A Slow Intelligence Drain

The first thing on my minds is a baseball player called David Ortiz who went into a tirade after being ask by reporters who asked him about his slow start. At what point does the fame and money and the fact you get to play a game for a living not become enough? I'm sure he loved it when the Boston press was treating him like a god. I watched the interview and his was asked in a polite way. Here is the thing I think all celebrities should know; if you are going to enjoy all the media attention when things are going good, you should be willing to except things when things are going bad. You can read the rest here.

Ortiz Tells Media to [Bleep] Off

I truly believe that wealth and especially celebrity slowly drains the intelligence out of people. That is why I say poor and unknown!


Everyone's favorite Southern Rock cover band, Goin' South will be All Sports Bar & Grill in McCullom Lake, IL. this Saturday night. Show starts at 9:00pm. If you have not seen Goin' South, I'd check them out. Trust me on this one, Goin' South doesn't play you average "Classic" tunes, but play some great tunes you wouldn't expect, although some of the standards "Freebird" do sneak in.

I watched a film the other day called Gumby Dharma. It is the story of Art Clokey, who created and animated Gumby and well as Davey and Goliath. It is a very good documentary, one worth a view. What I thought was the more interesting part of the story was about his daughter, Ann, who was talked about only briefly. She committed suicide at age 19. She had been mountain climbing with a friend, and near or at the top, the friend was struck and killed by lightening. What gets my about this is the sudden turn that can change or destroy a life. Although I can't not find too much information about her death, I get the idea that she was a happy teenager until this tragedy on the mountain, and then could never get over it. These types of things happen all the time, a vacation at the beach or a car trip, or whatever, and something horrible and unexpected happens and life is never the same. It become empty, or a least part of the ones left alive becomes empty, and for some, like Ann, the emptiness grows until the can not take it anymore.

A blog that I think is worth checking out is one called Largehearted Boy. I've been going to this blog for years. Not only is it a great place to hear and download free music, but as news from the worlds of music, literature, and pop culture. Regular features include: mp3 downloads. book notes, note books, contests / giveaways, 52 books, 52 weeks, music & DVD release lists, try it before you buy it, musician/author interviews, antiheroines, soundtracked, lists, book reviews and music festival downloads. This site is hosted by someone (unnamed) from Birmingham, Alabama with his lovely wife. He a music-loving guy living deep in the American South. His day job title is web developer, but he true loves are music and literature.

This week I am going to write about one of my favorite film podcasts. Hosted in Chicago by Eric Ingrum and Michael Koester it is riddled with blasphemy and a humble (but vicious) sense of humor, Double Feature is an experiment in film watching. Usually each weekly episode features two films in which are some way connected, although usually very loosely. At various times, they will do what they refer to as a Killapaloozas in which they talks about a whole series of films such as Friday the 13th, or the Alien films. As they say on the Double Feature website, "using the best tools at their disposal: blasphemy, skepticism, dirty words and bloodlust."

BTW, it has come to my attention that some people still don't understand podcasting, what it is or how to use it, so this weekend I'll write up a post on the subject. Look forward to that!