Arcade Fire Covers Uncontrollable Urge

With the release of the latest effort, Arcade Fire has been equally praised and pilloried.  Personally, I downloaded the entire album, and love it.  However, and band's effort was massively over-hyped, and the arrows they're taking likely stem more from a rejection of their commercial formula than they do over purely musical merits.

Folks, there's not a ton of great music out there that has been released in the past 6 months, and stacked against that, Arcade Fire's Reflektor is fabulous.

One thing I've admired about the band has been their hat tips to bands that came before them, and here is the latest.  In a recent concert in L.A, the band covered one of Devo's more obscure hits, and covered it extremely well:



Good stuff, indeed.

Battle of the Bulge, Part One. Where it All Began...

For nearly all of my life, I have battled with my weight.  While I've never been morbidly obese, by BMI definitions, I am indeed obese, and have been that way thorough most of my 20s, and all of my 30s and 40s.  

But it started well before then.  As a kid, while I wouldn't define myself as a fat kid per se, I was always on the larger side.  It was made manifest in 6th grade football, where I was deemed too heavy to carry the football as a fullback, and the coach at the time suggested I go on a diet.

So I did.  A diet for an 11 year old.  And the conversations over my spartan brown-bag lunch by my peers, just starting their cruel adolescent years, injured me with scars I carry to this day.

And it also initiated what has become a lifetime of fits and starts as it comes to dieting.

Diets through high school, college, adulthood.  Famines and fads like Cambridge, Vegetarian, Cave Man, Nutra-System, Atkins, and at least a half-dozen others.  Each successful, but none sustainable.  Hence, the net results were always fleeting.

Ah, yes, the inevitable failure.  And with it comes the loathing; for cameras, mirrors, my clothes, and myself.  Always for myself.

I title this segment the Battle of the Bulge, but given how long it has raged, and the costs associated, the title is understated.  This is a war, and one in which I've been losing far more than winning.

But the war rages, unabated.  And I continue to try and put up a fight.

Healthcare Mash Video

Just when you thought that infernal song would finally leave your head for the year comes this parody.

But it's really, really good.  Trust me:


As one that has launched about a dozen websites in my career (with hundreds of releases), I cannot understand what the hell our government did.  Amazing.

Obama - You Can Keep Your Plan. Yeah, Right...

New York Magazine (yes, you read that correctly) put together the following montage of Obama selling one of the best aspects of Obamacare:


The only issue is that for millions of Americans, that's simply not true.  The plan they have and like is not good enough for the government, and by law those citizens need to leave their existing plan and join in Obamacare.

This was a bald-faced lie, told to a mind-numbed public and a complicit media.  And now that the truth is coming out via stories of notifications, cancellations, rate hikes, and outrage, the spin begins about what Obama really said, what he meant, and what he knew.

Either he purposefully lied to the American public, or he was abjectly incompetent over something that will directly impact 1/6 of our economy.  Either way, the President needs to be held accountable.

But as happened time and again with this President and the sycophantic media which refuses to accurately cover him, it will never, ever happen.

And just like in Fast and Furious, Benghazi, NSA, IRS, and other scandals, innocent Americans are getting hurt, and hurt bad. 

Missing Lou Reed - What's Good?

We found out that the great Lou Reed recently passed away.  While he was an acquired taste, my goodness, he was a wonderful taste.  I saw him in concert about 15 years ago, and it remains one of the best and worst concerts I ever saw.

The hard living, hard strumming rocker influenced scores, and left a mark on the music scene that will last for years.

As we wish him goodbye, let's visit a video (albeit a poor quality one) of a song that Lou penned for a dying friend.  Seems only appropriate.  



What's good?  Life's good.

Hunting with Kin - 2013 Edition

I just returned from the Fall 2013 of the annual "Hunting with Kin" trip - southern invasion.  This year my three cousins came up, along with our good friend (and camp chef) Doug.  

While cousin Tim was on the DL and was not able to hunt, and while the birds were flat-out missing, a good time was still had by all.  Highlights:

• Having the property's value double the minute Tim drove his motor home onto it
• Watching some great shooting by both Terry and Mickey
• Doug's bang-bang shrimp and barbecued shrimp 
• More boudin than you could shake a stick at
• Fuzzy and Terry's late night discussion, followed by Fuzzy's complete failure at navigating the 3AM obstacle course

Here are some photos:

A beautiful sunrise in the north end

Fuzzy on the look out for ducks.  They never showed up.

The yellow dog patrol (with a few spare black ones) just before pheasant hunting

Fuzzy on guard on the point

Cousin Mickey on the lookout for ducks.  There weren't any

Can't wait to do it all again soon,

Brainwashed By My Parents

Check this out.  Lots to think about with this one.

Understanding the Debt Ceiling

Hat tip to my brother on this one: