Wow Burnout and my Live Blogging Temptations

So, Once again the time of year has arrived where I begin my burnout phase on World of Warcraft. Spring is here (well, depending on the day) and with my main character fairly leveled up and my last guild broken up (again), I don't have a lot of motivation to play lately. The same thing happened right around this time last year, but it was fortunate because we had a baby about a week later.

Now here I am with nothing on the horizon, and my main form of entertainment gone. And so, once again, I begin reading and watching TV. The funniest thing is what runs through my head when I watch TV, especially the commercials. The last few evenings I've spent some time on the couch and spent the entire time laughing at what's going through my head.

The craziest part is that I'm not writing it down. To the point that I'm tempted to Live blog a standard run of the mill tv night just to share my reaction. I know live blogging is usually saved for big events or shows, but hell, even the normal stuff is pretty outrageous these days. So, any one think it's a good idea?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

It Looks fairly cool, but I've always been wary of films that are adapted from 16 page stories. I loved the book as a kid, I hope this is a fun re-imagining of it. I'm also intrigued by the indy feel of the trailer.... Anyone else seen Juno?

Politcal Posturing and why I hate Fox News

Fox news and Bill O'reilly are the devil. I wish I had a well thought out, detailed and strongly defended argument to present in regards to that, but I don't. Political propaganda annoys me, as does anyone who is pompous enough to believe that there are no other truths in the world besides the jaded information they themselves spout off.

I'm going to be plain here, one, becuase no one reads this damn blog anyway, and secondly, I've been rather fed up with politics and people's attitudes lately in general. So, I'll be honest.

I did NOT vote for Obama.

But I wanted to. I read the man's books, researched his politics, and in the end really liked and respected him, and I felt a lot of the things that people were saying about him were either misunderstood or just plain mean spirited and unfair.

In the end, My wife and I voted Republican because of our feeling on abortion. We're not big fans, and while we're very anti-war (and Obama seemed anti war at the time), we decided that abortion was more of a religious issue, and we decided to vote with our conscience.

It was hard, because I didn't like the McCain that had been appearing on the news for the last two years. He was arrogant, stuck up and in full support of a war that never should have happened.

And so, he got our vote. And a couple hours later Obama won, and McCain was giving up. And it was in THAT speech that I actually saw a man I might have voted for. He was honorable, fair, and classy about his defeat. He encouraged his voters to support the new presidency and work together to help the country back on its feet. When some decenters tried to boo, he silenced them and moved on.

Then Obama gave a speech again asking for people to put aside their politics and come together to fix things. And I vowed to do just that.

In the weeks that followed Obama researched, got guidance from numerous people ( even McCain) and prepared to take on a great responsibility. And he is continuing to do what I can only assume to be the best job he can do.

Living in Idaho, a largely Republican state, I've been continually heart broken and angered by peoples attitude towards the new president, his efforts and the state of the country and government. They're bitter. They're angry. And they refuse to support anything that comes out of the man's mouth.

Here I am, hoping for a better tomorrow, trying to be supportive and optimistic, and these folks are basically BEGGING for revolution. and the Man's been in office barely a month. maybe two.

I spoke with a long time friend recently who is very right wing (by the way, if you're wondering, the wife and I appear to be moderates with both some right and left leaning ideas, depending on the topic), and I was saddened and appalled by his rage toward the government and his complete unwillingness to dare to hope and put some faith into some, our president, who I fully believe has the best intentions in his heart for this country. My friend is a fairly religious and god fearing person, and here he was dreaming of revolution and barely shying from outright hoping for something terrible to happen to Obama.

WHAT THE HELL PEOPLE?!?!?!

I don't care what your beliefs or politics are. I don't care who you voted for. I don't care what grudge you're holding. But LET IT GO. Because we are in serious trouble folks. and only by putting aside our differences and working together are we going to be able to fix things. Fox News and Bill O'reilly are obviously going to spend the next 4 years complaining. And that is not going to accomplish anything productive. Stop complaining. Start supporting.

Obama may not have been who you wanted, but he's who we got, and lets get behind him and work! Let's get things to a place where is can actually support the weight of violent disagreement. Wait for things to get better first. Cause truth is, the country can't handle it right now.

And you right wing folks. Please. STOP. You know what... we've tried it your way for eight years now. Yes, Bush was a warmonger and an idiot, and while that may not have been your fault, you had your way for awhile, and things are at the worst they've ever been. Obviously, SOMETHING had to change. I know you folks HATE change, especially big change. But if we stayed the course we would have been destroyed. Please understand that. the people, especially the young people (your children), may have selected a change more dramatic than you expected or wanted, but it's over.

Instead of spending time and resources moaning about, let's make life better. When things are back on an even keel, THEN go back to tearing things apart.

I realize this plea has probably fallen on deaf and offended ears. And you know what? I DON'T CARE. I'm tired. As a country, we have a choice, support or decent, hope or despair. I'm choosing to Hope. If you can't do that, then leave me alone. I want nothing to do with you. I'm tired of misery and despair. We just ended eight freaking years of that. Please people, let's hope and work together for a new and better future.

Sorry for the hiatus

So, we've had some family issues in the last few weeks, and truth is, no one has been commenting on the posts I've done in the last couple months, which probably means no one has been reading. But alas, me and my audience of me with keep writing whenever I have a spare moment and a subject to complain about.

The Secret Lives of Kid Show Stars

Being in my line of work I watch a lot of kids shows. Handy Manny, Imagination Movers, Barney, the Wiggles, you name it I watch it, an use it to the beat of my ability for educational purposes. But as I watch I can't help but be occasionally stumped and thrown into deep and introspective thought about some of the motivations for the characters that populate these kid shows. As a writer I have a hard time accepting that what we see on the surface is all that is to these characters.

For example, I can't get through an episode of Barney without wondering if the reason Barney sings and entertains kids is to ensure that he has and endless and easy source of food.

My imagination simply will not allow me to accept what I'm seeing without providing some sort of back story that believably explains the actions of the characters.

I'm sure that Smile Time, an episode of Angel that features a band of demon puppets using their kids show to steal the souls of children, is at least partially to blame for this.

I'll times wonder if there is some sort of government agency that regulates such creatures as Barney, waiting to take them down if the indulge in munching more children than their contract allows.

Picture it, the children entertainment control agency sends their top agent to check up on Barney, as there seems to be a lot of cast rotation on his show lately. The agent enters the studio late at night, and hesitates when he hears a cry and a crunching noise. He draws his weapon, creeps forward... to find Barney in a corner with the kicking feet of a child sticking out of his jaws.

While the kids I work with are enjoying themselves with wholesome edu-tainment, I'm in the corner laughing my head off.

While Bear in the Big Blue House was a great kids show and seems to have been canceled, I still wonder just how those animals came into possession of said house. What horrific fate befell the human owners of the house ? I shudder to think. Those animals are clearly deranged, as they sing at the moon every night. It may have even been the moon that told them to bump off the owners of the big blue house.

Imagination movers is a great show for kids, but I wonder about Uncle Knit Knot, a character that loves boring things and often avoids the movers because they're far too exiting. There has to be more. Perhaps Knittknot is a war veteran, an escaped POW, who escaped his captors using his hand and a piece of jagged metal. A bloodbath ensued, and once escaped, Knitknot stood in the rain, letting it wash the blood and gore off, vowing to live a quiet and boring life to atone for the lives he took. And every once in a while he'll sit in his office, open his drawer and gaze at that scrap of metal, thinking about how he would take out those Movers if be was back in the war.

Now while I am certainly being playful, I'm not trying to be insulting, the shows I mentioned above I use and recommend in my work every day. They are smart and clever and teach some great principles, including problem solving and using your imagination. They may teach it too well, as I watched a lot of shows like that and you can see what happens to my imagination.

But perhaps that's good. As a father I know that I want my son to think and use his mind, especially to understand the world. I want him to question and investigate. Now I don't want him to question authority, or the law, I do want him to be an Independent thinker. And so perhaps watching theses show is good, but tempered with other learning and interactions.

I would be tickled to death if my son were to come to me one day and talk about Handy Manny's days as a Federali before he came to the states to make a living fixing things with his hands and his talking tools that may be aliens bent on world domination.

There's nothing wrong with giving a Back story or using your imagination to try to understand a person's motivations, as long you give them the benefit of the doubt, unlike some of my example above.

Understanding is a gift I want my son to give and receive often, and the ability to imagine will be a great help in making that happen.

But seriously, barney needs to be taken down.