The Jon Blog

Why TiVo Was Broken

How the fuck did that happen? I blame the mice.

Bush Deepens His Anti-Gay Stance

By pre-empting Will & Grace.

Of all the times for him to pick for a televised press conference that nobody wants to listen to...

Argh!

Quote of the Day

"Gay couples have been able to marry for some time now in The Netherlands. So far, our society has not collapsed, nor have heterosexuals stopped marrying."
Pieter de Best, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

via this article at the BBC

How Do You Spell Relief

My TiVo crisis is averted and solved. I had to reboot the TiVo and now everything appears to be fine.

Well, aside from all the shit that is not fine in my life... but at least my boyfriend TiVo is doing ok. (Sorry, Miranda!)

Update: FUCK Fuckity Fuck Fuck Fuck.

Now it's not working again. I'm trying another restart but we are not pleased...

Displeased

So we have a problem at chez Jonblog. Our TiVo appears to have forgotten how to change the channel on the Cable Box.

So I have to change channels for it. I've been trying to figure this out, but I have not yet succeeded. Lucky for me, the only shows that I had on my "To Do" list were both on ABC. ("Desperate Housewives" and "Gray's Anatomy")

But anyhow, I have to get this figured out... because I will not be a happy camper if I don't have all my varied and sundry shows!

Stupid Is As Stupid Doeth

So Denzel has spoken out against cellphones at the theatre. See?.

And he says that he's figured out a line in iambic pentameter to use on anyone whose phone rings during the show:

"One of these days I'm going to respond in iambic pentameter: 'Answereth that, my lord. My lord, it is for you.'"

Um, Denzel? Iambic pentameter only has 10 syllables.

What's the Difference

Have you read Stephen Holden's review of Barbara Cook at the Carlyle? It's half review and half soap-box. He spends more time railing on "American Idol" than he does praising Cook.

Weird.

Good News, Bad News, and A Question

Good news: Someone who I thought had sort of disappeared from my life sent me an email; I was pleased to hear from him.

Bad news: A good friend announced that he's probably leaving the City and moving to Texas.

A Question: I have vacation from work, probably from August 10 to 25. Where should I go?

Stadium Schmadium

The last thing that Manhattan needs is a $2.7 billion dollar stadium built over the west side rail yards. First of all, there's no way in Hell that we're going to get the Olympics. Not with CoWboy was our CEO. Ain't gonna happen.

And second of all, why the fuck should the City and the state pay the Jets to build the stadium here? Can you do the math? Two point seven billion dollars divided by 75,000 seats means that each CHAIR costs a whopping $36,000. Each one. That means that, even if tickets go for $200 each for every single event, that they'll have to have 180 sold out events just to pay for the cost of the stadium. That doesn't include any important costs like ticket-takers, security, and so forth. Let alone paying for teams, entertainers, anything like that.

And it's Manhattan. Come on, we've got much better things to spend $2.7 billion on than a stadium that'll be used by 75,000 people a couple times a year. Build a rail link to the airports that actually works and, like real Capital Cities around the world, doesn't require you to change trains 18 times. Fix the potholes. Make the luggage carts at the airports free. (Or are we just letting every other country in the world do that? Let's gouge 'em when they get to America!) Or how about spending some more money on the subway? Keep it clean. Keep it in good repair. Keep it running. Oh way, I forgot, they're making the MTA sell the land it owns to build the stadium -- at millions less than what it's actually worth.

It makes me angry.

Now I Know Why Those Candles Cost So Much

Goodness, can you believe how much the Pope's funeral is going to cost? I mean, you could feed many African villages for quite some time...

I'll be honest. One of the reasons I've never been a huge fan of organized religion is that I feel like it's, on many levels, a stupidity tax. Not that I'm opposed to charity when it is routed properly, but if you look at religion, especially Catholicism, but many other Western religions as well (I don't know enough about Eastern religions to comment, although I am pretty convinced that my argument does not apply to Buddhism), they've been one more way to keep the rich people rich and the poor people poor.

Look at history: The Catholic Church and the Nobility were the only institutions and people which had money and/or education during the Middle Ages. The grandeur of the architecture of the great cathedrals of Europe was to inspire awe and fear in the masses. Education was the domain of the church, not a right of the masses, and literature and knowledge was secreted away inside monastaries. Because it was easier to get the will of the people to bend to the will of the Church and to the will of the Nobles when the masses were uneducated.

And today, I don't think it's entirely different, even though it's vastly different. And I think it's ironic that the Catholic Church, whose employees are supposed to take a vow of poverty, is such a wealthy organization. Sure, they'd be wealthier if their membership hadn't declined as much as it has in many of the industrialized nations, but I think a lot of people have realized that there is more to the world than giving money to a Church so that the leaders can run around wearing golden dreses.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing against Faith. I am arguing against using Faith to cover up greed and corruption. And I think it's clear from the pomp and circumstance surrounding the Pope's death, that the Catholic Church's fiscal priorities are not in line with what they say they are.

Just one of the many reasons that I'm not a religious person.

Presidential Misquote of the Day

"It was a moment I'll never forget during my presidency." - W, as quoted in The Times.

Does that mean he can forget it in January of 2009?

What a bozo. And speaking of bozos, how do you like the part of the article about Santorum inviting himself to the Vatican for the Papal Funeral? Well, I guess someone's gotta put the Fun back in Funeral, and we all know that Rick Santorum is the man for the job!

Oy!

Anyhow, my life is very boring these days, outside of work, which has been very busy but, as you know, is not something I tend to blog about. So thank God we have W to rant about. And Rick Santorum.

Formalwear

I took this photo for you, at the Toledo Ohio Zoo, no less.

Enjoy!