Tuesday, August 29, 2006

weekly post from August 26, 2006

Hello friends & loved ones,

I never understood why one could not wear white after Labor Day. And if white cannot be worn after Labor Day, what time of year is it acceptable to start wearing white again? Oh well.

Last weekend was our church's 25th anniversary and I daresay a good time was had by all. Friday night was dinner with our Elder and Rev. Delores Berry, an evangelist for the denomination, and her spouse. We went to a steakhouse that Jim and I had been talking about going to for a long time. The food was good and the service (the waitstaff had the white outfits and all) was pretty good. Saturday was an informal discussion with the Elder and then Sat. night we had dinner at a party house and dancing. Another guy and I dj'd and there was plenty of music. There was one request that we were unable to play and it surprised me. The request itself wasn't surprising; the guy who made the request surprised me. A middle aged man requested Pussycat Dolls. I guess young girls aren't the only ones who like that kind of music. Sunday we worshipped at a Unitarian church (not enough room in our church) and it was a fabulous service. This weekend marks our last service in our current church and we'll be worshipping in our new church the weekend of the 10th. We have to be out of the building by Sept. 1, therefore we'll be homeless next weekend. We'll be having service in the park (hopefully it won't rain). It's an exciting time for our church.

It's a quiet evening for us; just sitting around watching a show that Jim has recently started watching. It's not a new show, it's a show that has been on the WB for 10years: Seventh Heaven. We never watched it because it was on the WB (a station we don't get) but it's really not a bad show. Right now we are watching an episode from Feb. 2003. Whatever you are watching this evening, I hope it's enjoyable.

weekly post from August 12, 2006

Hello friends & loved ones,

Another week has passed and another weekend is upon us. Hard to believe that our church will celebrate 25years in Rochester in just one week. It's a cause for celebration and joy. I'm very excited that I will be one of the djays playing music at the dance next weekend. I thought it would be a wonderful idea (and Jim concurred, always a good sign) to start off by playing the song that was #1 in the country the week in 1981 that the church was founded and follow that with the #1 song in the country the week of the 25th year. I've got both songs lined up ready to play. With so much to look forward to, how could I complain?

It seems that our culture thrives on complaining (yes, that is the C word as referenced above). Country artist Terri Clark said it best in one of her songs, Poor, Poor Pitiful Me. Why do we want to wallow in self-pity and focus on the negative things in our lives? When someone asks, "How are you?" instead of answering with a litany of complaints and woe is mes, we should be answering, "I'm healthy, I'm alive, I'm free etc........ Jim and I both have a saying that makes us cringe when we hear it; hanging in there. To me that implies that one is drowning and barely making it. We have so many opportunities and options for reaching out and getting help. We shouldn't be prideful or afraid to ask for assistance if we need it. We may not have the best president but he's not Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. We may not like some things about our country but we don't have to deal with Hamas or Hizballah. It's not a bad life, we should be focusing on what we've got not what we don't have. Sure everyone goes through hard times, however, the mark of character is how one comes out the other side and how one reacts to those difficult times. I'm not saying all complaining is bad, I'm saying we shouldn't make a career out of it.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

http://www.bbg.org/vis2/2006/titan/photos/ Check out photos of the death, um, corpse flower. What a vision!

paul

Friday, August 25, 2006

Movie minute

Give us a hiss: Jim and I went to see the summer blockbuster Snakes On A Plane. We went with two girls from church, one of whom is deathly afraid of snakes. Let me just say that afraid is not a word I would use to describe someone's emotional state during this movie. Samuel L. Jackson plays badassssss agent who is assigned to protect a witness to a murder. In an effort to do away with the witness, the killer decides to put a crate full of deadly and I mean deadly snakes on the plane. Logic and belief are thrown out the cockpit door in this movie. I laughed more during this movie than I did during the last ten comedies I've seen. This is camp at its classiest. During one shocking/hilarious scene, the two people sitting several rows down from us got out of their seats and whooped it up because of what had just happened on screen. This movie doesn't even try to be serious; not even the snake expert is a serious character. Julianna Margulies (of ER fame) plays one of the flight attendants who is on her last flight before becoming a lawyer. One (soon to be classic, no doubt) scene has a flight attendant offering to suck the venom out of a fleshy body part of one of the passengers. I won't spoil it by describing it here but it's hysterical. If the filmmakers are smart they kept the bloopers (all of them) and will be offering a blooper deluxe on the DVD. Everyone in the theater laughed during the movie and at the most (in)appropriate parts. This movie offers it straight up and then some. And stick around for the music video during the end credits. A contest was had to see who would score the song for the movie. The group that won, Cobra Starship, can be seeing yukking it up in the video at the end of the movie. The sequel can star Samuel and Julianna on a boat during their honeymoon and the title will read: Snakes On A Boat: The Snakes Bite Back.

I rate the dialogue and acting of this movie 1 bag of popcorn (out of 5). The camp, however, gets a 5.

peace,

paul

Say What???

Quote of the week: This is not a new comment but one that should be pointed out once more. Senator Joe Biden (Delaware) made the comment back in June at an event in New Hampshire; it was captured on tape. "In Delaware, the largest growth of population is Indian-Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7/11 or Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking." How freakin' stupid can one man be? Everyone knows (or should know) a lot of people who work at 7/11 and Dunkin' Donuts are Pakistani. Biden is hoping to run for President in 2008. Let's hope he gets his nationalities straight before then.

paul

the pee-wee planet

Stay alert Sun, you could be next: 2500 delegates in the International Astronomers Union met on Thursday and with a vote decided to strip Pluto of its title of planet. And, no, Earth did not explode; the world did not come to an end. Yes, according to them, Pluto is too small and does not have enough gravity. Pluto is still a planet just not one of the major ones. It is now called a dwarf planet (much to the chagrin of real dwarfs). No doubt they will be suing in the near future.

paul

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Paul's peeve page

Not an essay question: Have you ever noticed how people in our society never want to answer a question with yes or no? It's most evident on tv when politicians or interviewees are being asked a "simple" yes or no question and then they go into a long drawn out diatribe and by the time they've finished we've forgotten what the question was let alone the fact that the question was never even answered. Why are we so fearful of committing ourselves to yes or no? Is it so bad to answer with one of those words? Why can't we face the question and answer accordingly? It's really not rocket science? Did you let the dog out? Yes. Have you paid your bills? Yes. Are you going out tonight? No. Did you skip school? Yes. Were there weapons of mass destruction? No. Did you provide Israel with weapons? Yes. See, it's quite easy. We should all answer at least one yes or no question today. But answer all yes or no questions with Y-E-S or N-O. If you really can't speak the words, play the blinking game. Blink once for yes and twice for no. Closing your eyes (and keeping them closed) is NOT an option. Neither is touching your nose.

peace,

paul

Friday, August 18, 2006

Did he do it: John Mark Karr has been arrested and has admitted to killing JonBenet Ramsay. He hasn't been formally charged yet and investigators are being extremely cautious. His ex-wife has said they were together during Christmas time 10 years ago; the same time that JonBenet was murdered. I personally think this suspect coming forward is a little too suspicious. This tale just gets more twisted and bizarre. He has a long line of jobs in which he has either quit or been fired and he's made some really outrageous statements. Stay tuned.....

paul

Thursday, August 17, 2006

this & that Thursday

Word of the week: Macaca. Noun. Meaning? It apparently has several different meanings, several of which are considered derogatory. Virginia Senator George Allen greeted an American born male who was of Indian descent with this word. Later, after Allen apologized, he stated he was trying to combine the words mohawk and caca. Yeah, caca is a lot better.

And the big news this week has been that more people know who the 7 dwarfs are than the Supreme Court justices and many people think the only Homer is the dad from The Simpsons. Illi what? Who's Odyssey? Below is an excerpt of a 1999 interview of future President George W. Bush.

Interviewer: "Can you name the President of Chechnya?"

Bush: "No, can you?"

Interviewer: "Can you name the President of Taiwan?"

Bush: "Yeah, Lee."

Interviewer: "Can you name the General who's in charge of Pakistan?"

Bush: "Wait a minute. Is this uh, is this uh, is this a 50 questions? The new Pakistani General has just been elected, he's not elected, this guy took over office. He appears he's gonna bring stability to the country and I think that's good news..."

Interviewer: "Can you name him?"

Bush: "General. I can name the General."

Interviewer: "And it is?"

Bush: "General."

Bush (later): "Uh, the new Prime Minister of India is um, uh, no."

peace,

paul

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Here's something interesting, scary and just plain sad. According to the Today show this morning, more people can name the 7 dwarves than can name the 9 Supreme Court justices. And many people cannot even name one (justice). Yes, I can name all 9 on command, however, I may have some trouble with the dwarves (seriously).

paul
Are you going into the hospital soon? You may be able to watch someone have the same surgery as you....online. Yes, the website www.OR-live.com, lets people watch some actual surgeries that were performed (yours may be on there). Beware though; the patients and surgeons on the website are chosen because the best results are expected. Check it out and TLC eat your heart out.

paul

Where in the world......

Something scary is going on in our country. Items with sensitive information are turning up missing. Below is a brief summary of some of those items. If you see them please return them to the nearest government building.

Missing: From the IRS, a laptop was checked as luggage by someone travelling on a commercial flight. The problem: The laptop had some personal info on almost 300 employees AND job applicants. People who don't even work for the IRS yet.

Missing: From Customs, 173 lbs of marijuana and 2.5 lbs of heroin were lost between 1999 and 2001. Someone out got mighty high. Also lost in that time period, 613 badges and 59 weapons. Who knows who's out there roaming around with a real badge but not a real cop.

Missing: From the State Dept., some classified documents (missing almost 10yrs now, please come home) that a man, who just walked into the building, put into his briefcase after briefly rifling through the documents. The man then left the building (a "heavily" guarded one at that). What were the guards doing that day? And the secretaries who watched the man, they must have been paid minimum wage.

Where's YOUR personal info?

paul

Saturday, August 12, 2006

movie minute

A Sunshiny Day: The film Little Miss Sunshine is a shining jewel in a summer of lackluster sequels. Directed by Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton, the husband and wife team more known for directing videos by artists such as Janet Jackson, Smashing Pumpkins, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, have constructed an original film that is easily one of the best of the summer. The story follows 7-year-old Olive Hoover, played by Abigail Breslin (viewers may recognize her from Mel Gibson's alien movie Signs). Olive was runner-up in the Little Miss Sunshine competition held each year in California. Due to the winner being unable to fulfill her duties, Olive has to take the winner's place in the championships. The family then has to travel (in a VW bus) from New Mexico to CA. I guarantee that after seeing this film one will never view beauty pageants the same ever again. The film has a nice cast: Oscar nominee Toni Collette is Sheryl Hoover, the matriarch who at the beginning of the film fetches her jilted, suicidal, gay-Proust scholar brother, Frank (the remarkable Steve Carell), from the hospital. The rest of the family is as follows: Oscar nom Alan Arkin, the coke-snorting, routine-teaching Grandpa; Oscar nom Greg Kinnear as dad Richard, the struggling motivational speaker; and Paul Dano (a refreshing relative newcomer) as Olive's brother, the mute and brooding Dwayne. As the family travels from N.M. to Ca, we really discover who they are and they realize that their relationships with each other are changing in ways they never expected. There are some funny moments as well as some quite unexpected ones. The family is determined to get Olive to the pageant on time. Several times I thought one thing was going to happen and it didn't. I really appreciate a movie that is nicely structured and written and directed that surprises me. During the filming of this movie, the film The 40-Year-Old Virgin was released and between that and The Office he practically became a household name. In this film he gives a terrifically nuanced and subdued performance. It was exciting to see him in a role where he is not threatening to go into Robin Williams territory; but he's always funnier. Dano as Dwayne is a breakout and a revelation; he's also set to be the voice of Alexander in the film version of Where The Wild Things Are. Sunshine is a feel good movie even though the characters spend much of the film being downtrodden and dour. Olive herself is the ray of sunshine in the family; she's the one that connects everyone. There was one plot point that didn't fit and seemed unbelievable but no movie is perfect. The handling of the film's main theme, what is a winner and what is a loser, is sharp and clever. Sunshine is little in more ways than just its title; I don't expect the big theatre chains to show the movie but it would be a shame to Miss it.

4 bags of popcorn (out of 5).

peace,

paul

Friday, August 11, 2006

movie minute

Soft World: The movie World Trade Center is a quintessential tale of hope and survival. As directed by controversial Oliver Stone, it also marks a new turn in the director's work. The film tells of the first responders to the crisis on the fateful September day. A port authority cop, John McLoughlin (played by go-to guy Nicolas Cage) heads up a team to help evacuate the first tower. Several men step up to assist him; one of them being Willie Jimeno (played by Michael Pena) and once inside the building their nightmare begins. The building collapses and ends up pinning several of the guys under 20ft of rubble. Three of them are pinned and only two of them make it out. It's not giving anything away to say that. The movie cuts between the two guys stuck for hours in the rubble struggling to keep each other awake and the wives of the men and how they are dealing with the news that their husbands are missing and may or may not be dead. The movie has plenty of quiet, touching and mawkish moments; more so than probably any other Oliver Stone film and many of those moments are drawn out and lacking in energy and excitement. Stone has stayed as factual as possible to the plight of the two men including the vision of Jesus that Jimeno sees at one point and the inclusion of Marine Sgt. David Karnes who was called by God to go to the World Trade Center and was instrumental in finding Jimeno and McLoughlin. He was working as an accountant in Connecticut, shaved his head, put on his old uniform and talked his way into the disaster zone. One piece missing from the film is the car he drove in (a Porsche 911). Maria Bello as Donna McLoughlin and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Allison Jimeno give fine performances but the movie never really feels powerful enough. There are hints such as when the men finally find the men and the wives and husbands are reunited but it's lacking in drama. I'm all for telling the story so that people realize we must not be idle-ever but it must hit hard. I may have liked this movie more if I had not seen United 93, the other 9/11 movie released earlier this year. Stone's movie is a nice contrast with United, however, United was relevant and made the viewer feel as if they were there, living it now. One could feel the anxiety, the propulsion of the people who aren't willing to sit idly by and the power of the American people. United 93 is one of the best films of the year while World Trade Center is one of the good movies ofthe year. Stone's WTC is a film that is uplifting but not enough. There's also an awful lot of dialogue that is stilted and trite. The real Jimeno had 8 or 9 surgeries and the real McLoughlin was put into a medically induced coma and ended up having more than 20 surgeries. There was also some controversy about the inclusion of Dominick Pezzulo (Jay Hernandez of Hostel fame). His widow was upset that he was included in the movie and while I can understand why she was angered by this, it's also important to realize that he died a hero and a film like this must be a reminder to all people that we cannot be complacent or doubtful. Anything can happen; 9/11 showed us that and changed our world forever. We can never forget that. The Stone of years past (Natural Born Killers, Platoon, JFK) should have made a movie that was more memorable than the schlock he has here.

3 Bags Of Popcorn (out of 5)

peace out,

paul

Wednesday, August 09, 2006



Another pic of "our" bear


A photo of a bear we found just sitting in our yard and licking himself. He started walking away by the time I had my camera ready for a picture.

Say hello to my little friend

A photo of Henry the hydrant. This is a real fire hydrant found in Ganonoque, Canada. There were several unusual looking hydrants placed around the town. He's quiet, polite, doesn't talk back and, with no arms or legs, won't run away.


A clock tower that bulges at the bottom. No idea what or who is inside.


A photo of an arch outside of Boldt castle.


My spouse and I recently spent the night in Canada and did a boat tour of the 1000 islands. Here are a few pics from that trip. A photo of Boldt Castle.

Where in the world.....?

A group of Egyptian students come to the US to attend college in Montana and 11 of them disappear. No, it's not the start of a bizarre joke, it's what happened to a group of Egyptian college students who came to the US to attend Montana State University. The 11 students, all between the ages of 18 and 22, have violated their visas and have caused a manhunt by the FBI. Some speculate that they are visiting relatives in NYC (they landed at John F. Kennedy airport on July 29) but why just go MIA? Hello? It is the era of tex messaging. Let someone know where you are. Or maybe they had no plans to attend university after all but had a more sinister plan (cue the creepy theme music....dum dum dum).

peace,

paul

Love Letter

Imagine: You meet a woman at a party and then email her a love letter and then your letter ends up in inboxes all over the world. That's what happened to Joseph Dobbie of Berkshire who emailed Kate Winsall after meeting her at a barbecue. She forwarded the email to friends who in turn emailed the letter to their friends and then their friends emailed the letter to others. Kind of like the REO Speedwago song that starts, "heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another..." Below excerpts of the letter that was read by people in America, Australia and South Africa.

"If I am twice as lucky as I dare to hope, you will find this note charming"

"time stand still" (Dobbie describing the effect of Winsall's smile)

"Regardless of whether we see each other again, I will use it as I do my other special memories. I will call on it when I am disheartened or low"

"My mother uses an expression 'it's cool to be cruel these days' and I just don't want that in my life"

So what are you waiting for? Your love letter and intimate thoughts can become viral (computer lingo) today.

paul

Idol seekers

Today is the first round of auditions for season 6 of American Idol. Taking place in Pasadena, Ca, people are hoping to become the sixth crowned victor with a shot at a record deal.

Speaking of music, I'm enjoying Panic! At The Disco's "I Write Sins Not Tragedies." It's a song that hits on our society's need to beat dead horses (not literally, of course) and not let sleeping dogs lie. Why open a can of worms if it serves no purpose other than to hurt. Another song I'm really into is the South Side Crew's remake of "Go Your Own Way"; the best song remake I've heard in a long time. It keeps the original's uptempo rhythm and then some. The only negative side to this remake is the verses are not included in the remake. I'm also still enjoying the uplifting and positive anthem "Move Along" sung by The All-American Rejects. It's been around for a while and was the best thing about the movie She's The Man; it was played over the end credits.

Whatever you are listening to, crank it up!

paul

Monday, August 07, 2006

weekly post from August 5, 2006

Hello friends & loved ones,

It's hard to believe that July is behind us and August is upon us. Pretty soon the kids will be back at school and the leaves will be starting to turn once again.

Jim and I spent a relaxing night at the Gananoque Inn in Canada and had an enjoyable boat tour of the 1000 islands today. It was a three hour tour and there was no one (that we know of) named Gilligan on the boat. It's such a pretty part of the world. There was one island that was probably about an acre that had a building on it. We couldn't tell if it was a house or not but were appalled that someone would build something on such a small space. That is indicative of our culture, however, if there's empty space we must build. We came home (having been warned beforehand by our pet nanny) to see a big pile of bear doodoo in our front yard. Thankfully the feeders were not knocked down this time.

Whatever you are doing this weekend, enjoy yourself and live fully.

paul

humor

Ten Words That Don't Exist, But Should

1. AQUADEXTROUS (ak wa deks'trus) adj. Possessing the
ability to turn the
bathtub tap on and off with your toes.

2. CARPERPETUATION (kar'pur pet u a shun) n. The act,
when vacuuming,
of running over a string or a piece of lint at least a
dozen times, reaching
over and picking it up, examining it, then putting it
back down to give the
vacuum one more chance.

3. DISCONFECT (dis kon fekt') v. To sterilize the
piece of confection (lollipop)
you dropped on the floor by blowing on it, assuming
this will somehow remove
all the germs.

4. ELBONICS (el bon'iks) n. The actions of two people
maneuvering for one
armrest in a movie theater.

5. FRUST (frust) n. The small line of debris that
refuses to be swept onto
the dust pan and keeps backing a person across the
room until he finally
decides to give up and sweep it under the rug.

6. LACTOMANGULATION (lak' to man gyu lay' shun) n.
Manhandling the "open
here" spout on a milk container so badly that one has
to resort to the
'illegal' side.

7. PEPPIER (peph ee ay') n. The waiter at a fancy
restaurant whose sole
purpose seems to be walking around asking diners if
they want fresh ground
pepper.

8. PHONESIA (fo nee' zhuh) n. The affliction of
dialing a phone number and
forgetting whom you were calling just as they answer.

9. PUPKUS (pup'kus) n. The moist residue left on a
window after a dog
presses its nose to it.

10. TELECRASTINATION (tel e kras tin ay' shun) n. The
act of always letting
the phone ring at least twice before you pick it up,
even when you're only
six inches away.

movie minute

In The Still Of The Night: Robin Williams, in a surprisingly restrained role, stars as gay writer/radio host, Gabriel Noone in the film The Night Listener. Noone is in the midst of a creative struggle because of his deteriorating relationship with Jess (Bobby Cannavale in another gay role himself; he played Will's lover on Will & Grace). After Jess realizes he is not going to die of AIDS, he decides he wants to "live" life and that does not include living Gabriel, his lover of eight years. Jess wants to twist the knife even more by not telling Gabriel that he wants to end their relationship. Usually if a lover moves out, that signifies the end of a relationship; call it what it is. Sorry, I digress. When Gabriel reads a manuscript about a 14-year-old boy with a horrible past, Gabriel becomes phone pals with the kid. The kid, Pete, (played by Rory Culkin; the one who can act) is now safely living with his "new mom" Donna. Donna is played by talented (and not afraid to look homelier than usual or creepy) actress Toni Collette. Collette is racking up quite an impressive body of work, showing how versatile she is. She was wonderful in last year's In Her Shoes and is supposed to be good in Little Miss Sunshine (which I've yet to see).

As Pete and Gabriel become more intimate with each other, the question of how true Pete's story is (which he wants to have published) becomes an obsession with Gabriel. Pete is dying of AIDS and is a "very sick boy" and may not have long to live. Gabriel wants to see him before it's too late but access to the boy is difficult with over-protective Donna.

When I saw that Armistead Maupin was one of the screenplay writers (it's adapted from Maupin's book), I thought it was a good sign. I was wrong. In the book, what we don't see is more suspensful than what we do and the truth is even blurrier than what we're shown in the film. The term Night Listener, an obvious reference to Gabriel's nighttime show, is also a reference to hearing what we want and missing the whole picture. As Gabriel says in a voiceover, "I pick out the shiny parts and discard the rest." It's what we discard that becomes more important that the shiny parts. The discarded parts fill in the blanks that we would miss otherwise.

As Gabriel races to find Pete, he discovers things about himself that he doesn't like and realizes that he's trying to hold on to things that aren't necessarily real. The film has two major flaws that were not portrayed in the book. The first one is discovered early on and the second one is the ending, not to mention parts in the movie when Gabriel travels to Wisconsin. The movie is well acted, don't get me wrong and it's nicely paced. Not a lot is thrown out from the book that would be needed to explain some things. The problem with the visual is that in the book we are left to wonder and draw our own conclusion. In the movie, we are shown too much as if we would be in the dark if we weren't shown everything possible. As a result the film becomes cluttered and unfocused. This is one movie where being in the dark, literally and figuratively, would have worked better.

Bags of popcorn (out of 5): 2.5


peace,

paul

Thursday, August 03, 2006

word of the week

More like the phrase of the week. We all know the nickname for NYC but this past week that nickname was taken a step further by being referred to as the Baked Apple. Yes, most of the country saw temps in the 90's and 100's. There have been deaths and power issues as a result and thankfully the humid heatwave is supposed to break today; at least for people in the Northeast. But back to that nickname: Comedian and nighttime host Jimmy Kimmel took that name even a step further by referring to Manhattan as Manhottan.

paul

This & That Thursday

The End: The evangelicals are claiming that the fighting in Israel and Lebanon is a precursor to the end of the world; God is coming again. Based on passages in the Bible, the religious zealots would have us believe that we need to REPENT NOW!!!!! Israel is on its way to reclaiming itself and then we will all see the face of God on Earth. Want more proof that the end is near? We've got Mad Max, er, Mad Mel (Gibson) ready to ascend his throne as The Road Warrior. Now if only we could see that tape of when he was arrested.


Neigh With Me: It may not have stained glass but it's got spirit(uality) among the worshippers. The Life Brand Cowboy Church in Newbury, OH is one of more than 20 congregations that are part of the Cowboy Church Network of North America. Most of the churches are found in the South (natch) and the services are catered to the farmhands and country bumpkins, oops, folk. No need to dress up, just come in your boots, jeans, chaps, and don't forget the hat and the horse makes a great substitute for a pew. And lest you think a stable is an odd place to worship, the big J was supposedly born in a stable.

peace,

paul