Nick's Top Soundtracks

I buy a lot of cd’s even in this age of Ipod’s and down loadable music. In my collection I have a number of soundtrack’s. A good soundtrack usually has a good mix of performers that when you plop it into the cd player there is no need to keep skipping tracks to find the one decent song. Good movies can have bad soundtracks and bad movies can have good soundtracks. There is no steadfast rule when it comes to these things. So, with that said I am going to list ten of my favorite soundtracks. This list is in no particular order other then alphabetical.

The Blues Brother’s – What no one seems to realize is just what a great band Dan Akroyd and John Belushi were able to gather. Formed from some of the greatest studio musicians of all time they were what made the Blues Brothers so enjoyable. Belushi himself admitted he wasn’t the greatest singer but with that killer sound behind him no one gave a shit. On top of the Blues Brothers songs you have Ray Charles, James Brown, Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin and John Lee Hooker. I mean what else could anyone ask for.

The Commitment’s – Using soul classics as its template, this soundtrack just works. If you’ve seen the movie then you know the premise. The director instead of hiring actors hired as many Irish and English musicians as he could and plugged them into act. Thus, forming the fictional band the Commitments. The soundtrack is first rate with a great version of The Dark End of The Street and Try and Little Tenderness. Since the first one was so popular a second soundtrack was released. That one is also worth a listen but not in the same league as the original.

The Conehead’s – OK, I know this movie sucked donkey balls. I will not argue that fact. Still, it had a very surprising soundtrack. On it you will find one of my favorite 80’s songs Tainted Love. Then you have a Chili Peppers song that was not released called Soul to Squeeze which actually became a minor hit for them. Paul Simon’s Kodachrome and an REM tune are also on it. Trust me, whenever people look at my CD collection and see the Conehead’s soundtrack I get shit. That is until I play it for them and they realize that it isn’t half bad.

Dazed and Confused – Any soundtrack with Tuesday’s Gone on it can’t be bad. Obviously, all these tunes are from the 70’s. Some were monster hits like School’s Out and some were forgotten tunes like Jim Dandy. All of them have one thing in common, they are enjoyable. A great disc to put into the CD player in your car and drive along to. The music is unpretentious and fun. What is wrong with that?

Garden State – Ever since I picked up this disc, I have been hooked on it. It had a lot of stuff on it that I had not heard of until I bought it. A lot of the music is on the mellow side but it is still quality. It opens with Don’t Panic by Coldplay and that sets an effective mood. My favorite track has to be In the Waiting Line by Zero 7. That lady’s voice just does something to me. A very good soundtrack and a pretty good film as well.

Pulp Fiction – A disc that brought surf music to the forefront. Surf music and Dick Dale have been around since the 60’s. It has always had up’s and downs in popularity and Tarintino used it effectively in the film and on this record. On top of the surf tunes you have Dusty Springfield singing her heart out on Son of a Preacher Man and Urge Overkill doing a killer version of Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon. This is what all soundtracks should sound like.

Repo Man – Repo Man has been one of my favorite soundtracks since the first time I heard it. Punk music was always around but living in suburbia I was stuck listening to REO Speedwagon and Journey a whole lot. Well, thankfully this disc introduced me to a sound that I had not heard before. The Circle Jerk’s, Black Flag, Burning Sensations and Fear all dot this record and create an anthem. I still love this disc and this film.

Reservoir Dogs – Say what you want about Tarintino but he knows how to put a soundtrack together. In this one he used the music of AM radio of the 1970’s with the introduction of Steen Wright before each song to make a record that is quite enjoyable. From the energetic and addictive Little Green Bag to Joe Tex’s I gotcha and of course Stuck in the Middle With You, it is all quite fun and anchors a solid movie.

Rushmore – When Wes Anderson was putting this soundtrack together his first idea was to use just all old Kinks songs. That would have been a good idea but the direction he chose instead was just fine. Mark Motherrsbaough fills one half of the disc with his mellowing sounds and the other half is made up of some great tunes. My favorite is, the Who classic A Quick One While He Is Away. But that is hardly the only quality. Oh La La by the Faces and a great little tune by Cat Stevens, In the Wind are also very good. Trust me this is a damn fine record.

Say Anything – Back in 1989, if you were going on a date to see a movie this was the movie you were going to see. Cameron Crowe obviously has a special place in his heart for certain music. Here he captures the feeling of what was going on at the time. You have Living Colour, Fishbone, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Joe Satrani all on it. Of course this record will always be remembered for bringing Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes, a song released three years earlier to the mainstream’s attention.

America, Wake Up Already

Today I bought my Sun-Times and read it like usual. I got to page 38 and a story appeared that stated how and I don’t want to mis-quote here so I am going to pilfer this right from the story, “The war in Iraq has become a ''cause celebre'' for Islamic extremists, breeding deep resentment of the U.S. that probably will get worse before it gets better, federal intelligence analysts conclude in a report at odds with President Bush's portrayal of a world growing safer.”

It also went on to say that the threat from Islamic extremists has spread in both numbers and regions. There are so many things about this story that enrage me. First is the fact that it was buried on page 38 of the paper. The Sun-Times is considered the Liberal paper in Chicago and if the Liberal paper does not deem this story of more importance then page 38 then we have a serious problem.

But what really gives me the red ass, is that even with more evidence mounting of how bad of an idea this war was, the right still finds a way to defend this and spin it. If Bill Clinton had got us into this, the volume of bitching and moaning coming from the right would have been deafening. But now that it is their guy screwing the pooch all they do is blindly defend him.

Here is a news flash, we are not safer and we are much worse off now based on the actions of this administration. I for one don’t give two shits about partisan politics and all that other bullshit. The safety and security of our country is more important then every other issue put together. Bush played politics and got us into a war with Iraq based on real bad intelligence. He has created a lot more enemies of the United States by his actions. They all ready hated us so we go and put fuel on that fire.

All I hear is that Saddam was a dictator and gassed his own people. While I don’t doubt that and I of course think the guy was evil, I have to ask, how many innocent people did he kill and how many innocent people have we killed? Our hands are just as bloody. To say we are killing for a reason that is somehow noble, does not make much of a difference to someone who has lost a loved one over there.

Say what you want but facts are facts. To simply say well, we have not been attacked since 9/11 so, his policies are working is faulty logic. When a report comes out that lays it all out in plain English well then, I’m sorry that is the end of the bullshit and excuses. Sometimes when I think about all of this my head just wants to explode. How a political party has duped millions into believing that they are the party that will keep us safer from terrorists when facts are out there that show that it is just the opposite, just amazes me.

The Republicans are about selling fear and mis-information. By their logic, if they put so much out there and keep hammering home bullshit that eventually it will turn into fact. Sadly this strategy seems to be working because they keep winning elections. They use hot button issues like immigration, gay marriage, or abortion to divert the public’s attention over what is really going on.

I wish my party the Democrats knew how to take advantage of this but they don’t seem to. Everything I read says that in November we are going to win back the Senate and the House. Well, everything I read in September of 2004 was how Kerry was going to steamroll Bush in November and we all know how that turned out. But as long as the Liberal media keeps burying stories like this one and we all keep reading about Tom Cruise’s baby nothing is going to change.

Name That Moive

Can you name the movie these quotes came from, the actor who said them and thier charecters name? No cheating. Some of these are very easy some a little more difficult, but these are all movies that I enjoy. I will post the answers in the comments section tomorrow.

1. They took the bar, the whole fucking bar.

2. Guess you broke into the wrong God dammed Rec room, didn’t ya.

3. Wang, what’s with the pictures it’s a Parking Lot.

4. I’m both, I am a celebrity in an Emergency.

5. In this day and age, I can’t believe this, a Jew broad. Prejudiced against Italians.

6. What you are hired for is to help us, does that seem clear to you, to help us, not to fuck us up.

7. John Wayne was a fag.

8. Do me a favor. Just kick my ass. Kick this ass for a man, that’s all. Kick my ass. Enjoy, come on. I’m not asking, I’m telling you this, just kick my ass.

9. You take the blonde, I’ll take the one in the turban.

10. Real tomato ketchup, Eddie?

11. Damn, that Night Train is a mean wine.

12. But, she said she did all the work.

13. Really, I live in Queens, did you put that one together yourself Einstein? Got a team of monkeys working around the clock on this one?

14. I’ll bet you’re the kind of guy that would fuck a person in the ass and not even have the god dammed courtesy to give him a reach around.

15. I don’t think you should be digging in your ass.

16. Oh and next Friday is Hawaiian shirt day….So, you know if you want to you can go ahead and wear a Hawaiian shirt and jeans.

17. Aww, come on guys it’s so simple. Maybe you need a refresher course. It’s all ball bearings nowadays.

18. I don’t know how to put this but I’m kind of a big deal.

19. Relax alright, my Dad’s a television repair man, he’s got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix this.

20. You and that other dummy better start getting more involved in your work, or I’m going to stab you through the heart with a fuckin’ pencil.

Nick's '07 Cubs

Mercifully there is a little more then a week to go in this Cubs season. This has been one of the worst summers in my memory of being a Cub fan, which is saying something as I have seen some bad Cub teams. I didn’t have high hopes to begin with and they did not disappoint. What a complete and utter disaster 2006 has been. Last year I posted a blog about how it was going to be a long winter being a Cub fan and posted what I would do if I were GM. If you look back to that post I wanted the Cubs to keep Nomar, (currently hitting .300) sign Johnny Damon (currently hitting .293 with 22 homers) and sign Matt Morris (10 -14 with a 4.79 ERA)

So, maybe the Morris signing would have been bad but my other moves would sure look good now. So, since I had a better winter then Jim Hendry, I will again try to play GM and look at how to improve the Cubs for 2007.

Let’s look at the positives. I like Lee, Barrett, Murton and Theriot. I would bring all of them back next year. Ramirez can opt out of his contract if he wants. I don’t want him to go but all indications are that he will at least explore free agency. See if you can work with him and keep him here. My gut tells me, we will so that means we are set at first, second, third, left field, and catcher.

The Cubs can not start ’07 with Izturis or Cedeno at short. Cedeno is greener then Kermit the Frog and I don’t see him ever learning the strike zone. Plus his glove has been erratic. Send him down to Iowa. Izturis is a great glove but can’t hit a lick. There are limited free agents this winter at short so, we may have to look at a trade. The one decent free agent out there is Julio Lugo. Lugo is currently with LA and is a nice hitter. He doesn’t draw a ton of walks but he doesn’t strike out a lot either. Plus he has some pop and is a good glove.

Center Field is a huge question mark. Juan Pierre has quietly put together a real nice second half. I can live with bringing him back for the right price. However, I have a better idea. Why not sign Gary Matthews Jr.? Now, I know he is having a career year and I don’t expect him to duplicate what he is doing. Still, he is an OBP machine and is the best defensive center fielder in baseball. You can probably have him for a two or three year deal and it wouldn’t break the bank.

Right Field can not be manned by Jacque Jones again. Now, Jones has had a decent season. However, his overall lack of fundamentals and defensive shortcomings are reason enough for me to see about trading him. The Cubs will have to eat some of that salary but hey they can afford it and that is the price you pay for a bad signing. I don’t care who we get back just unload this guy. For who we sign I have an idea. It will only be a year or two fix but it is intriguing. I say we go out and sign Gary Sheffield. Everyone is up for bringing in Carlos Lee, but it will cost a ton and he will want a five to six year deal. I don’t want to commit myself to him for that long. Sheffield has a couple of good years left and is looking for like a two year deal. Let’s give him two year deal with a mutual option for like 10 million. I bet he signs it.

As for the rotation well, it is in shambles. Zambrano is an ace and he will no doubt be back next year. Rich Hill has won me over. This guy looks like the real deal. I want to believe Mark Prior comes back next spring healthy. I can’t count on it but sadly we have no choice. So that leaves two spots open in the rotation. Sean Marshall, and Juan Mateo have shown flashes but both could use another year at Iowa. For one opening why not bring back Maddux? He loves Chicago and if you use him right he can still be effective. It won’t cost a ton either. For the other spot I go out and sign Barry Zito. Now, this will take some money but Zito in the National league will be a killer. Since we are not really over paying anywhere else let’s spend some of the Trib profits on this guy.

The bullpen has some nice arms but some holes. I for one don’t feel you can go into 2007 with Dempster as your closer. Still he will be back and I can live with him as a long reliever or setup guy to go with Eyre and Howry. I also think Marmol and Wuertz, and Ohman are fine. With that said we need a ninth inning guy. We may have to think outside the box on this one. Kerry Wood is one possibility. Sign him to an incentive laden contract and see what he can do. Another idea is Keith Foulke. He has been hurt the last two years but if he is healthy next spring he could be back to where he was. Francisco Cordero is also out there and he has been pretty good since being dealt to Milwaukee. Still he might want a lot of money so, I am leaning towards bringing back Wood or taking a risk with Foulke. Due some due diligence and see which one is healthier. Novoa is a bum and I can live the rest of my life without ever seeing him again. Glendon Rusch is also under contract but there is no way you bring him back. Just eat his salary and move on.

So with my moves the 2007 Cubs would look like this. The lineup would be:

1. Matthews CF
2. Murton LF
3. Lee 1B
4. Sheffield RF
5. Ramirez 3B
6. Barrett C
7. Theriot 2B
8. Lugo SS

With a rotation of:

1. Zambrano
2. Zito
3. Maddux
4. Hill
5. Prior

On your bench you bring back Blanco to backup Barrett. Izturis is under contract so turn him into a utility infielder which is what he basically is. Angel Pagan is a nice outfielder to have on the bench as well. So that leaves in my mind two bench spots. Eduardo Perez is a free agent who can play the OF and first base and is a nice right handed power bat off the bench. For the last spot I like this Scott Moore kid they brought up. He can play both corner infield positions and is left handed.

As for the pitching staff, besides the five starters I mentioned, my bullpen would consist of, Howry, Eyre, Dempster, Wuertz, Ohman, Marmol, and either Wood or Foulke. Not a great staff but one that would give you a chance. Let’s see what Hendry and company does. I sure hope he has a better off season then he did in ‘06.

Goodbye Summer

Another summer is ending and the fall season becomes official today. It seems like this one flew by but then again it always seems as if summer flies by. I have been to a record number of weddings this year. Being a Cub fan this baseball season was about as fun as an Irish facial. I did a little golfing and further realized that I really need to take some lessons if I am ever going to improve. I celebrated my birthday and hunkered down and got integrated into my new job.

So, basically it was a rather boring summer, unlike last year when we went to both New York and San Francisco. But with both myself and Joyce starting new jobs our summer vacation plans hit a little snag. We are going to Vegas in December and I really want to make plans early for next year so that Joyce and I can go somewhere. We are talking about either a Grand Canyon or Seattle trip next summer.

I have often stated how the fall is my favorite season and it really is. I am not one of those people who lament the summers passing. I look forward to cooler weather, windbreakers and raking leaves. I am looking forward to Halloween parties (I already got my costume) and Thanksgiving. Since I no longer work at a bank this will be the first year where I get the day after Thanksgiving off since 1997.

Other then Halloween October should be busy for me. I have a bachelor party and yet one last wedding to attend. November promises to be busy as well, as I have my anniversary, and the Thanksgiving madness. Obviously December will be nuts with Christmas and the Vegas trip so, there will be no shortage of things going on to look forward to.

I guess being busy is a good thing. I mean it is nice that I have a large contingent of friends and family that want to spend time with me. Still sometimes it can get to be a bit much. How Joyce puts up with all my bullshit without much protest is a testament to her. So, I look forward to everything going on this autumn and will enjoy it as much as I can. With winter approaching I know that my social calendar should start slowing down as it always does.

Tales of Praying to the Porcelain God

I don’t vomit much. I pride myself on having a pretty solid stomach. But here is to my best recollection the last five times I’ve regurgitated .

The last time I hurled was after my bachelor party. So this would have been around October of 2003. Since I am not really a strip club guy or anything like that, my friends and I decided to do a 95^th street pub crawl. I proceeded to over-indulge in numerous spirits. I am proud to say that I did in fact make it home. However, I wasn’t home long before the stomach started barking and I was emptying the contents of my stomach in the porcelain bowl. Thankfully, only Joyce was home to see me in such a state.

Previous to that would have been sometime in April of 2000. Rob, Dell and I had decided to go on what we used to call a death march. This would not have been a big deal except that I agreed to drive my Aunt and Uncle to the airport the next morning at 6 AM. We would start out on 79^th and Harlem and hit every bar on 79^th until we made it to Durbin’s. The rule was you have just one beer at each bar. Then we would do a different shot at certain bars. When I was a fresh faced young lad in my 20’s I did this without a problem. I realized that night I was no longer in my twenties. I made it through the night without any problems. I got a ride home and remembered to set my alarm. It went off and I felt like micro-waved shit. I tried to force myself to puke but I couldn’t. I had to leave so, I got in my car telling myself I could make it. I pulled up into my Aunt’s driveway and again tried to force the issue without any luck. So, I knocked on the door and my aunt and uncle piled into my car. We were on our way to Midway when it hit me. I knew I had to make an executive decision or I was going to heave right in the car. So, I made a right turn onto a side street off of Roberts Road. I ignored my Aunt’s asking of where are you going, as I exited the car and spewed right onto the street. I got back in the car humiliated and had to explain my actions of the night before.

Before that, you would have to go back to October of 1998. I was watching Howard and the White Boys at Union Station one night after work. I was there with some co-workers having a good old time. Then a co-worker, Keith decided to start buying shots. That would not have been bad except he chose a very bad and spicy tequila. Since I was feeling pretty good thanks to the number of beers I had I did a couple of shots. The show ended and I caught a train home. On that trek south I started not feeling very good. My goal was to make it to my train stop and ralph there. I soon realized that there was no way I was going to be able to hold off that long. My only option was to hit the linen closet that metra likes to call a bathroom. Needless to say it wasn’t pretty. I exited the train car and realized that half of the people had left their seats and moved to a different car. I guess my wrenching had made some noise. I would actually have to hit that train toilet again and I apologize to the Metra janitor who was working that night because it was not pretty.

The time before that you would have to go back to around March of 1998. I was working at Monsanto in Skokie. A co-worker was having a party in Westmont and invited me. I decided against brining my girlfriend at the time. As much of a bitch as she was, she might have put a lid on my drinking but as I was solo I had no one to apply the brakes. Most of these co-workers were younger then I was at the time and I was only 28. They started playing asshole and for some moronic reason I agreed to play and well I was the asshole which meant I was drinking a lot. I was drinking so much that I did a shot of Goldschlager. That would be a mistake. That drink no matter how little I do, just fucks me up. I was fine for awhile. I eventually decided to leave. At the time I was living in Harwood Heights. I made it home but once I got home I was in trouble. About five minutes after walking in the door, I was in the bathroom losing my lunch. All I remember was my then girlfriend calling me an jag-off as I had woke up her son as I threw-up.

So, that brings up the time I threw up at El Mexicano. This would have been like January of 1996. It was cold out. As a matter of fact it was one of the coldest days of the winter. We watched the Bulls game at Dell’s house and then Rob, Wally, Chris, and I decided to go out for a drink at Durbin’s after the game. The waitress had a thing for Chris I believe so she decided to get us fucked up. She brought us this drink called a mind eraser and she kept bringing them. We eventually left and we were all pretty trashed. We decided it would be a good idea to grab a burrito before the end of the night. So, we went to El Mexicano a now defunct burrito joint on 77^th and Harlem. I ordered a Steak Milanesa. I took one bite of it and excused myself. I went outside and proceeded to puke on top of this mint condition 1979 Brown Ford LTD that was in the parking lot. It was so cold out that the vomit froze to the hood. I went inside and ordered my friends to get their food to go or we were going to get our collective asses kicked. Ah, good times….

Twenty Four and So Much More

Some times you will come face to face with reality and have to admit to yourself that you are getting old. I still like to think of myself as a young person. I like to do a lot of the same things I did when I was in my early twenties. Sure, I don’t hang out with the guys as much as I used to, or consume as much mind altering substances as I once did. Still, on occasion and as much as my wife permits me I do from time to time exhibit behaviors from when I was a young lad.

Well, my wife and I went to check out Moraine Valley the other day when I was off from work for a personal day. So, I hit the campus as classes were in full effect. All I can say is I haven’t ever felt as old as I did walking around the campus. Much had changed since I was a fresh faced teenager and I was gracing the halls of this higher institution. When I went there the classrooms did not have doors. The floors were carpeted and they tried to make the classrooms not feel like classrooms. Now everything is tiled and it looks much more like a real school.

The outside is the same. I was walking in the outdoor area and it was almost like I was transported to 1989. I was with my wife but for a moment I forgot that and was back to being that 19 year old horn dog of a boy who would try to make eye contact with every cute girl who showed even the slightest interest. Then it hit me. Not only am I married to a wonderful lady, but even if I wasn’t these girls are not looking for my fifteen pound over-weight late thirties ass to be the answer to their prayers.

I looked around and realized how different these kids are from the ones that I went to school with here. Every generation is different from the one that preceded it. Just like mine was trying to distance itself as much as possible from the baby boomers, this one is trying to be as different as it can from mine. They all are text messaging their friends and talking about some new song they downloaded on their i-pods. To them a CD is as outdated as LP’s were in my day.

As I walked around hand in hand with my wife, for a brief moment I felt a little sad at having realized that my youth is gone. Those days at Moraine were eons ago and I will never get them back. I am no longer a young college student who had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. With that said it is not all bad.

I lucked out and married above my looks and talent. I have a nice house and landed on my feet career wise. I still have a large group of loyal and lifelong friends that I can always count on. When you look at it I really don’t have much to bitch about. Still, there is a part of me, and I guess most people feel this way, that longs for those times when the world was in front of me. When I had no bills other then car insurance. A time when all I ate was junk food and I didn’t gain an ounce. I could drink till 2 in the morning and my body would recover by the next morning. At the time I didn’t think about any of that because I was an idiotic teenager who thought I had all the answers when in reality I didn’t know shit about shit.

So, now as I look in the mirror someone who is older and wiser looks back. Now when I get together with my friends it takes checking a calendar weeks in advance and making sure no one has anything else going on. I guess most adults have these same issues and I sound about as old as Methuselah when I complain about this. In reality I am only thirty seven and I look to the future and it looks pretty damn bright to me. Therefore, I am going to try as best as I can to embrace the future and my impending mid-life crisis. So if you so me after I go out a buy a 78 Camaro please don’t laugh at me. Have a heart and I will promise to try and make my fourth decade on this earth as pleasant as I can for myself and those around me.

Five Years Ago

Everyone remembers where they were when they heard about the airplane flying into the WTC on Tuesday morning September 11^th. I was on my train. It was a normal morning. I got up walked to the train station at Chicago Ridge and boarded the 7:45 AM train to downtown Chicago. I took my seat upstairs like I did every day and started reading the paper.

About halfway into my trek downtown, a woman who I saw every morning was listening to the radio via her headphones like she did almost every other train ride in. On Metra even though there is no official assigned seating you tend to sit in the same place every day. You will usually see the same people there morning after morning. So, you politely smile hello when you see them or sometimes engage in polite conversation with your Metra co-riders.

So, it was with this lady who broke the news to me. I saw her every morning and would politely smile hello to her when I got on the train. Well, as we were approaching downtown she took off her headphones and told me very quietly that she just heard on the radio that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center in New York. I was in shock. A million thoughts went through my head. Was it a terrorist plot? Maybe a plane was having equipment problems and the pilot lost control of the plane and it just happened to hit the WTC? I wanted to believe that as it would be much easer to accept.

As we got into the train station, people starting talking. No one had real facts yet. I flew off the train and wanted to get to my desk and put on my clock radio to hear just what the hell was going on. Downtown Chicago at that point was still normal. Not everyone had heard what happened. I remember it was a beautiful late summer day in the loop. So, I walked to my office which was at 311 W. Monroe. I worked a block and half from the Sears Tower and all I thought about was what if that had gotten hit.

I got to my desk and turned on the radio. I put on WCKG home of the Howard Stern show. I couldn’t get AM in my office in the loop so I was stuck with the FM band. Since Stern’s show is based in New York, his show actually had a ton of information. I heard that yet another plane had struck the other tower and that a third plane had struck the Pentagon. It could no longer be ignored America was under attack.

At some point that morning the CEO of Harris Bank told everyone to just go home. My boss, Susana needed someone to go to our DR site in case of a disaster. It was located in Lombard. I was just happy to get out of downtown Chicago. As I was leaving I heard yet another plane had crashed landed outside of Pittsburgh. For my own safety I just wanted to get away as far from the Sears Tower as possible. I hopped on the first train back home and it was packed.

It was surreal. Everyone was talking and rumors were out of control. No one had any idea what was going on and everyone just kind of bonded on that train. I sat with my friend Chuck and we just wanted to get home. I got off the train and walked back to my apartment. On my way there, a man was outside and asked if I just got back from the loop. We talked and bothof us could not believe what was going on. I eventually got in my car and headed over to Lombard. On my way there, my boss called me and told me not to worry, that the DR site was fully staffed and I didn’t need to go anymore.

As a pure coincidence I had already booked a trip to Vegas that I was planning to take with friends and family for two weeks later. My tickets were at a travel agent in Oakbrook. So, I called them on the phone and asked if they were open. They were and I went and picked up my plane tickets for Vegas. It was surreal. I wasn’t even sure if air travel would be allowed by then, but still I was picking up my tickets.

I got home and watched some news. I talked to most of my love ones that day. I felt that all of our lives had been changed forever. The next day I went to work and it was almost business as usual. I had a meeting about some e-mail conversion. I sat there thinking how pointless this all was. I mean who cares about some stupid notes databases. People had died yesterday because they happened to work in a certain building in New York. I guess life must go on but it all just seemed so cold.

Five years later I was on that same train this morning. I read in the paper all the tributes and all the Bush and Cheney rhetoric. Life has gotten back to a somewhat normalcy. Sure it is now a pain in the ass to board a plane and security in the loop is a little tighter but my life is pretty much as normal as it was on September 10, 2001. I have had two different jobs since then and have gotten married. I have moved twice and bought a house. My life has gone on.

I wasn’t personally affected on that day. I didn’t personally know anyone who died. I was lucky and a lot of people who lost loved ones were not so fortunate. I remember going to New York last summer and looking out onto Ground Zero and wanting to cry. I hate showing my emotions. It takes a lot to move me. Here I was with friends and my wife and I had to walk away before I completely lost it in front of them. As I was walking away, I saw another tourist taking a picture of the hole in the ground. All I could think was in a photo album full of smiles and good times on your vacation why would you want to look at a picture where thousands of Americans died? It just seemed so disrespectful.

Some Netflix Reviews

Here is a two second review of the last five movies I have rented from Netflix.

Thumbsucker – I liked this one. A quirky little movie about a teenage boy who still sucks his thumb. It also reminded me that Vincent D’Nofrio can still be good when he wants to be. Give it whirl if you like different films that don't have a point A to point B plot.

City Of Ghosts – I rented this because it was Matt Dillon’s directorial debut. (I think I have a heterosexual crush of Mr. Dillon.) Anyway, this movie sucked. It was all over the place and was going in ten different directions. A good cast could not save this turkey.

Waiting – A comedy that was not funny. It had it’s moments but overall was a big miss. It tried way to hard and as much material as there is working in a corporate food hell hole, it didn’t really use it properly. Also, there is a running gag in which the men show each other their dongs which is simply not funny.

A History of Violence – Now here was a good movie. I am a fan of David Cronenberg, so I was looking forward to this one for awhile. I was not disappointed. Character driven film with a story that is just the filler for the performances. A big, huge recommendation.

Saw II – A horror movie staring a guy who used to be in New Kids on the Block. I think I said it all right there. I liked the original Saw, but this one was not really that good. Still, if you like a cheap horror movie then there are a lot worse out there.

The Big Easy

I takes a lot to move a cynical old curmudgeon like me. But Spike Lee’s four part documentary about Katrina did just that. Please I ask anyone who has HBO no matter your opinion of the who did what blame game just watch it. I personally blame this mess on everyone from Bush to Nagin and all the politicians in between.

My favorite quote and I am paraphrasing because I can’t remember verbatim what this one man said went something like this. “It scares me to live in a country where we have so many facts and so much information out there about just what our President did and yet you still have people who will defend this guy.” That is exactly how I feel. When Billy boy was in office, I had a love-hate relationship with him. He did some good things but boy he screwed the pooch on some others.

What shakes me and scares me to my core is the amount of passion some of these right wing whack jobs share when it comes to defending the continued blundering of their leader. Maybe they can not admit that they are ever wrong about something. I mean no one likes to admit that. But, how anyone can defend Bush, first appointing that incompetent under qualified crony to the head of FEMA, and then, waiting nearly five days after the hurricane hit to get off his ass and head down there is beyond my grasp.

I don’t want this to turn into a Bush is a moron rant because that misses the point. America in every form failed these people. When it was time to bring out our best, sadly it brought out are worst. From the idiots re-building the levees exactly like they were pre-Katrina to the heartless insurance companies who are not living up to their policies, this is a tragedy.

I’ve only been to New Orleans once but let me tell you I loved it. I went in my mid-twenties and had a ball. The sin and debauchery were like nothing I had ever seen. Here it was mid-June on a Tuesday and people were living it up and having a good old time. That is town that likes to have fun and isn’t ashamed of it. I for one hope beyond hope that we re-build the Big Easy the right way and make it what it once was. Because to lose that is to lose things I hold to be an American dear.