Friday, August 23, 2013

Week In Review [08.23.2013]

                This is my first time trying this.   I might try to do it every week.  I might only do it when I feel like it.   But I saw a lot of stories circulating this week that I really felt needed some commentary by me, even if it wasn’t serious commentary.  
                Rather than dedicate entire columns to specific items that everyone else is seemingly blogging about, I’m just going to give you a little story (or sometimes just a sentence or two) and then a link to something kind of official.
                Like I say, I might do this again next week; I might only do it on busy news weeks.    So enjoy it or don’t.   It’s just something I had to get out. 


                Bradley Manning is a name that’s trending on Twitter, though now he wants to be a she and I’m fine with that.   My biggest argument against transgender people is:  Why do it?   It seems like the whole idea of changing your gender comes from feeling as if gender doesn’t matter.   You know, it’s a lot of “Well, if you loved me as a man then you should still love me as a woman”.

                But if that’s true and our bodies are not really ourselves, then perhaps we should just play the hands we are dealt.   That’s my personal philosophy, but don’t take what I say to heart because I’ve never even gotten a tattoo.

                I’m sure there were people at one point in time that had black or brown hair but wanted to be blonde and they couldn’t do anything about it.   Now with all the hair dyes, no one is really their natural color anymore, so I mean, really, in some ways we’re all living as someone else anyway.

                Superficiality aside, we have the technology, so do it.   How is a breast augmentation different from this?  Where do you draw the line, you know?    And I say that we are not the ones to draw the lines.

                So now Chelsea Manning is facing 35 years in jail for giving away military secrets.    What were these secrets exactly?  If they weren’t launch codes and the Russians didn’t nuke us away, I’d say we really should have some lesser sentences here, right?

                I’m not going to compare and contrast because you can look up your own facts and statistics, but this seems like one of those unjust cases like when a guy goes to jail for 20 years for possession of marijuana while a murderer gets off in five.



                Let’s be honest: Al Qaeda needs a spinoff like “Grey’s Anatomy” needed one.   But seriously, let’s watch our asses as well. 



                Not that long after professional wrestler Darren Young (not his real name) came out, Wentworth Miller also decided to make headlines by saying he is also gay.    The fact that he portrayed a character that broke into prison to get his brother out, well… Make your own jokes there.

                I have no problems with Wentworth Miller and actually really enjoy as a quiet, intelligent actor.   Seeing him on talk shows, he seems to have these qualities in real life as well.   My only concern is if people want equality, then why is “coming out” this big deal to TMZ?  

                When will a major news website (Just kidding, I’ll accept TMZ) publish a story about someone who is rumored to be gay “coming out” as straight?   If being straight isn’t a big enough deal to make TMZ headlines, then being gay shouldn’t be either.  

                At the end of the day, it’s all Hollyweird.  I watch movies and television shows that I like.  If Wentworth Miller came out halfway through the Prison Break series, I wouldn’t have stopped watching it because of that.   And anyone who did would need to kindly remove themselves from the 1950’s and be welcomed into a new millennium.  


                Something something Aaron Hernandez.   I wouldn’t know or care about this football player if he wasn’t from New England, but the fact that this happened in Connecticut somehow makes it appear in my newsfeed more often. 


                The world lost a great soul in Elmore Leonard.   While I first watched his movies then read his books, he was a true talent who has influenced so many aspects of film and books that you probably have seen or read something associated with him and didn’t even realize it.



                Look for the Playstation 3 price to drop soon as Playstation 4 is expected to be out in time for Christmas.   Really, these things should just be cranked out every year around the holidays, am I right?  Instead of buying new games every year, let’s buy new games and new systems as well.  



                Singer Brandy recently performed in South Africa in front of 90 people.   The intimate show must have been quite an experience for the few in the audience, but the former Moesha must have been shocked to be playing to less than a hundred people in an arena that held… let’s just be nice and say a lot more people than that.

                On one hand, it was a surprise and not really like she announced it beforehand.   If it was an issue with poor ticket sales, she could’ve just cancelled the show ala K-Fed and then taken the blow.   But, right now it just is a bad looking headline.



                Richie Sambora, one of the original members of Bon Jovi, was fired from the band over money issues.   Really?   The same Bon Jovi that played all those benefit concerts last year after Hurricane Sandy?

                I really don’t care what Bon Jovi does as a band.   You could have Jon Bon Jovi out there with some unknowns backing him up and it’d make no difference to me.   I just hope this doesn’t turn into one of those Axl/Slash things because Bon Jovi is very pretty and he doesn’t need to turn into Axl by any means. 



                Pete Rose says that Ichiro will not be able to catch him as the all-time hits leader.   Ichiro will also not be able to catch Rose for numbers of games he’s betted on and lost because, well, you don’t bet against the Yankees. 

                In all honesty, I love both Pete Rose and Ichiro, but baseball just isn’t now what it used to be.   To have any record set before 1995 broken is just not something I want to see.   I don’t want to see names like Barry Bonds or Derek Jeter in the record books.

                Now, given that, I probably like Ichiro better than I like Pete Rose.   But this isn’t a popularity contest and I really just want to see Rose hold onto his record for the sake of the good old days.



                My favorite baseball team is working on signing the Japanese sensation that won the World Series with the Boston Red Sox.   Check out Matsuzakamania now!!

                The Mets have been winning a lot of games lately.   Unfortunately for them, there have been all of those games that they lost during the first half of the season.   So we go into the end of the season once again hoping that the Mets can change our minds next season and start off as winners.

                This acquisition does give us Mets fans a little more hope, but overall, yeah, they’ll  probably just have a losing record the first half of the season next year as well. 

               

                I wish I was making this up, but yes, Hulk Hogan is really going to arm wrestle the mayor of Toronto.   Surprising fact I learned in this story:  Canada has mayors.   Good for them.  I was under the impression they were a monarchy like England.

                I’m also being informed that this arm wrestling contest will be for 1,000 Bound For Glory Series points.   Now, neither Hogan nor Mayor Rob Ford are in the BFG Series, but I fully expect whoever wins this to take it all and go for the gold a Bound For Glory.

                Also, a run in by another wrestler has not been ruled out.   They are in Canada, and the TNA roster has a few Canadians on it.  

                Wow, though, doesn’t this very notion just seem so ripe for the picking?   Why was “Hogan Knows Best” cancelled again??



                Allen Iverson, an NBA player with a sorted past is set to retire.  He hasn’t played since 2010, so this is probably the perfect time to make the announcement.     Is Allen Iverson even still relevant?  Does he matter at this point in time?   I’m not sure, but I know I don’t care.

                What’s funny about Allen Iverson, in an unrelated but kind of related story, is that I spent the last few years thinking Dikembe Mutumbo was dead.   Manute Bol actually died in a car crash, and that’s where my mistake came in.   I only realized this when I saw an ad on YouTube which featured Dikembe Mutumbo. 

                At the same time, Iverson could just as easily be confused with someone else in my mind because that whole group that came after Michael Jordan all kind of blend together for me anyway. 



                Lebron James named his top three favorite basketball players of all-time.   The short list was Michael Jordan, Dr. J and Larry Bird.   What gets me about this is that it seems like he’s saying it because he thinks it’s what people want him to say rather than what he believes.     As a kid and into my teens, I enjoyed way too many basketball players to have a top three, but why not throw in someone unexpected yet personal to you?  I probably would’ve thrown in David Robinson, Isaiah Thomas or Reggie Miller just to keep things interesting.  

                On top of this you have to wonder, if you’re growing up watching Jordan and Bird (like I am), then you didn’t grow up watching Dr. J.   My dad watched all three of them but he’s too old to be in the NBA right now.   So why not stick with what you know and who was most relevant to you when growing up?   My top three list wouldn’t include Dr. J, Bill Russell or any other number of guys that you would look for seriously because I never saw them play, never had their cards or jerseys, etc.  

                Your list should be personal to you, not something it seems as if your publicist told you to say so as not to get into any trouble.  



                See you next week.  Maybe.

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