update

Now I swear I blogged between now and that last post. *looks around suspiciously*

So anyway I went to that Strategic Plan meeting those 'tards needed to have to feel important. And at the end they were all in love with her. You know, they just need to feel like it's their decision and they're in charge. I really can't stand that. Grow up. It's not about you.

I went to the newly formed neighborhood association meeting. They seem like nice enough people but I cannot take people looking at me like I'm crazy anymore. I asked if everyone had just given up on trying to do anything about the noise and fireworks and they all looked at me like 'What noise? Fireworks? What are those?' It wouldn't piss me off if they just said 'Oh yeah, that doesn't really bother me' or 'I don't think it's that big of a problem', but they act like they've never heard anything and I'm hallucinating. I'm sorry but how can you not notice that shit? I've heard of people being oblivious and having their heads in the sand but this is different. The noise is all over the place and granted it is worse on my block. I can tell from all the walking around that I do that most people don't live in a Grand Central Station type place as I do, but come on. They have to hear it. If they don't care, fine. But don't keep telling me that it's just me. I'm not hallucinating the noise and fireworks. If I could record the noise with a videocamera, which you can't, I've tried, I'd post it here. But some how the mics in them don't pick up that boom. But I've posted fireworks on here. And of course it's more difficult to catch non-holiday fireworks on tape because you're not expecting it. So if they only shoot off a few you don't have time to get the camera ready. The last time I heard them I was on my way home and two blocks away from my camera. So that means it didn't happen I guess. One woman actually turned to me and went "firecrackers?" I know the difference for Christ's sake. "Oh maybe you're hearing gunshots". Uh.... did it ever occur to you people that your gunshots might be fireworks? When I used to call the cops, once when I spoke to them after seeing red and green lights in the sky, they said they got a bunch of calls reporting gunshots. But no, I'm the one hallucinating.

So here's the finished product.

It's not that great, but it's my first try and I basically just got this stuff from random publications and other stuff I've heard. I've missed a few things and that one lecture for today was cancelled when I got there so... I tried anyway.






list version

I'm trying an experiment

I can never figure out what's going on around here so I'm trying to make a calendar that can also be a desktop background. I'm still working on it but it's here:

click here

feel free to use it for your own desktop background although it's not completely finished yet. But the first week looks okay so far.

edit: okay I have an updated version of that one and a new second version.

These may need a couple more updated as I find out about other things, or I may just add a second page that I'll put the address to on the bottom.

click here for longer version

So I went to the School Committee meeting

I kinda wanted to see how it was going and imo there are two people on the school committee who are in cahoots to make things difficult for those who are trying to make progress. The meeting should have been simple but Dr. Bonner has some goals for the kids in the New Bedford school system that needed to be approved. Very basic goals. But they were challenged. She has a strategic plan for the kids and it seemed like these people weren't willing to approve the basic goals without completely hashing through her strategic plan which is a lot. So they need a whole 'nother meeting for that. If I can I'm going to go to that meeting because it might be the funniest thing since Airplane!. Firstly, I don't think the challengers are that bright. Secondly I just think they're trying to make things difficult either because they don't like her or they want to be important. Why do I think they're in cahoots you might ask? Well, because half an hour later I saw them canoodling at a local eatery.

Something stinks in the city of New Bedford and it ain't just low tide.

Stopping progress

The reason I have so many problems with New Bedford is because of it's stupidity. There are many people who want things to get better but more it seems that want things to stay the same, which really only makes things worse. Read these.

New vision for New Bedford schools


Teachers' union head takes on superintendent


the letter



This woman came here to help and people are going to try to stop her because they've been slighted or their friends didn't get her job. How ridiculous are they? And how much do they hate the children of this town to only think of themselves when they are clearly supposed to be looking out for the kids and their future? It sickens me.

this economic crisis thingy

Honestly people, there are many reasons that this thing happened. And I'm sick of hearing everyone just blame the mortgages that certain people shouldn't have had.

The one thing I would really like to see is for someone in government who had been pro illegal alien finally come out and admit that the cheapie workforce that they created allowed Americans to go without a decent wage. I know they think that these people took jobs that Americans didn't want but they took jobs that were bad, were abusive, were not at an approoriate wages. The whole thing with illegal aliens was that they allowed companies to circumvent labor laws. They don't have to pay for overtime, health insurance, holiday pay, workman's comp, none of that stuff when they have people who are afraid to go to the authorities. That's the whole point. They could treat these people like shit and get the work done at a cheaper rate. That's why they hired them. Had those jobs not been done by illegal aliens, then those companies would have had to hire American workers at a decent wage with benefits and they didn't want to do that. So the pool of illegal alien workers put Americans out of work. A lot of those people have been out of work for a long time or if not had to find work in probably the only places that were hiring in retail. Well now that the economy is in the crapper people aren't buying as much retailers are letting people go and they're not going to be hiring as many people for Christmas help either. Whoops. No jobs, no money. No money, no spending. No spending less jobs.

Isn't it interesting how gas prices have sudenly plummeted? Gee, I wonder how that happened. Could it be because those in case who allowed the gas prices to go as high as they did realize that that was the real problem all along. The reason people couldn't pay their mortgages or any other bills for that matter, was that they had to keep filling their case tanks to get to work to pay whatever bills they could. I mean people were charging gas on their credit cards because they were so desparate. The cost of gas then made everything go up.

IT WAS GAS ALL ALONG!!! IT WAS A LACK OF JOBS ALL ALONG!!! STOP BLAMING THE DAMN MORTGAGES!!! That was just a symptom that alerted you to the disease that can be described as chronic oldpowerfulwhiteguyitis. Yeah, you know those old white guys that rule the world by being oil men. It was them all along. They did it and you let them. You should have stuck it to them by taking the damn bus but nooooooo... you need your SUV. You can't be near other people during your commute. So guess whose fault it really is?

Tree pics from the area

I particularly like the first one. I caught someone crossing the street. hee hee

Look at this...

I had to take a pic of this since at first you think "OMIGOD THAT BABY'S UPSIDE DOWN!!1" but then you realize it's just the suit. *lol*

Can you read the signs?

Oh... at the very beginning of the summer, I stopped calling in to talk radio. I realized the people of this berg were just too wrapped up in their own problems to ever understand the Big Picture. There was a case of some kids who made a sign to put in the local park/zoo. They put it in one location and then when a community organization who tends to the park saw it, they decided that it should be somewhere else. So it was moved so they could find a more agreeable place. Well local talk radio hosts and parents were up in arms acting like the kids were going to be scarred for life because it meant so much to them and they worked so hard on it, and it was sending the wrong message to them. So I called in because I didn't agree, I thought that the people who actually are involved in the park should have had some say. And then the good people of New Bedford came down on me calling me ignorant and all kinds of nice things. Why? Because I didn't think their kids needed to be coddled and I stood up for the friends of the park. I gave my opinion and that's not cool around here.

So I was walking around the park today and I saw the sign the kids cared so much about (the first 3 pics). It's got a bulletin board in it, that is supposed to have all types of upcoming events posted. I took a few pics of it at lunchtime on Sunday, the 21st. Let's see if you can see why I smirk.

Keep proving me right New Bedford. Keep proving me right.

Also in that slideshow you saw signs posted about the dog poop. Now I considered taking pictures of the copious amounts of dog poop in that park but I'm no Pasolini. The fact is it does cause disease as the sign clearly states, it's disgusting to have to look at while trying to manuever around it, and it's depressing. It's disheartening to know your fellow citizens want to live like that. Of course this is something else that people can be fined for that no one does anything about. And of course this is something I brought up on the radio well over a year ago. It just gets worse. I've seen people taking their dogs to poop in elementary school playgrounds. Imagine doing a cartwheel into that.

I really wish Bloomberg had run for president

There was that article, I think it was Newsweek, that made it seem like a Bloomberg/Scwarzenegger ticket was a possibility. I hoped and hoped. But no. Bloomberg was on Meet the Press today and he just makes so much sense. All those other morons talk about is nonsense.

Here's a link: Meet the Press

duckies

Where are my pennies?

I went to KFC yesterday to buy one of those little strawberry shortcake cups. I gave the cashier two dollars and I got two quarters back in change. Here is my receipt:




Now My question is what happened to my four pennies?

This happened once before that some cashier kid kept my pennies but I don't remember what store it was. These kids are scamming people and I'm going to keep my eyes open. I don't go there often but if I do and it happens again I'm taking this to the Colonel.

I still don't like him

No matter what Bill says I'm not voting for his ass. Bill is such a rock star. When Obama came out later he just came off like a nerd who was lost. Whatever. I hope the American people enjoy president Biden. I'm so sick of pretending that my opinion counts for anything more than some words in an unread blog.

the 4th of july revisited

Anyway, it's your favorite time of year again, where I bitch about the idiot neighbors and their love for illegal fireworks. But this time I've got proof. Proof of something the police can't do anything about even though I've complained about the same people for years and can predict to them when these people are going to be complete idiots. I took all of these videos either from my front porch or from just inside my front door.



And these people buy the same ones every year and set them off to go from behind their housing unit over it so it can burst above the passing traffic in the street below. These come closest to my house.



Now remember this is Massachusetts. Fireworks are completely illegal in this state, even sparklers. So why do I have to deal with this year after year? The state fire marshal told me that it's an arrestable offense. I wonder what the problem is.

Ted Kennedy has a brain tumor

I was actually at that ribbon cutting that they keep showing on the news. Last Friday, they opened this renovated building that is going to be part of the visitor's center. I figured I'd go and film some but I thought it would be outside. When I realized how squished in we were in the building I decided not to.

I have to say being the mean and evil person that I am, hearing about this brain tumor made me think "well that explains the immigration thing". I have had serious problems with his stance on that particularly how it effects those of us who have voted for him all along who he seems to have abandoned.

Well I feel bad that he's got this tumor. I hope it's not malignant. I don't know if they do surgery on these things or what, especially since he's older now. But hopefully he'll be able to get better.

edit: It's malignant unfortunately.

Reverend Wrong

I don't even like Obama, but that shit ain't right.

Obama is a jerk

Seriously I'm glad other people are starting to notice this. I'm going to go get the evidence.

Firstly he definitely thinks less of the people he's talking about in these statements.


"Typical" is the word I have a problem with here. To say anyone is a typical anything is a generalization and the exact opposite of the kind of person he tries to represent himself as.


This is the first thing that really got under my skin. So dismissive. I love it when people don't look at me when they talk to me. There is a better angle of this somewhere I'm sure where you can see that he actually had his back to her the whole time.



The verdict: He's a dickhead. Anyone who votes for him must enjoy being talked down to, dismissed, and pigeonholed.

I went to an AHA! night downtown

I never actually did that before since I don't feel too comfortable walking around at night. Anywho I went because on the radio they said something about a little parade that was going to be like environmentally themed. It was cute it had little kids and there were different saving frog organizations and whatnot. But then I didn't know what to do and I saw on the AHA! schedule thing that the New Bedford High School Show Choir was going to be at the Zeiterion.

Now I saw these kids, I dunno, a month ago one Sunday when I was looking for something to do. They had their show at the high school and I thought they were really awesome. More people should support the good kids doing stuff like this but it seems like only a few of us stragglers and everyone else seemed to be friends and family. So I figured since I hate my neighborhood I might as well stay out as late as possible and also this was a good reason to do so. So if I got attacked by ninjas on the way home at least I actually had a reason to be out. (I love the Broadway shows and musical theatre, maybe I never told you that.)

Anywho I just came home and googled the show choir, because I forgot the name of that group, and they have some videos up at Youtube. I'm going to embed the one that has a solo by the kid I think it's definitely going to be a star. btw, the jazz band is awesome too.

Loudness and the temperature

Since it actually got past 70 degrees today it was fairly obvious to me that some asshat from my neighborhood was going to piss me off with their loudness. You see these aren't people they are animals. They prove it everytime since their behavior is determined by the temperature and the influence of beer commercials. I taped my lawn for 5 minutes to see if I could pick up the annoyingness of the sound but I doubt it. I'll try to upload it later.

As I thought you can't pick up the annoyingness of the boom, but oddly enough I can hear what I didn't hear when I was out there. A baby being told to shut up because it doesn't like boom cars either. Hmm...

Hillary, SHUT THE HELL UP!

All these morons messing with the Olympics are pissing me off.

The Olympics are about transcending politics and the nations of the world coming together to compete in the drama of sport. So any of these morons who want to snuff out the flame or boycott the opening ceremonies are deciding to be my enemy.

So Hill, and stupid French protesters, why don't you all go suck a fuck. :D

Piccies are fun

I went for a walk this morning and took some pics and wanted to post them here. But I also have some from the past few days and I thought I'd get to those first.

Can you even tell what this is? I took this is few days back when it was raining hard but not ridiculously so. Anyhoo, this drain wouldn't let the water go down. It was just sitting there. WTF?


Here are my feet. I washed my sneakers a couple of weeks ago but apparently the machine didn't rinse out all the soap. This is what happened when I got soaked.


I'm really pissed that this pic didn't come out. Anyhoo, the car belongs to that dog that you really can't make out. I spied a grey/balding man letting his dog poop on the playground of Carney Academy. I went to that elementary school and everytime I see someone in there with their dog it pisses me off. Kids play there. It's bad enough if they get it on their shoes but what if they fall in it? That's so dirty. And here's the thing when the guy saw me he freaked grabbed the dog and drove away. What does that tell you? That tells you that with all the grass and backyards in New Bedford this guy drove to Carney Academy to purposely have his dog poop there. Nice right? I took down his license plate if anyone wants it.

Yesterday the DA, who may be the one person around here actually doing their job and doing it well, had a free day at the zoo for kids. So having no money I decided to go look at the animals, which I haven't seen since I was a kid. (There was a really good group playing when I went at the end but I don't know who they were.) Anyhoo, on the way out I saw this tree. I can't be even sort of happy for more than 3 minutes without seeing some other evilness.

Why do that? It's bad enough that people carve trees, but to spray paint it? There has to be a special level of hell for those people, but if not I'm sure Gaia will avenge this tree. :(

These two next photos are of this empty lot. There's supposed to be a house there but it burned down years ago and since then it's just been there. It's obviously not taken care of and if you were wondering the city owns it. You can walk on the sidewalk on the corner but you get lashed if you do.



I took a pic of this house. I guess nobody lives there, but why in God's name would anyone graffiti a house like this.

It has a person's name but I blurred it out. What is wrong with people?

Here is what used to be a firehouse. It's got a faded sign that says "Civil Defense". Appropriate.

This image suprised me. I don't think it was that long ago that I walked down this street but I don't remember seeing that. And I hadn't heard about that either. This is happening a lot. I'll go for a walk and see a burned house without having heard about a fire there. Something else to make you wonder. Maybe I'll sharpen that pic later.


Now here is Purchase Street at just before 11AM. Purchase meaning buy stuff. Notice all the people and shoppers. Oh you don't see them? Neither do I. Mostly because there is nothing to buy. There is a Family dollar and a Rite Aid a magazine shop and a smoothie shop that's open. Otherwise everything on this street is closed or not a store. Maybe that's why no one is downtown on the weekends.



Now amazingly enough I didn't go looking for this stuff. This is just the stuff I came across in my travels, by accident. So if anyone ever wonders why I'm always in a bad mood, look at all the visual imprints I get on a daily basis. These pics were all taken in the last 4 days.

documenting thoughts

Last night I was still up but still. At 12:15 I started to hear a basketball bouncing. I looked out the window and there were people playing basketball at that time. And I checked the weather channel and it was 36 degrees. WTF? So the noise was aggravating me but it wasn't problematic. Just the nonsense of it nagged at my mind and I continue to wonder about the people who live across the street from me who are right next to the noise. They have little kids who have to get up and go to school in the morning. I guess it doesn't bother them, but it makes me wonder. So the basketballers stopped bouncing maybe 20 minutes later. And then at 1:15 they started again. WTF is that? There is this whole society of nightdwellers who makes no sense to me. They live at night into the wee hours as if it were daylight, making all kinds of noise as if most people wouldn't enjoy quiet at that time, slamming car doors going back and forth somewhere. But where? Isn't everything closed by then? Is all this going on just because of 24 grocery stores? It doesn't make any kind of sense that there is that much to do in the middle of the night.


This picture is of my neighbors car. I took it a couple of days ago. I won't tell you why it annoys me but these are the same people who crossed the street to have their toilet bowl join the resident toilet bowl. I think people really need attention wherever they can get it.

The neighborhood I live in

It hasn't been "my" neighborhood in a while.

This afternoon I left the house at about 1:30pm as I often do. Just as I did I saw one of the people who live in the white tenement house on the opposite corner waddling across the street like they were carrying something heavy. I wasn't really paying attention. Then they leaned on the fence of the house next to us, which was odd, then walked back to their house. So I went down the stairs and went on my way. As we passed the fence my mother said something to me that I didn't understand. I asked her to repeat it and she said "she put the toilet in there".

Now in September of last year, right after school started, the people who lived next door to me up and vanished one weekend. They just split. No "for sale" sign, nothing. Since then, they've come back everyone once and a while to get something. But since they split no one has actually been living there.

Except for their broken toilet. When they left they left a broken toilet in front of their house. And it's been there these last six months. The porch is also crumpled on the bottom. You'd think they would have fixed it but I guess they weren't trying to sell it since in all this time there was no "for sale" sign. These people just split like it was an emergency. I figured at some point if the bank had foreclosed they'd try to sell it or something. It's just been in the state they left it.

Well it was only a few weeks ago that one of our other neighbors asked us about the house because he had heard it was going to be foreclosed on. I have no idea what the official state of it has been all this time but it's been weird to say the least.

So today, in another installment of WTF?, that "person" waddled across the street and decided to leave another toilet on this property but this one they left inside the fence.

Now all of these people have cars. If they need to take something to the dump, they can do so. I don't own a car. So if I needed to get rid of something huge I'd have to pay someone to do it or leave it in my basement. But never in a million years would I just leave it in front of my house let alone cross the street, trespass, and leave it on someone else's property. What the fuck is wrong with people? And the people who crossed the street to rid themselves of the toilet, I'm fairly certain are renters. Meaning they have a landlord, meaning it should be his/her toilet. So why are his tennants even involved with toilet disposal?

There is also a box of tree sitting in the middle of the sidewalk around the corner. These people attempted to dispose of tree bits in a large box but the garbage men didn't take it. So instead of taking it to the dump, they just let it sit there. In the middle of the sidewalk. They couldn't even push it up against their bushes or up against the tree at the curb. It's just laying there like a murder victim.

Whaling City Half Marathon

We have a half marathon every year and I always try to go. I like to cheer the people on because I'm no athlete. So today I found myself being the entire cheering section there were very people there and those who were just stood there and let me handle all the WOOHOOing. Here are some of my crappy pics (cheap camera):
This is the start.

This is a Peter Pan Bus that was trapped in the bus terminal. We don't have any local bus service on Sundays. So the only buses that go in there are the Peter Pan and Dattco buses that travel to Providence and Boston. So no one told them there was anything going on. And why should they? It's only a race that draws, and used to draw many more, world class athletes. Who'd want to know about that?

Obviously no one. Look at all the spectators waiting for the runners to return.

Here comes the winner:

And here's the women's winner:
(Notice the excellent composition. I had no idea she was coming since the announcers didn't seem to know either.)

Roger Clemens

I was never a big fan of his. I was never a Red Sox fan but the Yankees did win with him when I lived there. But I respected his talent and accomplishments as a long time great.

So I watched his hearing on the so called steroids and Human Growth hormone allegations. You know what? I believe him. Put it this way: I choose to believe him. I'm not stupid I know what goes on in this world and that most people are bald faced liars. But for some reason watching his testimony, listening to him answer every question asked while others just taped their testimony, I felt like he showed enough honor that day to be believed. If it turns out he lied later on, so be it. But I'm not going to assume he's guilty the way everyone else has.

Today, his "buddy" Andy Pettite held a press conference. He came across as an "aw shucks" pretending dufus. Either he's not that bright or he uses that kind of image to get over. The number of times he referenced reading the Bible made me want to barf. As if to say, "See, I'm honest. I read the Bible." If you can drop your buddy's name, you can show up for the hearing and be a man about it.

And that's the thing. Several senators that day tried to get Roger to turn on Andy and accuse him of being a liar, in a "if you want us to believe you then you have to make us go after your friend" and Roger wouldn't do it. He just kept saying that Andy remembered it wrong. But listening to Andy's press conference today it doesn't seem like he's that alert to be remembering much of anything let alone years old conversations. I'm with Roger and it'll be a shame if I'm right.

So we're definitely gonna have a fugly president

Mitt quit.

I have to say I'm confused as to why he and Edwards quit when they did. Both insisted they'd soldier on, and then a few days later, poof, they were gone.

Welcome to the Jungle

This morning I was watching "The View" and during their Hot Topics segment they spoke about both Heath Ledger and Britney Spears. Just after that I switched the channel to VH-1 Classic and the first video that came on was "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses. I pretty much think that song answered every question I had going thru my head at the time.

the lyrics

Heath Ledger has died

This was one of my favorite pics of him and Jake.

I don't understand this. Can't process it. Just know that this is more reason for me to hate this world (this life). It's such a stupid thing.

Still suffering from the noise

Those damn boom cars. I can't take it anymore. I had given up calling the police last year but trying to just sit there and take it was worse than dealing with the evil dispatchers. So around Thanksgiving I had a complete meltdown one Sunday morning and I went to the station to see if there was someone I could speak to. They gave me the number of the police captain and I had to wait a few days to speak to him. When I did I told him the whole story and he said for me to call every time. I can't do that. I've been trying and it's making this whole thing my job. I can't stand it anymore. How difficult is it to ticket someone? And somehow they can't do it. I get angrier and angrier everytime. I don't know if this is happening everywhere or what. I don't know if I can escape this or if it will follow me everywhere I try to run. I feel so hopeless. My hopelessness has been growing since last 4th of July when I had spent 6 months NOT calling the police about the boom cars and fireworks. I just want this all to stop. I want to go back to when people were decent and I know I can't do that. But I also can't deal with it. I wish I could just ignore it. I can't. This thing really attacks me. And as far as I'm concerned these people are attacking me. And I can't do anything about it.

The Mona Lisa (or La Gioconda) is

a woman named Lisa del Giocondo...

COME ON!!!

It really took 500 years to figure that out?!?!

In the news (Januray 12th, 2008)

Twins unwittingly get married. I mean really. There has to been a fair share of ignoring hints. For instance, birthdays. Okay they may not have known who their birth parents were but did they not know that they had the same exact birthday? And there has to be some resemblance. I dunno. I think they must not have known that much about each other when they got married. That's stuff's important. I wouldn't marry someone unless I'd done a complete background check on them. Seriously.

Chris Bowman died. I loved this guy. I'm a figure skating fan, much more so back when he was competing. I had heard that he had some demons he had to deal with. It's a shame this happens. You know sports like that are so competitive and kind of unaccepting. I'm sure he would not have been welcome around the other skaters with the problems he had. That would have meant he wouldn't have been able to cash in on his talents quite like the rest of them. I guess that's fair but you know he was so great I just wish we got to see more of him and that things hadn't gone so badly. I'll miss him.

Nicole Ritchie had a girl. I hope she's really gotten her crap together. She's someone's mother now.

Drugs are the devil

I'm not sure that I even believe in things like an actual devil. But what most people think of the devil as, that's what I think drugs are. On New Year's Eve I watched the "Intervention" marathon on A&E and I've watched the show off and on in the past. Right now I'm watching "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" and my god, what that shit has done to Jeff Conaway. When I was in junior high they used to make us watch this anti-drug movie called Dead is Dead. I grew up on Miami Vice. So I'm having a difficult time understanding why drugs are still there.

Everyone knows that they're bad right? I mean when I used to hear stories about rock stars who ODed back in the day I thought it was because people didn't know how bad that stuff was. But now we all know. And what gets me is sometimes educated brainy people think that we should legalize this stuff. I don't know what they are thinking. Supposedly they think the drug problem is about the violence surrounding it. Yeah, no kidding, that sucks. But this stuff is soul-destroying. It is like a bomb or a weapon that attacks the people who use it. No one would ever say that we should make lead paint legal for kids to chew on. This stuff is poison too. It shouldn't be a choice. These are the same people (most people) who don't seem to understand that alcohol is one of the worst things in this world. Think of everything that that shit does to people and it's commonly thought of as something fun. Still. After all the abused wives and children, cirrhosis, drunk driving deaths. Oh but it's just a party time beverage. Could you imagine if cocaine was that legal? Heroine? This world is spinning out of control so fast and people wonder why. They know about all the ills in the world like something as big as the drug issue and they still wonder why. What's wrong with people? Everyone should hate drugs period. Hate it in the morning. Hate it when you go to bed. Hate it. It's ruining the whole world.

And if you think I'm not talking about the pills that doctor gives you too, you're very wrong.

Britney Spears

Britney isn't doing too well. She's pretty much lost her kids because her behavior is such that people who decide these things don't want to endanger the children by leaving them with her. Problem is Britney is still a kid herself. Now I know she's 25or 26 or something. Normally I wouldn't say that about someone so old but she didn't go to normal school like the rest of us. She didn't have normal crossroads that we all come to. No freshman years, proms, college applications, bill paying. None of those steps on the way to becoming something resembling an adult.

Most of us whatever age don't know what we're doing sometimes but it seems with Britney that she really has no idea. I don't think this is her own doing entirely. I think she's lost.

Again I do not understand why she remains in Los Angeles. She obviously has no one around her who cares about her enough to take her out of there. I don't mean someone who will say "Hey, Britney let's go somewhere." No I mean someone who will take her away whether she wants to go or not. Now she's got some piece of shit photographer who is willing to take her to Mexico and that scares me. We all fear headlines but Mexico makes me extra nervous.

I do believe Britney has problems. But not all this crap of every yahoo on television calling her bipolar just because they've heard the term before. Something is wrong. Something got tangled up a long time ago and it's got to get sorted out. But I don't know if she has time. And the worst part is that right now she seems to be completely alone. She may be surrounded by people but I'm sure deep down she feels that no one is on her side. And sadly, I don't think there is any indication that she'd be wrong in thinking that.

So what do we do? We hope for her. We hope that she can get some rest. That somehow someone decent will cross her path and she will go with that person. If you pray, pray. If not send light.

The Writers Strike

I am a huge fan of films. I love awards season. This writer's strike has pissed me off to no end. I understand what they want and I don't care. Let me tell you why.

You and I can think of some writers by name. They wrote our favorite movies or a few of our favorite TV shows. This strike isn't about those guys. Those guys do something that not everyone can do. So when it comes time for them to get paid, it happens. They can negotiate. They can make demands because they're worth it. So in the years to come if those people are in contract negotiations they can ask for royalties from whatever they want and they'll probably get it.

The people this strike is about is those that don't have that power. Now that may make some people feel for them and think that all these stars striking for the little guy is a wonderful thing. But I don't feel bad for them. Because I probably don't watch their shows or movies. Because they probably suck. How often do we all complain about the lack of anything worthwhile to watch on television? We watch reality TV sometimes because it's the best thing on. Not because we're morons. On television the past few years I basically watch "LOST", "The Amazing Race", "South Park", "Dancing with the Stars", and beyond that it's mostly CNN or talk shows or something like that. That is not a lot of scripted television. I go to the movies all the time. But I wait for awards season mostly. That's when the worthy movies come out. My Netflix subscription is mostly about watching foreign films. Most of the American films I watch are written by the same guy who directed it. And he or she probably has a producer credit as well. So all those people are gonna get paid.

Now these people that the strike is about are ruining all kinds of stuff. They ruined late night for a long time there. (Jay and Conan seem to be doing fine without writers. And Dave's Top Ten List hasn't been funny since forever). They've ruined award season. They're ruining the economy of California. That guy who makes the knock off dresses from the awards show is probably going to have to sell his family.

Now you're thinking. 'Wait a minute, Rita, this is about the studio bosses. They're the ones being jerks.' Yeah I don't really know about that. Why should they pay for something they don't feel is worth it? They obviously feel the same way I do. If these people were giving them such quality stuff they would be paying for it. But this union business protects people who don't do that great of a job. It's true. You know it is. So I don't blame the studios for not backing down. Why should they if they could get other people to write scripts just as good as the ones they're already getting? They know there are a million talented people out there who just aren't in the union. People who haven't gotten a break. They know that they're better off not having a union at all. So why back down? If the writers get what they want it will be because the studios are tired of all the nonsense not because they think that these people are worth it. So what will that prove, that writers are important and valuable or just stubborn and self-centered?

Okay well I've been away for a while

so what I think I'm going to do is make a bunch of posts.