BAD ROLE MODELS
Here is a bad role model: A Little League Coach who is a former all-star major league baseball player who insists on yelling at a little league umpire loudly for ball and strike calls. That's good. Way to teach the kiddies how to respect adults in charge. Way to show off that great sportsmanship. OK - I know the umpire sucked but at least he sucked for both sides. You know, it is possible to approach and umpire between innings....ask what the strike zone is and go tell your team that the umpire is going to have a rather odd sized strike zone. Can't wait till he's ejected from a game this year. I'll be reporting back.
BAD ROLE MODELS IN THE MOVIES
Freddy Krueger, Jason, those Texas Chainsaw dudes....ok, those are the only ones I remember - I don't go to those types of movies any more. I guess they serve a purpose but to be honest I just don't get those movies any more. Yeah, I guess it's fun to be scared but best if you're a high school kid just trying to get your girlfriend to grab you in utter horror during the movie.
BAD ROLE MODELS IN CLASSICAL MUSIC
HUH? Is this possible? Sacred ground?.... the world of classical music?..... bad role models? OK - here's who I've come up with any the reasons why:
Conductor James Levine: I always here stories about him and young boys - enough said
Conductor Herbert Von Karajan: I believe he was an egotistical bastard, I've not yet heard or read anything to contradict this in anyway
Many late 20th century American composers - they're all copycats - very few new voices, everyone sounds the same much of the time - nothing new
Many late 20th century European composers - still living in the early 20th century trying to sound the same as all their great role models. That makes them bad role models.
GRIPE OF THE DAY
The workers at Starbucks that shout at me from across the place as I'm the 12th person in line - WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE SIR??? Do we really need to shout our orders across the damn place at 8 in the morning. I'm really ok if you just wait for me to get to the front. I really prefer not to yell my order. Not my thing.
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Saturday, March 21, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
WHY IS THAT?
WHY US GUYS LIKE SPORTS
It boils down to this - we like returning to childhood. We like talking to our friends about sports and giving our buddies a hard time that their team didn't advance in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. We like betting....we like feeling smarter than our buddies. Oh...yeah...we like competition and we like talking about how good we were at doing that stuff when we were kids. But let's get real. It's about childhood. We all want to play all the time. No one really wants to go to work. Come on....I don't care how much you love your job...if someone said "let's go out and shoot some hoops instead", or "let's go play some home run derby at the local little league field", or "let's go hit golf balls as far as we can"...............it's all about escape. We just wanna play.
BIZZZZARRRO WORLD
My top movies that will make you incredibly uncomfortable and on edge from beginning to end because you're never really sure what the hell is going on:
The Ice Storm (MUST SEE - Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandon, Toby Maguire, Christina Ricci)
Happiness
Eraserhead
Blue Velvet
These aren't just movies that make you uncomfortable. They are all outstanding films that have drawn critical praise from nearly all critics.
SCHUMANN
I feel for Robert Schumann. I felt more than ever last week. We read the finale of his 2nd symphony with my youth orchestra. It is beyond exuberant. It is uplifting; it is joy; if is love of life; it is all things positive. But I felt a shot through my gut while running through this piece as I remembered that Schumann had already contemplated suicide by this time and was extremely depressed and sick much of the time. It's like looking at works of Van Gogh. It can bring one to chills knowing that such beautiful art could be created by such tortured individuals. Thank God we had them both. One lived to age 46 and the other to the age of 37. It shows the value of human life even when cut tragically short.
GRIPE OF THE DAY
Jay Leno. That's all. That's all I can think of. He's not really all that funny....he is one of the worse interviewers, frequently turning to conversation and interview into ramblings about his own life, and he has always been just a very average comedian. I'll be glad to see him leave the tonight show but it doesn't really matter because I never watched him anyway. Bye Bye Jay!!!!!
It boils down to this - we like returning to childhood. We like talking to our friends about sports and giving our buddies a hard time that their team didn't advance in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. We like betting....we like feeling smarter than our buddies. Oh...yeah...we like competition and we like talking about how good we were at doing that stuff when we were kids. But let's get real. It's about childhood. We all want to play all the time. No one really wants to go to work. Come on....I don't care how much you love your job...if someone said "let's go out and shoot some hoops instead", or "let's go play some home run derby at the local little league field", or "let's go hit golf balls as far as we can"...............it's all about escape. We just wanna play.
BIZZZZARRRO WORLD
My top movies that will make you incredibly uncomfortable and on edge from beginning to end because you're never really sure what the hell is going on:
The Ice Storm (MUST SEE - Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandon, Toby Maguire, Christina Ricci)
Happiness
Eraserhead
Blue Velvet
These aren't just movies that make you uncomfortable. They are all outstanding films that have drawn critical praise from nearly all critics.
SCHUMANN
I feel for Robert Schumann. I felt more than ever last week. We read the finale of his 2nd symphony with my youth orchestra. It is beyond exuberant. It is uplifting; it is joy; if is love of life; it is all things positive. But I felt a shot through my gut while running through this piece as I remembered that Schumann had already contemplated suicide by this time and was extremely depressed and sick much of the time. It's like looking at works of Van Gogh. It can bring one to chills knowing that such beautiful art could be created by such tortured individuals. Thank God we had them both. One lived to age 46 and the other to the age of 37. It shows the value of human life even when cut tragically short.
GRIPE OF THE DAY
Jay Leno. That's all. That's all I can think of. He's not really all that funny....he is one of the worse interviewers, frequently turning to conversation and interview into ramblings about his own life, and he has always been just a very average comedian. I'll be glad to see him leave the tonight show but it doesn't really matter because I never watched him anyway. Bye Bye Jay!!!!!
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