I’ve been watching the Daily Show since before Jon Stewart started hosting it. Since his time at the show, it’s been turned into one of the wittiest, sharpest, and most critical “comedy” shows today. But one of last week’s shows was a highwater mark in intelligence and risk taking, with its introduction of Aasif Mandvi, the show’s Muslim correspondent. Watch and see some of the edgiest satire I’ve seen.
Daily Show – Aasif Mandvi
http://youtube.com/v/L5-4Kes8kws
Having a continually changing schedule means not always being able to watch the TV shows that we should. The DVR helps, but Netflix is a life saver.
It was through Netflix that we got hooked on Alias, and this summer is season one of Veronica Mars. The marathon viewings of the DVDs means that we are quickly catching up on year one’s mystery. So while we are late to the party, the DVDs mean that we don’t have to wait every week to catch up with Ms. Mars. But we aren’t contributing to the viewership of the show, which would help keep it on the air. We’ll work on that when the show returns to The CW .
Now we just have to wait for the rest of the DVDs to arrive. Come on postman.
Having defended her dissertation, my wife is now a Doctor! And has been for some time. She is no longer consumed with writing more chapters nor preparing to take on questions by her committee. All the things that ate up her time in that regard are now over with, and that means that we get to have a life and explore Atlanta (and Georgia as well).
So, our week has been spent traveling in search of signs of the NWO in east Georgia (The Georgia Guidestones), seeing a theatrical production at Oglethorpe U. (“Departures” by Oglethorpe graduate David-Matthew Barnes), and getting to see the last pre-championship bout of the Atlanta Rollergirls (The Sake Tuyas killed the Toxic Shocks in a great game).
We also searched for a grill and a punching bag for the little woman. Yeah, summer.
The great thing about travel is new places and wildlife…
Tiny frog in my hand at Watson Mill Bridge State Park.
Seeing the girls duke it out tomorrow. Seriously, $10… Bargain!!!
More pictures -> August 2006 Roadtrip
Additional Georgia Guidestone pictures on Amber Rhea’s Gallery
This post has the added bonus of my sweet wife ghost-writing. In other words, I couldn’t remember all the things we did so she added what I forgot…
Last week, some of my wife’s friends from LA came to town and left impressed with Atlanta. Even though we don’t have the movie glamor of Hollywood, think about it. That would just mean Lindsay Lohan snorting coke at the Earl and running people off the road on Ponce.
We started with the “Maltese Falcon” at the Fox, following a tasty-as-always dinner at Chinese Buddha. A double-feature with “Key Largo,” we left after the first movie and headed to Cafe Intermezzo, fulfilling our guests’ desire for an excellent hot chocolate. Unfortunately I had to work during their second day in the city, but my wife showed them around Midtown and Decatur, introducing Dawn to the wonders of the Radial Cafe and Victory Vintage, and ending the day with true Southern hospitality (and blue hair) at The Colonnade.
Their last day was spent cruising the city: breakfast at the Silver Skillet, followed by Atlantic Station, Castleberry Hill, Little Five Points, East Atlanta, and Piedmont Park (and even a brief detour through Buckhead, just to show them why it’s so wrong). After a little break it was dinner at the always-unique Dante’s Down The Hatch. Boiling in oil your own dinner in a pirate-ship. They don’t have anything like that in Los Angeles. At least not that they knew of. They’d also never heard of feta-cheese-and-pine-nut ice cream, until a post-dinner dessert run to Muriel & Sebastian’s Ice Cream (Dan and the wife swear it’s much better than it sounds, but Dawn and I are chocolate purists and refuse to believe them).
While Dan wasn’t able to get the absinthe I was itching for, he did get me a related gift. Yet to try it, will report if I go crazy.
Sunday, me and the missus hit the Tabernacle to see Muse. Fantastic show, with a great sound mix that had everything sounding pretty much like the album. Since the album is pretty well produced, it was nice to see a performance that sounded as good as it looked. I wish I had a better view, but seeing that it was a packed show I’m not complaining. City Savvy Girl posted a review on Confessions of a Music Addict, complete with horrible pun in title.
And prior to all this, I had an interview at the High Museum of Art for on-call art installation work. It would be working with pieces from the Louvre as part of an exclusive loan agreement. I’m hoping that my work with the Guggenheim and its similar arrangement with the Hermitage will work to my advantage.
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Somewhat related links:
The “Fabulous Fox Theatre” in Atlanta, Georgia, a tribute web site
Crime has always been fodder for films. But what happens when crime is part of the filmmaking process? I got to see “Good Cinema” as part of the 2005 Dam Short Fest in Boulder City, NV. This funny short film was based on the premise of two kidnap victims forced to act out a romantic dialogue for a couple of deranged movie makers. The complete strangers went on to make the scene tender, touching and good while being given direction by the two psychopaths. After the movie, the filmmakers had the actor over for dinner to celebrate. The best laugh comes with the meal, and the movie is available online (Quicktime – High Speed or Quicktime – Low Speed)
Now imagine that scenario, but you’re Australian and you really got kidnapped. That’s what happened to the victims of Garth Petridis. A desperate, out of work actor, he grabbed various people off the street, forced them to act the roles that he cast for them, and then let them go. Eventually caught and jailed, he served a year in prison for his rather strange crime spree. The Garth Method is a combination of the film footage shot by Petridis and recreations by Melbourne-based filmmaker Gregory Pakis. You can read an interview with both criminal actor and filmmaker on Film Threat.
Now I feel like a dumbass because in looking up this movie, I found that I really wanted to see it, and that I missed my chance when it played at the Atlanta Underground Film Fest in August. Oh, well. Check the trailer to see what you missed, and if you did see it tell me if it was worth seeing.
Oh, yeah, I know, it was done in Cecil B. DeMented also.
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The tyranny of Therapism: ” The authors of One Nation Under Therapy question the notion that uninhibited emotional openness is good for our mental health.”
Another treatise on how a child that struggles with normal emotional issues benefits mentally.
“…Blaming the kids is a lion of shame
You know exactly who’s to blame:
The mother and the father!”
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Lyrics found here)
“I wish my parents had some hobby other than me.”
The above quote is from the 2004 Psychology Today article A Nation of Wimps. I just stumbled across it again, after reading it some time ago. Even though it is a few years old this article voices much of what I think is wrong with parenting today.
It is amazing to me how coddled, protected and damaged kids are by parents who are unrelenting in controlling what happens to their kids. It revolves around over-protecting kids from mental and physical harm. Yet, this isn’t creating a generation of better, stronger, wiser kids. “…Having overprotective parents is a risk factor for anxiety disorders because children do not have opportunities to master their innate shyness and become more comfortable in the world.”
I always feel that kids are being screwed after reading about their over-litigious parent suing for some weak reason. Just Google “parents sue” and you will see a slew of headlines, and many just leave me shaking my head.
How is it that generations have managed and thrived without the modern-day revelation that children need protection from everything! For every advancement that we now live with: slightly better social gains of tolerance towards gays, women, different nationalities/races, medical breakthroughs like antibiotics, science… a long list of things that make life truly better, we seem to find ways of really screwing it up!
While me and the missus don’t have any kids as of yet, there are things that infuriate us in what we read and see. And hopefully that will translate into better parenting when it comes to that. Will we have a fantastically happy kid, full of life, self-esteem and unlimited prospects? It’s hard being a kid, even worse being a teen, so there will be times when the kid(s) could be depressed, angry, uncommunicative, and undecipherable.
But, hopefully, we won’t be the cause of more damage. And hopefully, they will come out of their experience intact. But, if it’s a choice of not letting them have experiences for the hope of keeping them from feeling pain, then pain it is. They will learn to live with stress, how to handle anger, learn how to put on a band aid and slow down when healing from an injury.
Kids will be out of parental influence more often than not, and while outside of their protective reach the best thing parents can do for their children is give them all the tools to deal with what life will throw at them. It will make for a better childhood and eventually make for stronger, more resilient adults. And that is the best thing a parent will be able to take credit for.
… where did that come from?
I really stressed my shoulders carrying some band equipment last night. So, when I ask my sweet wife for one of her nicely potent muscle relaxers, what does she say…
“Would you like a cocktail with that?”
*love*
Neon Poisoning 