Never Better Than Any Job

As a fan of the TV shows, “The Bachelor” and “Bachelor Pad” it is with sadness to hear that one of the contestants on those shows, Gia Allemand, committed suicide sometime in the last 48 hours.

She was 29 years old. It made me think about this show a little bit more and the people who go on it.

I’m really a fan of The Bachelor because, to me, it’s a comedy show. Its 24 desperate women who believe that the only place they can actually find love is on a television show. But the whole fact that this girl killed herself probably proves the point and it’s very sad.

I wonder if there will be more of these types of stories from this show in the future. Think about it for a moment. They all have a deep desire to be on TV (and to be honest, so do I) believe that they are particularly special (not so in my case…I just want TV money) and then do such extravagant things on this show and live like kings and queens if they get on the show that it can only be devastating when it’s over for them.

Getting rejected in front of millions of people has to hurt. Going back to an average life after living life in the fast lane like that has to hurt. I imagine that some of them think that they have finally made it in life and then they either have it ripped away from them or they settle back down into real reality instead of reality TV and living the dream is done. It has to take a toll on at least a few of them to the point where it can trigger depression of some sort. Am I wrong here?

She seemed like a really nice girl and it’s a shame that anyone has to feel so horrible that even thinking about suicide seems like an option. And you know, I have certainly had those feelings in the past myself and not even all that long ago. I’m not a 29-year-old hot girl with men throwing themselves all over me and a decent modeling career either.

This year’s America’s Got Talent has been very hard to judge. I have to see how I did in the 4^th week’s quarterfinal. But I have only correctly chosen 7 of the 12 semifinalists so far and that’s atrocious for me.

The AGT finalists are going on tour when the season is over and I think that’s a show that I would go see. As a former American Idol fan I never had the urge to go see tour that they did. I’m not a real big fan of concerts though where I just get to watch people sing. That really never did it for me and I don’t really get why so many people pack stadiums to watch people sing. I mean, I guess its something to do but I’d much rather watch a magician or a danger act or something like that.

I am performing myself at the NY State Fair this year. I’m not on the main stage of course because I just don’t have that name. But I’ll lay great odds that my show will be a big hit there. It’s VISUAL. People will sit down to watch and be entertained by what happens on stage because it will be visually funny. I think my show should be on the main stage but I’ll have to prove that starting on the 22^nd. 

If you go to www.nysfair.org you can find my show schedule and you’ll also find the groups with which I will share a stage throughout the event and the other major attractions that will perform including Carly Rae Jepson, Reba McIntyre, Lynard Skynard, Styx, Los Lonely Boys, Korn and more. I am hoping to get my picture taken with as many of them as possible. Wish me luck with that.

The quote of the week goes to actor Ashton Kutcher (who told us that Ashton is his middle name and Chris is his actual first name) made at the Teen Choice Awards and it was ,”I’ve never had a job in my life that I was better than. I was always just lucky to have a job. And every job was a stepping stone to my next job.”

Well, welcome to the world of Conservatism and what the majority of us on this side think, Mr. Kutcher. So great to know that he values hard work and personal responsibility. This should be included in a Life 101 lesson.

I’ve actually always been a fan of this guy. I find him talented even though I know that many other people don’t. I used to want to not like him because he is one of those physically gifted dudes that women fawn all over all day. But it’s hard not to like him and even harder when you hear him speak quite humbly like this. Here is a link to the speech he made because he said a bunch of other interesting things to this group of teenagers who, I am pretty sure, didn’t even get what he was saying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=egNDhs8W318

If it doesn’t load, just search Ashton Kutcher speech and it will come right up for you.

Done

They Rooned It

My favorite sport to watch is Baseball. It has been since I was little. It was my sport to play, watch, follow, talk about, etc. This blog was even called Basenotism for a while.

But it has been ruined so badly that I just can’t get into it the way that I used to be into it.

It’s not like I will ever stop watching it because the game itself is still the best but what people have done it just destroys my faith.

It’s not just baseball either that has been ruined for me, but let’s start there.

This steroid problem has caused all sorts of chaos, as is obvious. Alex Rodriguez (and I refuse to call him by his stupid nickname like anyone else who gets called by their first initial and portion of last name) has been suspended until 2015; a ban of about 211 games for…once again…being named in a PED scandal. He, along with 11 others are getting suspensions but his is the worst.

That piece of dog crap, Ryan Braun, another former MVP got the heave-ho for the rest of the season. This is the same piece of dog crap who vehemently denied his usage of PED’s last year and was somehow cleared in the matter. 

The problem for me here is that I am a fan of baseball because I love the statistics and the long-time history of the game and love to compare players from all eras. I love to track lifetime statistics and love to watch great players with the hopes that I am watching someone who may some day make it into the Hall of Fame. Then when I visit the HOF I can say, “I saw that guy play.” Whenever I go there and see the plaques of Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Cy Young, Satchel Paige, Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb, and those who I never got to see, I hold them with special reverence.

Now over the course of the last 20 years I have seen some amazing baseball and some amazing players who have posted some amazing statistics that dwarf a lot of these players, in some areas.

How am I supposed to justify that reverence for someone like Barry Bonds who set the all-time homerun mark and the single-season mark now that I know he used drugs of some sort to do it?
How I am supposed to feel the same way for Roger Clemens who won 7 awards named for Cy Young himself when I know he cheated too?

When I’ve followed Rodriguez’ numbers over the years it was hard not to think that he was going to break Bonds’ mark also. But then those rumors started about him. The stories of PED use were basically brought forth by Jose Canseco, who was ostracized from the game. Is Canseco to blame or to thank in this situation?

Jose Canseco. Hero or Goat?

I almost would rather not know as far as being a fan is concerned based on how I follow the game.

But here is what gets me and probably most everyone else as well. I don’t cheat in life. I don’t take drugs to increase my performance. I took drugs in my life (more about that later also) but because I was stupid (like these ball players, sure) and for kicks. I never cheated my way up the ladder when it came to work.

What did that get me, by the way? I make ends meet in my life, that’s about it. I have done some things perhaps worthy of a young person’s admiration because I work hard and reach some of my goals. But that has never helped me cash a big paycheck by doing things honestly. I would never change that and don’t regret it but I want to know when we, as a society, are going to stop rewarding pieces of shit for cheating their way to the top?

Rodriguez signed a contract with the Yankees for 250 MILLION DOLLARS and he CHEATED to get it. Why is he, and EVERYONE else who cheated, NOT BANNED FROM THIS SPORT FOR LIFE? Somebody has to answer this for me.

As far as baseball is concerned and the players to whom I have to look for greatness that I have seen I have to almost forget 20 years of history with some important exceptions like Derek Jeter, Greg Maddux and Albert Pujols. I have to turn back to Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Rickey Henderson, Cal Ripken, Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn, Kirby Puckett and those like them whose plaques I can admire at the HOF.

I don’t even think that guys like Bonds, Clemens, Mark McGuire, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, Rodriguez and any other cheater should even be on the ballot. That should be their true punishment as far as I am concerned. 

Barry Bonds - before and...after?

I have left one name in particular off of this list, Ken Griffey, Jr., who, by all accounts, has been clean this whole time. The problem is that he played with Rodriguez in Seattle and I have no clue what association they could have had. I hope to God that he played clean because he was certainly one of those guys who deserves our admiration for the way that he played and the results he compiled over his career. 

By no means are those lists complete but you get the point.

This conversation about baseball and how its been ruined is only about the players and the drug use. I could continue with other aspects of it related all to money.

Now to cycling and that turd Lance Armstrong. Need I say much more about this? Seven Tour-de-France wins in a row. What could possibly be more amazing to witness and talk about with young sports fans when I am 90 years old? Not too much, I say. Now all of it has been flushed down the toilet. This piece of crap literally makes us have to tear pages out of sports history books (if any hard copies are even still available that is; deleting it from websites is much easier, thankfully.)

How about hockey? I started following hockey at a young age too and have been a NY Islander fan all of my life and lived and watched them during the dynasty days in the late 70’s. Then came Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux who were the Babe Ruth and Ted Williams of their sport. More dynasties followed; the stuff of legends and I got to watch it all. Thankfully those times have not been tainted for me.

Lemieux and Gretzky

But enter big money and strikes and rule changes made that came out because another team that I follow, the NJ Devils, employed a style of play that was rendered illegal, perhaps only because they won. Enter more rule changes like shootouts and points different ways of giving standings points and now I’m gone from there too. Fights aren’t even the same anymore because we have become such pussies in this country that we can’t allow good old-fashioned Donnybrooks to play out on the ice the way that non-pussy fans and non-pussy players would rather have it done.

Watch out football fans because this sport’s future is in real jeopardy. Greedy owners sign players with criminal records who then go on to commit more crimes up to, and including murder. Meanwhile some players, who might be less talented, aren’t drafted by teams. One of the best role models in the sport, Tim Tebow, is ridiculed beyond comprehension because he believes in Jesus yet that piece of shit Aaron Hernandez who is probably guilty of at least one murder, if not three, is getting love letters in jail from adoring fans and has a following of scumbag fans who say, “Free Hernandez.”

Tim Tebow: charged with loving Jesus
Gets ridiculed

Aaron Hernandez: charged with murder
Gets marriage proposals

This year players can’t celebrate after a touchdown in certain ways because its “offensive” to other people.

The league is getting sued by former players who suffered concussions. The simple fact that any court wouldn’t toss this frivolous suit right out the window is an indication of how messed up we are in this country.

So as someone who has followed and enjoyed sports all of his life, I have an emptiness inside because of all of this sort of stuff. The last 20 years of this crap has sucked that life out of me. No longer can I get excited about those things that were a staple of the informative years of my life.

Sure the times are always changing. But I would really like things to change for the better before its too late for me…and since I’m 51 it is perhaps too late now.

And if I get started about how politicians have ruined things, and our lives, over the past bunch of years this story will be 5 hours longer, so I’ll refrain as I usually try to do (thus keep my blog entries to a minimum, unfortunately.)

Finally, as mentioned above, I am someone who abused drugs and alcohol in my past. This weekend, however, I am celebrating 20 years of sobriety. No, I won’t be celebrating with a big party, wiseasses, just by myself and some groups of people who helped me along the way.

Everyone makes mistakes and everyone is entitled to correct them, learn from them and move forward. But just as I received and had to live with the consequences of my actions in my past so should those who are making them now when it comes to the PED questions.

Wow, I have so much more to say but this is already too long. So for now I’m

Done.

Running for the Balls

Yeah, its about time to post up. 

July is a relatively slow month for hypnosis shows for me. I have exactly four this month, which isn’t actually all that bad considering previous July's but after a hectic May and June I was on a roll and its nice to be on a roll.

August, which is usually slow also, will be bolstered by a booking at the NY State Fair for twelve consecutive days. It’s a gig I am anxious to do since I have been trying to get into my own state fair in Delaware and they won’t even acknowledge my letters of inquiry there.

The NY State Fair will be cool, though. Hopefully I am able to see some of the bands that are appearing there such at Styx, Lynard Skynard and Los Lonely Boys amongst others, of course.

I am a little concerned that the fairs site hasn’t listed my show. I guess that I don’t rate yet. But my show needs promotion since it needs volunteers so I had to ship off an email to see what’s up with that. 

What prompted me to write now is not what is listed below what I am about to post but rather the fact that its time for the Running of the Bulls in Spain. Each year hundreds of thousands of morons try to outrun actual stampeding bulls through the streets of Pamplona after having spent the previous evening drinking themselves into oblivion. It can only mean one thing…that I will have some pictures at which to laugh shortly thereafter the run begins. I always root for the bulls in this event as well as I root for the bulls in bull fights. Here is the picture that prompted my creative juices to flow today.

Oh, please give me more of these!

So with my down time it means that I have more time to watch TV and waste my life. The summer shows are on and I have enjoyed the networks decision to air completely different shows during the summer instead of reruns of old shows that they used to do when I was a kid.

CBS features Big Brother, now in its 15^th season. This is a show to which I applied two seasons ago. I would have again this year but I was booked pretty solid. I need to work; not take a chance that I might get more work from something like that. But based on who they picked to be house guests there was no way I would have received any consideration…again…this season. The oldest person is 37 and she, I think, is the only one over 30.

There is controversy in the BB house this year as one of the cute girls makes a bunch of remarks that has everyone calling her a racist. Some of the mocking that she does is pretty clearly offensive as she uses a stereotypical rant to portray an Asian. But some of the others are just things that she means as a joke.

Aaryn Gries - Racist?

For example, she is getting a lot of heat for looking at the fish tank in the house and noticing that the lighter colored fish were near the top of the water and the darker colored fish were near the bottom. Her comment was about how they were segregated. THAT isn’t a racist statement. That was pretty clearly an observation about which she was trying to joke.
However, when she was talking about the Asian girl in the house and said, “Shut up and go make some rice.” Well…that was pretty clearly out of line. In particular it was out of line because there was clear intent to insult someone with that statement.
It was beyond stupid to say anything remotely like that. Hell, the show’s host, Julie Chen, is Asian. I mean, what is this dingbat thinking?
She also referred to the gay kid in the house as a “queer” and, again, this wasn’t in some joking way.

Its all about intent.

Well, it turns out that she has been fired from two of her jobs. She doesn’t know this yet but when she gets out, she’ll be unemployed. Many people go on that show, especially hot girls like that and wanna-be celebrities like me, to try to get new work. Unfortunately for her she may never work again.

Aaryn isn’t the only one though. Ginamarie Zimmerman from Staten Island also got chopped from her job for an “insensitive” remark. And there could be more coming if they don’t watch out. Spencer Clawson has apparently referred to Hitler as a “good speaker.” That won’t go over very well either.

GinaMarie Zimmerman

Spencer Clawson

Suddenly looking like a saint is Elissa Slater, who has been a target for termination since day one, but has avoided being eliminated by two miracles created because of a twist in the game show’s play this year. Slater is the sister of the polarizing figure Rachel Reilly, her older sister, who is a previous winner on the show.

Saint Elissa

I love the strategy, love the choices for contestants except for one very obvious one (me), and its 24/7 accessibility (no, I don’t watch 24/7.) It’s a home run of a show.

I have also started watching Siberia on NBC. Here is a great idea for a show and the first two episodes have been pretty good. 16 contestants are selected for a reality show deep in the middle of nowhere in Siberia and left to fend for themselves until winter hits the area. There are no rules. There are challenges that are supposed to take place but no rules…its Lord of the Flies, potentially.
But something goes wrong…goes very wrong. So its not an actual reality show, it’s a drama/horror (I think horror…too early to tell) scripted to look like every other reality show.
More hot women on this show too!

The Rock has a reality game show called The Hero on TNT. People haven’t been eliminated from this show…at least not yet. Each week a series of challenges gives contestants a chance to add money to the ultimate winners prize at the end of the show. The winner will be apparently be chosen by the audience.
Along the way the challenges are made more difficult by other contestants getting bribed by The Rock. He’ll make an offer of $25,000, for example, to someone who isn’t participating in the weekly challenge, but those that are in the challenge will find it harder to complete the challenge if that person accepts the bribe (less time to finish it is one example.)
Half of those who compete in the weekly challenge will then get an opportunity to be of three who potentially will take on a solo challenge. If the person who competes in the solo challenge completes it (again potentially falling victim to another greedy contestant who accepts yet another bribe from The Rock) that person can either take a $50,000 prize or add that 50k to the final jackpot.
It does make for some interesting choices and some great arguments between the competitors.
I like the show and would give it a “thumbs up” if I were one of those types of reviewers.

Of course Dexter is back on Showtime and it has already started out great. This will be the final season and it will be sorely missed. I can see a path on this show that could lead to a spin-off series with his sister on the show played by Jennifer Carpenter but I have heard no such news about such an awesome idea.

Jennifer Carpenter (Make her the next hero serial killer!)

Then there is True Blood on HBO. Look, I like the show but it is a bit over the top every week. I like my science fiction and fantasy shows but I need to have a little bit of reality mixed in with it. Someone really needs to explain how in the world anyone who isn’t a monster living in that town would actually stay in that town longer than a day after witnessing what they see. The story line does revolve around Vampires living amongst humans all over the world so there is no escaping that. But the town, Bon Temp, where this show is set, is just friggin cursed. Not only does it have vampires, but werewolves, witches, faeries, shape shifters and hybrids of all of them. Since the town is small it would stand to reason that with all of the sex going on in it that there was going to be some hybrids, but there are still a couple of characters on the show who haven’t been turned into something supernatural and still live there. 

Face it. Even if all of that were a reality, a still-living-and-breathing human would be long gone.

Ok, well I behaved myself in this posting by not mentioning anything political. I am proud of myself for sticking to way less important stuff.

Done.