http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:02:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Wait for it...: *** Driver is ok. http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4264 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4168 God Bless AMC for "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men"--perhaps the two best series on television right now. And now, my new (I'm sure) favorite upcoming series based on the graphic novel series I've been reading of late: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4262 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4248 ...and watch this video. I've seen several of his videos over the years. Production values are low, of course--he's just talking into his webcam. I'm aware of him, because I've been spending 3+ hours per day working on learning languages myself for the last couple of years, in anticipation ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4260 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4229 *** Selectively edited? Just a few crazies? A Newsweek survey released Monday found that a majority of Republicans believe that Obama "sympathizes with the goals of Islamic fundamentalists who want to impose Islamic law around the world." I suspect the other half of the Republican party is embarrassed by this. ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4256 The first gentleman is the Reverend we've all seen on television promoting his church's sponsoring of the event. Now the congregation has made a loving, Christian tribute to the N-word: http://www.doveworld.org http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4257 Featuring Pat Robertson: *** All this talk about the mosque reminds me of two things I heard growing up in Nebraska. I had a 6th grade teacher who referred to American Indians as “sneaky redskins” and our enemies in the Pacific as “dirty Japs.” This abated somewhat after I asked one day in ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4243 It has not occurred to the roads department of Durham, North Carolina, to dig down and repave so that this kind of thing--happening since the 1950s--stops happening. Meanwhile, your tax dollars and insurance premiums at work: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4255 I love and miss Johnny, but I'm going to have to blame the amphetamines he was hooked on at the time for the sentiments of this song: *** He did go on to appreciate and perform a good protest song or two himself... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4228 *** Preacher, leave them kids alone! http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4247 The latest issue of ROLLING STONE magazine lists the Top 100 Beatles' songs of all time. This one is #1, and you can see the rest of the Top 10 here: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4250 Per usual--cuz I'm old--I'm late to this one, with this music video already getting 64 million (!) hits on YouTube already. I like it. It's causing a lot of controversy, for obvious reasons, seeming, at first glance, to glorify domestic violence somehow. Naw. That's Rihanna there, folks. She's the ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4252 I continue to love these: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4253 And then the WORLD HERALD goes on to headline the story "Low reading scores spur caution: Don't overreact." I disagree. PANIC!!!!!!!!!! And then buy this book. I read it in college, during a brief flirtation with going into elementary education. It is all about phonics. That's the best (read "only") ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4251 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4242 Loved it, loved it, loved it. You've gotta pay attention, though. Nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4249 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4226 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4238 Pretty cool Elvis stuff here: STRANGER IN MY OWN TOWN from Marc Campbell on Vimeo. http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4237 ...if you're wearing a "Muslim-looking" hat: *** Ya gotta love the "Mohammad's a pig" chants, huh...? Jesus is so proud of his sheep. *** UPDATE: More video via Al Jazeera. I'm just "ballparking", but I'm going to estimate a difference of 20 years in the average ages of the anti-mosque angry ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4244 Notable for what would seem to be the lead singer's drunken brother-in-law wailing out the background vocals: *** Hey, I'm all about the First Amendment but this terrible singing really should have been censored... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4241 Preacher, leave them kids alone: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4240 From Al-Jazeera: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4231 I have always been a big fan of Roger Ebert's, even more so now. From his blog: 1. America missed a golden opportunity to showcase its Constitutional freedoms. The instinctive response of Americans should have been the same as President Obama's: Muslims have every right to build there. Where one ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4239 From the 1934 movie MURDER AT THE VANITIES: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4224 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4236 The $35 Tablet PC from India: *** I could see these in use by every student in every hole-in-the-wall school in every country--with all of their textbooks for all of their school years on board. Internet connections in the middle of the jungle (Get those satellites up there, boys and girls!) ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4235 Just a Holy Two Blocks away: *** *** More here. http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4234 Hey, I actually have a pick this time that I have some enthusiasm for: Cyberonics, Inc. (CYBX). Why the enthusiasm? Two reasons: Firstly, it has an "X" in its symbol. Everybody knows that if you have an "X" in your symbol it just has to be a ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4232 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4222 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4233 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4215 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4217 The book that changed the way I look at the world is now an upcoming movie. Haven't read the book yet? YOU MUST!! http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4227 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4225 Because I love all things Russian: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4211 The very first 45 rpm record I ever bought was a little ditty called "Harry, the Hairy Ape" by Ray Stevens. I was about 10 years old. Mr. Stevens went on to have quite a lengthy musical career--mostly novelty songs, like "Guitarzan" and "The Streak". He did actually have ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4223 I've written a couple of times before about the Ed Sullivan plate-spinning guy, because his background music is something that continues to haunt me whenever I'm stressed. I just came across another version of the song ("Sabre Dance"), modernized for your enjoyment. Listen to it the next time ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4210 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4209 As all of my friends from high school can vouch, I was pretty much of a screwup through most of high school, until I got into a little trouble and decided to "go straight". Despite always scoring well on standardized tests, my grades were deplorable and I was in ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4220 This one is about our New American Folk Hero flight attendant guy who quit his Jet Blue job by grabbing a couple of beers and leaving the plane via the emergency slide: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4219 When you get a wee bit older, you come to appreciate the little things in life: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4203 Yatta! http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4218 I always kind of liked the song "Apache"...until now: *** I want to personally apologize for the fact that the 70s actually ever happened. http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4194 From MOTHER JONES: It was the middle of a tough primary contest, and Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) had convened a small meeting with donors who had contributed thousands of dollars to his previous campaigns. But this year, as Inglis faced a challenge from tea party-backed Republican candidates claiming Inglis wasn't sufficiently ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4216 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4192 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4199 I read about this video in this morning's local OMAHA WORLD HERALD. Some of UNMC's Summer Interns (UNMC is the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where one of my sons attends med school) put this together in response to our local epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases. Yech! ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4214 First, she was scathingly mocked by Colbert and now even Bill O'Reilly gets into it with her: *** Hey, Laura--what if it was Laura Bush that had proposed this? (You remember her, right? Nice white lady?) http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4213 *** Smoking boys and girls, you can chew all of Wrigley's Spearmint gum in the world between smoking and kissing us, but we still think that you stink. http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4190 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4206 *** Full decision here. http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4208 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4186 The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cLaura Ingrahamwww.colbertnation.comColbert Report Full Episodes2010 ElectionFox News http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4204 Full screen is even more nausea-inducing: Tribute to Escher in Barcelona http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4182 There are several of these "interactive movies" (kind of like the old "Choose Your Adventure" books) on Youtube that allow you to make a selection that sends you to one or another related video to continue on your adventure. Here's the deal: THIS ONE HAS ZOMBIES!!!!!!: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4202 Pretty exciting footage (starting at :36) of a few Russian gents checking out the current raging fires in Russia. These guys were lucky to get out alive: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4201 I wrote just over a year ago about trying to identify the frenetic music always being played while the Ed Sullivan Plate-Spinning guy (Next contest: What was his name and whatever happened to him. I have to think he died quite young--from hypertension or somesuch). My new best ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4200 I always liked this song. I'll bet you didn't know they had done a video: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4180 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4191 Kudos to musician Conor Oberst and friends for staging (and selling out, apparently) tonight's "Concert For Equality" to protest neighboring Fremont, Nebraska's embarrassing Arizona-like anti-Mexican ordinance. (Oh, I know I should be saying "anti-immigration" but come on--we aren't having a lot of "national security incidents" in Fremont. I've ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4198 *** Like the Infallible Word Of God says, "And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home..." 1 Corinthians 14:35 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4197 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4196 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4195 A pleasant week in the market last week, but it's time to do some culling of the bad and replacement with the new. I'm recommending (again, without much enthusiasm) three different stocks this week--but only because they showed up on my "screen", and I'm not finding much in the way of ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4193 Genius: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4184 Unfortunately, I'm not sure what they're saying in this "newscast", but it appears that Ms. Palin is not held in much regard by our neighbor across the Pacific. I hope this doesn't mean they want to call in their loans...: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4189 WARNING: CONTAINS DISTRESSING AND DISTURBING IMAGES *** Like any 12-year-old, Jamelia was excited at the prospect of a plane journey and a long summer holiday in the sun. An avid reader, she had filled her suitcases with books and was reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when her mother came ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4188 This movie has been out for number of years, but I just happened to watch it with my visiting brother this morning to kill some time before returning him to the airport (the movie being available via "Watch Now" on Netflix). I wasn't expecting much because the critic reviews were pretty ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4187 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4183 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4165 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4177 FOX reports; you decide: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4185 http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4174 No song takes me back to my early 20's summers in the lifeguard chair more than 10CC's "I'm Not In Love". Here's an interesting little mini-documentary on the "Making of..." the song: http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4159 What she actually said: "Young people, I want you to know: when you are true to what God wants you to do, the path just opens up, and things just come come to you, you know. God is good, I can tell you that. When I made that commitment, I was making ... http://www.jerrypettit.com/blog/?p=4181