Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Sketti and more…

I have no specific topic or message for this particular post…so I will be all over the place. I came up with the name for this post after watching stupid Frodo talking really reckless to Sam on Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Sam should have knocked the shit out of him one good time! Sam was the man! Anyway, I shall proceed…

• Since the YouTube video is above; I’ll start with December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. I have heard this song for most of my life but actually paid attention to the lyrics the other morning during the commute to work (I listen to little bit of everything…just whatever catches and holds my attention which is hard to do). Is this song about a guy losing his virginity to some woman he hardly knew, performance issues, or both? Maybe I am late for the bus on this one, but I have always sang along never giving thought to what they were singing about.

• Ranch dressing as a condiment like ketchup and mustard? I guess it’s the equivalent of me ordering honey mustard to dip fries.

• I watched the final Presidential debate and couldn’t help but think about the BET Hip Hop Awards. I like to check out the Hip Hop Awards for the “cypher” freestyle sessions which to me can be compared to the debates. Both are a battle of words, during the debates the candidates try to get off their “zingers” which basically are the same as “punch lines” in freestyles as they are intended to leave a lasting impression with the audience, and they are both judged by people who more than likely have a predisposition on who they will select as the winner. The stakes are higher with the Presidential debates. Go vote…if you haven’t already!

• Fact: You run the risk of temporarily going blind if you take over 50 cell phone pictures of yourself (flash on) while attempting to get the perfect shot to update your Facebook profile.

• Every time I hear or think about the saying “Give me my flowers while I’m living” I think of my Grandma. Remember to show the special people in your life how much you appreciate and love them while they are here.

• I recently made spaghetti for dinner and couldn’t help but think of who would win in a throwdown — my spaghetti vs. Honey Boo Boo’s mom’s Sketti!

• I am regretting the time lost this past weekend watching two movies: Dream House and The Roommate…both kinda sucked! Okay, I admit that I began watching both more that half way into them. I have a bad habit of this.

• What do kids watch on Saturday mornings these days? I remember having a big bowl of cereal and watching episode after episode of cartoons from like 7am – noon! I loved the Super Friends!

• Living in Nashville most of my life, I know about the Bluebird Cafe. Passing by it on the way to my company’s picnic on Saturday; I was like, “That’s the songwriter’s spot from the show Nashville!” Is this an example of the power of the media?

• Speaking of Nashville…has Powers Boothe ever played a good guy? I mean from Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, Tombstone, Sin City and Deadwood…he always portrays a shady character. I think I’ll have to watch Frailty again because I cannot remember if he was good or bad in the movie. Maybe Comcast has it OnDemand…

Ballin’ with Confucius

Danged writer’s block! I have been sitting on the idea for this post for nearly three days. I have the beginning and the end but like my step-dad’s driving there are MANY different ways to get there. Very similar to me at Subway. I know that I want a “12 inch foot-long on wheat w/ provolone” and it ends with “salt/pepper and oregano…no cookie.”  The middle is hard and I hate making decisions! Then I thought, as I drink my Yuengling, that all I have to do is apply the theme of this post and move on…no regrets! Remembering that each post is about the process…the exercise of expression and that everything else is the cherry on top.

Now on to our regularly scheduled program–

During my years at MTSU; basketball was as an important part of our everyday lives as classes, girls, music and being at every party. Class schedules were set to resolve around being free to “hoop” at AMG between 2-5pm weekdays then dinner at High Rise.

Basketball was so key that we would “guilt” one another to get out of our sick-bed with a fever and about to lose a lung from coughing just to play…all so that we could have our starting five. This was done under the indisputable medical fact that “sustained exercise such as running and jumping for a couple of hours would break a fever and relieve congestion.” Yeah, I know…we were college educated young men..LOL. I even met some of my now wife’s family for the first time after they watched us play in an intramural game that ended in a bench clearing brawl that spilled over to another court. I think her younger cousin and his friend thought it was pretty cool!

One day we couldn’t play in the cozy confines of AMG (which I picture in my mind like the gym from Hoosiers even though I never saw the movie…go figure). We had to go next door to Murphy Center…the big court for the big boys. Playing here was not new for me as I had a couple of rec classes on the court and had hooped on the floor before. One thing to be considered with the change in venue is depth perception; as AMG was small compared to the cavernous arena with a back drop of thousands of empty seats visible through the backboards and the high ceiling.

We started to warm up; shooting jumpers, lay-ups and what not. This is when one of my boys (who shall remain nameless) shot a jumper hitting nothing but air. When you shoot an air ball its like missing a dunk or with our limited skill set…blowing a lay-up. Everyone notices!

So “air ball dude” was still holding his follow through pose like Michael Jordan when he beat the Jazz. He then utters the words that we have clowned him on at various times for years — “Every time I shoot…I either hit or miss!”

We all pretty much exclaimed — “Man, what are the other options!!”  Given our sense of humor, we still laugh our butts off whenever this story is told…but that’s us.

For some reason Tim’s (damnit…I said his name…oh well) declaration that day still rings true as it is applicable to everyday life. We just have to get off of the bench at take the first shot. Whether you hit or miss is not very important (even though I know I “hit” because I finally completed this post). The key is to keep shooting! I know I took the long way to the point but hey, we got here…Holla back….

Comcast, Mind Control and Boogie Nights

Is Comcast the evil empire of entertainment or what? I’m not mad at them…more power to them. It just seems that every time I begin to consider to lower my package they seem to exert some type of subliminal mind control over me by showing any one of my guilty pleasures and I have quite a few. Whether its Conan the Barbarian (the original, not part two or the newest remake), The Shawkshank Redemption, Unforgiven, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, a 24 hour Game of Thrones marathon and so on…Comcast has me hooked for a little while longer.

Mind control or market research… sorta like how the Kroger plus card tracks your buying tendencies and then sends you those special coupons in the mail…whatever it is, it works. Chris Rock said it best– “the money is in the comeback” and I keep coming back.

Now the carrot that catches my attention most often is Boogie Nights. Like most movies that I really like; it doesn’t matter what part I come in on…I’ll fall right into place. It all started after my surgery to repair my Achilles tendon. Being cooped up, I was reintroduced to the movie and now it is on all of the time.

At first glance you may think that it is only about the ’70’s – 80’s porn industry but it is way more than that. It’s more so about evolving, pitfalls and resistance to change both in the industry and with the characters. Plus the soundtrack is banging! I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it. But how can you go wrong with a cast including:

•  Burt Reynolds
• Mark Wahlberg
• Heather Graham
• Julianne Moore (haven’t really liked her since she replaced Jodie Foster as Agent Starling but she was damned good in Game Change)
• Don Cheadle (the actor of much debate as I know of some who won’t give him his due respect for his body of work)
• John C Reilly
• William H Macy
• The library cop from Seinfeld
• Nicole Ari Parker
• Philip Seymour Hoffman (He reminds me of the Skipper from Gilligan’s Island)

To quote a line of Eddie from Torrence (aka Dirk Diggler) said — “Everyone’s blessed with one special thing.”  This line kinda sticks with me.

Excursions

The Leap of Faith…

Putting pen to pad…well in this case fingers to keypad is something that I have done for most of my life. Whether drawing (creating comic book characters for an entire summer with my cousins as a kid and sending them to Marvel Comics…we were rejected in a nice way) or writing rap lyrics (just writing not rapping although I believe I had skills)…I have enjoyed creating things and admire that quality in others.

Over the years I got away from it. Ideas and thoughts should be shared and this seems like a good enough forum. Nothing too political or religious. Just thoughts on life, pop culture, my past, future and sometimes stuff right out of left field…no rhyme or reason…only what moves me to do this thing.

Now in my best Rakim (or fill in your favorite rapper/emcee) voice …mic check one -two…one-two…is this thing on…