Saturday, August 31, 2013

ESPN Additions


Ironically, some of the best television commercials are for ESPN, and only air on ESPN.  Now, I do not know if these ads really are meant to add all the more to the viewing experience, but it works for me.


Please Also Visit:
and

Friday, August 30, 2013

Sites To See

The SOLE purpose of this weekly series is to help call attention to sites that I think many would find most interesting—in one way or another.  Just to be clear, inclusion in this series is not necessarily meant as a recommendation, and I have included sites that are rather disturbing to me.  The link below each image is to the site itself, and each image is linked to the particular post from which it was taken when applicable.  Please, go see for yourself.  Oh, and as of August 10, 2012, I will be no longer including sites that have auto-play and word verification engaged.















 Link: [Junk Thief]





Please Also Visit:
and

Thursday, August 29, 2013

ATF: Fiddlin' Around

This weekly series will include as many of my all-time favorite tunes as I can get my grubby little hands on (so to speak).  Now, each one included in each edition will have some connection with the other—albeit only as a figment of my imagination, but they will not be numbered.  For I just cannot bring myself to rate some higher than others.  So, this will not be a countdown, but if you are enjoying them as much as I do, it won’t matter.  Besides, with no countdown, this could go on forever and ever!  Oh, and despite the fact that there is absolutely no way that your musical tastes can be as exquisite as mine, I welcome any suggestions that you might dare to make.  I am, after all, quite magnanimous by nature.



The Gael
Trevor Jones & Randy Edelman
***Instrumental***



Cherokee Fiddle
Johnny Lee
When the train
Pulled in to the station
Rolled up his sleeves
Rosins up his bow
Fiddle upside down
Orange Blossom Special
'Cause
If you want to make a livin’
You got to put on a good show

When he'd smell
The smoke and the cinders
Slick back his hair
Opened up his case
Play Cherokee Fiddle
He'd play it for the whiskey
'Cause good whiskey
Never let him lose his place

He was always there
Playin’ for the miners
Devil's Dream
Was a song they understood
Then he'd go back
To Oklahoma
And he'd wait
‘Til the trains were a-runnin’
And the weather was good

When he'd smell
The smoke and the cinders
He’d slick back his hair
Open up his case
Play Cherokee Fiddle
He'd play it for the whiskey
'Cause good whiskey
Never let him lose his place

Now the Indians
Are dressin’ up like cowboys
And the cowboys
Are puttin’ leather and turquoise on
And the music
Is sold by lawyers
And the fools who fiddled in the middle of the station are gone

Some folks say
They ain't never gonna miss him
Old Fiddle squealed
Like the engines brakes
Cherokee Fiddle
He’s gone forever
Just like the music of the whistle
That the old locomotives made

So when you smell
The smoke and the cinders
Just slick back your hair
Open up your case
Play Cherokee Fiddle
Just play it for the whiskey
'Cause good whiskey
Will never let you lose your place
No
Good whiskey
Will never let you lose your place

No
Good whiskey
Will never let you lose your place

Lyrics From: [elyrics.net]

Please Also Visit:
and

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Good, Great and Glorious Ads

Since not everyone has been as appreciative of my efforts with the Good, Bad and Ugly Ads series as they should be, it seemed prudent to shake things up a bit from time to time.  Hence, Good, Great and Glorious Ads, as well as Bad, Ugly and Awful Ads.  Oh, and if these new approaches are still not to your complete and utter satisfaction, I would tell you what you can do with the point of your view if saying things like that did not now leave such a bitter taste in my mouth.  Therefore, be ye thankful!

GOOD

GREAT

GLORIOUS

Please Also Visit:
and

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

The Mag 183

Photo by Steven Kelly

Sponsored by [Magpie Tales]

Going For It
There were times when Dozer sorely wished he could simply clear a path through traffic like he used to do through Monett Cubs, Aurora Hound Dawgs and Mt. Vernon Mountaineers while playing fullback for the Cassville Wildcats during high school.  Oh yeah, those were some glorious days on the gridiron under Friday night lights, and the nickname he was given stuck.

A perfect safety record over the 25 years Dozer had spent behind the wheel of a big rig served as proof that he had resisted the urges to knock rolling roadblocks out of his way, but it had been close a few times.

Oh how he hated the fact that he had taken this load.  For it involved 10 drops of extremely perishable ice cream, and making it even worse was that it was a government load going to different military installations along a route of 1,947 miles.  Every delivery was required to be made exactly on time or face a severe reduction in the transportation price—maybe even the loss of the contract, altogether!

No, there was never enough time allowed for a load like this, and there were no shortcuts to be made once a trucker arrived at the front gate.  Nonetheless, Dozer really didn’t blame the personnel at the military bases.  For with all of the regulations they were required to observe, it can sometimes take over two hours just to drop off a couple of pallets of items, and when it came to foodstuffs, where a much closer inspection of the delivered items is required, a couple of hours is actually rather fast.  Subsequently, lost time had to be made up on the road, and here he was behind a station wagon with Ohio plates 80 miles northwest of Miles City, Montana. 

Refusing the load would have meant having to find another job, but there were at least a dozen other trucking companies desperately wanting to prove just how much they would appreciate Dozer working for them.  However, that was just not his way of taking care of problems.

Besides, someone had to deliver the load.  After all, who knows what kind of war might break out if some general is deprived of his daily allotment of rocky road?

Dozer had no idea what the station wagon was doing so far off of the interstate.  For there was nothing special to see in that particular part of the state, and he certainly would not be on this road if it was not for the few Air Force personnel still assigned to an old Minuteman missile complex around 20 miles farther along the way.

From what Dozer could see, it did not look like anyone in the station wagon was looking to hire on as a ranch hand.  Although, he had seen around 50 miles back where the kids in the backseat might be rather entertaining at sheep riding in a rodeo.  He supposed that one of the adults could be assigned to the Air Force installation, but with kids around, that seemed rather far-fetched.

Oh, but Dozer did know a thing or two about truck driving, and he remembered that there would be a passing lane coming up pretty quick.  With this stretch of the two-lane road running through rolling hills, along with oncoming traffic being fairly steady, it was just too dangerous to try to pass a slow-moving vehicle on a regular part of the highway, but if he could time his running start just right, he could zip his 70 foot-long rig past the tourists without inconveniencing them one little bit.

Jason was really regretting his decision to forego travel on the interstate in favor of taking back-roads so that his family could get the most out of their vacation to the birthplace of grunge rock, Seattle, Washington.  Granted, getting a closer look at the Rocky Mountains sure seemed like a good idea at the time, but there had been no mountains to be seen so far.  Yeah, his wife had tried to convince him that there would not be much for mountains until they reached the western part of Montana, but she was always trying to convince him about something.

At least the kids were finally sound asleep and quiet.  Who knew that boredom has its advantages?

Adding all the more to Jason’s irritation was that big yellow Peterbilt approaching from the rear at a fairly high rate of speed.  When he saw the passing lane, he stayed to the left, and when the truck tried passing them on the right, Jason romped down on the gas.  After all, he and his family were on vacation, and he did not want some tractor-trailer blocking their first view of the Rocky Mountains ahead of them.

Despite seeing such many times over the course of 17 years as a Montana State Trooper, Peter could never quite get used to the sight of the crumpled remains of a family vacation that had went terribly wrong.  It had not taken much of an investigation to determine that this was another case of some yahoo refusing to yield the right of way, which resulted in their vehicle being run over by the trailer tandems of a big rig, and the horrified look on the trucker’s face made it quite clear that he was not at fault.

“No, that guy was not trying to justify anything,” Peter mumbled to himself as he finished writing his initial report.  He wished he could include the reason why the family of four from Ohio was out there in such a desolate place to start with.

Please Also Visit:
and

Monday, August 26, 2013

Come Monday...Artistic License?

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of (or commentary about) websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.  Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”  This is subject to change, however.  In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.  For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?  Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

This started out to be a confession of the fact that I am about as grammatically-hypocritical as one can be.  For over the years, I have been quick to think of those who would dare call my use of the English languish into question as being Grammar Nazis—especially when they had nothing to say about what I had been trying to say at the time.  Yet, here I find myself struggling to focus upon the content of others after I see that they do not see a need for the use of capital letters, such as: yet, here i find myself struggling to focus upon the content of others after i see that they do not see a need for the use of capital letters.

Will commas and periods be the next to go?  Yet, I hate the use of them in song lyrics and most poetry.

Alas, is it not ironic that English has been established as the universal language of commerce when it is such an extremely difficult language to master?  For “a meeting of the minds” is needed before a contract can be legally in place, and with English having so many different words meaning the same thing and completely different things—depending upon the context, is it not no wonder that the legal profession has become so lucrative?  Hey, be assured that if a criminal conviction can be set aside on account of a clerical error, which most certainly includes improper grammar, so can an iron-clad contract be broken on the same account.

The blame has to rest squarely upon the shoulders of school bullies.  For they love to make life miserable for nerdy types, and nerdy types are the ones who determine that one uses who when referring to the subject of a clause in a sentence, and whom when referring to the object of a clause.


I am, of course, just kidding about the blame resting upon the shoulders of bullies.  For the often asinine complexities to the English language are all part of our Heavenly Father’s plan for life in this world, but so very few want to hear anything about that—right?  Therefore, I will move along to something else.


So, what do you think of my first foray into post-modern impressionism?  I call it, Blue Smear on White, and I am sure that it will be worth millions when I become quite famous or the American dollar is devalued enough.

Speaking of revenge of the nerds, have you tried actually using an Adobe Photoshop Elements program?  Now, there is no questioning of just how much can be done with one, but being able to actually do something is another thing entirely.

Maybe it’s just me?  For many others must not mind having to take 47 steps in some very dark shadows before they can do something as simple as draw a straight line or Adobe would not have been able to sell millions of copies of the program.

Adding all the more to my creative constipation has been the Photoshop Elements 9 for Dummies book that I purchased to help me understand the vast mysteries to be beheld, and I soon discovered that one cannot find what they are looking for in the book unless they know just exactly what they are looking for.  For before one gets to the part about how to add and enhance text to an image, they must first wade through a lot of other “stuff” that may or may not have anything to do with it.  Furthermore, when one actually finds the part about how to add and enhance text, it is choked full of references to other things that may or may not have anything to do with adding and enhancing text.

Come on now, if one wanted to learn how to just drive a tractor-trailer rig across the street from such a book, they would have to wade through pages upon pages on how the brake system works before they could find how to simply release them.  No, you don’t even want to get started on how to start the engine—let alone how to give it more fuel!

On the other hand, maybe you do, and I can see where providing so much information can be beneficial.  For in order to operate a tractor-trailer rig in a safe and proper manner, one needs to know as much about everything that has to do with it as they possibly can, but for a novice merely wanting to do one or two very simple things, I’ll stick with Microsoft Word and/or Paint for now.

Please Also Visit:
and

Sunday, August 25, 2013

A Sunday Drive

Back during my childhood, our parents would often load up my brother and me after Sunday morning church services for a leisurely drive around where we lived.  Even though we were seeing mostly familiar sights, it was still good to see them, and this is why “A Sunday Drive” sounded about right for the name of a weekly series revisiting familiar sites that are well worth seeing again and again.  The link below the image is to the site itself, and the image is linked to the post it was first included in here.





 Link: [Murrmurrs]















Please Also Visit:
and

Saturday, August 24, 2013

ESPN Additions


Ironically, some of the best television commercials are for ESPN, and only air on ESPN.  Now, I do not know if these ads really are meant to add all the more to the viewing experience, but it works for me.


Please Also Visit:
and

Friday, August 23, 2013

Sites To See

The SOLE purpose of this weekly series is to help call attention to sites that I think many would find most interesting—in one way or another.  Just to be clear, inclusion in this series is not necessarily meant as a recommendation, and I have included sites that are rather disturbing to me.  The link below each image is to the site itself, and each image is linked to the particular post from which it was taken when applicable.  Please, go see for yourself.  Oh, and as of August 10, 2012, I will be no longer including sites that have auto-play and word verification engaged.





 Link: [Artistique]















Please Also Visit:
and

Thursday, August 22, 2013

ATF: Not Puppy Love

This weekly series will include as many of my all-time favorite tunes as I can get my grubby little hands on (so to speak).  Now, each one included in each edition will have some connection with the other—albeit only as a figment of my imagination, but they will not be numbered.  For I just cannot bring myself to rate some higher than others.  So, this will not be a countdown, but if you are enjoying them as much as I do, it won’t matter.  Besides, with no countdown, this could go on forever and ever!  Oh, and despite the fact that there is absolutely no way that your musical tastes can be as exquisite as mine, I welcome any suggestions that you might dare to make.  I am, after all, quite magnanimous by nature.



Tonight
The Raspberries
One
Two
Three
Four

Hey

When you smiled at me
And I saw your eyes
All I ever
Wanted to be
Was in your arms tonight
You looked too young
To know about romance
Oh yes you did
But when you smiled
I had to take a chance
I had to take a chance
And be with you

Tonight
I'll be with you
Tonight
Tonight
You'll love me too
Tonight
Whoa
Baby
Tonight
I'm making love to you
Whoa
Tonight
Bop-om-doo-doh-woh-mop-shoo
Whoa
Tonight
You're gonna love me too
Tonight
Whoa
Tonight

Hey

Get down

Tonight
I'll be with you
Tonight
Tonight
You'll love me too
Tonight
Whoa
Baby
Tonight

I don't know myself
If it's wrong or right
All I know is
What I can feel
So be my love tonight
You looked too young
To know about romance
Oh you know what I mean
Hey
But when you smiled
I had to take a chance
I had to take a chance
And be with you

Tonight
I'll be with you
Tonight
Tonight
You'll love me too
Tonight
Whoa
Baby
Tonight

Whoa
Tonight
Won't you let me sleep with you baby
Oh yeah
Whoa
Tonight
I just wanna make you feel good inside baby
Oh yeah
Whoa
Tonight
Let me feel the love that's in you
Whoa
Tonight
Come on
Come on
Come on
Come on
And let me
Come on
Baby
Whoa
Tonight



Your Love
The Outfield
Josie's on a vacation far away
Come around and talk it over
So many things that I wanna say
You know I like my girls a little bit older

I just wanna use your love
Tonight
I don't wanna lose your love
Tonight

I ain't got many friends left to talk to
Nowhere to run when I'm in trouble
You know I'd do anything for you
Stay the night but keep it undercover

I just wanna use your love
Tonight
Whoa
I don't wanna lose your love
Tonight

Try to stop my hands from shakin'
'Cause somethin' in my mind's not makin'
Sense
It's been awhile since we were all alone
I can't hide the way I'm feelin'

As you're leavin’
Please would you close the door
And don't forget what I told you
Just 'cause you're right
That don't mean I'm wrong
Another shoulder
To cry upon

I just wanna use your love
Tonight
Yeah
I don't wanna lose your love
Tonight
Yeah
I just wanna use your love
Tonight
I don't wanna lose your love
Tonight
I just wanna use your love
Tonight
I don't wanna lose your love
Tonight

Lose your love
Lose your love
Tonight
Lose your love
I don't wanna lose
Lose your love
Tonight
I don't wanna
I don't wanna
I don't wanna
Lose your love
Tonight
No
No
Lose your love
Tonight
Lose your love
Tonight
No
No
I don't wanna lose your love
Tonight
Lose your love
Tonight

Lyrics From: [elyrics.net]

Please Also Visit:
and