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Thanks MsG. Never thought I'd hear I have a "well written piece," when the term "a dude in an Army jacket" is written in the segment! Well rickey, in high school when I worked at McDonald's, the worst thing ever was when I trained a 50-year-old guy. He had lost his job at some business he had worked at for 15 years. And I felt so awkward, teaching a guy that was older than my parents, how to flip a burger and put condiments on 'em.— February 27, 2009 10:23 a.m.
A sampling of San Diego's vanity license plates
Sattin: Yeah, the DMV doesn't like any religious things. Even "ATHEIST" plates get pulled, or vague comments like "BELIEVE" or "FAITH" sometimes become court cases (and a surprising number of people win, if they want to spend the money and fight the DMV). Surfpup: It's not that the DMV was naive for letting FORNIC8 go. They ask YOU to explain what it means. The person could've said, "The car is "FOR" my husband "NIC", on our "8" year anniverary, so it's FOR-NIC-8, and they probably don't give it much more thought. What I don't understand is...if the DMV deals so much with what offends others, something as simple as "SPEEDER" might offend someone that had a family member killed in a car accident with a speeder. But I doubt they would pull that plate from someone. Someone told me of a white Benz that said WAS HIS. She thought it was funny, but what if the ex-husband didn't? And he complained to the DMV. Would they take it back? I doubt it. Some people have told me they've seen Broncos, that say NOT OJS. One was white, too. I'm guessing nobody but OJ would be offended, and he's in jail. A weird story happened in New York last November. 42-year-old Arno Herwerth pleaded to keep the plates he’s had. They read GETOSAMA, referring to the al-Qaeda leader. The DMV told him in a letter that they prohibit plates “derogatory to a particular ethnic group.” This retired cop said in an interview “It’s also my right to be patriotic. I think it would only be offensive to members of al-Qaeda.” He said after the 9/11 attacks, he got the plate on a red, white, and blue car. Heather Moriah, a conservation organizer for the West River Office of the Sierra Club in Rapid City, loves the personalized license plates on her silver Prius that encouraged the impeachment of President Bush when he was in office. The South Dakota Dept. of Motor Vehicles decided to rescind Morijah's plates: MPEACHW. Only one complaint was reported. The South Dakota Division of Motor Vehicles is trying to recall the plates, and if he doesn't turn them in, the state will send law-enforcement officers to pick them up. Moriah has said in interviews that the plate isn’t in poor taste, since it’s not sexual in nature and that political messages shouldn’t be considered offensive. But DMV director Deb Hillmer said that the law clearly gives the state authority to recall the plates and have them forcibly removed if necessary. And although only one person complained, and that's all it takes to recall a set of vanity plates.— February 27, 2009 12:18 a.m.
Viva la Restitution
What makes it also bad, that they show people "off screen" in the memoriam segment, is you hear no applause for some light tech nobody knew, followed by loud applause for an actor everyone knows. That can't make the family/friends of the deceased feel good. Regarding Fellini, does anyone know where I can get the soundtrack to 8 1/2?— February 26, 2009 10:53 a.m.
Oscar Re-Cap
I don't know if it's about the attention, either. It's really strange, because I think some people...well, let's take Michael Moore. I really think he actually hates that big companies and CEOs, get rich of off hard working people. And that's admirable. But then he loses me, when he himself, becomes super rich from making these movies, and doesn't donate or help out the auto industry workers. He's set up a few scholarships, but that's about it. And, when he misses so many points. I think Penn has his heart in the right place, but if he wants to go on and on about politics, and how bad the big, ugly Republicans are, he needs to do a lot more research. And, he might find that when Republicans hate people like the octumom, or that some Democrats (like I heard Michael Moore say on O'Reily Show)...Moore feels they should pay 85% of their income to taxes, and only take home 15%, because they can afford that. I don't care if you are rich or poor, you have to admit that is the faultiest logic ever.— February 26, 2009 10:07 a.m.
The Dog Blog -- Furry Tales
I dated a cop in LA, and one of the reasons I ended the relationship was she came down for the weekend, and was talking about this old Latina women she arrested for something minor. THe lady was scared and crying, and didn't know English. When they had her somewhere to book her, she said into some intercom "Yo quiero Taco Bell" and her and another officer laughed hysterically. I told her that was idiotic, and we had a big argument about it. She said, "How can you side with a criminal?" I was saying "I'm not siding with a criminal for doing a criminal act, but when cops act like dicks for no reason, who do you think I'm going to side with?"— February 26, 2009 10:03 a.m.
Greatest Sports Movies Ever
CB...you rule! my girlfriend and I bought the box sets of White Shadow when one of the Blockbusters was going out of business. Her being 10 years younger than I, she didn't know the show. We laugh at the 70s pimp music, and the looks Ms. Buchanon always gives Ken Howard. Great show, though. Happy Gilmore was cute, but not a great, or even very good, movie. Big Lebowski is a lot of bowling, but more a kidnapping, crazy comedy, than sports film. It's in the Garp category, whereas King Pin dealt with them trying to sucker people for money, and then a big bowling championship. Yes, surf and snowboarding, and skateboarding are sports to me. Anything fat guys can do as well as skinny guys, isn't a sport (not sure why ESPN is now showing poker...but if that qualifies as a sport than a game, my list could have about 7 great poker movies!) I saw Murderball. Amazing documentary. That one guy was a hardcore pyscho! Hoop Dreams was good, not great. Very overrated. Siskel & Ebert I remember, picked that as the best movie of the year, not just best documentary. One amazingly sad scene is when the young boy is re-connecting with his dad, who is out of prison and trying to do things right. And then we see him walk around the corner, while shooting hoops with his son, to meet up with his old dealer. It's heartbreaking. Maybe they liked it because it was filmed in Chicago, I dunno. I liked Spike Lee's HE GOT GAME better. Million Dollar Baby was crap. It was entertaining, but very poorly written and directed. I know, I know...he got Oscars. But I can give you 10 flaws with that film. Never saw Seabiscuit, but it sounds delicious. I did see The Express, and was pleasantly surprised. I didn't like it as much as Dennis Quaids other sports/football movie "Everybodies All American". I saw a preview in Mission Valley. We were just walking by when they were letting people in for it, so we snuck in. Although, I didn't like the black dude behind me talking on his cell phone for 20 minutes, even after we all did the "shhhhhhh!" to him. Basketball Diaries was good. The soundtrack was great! Leo can actually act.— February 26, 2009 9:58 a.m.
A sampling of San Diego's vanity license plates
Diane, didn't know that about England. I did read when I was a kid, that Paul McCartney saw a car with his initials, and bought the plate from that driver for something like $25,000. In those days, they said in the article, you couldn't get vanity plates in England. There was also a story about five years ago, about a woman (I think in Seattle area), who had her late husbands initials, and the initials of the lumber business they owned together. Well, combined, that made a dirty word or phrase, so the DMV was pulling it. She had the plate for 25 years, and went to the papers. All the PR made the DMV relent and let her keep it. Regarding Jaguars, I bought a '69 XKE, but all combinations of that were taken, except for a few I didn't care for (things like 1969 J or X69JAGX). I ended up getting 69 JGUAR, but the third thing the DMV website says is that you can't get "69" unless your car is a 1969. Two months later, they said I couldn't have it. I called, was on hold for 35 minutes, and told finally...that I'd need to send in a written request. After I did that, I got it. But one of the things I pointed out was, if they are so against the "69" why do I see it on plates that ARE NOT personalized? It was similar to a Halloween party I wrote about in Crasher years back. Someone wanted "666" and the DMV wouldn't let them. SO they got 6 SIX 6, which they didn't seem to mind. But, I've seen random plates with 666 RKL, or whatever combos pop up. If the DMV is, again, so against that...well, they shouldn't have them pop up in random plates.— February 26, 2009 9:46 a.m.
Oscar Re-Cap
My girlfriend said to me three days ago "Why do you keep using the word 'pontificate'?" I said, "What? When was the last time I used it?" She responded, "I don't know...about 2 weeks ago." I said, "Well, if idiots stop 'pontificating' about crap, I'll stop using the word." But I agree, the word is sweet. I don't think Penn cares about making money. He truly is about the art. I just think he has his heart in the right place, but his brain always seems to make him do idiotic things (going back to marrying Madonna..who the hell does that?)— February 25, 2009 9:29 p.m.
Greatest Sports Movies Ever
I thought Vision Quest was a tad corny. Yes, Linda was cute. And who could play Modine (the former Chula Vista resident), for sniffing her undies. I never saw InVINCEable, but read a story in Sports Illustrated about how the movie made up facts (like that the kid DID play college football), and they sugar-coated things, like a domestic abuse charge. They wanted the character to be more likable. Dang it...I forgot about Heaven Can Wait. The one with Beatty, not the one before (which was from the 30s, and had a boxer not a football QB), or the lame version with the overrated Chris Rock. And speaking of overrated, Ledgers performance was big-time overrated in that Dark Knight, but it was Oscar worthy, so I have no problem with him winning the award. I seriously need to see Remember the Titans. Everyone raves about it. And, I recently interviewed comedian Tom Dreesen, and that movie inspired him to write the book he has out (regarding his comedy duo with Tim Reid of WKRP fame).— February 25, 2009 9:21 p.m.
Hat Trick
"phat" is slang for something that is great, cool, excellent, etc. i think one of those lame ben stiller movies even joked about the word five years ago. he's trying to relate to a young kid, and when the kid mentions some woman that is "phat", he is confused, not realizing that is a good thing (although, I'm sure most women probably don't even want it used that way, just to be on the safe side).— February 25, 2009 5:20 p.m.