The Wry Side of Life

In one of my favorite movies Wall Street, Gordon Gecko says, "Greed is good". In the excessive media attention and saturation of the TLC show Jon & Kate Plus 8, it's beginning to look as if everybody has taken that message to heart. The producers of the show to the title "stars" themselves. They've sold their souls for fame, money and good ol' fashion greed. It's quite disgusting actually, and I don't think I will be tuning in for this train wreck. I've avoided watching the new shows, because I believe reality shows are turning down a dark path. How badly do we want to see people self-destruct and hurt themselves? Is it entertaining to watch a family fall apart? I hope TLC can make the right decision and end this show. I don't think I can stomach the idea of these two people trying to keep a show going in order to fill their bank accounts.

June 2, 2009 will be a day that will be forever etched into my memory. I went with my friend Karen to the Dodgers games vs the D-backs. We were both having a rough day, and were in desperate need of a good time. Boy, did we get one. It started out slow, by the time we entered the stadium one of the D-back players hit a grandslam. The score was 5-0. A glimmer of hope appeared when Andre Ethier hit a homerun. After that it seemed like the Dodgers were going nowhere fast offensively. In fact, a majority of the fans started leaving at the 7th inning. Defensively you had plays that stopped the D-back offense cold. Good plays were made by Casey Blake and Orlando Hudson. Hudson actually fell into the stands trying to catch a foul ball. He is definetly one of the best defensively that I have ever seen. To top the night was the come from behind win. James Loney hit a double and it brought three guys in to tie the game. Loney moved to third on a wild pitch. It all came down to Ca...

While I was working on my weekend job, the power went out in my area. This is where I collect the money, both the register and credit card machine were down. I had let people in and told them we'll find them and they could pay later. What is the likelihood that they would come back and pay? Actually I had three young ladies come back. They were insistent upon paying. It made me feel good that there were a few honest people out there. I told them most people would have just left. In this downward spiral we've seem to be in, and it's only going to get worse in California--it's nice to know that cyncism and taking advantage of a situation have not become the norm. All I can say is bless their hearts, and I hope good karma will continue to come their way.

I've got the Dodger Blues, and not in a good way. Several weeks ago it came out that Manny Ramirez tested positive for a banned substance. My initial reaction was denial, and let's wait for all the facts to come out before we pass judgement. Then when I heard that the banned substance was one that someone takes when they are getting off of steroids--my heart sank. For the past couple of months, my apartment manager has been telling me "just you wait, it's going to come out next that Manny Ramirez took steroids". I took a let's wait and see. In the back of my mind it's seemed possible, but I hoped that it wasn't the case. That the effortless home runs that Manny hit were from natural talent. In some ways I think we've come to idolize people like singers, sports figures, politicians, etc as being god-like. As if they were untouchable from human frailties. I think we need to snap out of that mentality. Deep down we are all humans, we make colossal mis...

I noticed an interesting trend the other day on two of the shows I watch on the CW 90210 and Privileged. Both shows feature an interracial couple, one is straight the other is gay. One of the partners is African-American while the other is white. What disturbed me until last Tuesday (Feb. 10, 2009) was that neither couple was ever shown kissing on the lips. The camera would capture the kiss from a angle where you would see the back of someone's head. I found this annoying, because I've never seen this done. You always see at least the lips touching especially with straight couples. This had several implications for me. Was the censorship of these couples part of because we had a Republican administration in office at that time? Or could it be part of an even more disturbing implication that interracial relationship are on par with gay relationships. That they are things that shouldn't be promoted and have to be watered down to the point where it seems more like a friendshi...

I had bought this book sometime last year and just had a chance to finally read it. I had five people tell me already how much they enjoyed the book. It seems to have struck a nerve for some people and I wanted to see if it would have the same effect on me. I enjoyed the section in Italy. Part of the reason could be that I wanted to know if she was going to have a torrid affair with an Italian guy. Alas she did not, I guess it keeps it from going the Under the Tuscan Sun (movie version) route and avoids all those tourist cliches. Another part that I enjoyed was when she was describing the pizza she bought in Naples. Man, I could only wish that slice of pizza had manifested itself in real life. Now I really got to save up and travel! The India section was the weakest part of the book for me. I didn't buy the whole New Age conversion--that the constant meditation changed her spiritual well-being. Is it really about meditating that changes one's life or is it the opport...

I watched the movie The Reader last Friday and it left me perplexed. I'm unsure about how I feel about the film and the way it approached its subject. The film is about a young boy who has an affair with an older woman. Later on in his life he happens upon her trial and he is keeping a secret of his own. I think the film brought up a lot of tough questions and I'm not sure if there is a good answer or a perfect response. 1. Would it be possible for someone who was a Nazi guard, who was responsible for the deaths of Jewish prisoners to achieve some sort of forgiveness? Can this person be redeemed? 2. Could that same person ever re-enter society and function as a normal human being? 3. Is the next generation doomed to repeat or doomed to forget the past? Watch the movie and let me know what your thoughts are.