- As I was driving DaughterGeeding to school yesterday morning we stopped at a light and she noticed the sun was about to come up. This was going to be the first sunrise for her to witness, but then a garbage truck pulled up in the next lane blocking her view, and a little later the light changed, and she missed the whole thing. Such is life, kid.
- “Francis became the fourth head of the Catholic Church to visit the United States, nearly 50 years after Paul VI made the first visit by a pontiff to the country in October 1965.” CNN – I thought a pope would have visited the U.S. much earlier.
- Even during the regular season, my neighbor that starts as an offensive lineman for our local NFL franchise mows his lawn shirtless, as I witnessed yesterday. As tall as he is, he has to hunch over a bit to grab the handles, and I wonder if it’s a bit more uncomfortable for him to mow than his half-Asian blogging neighbor.
- I like the idea of the Cowboys getting Matt Cassel, and as my good friend Bone stated, it should have been done weeks ago as we both never had confidence in Weeden.
- Dallas Observer – 10 Most Devastating Sports Injuries In Dallas History – Though not on this list, when it comes to Cowboys injuries I often think about how snakebit Mike Sherrod was with breaking bones in his leg, “In 1987 he came into training camp as the Cowboys best wide receiver, but was lost for the year when he was tripped by a defender during a scrimmage and shattered two bones (the tibia and fibula) in his right leg. He also missed the 1988 season, when he re-fractured his right leg tibia and also the shin bone, while jogging on a Santa Monica beach as part of his rehab treatment.” But his career did have a silver lining as he was part of a Super Bowl winning team with the 49’ers.
- You know I’ve been stuck on Eva Cassidy and “Over The Rainbow” as of late. I was planning on stretching that throughout the week and posting another version of the song each day, and then get this . . . on his first official day back, LiberallyLean posts a link to ten versions of the song. This must be some sort of payback for me providing a few Random Thoughts girls. What we might have here is a future Art Briles and Garry Patterson relationship appearing before your eyes. And you know what, he’s the Garry Patterson in this relationship. Yeah, I went there.
- Rediscovery Eva Cassidy and listening to some other music that has moved me lately got me to thinking of making a playlist of songs that meant the most to me. At my funeral (or if we’re being trendy, my Celebration of Life) copies of the songs would be provided those in attendance as they leave, and every time they hear one of those songs, I hope they think of a good memory of me. It would be cool if those listening to them would understand why I chose each song, and I think they would be best listened to during a long solo roadtrip. Yes, there would be U2 songs, but not as many as you would think. And if I outlive my friend Jimi, a Rod Stewart song would be included. He often tells me, “Keith, if I ever just won’t die, just play some Rod Stewart.”
- An I35 icon is no more, but now has a great home – The neon Big Tex sign outside Centennial Liquor on I-35 in Dallas has been sold…to the State Fair of Texas. And as of yesterday he is no longer beckoning thirsty shoppers to come in and buy some hooch.
- Gene Simmons is opening one of his chain restaurants, Rock & Brews, in The Colony. he’s also trying to partner the restaurant with Southwest Airlines, “The restaurant company hopes to persuade Southwest chief executive Gary Kelly to adapt the Southwest app to allow fliers to order food from Rock & Brews to be picked up either before boarding or while taxiing to the gate.“
- GIF – Why will robots rule the world? Because they don’t play by the rules.
- I’ve been on a Jell-O kick as of late, and every time I purchase a few boxes, the cashier asks what am I making. I feel like a smart-arse saying I’m just making Jell-O, but it’s the truth. I’m addicted to the apricot flavor of all things, and oddly, I’ve never tried an actual apricot.
- Allison Williams, the daughter of former NBC Nightly News host, Brian Williams, as recently married and the ceremony was officiated by Tom Hanks.
- Count the red flags in the first sentence of this news story – “Jane said she lost her virginity to her pastor on her father’s grave when she was just 9 years old.”
- Found this on Reddit, and it sounds like the inspriration for the movie Taken – “The policeman discovered that the child in the back of the van, tied up, gagged with tape and stuffed head-first into a sleeping bag was his daughter.” – Wikipedia
- The Muppets have been doing a grand job of promoting their new show. It’s a mix of ‘The Office’, ‘The Larry Sanders Show’, and Shrek. I used Shrek because it’s aimed at kids, but there’s many adult references that’s a bit mature which goes over the kids’ heads. I loved last night’s show, and had more literal LOL moments than I’ve had in a long time watching television.
- I did notice a bit of cross promotion. Tom Bergeron was on the show and ‘Dancing with the Stars’ was airing later that night. Also, Elizabeth Banks was on the show, who was in and directed Pitch Perfect 2, which happened to be the movie where Kermit and Miss Piggie broke up, and the DVD went on sale yesterday.
- I also caught the new CBS show ‘Life in Pieces’ which was funny and clever. It’s a bit like ‘Modern Family’ as it’s the story of several families and no laugh track, but it’s not done in a documentary format. What’s unique is that’s each family has a unique story, and then it’s kind of tied together at the end.
- Colbert seemed a bit too easy going, too jovial, with Trump last night. I was surprised that Trump didn’t wear his American flag lapel pin.
- DallasNews.com – Garth Brooks riding the Texas Giant at Six Flags with an “I’m a Pepper” shirt.
- BBC – Why The U.S. Hides 700 Million Barrels of Oil Underground – I’m sure most of us know why, but this provides some background and detail.
- Just a picture of Geraldo Rivera and Charles Manson.
- Supposedly the Minnesota Vikings unofficial mascot was seeking a contract that would pay him $20,000 per game for the next decade.
Senator Ted Cruz’s Colbert Interview
Only a portion of this interview is online, but there’s a lot to take in.
Fallon, a great host in his own right, is a real buddy-buddy kind of guy, and you aren’t going to get any substantive questions or responses to answers from him. However, Colbert is great at interviews with these non-entertainers and engages with them respectfully and earnestly.
The drawback of being a talk show host is the crowd, and I’ve seen it with all three presidential candidates he’s had on the show. His crowd only knows him from his old show in which he was a caricatured version of a political conservative pundit, so there’s some carry-over. The crowd is young, enthusiastic, and loud, which distracts from the interviews, especially when you only have like five to seven minutes with a guest. But you have to hand it to Colbert when the boos started, he shut that down quickly, and did it tactfully.
In this segment, they talk about how Reagan might be perceived today, constitutional interpretation, and how it applies to state rights and gay marriage.
Nice Cover and Mashup of Taylor Swift Songs
The Eva Cassidy Story – on ABC Nightline
This segment of Eva Cassidy aired way back in May 2001. Per Wikipedia, “The Nightline episode has since been rebroadcast three times due to popular demand. Producer Leroy Sievers has said that it is “probably the most popular Nightline ever“.
She was like one of those great painters whose work wasn’t appreciated until after their death, never knowing how much their art and talent, and themselves, would be loved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXU219b3Zdw