Curb Your Enthusiasm – Funkhouser’s Joke
Wheel of Fortune – Pill Pushers
Family Feud – A Part of the Body That Grows As You Get Older
Arrested Development – Gob and His Expensive Suits
Family Guy – Red Bull
Here’s a post that will describe a few of what I consider the best of the best. What you’ll find in this post are my favorite books, movies, games, music and anything else I can think of to round out a full post. I may have to use a couple parts but I have high hopes for this type of post and the commentary it can potentially generate.
Favorite Movie – Schindler’s List
It made me cry. I thought about this topic for a while and no other movie I can think of made me cry like this one. Any movie that is able to deliver that kind of emotion has to be at the top of the list. Liam Neeson was phenomenal and even though it’s been years since I’ve watched it, that feeling at the end of the movie has never left me. I’ve seen many good movies too and it’s not only the crying factor, this was an all around wonderful movie. I think I may have shed a tear during 7 pounds as well for what it’s worth.
Honorable Mention – Shawshank Redemption, Platoon, Forrest Gump, Goodfellas
Favorite Board Game – Clue
It bothers me that more people don’t like Clue. People think it’s a complicated game and dismiss it. What they don’t realize is that they are missing out on a game that involves trickery, paying attention, and deducing from partial information. It’s a smart person’s game and if you don’t like it… Aside from the games when Bud, Bill, Chris, and myself used to play when we were little, I haven’t found a group of people who actually enjoy Clue. We are trying to get a Risk game together and I’m equally trying to find some Clue participants. Get a clue.
Honorable Mention – Stratego, Scattergories, Chess
Favorite Band – Led Zeppelin
This was pretty easy for me. I was listening to Rock and Roll the other day and every song I listened to after it was dwarfed in comparison. Led Zeppelin makes other music worse. The synergy created from all 4 members make this band legendary. I don’t think anyone has touched the benchmark set by them in 40 years. Here was a post I did a while back about my favorite Zeppelin songs. If I’m ready to rock out, I go with Zeppelin.
Honorable Mention – Beatles. Everyone else is on a different tier.
Favorite TV Show – The Wire
I thought about this for a little while and the answer is the Wire because it ended at the right time. Aside from docks season which was a little whack, every single episode and season delivered. I started drinking Jameson as my drink of choice after mimicking McNulty. Breaking Bad was a close second but I think Bud summed it up perfectly that season 4 didn’t leave a lot unanswered. The 1st half of the 5th season, although good, didn’t need to be. I’ll obviously watch the 2nd half but I think it should have stopped. Knowing when to end a show is important. Bad things happened with Sopranos, Dexter, True Blood… I think Game of Thrones has mighty potential though. I think I watched the Wire in a few weeks time playing episode after episode until my eyes closed. There hasn’t been a better TV show created. I do think it’s a bit unfair though to compare this with a 22 minute episode on a national network.
Honorable Mention – GoT, Breaking Bad, Seinfeld
Favorite Book – Atlas Shrugged Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
This is a weird pick because I skimmed through 75 pages of John Galt’s speech (I’m sure this could be people’s favorite part) which was entirely overwhelming and the ending action scene seemed incredibly dumb, but for 3 months of reading this book I would be engrossed in the life of Dagney, Reardon, John Galt, and Francisco. I even took notes during this book and I was reading it for fun! The story shed light on different political and life views of characters which was mind opening. I probably missed many relevant parts of this story and forget them to this date but if I ever get the chance, I wouldn’t hesitate to re-read this book. This also made me read the Fountainhead which was also incredibly good.
Honorable Mention – Napoleon Hill The Law of Success & Stephen Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
There were quite a few blog worthy topics for me this weekend. The US open was near Philly, I played a round of golf on Saturday, a Fresh Foods experience, and even a rousing game of horse all come to mind. I’ll use bullets instead of paragraph form because I don’t have anything to intertwine all of these random happenings.
Pink Floyd’s iconic prism
In my mind it’s almost impossible for me to understand that some people may not know Pink Floyd even exists. To create an analogous situation, a baby boomer would be be scratching their head how someone of my generation would never have heard of the Rat Pack. It makes me understand how when you age, you are constantly being replaced by a younger generation. The great thing is that you don’t even know it’s happening, it just does. I say it’s great because it defines a meaningful concept of change. The only thing constant is change.
What makes this post worthwhile is that Pink Floyd isn’t just another band. Once again I’m going to be an old person again exclaiming how things were so much better back then (I wasn’t even alive while Pink Floyd was at their height for what it’s worth), but it’s the truth. Missing out on Pink Floyd is like never hearing of the Yankees. The lyrics, the guitar, the messages, and the performance all came together to create one of the best bands ever. As time (a Floyd song about how time can slip by, but many people do not realize it until it is too late) passes, greatness is forgotten by the younger generation. Times change, interests change, bands are forgotten and new ones emerge. All natural aspects of life that you get to witness as you go through life. One of the advantages of getting older.
I think it’s tough for an older generation to see young people and know that they are not going to go through life the same way. As an elder you want to take the young’n and put Pink Floyd on your record player and be like, “Listen Sonny, this band blows the doors off of Justin Bieber.” Problem is that you can’t force this type of thinking on young minds because it debilitates thought. They have to want to listen to Pink Floyd and as time passes, Pink continues to get pushed further and further into history. It’s a scary thought comparing Pink Floyd to One Direction. Nevertheless, that is the case and embracing this is important. Nobody like a crotchety old fart.
Check out Capital Cities cover of Breathe which I have to assume is the Pink Floyd cover mentioned in the song that inspired this post.
Philly Boob Girl expressing that girl’s should be able to go topless.
I should have a picture of my actual encounter with boob girl but this story will have to do to help me explain. As I was driving down 3rd I turned my head to the right and saw a girl with exposed breasts right outside Starbucks. She had pasties on her boobs and they weren’t exactly 10 out of 10’s so it wasn’t a pretty sight. I sort of did a double take and wondered if there was some parade going on but there wasn’t. She then looked directly at me and I had no idea what an appropriate reaction was. It didn’t seem right to me to stare and I got the feeling that she’d flip me off if I kept looking at her shirtless. Thankfully the light turned green and I sped off without a second thought. A day later I told Jeff about it and he informed me boob girl was protesting something or another and yadda yadda no one cares.
Why is it ok for guys to go shirtless and girls are not allowed? The same reason that as a society we hide body parts that can come in different sizes. We hide dongs so people don’t get embarrassed by size which makes perfect sense to me. Everyone knows girls make fun of penis sizes because they can. You’d think this would apply to boobs as well. If a girl is walking around with perfect 10’s, I’m sure society would marvel at her and tell her to keep on keeping on. She keeps her top on to protect the 95% of the rest of world from humiliation. I know the argument would be that only the people who want to can, but this still unleashes unwanted tits to the public’s view because ugly boobs can still want to come out to dance. Just because guys can take there shirt off doesn’t mean they do. Do you see 400lb bro’s flaunting their tits in public?
Philly boob girl has a screw loose. Breasts are magical and by exposing them all the time their allure diminishes. I don’t take my dick out because I want to feel comfortable. If everyone started whipping their dicks out you’d have an increased number of rapes, bizarre hard on sightings, people getting hit by accident, and STD’s would be much more prevalent. We cover our goods because it’s a smarter way of doing. Boobs are covered and it has hardly been a hindrance for hundreds of years, don’t protest something that isn’t a problem. There are places for her called nudist colonies where she’s more than welcome. Don’t damage our society with unwanted breasts.
… when indecision and stupidity cross paths. Today I nearly killed a homeless man when he decided that crossing the street on his red light was a good idea. I’m ready to drive through the intersection on my green light when this wild man decides that he is going to make a mad dash for the other side. I see what he’s up to and begin braking to allow him to cross when all of a sudden he decides to let me pass through by waving his hand. This is a two lane area and he’s standing in the one lane so I’m violently waving my hand for him to get on the other side. He finally decides to cross but not after I’d made moves forward on 3 separate occasions while he’s trying to figure out what to do. So a quick analysis can break down what happened and why it happened.
Not following the rules of the road. Red means stop, green means go. This applies to walkers as well. The rules are created for safety and for everyone to have a standard to abide by.
Indecisiveness. If he started walking and kept walking, it would have made the problem go away as quick as possible. By hesitating he creates confusion in both himself and now everyone else around him.
Drugs are bad MMMMKay. Hard to say if this maniac was on drugs but usually drugs & alcohol lead to bad decisions. Trust me, I know.
This one quality is what sets apart the weak from the strong, the poor from the rich, and the masses from the stars who shine. It’s continuing to do something when you don’t want to do it anymore. It’s constantly working towards a goal until that goal is achieved. It’s not quitting when you know there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It’s a never say die attitude and the understanding that Rome wasn’t built in a day and hard work is what pays off in the end. I’m sure everyone is familiar with the Thomas Jefferson quote, “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” People who believe in God attribute luck to God. I personally feel this attitude is for the moronic. Things get accomplished by an unwavering tunnel vision towards completing something. Luck is hard work paying you back.
I didn’t have any real motivation to write this post aside from Sam’s comment on one of my posts that read “That’s my #1 answer when people say “why do you have a blog” (in a very condescending tone).” The people who ask that question have no determination and are the spineless jellyfish of the world. They see no value in keeping a blog and will scoff at others for no other reason other than to put you down. I’ve seen many personal blogs come and go and I can’t think of many people who would maintain a blog for 4+ years and not receive a single cent for their contribution. It’s not about the money for me. It’s putting my ideas onto a platform that will be around in my life for the rest of my life. I’ll purchase rnningfool.com for the next 200 years so my thoughts will never be lost. Money means nothing when compared to time and what you do with that time. The smartest people are the ones who realize that time > money. When you spend your time achieving your goals, you can’t go wrong. One of this blog’s goals is to gain an audience and hopefully a place where people can come together and kick around ideas. I know participation is minimal (there were 5 posts in a row with a comment!) but I’ll keep plugging away until it happens.
The Limousines – Hush
There have been quite a few new releases of highly anticipated albums lately such as 30 Seconds to Mars, Vampire Weekend, The National, Daft Punk, Portugal The Man, and Capital Cities but I’ve found the Limousines album Hush the one I’ve been listening to the most. I imagine most people probably have never even heard of the Limousines but their last album produced hits like “Internet Killed the Video Star” and “Very Busy People“. Without getting into too much background info, their record label didn’t treat them fairly and they looked towards Kickstarter to help them raise money for this album. Initially planning to raise $30,000, fans donated $76,000 before the 30 day close. This huge success for the Limousines leaves them contract- and label-free for their Hush Album.
I went back and listened to their first album (which I never had all the way through) and Hush is much more refined. The songs contain more meaning lyrically and have the ability to draw you in. The album kicks off with 3 songs that won’t get the attention that they deserve. AltNation has already started playing Love is a Dog From Hell but Stranger is the best song on the album. The line “I want to love you in real life” sticks. The next track that I look forward to is Wrecking Ball. It’s an upbeat song that gets you grooving. Every song has lives off it’s own merit though and that is something you don’t find often. The last album that I would listen to every single song all the way through and not get annoyed with certain ones was A Silent Film Sand & Snow , which I also believe was underrated. The album Hush is still relatively unknown when I see the views on Spotify on Youtube but I wouldn’t be surprised if this album starts getting some more attention once people get the chance to hear it more often. Give these songs below a listen and see if this band is for you.
Limousines – The Stranger
Limousines – Wrecking Ball
Every second that passes in your life, you gain experience. Experience helps you make better decisions and improve. To use the Office Space mantra, you should be the smartest in your entire life at every passing moment. Now obviously drugs, alcohol, and other life events can certainly affect this mentality but I think the premise holds true. With more participation in life, you form a greater understanding of all aspects. This is what it takes to stop your body from withering away into a boy body when it should be a fully grown man body!
I reviewed some posts that I wrote up back in 2007 and 2008 and it’s funny how I look at what I was writing back then and how my perspective on life has both changed a ton and not at all depending on the idea. Here is an excerpt:
TC & CK4 & James – Circa 2006
Sportin that plain white T and you know CK4 still has that sweatshirt
When I think about my life, it occurs to me how small and insignificant my life really is. In the grand scheme of things, considering the size of the universe and the illusion of time, my life is meaningless.
80 years life expectancy is just a short run in a universe that’s been around for billions and billions of years.
Meaning, people’s “major” problems are usually not as bad as they seem.
Long Term Goals
Be happy.
Be a better person – mentally and physically
Enjoy freedom
Don’t injure yourself.
Help others?
How to obtain long term goals
Develop good friendships/relationships
Make money so living is easier
Why do people do things?
Improve themselves / society
Challenge and competition
Proving to be the best
The motivation of money
What should I be doing?
?????? – Something I enjoy
What should I not be doing?
Wasting my life as it passes me by
So the goal of a person’s life is what?
This was almost 6 years ago and my ideals haven’t changed much. I think I’ve improved on the action of what it takes to make these thoughts happen in the past 6 years but I’m essentially the same person except 6 years have passed. It’s almost scary how little my mind’s big picture ideas have changed. Where I’ve found personal growth is in my manner of dealing with people. It’s probably the main part of my life which I’ve been working on in the past year especially. I look back at the person writing this 6 years ago and believe I was mostly helpless compared to what I am now. I write this because I still feel mostly helpless but am gaining tools every day to encounter this life to be successful. This is one of the best reasons to maintain a blog. Looking back on something you wrote many years ago only to realize how little and much has changed. I have much more to write on this topic but don’t want to bog this entry down. I’ll write more later.
All grown up with Mom.
An increasingly annoying trait of humanity is people at red traffic lights not driving when the light turns green. The reason being that they are playing with their phones instead of concentrating on driving. I’m not certain but I have to imagine that texting is the #1 cause of traffic accidents. The other day we were actually discussing how there aren’t MORE accidents than there already are. It does seem amazing how you put all these stupid people (most people are stupid) behind the wheel in the blink of an eye and send them on their way. Driving has to be the most dangerous thing you do that you completely take for granted.
Most people have the capability of using their phone as a GPS. Where is the line drawn at what’s acceptable to do in the car? It’s ok to look at your GPS but not ok to text and drive? Is using your GPS in the car the same as texting? Can you restrict people from not using any electronic device in a vehicle? I believe it’s quite apparent that using electronic devices and driving is a major issue and only getting worse. I know because I’d be lying to say I haven’t participated in using my phone while driving and I know how distracted you can become while texting that you aren’t even looking at the road at certain points.
According to the National Highway Traffic Administration, car accidents happen every minute of the day. Motor vehicle accidents occur in any part of the world every 60 seconds. And if it’s all summed up in a yearly basis,there are 5.25 million driving accidents that take place per year. The National Safety Council announced that it estimates at least 28% of all traffic crashes – or at least 1.6 million crashes each year – involve drivers using cell phones and texting.
So what can you do to make the roads a safer place? First of all, make the penalties severe. 1st time offenders should be a 500 dollar fine and if you ever get caught again you should get your license suspended for a week. I tried looking up what the actual fines were and wasn’t able to come up with the info. I’m not sure if there is anything that you can do to prevent people looking at their phone while driving. It’s one of those things that will be with society for a long time until something is changed.
While typing that last sentence I thought of one thing that could help. Create a device that can verify that your phone is off while your driving and insurance company’s will give you a better rate. Or some type of reward system while driving with your phone off. Just a thought.
I laughed out loud.
