Rainbow Me II

Rainbow Me II, originally uploaded by ⓅⒶⓎⓅⒶⓊⓁ.

I'm trying a new photosharing site called 23hq. It may be a case of 23 skidoo because I find it's quite clunky. Uploading to it is a bitch unless you possess the funds for a MAC. They don't use Titles for photos they use "words". Wowee! We'll see.

Wal-Mart: The Fifth Horseman Of The Apocalypse

Wal-Mart: The Fifth Horseman Of The Apocalypse, originally uploaded by ⓅⒶⓎⓅⒶⓊⓁ.

It's been a year since Jdimytai Damour was killed by Black Friday Shoppers at the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, NY. With the US still in the grip of it's worst recession in decades are the maddening crowds going to be worse or better. What has Wal-Mart done to prevent this from happening again? Who in their right mind would stampede a store for mundane material possesions like a 42 inch plasma screen TV?
The economists don't want to use the D word. Yes, that's right . Depression. If they ever dared to use that one maybe the governments of the world would have to be serious about doing something for the people rather than heaping billions of bailout money on the Corporations. The corporations continue to lay off millions of hard working human beings while lining the pockets of fat, rich executive higher ups. This has got to stop!
Meanwhile we have bread and circus events like Black Friday that turn people into animals because they're so desparate to have what their rich neighbors have for half the price. Wal-Mart encourages this animal behavior. I'll never forget the crazy lines that snaked around and outside of the Pottstown, PA Walmart when I worked there about 5 years ago. Most of those lines were for the Lay-Away windows. Wal-Mart apparently enjoys not only the attention that Black Friday crowds bring to its stores but the substantial boost in profits. They could care less about the welfare and safety of their employees. Wal-Mart goes out of its way to cheat and rob their associates of their dignity and their rights.
Who was the person who dealt the final blow to Mr. Damour? We've never found that out. But in the end it is Wal-Marts responsibility to bring a more civilized atmosphere to their Black Friday events. But I doubt this will happen as it is in the company's best financial interest to keep it crazy and keep people coming in with such hyperbolic expectations.

Snapfish Has Snapped Up Flickr

Snapfish Has Snapped Up Flickr, originally uploaded by ⓅⒶⓎⓅⒶⓊⓁ.

Flickr, a so called "Photo Sharing Site" has now introduced an exclusive "service" to flickr members. Formerly, flickr Pro members could opt out of printing services and were not subject to advertising. Now we have it staring at us on all our pages. We have the stupid little shopping cart right next to our flickr mailbox. One of these days I'm going to click on that accidentally and "buy" a few of my photos.

Flickr has increasingly put forth so called features that only answer to a revenue generation goal. They have introduced such "sparkly goodness" as the App Garden, the Big Blue Button and now this horrible printing service from Snapfish. The Powers That Be (Petaybees, with attribution to Anne McCaffrey) have ignored flickr members requests for a lot of things. Flickr HQ has sought to demean flickr members by calling our work "items", "things" and "stuff".

Flickr does not allow its members to sell their photos prominently from their photo pages. I've been fortunate in having a few works considered by buyers but that's a hit or miss scenario. Yet, Flickr will allow service providers and commercial interests to invade flickr with subliminal advertising, drop down ads and other gimmickry. It has become another internet store where the members are nothing more than consumers and hobbyists to feed the maw of the big corporate "Fish".

In My Own Words...........

In My Own Words..........., originally uploaded by ⓅⒶⓎⓅⒶⓊⓁ.

Flickr is now trying so desperately to be Facebook. Yahoo! has indeed taken over the philosophy and attitude of flickr with it's silly marketing campaign surrounding so called "people". I don't need flickr to redesign my profile in line with Yahoo's corporate mentality. My works should speak for themselves. If you have any interest at comment on them from flickr if you have a notion to and a flickr account.

Horseshit 2.5 Logo

Horseshit 2.5 Logo, originally uploaded by ⓅⒶⓎⓅⒶⓊⓁ.

When was the last time a computer or software upgrade actually did what it promised to do. So many times one gets an upgrade to say, Firefox, where they tell you in great detail how many bugs, glitches, security holes etc that they've fixed only to get another upgrade two days later that explains exactly the same thing. Do the software engineers ever get it right?
No they don't. If they ever created a product that worked best the first time without any endless tweaks, aside from the numerous security breaches that need to be fixed as a matter of course, they would be out of a job! I personally believe it's a lot of Horse Shit.
Flickr just upgraded its logo. The upgrade is also a lot of horse shit. It's ugly, hideous and needs to be downgraded back to where it was before.

Sign the Twitition: http://twitition.com/7jntr

Caribbean Carnaval 2009

Caribbean Carnaval 2009 Aint Nuthin In The World Like Six Fine Feathered Girls Of The Morning, originally uploaded by ⓅⒶⓎⓅⒶⓊⓁ.

This is my all time favorite parade. The colors and the women are like no other in NYC!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paypaul/sets/72157622293121312/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paypaul/sets/72157622132431415/

Van Jones Needs More Balls!

Four Brown Balls, originally uploaded by ⓅⒶⓎⓅⒶⓊⓁ.

Van Jones quit in the middle of the night today. What a pussy! Are all the Democrites quitters? Eliott Spitzer quit over his prostitution peccadillos. Meanwhile South Carolina governor Mark Sandford is holding out against calls for his resignation. The only quitter amongst the current repukelican ilk is Sarah Palin but she doesn't even count because she has the mental aptitude of a duckbill platypus. I take that back. It's insulting to the duckbill platypuses to be compared to Sarah Palin in terms of anything.
Team Obama needs to stop acting like they're in the minority party and fight back against the fear mongering and ignorance of the conservative talk show hosts and the fools on the hill like Sessions and the slimeball from the last administration. What was his name? Oh yeah. Dick Cheney. Let's expose these self serving hypocritical slimebags for what they are. Let's see. Craig, the guy who likes to meet young men in Denver toilet stalls or Foley who played with the affections of male pages probably during the same time he was lambasting Bill Clinton for doing the same with some White House Intern. Give me a break and give these dumbocrats some Balls!!

Marvel-Disney Teamup: Spiderman And The Lion King

Marvel-Disney Teamup: Spiderman And The Lion King, originally uploaded by ⓅⒶⓎⓅⒶⓊⓁ.

It's apparent that I had an epiphany that day when I was scared down to my little boots when Spiderman showed up in Midtown probably hawking the cross marketing possibilities of a Marvel Disney Teamup. Mickey Mouse Marvel indeed. Why not I say. It could prove to be the best thing that could happen to Marvel and continue into perpetuity the many comic franchises we've come to know and love. Disney does have its own Comics line and I wonder if it will be folded into the Marvel Universe. Goofy meets the Inhumans? Goofy is about as an inhuman as you can get. I never did get Goofy anyway. What's next now that Archie has entered into wedded bliss with Veronica? What will DC Comics do to top this blockbuster to garner attention for it's own flagging franchises. The comics world is filled with reinventions of old favorites and DC comics is often notorious for it. The only Marvel comic that comes to mind is the Incredible Hulk for its constant revisions of the David Bruce Banner/Hulk origin. I miss Kirby and his magnificence and hope that the Disney square jawed animation style doesn't enter the Marvel realm. If Disney is smart they'll leave the creative end alone to the experts at Marvel Comics.

Tiger Woods Fart Video

Got your attention I'm sure. The latest momentary scandal on the net is going to go away real soon I'm certain. I'd better get in my licks while I can. It does amaze me that a new phenomenon has developed. It's called hyperactive hype. It's very fleeting and if you don't catch it right away it'll disappear as quickly. This is the long awaited result of decades of the human attention span eroding to nothing. We have the ultimate in a forum for those with Attention Deficit Disorder. It's called Twitter. It's called the Internet. News stories can almost die as soon as they are born. Fakers abound trying to capitalize on this ephemera. Like little birdies, golf pun intended, they fly away as quickly as they grab that little crumb of bread you left out on the porch for them. The creators of Twitter don't call them "tweets" for nothing. So, if you do a search for "Tiger Woods Fart" you're going to find a whole lot of fakers and pulled youtube links. Of course the PGA may be thinking this gives even greater attention to the Tiger Woods brand because more people will frantically searching for this fleeting reference. Hence their cease and desist order to youtube. I have to wonder why no one thought to download this puppy and post it for themselves. I'm also sure that someone will be selling it on E-bay very soon. There's money to be made but you've got to be as quick as the fastest broadband speed to make it.

A message to congress.

Why is it that you have delayed and deterred President Barack Obama's Healthcare Reforms? I know. Look to the Corporations that have financed both political parties and I'm sure you'll find the two culprits: Insurance and Pharmaceuticals. And the Republications are trying to give those companies their moneys worth. The Republicans engage in more fear tactics than anyone else. Some of us are easily fooled. Others are not. But the Republican Party seeks to disrupt our processes because Pete Sessions has professed an admiration for the Taliban. He revels in their ability to "disrupt a persons processes". That's what the Repukelicans are about; Disruption and distortion.



The Democrats on the other hand have been catering to the financial fools on Wall Street. There's one dumbocrat I'm particularly mad at. That one is Chuckie Schumer.

Let's not let either party fool us. Let's not let either party shirk from their responsibilities to us. Both parties never seem to shirk from their responsibilities to their big bucks contributors.

New Line Cinema Taking Up Some Brooklyn Street Real Estate

Today I discovered that my neighborhood has been honored by New Line Cinema as one of the filming locations for a future film perhaps tentatively titled "Going The Distance"

Starring Justin Long and Christina Applegate. The film crew and equipment take up more space on 4 to 6 Brooklyn Blocks in Sheepshead Bay than the set of the film itself. The set is in the Rasputin Restaurant on Coney Island Avenue and Avenue X. It's a place that has perhaps a well deserved reputation as a Russian Mob hangout and perhaps the Management is proud of the distinction. Don't say I sent you there or I'll have to kill you.

The film is, as I suspected from the title and the featured stars which also include Dustin Hoffman who probably can play Drew Barrymore's great grandfather, Christina Applegate and Justin Long, is a chick flickr romantic comedy. Does anyone remember another movie of the same title. Going the Distance has certain taken up great amounts of distance and gutter real estate in the making of it.

Why the polls are saying people are uneasy about President Obama's Healthcare Plan.

Obama Cover-Up, originally uploaded by ⓅⒶⓎⓅⒶⓊⓁ.

The New York Times has posted a poll today saying that a poll has said that there's a growing unease with President Barack Obama's healthcare plan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/us/politics/30poll.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Of course, the paper has not allowed comments on this controversial and I've never gotten any answer as to why from the Powers That Be at the Old Gray Lady. The Powers That Be are really the Insurance Companies. They want the status quo; they want to be able to deny us healthcare at will. They want to keep the concept of pre-existing conditions intact. They want to profit from our misery. The Insurance Companies are no better and 10 times worse than the Hollywood Mobster portrayed presenting a protection racket to some mom and pop grocer. They have been plowing money into Republican and Democratic Party coffers for years. Both the Repukelicans and The Democrites are guilty of being in the front pockets of the Insurance Companies AND the Pharmaceutical Companies. I'm certain Barack knows it but can he rise to level of Franklin D Roosevelt and take a hard stand against this political and economic chicanery being foisted upon the American People. I don't think so. The so called "Liberal Media" is portraying Obama as fading fast in popularity. The reason for that is that he is being deluged by commercial interests opposed to the welfare of the American People. Time to wake up America and know who is manipulating you to their profit and your downfall!

Portent Of Bad Things To Come?

Oh, the rain...how long can this rain go on...

You figure out what song that's from. I heard it once on a Vince Skelsa song called Idiots Delight. BTW, I met Skelsa once at J&R Music World. No wonder he called his show Idiots Delight. He IS an idiot. A short balding guy whom I once worshipped every Sunday morning on K-Rock who was rude and obnoxious. He either had no idea how to deal with fans or didn't care what the listening public thought of him. I was both dissapointed with his appearance and his attitude. He taught me a lot of new music over the radio but the Personality didn't come through face to face.

Yes, that was a ramble and a reminiscence. Has anyone else ever considered just how often we get rain in NYC lately. Not a week goes by when we deluged. One thing to say for it, the cloud cover is sometimes spectacular. This thing was hanging over me....oh ..oh.. now I've got Peter Gabriel's "Red Rain" on the mind.


Red Rain...is coming down...Red rain.


These days I feel the same way I did in the eighties when the yuppie phenomenon first surfaced. I'm an outsider looking in. It seems like I took the wrong turn somewhere...everywhere. There are those who if you express your expectations of a salary, a life only want to say. "Don't you think that's too big a leap for you?". It wasn't too big a leap for them and sometimes they jumped right over me to get where they were going.

The storm may be coming for us all.
I need a little...."shelter from the storm". Perhaps I've found it in a new found friend. But I don't want to "rock the boat" too much yet.

Why is it?

Why is it that all the stupid people somehow get rewarded?
Why is it that incompetance prevails?
Why is it that I'm Blogging?
Why is it that I'm not in jail?


Why is it?