Stop the Subtitles

Posted inAmerica, Columns, TV

Against my better judgment, I turned on TLC the other night. You know, the channel which takes the worst part of American society and glorifies it through reality television.

But the old “even a blind squirrel finds an acorn” adage certainly rang true as I sat down to watch the exploits of five Amish folks headed to the big city in “Breaking Amish.” Then we sat rapt as episode after episode of the show chronicling the lives of the conjoined Hensel twins.

I could not help myself even if I can’t stand what the channel has come to stand for. The little binge doesn’t change my belief that TLC is responsible for most of the bad things in this world. That isn’t 100 percent tied to the Honey Boo Boo show, but the true evil of TLC is represented in that program.

They really need to stop using subtitles when people are speaking English.

Taco Time

Posted inAmerica, Columns, Food

Sometimes I have trouble focusing. I may have an important problem and can’t figure out the proper solution. I might have a number of projects due at the same time. I also might have friends who disparage foods I like and need to focus on setting them straight.

I don’t know how all of these really started. From my best recollection and sleuthing through my online interactions, it seems as if someone I know posted an article which criticized hard tacos. Someone else agreed. That’s where I had to step in.

I could not stand by and let someone say that hard tacos did not really count as tacos. Why would anyone say something like that?

Getting Closer

Posted inAmerica, Columns, Olympics, Sports, TV

Sometimes, a milestone comes and goes with very little notice. That’s what happened a couple of weeks ago when we passed the 100 days mark before the beginning of the Olympic Games this summer.

I saw a brief mention of this news on Twitter or Facebook, but just went about my business. A few days later, I started to realize I should have paid more attention.

One hundred days until I can pretty much fill 24 hours with sports, both popular and obscure. Of course, I can kind of pull that off now with all the cable channels and online options available, but that’s not as much fun as the Olympics.

Best Weekend Ever

Posted inAmerica, Columns, March Madness, St. Patrick's Day

A lot of people have placed an undue focus on 2012 because they think the Mayans predicted the world would end later this year.

We can accomplish very little by sitting and talking about the absurdity of an ancient culture using some stone tablet thousands of years ago to accurately predict the apocalypse. We’d probably be funnier than the skit “Saturday Night Live” did on it a couple of months ago, but that’s not important right now.

What’s important is how this whole doomsday discussion has missed the one truly amazing thing about the 2012 calendar, a special alignment which happens this week.

The first two days of March Madness fall directly prior to St. Patrick’s Day, which falls on a Saturday.

Miracle Anniversary

Posted inAmerica, Hockey
Thirty-two years ago today, a bunch of 20-somethings (and a couple of teenagers) shocked the world. The U.S. Olympic hockey team beat the Soviet Union 4-3 in the greatest sports…

A New Holiday

Posted inAmerica, Columns

Today, we celebrate the women in our lives. Let’s not pretend that Valentine’s Day represents anything else.

That’s not a complaint partially because I don’t have elaborate plans for my wife tonight. We saved all our Valentine’s activities for the weekend.

I also don’t worry about focusing on my sweetheart at this time because I have created my own holiday which takes care of my needs – the day after the Super Bowl.