Posts Tagged ‘rant’
Tip: Don’t Torture Your Kids On YouTube
In general, if you’re going to do something stupid to your children, don’t do it in public. Today’s tip is don’t torture your kids on YouTube. Especially if you don’t want to criticized, like the dopey dad who posted the viral video “I don’t want to turn black”.
If you haven’t seen it, you’re lucky. If you’re curious, here’s the gist. Read more »
Game Changing Gadgets That Aren’t [Opinions] – UPDATED
This list of “10 game-changing gadgets” from a panel of tech journalists (via ZDNet) is amusingly stupid. Let’s go through them one by one. (Note: this is more of an opinion piece than a rant. But I like my DaddyTips Rant graphic. And I do rant a little bit.)
UPDATED 6/27/11: see below for an update on the OnLive Game System, which can be used on an iPad and may include a controller. That could actually be a significant product if anybody notices enough to use it.
Little Bit Of Money Saves Lots of Lives
With all the talk about budget cuts and wasteful spending, there are many cases where spending a little bit of money can save a lot of lives.
From the New York Times: Read more »
Is Ke$ha Lying About Not Knowing Who Her Father Is?
Ke$ha annoys me for several reasons. Guess what? I’ve found another one. According to published reports, Ke$ha may be lying about not knowing who her father is.
Ke$ha is one of the pop stars that make me glad I don’t have daughters. I’m not a fan of her music (and I use the term loosely), and I find her image inappropriate. Do I sound like a cranky old man? Sure. But (a) I sort of am (cranky, although not THAT old yet) and (b) I’m right. Her song (again, using the term loosely) “Tik Tok” begins with her explaining that she “brushes her teeth with a bottle of Jack.” As in Daniels. Charming.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP6XpLQM2Cs&ob=av3el]
Anyway, to the matter at hand. According to the blog Allie Is Wired, Ke$ha told Rolling Stone magazine that she doesn’t know who her father is. She says that her mother “went through the necessary ways of having a child” and “didn’t want a man telling her what and what not to do. She just wanted a baby. It’s an interesting topic of conversation to other people more so than it is to myself. I don’t obsess about it.”
It could be that Ke$ha’s doesn’t obsess about not knowing who her father is because it isn’t true. (Note: this is all according to published reports, but they are from sources that most people consider reliable in terms of celebrity news.) Star Magazine interviewed Bob Chamberlain, who claims that he is spelling challenged pop tart’s father, and that both she and her mom are quite aware of his identity. Chamberlain tells Star: “I was in her life from the time she was born until she was 19 years old… [then] The contact ended, and I have no idea why.” The articles describes the dad as “devastated” by the whole she-bang, and quotes him thusly: “Maybe someone around her thought it would be better to perpetuate those myths; I don’t know.”
Gee, ya think? A manufactured image is one thing. I’m not a fan of that sort of thing, but I get it. For example, the “Avril Lavigne is a punk rocker” routine was a big pile of poop from the first time it was mentioned. Annoying, but whatever. But why would someone tell Ke$ha to pretend that she doesn’t know who her father is? Is that supposed to make her seem “edgier”, like brushing her teeth with Jack Daniels thing? Whatever the reason, it’s stupid.
Here’s an idea. Write and record good songs. Then you won’t have to worry so much about your image.
Ke$ha’s Father… Denied! | Allie is Wired.
Female Sports Reporters Get Treated Like Crap
Today’s lesson for the boys — women should be treated with respect. For example, female sports reporters get treated like crap. They shouldn’t be.
ESPN’s Rod Franklin was “pulled off ESPN’s Saturday Fiesta Bowl radio broadcast by ESPN executives” according to Sports By Brooks. What did he do? He called reporter Jeanine Edwards “sweetcakes”. When Edwards, who is female, said “don’t call me sweetcakes, I don’t like being talked to like that,” Franklin replied, “okay then, a–hole.”
What a charmer.
I don’t watch college football much, and I hadn’t heard of Jeanine Edwards. So I Googled her. Admittedly, I did it to see what she looks like. Because I’m a guy. Here’s the first video that pops up, Billy Clyde Gillispie tells Jeanine Edwards she asked a dumb question.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrXeBAoF3sM]
Nice, right? I’m sure Gillispie would have said that to a male reporter.
Through the wonders of YouTube Suggestions, up pops Bruce Pearl feels up Erin Andrews.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsGCItJ7q4I]
Again, I’m SURE this would have happened if Pearl were being interviewed by Stuart Scott.
Those are both clips from ESPN. This next little gem is courtesy of a fan with a cell phone camera. Here is Rey Maualuga grinding on Hotty Erin Andrews.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdDGYsYXHKc]
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Look at that. Are you serious? Was Rey Maualuga raised by wolves?
Unfortunately, probably not. A lot of guys seem unaware that there is a behavior line that shouldn’t be crossed; “they just don’t get it”, to bring back a popular phrase from the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas days. Jezebel points out that Ron Franklin has made similar comments in the past. And look at what happened with Ines Sainz and the Jets earlier this year. I can guarantee you that very few of the players and coaches who were involved in hooting, hollering, and trying to get a better look at her ass think that they did anything wrong. They all need to learn what Bill Clinton never could — that “harass” is one word.
Obviously I’m not immune to looking at women. This post started because I wondered if Jeanine Edwards was hot. The difference is that I’m a guy with a laptop Googling someone’s name. I’m not putting my hands on a woman. Or sneaking up behind her like a serial killer. Or even referring to her as “sweetcakes”, followed by “a-hole” when she tells me to cut it out.
Women are allowed to be hot, and to get jobs that based in part on their hotness. Erin Andrews is a perfect example. Not that she’s not a good reporter; I have no idea if she is or isn’t. I do know that she’s way hot. Which is why someone creep made a video of her showering, which led to her appearance on Dancing With The Stars. If she looked like Ernest Borgnine, would either of those things have happened? It’s OK for her to want to be looked at, and it’s OK for me to look at her. It is not OK for her to be spoken to in a rude manner based solely upon her being female. It is even more not OK for her to be touched, fondled, or be subjected to backdoor grinding, especially when she’s trying to do her job.
In case this seems like a double standard, here are some visual aids.
This video is tacky (and a tiny bit amusing). It is the work of an anonymous person with minimal video/photo editing skills. It is certainly in poor taste but doesn’t really hurt anyone.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEI9k_oxtZo]
This video is of a gigantic guy physically imposing himself on a woman who is doing her job. It’s ridiculous behavior.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdDGYsYXHKc]
Do I want my kids to be making videos celebrating Erin Andrews’ posterior? I would hope that they would be more creative and have better things to do. I wouldn’t care if they watched it, however. (When they’re older.) But if they thought it was acceptable to speak to a woman with disdain due to her gender? Or worse, put their hands on her, or sneak up behind her and make grinding motions because they think she’s hot?
Here’s a tip. Make sure your boys know that it’s one thing to be Beavis with your buddies. It’s another to be a Butthead in public. Make sure they know how to treat women with respect.
Original Tron Not Available on DVD?
How is the original Tron not available on DVD? Seriously, how is this possible?
Amazon has used copies going for over a hundred dollars. Or there’s the VHS version — for 40 bucks.
Are you kidding me?
Tron Legacy opens on December 17. Me and the boys are excited to see it. As a completist type of dad, I want them to see the original Tron before they see Tron Legacy.
So I go on Netflix. They don’t have it. It’s in my “saved queue.” Because the DVD is out of print.
Which is stupid. Because if there were ever a time you could sell a boatload of those things, it’s before the sequel hits theaters.
But noooo. No DVD. No streaming. No on-demand. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
Grrrr.
Here’s the original Tron trailer from 1982. That’ll have to do, I suppose.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3efV2wqEjEY]
Not Having Kids Led To Murder [Laughing Instead of Crying]
CNN is reporting that “Fertility issues were at the center of former TV chef Juan-Carlos Cruz’s motivation in the alleged murder-for-hire plot to kill his wife“. In other words, not having kids led to murder.
See, I always thought it was the other way around.
This isn’t a funny story, of course, and that joke was in poor taste. But whatever. Let’s think about this for a minute.
I admit that I can’t completely relate to people who are desperate to have children and are unable to do so. I have two kids, and no fertility treatments were involved. Part of me doesn’t get the idea of fertility treatments — some people go through a lot in order to have a child themselves rather than, say, adopting, or just not having kids. But in the interest of trying to be an enlightened live and let live kind of guy (ha ha) I’m willing to accept the idea that there are feeling I can’t comprehend because I’ve never been in the same situation.
That said, the idea that not being able to have a child would drive a man to hire someone to kill his wife seems far-fetched. It was SO IMPORTANT to have kids? Again, why not adopt? How long are you going to try? Ever heard of Kate Gosselin? She did some sort of procedure and ended up with six more kids. SIX. KIDS. The Octo-mom? Hello? Even twins seems like a lot to me.
Hell, one kid is a lot. Maybe, before desperately trying every fertility treatment in town, potential parents should spend some time with a large family. Preferably one with very young children. Who don’t sleep. And talk. A lot. Maybe one of the kids is a biter. Another one wets the bed. Nightly. Still another likes to flush things, like mom’s shoes, down the toilet. At least once a week.
Maybe then they would see that having kids? Not the only way to go through life.
Now, a disclaimer of sorts. I love my children. I wanted to have them. They are cute, they are annoying, blah blah blah. But in the same way that it shouldn’t matter if a woman in public life has kids, and that we should stop referring to single women as unmarried as if being married is a goal for a woman, it would be nice if people would stop thinking about children as something that they need. You aren’t “childless.” You just don’t have kids. Or maybe whether or not you have children is even an issue.
I personally don’t even like to ask people if they plan on having kids. Which I guess is a good thing, since, according to CNN, not having kids can lead to murder.
Sources: Inability to have child behind TV chef’s murder scheme – CNN.com
Does It Matter If A Woman In Public Life Has Kids? – Jezebel
All the Single Ladies – Maureen Dowd, New York Times
Jon and Kate Plus 8 DVD Image via Amazon.com
