The playoffs are full of ups & downs.

Rangers Win Yo! :-)

Knicks Lose Yo! :-(

Do It Once!

I know I'm very late to the game on this one, as they apparently stole the show at this year's Academy Awards, but I was already up in bed and missed their Oscar winning live performance of "Falling Slowly".

I was gonna write my own take about this little indie movie and esp. the soundtrack from it but I can't do any better than this RS review.

Get the DVD & download the soundtrack ASAP or you are a loser!

I haven't been this excited about new music in quite awhile.

Plus it doesn't hurt that it was filmed in and around Dublin.

Up the Hipsters!

Sometimes You Get Lucky

Sarah Dann heading up the East River
Originally uploaded by bluemagoo

It was a nice day for a mow so I took the camera with me on my lunchtime walk and I was just in time to catch, from the Fulton Ferry landing, the Sarah Dann tugboat cruising north on the East River. It was one of those top ten weather days and the rest of today's photos can be found on my Flickr site if you click the tug shot.

Why Aren't These the Big Election Year Issues?

See latest stories on Yahoo! News

Reading this article and watching the two videos mentioned in it got me to thinking about what issues should really be important to the various presidential candidates still running. Things like why are we letting China get away with eating our lunch and the three trillion ($3,000,000,000,000) dollar elephant in the room.

The China issue reminded me of a fairly recent PBS documentary on Wal-Mart:

To understand the secret of Wal-Mart's success, Smith travels from the company's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., to their global procurement center in Shenzhen, China, where several hundred employees work to keep the company's import pipeline running smoothly. Of Wal-Mart's 6,000 global suppliers, experts estimate that as many as 80 percent are based in China.

"Wal-Mart has a very close relationship with China," says Duke University Professor Gary Gereffi. "China is the largest exporter to the U.S. economy in virtually all consumer goods categories. Wal-Mart is the leading retailer in the U.S. economy in virtually all consumer goods categories. Wal-Mart and China are a joint venture."

Another kinda important issue they should be talking about is how are we going to fund Social Security & Medicare as per this recent Newsweek column:

Sen. John McCain, the Republican front runner, and Democratic rivals Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are alike in not addressing the central budget issue: baby boomers' retirement costs. Already, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (the main programs serving the elderly) are 44 percent of federal spending. In 2007, these programs cost $1.2 trillion, more than double all defense spending. (My emphasis added)

I don't understand why all the political talking heads on CNN, MSNBC, FOX, et al, never seem to bring these issues up. They all just go on and on about super delegates and Hillary's comparison to a frakin' Rocky movie, Obama's response to Hillary's Rocky movie comparison, stories about what a nice old lady McCain's Mom is etc., etc., ad infinitum.

If our government officials don't get focused about these issues and others, such as the growing possibility of many economically delayed boomer retirements, they may have to deal with those same boomers taking it to the streets again with a lot more life experience minus most of the booze, beer & drugs. (Please note the lack of a smiley here!)

Giuseppe Franco Doesn't Know Anything About Anything!

Right from his website:

THE FIRST HAIRDRESSER OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

For more than two decades only one man’s scissors have touched the hair of the most powerful man in the state of California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and those scissors belong to Giuseppe Franco. Giuseppe has accompanied Gov. Schwarzenegger to Japan for a “Batman” promotional tour. As a trusted friend of the Governor, the two men have been together every step of the way from movie sets to he Sacramento State House, to his home and at all media appearances.

The Giuseppe Franco Salon caters to celebrities and people who want to be treated like celebrities. The following is a list of some of his most well known clients:

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
ASHTON KUTCHER
ADRIEN BRODY
CAST MEMBERS FROM “LORD OF THE RINGS”
SHARON STONE
SEAN PENN
MICKEY ROURKE
SYLVESTER STALLONE
THE CAST OF “THE SOPRANOS”
MICHAEL DOUGLAS
ANDREW DICE CLAY
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
DREW BARRYMORE
REO SPEEDWAGON
MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV
RICHARD GRIECO
KRISTY McNICHOL
SALLY KIRKLAND
BRIAN BOSWORTH
THE ZAPPA FAMILY
RAY “BOOM BOOM” MANCINI
MELISSA MANCHESTER
BRIAN SETZER
BELINDA CARLISLE
COSTAS MANDYLOR
STEVE JONES (THE SEX PISTOLS)
ROBIN ZANDER (CHEAP TRICK)
VIVIAN CAMPBELL (WHITE SNAKE)
ELLEN BARKIN
CHRISTOPHER WALKEN
GARY BUSEY
JOE PESCI
FOREIGNER
KIRSTIE ALLEY
DANNY AIELLO
JON LOVITZ
MARLA MAPLES
MEMBERS OF THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS
CARRIE OTIS
LOU FERRIGNO
TONY CURTIS
THE CAST OF THE USUAL SUSPECTS
ROBERT DAVI
STEVEN BALDWIN
CHARLIE SHEEN
LOUIS MIGUEL
DON JOHNSON
ERIK ESTRADA
ROSEANNE
JACK SCALIA
BARBRA STREISAND
DAVID SCHWIMMER
JON BON JOVI
BENICIO DEL TORO
MENA SUVARI
JOHNNY DEPP
BRAD PITT

So if you want to get your head or hair treated by a guy who doesn't own or know anything than Giuseppe's your man.

E=mc2 + Why Some People See Ghosts

"There's something there," she says. "Einstein said that energy can't be destroyed, and I know that we're energy, so I think there may be something to it."

Well now that Patricia Arquette has explained why there may be something to all this psychic stuff we can all relax. There should be a law against people using a famous scientist's theories to hype their own TV shows.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01142008/tv/she_believes_104068.htm

Nessie Sighted in Brooklyn

I was taking my semi-regular Sunday morning power walk/jog in the Gerritsen Creek Salt Marsh when I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be the Loch Ness Monster just hanging out amongst the ruined pilings of the long gone tidal mill. I was cursing that I left my good camera at home so the best I could do was whip out my trusty cell phone and take the shot that I've posted here.

This is not a faked or doctored shot and I have no idea what "Nessie" was doing there.