Monday, January 28, 2008

Expensive piece of Tail...

From the BBC...


US network faces $1m nudity fine

NYPD Blue ran
on ABC until 2005US
television network ABC may have to pay a fine of $1.4m
(£707,000) for airing an
episode of NYPD Blue which depicted female nudity.
The Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) said the 2003 show had
"multiple, close-up
views" of a woman's buttocks before the US watershed.

The FCC deems "sexual or excretory activities" shown in an "offensive"
way
before 2200 as indecent.

ABC has rejected the claims, saying the
buttocks are not a sexual organ.
The proposed penalty has been imposed on
all 52 of ABC's stations who
broadcast the episode.
The scene in the
police drama, which ran from
1993-2005, shows a boy surprising a naked woman
as she prepared to take a
shower.

The FCC said it received several
complaints about the sequence, which
also showed one of the woman's breasts.

...An ABC spokeswoman said that
the programme was broadcast with
parental warnings and that "the realistic
nature of NYPD Blue's storylines
was well-known to the viewing public".
The
broadcaster has said it will
appeal against the decision, which is the second
largest indecency fine
imposed on a broadcaster.

Seriously folks..get over it...MTV shows more in one video than NYPD Blue
EVER had... Oh right...the land of puritans!

Friday, January 25, 2008

Learning my lesson


After the embarassment of having Hale point out that Accuradio incorrectly listed Jon Bon Jovi as the composer of "I Don't Like Mondays" by performing the simple act of using Google and clicking on the Wikipedia site....


Today's 100 Uutislehti (Finnish free newspaper) announced that this guy turned 80 today.. I have done my due diligence before creating this post.
Per Wikipedia:
"Mickey and Minnie debuted in the cartoon short Plane Crazy, first released on May 15, 1928."
However:
"The Walt Disney Company celebrates his birth as November 18, 1928"


Now I feel as though I may have redeemed myself in Hale's eyes..she the Icey Bitch (and I say that with love)....

Hurl

Warning: The author cannot with complete certainty state that rambling and a possibly large amount of stream of consciousness writing style will not ensue.


Right..I have not blogged in a while because I just didn't have it in me. I don't need Prozac, but the state of affairs in the world these days have given me such bout of melancholy. So this one might be a bit long. Fasten your seatbelts and please keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times until the ride comes to a complete stop.

Yesterday's blog got my brain neuron(s) firing again a bit. Hopefully, this will lead to more posting from me - because I know you all miss my razor sharp whit and incredible insight into things geo-political , environmental, sociological, as well as my take on the finer points of the over-the-top fashion, big hair styles and the commercialization of music and film era which was the 80's. Admit it. You love me. Who wouldn't? After all..you are only human :)
Okay short(not really) recap of our trip to Beantown:

The first 5 days, and New Year's Eve were M-A-G-I-C!!!! - It was so great to see realtives and dear friends. I happily ate my Boston chinese food favorites on our first eveing. Can you say peking ravioli?? I refuse to call them potstickers! mmmmm yum! Consumed a decent pizza for the first time in 2 years, and had a hella good bottle of wine in the North End that I N-E-V-E-R would have been able to afford here.

However, after the first 5 days, I wanted to get on the first plane back to Helsinki. Seriously, I had the WORST case of reverse culture shock. I was all fine for the beginning, but then I started to become overwhelmed with the noise and the consumer-materialistic-biggerbetterfasternownownow mentality. I think I have become too used to Finnish silence. I enjoy silence these days. I know that sounds odd to those of you who know me personally (being the frickin loud talkaholic that I am)..but doesn't ANYONE shut up there? I also realized how much I have grown (some people would say changed or become euro-trash..but I digress) when I finally noticed exactly how LOUD my family is. My ears hurt. My brain felt assaulted.

And how many choices of cereal does one really need? I mean an entire isle of sugar ladened, processed, not-really-food-but-we-market-it-as-that types of "breakfast cereal"?Granted there were a few "healthy" options..like Raisin Bran which one would think because of the fact that it is Bran would be healthy..untill you look on the side panel and notice how much sugar they have coated the raisins in. Um..rasins are dried grapes...grapes=sweet, natural sugar...HELLO!!! And in the Breakfast isle...PopTarts. Now I can not diss PopTarts as a yummy sugary snack. It is just that. A sugary snack that with NO nutritional value whatsoever..but to put it in the BREAKFAST isle just leaves me baffled. Don't get me started on the portion size for 1 individual at restaurants being big enough for a family of 4 (what a waste of food) along with the 353542 options for side dishes, salad dressing and versions of starch, or the lack of environmentally friendly packages or items..the 345436626265425962 SUV's on the road....

We did do the obiligatory shopping till we dropped (weak dollar)...but after that I was done with it. I love my family and miss them terribly, but I think I can finally say with absolute certainty that I no longer really miss the US.

There are tons of great and wonderful things about the US and I am one of the first people to get my ire up when generalized statements are made about Americans (I find it rude when anyone generalizes ANY culture), but I am much happier here in the land of high taxes, low salaries and unpredictable weather. I am evolving...

- end rant -

And now onto politics... Come on..you knew it was coming!

"WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush and his top officials ran roughshod over the truth in the run-up to the Iraq war lying a total of 935 times, a study released Wednesday found. Bush and his administration "waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq," said the damning report entitled "False Pretenses." According to the Center for Public Integrity, eight administration officials "made at least 935 false statements" about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction, or links to Al-Qaeda, on 532 separate occasions......

.....The US president was found to have made the most false statements referring a total of 260 times to Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction and Al-Qaeda's alleged links to the Baghdad regime.

But then-secretary of state Powell only just lagged behind with 254 false communications, said the study by the center's founder Charles Lewis and researchers....."

hmmmm...am I surprised? 260 times and he hasn't been impeached?!?!? Hmmm...blow job=impeachment proceedings; Lying to get into a war which has caused thousands of deaths=Nah not so much.. I just don't understand how this guy can be such a teflon moron.

....I will try to post something more amusing later...i just needed to expunge that from my system...

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Dude..

It is one of those days where random thoughts and memories are assaulting my brain. I have my headphones in and am listening to a Flock of 80's music on the web. Don't worry if you don't know what I am talking about (accuradio.com), but I am sure you get the 80's part. So there I was grumpy about having to be in the office at 07:15 for a 07:30 for a conference call which I didn't schedule and some moron from the middle of nowhere thought it would be a good idea to have a con call with the US (east coast), London, Helsinki and Munich at 07:30 am GMT +2…yes folks that means 5:30 am for London, 6:30 am for Munic and 12:30am for NY…and to top it off the KEY person who was supposed to be on the call blew us all off...WTF? Sooo..I popped my headphones in and proceeded to launch the aforementioned net radio program so I could have some happy music from my teenage years blaring in my head while I worked on the 36456 things I had to get done this morning…
It must have been karma..what is the first song I hear? None other than the song which forever will be ingrained in my consciousness as a reminder of that horrible time I had growing my hair back out after a rather unfortunate incident involving a recent beauty school graduate and a pair of sheers.. I had an old photo of myself after a bad haircut and made the mistake(?) of showing it to my best friend in the universe Beth. What does this jewel of humanity and scion of compassion say to me upon viewing the commemorative kodachrome?..Sing it with me now…
.."You know, I wish that I had Jessie's girl,
I wish that I had Jessie's girl
I want Jessie's girl,
where can I find a woman like that, like
Jessie's girl,
I wish that I had Jessie's girl,
I want,
I want Jessie's girl..:"
I have told this story before, but for some reason today it just made me laugh so hard I almost peed my pants! Here I am alone in my office (because no RESPECTABLE Finn in my company would be here at 7:30 in the morning unless they are crazy)..laughing and singing my tail off…what comes up next in the musical offerings this morning??

Boomtown Rats - "I Don't Like Mondays" -it isn't Monday..but we all get the point..oh and did you know that song was written by Jon Bon Jovi of all people?!?!) edit note: because of Hale's comment..damn Accuradio needs wikipedia..listing Jon Bon Jovi as the frickin composer..ugh!

John Mellencamp - "Rain on the Scarecrow Blood On the Plow" - okay..can that guy change his names MORE times in one life..he is like the orginal PrinceSymbolbacktobeingPrice kinda guy

Hall and Oats - "I Can't Go For That" - nice mullets boys--nuff said

Icicle Works - "Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream)" - ahhhh liverpudlians

Steve Perry - "Oh Sherri" - the original powerballad singer!..do NOT diss the Perry

VanHalen - "Jump" - aside from being a GREAT song and an anthem of my formative years, there is one thing that disturbs me about this song…remember the video? NO ONE should have to be subjected to seeing Dave in spandex…UGH! Dude..my eyes are bleeding

John Cougar Mellencamp - "Cherry Bomb" - okay..dude quit changing your NAME!!!!

Dude..where is my Champion sweatshirt, pegged jeans, bad cologne and turned up collar of my Izod??!?!?!

All in all it was a decent morning aside from the con-call from hell….