old thepete.com blog
moral compass online since 1998
Friday, April 23, 2004
Wow, "Soap" was a good show...
Ahhh, just thought I'd toss on an episode of that classic sitcom from the late 70s/early 80s, "Soap".
WHAT a great show! Part way through just one episode and I'm tearing up as Jessica awaits sentencing in her murder trial and hissing when Jody is dumb enough to move in with that slut and worried that Burt's son will get killed if he runs and doesn't marry the daughter of the man who forced Burt to kill his own son's real dad.
Confused? You won't be after the next episode of...
SOAP.
God, it's a good show.
I think I figured out why it hits me so hard after just watching a single 24 minute ep - all of the characters are dealing with major events in their lives and everyone around them really cares about the events in each other's lives. In real life, no one cares (I mean, REALLY) cares about each other because we're all living borning lives. Sure, we're all nice to one another and congratulate each other on our little successes, but nothing BIG happens and even when it does, it's more or less written off by most folks. I published a script not too long ago. Did my parents make a big stink? Nope. Honestly, the biggest reaction I got was from a writer acquaintance of mine that I only know because he and I hang out at the same boba house a lot. He smiled and cheered and shook my hand. That's more than I got from anyone else.
I try to tell people about these major things going on in the world. About US Marine snipers shooting at unarmed men, women and children in Iraq, but people just sort of shrug it off. There's no sign of Osama or WMD and some how America still would vote for Bush in November.
America *barely* voted for Bush in 2000!
I think this whole country needs some Soap!
WHAT a great show! Part way through just one episode and I'm tearing up as Jessica awaits sentencing in her murder trial and hissing when Jody is dumb enough to move in with that slut and worried that Burt's son will get killed if he runs and doesn't marry the daughter of the man who forced Burt to kill his own son's real dad.
Confused? You won't be after the next episode of...
SOAP.
God, it's a good show.
I think I figured out why it hits me so hard after just watching a single 24 minute ep - all of the characters are dealing with major events in their lives and everyone around them really cares about the events in each other's lives. In real life, no one cares (I mean, REALLY) cares about each other because we're all living borning lives. Sure, we're all nice to one another and congratulate each other on our little successes, but nothing BIG happens and even when it does, it's more or less written off by most folks. I published a script not too long ago. Did my parents make a big stink? Nope. Honestly, the biggest reaction I got was from a writer acquaintance of mine that I only know because he and I hang out at the same boba house a lot. He smiled and cheered and shook my hand. That's more than I got from anyone else.
I try to tell people about these major things going on in the world. About US Marine snipers shooting at unarmed men, women and children in Iraq, but people just sort of shrug it off. There's no sign of Osama or WMD and some how America still would vote for Bush in November.
America *barely* voted for Bush in 2000!
I think this whole country needs some Soap!
FOG OF WAR
Entertaining? YES.
Technically any good? This is a documentary that essentially boils down to one big interview with former Secretary of Defense. Despite that, it's amazingly interesting and well cut. Cutting to stock footage from WWII, the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam (as well as news footage of McNamara, himself) places all of his anecdotes at specific points in history so we can easily understand what he's talking about.
How did I feel as the credits rolled? Depressed about the realities of the US abroad over the last 100 years, but completely satisfied in this Oscar winning documentary. I highly recommend this one. Rent it or buy it when it hits DVD on May 11, 2004!
Final Rating? GSN (Every American needs to see this documentary to understand what America has done wrong in the past.)
Technically any good? This is a documentary that essentially boils down to one big interview with former Secretary of Defense. Despite that, it's amazingly interesting and well cut. Cutting to stock footage from WWII, the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam (as well as news footage of McNamara, himself) places all of his anecdotes at specific points in history so we can easily understand what he's talking about.
How did I feel as the credits rolled? Depressed about the realities of the US abroad over the last 100 years, but completely satisfied in this Oscar winning documentary. I highly recommend this one. Rent it or buy it when it hits DVD on May 11, 2004!
Final Rating? GSN (Every American needs to see this documentary to understand what America has done wrong in the past.)
PUNISHER (2004)
Entertaining? Yes, but only in it's campiness.Technically any good? Not really, the bad guys weren't that bad and the hero wasn't that interesting or tragic. Everyone was painted with a very broad brush that didn't allow us to feel anything for anyone. There was one really smart, interesting scene in the middle that surprised me. If only the rest of the film were as clever.
How did I feel as the credits rolled? I hope there's no sequel. Finally a movie that is bad isn't doing well in the theaters. Go figure.
Final Rating? RTV (There was that one really cool scene in the middle.)
KILL BILL VOL. 2 (2004)
Entertaining? Barely, but don't credit Quentin for that, his only wisdom is to know what other films are the best to rip of.Technically any good? No - one good action scene and a lot of inconsistently written characters and dialogue.
How did I feel as the credits rolled? No different than I do at the end of any other film by this guy. Let down that I wasted time hoping that he would figure out how to make interesting, smart and original movies.
Final Rating? DNS (Most people will enjoy it because it's a big dumb action movie.)
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Monday, April 19, 2004
Book 3 and still with Book 1 & 2... but TheKey is Coming!!
Well, despite being buried in work, I've been able to put my most important stuff first and have still managed to avoid falling behind. Man, I could really use some good old caffeine, right about now, though. I've been drinking this Boba Coffee, but the only place I can get it is this boba house I hang at all the time and I'm not there today because of low funds (and I mean low). I would just by a 6 pack of Coke or something, but I'm off the refined sugar these days and since I'm definitely better for it, there's not much I can do right this moment but drink a lot of cold water and forge ahead.
All that said, I started Book 3 of TheKey a few days ago and have been editing two entries a day, which is good. As soon as I get past my current assignment for my dayjob, I will be diving into Book 1 one last time to take care of a few character descriptions that need to be enhanced and one scene I forgot to include earlier. Book 2 just needs to be printed out and proofread. I hope my last editor will be interested in helping me with this one, too. Gotta call her and find out. Book 3 is awesome. There's so much crazy stuff going on in it and it's only getting more crazy and more dark.
Not much else to report on, if that's not enough. Gotta go edit today's two entries and then get to the dayjob stuff.
Like I said, I could really use some CAFFEINE. :crazy:
All that said, I started Book 3 of TheKey a few days ago and have been editing two entries a day, which is good. As soon as I get past my current assignment for my dayjob, I will be diving into Book 1 one last time to take care of a few character descriptions that need to be enhanced and one scene I forgot to include earlier. Book 2 just needs to be printed out and proofread. I hope my last editor will be interested in helping me with this one, too. Gotta call her and find out. Book 3 is awesome. There's so much crazy stuff going on in it and it's only getting more crazy and more dark.
Not much else to report on, if that's not enough. Gotta go edit today's two entries and then get to the dayjob stuff.
Like I said, I could really use some CAFFEINE. :crazy:
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Snapshot of a Recent Day in Falujah, Iraq
Ask yourself why is this not in the American mainstream press:
The next time you turn on the TV news and think you're getting the whole story, think again. The TV news is USELESS. Thanks to blogs written by people INSIDE Iraq, we can know the real story of Iraq. Because of bloggers INSIDE Fallujah, we can know that in Falluajah there were US Marine snipers killing unarmed men, women and children. In the account the above quote was taken from the writer is a British woman named Jo who calls herself an "English Activist in Iraq." But in this case, activism means trying to help save the wounded from dying in the streets of Falujah after they are cut down by American bullets. It also means being shot at by Americans bent on some sort of strange revenge for four mercenaries who were murdered by locals a few weeks back. Four American mercenaries dead and a town is terrorised, many of it's locals murdered in cold blood by American troops.
This has happened. American snipers murdering innocent civilians, randomly, for being out when they were told not to be - by American forces, who are still trying to get "revenge". They're a foreign occupying force and they've lost friends and allies to the locals who just want to have their country back. No American has a right to revenge in a land that is not their own.
All this has happened - American soldiers sniping at men, women and children, some armed, some not - and it wasn't on the evening news.
Thank god for blogs, is all I can say.
By the way, only men fight. Women do not. I think it's an Islam thing. I know someone who is Muslim and will ask him about this the next time I see him. Of course, I live in America, where I can still go outside any time of the day or night without anything even vaguely resembling the kind of fear those citizens of that town lived with.
One other thing that worries me (aside from the USMil sniping at innocent women and children) is that the woman who wrote that blog I quoted from hasn't updated it since April 12. I hope it's because she hasn't been witness to any more of this kind of violence and has nothing to write about. I hope it's not because she's fallen victim to some of that kind of violence.
Check out Wildfirejo's blog.
Check her post that I quoted above.
There’s no weapon in his hand. Only when we arrive, his sons come out, crying, shouting. He was unarmed, they scream. He was unarmed. He just went out the gate and they shot him. None of them have dared come out since. No one had dared come to get his body, horrified, terrified, forced to violate the traditions of treating the body immediately. They couldn’t have known we were coming so it’s inconceivable that anyone came out and retrieved a weapon but left the body.The above is a tiny excerpt from a blogged eyewitness account of what was happening in Falujah, Iraq on April 11, 2004.
The next time you turn on the TV news and think you're getting the whole story, think again. The TV news is USELESS. Thanks to blogs written by people INSIDE Iraq, we can know the real story of Iraq. Because of bloggers INSIDE Fallujah, we can know that in Falluajah there were US Marine snipers killing unarmed men, women and children. In the account the above quote was taken from the writer is a British woman named Jo who calls herself an "English Activist in Iraq." But in this case, activism means trying to help save the wounded from dying in the streets of Falujah after they are cut down by American bullets. It also means being shot at by Americans bent on some sort of strange revenge for four mercenaries who were murdered by locals a few weeks back. Four American mercenaries dead and a town is terrorised, many of it's locals murdered in cold blood by American troops.
This has happened. American snipers murdering innocent civilians, randomly, for being out when they were told not to be - by American forces, who are still trying to get "revenge". They're a foreign occupying force and they've lost friends and allies to the locals who just want to have their country back. No American has a right to revenge in a land that is not their own.
All this has happened - American soldiers sniping at men, women and children, some armed, some not - and it wasn't on the evening news.
Thank god for blogs, is all I can say.
By the way, only men fight. Women do not. I think it's an Islam thing. I know someone who is Muslim and will ask him about this the next time I see him. Of course, I live in America, where I can still go outside any time of the day or night without anything even vaguely resembling the kind of fear those citizens of that town lived with.
One other thing that worries me (aside from the USMil sniping at innocent women and children) is that the woman who wrote that blog I quoted from hasn't updated it since April 12. I hope it's because she hasn't been witness to any more of this kind of violence and has nothing to write about. I hope it's not because she's fallen victim to some of that kind of violence.
Check out Wildfirejo's blog.
Check her post that I quoted above.
Friday, April 16, 2004
New Site Design, New Blogs for You to Visit
Okay, well, I'm getting toward a site design I think is actually nice and pleasant to look at, opposed to my last design, which I feel was cluttered and busy. I think the site is still cluttered and busy, but not as much. If anyone feels like letting me know what they think, go for it.
I also added some new links to blogs in the sidebar. If you respect my opinion in the least, PLEASE check out "Raed in the Middle," "Empire Notes," and "Memory Hole."
Raed is an Iraqi citizen living in Baghdad. He's smart, savy and funny. He's talking about the US Occupation from an Iraqi's standpoint. You know how right-wingers all talk about how most Iraqis are glad the US is there? Well, he's an Iraqi who suffered under Sadam and is now fast to point out that he's suffering under Bremer. It may be a better Iraq, but in some ways it's worse - find out the truth that the US press won't tell you, the foreign press can't tell you and the story the Arab press won't tell you in English without their spin on it. In recent days, Raed has written about the use of Depleted Uranium shells by US forces. He personally measured radiation levels around destroyed Iraqi tanks reaching from 2000% to 13000% their normal levels.
Empire Notes is written by an American called Rahul Mahajan. He's a journalist who has written books about American imperial tendencies in the world and specifically the middle east. He is currently living in Iraq, trying to get the true stories to the public. Recently he's written about US Marines in Fallujah sniping at women, children and ambulance drivers. He was an eye witness to a local woman being rushed to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. They told him it was from a sniper. Local freedom fighters are shooting at Americans, not their neighbors. He also posted pictures of a local ambulance that had been fired upon. Two bullet holes are visible in the windshield, right about where the driver's head would be.
The Memory Hole Blog is written by Russ Kick, the author of 50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know. He's located in America and covers loads of great obscure stories. His site is a literal library of news and resources that have narrowly escaped, well, the memory hole. Recently he's covered stories of a former FBI translator who says she translated intelligence from before 911 that essentially warned the USGov of 911. Also recently, he pointed out that the FBI has finally admitted to arresting several domestic terrorists in Texas last year. Didn't read about it in the US news? Well, I read about it at TheMemoryHole. Specifically, three white supremecists from Texas were arrested in May of 2003 when they were caught with a boatload of explosives, weapons and more. These three people are said to be just a small part of a larger group of people. The FBI has never said word one about it until recently, according to TheMemoryHoleBlog. It took them 11 months, but as Russ says, at least they got around to it eventually!
As you, I'm sure, get the inkling, these are some of the best news blogs out there. In fact, it's because of their work that I have decided to stop doing my newsblog because I was just lifting all of their topics and linking to their sources in the first place! I'll still be writing about current events in a new category called "TheBitch." It'll be an opinion category that will allow me to talk about things you should know about (much of which the above guys have already written about) but it will also allow me to be funny and opinionated and generally slam people who are responsible for the bad things I'm writing about. Which reminds me that I need to write up a position column establishing that I am a conservative liberal who calls himself an independent. I'll also mention that I am for the American Way the way it was sold to me when I was a kid - the American Way in Theory, not the American Way in Practice. The American Way in Practice is not party-specific. Both Clinton and Bush and the other Bush and Reagan before and many presidents before them treated the world like their personal plaything. The USGov controls their American Empire (i.e. the entire planet) through manipulations of the world economy, the IMF, and the WTO. This kind of corruption knows no political party, no religion and worst of all, no morals.
Man, and I'm going to be funny when talking about heavy crap like that?
It's going to only get more interesting folks! So, check out those blogs (permanently located underneath the news headlines in the sidebar) and be sure to come back here for my opinion pieces that will be slanted right down the middle!
See you soon!
I also added some new links to blogs in the sidebar. If you respect my opinion in the least, PLEASE check out "Raed in the Middle," "Empire Notes," and "Memory Hole."
Raed is an Iraqi citizen living in Baghdad. He's smart, savy and funny. He's talking about the US Occupation from an Iraqi's standpoint. You know how right-wingers all talk about how most Iraqis are glad the US is there? Well, he's an Iraqi who suffered under Sadam and is now fast to point out that he's suffering under Bremer. It may be a better Iraq, but in some ways it's worse - find out the truth that the US press won't tell you, the foreign press can't tell you and the story the Arab press won't tell you in English without their spin on it. In recent days, Raed has written about the use of Depleted Uranium shells by US forces. He personally measured radiation levels around destroyed Iraqi tanks reaching from 2000% to 13000% their normal levels.
Empire Notes is written by an American called Rahul Mahajan. He's a journalist who has written books about American imperial tendencies in the world and specifically the middle east. He is currently living in Iraq, trying to get the true stories to the public. Recently he's written about US Marines in Fallujah sniping at women, children and ambulance drivers. He was an eye witness to a local woman being rushed to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. They told him it was from a sniper. Local freedom fighters are shooting at Americans, not their neighbors. He also posted pictures of a local ambulance that had been fired upon. Two bullet holes are visible in the windshield, right about where the driver's head would be.
The Memory Hole Blog is written by Russ Kick, the author of 50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know. He's located in America and covers loads of great obscure stories. His site is a literal library of news and resources that have narrowly escaped, well, the memory hole. Recently he's covered stories of a former FBI translator who says she translated intelligence from before 911 that essentially warned the USGov of 911. Also recently, he pointed out that the FBI has finally admitted to arresting several domestic terrorists in Texas last year. Didn't read about it in the US news? Well, I read about it at TheMemoryHole. Specifically, three white supremecists from Texas were arrested in May of 2003 when they were caught with a boatload of explosives, weapons and more. These three people are said to be just a small part of a larger group of people. The FBI has never said word one about it until recently, according to TheMemoryHoleBlog. It took them 11 months, but as Russ says, at least they got around to it eventually!
As you, I'm sure, get the inkling, these are some of the best news blogs out there. In fact, it's because of their work that I have decided to stop doing my newsblog because I was just lifting all of their topics and linking to their sources in the first place! I'll still be writing about current events in a new category called "TheBitch." It'll be an opinion category that will allow me to talk about things you should know about (much of which the above guys have already written about) but it will also allow me to be funny and opinionated and generally slam people who are responsible for the bad things I'm writing about. Which reminds me that I need to write up a position column establishing that I am a conservative liberal who calls himself an independent. I'll also mention that I am for the American Way the way it was sold to me when I was a kid - the American Way in Theory, not the American Way in Practice. The American Way in Practice is not party-specific. Both Clinton and Bush and the other Bush and Reagan before and many presidents before them treated the world like their personal plaything. The USGov controls their American Empire (i.e. the entire planet) through manipulations of the world economy, the IMF, and the WTO. This kind of corruption knows no political party, no religion and worst of all, no morals.
Man, and I'm going to be funny when talking about heavy crap like that?
It's going to only get more interesting folks! So, check out those blogs (permanently located underneath the news headlines in the sidebar) and be sure to come back here for my opinion pieces that will be slanted right down the middle!
See you soon!
Monday, April 12, 2004
Too Much News to Read, Too Much Crap to Write About!
There's a saying that is said to be an ancient curse. "May you live in interesting times."
Well, it sure seems like we're doing that, tenfold. I can't keep up with all I want to read. There's just too much to be aware of. And then most of it is stuff I want to pass on to other people. But I don't have time to do blog entires on every damn thing I read. In fact, I just read an article at CommonDreams.org about how the USMil are sniping at women and children in Fallujah. That's what this one guy, an eyewtiness to the results of said sniping, says, anyway. I mean, that's a pretty important story, isn't it? But then, there's like 8 other stories as well I think people need to know about. And I think I need to have a better understanding of these stories, too. But there's just no time. I would say that I wish I could just download all the latest news right into my head. But that would be too much like that movie, The Matrix, and I didn't like that movie.
But it sure would help us all keep up with stuff.
I've been trying to redesign my site, yet again. But all I managed to do was create a new page that looks just as cluttered as my present one, only arranged differently. So, what's the point of changing it? The categories look very cool, but there's just too much of everything else. Oh well, I guess I'll just need to take a day sometime and redo my main page... again... I'm such a tard sometimes...
My motto for thenext week, or so:
KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID!
Well, it sure seems like we're doing that, tenfold. I can't keep up with all I want to read. There's just too much to be aware of. And then most of it is stuff I want to pass on to other people. But I don't have time to do blog entires on every damn thing I read. In fact, I just read an article at CommonDreams.org about how the USMil are sniping at women and children in Fallujah. That's what this one guy, an eyewtiness to the results of said sniping, says, anyway. I mean, that's a pretty important story, isn't it? But then, there's like 8 other stories as well I think people need to know about. And I think I need to have a better understanding of these stories, too. But there's just no time. I would say that I wish I could just download all the latest news right into my head. But that would be too much like that movie, The Matrix, and I didn't like that movie.
But it sure would help us all keep up with stuff.
I've been trying to redesign my site, yet again. But all I managed to do was create a new page that looks just as cluttered as my present one, only arranged differently. So, what's the point of changing it? The categories look very cool, but there's just too much of everything else. Oh well, I guess I'll just need to take a day sometime and redo my main page... again... I'm such a tard sometimes...
My motto for thenext week, or so:
KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID!
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