Rest In Peace Ronnie James Dio

Now this was a shock. My wife called and told me that Dio was dead of stomach cancer.

Ronnie James Dio was a musical giant. His instantly recognizable voice has been part of my musical landscape since around 1983. 'Holy Diver' and 'Rainbow in the Dark' caught my interest and 'The Last in Line' made me a fan. I started digging deeper and found out that he sang for Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. I found the three studio albums he sang on and WOW! 'The Man on the Silver Mountain' made me a fan for life.

In 1985, a friend (well, actually he was a Navy recruiter, so I'm not sure how much I would consider him a friend in retrospect) introduced me to Elf, Dio's first band. Elf was very cool blues rock and is still on my 'play often' list. Check out 'Carolina County Ball' and 'L.A. 59.' They are both wonderful songs showing a young Dio developing the trademark voice.

After finding all of this wonderful music, the most startling revelation of all occurred. Dio sang for Black Sabbath. I did not even know that. After Ozzy left, I pretty much ignored Sabbath. My mistake. They may not have had the instantly recognizable Black Sabbath tunes with Dio, but they are very solid albums.

A few months ago I watched 'Metal: A Headbanger's Journey' which is a very good documentary on the heavy metal subculture. Dio was interviewed twice during the documentary and came across as a very pleasant and friendly guy. I also recently watched a concert video that had an interview with him in the special features. He came across as an intelligent, articulate man with a great sense of humor.

Although I only saw him in concert once in the late 80s, Ronnie James Dio's music has been a constant source of pleasure for me and it always will be.

Rest in peace Ronnie, you will be missed.

Reality TV

Let me begin by saying I hate the very idea of reality TV. I hate the Hollywood writers who went on strike back in the 1990s and opened the door for this glut of what Aaron Sorkin appropriately referred to as "illiterate programming." And most of all I hate the mindless drones who support this crap by watching religiously.

I do not find it entertaining in the least to watch some woman who has spawned a litter of children just to be famous (Jon & Kate plus 8), although Kate Gosselin's public downfall has provided some amusing moments if only because she is getting exactly what she deserves. Pointing a camera at the idle rich to show how stupid they are is not entertainment (Keeping up with the Kardashians). Game shows where has-beens or never-were's are given a chance to flex what I am sure is someone else's razor-sharp wit to flay wanna-be's on national tv is not entertainment (American Idol, Dancing with the stars).

I am not interested in these people. I couldn't possibly care less whether they live or die. They don't shop at my store, they don't live in my neighborhood, they don't have kids in school with mine. What could possibly interest me about their lives?

Have we become so complacent and brain-dead that all someone has to do is point a camera and we will watch? If that is the case, I have a doozy of an idea!!

I want to do a game show called "Cleaning up the Gene Pool." three contestants have to answer a series of questions. The most moronic answer is rewarded with a free vasectomy/hysterectomy. Sterilization for the stupid!

This is the toned down-version of my idea.

What I really wanted to do was go around the country bashing people's heads in with a baseball bat. I figure the blood and gore factor would put me in the running with all the stinking cop shows too.

Am I snob? I guess so.

subtle oddities

I was listening to NPR on the way to work this morning and I heard two things that struck me as curious.

The first was a brief story about a possible terrorist attack that didn't happen. Here is a rough paraphrase of the story: "Homeland Security, suspecting a shoe bomber, apprehended a diplomat from Qatar smoking in an airplane restroom. No one was harmed."
This brief story is so loaded with subtext that I couldn't believe they left it at just a few seconds like this. While smoking isn't a terrorist act YET, smoking on an airplane these days is a pretty stupid thing to do. What I don't understand is where the 'shoe-bomber' came from. And why was it important to stress, after clearly stating that the guy was just smoking, that no one was harmed?
In it's incredible lack of detail and overwhelming sense of terrorist hysteria this story just reeks of Orwell. It has a "we're winning the war, but you still need to be afraid" feel to it. Listener beware, Big Brother is speaking.

The second item concerns a trend I have noticed on NPR. All through the Bush administrations, the reporters referred to Bush as 'the president' or 'President Bush.' Lately though NPR refers to Obama almost exclusively as 'Mr. Obama.' This is confusing to me. Are they showing more or less respect for the president by never referring to him as the president?

Did we constantly need to be reminded that Bush was the president? Or were they assisting Bush in maintaining the image that he was Commander In Chief and totally in charge in a 'time of crisis?'

And is Obama just that guy who happens to be president right now? Or are they trying to put forth the image that he is 'one of us.' You know, just Mr. Obama over there on Pennsylvania Avenue.

I don't understand the message they are trying to send. All my life I have heard about the evils of the liberal media, but in reality I prefer the liberal media to the conservative demagoguery that prevails on the nations airwaves right now. Reporters gnashing their teeth in pursuit of the truth is much more appealing than reporters gnashing their teeth and baying for the blood of the infidel.

Anyway, enough political rant for today. My next subject: Reality TV

long time, no post

Well, almost four months in 2010 and not a single post from me. Sorry about that. it's been quite busy and insane around my house and my workplace.

I am currently in a hotel room in Mobile, Alabama. My wife is hard at work teaching semi-literates how to use their telephones and I just came along for the ride (and a day or two with no worries). I've been wondering recently what exactly I am going to do with my life. I would love to be a cartographer, if I could ever get a straight answer on how or where to get that degree. I had a great idea for something that would be a boon to the tourist industry all over the world, just not sure how to market it or develop it. But it would certainly be easier if I had more knowledge of cartography. anyway, I'm rambling now. So onto music:

Music: new albums: Peter Gabriel finally put out a new album and guess what...NO NEW MATERIAL. It's an album of covers, and while I love what Peter Gabriel can do to a song, I would really have preferred his own creations. His interpretation of Heroes is pretty amazing but severely depressing as well. The whole album is like a soundtrack to a suicide. It is a must have for Gabriel fans, but I would rather listen to Us or Up.

Movies: "The Hangover" was not nearly as funny as everyone who raved about it led me to believe. It had moments of sheer comic genius, but mostly it felt like "Dude where's my car?" meets "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." And while there are a few laugh out loud moments in the movie, there were also some truly disturbing moments that I wish I could scrub from my brain.

"From within" was an interesting little horror movie. It's the first of the 2007 batch of "8 films to die for" that was actually pretty decent. Definitely more interesting than "The Hangover."

Books: Just finished two pretty cool little books: Johannes Cabal - Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard and Mall of Cthulhu by Seamus something. Both books are interesting little supernatural tragicomedies. hmmm ... Something just occurred to me. These two books have complimentary anachronisms. Mall of Cthulhu takes place in modern times, but they are battling creatures mostly associated with 1920s Lovecraftian lore. Johannes Cabal - Necromancer takes place in an era much like the 1920s/30s (carnivals traveling by train) and while the villain is timeless (Satan) a lot of their dialogue is anachronistic in that it seems modern and times even a little pop culture savvy. Well, I just read back over that and it's just me being weird and geeky, so disregard this paragraph.

All right, time to go get lunch.
Thanks for reading. And don't let the bastages get ya down.