Geraldo Rivera is a Dumbass

I think the title says it all. While watching the Hurricane Dennis post impact coverage today I happened to catch Geraldo reporting live from Florida, and yet again he proved his unwavering stupidity. It became apparent quickly, nearly at the beginning of his broadcast (what's new?). Located at a local hotel parking lot Geraldo began his commentary on the curb away from the camera - his intention being to walk towards it and allow it to pan the flooding and damage - in this he succeeded. While stepping across the street he passed an enormous branch draped nearly entirely across the road. He touched it of course, but instead of moving it off the street, possibly proving himself a service to humanity instead of sustaining his usual worthless role, he dragged it further into the road. Now he continues to walk towards the camera, and low and behold a car zoom past behind him. Whether the branch proved a hindrance I couldn't tell, but I doubt it helped the situation.

Then he began talking. He had tried to end his report after crossing the street and stomping around in the flooded mess, but the Fox News host had no intention of him quiting. She persisted by asking him to continue talking about the storm and his past hurricane reporting experience. Here things really got comical. You see, his report was finished and he was out of information. He had nothing pertinent left to say, yet he kept at it. He had to. So what happened? His mind turned off and his mouth kept going. His ego roared into action and a stream of irrevelant statements flowed from his mouth. The host said he was an expert at hurricane reporting, and instead of humbly playing it down he elaborated upon it. He brought his brother into the picture, his life along the Florida coast and how well he did his job. After rambling on and on he finally ran into a problem. He couldnt think of enough adjectives to put in front of the word Hurricane. He tried, yet stumbled. He faltered...it was apparent his mouth was moving faster than his brain, and it ran smack into a brick wall. Yet it wasn't long before they again attempted contact (a few seconds pause was all). During this time he thought he had a response. Animals! He would use an animal as his metaphor for the storm. What a novelty! What genius! What creativity! What a waste...In the end some bullshit was produced; the storm was like a ferocious tiger, roaring onto land and devastating the beachfront. What power...what elegance! What bullshit. He couldn't even say it with a straight face -- he stopped briefly mid sentence realizing how dumb it sounded, yet he continued... he had to, he was committed.

Finally amid this segment (they may have cut to the news then come back by this time) he showed previous footage of himself surviving the storm while it pummelled the coast. This part made me laugh extremely hard. He screamed into the microphone while rain pelted his hunched body, and the roaring wind nearly cost him his balance. If he had fallen I would have been rolling on the floor in laughter...it would have been priceless. I wish he could host his show on Fox like that - every weekend would be At Large with Geraldo Rivera on location within the heart of another hurricane...think of the possibilities. I bet his show rating might actually rise if that were to happen. It would provide a nice comical half-hour to Fox's lineup.

Finally we'll end with his near expulsion from Iraq back in 2003. While that should have sealed his career...it only got him his own show on Fox. Go figure. I enjoyed how he blamed the entire ordeal on MSNBC, his former employer for his ineptness. It's common logic you don't expose the location of the armed forces division your embedded with, and it should be common sense not to expose their next plan of attack. Yet Geraldo did, and in the dumbest of ways as well. I never knew he would lower himself to actually touching the sand and dirt he walks on...but to my surprise he did, and drew a map of his location and the proposed military actions of the 101st Airborne division. Thankfully the Pentagon had the balls to remove him, and this they moved to do. Geraldo actually had enough sense to remove himself before such force needed to be taken. Good job buddy, way to be sharp out there. Alas he still is an idiot, and nothing seems to be changing as the years progress. His ego continues to inflate along with his career. Maybe one day Fox will realize the mistake they made in putting him on cable news.

Kuddos Rivera. Here's to many more exciting hurricane reports and excursions across the world. Good luck and please Geraldo, keep reporting in Iraq - maybe you might get an exclusive interview with a terrorist. What a story that would be. I have no doubt you'd show it.

Terrorism in London

I wrote this last night but was too tired to post it.

Well, terrorism has struck again, and yet again it was unarmed civilians who became casualties. Casualties of a "holy war". London was woken abruptly this morning as blasts resounded throughout the city as three trains erupted into flames, and a double decker bus exploded -- ironically it was in the process of being rerouted away from the closest train wreckage. Nobody saw it coming. How it happened is unknown...the only thing for certain is the death toll will continue to rise. Throughout the day it has stayed at 37 dead, 700 wounded, but that will soon change. With so many wounded, it's only inevitable that many more will perish. And why? Why should so many lose their lives for such a senseless act? I suppose it's only senseless in the eyes of the beholder. To terrorists in their radical Islamic mindset, their actions merit great reward. The more they slay in the eyes of Allah, the grander their eternity shall be.

I took a Comparative Religions class last year as a senior in my last semester of high school. The class was taught by a man who had spent the early part of his life attempting to disprove the existence of Christ and claim Christianity as a false religion. Through his vast research he discovered more of himself and his religion than he ever thought possible, and the results changed him profoundly. Through this his life altered directions, beginning with his change of study in college from Marine Biology to a Comparative study of Religion. He has studied the Bible, along with the Koran and Torah - there are many more but I cannot think tonight -- will add in the morning. Through these studies he is able to present his class curriculum through a historical perspective, allowing a richer understanding of not only religion, but of humanity itself. As you can see, I enjoyed this class immensely for it was definitely an eye opener.

The relevant aspect of my story to terrorism is a comment he made which I found very intriguing. Though simplistic, I had never fully thought of the depth of its consequences. He brought to our attention the many wars fought between sides who believed their god deemed their actions valid. Think of the intensity of such conflicts when the assailants believed their actions were graced by god; and even further, think of the intensity of those inspired by glorious death, for in death they would be awarded tenfold what they received in life. With an army possessed by such knowledge, how could such be defeated? The confidence of knowing your sacrifice is honorable is something which eradicates the fear of death. With a lack of fear, one is highly dangerous.

Applied to today's zealous terrorists, the impact of a "holy war" is incredible. One who will blindly fight for their beliefs is unfortunately unstoppable. The fear of death has been replaced by the fear of unfulfilling their commitment to their god. Unless fulfilled, their entry into and award within "heaven" will not be granted. It is truly shocking to think that individuals who share this thought are ones which support the killing of innocent civilians. To them this is their entry into the next world, whether we like it or not. Unfortunately, these civilians are us.

God help us all, and especially those tonight in London. Unfortunately many will not be returning from work tonight to their loved ones. God bless those souls and their mourning families.

War of the Worlds

I saw War of the Worlds yesterday and it's not worth all the hype they're giving it. They basically massacred the novel and have rewritten it to entertain today's violent, action crazed society -- obviously the novel wasn't exciting enough.

The novel and movie contrast too much in my opinion. The book has one main character who travels in an attempt to escape the invasion, ultimately surviving to tell his tale. The movie involves a disfunctional family (mainly just Tom Cruise being an asshole to his children) and their attempt to reach his ex-wife and her husband in Boston where they are staying with her parents for the weekend. This would be fine and dandy if it weren't for the poorly written dialogue they're forced to recite. Between the lulls of the alien invasion Tom and his son exchange bouts of profanity in what is supposed to be considered arguments. It doesn't achieve much except deeming the kid a smart ass teenager who needs to get his butt kicked. He smarts off, purposefully misses a ball so it will break his father's window, then runs off to watch the military be destroyed by the aliens - leaving his sister behind. While we're at it, kick Tom's butt too since his character (or him in general) isn't much better than the kid.

There are two things that don't gel in this movie, and one's the kid's wish to run off to watch the military. "I have to see this dad...I have to" is what he tells Cruise when they run into a military confrontation with the aliens. It doesn't make sense. What the hell does he have to see over that next ridge? The aliens coming and the soldier's inability to stop them? Wow, that's deep, and makes oh so much sense. (Don't forget this is the second time he has tried to run off with the military -- the first is when a army convoy rolled past them on a country road). I sensed this was supposed to be some heart wrenching scene where the boy must leave (why?) but I found it pretty comical really. After letting his moronic son go (good job Cruise, way to be a father) he has to run back and retrieve his daughter from a couple who is trying to take her. I thought that would be funny if he lost both of them simultaneously then gotten eaten by the aliens afterwards (he was a horrible father in the first place). Anyway, soon after everything blows up in a ball of flames, and the aliens advance over the ridge. Cruise and the girl meet the crazy man from the book, and end up killing him to keep him quiet. This is another scene they mutilate -- why kill the man when in the book the main character merely walks away? Oh I forgot, we like excessive violence in our movies, that's why. *slaps forehead*. Duh.

The second thing which I found really dumb was their explanation of the invasion. "Well they have these machines that come out of the ground -- they were buried there!...they must have been planning this for a million years..." Ok...first of all, why would you bury them in the ground? Why would you bring them in the first place really. If this is millions of years ago, then humanity doesn't exist *slaps forehead again*. Let's say it again...no humans on earth. If you have the technology to get to earth and bury something that large -- or build something that large in the first place -- I don't believe dinosaurs pose much of a problem. You could pick them off like flies. What's sad though, I bet nobody will notice the flaws in that explanation. They'll be so stunned by the sheer volume of the movie they won't remember much else. This thing is loud, let me tell you. Perhaps their marketing scheme was if they make a movie loud enough people will overlook a lack of quality. I for one hope it backfires.

They couldn't use the original concept of aliens arriving in shell like ships shot out of cannons on the surface of Mars -- because that would be too cheesy for today's sophisticated audiences. Now the aliens appear in lightning storms (I'm assuming they design themselves) and ride the lightning through the ground into their ships. If they can manipulate weather...why not just freeze all humanity? One or two good ice ages ought to do it. If they've been at this for a million years, they can wait a couple more to actually execute a successful plan. Their's failed miserably. A million years, and they didn't figure out bacteria can kill you. That's another failure which is exemplified in the movie. The lack of immunities made sense in the book since the strike was sudden, and the average reader wasn't extremely educated... so it worked out. But in this situation it's just plain dumb.

I think one of the final scenes, where the military accompanied by the crowd inspects the fallen spaceship, could have been better. Nobody seems to make much noise when the alien crawls out then dies. I'm supposing that the majority of those getting slaughtered never saw more than the mechanical beast which destroyed them with its ray guns -- shouldn't the alien intrigue them? Or at least elicit rage? Finally they have a chance to come face to face with what has been killing them, and they're silent. Anyway, the aliens were supposed to have tentacles. It seems they got that confused -- they gave the ships tentacles instead of the aliens -- they ought to have read the book.

But out of all this, the movie will sell millions. It has Tom Cruise, and it's extremely violent. Why shouldn't it sell? Nobody will point out its problems, or be able to see any discrepancies between the classic novel and the blockbuster hit. Why? Because our society -- or the culture aimed towards today's youth -- doesn't deem reading (or writing in this case -- could have provided for a better script?) as valuable as watching music videos or forking over money to the latest pop whore's new album. Of course in the big scheme of things, who needs a basic education? I'm sure somebody's music album, or the phrase whateva will prove a thousand times more useful in the real world than possessing basic reading, writing, and arthimetic skills.

Oh well.



Yes, I did make the comparison pic.

Tuesday, July 5th

2:24 a.m.

I'm going to try this blog thing out and see if I enjoy it. Hopefully it'll allow me to convey my thoughts more coherently (not sure what they amount to) and in some respects hone my writing skills. Let's find out.

You know, even by rereading that last sentence or so, I realize how poorly I spell late at night. I usually make typos, but I read while I write so I generally fix them immediately. Unfortunately in the wee hours of the morning I seem to be oblivious to what I type. I can click through entire paragraphs and not realize how grammatically incorrect it all is. It could be my eyesight, or just being plain tired. I'm leaning more towards the former than the latter though. I know I shouldn't stay up this late, but it's fun talking to people online and responding to forums. All the west coast people post rather late in the day (for me), so I generally am up for hours talking to them -- about total nonsense too. But in the end I know I shouldn't do it. My eye lids always feel like weights and I nearly fall asleep sitting up. It can't be healthy. I bet this is what it will be like in college though. Then I'll be forced to stay awake finishing papers and studying - I had enough of that in high school (the staying up part at least).

I never studied much in high school, yet I did fairly well I believe. I took rigorous courses, applied myself when need be, but never fully went all out. I know I could have done better and achieved on a higher level, but in the end I'm satisfied with the results. I got into the college I wanted to, I graduated with honors, and am perceived by my friends as relatively intelligent. Hence the word relatively...if I did not use it they may beg to differ. I'm sure everything will change this fall - everybody tells me I'm going to have to apply myself. I will spend every waking moment studying, laboring over textbooks, and not have a minute of spare time. I have to do well or I'll fail...flunk out and then where will I be? I beg to differ. I know it will be challenging to say the least, but I know it's nothing that I can't accomplish. Nothing is too difficult, or they wouldn't put you through it. In actuality, I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be something I've never experienced before -- a new sense of freedom. I'm on the footstep of a new, wonderous life which in my head I'm wary of taking, though I know inside I'll be fine. I just have to get there first, then everything else will take care of itself. It always does.

It's quarter till three now and I'm getting tired, so I think I'll end this for now. I've never really kept a journal -- once when I was little I did, but it was essentially nothing. The process of putting your thoughts down is a nice feeling. It kind of allows you to think more clearly -- forcing you to actually process your thoughts in order to put them into coherent sentences makes you ponder. It seems once I get typing it's hard to stop -- I didn't know I had that much on my mind tonight.

Until I post again,
Tommy