My favorite/best tunes of 2010

While compiling the list, I realized that I never bought/downloaded two of these ten songs. I have to list these two even though I did not like them enough to buy them because this woman is easily one of the best pop songwriters this year and, compared to her contemporaries, she seems most likely to have a long and varied career instead of just being a fad or known for being outrageous

Teenage Dream

Firework

Yeah, the above video is a little cornball, but it's a song that reflects her upbringing. The best writers write what they know.

Here are the other eight tunes which were made popular and/or released in 2010. First, the not-so-surprising:

Disturbed "Another Way To Die" -- The first single from their latest album, it's the rare Disturbed tune that does NOT feature singer David Draiman's signature growl. It's also got the most political lyrics Disturbed have ever written. The video is disturbing (no pun intended) while not featuring the band members directly.

Three Days Grace "Break" -- Only 8 lines of verse and just over 3 minutes, I have been playing this song for the entire year and am still not sick of it. I almost sang it at one of my church's fundraisers, but I just couldn't find the notes Adam sings in the chorus, even after buying the sheet music. Fortunately, I have as long as I need to find those notes and that odd sing/shout voice.

Linkin Park "The Catalyst" -- It's not the best song on the album; however, it was the first single from "A Thousand Suns". The album will have several more singles/videos through 2011 to enjoy and the album is one of those rare albums that really should be listed start to finish now and then instead of shuffling the tunes. This album best captures Chester's rock singing, Mike's hip-hop/pop sensibility (and showcases the vocal lessons he took in the last couple of years) and DJ Joseph Hahn ("Blackout" is something, I would imagine, could only be managed onstage by Mr. Hahn using everything he has to perform it)

From the "hmm . . that's interesting" list:

Gorillaz "On Melancholy Hill" -- The rare Gorillaz tune that doesn't feature a guest rapper and/or guest singer on "Plastic Beach". The video has to show up as a Best Video nominee at the penultimate music awards show whose nominees will be announced next week -- it rivals "Feel Good, Inc."

Eminem ft. Rhianna "Love The Way You Lie" -- It's not Eminem's usual introspection wrapped in violent word choice that grabbed me -- it was Rhianna's way of icily oozing out the chorus. Her choice of interpretation tells more about her struggles with domestic violence than perhaps she intended. Beautiful and chilling all at once.

Maroon 5 "Misery" -- Nice to have a pop band that plays actual instruments back on the scene after a many-year absence. Still can't listen to it without tapping some part of my body to the beat.

Cee-Lo "F**k You" -- Yeah, there's a clean version of the song called "Forget You". Forget it. This is a rare pop song that has earned the right to use the F-word that rhymes with truck as it just works better with the rest of the lyrics. Also, it's just great that a terrific singer who clearly grew up listening to Al Green and Marvin Gaye is doing as well as he is.

Finally, the song that may make your jaw drop:

Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings "Better Things" -- OK, so 2010 was as good a year for hard rock as it was for classic soul/R&B sounds for me. Here's a fun, live-version of the song. Great singer, great band and it's well worth your time exploring your favorite audio or video posting site finding other cuts from their albums.

Have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow and, if you buy any/all of these songs, the holidays will be a little bit better. Or, at least you can throw on the earbuds/headphones and crank it up when the family arguments begin ;-)

3rd row stage left, one last time

It was Ronnie James Dio day in Los Angeles today, according to one of LA's councilmen. For now, you'll have to take my word for it. One could not wish for a more cloud-free and warm breezed day on which to have a memorial.

The Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills lent the use of its Liberty Hall auditorium for the memorial. As the 1,000 seat capacity was sure to not hold all of the friends, family and fans in attendance, additional seats were set up on the lawn to the north of the Hall. Even with me arriving 90 minutes before the memorial, I really wanted to be outside with the fans.

The presence of the group from Westboro was negligible:

The memorial, thankfully, took place as far from the entrance as possible. Greeting most every visitor was a big outdoor screen.

The attendees were a fairly broad cross-section of people. A few were grade-school or teen-aged. Many were closer to middle age (like me) and a few were Ronnie James' age.

I've never attended something like this in my life. Memorials and funerals, as far as I was concerned, were for family, friends and the occasional co-worker. What could a heavy metal fan like me get from going to something like this?

Honestly, I have been in a funk for the last couple of weeks. All of my usual ways of dealing with bad news had escaped me. Everytime I played a song of his, tears would well up and a lot more emotion than usual got thrown out with my voice as I sang along. In the interest of being there for others and for represent

ing the LGBT fan-base at the memorial, I finally decided yesterday to be there today.

I avoided the lines for a t-shirt. It was not for the sake of saving money; it was more about saving energy so I could sit outside as long as possible during the service. I wound up leaving the outdoor sitting area twice before 2 PM to find a patch of shade under which I could cool myself before returning to the bright beaming sunlight.

The memorial started shortly after 2 PM after an unusual five-song pre-memorial, pre-recorded set, only one of which including Dio's voice. Even then, his was only one of many.

Today's master of ceremonies, naturally, was Eddie Trunk. Even with the stories shared by many of his staff, friends and his son, I managed to stay for the first two hours of the memorial only. I didn't hear or see anything that I would not have guessed based on what I knew about Ronnie James Dio. It was fitting that many of the musicians he worked with in the past were there today to sing and play acoustic version of some of his best known/loved songs.

Nearly all sitting outside with me were also conserving strength and stamina in the first two hours of the memorial, with one notable exception -- the "mysterious" figure on the far left:

Every song was cause to walk as close the the big screen as possible and pose, headbang and flash the "evil eye" sign from all possible positions of the clock (above his head, to the sides, at 10 and 2, etc.).

A few snickers drifted from some who sat nearby me every time he drifted forward. I have to give this guy respect for keeping the hood on with all of the heat and sunlight shining down and getting into the spirit of tribute and celebration which the rest of us were just too sun-stroked to shake up.

I'd like to say the group gathering in front of me in the photo to the left were a bunch of somber mourners awaiting a turn at paying final respects. Sadly, they were swarmed around a poor official who was only trying to dole out commemorative "programs" to everyone. A relatively brief 30 minutes later or so, I was able to walk up to that poor hassled employee and happily be handed a program of my own. Again, nothing all that surprising to be found in the program itself; however, it is certainly another way of commemorating the day.

So, did going to the memorial today change anything? After about 3 1/2 hours in the bright, breezy sun, I pretty much had the melancholy melted out of me. There were promises made to permit those sitting outside to come inside and pay "final respects" to Dio after the memorial was over.

Any leftover remnants of childhood mania over metal were sweated out today. I cannot say that, once recovered from today's dehydration, I'll never again get ramped up over a crazy, fast-beaten, loudly-cranked tune. I can say that, as we all grow older, that the passing of the next heavy metal icon should not come as such a shock to me.

Though I'm quite happy to keep that day as far off in the future as possible.

A rainbow

The photo on the left was from the tour program I bought at the only show of his I saw. This picture captures the essence of his stage persona. He was 10 feet tall on stage and he gave an amazing performance that nigh.

What I have been remembering the most about Ronnie James Dio in the last couple of days was the way his songs and style reached out to every heavy metal fan who ever felt disenfranchised, left out, not good enough or just plain ignored. As a not-yet-out-of-the-closet fan of Dio's in my teens, the message resonated with me as well, just not quite in the way it did for most of his other fans. So many heavy metal/hard rock singers can trace their singing style back to Dio's. Though my own voice will never have the gruffness and operatic flair, I can easily tap in to the emotions conveyed through his voice. To get a flavor for where his influenced reached in the world of heavy metal, a quick search through You Tube will bring you to songs like these:

"Holy Diver" cover by Killswitch Engage. My favorite cover of the bunch. They made this song their own without washing away the essence of the original.

"Rainbow in the Dark" cover by Teräsbetoni

A very faithful cover of "We Rock" by BlackOz

"Bible Black" by Heaven and Hell:

Thanks to Eddie Trunk for playing "Bible Black" on his Sirius show earlier today. It was recorded just a couple of years ago when Dio was only 65. He never lost the power in his voice -- almost unheard of for a singer of that age.

Finally, my favorite Dio song, which betrays my love of pop music in the guise of rock and roll. I've been singing it at the top of my lungs driving around in the car the last couple of days and cannot get through it with out tearing up. Especially at these lyrics toward the end of the song:

I could have been a dreamer / I could have been a shooting star

I could have been a dreamer / 'Cause dreams are what we are

I could have been a dreamer / I could have been the one to fly

I always could have been a dreamer / 'Cause dreamers never die, no

His physical presence may be gone, but when I listen to the music and close my eyes, I'm suddenly back in time 25 years in Baltimore.

We should all have someone who can take us away with a song and a show bigger than life. Ronnie James Dio did that for me. I cannot express how much that means to me and, I'm sure, to all of his fans.

A day at the Pride Festival

I spent most of the afternoon yesterday at the Long Beach Pride Festival. The experience (and the spending) started before I even got into the Festival after an engaging conversation with a young Greenpeace member. After the colossal, uh, I-can't-say-it-without-swearing, situation in the Gulf of Mexico, a group like Greenpeace is in a position to have a stronger voice in our country's environmental policy. And, thanks to folks like me, a few more bucks in their coffers.

I spent the afternoon being vaccinated, "cracker-jack" tattooed by the FBI, signing petitions and grabbing flyers and postcards from various organizations' booths throughout the Festival. I closed my eyes and took in a drumming performance, danced to a couple of old-school jamz (the only sort I seem to know these days) and even had my palm read. Darn good reader, by the way, as far as checking for changes in my facial expression, pulse in my neck and/or lack of either. I really have to look in to that as a regular gig: 4 goof balls like me every hour paying $5 a piece sounds like pretty solid foundation for a business. And, if I can turn the goof balls into suckers, $10 and $20 per person would be just icing on the cake.

Fortunately, a case of post-nasal drip and a huskier voice than usual this morning and this story, from Malawi in south-eastern Africa, was sobering. If you find yourself struggling in your own relationships, a read of those two men's situation in their own country, where just declaring your love is reason enough for jail without bail, a speedy judgment and, all but likely long-term prison sentence becomes your fate.

And if you think your own struggles are done, this story shows that the freedom of any adult to love another consenting adult is not yet secured.

I'm sobered up and it's time to go back to work.

Sweet

Feeling like a teenager again tonight -- started reading Cell by Stephen King and it's a great page turner. I've read a lot of his novels and this one is one of his best in a very long time.

and

Ratt finally put out a video for the lead single. But I have to wait until April 20 for the album? Bummer . .

What is said and what is heard

Here are a few lines of verse released a little over 25 years ago:

'Cause you feel life's unreal and you're living a lie
Such a shame who's to blame and you're wondering why
Then you ask from your cask is there life after birth
What you saw can mean hell on this earth

Click here for the artist/songwriter and title.

Many years ago, these words and others in the song were listened to over and over by a young man who then took his own life. The questions asked at the time (and I was a teenager fully into the heavy metal scene then) was did the song lead this kid into doing what he did?

The song is really about the death of former AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott. The second word of the song's title refers to mixture of alcohols, not what one develops to overcome a problem, suggesting that suicide is a fix to a problem.

I was pretty outraged to even hear the conversation. As a teen myself at the time, I knew other teens who were struggling with emotional issues that teens deal with. Most of us found reasonably health ways of dealing with those issues while the rest struggled to cope.

Was there anger to feel? Sure. It's perfectly understandable to be angry at the kid's parents, family, friends, teachers and school administrators for not seeing the signs of depression in this young man and intervening. To blame a flamboyant singer and songwriter who recorded the song somewhere far away, not knowing who bought any one of several million copies of the album would listen, is the last person to blame. I didn't buy the album, but I have heard plenty of music with pretty dark lyrics and I'm still here and writing. If it wasn't this song, the young man may just as well as found some other outlet for dealing with his mental health issues.

So, what does this guy:

have to do with this guy?

If you've been following the news on the passage of health insurance reform, many a liberal talker can't help but take a pass at what Glenn Beck has been saying about the bill before it was passed. MediaMatters.org has been documenting every little nugget of Beck-ness as of late.

Let me make clear: I'm not a fan of Glenn Beck.

That said, to point at Beck and knit his words / performance to any of the violence and profanity-laced ugliness being sent at some in Congress in recent days looks to me a whole lot like pinning one young man's death be pinned to a song on an Ozzy Osbourne album that had nothing to do with the act of killing one's self.

I would much rather keep Beck on the air, jabbing at blackboards and emoting all over the place, then have any performer become censored. If those individuals who are lashing out at select Representatives don't tune in to Beck, they would only find someone else to listen to and would find the permission they think they need to behave they way they are behaving.

You can't stop political talk just like you can't stop rock and roll. But if the line between discourse and provocation begins to spill over into anxiety, depression and a need to do harm to one's self or others, please click the link I'll always keep at the top of this page.

Then tune the radio/TV to another station.

So what did the big award show fan with no fashion sense think of the clothes tonight?

With thanks to a local TV station for the photos, here's what made me smile and cringe. There's 52 photos, so I list below my "smile-worthy" and "cringe-worthy" outfits:

"Smile-worthy": 1 , 5 (like a princess)

6 (finally, after so many fashion yucks!)

10 (I didn't care much about what he wore - he just gets hotter looking as he gets older!)

11 (mostly for the gems, though I was loving most all of the gray and most all the dark blue outfits were lovely)

13

19

22 (he's known for his eye for fashion, so no surprise)

24 (wow!)

27

28 (the print dress at first look, ugh! A full shot look - so pretty!)

36 (another princess. lovely!)

"Cringe-worthy": 3 (twice over. Ruffles are only for potatoes, ladies!!)

16 (when you don't have to guess where the breasts are -- the clothing points it out ?!? really??)

18 (see #3, but her hair, jewels and makeup was quite nice, so I was close to leaving this one off either column)

20 (it looked like a rental. You're doing OK and you can dress nicely - spring for a name brand tux, brother)

21 (c'mon - 2 bad ones in a row? aww!)

33 (WTF !?!)

39 (I would have to use language I don't permit myself to use here)

41 (the suit -- nice! the attitude - yuck!)

51 (bad color, bad use of metal and unflattering)

52 (I'm a flip flop, boat shoe type, but even I would know not to wear sneakers at this sort of event)

No surprises in the award winners, but I was cheering at the last two awards given. If I can get a few pics of the aftermath tomorrow, I'll get those posted. Thumb-free.

T minus five days: a small slice of life

The view of the setup of Sunday's big show

Tonight, as I was in between trains, I took a small break to refill the wallet and grab a small snack to stop a minor blood sugar crash. I finished off the snack, tossed the wrapper and turned to walk back down into the subway stop. In front of me stood a young woman who was talking to someone on her cel. She faced the same direction I was and, in front of her, was an elderly couple. The man was well dressed and holding a cane in one hand.

To the man's right was a woman about the same age who also had a cane in her free hand. The woman was struggling to walk down the stairs with an obvious case of gout.

The young woman was well into her cel phone conversation and may have been grateful for the break in forward motion to focus on that conversation. The young woman served as a barrier to anyone wanting to pass to the old man's left side. I picked up on what was going on and positioned myself a few steps above the old woman. For those rushing down the stairs eager to catch the next train out of downtown LA, they easily breezed by to my left, easily missing the old woman and her cane so she could slowly ease down into the subway station.

I took my time taking out a tissue to combat allergies while being paused ten steps from the platform entrance. I watched all three of them as the old woman, getting more wobbly and arched as she descended those final few steps.

I took a second to smile, silently offering praise that she successfully made it down the stairway, then praying that she and her companion would continue their journey safely.

Were the woman on the cel and I on the MP3 player temporary guardian angels or just subconsciously following the teachings of our parents to help someone without making them feel invalid? Someone else can rule on that. I write this simply in gratitude for the ability to do with relative ease that which someone else does with great struggle and a healthy dose of fear.

Please take a few moments in the days to come to be a "guardian angel" to someone without their knowledge-- for purely selfish reasons!

A view of red carpet underneath clear plastic with security and tourists scattered about. Just because it's my blog and why not post a picture of this?

T minus six nights

As we get closer to the big award show Sunday night on the Boulevard, the preparations are in full swing. Either that or there's a Grand Prix planned for Hollywood. I didn't even realize that a temporary pedestrian bridge is installed to catch the overhead camera shots for the arrivals, but you can see what it looks like in this shot from late today:

Chain link fence now lines the north and south sides of the Boulevard and the organizers are preparing for possible rain showers on Sunday by installing clear plastic roofs.

And, if the slow creep of transformation from busy street to sidewalk theatre was not enough, there's a new controversy at the corner of Hollywood and Highland:

Look in the distance for the red, orange and yellow circle with the blue background for the newest "supergraphic" billboard. The advertisement doesn't move, sing or smell -- it's static. Compared to the lit up, in-motion billboards now cropping up around highways and main thoroughfares, this billboard-on-steroids is just one of many in the area. And yet, the building's owner found himself with a $1,000,000.00 bail!

If I may suggest, perhaps taking a second look at the tacky, busy street-corner strip malls whose garishness begs for arrests and big fines, if only to tone down the mish-mash of color and traffic-snarling overload of signage:

Grandstanding

West Coast version:

versus

East Coast version:

West Coast version: lunch at the local tasty burger joint. I counted 6 workers there at least this afternoon. The black outfits and big badges announcing their purpose were easy to spot.

East Coast version: Buffet lunch for most and the President takes a couple of questions from reporters as he walks home to eat.

West: A celebration of cinematic drama

East: drama, drama, drama!!

The countdown begins!

The Boulevard is slowly gearing up for an award show on Sunday March 7. Today's new roll out was metal barricades with security posted here and there along the barricades.

As we get closer to the Big Night, the closures get a little bit bigger. This is my first time navigating the Boulevard during this time of the year and I'm quite happy to keep you posted on how things are going. Enjoy the pics!

Neither rain, nor sleet, etc.

The slogan is, for the most part, true of the US Postal Service. It's also true of the folks who set up the front of Graumann's for a World Premiere movie earlier this evening.


The layer of clear plastic with the white, nearly vertical lines at the bottom of the picture shows the top of the tents that were pitched as I was walking to work today.

By lunchtime, everything was nearly set up. The title of tonight's movie (see the banner-style poster on the lower left corner) which is being shown tonight is a pretty apt description of the effort it takes to set up a Red Carpet affair even in the rare L.A. rainstorm.

And, I suppose, a good description of the movie's plot. Whatever.

No. 366 and two aspirin

Yesterday would have been Elvis Presley's 75th birthday. To prove what a fan I am, I had completely forgotten this until, on one of my many strolls through Hollywood I came upon this bright, shiny memorial:

I wished I could say this brightened my mood or elicited some kind of emotional response. Mostly, I was just trying to avoid the great hoards of visitors in the area to watch the BCS Championship game at the Rose Bowl Thursday night. I've not seen so many dark blood red and burnt orange shirts in one place at one time and, with any luck, won't have to witness that hideous clash of colors again anytime soon.

Fighting a ridiculous headache this morning, I'm afraid. I had big plans to wash the car and grocery shop. Blessedly, both chores don't require appointment times. Seems like avoiding garish color combinations and overzealous fans is the only way to ensure a swift return to full health.

On the boulevard today

Starting, I'm sure, before dawn today and continuing up to and through the time I post this, Hollywood Boulevard was shut down between Highland Ave and Orange Ave for a premiere screening of a much anticipated new movie being released everywhere on Friday. Perhaps you can see what the movie is from my pics?

Late this morning, a new star was officially unveiled on the Boulevard as well, timed to match with the release this Friday of a new movie in which this actress stars. Glitz, glamor and business meet and swirl like soft-serve ice cream around here.

Meanwhile today, tempers flared a bit with the health care/insurance reform bill process. As someone who isn't a politician, I am well past the temper and am content to just grumble to myself over all of the . . well, politicking . . over something which directly affects people's lives -- no hyperbole here.

Fresh from the Blvd.

A scene becoming awfully frequent these days -- another wreath, flower and candle arrangement at one of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Blessedly, the daily struggles for Patrick Swayze are over. On the Blvd, the camera operators, photographers and tourists (and me) are all struggling for the best view/photo of the newest temporary shrine.

"To you we are a loathsome breed that will never be ready"

(h/t to memory-alpha.org for the quote from one of my favorite original "Star Trek" episodes)

Is the above photo just a picture I took of the commuter parking lot I return to at the end of the work day for the four-mile drive home OR could it be a "still" from the movie District 9, which I saw yesterday afternoon?

I wanted to see District 9 at a gi-normous multiplex feature screen with a digital projector, top-of-the-line sound and big, plush seats.  Through an interesting set of circumstances, I saw it in a 99-seat badly-in-need-of-renovation home-theatre style screen from a 35-mm print with sound to match this decades-old technology.

I'll leave an actual movie review to the professionals.  What I will say that, in a summer that started with a terrifically fun re-imagining of "Star Trek" and is wrapped up with "District 9", it's been a great summer movie season!

Here is what caused my jaw to really drop (outside of the unexpected gory violence and the play-by-play dialogue of the main human character in scenes involving eviction of the aliens from District 9):

First, it took a lot of people to make the photo above look the way it does.  With the same resources, this parking lot would look a whole lot cleaner if the same people who caused the litter in the first place just took their trash into their cars and disposed of it properly.  It is incredibly depressing to look at this every day and reminded me a bit of the classic PSA from the 70's which featured Iron Eyes Cody.  I now totally understand the sentiment expressed by Cody in that 30-second spot.

Second, the couple sitting next to me walked out of the movie 1 hour into it and never returned. I don't normally notice because even I cannot usually sit still that long.  I could not take my eyes away from the screen for the entire two hours and, because I sat still that long, was hobbling for the next 15 minutes or so when the show ended.  It's really the only thing that annoys me about getting old is how much more difficult it is to sit still for long periods of time then easily bounce up and carry on the rest of the day.

Finally, when someone behind me while the final credits rolled said loudly "Well, that was $10 wasted!", it suddenly occurred to me the likely reason the couple left in mid-movie.  What I thought was really a science fiction / morality play much like many of  the "Star Trek" and its revived set of series from the late 80's to the mid 00's was actually some kind of hippie-liberal-far-left propaganda tool!  

Heavens, I wish I was just joshin' you, but I'm not.  As an aside, it's the fictitious multi-national conglomerate MNU which does all of the evicting, etc., to the aliens, not the government. The film explains that the task of dealing with the aliens was contracted out to MNU years earlier.  Leave it to a conservative "news service (?)" to mess up that important plot point.

I thought the story, while reminiscent of the allegory present in "Star Trek" (meaning, the show isn't really about starships and aliens, it's about us), was very original in its telling and featured a protagonist that at times was milquetoast, cowardly and ultimately driven by love (very rare in an R-rated sci-fi flick). The gore, which I'm normally not drawn to, was necessary to drive the story along.  I found myself rooting for the aliens for much of the movie, which I suppose puts me in the liberal/commie/pinko/fascist column.  However, the movie, as is the case in much of real life, doesn't paint everyone with a broad brush.  There are heroes, cowards, villains and bit players throughout the movie.

Maybe the fact that what, on the surface, seemed like a summer popcorn flick was really a whole lot more, was what made this move so good in the first place.  If people walk out of a fictional movie thinking about where their opinion was if the movie was an actual documentary (District 9 is part documentary style, part news footage style and part traditional movie format), then perhaps it has actually earned much of the praise it has already garnered and, perhaps with a little bit of luck, the people who put on the award program in late winter which features a gold statuette with a bald headed male figure holding a sword pointed downward will recognize this movie for more than just the effects.

Perhaps, this one gets recognized more for the affects instead.

A different kind of memorial on the Blvd

Just today, two days after the 32nd anniversary of Elvis Presley's death, I saw a lovely tribute at his star on the Walk of Fame.  While tourist still surround Michael Jackson's star near Graumann's, this star has been left relatively untouched.

The official website for Elvis has his bio and all sort of other interesting information.  The question is still out there about whether Michael Jackson will wind up with something similar to Elvis' site.

Being a new century and all, it would be nice if Michael Jackson's legacy remains, for the most part, on-line, leaving nothing like a Graceland for hard-core fans to visit.  That said, I'd still like to visit Memphis and Nashville someday and take a tour of Graceland, the Grand Ole Opry and have a night of the blues back in Memphis.

Now, I just have to get a permanent job so I can get some vacation time.

A little Friday night fun!

HuffPo has a cool survey to take which has nothing to do with politics and a whole lot to do with cool looking dudes in movies in swimwear. Here's my favorite:

Daniel Craig in 'Casino Royale' (2006)

Aah . . what a nice way to ease in to a weekend! Enjoy!

The most offensive idea for a TV show yet?

I only had to read a couple of paragraph's in to this story for my stomach to churn.

First, marriage is so sacred there's no way that two consenting adult men or two consenting adult women could marry each other . . not in this country, right?

Now, at least in Turkey, a person's eternal soul is up for "redemption" for fantastic prizes & cash (or something like that).  At least some of that country's religious leaders are against this.

I cannot imagine who would be in favor of making such a sleazy display of such a private choice.  What an odd world in which we live!!

and now, a couple more diversions

With many thanks to Huffington Post to turning me on to the Air New Zealand ad and thanks to Yahoo for the story about Joe Mauer of baseball's Minnesota Twins and to twinkietown.com for the great photos of an amazing (and good looking) athlete!  Enjoy your weekend!!