"Dashing through the snow..."

"…in an ‘03 Cavalier…Four more years to go, and I’ll own it free and clear!”

GLOBAL WARMING, MY ASS!!
For the third straight Saturday, we’re having what the Weather Channel people might call a “Winter Weather Event” here in K.C.  It started off as just plain rain, then freezing rain, then sleet and now the snow is blowing horizontally in the lovely 25-35 MPH winds out of the northwest.  Luckily, I managed to get the bulk of my Christmas shopping done this morning before this little Norwester hit town.

PEOPLE ARE STRANGE…
Explain this to me, please—what is this obsession some people have with wearing shorts?  While doing my shopping today, I encountered two different people at Target strolling around in shorts.  Nothing wrong with that, but if you’ll read my weather report above, you’ll note that today was not exactly balmy in the great outdoors!  And I’m not talking about kids who don’t know any better, but grown adults here.  Maybe it’s just because I get cold relatively easy, but I don’t get why you’d wear shorts like it was the 4th of July while doing your Christmas shopping.  Same goes for women who wear skirts and no hose this time of year—ain’t that just a tad drafty?

HYPOCRISY, THE CONTINUING SAGA
Seems that there was a new book about parenting due to hit the stands.  Pop Culture Mom: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World is the memoir of one Lynne Spears, mother of singer/nutbag Britney Spears and actress Jamie Lynn Spears.  The book was slated to come out on May 11th next year—Mother’s Day, naturally—but her publisher is delaying the release indefinitely after this week’s revelation that little Jamie Lynn is pregnant.  What’s even funnier to me is that the publisher, Thomas Nelson, Inc., is an inspirational Christian book outfit.  I repeat—a Christian book publisher!  Don’t it seem just a tad disingenuous that one of their offerings would come from the mother of a skanky out-of-control singer who dresses like a whore and whose concert performances have been known to include male dancers sticking their faces right in her crotch, let alone the mother of a 16-year-old girl who just got knocked up?  Oh well, I guess if there’s a buck or two to be made, all bets are off and ethics and morality go right out the window, huh?  One can only imagine the helpful parenting hints ol' Lynne will dish out in her book—not unlike the advice of a twice-divorced marriage counselor...

I KNOW THAT DUDE!
I stumbled across the ancient classic kids’ musical film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on the TV this week, starring the original “DVD” himself, Dick Van Dyke.  I probably hadn’t seen this thing in damn near 40 years, and there was a guy in it who looked and sounded awfully familiar to me.  It was none other than the lad himself, Benny Hill!  Little did I know when I first saw this film how much this man would later corrupt little ol’ me…

A FRESH ANGLE…
…on Madonna’s induction into the Rock ’N’ Roll Hall of Fame.  I read a column on MSNBC the other day that pointed out something I hadn’t thought of before—one of the reasons why they voted Madonna in is so it would draw attention to the Hall, and it makes perfect sense.  Not saying that makes it right, of course, but last year they had the built-in intrigue of the whole Van Halen soap opera to draw attention, and this year they’re desperate because of the sad fact that truly worthy candidates like the Moody Blues, Deep Purple or the Brothers Doobie ain’t gonna cause much buzz in our short attention span society.  By the same token, though, you can’t tell me that Kiss being voted in wouldn’t raise more than a few eyebrows…

CLASSIC MISHEARD LYRIC #66
“In My Time Of Dying”—LED ZEPPELIN (1975)  I was confused by the part at the end where Robert Plant repeats the phrase “Oh, my Jesus” several times.  I thought he was singing “On my T.V.”!

HOLY ALMANAC, BATMAN!
I’m currently reading a wonderful little anthology book called From ABBA to Zoom by local K.C. author David Mansour, which came out a couple years ago.  Dave has painstakingly chronicled practically everything that was or is prominent in Pop Culture since the 1950’s, right down to the characters on “Josie & The Pussycats”.  I’m not even halfway through the B’s yet, and I’m having a ball recollecting stuff from the past, like the burger offerings at A&W restaurants—Papa Burger, Mama Burger, Baby Burger, etc.—and I’m now stockpiling even more ammunition for my Pop Culture reference arsenal on the ol’ blog here.