Good Time vs Good Place

 

So sometimes people recommend things to me, such as restaurants, hotels, or comedians.  This is very nice.  I Google +1 their head.  Unfortunately, a lot of people are biased by events and it's frustrating.  Take, for instance, (yeah, I used two commas for rhetoric) when someone buys a car.  It's often a shitty car, like an SUV or something that SUX.  It's a people-transport at-best, and it's boring no matter how cush it is.  It's not cool in any way.  There are no cool SUVs.  Some try to be cool but no.  Fail.  It's just a minivan in disguise, always.  Still, folks who just buy it will be in their, "I just bought a new car" mode for a while, all elated and gooshing over it.  Still, I'm sure it's better than their previous SUV, so sure, it's an improvement in some ways.  I see a lot of folks who owned Jeeps or SUVs get an actual car and they go nuts over it because their 0-60 isn't 20 seconds anymore and now they're getting more than 12 mpg so it's insanely good for them.  Uh huh.  Yeah, sure, that Subaru AWD El-Yawn Edition is fine, I guess, but to them it's outstanding. 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 
  Movies are like this too.  Some people don't go the cinema a few times a week, or month, or year.  When someone finally does break down and enter society for a brief moment, the experience of it is so overwhelming they just goosh over how awesome the crappy movie was, then you're suckered to go see it based on overwhelming enthusiasm and.. well.. you're left empty-handed.
 

 
  Most people I know are pretty non-adventurous so I'm rather leery at suggestions.  Some are experts in things and I value those further.  Sometimes, though they mean well and are enthusiastic.. well, they're clueless...
 
 
  Most folks know I love comedies.  I listen to XM Channel 99 Raw Dog Comedy which sponsors the latest comedian acts currently running around and some within the last year or so, so it's pretty fresh.  I also listen to a little international humor with XM Channel 160 Laugh Attack which features Canadian-only humor, which is a little more abstract but often more ironic or sarcastic with a peppering of less potty-humor and more cosmopolitan flair, so it's a good balance.  I have favorite comedians such as Maria Bamford (she's just awesome), Dane Cook's older material, Jim Gaffigan, and some of the other cleaner comedians like Mike Birbiglia (it's harder and therefore more challenging such as semi-early Bill Cosby, though very very early Bill Cosby was very dirty).  I'm fine with Doug Stanhope or Otto & George though, so I'm no prude.  I consider myself a bit of a comedic connoisseur.  When people learn this that I meet, they immediately suggest Jeff Dunham, who I abhor.  It's just racial patheticness that translates poorly on audio-only and his puppeteering (which is an art I very much admire) is lame.  I think he stinks.  Same with Ron White.  He's just full of hate and anger towards his wife and women.  Just my take.  XM's Blue Collar Comedy Channel is also something I'm not too fond of, but it has its moments.  Comedy is like dessert.  Everyone likes it but not everyone likes the same thing.
 

  The internet radio service, Pandora is similar as an uninformed acquaintance.  It assumes that if I like Rush then I must indeed like Moody Blues, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Cream, and Kansas.  Well, they're okay, but I'm not an Eric Clapton fan whatsoever (I probably should be because I love guitar, but I find his work blah and over-rated the same way Meryl Streep and Gene Hackman are).  No, Pandora, I really aren't into those.  If it was semi-smart, it'd know I like a bit of progressive-rock like Dream Theater or Queensryche or maybe some Savatage but it's too lame.  Luckily, XM Channel 38 The Boneyard knows this and isn't afraid to play No Sanctuary, Before the Storm, or Countdown. 
 


  Netflix's suggestions are horrible (and often confused when there's two raters on one account).  Sure, I liked Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares but no, I don't want to watch American Idol but yes indeed, I'll watch season 2 of The Gong Show.  Ah tastes are so varied and confusing!   It really helps if you truly know the person you're making a recommendation to.  Certainly, you shouldn't recommend Schindler's List 2: Electric Boogaloo to a 3-year-old, nor should she recommend Sesame Street's Count To 10-a-palooza to you.
  
 

  So when someone goes to a restaurant and has a good time with their family, they recommend it to me and, well, maybe they don't go out much so it's a fun time because they got 15 minutes of breathing time where they weren't chasing their kids around so therefore the restaurant is good because that pinball machine occupied their living mistakes for a bit as a prisoner's reprieve.  Sure, I guess.  These folks are so wrapped-up in their lives they can't transcend their state of misery to consider outside their own box.  I feel bad for them.
 
 
 

  A fellow co-worker recommended a Hilton in Hawaii's main island Kona (aka Hilo) so Beck and I centered a good portion of our vacation around it.  I should have considered that he had 5 kids.. The hotel itself was violently overpriced (he makes twice as much as me) and caters to kids by way of water slides and fun things for kids to do constantly right outside the rooms, giving parents breaks.  Well, sure, that'd be fine if I had kids so I could get a little alone-time but I don't so.. it's just an onslaught of screaming other-people's-kids 24x7.  He also later recommended a Disney cruise and I almost slapped him in his mouth-face.
 
 

  So, I applaud those that get out of the house.  Do so!  Enjoy Life!  If, however, you're going to make a recommendation, sure, tell me what a great time you had, I'd love to hear it, but if you don't realize I'm a middle-aged dude with no kids or know how I think or live, then please take a second to think that I'm not you.  If you don't though, I've been mildly burned from these experiences, so don't worry, I'll filter you.  I've learned how.  As a bonus, I'll do the same for you. 
 
Ciao.

Biro's Hit!

It's HIM.  Ted Carroll playing as Biro in the 1980 film Flash Gordon.  Why was he so important?!

  You know, I always wondered about this sudden and semi-important non-developed character "Biro" in the 1980 cinematic masterpiece, Flash Gordon.

  I've done some research and can't find mention of "Biro" in any of the serials or the three original movies, Flash Gordon, Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe.

  He was played by Ted Carroll who died in 1998 and had several bit-parts in British TV and movies. I don't see any connection with him and DeLorentes either. I have no idea how Ted Carroll's manager got him onboard, or how he suddenly had extreme character-development, "Biro's hit! I'm going in after him!"

   I think ABC television did a making-of in 1982-83 on TV (I remember noting they did the clouds by dripping food coloring into oily water and filmed it upside-down in slow-motion) but I don't remember how Biro became "beloved". I will probably die having Biro a mystery to me. Why a broken-nosed old-man suddenly became a hyper-focus to the plot and then totally forgotten after, "See you in Mongo City, Prince!" which blows your mind because you remember Voltan is a Prince of Mongo though he acts like Olde King Cole as a king of Cloud City and not so much a prince being of what, 50 years old at the time? Weird.

  If you, or anyone you know, have any information on Biro or why his important is crucial to the plot which screeches to a halt to be saved during the assault on War Rocket Ajax, comment below as Mysteries of the Unexplained for all Time.

  All can agree, however, that Ted Carroll is definitely a guy you want to hang out with.  You know that he knows things, and has been around the block.  You never mention his broken nose.  You DO drink heavily with him and get into soccer hooligan fights, and you win. 

  Biro is win, and you know you want him on your side, no matter what.  Hear hear!  To BIRO!

Snowstorm of the Century

  Here's a picture of outside:

  Schriever AFB's "Snow Line" indicated that, "Road Conditions are now RED.  All personnel are to report on-time."  I'm a little confused at that, indicating perhaps it's WW-III and we need to fight the Final Battle?  Okay then!  Let's fight the good fight!  God for Harry, England, and St. George!

  The drifts are pretty impressive.  Becky had to go out in it, she survived it with Blizzaks just fine, though several trucks, 4WD SUVs and the like were in the ditches, trapped, she said.  Typical for this region that folks think big trucks or 4WD/AWD help in these conditions (actually, they do during start-up from a traffic light by 20% when immediately accelerating, albeit only during acceleration and for about the 4 seconds you're doing it).  It does not give one a spiritual license of immunity to a deficit of coefficient-of-friction on melting snow beneath one's tires.  The top-heaviness almost completely counteracts it.  Ah, paradigm paralysis at it's finest.

  Well, stay in, fellas, if you can, and stay warm.

  On a side-note, I've been getting some spam comments lately, so I've used them for humor purposes.  A lot of them show up from last year, but keep your eyes peeled for previous entries with a lot of comments on 'em for your delight.