New Year's Eve and the Orange Bowl....

New Year's Eve. It always feels silly to call anything an Eve during the daytime. Anyways, it's exciting to see as Australia westward approaches January 1. I remember doing the same thing in Tel Aviv for the millennium--CNN had amazing coverage....

But alas, it's 2006 this time around. This past year was surprisingly happening--Abu Graib, Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, the NSA spying on us with telecommunications support, Valerie Plame/Karl Rove and I. "Scooter" Libby, Michael Jackson, Tom and Katie, Brad and Angelina, the Chicago White Sox, San Antonio Spurs, no hockey, the NWA mechanics strike falling flat on its face, while the NYC Transit strike right before Christmas and Chanukkah brought the city to its knees. I know I'm missing some other biggies....Martha Stewart's release from jail, Chief Justice William Rehnquist's death, Judge Roberts, non-judge Harriet Miers. Pope John Paul II, when the world came to a stop for a few days. There was even speculation from Dan Brown's Angels and Demons.

And completely unrelated....

Sports. Penn State University's Joe Paterno switched things up a bit and led Penn State to a number-three ranking in the BCS. And to the Orange Bowl! Having met Joe Paterno and hear him speak, all the stuff they say is true--he's vibrant, energetic, classy. It's good to see my alma mater back in the football business. And while I don't think they'd have any chance against USC or Texas, who are playing in the championships game, if they could have stopped Michigan with ONE second left on the clock, they would have had a perfect season.

This year's Orange Bowl is January 2nd. I found an article on espn.com entitled: Bowden, Paterno do it the right way. I particularly enjoyed Rudyard Kipling's poem:

If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet not look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop, and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run --
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!

Well--Happy New Year's

Some fun linx for ya

It's Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg's rap about the Chronicles of Narnia! There's even a New York Times article on the phenomenon: Nerds in the Hood, Stars on the Web

From Cleveland (Nazis in Cleveland? Who knew?)
Deportation ordered for accused Nazi

And from Canada, home of strip clubs, prostitutes, and now, legal swingers clubs....
Canadian 'swingers' cheer ruling on sex clubs

If you like cappuccino, you'll love this!
Cappuccino art

And this random site: Lordnappers?!
WTF?

Friendlier Holiday Greetings

My friend Ben has the following--I found it very entertaining.

To my Christian friends, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

To my Jewish friends, Hag Sameah and may this be a Hanukah of much fried yumminess!

To my Pagan friends, happy Solstice and Blessed Be!

To my Nguzo Saba friends, Happy Kwanzaa (I confess, I had to look that one up. Did you know that Kwanzaa was invented by a convicted felon and avowed Marxist in 1966 and is named after a river in Angola? Me, neither!)

To Bill O'Reily, Happy Holidays and may Rush lend you enough oxycontin for you to confess your undying love for Sean Hannity on air and force you into impecunious ignominy on the outskirts of Okaloka, Oklahoma.

To anyone I neglected (Daoists, Maoists, Shintoists, Bahaii, atheists, and Topeka Baptists), um I guess I'm sorry. I encourage you to partake of the preceding salutations.

It's freezing here in Israel. There's talk of a white Christmas in the Galilee and even Jerusalem. Alas, I have diseases to study. So,

Be very well,
BEN

Movie Time!

So, I watched a bunch of movies while on vacation. I saw King Kong--well done acting job by Jack Black. Naomi Watts is hot, but I'm not impressed with her acting in this one. She spends half the movie screaming and crying-not Oscar-worthy in my opinion (as opposed to Jack Black). Oh--read this.


Jim Carey's movie, Fun with Dick and Jane, was not-so-funny. I like taking pot-shots at upper middle-class America as much as the next guy, but having a movie about losing all your assets with the terrible economy we've had the last 3 or 4 years? Not so funny. And a really weak ending, too.


Brokeback Mountain--Ang Lee rules. This movie was worth the hype--it managed to capture the beauty of the mountains and the rugged cowboy lifestyle while portraying


Pride & Prejudice--Well done. Beautiful cinematography, and good costumes. I don't usually like these "time" pieces or whatever they're called, but this was well done. I should probably read the book (and Sense & Sensibility while I'm at it. And War and Peace).


Munich was absolutely riveting. Spielberg is a rock star, we all know that...but this was a real intense look into terrorism and counterterrorism, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.


Apres Vous--Netlix movie. Starts weak, but develops into an intriguing story.


The New York Times's A. O. Scott lists his favorite movies. Haven't heard of half of them, but when I had, I concurred.


I sure do miss Netflix. Maybe when I get my dissertation done and I become Dr. Naysayer....

Drinking tips for the holidays

So I was merrily perusing cnn.com, reading my usual digest of sports, politics, and business, and came across the following: Short glasses hold stronger drinks, study says. That's right--even experienced bartenders poured more liquor into the shorter glasses (20% more). CNN recommends that we curb our drinking by asking for taller glasses, but for those of you who enjoy alcohol and don't have to drive home, I say: ask for shorty!

Speaking of drinking and the holidays--do people actually enjoy the taste of eggnog? I dig hot apple cider as a seasonal beverage, but eggnog?

Bah Humbug!

Last time I checked, Christmas wishes seemed to emphasize "Peace on Earth," and the like, and the spirit of giving. This was meant to engender positive behaviors and relationships among and across families. But I look around, and that's not what I see. SO WHY ARE SO MANY FRICKIN' PEOPLE SO STRESSED OUT?! It began with Black Friday, when there were reports of cutting in line and tackling customers in an attempt to meet sale deadlines. Ya--season's greetings my ass!

There's Christmas lists and Christmas shopping and last-minute shopping, proceeded by the inevitable gift return lines due to the receivers being unhappy with their gifts. Last time I checked, this does not engender any positive behaviors.

Kids become needy--it's "What am I getting for Christmas?" instead. X-mas has become a chore. Too many people, too many demands, too many gifts. And it's so nice for the television networks will put on ads for all the so-called Christmas specials, and then spend the week after New Year's putting on "How to Get Over Your Holiday Spending Woes" specials--like it's effective post hoc. You know how to get over your holiday spending woes? Don't spend as much fricking money! I hope your kids don't love you less because they only got two games along with their X-Box 360.

The gluttony of shopping has now permeated to Jewish culture as well. There's not supposed to be 8 days of presents, even if Kyle Broflovsky thinks so. Chanukkah is supposed to be about celebrating that the Jews were not wiped out, and the miracle of light. We celebrate by giving Chanukkah gelt--POCKET CHANGE--and eating oily foods. That's IT. Being alive. A surviving[tribe. The resantification of the Holy Temple. Not presents. [About the oily foods, see rant below, and at least there's some religious significance to it. About the gifts, see rant above.] Don't fall prey to the holiday cycle--I IMPLORE YOU! So to all of you Jews out there, I quote Dylan Thomas: Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And mistletoe--what the hell's up with that? Are we really so hard-up that we can't get someone to make out with us unless there's a mandate saying we must do so? Don't get me wrong--I think the Golden rule and good will towards man should be arduously promoted. But kissing? WTF?! You know what you end up with? a) smarmy guys trying to abuse the holiday spirit; b) avoiding/running quickly under the mistletoe to avoid others; c) crying underneath the mistletoe, d) "Please come under the mistletoe with me!"/glances askance from those avoiding the unpleasant experience not kisssing people they're not interested in kissing.

You know what else I don't like about the holidays?! GETTING FAT! Now I know that many of you will argue that no one makes us eat, free will, blah blah blah, and that's all fine and good. But facts are facts. The average American gains 1.05 pounds a year, with almost all of it gained between Thanksgiving and New Year's. While a pound doesn't seem like much, this weight never comes off, and helps lead to obesity. And since half the country is currently overweight/obese, and those overweight/obese were more likely to gain a larger amount of weight, our holiday sweet tooth inevitably leads to the United States of Obesity. Maybe the networks could aid us with some "How to Lose Those Holiday Pounds" after New Year's....

Which leads to my next bogus point: New Year's resolutions. What are they good for? ABSOLUTELY.....NOTHING! Let's practice another meaningless ritual that we never intend to fulfill. We'll go to the gym/stop swearing/stop smoking/drink less/eat less/stop hooking up with that no-good girl/guy. For like 3 weeks. "Oh, well--no one keeps their New Year's resolutions anyways, right? Tee hee hee!" At least for Lent people can hold off for 40 days, but then folks can go back to normal--it's a gesture, not a life change. Valentine's Day, along with the accompanying wave of emotions comes just in time for us to stop going to the gym/start swearing/start smoking/drink more/eat more/start hooking up with that girl/guy again. But forget Valentine's Day--I'll stop here.

I'm just saying--be nice to others. Year-round. Give to charity. Year-round. Eat healthy and behave decently. Year-round. Let the "Holiday Spirit" encompass your being--it's not a monthly thing. And forget this commercial Christmas thing--it just serves to make everyone broke, angry, agitated and tubby.

So happy holidays to all, and to all a good night.

Welcome to the Blogosphere

Bear with me as I figure this out. Today I dubiously spread my techie wings. In English? I don't speak Blog. Yet. I'm venturing out into the unknown to make my opinion heard (to the three people that find this blog).

I have a funny story to tell. A unique perspective to offer. Or so I think. I feel like I'm in the minority--a little more raw, a little more cynical, than your average bear. I do politics, comedy, interpersonal tete-a-tetes, sports, and, of course, the family. And amusing/ridiculous events in my mundane, mundane life. Enjoy the ride!

I am the naysayer.

Hear me naysay.