The Bull Pen #25

Well, I see that last week’s blog of nonsensical statements was not a big hit. I would have liked to do a column based on a Larry King style but it is too hard for me to emulate his unique style of gibber gabber. I can do a column full of topics that do not really relate, so here goes.

A movie that I enjoy watching that may have been overlooked by you is The Hudsucker Proxy from the Coen Brothers. It is quite an amusing movie with some memorable quotes, solid acting, and an excellent score. I’ll leave you with one of the better quotes from the movie, “You know, for kids.”

I went ahead and downloaded a CD’s worth of 80’s music from I-Tunes and have been playing it almost non-stop since. A sample of the music includes: Rock the Casbah, Come on Eileen, Centerfold, Always Something there to Remind Me, Our House, Video killed the Radio Star, and Vacation. I can list the others if you are interested but they are along the same lines.

The real sign of the cultural apocalypse is the fact that a program such as American Idol can generate so much buzz and pull in so many viewers for what amounts to singers who will be lucky to be playing state fairs within the next 10 years. Is it any surprise that stations that used to be Top 40 formats (meaning the current hits) are increasingly playing older stuff? It is a sad state of affairs when an anthology series called Now that's what I call I music (which has very little interesting stuff on it) can top the charts.

If you have not visited an amusement park and ridden a roller coaster this summer, why not? Most of America lives within a 3 hour drive of an amusement park with at least one roller coaster. The new ideas keep getting crazier and yet traditional roller coasters continue to thrive. A summer without riding at least one coaster is a summer that was wasted.

I would like to point out as a public service announcement that The Simpsons Season 8 is being released this week on DVD. This and season 9 are the last of the golden age seasons before the descent into more wildly outlandish plots and rehashed ideas. It has one of the best Treehouse of Horror editions and some famous episodes, such as Homer’s Enemy (featuring Frank Grimes), the Springfield Files (parody of the X-Files, and Homer’s Phobia (where Homer is forced to deal with his homophobia).

Does your office have Muzak playing over the loudspeakers? There are times when I could shoot the people who create bastardized versions of good songs for this system. The system also tends to play a couple of songs over and over again that no one recognizes. Sometimes silence can be golden.

I have noticed that the ladders are starting back up again for Halo 2. I might be more interested this time in joining a team. I know I enjoy MLG starts but I also know that the competition is really stiff on the MLG ladder. I kind of fall in the middle in the skill level set as it pertains to Halo. I am good enough to be a nuisance to the top players but not good enough to consistently equal or better their score. I have long said that my best scores come when there are one or two people better than me on the team so that the other team’s best players have to focus on them.

If there are any special games that my clan would like to play (that I have set up) following the Royale fun on Friday nights, please let me know in room. I try to pick games that are fun for everyone but also try to mix it up. That may mean playing a SWAT game followed by a Fiesta game followed by an objective game, etc.

Custom Game of the Week: Nothing for you this week except to say that my custom game moment of the week came last week right at the end of my clan night fun. Let’s just say that WallyBR was probably having ‘Surprise’ haunt him for the rest of the evening. If not, well, I still had fun dropping from the second level of Foundation to assassinate him with the sword for my last kill.

P.S. You should really read last week's blog for some funny statements.

P.P.S. An all-time classic is the children's book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. If you have never read it, go out and read it now. I do not care that you are over the age of 25, the book is great for Adults as well with the imaginative illustrations. I saw a copy sitting on a table in a Macy's the other day and was reading it while my wife returned an item. It still garners laughs after all these years. Update - Apparently a movie is going to be made out of this book as the information was just released today.