboard player, the keyboard player would become the drummer, the drummer would become the guitar player, and over and over. Listening to the album, you have no sense of this; which means that they don’t do this in the studio, or that they’re all really fucking good. I choose the later.

Oh, and the main drummer is unbelievable.

This is why Christianity doesn’t work:

When Polish student Michael Gromek, 19, went to America on a student exchange, he found himself trapped in a host family of Christian fundamentalists. What followed was a six-month hell of dawn church visits and sex education talks as his new family tried to banish the devil from his soul. Here’s his story.

“When I got out of the plane in Greensboro in the US state of North Carolina, I would never have expected my host family to welcome me at the airport, wielding a Bible, and saying, ‘Child, our Lord sent you half-way around the world to bring you to us.’ At that moment I just wanted to turn round and run back to the plane.”

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I was raised Catholic (ostensibly). I went to Sunday school for a while (which was actually on a Tuesday) and was baptized and had communion, but never went so far as being Confirmed, or dealing with the sexually charged world of the innocent alter boy. My interest pretty much feel off from there, leaving me completely in high school. For all of the obvious issues with Catholicism, you can say one thing for sure: considering all the pomp and circumstance, it’s definitely holy.

Christianity, on the other hand, gives me the heebie-jeebies on top of the goosebumps I already have just from the concept of “religion”. ADG was (is?) a Christian, and although she was normal and open-minded, the few times I went to church with her out of misguided support left me scarred. I’m sure I don’t have to explain how weird it is to witness supposedly blessed people be so judgmental of others, fervent to the point of fainting, and just the general feeling of walking into the Twilight Zone… and not in a cool way.

This is why I choose instead to worship The Hoff.

It may or may not be notable that 9 of the top 10 Forbes Fictional 15 Richest People are single.

And only 2 of the total 15 are with spouse.

And only 3 have kids.

It may or may not be notable. Who can say, really? I’m just the narrator.

Do you think there was an appreciable difference in humanity’s average weight when air conditioning was invented? Maybe it’s because I live in the mild climate of SoCal, but when there’s even a hint of actual heat, my skin gets a glistening sheen of sweat almost instantly. Add any exertion and there’s definite beading on the forehead. Somehow, this never happens at the beach, though that is neither here nor there.

I can only imagine what white-trash Southerners in un-air conditioned double wides must have gone through during the scorching summer months. Sweating like that must have kept a fella thin.

But now, with the advent of air conditioning, what’s to melt off the Ho-Ho’s without oppressive heat?

These are the things I think about while I live and breath.

The “N” word heard ’round the world

As you’ve probably heard, Michael Richards (Kramer of Seinfeld fame) went on a racial slur filled tirade at The Laugh Factory this weekend.

See the video here.

Totally bewildering. An excerpt as he loses it and starts yelling at an (African American) audience member:

Fifty years ago we’d have you upside down with a fucking fork up your ass.

You can talk, you can talk, you’re brave now motherfucker. Throw his ass out. He’s a nigger! He’s a nigger! He’s a nigger! A nigger, look, there’s a nigger!

Some of the crowd laughs at first, and then people start to gasp and sound confused as Kramer gets worse and worse. To his credit, the audience member keeps his composure fairly well and yells back:

That’s un-fucking called for, ain’t necessary.

I don’t know if he was trying to be controversial, trying to be Andy Kaufman, or just is a complete fucking asshole, but there are some things that just aren’t funny. “The N Word” is one, the Holocaust is another, and Laura Kightlinger is a third (*ba-dum-dum-CHING*). In my mind, there just is no excuse for that kind of stuff in civilized society. Cosmo, if you were looking to shock, you’ve done it… but you have a long way to go before you’re Howard Stern…

Mel Gibson was not available for comment. Calls to his voicemail were answered simply by a long “Woo-hoooooooo!”

>.: speaking of not killing, the OJ Simpson book and TV special have been canceled. Apparently, the idea that a murderer would explain how he would have killed a couple of people if given the chance was an "ill-considered project". Color me shocked! Shocked I say!