Friday, July 27, 2012

Daddy on the Edge of a Smile


In the 1982 film "Diner" (which if you haven't seen you absolutely, positively HAVE TO SEE! - this, of course, has made me think about all the other films that you absolutely have to see, but I'll post that list another time. Trust me, though - you will not be disappointed).

Okay, I guess that was a stand alone sentence - let me try this again.  In the 1982 movie "Diner", Kevin Bacon has a catchphrase; you'll find him doing something that makes him happy, and he says; "It's a smile".  Not, "It makes me smile" but, "It's a smile" - activity and result have become one - cause and effect have merged.  I love that.

Daddy loves a good smile, and Daddy loves to share - so every once in a while, I'm gonna post a referral and ask you to visit, for a little while, someone that Daddy thinks is pretty cool; something that qualifies as "a smile" or, as Judy Jetson would say, is "the most ut".


Enter Jackson Pearce.

This woman is a smile.  Not because she's pretty (which she is); no, Daddy's got a whole house full of pretty ladies - you've gotta do a lot more than that to turn my head (especially since I've got this arthritic neck that makes it hard to turn my head - I really only do it on special occasions).  Jackson Pearce is funny, and witty; she knows her way around social commentary and is pretty darned handy with a screwdriver.

This is her formal bio (courtesy of http://jackson-pearce.com/ )

"Jackson Pearce lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with a slightly cross-eyed cat and a lot of secondhand furniture. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in English and a minor in Philosophy. She auditioned for the circus once, but didn’t make it; other jobs she’s had include obituaries writer, biker bar waitress, and receptionist.


Jackson began writing when she got angry that the school librarian couldn’t tell her of a book that contained a smart girl, horses, baby animals, and magic. Her solution was to write the book herself when she was twelve. Her parents thought it was cute at first, but have grown steadily more concerned for her ever since.
Jackson is the author of a series of retold fairytales, including SISTERS RED,SWEETLY, and FATHOMLESS (Fall 2012), as well as two standalones, AS YOU WISH, and PURITY."
As you might have noticed from the bio, Jackson is not someone that would normally come across Daddy's radar (although I was nearly in the circus as well, but that is a story for another time).  So what brought me to her?  What made our stars align?

Chick-fil-A.

Yes, the home of waffle fries and a homophobic CEO.  I was thinking of commenting on the whole Chick-fil-A weirdness but luckily, Jackson Pearce beat me to it and said it better than Daddy could ever have imagined.

And so, without further ado, here is Jackson Pearce;





Thanks for being a smile,

Daddy



PS:  To Jackson - I love that your electrical panel is labelled as well as it is, but I would always caution against trusting those labels and recommend the use of a voltage tester before attacking a light switch.  That said, as a licensed Home Improvement Contractor, I can say with authority that you are 100% correct - you do not need a penis to make repairs around your home.  And I'll never look at a Philips head screwdriver the same way again.  Thanks for that.   ;)

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Daddy on the Edge of Aurora

I'm sorry.

All my life, the movie house has been a special, reverent place - a place of magic and possibility, illusion blending with reality, a place that seemed to contain within its walls the stuff from which dreams were made, at least for me.

It was never supposed to become a living nightmare.  It was never supposed to destroy.  Reality was never supposed to raise it's ugly head and change lives forever in a moment of smoke and gunfire.  It was never supposed to happen.

And for that - for all of the victims of the tragedy in Aurora, I am truly sorry.

It's hard to know what to say - what to do in a time like this.  We can't really look to our elected leaders, since they're all up for re-election and no one wants to piss off the NRA.  I'm not sure why being against automatic weapons in a movie theater should piss off gun owners, but they seem to think that any speaking out against any type of guns is a direct assault on their Second Amendment rights.  Well, sorry guys - Daddy's not running for any office and I feel perfectly secure in using my First Amendment rights to call NRA leaders and lobbyists a bunch of fucking douche bags.  No one, aside from the military, needs to have semi-automatic weapons unless they intend to hurt a lot of people in a short amount of time.  These weapons were banned until you fuckheads got our pistol whipped government to roll over and repeal the ban.  Repealing that ban was truly a senseless act, and it begat another senseless act, in which many innocent lives were lost.  But hey - y'all get to play soldier with your M-16s now, right?  You fucking, fucking, fucktards.

Anyway, while we've had our share of villains in this story, we have also seen a hero or two.  Enter Batman.


Christian Bale and his wife Sibi Blazic visited Aurora, first laying flowers at the makeshift memorial for the victims, then heading to The Medical Center of Aurora where they spent over two hours meeting with doctors, first responders and seven of the wounded.




He was not sent there by Warner Brothers.  There was no press conference.  He asked that the media not be informed of his visit.  In a world seemingly owned and operated by ulterior motive, Christian Bale decided to just do the right thing.


Here he is at the bedside of Carey Rottman, who was quick to post this photo to his Facebook page.  Shortly after the shooting, a Facebook campaign had been launched imploring Bale to go meet with  the victims.  I don't know if that was the impetus for his visit, or if he just decided to go on his own.  I'd like to think it was the latter, but either way - this is what a stand up guy looks like.  Congress - take note.


Carey Rottman was lucky enough to be awake and alert when Batman showed up in his room; Caleb Medley was not as fortunate.


This is Caleb Medley.  Caleb was shot in the eye during Friday's shooting, and is currently in an induced coma.  His wife Katie, who was also at the theater but made it out uninjured, gave birth to their son Hugo in the same hospital on Tuesday.  Caleb has a tough road ahead of him, made tougher by the fact that his medical bills could run as high as $2 million...and he has no insurance.




From The Huffington Post;

"Medley’s story illustrates the dangers of remaining uninsured in America. The Affordable Care Act aims to help the ranks of that class, which has swelled for four straight years and is now approaching 50 million. The law, which the Supreme Court ruled constitutional last month, could extend health care coverage to up to 30 million uninsured Americans like Medley beginning in 2014.
As Medley's tragic story shows, going without health insurance can have stark consequences. About 26,000 Americans died prematurely in 2010 because they lacked health insurance, according to a recent report from Families USA.
In addition to lacking health insurance, rising costs have made it increasingly difficult for Americans to get access to health care. In 2010, Americans spent $2.6 trillion on medical care, a tenfold increase from 1980. That boost in cost pushed nearly 60 percent of Americans  put off or went without health care last year, according to a June report from the Kaiser Family foundation."

There's just so much wrong with this story, it's hard to imagine a happy ending - hard, but not impossible.

First off, if you want to donate to Caleb's medical bills, you can visit the donation website by clicking here .  I would ask - I would practically insist that if you are a card carrying member of the NRA, that you give verrrry generously.  It's the least you can do.

Second, let's talk about some rules and regs for a moment, shall we?  While discussing this subject, folks on the Facebook have trudged out the argument - if the killing had been done with a car, would we rush to outlaw driving?  At first, I argued that cars and guns are two very different things, but then I thought about it.  Perhaps we should treat them the same - as follows; 
Like a car, you must be licensed to operate your weapon.
Like a car, you must pass a test showing that you know how to properly operate your weapon.
Like a car, you must register every weapon you own.
Like a car, you must have all your weapons inspected on a regular basis.
Like a car, you must carry insurance for each of your weapons and their subsequent use.
None of this would infringe on anyone's Second Amendment Rights, but there's a decent chance that it would make gun owners a little more responsible.  Does this do anything about illegal firearms?  Nope, but the shooting in Aurora was done with weapons that were all purchased legally. Well, I'm sorry - but we have to make it just a little more difficult to kill people - it's gotten way too fucking easy.
If you agree with me, call your Reps.  Call your Senators.  Call the White House.  Share this blog entry.  Tell a friend.  Give to Caleb Medley.  Do something, right now, to make things better.  Be the good guy in this movie. Be the hero - 
Be Batman.

Daddy

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Daddy on the Edge of Your Circle of Friends...

FaceBook is funny.

It's social media, for sure - but it's also a social experiment.  We have re-defined the word "friend" as basically anyone that we felt like including in our thoughts, or anyone who's thoughts we were curious about -  sometimes it's just uncomfortable not to friend someone, so you do. Like, you've known of the existence of your best buddy's ex-wife's sister for so long that, when she pops up in the "people you might know" box, you almost feel beholden to "friend" her.  She will often feel equally beholden to you, and she won't want to feel awkward or make you feel skeevy for asking, so she'll accept your friend request.  Congratulations - you have now entered each others worlds.

She now knows of your love of 70's sitcoms, Sarah McLachlan and flan.  You are now keenly aware of her passion for 12th century weaponry, the music of My Chemical Romance and the collected works of Stanley Kubrick (including "Eyes Wide Shut" - no, wait, you misread that...especially "Eyes Wide Shut"...oh dear).

And...you now both know each other's political views.

Sometimes this comes as a sigh of relief.  You see that they've "liked" Rachel Maddow and you know that you can invite them to your hemp rally.  Or, conversely, maybe you see that they had prayed for a third Bush Term and you know you can proudly show them your "I Heart Cheney" underoos (which are doubly cute because the heart symbol is actually a picture of a pacemaker) - btw, I went looking for a picture of that in Google images, and all I could find was this - pretty damned close if you ask me;




But I digress.  You learn about your friends' political views on Facebook, and you can now also see what your friends friends think about all things political, and that's when you start to feel like perhaps you're in a game of "Six Degrees of Fred Phelps".  Daddy is a left wing liberal - that's pretty damned obvious, and I make no secret of it.  As such, I expect a degree of debate and lately, am not at all surprised to see overtones of complete disdain for my opinions.  I'm good with that.  I mean obviously, I think my opinions make more sense than the conservative arguments, but while I heartily wish that the world at large would agree with me completely, I know that others on the opposing side of the discussion have equal conviction to their arguments, so universal group think is probably never gonna happen.  And that's probably a good thing.  Discussion is good.  Debate is good.  It is only through questioning that new answers are found; it is only by debating the old ways that new ways come into being.  A better Tomorrow is achieved by not being satisfied with Today.

However, if you cannot make your argument without resorting to lies, racism and baseless epithets, then I am going to assume that you're argument is not worth very much, if anything at all.  But hell - why even form an argument, when complete and utter disrespect can go so far?  Dave Hurtt, a Florence, MT resident spends $700 to build an outhouse on a trailer - he names it "The Obama Presidential Library" and brings it around to Republican Conventions.  It made an appearance in the Memorial Day Parade in Corvallis, a town in Montana and was also featured outside the Montana GOP convention and prior to that at their annual Lincoln-Reagan Luncheon.  Andy Griffith, American Icon, passes away and is vilified by the Right Wing, because he apparently was a supporter of Obama.  They're "glad this idiot is dead".  He's "another hollywood commie lib" - here's my fav, from someone who likes to call himself "godisangry" - "Griffin, like all other liberals who have (sic) die, is now in helll paying the high price for his support of Obama and other liberal causes". 


That's how y'all talk about Sheriff Andy?  Damn...that's cold.


Now, I know what you're saying - they're not ALL like that...no, they're not.  Some of them just dole out the Socialist, Muslim Kenyan schtick; some of them openly declare that their number one mission is to make Obama a one term President and gleefully do their best to muck up the works.  But most of them take all of the failures, all of the epic disasters of the Bush Administration, lay them at Obama's feet and say, "It's all your fault."  It's a great way to wage an election battle, but it's a senseless way to debate the issues in a way that will benefit the country as a whole.

And that's the point...of fucking everything.  The Benefit of the Country as a WHOLE.  A rising tide lifts ALL ships.  A successful team beats with ONE heart.  Here's a favorite teamwork quote;

"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives.It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results."

That last quote is from Andrew Carnegie.  Andrew Carnegie came to this country from Scotland in 1848.  His first job was as a factory worker in a bobbin factory.  He went on to become the second richest man in history and one of the most important philanthropists of his era.  He was a man that could see how capitalism and the common good could work together in harmony; indeed, he viewed business as simply a means to an end, as a tool for the betterment of many, not as an endless quest to attain all of the worlds fortunes for himself.

I'm going to show you a video now. It's from 2009, but it's still relevant.  I think Andrew Carnegie would agree wholeheartedly with the content of this vid - in my opinion, it's a good, positive message, serving as a reminder that we're all in this together.  However, if you view this on YouTube and look at the comments section, you will of course see the Right Wing tearing the piece apart. Please, whether you're Right, Left, or anywhere in between - watch the video.  Then watch it again.  Take notes.  If you disagree with any of what's being said here, let me know in the comments section.  Tell me why.  Convince me that this is wrong - that what these people are saying is flawed and should not happen.  Do it with fact based realities, not right induced rhetoric or thinly veiled racism.  If your argument is strong, you should have no problem stating it like that.  If not, perhaps you should abandon your argument altogether.  Just a thought.  Watch the video;




Tell a Friend, 

Daddy