A Pet Peeve

Every so often something just gets to the point that it raises my blood pressure. One particular ad on TV had been doing that for years.

Anyone who watches the cable Discovery channels or History International is well acquainted with the bald headed, gray bearded geezer who does his damnedest to use guilt to get donations to a Childrens Fund. But if you pay attention, the ads really don't ad up.

First, the group grabs 20% off the top from all donations.

Second - and this is the part that gets me - you are supposed to send money to help support one child. One child in what may be a village with thousands of children. By what the ad suggests, it's only your child who will get food, shelter, medical care, education, etc, etc. I guess all the rest are screwed.

Now, I'm not saying that there aren't millions of children across the world who are in desperate need - and the vast majority of them are in their condition because of their own governments where no donations are going to help because the governments will grab every bit of supplies entering their country.

But if that ad would be more honest and say that the money donated would go to help all the children in the villages instead of just the one, I might be persuaded to part with some cash.

More On That Concert

Boy Wonder did his own write-up on the concert we went to last Monday. I'm not going to sanitize it but let his own words speak for themselves:

Motley Crue/Aerosmith 10/23

Just got home from the show in Raleigh. Holy SHIT it was cold! I'm not talking bring a jacket cold, I'm talking the kind of ball shrivelling cold that took beer off the menu and replaced it with gallons of hot chocolate cold.

Apart from that the show was f-in incredible. Crue led off with Dr. Feelgood and brought in some old favorites like Home Sweet Home (the whole place was singing to that one), Don't Go Away Mad, Kickstart My Heart as well as a couple new ones off their latest and some old stuff from their first release. Ton's of pyros, flames, fireworks, the whole kit. First time I've ever seen an opening band play an hour and a half set.

Then the show really began, Aersomith came out and the whole place lit up. No pyros, fairly basic lights, just a kickass show that was loud enough to make the gods realize we're still here. If you like southern blues you'd have loved this show, they pulled some stuff from the Honkin On Bobo CD and ran with it. They did Dream On, Crazy, Eat The Rich and Walk This Way to name a few others as well. By the time they left it was close to freezing out before you figured in the wind blowing from the lawn straight to the stage. You'd never have known it though, people were up dancing and going nucking futs throughout the show.

I'm still trying to figure out how a guy the age of Steven Tyler, who has put more crap into his body than anyone bar Keith Richards can still move like a damn 18 year old on crack. The man is just insane.

Anyway, gonna go grab me a blanket and some more hot chocolate and get some sleep. Just wanted to get this out while the show was still fresh in my mind.

Going Into Recovery Mode

The last few days have been pretty good for me, so I knew it was time to do a stupid. I may have outdone myself.

Last night, Boy Wonder and one of his mates dragged this tired old carcass to a concert in Raleigh, NC - a good 2 hour drive each way. The bands were Motley Crue, who I can normally take or leave, but the headliners were Aerosmith, and both of them put on one hell of a show. I've been listening to Aerosmith for more years then I (or they) would care to admit and this was my first opportunity to see them live. Only problem - we were on the lawn, so every time I tried to sit I couldn't see crap because of everyone in front standing. Besides which, by the time the concert was over it was 35 degrees out - I froze my ass off.

Got home after 1am, didn't get to sleep until after 2, and got woken up by She Who Must Be Obeyed at 6 this morning when she started getting ready for work.

Ya know, for at least the last two decades I've known that I have to balance what I want to do against what I'm going to have to pay physically for it.

I'm glad I went, and enjoyed myself immensely, but I think today and tomorrow are going to be spent in bed eating pills and trying to nap. I've got a bad feeling that it's going to take a lot longer than two days to recover from this one - but I wouldn't have missed it for anything!

Where's The Outrage?

Yeah, I know - it's been almost a month since I've written, but I just haven't been able to work up the proper levels of apathy needed. Until now.

A 15 foot high fence, topped with barbed wire is currently being built over about 880 miles of border to stop refugees from sneaking into the country. Where is the ACLU on this? How about the Everybody Without Borders mobs? A.N.S.W.E.R.? Everyone has been hiding on this one.

Maybe it's because the fence is being built between China and North Korea? China has been overrun in recent years by people trying to escape Kim Jong Il's destruction of his country so he can pursue manufacturing nuclear weapons and trying to come up with missles to deliver them.

Meanwhile, the North Korean peasants will continue to be reduced to eating grass, leaves and each other - to the point of following funerals in order to grab the fresh meat.

Of course, if we should try to do anything similar in an attempt to protect our system of government and way of life, the demonstrators would be destroying cities all across the country.