The Vast Legacy of Dave Brubeck

"One of the reasons I believe in jazz is that the oneness of man can come through the rhythm of your heart. It’s the same anyplace in the world, that heartbeat. It’s the first thing you hear when you’re born — or before you’re born — and it’s the last thing you hear.” -- Dave Brubeck

A legendary musician and a master of jazz, Dave Brubeck died today at age 91, one day shy of his 92nd birthday. Much will be written about him, now and for many years to come, and I wanted to instead showcase some of his music. (The 2010 documentary "Dave Brubeck: In His Own Sweet Way" produced by Clint Eastwood provides a most comprehensive look at his life and career for those wishing to know more about him and his vast influence worldwide on jazz and music in general.)

His 1959 album "Time Out" stands as one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time, and the tune "Take Five" is immensely well known, though the composition is credited to saxophone player Paul Desmond. I think the first track on the album, "Blue Rondo ala Turk", is much more emblematic of Dave's style. The album grew from the Quartet's experiences traveling in Eastern Europe and the Middle East as ambassadors touring on behalf of the US State Department - Brubeck was captivated by the musical time signatures of the music from other nations, Turkey in this instance.

Some in the music world thought Dave's piano style and the Quartet's music was too extreme, others thought it far too tame. Thankfully, Dave and his colleagues followed their own Muse. His 1957 album, "Dave Digs Disney", was way too hip and way too square all at the same time - but his improvisations on classic Disney tunes are excellent, and today jazz inspired by Disney music is a genre all its own.

The 1961 album, "Time Further Out" is my own personal favorite. And the tune "Bluette" is a knockout, blending jazz and blues and evokes strong and subtle emotions. Thanks, Dave, for such a vast legacy.

The Pope's First Tweet

Some choice quotes from an article in the UK's Telegraph about the Pope's decision to become a Tweeter (the Pope will start tweeting Dec. 12 according to the Vatican):

"Ian Maude, of Enders Analysis, says that “The Pope’s going to be enormous, but I’m not sure he’s quite going to get to Lady Gaga levels.” 

"Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli, the president of the Vatican’s social communications office, has said the papal tweets aren’t to be considered infallible teachings. They’re just “pearls of wisdom” in the Pope’s own words, he said. 

"Back in his January proclamation, entitled 'Truth, Proclamation and Authenticity of Life in the Digital Age,' Pope Benedict said 'I would like to invite Christians, confidently and with an informed and responsible creativity, to join the network of relationships which the digital era has made possible.'” 

Folks can ask the Pope a question via his Twitter account by using the 'hashtag' @askpontifex ... and plenty of questions are already submitted, including:

"Who would win a fight between Jesus and Wolverine?”

Dangerous Interest at Boring 2012 Conference

The annual Boring conference was of little interest, but even that might negate it's purpose:

"I regretfully agreed that all this did sound extremely boring and proceeded to the large neo-Georgian auditorium, where an audience of about 500 mostly twenty- and thirty-somethings were listening with careful amusement as a dapper young man talked about toast. There was a large screen behind him on the stage, and he was clicking through a series of photographs of toast slices, ranging from the entirely burnt to the effectively untoasted, in order to demonstrate what he called “the confusing, non-regulated series of toaster settings on the market.”

Discovery of 6 Million Pounds of Explosives Force Evacuation

Epic incompetence and likely criminal activity could have wiped an entire town off the map.

The entire town of Doyline, Louisiana has been evacuated after the discovery of some 6 million pounds of explosives improperly stored, stacked and strewn around a massive storage facility. Oddly, back in October a massive explosion rocked the facility, but it was only last week that investigators went to the site in a "follow-up" and then realized that millions of pounds of M6 artillery powder were left outside or in roofless buildings.

At first, residents were told it would just be a short evacuation, but now that officials have been on the site of the explosives, residents are being told to stay away until ... whenever.

Some 27 tractor trailer loads have been removed and stored in safer and appropriate facilities, but more work, obviously, is needed.

Explo Systems, which runs the site, has been very quiet on the issue, and the owners are on their way back from South Korea.

Residents have to consider themselves lucky that the first explosion back in October was small and did not reduce the town to a hole in the ground. Why did it take more than 6 weeks after the explosion to notice millions more boxes and crates, especially since so much of it was just left outside of buildings?

You Can Help Finish the Documentary on The Farm Commune in Tennessee

Two filmmakers are hoping the last few days of fundraising via their Kickstarter page will bring success so their documentary on the largest commune ever in the U.S., known as The Farm and located in Summertown, Tennessee.

The film "American Commune" was made by two sisters who were born on The Farm, then their family relocated to California, and they decided to document their return to their origins:

"When we left The Farm as kids and moved to Los Angeles, we were catapulted into another world.  We had never smelled perfume, eaten meat, seen women with makeup or men without beards, and we’d hardly watched TV. We were taunted for being “hippie kids” and did everything we could to blend in.

"The impetus for making AMERICAN COMMUNE was born out of our simple desire to understand where we came from.  As luck would have it, working in the heart of commercialism in New York City compelled us back to our roots. Suddenly, we needed to learn about what our parents were doing in the backwoods of Tennessee and how they, along with hundreds of others, managed to create a massive alternative society out of no more than passion and an empty spot of land. As we interviewed The Farm’s founders, our parents, and our childhood friends, we developed a greater respect for how hard everyone worked to realize their dream."

Learn more about The Farm at their website:

"The 150 present-day residents of The Farm have not rested on their laurels, but continue to create and demonstrate low-consumption, high-fulfillment lifestyles within a caring, socially active community; to conceive, finance and launch daring business enterprises that revolutionize the fields they compete in; to reduce the burden of external government; to mitigate the negative environmental, health and economic impacts of unsustainable global patterns; to demonstrate and export a variety of integrated social development strategies which can encourage diverse cultures worldwide to bypass unhealthy transitions; and to become a living example of the healthy and fulfilling interdependence of human and natural communities."

Dozens of Bomb Threats Target Tennessee Counties

News reports in the last few hours from across the state say that at least 25 county courthouses across Tennessee received bomb threats via telephone calls this morning. So far, no injuries reported as each location evacuated and conducted searches. The calls included threats to Hamblen County and others in East TN, and also in Memphis too.

The Knox News Sentinel is tracking the story: "Dalya Qualls, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, said this afternoon ... she has no details about the contents of the calls, and that the Department of Safety and Homeland Security is assisting various local agencies in the investigation."

Last week, a similar batch of threats was made against 28 counties in Oregon, and earlier this month, another round of calls were made in Washington state and Nebraska.

Camera Obscura: Infinite Vampire Twilight ShlockFest Extravaganza and Emporium

Worldwide vampire obsessiveness weekend is upon us - suitable fare for a Black Friday Shopping Weekend During The Economic Collapse.

The finale of the Twilight series movie "Breaking Dawn Part 2" has emerged as such an enormous cornucopia of Weird that I had to make a special post about it. (Truth be told, I did a search of my blog for use of the word vampire and it came in at more than 30 posts, which means vampires have easily been 10% of this blog's entire output, which include these two of my own personal faves, A) Hot Vampy Sex Talk from the first movie and B) the Sarah Palin-Twilight Convergence)

Understand too, I am a deep-dyed fan of Bad Movies and Cinema Shlock and have forced many a friend to endure Something Awful. Big Budget Awful really stinks up the place, though. I recently watched the movie "John Carter" and it is merely Done Badly, whereas say, "Anonymous" was Stunningly Awful and made me Pity The Actors, and answered the question "What happens when the folks who made the alien-invasion 'Independence Day' investigate the world of William Shakespeare?"

But vampires? Hell, even I have written and produced my own vampire play, but it's sheer genius compared to the bizarre path the bloodsucking genre has taken in movies and TV. Example - this year we've had Abe Lincoln hunting vamps, while on Hulu the Korean TV series "Vampire Prosecutor" is gaining fame and I'm still searching for a copy of the short film "Davy Crockett Battles Kung Fu Vampires".

The hilarity of reviews are MUST reading, no matter what you might think of the movies/books/adoration/obsession. Some samples:

The Confused Notes Of A Twilight Newbie Forced to Watch Breaking Dawn Part 2:

"Is his face always like that? It's like he washed it with a powdered doughnut.

"Eww, now I get imprinting. He made that vampire baby the love of his werewolf life. Or something. It's kinda gross — definitely weird. And even more disturbing that those teenage girls found it so funny.

"T-Laut nicknames Renesmee "Nessie." K-Stew angrily shouts, "You nicknamed my daughter after the Loch Ness Monster." Is the Loch Ness Monster real in this world or was K-Stew making a joke? If the latter, why would Nessie be a laughable idea, while talking wolves are serious business?

"Vampires seem to not be affected by the weather, so why do they wear jackets and turtlenecks?"

Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 is Completely Insane and Actually Worth Watching. Seriously

The Final Twilight Movie Is Like A Porn Film With Action Figures:

"It turns out that many vampires have X-men-esque superpowers on top of their default vampire superpowers. We already knew Alice could see the future, and some of the Volturi could read minds and create mental anguish, but now we find out that there are airbender vampires and electricity-shooting vampires and omega mutant vampires who can go all Dark Phoenix on your ass.

"The point is, there is a fight scene. A long, improbable, laugh-out-loud at the abysmal special effects fight scene, in which we discover that you can kill a vampire exactly the same way you kill an action figure. Just pop off its head! Boink! It comes off with no blood! Just a kind of SNAP just like plastic. Even if you never go to the theater to see this movie, I urge you to rent it at some point just to fast-forward to the fight scene so that you can see the weirdest thing ever."

Occupy: Sparkle

"It began when I read the first two books on my honeymoon in December 2008. My new wife and I listened to Twilight and New Moon on a road trip. We saw the first movie when we returned home, and a few months later we were divorced. I'm not saying Twilight killed my marriage, per se. I am saying there is a strong correlation between consuming Twilight content and no longer being happily married."

 Even The Actors In Twilight Hate Twilight

I have to say that I'll likely see this "finale" one day, but try as this current generation might, all this Vampire MashUp has been around for a long time. Even the old Hammer Horror folks stirred it all up in the early 1970s with the movie "Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires" which marks the arrival of the trope All Vampires Know Karate Because Dracula Did. (See the trailer for the movie here which has some NSFW images)

Indie film director superstar Jim Jarmusch is at work on his take on vampires in a movie set for next year, "Only Lovers Left Alive", starring Tilda Swinton, so even though vamps are being squicked out of all decency the darned things JUST NEVER DIE.

That's quite charming.

Music From Carmen, Played Via a Machine Shop in France

Nine French musicians (or, as noted on their home page "Neuf musiciens-comédiens-chanteurs") calling their group Zic Zazou perform the Habanera from Carmen on various tools and constructions made by the musicians. I think my favorite part though, is the way at the end they all stop and look at you ... or maybe the balloon squeezing ... tough call.

Their entire YouTube channel is here.

Merry Thanksgiving!!

Sports 2012 - Year of Shame

Removal of Joe Paterno statue from Penn State

Noting Knox and eastern Tennessee folks are mourning/praising the firing of their current football coach, it seems pertinent to offer a little talk about Sports. Sports (with a capital S) has been knocked down pretty hard and we should all face what it portends.

The last year has seen, for instance, iconic foundations of American sports and athletes get pulled down - the Joe Paterno statue at Penn State getting the Saddam Hussein treatment; and the removal of every victory of Lance Armstrong, accused of being A Pusher, a savvy despot dispenser of a drug cocktail o' winners. There's been the cheesey NFL referee fiasco as a a skeezy coating. And the problem is that once you start this kind of examination of what Sports is like today, it isn't a glowing story of Cinderellas earnestly yoked to Americana heroics.

Critically, both the Penn State and Armstrong are linked to children's programs and health programs and fundraising and hurting kids and those in need are dire mistakes. Last year  the Saints and others in the NFL were cited for offering cash bounties to players for injuring opponents.

The furious adorations of Sports hardly seem worth your passions. And if the icons are dishonest ... well ... how far a step is it for young players in high schools and colleges into dishonesty?

I wasn't alive at the time, but recent Sports scandals have the stink of the 1919 Black Sox baseball scandal - Cheating and Dishonesty with Intent.

So. You're all on probation - colleges too - until you can offer something more useful to our communities. Or at least something better than what you've been offering. For young people who excel at Sports - my advice is protect your integrity.

Best Political Website of the Month

It's really not a website, but a Tumblr account: Floor Charts is an archive photo collection of all the charts brought up to the floor during debates and comments In Congress. They range from awful made-at-the-last-moment monsters to the oddest moments imaginable and of course, lots of colored charts, shapes and lines.

The United States Are All Sour, Claim Those Fake Folks Who Want to Secede

A large amount of fakery, led by the Right-Wing blog "The Daily Caller:, and followers of the woefully ignorant, refuse to believe the facts, and now suddenly claim that thousands of people (mostly all Southerners, including Tennessee) seem to think the best protest against our recently re-elected president is to secede from the United States.

First, all these 'petitions' are bogus and have no meaning at all - other than as expressions of the deeply disturbed.

As Ed Kilgore writes:

" ... we’re discovering that at least one segment of the GOP’s conservative “base” has found something to do in reaction to the election results other than engaging in a “struggle for the soul of the party” or discussing what its congressional representatives should do about tax and spending deadlines: petition to secede from the Union!

"Given the southern inflection of the secession campaign, you’d have to figure nearly all these petitioners are aware (it is impossible to grow up in the South without being marinated in the memory of the Lost Cause and its consequences virtually from birth) that we had a civil war over this subject a while back, which the secessionists did not win. So it’s an unusually dumb gesture, aimed less at Barack Obama than at their fellow-citizens."

The KnoxNews Sentinel writes:

"Brandon Puttbrese, spokesman for the Tennessee Democratic Party, called the secession petition "radical nonsense" that is "a direct result of the tea party extremism and intolerance we have seen from elected Republicans in Tennessee."

"Sadly," Puttbrese said, "this kind of extremism only breeds more of the division and rancor that is prohibiting our leaders from making progress on putting Tennesseans back to work and protecting middle class families."

But Chris Devaney, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, noted that nearly 50 percent of Americans voted against Obama.

"We can argue whether the petition is proper," Devaney said, "but it is certainly a signal that it's time for the president to show some leadership and work to unite America rather than divide us."

The petition drive is just a way for angry voters to let off steam after a highly emotional and divisive campaign, said John Scheb, head of the political science department at the University of Tennessee.

Not only is secession unlikely, it's not even legally possible, Scheb said.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1869 that states cannot unilaterally secede from the union. "The position the court took was once in (the union), always in," Scheb said."

It's called the 14th Amendment, people.

And it's pretty much the same as the fable of the Fox who sought in vain to jump up and grab some grapes the Fox viewed as most tasty, only to miss them and fail and fail again:

This Fox has a longing for grapes:

He jumps, but the bunch still escapes.

So he goes away sour;

And, 'tis said, to this hour

Declares that he's no taste for grapes

Glenn Beck Says 'God Sucks' - Another Repblican Loses It

It is very simple in the weak and deluded mind of failed talk show host Glenn Beck to find blame for the reason President Obama was reelected:

" ... in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s election, Beck had repeatedly said that God was orchestrating Republican nominee’s path to the presidency. Speaking to his radio listeners in September, he insisted that Romney’s poll numbers had fallen as a part of a plan from God to make it obvious to the American people that divine intervention was responsible when Republicans took the White House in November.

But once the vote was in, Beck had another explanation:


"Man, sometimes God really sucks,” the radio host lamented"

Yes, or the sad truth may just be that God thinks Glenn Beck is a few thousand french fries short of a Happy Meal.

Blogger and Ron Paul aid Eric Dondero add echoes the lunatic hate and ridiculous attitude regarding Democrats:

"Dondero, reasoning that the only recourse to Obama's victory is "outright revolt," laid out the terms of the "personal boycott" against Democrats which he plans to maintain for the rest of his life and that he hopes his followers will as well. What does the boycott entail? Cutting all ties with Democratic family members, friends, and lovers; refusing to work for a Democratic boss; spitting on the ground when a Democrat talks to you; and possibly shitting on your Democratic neighbor's lawn, among other things:

Camilla - NASA's Rubber Chicken Celebrity

It's rather odd and unnerving that I'm jealous of a rubber chicken. And not just any rubber chicken. This rubber chicken gets to be an astronaut and mascot for NASA while I remain earthbound.

Camilla Corona is a social media mogul as "she" provides educational and public relations for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. She tweets, blogs, and apparently fascinates the world ...

"This chicken has some weird addictive quality that goes across borders and language barriers,” Wiseman said. “I took her to Red Square one day and it was unbelievable.” He said he was constantly surrounded by people who wanted to take pictures of Camilla, most of whom had no idea what his or Camilla’s story was.

"So how did Camilla go from anonymous rubber chicken to astronaut-in-training? Romeo Durscher, senior manager at SDO and executive assistant to Camilla, says that Camilla’s social media efforts began in late 2009, before the official launch of the mission. They had decided to make Camilla their mascot, something which initially started as an inside joke among the SDO team. But they quickly realized social media was an opportunity to teach the public about the sun and solar weather and that Camilla — the hilariously adorable chicken that she was — could be a great teacher."

Camilla's Twitter feed (boasting 7,300 followers) is here.

None can argue that Camilla is darned cute.

Puerto Rico Votes For Statehood

Puerto Rico has voted this week for statehood ... or have they?

The official vote indicates that a majority want the Congress to approve statehood:

"The two-part referendum asked whether the island wanted to change its 114-year relationship with the United States. Nearly 54 percent, or 922,374 people, sought to change it, while 46 percent, or 786,749 people, favored the status quo. Ninety-six percent of 1,643 precincts were reporting as of early Wednesday.

The second question asked voters to choose from three options, with statehood by far the favorite, garnering 61 percent. Sovereign free association, which would have allowed for more autonomy, received 33 percent, while independence got 5 percent."

Still, the PR governor who wanted statehood, Luis Fortuno, was ousted and replaced by Alejandro Garcia Padilla of the Popular Democratic Party, which wants Puerto Rico to remain a semi-autonomous U.S. commonwealth.

The issue will have to be decided by the U.S. Congress, but the outcome is fairly murky - and murkiness surrounds the vote in Puerto Rico too:

"Statehood won a victory without precedent but it's an artificial victory," said Angel Israel Rivera Ortiz, a political science professor at the University of Puerto Rico. "It reflects a divided and confused electorate that is not clear on where it's going."

Divided, confused, and lost ... sounds like it's already a U.S. state.

Very Diverse America Votes

As long predicted, the polls and Nate Silver and even me here, were spot on. President Obama was re-elected. The simple truth is that every candidate the Republicans put forth were no match for Obama. And, more important, the voters in America are far more diverse, involved and attentive than Republicans seem to understand.

"But when it comes to key demographics, the electorate actually likely skewed more Democratic/liberal than in 2008.

The electorate was less white (from 74 percent in 2008 to 72 percent this year), more Latino (9 percent to 10 percent), just as African-American (13 percent to 13 percent), more female (53 percent to 54 percent), more low-income (38 percent making less than $50,000 in 2008 to 41 percent Tuesday) and — perhaps most remarkably, younger (18 percent to 19 percent).

It all suggests that Obama’s laser-like focus on turning out each of his key constituencies — minorities, women and young people — paid dividends.

And in many cases, these groups backed him as much or more as in 2008. 

Women gave Obama 55 percent of the vote and low-income voters gave him 60 percent, about the same as four years ago.

Latinos gave Obama 67 percent of their vote four years ago, and 71 percent on Tuesday.

And Democrats supported Obama even more than they did four years ago, with his share of the Democratic vote rising from 89 percent to 92 percent."

The work Obama was first elected to perform - healing the massive economic collapse brought about during the 2000s - is a long, arduous task. It will take much of the next four years to correct, and if Congress continues to stall and block recovery and reform efforts, then look for Democrats to have the advantage in elections in 2014 and 2016. However, since most of the Congress elected yesterday are the same folks who blocked Obama's first efforts, it can also be said that voters don't want to give Obama a free hand to do anything he wants. Or maybe we just like the idea that a stalled Congress is one that moves very, very slowly.

Obama's 2nd Term On The Rise

Today's presidential vote might be rather close in the popular vote, but the electoral college totals are (and have been) favoring the re-election of President Obama. For much of the last year or more, the strategies of Democrats and Republicans have been tightly focused on those numbers, not the popular vote - because it is the electoral college which determines winners.

Since day one of the Obama presidency, there have been very loud voices opposing him and any agenda he put forth, and those voices have truly gotten louder in the last year. But the number of those voices? They've always been a small percentage of the public.

Those pesky percentages ...

My math is usually as weak as a newborn kitten, no matter when I employ it.

The numbers-crunching of state polls, as aggregated and measured by blogger/statistician Nate Silver, has, for quite some time, claimed that Obama will be the winner:

" ... in the United States, presidential elections are won state by state, not at the national level. And with remarkable unanimity, the leading aggregators have consistently concluded that polling in the swing states -- Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin -- has favored Obama. And that in the vast majority of the 100,000 simulated elections Silver runs each day, the president has come out on top.

Still, each of the aggregators -- FiveThirtyEight, TPM PollTracker, HuffPost Pollster, RealClearPolitics Average, and the Princeton Election Consortium -- has its own methods, and its own results. While each of the five went into Election Day predicting a second term of the president, their numbers vary a bit."

Meanwhile, Conservative and the GOP all are claiming that polls today are all wrong in state after state, and that Romney has a secret landslide win coming. The Right Wing activist/writer Jonah Goldberg presents today the claim that statistics are utterly worthless:

"The truth is that any statistician can build a model. They do it all the time. They make assumptions about the electorate, assign weights to polls and economic indicators, etc., and then they wait for the sausage to come out. No doubt some models are better than others, and some models are simply better for a while and then regress to the mean. But ultimately, the numbers are dependent on the values you place on them. As the computer programmers like to say, garbage in, garbage out."

As I said, I haven't seen the number of voices opposing the president (or supporting Romney) grow - they have simply gotten louder. It may be a biiiiig gamble, but I think Obama wins this re-election bid. The army of Republican advisers and lobbyists say Romney has the win already in the bag.

Time will tell.

In Which I Write About Being A Woman

Been a busy time as I've been directing the stage show of Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" for the Morristown Theatre Guild, which opens tonight in Morristown at Rose Center. The show runs Nov 2 - 11 and is a totally madcap farce of all things Hitchcock.

Just 4 actors and an army of stage hands and tech frantically re-creating an entire movie - well, a very silly full-on comedy version of a movie - live onstage before your very eyes.

And while I never had any intentions of being in this show ... somehow, I ended up being one of the poor, poor actors who has to play a few dozen roles. It's just about whittled my voice down to a mere ghost of its normal self. And then there's the dress/blouse/wig thing I have to wear ...

Oh well. I do make a very ... um ... handsome kind of woman I guess. One friend says I look like "Maude".

Anyway the production has led to light blogging, but once the Presidential Election gets settled next week, I'll put my dress away and get back to work here at your Cup of Joe.

Gonna Need a Mop In the Crypt this Halloween

A Halloween tradition on the blog - this brief clip showing what happens when you stake a vampire who has just "eaten".

You're Doing Halloween Wrong If You're Wearing A 'Sexy Rooster' Costume

I'm not quite sure when all this happened, but it's been pretty obvious for a long time that Halloween costume companies have lost their minds.

Proof in 2012, for example, arrives as a "Sexy Rooster Costume" for a woman to wear. Rooster, people. As in a male chicken. 

Some seriously stoned or drunk folks late in the office or just utterly burnt out at their jobs must have dreamed this one up. Or maybe it came from a bizarre episode of someone's psychotherapy session.

'Cause, see, of course, a "rooster" isn't a female creature. Not that "Sexy Chicken' outfit would be a whole lot better. Just who the outfit is meant for and just who would find a rooster sexy ... 

The folks here at SomethingAwful.com  have more on the "Sexy Rooster" and the other horribly bad ideas for Halloween - like Sexy Beetlejuice and Sexy Grinch. 

Maybe the madness of such outfits is indeed a frightening thing after all. 

Romney Family Owns Voting Machines

Even as I enjoy all the spooky and frightening aspects of the Halloween holiday, the notion that a presidential candidate and family own voting machines is truly a chilling thought. Via a corporation headed by Mitt Romney's son Tagg, the company has successfully purchased the voting machines being used this November in Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma and Washington.

"Through a closely held equity fund called Solamere, Mitt Romney and his wife, son and brother are major investors in an investment firm called H.I.G. Capital. H.I.G. in turn holds a majority share and three out of five board members in Hart Intercivic, a company that owns the notoriously faulty electronic voting machines that will count the ballots in swing state Ohio November 7. Hart machines will also be used elsewhere in the United States.

In other words, a candidate for the presidency of the United States, and his brother, wife and son, have a straight-line financial interest in the voting machines that could decide this fall's election. These machines cannot be monitored by the public. But they will help decide who "owns" the White House."

Just as I was reading and learning about this disturbing reality, over at KnoxViews, writer djuggler poses a question worth answering:

"Why is the purchase of the Ohio voting machines by Tagg Romney 1) legal and 2) not all over the news?"

If anyone remotely related to President Obama's family owned voting machines, FOX "News" would be relentlessly howling and screeching. And why aren't major media outlets covering the fact that Romney's family does own voting machines? FOX talkers gleefully accused the Obama administration of "cooking the numbers" so that unemployment rate numbers showed a drop - so surely they'd gleefully report that a presidential candidate's family owns voting machines, right? Unless, of course, the candidate is Mitt Romney.

Frightmare Manor Soundtrack 2012

To help get you in the mood for the horrors and screams ahead as Frightmare Manor continues their run for the 2012 Halloween season in East Tennessee, I've put together a soothing little soundtrack of horrors for you.

Get your tickets online here - or be sure and explore their Facebook page each week to win FREE tickets. Also Papa  John's Pizza is offering special deals for Frightmare fans too - just check out Frightmare's Facebook page for details.

For now, bring on the chill of a crisp October night, crank up your speakers and enjoy!!!

It's The Congress, Stupid

Nearly hysterical hyper-spin is swamping cable 'news' and radio talk and the online world too with just weeks to go before election day in the Presidential race. Parsing every wrinkle and wink on the Left and the Right is a powerful vehicle to draw viewers and listeners who've been attuned to political shifts. Every syllable spoken gets special attention - but does any of this hold any real value?

The rocking and reeling is nicely captured by writer Ed Kilgore at The Washington Monthly:

"I’m about to throw up my hands and stop boring readers with too many objections to the extraordinary level of belief among conservatives this year that spinning Romney as ahead is itself a vastly important political asset. At the elite, chattering-class level, conservatives are, after all, in the habit of thinking of themselves as “winners” in life, and of Democrats as a vast coalition of “losers.” This is why so many of them are bullies by nature, and can’t really accept defeat in any legitimately framed competition. They are The Elect, and Elections should reflect that fact, right? 

"So it will be difficult some days to cut through the din of perpetually renewed lusty conservative cries that the Black Devil-Man in Washington is on the run, and to avoid the temptation to spin right back just to annoy the wingnuts. But I am going to try, and best I can tell, the presidential race is what it always was—a close contest that could go either way—but with the fundamentals now favoring Obama to the point where it will take more than endless and interminable and often silly hype (I’m going to scream if I hear one more reference to “energy levels”) over one debate to change the outcome."

Much of cable and radio and online presentations depend on one thing: Simplification. So, rather than dig into the harsh reality that Congress is grimly locked up on most every bill they've faced in the last few years, driven by the hardline push from the Right to stall, block and prevent any legislation proposed by the President. Rather than challenge these tactics, media and spinners simplify to one claim: the President is to blame.

But the truth is Congress handles the bills and legislation and the political actions or inactions of the nation. And when investigated, the numbers show that Congressional approval has been at historic lows for the last few years. Plus, all 453 Congressional seats have undergone redistricting since the 2010 census, certain to affect how votes fall out. The Gallup organization notes:

"... all U.S. House seats and roughly one-third of U.S. Senate seats will be decided in the elections. Though overshadowed by the presidential race, the results of the congressional elections will have a major effect on the way the country is governed over the next two years ...

"Given Congress' near-record-low job approval ratings [10 to 13 percent], voters may continue to take out their frustrations on members of the institution, which has resulted in considerable turnover in congressional membership or party composition in each of the last three election years."

That battle is the REAL political battle today.

Marching Band Creates Video Games

This past weekend, the Ohio State University Marching Band showed off their video game knowledge. 

Next week, they'll salute funny cat videos from YouTube.

Win Free Tickets to Frightmare Manor

What scares you?

Clowns with bad teeth? Slimy creatures clutching at you out of the darkness? Maybe it's watching a presidential debate??

Find out what brings on the Fear for you with some free passes to the most popular haunted attraction in the state! Free tickets to Frightmare Manor can be yours via their Facebook page - and freebies include those VIP passes which means a no-wait entrance into the grisly hallways and haunted woods surrounding this annual 4-attraction scream park.

If you're headed to this terror-filled house of horrors, you might want to grab some solid rest and relaxation by staying overnight at the nearby Hampton Inn or Comfort Suites, which offer special packages for Frightmare Victims ... I mean Guests. Yeah, Guests. Just call them for information:

Hampton Inn Morristown: 423-587-0952
Comfort Inn Morristown: 423-585-4000

Also new this Frightmare Manor is a gigantic outdoor movie screen so that Victims - Guests, sorry - can get in the mood for the scares and scream which await them.

And if you are looking for some classic scares to take home with you, then you'll want to check out the 100th Anniversary of Universal Pictures, as they offer a very special first-time-ever release on Blu-ray of some of the most famous monsters of filmland.

This new release of 8 movies - from Dracula and Frankenstein to the 3-D Creature from the Black Lagoon - went on sale this week and it includes over 12 hours of bonus materials too. A full rundown of all 8 movies and all the extras are right here at Dread Central.

It's October - time to get ready for some Frightmare Nightmares!

Butting In or Butting Out?

As a public service, let me offer a very simple and basic rule from the Guide to Living a Good Life - Rule Number 25: Never, ever place yourself in a situation where you have to deny you participated in something called "butt-chugging" or "alcohol enema".

This press conference by the UT student, his attorney and an army of silent frat brothers, is a grim comedy of horrors.

The press release here notes the events of this case are similar to those in "The Wizard of Oz" but never says just how it is similar. I personally do not recall any consumption of booze via any orifice in that story, though the character who laments "if I only had a brain" does seem most appropriate.

Otis Redding's "Tennessee Waltz" plus Al Green and Superpup

From the most impressive album, "The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul" comes a most memorable soul version of the country music tune "Tennessee Waltz", featuring Otis and backed by the legendary Booker T. and the MGs.

Reinventions in pop culture are often merely lost in time, even though they stand as unique creations all on their own. Another stunning example, is Al Green's super-soul version of the country ballad "For the Good Times", a Kris Kristofferson tune, which Al brings to vivid life in this Soul Train appearance.

Reinventions do not always succeed, yet the sheer brazen oddity of such creations stand out - for example, the immensely popular 1950s TV series version of the "Adventures of Superman" inspired some folks to create a TV show about ... um ... well, Superman had a dog named Krytpo in the comics, but these TV producers decided to make a show called "The Adventures of Superpup". A pilot episode was filmed, which you can watch on YouTube and it is uniquely bad and yet certainly memorable.

Superpup is secretly the mild-mannered reporter Bark Kent, working for the gruff editor Terry Bite and he's got a girlfriend named Pamela Poodle. And for some reason Superman's pal Jimmy Olsen is now Superpup's pal, but he's been transformed into a hand puppet mouse. Just check it out.

Just goes to show ya, reinventions and remakes have always been with us, some are wonderful and some too strange to be anything other than historical oddities.

What Happens Without Refs at Footbal Games?

Like many American football fans, the apparent debacle of unskilled referees visible of late is a perplexing and yes, even hilariously entertaining. But there's a dark side too -- I've been there on the field when the referees at a football game weren't really the referees, and witnessed the chaotic results.

This was back in about 1972 or so, at a high school football game between Monterey and Byrdstown, played at Byrdstown, TN. It was a time that when one said football field, the emphasis was often on the word 'field'. I had traveled with my father and the Monterey team to the game, and some confusion was evident on arrival.

With perhaps a half hour or less before kick-off, the coaches realized the sanctioned referees for the event were absent. Lacking today's immediate mobile phones connections, they decided to simply wait. Time ticked past and still no refs. More field side conferencing occurred. Concerned parents and boosters began to form up close to hand to observe and advise as needed.

I have no idea who came up with the suggestion - but it turned out to be a potent one. Sports-minded parents from each side would be selected to serve as refs. I have a hazy recollection of my dad assisting to create an orderly selection process. The coaches and attendant school staffers all agreed and the game was on.

It wasn't long before oddities began to occur, though the crowd seemed to accept it with good humor and warmth. But let's face it, in even the best of competitive games, the intensity of passions during a game (or pre-game or tailgate party or post-game rally or off-season depression) for many a sports fan are simply un-governable.

By the middle of the second quarter, derision and danger began to flow onto the field like a ominous spring thaw runoff. The players began to push the limits as the anger grew, the crowd all began to stand and glare at the event as if it were some shadowy stranger walking onto the lawn in a dim twilight. Somehow, my dad and I were both on the sidelines, a lot of folks were on the sidelines, on both sides.

There was a stumbling play and a massive pileup of players - and the yelling started. There was this nearly imperceptible shift as other players and even more folks in the stands seemed to all be moving forward yet my dad had begun a sort of sideways crab walk away from the crowd.

One player took off his helmet and swung it hard at another player. I recall thinking that this perhaps was not the time to be removing protective gear. And then everything gave way and the thaw became a flood of people running onto the field. My dad's crab walk transformed into his own end zone run as he grabbed onto my shoulder. We hit the gravel parking lot as the howls and shrill whistles reached a crescendo.

If memory serves, both teams had to register the game as a loss, there was some stern talk about 'knowing better' to continue with an unsupervised game, and never again did a game take place absent referees.

Yet, then, as now, the attendance at the following games seemed to rise notably. I sure wouldn't play a game that way. But I might be tempted to actually watch an NFL game this weekend.

Frightmare Manor ScreamPark Opens Tonight

"I admit it - have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk."

Frightmare Manor 2012 opens tonight, yes, in September - this ScreamPark has become enormously popular and successful and is now open on weekends, up until October begins and then more nights will be added.

You have to understand that founder/creator Chris Wooden, his brother Michael, along with folks like Curtis, Andy and Denise love to scare people. For them, the work on making Frightmare Manor bigger and better and scarier is a full time job which they enjoy so much, it's kinda spooky!

And they've added something new this year to keep the entertainment rolling for the folks who are just waiting in line to get into the 4 different attractions at Frightmare Manor - the largest outdoor movie screen in East Tennessee. Chris says that just exactly what will be playing from night to night is still a bit of a secret at this point, but he emphasized that the Frightmare crew wants every moment you spend on the property to be as entertaining as possible.

Entertaining and scary, that is. You can also get your own Frightmare App for your mobile phone via iTunes to get the latest updates and info on special events.

Now you can go to their website, here, and find out about all the dates they will be open and check out their discount ticket prices too -- I recommend you also check out their Facebook page, where they are always offering discount and even free tickets, and this weekend the first 25 visitors on Friday and Saturday night will get a free Frightmare t-shirt, and as so many from out of town come for a visit, the Hampton Inn is offering a special package for Frightmare Fans - just call (423) 587-0952 and ask about the Frightmare Manor Package.

Chris also said they've hired even more employees this year, over 100, and that means not only is this an event loaded with fun, it's a bona fide economic force! Check out this interview from last year with Chris and with Hamblen County Mayor Bill Brittain.

As the ScreamPark continues, I'll have more details and info to share with you, so stay tuned!

Life In A Time Of Madness

I had the sad misfortune yeserday to read an essay penned by the daughter of a one-time school chum which was utterly dumbfounding.

These are some fairly smart folks, college-educated, they work hard to provide for their families and yet the essay in question was a stunning display of intellect strangled by a deadening diet of lies and distortions fabricated by the relentless machinery of talk radio and the one major cable news outlet mostly owned by a Middle Eastern tycoon.

I'm not linking to nor quoting the essay - I don't wish to either repeat the nonsense or further embarass the writer.

The writer's apocalyptic lamentations were due to the mere fact that Barack Obama is president and is seeking re-election. A cascade of illusory woes then followed - seems that every evil and myriads of sin-laden plagues were apparently created at the very moment in January 2009 when President Obama was sworn into office. The essay ended with a 'call to arms'.

I pondered and marveled at what I had read - a voluminous litany of horrors were presented addressing so many areas of life: history, economics, religion, and the basic elements of life in our nation, all now somehow exist absent any context or fact. The roll call of fear was the beating heart of this essay. For a few moments, I considered some reply, for none of us wishes to witness a person in writhing agony and pass them by as quickly as possible. But I reluctantly realized there was no salve nor poultice nor any surcease of pain for this person I might offer. Their agony was entirely imaginary, founded on nothingness. The enormity of their fantasy was an unscalable fortress. 

Doubtless there are those who hold views in opposition to the writer who likewise cling to perspectives absent any context or history or understanding and are merely the products of xenophobic rage. For too many people, histrionics has replaced reason - and such misalignment is not dependent on national geography or religious orientation.

I do have some remorse that I have no words or thoughts to share with such folk which might reorient them to rational, thought-provoking ruminations and discoveries. It is truly a sad loss, a bizarre madness which exists within the confines of certain political climates.

And such problems are not simply the loss of recent history, it is the loss of connection to all of history. It is as if all history, facts and truths are now a goopy unshaped mass which can be momentarily shaped into whatever might be expedient or utilitarian and which easily returns to its shapelessness.

Romney: Vote For Me Or You're A Freeloader

Some (possibly too honest) commentary on American voters (especially those who support President Obama) from Mitt Romney  has been storming the internet. Was Romney just trying to whip up multi-million dollar donors, or was he offering a look at how he views much of the nation?

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax…

[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Writer David Brooks offers his take on Romney's views:

"This [Romney] comment suggests a few things. First, it suggests that he really doesn’t know much about the country he inhabits. Who are these freeloaders? Is it the Iraq war veteran who goes to the V.A.? Is it the student getting a loan to go to college? Is it the retiree on Social Security or Medicare?

"It suggests that Romney doesn’t know much about the culture of America. Yes, the entitlement state has expanded, but America remains one of the hardest-working nations on earth. Americans work longer hours than just about anyone else. Americans believe in work more than almost any other people. Ninety-two percent say that hard work is the key to success, according to a 2009 Pew Research Survey….

"The people who receive the disproportionate share of government spending are not big-government lovers. They are Republicans. They are senior citizens. They are white men with high school degrees. As Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution has noted, the people who have benefited from the entitlements explosion are middle-class workers, more so than the dependent poor."

Frightmare Manor 2012 Set To Open

"Now, clear your minds. It knows what scares you. It has from the very beginning. Don't give it any help, it knows too much already."

Terror comes back to town as Frightmare Manor opens on Sept. 21, kicking off another unforgettable Halloween season at their 4-Attraction Scream Park.

Voted the Number One Haunted Attraction by WBIR-TV in 2009, 2010 and 2011, smart money says they'll capture that title again for 2012. An army of creative folk, ghouls, zombies and just plain gruesome ghosts are planning now to scare you witless.

As I have for the past few years, once again I too am your unofficial Blogging Host and Guide to Frightmare Manor. Chris Wooden, the owner and creator of this unique attraction, along with a dedicated crew, work year-round to make Frightmare a must-see event.

The Attractions include Frightmare Manor, Frightmare Backwoods, Frightmare Carnivore and the world-famous (or infamous) Nightmare at Frightmare Challenge - if you can endure all four attractions on one visit, you can get your admission price back.

Some details and a behind-the-scenes peek for the 2011 event can be found here, especially regarding the haunted history of the location and the notorious tale of the site's ghostly inspiration, Jeremiah Lexer:

"Jeremiah Lexer was the original property owner of this entire plantation around the turn of the 18th century. The past 2 years we have focused on more recent, controversial events surrounding the 2001 closing of the
successful restaurant on this property. Over the past year, we have dug into the record books and unearthed a lot of forgotten (or hidden) information about Jeremiah Lexer and his original homestead. We believe
Haunted House customers want to experience TRUE TERROR. Because of this, Frightmare Manor will remain at the old Jeremiah Lexer Plantation. We will continue to learn and share with our customers the evidence over the next few years."

Frightmare Manor also has a Facebook page you should check out, as they offer free tickets and major discounts on VIP packages too, plus it's one of the best ways to keep up with all the latest news and information.

Their main website has all the info you need to order tickets and their full calendar of events for 2012. They'll be open on weekends in September, starting on the 21st. And I'll have more exclusive reports and information to share with you as their new season unfolds. 

Can you take the Frightmare Challenge?

More Great Moments in Writing

Great writing is flourishing in the comments section of Amazon (as I've recently noted). Today's example comes via the hundreds of  'reviews' of a BIC ink pen ''designed for her":

"I bought this pen (in error, evidently) to write my reports of each day's tree felling activities in my job as a lumberjack. It is no good. It slips from between my calloused, gnarly fingers like a gossamer thread gently descending to earth between two giant redwood trunks."

---

"Normally my hand writing is defined and strong, as if chiselled in granite by the Greek gods themselves, however upon signing my name I noticed that my signature was uncharacteristically meandering and looping. More worryingly the dots above the I's manifested themselves as hearts, and I found myself finishing off the signature with a smiley face and kisses. Obviously I had no choice but to challenge the delivery man to a gun fight on the rim of an erupting volcano in order to reassert my dominance. Had I not won this honourable duel this particular mistake might have resulted in a situation that no amount of expensive single malt whiskey and Cuban cigars could banish. I leave this review here as a warning to all men about the dangers of using this particular device, and suffice-it-to-say will return to signing my name with a nail gun as normal."

---

"Gone are the days when I had to wrap my delicate lady hands around an ugly man pen to write my recipes and devotional love poems to men. Now I can commit myself to writing to do lists with an oh-so-soft grip between the frail appendages that - were they stronger - could be called fingers."