Total Request Blog

10 Best TV Series of the 00's

2009-12-15T11:52:00.000-08:00

The 00's may eventually be considered the decade of the television series. The tv series were better than most of the movies. Plus when you put a show on HBO or Showtime you don't have any standards or censors. You basically have an extremely long form movie. So here are my top 10 shows of the decade. Keep in mind there are some series that I haven't seen (Mad Men, The Shield, Sopranos) and probably will never see (24, Lost). For an explanation please see the first paragraph of my Best Movies of the 00's post.

The only stipulation is that the show had to have started in the decade. It can still be running.

10. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives - I love food. I can probably count only on one hand the number of things that Guy Fieri has eaten on this show that I would probably refuse to eat. Every time he eats a big cheeseburger I immediately crave one so much that I can't stand it. Cheeseburgers are the best. Now I'm getting hungry just writing this. No wonder the terrorists hate us.

9. Curb Your Enthusiasm - Larry David says the things that many of us would love to say. The small little nuances in life that annoy most of us and we let go, he can't let go. He confronts and approaches everyone for the biggest and smallest things. The difference between his life and real life is that they confront back. If that were real life, he would be considered an arrogant bully rather than the bumbling loud-mouth idiot. Oh and the show is very funny.

8. Arrested Development - This show makes me feel smart the same way The Wire makes me feel smart. The plotlines and dialogue weave in and out of each other so tightly. It's almost as if the show is one big running joke. Kind of like the economy. Zing!

7. Heroes - This series took up where the comic book movies left off. (I say left off because there were a big string of these movies in the mid to late 00's and they all started to run together. Now they have started to level off and the quality has come back to them.) There are so many characters with these amazing powers living amongst the humans. I like that the special people are given human qualities, and exhibit human behaviors as they learn how to cope with their special powers. It's gotten a little complicated as of late but I still can't miss an episode. (Mostly because I'll be completely lost if I do.)

6. House - In 20 years, film schools will teach a character class on snarkiness and sarcasm with half the semester based on Dr. Greg House. Do they have classes like that? I don't know, I've never been to film school. If they did, House would be the subject, and I would audit this class. As long as it's online. I'm not sure it would have the same effect that way.

5. Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations - In addition to being a great writer, Anthony Bourdain is a heck of television host. This show never gets it's due. It has been the best reality/travel show on tv for a long time and has spawned many "spin-offs" due to its success. Bourdain would be the perfect travel partner, willing to go to the most obscure places in order to get the best bowl of noodles or cuts of pork he can find. Your average tourist won't go much further than the local Applebee's. Bourdain gives us all courage to use travel for what it really should be, creatively expanding our experiences and taste buds.

4. Entourage - Disregarding last season, which was an unexplainable farce, this show has been amazing and funny between character and story. This is a show that makes me jealous of the characters. There were 5 distinct main characters who lived the good life and had fun all the time. Their life was all fun. It's the kind of show where you don't really want to see the characters grow or change. I liked them the way they were. The second they introduced real problems 2 seasons ago, they made the characters more human. Now instead of watching celebrity friends who have it all, I'm watching real people with problems who happen to be celebrities. At least I have the first 4 seasons to go back and watch.

3. The Office (U.S. version) - Every office has one of the characters from the show. It's amazing how close to real life they can be. Every office has a Michael. Every office has a Jim. Every office even has a Dwight. If your office doesn't have a Dwight then I hate to break it to you, but you are the Dwight.

2. The OC - This series was not the first about spoiled rich kids in Southern California, some may say it wasn't even the best. (Personally I never watched Beverly Hills, 90210 so I cannot compare the two.) However the writers fit more drama and more story in the 4 seasons this series was on air than any network show I've seen. We had The OC viewing parties every Thursday night. I unashamedly loved that show and still compare every subsequent show about rich spoiled teenagers to The OC. All of them come up short.

1. The Wire - The greatest tv show of all time. This series has so many layers, that you could write books about it and still not cover but a percentage of everything. I could spend a million words on this show and still not be satisfied. So all I'm going to say is, if you haven't seen it, watch it. Every episode. If you have seen it, watch it again. You will find something new that you missed before. Ask for the boxed set for Christmas or your birthday. It will be totally worth it.

10 Best Movies of the 00's

2009-12-11T10:16:00.000-08:00

My life consists of perpetually trying to stay up to date on my movie viewing through Blockbuster online while at the same time trying to watch full seasons of tv shows that I haven't caught on tv. This can be very stressful. Sometimes I just have to say, "no thanks" on some movies that I actually would like to see. I wonder if I'll ever get caught up. My Blockbuster queue is like the national deficit at this point.

I made this list based on a few things. Have I watched the movie many times. If I catch the movie on HBO, will I stop and watch no matter the scene. Also does the movie hold sentimental value. If the movie is part of a series, I am only choosing one movie from that series. Also I am only choosing one movie from any one director. Otherwise it would be all Coen Brother and John Woo movies.

10. Let the Right One In - This was the best vampire movie of the decade. I like vampire and zombie movies. There was just something about the suspense and the approach to the genre using a kid vampire that made this movie so great. Even if the movie had been a piece of junk, but it wasn't, the last pool scene would have redeemed it. Freaked me right out.

9. No Country for Old Men - I was "that guy" who read the book first and told everyone to watch this movie but to also read the book because "the book was better." Listen, I never read books. It takes me 3 months to read one book. So when I do finally read one, it's an occasion. I wanted to brag about this one. Anyway, the book is better, but the movie is still pretty freaking good. Javier Bardem made me want to be an Hispanic killer for hire with a bad haircut.

8. The Bourne Identity - We've all heard the stories about how this series changed the way the James Bond movies were made. Well James Bond looked like Estelle Getty next to Jason Bourne. There is nothing better than a guy with amnesia who can kill anything with his bare hands. However the name Jason Bourne seems like a name given to the main character in a James Bond adult film spoof.

7. The Descent - This is the scariest movie I've ever seen. It makes the Saw movies look like Anne of Green Gables. It has everything. Claustrophobic? Your skin will crawl. Afraid of heights? You will pass out from fear. Hate human shaped monsters? You will vomit in your shoes. Dislike beautiful women covered in dirt and blood? Thank God.

6. The Departed - I want to be Irish. Not of Irish descent, which I am anyway. I'm a white guy with fair skin, so I assume I must be of Irish descent. I want to be at least one generation removed from Ireland. The guys in this movie would make anyone want to be Irish. It also introduced the Dropkick Murphys to me, who's "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" would be on my list of Top 20 songs of the 00's if I expanded my original list.

5. The Royal Tenenbaums - Weird a quirky and pretty hilarious. I normally think these kind of movies are too artsy and strange, but this one I actually liked a lot. The characters each have different qualities to them even though they all seem depressed. Maybe I like the movie because no matter what mood I'm in, I can still say it's not as bad as this family.

4. Spider Man 2 - This isn't the best comic book movie of all time anymore, but it certainly was when it came out. There is just something about seeing the inanimate objects you grew up playing with or reading about in comics come to life in a movie that makes me very happy. It was the same way with the first Transformers movie. Just an awesome experience. Unfortunately I might have to miss "Blankey: The Movie" when it comes out.

3. Garden State - The soundtrack fits so well to this movie. I might even say perfect. I'm convinced that Zach Braff made a playlist of his favorite songs one day and decided to write a movie around it. The soundtrack is so great that it's probably in my top 10 albums of the 00's. The movie is pretty good too.

2. Wedding Crashers - This was my favorite comedy of the decade. Wet Hot American Summer and Anchorman were both funnier movies, but Wedding Crashers had the biggest impact. It defined the summer of '05 for me. I kept trying to think of a comedy of the decade and this was the movie that came to mind first every time.

1. The Dark Knight - Best movie of all time. I will not budge on this.

10 Best Song of the 00's

2009-12-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

These are the songs from the past decade that I've listened to the most on my iPod, computer, car cd player or that had the biggest impact on me overall. I only included 1 song per artist. Otherwise it would be only Avett Brothers and Jimmy Eat World. Apparently I liked depressing sad-sack music during the 00's.

10. Yeah - Usher (This song bumped Abba's Dancing Queen as my favorite song to dance to. The perfect hip-hop dance song.)

9. Like Eating Glass - Bloc Party (The second most original song of the decade. I must have listened to this song a thousand times the first week I heard it.)

8. Wolf Like Me - TV on the Radio (Crazy song for a crazy band. The most original song of the decade definitely.)

7. What Sarah Said - Death Cab for Cutie (This song has gotten me through some difficult times with quite a few friends and family members passing away. At first it sounds like another depressing emo song, but the redemption comes at the end with the lyric "Love is watching someone die." Ok, so maybe I'm the only person on the planet that finds this song uplifting.)

6. B.O.B. - Outkast (Outkast is still my favorite hip-hop group today. They defined the first half of the decade for me. Of course I don't know if that says much considering slow, depressing, emo type music was the second half. This song has an addictive beat and super fast lyrics that challenged me to memorize them.)

5. Mr. Brightside - The Killers (I think this is where I started enjoying the big stadium, orchestral, 20 instrument music that made up a lot of rock and indie bands. It's the same lyrics over and over but it's wonderful.)

4. Keep the Car Running - The Arcade Fire (I could wake up to this song every morning and be ok with it. I have no idea what the lyrics mean or even what he's saying for that matter, but it's just a fun song. It took one of their older songs on the trailer for a boring movie for these guys to get their due.)

3. Knights of Cydonia - Muse (If I were a filmmaker I would make a western movie, just so I could put this song in the final shootout scene between the homeless cattle-poaching criminals and the slightly alcoholic hero sheriff.)

2. November Blues - The Avett Brothers (The version on Live Vol. 2 is by far the best. This is also my favorite song to see them perform in concert. Me wish I can rite dat good.)

1. 23 - Jimmy Eat World (This is probably the theme song of the 00's for me, the decade of my 20's. I love this song, haven't gotten tired of it yet and hope to never tire of it.)

I Love Lists

2009-12-08T07:41:00.000-08:00

I love lists. No not Franz Liszt you 19th century European music composer nerds. The kind that makes everything simpler and easier. It's so much fun to see everyone's lists of the best this or the worst that. The only problem is that everyone's list is always wrong. Always. I have never seen a list that I completely agree with. What is wrong with you people who think it's different or original to have a top 9 list or a top 11 or 13 list? That's ridiculous. Lists should only ever use the following numbers: 10, 20, 25, 40, 50 and 100. Those numbers make the most sense. I only threw 40 in there because of the Top 40 music list, which is the only place 40 should be used. So I decided, what with the end of the decade upon us, to add my top ten lists into the mix of all the tens of thousands of top ten lists out there. The only difference is that they are wrong and I am right. I will post the lists over the next couple of days.

R.O. #5

2009-06-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

I just heard a Randall "Tex" Cobb reference on The Adam Carolla Podcast. You just don't hear enough of those.

It must be a requirement for opening an Oriental or Persian Rug store to immediately go out of business. They probably have to include the cost of huge red and yellow "50-75% Off All Rugs Storewide" signs in their initial business plan.

When a group of people don't want to conform and want to be individuals, don't they then cease to be individuals and start to conform? Just in a different way. Just because you wear eyeliner, have turned your earlobe into a hula-hoop and wear girl jeans doesn't make you an individual or mean you're expressing yourself there, fella. Because there are 6 other dudes in your crew who look exactly like you. Unless you're the product of some crazy genetic cloning experiment then you will be like at least one other person. There is no such thing as individual "style" and conformity is not the dirty word you make it out to be.

Why is it that when people come into a meeting late or even if there are a bunch of people already in the meeting and it hasn't yet started, they insist on either bunching up in the closest seat or stand in the back of the room? I was at the opening meeting of about 7000 people at a conference the other day and there were about 80 people standing in the back. They had set up chairs for about 8000 people. There were literally at least 1500 empty seats yet these people decided to stand in the back. That makes no sense.

I do not understand the Matthew McConaughey obsession. He has been in 3 good movies. 3. That's it. Those movies are Tropic Thunder, Reign of Fire and of course Dazed and Confused. The best part is he wasn't even the star of any of those movies. I don't get it.

Michael Jackson, dead. Farrah Fawcett, dead. Billy Mays, dead. Yet somehow Spencer and Heidi roam free!?!? How is this possible?

I always get Lou Diamond Phillips and Benjamin Bratt confused.

The Cheers theme song should be the standard toward which all other sitcom themes strive. What an amazing first verse and chorus. The second and third verse get a little weird however.

Celebrity Look-Alike #6

2009-06-24T13:16:00.001-07:00

Spencer Pratt

The Grinch

Random Observations #4

2009-06-05T06:41:00.000-07:00

I've gone almost about a month and a half since my last post. Is it laziness, you ask? Maybe. So why am I posting now after all this time? Perhaps I just got pressured into it since Becca Veazey Scogin posted a link to this site on her blog. Thanks Becca.

"Cream cheese", just like the word "chocolate", is one of those words that sounds like you have a mouth full of it when you say it.

Do we really need to use the phrase "war-torn" to describe countries like Afghanistan and Iraq? Do people picture anything else but a place that has been devastated by war when talking about thsoe countries?

Break-dancing is a lost art. The kids these days just do little gyrations with their legs and call that a dance sensation. Try spinning on your head then doing a backflip and landing on one hand while sliding across stage. It's not easy and it takes a little creativity. The fact that the two suburban kids came up with that dance that was on Jimmy Fallon just proves to you that these things take no thought or effort. Stanky leg? Come on now. Stop mailing it in.

Hey loud chinese lady at the Manchu Wok in the mall, I do not like to be yelled at. If I wanted to try your bourbon chicken I would approach you and inquire about the large sign with "2 meats and rice or noodle for $4.99" written on it. Think of that glass sneeze guard as a Fourth Wall. You are not allowed to break it.

I don't like the phrase "at the end of the day." What does it even mean? "At the end of the day you gotta be able to look at yourself in the mirror." I go to sleep at the end of the day. Nothing else. So you're going to look in the mirror instead of sleeping you vain good-for-nothing. I guess at the end of the day, when it's all said and done, it's just another cliche.

Lebron is better than Kobe. Kobe just proved it Sunday night. First of all there is no way Lebron gets his shot blocked at the end of regulation with the game on the line. He either nails it or misses it and takes it into OT. But to not even get a shot off and you're supposedly the best player in the league? But more importantly, during that last play I kept thinking that Kobe should try to pass it because I didn't think he would be able to get a good shot off if at all. You want Kobe to pass it at the end of the game and you want Lebron to always shoot it at the end of a game. There is your difference. One is a closer and one is not. Kobe is the A-Rod of basketball and Lebron is the Pujols of basketball.

Professional athletes have every person available to make their decisions for them. Managers, agents, lawyers, pr people. With all the talk of athletes not only taking performance enhancing drugs but getting caught for taking those drugs, every athlete should have a pharmacist on their staff. Someone who, when an athlete gets caught for using ped's, can immediately take what the athlete is accused of using and come up with a combination of perfectly legal drugs that would contribute to a false positive of the illegal drug.

Celebrity Look-Alike #6

2009-04-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

Eddie Vedder

Scott Stapp

Jeremy Bricker

Celebrity Look-Alike #5

2009-04-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

Dog the Bounty Hunter

His wife

Celebrity Look-Alike #4

2009-04-17T06:40:00.000-07:00

Al Roker

Scooby Doo

Celebrity Look-Alike #3

2009-04-14T08:08:00.000-07:00

Phil Spector

Big Bird

Celebrity Look-Alike #2

2009-04-09T20:41:00.000-07:00

Oliver Purnell

Yertle the Turtle

Celebrity Look-alike #1

2009-04-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

Joan Rivers & Grandma Arbuckle from Garfield

R.I.P. The Adam Carolla Show

2009-02-23T08:29:00.000-08:00

It's a sad day. I have no words.

R.O. #3

2009-02-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

When I see a guy wearing a skin tight Ed Hardy t-shirt with designer jeans and a fedora I immediately think, "this is a guy who's got it together." Then I follow it up with, "Boy I'd love to be him." Followed closely by, "I hate him."

Take some good advice. When you have 6 kids, you live with your mother, and you don't have a job, a good idea would be to have 6 embryos implanted into your uterus so you can then give birth to 8 kids. There are literally millions of kids in this world with no parents. Why would you want to have 8 more of your own when you already have 6? The reason she didn't adopt is because adoption agencies would have deemed this lady unfit for adoption. If you are deemed unfit for adoption then you shouldn't be allowed to have kids yourself.

My biggest pet peeve in the world is stuff that gets hung on other stuff. I'm looking at you clothes hangers. Don't try to run, headphones. Why is it that anytime you are in your closet and find the shirt you want, you have to be prepared to pull out a pair of pants and 2 more shirts. Because that hanger is getting hung on something. It could get hung on the most microscopic thread and it will still pull out half your closet. I don't even want to think about trying to unravel Christmas lights. Ugh, I'm getting angry just writing this.

I buy a chapstick about once every 3 months. However for some crazy reason I always lose it. Always. I literally bought a stick about a month ago and lost it about 2 weeks later. I even talked about how I always lose chapstick and I need to figure out a way not to lose it. Then a week later it's gone. It's not like I take the chapstick everywhere I go and use it everyday. It has to be either at my house or in my car. But it's neither place.

Watch The Wire. Watch it.

Pictures of people playing Rock Band are the new Sorority Pose. They all look the exact same. All of them. There should be a generic "People Playing Rock Band" feature on photoshop so you can just add faces and background. That way you don't have to get bored to tears actually watching and taking pictures of people playing Rock Band.

Chocolate is one of those weird words where everytime you say it, it sounds like you're eating it at the same time. Try it. I think it's the combination of the c and the l.

That thought brings me to this thought. The only thing more annoying than people who talk with their mouth full and have food flying all over the place is the people who talk with their mouth full but they keep their mouths mostly closed. They do the thing where they talk softly and their "s" sounds more like a "sh". If they talked loudly or normal then food would fly everywhere. Just wait until you're finished eating, then talk. People do it everyday.

One thing I refuse to do is abbreviate phrases. E-mails, chat, texts, it doesn't matter. Stop being lazy and take time to type the entire word out. "Hi J, wut r u up 2" It takes me twice as long to read this, as it would take you to just type the words all the way out. I have students who do this in their projects and reports now. It's gone too far. Get yourselves together people.

That's all for now. ttyl

A funny thing happened on the way to 5 Guys....

2009-01-27T08:01:00.000-08:00

Well maybe I was not on the way to 5 Guys but more inside of 5 Guys. So anyway Jen and I were in 5 Guys for some burgers and fries the other night. Sorry but I haven't gotten the nerve to try one of the hot dogs sliced in half. I'll stick with the burgers for now and eat dogs from another more reputable dog place. Anyway so we are in there and place our order. She gets a jr burger with bbq sauce and pickles and I get the double patty cheeseburger for fat people with onions, mushrooms, bbq sauce and hot sauce. We got some fries too. Good stuff.

Well she goes to sit down and I'm standing up there waiting on our food. I have the number 46 on my ticket. The little guy with the responsibility of bagging up the sandwiches and dumping fries in the bag also had to yell out the number on the ticket. If you ask me that seems like a lot for one person but times are tough and you better learn to multi-task. Well I'm standing there as he's counting down. "42!" I'm pretty hungry at this point. "43!" I thought about how I shouldn't have left my drink all the way on the table. "44!" "Only two more numbers....what is he doing?....he looks confused..." The guy stands there for about 6 minutes studying the tickets like they're the Magna Carta. He stuffs a few aluminum foil wrapped items into the 2 bags along with some fries. "45....46!"

Finally, he figured it out. So we're sitting down and unwrapping the burgers when we made the discovery. Both burgers have tomatoes AND mayonnaise on them. Sick. I hate both of those things. Well I take them to the counter and think to myself as I'm walking up "I guarantee number 45 is walking up here at any point." I get the man's attention and let him know of the mistake when number 45 walks up. She's an older lady in her 60's maybe. She is already annoyed. I could care less, I just want to eat. She sternly tells the guy that she got the wrong burgers. Well they look at the tickets again like it's the Magna Carta crossed with Webster's Dictionary written in ancient Greek. What is the deal? The whole time I'm trying to joke with the older lady and explain how if I had taken a bite of the tomato and mayo burger I would have vomited for 4 days. Then she drops this bomb on me.

"We used to like coming here until they hired all these blacks."

My response, "......"

First of all....WHAT? Secondly, I didn't know that people like her still existed. How is this nice looking old lady with her 90 year old mother in tow such a blatant outright racist? Still? Really? Thirdly, the hard working people in the kitchen weren't even black, they were Hispanic. At this point it becomes not sad anymore but humorous. Humorous to the point where this older lady will spend the rest of her days being miserable and prejudice with no hope at leading a joyful, happy life.

These were the type of comments I used to hear from old people like 15-20 years ago. This kind of blatant bigotry seemed more of a novelty these days than anything else. This lady made me glad that I voted for Obama. I would love to sit in the same room with her as she watched his inauguration or as she watches his first State of the Union address. Just to see the anger and despair build up in her face. I pity you lady. I really do. The sort of arrogance it takes to have those thoughts and to voice them out loud. Wow.

Love brings happiness. Hate brings death.

R.O. #2

2009-01-06T07:58:00.000-08:00

It's weird and maybe a little pathetic, but I feel most of the past 3 years of my life were erased when my computer reformatted my ipod the other day for no reason whatsoever.

How is it possible to properly prepare for a winter day in South Carolina? I need an entire wardrobe at my disposal at work just in case. Really, anything could happen. Rain? Got a raincoat and umbrella. Sunshine and 75? I'll just roll up the sleeves of my button-down. The streets are flooded with maple syrup? Good thing I brought my canoe.

If anyone has a job skills lesson plan that I can connect to the televised viewing of the most historically significant presidential inauguration of my lifetime please let me know.

Done with Gamecock football for 2009. Done.

Why is it that the most successful actors these days are borderline midgets? What happened to tall tough guys like Clint Eastwood? John Wayne was 6'4" for goodness sakes.

I am just now embracing my hometown as being in "the upstate." It took 10 years of explaining to everyone where Greenwood is located to come to grasps with this. I am currently in "the midlands." Slowly working my way toward "the lowcountry."

If the real world were like the cartoons, I would have yellow birds flying and chirping around my head right now.

Or maybe stars. I was never able to decipher the severity of the tiny cartoons flying around one's head after an injury. However I am certain that after massive head trauma, such as an anvil being dropped on you, you must bob around in circles like an accordian for the next 2.5 minutes.

As it turns out, there ARE cats in America and the streets are NOT paved with cheese.

You would think that someone who was never really much of a video game player and who grew up in the country and who did everything outside such as tend a garden and chop wood would be a model of good health and athleticism. You would be wrong.

VH1 should have a show where all of the celebreality "stars" have competitions for money at the end of each show. However the two losers of each competition fight to the death. Who wouldn't want to see Flava Flav and Verne Troyer duke it out in Axe Body Spray presents VH1's celebreality Ring of Death sponsored by Proactiv? The show should be called VH1's It's About Time.

My prediction for 2019: A television comedy will bring "That's what she said..." back into popular culture after it died in 2009 from gross overuse.

Random Observations

2008-12-10T08:57:00.001-08:00

I constantly find myself saying things such as "Why do kids wear their pants around their knees?" and "I don't understand the new military style shirts." and "Why do these kids need 30 pairs of Air Force Ones?" Then I wonder when I turned into a 43 year old Southern Baptist minister of music.

Minister of Music sounds like a fake title given by a president to his worthless pothead brother because their mom told him to find his brother a place in his administration.

Is it just me or is Norm MacDonald possibly the funniest most underappereciated comedian on the planet? He is never on TV or radio. We need more Norm.

I have found that the easiest to spot difference between guys and girls is moving parts. We like things with moving parts or things that move (cars, sports, electronic equipment, etc) and girls would prefer things that are more stable and didn't move around so much or things with just one part (good friendships, jewelry, watching one television show instead of turning the channel every 30 seconds, etc). I know one of you is thinking "But dishwashers and washing machines have moving parts." To that I reply "You sir are a sexist fiend."

Why does Urban Outfitters constantly send me emails trying to sell me women's shoes, underwear and weird looking half dresses?

Hey, I Like to Walk Across the Middle of a Busy Street Wearing Dark Clothing in the Middle of the Night and Give You the Death Stare Because You Almost Hit Me Guy. You are not bigger than the world around you. It's not difficult to follow simple civil rules such as, I don't know, crossing at a cross walk when no cars are coming.

I don't understand the prejudice against the NBA. In the NFL you've got guys with illegal guns, guys making it rain at strip clubs and inciting riots, guys getting dui's and guys who were accessories to murders. And the NBA is a league full of thugs? In the MLB the biggest stars of the 90's and early this decade are accused of using steroids and cheating. And the NBA is a league full of thugs? It's funny that the most negative thing that happened at the NBA All Star weekend in Vegas a few years ago was something that was instigated by an NFL player. And the NBA is a league full of thugs?

Bad movies and bad acting, a lot of times, are better than good movies with good acting. Most movies have something good you can find in them, even if it is just making fun of the movie and acting the entire time.

I hate it when people say "The thing about it is, is..." Why do you need to add that extra "is"?

"Hoodrat stuff..."

2008-11-24T08:05:00.000-08:00

Ok let me start this off by saying that people in our society have turned into a bunch of pansies. From the people in PETA to the habitual hand sanitizer users. You are all trying to get rid of things that have been a pivotal part of humanity and survival since the beginning of time. Animals. Why are animals here? Well if they aren't hunted and controlled then people are no longer the dominate species. We would not be able to walk inside our workplace without being mauled by a bear or attacked by ravenous birds. You vegans go ahead and eat your overcooked, undernutricious vegetables and grains. I'd rather be healthy, thanks. Mmmm, vitamins. Hand sanitizer. I use it every now and then but you cannot use it at every toll of the bell. It is useful, yes. There are germs that are harmful but they also help us by activating our white blood cells and boosting our immunity. If you kill every single germ you possibly might come in contact with then what happens when you come in contact with germs the sanitizer can't kill and your immune system is weak. Hand sanitizer isn't going to fight influenza.

I went to a gang awareness seminar last week with a very tough looking knowledgable deputy in the Sheriff's Department. This deputy was talking about how he discipline's his kids and described it as "old school" and they get "physical." Well speaking with my fellow teachers the next day, some of them were appalled that he would lay his hands on his kids. They assumed that he beat his kids. What person would stand in front of 300 bleeding heart educators and tell them that he beat his kids? He doesn't beat his kids. He disciplines his kids with a stern word and corporal punishment. We're not talking about Will Hunting choosing between a belt a stick and wrench. If you don't think spanking is right that's fine but please discipline your kids. And by discipline I mean make a threat and follow through with that threat 100% of the time. I can't tell you how many times I've been in a store and heard a parent say "Ok Johnny, if you don't stop then you're going to be in big trouble." Oh no, not big trouble. Anything but big trouble. Empty words. Back it up parents. Be specific. Grow some cojones and take control. Stop letting a 5 year old run your life and push you around.

Now to the video. That mini butterball of a person is running that grandmother's life. Let me first give my "If I were his grandma I'd..." speech. Ready? If I were his grandma I'd find the biggest frying pan I could find and knock him upside his chubby head with it. Not a hard enough hit to do brain damage but just hard enough to knock him out for about 30 or 45 minutes. That would make him think twice about doing something that stupid again. Threatening to take away his video games is not going to do the trick. Put the kid to work, tell him he has to stay at home for a month or six. Hit him where it hurts. That can be upside his noggin or his social life. The point is that Junior Klump needs to have some specific rules and consequences that are enforced every time. Every kid needs this. Without these guidelines the young fellow may end up prison, dead or even worse, with his own reality show. So parents, do yourselves, your kids and the tv viewing public a favor, discipline your kids or stop having them.

Premise

2008-11-21T08:29:00.000-08:00

Here is how this is going to work. You are going to request a topic, and I'm going to blog about it. I had a blog a while back when they first came out in the late 70's but rarely posted. The problem was I couldn't really think of a topic that I thought anyone would really care about. One was about Wal Mart taking "Christmas" off their signs, one was about girls crying and another I think was about the Camp David Accords. So in the comment section just make a comment about my post and then give me a topic if you like. I'll sift through the thousands of (3) topics and pick the one I feel like will be most interesting (least time consuming). You may start........now.