Dexter: Series review

Dexter Series review. As I was not, as many people are not, a Showtime subscriber, I am woefully behind the curve. If you are planning to watch the series there will be certain spoilers in here but I will try to keep them to a minimum. Dexter is a forensic tech and serial killer. In concept this is perfect even if your hairs or prints were at the scene of a crime they are certainly explainable as contamination occurs at every crime scene there is no way around it, especially if people are doing the work. Keeping things realistic is difficult in fiction, you have to keep the story line moving and the amount of time to process the evidence they are performing does not happen as instantly as they do in show. Not a critical opinion just an observation about all crime shows. Dexter is a very well rounded character and I’ve read a lot of reviews saying he is played too flat or emotionless or something else related to him not being able to connect to the other people. I have to say I think you missed the point. Dexter is supposed to have trouble forming the social bonds and isn’t phased by the things which others have difficulty. Is it completely accurate to a sociopath, yes, no, maybe, the thing is they stay true to the widely held belief by law enforcement and the psychiatric field that serials killers aren’t raving lunatics. They tend to be in the genius range of intelligence and often blend into social settings pretty well, just not with other people so much. Dexter fits the archetype for serial killers pretty well. Methods of killing aside, what ever really gets the job done, if you are having him find people methodically who fit a certain “code” it stands to reason there is a method to how he kills and disposes of bodies. I’m sure there were other ways to dispose of bodies with less actual traces but there has to be an element that our hero or anti hero might be found out and that adds to the tension and drama. Main characters: Men, Women, supporting The men: Batista, Masuka, Quinn, Doakes and Harry The women: LaGuerta, Deb, Rita and Hannah Supporting: Cody and Astor, Harrison, Jamie If a character isn’t on the list it is; one, because they are a spoiler or two, are season plot movers only and don’t really have an overall impact on the show, i.e. FBI Special Agent Lundy. He really only exists to move season two along and then is really essentially gone. Is he a likable character… yes, does he play the part he needs to play,…yes, does he impact the whole series…no. Men All of them are well acted and remain true to who they are through out the whole series or at least as long at they are in the series. Batista is moral with flaws, Quinn is his polar opposite he is flawed but has some morals. They are both good at their jobs. They are both their own worst enemies. Quinn has too much ego and Batista not enough. Masuka ... Love this character. He is what he is and I think typical of people who are good at what they do, but not much else. He adds much needed comedy in what would otherwise be a very dark series. Masuka also shows a coping mechanism that many people in these fields develop in the warped sense of humor in the face of very disturbing things. Harry. I like that they include Harry through out the series and it works for me how they do it but others may not like it. We all have that guiding voice of our teachers, parents and mentors that help us get through things. Harry teaches the code to Dexter and it makes sense as a detached person he relates to it as not part of his own internalized personality but as an external control that he has to follow to survive. Doakes: He is typical of the law enforcement image; tough, the law is black and white no gray areas. It is right or it isn’t. He is frustrated with the system and bad guys getting away with things that they shouldn’t. He relies on the evidence only because he has too and there inlays the tension between him and Dexter. Dexter as the lab person is the ‘necessary evil’ to doing the job by the book and not a “real” cop which frustrates Doakes more. After Doakes leaves the show Quinn and Batista share the load of system frustration, macho-ism and other things. The women First, I have to say for a series as big as it was, the women who are supposed to be in strong leadership roles were depicted horribly. Weak, manipulative, spiteful etc, every negative stereotype about women in the work place is represented in the main characters and supporting women. It is truly shameful. Rita. She is not the love of Dexter’s life and for her role she is one of the only almost respectable female characters in the series at first. Rita is typical of abused women in this country and the flaws in how they try to set their lives to right. Going back again and again to the men who hurt them and the cycle of violence continues. We meet Rita in this role and she tries to grow and then they just make her bitchy. It would have been nicer to see her grow as a person and break the cycle she was in without the transformation into a micromanaging harpy. However she wasn’t intended to be the love of Dexter’s life and she isn’t which makes it easier when she isn’t in the show because I for one didn’t like her character any longer by the end of her role. LaGuerta: Oh dear lord, could you have seriously have made a character any more shallow and self serving as this character. There was not a single redeeming thing about this character. She was out for number one always, more so than Dexter who is the sociopath serial killer. Let’s just say a place for asses sums up her character. However, Why take the female character in an authority position in a profession where women are not respected as much as less qualified male counter parts and make her everything negative that people say about women in these roles. Shame on you series writers, shame on you. Debra Morgan. Her character is another example of this series asking how can we take a strong female role of a truly competent female police officer and investigator and make her pathetic and unlikable. Now I don’t mind all the swearing that was fine, people cuss and swear, women fuck and drink too. I don’t have a problem with any of that. However this train wreck the writers pass off as being an anchor for a serial killer would be laughable if it were not so pathetic. Whining, lack of confidence, coupled with a misplaced bravado, falls in love at the drop of a hat, and on and on. She is a walking, talking cliché. Debra Morgan is a train wreck of hazardous materials next to a water treatment plant in a highly populated area. If her character was going to exit the series how she did it would have been better to do it in season one rather than at the end of the series. Hannah McKay. She at least is not compromising. She is the only strong female character in the series. She fights to survive, moves past bad times in her life and adapts. I like that they kept her character human and vulnerable when it came to shedding light on her past and how she got to where she is in life. We all have those people, vices or things which break us down. You either cope or you die. She fights, to win even if she stumbles here and there. Supporting Characters Astor, Cody, Harrison and Jamie Batista They really had little to do with the show and Jamie only exists to deal with Harrison. However to play them down as not important isn’t the point. They all have a point of grounding the story in some reality. Putting a serial killer in Miami that is a single guy who never dates and is always killing someone or cleaning up after someone else who has killed someone would be a hard series to make last for more than two seasons. These supporting characters give a depth to the characters and the story that otherwise wouldn’t have existed. The Series overall Wow, how to sum up a series without spoilers. Well each season had good points and bad points. It is very clear to see that there wasn’t really a map to the end, which certainly explains a lot of the up and down things in the series. I think if the series writers had taken the time to say okay this is the character and we want to go from here to this other point, how do we do it, and then mapped out some sort of rough path it would have played better in the low points. What happened was shot gun blast story writing with some things hitting targets and some things not hitting anything. The last season. I heard a lot of negative stuff about the last season and it really is a weak one in the series. However the contrast between Dexter and the final villain is a mirror of sorts one side is Dexter’s life and the other is what it may have been, but really the series had already done this in season one so why repeat it. However the whole Elway / US Marshals bullshit was just unnecessary and could have been avoided especially if they had derailed the Debra Morgan express train to hell in season one. The ending or as I saw it… ok here is the ending…just kidding really here is the ending… just kidding again here is the ending… ok serious this time here is the ending. Fuck you he is our character we will end this on our terms not yours. That said it is open which is nice you can think about it however you want. Something that hurt Dexter was Breaking Bad … here was a show that had a map plotted out, the major story points at the beginning and then drove the car from A to B with some side turns but knowing where it was going the story was able to stay pretty close to the trajectory and had an amazing ending in three less seasons. It left people wanting more where as Dexter lost a lot of people because there was no plan for an end point How would I have ended Dexter? Hannah and Dexter are recruited by Isaak Sirko once Dexter pulls his ass out of the fire and they take the murder road show international and are millionaires in the crime world. Seriously why not this is fiction not reality … Isaak is on the outs with his bosses, he seems to be fairly well connected in the international drug world. Isask was not a peon and was well placed he could make a move on his own with the right people to support him. There is a lot of competition and people who just fuck you over in that sort of business. You need problem handlers, Why not a pair of handlers who don’t mind getting their hands dirty and are pretty freaking good at it too. Who would expect Dexter, Hannah and Harrison to be murderers of the crime world’s competition. Law enforcement would be as light about tracking them down as they were with all of Dexter’s previous trash removal enterprises and chalk it all up to internal struggles that don’t cost tax dollars, eat up the courts time or take up space in the prisons. That’s just me Sorry about the few spoilers I tried to keep them to a minimum. What did you think of Dexter? Well, that’s all for now, other stuff tomorrow or some other day 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, PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015

Inspiration v. Intimidation

As the years go by I’m finding there seems to be a fine line between a lot of things in life. Anytime that there are gaps in the issues of my blog it means that I’ve become introspective or started dating someone. Before you get terribly excited about that last bit I’ll put the kibosh on your hopes if you had any I’m not dating anyone that however is a topic for another day. So as you have likely surmised I have been introspective. Which is usually supposed to end with some discovery which pushes you toward some final understanding, and I have found the meaning of life. However, to quote or paraphrase Deep Thought, You’re not going to like the answer. In fact you won’t like the answer so much I’ve decided that it is best that I not tell you the answer. Rather talk about two things I like to do to occupy my time. Writing and drawing. They say that writers should write and artists should do something in what ever medium they practice everyday. Technically I do write everyday for my job. I have to tell stories of people who for what ever reason have become my clients, if you don’t know I am a child abuse investigator and sometimes the non fiction that I have to write for my pay check takes a toll on want to write anything more for the day. Now this doesn’t necessary take an emotional toll on me but sometimes what ever peeve I had planned to blog about seems to be really rather insignificant and petty in comparison. So I don’t write. On those days sometimes I draw. Which I enjoy but I don’t want to share because I look at most of what I put to paper as a drawing and feel rather wanting in my abilities. Inspiration to become motivated to produce something from an experience or encounter Intimidation to become unmotivated to produce something from an experience or encounter Very similar in meaning and I don’t know if those are the definition you’ll find in any dictionary but it is how I perceive the two words and what they mean as to my ability As to writing content I think I do pretty well however grammatically I shudder when I read some of the things I string together and pass off as the written word. I read stories that are mass produced and know that I keep myself entertained with ideas that are at least equally entertaining. It’s just getting them to paper. As to the drawing I start so many drawings and they don’t usually turn into anything recognizable or worth putting out for public critique. I am my own worst critic and as it would seem I’m also a source of inspiration. I had an English professor while I was in college who said don’t toss out what you write that you don’t like. Every writer I’ve read anything about kept notes galore on the works they produced. The professor was talking about writing poetry with the idea that you won’t sit down and write a poem completely in its final draft on the first run. Even Saroyan’s poem “Lighght” was probably written a couple of different ways or at least in different fonts and colors before it was finished. I don’t write a lot of poetry but I have remembered that and will keep the previous attempts of poems all ways with the most recent on top. Looking back you can see where you have made progress toward the intended message or feeling and perhaps where a wrong turn of phrase has gotten things too far off the way. As to the drawing I’ve not really had any formal lessons as such. I’ve taken the required art classes in school which were really more to expose students too all of the mediums rather than to hone a particular skill Which is fine if you under stand the basic skills then mastering them is just a matter of practice. Using the idea from a writing professor I don’t toss out anything I draw. Well unless it was really horrid. To make up for my lack of funding to take a formal drawing class I watch youtube videos, various animation films and films about well known artists. Mostly watching masters at work is intimidating rather than inspirational. Last night though I was looking for something and stumbled upon some sketches I had done a few years ago and put them next to something I’ve been working on currently. Progress and not just oh I prefer this one to that one but actual progress. The thing is watching a person do something they are well practiced, is often times more intimidating than it is inspirational to others. Social expectations are really skewed in our society where anything other than complete success is ridiculed and scorned often times more than those who don’t even try to do something, which is truly the bigger failure. I think it is fine to find inspiration in the great works of others but coloring that inspiration with an admiration that this person worked and practiced their craft to get to a level of skill and adeptness at what ever they are doing. You don’t always see what goes on being the scenes, or the rehearsals, you only see the finished product While I share some of my written thoughts I don’t really share much of my prose works maybe someday. The same with my drawings, I post some of it on my office door at work and occasionally as a handmade card I don’t really put it out there for public consumption. My desire may be to write a novel that sells very well with some illustrations by yours truly. However my expectation is that I’m most likely not going to be the next George RR Martin or JKRowling and certainly it is less than likely that I’m going to have anything hanging in a museum. However these are things which are relaxing for me help keep things in perspective that I have more going on than the work that I do for a paycheck and can entertain myself rather than relying on someone else to entertain me. Look to others for inspiration, admire their accomplishment, practice what you love, expect nothing and not trying are the only true failures in life. So draw, write, skip, hike, build, craft, invent and most importantly don’t listen to the voices in your head saying you can’t or it isn’t good enough. Who knows you may be a person someone else silently watches for inspiration. Well, that is all for now, other stuff on some tomorrow day most likely Happy Birthday if it is your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it is not your birthday Thank you for reading and please subscribe. Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015

Shut the Duck Up

I remember a time when A&E, the History Channel, The Learning Channel and the Discovery Channel were all places you could go to watch TV and not feel completely horrible about the amount of time you spent in front of the TV. It was programming you could watch and get something back. Granted a lot of it was gee whiz I might do freaking awesome the next time I play a trivia game or more than you ever really wanted to know about Hitler and World War II. The thing is you could go there are learn a little bit and still be entertained. Well in the big scheme of things learning doesn’t pay as much as people being stupid. If nothing else we’ve learned from America’s Funniest home videos we love to see some poor schulb take it a shot to the twig and berries, or some kid or pet bust their ass in some wacky fashion as long as they don’t bleed. We’ve had a full decade and probably closer to two now of “reality” TV People getting paid far too much to PRETEND that what they are doing in front of the camera is random and how they act all the time. (cough …bullshit…cough) You can see the scripting without much effort but hey watch what you want. I don’t watch because that is my right to say you know what a bunch of bearded yahoos, hucksters in a pawn shop, a chubby little pageant queen or any of the others because it isn’t how I choose to entertain myself. And if you like watching any of those things you probably equally hate watching what I love to watch. That’s ok too. However to say that this is some big issue involving the US Constitution and the First Amendment is where I have to step in and say, No. Mr. Duck got to say what he wanted. In fact if got printed in a magazine. As far as I know no one is saying he can not go on saying the same stuff or believing what he believes. The only thing I think that has changed is that his bosses, you know the people who wrangle up the money for the ads that pay for his show and all the others have said you know I’m not sure we want to pay you any more. This is their right as the bosses. Mr. Duck can say what he wants A&E does not have to be the vehicle by which he gets to say what he wants. Would your boss keeping paying you if you went out and said some stuff that made your company look bad or your company didn’t agree with. Probably not, but you are entitle to do just that and find out. However there is hope if you want to the show to continue. Launch a kickstarter page raise the money and put it on Youtube or hell Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon might even pick it up. The thing is no one is saying he can’t say what he wants. They are just saying they aren’t going to be the soap box he stands on anymore. Besides there are bigger issues to deal with here other than if a group of successful business owners get to continue to make a bunch more money on top of their successful business anymore all the while pretending it is some religious slight or oppressive censorship. Oh, I don’t know maybe start with our soldiers, or the homeless, or the unemployed. It would be a better world indeed if people got as pissed off about real issues rather than some made up bullshit to sell air time or magazine copies. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff tomorrow 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, PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015

Is that pumpkin pie or sweet potato...ugh..sweet potato...bleck

Today is the national holiday in the US where we celebrate giving thanks. Now I really want to try to be more positive about my blog and push away griping, bitching, moaning and complaining. So while this entry may seem like something from one of the previous categories as a gripe, a bitch, a moan or even a complaint it isn’t no matter how much it actually seems like it might be. Trust me I’m the one writing this I should know what I mean. Is this really a day of giving thanks and is that really what the meaning of the holiday is supposed to be. Most likely it would depend on who you ask about the holiday Little kids will say it is a day that there is no school and the pilgrims did stuff. You know stuff like fleeing an island where the rule of the land disenfranchised many of them for being the believing in the wrong religion or in the wrong birth order, born in the wrong social standing or even being born the wrong gender. And other stuff like shunning the natives and treating them exactly like they were treated on their little island home. Shunning them for being the wrong religion, being uneducated, taking advantage of their willingness to share, and not even recognizing them as humans. Yet still these new people to the pilgrims supposed forgave and helped the idiots from the little island. Perhaps they regret that choice but it wasn’t likely something as big as the land mass that is the US would have gone unnoticed for much longer and really had been known about for a while anyway. Just getting here was a bit dicey. Assuming the pilgrims were just as bad as they were good, why are we celebrating them. On to the native peoples, while they were taken advantage of by the invading funny dressed people, were they really all that nice. Seems that they were just as bad. Wars along tribal lines just like all the invaders. Where as the Euro-trash coming over warred as England, France, Spain and others. The natives warred with one another under the names of Iroquois, Ottawa, Crow, Osage, Cherokee, and others. They had there own governmental problems but certainly for all the lack of European based education certainly was better for the community as a whole, you know until those pesky other groups decided to bash your head in for being born in the wrong group. It still baffles me that they just didn’t fall upon this funny dressed people and bang them on the head with rocks until they died. Guess they felt sorry them for being dressed so funny. Anyway if the first settlers and the native peoples were all not so pleasant to deal with on the whole surely the ideals of giving thanks should be something we can all gather to and agree is the reason for the holiday. What do we give thanks for though, the holiday propaganda would have us think that having family and food are the reasons to give thanks. Not to sound too much like some one who practices Buddhism shouldn’t this be something that humbles us every day and the Buddha isn’t the only one who attempts to corner the market on this thankfulness game. All the “major” and yes even the “minor” belief systems seem to talk a lot about the importance of family, thankfulness for blessings and life and such things. The quotes about major and minor are to denote that because your belief system doesn’t have the number of followers of some other billion ranked system doesn’t make it any less important. There is the argument that this is a non religious holiday and the belief system isn’t really a part of the whole thing, so take your “you should give thanks everyday argument and put it on the shelf”. You thought I was going to say something else didn’t you (wink) see I have a moral compass …sometimes it even works. That isn’t going to fly but taking the belief system out and from a purely not belief system shouldn’t thankfulness be an every day thing and not a once a year celebration. And if it is really all about being thankful and sharing. Why is it that we are gathering together to over indulge and argue with loved ones about politics, religion, sexual orientation, bad habits, and all the other reasons families across this land will say mean and hateful things. Or instead of saying them, just thinking them and drinking too much to drown out the demons, or better still push those feelings down deep inside until we take them out of coworkers or in our own smaller nuclear family. That says happiness and thanks right. In review we have a holiday in which we are supposed to be happy, thankful and celebrate community sharing and helping out our fellow humans. We celebrate it by, over eating, over drinking, saying bad things about the people we care most about, do horrible things to those we care about and preparing to spend every dollar we have save and some that credit cards will allow us to spend on things we really don’t need. Boozed up, over full shopping. Hmmm… perhaps we do celebrate it properly the pilgrims were a groups not so happy people who met some people who only liked themselves in small groups who got together that one time had a great meal then started screwing each other over everyday since. Well then sorry for all the critical review of things seems we are doing it right. Grab your pie, turkey thigh and your booze du jour and enjoy. In other news Seriously though be thankful everyday for all the things we all, including me, take for granted and over look all too often. We all have problems and may not have everything we want in our lives but if you have a place to sleep at night that is dry, clothing to wear and food to eat and even just one person who is happy to see you most every day. You have a lot more than millions in the US and billions around the world. Give thanks for everyday not just on holidays. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff on a tomorrow most likely Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015

This is me doing that writing thing that I do

My son, stunt boy asked me recently, if I still wrote in my blog. Which I said yes but then quickly had to edit the answer to say I still have my blog but I haven’t written much lately. I didn’t really need to edit my answer but I felt like just leaving the answer as yes was not so much lying to him as lying to myself. I’ve been meaning to write but lately I’ve been conflicted and angry and emotionally charged that writing seemed to become clouded in all the things I’ve been plagued with lately in my life. The blog has been largely cathartic in helping deal with things in my life and to just chronicle things in my life not so much a hey come here and learn about these opinions I have on a particular topic which is most blogs. So it has lacked a focus. Said lack of focus allows me to write about what ever I damn well please and no one can say, that is not what you do here. But on the other side of that is lack of focus some time the forest is lost in the trees. There are things I want to write about but then I don’t because: pick a reason I might offend someone … I’m not so invisible as I once was. There was a time when only a select few people really knew who invisible don was or was not. Now the cat is out of the bag and I can’t write things that I once did. I said it was cathartic so if you go back and read something that offends you … sorry my emotional growth happens in words. When things were written that is how I felt I may or may not feel that way now. I don’t know enough about something to make a statement. While I think I’m fairly intelligent I also know that I don’t know a lot. Sure that doesn’t stop some people from talking endlessly about something they know nothing about. I sort of like to have some knowledge about something before firing off a rant or a diatribe. Although Lance Armstrong really fucked me over on that one, not that he reads my stuff but mmm humble pie with a scoop of in your face cream. That said I still believe that the US Anti-doping agency is a huge waste of money and not just them there are a lot more things that can be trimmed away and not hamper our government. Religion and Politics, sure they certainly fill the space up and the previous statement is what it is. It is my firm belief that only people paid to talk about religion and politics should talk about them. Most people don’t read religious or political things to firm up their beliefs they read about what the other side is doing wrong and to try and change someone’s mind about their political or religious belief you would be better off trying to teach birds to swim and fish to fly. My job. I can’t really talk about my job, because I would loose my job if I wrote about it in any way that someone could figure out who I was talking about. For those of you who may not know I’m a child abuse investigator where I live. So it isn’t really things that people want to read about. Everyone says I couldn’t do your job and they certainly don’t want to read about it. Plus I type a lot of the day to typing at night is sometimes too much. Leaving me in a place where I spend a lot of time doing one job or another and not a lot of time to write or more specifically not taking the time to write. It is a really a combination of things. Being a single parent, having two jobs, trying to entertain myself and read but then to do the writing thing too. I don’t think I have it worse than most people, in fact my life is pretty good for the most part. There are things I want to change and I’m working on that. Change can only happen so fast and only so many things can get done in a day. Editing is not one of things that is put on the to do list, though it should probably be on there. You can figure it out most of the time, and when you can’t, you can ask what I meant. Rule of thumb though before you ask, if you think it’s about you it probably isn’t so only ask if you think you want no for the answer. However if it is you and the answer is yes you should be prepared for that as well because I’m not going to apologize for feeling a certain way. I can be mad as hell at someone and feel all sorts of ways about it, writing about it helps me not do the things I think about doing. We all have those thoughts Writing though I haven’t been, but I’ve been meaning to do it or get back to it. I’m making my students write every week, which makes me read. The purpose of them writing is to practice at writing. Something I should be doing here. Here is me doing that writing thing about why I’m not doing that writing thing that I do. I promise to do more of the trying to do the writing thing. Good news for those of you who enjoy my rambling bad news for those of you who wish I would drop dead. You know which group you are in and mostly I do too. Relationships are fun, especially the dysfunctional ones. In other news. Stunt boy is currently in a play. He has been in two plays. Both of which he has had the smallest on stage part in the play. He has made this his quest to try out and to get the smallest part in any play his school is doing. He wants the drama club to develop an award for this so his legacy will live on, long after he has graduated. Person with the most small parts in drama. I really think it’s a clever way to acknowledge the supporting players who may have no desire to be in the spotlight but enjoy being there next to, or near to, or somewhere close to, on the same stage as someone doing more. The play is wonderful and for a high school production it was really rather good. I saw it twice. It was fun sitting in the audience hearing people say good things about stuntboy. Being invisible does have some advantages, still think flying is the better super power but hey you work with the tools you have, right. Well that’s all for now Thank you for reading, please subscribe, if today is your birthday, happy birthday and if today is not your birthday a very merry un birthday to you. Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don

Go back to whatever Starbucks dumpster you climbed out from behind

Homogenized America Reading critical reviews of anything from food, to music, to a place, what ever seems to point to one thing we are all xenophobic. Afraid of things which are different, fearful of the unfamiliar, anything that goes against the grain is cause for our immediate disdain. The internet has given us all a place to tell others about our dislike of this or that thing and the ever resounding thing about every single statement of dislike is this or that is different than what I prefer. I’ve long believed if you took someone put them in the middle of any place in the US and kept them from actually reading anything that said where they were you would not have a clue where you were. You would also have to hide the skylines of most major cities as a give away but apart from two things we are the same from coast to coast and north to south. Really makes me wonder about the world or more specifically the people in it. Why do we want everything to be the same? We go on and on about how we are all individuals but we aren’t. We want a well polished, chrome plated, shiny, plastic coated, all weather, new and improved sameness to the entire world. Oh and it should also be well lit and temperature controlled. I read a review for a place written on the same day I was in a place. My experience was fine everything was good, from the service and the items purchased. The other person who may have even been there at the same time as myself says it was the very worst experienced they have ever had in their life. Makes me wonder, does this person writing the review like anything. I went on to read other reviews perhaps my standards are low or I just don’t know any better. More reviews were the same as my experience and in reading over thirty reviews only two were negative. Gives me hope that there are people who like things a little different in the world. But still I wonder though because more places seem to strive for the element of sameness rather than going out of a limb. So much of the things that people complain about are not even complaints they are just whining about why things aren’t they way I want them to be. A complaint is there is a hair in my food, not that the décor is passé or too retro. Don’t take my word for it go out and read reviews for things and places you like. Read the ones that disagree with how you feel about it and you’ll see the things that people bitch about are just a bunch of whining about how things aren’t the same as they are in the homogenized sameness of the superplex where they usually go for this or that thing or service. Think I’m wrong? Why are there 3 Hangover and 6 Fast and Furious movies? Why do well all live so close to a McDonalds, Starbucks and Wal-Marts? Why do we mock the people who are a little different from what we like? Because we are all afraid to be a little different, may be the world would be a bit better with more difference and less sameness or maybe not. Welcome to Stepford, America won’t you be one of us…one of us…one of us… Well, that’s all for now, other stuff tomorrow 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, you know if you are reading this on blogspot or on diaryland. If you are reading on face book well you are already subscribed. Aren’t you happy. Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015

The adventures of invisibledon king of the bastards continue still...

The adventures of invisible don king of the bastards continue still… As has been my habit in recent months my writing has been tardy and this issue is weeks tardy rather than months. Again my absences from the writing table, is not the matter for discussion and is not likely to be one at least not presently. This issue pertains to the Happy Hour Crew and my adventures with them. Those of you not familiar with the way back days of invisible don king of the bastards won’t know who the Happy Hour Crew is or it’s function. The function is simple we drank during happy hour …the name really does tell you all you need to know and we started drinking when the drinks were less expensive as we didn’t have the money for full priced drinks and largely we still don’t …another matter. The second is who are the members of the Happy Hour Crew? Well of course there is yours truly and then several others. Former Smoking Buddy who still smokes but as I do not she is the former there was really no need to change her from Smoking buddy to something new that is just confusing. Then there is Brand A and Head Nod, they are a couple Brand A is more the free spirit of the two and Head Nod is willing to play but when it’s time to go …you’ve guessed it, the head nod comes out and then leave. Everyone knows what the head nod means but he still does it. HK which I’m not sure I’ve ever defined HK to anyone or in the blog, I’m not going to research it and if I have you know and if I haven’t well then you don’t know. HK has had a series of relationships during the Happy Hour Crew days and generally they don’t get written about not that we don’t care about who HK dates or that they aren’t around a long time they are… they just haven’t been part of the blog. The last two members of the original HHC were Jonzo and Braff. They are completely separate people no connection to each other, other than the HHC. Braff’s sister and I worked together years after the HHC formed and she is a friend of Brand A and Head Nod. Jonzo is a former co worker who I see now and again and we always threaten to have drinks again but life gets in the way of these things. There have been lots of add ons and people who show up here and there over the years but 50’s pin up girl has been the only one to really be a late joiner who fell into the crew and stayed with the crew for the long haul. 50’s pin up girl is looks like a girl from the 50’s and works …well a rather interesting job more on that later. We used to gather every other Thursday for Happy Hour at public places then that evolved to house parties largely at Former Smoking Buddies. The house parties phase has evolved to holidays and special occasions gatherings. The last bit of people in the HHC have really been there since the beginning but weren’t really part of the HHC because they were busy which was a guitar player from a band and his wife. They’ve never had nick names in the blog mainly because I will usually link the band the guitar player is in and that gives away his true identity. OK were up to speed I think, regardless we’re moving forward The reason for the recent calling to order of the HHC was a birthday and concert not exactly on the same day but close-ish. The Rev. Horton Heat was playing her in the Star City a few weeks ago and as our luck would have the guitar guy’s band The Woody Nelsons is playing as one of two opening bands for the Rev. How awesome is that? Well, the style of music guitar guy has always played is Rock a Billy in flavor, which if you are not aware is what the Rev. Horton plays too. Well in a style. We love it all of the HHC love this music we are groupies of a sort with guitar guy and 50’s Pin up girl and Former Smoking Buddy are real groupies of the Rev. Horton Heat. I mean that in the best possible way, hell guitar guy is as well for that matter. They will drive far and sometime wide to see this man play which if you know the music you know it is worth the drive. The other band playing that night is Continental , Rick Barton and his son’s band. Which if you don’t know Rick was a founding member of the Drop Kick Murphy’s. So the bill is set and the HHC decide to have a VIP day/night of it dinner then the show. Which in true HHC fashion was a party at someone’s house. Now they are generally at Brand A and Head Nod’s house, which is true again. Jonzo and Braff didn’t make it for this go around but they were both invited. Well the cook out part of it is grand guitar guy and his wife are there with there newly born child congrats on that by the way. Then he had to go for sound checks at the club. Everyone is getting rather excited now and we are swapping stories about the other shows we’ve been to and hope this one is as fun and having a good time. Thing is the HHC will go a while without being together and everyone falls right back into place like not a day has gone by …which of course it has and that only allows for stories of the in between times. Brand A and Head Nod have a child now too and the Little James Dean is tearing it up on his motorized bike in the back yard. Head Nod has juiced up the bike because he is a vehicle guy. Loves motors and things that are made to move by motors and Little James Dean is reaping the benefit of his dad’s love of make it go faster and better. Time to go to the concert the baby sitter for Little James Dean show up and she promises not to chloroform the kid. You know how it goes you show up as the baby sitter and you have the rag with chloroform on it and you say, Hey kid does this smell like Chloroform as you hold the rag to the kids face. They fall asleep and you get to relax until the parents come home. That is not really a good baby sitting practice … well at least no in polite society. Off to the show we go. We are early but not really early. As in we are there in advance of when the show starts but only by about 15 or 20 minutes. Which in bar scene band show that is not really early enough to get great seating so there are a few seats left up near the stage along the wall and there is a bar there but it is beside a wall and not really at the bar. Which means part of the time some of us will be standing, which is usually the case with Former Smoking Buddy and 50’s pin up girl because they get up front by the stage and listen from beside the speakers or at the feet of who ever we are there to see. My job usually revolves around watching drinks and things from a location not right by the stage. This is fine by me I’m a people watcher now and my mosh pit days are behind me. Which there was one there that evening and there were people in the pit that had no business being in the pit. When I see this forming I turn to Head Nod and say there was a day when I would be out there but that day isn’t today. Soon after that a person very close to my age is on the floor after being bashed about like a pin ball. That is just not smart. You don’t swim in a tank of sharks if you aren’t a shark or in armor and he was neither a shark or armored. At some point between the bands I have to go to the rest room. I know drinking and peeing you must be kidding those two things never happen together. Well I go in and do my business and no most places put adds up over urinals to sell you stuff while you pee or at least to expose you to things while you are exposed. I’m looking at the ads, and see the place 50’s pin up girl and Former smoking buddy work … which is a sex toys shop. I think huh Ill tell her them. So I do you know after I finish and wash my hands. So I say hey there is an ad for your place of business over the urinal. 50’s and Former say really go in and take a picture. I turn phone in hand walking toward the men’s room… then I think this probably seems a bit odd me. Standing at the door of the men’s room camera at the ready … to take a picture of an ad for a sex shop over a urinal Well as I walk in there is some one at said urinal so I leave because I don’t need to go and to wait there with my camera ready is going to seem even more odd if I walk up and take a photo of the ad over the urinal of where someone just peed while they are washing their hands. So I just waited outside until he left and then went in and did just that and showed it to 50’s and Pin up girl… perhaps you had to be there. Another pint please…On with the show …. The Woody Nelson’s played and gave a really great show. This was for us and for guitar guy too, to be on the same stage as the next two bands was a dream come true. Perhaps that dream will go a bit further and guitar guy will be the one that other bands want to open up for some day. Rick Barton was walking around before his show and if you don’t know a person is going to blow your socks off when you meet them well then you haven’t met Rick Barton. He walks and all you can think is this guy knows something you need to know. Well if a sound check is getting in your car, starting it up and driving for the freeway once Continental gets in the merge lane you are full speed from then on. During the show Barton delivers great music and good entertainment from the stage. At one point he is telling how there are good girls and bad girls who go to this type of show. Good girls isn’t the compliment in this scenario and he is making a tour around the women near the stage to which he is saying good girl about all of them and when he gets to Former Smoking Buddy and 50’s pin up girl he tags 50’s pin up girl as a good girl and then he sees Former Smoking Buddy and says without pause Bad Girl. Well Former Smoking Buddy could not have been happier. Just as the Woody Nelsons got the energy level up for Continental, Barton brought the energy level up to a level for the Rev. The Rev. took the stage and played all good songs, my favorite was not among them but hey what are you going to do. This band looks like they are right from the 1950’s but feel like they are from a time we haven’t lived in yet. All three bands made this one of the best concerts that I’ve been to ever and it was in a small little club and not as expensive. Unfortunately we all had to work the next day and were out way past reasonable bed times or there may have been more to the story Well, that’s all for now, other stuff tomorrow 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, you know if you are reading this on blogspot or on diaryland. If you are reading on face book well you are already subscribed. Aren’t you happy. Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015