Posted under Haiti, Issues, Reviews

I love watching the Smoking Gun Presents: World’s Dumbest Criminal episodes that come on from time to time.  I’ve watched a guy hold up a convenience store with a rifle and then put it down on the counter so that the counter person could take it away and chase him out of the store.  That was one of the best.

I watched a guy walk into a bank with leaves to cover his face.  He ripped it off, clean and easy.  But, they put a die charger in the bag of money and it exploded just as he got out of the bank.  The cops found a guy who matched the slightly camouflaged description.  But, the dead give away was the ink that was still on the man when the cops caught up to him.

I watched a guy on the dashboard police camera hand his wallet over to the police officer.  That’s all fine and dandy.  But, it had his heroine in it.  That’s about the time you hear the guy turn from a tough guy into a crying little girl.

I’ve watched plenty of drunk people cracking their heads on hard pavement, plaster walls, glass windows and steal bars.  I’ve watched them jump off of bridges, cross busy highways and drive cars with flat tires to get away from cops.  I watched three people conspire to insurance fraud.and tape it.  These shows have all kinds and they can bust a gut at times.

What I find most interesting though is who is willing to comment on these shows.  Everyone’s been in trouble.  Most of them, I find funny and have no reason to speak bad of now.  But, I absolutely love the commentators who speak without remembering their own past.

Tonya Harding is a regular on the show and she makes some real stupid statements from time to time.  She was talking about one stupid criminal who forgot to check with his probation officer and video taped himself doing drugs as well as some other things.  Part of Tonya’s sentence was probation and there are just some topics you should stay away from when you are judging others.  She mentioned the probation and I say, “Tonya, stay away from that one.  You’re no better than he is.”

Danny Bonaduce is another one I think lets some interesting things just fly out of his mouth.  But, his are in an entirely different way.  Danny don’t pull any punches when it comes to admitting that he hasn’t led that most perfect life on earth.  But, he plays the bad card way too many times.  We’re watching a police officer give a man a ticket who is just ranting and raving. The officer is maintaining his demeanor.  It is quite impressive.  Bonaduce says that if he was an officer, all of his police reports would end with, “.and that’s when I shot him.”

Lighten up!  It’s just a guy going off about a ticket that he probably can’t afford.  Sure, he shouldn’t have been speeding if he can’t afford it.  You can raise those arguments all day long.  But, many of us have been there.  Most of us can relate.

And the thought of Danny Bonaduce being a cop is a joke itself!

Posted under Celebrity, Danny Bonaduce, Reviews, Tonya Harding, World's Dumbest Criminals

In the urban dictionary, which is hilarious by the way, A Nightmare of Epic Proportions is defined as the boyfriend failing to reserve the suite at the best hotel in town when the husband decides to let his wife go out with the girls.

That’s what’s so typical about these extreme statements.  People use them for situations that are in no way close.  Not all things are "great." Not everything your friend is saying is "exactly" what you were thinking. And not every situation is of "epic proportions."

It reminds me of the time OJ Simpson was in the back of the Ford Bronco and being followed by an army full of cops.  The initial media bites had OJ in a high speed chase.  Then, they were scrutinized for being so off the mark and changed their tune to describe it as a low speed chase.

Epic Proportions would be proportions that are far beyond normal.  They are more in the “great” realm and that’s a very distinct place.  Not every situation measures up to that.  So, stop using it to describe situations in every day life!  How about keeping things in their proper proportions?

Posted under Celebrity, OJ Simpson, Reviews, Urban Dictionary

What happens to a person when they just have to have a Tickle Me Elmo so bad that they are willing to attack the person who has the last one? He suffered a concussion and a broken rib.

What happens to a group of people when they see the doors open to the store where they have been standing for hours that they have to trample over people to get inside? One man died. One lady lost her baby. And ten others were injured.

Why does a simple thing like Black Friday bring out the worst in so many of us?

Saving money. Being a hero for your children. Getting the things you want. Being the first to have them.

Throughout our lives, we encounter situations that test our humanity. Both individually and a community as a whole.

I hate when we fail. I really do. I think that we are all so much better than those snapshots taken of us at moments when we are at our worst. I love when we show how good we can actually be.

When there are natural disasters, volunteers come out of the woodwork.

When we have a need, there are those among us who rise to the challenge.

So, let’s remind ourselves that we are made of better stuff than the beasts in the wild who actually follow some major rules of nature. They never take more than they can use. They only fight when they feel threatened. And they would never trample a pregnant lady to get the last PS3:

Really! What would they do with it anyway?

Here are a few ideas that actually might help you this year:

Shop Walmart Online – The safest way to Black Friday.

Don’t miss the Thanksgiving Sale at FashionBug.com! – Get 60% Savings and Selected Doorbuster Deals! Valid from 11-26 through 11-27-09.

FREE SHIPPING at FashionBug.com – with any purchase of $50. Valid from 11-26 to 11-29-09.

Fujitsu Black Friday Deal- M2010 only $279 Coupon Code: MINI2SALE

On Cyber Monday save 10% on all items at Wolfgang’s Vault. Use promo code: JOY09 on Monday November 30th.

Get 15% off all orders at OneHanesPlace.com! Enter promo code 611694 at checkout. This offer is valid November 25th through November 29th.

Black Friday Bargains at Sierra Trading Post!

Posted under Black Friday, Holiday, Reviews, Shopping, Thanksgiving

I’ve got a good bit of things to say today. So, I thought I would just get to it. I know it’s not my style. But, I have brought you a vintage video that captures my spirit while you read my words.

The first thing I have to comment on is all the stink about Miley Cyrus.  Pole dancing is her latest flop.  At the Teen Choice awards, she came out in high cut shorts and high riding boots.  A trailer behind her and a pole in front of her.  Years ago she made scandal because she appeared “nude” in Vanity Fair.  I say, leave the girl alone.

See, the media is irresponsible and there is no way to hold it accountable.  It’s a chaotic mass of contradictory messages that blow haphazardly with the wind.  They tear Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan down as if they live by higher standards.  They waited patiently for the bow to break on Christina Aguilera, but it never did.  Now, it’s like they want to see Miley crumble.  Leave the girl alone.  She’s about the purest thing Hollywood has to offer these days.

But, that’s the media for you.  Remember when they talked about the O.J. Simpson car chase as if it was high speed?  That is until someone called them out on it and then they started accurately portraying it as a low speed chase.  Remember, the whole nation was watching?  We knew what we saw.  They tried to peddle their own B.S.  But, we knew what we saw LIVE.

More recently, everyone was getting on the Octomom’s back about everything from her lip job to wanting money for pictures of her kids.  Then, someone called them out on it and said everyone was being too hard on her.  That was the first time I learned her real name is Nadya Suleman.

The fact of the matter is that there are so many media flip flops and it’s funny when you get to watch Jon Stewart point these things out on The Daily Show.  While the media itself flip flops daily, they are eager to point out the flip flops of let’s say such people as George Bush, Rush Limbaugh, and John McCain.

So, there is no accountability at all.  And yes, I do believe that the media is comprised of individuals who all have the right to say as they wish.  I also strongly feel that the media tends to share views across the board and along with their constant mangling of the simplest stories, they obnoxiously over-exaggerate every morsel of information that comes their way.  Look at the recent “Boy in the Balloon” incident.  But, the story about a high school girl getting raped by several guys while onlookers do nothing gets a day at best in the news.

Moving to my next remark, I am sad that this Veteran’s Day is marred by The Fort Hood shootings.  I don’t know what it will all mean when the dust settles.  Is it proof that there is aggressive activity against the United States?  Is it going to cause us to make changes and sort through our complex web of conflicting resolutions?  We can’t strip our military of the right to worship.  But, we can’t tolerate direct opposition to our military from within our military either.  Wow!  I’d hate to be the one to have to sort that out.

All I have to say at this point is, it is not the military’s fault that such a man made it so high in rank.  Our military is given strict orders to refrain from violating anyone’s personal rights.  “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is just one example of the type of orders our military has been given.  In this particular case, we have Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan practicing his religion.  Our military is given an order to allow him to worship as he wishes.

Confusion!  Absolutely!  But, we don’t think of these things while we stand on the outside.  Now, we are wondering why our military didn’t speak up when they should have.  Probably, because they didn’t know how.  How do you go about reporting a high ranking individual for 1) Speaking his mind and 2) Being Muslim?

Answer:  You don’t!

We tie our military’s hands behind their backs and then wonder why they didn’t do something when they had the chance.

_____

Having said that, I move on to Monk.  I am really going to hate to see the show go now that it’s in its last season.  I want Monk to figure out who killed his wife.  I’m glad he has been able to come out of his shell a little bit.  I don’t think he belongs with a gun in his hand.  As smart as he is, you would think he would understand that himself.  While people are dying all around him, he would be polishing the bullets and putting them in his gun making sure each one was in alignment and that there was an even number.

But, the main question I have has been burning in my mind throughout the entire history of the show.  Why do things always seem to happen to Monk?  Isn’t it good enough that he is an awesome detective?  Couldn’t the show just simply be about Stottlemeyer calling Monk to investigate a crime that has him puzzled?

The show would work just fine that way.  In fact for viewers like me, it might be more powerful.  But, no.  They can’t do it that way.  They have to add to Monk’s involvement in each case.  It makes it really too unrealistic.  A guy comes across a murder once, maybe twice in his life.  But, Monk seems to always be involved somehow.

Take the last episode for example.  To impress the board deciding whether or not to hire him back as a police officer, Monk decides to help Randy take some boys camping.  While on the trip, they happen to run into the killers who are looking for evidence they might have left in those very same mountains.  Ok, otherwise Monk would not have been able to solve the case while he was off in the woods despising everything possible that there is to love about nature.

Not convinced yet?  Mr. Monk Goes to Group Therapy is about Monk’s insurance company placing a limit on how many therapy sessions he can take, which causes him to attend group therapy.  The killer is killing off everyone in that group because he confessed to something while he was in the group himself.  How is that for coincidence?

Mr. Monk and the UFO is about Monk and Natalie getting stranded in a small town where, while they are there, a murder takes place!  Are you getting this?

Mr. Monk and the Critic is about the critic himself being the killer.  Monk and Natalie attend the show because Natalie’s daughter is in it.  When she gets bad reviews, it casts suspicions on the critic.  Seriously?

Mr. Monk is Someone Else is about a mobster getting hit by a bus.  What could that possibly have to do with Monk…other than he looks exactly like the man and now he must act the part to get to the bottom of the crime.  Have you had enough?

There is just too much coincidence!

I believe that I am now purged of all the things that have been weighing on my mind lately.  These thoughts are not ordered from most important to least or visa versa.  They are strategically ordered to sandwich the heaviest of sentiments within the lightest ones.  Signing off.  Have a good day!

Posted under Britney Spears, Celebrity, Christina Aguilera, Jon Stewart, Lindsay Lohan, Miley Cyrus, Monk, Reviews, Teen Choice, The Daily Show, Vanity Fair