The Best Movie Trailers of the Last 15 (or so) Years

Posted on January 30, 2015 by kellyd1979

Movie trailers are one of my most guiltiest of pleasures. I live for them. At times they are the best part of my visit to the theater. The goal of a good trailer should be to make you want to see the film, but a great trailer can do far more than that. The following list presents what I think are the absolute best trailers of the last 15 years.

10. Iron Man

Trailer: The trailer kicks off our epic adventure into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Most importantly, the trailer presents us with Tony Stark as he truly is: arrogant, rich, and brilliant. The music wraps up the presentation with perfection. Why wouldn’t you play ACDCs Iron Man in the freaking Iron Man trailer?

Film: Great kick off on this adventure we are still enjoying. I’m still not sure who should be more grateful, us for having RDJ play this role, or RDJ for changing his entire career with this gig. I could write an entire blog on how different this world would be without him as Stark.

9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, parts 1 and 2

Trailer: The feels, all of the feels. Most fans already knew how the story would end, but that didn’t mean we weren’t jazzed up to see it on the big screen. A majority of the footage was from the second part. While I didn’t dislike Part 1, RIP Dobby, it felt more like some weird wizard tribute to The Fellowship of the Ring. Stop me if you’ve heard this joke before: Ron, Hermione, and Harry are walking through the forest…… for hours. The power of the trailer is that it CAN give away what happens, there really are no secrets; it takes itself very seriously because, well, this is serious epic wizard battle shit.

Films: Good and Great, just ignore the epilogue

8. The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Trailer: Like you haven’t watched it 100 times??? Oh, I know I’m not alone. Since we haven’t seen the film yet, it’s hard to judge how much of the story is revealed by the trailer. We however, get plenty of teases. The voice of Ultron channeling Pinocchio adds the extra level of wow that gets this gem onto the list. Oh yeah, ummmmm Hulkbuster!!

Film: …

7. Star Trek (2009)

Trailer: Retro Star Trek music? Check. USS Enterprise? Check. Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Bones, Chekov, Uhura, Scotty ? Check. Lens Flares? Check. This trailer alone breathed new life into this rich yet depressed universe. Seeing this trailer again actually made me stop the movie I was watching to watch this. Good job!

Film: Excellent. This film was a non-stop ride. Sure, there are some issues, but it was a well made movie that brought this franchise back from the land of the dead. Abrams did an amazing job refreshing this, so I feel confident with Star Wars in his hands. Speaking of Star Wars….

6. Star Wars Episode 1/3

Trailers: We are throwing out the trailer for 2 for about 1000 different reasons. These two a special in their own right. The trailer for Episode 1 was an event. We hadn’t had a single new Star Wars thing in 16 years. Most of us went to the cinema to see whatever this trailer was attached too, you know, viral meant an actual cold back in 1998. Lucas’ trailers always seemed to want to outline the entire film instead of just tease us, that worked for both of these. Episode 3 was a flurry of quick cuts, condensing the film down into a two minute power shot. It gave us what we wanted: Vader.

Films: We won’t talk about Episode 1, however, Episode 3 is my favorite. Angry, gritty, and sad.

5. X-men: Days of Future Past

Trailer: I will admit that I have a huge soft spot for the X-men. Many people feel the films were subpar, I enjoyed them. This trailer though, sells you on the ability for these two worlds to come together. Seeing all the stars (even Rogue who didn’t make the cut), as well as the tone of finality, really makes you wonder what will happen. I loved this trailer, but had to manage my expectations for the film.

Film: This was the best of the X-men series. It was so good that we were apparently able to overlook major issues, like WTF? Professor X is alive?? Wolverine’s claws are metal again? Beast is like Hulk now? Whatever, its a great thriller, which we all knew the outcome to. Great casting and great performances take it to an even higher level. Can a “comic book” movie really be this deep?

4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Trailer: I am speaking specifically of the original trailer for all three films. I remember seeing it, and being in complete awe. No one had really done anything on this scale before. Peter Jackson’s work was inspiring, brave, and innovative. Setting up the trailer for all three, with the release dates, gave us all such anticipation.

Films: I could write a novel, instead, I’ll quote Gollum “My preciousssssssss.”

3. The Dark Knight

Trailer: Sure, the Dark Knight Rises was a great trailer too, the National Anthem being preformed with Bane and explosions in the background, but you know what it doesn’t have??? The Joker. The trailer perfectly encompasses this film.

Film: Flawless Victory!

2. Guardians of the Galaxy

Trailer: The music. The music makes this trailer and makes the film. This trailer edits a scene from the film, but introduces us to our ragtag group of heroes. Boom. Here ya go, we got all the back story we need in 30 seconds. Any worries the world had about the ability to  pull this film off were squashed.

Film: Do you like Pina Coladas? NO?? You better freaking like Guardians! I still can’t figure out who my favorite character is. This is how you make a big budget, Hollywood, explosion, superhero film with HEART, yeah I’m looking at you Michael Bay.

1. Man of Steel

Trailer: This trailer is, for me, the standard for which all others should be judged. Its perfection. Perfect music, perfect scene selection, perfect voice over, perfect iconography. I was so excited to see this film based on the trailer, which come on, who wouldn’t be? The trailer does the best job of telling you what this film will be.

Film: God help you DC. I don’t know what went wrong. There were good parts, and I love Henry Cavill as Superman, what I don’t love, bad storytelling. I will reserve final judgement on this film once I see where the series is going, but honestly, do we need a origin story on Superman? If you didn’t see this, and do want to see the up coming DC catch up game, watch the trailer like 3 times. It will tell you everything you need.

Honorable Mention:

Inception

Trailer: Every single one of us was like “WTF?” Inception hornnnnnnnnn!

Film: I still don’t know.

Tron Legacy

Trailer: Bad ass

Film: Wish it would have been better.

 

The Force Awakens

Trailer: kldsaogeiawohgraigfanjfkjgjlkajgkdsalfjeia Falcon!!!f alfkjdsajfdoajfeio

Film: how many more days???

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Entitlement or Stupidity?

Posted on January 7, 2015 by kellyd1979

I went to Wawa at lunch today to redeem a coupon for a free soda, little did I know I would witness everything that’s wrong with our society. I stood in line with my “medium” 32 ounce cherry ginger ale (thanks Coke Freestyle) behind two young women. As soon as I got in line behind her, the first young lady started to get very fidgety, she actually stepped out of line once her companion got the to the register. Their items were two tall boy cans of beer (Natty Ice) and a pack of Newports which were requested from the cashier. The cashier never got to the Newports.
The cashier rang up the beers and asked for the customer’s ID. At this point everything seems normal to me, other than the fact that most people don’t buy beer at lunch (especially shit beer). The customer hands her ID over and it is scanned, oh no, Houston we have a problem. The ID is expired. Cashier runs it again, guess what??? Still expired. She says to the customer, “I’m sorry your ID is expired, I cannot sell you the beer or cigarettes.” Hold onto your butts, all hell is about to break loose.

samjackson

The customer begins a long line of expletives directed at the cashier, she claims that she just used that ID at the bank. Now, while she continues to bitch about not being about to buy the beer and cigarettes, my brain starts to wonder why she needed that ID at the bank. I have never been asked to show my ID at the bank, ever; ok maybe when I opened my account 15 years ago. Then I started to wonder if she bought beer at her bank and perhaps I should ask what bank she used. I snapped out of it and listened to the rest of this lovely exchange.
“My birthday is the 16th bitch, it’s not expired.” – Customer
“I scanned your ID and the computer says it’s expired.” – Cashier
“You can see my date of birth on there, so it doesn’t even matter if it’s expired.” –Customer
“Our policy is that if your ID is expired, we cannot sell to you.” –Cashier
The cashier then calls the manager over, “That’s right you need backup, bitch.” Our eloquent customer responds.
The cashier explains what has happened to her manager, who restates exactly what the cashier said to the customer, they cannot sell tobacco or alcohol to someone with an expired ID. The manager then proceeds to peel something off of the ID, the now former customer had taped over the birthdate and expiration date on her ID. “You covered up the dates.” The manager states to her. Former customer now snatches her falsified ID out of his hand and heads towards the exit. She screams the following things as she goes “I can’t fucking believe this place. My fucking ID isn’t expired. I can’t believe this punk ass bitch. Racism. Fuck this place.”
I’m as polite as possible to the cashier when she rings me up and logs the incident in her binder. Apparently they have to log these types of incidents in regards to alcohol and drug sells. The whole situation was very interesting to watch but deep down it makes we wonder, does this person feel that the rules just don’t apply to her? Or is she really so stupid that she would tape over her birthdate, and completely disregard the fact that when you use your ID at a store most of them scan it now. I suspect it’s both, sadly though, she probably thinks she is entitled and that rules are not for her. I encounter this on an almost daily basis. Nothing is ever that person’s fault, the world is against them, and everyone is out to get them. No, dear, you just make some stupid choices.

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It’s time to stop being a bully to vegetarians.

Posted on September 18, 2014 by kellyd1979

Hi, I’m Kelly, I’m 35 years old. I’m an atheist, a Pisces, and an introvert. I’m also a vegetarian: notice that I mentioned it last? It’s not something I broadcast anymore, I’ve been met with too many dumb questions and many strange looks; now days I only bring it up if food is discussed.

It’s a very important part of who I am, yet it has become the part of me I talk about least. I am more willing to tell a person that I am an atheist than a vegetarian; the reason I do this is because for years I have dealt with harassment about what I choose to eat or not eat. I don’t think I will solve this problem by writing about it, but I have some theories about it and really want to know; why are some people such assholes about what I put into my body?

When my vegetarianism comes up, one of two things are asked:

  1. “But where do you get your protein from?” or
  2. “What’s wrong with you? Why don’t you eat/like meat?”

Let’s talk about protein. Protein is made from chains of amino acids; amino acids come in two varieties, essential and nonessential. Our bodies can make the nonessential ones, hence the super awesome and obvious name. The essential ones must be met with our diet. Protein is one of three macronutrients that humans need to function properly; fats and carbohydrates are the other two (I have a college degree in this stuff btw). Meat tends to be very high in protein, so people assume that if you don’t eat meat you will not get enough protein.

Research has shown that most Americans far exceed their dietary requirements for protein. Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s website states that an adult needs about 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day. If I weigh 140lbs I need about 50 grams of protein day. I’ve tracked my food on My Fitness Pal, I usually get about 100 grams a day. So trust me, I’ll be just fine. Protein can be found in place you can’t even imagine, like bananas and potatoes.

Are you going to ask this guy if he’s getting enough protein? He’s a vegetarian too.

hippo

The other response of course is that there must be something wrong with me. I find it entertaining that when I tell people I’m an atheist, not a single person has asked me why I don’t believe in god, yet if I don’t eat meat I get such hostile response. I am always tempted to ask, “You eat meat? What’s wrong with you?” If I do that though, I will be one of those crazy 10th Level Vegan Animal Rights Fanatics, so I just smile. It is difficult to maintain composure though, when something you stand for is being attacked, I try to keep it simple, I tell them I don’t think an animal should die for me to eat. Perhaps I should just tell people I’m allergic, the conversation would end with less slippery slope scenarios.

Ok, so we’ve covered the basics, what I am interested in is why people react so strongly to vegetarianism.

They find it threatening? I guess

I don’t know why people might find vegetarianism threatening, but I often feel that people recoil at the thought of not eating meat. Perhaps this is my own experience, but I genuinely get the sense that they are threatened by it. It’s possible that they really don’t know where their food comes from. Meat is so far removed from its original source when you see it in the store; it is very easy for the average consumer to never have to think about the fact that they are eating something that used to be alive. I know people that won’t eat meat if there are bones in it. I don’t understand it, but again it’s your life. I’ll respect your eating habits if you respect mine.

Once I explain my reason for being a vegetarian, the topic then becomes “I can’t imagine not eating meat.” Ok, cool, I never asked you to.

It’s unnatural, un-American, socialist, communist, elitist, add your own –ist.

We sure love to stick labels on things, and apparently not eating meat makes you vulnerable for whatever label the person you are speaking to detest the most. I mean, if I were consuming a diet of glass and rubber, I could see how that may be unnatural, but I’m eating food! Vegetarianism is about compassion, if you absolutely have to stick some labels on me, or it, let’s try this one: environmentalist. The meat industry, aka factory farming, uses massive amounts of water and grain; it is also one of the greatest polluters of our environment. (Check out David Kirby’s book Animal Factory if you want some stories about people trying to live near these “farms.”)

People think I want them to join my cult.

Secret’s out, vegetarianism is a giant cult. We worship a guy in a tofu suit. Pleassseeee. I don’t even attempt to education people about modern farm practices unless they ask about it. I’m not here to turn you to the dark side. I’m not going to preach about vegetarianism. If people are curious though, and I really think they can do it, I’ll provide all the support they could need. Seems most people just want to ask annoying questions to try to tear down my reasons for not eating meat. I’ll eat my tofu, you can choke down some more Twinkies, we don’t need to argue.

tofu

Being a vegetarian makes you a pussy!

It’s true, once you stop eating meat your balls fall off. This is probably one of my biggest pet peeves in regards to vegetarianism. I can handle people who think god put animals here for us to eat, I can handle people who like the taste of meat, but this drives me up the wall. Why must we associate meat with being tough, or macho? Should I blame Ron Swanson??

ronswanson

There are plenty of vegetarian athletes, most of whom have improved performance since switching their diets to meat-free. I can’t understand how having compassion for animals makes someone less of man. Isn’t compassion something we should all strive for?

It really is time to stop being an asshole to vegetarians.

I’ve had people pick on me, laugh at me, taunt me with meat, and serve me meat on purpose. Harassing someone because of their beliefs is bullying. Muslims don’t eat pork; if you verbally assaulted them, threw bacon at them, etc would that be a hate crime?? I think you could make a case for it.

The next time I am harassed, I’m going to ask the person why they feel the need to act in that manner. Perhaps my bluntness will catch them off guard (I really need to watch my mouth sometimes), and just maybe I will get an honest answer. Maybe they will realize that we aren’t that different, and possibly they will realize that what I eat is none of their business. I can hope, right??

If you are interested in learning more about a vegetarian/plant strong diet check out the following resources:

The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

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Baby Squirrels?

Posted on June 14, 2012 by kellyd1979

Has anyone seen a baby squirrel? I’ve never seen one. I don’t think they actually exist. If no one had even seen a baby squirrel that must mean they don’t exist. There has to be some explanation of this, squirrels are either aliens, zombies, or vampires.

Squirrels could easily be some form of alien intelligence. If aliens were spying on us, they would want to blend into society. Human traditions would be difficult for them to understand, being an animal would be far easier. Squirrels are natural spies; they handout in trees all day, perfect for surveillance of this planet.

More likely, thanks to my endless hours of roadkill research, is that squirrels are zombies. Zombies don’t reproduce through sex, which makes sense; I’ve never seen squirrels have sex either (get on it NatGeo!). Zombie squirrels would simply reanimate at night after they’ve been squished into submission by car tires. Have you even seen a dead squirrel on the road for more than 24 hours? No. Because they come back to life. Squirrel populations are not shrinking, despite urban sprawl and the prevalence of automobiles; clearly the dead squirrels are coming back to life. Zombie squirrels will eventually find that they can spread their condition to humans; this will lead to their ultimate downfall, once the human population either dies off or becomes zombified themselves, no one will be around to feed the squirrels.

The final possibility is that squirrels are in fact vampires. Perhaps further back on the evolutionary chain, bat and squirrels derived from a similar ancestor. Nuts would provide a good protein substitute due to the lack of blood in their current diet. Squirrels are often only seen early in the morning or a dusk, perhaps bright sun light cause them to burn.  Since humans aren’t such great tree climbers, it would be entirely possible that squirrels sleep in tiny coffins up in our local trees.

Aliens, Zombies, or Vampires; all completely logical explanations for the fact that no one has even seen a baby squirrel.

What do you think? Theories?

 

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Where Ronald McDonald went??

Posted on March 3, 2011 by kellyd1979

Yahoo Business Story

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Why Floridians Don’t go to Professional Sports Events

Posted on December 8, 2010 by kellyd1979

Disclaimer: I have lived in Florida since August of 1997 when I moved here to attend college. My family and I moved here from Washington State, which is about as far away from Florida as you can get inside the continuous United States, as well as politically, socio-economically and weather wise. I lived in Tallahassee for a little over 6 years, and have now live in the Tampa Bay area for 7 years.

I always thought that when I write my memoir I would have a whole section dedicated to the Oddities of Florida, but now that I think about it, it would need to be a book onto itself. Florida is unlike any place I have ever lived or even visited. So, I have decided to write a series of blogs about my state; I will start today but discussing why people in Florida attend so few profession sports events.

To begin I’d like to give you some background on this peculiar state. Florida is 22nd in total area and with 18.5 million (legal) residents it ranks 4th in population. Florida was admitted to the Union in March of 1885. Florida contains the oldest city in the United States: St. Augustine was founded by the Spanish in 1565. Florida also contains the Southern Most point in the United States in Key West. Florida has the longest continuous coast line in the continental US, with 1350 miles of beaches. (Wikipedia)

Florida is known for many of its imports and exports. Well known imports include: Snowbirders, crazy people, professional athletes, the elderly, hurricanes, and Cubans. Exports include: Sunshine, orange juice, Jimmy Buffet, tomatoes, crazy people, world’s dumbest criminal videos, corrupt or perverted politicians, football players, and porn stars. (US Census 2010)

What I have always wondered, and what I am often asked by Non-Floridians (or Normal People as we like to call them) is why does no one in Florida go to professional sporting events? This question comes up regularly, usually when the Marlins win a World Series, or when the Buccaneers can’t show a home game all season due to region television black outs. I have come up with a few theories, and believe firmly that it is a combination of multiple factors that have led to this bad reputation we now have.

The State of Florida has 9 professional sports franchises: Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Miami Dolphins, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Florida Marlins, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Tampa Bay Rays.
The first thing that has a major affect on attendance at our professional sports events is the weather. Accept for baseball, most major sports seasons are during the Fall, Winter and Spring. In the state of Florida, the only time we can do things outside is… Fall, Winter and Spring. In Minnesota in December, football is the only thing you can do, besides ice fishing and bowling. In Florida in December you can go to the beach (seriously), Disney, Universal, Busch Gardens, kayaking, boating, golfing…….. and the list goes on. The last thing anyone really wants to do is go watch hockey or basketball, why? Because you can go play basketball! Or at least sit and drink beer at the beach while watching chicks play volleyball.

Another major reason people in Florida don’t attend professional sports events is because of our transient population. I probably know 300 people in Florida, and about 10 of them were actually born and raised here. People move here from all over the country, but most from the Northeast. These people who move from the Northeast already have teams they have grown up with. For example, our local Beef O’Bradys has a club for Pittsburgh Steelers Fans who watch all the games together. I guarantee there is not a Tampa Bay Bucs fan club that goes to a bar in Pittsburgh to watch their team play. When the Tampa Bay Rays play the Yankees or the Red Sox, there are more Yanks and Sox fans than Rays fans at the games, I am not lying. I can’t imagine that happening at any other place in the country. Most people don’t switch team allegiances, I wouldn’t expect a Green Bay Packers Fan to move to Florida and suddenly become a Miami Dolphin’s fan. People who do just support local teams are called “Homers.” It’s not a compliment. To be a sports fan is to live in the glory and suffer in the worst of defeats, it’s what makes a fandom a family. Ask a Cubs fan, one of the longest suffering fandom’s in the country; if a Chicago Cubs fan moved to Tampa, what would Cubs Nation do if that fan decided he/she didn’t want to be a Cubs fan anymore? Maybe they wanted to just quit and be a Tampa Bay Rays fan. Yeah right! Cubs Nation would disown them. As our population in Florida becomes less transient (good luck with that), and our sports teams more established; attendance will eventually increase.
Speaking of being established, the sporting events that draw the largest crowds (outside of NASCAR) in the State of Florida are college football teams. In the Fall, 140,000 people attend games in Tallahassee and Gainesville combined on any given Saturday. Why? History.

The first collegiate football game was played in Tallahassee in 1902; The University of Florida had its first team in 1906. The two teams first played each other in 1958. There aren’t a lot of things in the State of Florida that date back to the early 1900s, or even the 1950s for that matter. The Miami Dolphins were created in 1966, the Marlins in 1993, the Rays in 1998, the Heat in 1988, the Magic in 1989, the Jaguars in 1995, the Bucs in 1976, the Panthers in 1993, and the Lightning in 1992. Every single team was an expansion team. All but two of these teams, the Dolphins and Bucs (just barely), were formed after I was born. How much history can a sports team have if it’s only been around 17 years? The answer is slim to none.

Sports fans like history; they like facts and records, retired numbers and legends, black and white photos and grudge matches. Sports is history. Florida pro sports don’t have enough history, therefore fans don’t care as much. Yes, there are fanatical supports, but when the Bucs lose the all of Tampa Bay does not get depressed. Large chunks of the population can’t even tell you if the Rays won the night before. Tampa, as I am sure other city in this state, does not hang on the wins and losses of its teams, it’s a past-time not life. I’ve cried after Florida State football losses, never for the Rays.

Ask a someone in Tallahassee or Gainesville who won the Florida-Florida State game this year, they will tell you even if they weren’t there or watching on TV. Ask a Nole which is the most important game of the year; they will tell you it’s the Miami game and the Gator game. Ask a Buc’s fan the same question; I doubt they can come up with an answer. As the history of these Florida teams grows, and if the owners have patients; attendance will increase.

Another serious issue with attendance at the pro sports in the State of Florida is the location of the venues. For example, the “Tampa Bay Rays” as they are called, actually play in St. Petersburg, FL. It takes me over an hour to drive to the Trop, and then I have to park and walk to get in. People in Florida don’t really live in the actual cities (we all live in strip malls), Tampa proper has a population of about 350k, and the metropolitan area has a population of 4 million. No one wants to drive 2 hours to go to a baseball game. I can drive 3.5 hours up to Tallahassee and go to a football game though, because there are only 6 home games a year. Most of the stadiums are located outside of the cities, due to development issues and how new they are. Boston grew around Fenway, our stadiums were built on abandoned lots; we also have poor to no public transportation to games (or for commuting purposes because we are stupid). Perhaps if we finally get on that bandwagon, it would increase attendance. There are some stadiums and arenas “downtown,” in Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville and Tampa; but no one wants to go “downtown” at 6pm because traffic is terrible! Plus you have to find a place to park, not to mention how scary downtown can be; we just can’t do anything right in this state with it comes to urban and suburban planning. It’s attack of the suburban sprawl. When does suburban Tampa become suburban Orlando? At the county line?

Finally, dealing specifically with baseball; the state of Florida hosts 16 MLB teams for spring training every year. This was what people in Florida had for baseball for decades. Spring training actually meant something to people here, now it’s just a beginning to a forever-long baseball season. Baseball used to be limited and special; so they thought let’s give these people two teams. So now it only goes away for 3 months, then it’s back; it no longer feels special. This is why people don’t go to baseball games. It’s too much. I like ice cream, but if I eat it every day it isn’t the same.

So is attendance at professional sports events in Florida a problem? Yes, but it’s not a disgrace. There are a multitude of problems that have created it, but it can improve; the real question is whether the owners will be patient.

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Hurricane Katrina

Posted on September 29, 2010 by kellyd1979

I have been very busy of late, and due to that fact, most of my computer time has been used to make lesson plans and tests. So I brought my computer to work and gave my students some assignments so I could finally get a few of these topics off of my chest.
We as a country past the 5th year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina a few weeks ago, I can’t believe it’s actually been 5 years. It seems like a more resent event, not too fresh but not that long ago. Like most people in Florida I knew someone in New Orleans at the time. She is a friend of mine that I worked with when I moved to Tampa. She and her mother owned a house in New Orleans. When she saw the storm was headed that way, she drove up there to ride it out with her mother, who was living there alone. I told her not to do this. I was a survivor of a hurricane myself; if a hurricane comes people, LEAVE. As an adult though, there is only so much you can do to convince another adult not to do something. “Because I said so,” does not work.
My friend rode the storm out, as millions watched on television as the city of New Orleans was exposed to the harshest of all elements: water and wind. As a lover of history, I tend to envelop myself in the events that happen that are obviously going to become historical events. For example, when we launched the second Gulf War I stayed up all night watching it on television for a week straight. I wanted to remember everything about it. What was happening, what was going wrong, what it looked like, etc. (As a side note, I was absolutely against the war before it was cool to be against GWB.) So I began my 72 hours straight of Katrina coverage, hunkered down with chips and dip. I was hoping I wouldn’t have some sort of recurrent PTSD.
What I saw in the next few days amazed me, in a bad way. Never in my life, in a post 9-11 USA, would I expect my country to turn into a third world nation so quickly. I was in tears. I wondered like many, if the general population of the city hit by this terrible storm had been white, would the reaction of the government been any different? I saw dead bodies on TV. What!!!! We can show that stuff? I know we have from wars, but not this type of disaster. I saw news anchors and weather men reporting, but unable to really help. I got to hear the stories from inside of the Superdome. I saw Sean Penn (Academy Award Winner) rescuing people from roof tops with a boat. WTF was going on. I was sure I was losing my mind. It was like a crazy movie, but worse; this was really happening.
I was able to get a hold of my friend after 5 days. She had been evacuated to Alabama. She was fine and everyone who ended up riding the storm out with her in their townhouse was ok. When she returned, she had amazing stories to tell. The flooding, the looting, and the people she encountered. Over the next year, I got to hear all about her and her mother’s interaction with the government and insurance companies to deal with the damages. They ended up cutting their losses and never returned to the city except to pick up a few personal items that were not destroyed or stolen. Her mother still lives here in Tampa and has no desire to ever go back to New Orleans.
So what have we learned in these 5 years? Was Kanye West right, “George W Bush doesn’t care about black people?” I don’t know. That’s a whole other can of worms, but I think more importantly, the government didn’t care about the poor people. I think that was and is the real problem. If Katrina had hit New York City, the response would have been complete different. I learned a lot about my government in the weeks following Katrina, and what I did learn was scary, we are all on our own. I’m stock piling guns and ammo now for the coming zombie invasion.
I will finish with a clip from Lewis Black about Hurricane Katrina, because he sums it up best.

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Baseball is the Imperfect Game

Posted on June 7, 2010 by kellyd1979

So last week, MLB umpire Jim Joyce “blew” a call at the end of Armando (not Andres) Galarraga’s nearly perfect game. Many people think that Bud Selig should over turn Joyce’s safe call which allowed the only base runner of the night in the game. I actually disagree with this, Joyce made the call as he saw it. That is what he is paid for.

“But it was a perfect game?” I can hear you all say. Yes, it nearly was a perfect game, which for some reason is occurring once a month this season. I do ask you this, what if that play had been the first play of the game? I doubt anyone would make a very big deal about it. Umpires miss calls all of the time, just like officials in every pro sport, they are human and as long as there is a human element of subjectivity to the game, there will be errors. Hell, in baseball they call errors on players all of the time!

So why not reverse the call? Well, if you reverse that call, then where does it stop? Do we reverse the call from when the Colorado Rockies made it into the playoffs a few years ago, when Holliday didn’t touch home plate, because you can see he didn’t. Due to the nature of baseball, you can’t change just play one play; baseball is too subjective, there are too many elements to second guess.

Baseball is unlike all of the other major professional sports, and any baseball fan can tell yo this. There is so much that an official has to judge: foul or fair, ball or strike, safe or out. This is why there are so many officials at a game.

But what about instant replay? I think it could be used, much like in professional football when coaches are allowed a challenge per half. I think it could work, but there would have to be rules, for example you can’t use it for questioning balls and strike. Based on some of the reactions from what happened in this game, I wouldn’t be surprised if instant replay became a more pressing issue with baseball, if they can replay it for the fans, why can’t the replay it for the umpires?

I thought that both men involved in the play acted admirably, which is something that baseball needs right now. I am sure Bud Selig is happy that people are talking about baseball, with out steroids being mentioned in the same sentence.

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Mushroom Ravioli

Posted on June 3, 2010 by kellyd1979

Testing out the blog thing. Thanks to Oldies Mike for the inspiration. I’ve having mushroom ravioli for dinner. It’s probably one of my favorite meals. I would definitely consider it for a “Final Meal” if I was on Death Row.

Just a random post for now, trying to figure this thing out.

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Hello world!

Posted on June 3, 2010 by kellyd1979

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

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