The Phone Company

I saw the new Matrix movie. All I can say about that is, "...stunning!!" "...wow!!" "...a visual spectacle!!!". Oh, I'm sorry, It just so happens that I neglected to include what was mentioned before each of my reviews. My apologies, you can only include so much.
What I really meant, was that, "The feeling in my stomach after watching Matrix: Reloaded was really quite stunning!!" Also, "In the bathroom, after the movie, when I vomited out the entire contents of my digestive tract, I stood back and uttered "wow!!". I must say it was truly a visual spectacle!!"
In all seriousness, it felt like I was watching somebody else play a video game. But when it became my turn to play, that person wouldn't let me. So, all I could do was sit there and wait for them to die and stop playing. But they don't, and I'm stuck there for a really long time. posted by Kermit at 11/18/2003 02:44:00 PM |

Kudos to TPM for linking to this one. Welsey Clark flips out on Fox news. They tried to play the "questioning the policy belittles the troops" game and he called them on it. It's worth the 6 minutes. It really is. Refreshing. posted by Kermit at 11/18/2003 01:58:00 AM |

Sam Donaldson. posted by Kermit at 11/16/2003 06:36:00 PM |

A quickie! What's the name of the news anchor with the ridiculous black hair-piece? He's one of the big guys and he doesn't yell much... I mean he's not on a cable news station. But really, I can't remember his name and I simply don't have the patience to Google my way through this one. He isn't Koppel, Jennings, or Brokaw so who is he? I wish Shadow Stevens in the center square were here. He'd know... or die trying. posted by Kermit at 11/16/2003 02:56:00 AM |

Ok. I love grammar. Sad but true. Actually, not sad at all. Grammar is the programming language of our discourse. It puts everything together. Grammar, as inane and intimidating as some of you might find it, you uncouth dead-beats, is incredible. We translate the world into little chunks of word and make it all work. All without really thinking about it. Which, come to think of it, is where Mission Accomplished comes from. But anyway, I have a grammar question. Ok, maybe it's a usage question. Now, we know that when agreeing with a positive statement we use too, and with a negative we use either/neither. For example:

Person A: I eat spinach.
Person 2: Me too.

or the inverse...
Person Z: I don't eat spinach.
person X: Me neither.

OK. We all know and agree with that. But what do we do with the following harrowing situation?

Person 7: Do you think the world will end tomorrow?
Person 12: I hope not!
Person 37: I hope not - too, either? What should I say? Me too? Me neither?

See? This is a tough one. Too goes with positives and either with negatives. But I hope not is ambiguous. It has a negative meaning but has a positive grammatical construction. So which is it? As far as I can tell it's neither. But that doesn't really help. If someone says "I hope not!", and you agree with their statement, what do you say? "I agree" doesn't count. I want a too or an either. Unless of course this is a grammatical dead end, in which case neither (answer) is correct and there is simply no convenient way to agree with the guy who hopes that it isn't 2-for-Tuesday when the first song was Sweet Home Alabama. posted by Kermit at 11/16/2003 02:46:00 AM |

A psychologist's perspective on the Rush Limbaugh phenomenon. posted by Kermit at 11/13/2003 07:46:00 PM |

I feel I should comment on yesterday's post about the drug raid in the school. What bothers me the most is the coverage. If you haven't watched the video, I encourage you to do so. It is reported like regular news. It seems normal. The things we have grown to accept are really disturbing. And what drugs were they searching for? Crack, heroin? Nope... Pot and prescription pills. It's curing the headache by cutting off the head. But at least the principal acknowledged that the raid was an inconvenience for the students. Hey, at least the guns weren't aimed at the students' faces. We are waging war on our youth and then actually wonder why they might want to smoke a joint after class. posted by Kermit at 11/09/2003 04:42:00 PM |

Wow. I'm glad I'm not in high school anymore. In South Carolina, the principal ordered the police into his high-school to do a drug raid. The cops had their guns drawn and ordered the students to lay on the floor so they could search their bags. Unfortunately, no drugs were found. Damn. The police had their guns drawn but aimed at the ground so they could deal with any student who might attempt to fight back. The police saw the threat of violence as real enough so as to warrant having their guns ready. So therefore, a potential gunfight in a crowded school hallway is an acceptable price to pay for the opportunity to find some drugs. You can read the article here and see the surveillance video as well. Really sick. From the video, it looked like mostly black kids too.. Can you imagine this shit in a predominantly white school? But what do you expect from a principal named George Mccrackin. posted by Kermit at 11/08/2003 01:57:00 PM |

Well, I've been back for a couple of days now. The wedding went off with a hitch. It was pretty much the same as your average American wedding except for the fact that the family cooked the food themselves. Oh and we decorated the place ourselves. The wedding was held in an old restaurant that had been closed for quite a while. We cleaned it the day before and decorated it with streamers and stuff like that. Quite simple really. The food was anything but simple. It was amazing and was offered in great quantities. From the homemade cheese to the homegrown pork, it was very very acceptable. I think I ate more than anyone there. It started at 7:30 PM and ended at 6:00AM. EVERYONE stayed. Both old and young. Now we all know that I am fluent in Romanian and luckily everyone in attendance was equally fluent in English. So I smiled a lot and looked as cute as I could. By our standards Romania is quite a poor country. But they were living decently. The average salary is in the ballpark of $100 a month. The infrastructure was pretty run down but the landscape was nothing short of beautiful. It was gorgeous. I hope to have some pictures up soon. The people were really friendly and welcoming. I made some new friends as in Stefa, Claudiu and his girlfriend Claudia. I love that: Claudiu and Claudia. What a pair. By the way, horses are a part of traffic there. Gypsies on wagons filled with wood are quite normal. The train ride, 19 hours, was pretty interesting too. I went through Vienna, Budapest, Linz, Salzburg, and lots of little Hungarian and Romanian towns. Hope all is well with all. Ha. posted by Kermit at 11/08/2003 01:45:00 PM |