"The Other X-mas Flicks"

Well we all know the stock Christmas films such as It’s a Wonderful Life (I will blog about later hopefully) A Christmas Story, and National Lampoon’s Christmas as standard holiday viewing. However many other films out there use the holiday season as a backdrop to telling their story. I have always been a firm believer that certain films benefit from viewing during certain times of the year I don’t always have the time to watch them anymore. Since I am total movie nerd (and know some of my friends certainly are) I watched various movies numerous times and try to get something out of it each time. This is pretty long so if you want to read some and come back that’s cool. I worked pretty hard on this.


Batman Returns (1992)

Dir. Tim Burton Cast: Michael Keaton, Danny Devito, Christopher Walken, and Michelle Peiffer.

Tim Burton was criticized by some for making the Batman (1989) too dark a telling for the Caped Crusader. However Burton instead of following it the film up with a lighter tone he dove deeper into the dark side of humanity.

The biggest liberty Burton took was transforming the Penguin from a goofy looking gangster type into a mildly deformed man who was tossed in the river by his rich unforgiving parents as an infant He was than raised under the sewer by penguins. Burton also brings in Walken playing Max Shreck a corrupt CEO who is beloved by the city. When his personal assistant discovers his shady doings she is pushed to her death, and given a rebirth by cats, enter catwomen. She transforms from a soft spoken woman to one who is hell bend on revenge making up for all the times she let herself get pushed around.

During the entire film the holiday season is descending upon the Gothom City and one key scene includes a Christmas Tree Lighting gone horrible wrong. The holiday season can be a lonely one for those without anyone significant in their lives. So the brooding tale of Batman and the concept of taking stock in ones place in life that goes along with the holiday season make for a nice blend.

Bruce Wayne may realize that perhaps the Batcave doesn’t have to be as cold and isolated as it is. He realizes the more that Cat Woman differ in terms of dealing with villains the more they are the same underneath. This revelation comes during a holiday dance when both counterparts connect their alto-egos with their crime fighting identities.

Burton uses the holiday element to counter balance the ultra dark plot that also involves the Penguins deceptive rise to power. The glitz of the holiday party, the brightness of the Christmas lights and the frequently falling snow make for an almost hypnotic viewing experience and is quite possibly visually the best comic book movie adaptation. The film puts a thin line between good and evil and viewers aren’t exactly sure if they should be rooting for Catwoman through out the picture or not. Certainly during the rooftop sequence when she is slugging it out with Batman which is an example of the sexuality that subtly seeps through the picture.

The films theme is seemingly people pretending to be something they are not. Walken’s character isn’t what he seems to the town who admires him, the Penguin has an evil plan hidden in his bizarre run for mayor of the town, and Batman at one point is framed making him appear as dark and malicious as those he hates.

The film reaches its darkest when the Penguin plots to abduct the first born child of every family in the city fueled by revenge. He his crew is made up of circus freak rejects. A dark film about twisted souls and certainly isn’t exactly children friendly. The holiday backdrop serves as a glimmer of hope in the film.

The movie concludes with one of my favorite final moments in movies. It is a quiet moment. After all the violence that took place in the climax of the film it is a nice touch. Alfred and Bruce are driving home when Bruce finds a stray cat in the cold winter air. He scopes him up and brings him inside his limo. We learn the final fate of Catwoman, but the movie doesn’t imply that Bruce knows. However given Keaton’s delivering of the final line of film you get the impression that he does.

Gremlins (1984) Dir: Joe Dante
Cast:

Nothing says Christmas like a movie ending in bloodshed at the hands of mischievous little creatures. Any movie that reminds the viewers that the holiday season is when the suicide rate is at its highest doesn’t have its head screwed on just right. Not to mention the scene featuring the town Santa Clause pleading for his life, with vicious Gremlins comically chewing on his flesh while the Chief of police doesn’t lift a finger.

I honestly don’t know why this film is not more regarded by films buffs and historians. On the surface it’s a monster movie, but underneath the surface it’s a creative dark comedy. Perhaps a pessimistic man’s ET. The film paints the rich with a broad stroke making them seem petty and greedy. Most of the likeable characters are the middle class people of the town. Perhaps the film was a perfect fit for the 80s the decade of greed.

The film starts out with whacky inventor (played wonderfully play the late Hoyt Axton who was a country singer and sang the theme to MITCHELL!) shopping for a Christmas present for his early 20 something kid who still lives at home. The family is just barely getting by and the son is almost supporting the family since his father’s whacky inventions are rarely usable or practical (which results in running gags for the film). So the father wants a good deal on gift for his son. He goes to Chinatown and purchases an animal known as a MOGWAI. He is given a list of warnings such as not feeding after midnight (they turn into Gremlins who are mean-spirited unlike MOGWAIS) don’t get them wet (the produce multiple offspring in mere minutes) and don’t get them near light (sunlight kills them).

We are introduced to the people of the town in the opening credits when Christmas music plays and the town is seemingly getting to into the spirit. The father decides not to wait until Christmas and gives his son Billy (Zach Galligan) his gift early. Billy is happy to get him, but he is having problems of his own, he gets nervous around a co-worker he wants to ask out (Phoebe Cates), their rich neighbor wants to murder his dog, and he is being constantly being harassed by a co-worker ( Judge Reinhold) who has his eyes on the same girl and aspires to run the bank in a few years. The plot line involved Billy and Reinhold’s character should go on a list of subplots that are randomly dropped before the movie ends. Two scenes between the two setting up a rivalry you would think the viewer would know what happens to Reinhold’s character or at least get to marvel in his demise, but he just vanishes. I know the DVD has a delete scene on it though which I still haven’t seen.

Anyway the quirky town members like the drunken War veteran (played by character actor Dick Miller), the obligatory kid (played by a young Corey Feldman), the rich bitch after Billy’s dog, the drunken boorish police chief, and local radio personality although all colorfully cast take a back seat to the Germlins who wreak havoc on the town on Christmas eve.

While the father is out of the town the MOGWAIS change into Gremlins with the exception of GIZMO the one originally given to Billy. Billy and his love interest set out to stop them from over but the Gremlins comically (in a dark way) trash the small fictional North Jersey town. Maybe a society that has people trampling over other shoppers at Wal-Mart deserves to have Gremlins show them things are out of whack.

The Christmas theme makes the film seem all the more ironic. It also allows us to whiteness perhaps the only time a Christmas tree attacks someone in movie history when the leader of the Gremlins MOWHAWK lunges at Billy’s mother. So many wonderfully memorable scenes that make you realize how unnecessary CGI is from the classic show down in the kitchen with a Gremlin meeting the reaper via a blender and another exploding in a microwave. Not to mention the classic bar scene when the Gremlins personalities are revealed to be nothing more than creatures intend on murder and breaking stuff. The scene involves various pop culture references reminded us that we aren’t supposed to be taking the film to seriously.


This film makes the Griswold’s Holiday season seem mild and one should thing twice about buying furry creatures for their children! The film is viewed better around this time of year since it is filled with Christmas songs (including the opening sequence), snow, and even a group of Gremlins Christmas caroling. The films is Dante’s finest which isn’t saying a lot but this kind of movie could have ended up a giant Turkey kudos to writer Chris Columbus (Harry Potter director). The wonderful music score, talented cast of character actors, and of course the cute Gizmo and evil Gremlins make for a fun ride. Worth a revisit for anyone who hasn’t watched since they were young and a must see for anyone that missed this under appreciated 80’s flick.

“If You Don’t Have Dreams You Only Have Nightmares”
Diner

The film takes place between Christmas and New Years of 1959 in Baltimore. Directed by Barry Levingston the film boasts a cast of actors that went on to become heavy Hollywood hitters at least for a while anyway. The film’s basic premise is a group of guys trying to hang on to their last shred of youth before the group of friends go their separate ways and live their separate lives. The main narrative that propels the film is Guttenberg’s story who insists his wife to be passes a football trivia challenge in order for the wedding to take place.

One guy is just about to wed( Steve Guttenberg), anther has knocked up his on again off again and is in no position to raise a kid(Tim Daly), the married one of the group if wondering if he was too young to marry (Daniel Stern), another is gleefully wasting his potential while boozing in engaging in destructive behavior (Kevin Bacon), another is piling up gambling debts with angry mobsters( Rourke), and the another shows up briefly and offers dry comic wit(Paul Reiser).

The films main strength is the characters who caught up with each other at the local diner (hence the name) every one of the scenes in the Diner is improvised by the cast which makes the dialogue seem like exchanges between real friends. The director wisely shot these scenes after the rest of the film after the young cast had bonded and reportedly had many late nights similar to the characters did during the filming. If you get your hands on the DVD make sure you watch the documentary when all the actors (except Rourke for some reason) talk about the making of the film and their adventurous off the set.

I guess this is a guys version of a chick flick and the film shows the strength of the bond that guys have among the close friends. Apparently at the core guys haven’t changed much. The guys in Diner all remind me of some of my friends certainly back in the days when we all hung out on a regular basis. The guys shoot pool, analyze the motives of women, discuss movies and music, exaggerate sexual advances, exaggerate details of past adventurers, and sometimes for no reason at all refuse to call it a night until the sun starts to rise. The guys constantly rag one another, and during the one week peak into the lives of these men we learn many of them are on the verge of the next stage in their life and use the Diner as an oasis of something that is sacred. Like said several times in the movie, you always have the guys at the diner.

The film holds up pretty well since Levinson put forward a great effort to make it feel like 1959. The guys all wear ties out to the diner, the cars are authentic, some great classic songs from the time that blend perfectly with the film. Some of the plotlines work better than others and most people that I have recommended this film to tend to disagree with which ones pale in comparison. The comedy is mostly conversational (sort of like early Seinfeld) however various memorable sequences such as the movie theater scene, the Christmas decorations scene, Stern and his wife’s ridiculous argument, and Boogie’s (Rourke) immature approach to women. Each of these works on the entertainment value but never goes to far for laughs so you actually believe its something that could happen to real people and not just comic set ups.


The weather was apparently cold the week between Christmas and New Years and the film almost plays out like a documentary following a group of friends around for a week. The characters reference and laugh about events prior to the films start which makes the film seem less like a stagy story and more like a time capsule or message to guys in their late teens and early 20s to enjoy it while it lasts. Because although many of tried its impossible to hang on to the carefree time you have as a young man to spend countless nights with your friends downing greasy fries and plotting the rest of your life out. The final shot ( the films most famous shot)of the film pretty much says it all if you read into it.

You would like to think everything worked out for the “crew” and they made all the right decisions and perhaps once in awhile their elder counter parts leave their families at home and meet up. However maybe its best they stay frozen in time the week between Christmas and New Years in the 1959 Baltimore.

Ghostbusters II (1989)
Dir- Ivan Reitman Cast: Too Obvious to List

Okay lots of people thought this one didn’t leave up to its predicator. I agree the first film is better but this is certainly a worthy sequel. Luckily the entire creative team and cast returned for this film which was essential for it work.

The film is 5 years after the original and the Ghostbusters have split up and hit some hard times. Apparently saving the world wasn’t good enough and they ended up being sued by various levels of Government and the business went under. However evidence of slime under the city being linked to New Yorkers turning into assholes might be also linked into an evil sick-o returning to New York City to become the ruler of the world. This can’t be achieved without a few possessions and getting rid of the pesky Ghostbusters.

The characters were known inside and out by the fans by the time this film was released since there was a long running Saturday morning cartoon and nerds like me that have seen the original literally 100s of times. This allowed the film to hit the ground running, but not without catching up in the boys.

The films climax takes place on New Years Eve 1989 and a running theme is redemption. Peter (Bill Murray) trying to win back a girl he tossed aside, the Ghostbusters trying to gain back their creditability and getting a fresh start. Mostly though the film is about having a good time and it provides many laughs and like the first one has a pretty solid plot blending the creepiness with the comedy.

The movie tries to top the first film with having Lady Liberty walking down the streets of Manhattan. The film may have for some taken on a mildly different feel-post 9/11. The film obviously loves to show off New York City’s culture and basically says although New Yorkers have a bad reputation when push comes to shove they are basically good hearted people under the hard exterior and come together when need be.

Of course the filmmakers weren’t trying to touch peoples hearts when making this movie. They set out to make a great popcorn flick with the loveable underdog almost anti-hero Ghostbusters running through the streets of the big apple catching ghosts. The chemistry is still there between all the key players and many of the actors were still in their prime and hamming it up for this film. The writers make you mentally root for the Ghostbusters against the pending evil.

For the holiday viewing value you do get see the Ghostbusters in Santa hats and finale in the form of a giant party in the streets of New York. Watching the movie now you realize that the finals scenes are the curtain call for the franchise and I always wished there was a third part because the characters were so fun to watch. Now too many years of have passed without making the sequel just look like a sad attempt to live in the past. Perhaps its best the story ended there with the Ghostbusters celebrating the New Year’s and their latest victory and having the fans wanting more.


Only You
Dir: Betty Thomas

The film is as soft and fluffy as an early winter snow. The film isn’t setting out to turn the industry it’s ear, offend anyone or win any awards.

The plot isn’t exactly one you will need to think about or even wonder how it will end. The movie is simply a harmless romantic comedy that goes doesn’t try to be over cinematic either. In fact the films small budget is rather skimpy on glamorous scenery shots but that is just movie nerd nitpick.

The film opens in New York with a Christmas party for a doll house designing company. Andrew McCarthy (right before he fell off into obscurity) plays the lead and is aggravated when he learns not only doesn’t his girlfriend want to be with him anymore she doesn’t want to go on a trip he booked awhile back to a remote island that is non-refundable.

Against his best friend’s advice McCarthy’s character spends Christmas eve alone in a bar getting tanked. While there drinking like a loser he bumps into a blonde bimbo who just got kicked to the curb by her boyfriend. After quite a few shots they decide to make use of his tickets to paradise. They wake up in the warm islands and she has trouble remembering who he is or how they got there. While he thinks it’s the start of something new she seems to think it’s a free trip to have fun. He decides if he impresses her and kisses her butt enough she will come around and he will be in a relationship with a hottie.

Preston blows off McCarthy to meet new friends and have fun in the sun. McCarthy kills time till she gets back to the hotel by going on his own comedic misadventures such as scuba diving and bumming on the beach. Incidentally he bumps into his travel agent ( played by a big household name Helen Hunt) who wants to use him to model for a brochure. Since he is bored he accepts the offer. He isn’t exactly her ideal candidate for a model but he is a good sport about it and the two who had gotten off on the wrong foot develop a witty rapport. He starts to notice that she is liking him but he choices to go back to the blonde in attempts to get the relationship off the ground.

The basic plot is that guys sometimes have to choose between partying and random sex with no stability and some one willing to admit that there are actually soul mates out there. Preston is blonde and curvy and outspoken, Hunt is dressed down and honest but timid. All there key players are keenly aware of the cameras and exaggerate their roles in typical romantic comedy fashion. McCarthy smirks for the camera and does his trademark eye bulge when needed and engages in several sequences of physical comedy. Preston hams up the spoiled bitch shtick and before her hairstyle dated it was understandable why the viewer might want McCarthy to chase after her like a puppy dog. Hunt is tries to cover up any element she has sex appeal with loose clothes and brown hair. She basically knows McCarthy is making an ass out of himself trying to make a tramp play house with him and quietly hopes he looks at himself in the mirror.

His trip is up right after the big New Years party. A time for new beginnings a time for new relationships? Will McCarthy choice stability or adventure with a chance of ending badly. Perhaps he will screw up too many times and lose them both before he boards his plane back to New York forcing him to jump in front of City Cabs.

Certainly the lightest of my recommendations don’t grill me for this one guys an innocent humorous 90 minute diversion.


The Hudsucker Proxy (1993)

One of the least popular Cohen Brothers movie but I like this one a lot . Tim Robbins plays the idealist college graduate who comes to the big city ( 1940’s New York) with no experience he is down on his luck and virtually pennyless. He luckily lands a job at Hudsucker however that same week the company CEO apparently not happy despite his wealth jumps out the window of the city sky rise and plummets to his death.

The CEO want to be (a gruff Paul Newman) sees this as an chance to take the company in the wrong direction. He wants to run the company into the ground so him and his cronies can buy the stock real cheap fix the problems and get rich. Robbins is the prefect rube.

Robbins comically has never been better he brings to the table a endless bag of comedic facial expressions that will make Jim Carrey envious. He is perfectly cast as the well intending out of towner who wants to make an impact in the big city. He is more naïve than as dumb as he appears to be or is made out by the company.

When Robbins invents the hula-hoop it at first looks like a huge plunder that will deflate the stock worth, however with a stroke of luck it catches on. The whole bizarre rise to power sparks the interest of the city paper so they send an uncover reporter in to get the inside scoop. Leigh (an often ridiculed decision) plays the reporter and obvious homage to actress of back in the day, and I can understand how she comes across as grating to some viewers (Liza made me shut this film off because of her) and I admit the novelty wears thin when she gets expanded screen time in the mid-section of the picture. However the glorious set (it is just amazing) and the almost flawlessly visual of the film more than make up for it. The film almost plays out like stage plays with characters have winks to the audience and staging entrances and exists. The music plays wonderfully many of the music sequences without out dialogue are the best moments cinematically of the film. It is about as close to perfection as that concept can get.

The film is also in ways a nod to the director Frank Kapra style films. The films second act is much darker than the jubilant more comic first act. Robbins still oblivious to being a puppet gets corrupted by the power and loses his innocence. Eventually hitting rock bottom and realizing he has nothing of his success is what is seems he seems at his wits end and contemplates ending it all. Once you are dead you stay, dead Newman tells him.

The Cohen brothers than manipulate time and shake the fourth wall almost to the point of crumbling completely. The film more a New Years film than a Christmas movie since the narrative starts and ends on that particular holiday. Plus the film has that what does it all mean feel by the end of the 2nd act since you know from the opening words of the film that the stories key point will be basically at the stroke of midnight the film like the point of the holiday is quietly ticking down to that moment.



Lethal Weapon (1987)
Dir. Richard Donner Cast: Mel Gibson , Danny Glover, Gary Busey

Jingle Bell Rock opens the film and I will be home for Christmas ends the film. The directors cut a few years ago is worth the rental for fans (I own it) it adds to the main characters. Anyone who only saw the later sequels may not have realized that the first film was more of a character study than its sequels (I don’t have a problem with direction the series eventually went in although 4 was pushing it but was basically just a farewell to the franchise. ).

Of course it has been ripped off many times. Two cops who are polar opposites in a way team up to shake down some shady drug dealers. This film has the two characters needed each other more than they get on each others nerves. Gibson is on the verge of killing himself and actually at one point comes close to blowing his brains out. Glover needs a reason not to retire and keeping Gibson in check is a perfect reason. Gibson is so reckless that he could care less if he gets killed in action. He was a young sniper in the Veitnam war and admits the only thing he was ever good at is killing people. However since his wife was killed in a car accident he pretty much flew off the deep end. Gibson is brought into the Glover’s family for dinner and he sees the family he will never have.

The two cops have to bring down a drug ring and manage to have various shoot outs close calls, and explosions around them through out the course of the film. Will they make it one piece for Christmas dinner?

This was a different kind of action movie than the sequels more serious in tone, before the two cops randomly shot and killed bad guys with out any consequences. They actually followed procedure to a certain extent.

Richard Donner directs this film who is known for making respectable popcorn type movies. The action scenes are cool and Gibson kicks ass and takes name in this flick. Easily my favorite action movie series.

"Final Snow Call"

2-4 Inches on top of what is out there now. This is the 2nd part of the snow storm. It will be hard to tell since we have maybe 3 inches compact on the ground now. So by the time the heavy stuff moves out I doubt we will see anymore than an additonal 4 inches. There is too much sleet mixed in and the storm is moving much quicker than originally thought and is veering North East of here.

"TEST!"

Here my loyal readers I am providing you with a test. This way I know what you think of my blog and if any of my readers are crazy or not. PLease take the following test.

1. I read Tucker's World on a regular basis.

A. Yes
B. No

2. I agree with Bush's Iraq Policy

A. Yes
B. No


3. I use dental floss

A. Yes
B.No

4. I like the power I get when I tell people what to do.

A. Yes
B. No

5. I like to tell people what to do and feel the power that comes with making people do stuff.

A. Yes
B. No

6. I don't not think the NHL isn't in trouble and don't think there will be a lockout next season.

A. Yes
B. No

7. I don't not watch the Simpsons 10 times in a given week.
A. Yes
B. No

8. I think there should be freedom of speech and I also think woman shouldn't vote.
A. Yes
B. No

9 I haven't not ever thought about members of my own sex in not sexual way, however I wouldnt not have sex with members of the same sex.

A. Yes
B. No

10. I buy Trains

A. Yes
B. No

11. I buy ALL trains

A. Yes
B. No

12 I am equally as depressed as Claude Lapointe.

A. Yes
B. No

13 I have no idea who the heck Claude Lapointe is

A. Yes
B. No

14. I not only don't know who Claude Lapointe is I don't care who he is or if he is depressed.

A. Yes
B. No

15. I think it would be wrong for a South Jersey blogger to gather a group of friends to break into Veteran's Stadium before it is torn down.

A. Yes
B. No

16. If asked to join a miltiant group who's objective was to successfully break into Veteran's Stadium walk around and hang out I would join.
A. Yes
B. No

17. If I could travel through time I would find my child counterpart and kick my own ass.

A. Yes
B. No

18 I still check Jenna & Mindless often. In fact I check it more than this blog.
A. Yes
B. No

19. I think the new Superman movie series will actually get off the ground before Ryan sees the child of Lima Beanz and Jenna.

A. Yes
B. No

20. I think the "Sweeps" on this blog last month seemed no different than any other month. I suspect that the blog writer drinks often when writing these articles. I am also gay.

A. Yes
B. No

21. I played Orgeon Trail on the computers in school when I was a kid. I would always use the names of my friends and the girl I liked when playing the game. The girl barely knew who I was.

A. Yes
B. No

22. I often tell people I am the anti-christ.

A. Yes
B. No

23 I think I should decide who lives and dies.
A. Yes
B. NO

24. I don't not think that I don't not have what it doen't not take to not be an unsuccessful salesman.

A. Yes
B. No

25. I know who Tom Servo, Danny Elfman, and Brian Cox are.
A. Yes
B. No

26. I think Danny Boyle the film director and the hockey player are one in the same.
A. Yes
B. No

27. I am prone to fits of rage.
A. Yes
B. No

28. When waiting in a long slow line I often plot and daydream about voliently murding each person in front of me in increasingly creative ways.

A. Yes
B. No

29. I haven't bought Tucker anything for Christmas.
A.Yes
B. No

30. I have seen the John Cusack film Better Of Dead, but I have not seen Citzen Cane.
A. Yes
B. No


Now complete this by emailing your answers to me. If you fail some one with a gaint net will promptly show up on your doorstep.

"A Close One"

Well the winter storm I eluded to earlier this week is shaping up, and is making for a very Difficult call for weathermen because it is hard to tell if the cold air will be in place still when the weather system moves up. The cold air in place is clearly strong and is actually preventing the storm from making it into the area as early as they thought.

It will likely start sometime bettween 7 am- 9 am on Friday morning, but it is going to be mostly wet snow, than sleet than rain. It will be mostly rain during Friday and might even stop for awhile. However that is the lame part of the storm and after that the real stuff kicks up. High winds, and lots of wet stuff.

The snow/rain line is going to be a REALLY tough call and it might embarrass some weathermen who over hype the storm. NBC 10's Hurricane just called for 6-10 inches of the storm Friday night into Saturday which really took me off guard. He was the first to make such a bold statement.

As I stated before I follow this type of stuff and the sites I read are all over the map. However something has poped in the last few hours and they think that the cold air isn't going away on Saturday making for a decent shot of getting some white stuff. Right now I am going to make my predicitions which will likely change before I go to bed tonight.

Friday--- Sleet and wet Snow

Saturday ---- Early Snow..heavy at times. It seems to be similar to last years storm. The winds will be a factor. For Us I am going to say

2- 4 inches. It will struggle to stick on the roads at first though. A big factor is the Ocean Temps which are a few degrees too warm for a HUGE event. You see this storm is hugging the coast and will suck some warm air off the ocean. Again there a few big IFS and the ocean factor is certainly going against the snow here.

Again Tucker Says 2-4 inches. IT will likely change though.

Check Back here later this week for the lastest on the Future of the LIMA BEANZ interview, my take on a possible snow storm the start of next week, a few hockey thoughts,. etc...
"Tucker's BANS!"


I have recently discussed with friends of mine my list of bans. I boycotts many businesses and people for various reasons. Let us start with a list of former bans that were lifted in recent history.

Don Pablo’s --- I went with a large group of friends a few years ago for NJF. The meal took about two hours to get to us, and they weren’t that busy. I got a chicken salad and there was no chicken so I angrily gave me fork away. To make matters worse they had the Dish Network which made it impossible to see an important Flyers game. Luckily the waitress took it off the bill, but I vowed never to step foot in there again. Eventually I did roughly two years later this past summer.

Atlantic City---- I had a ban on the Atlantic City twice once after I got mugged in broad daylight with Ryan, Dan K. and Chris. Another time after a trip down there ended in everyone who lost money to become jerks to one another.

Lima Beanz—a Monopoly game went awry when LB threw punched me after I took his fake money. I wanted to throw his head through a wall. Not long before that the two of us almost got into a fight before the 4th of July. I vowed briefly that I didn’t want any part of crew events that Lima Beanz was apart of. However a few days later I was drinking beer with him. I mean just look at his face I just can’t stay mad at him!

Current Bans

Atco Movie Theater—I know big with larger big screens than this dive. I have banned this place a few times and had to give in order to not be a stick in the mud. I went this past summer and recalled why I banned this place about 3 times. This time I am serious! You stick to the floor, the seats suck, and its far away. BANNED!

excerd drug store------- There are just too many of them popping up. Many of them are too close to one another and well its just a flat out evil corporation.


Applebee’s (Voorhees Location Only)

I had a few dates there that didn’t pan out to anything. I got stood up once by a girl I took there once. I also got awkwardly hooked up by Ryan’s Girlfriend Regan with her friend who was extremely annoying and certainly not my match. I recall making plea via my cell phone for some of my friends to murder me. MAN THAT CHICK WAS ANNOYING.


Dave & Busters

I always spent more money that I should have, and the last time I was there the bouncer was a dickweed to me and Price.


Cucci’s Pizza
I didn’t like the food when the new owners took over. The banned worked and the place went under.

DJ Night at Sharkey or the Wick

Because this small gathering type bars should not have DJs. This ban is in danger of being lifted but I really want to keep it.

Oija Boards----Um. Yeah been there done that.

Tim Burton- This great director went against everything he stood for and what made his movies great when he made one of the worst films ever Legend Of Sleep Hollow. I have a ban on that film and everything he does after that.


There is more I know there is.

ye"BEST OF THE BEST"

My crappy work is hiring. I wish I was making this up but, but here are some of the candidates for open positions.


Candidate # 1
She worked for an entire week, but got canned. She got a customer to give her 100 bucks after making them feel sorry for her apparent financial problems. She also scored a phone number, and told management that she would refuse to answer any ringing phones. To top it all off she nonchalantly used a racial slur when telling a story. She also talked to herself.

Candidate # 2

This dude was applying for a merchandise handling position. Everything was going well for the interview, but when was told he had to go to a drug test he told the interviewer he left something in his car went out the door and never came back.

Candidate # 3

Another dude came in asking about the help wanted sign. At the time he had his Discman on and wore it the whole time. When he starting talking about the position he told of his court battles with his ex-wife. She is apparently a huge liar and filed for bankruptcy. When asked why his license was out of date and from another state he replied he didn’t have the time to get an ID in New Jersey. He said he couldn’t be bothered, but admitted to living in New Jersey for 3 years.

Candidate # 4

This guy didn’t check anything under the “Did You Ever Commit a Crime?” Box. When asked why he shared a touching story about a violent knife fight he was involved in.

Candidate # 5

A weird guy who showed up late for his interview and rambles incoherently about public transportation to anyone that walks past him.

Candidate # 6

A guy, who was fired for missing too much time at work, and accused the head of the store of picking on someone with medical conditions. It was later learned that he was lying about aliments he never had.

Candidate # 7

A former highly disgruntled customer.

Candidate #8

This one made me feel really good. He did public relations for years. Must be lots of money in the field I got a degree in. Pretty sad if you need a part-time job if that is your chosen career.


Do you have what it takes?

"Sinking Echelon"

When I was a mere teenager a trip to the Echelon Mall resulted in a few hours of freedom when my friends and I were dropped off for an afternoon. We would checking out the girls and browsing in the stores. A trip to the Echelon Mall was something to look forward to. It boasted not only dozens of stores but they offered a lot to kids and anyone looking to kill a rainy day. There was a video arcade attached, a movie theater, and hip stores like Flashback. New stores were always showing up.

The Echelon Mall once the place to be has taken a nose dive in the past few years. Just two years after its arrival Sears bounced out leaving an empty anchor store on the mall. This was particular because they build that store specifically for Sears. The mall was able to gloss over their lost for awhile despite other stores like Flashblack disappearing. The movie theater changed hands (mainly cause it was a dump and everyone went to the Ritz or Cinemark)and became a bargain theater given movie goers a final chance to see movies that either had just reached video, were about to reach video, or no one cared about for a cheap price. They were known for their all you can eat and drink popcorn and soda. It didn’t last very long and the building has been vacant ever since. Next went J C Penny’s last winter made it undeniable that the mall was in serious trouble. Leaving Boscovs and Strawbridges as the only anchor stores for the mall, empty anchor stores drive customers away like the plague.

Walking in the mall now it is no longer filled with people all over the place. The food court is the only lively place in the whole mall. The stores around it benefit from them and many of the businesses have relocated closer to the food court to get away from the cancer of emptiness that stems from the empty anchor stores. There is a section upstairs near J C Penny’s where you have to walk quite a distance to reach an actual open place. Just all covered over windows, some filled with ads for places to visit in the mall. They are falling over like dominos and most recently a staple store Allied Hobbies bowed out. Last year just after Christmas many places left like the coffee works for example.

There was a sliver of a hope shining on the ailing mall this past spring when the mall was purchased by Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust Company (known as PREIT). For years the mall was rumored to be closed and sold to either Rutgers or Rowan. I have no idea where these rumors have started but I never found any truth to them. My friend Rick (who works in the mall) is constantly telling me about secret meetings in which the mall was sold it was agreed to officially close. He has been doing this for about 3 years now and each Armageddon date comes and goes. The latest doomsday is slated for spring time.

PREIT known for buying struggling businesses, and turning it around to a profit. They really have their work cut out for them. I got there on my lunch at work quite often and many of the food court workers that have come to know me seem very depressed. Some of them gripe to me about the rent that is seemingly unfair for a mall that doesn’t get much traffic anymore. One lady got all excited upon seeing my work shirt thinking the Sears store was reopening. It was awkward for me to tell her that it wasn’t the case.

However from what I gather all they have done is drop of signs in the mall that says expect changes and thanks for shopping at this mall (and future shopping) owned by a faceless corporation stationed in another state. Okay maybe behind closed doors they are sweet talking some businesses to fill their vacant anchor stores. Although most successful department stores of the late 90’s such as Target and Wal-Mart are seemingly anti-malls at least in this area. So that leaves what? Maybe a growing retail chain looking to make it into the east coast?

Well that’s a great idea however they have to address a few things first. Take a look at the Echelon Mall side at the corner of the mall. Half of the E is gone and it struggles to light up on most nights. Many of the signs of department stores are half burned out. The logo itself is dated. The sign boasting about sales was originally to list the movies playing there, and so many businesses have used this sign that it is obvious that former logos have been erased and traces of the letters remain under a ghetto attempt to cover them up. So if you have some CEO or bigwig pull up to see if they want to open a retail store where others have left you might want to make the mall look a bit better.

Since this PREIT Company owns many malls one would imagine that it would remain a mall. I thought perhaps they had some master plan. I am starting to wonder though. In September the Courier-Post ran an article which basically said they were still kicking around different ideas including renting empty stores (the mall is almost half empty now) as office space for doctors. Heck there is already an H & R block there. The article had many people from talking about different ideas they might do. Maybe bring some “high end” stores. So basically a mall that everyone is waiting to shut down and avoiding is going to be saved by people who are still “kicking around” ideas almost an entire year after taking over. I don’t know who does their Public Relations but telling the public they are still scratching their heads isn’t going to do much in fact it makes things worse. They just revealed that they were clueless.

How about meeting with the store owners and calming fears of the few business partners you have? How about getting some sort of draw like a string band, local celebrity appearances, or renovating parts of the mall? If they were trying to get it back on its feet that a could be pulled off while others wooed potential businesses for the anchor stores.

People point to the Deptford Mall’s success and most think its because its engulfed in stores like Target, Best Buy, Old Navy, and almost every restaurant under the sun. Meanwhile the mall has apartments and a Sears store that sells broken appliances.

Given the fact that the top level of the mall is like a desert I might actually put some weight into Rick’s prediction this time. I have seen some commercials for the mall to do your holiday shopping there, but its too bad they didn’t solve their real problems yet. An empty Burger King and IHOP sit across the street from the mall now. Some people have told me that crime is on the rise too, which leads one to wonder if Voorhees might become one of those towns with a GOOD and BAD side. A Jewerly store was robbed in the mall earlier this year.

Hopefully Echelon gets their act together causes the traffic in Deptford it too much and I grew up going there and would hate to see it go. Not to mention a lot of people would be out of a job. PERIT has given the mayor of Voorhees their word that they are committed to the project. It would be a huge loss of taxes and cause property taxes to sky rocket if the mall went under. In September it they said that two companies are interested in coming to the anchor spots, but that’s was 3 months ago now I have serious doubts. Without a new anchor store in the next two years it simply can’t survive.

"3rd Annual Thankful Rant"

I did it once on TERMINUS the message board, now I have brought the tradition over to my blog. I am sure everyone was excited about reading it this year. Here is a list of the following things that I am thankful for.

I am Thankfull for the Wawa. So many great locations. Good food, free banking, 24 hours. What else can you ask for?

I am thankful for Liza who stood by me all year.

I am thankful for the fact that the Flyers have actually been playing so good that I can complain about them.

I am thankful for TERMINUS my fellow blogger who I usually don't agree with but informs and entertains me. I am eagerly awaiting him to slam BUSH's visit to Iraq for Thanksgiving. I can't find a horrible dark side of it but I am sure Drew is tappy, tap-tapping away right now about what horrible idea it was.

I am thankful I never had a condom break (knock on wood).

I am thankful that this rum & coke I am drinking right now that my father made me is stronger than I thought it would be.

I am thankful for a job market that is seemingly opening up.

I am thankful that people like Price serve our country

I am thankful the Tempo still runs. I am suprised everday by that.

I am thankful Dan K Hemphill makes 200k a year. Not really but I haven't brought him up in a while.

I am thankful Lima Beanz will be interviewed on this blog soon. Not to mention he is my BEST friend.

I am thankful for AOL so I can talk to MOSCO on IM 4 times a day who never seems to leave his computer.

I am thankful for the smell of Turkey that is going through my house.

I am thankful for Starview.

I am thankful for Eggnog which I will consume enough to get my beer gut back before I take my Christmas Tree down.

I am thankful for Superman II and pickles.

I am thankful for Olives.

I am thankful for the new outfits for the Eagles Cheerleaders which leave very little to the imagination. Especially in cold weather.

I am thankful for my readers who give me a reason to write this crap.

"411 on Tucker"

I stole this from MOSCOW-

name = Tucker
piercings = None because I would just look gay and its too trendy for guy like me.
tattoos = no
height = five foot 6.5 But I tell people I am 5 '7 or 5 '8
shoe size = 10.5 or 11 depending on brand
hair color = Dark Brown, Black if I use to much gel.
siblings = Brother Bill

LAST
rented = THE HULK & BOTTLE ROCKET. I hadn't seen Bottle Rocket untill tonight, but Rushmore remains my fav. Wes Anderson flick.
movie you bought = Scarface for Liza
song you listened to = Chicago - Frank Sinatra
Song that was stuck in your head = A really bad hiphop song that Liza had on her car radio. I have no idea who sings it, but I certainly like Liza's verision a lot better.
cd you bought = TV on the Radio - um. I brought a Tonic Cd for one dollar like 3 months ago.
cd you listened to = Frank Sinatra best of.
person that's called you = Liza
tv show you've watched = Two & Half Men
person you were thinking of = Liza and how I should get her something really really cool for Christmas. WEll I guess Mosco too because I know he is going to give me crap for stealing his blog idea. So.

DO...
you have a crush on someone Celebrity? Well I bet you are expecting me to say Avril. However I think I might have grown out of my Avril stage. I am sorry Avril we are just two totally different people. It just won't work. I used to watch all those tv shows about you but I really dont anymore. PLEASE PLEASE DONT CRY! Don't make this harder than it already is. PLEASE PLEASE NOT A TEAR! PLEASE! JUST WALK AWAY!

you wish you could live somewhere else = Yes. In the land of Chocolate. MMMMMMMMM Chocolate.

others find you attractive = I hope Liza still does. It helps if her contacts are out.
you want more piercings = No, is this a marketing survey?
you drink = Not nearly as much but I still wet the whistle from time to time.
you do drugs = never did an illegal drug in my life. I took some Aspirn the other night.
you smoke = I smoke cigars once in awhile. Usally the cheap ones people use gut out and put weed in.
you like cleaning = No I am a crew member.
you write in cursive or print = Who writes in Cursive anymore?


FOR OR AGAINST...

long distance relationships= For Just look at the Old Mantis he can make it work!
using someone: No I am too guilt ridden for that type of thing.
suicide: NO DONT DO IT GEORGE BAILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

killing people = There are appropriate times.
teenage smoking = Eh kids will be kids. Aint my crippling addicition.
doing drugs = I guess its fine for everyone else. I just dont like people that pull guns on cops and kill young kids messed up in street crimes getting rich off me seeking a good high or rush. But people are free to do what they want. But if there werent any drugs maybe our society wouldn't have been subjected to the Greatful Dead.

driving drunk = Well it depends I think under the new NJ laws if you even smell beer you are drunk. Thankfully I have never been directly effected by anyone killed by a drunk driver, but I know many people that have.

gay/lesbian relationships = Its cool. Especically when the lesbian ones are video taped.

FAVORITE...
food = hotdogs
song = I honestly don't think I have one. NO reason to feel obligated to pick one.
thing to do = Hang out with Liza or the crew
thing to talk about = Movies
sports = Hockey COME ON! Who didnt know that?
drinks = Labet Blue Beer
clothes = Jeans
movies = Jaws
holiday = Christmas
cars = I hate cars
HAVE YOU...
ever cried over a boy/girl= umm....
ever lied to someone = Of course. I lie on my blog constantly.
ever been in a fist fight = no although Lima Beanz and I have come close. I got into a few pushing matches. Once I pushed my friend Allen and I almost broke him in half.
ever been arrested = I have been pulled over about 7 times. Quite a few of my friends have been locked up.


DO YOU THINK YOU ARE...
pretty- No I never thought I was good looking. I have too much hair to be pretty.
funny- Yes
hot= No I am not
amusing - Yes
ugly= somtimes
lovable= very

*****TUCKER'S WORLD EXCLUSIVE******


Lima Beanz has said that he was "Just kidding" about having control of what questions are asked. This opens the door to turn up the heat on the hot seat. An official date has not been set, but the interview will likely be published a day or so after the interview takes place. Both sides are look forward to the event. Lima Beanz is expected to able to respond towards the coverage of his life on here, and answer questions about parenthood. Developing.....

"NHL Fumbles"


Tonight Montreal and Edmonton played a game out doors an NHL first, after an alumni game from both teams which featured the First (and likely last ever) appearance of the Great One on ice. The first time in an Oilers since the biggest trade in NHL history in 1988. Not to mention a very impressive of recently retired NHL greats.

The rink was made in the middle of Candian Football Stadium and shattered the record for people at an NHL game by thousands. The same was played outdoors under the open sky like back in the day. A great way to promote the game of hockey which is based on tradition. A great way to excite people about the NHL in a year of empty seats at rinks.

If you didn't know this you are not alone. THe NHL did nothing promote this game. They didnt run it on ESPN. So unless you had the hockey package on digital cable or the DISH. You had no way of seeing this game. Despite the NHL hyping it since Sept. on their own webpage.

IT really pisses me off. Luckily my friend DUke has the package and I was able to check it out. I would have liked to have taped it. The NHL wonders why they so many problems. WHat a bunch of idoits to let a great thing like this go unseen. I am pissed.

***********TUCKER'S WORLD EXCLUSIVE*********

The controversial and often blogged about LIMA BEANZ ( his day name is JAY) has agreed to an exclusive interview with TUCKERS WORLD! TUCKERS WORLD has long seeked a chance to sit down here and let him speak his since a lot of his private life was made public on this webpage.

TUCKERS WORLD hopes to address many of the questions that are IMED or EMAILED in response to coverage of the BABY MANIA that dominated the blog this year.

The LIMA BEANZ interview publish date has not yet been set. HOWEVER he has indicted that unlike the ARTER interview he would like more control over what is asked. DEVELOPING.....

TUCKER AT THE RINK
"JR & the New Hockey Disorder"

If you recall awhile back I wrote about the potential lock-out for the NHL next season and the potential for the WHA a defunct hockey league plans to rise from the ashes and be an alternative to hockey. If you read today’s Inquirer they mention the WHA (first time anyone other than me mentioned it that I know of) and said they are not quite sure if it will launch by next season. However if you check their webpage out their first season started a few weeks ago. Granted like earlier reported on this blog they only have 6 teams. So I don’t know what that wa all about. Their biggest markets are Orlando and Miami (good lord another Florida hockey team?). At any rate the WHA2 plans to expand into bigger markets next year in hopes to compete with the NHL again. They are especially hoping the NHL lockouts so they can really offer their League to the hockey deprived public.

Anyway as I theorized since Bobby Hull (a former NHL All-Star) is the commissioner of the league his son Brett would likely join the WHA2 next season if there is a lockout. Maybe even if there isn’t one. Well recently JR was at public event where both father and son were on hand. He talked to both Hulls about his plans for next year if there wasn’t an NHL season. He said if he didn’t play in World Tournament competitions he would certainly consider playing an entire season for the WHA2.I can see that being more likely than playing in tournaments. The WHA2 would have to become more high profile I would imagine but since the owners and players union are still miles apart I bet they are will started scrambling to get more franchises for next year.


Recently the head of the players union, Bob Goodenow said that the players in the said that the players in the NHL don’t feel they are overpaid and don’t see any reason for salary cap. He claims they refuse to cave in on salary cap. However both Roenick and Hull admitted they are overpaid. I can’t imagine even players that don’t think they are overpaid can’t see that the bubble has burst and many teams are on the verge of economic ruin. Heck attendance is down league wide so far this season. Take for example the recent rumor that the Penguins that one of their best players rookie goalie M-A Fleury might be sent to the juniors because they can’t afford him at all.


Now I am starting a “grass roots” campaign. I want all my readers to got to NHL.com and vote for Jeremy Roenick for the NHL All-Star game. I want to help make him a starter. You can also pick up ballets at Best Buy just make sure you push your chad all the way through. See if you can vote from different email addresses and force your friend to vote for JR. Lets stuff the ballet and get JR the All-Star start he deserves.

Things will heat up and players like Hull and JR are likely to start

Check out the NHL page to vote and heck out the WHA2 to read all the press for the new leauge.

"What Happened to Turkey Day!??!"

In the past retail stores have always been about 6 months ahead of the rest of society. I recall once JC Penny’s sent my house a Back to School catalog before my classes were even done. Sometimes stores would have their Christmas decorations up as early as October but they would be shoved to one corner of the store and people could just mock them for attempting to make us think about Jolly Old Saint Nick before we even picked out our Halloween outfits.

It was traditional that most advertising campaigns didn’t really start until Thanksgiving. The multiple parades and football games allowed everyone to roll out their promotions so we all knew what toys were hot and who was having the hot sales and when. The past few years however the Christmas Season which I peg from Black Friday to the day after New Years has started to sprawl into early parts of November. This year I thought I was going crazy when I saw a credit card commercial with Santa Clause in it 5 days before to Halloween. However it set the stage for the premature holiday season. Everyone seems to be hitting us with holiday themed commercials. I have even some homes all ready lit up for the holiday season. B-101 is already turning out their 24 Christmas Tunes.

All these campaigns that I am being bombarded by before I even had a chance to carve up a Turkey and eat more than humanly possible. We are still having Thanksgiving right? If it fell through this year I certainly didn’t get the memo, however it seems like it happened already. Did Santa Climb the Art Museum steps yet? Did I miss Major Drumstick’s big day in Philly (email me if you know who he is).

Why are they making me feel guilty for not making my list and checking it twice this early? Is this a lame attempt to stimulate the economy? Forcing us our attention from the war and the slumping economy? (Although the nice news man tells me its getting better).

Now don’t get me all wrong. Unlike my friend Drew who is undoubtedly is evilly fumbling his hands and plotting to stop CHRISTMAS FROM COMING I love the holiday season. However it can get cheapened if I am hearing Bing Crosby dreaming of a White Christmas when I still haven’t gotten all the leafs off my lawn. I mean Thanksgiving is a pretty cool holiday. We get to be off of work (RETAIL STORES ARE ACTUALLY CLOSED) and eat a lot. Not to mention the annual Flyers Black Friday Afternoon Game! (eh I only watch college football out of obligation).

I will admit that I get a kick out of Lima Beanz frequently singing “Let It Snow” for a couple of weeks out of the year. Mainly because he is tone deaf (and he knows it I am pretty sure) and he seemingly only knows the chorus. Anyway before I start looking to the skies for Santa and 8 tiny reindeer is it okay if I snap a wish bone from a Turkey Carcass? Do I really have to deck the halls before I get to see B-television actors wish come to Philly to wish Dave Roberts and Lisa Thomas Lorry a Happy Thanksgiving?

I plan to break out holiday film classics like A Christmas Story and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. However I just want the chance to awkwardly run out of conversation 20 minutes into my Turkey Dinner first if that’s okay? I plan to get into the spirit of things and do all my tradional stuff like making sure my mother knows I am not “Too Old” for an army of homemade cookies. However in the mean time I want to have a meal like the Indians and Pilgrims had together so many years ago. Of course not long after that many of the Indians died from European germs and many of the others were slaughter for land and food. But lets face it that has nothing to do with me consuming 3 different carnations of potatoes.

"TUCKER NEWS ALERT!"

TERMINUS readers go below for the River Line Article.

Anyone of my readers (there are a few of you) that live in the STerling School district (where many of us when to HS) you can catch and interview with Mike Price running on the schools channel 19 (not 18 anymore). The interview runs about an hour and I think runs at 8 pm pretty much all this week. I was too busy to actually sit down and see it today, but I plan to view it sometime this week.

He tells some of his war stories. If anyone wants a tape of it I might be able to get one to you. Check back here later this week for another edition of Tucker at the RINK. Make sure you keep checking back all month because I plan to post the stories of the year before Dec 1st. The stories are voted on by my readers for a few weeks than I reveal the story of the year along with the Tuckers World person of the year who I pick personally. I am thinking on doing two this year. One National and one local.

"Train Ride from Hell"

Well for those of you that don’t pay much attention to local news you might not be aware that South Jersey has it’s own version of the MONORAIL going on. Okay its not that bad but the proposed Light Rail has been a complete and utter disaster.

For those of you that don’t know New Jersey ( it actually started under Whitman’s Watch) thought it would be cool to offer a train that went from Camden to Trenton. This could help out some of the South to North Jersey commuting headaches (Because who wants to live in North Jersey?) on paper it looked great. However the budget, planning and marketing of the Light Rail woefully misguided. The project went well over budget and has NJ politicians looking to raise taxes on gasoline by 15 cents per gallon in order to help pay for it. Although it will likely not be that much of a hike its one of the reasons the states has financial problems right now.

The Light Rail ran into many problems over the past few years. First off some businesses and townships weren’t big on the idea of having the train juggling. Secondly they had major problems with intersections. The traffic lights that were put in around intersections made traffic worse. There were also reports of minor derailments during the dry runs. However some businesses are banking on being near stops for the rail.

If this wasn’t bad enough many public officials made it public that the project was a disaster and no one would ride it. Some suggested we forget there was ever a Light Rail and let the project die and the trains and tracks rot. Everyone kept saying how much it was going to suck and no one cares about the Light Rail and no one will use it. The official opening of it was delayed at least twice. This was a bad move making anyone that want to ride feel like a loser. What would they tell us how no one is going to ride it and how much it sucks and how stupid it is? Now NO ONE will ride it. I was waiting for the them to set the tracks a blaze.

I thought they should change the name of the light rail to the lame rail. However they just announced today that it will be now called the “River Line” and now are going to start a marketing campaign to get people to think that it doesn’t suck that bad. It will only cost 1.10 to ride the 34-mile and you can ride the thing all damn day if you want. They are going have 20 stops (I don’t know any closer to me other than Camden).

So it should be interesting to watch how the state will sell this after they told is it was the worst idea ever for a few years. WORST IDEA EVER! “Ride the River Rail it DOESN’T suck." It has been 4 years in the making and they have slated Feb 15th as their opening day. I am disappointed that it wasn’t a day earlier because I planned to take Liza on ride on it all day long for Valentines Day. They really blew my plans. I hear Trenton is lovely that time of year. The date is set yet again, although there might be a better chance of Ryan calling to congratulate Lima Beanz and Jenna on their new kid than this RIVER LINE running according to planned.

Sorry for the dealy in posts I have had some minor problems with my internet connections this week. Look for some articles this weekend.

“Winter Outlook”



Okay in Tucker’s World I am always making predictions and informing my readers. Last year I gave a preview on what to expect for the winter as far as how cold it will be and how much snow will get. I was totally wrong last year. However after much sifting through webpages that I read on such matters I am ready to put my new prediction on this site.

Did you notice that the weather has been doing a Yo-Yo type deal? It’s mild for a few days than its freaking freezing the next. Well that manic cycle will continue all Winter long. There will be times when it get REALLY cold, but the consecutive days wont be like they were last year. In fact in January and February we will see days that it gets as high at 60.

The first flakes of the season will arrive around Turkey Day. It will be in the form of wet snow and not much to write home about either. The biggest chance of storms will be in Mid January and Mid February.

The final tally will be roughly around 21 inches when the Winter ends. Believe it or not that is normal for the South Jersey/Philly region.

So this winter expect some snow, but just don’t expect your snowmen to stay around too long with the mild air returning frequently.

"Veteran's Day"

This Tuesday is holiday. Yeah it really is despite most people still having to go to work. Amongst all the Christmas maddness that for some reason has to started several weeks before thanksgiving this year we get a hoilday before its even time to carve up the old bird.

This Tuesday is Veteran's Day a day that is ment to honor people who faught and died for this country. People might get this holiday mixed up with other patrotic hoildays. Memorial Day is to honor the fallen heros, 4th of July is mainly to celeberate our freedom and celebrate the birth of the nation, and Labor Day has nothing to do with veterans what so ever. Although it is now undestandable to see flags waving since it is so close to Sept. 11th.

Anyway I think its just a shame a hoilday to honor people living and dead who fought for this country is prettty much glossed over my society. Do yourself a favor and ask people what hoilday it is on Tuesday I doubt more than half of them will even know its a holiday.

At beast the day to honor citzens of this country has been reduced to an excuse for retail stores to throw a big sale. Just because it is too cold out for the few of us that are off for the holiday to go swiming and grill stuff makes the day get lost in the shuffle. Sadly hoildays like that are more of an excuse to get drunk for most people.

I suggest for my readers who do read this that they call up just on person that they know is a war veteran (who doesnt have a friend, uncle or neighbor) and either thank them for their service or at the very least wish them a happy veteran's day. Then you can bgo back to Christmas Shopping.

"Black Eye Network"


A few weeks ago Matt Drudge revealed on this news site THE DRUDGE REPORT scenes of the upcoming CBS miniseries “The Reagans” that got friends and allies of the former President pretty upset. Scenes included Reagan showing signs of Alzheimer’s years before he was diagnosed with the disease, Nancy being a pill popping, Reagan fearing that he was the anti-Christ before breaking down and crying, and a scene when Reagan saw a news report on AIDs saying “People who live in sin shall die in sin”. Reagan was often criticized about not doing anything about AIDs in the 1980s when it hit.

Now as I reported on here earlier the networks are in the middle of sweeps. CBS may have at first thought the “buzz” would be good for ratings. However when more and more scenes were revealed the pressure started to mount on the network. CBS started to fear potential sponsors bailing on the program. They also feared a boycott of some of the sponsors of the mini-series and perhaps feared the network itself would suffer a decline in ratings during the November Sweeps. Sweeps is a time when the networks kiss the butts of their advertisers.

A few days ago the mini-series that was supposedly pitched as a love story was coming across as more of a politically slanted version of the former president’s life. Another reason people thought perhaps things were being blown out of proportion was that fact that Barbara Streisand ( an high profile liberal loud mouth) was one of the key figures in the creative team behind the project. CBS finally blinked and made broadcast television history and pulled the plug on the mini-series. It was the first time that a network canned a program for political reasons. The miniseries will air (more likely as just long film) on SHOWTIME which is also owned by VICAOM. The film was edited and certain controversial scenes were cut for the CBS airing before it was canned. However everyone of those scenes are going to be restored when it airs on SHOWTIME sometime in 2004.

The liberals are calling CBS spineless for giving into political pressure. Streisand claims the network’s move was politically motivated and it is a “sad day for artistic freedom”. She went on to claim Shakespeare was horrible historian but wrote entertaining plays despite falsifying facts and the kings of England. Apparently Liberals can reference past people and events and claim that is the way it always was and always should be when it benefits them to illustrate a point. I haven’t seen the movie which has her husband James Brolin starring as Reagan but I doubt it Shakespeare.

She has a good point that such artistic freedom should not be squashed. However there is a thin line between that and just wanting to make public figure look like a jerk for political game. Where do you the draw the line? Claiming he said stuff that was never mentioned. Couldn’t they have consulted people closer to the family like they did for the Amy Smart and Sniper films? Unfortunately a vast majority of viewers would gobble up everything they saw as fact not artistic freedom. There is a responsibility that wasn’t there 10 years ago for tv movies to try to stick to the facts. This film itself was political not artistic. Do not believe for a second that this movie was made for anything other then to give the Ronny a black eye.


Now people who were against this thing (at posting time they are already taking aim at Showtime) make some points I don’t agree with either. They think a movie shouldn’t be made about Reagan because he is senile and can’t defend himself. Okay it is in bad taste I would admit, and one wonder why they couldn’t wait for him to buy the farm (there isn’t an election coming up is there?) before telling his story. What if he was dying of cancer or AIDs would that be in worse taste? However many a film has been made about the dead who last time I checked couldn’t defend themselves. JFK has come off as a jerk many times.


Matt Drudge thinks the bizarre anti-christ scene was the turning point that got people thinking it was strange. The CEO of CBS claimed it was “unfairly harsh” towards the Ronald and his wife. Honestly I think he was just looking out for the wallet of his network. For some reason television (puzzling everyone people just don’t seem to be watching tv) viewers have being MIA the last thing he wants to do is alienate his viewers. So his move is more motivated by money than anything else.

Showtime will air the movie, because they don’t have to worry about sponsors. VICACOM might even get more people to shell out money for it and all the scenes will be in place. I honestly think CBS can win the sweeps month easily without the mini-series (predicted order top=CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX= bottom) maybe it was just to hot for network television although thanks to BONO apparently the F-bomb isn’t. It is funny because it was delivered as a satire I wouldn’t be blogging about this right now. Are conservatives being too protective of their icon? Perhaps they are being to blind to his flaws. I don’t know if he said any of these things really. I know has heard he never talked about AIDS once the whole time he was in office although I could never really prove that.

I don’t know it is a sad day for artistic freedom. Matt Drudge simply put out transcripts from the movie and people got upset. A LOT of people got upset by this film. Their voices were just too loud. Maybe if the movie showed Reagan’s famous TEAR DOWN THIS WALL moment or put some more good to balance out the negative stuff it wouldn’t have seen as such a blow, making him more of a tragic figure. I don’t see this opening the door to bowing to political pressure on a regular basis however I don’t see network TV existing in 10 years they way that we know it now. Did CBS make the right choice? I honestly think I would have to see the movie to make a fair statement on that. Maybe I will get it off NETFLIX when it come on DVD. Perhaps I will maybe I can get on of those old Reagan chimp movies to come the same week and have a double feature.

"Losers"

Street beat Katz (KICKED HIS ASS)and Tommy lost in Haddonfield at least I think so because his name didn't appear anywhere on the offical results that I found on the internet. I can imagine he didnt get ANY votes though. If I find his final totals I will post them here.

Keep it hear at Tucker's World for the the final numbers on that race. If you get your news from this blog then well thats just sad.

Well it might be intresting if the FBI finds anyhting on Street. Oh well Philly made their bed.

Oh and for the record I didn't vote for anything, felt mildly guilty.

“Message to Readers”

Well it is SWEEPS months for the major networks the time when all the networks (and FOX) bring out their big guns so they can justify how much the charge for commercials for their shows. So look for big TV Movies, important plot related stories and shameless gimmicks on your favorite shows. In honor of that I usually have a SWEEPS month of my own. I have no idea who reads this blog and I don’t have a traffic reporter like Drew does for TERMINUS (Drew can you help me out with that man?), but still when they have SWEEPS I try pull out all the stops to get people clicking back to this link and procrastinating during their workday. I want to try to update more this month. So sit back and get ready for some hopefully memorable articles in the next 4 weeks, and then it is back to the same old mundane crap with random and frequent days upon days with no updates.

Dan K emailed me and told me that the SUV headlights are not any brighter it is just the fact that they are at the right height to blind me. He knows a lot more about cars than I do so I guess he is right. He went on to wish death upon anyone who drives an SUV anyway.


TUCKERS WORLD ENDORSES CANDIDATE IN THE PHILLY MAYOR RACE!



“Indecision 2003”


Tomorrow is Election Day. Sadly that might actually be news to most my readers. Not that I can talk I don’t have any interest in the election of the mayor of my own town. However I have written about two mayor races that I can’t vote in. The Philadelphia election and the Haddon Heights election only because there is 21 year-old local filmmaker running for mayor.

Okay first the Philly election. The campaign trail is in the homestretch and judging by the latest polls Mayor John Street might as well make his victory speech on Good Day Philadelphia tomorrow before the polls even open. Katz has been resorted to referencing the DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN debacle. Usually a sign that you are desperate for a miracle and the election will be a landslide for the opposition.

The last few hours we have seen Sam Katz bellow out some tunes in Italian and John Street brought out former Vice President AL GORE which was enough to make local liberals harder than getting south bound on 295 during rush hour. Streets gain in the polls leaped again last night the polls results are strikingly different than before the BUG SCANDAL at the time Katz had a slight lead. Don’t worry though if it looks to be close you can rest assure that Ed Randall will be driving around with a van picking up homeless people and paying them to vote for Street. A Democratic tradition in the city of brotherly love. Not that the Katz campaign has halos around their heads.

Katz supposedly has some unions behind him, but Street has far more. Basically a core of the voters are Union leaders who intimidate union members into voting for a particular candidate. Unions are key. I would also imagine that Katz’s wife will vote for him along with the most of the remaining white people that live in the city.

Well the night before I TUCKERS WORLD is giving an endorsement to Sam Katz. Unfortunately for Katz none of my readers live in Philly hell very few of them are even registered to vote. However even the recent tactics by the Street’s cronies and the fact the many Philly businesses are hoping the Delware to South Jersey than are jumping to Philly (just ask CHUCK) I think Katz is the better candidate. I think Katz is more business savy and the Philly economy needs that.

Meanwhile right up the White Horse Pike Tommy Avallone who I know by association is running for mayor. Tommy who at one time worked at the Cinemark movie theater got together with some friends and made some local movies. I stumbled upon this films because a friend of mine Mike Hadfield has minor roles in them.

“Wasted Apples” was followed by “Small Kid Tank Top” neither film indicated that Tommy has any future in film making but he is under the impression he would be a good mayor. His story made national news (long after I broke the story) appearing on both CNN.com and the DRUDGE REPORT. Here is the latest statement made by Tommy released on his website.

“Everyone from Haddon Heights VOTE FOR ME!, Everyone that isn't from Haddon Heights tell everyone you know in Haddon Heights to VOTE FOR ME!, Everyone that isn't from Haddon Heights that doesn't no anyone from Haddon Heights, make a friend with someone in Haddon Heights and tell them to VOTE FOR ME!, if you are to young to vote get your brother, sister, mother, father, uncle, aunt, grandparents, and neighbors to VOTE FOR ME!, Everyone should get more involved, everyone should get into poltics, everyone should VOTE FOR ME! I may be a bad speller, I may have bad grammer, I may not use spell check, But I will make one hell of a mayor. So inclusion, VOTE FOR ME!!!!!!!”

“Blinded By the Light”

It doesn’t bother me so much that SUVs guzzle gas, but their insanely BRIGHT head lights irk me.
So the other night I was driving to my girlfriend’s who lives roughly 20 minutes from my house. It was dark out being nighttime and all and a fairly raining night. Then behind me comes an SUV.

The head lights on this sucker are so bright that I can actually see the glare off the puddles on the street behind in my mirror. Now I know it is supposed to be a “utility” vehicle and all but is it necessary for them to illuminate the car of the motorist in front of them. Christ what they want me to do put on shadow puppet show on for them or something?

I recall when I first started driving one of the worst things you could do as a driver is pass a car, or be behind a car with your high beams on. Now what difference does it make when if the normal headlight of an SUV severely blinds me and has on occasion actually given me a headache. Now I know that I can turn my mirror so that is blocks out the insanely ridiculous headlights, but I never like to that that because it messes up my reference to how much a distance that this soccer mom as on me. Nor does it stop my car from looking like the Clark Griswold’s home.

Now I really don’t know the practical reason for such bright headlights. Where the hell are this SUVs going? I mean this light is so bright that sometimes on a dark road I am checking for little green men and missing time when it first comes up behind me.


I know I am supposed to be impressed by the power of their vehicles but is it necessary for them blind me to the point that my retinas are detached by the time I get to my girlfriends house? I was lucky I could tell the difference between Liza and her dog Denver by the time I get to her home, because I could see was a bright light in front of me.

So my advice is to drive about 25 MPH if an SUV is behind you in two lane road. You will likely irate them and perhaps they will pass you. If any of my readers have people in their lives with SUVs get them headlight covers for approaching holiday season get them “head light” covers. If anyone doesn’t know what they are they look really cool but pretty much render your headlights useless.

"Weasel of the Week"

Sharpton is a jack ass. I don't know why or how we started caring about what he said enough to print it in the papers each day. Please. I guess this time he is seeking a seat in the White House (doesnt he always), but still no matter what happens the media feel obligated to have us listen to his twisted views on life. His latest doozy is against Howard Dean who is one of the few that are standing out in the Democratic debates.

Here is his quote:

"Howard Dean's opposition to affirmative action, his current support for the death penalty and historic support of the NRA's [National Rifle Association's] agenda amounts to an anti-black agenda that will not sell in communities of color in this country," Sharpton said in a statement."

WOW. Maybe I SHOULD vote for Dean. Heck I argreed with almost everything there. Color me a bigot I guess. DAMN. I had no idea.

Okay people debate about the Afirmative Action all the time, and I would have to see what he has to say about it. The big problem that I have with it is I think it should be based on more of how much someone makes. For example a lot of white people I know make "too much money" to get help to pay for college.


I recall a friend of mine in Rowan who happened to black telling me how he had no idea what he was going to do with all the extra money they gave him. Not only was he from what he told me as well of as many of my white friends who make too much money, but they gave him almost 2 grand more than he even needed. He was almost embarressed I guess he knew that the money could have gone to someone else. I have heard other minorities offer similar stories. Meanwhile there are white people who are told time and time again their hard working but underpaid parents are too rich. I have a problem with that.

Sharpton would never debate anything like this. He just tells everyone they are bigots or want to bring down all the African Americans everywhere. He never backs up his claims I don't even no what the NRA has to do with being black. What is he saying more white people have guns? Al Sharpton is a true weasel.

TUCKER'S WORLD RINKSIDE

“Behind Waviers”

The NHL wavier draft is usually confusing or often over looked by the casual hockey fan. Even I have trouble with some of the “rules” but that’s the NHL for you. The Waiver Draft has been affected by the pending NHL lockout next season. Some unique stuff has happened.


To set up the recent events lets try to establish the point of the draft and how it works. It isn’t like the entry draft it deals with players already on NHL & AHL teams. The Waiver draft starts right around the start of the season and its main purpose is mainly to spread the wealth so to speak. If a player is played on waviers he can be picked up by another NHL team. You can only protect so many people at one time. Now not everyone has to be protected rookies are off the hook.

Also off the hook are players who don’t have an NHL contract but actually have a two way contract. The two way contracts are for players on the brink of breaking into the NHL like Jimmy Vandermeer or fring players like Mark Grieg. He can be sent to the Phantoms ( Vandermeer likely will be soon) and he doesn’t have to clear waivers. Although this can be only done X amount of times in one season, so they can’t jerk the poor guy around I guess, Peter White had to clear waivers one time after being called up too many times. Anyone else that is sent to the Phantoms like Chris Therien recently has to clear waivers.

In years past other teams would have loved to gotten their hands on certain semi big name players (and did players like Straka were picked up in the past) who were put on waivers like Curtis Joseph did this past weekend. He was sent to the minors, and since no one wants to pay him his huge salary he cleared and is in the AHL. Since Hasek came back he is number 1 goalie. Number 2 is Many Legace who they think will be # 1 right now. As a seldom used back up he makes very little money by NHL standards and would be snatched up. So they sent CUJO down knowing he would clear.

So the draft that’s purpose for the struggling teams to be able to get talented players who weren’t being used is negated. A team that NEEDS Joseph can’t afford him, and could lose out if there is no hockey next season.

This past week the Flyers inked tough guy Steve Webb (who the hell knows why) and the sneaky little GM that Bob Clarke is he didn’t let it publicly known. The media didn’t even know. Webb was signed to an NHL contract I guess they figured the had a spot for him. Now in order to sign him they would have to put someone else on waivers. The Flyers didn’t want to risk losing anyone else so they kept the signing hush, hush. They actually put Webb on waivers andhoped no on would notice their new player chilling on Waivers. However the Pittsburgh Penguins did and they scopped him right up. Webb thought he was going to play in Philly had no choice but to go west. Since the Penguins didn’t sign him they don’t have to put anyone on waivers. So basically they could have waited for him to come out of the Skate zone one day threw a bag over his head and thrown him into a SUV heading for Pittsburgh.

"Closings & Movings"


For all my local readers here is the DISH on the local businesses in the area. Some places closing their doors. Others moving around.

Well some of my readers might know that I have a “ban” on Sharkey’s on nights that they have a DJ. Sharkey’s a place ideal for cheap beer and some good wings is a good spot to go if you actually want to hear what your friends are saying. However recently they decided to have a DJ there on the weekends and it might even have spread to Thursday nights. I had hoped it would flop, but I drove past there a few times on those nights and it was pretty busy. Another indication is the rival bar the Warwick Tavern now supposedly has a DJ on Thursday nights. The plague is spreading. If I wanted to hear club music and stay local I would go to Vallaries. I dunno, maybe I will just have to lift a ban.

Meanwhile the obscenely named Cuccis Pizza has closed down after only a year or so under the new management. It was run by a Sterling Alumni for the past year that I couldn’t picture successfully running a business well. Not to mention the food went downhill big time. I will miss their unique bread. It always made me pick them over Nuncios. There is now a place to rent on what Ryan and I nicked named the “Statford Boardwalk”. Although it might be a tough sell since its next to a porn shop.

The Burger King in Voorhees is going to pack their bags and move into the former home of Ponderosa in Stratford on the White Horse Pike.

Meanwhile Starview Diner might be feeling some heat from their arch enemy the Stratford Diner, because they have been running coupons in the Courier-Post for almost a month now in Friday’s South Jersey Beat section. Keep it here for more useless information about what is going on in your backyard.

"SpaceSTORM!"


Uh-oh. Looks like the PERFECT Space Storm is heading to Earth this weekend. It is going to cause a "Solar" burst which supposedly will mess with our cell phones and powerlines. My readers will have to tell me if something happened because poor service is par for the course for my phone.

It should hit at 3pm on Friday which would be roughly around 2 hours from when this post makes it to the internet. Perhaps it will supercharge the machines and they will rise to destroy us. Perhaps the story is just to fill time on the cable news network untill the next time J. Lo and Ben Affleck go shopping.

"Of Bugs & Men"

Well the bid for the Mayor of Philly has taken an ugly veer. Mayor John Street is up for reelection against Sam Katz (who looks like a former professor of mine) Katz had a very slim chance to win. Before the controversy hit (I will get to that later) I spoke to Duke’s girlfriend who is a South Philly native and wanted to see if she followed the election or had anything to say about it. She basically told me that it didn’t make a difference because Street was going to be elected by the African-American communities in Philly based solely on the color of his skin. That is a shame if works either way.

In all fairness ALMOST LITTERALLY all the white people are voting for Katz, in the 90 percent and about 90 percent of the black people will vote for Street. There is no denying that the city is easily one of the most racially divided cities in the US. When it comes to the voting anyway, but one can assume that these feelings could easily run deeper in every day life.

Well the election took an unexpected turn this past week when it John Street found out his office was being bugged. At first no one knew who was doing it, but it was later turned it was the FBI and he was under investigation. This investigation has been going back for quite awhile apparently. I don’t know that Street regularly sweeps his office for bugs but we later learned that some of his electronic information devices were taken by authorities before he made public that his office was bugged. So he knew something was up, and his speech the day off was bit of an act.

Now I don’t know if the FBI wanted him to find it or if they were just stupid and didn’t expect him to comb his office after sending up flags that he is under investigation. He claims that nothing racists, illegal or curse words are ever said in his office and they must only have really boring tapes. The FBI said that he is not exactly the “target” but has “something” to do with the investigation. Meaning it could be someone or several people in his administration are subject of the investigation. It didn’t take long before Street questioned the timing of the investigation. He cries racism and that the investigation is politically motivated.

This was a great move. He makes himself look like the victim and it worked! He is running away with the election and more African Americans are going to vote now just because of they think he is getting a raw deal. One man (suppoedly a Republician) admitted in the Inquirer that he is pretty much going to vote for Street out of spite at this point. Race isn’t important according to Street. He just works well with everyone. Well here is an often forgotten quote from awhile back. It took me awhile to even find the exact quote on the internet.

“LET ME TELL YOU: The brothers and sisters are running the city. Oh, yes. The brothers and sisters are running this city. Running it! Don't you let nobody fool you; we are in charge of the City of Brotherly Love. We are in charge! We are in charge!"”


Um. Okay now replace Brothers and Sisters with Whites and give it to a white politician and you have a ruined career. I mean that quote is full of gloating and anger it appears. I don’t recall him having to attend “diversity” or “sensitivity” classes. I am still waiting for the article on TEMRINUS titled “Street is a Total Bastard” but I have a better chance of seeing the Flyers win the cup before I die. In all fairness he did admit to me once out at the bar that he thought it was pretty racist. I just think its sad people are buying this BS. If he really thinks its being done to get rid of a black mayor than he at best is a hypocrite. I hate the fact that comments like that are allowed buy African Americans. Am I offended by the comments? Not really he was merely stating a fact about who he surrounds himself around I guess. I just hate that there was very little outcry about it, if he was white he would have had to resign.

I am not down for spreading intolerance and hate no matter who does it. Lots of debates were made after that Rush comment about ending racism. Letting people Like Street have license to make comments like that because of year of mistakes in the past of the treatment of their ancestors is just plain wrong. It breeds MORE racism from whites. Just fuel for the fire.


So back to current events; the investigation will go well after the election. I don’t know how bad timing it was for this to be revealed. Wouldn’t the people of Philly want to know that their mayor was under investigation? I guess not. It MIGHT have some baring on if someone casts his vote. I know if I would have voted for Street and found out a month later he had done some dirty deeds I would be a bit miffed thinking It was unfair not knowing that potential problem. Recalls could become a common trend. It isn’t out of right field either some people have accused Street of helping his buddies and brother ( an incompetent) out by giving them city jobs. Of course it like that a lot in politics, but still. Its thought at this point that it is realated to giving contracts to people.

I think a low point in mind for Street was when he decided to give a business loan to a drug dealer. He claimed he had entrepreneur spirit and just disliked working that why he had to turn to selling drugs. Poor guy couldn’t take orders and that’s why he sold drugs out of necessity. He claimed at the time he was former drug dealer and one could argue he was giving him a 2nd shot. However people immediately wrote into the Daily News and said he was still pretty much still in the business. Meanwhile a couple who lived in Philly for years, and did everything by the law wrote in and were trying for years to get a loan to start kick start their dream. A deli in the City. They didn’t get it. Maybe they should have been selling crack to school children until their ship came in. It might have helped if they were “brothers” or “sisters”.

Thinks have gotten hotter than Pat's Cheesesteak bettween the two. The campaigns have gotten ugly. Street is bringing up a lawsuit of against Katz from one of his business partners. Katz downplayed it making it a dead issue.

Without a miracle for Katz you might as well put a fork in him. He is as done as the vet. As for Street to be fair and balanced nothing has been proven yet. So he has that going for him, which is nice. It could get interesting.

"Elimidude"


I watch Elimidate in the mornings sometimes before work. It is a shameless "reality" show where usually a guy (although once in awhile its a girl) has to choice bettween 4 dates. Before each commerical break on is "Elimidated".

The show is supposed to match up the people and all 4 potential mates vie for the attention of the guy. This usually results in girls calling each other sluts, bitches and other mean words. Lots of times they just rip each others clothes and bodies. It shows you how shallow and callous girls can be. Certainly the type that have to go on a syndicated tv show are anyway.

Rarely do they tell the guy about themsleves they just bash the others. Its kind of like watching a public debate for office only the candidates are a lot more pleasing to the eye in this case.

My idea for a spinoff would be "Elimidude". It will just be a bunch of dudes trying to figure out who the best person to be friends with is. One dude would go and hang out with four other dudes. The dudes would do stuff that dudes do like play video games, go out for some beers, shoot pool, talk about sports and girls. Before each commerical break the dude would "elimdude" on of the guys. Trying to figure out who would be his most ideal candaite to become a dude he would hang out with on a regular basis.

The show will go with out a hint of homosexuality. It won't be about sex or anything. Just dudes. Dudes meeting dudes and hanging out with them and doing stuff that dudes do.

"WAY TO GO!"

So I am still at the Sears Outlet much to my chagrin (the dungeon) and the sales at the store have been horribly down at our location. Mostly in part because of our Philly location catering to our Philly customers, but mainly because the competition like Home Depot and Lowes offer similar products for almost the same price. However are service agreement sales are threw the roof.

When I first started there they didnt push the Protection Agreements (extended warranty how can I go wrong?) but now they are all about them. Back in the day our store constantly came in last place. No one cared really we just joked about it. The regional mangers kept coming by on a regular basis cared though. They would rip the boss of the store to pieces which would result in her passing the anger on to the sales people. It was a almost regular part of life there.

Anyway all that has changed and we have people that actually strive to make the store above standard. We have been number one in the region for months now with the service agreemetns. Making Sears lots of money to pretty much do nothing. If someone buys a protection argument its money in the bank for Sears especially if it doesn't break.

Now we are at the top you think we would be rewarded some how. Bonuses perhaps? Free dinner for the sales team (its a really small team making the company lots of money) ? Gift Cards to use at the real Sears at least? No we get emails to the mangers once in a while that say in small print at the end of them WAY TO GO! We don't even see the VIP of Sears anymore which I guess means your doing a good job, but shouldn't they be treating us like gold for carrying the region?

I am sure some of my readers who sit in the dark basements are gleefully hoping that 332 Burnt Mill Road is darkened by years end and judging by our overall sales the last few months it wouldn't be out of left field. Reason # 232 why I hate my job.


Sears Alert: Orange

"Buy the Rights"

I hate most movies based on Old Shows. I think the creative team behind Charlies Angels should die. Yeah you get flicks like the Fugiative come along. However most movies based on sitcoms are bad. Does anyone actually remember Car 54 Where ARe You the movie? Awful. The Brady Bunch Movies were okay, but they were parodies. I am usually not a big fan of that which is why I hated the Scooby Movie.

However I saw one of the greatest shows ever on the DISH at my work the other day. Mr. ED. In the one scene I saw Mr. ED was wearing over sized glasses and made a phone call. Horses just aren't supposed to do that! It was funny.

When someone finally comes to their senses and puts Mr. Ed on the big screen I will be there opening night with a ticket in my hand. Thats all I am saying.

"Drew's Remarks"


If you haven't ready my article "Creepy American" than you should before you read this because it won't make all that much sense. Drew the author of TERMINUS has released the following statement. Since I don't have a comments sections (although another feble attempt was made this past weekend) I figured I would let him speak his mind. Here is what I feel was the most important part of the eamil.


"As you don't have comments on your blog, I would
appreciate it if you would make clear to your readers
that I took no part in the burning of the Bible, and
our family, at that time, regularly and lawfully
burned all of our combustible trash as a way of
heating our home, and that this particular Bible was
useless. It couldn't be read. The pages were so
brittle that you couldn't even open it, from what I
remember. You should also mention that this was done
when we were moving out of the house, and trying to
throw away as much stuff as we could, to avoid having
to move it. And, despite his fact, my dad, a
Bible-burning atheist, brought about six Bibles from
the old house to the new house, along with a quite a
few Christian books."

He went on to say.

"You make it sound like my Dad and I get off on burning
Bibles, which is just SLIGHT misrepresentation of the
facts. "

I used that story to make my point that people are going to disagree with you sometimes in masses no matter what. So now that story is more clear to both of my readers.

"Creepy American"

My longtime friend Drew and I don’t always see eye to eye on things. I actually grew up with Drew for the most part and first met him through my family church. Drew has obviously veered from that ideology drastically. Not that this is really news to anyone who knows him. I don’t fault him for that its important for each person to form their own values so if anything he deserves props. It isn’t easy to challenge your own beliefs to end up at a polar opposite must have been a scary journey. I have flipped on some beliefs in my life time granted not as drastic as Drew who is now an Avid Atheist.

Drew often speaks his mind and one of his pet peeves is when he is labeled “a trader” or “communist”. This reached its peak I think a week after 9/11 at the time Drew had a message board and while people were still frantically looking for loved ones Drew stopped short of saying that we had it coming. He sort of listed an incident that he witnessed on CNN with someone of Arabic decent showing a part of a missile (sent by Israel I believe) that said made in the USA. This got Drew pretty choked up from what I understand. Drew even went as far as to debate if the events of 9/11 were "evil" or not. Lets just say he was called a lot more than “a trader” by various message board posters.

Check out TEMINUS and read the article “Oh Boy Here It Comes” Drew is blogging today about his disgust for the pledge of allegiance. Sure its surrounding by a few facts and valid points, but it’s a fine example of how he rubs many people the wrong way. First off I do recall how almost no one in high school actually said the Pledge they just stood there and mumbled at best. People in the music homeroom didn’t even have the pledge on the intercom, but that is not surprising since Music people are usually not interested in politics or current events. I would hope to God (sorry for offending anyone) that has changed a bit since 9/11 but given the attention span of a student I doubt it.

Anyway in TERMINUS fashion I am going to put parts of what he said and try to over analyze it to the point that you wonder if I have too much free time on my hands. First off I can see where people can debate the UNDER GOD part of the pledge which wasn’t added until the mid 1950s. I actually always took it as representing “the supreme being” when I was young, using God as generic term saying that the country is blessed under God (Christianity) Allah (Islam which pretty much means GOD), Buddha etc. However since I am older now I do know it was added by Christians. I would think that some people would just take a different impetration of “God” to mean what they want, since many Christians themselves debate the true sense of the word. However that would exclude people like Drew who think that we just formed out of no where. However I don’t quite see what is so bad about asking children to recite the pledge. I don’t even see why they cant’ require them since they are in a public school which is pretty much a product of the government.

Making kids pledge allegiance to this country is really f---ing creepy. It's a loyalty oath, for f--'s sake… So, my gut feeling is that in any dispute, I'm anti-Pledge, because it's creepy, and non-conformists get hit by a load of shitstorm.

SO basically since you don’t like it when you people disagree with what you say “aka shitstorm” is unleashed among these non-conformists (he might refer to as the “real patriots”.)

Well first off it is more TEACHING about our country than FORCING THEM to become mindless slaves. It making them know damn right well what this country stands for by the time they finnish their higher education. I honestly wish I learned more about our country during my time in highschool. We never really got past the Industrial Revolution once the next year we would start all over again or study world history. It’s a shame. But at least we were taught the pledge and hopefully had an idea what the country was based on. Maybe he can shed some light on the subject about the whole oaths thing since he is a law student. Don’t we take “oaths” (a declaration or promise) in the courts? What if people just decided to start lying because they didn’t believe in the “oaths” they had to take?

Anyway Drew goes on to stumble upon his own irony in this article.

“Their was a college basketball player in the Philly area a year ago, I think, and she got hit with the load of shitstorm big time. That's not right. Everyone says "She has the right not to salute the flag( actually she turned her back to the flag), but we have the right to hit her with a load of shitstorm," which is perfectly true, but it kinda sends the wrong message about freedom and American values, don't you think?”


Now the message that should be sent is everyone is allowed to speak their mind in this country. People got angry because they were legitimately pissed that she would do something like that. Maybe some of those people were war veterans that lost friends in war or were hurt protecting our country that don’t quite understand why it is such a “burden” to take 30 seconds out of your day to honor your country. So everyone should revoke their freedom of speech in regards to this matter in fear of hurting someone’s feelings. Maybe they want to make her realize what the country means to them, or that the pledge isn’t as “Creepy” as people say it is. So all the children that want to recite the pledge should be silenced if they wanted to voice their opinion in class? Last time I checked America wasn’t about not being able to give let us say Drew Vogel “a shitstorm” about what he has to say.

Drew seems to be under the impression that only he gets slammed for his views. Please. Most of my friends are either “Athists” totally apathetic or even as minority of a religion as Wiccan. I honestly get hit by “shitstorms” by Drew and Lima Beanz about Christianity some fall under blanket statements and usually come off as “hateful”. Drew once practically bragged to me about the time his father and him burned up a Bible. I imagine he said something like this to get a ride out of me or something and to be honest I did get pissed at time. However I distanced myself from it and said he can do what he wants even if he is an asshole about it. Inretrospect perhaps he did mean to "offend" me he was just stating something he felt, that was totally against something I belive in. This results in an uneasy feeling. But that is life.

Even the most generic statement about my religion will result in Drew rolling his eyes. It seems that most my generation doesn’t really believe in God, so I take a lot of flack about my religious beliefs which I don’t feel the need to slam down peoples throats.

Let us say hypothetically Drew and I were at the first Atlanta Thrashers game after the death of Dan Snyder, and one of the players asked the people in the stands to pray for the Heatly and Snyder family I can almost guarantee Drew would have been “”offended” and maybe even gripped about all the people whose feelings might have been hurt that don’t think that we are a creation from God. It perfectly okay for him to say "offenseive" about Christans (he often makes them quite cartoonish on this blog and thinks they all agree with Pat Robertson). The same guy that doesnt like to sterotype any collection of people. But thats Drew for you.

Maybe the Philly girl was taught the lesson that people aren’t always going to agree with you deal with it than it was a good lesson. Should she have been suspended ? I guess not? Suspended by the team? Only if there is a rule in the league about it but if the coach wanted to bench her I wouldn’t blame him. BUT THE POINT IS THAT IS WHAT AMERICA IS ALL ABOUT WHEN YOU SPEAK YOUR MIND OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE FREE TO SPEAK THEIR MIND WILL DO SO. WRONG MESSAGE MY HAIRY BUTT.


I don’t mean to make this more about Drew than the pledge, but Drew has the tendency to come off very condescending when making his voice heard. This particular rant has an uncomfortable amount of bitterness or anger underlining in it. Drew hates Rush Limbaugh but at the same time he comes across as slamming people who don’t agree with him on regular basis. Do I let it bother me ? Not really it doesn’t “offend” me all that much. I know he manages to turn off the majority of the people I send his blog link to because of the tone of his writing. I actually think they should require the students to recite the pledge so that makes me “creepy” but if I differ on something Drew says “It is a shitstorm" that he undeserving of but when he tells me his opinion it is “The Way Things Ought to BE”
Now lets take a look at the pledge


I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under (God),
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay omit the God part and what is so offensive? It just a reminder of what this country was based on when it was formed really. Allegiance is really just love and devotion. Drew tells me what a better American than he is on the blog than people who don’t question everything our government does. It could be argued that his campaign to get Bush out of the White House is out of his “love and devotion” to this “great nation”. Our country is actually a Republic not a Democracy if you want to split hairs, and I don’t see anything wrong with having some pride in our country with saying we are “indivisible” maybe Drew sees that as little imperialistic to other countries and could hurt their feelings. Liberty and Justice? That is what Drew fights for with every fiber of his bearded being even if it means some fat slob getting rich because he was too dumb to realize Big Macs are not healthy.

I think the Pledge is just a reminder about the country and how great it is and by having students recite it they come to realize it. I guess maybe they should stop because it hasn’t seemed to work. Too much of an inconvenience to come together and remember what this country was founded on I guess. Too much of hassle while people like Price put their lives on the line. Such a pain to get up at a sporting event and stand of the national anthem! A waste of time for a country, where millions get to express their views on blogs like this? I am sure Drew will slam me for this one and tell me how a better American would not want to say the pledge and that I am a sheep. He will list all these things he hates about this country in the following weeks. In the mean time I will be writing about my views and learning and reading about his and perhaps discussing various topics back and forth. Because that is what America is all about.

“24 Years and What Do You Get ?”

Well today I turn one year shy of a quarter of century old. Although 24 is not old by any sense of the imagination I certainly couldn’t wrap my mind around this age as child. It is certainly by many that year that is a watermark for the first year of being an actual adult. In today’s society 21-23 is still giving you a pass as being “college age” especially since people take far more than 4 years now to complete and education. So what is an adult anyway? Depends on the person I guess.

24 usually is the point where nights out looking for a good time are more a novelty than central point of your week and you have to start lining up all your ducks in a row to become more “stable” and “responsible”. Birthdays when you were young were a celebration that of reaching another milestone. You wanted to have a fun party so the kids at school would like you, you wanted to get a bike so you could ride around town, and as you got older you looked forward to freedoms like a driver’s license or being able to legally drink. However I think now that I can be considered by most people in my “mid” 20’s it’s a day of more reflection than anything. Trying to look back at what I have done with my life so far, also trying to measure myself up with expectations of myself and where I wanted to be at this point in the journey in life. Not that I didn’t have an awesome time on Saturday with Liza at the casinos (despite not becoming a millionaire).

The more you think of it though the more you realize something. That life isn’t done in scenes similar to a play or film. One part of your life ending certainly doesn’t necessarily open the next stage door. It is also true what they say that the years go by quicker as you get older. It makes me sound old to even agree with the adage. However I was talking to Dan K (on AIM Dan and I rarely have face to face conversations but a handful of times a year he hates daylight) and we couldn’t quite figure out how I got to 24. He seemed taken back when I told him I was 24 even though he will hit that mark in a few months too. We talked about schoolyard incidents that at times seem like they happened a few months ago.

My life has certainly changed in the past year. Being out of school is certainly a dose of reality and I am learning a lot of hard lessons about making your way in life. I don’t really expect to draw any sympathy by writing this article by any means. In the past year though I have learned how hard it is to cut your niche in the world. I saw many of my friends go through the same thing after college, and thought for some reason I could avoid this fate.


In some aspects its who you know to get you in with a good company. Part of me blames myself for not having a distinct “dream” like our society seemingly dedicates who should have. Sometimes I figure it to mean I am a bad person or am full of short comings. Than again who isn’t? I also think more “prestigious” colleges just mean you went to school for rich people supported by rich people so when you get out you get a job based only on the rich people that your rich family knows in good companies. That’s a bit overly simplified I am sure, but it seems to be a way lots of people get their break in a job. I certainly don’t want to come across as someone who has nothing but excuses for my situation.

Part of me gets sick at the prospect of spending my life working in a cubical. At the same time my current job seems to such more of the life out of me everyday single day. I know I deserve better than Sears. Sears makes me feel like I am in a deep pool with a brick tied to my foot. I am almost out of patience. People who have landed their ideal jobs ( I know very few of them) try to offer me all kinds of advice some of it is applicable and some of it seems too simplified at times even condescending. Of course I know that wasn’t the intention.

Looking back at the 23 year of my life will likely be thought of a year of transition. A year where things and other people went in different paths. I guess that makes me the center of everyone’s universe. Heck two of my friends have started a family together. Meanwhile Duke’s apartment thanks to his new gf is no longer a health hazard. Another close friend of mine ended a long lasting serious relationship, Steve started teaching, Price went to war and Dan decided to tie the knot.

To be honest I would still consider Ryan to be my closest friend. That might seem odd, and unfortunately relations with his girlfriend and me and friends of mine boiled over into quite an ugly situation this past summer. Most parties at this point agree that it just water under the bridge anymore though. Although Ryan is extremely busy with music obligations these days he seems to be with drawn a lot from everyone this past year. Do I expect to hear from him on my b-day or him to even read this? Not really. His withdrawal is some what particular and one has to wonder what really goes on in his head these days. I guess this stuff is goes hand in hand with an increased amount of b-days.

If you asked me on my 23 b-day if I would have met the right girl for me I doubt I would have said I would been lucky enough to find her. Well it was last November that I met Liza, and I certainly thought she was out of me league the first time I laid eyes on her. I always knew if a girl would have given me a chance I could prove that I was capable of managing a serious relationship. I met her at a time where she gives me seemingly endless source of strength to keep me from putting myself down too much and helps me through the frustrations of my current job situation. I am my own worst critic and she lets me know when I am simply being unreasonable about it. She has made me certainly a stronger person and had a positive impact on my life. I have better self esteem than I did a year ago. I no longer have to look at the bottom of a beer mug when I am soul searching not that I was ever a raging drunk or anything. It wasn’t like I got smashed every time I had a bad day she somehow (maybe without trying) made me realize how unimportant in order to be happy. The feeling of knowing that I can talk to her about anything in my life far exceeds being drunk in the back of someone’s car after a night out. It isn’t like she even cares if I get drunk as skunk, but I never thought I would be so content and happy with someone that I would not notice or care that I rarely get smashed anymore. I just have less of a need to get drunk. This being my first long term relationship I learned a lot about realationships.


I look around the world and read the papers. I certainly have it a lot better than a good part of the world’s population and I certainly have a lot of time to figure things out in my life. I am fortunate to have good friends and a good family and a great girl. So what this day will pass without tons of fanfare like when I was a kid. What I learned about myself and life since my b-day could fill a book. I guess that’s the perk that comes with b-days after you reach all the cool milestones. I still have tons to learn and plan to get out on my own before my next b-day so I am sure this year wil seem like peanuts to that. Is it too late for anyone to get apartment shopping for dummies or cooking for dummies for a present?