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RANTS-N-RAVES
The World According to Scott
This is the section of my site that is strictly reserved for my opinions, my beliefs, and whatever I feel like talking about at the moment. It's updated generally on a fairly regular basis, so check back to see what the most recent things on my mind are.
The views and opinions expressed on this page do not reflect that of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department or Cornell University.
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Came across something interesting - a web site put together by Tom Grant, a Private Investigator who was hired by Courtney Love to initially try to track down Kurt Cobain after he left the rehab facility he was in shortly before his death. Take the time to read the entire timeline. If you had any doubts previously about whether or not Cobain killed himself, this will certainly confirm them. Not sure what I really think, except that I do believe Courtney Love is extremely opportunistic. Did Kurt really kill himself? We'll probably never know.
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Now here's something interesting - a list of the all-time greatest 100 guitar solos. While I usually almost always disagree with "best of" & "greatest" lists, I do enjoy reading them. Sometimes I think people put together lists like this just to spark controversy. No big surprise that Jimmy Page's solo in "Stairway to Heaven" is #1. I find it very hard to buy that Kurt Cobain's solo (#26 on the list) in "Smells Like Teen Spirit" even made this list... Some solo - all he does is basically mimic the vocal melody. The guy wrote some great songs, but he was no lead guitarist, that's for sure. Good to see they included Steve Howe's solo from "Starship Trooper" (a personal favorite of mine), although I wouldn't have put as far down as #68 on the list like they did. Again, lists like this are pretty much subjective, no matter how you look at it. And, you'll never convince anyone that your list is 100% correct.
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Another excellent display of idiocy - VP Dick Cheney gave a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri which seems to have backfired on him. Cheney decided to devote a "large portion" of his speech to bashing John Kerry. Fletcher Lamkin, the President of the University, told The Associated Press that Cheney's staff approached him last week about using Westminster as the backdrop "for a major foreign policy address. Nothing was said about a stump speech." Lamkin sent out a campus wide email stating: "I must admit that I was surprised and disappointed that Mr. Cheney chose to step off the high ground and resort to Kerry-bashing for a large portion of his speech." Lamkin has also invited Kerry to come speak as a form of a rebuttal. If the idiots in power keep pulling stunts like this, they're going to make things a lot easier come November & election time.
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Found some great gifs from a random site devoted to Looney Tunes cartoon characters. Below are two from one of my all time favorite Bug Bunny cartoons ever. If anyone can tell me the exact name of this cartoon, email it to me. For years, I've only referred to it as "Unga Bunga." If you've ever seen it, you know what I mean.
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June 2006 UPDATE - If you happen to come across this site randomly, please know that I've been contacted by multiple people who have emailed me with the correct title of "Bushy Hare." Many thanks to everyone who has not only taken the time to look at my site, but also gotten in touch with me as well. It's good to know there are others like me out there who love this particular cartoon.
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Does anyone else out there remember the cartoon shows "Battle of the Planets" & "Starblazers?" It would appear that these shows have found a new life, both in cyberspace as well as on DVD. Pretty imaginative stuff, I thought. For most people that are into Anime type of stuff, this probably seems pretty tame & uninteresting, but I thought it was pretty cool when I was these cartoons on tv back in the late 70s, early 80s. But then again, I'm a complete geek, so take it for what it's worth...
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Now you can see live streaming versions of Pirate TV online. Michael Angley, the man behind this most excellent show is a master at being a thorn in the side of society. His show is on Thursdays at 10:00pm on Public Access, or Channel 13, if you live in or around Ithaca.
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Been jamming pretty regularly with some guys I work with. We're focusing mostly on original material. With some luck, we may actually get out of my basement & play out. Now wouldn't that be different??!!?? The tunes are good stuff, the kind of songs that stick in your head for days after you play them. (I always take it as a good sign if a tune sticks in your head - generally it means it either really sucks, or it's really good. Either way, you can't get it out of your head.) The four of us play well together & we seem to able to connect pretty well, which is a huge part of the overall battle. Stay tuned for more details as they continue to develop.
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How can you tell when it's spring? Two reasons: 1) By having to hear the continual 'pink' sound of aluminum bats hitting baseballs by the Cornell Baseball team & 2) hearing the Cornell Big Red Marching Band practicing (& man do they ever need it...), both right outside my office where I work.
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Now here's a clever idea - a web site that helps you come up ideas for your band's name: The Band Name Generator. Each time you click 'refresh' on the page, it gives you new options for names. Of course, I can't really vouch for the quality of the names given for suggestions, but still, it's a cool concept. And besides, these names aren't any worse than the vast majority of other stupid current band names.
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I am subscribed via email to Michael Moore's mailing list. As much as I think the guy goes over the top sometimes & that's what deludes his message occasionally, I still think he's one of the few mainstream people in the media who's offering us a viable & somewhat truthful opinion on the world these days. Please see below what he sent out to his mailing list today. It's a fairly long post, but it's much more eloquent than what I tried to write myself previously (see the post below this one). Read it, it's great.
Heads Up
April 14, 2004
Friends,
I have never seen a head so far up a Presidential ass (pardon my Falluja) than
the one I saw last night at the "news conference" given by George W. Bush. He's
still talking about finding "weapons of mass destruction" -- this time on
Saddam's "turkey farm." Turkey indeed. Clearly the White House believes there
are enough idiots in the 17 swing states who will buy this. I think they are in
for a rude awakening.
I've been holed up for weeks in the editing room finishing my film ("Fahrenheit
911"). That's why you haven't heard from me lately. But after last night's
Lyndon Johnson impersonation from the East Room -- essentially promising to send
even more troops into the Iraq sinkhole -- I had to write you all a note.
First, can we stop the Orwellian language and start using the proper names for
things? Those are not ?contractors? in Iraq. They are not there to fix a roof or
to pour concrete in a driveway. They are MERCENARIES and SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE.
They are there for the money, and the money is very good if you live long enough
to spend it.
Halliburton is not a "company" doing business in Iraq. It is a WAR PROFITEER,
bilking millions from the pockets of average Americans. In past wars they would
have been arrested -- or worse.
The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or
"terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their
numbers will grow -- and they will win. Get it, Mr. Bush? You closed down a
friggin' weekly newspaper, you great giver of freedom and democracy! Then all
hell broke loose. The paper only had 10,000 readers! Why are you smirking?
One year after we wiped the face of the Saddam statue with our American flag
before yanking him down, it is now too dangerous for a single media person to go
to that square in Baghdad and file a report on the wonderful one-year
anniversary celebration. Of course, there is no celebration, and those brave
blow-dried "embeds" can't even leave the safety of the fort in downtown Baghdad.
They never actually SEE what is taking place across Iraq (most of the pictures
we see on TV are shot by Arab media and some Europeans). When you watch a report
"from Iraq" what you are getting is the press release handed out by the U.S.
occupation force and repeated to you as "news."
I currently have two cameramen/reporters doing work for me in Iraq for my movie
(unbeknownst to the Army). They are talking to soldiers and gathering the true
sentiment about what is really going on. They Fed Ex the footage back to me each
week. That's right, Fed Ex. Who said we haven't brought freedom to Iraq! The
funniest story my guys tell me is how when they fly into Baghdad, they don't
have to show a passport or go through immigration. Why not? Because they have
not traveled from a foreign country -- they're coming from America TO America, a
place that is ours, a new American territory called Iraq.
There is a lot of talk amongst Bush's opponents that we should turn this war
over to the United Nations. Why should the other countries of this world,
countries who tried to talk us out of this folly, now have to clean up our mess?
I oppose the U.N. or anyone else risking the lives of their citizens to extract
us from our debacle. I'm sorry, but the majority of Americans supported this war
once it began and, sadly, that majority must now sacrifice their children until
enough blood has been let that maybe -- just maybe -- God and the Iraqi people
will forgive us in the end.
Until then, enjoy the "pacification" of Falluja, the "containment" of Sadr City,
and the next Tet Offensive ? oops, I mean, "terrorist attack by a small group of
Baathist loyalists" (Hahaha! I love writing those words, Baathist loyalists, it
makes me sound so Peter Jennings!) -- followed by a "news conference" where we
will be told that we must "stay the course" because we are "winning the hearts
and minds of the people."
I'll write again soon. Don't despair. Remember, the American people are not that
stupid. Sure, we can be frightened into a war, but we always come around sooner
or later -- and the one way this is NOT like Vietnam is that it hasn't taken the
public four long years to figure out they were lied to.
Now if Bush would just quit speaking in public and giving me more free material
for my movie, I can get back to work and get it done. I've got four weeks left
'til completion.
Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com
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Okay, so who else was as appalled as I was watching Bush give his "news conference" on 4/13/04? You know, it's bad enough that this clown stammers & stutters his way through reading verbatim prepared comments (& I'm sure they've been written out phonetically for him, because, well, he's a little slow), but to see him to try ad-lib & take questions from reporters live on national tv is just downright laughable. The man is an idiot. If Bush were the boss of my company right now, I'd be scared to death at who was leading me & taking care of things. But no, it's much worse - he's the leader of our COUNTRY & he's an imbecile!! I don't think he directly answered a single question posed to him. And I have to give credit to the reporters who pretty much put him on the spot with some pretty direct & difficult questions. He evaded, he was vague, he changed the subject, he launched into monologues that had nothing to do at all with the actual questions he was asked. Did you notice that when he speaks, he tends to say "Uh, uh..." a lot? Did you notice that when responding to a question, he tends to have a had habit of repeating the same exact phrases in the same sentences, again & again? This man cannot think on his feet. If what he did at this news conference were to be graded in any public speaking class, he would have failed miserably.
This whole news conference idea to me reeks of desperation. Things aren't looking good for Bush & his administration. His approval ratings are dropping, & if the questions that were thrown at him were any indication of how the press is determined to not let him off the hook in the future, he's got some difficult times ahead of him. Was anyone else disgusted when one question posed to him about was there anything he wanted to apologize for or mistakes he wanted to admit, & all he could was "You really put me on the spot with that one, I can't think of anything to say." And this is the leader of the free world??? If this idiotic hand-puppet gets re-elected in November, we are in big trouble.
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And now for something completely different - a spoof web site that combines the Beatles & Metallica - it's Beatallica! This makes the "grey album" by Jay-Z seem pretty lame in comparison.
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