What do you think?

Real quick one.  What do you think of this?  If you click the link it'll take you to a story on the latest female teacher/ under age boy story.  The site also follows the story up with a list (with pictures) of other such women.  I am curious about how other people feel about what the judge said; had this been a 29 year old man with a 17 year old female jail time would have been served.  Why is there a double standard there?  It seems that social consensus is that under age females are damaged by these  inappropriate illicit trysts while under age boys are not.  I have actually heard the opinion that boys actually "win the lottery" in these situations.  Is it the universal belief that girls (women) should be protected while boys should be prompted to engage in actions of conquest and exploration that creates the double standard? 

dialogue from men's locker room

My friend Horatio (John, I changed your name for anonymity sake) and I went to the gym yesterday.  I don't know what it is about men's locker rooms but I always feel a need to broadcast my conversations there.  It is either an act of compensation or me trying to act casual in a place that makes me nervous.  Not to mention the great acoustics in Locker Rooms.  Had you been there this is what you would have heard:

Horatio:  You know in Costa Rica the theme to McGyver is Rush's "Tom Sawyer"

Me:  That song seems 'propriate, but you know the the protagonist in the lyrics of that song is not a virtuous person.

Horatio:  "You know his mind is not for rent, when you got a government..."???

Me:  Yeah, but how about, "today's Tom Sawyer, me, me, mine"

Horatio:  "Me, me, Pride"!!

Me:  Pride is not a good thing!

Horatio:  Sometimes it is.

Me:  Tell that to Oedipus.

Horatio: (Snickers)

Oedipus is the first example of bad pride I could come up with and its pretty lame and obscure.  But, that's the way it was ladies and gentlemen.  My point is that Costa Rica must have a much better developed sense of drama than we do here in the states where the theme to McGyver is... I don't even know what it is!!  If it was Rush's "Tom Sawyer" you can bet I would remember it. 

Have a great last week of summer!!!

 

comments on current events

When did my gut get so big?  You can spend a large part of your life wishing you looked different or had more money, drove a different car, had a better p.c. or whatever.  Problem then is that the self-absorption keeps you from appreciating the peripherals like a beautiful sunset (taken in Maui, as was the picture of me snorkeling).  There is a period of my life where I took very little pictures of myself.  I didn't like seeing them developed and being disappointed with the way I look.  Now when I run into the few pictures I took then, I think, "damn, you were a good looking dude.  Wish I had more pictures to remind myself of that."  I think that we all like the pictures we took 3 years ago but dislike the ones we took yesterday. 

Canada.  Sean Penn caused a hotel to be fined because he smoked a cigarrette in an inside area.  I have always enjoyed his work; from Spicoli to the government agent in "The Interpreter."  As an antagonist he also nails the part.  His portrayals in "Casualties of War" and "Dead Man Walking" brought out my own hate for the characters.  In "I am Sam" he made me cry.  There is no question that he is a deep and talented actor.  It is too bad he can't obey the rules.  The article mentioned his brief marriage to Madonna in the eighties.  That marriage and the marriages of Emilio Esteves with Demi Moore and with Paula Abdul are ones which I can't forget because they just don't seem plausible. 

Rome.  The pope is apologizing (according to the article I read) for Muslim reaction to what he said about them which he was only reading, not his words.  Is that really an apology?  "I am sorry for how you feel about what I said when I was reading out loud."  BTW  If someone was to insult Catholics, I wouldn't take it personally.  Depending on what he or she said I would judge it as an ignorant comment, irrelevant comment or a cutting observation with unwarranted blanket implications.  Respectively:

To say Catholics are responsible for evil on earth is ignorant.  To say that about any one religion, people or creed is ignorant.

The Spanish Inquisition is a cruel example of hate and persecution fueled by Catholic zeal is a true statement but irrelevant.  After a certain amount of time the mistakes of the past cast no guilt on the inhabitants of the present time.  Bigotry is not a genetic trait, it is learned (watch science prove me wrong).

Catholic Priests are child molesters is a generalized statement made upon relatively few examples(percentage of priests guilty of child molestation vs. percentage of priests who are not).  The fact that many such priests have been found out is true but it doesn't mean they all are. 

When I think about it, anytime religion is brought up I tend to become quite the bag of wind.  Religion is something that can either make you a better person or a worse one.  I read (present tense) Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and I think how enlightened His words were.  If I could remind myself of these lessons everyday, my life would be blessed with clarity and satisfaction.  However, if I go around trying to proclaim and defend my religion all I would encounter is enemies and obstacles.  I would become vain and overbearing. 

At this point a giant hook comes on stage and pulls the failing performer offstage.

Getting back to "it"

Maria is very excited about Rachel Ray' new daily show on CBS.  It starts next week Monday the eighteenth at 9 a.m.  I for one will not be watching.  Not because I don't like Rachel Ray but because it is on when I am at work.  Rachel is fun to watch.  She has loads of energy.  I saw her on Oprah once and was amazed at how Rachel's energy overwhelmed Oprah's.  I don't enjoy cooking shows but I have heard that the $40 a day show is very good.

Bittersweet time September is.  Summer is ending but here come the new shows.  I am looking forward to seeing what happens on Lost.  I think less than 5 new episodes of Lost are scheduled to air in the fall.  The bulk of the third season will air after the new year.  I realize that Lost is a cliffhanger and the producers want to keep its viewers hanging on for the next episode; tv's version of return customers.  But, Lost does have some sense of denoument (resolution) in each episode.  By using flashbacks the show allows us insight into its characters.  So even though questions like; why is the hatch on the island? what is up with those numbers? where did that smoke monster get off to? who are the 'others' and why do they take the children? and what happened to the polar bears? are never answered, we do get answers to why Jack needs to take care of everybody or why John Locke needs to believe in the supernatural or why Hugo is afraid of good fortune.  By the way Hugo is my favorite character for many reasons.  If you are not watching the show can I suggest renting season 1 on DVD next time you can't decide on a movie at Blockbuster.  Watching three episodes is far more satisfying than one lackluster film like "The Inside Man". 

I see that my last entry was on August 5.  I took a vacation in mid August.  Maria and I went to Maui after which I spent a week doing nothing.  Maui was great.  Would like to work it into a blog without gloating over it or trying to analyze how a place could it exist with the sole function of maintaining its beauty to keep people visiting it (shouldn't every place be like that?)  The last two weeks I have suffered from post-vacation depression.  I found it hard to get back to work and back to the normal routines. 

Well, I sincerely hope everyone is ready for Autumn which begins at 4 a.m. September 23.  Funny thing, I guess it is that I have gotten older, but I have become sensitive to how daylight is different in September than in August.  It is a slight change but there nonetheless.  Our temperatures may still hit the nineties but the way the day looks we can still assure ourselves the season is almost over. 

Take care.