The Big Short

[VIDEO] The clip above shows Dr. Burry being confronted by one of his investors for going against the mortgage market. An example of what you would see in The Big Short.

I saw this film recently at River East and it's a serious movie about the mortgage crisis. A number of individuals in this movie portrayed by actors Christian Bale, Steve Carell, and Ryan Gosling had the foresight to bet against the subprime mortgage market.

There are some hilarious aspects of the movie to explain the mumbo jumbo explained during the course of the movie. Many of us likely won't understand the Wall Street language as far as this mortgages it needs to be put in layman's terms.

Either way we do get the message about how these mortgages have made many of these players wealthy and how far down it went until some of the players on Wall Street began to suffer for their mistakes. Bad terms for these loans and not only the people who took up these loans suffer, also those who either invested in this market or who sold these loans.

As we saw in the movie and in real life about 2008-09 two investment houses eventually closed up shop because of this collapse. Lehman Bros. and Bear Stearns essentially no longer exist.

Now I only wish I had the ability of Dr. Michael Burry who owned his own fund and although not trained or educated in finance knew enough to dig and found a reason to bet against the subprime mortgages. People thought he was nuts but in time figured out he was right and got their rewards to.

Star Trek Beyond trailer

[VIDEO] Right now because it's coming out soon moviegoers are excited about the new Star Wars by JJ Abrams. Next summer is Star Trek Beyond and just in time for the 50th Anniversary of the classic Star Trek series. Not enough given away of Beyond in the trailer but then that's a good thing.

I've often heard that today's previews are giving too much away of the movie their seeking to sell. Either way can't wait to see more in the future.

The fact that the film makers and producers of the current crop of Trek films are making the franchise seem cool by injecting elements of today's pop culture into it is a nice touch. Have little idea how other Trekkies may view this, however.

Newsalert: Universal Pulls Steve Jobs After Box Office Bomb

I saw this film at the show and liked it very much, I'm not really a huge Apple user other than an iPhone or an iPad. However, I must say I've been keen on getting a Macbook at least. It's not necessarily because of these Steve Jobs movies that have come out in recent years.

Either way apparently the public don't like this film as much as I do. Via Newsalert!

Washington Post: A black college closed in 1955, but its fading alumni fight to pass on a legacy

We looked at an HBCU on the brink of potential closure and today another that didn't survive. In this case, this school left behind a significant legacy as far as its history and dwindling alumni:

Storer started as a primary school in 1865, weathering racist attacks because it dared educate African Americans.

It graduated its last class in 1955, six decades ago, but Storer’s dwindling alumni return, year after year. Their descendants who never attended the school keep returning, too, even as the National Park Service, which now owns the campus, is making efforts to highlight Storer’s history.

The alumni and their descendants believe it’s their responsibility to honor those who persevered before them.

“Blacks and whites sacrificed blood, sweat and tears to make things happen,” says David Vollin, a zoning engineer with the District’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.

Born during Reconstruction, Storer survived violence and was the site of other historic moments, including contributing to the birth of the modern civil rights era. And mostly, it created a refuge for young men and women. It’s a source of pride.

White Sox championship history

10 years ago the Sox won it all!

The Chicago White Sox is a charter member of the American League which was founded in 1901. Even then in that year they also won the AL pennant. In researching their championship history it seems they didn't have as many post-season wins as even their crosstown National League rivals Chicago Cubs.

So yes, the Sox have had less post-season than even the historically hapless Cubs. Yes the White Sox has more world series titles having won in 1906, 1917, and most recently in 2005. Unfortunately they haven't had as many pennants since the creation of the world series in 1903.

The Sox won pennants in 1901, 1906, 1917, 1919, 1959, and 2005. 1906 was the year of Chicago's only crosstown series so far. 1919 was the year of the Black Sox scandal which saw members of the Sox were thrown out of baseball for allegedly throwing that year's world series. You may have seen the film Eight Men Out on this subject.

Since the current playoff structure was first created in 1969, the White Sox have won the west division in 1983 & 1993. They have won the central division in 2000, 2005, and 2008. In 2008 they made their playoffs at the same time as the Cubs. The Sox have never won a wild card berth.

2015 marks the 10th anniversary of the White Sox sweep of the then National League pennant champs Houston Astros. It had been 10 years since that amazing victory and was even marked on this blog back them.

Will I ever take Greyhound again?

Nashville, TN Greyhound station

During my time at Morehouse I exclusively took Greyhound to Atlanta. I knew how the ride is supposed to go since it was done so many times. Before finally graduating though the nature of bus travel began to change one of those was for that historic company to shed its seedy image.

I miss the schedule that saw my bus bypass cities such as Nashville,TN on the way down to Atlanta and now it's often a regular stop on the way down to Atlanta. Another change was that at certain points the bus made local stops either outside of Atlanta or outside of Chicago. For example, after leaving Nashville the bus would make stops in Chattanooga, TN; Marrietta, GA; and finally Atlanta.

Once upon a time on Greyhound whether or not you specifically bought a ticket for a particular schedule or departure you could still get a seat on a bus. Or probably more accurately Greyhound officials - drivers or terminal personnel - didn't make a big deal about it if you didn't purchase a ticket for a particular schedule. These days they know how many seats are available on the bus enough to determine whether you can switch your departure at the last minute.

Of course, I see with the 'hound is that now they board people according to their boarding number. Now depending upon who's on duty they may catch that you don't belong on that schedule and decide that you need to change your ticket (and possibly incur a fee). In my recent Greyhound trip, I did this pre-emptively although this was at the last minute and incurred the fee because originally I bought a non-refundable ticket.

While I think it's unfortunate that even though you bought a ticket, you must travel on the the schedule for which you purchased that ticket. At the same time the boarding policy is a nice touch perhaps less possibility of chaos as there had been in the past with boardings.

The only issues I have with Greyhound is that wifi doesn't work in all terminals and on all buses. Most buses at this point have signs indicating they have wifi and the two buses I rode on the way down had either no wifi or it just didn't work for me. Also on one bus the outlets to charge my cell phone didn't work.

What I learned on my way back is that the driver can flick a switch if you let them know for the outlets. Also you'd have to work with the wifi and therefore you can still get on the internet on the bus. The only thing is if you don't stay on the net you'd have to reconnect through the browser from time to time. It works, but a user has to work with it and that goes for at the terminals as well.

One thing I can say for sure is that, it's definitely a good thing that I no longer have to rely on Greyhound. That is at least I don't have to travel back and forth between Atlanta frequently where the bus is the only choice. If bus travel is the future my experience this year will allow me to be much smarter. All the same the 16 hour ride is not something I miss anymore.

Saw "Steve Jobs"

Earlier this week I finally saw Steve Jobs. It's the 2nd biopic of the Apple Computers founder and this new effort was written by Aaron Sorkin who's responsible for A Few Good Men, The West Wing, The American President, etc.

It seems like a much stronger film than Ashton Kutcher's Jobs from 2013. This one had more drama with the anointed John Scully and Jobs' eventual ouster from the company he created. Of course there was the drama of the products launches in addition to his family drama. The film mostly focused on his relationship with ex-girlfriend Chrisann and their daughter Lisa.

It seemed Jobs was more about building the legend at least the legend we know today. The legend who had it somewhat rough during Apple's developing years. Then he became the man who created the iPod, iPhone, iPad and redesigned the Mac as we know it today. In fact it's funny how it seemed the original Macintosh didn't seem to be the most ideal product for that time and now the whole line of desktops and laptops are called Macs.

Both films in their own way addressed Jobs' family drama - in Jobs Lisa was actually living with his new family and ultimately his return to Apple. Sorkin's effort seem to suggest well Jobs had a plan to get Apple back. He had to leave to get Apple back.

Ashton Kutcher was believable in Jobs even looked like him at various points. Michael Fassbender probably had a harder time but was convincing. It would be a tough vote to determine who resembled and acted the part better.

BTW, because of both movies now I must decide if it's worth expanding beyond the iPhone and iPad and get myself a Mac.

99 homes

Finally took the opportunity to see this film recently. Basically it reminds me of Wall Street with Gordon Gecko essentially mentoring a young stock broker only to see them both on the radar of the federal government for insider trading.

Lately I seem to be watching movies that prove to be somewhat depressing. For example I saw the biopic Black Mass of gangster Whitey Bulger - thank goodness he's off the streets although he's still a senior citizen at this point. Another time I saw Sicario which I recently wrote about. Those films involved criminal figures and the things they do to maintain their criminal activities.

On this occasion, we see a film that easily was set during the course of the housing crisis earlier in this decade. Unfortunately someone has to put people out of their homes because of their inability to pay their mortgage or any loans borrowed against their homes. And of course someone is profiting from this and this could make people angry.

One tagline from this film is "don't get emotional about real estate". So we see a guy named Nash (Andrew Garfield) struggling to make ends meet and keep the family home for his mother and son. Ultimately Carver (Michael Shannon) kicks them out only to give Nash a job later and besides he's down on this luck anyway.

Suddenly Nash goes from the go to handyman to doing various jobs which also includes kicking people out of their homes in addition to essentially sabotaging homes so they won't attract interest from rival real estate agents. While Nash finally gets into the groove of his new found career he hasn't lost his conscious and it shows at the end of the movie.

Carver well somehow I like him while also recognizing him as a snake. Another tagline he utters during the film is "America doesn't bail out losers, America bails out winners". He proves a point about how his father worked hard and had very little to show of it other than a major injury which he was unable to get treated because insurance wouldn't cover it. And then noting how Nash worked very hard and lost his family home.

Carver is insensitive, greedy, and definitely unethical but somehow I could connect with him. Just as easily as I could connect with Nash. However, this film is a reminder not only to not get emotional about real estate but to also take care of our financial houses before we see someone like Carver serving us eviction notices.

The need to restore order according to "Sicario"

Saw the movie Sicario on Thursday. It both spooked and depressed me. It wasn't about the body count as much as it was the methods used by law enforcement or the criminal side to combat each other.

An FBI agent (portrayed by Emily Blunt) was assigned to essentially independent contractors to fight a Mexican drug cartel. She had been spooked and depressed by some of their methods. Basically these independent contractors seeks to reassert some form of order to the drug trade that hadn't existed in years.

Then I thought about Chicago with the issues of gun violence. I understand that violence in Mexico makes our violence seem like childsplay. But all the same our city streets are plagued by those who aren't much different than those cartel enforcers.

A few years ago, I attended a neighborhood meeting with a featured guest Chicago police chief Garry McCarthy and one of the questions came up involving these gang's hierarchy. If each of them has a top guy to maintain some type of order would we see the violence we've been seeing in Chicago these days.

McCarthy didn't want to hear that considering that in the past the number of murders in Chicago approached almost 1000/year. So he questioned having a leader like Larry Hoover would truly calm the violence in some parts of Chicago.

In watching Sicario this aspect of city violence came to mind. Do we need people just like those in these criminal groups to restore some form of law & order in the world?

Go Cubs Go

So I hear the Cubs are headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2008. They're going but will they have a wild card spot or could they win the NL center? Time will tell but we're about a week or so away from the end of the baseball season.

On Saturday they lost their game against Pittsburgh but they still had a celebration at their clubhouse at Wrigley Field.

Just think as of this season it will have been 70 years since the Cubs have even won the pennant. I'm hoping for great success in the playoffs this year. Looking forward to following them in the playoffs.

Hulk Hogan

It was in the news in July that Hulk Hogan the wrestling superstar had been recorded using racial slurs. Hogan had been employed by the WWF in recent years however they cut ties to the legend they helped create after this recording had been revealed.

This morning Hogan was interviewed on ABC's Good Morning America pleading for forgiveness. Admitting not only that in his youth the n-word was thrown around like it was nothing, he also noted that this came during a time of great weakness. That is a very low point in his life.

While I don't consider myself a Hogan fan now - although I once was at one point - it's a good thing that now he's attempting to put out his side of the story. He claims to not be a racist and even his daughter has come to his defense. BTW, Hogan directed his comments to a boyfriend of his daughter.

I hate that the WWF (or actually WWE) has effectively removed any reference to Hogan in their history or even their Hall of Fame. That's a shame, although I understand why they did it here's hoping that they can get together in the future and Hogan can take his rightful place as a legend in the WWE universe.

BTW, I still refer to the WWE as the WWF which is the initials I have known from my youth. However the WWF universe doesn't quite have the same right as the WWE universe...or does it???

Personal tech purcahases

Millenium Park, Chicago, IL

It was the question of the day Wednesday at Capitol Fax, and my answer at the end of the night was these lenses I bought for my phone. More specifically olloclip 4 in 1 lens for the iPhone 6. I've been using since purchasing them and they have worked nothing but wonders for me.

Even snapped some shots to my own ig and the ig for The Sixth Ward. What you see above is a shot of a sculpture taken in Millenium Park through a fisheye lens. I only wish I took several shots with the wide-eye lens and then one without any lenses at all.

More recently, I bought a case for the phone that will allow me to fit the lens onto the phone. It's something I hope to carry with me for the foreseeable future until I find a different case that can accommodate the lens.

Vine

How many of you know that I have a Vine account? So far it has been utilized infrequently although there are some interesting 6 second videos seen on there. Especially the last two. All you have to do is upload the app to your phone - it is mostly on iPhone and Android phones. Many have Vine accounts but so far has only either shared other "vines" or never uploaded anything. I may share a widget here in the future although like I saw it has been used infrequently.

"Body Slam" #RIPRoddyPiper

Roddy Piper

One day I had been driving myself crazy thinking about the name of this movie. Body Slam starred "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Sam Fatu and Dirk Benedict who was on the TV series The A-Team. The first two are actual pro wrestlers in fact Piper - who died Friday aged 61 - is a legend in his own right who had been inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame.

One time I had been thinking about wrestling movies and thought of Ready to Rumble and I had even forgotten about the more recent film The Wrestler. Also there had been this film starring Hulk Hogan called No Holds Barred. Most of those films other than Wrestler I'm sure no one takes seriously. No Holds was a bad movie and there are those who might consider the storylines to promote Rumble helped cause the untimely demise of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Regardless the death of the "Hot Rod" as Piper was also called during his legendary career forced me to look up this film. It was something I saw in the early 1990s on one of those cable movie channels either HBO or Showtime. It was something to watch and when you think about it quite cool to see other wrestling legends other than Piper. Nature Boy Ric Flair & Classy Freddie Blassie was also shown in the film even if in cameos.

Well, as a wrestling fan anyway this was certainly a movie to consider watching. It probably told a story about wrestling as they probably only could have in the late 1980s. Wrestler told a much different story about pro wrestling having been released in 2008.

Since it has been years since I have seen that film, it's time to be on the lookout and check it out. It's a great way to remember the legendary Roddy Piper as surely many of his fans are reminiscing about his time in the public spotlight. He wasn't just a wrestling who fans either loved or loved to hate, he was also an actor who made other movies in addition to Body Slam.

When you think about it, it's hard for me to think of any classic matches he had. Probably because I missed them for the most part. He had an angle fighting Hogan's nWo in the 1990s and I vaguely remember his return to the WWE universe not long after Vince McMahon purchased WCW. Perhaps it's also time for me to find some of Piper's greatest moments as a pro wrestler.

May the Hot Rod rest in peace!

"The Late Shift"

[VIDEO] This is one of the opening scenes of The Late Shift. Shown on HBO in 1996 this film was based on a book written by Bill Carter which illustrated the fight for NBC's Tonight Show after Johnny Carson called it quits in 1991.

I liked this movie when it was released but at that point in time I was still a teenager. There was a lot about this movie that went over my head back then but understand it more now than ever. As a matter of fact in recent years we've seen more shifts in late night TV. Jay Leno retired twice, the Tonight Show essentially has gone through three hosts since at least 2009. After Jay, Conan O'Brien and after Jay again Jimmy Fallon with both Conan & Jimmy having hosted Late Night.

As we see in this movie and of course in reality Letterman moved over to CBS to host their Late Show after failing to get his dream job at Tonight. It was fun to see the positioning of both Letterman, Leno and all the players who made their pitches. In terms of what happened since Letterman retired from hosting Late Show.

If I recall correctly at times Comedy Central has shown this film. Now while this story involves two comedians at least, this doesn't strike me as a comedy, more as a drama. Some of what we see aren't meant to be funny although we see the actors who portray these comedians portray their roles adopting each comedians mannerisms. The comedians tell their jokes for the most part and as a result it seems the drama is portrayed by network executives & agents.

BTW, the scene above shows Letterman after a show lamenting how the crowd responded to him. He's definitely hyper even with a message to comedienne Sandra Bernhard that starts this scene off right. It's amusing, but an important part of this drama.

ALSO, this book has a sequel which revolves around "the late shift" that occurred in 2010 again with NBC's Tonight Show. After 7 months hosting NBC's signature late night franchise O'Brien was pushed out in favor of a returning Jay Leno. I'd like to see that adapted into a film in the near future.

#HawksWin Puck Dynasty

I saw the final period of last night's game 6 against the Tampa Bay Lighting. Today we learned that the Black Hawks won the cup on home ice for the first time since their second Stanley Cup victory in 1938.

It was cool to see the cup come home in Chicago. The last two times the cup was won by the Hawks it had been in Philadelphia and Boston respectively.

I never would've thought in years that the Hawks would have a cup dynasty in this decade. Surely Black Hawks fans would've just hoped for at least one in their lifetime, but three in six seasons is just incredible. Been waiting a longtime myself as a fan and it didn't just happen once it happened thrice. We can say dynasty akin to the Bull's dynasty of the 1990s.

Just think that I gave up the last few minutes of Monday Night Raw to see another cup come to Chicago. It's not like anything was missed that I couldn't catch up to later.

Now to the conclusion of the NBA Finals. Two teams who aren't know for championship success with one team - Cleveland Cavaliers  - never having won NBA title facing a team - Golden State Warriors -  who has had that success. And the Warriors are up by a game in that series!

States I've visited

More accurately, states I've either visited or passed through. Will I ever visit all 50 states?

Click above photo so that you can also share a map of all states you've visited or if you wish passed through.

57 nerdy things about the original 6 "Star Trek" movies

From the first Star Trek movie in 1979 to the last film featuring the cast from the original series in 1991 we see a list of trivia from those original series films.

I found this bullet point to be the funniest one. It involved a certain computer seen in 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - yes the one with the whales...

31. Hello computer?!? The Apple Mac wasn't supposed to be in the factory, and the original Commodore Amiga model was originally supposed to be in its place. Commodore Business Machines refused to send a sample machine for filming and simply told the film crew that they had to buy one. Apple just sent a machine and a member of staff to help out.

Commodore also stated it didn't want to be associated with Star Trek. Facepalm...

Excuse me what's a Commodore?

BTW, here's the scene in question Scotty is trying to use a 1980s Apple Macintosh machine but speaking through its mouse. Well it was an hilarious scene and even better while Scotty may not know how to use a mouse he typed the hell out of that keyboard! [VIDEO]

Not bad for a guy who seemed to have started off only with two index fingers at first!

Gene Roddennberry's intro to "The Cage"

[VIDEO] Star Trek's 50th anniversary is coming up next year. So hard to believe it's that old as I remember the 30th anniversary - a program aired on TV in 1996 that had been recorded on VHS tape at home. Even better hopefully a new Trek film will be ready to go by next year.

In the above video Trek creator Gene Roddenberry gives us the rundown on the first pilot "The Cage". Little did I know that not only this pilot never aired on TV in the 1960s (it first aired in 1988 according to the Trek wiki) it had also been shown in black & white. Although when I've seen this episode it was always in color.

Most of what Roddenberry said isn't entirely unfamiliar to me. The idea of a TV pilot, his concept of the series, and perhaps the network's expection. That network being NBC who did air the series between 1966-1969. It's recognized that the series from this pilot to it's eventual cancellation was very different from not only other series from it time but also the sensibilities.

Of course there were other concerns such as advertisers. Tobacco companies advertised in those days. These days well we want to really discourage smoking and that means we won't see many smoking ads on TV now.

Judging by some of the effects and the sets Roddenberry was walking around this had to have been taped at least in the early 80s. According to the video description this came from a DVD featuring a color version of this pilot episode. And that seems to contradict Roddenberry who said there had been only black & white footage of this episode. Even though we see here both color and black & white footage.

The "Macho Man"

[VIDEO] If you've followed this blog over the years I'm a huge wrestling fan. Unfortunately, I have never seen a PPV produced by any company including the recent Wrestlemania which I understand is one of the highest grossing of all time for the WWF - err sorry WWE.

Anyway during the course of Wrestlemania weekend, the Macho Man Randy Savage had been inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame. I'm glad he's getting the recognition he deserves in that business as he definitely left an impression not only within pro wresting, but also with the public. Most people know who he is and what his catchphrases are.

Regardless, thanks to his tragic death in 2011 many fans were denied the one thing he should have had. Savage just like Hulk Hogan or even Ultimate Warrior should have had one run more run with WWF - err WWE. In the case of Warrior he made one more appearance on Monday Night Raw last year before his untimely demise not long after having one more moment with his fans.

Seriously though Hogan had one more run with his fans in the early 2000s and although it was clear that he didn't have the moves that he used to it was cool to see Hulkamania return to where it truly belonged. It truly belonged in the WWE Universe and the Macho Man belonged there as well. For whatever reason it didn't happen.

For a lot of past WWF - err WWE - superstars there were some issues that kept them from returning. Hogan had his issues with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and so did Warrior in addition to even Savage. These are issues that at some point had to be addressed and all parties can move forward because it's best for business. So for Hogan and Warrior those issues were addressed and who knows if they ever were for Savage before his death.

BTW, this article from the Tribune before Wrestlemania is about the local roots of Randy Savage who had been born Randy Poffo had grew up and went to school in the suburb of Downer's Grove. It's amazing how many classmates he knew and in some cases they had no idea he had become a huge WWE Superstar.

When I first got to see the Macho Man, Savage was the "Macho King" with the late Sensational Sherri as his manager. I remember the storyline where his former manager and ultimate love interest the late Miss Elizabeth had a courtship and they were married. Apparently him and Elizabeth were a couple in real life although ultimately they divorced later. And while she followed him to WCW later, I wasn't sure what her purpose was in WCW as most of the time she didn't seem to affiliate with Savage.

Anyway I'm glad Savage is getting his recognition now, however, sad that he isn't with us to have one more memorable moment with his fans. I do hope you enjoy this video of Macho Man apparently in connection with a video game that was likely taped in 2010 or early 2011. He's aged, but he's still the Macho Man Randy Savage. That's why I got a kick out of it.

So the wrestler who shows up in the WWE finally speaks...

[VIDEO] On a previous edition of Monday Night Raw the vigilante Sting made his comments to the WWE Universe. He set up his match with Triple H in terms of what he saw happened in WCW and how that promotion ultimately died.

Well Sting was referring to the authority in WCW - which included one Eric Bischoff - who aligned themselves with the nWo or the new world order. The nWo consisted of such former WWE superstars at least back then as Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and even Hulk Hogan. The new world order was the dominate story line in WCW for most of the late 1990s.

Of course Sting was speaking in terms of storyline. What happened with WCW and it's ultimate purchase by WWE and it's closure was a lot more than we saw on our TV screens. At some point I stopped watching  because it attempted to imitate the competition and I could watch the real deal. So perhaps one issue back then was the creative team.

Beyond the reality I did like how Sting set up his Wrestlemania match with the WWE's new authority with Triple H and his wife who just so happens to be the daughter of one Vince McMahon who basically establishes that universe. BTW, Sting already had run-ins with H as on two occasions matches had been interfered with which resulted in the authority being removed from power and resulted in returning three other wrestlers back to the WWE roster.

But then when you consider Sting in his current gimmick where he resembles that dark superhero the Crow, he always was a vigilante. He had to face the nWo as the franchise player of WCW and even had to change his persona from more of a surfer Sting to a much more darker character. The character who challenged the nWo and the decline of WCW.

How will that storyline finally unfold...

Old TV nostalgia...

[VIDEO] Last night before I went to bed for some reason my interest led to me the old sitcom Roseanne. Then it hits me how much TV I watched with my mother. Roseanne was one of her favorite programs.

Then I remembered other series that she liked such as Hill Street Blues, LA Law, Cagney & Lacey, Simon & Simon, Golden Girls or even M*A*S*H. SO basically TV series of the 1980s and early 1990s. Well by the time I became aware of M*A*S*H it was the 1990s and in reruns.

Ah, M*A*S*H...well some of the series listed above I'm not sure you can count me as a fan. Been years since I've ever seen Roseanne aside from the intro you see above. Also been years since I've seen M*A*S*H, and that's a show that over the years I've often seen in reruns over and over again.

Funny thing is that I've essentially became a fan of the movie MASH which in some respects the TV series of the same name was based - actually both were based on a novel. My mother unfortunately would say she hasn't been able to get into the movie and likely remains a fan of the series.

Either way this posting is one of nostalgia. The shows of the past that we now see in reruns were once popular and enjoyed long runs when they originally aired. Now it's like where has these shows been?

Early in the last decade some of these shows I became a fan of because they were rerun on some of these cable networks especially LA Law. Dallas - another of my mother's favorites programs - I became a fan of because reruns once aired on the network that ultimately became Spike.

Even though there's some good TV on today - save at least for any "reality" based programming. Now I miss the shows that sort of made up my childhood and at least before I started taking command of the remote. Although some of those shows were very adult for me it hits me that it's been years since I've actually seen them on TV.

Out of hibernation...

[VIDEO] Well we finally have our warm temps here in Chicago and artistmac talks about that. The snow that fell on Super Bowl Sunday this year is finally melting. Hopefully the cold temps that kept our young people out of school for at least 4 days within the past two months are nothing more than a memory.

Even better daylight savings time has passed as of this Saturday and then in the next week or so the first day of spring. It seems we've had a miserable winter this year and the end is only around the corner!

#Selma 50 years later

From @jeffmason1: The Obama family and Bush family join marchers to cross Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge. pic.twitter.com/NuMMx4F3XS
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) March 7, 2015

Over the weekend there was a lot of news out of Selma, Alabama commemorating a famous civil rights march that started in that town (which also spawned a major motion picture based on those events 50 years ago). The bridge that was largely a symbolic epicenter of that event was host to a 50 year anniversary march which featured two Presidents of the United States.

I got to find out why former President George W. Bush decided to make his way to Selma with his wife Laura Bush. It certainly was a cool gesture as I truly believe the fight for civil rights back in the 1960s or even today is a just bipartisan cause.

Partisanship with civil rights in my mind has no standing in the demonstrations of 50 to 60 years ago. A segment of the population back then were being denied their rights and it was unacceptable. Most people who saw how civil rights activists were treated on their TV screens back then realized the same thing, hopefully.

So I've been seeing complaints that President Bush had been cropped out of the pic with President Obama. The uncropped pic you see above and the cropped pic you may have seen via the NY Times.

Now I'm not going to add onto the speculation to why this occurred. The question is was it partisan. If it was then I would say petty because I truly believe civil rights was right regardless of any political leanings. So if this was merely partisan then the cropping was certainly petty. Although the photograph claims this hadn't been intentional at all.

I recognize that many may not like President Bush whose administration lasted from 2001 to 2009 mainly because of his execution of the War on Terror. At the same time a Republican former president and a sitting Democrat president - who also happens to be Black - marching at a commemoration of a 50 year old event should be good press. It only shows that no one party or ideology can say they are the party of civil rights.

#RIPNimoy

Via Star Trek fb

Leonard Nimoy who is most famous for playing the half-human and half-vulcan Mr. Spock on the 1960s Star Trek series has passed away. Apparenly he succumbed to late stage Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

While he was most famous as a result of Star Trek, he had been acting on TV for many years having been seen on this Chicago set 1950s TV series M Squad, the classic Twilight Zone and he also starred on Mission: Impossible. He had been retired from acting for many years until having appeared the JJ Abrams rebooted Star Trek films in 2009 and 2013.

I'm so tempted to find Mr. Spock's first actual appearance on film. Star Trek was born from two pilots one of which was rejected by NBC. This pilot is one that until much later Trek fans finally had a chance to watch in syndication. Although clips of that rejected pilot was seen in a first season episode called "The Managerie".

[VIDEO] In this clip Spock says nothing he only touches those blue petals of those flowers and smiles at his then Captain Christopher Pike on this strange planet they were exploring. Since this was from the pilot the general expectations that Vulcans share no emotion hadn't been established.

Well at least there are many episodes and movies of Star Trek to remember him by and we do have the new movies as well. Alas he won't repeat his performance as Spock in the third movie expected to come out next year. 2016 will be the 50th anniversary of Star Trek.

May he rest in peace.

Is blogging dead?

I've been beginning to wonder. Years ago people in the mainstream media were talking about blogs, now it's about YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram or even Facebook.

To be sure as much as I've taken to writing 140 characters, nothing will beat good writing. You can't do that in 140 and at that it has to be very interesting.

No one pays attention to a YouTube channel that doesn't have interesting content. I began to realize that there is a science to being a viral YouTube sensation. It's either intentional or unintentional and for the most part something viral just happens can't script it nor plan it.

Although I just recently started a FB account to attach to this blog, there's a lot of FB status I wouldn't want to share and hadn't for a long time. It's also cool to share photo albums and such from FB. But who would want to read a long status.

Remember TL;DR? LOL

Anyway, perhaps it's good that blogging has had it's heyday. This just means that the ones with something to say and hopefully the truly good writers will get the attention it deserves. Everyone else can flood FB, Twitter, Instagram and these other sites that are out there.

Besides all these other social media sites can be utilized effectively especially if you do utilize a blog.

Sometimes I miss things like this on Twitter

So our new Governor hasn't been in office for almost two weeks and he's showing us his road trip to Springfield. Of course he made some stops along the way especially seeing some state troopers and a quick stop for his dogs and some Micky D's. And you would think he's driving in a fancy luxury car right?

Well this tweet is from one of the governor's staffers.

This is happening... #rollingtrashcan pic.twitter.com/mYmBbH04mm
— LTrover (@LTrover) January 24, 2015

The last time I saw that vehicle it took him to the south side to make a deposit at a neighborhood credit union. So if it got to the south side safe and sound as a candidate for Governor, it could get him to Springfield our state capitol.

At least we can say this for Gov. Rauner, at least he forgo a trip on a state aircraft as one of his predecessors Rod Blagojevich had. And for good measure he came home to the executive mansion in Sprinfield as well.

Stella pumpkin and I made to the mansion! What's a fun ride. Glad to be home pic.twitter.com/M9oXKKYvws
— Bruce Rauner (@GovRauner) January 24, 2015

Here's hoping this is what we can look forward to the next four years. A traveling Governor showing us around the great state we call Chicago...I mean Illinois.

BTW, hopefully I can catch this stuff on Twitter when I see it. :P

I've decided Friday night is wrestling night

[VIDEO] Who knows how long I'll keep this up. From time to time I have been a huge wrestling fan as I have watched different types of wrestling on TV. Mostly WWF, WCW or even ECW and there used to be wrestling on ESPN during the weekday afternoons and would watch when I get home from school.

So tonight I observe the late ECW and not the version WWF aired on the SyFy network until 2010. The original ECW started in the early 1990s as Eastern Championship Wrestling and then after Shane Douglas threw down the NWA world title the E in ECW went from Eastern to Extreme. From that point forward ECW became a hardcore promotion.

For the most part I only got to know ECW from the summer of 1998 airing on our local channels 62 and 26 (the U) until it's eventual demise in 2001. It was something different from what I could see on WWF or WCW. ECW programming tended to be bloody and violent and the fans had a thirst for it.

Fans of Jerry Springer would change Jerry after something extreme happened on the show. Fans of ECW would chant ECW after something extreme happened. It wasn't hard to get caught up in the actions.

Tonight, I want to share a piece of ECW. It's a match I never had a chance to watch. The Sandman vs. Mick Foley in a barbed wire match. Sandman would be the equivalent of Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold Steve Austin or Rick Flair or Sting. The difference is probably only real wrestling fans know Sandman and I'm not sure Sandman is really capitalizing on his status as an Extreme Icon.

While it seems ECW survived on nationwide syndication on local TV stations, they did ink a nation TV deal. Spike TV used to be TNN - or The Nashville Network - and ECW's deal with TNN lasted close to a year. Unfortunately near the end of 2000 WWE moved to TNN - which eventually became The National Network - and ECW was back to syndication.

I miss ECW, and unfortunately had very little time to really get to know that product. If I understand correctly the company ran into money issues and ultimately WWE bought the brand and even had a TV show to reignite the brand. Now ECW is a legend in a business that it seemed to have helped revive during the 1990s.

One can only wonder if there will be another company to come along and re-invent professional wrestling. Time will tell.

BTW, as a side note I had no idea he was being walked to the ring by a performer who's often been known as Woman aka Nancy Benoit. ECW seemed to be a seed for talent to both WWF and WCW over the years and Woman was no different. Unfortunately Woman was murdered by her husband WWE superstar Chris Benoit in a murder-suicide. So for those who know about very tragic incident there is some sadness for sure.

So today a series of CTA rail cars are being retired

The Boeing-Vertol made 2400 series are being retired today. Often cars such as these were what made our some of my trips to downtown Chicago with my mother when I was younger. If you got to the front car you could literally hear them whistle down the tracks.

The pic above I had found on instagram and posted to the account for The Sixth Ward. And what's exciting is that these cars have been repainted in the livery probably what was used back in the 1970s and way before CTA decided to just go bare metal on their cars.

Well unfortunately I missed out on the retirement of these cars and it seems they're not letting passengers ride on them for one last time. While I've only seen a pic of them online I did see a train of these cars rolling by on my way home tonight.

The last time they did a public retirement was for the Budd made 2200 series cars. These cars were available for the public to ride before retirement. These cars have what are called blinker doors.

If I may explain the blinker doors are what I would call bus-style doors. The doors would close inward like they would on most city buses. These were the most eyecatching features for me especially since most of the time on the L I would board a train with typically sliding doors.

Before I knew the term blinkers I only referred to this as bus-style. And on CTA these were common at least before the recently trend to make public transit handicap accessible. In fact the 2200 series were the last CTA rail vehicles with blinkers and others had been retired much earlier.

Regardless it just means the CTA is entering the 21st century especially with the new 5000-series cars that have much more advanced amenities. And yet again CTA does plan on ordering a new series of cars.

ALSO you know what this means the next old cars to be retired are CTA's Budd made 2600 series. Before CTA got rid of conductors on all trains these cars had nifty controls where insted of some time of level to pull to open/close doors was a matter of pushing a button. For the most part conductors stood near the rear of the car away from where-ever the motorman cab was.

Since CTA did away with conductors basically trains are OPTO - one person train operation. One person drives the train and that same person insures that the doors are opened for passengers. So the 2200, 2400, and 2600 series were refitted for that purpose and also for these refits that means I couldn't sit at the front of the train anymore as I had as a child.

I forgot about the 3200 series which primarily ran on the brown and orange lines of the CTA. You may have also seen them on the Skokie swift but it seems that line uses a variety of cars during its operations. Either way they were made with OPTO in mind, however, these are the last cars CTA ordered in the 20th century. Soon their time for retirement will come as well.

BTW, YES the airplane manufacturer Boeing did build trains once upon a time. They even made some light-rail equipment used in Boston & San Francisco over the years. However it's safe to say they got out of that business.

Saw "Selma" recently

On Sunday, I finally got a chance to see Selma. It's a movie based on the voting rights march between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. It literally started off with a bang being inside of a church that literally blew up with four little girls inside.

It illustrated a lot of points for me in my belief in how successful the civil rights movement of the 1960s was. Mainly TV helped to advance the causes especially since many southern politicians and law enforcement proved to be very aggressive in combating the civil rights activism. Many people risked their lives and bodies for what was right for all Americans.

It's wrong to make it onerous for American citizens to be able to vote and have a voice in their own communities. It's onerous make a certain segment of the population to sit in the back of the bus. It's certainly onerous to have separate classrooms for Americans of different ethnicitis and even more to insure one group had a better education than the other.

I could go on & on, but the point I wanted to make is that in attempting to keep the system as it was the American people of the 1960s saw how brutal and violent it was. There were forces in Selma, Alabama who fought to keep the system that existed then. We could also theorize something else was going on in the lives of these law enforcement personnel that caused them to brutalize unarmed citizens.

Off of the front-line, the southern politicians knew this would become a political or PR nightmare. And we need not worry about only then Governor George Wallace, then President Lyndon Johnson who was clearly engaged with the civil rights movement wanted to move forward with other political objectives. In the end he had been forced to move voting rights forward instead of finding himself on the wrong side.

Perhaps in the end regardless of how many heads police cracked open and regardless of how the KKK terrorized the Black populations of the south the end was near for the south as they knew it. No aggression would change the tide and if the world was watching on TV - with only three major channels and no 24/7 news networks - perhaps all they did was make themselves villains.

Having seen this film at Ford City - which is my first visit there since the 1990s - it was a great time to pay a visit in a theater that had been recently refurbished. A great movie based on history and of course a reminder of where we have gone and what it takes to make changes in America.

#Smackdown is now on Thursday nights

[VIDEO] This is where the show originally started anyway back on this ancient network known only as UPN - the home of Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek Enterprise, Moesha, Girlfriends, and seemingly other forms of ethnic/racial themed programming.

Regardless, I'm suffering through some form of withdrawals as I'm missing this tradition although well I saw the show last night. So how is it there is an urge on my part to change to its current home SyFy? And also moving to Friday nights was a relatively recent event not sure when it started but as stated it was often aired on Thursday nights for most of its history.

Either way, going through withdrawals I've just now find this video which you're able to find at WWE's YouTube channel which showed the many superstars who wrestled before they became famous. This includes Mick Foley, the Hardy Boys, and even Dean Ambrose.

A cool look back and makes up for not having Smackdown on Friday nights.

This guy is crazy...

[VIDEO] What does one say about a man sprays enough water for two coats of ice onto his trampoline and then purposely jumps onto it? Well I call him crazy, but hey different strokes...

All the same it looks like he didn't hurt himself and merely hurt the ice more as it appeared to have just shattered on impact. Perhaps I should see if there are more videos after that made by this man.

Hat-tip WGN!

Have you ever been to Chicago and took the L?

[VIDEO] I've been an L rider all my life. Spent many a Saturday in my youth riding to downtown with my mother when she used to work at a bank downtown. Now I spend a lot of time on the CTA getting to school or work or just getting out of the house for a few hours.

Today I have a tourist piece for you. Strangely enough I'm starting with the yellow line aka Skokie Swift. Skokie is an adjacent suburb of Chicago and the CTA does have L service which travels to nearby suburbs such as Skokie, Evanston, Cicero, Oak Park & Forest Park.

Either way I realised that I've traveled on almost everyline of the CTA L system. Only recently - that is within the last 10 or so years my travels have taken me to all of the CTA's colored lines.

When I attended community college in downtown Chicago I traveled the blue line to O'Hare, Forest Park and 54/Cermak. Now the 54/Cermak branch is part of the pink line as a result of service changes. I also took the train from Ashland/63 and Cottage Grove to get downtown via the green line. Also I traveled the red line from 95th all the way to Howard and changed to the purple from Howard to get to Linden. Finally I took the orange from downtown to Midway and back.

Since then I've taken the pink line with some video that needs to be digitized in the future. Also for the first time I took the brown line all the way to Kimball and took the green line to it's west side terminal at Harlem Avenue. Since I've started working I've taken the yellow line on two occasions mainly to get up to Old Orchard mall and that means I'd have to take the bus from the Skokie stop.

I forgot to note the quirk of the purple line. While the purple is a local service within Evanston when it stops at Howard it becomes an express during rush hour with no stops until Belmont. When I worked briefly in Evanston to make up some time I took the express train to get to work there.

Needless to say there have been many interesting adventures on CTA as you can sometimes tell if you follow me on twitter. If only I had such a tool during the pre-twitter/social media days.

There's more videos of other CTA routes via their YouTube page.