Talk about good timing – I watched The Departed on DVD yesterday and then it won a slew of Oscars last night.  I had watched the original movie that this one was based on, Infernal Affairs, and had loved that version.  Not many directors can top an original but if anyone was capable of it, it was Martin Scorsese.  I was blown away by Marty’s version and couldn’t wait to watch the Oscars last night (delayed, of course, since I refuse to watch live TV).

It’s amazing how things come full circle.  I’ve not been a fan of every theatre and arena and ballpark selling their original name for a corporate name, thus creating multiple Tweeter Centers in different cities and changing cool names like Candlestick Park to 3Com Park or Comiskey Park to U.S. Cellular Field.

If this has been done before or discussed already, I don’t know, but a good measure of how quickly one can spread disinformation via the internet could happen like this.  Have 3 or 4 friends each create an unsubstantiated rumor.  Pass it on to the people in your address book that are likely to believe anything and forward it on (Obama is a radical muslim, Bill Gates will pay you money if you forward this, a tax on every email sent…).  Take bets on when you will first a) receive the same email back and, the ultimate test of success, b) see whose false rumor gets debunked first on snopes.

We all have had crap jobs at one point (or more) in our life, whether it is fast food or telemarketing or teenage male prostitute.  Certain jobs can really be tough on one’s pride while others can test one’s stamina.  Sometimes a really sucky job can be both.  Down here in the Dirty South, being one of those Hispanics holding a sign during the summer’s hottest day advertising some inconsequential furniture sale is a good example of that.  I never see a liquid bottle near them so they must be thirsty, have tired legs, and probably half-dizzy from all the automobile carbon monoxide fumes, not to mention the derisive stares from spoiled punk teen ...

Anthony Bourdain, the Food Network star turned Travel Channel star, has eaten some pretty gruesome food on some of his shows.  From raw seal meat and blood in the Arctic to snakes in Asia, his stomach is a cast iron sink.  But even he has his limits.

Last week’s episode in

I’m not sure if this story became a nationwide item last week, but they arrested a “madame” and one of her business associates for allegedly running a prostitution ring out of their million dollar mansion.  She was a former Penthouse Pet who ran a high class escort service.  For those of you who don’t know, Sugarloaf Country Club is a very nice gated community that is host to the BellSouth Classic (now the AT&T Classic), which is the tournament held the week before the Masters in Augusta.  The houses are all gigantic and lots of Atlanta& ...

While I’d venture that most Atlanta Thrashers fans are northern transplants like me, every once in a while I’m reminded that I’m still in the south.

Today’s entry actually comes from an ex-coworker who had enough of the company he was working at and finally gave his notice.  Sometimes the English language can be constructed in a poetically beautiful and descriptive way.  His short, yet fascinating, description of what put him over the edge put a smile to my face and reminded me of when I had written a fantasy “goodbye letter” to be used at any place where you couldn’t wait to leave.  Anyway, here is what he wrote to me.  Enjoy.

While I am a huge movie buff and watch most of what comes out, it hit me within the first 20 minutes of HBO’s “Tsunami: The Aftermath” that I now have a movie genre that I cannot watch.  There are no spoilers here but one of the sub-plots deals with a family with a 5-year old daughter who are in Indonesia when last year's tsunami hit that part of the world.  The mom is on a scuba boat when the tsunami occurs and the father and daughter are on land.  When the surge of water hits them, he winds up losing grip of her.  When he regains consciousness, he can’t find her.  As he’s ...

Maybe in the future there will be things that seem farfetched now but might be reality a few decades from now.  For instance, I would gladly pays tens of thousands of dollars for a crème (or outpatient operation) that would stop all facial and neck hair, thus eliminating the need to ever shave again.

Add a few dreamlike items such as a high alcohol beer that actually burns calories like celery does.  Maybe an actual transp ...