It’s episode 16… Scattercast is going through its rebellious teen years!
Little bit of everything in this one folks!
- I beg, again, for feedback on the podcast.
- A brief history of my relationship with Halloween and the costume industry.
- A very long winded rant about the state of horror films.
Only three subjects this week, but my rant is lengthy!
Here’s a link to the MP3 for those who wish to download it.
This controversy over Cheryl Burke’s weight has officially become ridiculous.
Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Louis van Amstel, two male dancers from Dancing With The Stars, have come out with quotes over the fact that Cheryl Burke put on five pounds this past summer. Not only now is it Ms. Burke being targeted, but also the new female dancer Lacey Schwimmer is being targeted as she is curvier than some others.
When I first saw these women this season, I said, ‘Guys, you know the camera adds 10 pounds. You have to do something about this.
Maksim Chmerkovskiy
This was followed by
[People] look at this show to be inspired and think, ‘If I just work hard enough, I can look like that. If they watch someone who’s dancing her butt off and she’s still heavy, they can be discouraged.”
Louis van Amstel
First off, van Amstel has a reputation for being a pain in the ass, and has been rumored to be a problem with the dancers during the tours. He isn’t even an official professional on the series this season though he has floated through some of the showcase dances. As for Chmerkovskiy, who is he to make such comments?
If it sounds like this makes me angry, than you are hearing correctly. I have known many people with eating disorders, and there are many deaths related to such disorders each year. True, people also die from being overweight, but Ms. Burke and Ms. Schimmer are far from being overweight. For these men to say anything of this nature is just irresponsible, uncalled for and unnecessarily vicious.
If these women are happy with themselves, then more power to them, and to suggest that they are of unhealthy weight levels does nothing but further the idea that women must be model thin at all times. The wisest thing for these men to say about the situation would have been either a) to support their fellow dancers or b) not say a thing at all about it. Any guesses which option I think is the better choice?
I would hope to see this issue just die and go away, but so long as people continue to say such nasty things about a women of a perfectly healthy weight and size, then I feel compelled to say something about it.
For shame Mr. Chmerkovskiy and Mr. van Amstel, for shame.
It’s official: David Tennant is leaving Doctor Who.
I’m surprised to find I have never discussed my love of Doctor Who before on this blog, but it is true, I have been a fan of the series since the Tom Baker years in the late 1970s. For those of you unfamiliar with the basic premise of the British series, the Doctor (they have never revealed his name) is a rogue Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. He travels through space and time in his TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) that looks like an old English police call box. Through out the years he has had many companions that travel with him, but the only constants are the Doctor and his TARDIS.
One thing about the series that has allowed it to run for decades is that Time Lords are able to regenerate. At the time of their death, they focus energy and they can regenerate into an entirely new body. They retain all of their memories and knowledge, but their personality and quirks change, along with their signature outfits. In other words, it is an easy way for a show to run for years with different actors in the same part.
After a lengthy break, the show returned a few years back with Christopher Eccleston in the part, whom I quickly dubbed the best Doctor yet. He left after only one season and was replaced by David Tennant whom I quickly warmed up to, and liked for totally different reasons.
Now the news has come that after the four special episodes to air in 2009, Mr. Tennant will be leaving the series. Who will replace him is unknown at this time, but this has become a huge media storm in England every time they get ready to switch the actors out. I will give the new actor a fair chance, just like I have every other person to play the role, but it isgoing to be pretty difficult to fill Tennant’s Converse All Stars. (luckily the new Doctor will be in the previous Doctor’s outfits briefly until he has time to hop in the TARDIS and change)
So, bring on a year of speculation as we wait for the 2010 debut of the new actor to pick up the part. Oh this is going to be painful to wait through.
Dear Hollywood,
Okay, fine, I shook my head when you decided it was a good idea to let The CW start a new version of 90210. I thought it was a bad judgement, but, hey, what do I know?
As the show started up, I started joking with people that next we would be seeing a remake of Melrose Place.
So you’re allowing The CW to do this, Hollywood? Is it really time to start pumping the well for bad 1990’s shows? Is Doogie Howser M.D. next? How about Saved By The Bell? I mean, if we’re just going to give up anything resembling an original idea any more and just go back to the well to revamp old ideas, may I suggest a revisit to My Mother, The Car? Hey, it was a classic example of bad television, so why not just cut to the chase and get that one ramped up for next fall.
Where did we go wrong, Hollywood? You used to give me passable entertainment, but not you just keep smacking me with tripe… and I keep coming back. We have to get over our co-dependence, Hollywood, this isn’t healthy for either of us. Consider this your introvention, you need help, I want you healthy again!
Please, Hollywood… take that first step, get help. I look forward to the step where you make amends with those you’ve hurt… America is wating for the step, and remaking Melrose Place isn’t the way to do it.
Still love you,
Sean
I have gone on and on about how hard it is for a movie to be considered profitable, but yet the top two films this weekend did it in their opening weekends. What lesson is there here?
High School Musical 3, the first of the popular franchise to be in theaters, has a reported production budget of a mere $11 million dollars and it grossed $42 million dollars domestically this weekend. Saw V, reportedly the last film in the series, had a budget of $10.8 million and grossed $30.5 million dollars this weekend. As I have told you all before, a movie must double its budget to be considered profitable, so on paper, both of these films made well over double their budgets and are completely in the black already.
Hello. Hollywood? Are you paying attention?
If this weekend proves anything, it is that films don’t have to have huge budgets with insane special effects to make money. True, both of these films had built in audiences from the preceeding installments in their respective series, but this also shows if you keep budgets under control, then you can make a quick buck. Both films star smaller name actors, a major chunk of a film’s budget these days, and concentrate more on the story and plot than catering to some huge actors fan base. I love Johnny Depp, but he is reportedly getting $54 million to star in a rumored fourth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean, kudos to him, but a huge slap up side the head to the Disney executives for agreeing to it.
Think these are flukes? The first Saw film was made for $1.2 million dollars and went on to gross $55.1 million domestic. News has just come out that the Saw series is now the highest grossing horror series ever with a cumulative domestic gross of $145.8 million on an estimated cumulative budget of around $30 million. (the budget for Saw IV is unknown, so I took an average) This particular series is not my cup of tea (I like actual horror, and not “horror porn” as some call this), but there is denying that this series is insanely successful.
As for High School Musical 3, well, I don’t get the success of the first two on television, so this one doing so well is also beyond me. Teenagers seem to love them, so more power to them, and what teens love will always do well.
This does just tell me that Hollywood, for the most part, is broken. Why should any movie cost $150 million or more? A large portion of the problem is that they have given in to the insane salaries of stars. I’m sorry, but no actor is truly worth a $20 million dollar plus paycheck for what amounts to three or four months work. Stop paying these outrageous paychecks, focus on actually telling a story, and you can turn a profit. Sure they may not be gigantic profits, but perhaps you could pay your executives less and then you wouldn’t need to turn such huge profits.
Oh, I know, there I go talking all crazy again with sensible talk. I’m wacky that way.
I was looking through the recent traffic to my website, and it concerns me…
People are looking up way too many pictures of Heath Ledger as the Joker.
While I certainly have sung the praises of his performance in The Dark Knight,it doesn’t mean I’d dress up as him. The number of searches I’m seeing this close to Halloween tells me everything that I need to know that there are going to be legions of Jokers out there at parties and bars this year.
As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up in the costume industry, and every Halloween there was some costume that everyone thought they were being smart doing, but it was the same idea 2 dozen other people had that same day. The problem with the Joker is just some green hair coloring, some white and black makeup, add a little ruby red lipstick and you’re complte with some ratty clothing.
Please don’t.
Sure, sure, you loved the movie, but could we please not do this? There are going to be a lot of people dressed up as the Joker that just shouldn’t do it. It’s like The Crow and The Matrix all over again, “Oh sure other people are doing it, but no one will do it as good as me!”… believe me, they will not only be as good as you are, but more than likely better.
You have a few days, start thinking of something else… please?
You know, it fascinates me how airlines and companies like UPS were so quick to adapt to the higher fuel prices this summer, but where are the cut backs now that fuel prices are dropping?
Over the past few months I received numerous updates from UPS for my shipping software of new fuel surcharges. We were getting one or two of these weeks, tacking on more expenses to our shipping costs, raising them to unheard of levels.
In a more common every day effect on people, airlines have been doing the same. Fuel surcharges have been added to tickets, not to mention that some airlines are now charging you for checked luggage, which was also supposedly due to the rising cost of gas.
So, prices have plummeted, oil futures are even lower… where are the cut backs? All of these companies were extremely quick to raise their prices, but I sure don’t see them doing the reverse. With the economy dropping, don’t you think you might want to encourage people to travel more and do more online shopping? Or, could it possibly be that these companies used this as an excuse to raise prices and it had no real connection to what was going on with gas?
Nah, it could NEVER be that… could it?
It’s episode 15… by next week, Scattcast will be old enough to drive!
Little bit of everything in this one folks!
- I actually get political for a moment about campaign promises and how silly they are.
- A very long winded rant about Internet Service Providers (ISPs), how they are ripping off American citizens, and their greed is going to lead to problems down the road.
Only two subjects this week, but my rant is lengthy!
Here’s a link to the MP3 for those who wish to download it.
While I am known for being harsh in movie reviews, one movie I have heaped endless hate on over the years is Dirty Dancing.
Most bad movies are quickly forgotten. You see them, you say, “Wow, what a trainwreck” and move along. However, Dirty Dancing is one that has stuck in my mind for years because I can remember when it came out on video, and I couldn’t go to any female friend’s house without that movie being in their VCR on an endless loop. Honestly, the movie is mostly forgettable except for what is possibly one of the most excruciating lines of dialog ever written… yeah, you know which one I mean…
Nobody puts Baby in the corner!
-shivers-
I hated this line from the moment I heard it (actually, I burst out laughing, much to the anger of the girl sitting on the couch with me at the time), and this was long before Conan O’Brien picked on it relentlessly on his talk show. I truly consider it six of the most insipid words ever strung together in a sentence. Perhaps it was Patrick Swayze’s delivery of the line, but I really think it is just a horribly written line.
I remember hearing a few years back about some sort of live stage version of this abomination on celluloid, but quickly pushed it out of my head. Now comes word via Variety that the stage production may be making its way to Broadway in the near future. “Dirty Dancing — The Classic Story Onstage” (’classic’? seriously?) may be taking up the theater with its tripe where Hairspray hasbeen playing for six years. Nothing is firm yet, but that’s what has been reported.
This bring up a conversation I had with M (for newcomers, my best friend who shall only be known by an initial) not long ago about the “Disneyfication” of Broadway. With things like “Little Mermaid” going on at the moment, and “Spider-Man” inching closer to being a reality, we wonder what has happened to classic storytelling on Broadway. Where are the shows like “A Chorus Line”, “Evita”, “Damn Yankees” and so on? Instead we get things like “Dirty Dancing” which, by the way, doesn’t even feature a singing cast, they just dance to the music from the movie. Essentially it is the movie just done on a stage.
Why?
You know, here’s part of my problem with this whole “Oh it’s a classic!” and “It’s so romantic!” schtick with this property: Does no one realize that Johnny, the dance instructor, is significantly older than Baby? Were there no statutory rape laws in 1963, the year the story takes place? No no, everyone is just horrified that the hired help of the resort slept with a guest, not that she is an underage girl having sex with a man in his mid to late 20’s. True, their ages are never stated, but it is fairly obvious. I guess it’s okay though because it’s “romantic” and “sweet”.
Never mind the whole sub-plot about the female employee of the resort who has an illegal, back alley abortion and nearly bleeds to death. Really, this movie was sweet and perfect for teen girls in 1987!
So come on folks, pack up your kids, specifically your young daughters, and take them to see the “sweet” and “romantic” story of illegal love between an adult male and a teenage girl on Broadway!
Remember back when I said Dr. Pepper had issued a challenge to Guns N’ Roses? For those who don’t, the deal was that the soft drink company was offering a free Dr. Pepper to every person in the United States of America if Guns N’ Roses would release their long awaited album, “Chinese Democracy“, by the end of 2008.
Well, since it looks like the album is actually going to come out on November 23rd, Dr. Pepper has announced that they are going to make good on their end of the deal! Kudos to them, though I do wonder now if this was all planned, but whatever the case is, people everywhere will be getting a free soda out of the deal. (I no longer drink soda, but more power to everyone else!)
Here is the press release with all of the details on how you can get your free drink:
Don’t cry, Guns N’ Roses fans.
The agonizing wait for the 17 years-in-the-making masterpiece Chinese
Democracy will finally be over (fingers crossed) on Nov. 23, 2008. Sure,
there have been more rumored release dates than the 23 flavors of Dr
Pepper, but if Chinese Democracy hits stores as announced today, it’s going
to be so easy, easy for every American to get a free Dr Pepper as promised.“We never thought this day would come,” said Tony Jacobs, vice
president of marketing for Dr Pepper. “But now that it’s here all we can
say is: The Dr Pepper’s on us.”Dr Pepper is ready to give out free soda coupons to every American when
the album releases on Nov. 23, 2008. If you’re out to get a free Dr Pepper
just follow these simple steps:HOW TO GET YOUR FREE DR PEPPER
1. On the Nov. 23, 2008 release date, go to http://www.drpepper.com
2. Register your information to receive a coupon for one free 20-oz. Dr
Pepper.
3. When your coupon arrives, redeem it wherever Dr Pepper is sold.
4. Drink your Dr Pepper slowly to experience all 23 flavors. Dr’s
orders.
Coupons will be available for 24 hours, starting at 12:01 a.m. Eastern
Time on Nov. 23, 2008. Allow 4-6 weeks for coupon to arrive. Coupons will
expire on Feb. 28, 2009. Limit one coupon per person. Full terms and
conditions available at http://www.drpepper.com .
It looks like you won’t have much time to use them once you receive them, but go for it and enjoy the fact Dr. Pepper held up their end!
Yesterday Alex Carnevale over at io9 brought up a story about how some science fiction writers are calling for a boycott of the Borders chain of bookstores overthe fact the store had skipped ordering their book.
As I have dug down deeper into the back story of what was going on, it makes even less sense than it did at first blush. Going backwards, sci-fi authors such as Tobias Buckell and Pat Cadigan are saying that authors should boycott Borders for their recent trend to skip titles in hardcovers or expensive trades.
The Borders chain has been in financial trouble for a while now and is trying to get itself back on track by tightening their belt. Add in the recent economic news and you will probably find chain stores in numerous industries trying to find ways to cut back on expenses, and that will mean tighter constraints on orders for new products.
The idea of authors withholding new titles because previous were skipped is just asinine, and also probably impossible. Is anyone in their right mind going to turn down an order of a few hundred copies of a new book because their previous one was passed over? Get over yourself and get your ego in check. Add in do you really think the publisher, who is the ultimate say in things like this is going to say to a bookseller, “Oh no, sorry, we aren’t selling this book to you because you hurt the author’s feelings on their last book, and what they say goes!”
Yeah, that isn’t happening.
Andrew Wheeler, a Marketing Manager for John Wiley & Sons, has an incredibly in-depth blog post about how book ordering works and how “skips” suck, but they are part of the nature of bok selling. All of this is extremely easy for me to relate to from my comic book selling days, and if comic creators had wanted to boycott me for not ordering their previous works, I would have had nothing to sell. You only have so much budget to work with, so much shelf space and only so many resources to devote to promoting a given project. Worst of all, unlike book stores, direct sales comic stores have no return capabalities, so it was always a huge risk for us to order, so every book had to earn its way on to our shelves.
In short, I think I am just awe-struck by the ego and entitlement these authors are showing. While I realize every author wants to sell copies of their books, they should also remember all those authors who can’t even get their books published. So you didn’t make it in to Borders, fine, you just work that much harder to help promote the copies ordered by other sellers. However, to punish a book seller that is already in financial problems is just stupid. Say they ordered 900 copies of your previous book, skipped the next, you boycott them on the next one, they go out of business in the meantime, just how many copies of the project after that one do you think they will order? Yeah, that’s right, 0.
Your biggest concern right now should be keeping your industry afloat so you have future work, not your bruised egos. Pull yourself up by your boot straps, put a smile on, and keep your industry going. Don’t act like tantrum throwing children.
UPDATE: Okay, okay, I get it, I misread the situation! The authors did NOT, I repeat, DID NOT call for a boycott.
I’ve started using a new analytics program called Woopra that is fascinating. As opposed to systems like Google Analytics that updates ever few hours, Woopra shows your stats in real time, and in far more detail.
Well, one of the side effects of this is seeing in real time when people arrive at my site after having done on a Google search on my name. I imagine this is something that happens with working at a well known site like Mashable, but sometimes you just have to kinda go, “What did I do, and why is this person looking for me?”
Call it being a nervous ninny if you must, and I know it is part of leaving such a connected life, but it’s still kinda creepy feeling some times! (And if you just surfed in from searching on my name… -waves-)
The amount of people in this world who don’t get comedy is beginning to frighten me.
James Gunn, a writer/director/actor, has started a web series entitled PG Porn with his brothers, Sean and Brian, which is all about copying the porn movies of the 1980’s, but without the sex. Yes, you read that correctly, there is no sex in the series. It stars real life porn actresses Aria Giovanni, Belladonna and Sasha Grey with mainstream actors Nathan Fillion and Michael Rosenbaum. Each short film is constructed to be like a 1980’s porn film, just minus the sex so you can concentrate on the riveting stories. If the first episode is anything to go by, they will end badly… just see for your self. (Please note there is NO nudity or sex in this clip, but it does feature some rocking porn-style music… if the embed is not working, go here, it keeps going down for some reason.)
While I personally found this highly amusing, it seems that Theresa Darklady Reed of the Huffington Post didn’t. Ms. Reed calls it “…another example of violent misogyny self-righteously disguised as humor” and “The Gunn brothers apparently consider violence against women to be not just acceptable but sexy…”. While Ms. Reed claims to “get” the joke, it is fairly obvious she doesn’t. James Gunn has defended his series against this argument and informed readers of his MySpace blog that in future episodes there are more deaths, but they aren’t always the women.
This is another case like the recent situation of Paramount having no sense of humor about South Park or a couple getting angry over being featured ina Saturday Night Live sketch. In no way did I take this little film to be a case of “misogyny” or violence against women. The Gunn’s have gone on record as saying how this would also technically be rated as PG if it was a film because Hollywood is far more relaxed on violence than it is on sex. I would also say that for this to be considered an a case of violence against women, it would have had to be intentional on the part of the construction worker as opposed to what was obviously meant to be taken as an accident.
Did he shoot her in the head with the nail gun out of anger? No. Did he show remorse afterwords? Yes. Would a cop arrest him for manslaughter as opposed to murder? Yes. Was it an accident? Yes.
Why is everyone taking comedy so seriously all of a sudden?It is meant in humor, it is obviously humor, sure it may not be for you, but does that mean you have to try to make it into something it isn’t? If this was a case of “misogyny”, does this mean women are completely off to being made fun of now? Does every female character in every story now have to live no matter what? Apparently so since women dying, even by accident, is now considered an endoresement of violence against women.
… I think my head hurts now.
Again, it seems police have nothing better to do than make stupid arrests.
io9 first pointed out the story and followed it back to its source at NBC LEX18. 18-year-old William Poole, a student at George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester, KY, is currently sitting in the Clark County Detention Center. Why is he there? Well, it seems he wrote a story for his English class about zombies attacking a high school.
Yeah, you read that right.
For some unknown reason, Mr. Poole’s grandparents went through his writing journal, and coming across the zombie story, they turned it over to the police. Under Kentucky law, any threat against an event or school is a felony, and so he is being charged second-degree felony charge of “terrorist threatening”. The police also raided his home and found materials “that outline possible acts of violence aimed at students, teachers, and police.” Prosecutors got a judge to raise his bail from $1,000 to $5,000 on Thursday based on it being a serious felony charge.
Of the entire event, Mr. Poole says, “”My story is based on fiction. It’s a fake story. I made it up. I’ve been working on one of my short stories, (and) the short story they found was about zombies. Yes, it did say a high school. It was about a high school over ran by zombies.”
While I uderstand that threats of school violence need to be taken seriously… zombies? Really? Unless when the police searched Poole’s house found a small army of zombies living in his basement, I have a hard time believing they had much on the kid. And, yes, yes, I know it has been written about endlessly that kids suspend their civil rights in a school setting, but they have no right to write a story involving a school and fantasy monsters attacking it?
I’m not so naive as to think there aren’t large chunks of this story missing, such as:
Barring those questions, I can’t believe a story about zombies would be viewed as anything more than a science fiction/fantasy story. Unless there has been a rash of zombie attacks lately that I haven’t heard about, they are still mythical. Add in the fact that zombies are enjoying a recent upswing in popularity in pop culture, a kid writing a story about zombies (something popular) attacking a school (the only thing he really knows at this point to draw life experience from) makes perfect sense to me.
What is up with stupidity and law enforcement lately? Lets see, lately we’ve had the 15-Year-Old Girl Could Be Labeled A Sex Offender for taking naked pictures of herself… Fashion Police Are Real In Florida wherein a guy was charged with probation violation for wearing their pants too low. Is it any wonder our jails are packed beyond capacity and the courts are backed up for years?
So, to the folks in Kentucky, remember to keep any zombie stories you write off school property! I don’t think you want to share a cell with Mr. Poole.
It’s episode 14… I am constantly amazed how fast these are flying by!
Little bit of everything in this one folks!
- How do you learn the things you know about? (You’ll understand once you listen to it)
- The new MacBooks… what was Apple thinking?
- Why do certain words scare people, and others don’t?
Here’s a link to the MP3 for those who wish to download it.
I’ve just about had it with HBO and their DVD shenanigans.
I’ve talked before about my love of The Wire, and I have picked up the DVD sets as they came out. Before season 5 premiered, they ran three prequel stories that took place well before season 1 on Amazon. These were not included on the season 5 set, but they will be in the complete series set… meaning those of us who supported the series for 5 years don’t get the spiffy extra.
I was a huge, INSANE fan of Deadwood. I think it is quite possibly the three greatest seasons of television ever aired, but it was sadly cut short without any resolution to a few story lines. HBO promised that they would produce two 2-hour movies that would finish it off, but those have yet to happen. Now the complete series set is coming out, and, again, I have supported the show as each season was released. As I am sure you guessed, the complete series will have some extras I don’t have, and normally I survive without them, but this time I am furious. One of the extras will be a n interview with the creator of the series about what happened after the end of season 3 and what would have happened to each character.
… say what?
Not only did HBO cancel the series due to budget concerns, leaving us without a resolution, then they broke the promise of the movies. Now they top all of this off by shoving a knife into my heart by saying that by my supporting the series all this time, I don’t get to know what happened to the characters.
Never mind the fact HBO charges far more for their DVDs than standard television sets, so we aren’t talking a $20 a season or anything. Do they really think I am willing to pay twice for what will end up being a few minutes of footage? Sorry, but it’s not going to happen no matter how much I would like to see it.
Sure the information will make its way online, but it is the principle of the matter. Why does the fact that someone waits to buy the complete set at the end of the run gets what amounts to the ultimate reward ofor Deadwood fans, but those who supported all along get nothing? Not only that, but they’re paying less than the person who supported the individual sets! Currently if you go on Amazon, the three seperate sets would run you $159.99, but the complete series set is preordering for $125.99. So, come in late, pay less, and you get the spiffy reward? How does this make any sense?
The simple solution, and the one I’m sticking to, is that I’m done with HBO DVDs. They have done nothing but spit on their long time fans series after series. The Wire thing is almost excusable, but I can’t forgive them for the Deadwood situation. No True Blood DVDs for me… no Entourage… all shows I love, but clearly HBO really doesn’t care about my support, so why should I really bother?
Today marks the second annual Blog Action Day. While last year was about how to live a bit greener, this year’s theme is “poverty”.
When I first heard what the theme was, I struggled with it. While I have lived at a lower income (think coupon clipping), I certainly have never been at the poverty level. How could I possibly wrap my brain around something this complex and come up with a post that would do such a weighty subject the justice it deserves? I went to my mother and asked her advice, and she said four words to me that turned on the light bulb for me: “Think about your grandfather.”
Dr. Lloyd Antonel, D.O. was one of your old time doctors. Sure he could have made a lot of money over his career, but he was a doctor for the sake of being a doctor. Long before I was born he was doing things that may sound insane now, but they proved how he was really there to help people. One of the stories about him that is from my mother’s childhood is when someone in their neighborhood got injured and they immediately rushed the person to my grandfather not knowing what else to do. He threw everything off the kitchen table and performed surgery right there in front of his children. Today he would probably be hit with malpractice for not operating in a sterile environment, but back then he did what he had to do.
My grandfather’s legacy of helping those who were less fortunate than himself goes way back, and he was the type of doctor that if you couldn’t pay him, you couldn’t pay him, or he would take payment in whatever you felt like you could afford. He was once paid in chickens. Another time he was paid in the form of a spider monkey… no, I am not kidding. (The monkey hated my grandfather and would climb the fig tree in front of his office and throw figs at him… no one ever knew why as my grandfather had never hurt the monkey in any way)
As a child he had lived through hard times and he knew what it was like to go without food. As he made his way through his career, and had made some money… and not more animals, he would donate food to shelters. If he needed 10 pounds of onions he would buy 100 and donate the extra 90 to a soup kitchen. One of his favorite places to donate to was the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Phoenix. When he decided to “retire” from private practice he was out of work a full hour before St. Vincents snapped him to get their clinic into shape.
While this was a paid position he worked tirelessly and far more than they paid him for to help those he could. He did get the clinic in shape, and as he had been a pharamicist before he was a doctor, he figured out how to build them a full pharmacy with donations of sample medications from other doctors around the city. He worked on this for approximately 8 years before he simply couldn’t do it any more.
What does this have to do with poverty? Well, it shows you that it isn’t always about money, but offering the talents and services you have in your personal arsenal. Are you a doctor? Volunteer at a clinic. A lawyer? There are numerous centers for free legal aid. Plumber? Help out a soup kitchen with their plumbing needs or those of the people who come in. There is an endless amount of things any help center could use, and don’t think you won’t get something out of it. My grandfather thrived in doing this, and sometimes he brought home as much food as he took to them due to them getting more food than they could handle. (I swear that man’s fridge was always stocked to the top with convenience store sandwiches.)
There is no doubt that finances are tight for many Americans, but have you ever thought about just how much your time and talents are worth to those with less than you?
Would someone mind telling me why in the world how much someone weighs should matter to anyone but the person who is carrying it?
Case in point is professional dancer Cheryl Burke, one of the fan favorites from Dancing With The Stars, apparently put on five pounds over the summer. She opted to take this summer off, her first time off in several years, and was not dancing her usual 7 hours a day. Even with the “weight gain” (which was said to be mainly in her shoulder blade area) she still fit into her size 4 costumes.
In a recent article on the Chicago Sun-Times website, they went into great detail about how many nasty comments and blog posts have been made about Cheryl’s change in weight. Apparently she finally went on Good Morning America (video link) and addressed the issue, saying that the comments had been very hurtful and she had some emotional moments over what had been said. While I would say Ms. Burke needs to grow a slightly thicker skin, I do think any comments about her gain are just ludicrous.
Now you would think in an article about how she was hurt by the comments, and explaining her weight and size, people might take a hint not to say more, but, alas, this is the Internet. (spelling and grammar mistakes are all of the commentor from the)
Cheryl needs to look at herself in the mirror and pictures. Her butt and thighs are huge. She needs to compare with other coworkers or people who are the top of the game that not the right look for professional dancers. It does not matter how good she dances because your appearance does not appealing to watch it. People who turned to be huge and fat are all said that same things like she said. Honestly, she is fat with humounous butt and thighs. I like her but if she is keeping her fat weights right now or getting fatter, I probably my mind would gradually not going to be her fan anymore. She needs to be realistic that she is fat. Like one of the trainer, the blonde hair, not tall and chubby, she has exercised hard and makes a living out of it why she does not have nice body but because she keeps on exercising hard for her carrer that why she does not turn to be big butt and thigh like she was born to be which is the same like Cheryl. Cheryl is in public eyes. She needs to want to look good or the best herself, nobody could make her do it. She is fat if not like a pig but she would if she keeps on denial it and gets people to cheer her that it is okay and good to look like now. They do not tell the truth or in the eyes of the beholder. Well! be honest she is getting fat and fatter. If she or anyone who was born with big butt and thighs then they should live with it, right! WRONG!!! Look at the trainer who has the same generic problems like Cheryl but she beats it by working out A LOT and diet. No pain, no gain! It is her choice! It would be sad that she would choose to let go and be natural (FAT). Britney Spears at least she has 2 kids. Cheryl, if you let yourself go and keeps denying the truth and feel hurt and does not listen to any criticism then you have a chance to be like STAR JONES before her diet and plastic surgery with a lot of scars everywhere. People does not want you to be better than them.
Good Luck!
Okay, first… wow. How about some people worry about actually talking like they’ve gotten an edumakation before commenting on someone elses “carrer”. All that aside, I go back to my original comment about why should anyone’s weight matter to anyone beyond the person carrying the weight? Obviously it shouldn’t, but this has become a real problem in the United States where young girls are constantly bombarded with “be thin, be thin” imagery and comments. Is it any wonder that anorexia is a problem here?
And there was this portion of a comment by another user.
I really think most of the people who thinks it’s okay for a PROFESSIONAL DANCER to look like this is overweight themselves and defending her so as not to look so bad themselves. She’s not just a woman, she’s not a mom who just recently had children, she’s in a profession where her body is her one tool.
Well, guess what, I am overweight (something I am very up front about), and I will defend her because I think it is just pure insanity to call a size 4 woman “fat”. Yes, I am trying to lose weight, but I am doing this strictly for myself, and no one else and I think everyone, no matter what their size or profession, should just be allowed to be themselves. If they are comfortable, if they can work with the weight they are at, then it is simply no one elses business.
Honestly, the only thing I can figure is that these people’s lives are so sad, they have to find an excuse to tear down someone else, and if that is the case, I would much rather be fat than so petty.
Welcome to the fourth annual posting of this entry! Long time readers can skip it, but as I keep adding more readers, it’ll keep getting posted!
Ah, Columbus Day, the day we set aside each year to celebrate a lie. It always warms my heart.
People tend to forget that Christopher Columbus wasn’t looking for North America when he landed here, he was looking for the West Indies. Quite the navigator there. He also believed, until his death, that the entire time he was in this area that he was exploring the Eastern coast of Asia.
Never mind the fact that he also took the indigenous people as slaves and shipped them back to Spain, against the Crowns wishes. Never mind that colonists he brought over here rebelled against him when the New World didn’t come close to what he described. No, no, all those things are just a-ok for a man we should honor with a governmental and banking holiday.
The biggest offense to me is that he was far from the first person to “discover” the Americas. (how does one “discover” a place that is already inhabited?) The Siberians crossed the land bridge with Alaska as early as 70,000 BC, and it was those crossings that gave us the Native Americans. There were numerous other occurrences of people coming to the Americas, but one of the most well documented was Leifur Eircksson in 1005 when he sailed from Iceland to North America and traveled down the coast. Gee… does that come before 1492?
Yet, history textbooks still hail him as the man who “discovered” America. Why is beyond me, but a friend pointed me to a wonderful book called “Lies My Teacher Told Me : Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong“that spends an entire chapter delving into this very matter. Fascinating stuff.
If you want to credit Columbus with something, just say that he brought the America’s to the attention of Europe, but leave it at that.
Remember when I wrote aboutall sexual predators are over the age of 36? It seems someone got an early start!
A 15-year-old girl that attends Licking Valley High School in Newark, Ohio is facing charges of possessing criminal tools and the illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material. Her crime was that she used her camera phone to take nude photos of herself, and she then in turn sent them to some of her classmates. The students he received the images are also facing possible criminal charges.
The unnamed girl is facing could be sentenced to everything from probation to several years in a juvenile detention center. It is also up to the judges discretion, but she could be forced to register as a sex offender.
This is shockingly similar to an incident I wrote about in April of 2004 about another 15-year-old girl doing something similar. That girl was taking cam photos of herself doing sexual things and sending them to men she met in chat rooms. She was labeled as a sex offender, and under the law, she was forced to inform people in her neighborhood of how she may be a danger. I always wanted to know how that discussion went, “Hi, I’m a sexual danger to myself… please be careful”?
While I certainly do not feel any teenage girl should be doing these sort of activities, I definitely feel that the punishments are not befitting of the “crime”. This is childhood stupidity, why possibly destroy their lives over what amounts to stupid indiscretion? Registering them as sex offenders? Putting the camera phone girl in juvenile detention center for years would certainly not be helpful to this girl’s future. Why not get her counseling? Community service? Probation I have no problem with, but the other parts just seem entirely over the top to me.
My other question would be why valuable court time and law resources are being taken up with such a case? Perhaps it is time for lawmakers to put some new caveats into the sexual predator laws about if it is a child doing it to themselves? The above linked news story mentions that prosecutors are seeing more and more instances of this, which means even more time is being taken away from other matters to go after kids who do what kids do… they do something stupid.
This reminds me of all the shoplift teenagers I caught over the years in the comic book store. We would call the police, but we never pressed charges, we just made sure the cops gave them a good, hard scaring, and the cops would thank us for not forcing them to file out reports and more. It worked for both sides, and we were both happy. What about teenagers who get stopped for drunk driving? They get some education classes, sometimes taken to a morgue to see what could have happened, but rarely do you go to detention or get registered.
I take sexual offenders extremely seriously, don’t get me wrong, but I feel the punishment should fit the crime, and I think this time they are wildly out of proportion to one another. Put her on probation, and if she does it during again during that time, then throw the book at her, but a one time offense? It just makes no sense to me.
