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Sunday, October 29, 2006
In the presence of the King
When: Tuesday, October 24, 2006, 7:45p.m.
Where: The Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Symphony Space, 95th and Broadway, Upper East Side, New York, New York
Who: Famed horror writer extraordinare Stephen King. Chris Manganello. And about 1,500 others.
Why: Promoting King's new novel, "Lisey's Story", the story of a writer's widow who comes to terms with her novelist husband's untimely death through her exploration of his writing studio and her own family's struggles.
Subtext: I've always been a huge - HUGE - Stephen King fan. I fell in love with his writing after reading The Talisman twenty-two years ago, and the love affair (albiet unrequited) has grown from there. So, when I had the opportunity to see Stephen King in person, I grabbed it. For an hour and a half last Tuesday, I was treated to sitting about 20 feet away from the man who inspired so many sleepness nights during my youth.
Totally, totally cool.
Visions (or not) of Grandeur
There have been a few times in my life when I just couldn't believe what I was reading. Once was when I read an article about how Pizza Hut was negotiating with NASA to purchase the rights to emblazon the moon with a Pizza Hut logo that would be visibile from earth. Evidently there was some type of laser technology available that could actually do this.
I'm not kidding.
Luckily for star gazers and nighttime lovers, the idea fell through and the moon remained the same.
The latest Holy Shit moment came a week or so ago, when I read that - get this - scientists and engineers had actually made an object invisible with an "invisibility shield".
Again, not kidding. Go ahead, google it. You'll see (or maybe not. Ha!)
The "cloaking" technology works thus: since all vision is caused by the reflection of light rays bouncing from an object into someone's eye, why not wrap an object in an invisibility shield which will collect all the light around the object so no light can "bounce" back to an eye. There you see it, and now you....don't!
The latest experiment was deemed successful as it made an object completely invisible in two out of our three dimensions. There was only one problem: the object still cast a shadow. Scientists are working on this problem now.
I don't know about you, but to me this is both totally freaky and very cool. Stay tuned.
Tortorous
I'm hoping - without holding my breath - that Americans are interested in their Administration's tortured (couldn't resist) explanation of just what Vice President Dick Cheney meant when he stated that a dunk in water is a "no-brainer".
Cheney was responding to a radio interviewer's question regarding whether or not the Bush Administration condones "water boarding" suspected terrorists or enemy combatants, a form of torture where a captive's head is placed underwater for an extended period of time, so that the captive believes he is about to drown. Evidently, coming this close to meeting your Maker inspires quite a few confessionals.
On Tuesday, October 24, 2006, radio show host Scott Hennan stated on his show that his callers had told him, "Please, let the Vice President know that if it takes dunking a terrorist in water, we're all for it, if it saves lives." While interviewing Cheney, Hennen asked the VP, "Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?"
Here is the verbatim response from the man who is one heartbeat away from the most powerful position on the globe: "Well, it's a no brainer for me, but for a while there I was criticized as being the Vice President for Torture. We don't torture. That's not what what we're involved in."
Please allow me to provide some intellectual subtext to what Cheney said: "Well (uh-oh, gotta buy some time to think of an answer), it's a no brainer for me (yes, I condone this form of torture), but for a while there (recently) I was criticized (people realized) as being the Vice President for Torture (I am in favor of torture). We don't torture (We do torture). That's not what we're involved in. (We do it everyday).
Only in America can such a duplicitous, mind-bendingly non-answer serve to answer a question of such constitutional dimension. To make matters even more clear (completely confusing), Presidential spokesperson Tony Snow recently quipped, "You know as a matter of common sense that the Vice President of the United States is not going to be talking about water boarding...You think Dick Cheney's going to slip up on something like this? No, come on."
Just tortorous.
Is a "slip up" in the form of a verbal snafu, where the Vice President inadvertently admitted condoning torture, any more suprising than the "slip up" that occurred when the Vice President shot a man? That slip up was suprising as well, but it happened. The thing is, it's hard to verbally back-peddle from a gunshot. A statement made on a radio show? Well, that's different.
But it's still a no-brainer. In more ways than one.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
T.O.'s anti-climactic homecoming
Many Philadelphia Eagles fans readied themselves for today's home game against the Dallas Cowboys with great anticipation, looking to the T.O. homecoming as an opportunity to show the infamous former Eagles wide receiver some Philly cheer.
As so many things revolving around T.O. seem to end, the T.O. - Eagles reunion was lackluster. The controversy didn't live up to its pre-game hype, which is really not very surprising. Like a classic prize fight between two boxing champions, seldom does the sporting act itself live up to the hysteria before the contest.
I'm typing this blog before the game's over...it's actually early on in the third quarter now, and the Eagles are down. And I'm doing this to prove a point.
My not-so-difficult prediction:
Eagles win, pulling it out late in the game.
T.O. is as much a factor in the second half of the game as he was in the first. Which is to say, not a factor at all.
And Eagles fan are left wanting more. What's a win without a pound of flesh?
Another day, another game. On any given Sunday, I guess.
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