How dare you. How dare I not.

Forty-niners quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, is getting a lot of negative attention for his recent choice to take a stand by not standing for the National Anthem because in his opinion racism in the US is still a problem. Well, folks Mr. Kaepernick, has a point, racism is still a thing in the US. While his protest has generated a lot of talk very little of it is in the right direction, of addressing the issue of racism. So you might say that his protest failed. But has it really failed. The sit ins of the civil rights movement did not change things dramatically over night, it took years before meaningful legislation was passed and enforcement of those laws occurred. The same is true for any social change. Certainly Colin hit a nerve with many people but most people do not even think about the meaning of standing up for the national anthem it is a reflex and little to no thought is put into why we stand, it is just something we do. There is not anything particularly patriotic about most sporting events, and they are usually not political events by any measure. Playing the national anthem at the beginning of sporting contests isn’t necessary nor is it required by any law. Somehow it has worked into the fabric of sporting events, and graduations, and other things where someone thinks it should happen as a matter of national pride or some other political gesturing. There is no law that requires the national anthem to be performed at any time, there are some rules regarding how to behave during the playing of the national anthem but these are “should” rather than “shall” making them optional or the preferred means to show “respect” but are not required (unless on a military base, installation, or ship). I put respect in quotes because you can fake respect for anything by doing what is “expected” of you without having any respect for the action. Which is worse; not doing what is expected or faking the respect, that is a question for another discussion. So while you may disagree with the protest and that is your right, Mr. Kaepernick has the right to protest peacefully if he chooses even if you don’t like how he has chosen to protest. Personally I think that all the people who have hung their flags upside down during President Obama’s administration are doing something disrespectful and I don’t agree with their form of protest, but they have the right to protest in that manner, even if I don’t like it. One of the things that is truly great about the US is that we have the right to protest governmental and social wrong doing. Not everyone is going to agree with the means of protesting or with the issue that is being protested. While it may seem hypocritical for an overpaid adult playing a game to say things are not fair for some folks in the US, there is no requirement that you must be part of the oppressed group, or you must be subjected to the unfairness, to say things are not right. It wasn’t all women saying women should have the vote, it wasn’t all black people saying that basic civil rights needed to be law. Pick any social issue where a group is treated unfairly by the government / social system and the people protesting the unfair treatment, are not all in the group which is oppressed or treated unfairly. Like most protests the message is lost in the rhetoric of the unrelated issues, so if you want to hate Mr. Kaepernick, okay you can, if you want to burn his jersey, you can probably do that too, you may want to have a hose ready though, fire can be dangerous. You can even refuse to go see 49ers football or watch the games on TV. You can even ask that he be fired, fined or traded. You can do all of those things, but he can still protest by not standing for the national anthem. I served this country in the armed forces to protect everyone’s rights, not just those people who think like I do. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015, Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Vroom, vroom...

DCU v. MCU Not really a review of Suicide Squad. Movies are bigger than ever and they are promoted so much that they hype usually out performs the movies. I say usually because there are times when a movie overshadows the hype. Comic Book film genre is not going anywhere anytime soon. The movies make money and allow the studios to make other films and not just the comic book genre DC comic Universe (DCU) cannot seem to get the universe series of characters off the ground as well as Marvel Comic Universe (MCU). DC has been happy to just keep their characters in their own realms rather than bring them together. Batman has had very good success and to a much lesser extent Superman has had good first movies without a strong follow up film. Marvel has been building the all characters tie in to a single universe since Iron Man in 2008. The DC film Man of Steel 2013 and Henry Cavill which was more a relaunching of another attempt at the Superman as film star and possibly series. However, I’m not sure that the story in Man of Steel was written with the intention of Universe building for DC but it is now the beginning of the DCU Films and from where all of DC’s characters will interact in the way Marvel has been doing since Iron Man in 2008. While the Marvel movies seem to be homeruns most of the time, DC movies seem to be okay too good with not as many people saying they are great films. For example, DCU film Batman v. Superman = good against MCU Civil War = great. Batman v. Superman got a lot of bad press with Ben Affleck as Batman. I think Ben did a fabulous job as the Dark Knight but the story got all jumbled with too much stuff going on and Jesse Eisenburg’s Lex Luthor was just bad and he is a better actor so you have to blame the director and writers for that mess. Overall thought BvS was a good film not great but good. Suicide Squad is the next chapter of the DCU building the film world series. A lot of things have worked against this film. One is the already mentioned is over hyping of movies for this one it was over a year and it seems that is becoming the norm and it should stop. The Joker. No matter who tried to fill the shoes of the Joker after Heath Ledger was going to suffer harsh reviews. Heath really just nailed the character and competing with a ghost is impossible. Jared’s Joker is not bad but it isn’t great. In defense of this version of the Joker he isn’t in the movie a lot but enough to get a sense of character and I wish there had been more story devoted to the Joker but there wasn’t. As to other characters; Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn was nearly great, as was Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. Will Smith was respectable as Deadshot, Jared Leto was solid as the Joker but again not Heath’s Joker, then the cast goes down from there which has more to do with a story that is all over the place and less to do with actors and their abilities. The big problem DC seems to have with their films is clutter and bad guys which don’t make much sense. The Christian Bale Batman Trilogy excluded from that statement as the exception. DC should use that model moving forward with their universe and upcoming films. Bad guys who are a large enough threat but in a realistically understandable way and not this planet crushing thing with five other subplots that they seem to want to do in every film that is not just Batman stand alone series. Man of Steel there are the Terraforming machines killing the earth and other stuff BvS you have Doomsday trying to kill the earth and a lot of other stuff Suicide Squad has the same type of thing going on. Obviously this is not working for you DC, go back to what Christopher Nolan did in his Batman Trilogy. Have a single villain or problem and not so huge a problem that the entire world is going to end, one large city is big enough it keeps a scale that is managed and interesting for the viewer. Overall I liked Suicide Squad and it had really good scenes but the scenes were not really tied together well enough to have a sense of this is where things are headed. The movie was like oh that was cool, filler, that was cool too, filler, cool back story, filler, that was cool and on it went. There is a clip of things to come midway through the credits so stay if you like those. Hopefully Wonder Woman will be better and the Justice League will be as well. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards

What's up doc ...

One summer my grandfather (maternal) taught me and my brother how to make a box trap. It isn’t really complicated and we already had the general idea from the coyote and road runner cartoons. We stayed several summers with the grandparents when were little kids, and then we ended up moving into the house next to them at some point. So I had the idea that I was going to catch a rabbit during one of the summers, I’m not sure when the brother became a part of the plan but that happened along the way. One of those you need to include your brother things that adults say so they don’t have to watch kids in more than one place. It wasn’t that I was actively trying to exclude my brother, it just never occurred to me to include him in the plan either. The first plan was not a very good one and I could shift it to the brother for having the bad idea but it was my bad idea and I’m willing to own it. I thought if I was quick enough I could catch the rabbit with my bare hands…indeed, alcohol did not always play into my delusions of cat like reflexes. My brother had similar faith in his rabbit catching abilities and even felt he would out do me in the number of rabbits he could catch. The key was to be really quiet and ready to run at any moment. Silly as this plan sounds it nearly worked, if you count nearly working as chasing a rabbit in a yard like a mad person for 20 seconds before it disappeared into brush. The rabbit was nowhere near being caught at any moment but it seemed like that plan was almost perfected and we kept at it. The running rabbit maneuver happened several times, for more than a single day too. I think the rabbits were having lots of fun and were making it a game on their side as well. Get the human to chase you, the one who stays out the longest gets first dibs on the new carrots. Our grandmother didn’t care that we were chasing rabbits and didn’t concern herself that our confidence in our abilities would land a rabbit or more at any time. She was certain that chasing rabbits would make us sleep well. Which was pretty true. Well after a few days of foot chasing rabbits, we netted a sum total of, no rabbits. Our grandfather decided it was time to teach us how to make a box trap. We even learned two triggers for the box trap; active and passive. The passive one is when the bait is fixed to the trigger and you leave and come back and check the box every now and then. If it is sprung there may be a rabbit under the box or not. Usually it was the wind that knocked over the box and there was no rabbit. The active trigger was a stick with a string tied to it and you laid in wait holding the length of string, poised to pull the trigger as the rabbit went under the box. The trick here was not falling asleep and or being able to pull the string fast enough so the box dropped quickly. The key here was putting the bait near the small angle end of the propped box, so even if you weren’t really quick you still were likely to catch whatever was eating the bait. The trap I’m sure would have worked but the rabbits decided that since the odds were now in our favor and not the other way around, as with the foot method, they quit playing. I laid for hours watching that box hoping for a rabbit to wander in, but it never happened. Still probably some of the best fun that I had as a kid and maybe the least dangerous but those are tales for another time. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Father's Day

With Father’s Day approaching soon-ish… I find myself as I have for the last decade fatherless, yet I am a father. So it is a happy and a sad time for me. I love my children but also mourn the loss of my father. My being a father is a much different “father” than one path on my life would have led me to as an ordained priest in the Catholic Church. For those of you who don’t know… once upon a time, I was in the seminary but left long before the priesthood became a reality. I did, however become a father of children, who share half of my genetic material, and I wear a lot of black clothing. I can say that my daughter and my son, are without a doubt or any equivocation, the best contribution I have made to world. My children are simply the ultimate joy in my life. I am proud of them beyond any word can express. They are unique in the world and the first and last people I think about every single day since they have been born. While those words may seem trite or over used, I mean them sincerely, I have no disillusions about who they are as people. They have each made mistakes, along with many successes. As to the mistakes I wish they had not made them but who has not made mistakes. I have certainly made my share of them. To me they are better people because they have taken missteps and learned from them and moved on. My daughter and son are courageous and beautiful, intelligent and whimsical, daring and reserved and so much more. They are simply the people I love the most in the world. There is a Hebrew saying, “The child remembers what the parent wishes to forget.” I have made missteps as a father, just as my father had his own missteps…not one of us can look back on the action of all of our days and not find fault, we can only hope that those days a few and that we can be forgiven for any mistakes we have made. I am no different than anyone and know that I am not perfect, I tried my best to be best father I knew how to be, and there were times when I fell far short of that mark and wish with all my heart to have the opportunity to do things differently and not make the mistakes I made. However, hoping and wishing cannot change what has already happened, we can only learn from our mistakes and try not to make them again. I know now, as a father, that my father certainly felt the same. We did not always see, eye to eye and there were many a harsh word pass between us. I would give anything the change that truth but it is not possible The last words I spoke with my father were words of love after a period of turmoil between us. I am happy that he did not leave the world with a burden that I am glad I do not have to bear. If I thought my father had left this world thinking that I did not love him, would have been a terrible thing to live with and I am sad to say was almost a reality. However, we had made our peace but all too soon after he was gone. My children are adults now and on their own journey, I tell them as often as I can, without being too annoying, that I love them with all my heart. They have given me the best thing any child can give a person and that is the opportunity to be a parent, without my daughter and my son I would just be this guy who did a bunch of stuff that didn’t really matter but because of them I am a Dad and to me there isn’t anything better that I can be. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

What do you do for money...

There seems to be an uproar about changing our money because they may or may not pull Andrew Jackson off the twenty dollar note and replace him with Harriet Tubman. First who gives a fig? Seriously, there are more important things in your life, let alone the world for anyone to give more than a passing thought to this. Even this is time possibly ill spent. Secondly, if you do find it to be a concern to you, ask yourself a few questions. Will make the bill worth less, in the economy not for some esthetic reason you have in your mind. Will you be paid less money because of the change in how the money looks? Do you work for the Treasury Department? If you have answered no to all those questions, not including the esthetic reasons, then you should probably find some other thing to concern yourself with and no I don’t think what restroom transgendered people are using qualifies as a better place to focus your concern. If you want to be pissed off about something in the economy, specifically the treasury. How about the millions the US government wastes on making one cent coinage, there is something to come up in arms about… well maybe not guns but certainly protest worthy, writing your representatives about kinds of action. The penny is a waste of money, time and it does not facilitate use in the economy. The five and ten cent coins should also be killed off as well but that isn’t the point today. Another thing bills are not practical as currency. The guy on the twenty dollar note which many seem to be so fond of keeping on the twenty dollar note, thought that paper currency was not a good idea. So let’s put him on paper money as a way to remember his Presidency? From what I read he would have rather had a whiskey named after him or a casino … as in he drank and gambled …like a lot, no I mean a lot. As in Jackson lost some stuff in the White House on a bet drinking and gambling. Not sure if he is the guy we want on any money really. Jackson wasn’t such a fan of banking either and felt the power of banks should be very limited and not centralized or be involved in politics. In fact, Jackson made it a personal mission to ruin, not just professionally but on a personal level too, one banker because of his involvement in, what he believed to be corruption. Which may have been misuse of presidential power and in which Jackson was censured by Congress as well. The only President to have that happen. If you want to honor Jackson as President, fighting to dismantle the mega banks would be a better place to start than arguing about if he is on money or not and again a type of money he didn’t like at all. The thing is, while we haven’t seen much change in what our money looks like in the last two generations there have been a lot of changes to our money. Like adding the words, “in god we trust” in the 1950’s. We have had all kinds of things on paper money and coins which are not presidents. Even today the Ten and the One Hundred both have non presidents on the notes. Hamilton was a secretary of the treasury and Franklin was …well was Franklin but never a President. We’ve had Greek gods on the money, buffalo, women, other animals, buildings, and whatever else you like to put on money it’s been on there. Just because we haven’t seen much of it in our lives doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. Harriet Tubman was kind of an awesome person, not that she was any less or more awesome than Andrew Jackson but a very interesting person in our history as a nation. The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter whose face is on the money it will still spend the same. Putting Harriet Tubman on the twenty no more disrespects Andrew Jackson, than putting him on the money which he would have objected to in the first place. Why not honor more people than just the select few who become President? Seems like we would be better than this. Find something worthwhile to be pissed off about or better yet a reason to smile Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

National Sibling Day

National Sibling Day As an older sibling with younger siblings, on National Sibling day I suppose it is time to say that younger siblings don’t really understand or appreciate all that we, older siblings, did for them. Yes, little bothers and shit-sters, no those aren’t misspellings, that includes all the rough handling at times too, these were important life lessons, we can’t help it if you needed remedial lessons to pick up what we were putting down. As the older sibling we were the trailblazers who molded the parents to the easier going much more pliable people you grew up with. It was our blood, sweat and tears that made your life what it was as much as it was our parents efforts. Our trial and errors were met with stern unyielding sentencing and uncompassionate punishments; where as your adventures were met with compromise and fair negotiations and probation or even nolle prosequi at the bench of parental authority We seasoned and tempered the parents from bumbling inept and oft times clueless simpletons to the full of reason, good advice giving, folksy people you know as mum and dad. Think back to these happy days of your youth and I’m sure can recall the exasperated sighs, confused looks, and trudging away by your older sibling. This was because the jailer and warden, AKA mom and dad to you, had just let you off with some reasonable punishment or none at all for something if had we done it would have landed us in solitary confinement, AKA grounded, for many a moon, or the speech before the lashings, this hurts me more than it hurts you; pretty sure heart hurt, feels much different than spankings… just saying. So younger sibs, your fond memories of fair and understanding, even compassionate parents is due largely to our efforts. However, as mom and dad, would not clue you into the harsh realities of life and the world, we felt obligated, compelled even, to pick up their slack and prepare you for life. Which, we know you did not appreciate because you would report us to the authorities and of course we were punished as you should have been for your prior transgressions. Come to think of it we were probably punished for your screw ups more times than we can remember. However even then, when we were placed on the rack or locked away, we were showing you that there is a harsh world out there and if you don’t toe the line there will be pain. So you learned, from all of our missteps. We aren’t saying, that mom and dad didn’t do their part in raising you but we were the real artist who sculpted them. We didn’t just stop with the parents. We also didn’t let anyone else kill you either, little siblings have an uncanny ability to overload their ass with their mouth which makes other people want to kill them. To which we, older siblings, had to respond, to those who meant you harm, “No, if anyone is going to kick the ever living snot out of this kid, it is going to be me not you”. Pain in our ass you may be, but you were our pain in the ass and come hell and be damned, if we were going to let anyone do our job. So we stood in the way of bullies and punches, kicks and threats. Sometimes you saw this, other times you were clueless that you nearly had your ass beat for some dumb shit you said or did. So if you were confused about some random slap in the head you got, it may have been you needed to know pain, just not from someone else. So on this national sibling’s day, make sure you thank your older sibling for all the effort they put in to make sure your childhood was happy and healthy and try as we might, we didn’t actually kill you. All that said, we are happy now to have brothers and sisters who shared our lives, you were our compatriots in ill-conceived and even more poorly executed plans, to have someone to complain to about life, even if you did rat us out from time to time. We had good times a plenty, adventures in the woods, playgrounds, and parks beyond remembering. While we may not have said it much when you were snot nosed pains in the ass, we loved you then. Here is to all the siblings everywhere, some of the best stories in my life involve you guys. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Eye in the Sky -movie

Eye in the Sky not review This is a very intense film which looks at how the industrial world conducts war with drones. In this particular examination the war is against terror, but could easily be substituted with any group and the questions posed would still be relevant. The important thing to keep in mind when watching this film is to listen to the arguments as they are proposed. I don’t know that this film is likely to change the mind of anyone and where they stand on the use of drones. I do think that it does at least start the mental dialogue and perhaps actual discussion of now that these weapons exist how, when, and where, do we use them. They are not going away, they are too valuable and provide real time information so that missions can be adjusted to meet the ever changing circumstances of operations in the field. Yet while the create options there are limitations and with those limitations come dilemmas. With increasing and up to the minute intelligence many questions are answered which allow for better decisions and also ethical and moral dilemmas. There are many questions posed and many dilemmas brought to the scenario without making it seem like a quagmire of what ifs being posed just of the sake of making the arguments. The questions and problems fit to the story and feel like they are realistic for our world today. This film does not pull punches while it is not gory, it is a realistic look at what happens in war. As we become much smaller as a world and allied nations will have common opponents on the world stage and military operations will become and have become combined and with that come other questions of different political and other ideological concerns when it comes to war and warfare. The film explores the combatants in this film who are in very different environments some are in harm’s way in the operational zone and others are not and the face of warfare can be conducted without even being in the same time zone. I do not think the purpose of this film is to direct anyone to a specific point of view but rather to get the people thinking and talking about the modern face of war and peace. Peace is always the better option, no matter what, it is always better to live and let live but we are not always given an option for Peace in the world. All in all, this is a great film, well worth the hour and forty-five minutes. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Batman v. Superman

Batman v. Superman not review. Some spoilers, I will try to keep them to a minimum. This movie is good, however if your expectation is that this will be like the Marvel Universe superhero movies or the Christian Bale Batman Trilogy you will be disappointed. With that out of way, Ben Affleck, as Bruce Wayne / Batman is very respectable, as good as Christian Bale. Ben holds his own as the Dark Knight. Batman and Superman are both very tragic characters in this imagination of the DC universe. Batman orphaned when his parents are killed, Superman orphaned when his planet dies and he hurled through space to earth. There are more similarities to the heroes besides both being orphans, but I’m not giving them away. The tragic nature of superman, credit to Kevin Smith, is Superman has the power to save people but he can’t save everyone and knows that he cannot. The struggle of superman is he wants to be a normal guy but cannot ignore the world around him and let people suffer. Which builds the bigger conflict of Superman because of his power some see him as a god and others as a possible threat. For Superman that struggle is walking the line between and not letting those in the world who worship you as a god go to your head and also resist the temptation to bring the world under your heel. Superman also battles with making selfish choices to save Lois over someone else. Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman bring that sense of realness to Superman that hasn’t been done before. Batman is no stranger to tragic story lines and this version of the Dark Knight is an interesting twist to the struggle of the crime fighter. Batman faces a similar good vs. evil superman in that how far can you go and still be on the right side of justice. When do you cross the line from good guy to bad guy. How far is too far? What is the greater good? Wonder Woman played by Gal Gadot, is a secondary character and has very minor character development in this movie but certainly kicks ass as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman. It is hinted that her story is also dark, and her values and faith in man has been tested but, like Superman, cannot stand idle while others suffer. Lex Luthor, I like Jesse Eisenburg as Lex but this is probably the weakest imagination of Lex ever. I’m not sure whose choice it was to portray Lex Luthor as an unhinged mental case, but it was a bad choice. Moving away from archetypes is not a bad thing but in this case it was not the best choice. The critical thing about Lex being the weakest character of the film is that his character moves the movie plot he builds the tension between Batman and Superman, which is why I think a lot of critics find fault in this movie and justifiably. The weakly portrayed villain against two tragic heroes fails to build what could have been a much more emotionally epic showdown when the titans clashed. Overall I like this film, blending the Man of Steel plot and story line into Batman v. Superman sets this movie up and shows exactly why Batman does not like Superman. The pace is slow at times but never boring but sometimes when the Lex story is up it breaks the mood from dark to WTF is happening. One thing I think critics are missing is this is a Batman movie and not a Batman and Superman movie. The main story is the POV of Batman, so while the other characters are in the movie including Superman, it is the Batman story arc that moves this film. DC is moving to build a linked series of films, like Marvel has done, to bring their catalogue of characters to the big screen and not just do the stand alone movies they have done in the past. This movie does quickly introduce other characters in the DC universe and while it may technically be a lazy way to introduce characters, I think it was better than trying to force more characters into a movie that already has two big characters, Batman and Superman and big supporting roles in Lois Lane, Lex Luthor and Diana Prince / Wonder Woman and a super bad guy. While it may be lazy creatively, it sets up a nice teaser within the film that there is a larger world out there and we are just discovering without making their characters seem shallow with a forced inclusion in an already very full film. Overall, I think this is a good film and worth seeing on the big screen. The action scenes are top notch and some of the best Batman fights on film to date. The film is 2 hours and 30 minutes. There is no extra scene at the end of the credits so bail if you want when the credits start. Don’t expect what you’ve seen in other superhero movies and you won’t be disappointed. Ben Affleck is a damn good Batman Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

We, who are about to die...

We, who are about to die salute you… The idea that sport for the sake of sportsmanship and fair play seems fairly straight forward but there are gray areas in the statement. People can be a good sport and take performance enhancing products. I would say drugs but not all of the performance enhancing things are drugs or are illegal if you are not a competing amateur or professional athlete. Hell the same people can follow every rule of the game and even call themselves for rule infractions of the game and still seek some form of enhancement. The thing is everyone tries to find a way to win, or gain some advantage. How much money did the NFL spend trying to figure out if there was the right amount of air in the footballs used in a single game; which in the overall importance in the grand scheme of things is nothing. Because it simply does not matter at all, not even a little bit, ever. These are games, games which we have perverted into a money making quasi religion. I don’t even know how many TV networks are devoted to coverage of just sport and nothing else. They don’t even stop for real news like natural disasters. Right now people are in a fervor because 15 kids playing for Michigan screwed the pouch, but 15 kids playing for Middle Tennessee and their disciples are living the dream. I use this not so say anyone is doing anything illegal in Tennessee but as an example that we tend to not to focus on what is really important. You know that people are dying of something somewhere, whist we bounce a rubber ball and toss it into a hoop suspended off the ground. Most of those people are likely to die, even if you do try to help, so why not bounce a ball and toss it into a hoop. But if we are going to mega size sport and turn on the profit machine and treat college students like professional sport figures and amateur athletics as a proving ground for many of the professional sport arenas, why bother calling any of them amateurs at all. Even if it isn’t using performance enhancers, or finding the right air pressure, or sticky tar, or cork in a bat or whatever, teams will still try to jockey wins and losses to play the right sequence of teams in a tournament to have a match against a team they think they can beat. Scheduling meetings and bargaining to play this team or that team or not play this team or that team and when. It is madness that so many people care, and not just care, they are fervently passionate about something which is so trivial. More people care more deeply about who is playing some sport than who is possibly going to run the US government or what those fucktards in the US Congress and Senate are doing, all of them not just one side, they all suck. But so few people say a damn thing. But by golly, we sure do give one hundred fucks about, our team and that sport. Let me recite all I know about the players and the strategy and that coach of ours is, a saint or a goat, depending on how the season is going. What are we afraid is going to happen, if we lift guidelines from sport and let players use performance enhancers or get crafty with the equipment. Do we think the will become Gladiatorial games? They already are, why do people watch racing, it isn’t because they like left turns, we secretly want to see a crash, we hope no one dies but we really don’t care one way or the other either. I mean seriously if we care, did we would stop it because you might die. But we don’t care, we even euphemize it and make ourselves feel better by saying things like; “they knew the risks” or “he/she died doing what they loved." Welcome to Rome, enjoy the Games… looks like Nero might become the next leader of the Republic too, so they should be even better soon, wonder what he’ll do this time, when the cities start to burn. SPQR… oops …I mean ESPN Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Good deed for the day

On my drive home from work today it was windy and raining and traffic is all messed up because no one here seems to understand water on the road ways and they forget how to drive. There is a car following too closely behind me and car in front of me speeds up and slows down randomly. So I’ve given him a lead to avoid the whole hit the brakes suddenly because car in front decides he should be traveling 15mph slower about now... then speed up again four seconds later. I’m nearly home and crossing a bridge which is on my way and I see something blowing in the street. The car in front hits it, and it takes me a few seconds to identify the object because it’s wet and twisting and blowing around. As I pass the object it becomes clear to me what it is. However, because the car behind me is right on my bumper I have to drive past and go up to the next right and pull around the block and park. It took me maybe a minute to pull back around, by this time I don’t see the object where it was in the road. It’s dark so I think well maybe I just can’t see it, but I can’t leave this lying in the street. So I walk and walk still I don’t see the object in the road. Traffic keeps coming and I try to use the head lights of the cars to see where the object has gone. Then I see it, blown nearly the full length of the bridge away lying in a puddle, whipping around in the wind and the draft of every car which passed it. Finally, I reach it and I step into the bike lane and retrieve the object from the puddle. I give it a quick look and it seems to be okay but it’s dark. I can see it has grime and grit on it from the passing cars and can feel the grit on my hands. I quickly gather it up the best I can in the wind and light rain and return to my car at the other end of the bridge. When I get home I am able to give it a good inspection and see that there isn’t any damage and it is only dirty and just needs to be washed. So I checked the US Code to verify what I think is the proper procedure. My thoughts were correct in that it can be hand washed with a light detergent and then should be hung to dry and not put in a drier. Now I just have to figure out who to return Old Glory to in our City government. I’m pretty sure it’s the maintenance department. I sent them a message but haven’t heard back yet, but it is past normal business hours. I don’t know how long the flag had been blowing in the street or how many cars drove by it without stopping. But to be fair it was dark and wet and I only recognized it as the US flag as I passed it. Good deed for the day is done, now I can go back to being the horrible person you all know and love(or love to hate). Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Cop a Squat

A friend posted that she is having some issues teaching her son to pee standing up. Which got me to thinking about the topic of standing and peeing again: Why the heck do we men pee standing up anyway? There is no medical reason that we should stand up to void our bladders of fluid waste. In fact, some studies suggest that sitting to urinate may actually be better for the long term health of the prostrate. Why the heck, stand up to pee. The most likely answer, and I did a tiny bit of research on this and there isn’t really a great source to direct you to, it’s just easier. Even back in the loin cloth days just lift the flap out of the way and let go with the golden flow. This doesn’t necessarily mean our primitive ancestors stood up to pee. In all likelihood they probably would crouch to pee, to avoid being visible, standing tall and still where ever, making the person peeing an easy target for an enemy or other predator. While crouching would have possibly provided some concealment from view. If that is the case when did peeing standing up become a thing for men. Certainly we all pee sitting down when we drop a deuce and that is okay, so why not when it is only a number one. Sure sinking wax paper targets or Cheerio’s is lots of fun but this really promotes waving the stream around and causing some spillage which leads to messes and odor. That foul smelling stench coming from public toilets is stale and dried up urine. My guess is the rain has something to do with it. Once we stated living under roof, getting wet in the rain has become less and less fun, and it may not have ever been truly a thing of joy but it may have been. Rain gets a lot of bad press with floods, erosion, and what not. One day back whenever it’s raining a guy has to make with the pee, and the peeing place is all the way over there in the rain. He thinks I can stay warm and dry just by leaning out the door a bit and letting go with the flow. Ta dah, the rain washes away the foul liquid and He didn’t have to slosh off in the cold and wet to the peeing / shitting rock. Which led the women folk to complain they could not just lean out the doors and pee so we have the piss pot or bucket or shit bucket, which then led to streets filled with the contents of piss pots and shit buckets, which led to the plagues or at least contributed to ill health. So then the Romans, perhaps others like the Aztecs, the Persians, and the Chinese, invent indoor plumbing and sewers and the waste goes away unseen and better still un-smelled. Then we forgot about indoor plumbing for a really long time and were back to buckets and pots. Then plumbing again, glorious plumbing. Standing up to pee still doesn’t seem like a natural way to go about it. Socially somehow it has become fixed that men and women are different so we must act as different as possible and in all things so that if you are a man, no one will confuse you with being a woman ever for any reason, ever, never,ever. (you should pronounce that last period, but don’t confuse it with periods because that is not masculine). Same there Then Why not sit to pee. It’s cleaner and if you think you don’t miss the toilet when you pee take a nice white cloth and wipe the outside of your toilet on the sides and on the floor around the toilet and then take a long look, and if you are really brave a deep smell of your perfect aim. Did you vomit? Because just like Sea World the front rows are in the splash zone. That splashing will discolor paint, wall paper, tile, grout and even corrode metal. You know the two bolts that hold the toilet to the floor, yeah those are weaker because you stand and pee. Again it may promote better prostrate health, studies are not conclusive yet though so it’s a maybe there. Doctors, however, do know if you have a healthy prostrate you less likely to have erectile dysfunction and have a better and healthier sex life if you have a sex life that is, because if you don’t have a sex life and it’s just you, well doctors say that is good for the prostrate too, So it’s a win win. Sitting to pee means never having to hear, “who left the seat up” and you can yell back, “it Must have been you honey when you were cleaning. “ You never have to lift the seat ring if you sit to pee. Not that it’s heavy or anything but you won’t have to lift it and if you never have to lift it you won’t ever forget to put it back down. You will never again be blamed for the “water” on the seat again. Did you pee on the seat? Nope wasn’t me must have been the cat. You don’t need the light on if you sit to pee in the middle of the night, which is why leaving the seat down is important and why those who sit to pee will occasionally take a butt dunk when the seat is up. The butt dunk wakes you up all the way up and you turn on the light and then it’s hell. Sit to pee and you’ve avoided this whole mess and fight. It’s more restful and in the rat race world we live in don’t we all just need a place to sit and rest. So sitting to pee means, better health, better sex maybe, less work, more rest, it’s cleaner and it saves electricity and money and promotes healthier interpersonal relationships. (you know less fighting) Sure the Germans may call you a Sitzpinkler, which may or may not be a word in German that means sissy or wimp, but hey haters gonna hate, you be you. Fear of being seen as less manly is really the thing about standing v. sitting, so socially we have decided to act the opposite of women in every way possible to exert our masculinity. So what happens when the business world perfects the stand to pee devices such as “you go girl” and “the P EZ” (pee easy) for women to stand and urinate and the ladies are standing next to you are the urinal in the club. Ladies when this day does come know that there are rules about the restroom. You must leave an empty urinal between each person. Yes, that is correct we only use half of the urinals in the rest room unless it is really busy. You DO NOT speak in the restroom I know it’s a very hard concept to grasp but we don’t talk to each other in the restroom, it isn’t that our mouths won’t work when we hold ourselves there, we just don’t speak to each other with one in our hand…anyway no talking… it speeds things up considerably. Finally, if you have to take the urinal next to someone look forward, straight up or straight down. Never to the side or over the divider wall to check out your neighbor. That is bad. Seriously bad, you may talk when washing your hands, but only at the sinks. I’m sure there is a brochure that will come with the device when they are available that explains the rules. Stand or sit, if you have to go you have to go, we are so bathroom phobic as men we don’t discuss this with anyone and if your significate other catches you sitting and peeing, say you are pooping they will leave the room or if they don’t you can always say, it felt like I had to poop, because we all know the best relationships are built on little lies that protect us as much as the ones we love from who we really are as people. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Presidents Day Trivia

Presidents Day Trivia: Here are some useless facts about facial hair and our national leaders on this day of remembering our US Presidents. Abraham Lincoln the 16th President, 1861 -1865 was the First President to wear a beard while in office. Prior to Lincoln, three Presidents wore sideburns; John Q. Adams, Martin Van Buren, and Zachary Taylor, the 6th, 8th and 12th Presidents respectively. Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President, 1889-1893, was the last US President to wear a beard while in office. William H. Taft, the 27th President,1909-1913, was the last to have a mustache / any facial hair. In all only 5 Presidents have worn beards while in office and with the exception of Benjamin Harrison, the elected bread wearing Presidents Lincoln, Grant, Hayes and Garfield served in succession of each other. Of course Andrew Johnson finished Lincoln's term, as a beardless president but he was never actually elected to office. Had he had a beard, things may have played out differently for him. The mustache wearing Presidents include four of the five bearded Presidents, Lincoln never wore a mustache. Making U.S. Grant the first president to wear a mustache. The others are Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Teddy Roosevelt and William H. Taft. As to why Lincoln never wore a mustache, I don’t know, maybe Mary Todd didn’t like a mustache or it was patchy and didn’t grow in full. I cannot find a suitable answer. Technically we could count Grover Cleveland twice as he was 22nd President and the 24th President, but we won’t because he is only one person. From U.S. Grant to B. Harrison 1869 to 1893 The Presidents of the United States wore facial hair. We could start in 1861 if you don’t count Andrew Johnson, but he served from 1865 to 1869, that’s a lot not to count. Excluding the side burns all the facial hair of the US Presidents occurred from 1861 to 1913 In all only 12 of the 44, technically 43, again because of Grover Cleveland, have worn facial hair We have been without a beard or mustache in the White House for over 100 years. The last candidate with facial hair, a mustache, to run for the Presidency with a party nomination was Thomas E. Dewey, who lost to FDR, twice, 1944 and 1948. We may not see another mustache and or beard in the White House again. Unless Jon Stewart decides to keep his beard and runs for President. https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/jon-stewart-emmy.jpg?quality=75&strip=color The Glory of the Beard could return to the Oval office Stewart 2016 Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Has Deadpool take the superhero film into the R rated arena for good or are we just visiting

With the success of Deadpool this weekend as an R rated film, will Marvel /Disney, Fox and DC comics along with others begin to make more of their films with an R rating. Films coming up like Xmen Apocalypse (May 2016), Captain America: Civil War (May 2016) or Batman v. Superman (March 2016) are unlikely to be recut to take on an R rating, but Suicide Squad which isn’t due out until August 2016 and is not currently rated could potentially include scenes, which were not slated to be in the film, to move from what has traditionally been the PG 13 rating to bring in teens to see these movies, to a harder R rating. Teens, young adults, and even some older adults have been growing up on superhero movies. Certainly the first installment of the superhero genres with Superman (Christopher Reeve), Batman (Michael Keaton) and Spiderman (Toby McGuire) showed the film industry superhero movies could make money, however the lessons learned were to grow the franchise you have to look at superhero movies as real films and stories and not as simply as comic book movies. The early superhero movies franchises all did well in their first efforts Reeve’s Superman was good in number one and then not in the following movies, the same with Keaton’s Batman and McGuire’s Spiderman. These films paved the way for other superheroes to come to film and to the small screen as well. DC, Fox, and Marvel have all been unbelievable with their efforts to try to tell good stories in a way that is true to the roots in comic but to have wider appeal. However most comic book films have stayed in the arena of PG 13 with the exception of a few which would not have widespread appeal with a lower PG or PG13 rating, and would only hurt what was expected to be smaller box office returns with such films like Constantine, 300, and Sin City. Marvels; Iron Man, Captain America, the Avengers and the Spider Man reboot, with DC’s reboots of Superman and Batman, and Fox with its reboot/ retooling of the Xmen have all, for the most part, decided to address the superhero movies as actual drama and action films. Bale’s Batman certainly elevated the story telling in the superhero movies to a darker and grittier level as much as Marvel has done with its cast of characters. Certainly there have been misses with some stories, but largely these films are good stories and successful in the box office. All the while spinning into some small screen productions starting with some cartoons of Spiderman and the X men to live action stories like Smallville, to now with shows like Arrow, the Flash, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter. The comic book characters are firmly implanted in our entertainment. Superhero movies have been gaining in popularity every decade since the 80s. The teens who saw these movies then are now moms and dads and some grandparents too. Deadpool is a different type of character but a superhero comic book character is where he lives. This weekend has shown that an R rating isn’t going to be the kiss of death for a film of this genre. Who really is the audience for the superhero movie, I discuss these films with people I know and look forward to them. There is an interest for me because I was a comic book reader these are characters which have been part of my reading since I was a teen are, for me and many others, a part of the literary landscape of the world. Superhero / Comic book characters are beloved figures and their fans are going to see them as long as the stories and the films are good. James Bond, while not a superhero character, he is a several decades long and retooled multi film franchise which has maintained success and stayed out of the R rating arena, because the stories and the films are good. Perhaps Deadpool is one of the characters who needs to be at the R rating level to properly present his stories while the others would not necessarily need to do, to successfully present a good and compelling story. Would the Dark Knight, Bale’s Batman vs. Ledger’s Joker, have been better and darker with an R rating? So what do you think, should more superhero / comic book films move up into the R rated film or stay where they are in the PG 13 level. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Star Wars VII: My take not really a review

Star Wars VII: Well it’s been some time and largely I have not said anything about the movie and I will try to avoid anything spoiler like in the review. Okay I can’t promise that, so if you haven’t seen the movie stop reading you have been warned. I will start by saying I’m not a fan boy but I do like Star Wars. I haven’t read much of the expanded universe or as some refer to it as the Holy Blessed Canon of the franchise. Which I suppose is as good as any place to start. This episode of the sage is thirty years or so after episode VI, also that same time in our reality. If you are making film for mass appeal, (which is what Lucas did / Disney does) you should be able to watch the films without having to dig into all that is Star Wars beyond the films to understand what is going on. Game of Thrones gets it; you don’t need to read with tell you all the important stuff don’t worry about the other stuff. Sure that other stuff is nice to hint at and to throw in to make the fan boys squeak with joy or hiss with disapproval, but you have to explain things a little bit. There is a pretty large gap in time and not a lot of answers as to did the rebels win the war, if they did why are they still fighting, what happened to the Empire are they gone or have they evolved into the first order, has the galaxy been at war all this time. That has to take a toll. Lots of hints at things crashed ships and all that but not a lot on the information front. You don’t need to spoon feed plot to your viewers but for the love of Bob at least have a conversation about it. Oh I don’t know Like Obi Wan did with Luke about there being a flippin’ Clone War at some point. Or that line about the Jedi having all died off. You know dialogue that moves the story or provides important information, this is largely absent in this film. Which brings me to my second point. Redundant much? Sure there is nothing new under the Sun has been said for two thousand years. Sure the bad guys and good guys are going to fight and they are going to use laser guns and the light sabre v light sabre. But seriously did they just recycle the story boards from New Hope to make Awakens. Nostalgia is one thing but come on, there really wasn’t anything new in the story. The deus ex factor in this movie was high, we have our character in a jam how do we get them out of the jam … magic … they are miracled away and have whatever skill/power they need to save the day. There was not a single time I felt like any major character was in danger of dying except once and that was so telegraphed if you didn’t see that death coming, there is a lot that surprises you and not just in movies. Spoilers How about some freaking character interaction? If Han and Leia have been married or at least knocking boots and naughty bits to make a maladjusted younger person don’t you think that they would have more to say to one another than the casual ‘Sup homes when they meet again? Leia gave Han more shade when he was blocking her path and that was long before he had given any reason to dislike him, but he gets to slide on the ah junior is a pain in the ass, marriage sucks, I can’t handle all this rebel bull shit anymore I’m gonna go back to smuggling with my home boy Chewie … not even an eye bat? A dirty word, not even a freakin’ nerfherder for crying out loud… Really…nope… just yeah me too. Then there is the whole thing with Luke… oh he is in some unknown part of space looking for the lost Jedi temple… nope right in the middle of known space just missing that part of the map. Which no one has bothered to look at ever… in thirty years … the same droid used to smuggle out the plans to the original Death Star is just sitting in the bin collecting dust, the same droid who as far as story goes is the pet of Anakin Skywalker in the pre Vader days, no use in oh keeping that droid working. Sure we’ll keep the annoying protocol droid which Anakin Pre Vader Skywalker freakin built but doesn’t recognize in original films but I digress in to the realm of lacking continuity. BB 8 goes oh this looks like a pretty interesting pile of scrap let me talk to it, because droids will just walk up to turned off junk and start messing about. I’m sure there is some fan boy theory Which explains that there was some super-secret code only the droids can read which said find me Love R2D2 I have a prize for you, follow my ping, There are a bunch more but as long as were are in the neighborhood on continuity how does a guy stop freeze not only a blaster ray but the dude who shot it, have your goon squad drag his simple ass to you, have an albeit short conversation, give commands and then after oh about ten minutes let the laser blast go and then later not just crush minimally skilled AWOL storm trooper with the force like a paper sack. I mean no user of the force has ever stopped a blast ray…ever … kudos for cool… but seriously … he can’t just whip the livin’ snot out of a Storm Trooper? I mean seriously pick up the light sabre and I will force choke the life right out of you in two seconds. Why even bother with the light sabre at all really, just crush everyone’s wind pipe that give you any guff at all. There are other things like the commander of a planet of First Order storm troopers feared throughout the known galaxy it taken hostage and gives in to the AWOL Trooper on janitorial detail without any hand to hand combat…seriously… there isn’t even a good defense of this. Fan boy defense of this movie is all over but there doesn’t seem to be a lot this is why this installment of the Star Wars Epic is the best ever. Did I hate The Force Tussles Around and Hits the Snooze Button a Few Times Before Lumbering Out of Bed. No but I didn’t love it. Stuff blows up, things fly around, I like the Rey character and BB8 is cool, the rest of it is blah, blah… Star Wars, … blah, blah. I don’t hate it but it doesn’t live up to the hype and is certainly not JJ Abrams best film. I won’t say do not go see it because it is worth seeing if you even like the Star Wars movies a little bit. If you love it you love it, I’m not going to say you are wrong for liking it, but it wasn’t great. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PlayStation Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards