MP3�s � The disgusting hypocrisy of record executives

Okay…one more, because I really like the colors….

I’ve been meaning to post a few pictures from the Fabulous Mohonk Adventure Weekend but I never got around to it. So, without further ado…

This is a picture of the infamous hotel room. In all fairness, that view out the door was of the lake and it was very pretty.

Ali and I are not professional photographers. But when your subject is so beautiful, it really makes things easy…

See…here’s my problem with the news media. I was watching Buffy tonight, and there was a commercial for the 10 o’clock news. On it, they showed a quick clip of Michael Jackson holding a baby out over a balcony railing. The announcer said, “…and what is Michael Jackson doing holding this baby out over his 4th floor balcony? We’ll tell you…on the news at 10.” Basically, they wanted to make it sound like Michael Jackson had gone mad and starting throwing babies off of balconies. Well, it turns out that the baby was his son and he was showing him to the crowd outside his balcony. Now, I will agree that dangling a baby over a balcony railing on the 4th floor is probably not the smartest or safest thing to do, but, for god’s sake, the man wasn’t throwing babies off of the balcony! The annoying level of sensationalism present in the news media makes me wonder if what I learned in journalism class back in high school wasn’t all lies.

I wish I could say that this has gotten comical, but really it’s gotten very annoying and I’m rather angry. A few months ago, I wouldn’t have mentioned any names. Now I don’t care…

Last summer (June?), I worked the Princeton University Reunion Weekend for Stirling Audio Services. This was a weeks worth of work, and totaled up a fairly reasonable sum of money that was owed to me. Promptely after the job, I sent an invoice to Jimmy Ferrante, president and owner of SAS. A few months later, still not having a check, I did another job for Jimmy in East Orange. When I arrived at his shop, I asked for a check for the Princeton job. He promised me that it would be waiting for me when I returned. Of course, it was not. Many months later, I finally received a check from Jimmy for the entire amount due to me. I promptly deposited it, and it was promptly returned to me by the bank. I called Jimmy, was assured that this must have been a mistake, and that I should deposit the check again. So I did. And it bounced again. Jimmy promised me he would make good. Several weeks later, I made a trip to Highland Park and was given HALF of the money owed to me in cash. At least a month later, I called Jimmy asking where the rest of my money was. He told me that if I came up to see him, he would give me the rest of it. So, I travelled, once again, to Highland Park. Jimmy gave me two checks, each for half of what was left that he owed me. He told me I could deposit one immediately (last week) and that I would be able to deposit the second one this week.

Yesterday, I received a note from the bank telling me that the first check had bounced…

It’s too early.

I know that they don’t do it on purpose and that it’s not their faults, and that they’re nice people, but it seems that the Princeton Day School Parent’s Association can’t help but screw me over. Yesterday they were supposed to use the theater from noon until 3. So I sat there from 11:30 until 3 and they, for all intents and purposes, never used it (they used it briefly, but they didn’t use the equipment I had set up for them, and then they used it for about 15 minutes right around 3, but only for the volunteers who were still there). This morning, they were supposed to use it from 8 until 9:30. They told me, before I left, that they might cancel, and they’d e-mail me last night and let me know. At 11:00 pm, the last time I checked my e-mail, there was no message from them. This morning, at 7:20 am when I went to check my e-mail before leaving, there was a message from them from 11:20 pm last night saying that they cancelled this morning’s session. Too bad I already woke up…

On an unrelated note, it appears that JBL has created a car amplifier capable of delivering 10,000 watts peak power. WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU NEED AN AMP WITH 10,000 WATTS PEAK POWER IN YOUR CAR?!?!?!?! The people who get something like that are the same people who caused Jackass to be the number one movie in America the week it opened.

XBox Live rules my world.

This is a good start, but let me set the record straight on a few things:

A big teddy bear questions the little teddy bear Chocolate to see if he�s ready to belong to a child. �Do you mind being squeezed tightly?� the big bear asks. �No,� answers Chocolate. �What about being taken everywhere with a child?� �No.� �What would you do if your child left you out in the rain?� �I would wait for my child.�

Incorrect. The teddy bear would make you THINK that it was waiting, but really it would go somewhere and get some coffee, but from a vantage point where it could see if the child came back. Also, once the child did come back, the bear would deliver swift retribution for doing something so stupid.

But cute and cuddly doesn�t totally explain how teddy bears have endured a century as arguably the most popular toy ever. Many plush animals are cute and cuddly. Teddy bears aren�t just any stuffed animal.

See, now they’re starting to understand…

�The teddy bear has come to represent all that is good about humans with none of the bad,� he says. �This is very important for children, because all the other sources they turn to are mixed. They love their parents, but parents on occasion censure or discipline. Siblings can on occasion be mean, friends fickle, etc. The child creates in the bear only the positive, never threatening or judgmental. This kind of unique relationship carries over, perhaps unconsciously, to adulthood, and we turn to teddies often without knowing why.�

Isn’t it obvious? It’s their powers! They’re using mind control on us!

Twelve years ago, when Terrance Treschuk became chief of the Rockville Police Department, he instituted a policy that every patrol car carry a teddy bear in the trunk.

�It�s a soothing thing. It�s just a small part of what we all do to help quell or calm a situation, God bless it,� he says.

I think they might find that if they let the teddy bears ride up front, and perhaps gave them weapons, their jobs would be much easier and they’d catch a lot more criminals. For the record, teddy bears DO NOT like to ride in the trunks of cars.

Can so much fuss over teddy bears become unbearable? Tweed Roosevelt recounts an incident from a recent major toy fair where a women sailed by with several shopping bags full of teddy bears, followed by her husband, who was equally loaded down.

�As he was dragged by in her wake, he looked over at me and with a wink said, �I wish your great-grandfather had shot that bear.� �

And a lot of bears wish that that bear had mauled your great-grandfather…

Today is my brother’s 30th birthday. I haven’t talked to him in several years. I couldn’t even tell you exactly how long it’s been. In the past few years, on various holidays (Christmas, his birthday), I’ve tried sending him at least a card or something. I’ve put my offer out there for reconciliation for…whatever it is that is keeping us from talking to eachother (and I really don’t know what it is). I’ve never gotten any kind of response from him. I didn’t even try this year. I can’t keep doing that over and over again. When he’s ready, he’ll come to me, I guess.

No! Not Jonathan! NOT JONATHAN!!!