years
Best songs of the last TEN Years!
BEST SONGS OF THE LAST 10 YEARS THAT GOT (WELL DESERVED) ATTENTION FROM THE BIG LABELS
Katy Perry DARK HORSE
John Legend ALL OF ME
The Lumineers HO HEY
Zac Brown Band CHICKEN FRIED
Passenger LET HER GO
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis CAN’T HOLD US
The Script BREAKEVEN
John Mayer WAITING ON THE WORLD TO CHANGE
Gnarls Barkley CRAZY
Ed Sheeran THINKING OUT LOUD
Gym Class Heroes STERO HEARTS
Jason Mraz I’M YOURS
Solomon Burke DON’T GIVE UP ON ME
On the last hour of the last day of 2014
Wanted to say more about 2014, meant to post more, say more, do more, but life doesn’t wait. Not for any of us.
So 2014.
What to say about it, that others haven’t said or thought or done…
I guess in a world where everything has been said and done, what matters is how you say it, how you recount those places where you met the world, and what you took from those moments, were hopefully bettered by them.
2014 for many reasons was a good year. For some reasons was a frightening year. And for a good number of reasons was a great year.
2014 for me will always be about Marriage, Travel. Cruise. Bermuda. Bermuda that lonely, spectacular island, 700 miles from anything. Personal things, but it will also be about nightly news buzz words of Haiti and Afghanistan and Venezuela and Ebola and Ferguson that shadowed us all.
It will be about an upstart called SpaceX and the dream of space, VOD and Roku and Netflix and redefining how we consume television and films. And it will be about all of us, in this age of drones, and NSA surveillance, and the ever murkier boundaries of man and machine, holding ever more precious and necessary nostalgic ideas of humanity, and freedom, and caring.
I hope that all of you, however you round out 2014, and round in 2015, know that you are loved and precious, and you spread it on, you have the desire to close out 2014 and storm into 2015, loving and caring and hoping and helping and making others and yourself happy.
Because if we can do this, we win.
We win the only war that matters, the war to be more humane tomorrow than we were yesterday.
God, whatever God you believe in, keep and bless you all, and I’ll see you back here in 2015.
Judge gives promising basketball recruit, High-schooler Tony Farmer 3-year sentence
I don’t follow the news, I have a hard enough time following my own life.
But the story of the 6’7″ highschool star forward, who was all set to be snapped up for future Basketball fame, getting 3 years in prison, for an altercation with his ex-girlfriend last year, well that made it on my radar.
Helped by the fact that he made a quite understandable, if not quite smart, spectacle of himself when the verdict was read.
Depending where you get your news he either wailed like a little girl, fell out, or fainted. Possibly not the image you want to project before heading to the big house.
It sounds like I’m taking this lightly, I’m really not.
Underneath the idiotic circus the media always makes of the news is perhaps an intriguing story, a hard lesson learned, perhaps a bit of a miscarriage of justice (not even his ex-girlfriend thinks sending him to prison is a good idea, for what, from what I can find, amounts to a stupid, but relatively minor domestic dispute).
I mean in a country where you can shoot somebody in the face and not do a day in jail, (Dick Cheney, I’m looking at you!), three years for a minor domestic is a bit much.
And his lawyer not pleading down the charges and getting rid of that Kidnap charge is what really got Farmer the heavy time (Calling kidnap what really sounds like a blustering moronic jock, putting hands on his girl, which is not something to be condoned, but it is something most moronic jocks grow out of, and it is something that you start throwing excessive prison time at, you’d have half the people in the NFL and NBA, in prison before they ever had their careers. Calling Kidnapping what amounts to hormones, or stupid young love or lust, may be more than a bit much),
I think the application of the charge of kidnap in this case may have been more than a bit fluid and excessive.
I’m not saying a promising career makes you above the law, but neither should other factors make you more harshly sentenced by the law.
So yeah for his lawyer not to plead out of that Kidnap charge, especially when the victim was willing, I tell you that’s the back-breaker.
It’s the problem with our justice system, it isn’t about what’s true or false, it isn’t about what is just…it’s about how good your lawyer is.
Are we better for another young man going to gladiator school, does anyone think he’ll come out and offer more to society, or will, having supped at America’s horrendous system, will he become a nightmare worthy of the caging.
Suddenly a young man who potentially could have added something to the world, is on the fast track to being a perennial drain on tax dollars, and perhaps a repeat offender, if statistics are to be believed.
Perspective.
Perspective.
He had none, and made a mistake. His excuse was he was 17. What will be our excuse, for our lack of perspective? There are people who deserve and warrant long prison sentences for the good of society, I don’t think anyone will argue that that is the case here.
Perspective.
I was also interested in finding a pic of the girlfriend, this Andrea Lane, whom an 18 year old (17 at the time) in a fit of stupidity lost his future for. This is a young man who, remove that night, would right now be talking about college at least, and NBA possibly, and would have had his pick of girls.
Again not making light, not being vulgar, I’m giving perspective to all sides.
It’s the thing about being young, you have no perspective, no patience, no belief in anything but now. And that stupidity is many things, but I have my doubts about such stupidity being grounds for incarceration. At least of the 3 year variety.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Pamela Barker has a 180 days to consider her sentence, to judge her own perspective, and see if… justice is served by it.
Time will tell.
FAVORITE DOCTOR WHO DvD Commentary! THE POWER OF KROLL?!!
Recorded in 2002 (mere weeks after the death of Terry Walsh, one of Britan’s premier stunt-men, and a stunt man who had a visible role in many episodes of Doctor Who, most notably this one) the commentary by Tom Baker and John Leeson for the 4-part story THE POWER OF KROLL, first aired in 1978, is nothing short of great.
From tales of performing Sherlock Holmes, to a party for Sean Connery, to autograph seekers, to rumors of death, to Migraine Acting it’s just everything a commentary should be.
Tom Baker always a sharp, if at times distracted, speaker on commentaries, here manages to feel completely on… for this one, and delivers a really fun and funny commentary. And it helps that the episode of Dr. Who that this commentary adorns, is actually a very good story (starring Phillip Madoc whose performance elevated every Doctor Who episode he was in [including the 2nd movie]). So a fun story, with a must listen commentary.
And this story is part 5 in THE KEY OF TIME series, a 26 episode storyline. So rather than just purchasing this individual episode, I would recommend the 2009 Boxset that includes the entire KEY TO TIME storyline as well as extras that were not on the earlier individual DVDs (Including an interview with the aforementioned Phillip Madoc).
While this storyline is not in my best Doctor Who storylines (it has major flaws most notably the tedious and lackluster ending which basically made the whole storyline unnecessary) it does have some fun moments in the buildup, and THE POWER OF KROLL is one of those moments.
In addition it is something of a watershed moment in the Tom Baker years. After this his enjoyment in the series, and for the most part the quality of the series (while there would be some peaks, there would be far more often valleys) would be in steady decline, with the uneven John Nathan Turner years on the horizon.
So this is a great DVD to get a sampling of a time in a seemingly immortal series, when it glimmered… very bright… against the coming night.
Doctor Who: The Key to Time (Special Collector’s Edition) (Stories 98-103)! Price your copy here!!
The following breakdown is courtesy of Violin MD @ Amazon.com:
“The NEW 350 minutes-worth of special features details are as follows. All the making-of features are new and NEW commentaries are marked with an *:
I. The Ribos Operation: Special Edition (1 DVD; 4 episodes; 98 mins)
1. Commentary with Tom Baker and Mary Tamm
2. A Matter of Time – A new 60-minute Documentary
3. The Ribos File – Cast and Crew Interviews about the making of
this story
4. Continuities – off-air continuity links from the story’s
original BBC1 transmission
5. Season 16 Trailer – BBC1 trailer for the forthcoming season
6. Photo Gallery
II. The Pirate Planet: Special Edition (1 DVD; 4 episodes; 100 mins)
2 Audio Commentary Tracks:
1. Commentary with Bruce Purchase and director Pennant Roberts
2. * Commentary with Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and script editor Anthony
Read
3. Parrot Fashion – Documentary that includes old and new
interviews, including Douglas Adams
4. Film Inserts, Deleted Scenes & Outtakes
5. Weird Science – A funny look at the science seen in The Key to
Time
6. Continuities – off-air continuity links from the story’s
original BBC1 transmission
7. Photo Gallery
III. The Stones Of Blood: Special Edition (1 DVD; 4 episodes; 95 mins)
2 Audio Commentary Tracks:
1. Commentary with Mary Tamm and director Darrol Blake
2. * Commentary with Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, Susan Engel and writer
David Fisher
3. Getting Blood from the Stones – Cast and Crew Interviews about
the making of this story
4. Hammer Horror – Featurette about the influences of horror films
on Doctor Who stories
5. Stones Free – Mary Tamm visits the Rollright Stones location and
talks to local experts
6. Deleted Scenes
7. Continuities – off-air continuity links from the story’s
original BBC1 transmission
8. Excerpt from ‘The Model World of Robert Symes’
9. Blue Peter segment about the 15th anniversary of Doctor Who
10. BBC’s Nationwide news program segment about the 15th
anniversary of Doctor Who
11. Photo Gallery
IV. The Androids Of Tara: Special Edition (1 DVD; 4 episodes; 97 mins)
1. Commentary with Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and director Michael Hayes
2. The Humans of Tara – Cast and Crew Interviews about the making
of this story
3. Now & Then: The Androids of Tara – compares and contrasts
present day locations as they are now with how they appeared in
the story
4. Double Trouble – a brief history of ‘doubles’ in other Doctor
Who stories
5. Photo Gallery
V. The Power Of Kroll: Special Edition (1 DVD; 4 episodes; 90 mins)
1. Commentary with Tom Baker and John Leeson
2. In Studio – a glimpse inside the studio during recording of the
story
3. Variations – a BBC local news programme visits the story’s
location during filming
4. There’s Something About Mary – Mary Tamm looks back at her
single-season starring role as the Doctor’s companion
5. Philip Madoc: A Villain for All Seasons – Madoc looks back on
his numerous roles as a Doctor Who villain down the years
6. Continuities – off-air continuity links from the story’s
original BBC1 transmission
7. Photo Gallery
VI. The Armageddon Factor: Special Edition (2 DVDs; 6 episodes; 147 mins)
2 Audio Commentary Tracks:
1. Commentary with Mary Tamm, John Woodvine and director Michael
Hayes
2. * Commentary with Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and John Leeson
3. DVD-ROM: 1979 Doctor Who Annual in Adobe PDF format
4. Defining Shadows – Cast and Crew Interviews about the making of
this story
5. Alternative / Extended Scene
6. Directing Who – Michael Hayes looks back on his directing career
on Doctor Who
7. Rogue Time Lords – a potted history of errant Time Lords
8. Pebble Mill at One – Tom Baker interview from 1978
9. Radiophonic Feature – a Pebble Mill at One interview looking at
Radiophonic music and effects in Doctor Who
10. The New Sound of Music – Dick Mills talks about creating Doctor
Who sound effects
11. Merry Christmas, Doctor Who – a special Christmas sketch,
recorded on the set of ‘The Armageddon Factor’ for the BBC
Christmas Tape that year
12. Continuities – off-air continuity links from the story’s
original BBC1 transmission
13. Photo Gallery
14. Late Night Story – Tom Baker reads five spine-chilling stories
from this 1978 series:
a. The Photograph by Nigel Kneale
b. The Emissary by Ray Bradbury
c. Nursery Tea by Mary Danby
d. The End of the Party by Graham Greene
e. Sredni Vashtar by Saki (never broadcast)
15. Easter Egg
Adding up the running times gives us 627 minutes for the box set. All episodes are presented in full frame video, with the original English mono audio and with English subtitles.”
Heroic Times 