Tuesday, December 25, 2007

A final look at 2007

Ahhh....2007, a year in which Britney Spears could do no right, The Sopranos came to a sudden end, and the writers became mad as hell and wouldn't take it anymore.

Some other happenings in '07...

Nancy Pelosi became the first woman speaker of the house; the war in Iraq began it's fifth year; China experienced massive recalls and has some thinking they are trying to kill us with their tainted products; former astronaut Lisa Nowak is arrested; Tony Blair steps down; shooting at the Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City, Utah; Marie Osmond faints on Dancing With The Stars; the Indianapolis Colts win the Super Bowl; the Virginia Tech massacre; Bob Barker finishes The Price Is Right; Drew Peterson; Martin Scoreses FINALLY wins an Oscar; Live Earth; iphone goes on sale; concert to commemorate Princess Diana dying 10 years ago; two television helicopters collide in Phoenix; I-35W Mississippi Bridge collapses; Sydney goes dark for a global climate change; Barry Bonds hits 756; Marion Jones admits to doping; coal mine collapse in Huntington, Utah; Anna Nicole Smith dies; shooting at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska; California wildfires; Judge Larry Seidlin; Boston Red Sox win again and Queen Elizabeth II becomes oldest ever monarch and televises her 50th Royal Christmas message.

Yes, 2007 was an interesting year; at times exciting and irritating. As the year comes to a close, I've compiled some of my favs and not-so-favs of the year. Enjoy! I did, at times.

Movies: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Atonement are not yet playing in Rochester, however, there are some movies I saw this year that were great. Two of those movies are Once and Away From Her.

Once is the story of a busker and an immigrant who meet and fall in love all the while expressing their feelings through song. The movie is touching, engaging and features some of the best movie music of the year. It stars unknowns and is a little-released and seen film, however, it's definitely one to be seen; especially for those that believe in the power of love at first sight. It's now available on DVD.

Away From Her stars the radiant and beautiful Julie Christie. She's back in a big way as a woman suffering from Alzheimer's. When her husband has her institutionalized, Christie reconnects with a man she used to know making her husband jealous and making the viewer wonder just how cognizant Christie is of what she is doing. Christie turns in a tremendously quiet but powerful performance and Gordon Pinsent, as her husband, is sympathetically moving in actress turned director Sarah Polley's nearly flawless film.

Honorable Mentions:

No Country For Old Men, The Lives Of Others, and Dan In Real Life.

Major disappointments/stinkers of the year: Pirates of the Carribean 3: At World's End, Spider-Man 3, Georgia Rule, I'm Not There, The Darjeeling Limited, and Lions For Lambs.

Music:

If you weren't annoyed by Rihanna's "Umbrella" or Timbaland's "The Way I Are" well you should have been because I was. There were some less annoying songs that were catchy and worth listening to over and over again. Below are just a few.

Canadian alt group Arcade Fire was definitely worth listening to with their critically acclaimed album Neon Bible and Paul McCartney was wonderfully winsome with his release Memory Almost Full.

Singles worth listening to:

No One by Alicia Keys
Makes Me Wonder by Maroon 5
Apologize by Timbaland w/One Republic
Shadow Of The Day by Linkin Park


Books:

I really enjoy reading and read a number of fiction and non-fiction books from Barack Obama to Harry Potter. Below my fav fiction and my fav non-fiction.

Non-fiction: The Birthday Party by Stanley N. Alpert. A former US assistant Attorney is abducted at gunpoint on the eve of his 38th birthday. The ensuing story of his imprisonment and the trial is thrilling and vivid.

Fiction: No, not Harry Potter, instead it was A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. A story of two women in Afghanistan whose lives are intertwined and become closer than they ever imagined. An adaptation of Hosseini's first book, The Kite Runner, is currently playing in theaters.

The worst: If I Did It by OJ Simpson; The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold.

TV: Some of the best so far have been Pushing Daisies, Life, Brothers & Sisters and Desperate Housewives, the tornado episode notwithstanding.

The worst includes Heroes, October Road, Prison Break, Big Brother and Samantha Who.

That's it for me in '07. I will definitely write you in '08.

peace,

paul

TALENT x 10

Check out the Men's a capella group from Indiana University. Called Straight No Chaser, in this clip from youtube they sing the 12 Days of Christmas.

Enjoy & Merry Christmas!

paul

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

Friday, December 21, 2007

Friday humor

These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are
things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now
published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while
these exchanges were actually taking place.

ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
____________________________________________________________________
ATT ORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci Sweats and Reeboks.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do.
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes, voodoo.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
____________________________________
ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: Uh, he's twenty-one.
________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Are you shittin' me?
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh.... I was gettin' laid!
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Are you shittin' me? Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Now whose death do you suppose terminated it?
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Guess.
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All my autopsies are performed on dead people. Would you like to rephrase that?
_____________________________________ ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to? WITNESS: Oral.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m .
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy on him!
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Huh....are you qualified to ask that question?
______________________________________
And the best for last:
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing

Heeheehee,

paul

Friday, December 14, 2007

Interesting

Some thought-provoking questions....I've supplied the answers (my answers, anyway).

Can you cry under water?

(If you did, you wouldn't have to dry your eyes.)

How important does a person have to be before they are considered
assassinated instead of just murdered?

Why do you have to "put your two cents in" but it's only a "penny for your
thoughts"?
Where's that extra penny going to?

(It's going towards the price of gas.)

Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried
in for eternity?

(I thought there were no clothes in heaven.)

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

What disease did cured ham actually have?

(I wonder who even thought of this question. Someone with way too much time on their hands...wait how can one have time on their hands, unless one is wearing a watch. I just answered my own question.)

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a
good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like
every two hours?

(And why do we say, we slept like a log when logs don't sleep. Logs aren't even real.)

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

(HUH???? Speak up!!!)

Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars
to look at things on the ground?

Why do doctors leave the room while you change?
They're going to see you naked anyway.

Why is "bra" singular and "panties" plural?

(This could go for the word pants also, there is only one and yet they are a pair.)

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible
crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?

(So that we can sing stupid songs about people we don't care about.)

Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane ?

(And why is it called a 'carpool' lane? It has nothing to do with a pool.)

WHY DO YOU DRIVE ON A PARKWAY AND PARK ON A DRIVEWAY??

(Good question. I think it's so we will be confused.)

If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why
can't he fix a hole in a boat?

(Because then there wouldn't have been a show every single week for 3 years.)

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours?
They're both dogs!

If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he
just buy dinner?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from
vegetables,what is baby oil made from?

(Do we really want to know the answer to this one???)

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

Why did you just try singing the two songs above?

Why do they call it an asteroid when it's outside the hemisphere, but call
it a hemorrhoid when it's in your ASS?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you,
but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

peace,

paul

Monday, December 10, 2007

unbelievable!!!!

Check out this 8 year old, Anthony Gargiula, who's never had a singing lesson. He was recently on the Ellen show singing Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." He's also featured on youtube singing the National Anthem (at 7 years old). Check out both and be amazed. A future American Idol winner?

peace,

paul

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2007/12/a_star_was_born_about_8_years.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR2rvxSUr7w

On the radio-December edition

Yes, there are good songs on the radio. Here's three that I am currently enjoying...

Alicia Keys-No One (she's back and hotter than ever with this upbeat hit).

Linkin Park-Shadow Of The Day (the rock-alt group know how to make a ballad; pretty yet not treacly). Bonus points for this group: They recently donated $50,000 to aid families affected by the California fires. Awesome!!!

Miley Cyrus-See You Again. If I didn't already know this was Billy Ray Cyrus's daughter, I'd think there was a new wannabe rocker chick on the scene. Oh, wait, maybe she is. She certainly sounds like it. This song rocks! It's nothing new or innovative but it's fun; pure sugar.

peace,

paul

Sunday, December 02, 2007

weekly post from December 1, 2007

Hello friends & loved ones,

Last week was my first weekly email in a long time. I was reminded that I had not posted
on my blog since October; and even that posting wasn't anything significant. I apologize
to those of you who did not get my email last week, I know I missed several of you.

Today is World AIDS Day and I have never known anyone to die of the disease. I do know
some people who are living with it. That is the key; living! I'm reminded of something
today as I complain about the slow driver in front of me, whine that I don't have enough
money after my bills, fume that I don't know when my favorite shows will have new
episodes again and become petulant when I am too busy to do things that I want to do.
I'm reminded that I am healthy and, even though it's no longer considered a death
sentence, I do not have to live each day remembering to take my meds, worrying that I
might catch, and never recover from, the cold that is going around, or being afraid if
I'm ever going to find someone to love me even though I have an incurable and infectious
disease. I will continue to remind myself of the fact that I am healthy and remember to
pray each day for those who are not. I urge each of you to do the same. And remember to
live, live, live. We never know when we won't have the opportunity to do so.

On a lighter and final note, if you get a chance to rent a movie in the next couple of
weeks then rent the movie Vitus (it's available at Hollywood Video). It's the story of a
child piano prodigy who is pushed by his mother to excel, all the while forcing him to
live a childhood he does not want. It's a really well done film and, yes, it's in German
with English subtitles, however, don't let that deter you. The casting, especially of
the child, is really nicely done and it will make you think.

Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and stay happy. And remember to live your own
life.

love,

paul