Today's Question

I feel as though I should say this "next question comes from longtime listener, first time caller," but it doesn't quite fit, though it is loosely applicable (longtime answerer, first time asker seems closer to the truth).  Anyhow, Sister Lisa posed a question for the blog yesterday, and I like it, so I'll pose it to all of you.  Moreover, the question is quite appropriate for this forum as it pertains, a great deal, to this forum.  It is worth note, that my facebook 'friend' list has people in it: A) that I have never physically met, an interesting notion now but certainly moreso 5 years ago; B) that I have not seen or seen very rarely in the past, oh, say 14 to 17 years, wow; and C) people that I see all of the time.  The point, and the question, is this..."how do you define friendship? And how has your notion of friendship changed with [the advent of certain] technolog[ies]?"  What I think Lisa is very directly hinting at, is whether it has become easier to make connections and communicate with people, whether we consider those connections to be friends or colleagues, and whether this has diluted our notion of what constitutes a friend (or 'real' friend, whatever that 'means').  I don't know many people that would take a bullet for me in my 'friend's' list, and that is okay, there ain't anyone that I work with that would, but what does this all mean with respect to friendship.

Today's Question

Everyone is good at something. Unfortunately, in order to pay for junk that we don't need, with money that we don't have, to impress people who don't really care and whom we don't really care for, our jobs and livings are not typically that 'Some Thing' that we are truly and passionately good at.   That applies to most of us, not all.  God knows there are those lucky few that have the right idea at the right time, or those who are self employed, or those who spend so very little that they can subsist on bottle returns and hustling.  Anyhow, we all have something that we are good at.  I can sit down and compose a song very quickly.  I can also take machines apart, fix them, and put them back together, for the most part.  I am also very good at emptying wine bottles and make beer disappear.  What are you really good at?

Today's Question

Have you stinkers signed onto the blog yet?  I don't believe that you all have.  I do love your zealousness for the fachybookis, don’t get me wrong.  Ah well hell, that's alright.  I just appreciate and enjoy your participation.  Some of you are vigorous all of the time and some of you are just floaters and free-lancers and part-time contributors, but it is all good.  I hope that you are having fun, because I sure as heck am.  I will often read a post and then have to wipe the tears of laughter off of my keyboard.  Just silly time awesome show!
Anyhow, I have spoken with a ton of you, here and there, and it seems to me that many of you are viewing and then posting but then losing your work because you don't have an account.  Well, I've posted on how you can remedy that issue by creating an account and it seems to have gotten to some of you and I suspect that we will see more from you all. 

I've also spoken with some others who really like reading posts but don't participate because of several reasons.  Let me address those concerns, in turn. 

First, if you are shy about what you post because of modern privacy concerns with technology, create a dummy account and post from there. 

Secondly, if you are concerned that your comments 'seem stupid,' well then just stop that negative thinking right now ‘debbie downer.’  Nobody is going to say anything mean or nasty to you and if they do, we will remove that post and release the goon squad we have retained to open a can of Organically grown, low-sodium whoop ass on those meanies (the goon squad is technically just me, but I have been lifting heavy weights and babies and riding my bicycle).  Now, for just a quick word the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and freedom of speech…you certainly have the right to say whatever you feel, and we encourage that.  We like deep and meaningful discourse because it helps us to grow, and learn, and become more engaged in life.  That is how you find out that even if you have bigots in your family and preconceived notions about the world that gays don't want to eat your children, and that all white people aren't rich and snooty, and that Mexicans don't want to steal your jobs, and that Russians don't want to take over the world, and that the Chinese and Saudis aren't drinking up gasoline just so we have to pay $15.00 a gallon, and that, well, you get the point.  Talking to one another, and particularly positing and discussing viewpoints different than our friends and colleagues from an intellectual, rational, and mature state of mind, demonstrates Democracy in action and a way to learn (not all knowledge is in a book). 

So, and I think that we can all agree that a jerk is a jerk is a jerk, there are no stupid viewpoints and as such any infantile challenges to a comment and hurtful statements will not be tolerated.  We haven't seen any such things nor do I expect to, but you should feel free to post.  So...Do! 

Finally, if you just don't want to write a massive, drawn-out, tome, don’t, just post a pithy answer. “No,” for example, is a perfectly acceptable answer to the question, “Would you like to spend a weekend at the nude beach with Michelle Bachman, Newt Gingrich, and Harry Reid?”
Now to the question of the day, which by this point has become all but tertiary and will, true to my form, be overly long and disjointed but eventually make sense. Because I began a twitter account to blast you all with quick posts about “Today’s Question,” and because they, the machines at Twitter, thought I might (correctly, I’ll have you know) like to follow Wayne Coyne’s Twitter feed, and because the Flaming Lips are awe-inspiring, and because they are so Awesome that I have seen them thrice, and because concerts rule the physical realm, “What is the bestest, most bad-ass concert that you have ever attended and why was it soooooooo bad-ass?”  [ed. Note Triple ties are perfectly acceptable]

Today's Question

Well, by weekend's end, I had met my goal of having Filipino and Ethiopian food.  So, go me.  Good job.  In addition to a lovely weekend of food, music, family, etcetera, I managed to squeeze in some cinema.  I watched "Persepolis," an animated film based on a graphic novel about the Iranian Revolution from the perspective of young Marjane and how her attitudes change as she ages.  I also had the pleasure of viewing "Harry Brown," starring Michael Caine.  Caine gets all vigilante on some English hood-rat, jerk-bum-assholes and starts murdering faces after he's taken about all he can stand.  This morning during my workout, I happened to begin another Michael Caine film, called "Play Dirty."  I haven't finished it yet, but suffice it to say, Caine has been kicking asses for a very long time and in this particular film, those asses he is kicking belong to Nazis, Axis Italians, and their North African allies.  It is a desert film and in both of these Caine films, his characters are seen playing Chess.  I wonder with what frequency Michael Caine characters enjoy a game of Chess? Curious.  Nevertheless, since I'm into the films lately and was thinking about some of my favorite English actors (we'll save the actresses for another day), which of the following is your favorite contemporary English Actor, and why?  Gary Oldman, Daniel Day Lewis, Bill Nighy, Michael Gambon, Raphe Fiennes, Brenden Gleeson, or Christian Bale, or perhaps you've another.

Today's Question

I have had all three of the following types of cuisine and will likely have all three again by week's end.  I adore all of them for different reasons.  However, if you have never had the following, which would you be most intrigued to try on your next culinary outing, Ethiopian, Filipino, or Japanese? 

Today's Question

Well friends, we've had some real doozies in the last month (if you are bizarrely fascinated with word origins, Etymology as it is known, take a look at this link for the possible origins of the word doozie or doozy, as something unique or 'heavy bro').  Anyway, I seem to get an overwhelming response, in bulk, not necessarily substance, from the less cataclysmic, soul crushing, more fun questions such as the one that I'll ask today.  I do love the controversial, technical, tear jerking, ire inspiring, and sometimes vitriolic, but today we shall just see what YOUR TOP THREE FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL TIME ARE (capital letters here denote me asking the question quickly for dramatic effect ; O )?

Today's Question

    We've heard a great deal lately about three active wars, the reduction of troops in Afghanistan, the War Powers Act as it pertains to Libya, the slipping and potential failure of the American economy (unlike the Goldman Sachs, we are NOT too big to fail),  and riots in foreign, developed nations that have rejected austerity measures in the face of disastrous overspending, Greece for example.

     It would appear that the World is on the brink of utter and total chaos, and yet, people everywhere, good people, are recycling, and fostering relationships, and taking responsibility for their actions, and creating art and positivity wherever possible, and even trying to die with dignity while the world is killing each other.

    "So, Pompa" you ask, "where the hell are you going with this, and why do you get all heavy on us, particularly after such a round of lightweight questions?"  Well, I read the beginning of a brief article this morning, about fathers, and a few anecdotes of the many ways in which fathers (biological and otherwise) and father figures, have taught us through education, ethics, responsibility, familial knowledge, hare learned guy stuff, and all other ways of how to be a strong, kind, caring, sensitive, and at times, a mean son of a bitch of a dad.  So, with all of the nonsense happening in the world in conjunction with reading this article and latching onto something the author John Corrigan said and thinking about what we could do 'at home' with the money we should be spending here instead of Kandahar, I started thinking about what I could do to make the World just a little bit better.

    What more could I do? I ride my bike, I use little fuel, I recycle and re-use almost everything that I can.  I cook for myself and my family, with my family, using whole ingredients.  You know, the kind of shit that won't give you cancer, or a third arm, or hyper thyroid.  We use reusable bags, like stinky hippies, excepct without the stink.  We don't use air conditioning.  I fix my own clothes, and can do a helluva an improved job now that my wife just bought me a sewing machine.  We try to shut off the lights when not in the room, with varying degrees of success (women can do many things but apparently have some strange disorder with respect to turning off light switches).  We don't run the water when we brush our teeth.  We even use cloth diapers for Christ's sake.  Have you ever sprayed baby shit off of cotton into a toilet?  Come on over, I'll show you how pleasant it is.  We don't want a pat on the back.  We don't do it because it is easy.  We do it because it is important to us that our kid be able to go outside and play without getting asthma, not have to live on a landfill, and not stare into an ocean of garbage on future beach vacations.  We do it so our kid can enjoy a spring and an autumn instead of what global warming appears to have recently given us which is two seasons, unbearably fucking hot, rainy, tornadoey death time and bone-chillingly fucking blizzard season where we have to have shovels and augers to get to a grocery store.  We are not judging anyone that doesn't, I'm sure you've perfectly good reasons.  We will however, help you get started if you'd like to do more (take a look here...http://www.reuseit.com/).  

    Nevertheless, I am forced to ask myself "what am I doing to help people, what am I really doing to impact a life for the better?"  It all comes back to me thinking about what we are going to do with all this money we throw at war when we are done fighting and pondering this article that I mentioned (http://theweek.com/article/index/216401/what-my-father-taught-me).  In the article, Corrigan quotes his father as stating, during one of his simple lessons, “You should help one person each day.”  What does he mean?  Teach someone something?  Maybe.  Seems a bit judgmental unless done with tact, a trait I've found most people lack, sometimes myself included.  Does he mean to hold a door open for a delivery person? Help a person with mobility issues accross the street?  Perhaps.  That is always a nice gesture.  I don't know what he means, but I need to start trying harder, whatever the hell it is.  I ask if someone 'would like' help, rather than 'needs help."  Many people don't need anything, or at least don't think that they do.  What I believe Corrigan means is simply to be a better person.  Pick up that stray piece of trash, help the lady with the bag, hold the door for the delivery person more, yes, this is what I believe he means. 

    But even more than that, I think that in my own way, Corrigan's father is telling me, "don't be a selfish asshole," and that pertains particularly to me.  I try not to be, but the god damned world gets me down.  It gets you down too.  It gets most people that are not self medicated to a catatonic state into a tizzy.  That is why we have car horns and cigarettes and whiskey.  Have you ever thought of that?  What the hell is happy hour?  If you're not on vacation, boozing for fun, happy hour is therapy for the working world.  It is a psycho-therapy bitch fest to complain about your two-faced boss, your jack-ass clients, the shit-for-brains at the D.M.V. that talks to you like you've never seen a vehicle, let alone operate one (author's note: I am not condoning the use of alcohol or drugs, but whatever you need to not burn down schools or beat women, maybe the Korengal Valley needs more booze).  What we do after we've had the shit day and drank the drink is what really matters, whether we get over it and seize our time and leave the troubles where they belong is what matters.  And just like us, the other person on the street, scowling and skulking and kicking dirt needs a smile sometimes.  Those people, just like you, want to get home to their kids and their spouses and their buddies and their girlfriends and their dogs, jesus christ do they ever want to get home to their dogs, because no matter how pissed off everyone is, the dog just wants to give you some snuggles and get a belly rub. 

    So, what the hell are we going to do?  If we bring these soldiers home from this Afghani war and we free up all of this money (we shall see) and start making jobs and building bridges and helping people, are we going to fight homelessness, are we going to feed all of these hungry kids on the streets and in the projects and in our little mountain towns?  Are we going to try to cure cancer?  Are we going to find alternative fuels that don't rape our planet?  Are we going to try to talk to our neighbors and build community gardens so that people aren't so fucking depressed that the only thing that our medical system can do to prevent these people from throwing themselves off of skyscrapers is to get big-pharma to dope em' to the gills on zoloft, paxil, xanax, and  oxy?  I don't know, but I am going to start by spending more time with my kid, spend more time talking to my friends, even if it is on facebook, start walking more and sitting less, start doing more art and exercise and living and stop making excuses for not doing whatever it is that I should be.  Maybe I'll volunteer at a soup kitchen.  Maybe I'll help start an organization that helps homeless people get new training and get a resume and get a job.  Maybe I'll start a venture capitalist firm that helps develop beneficial technologies to fight disease and hunger.  Maybe I'll start a website that matched philanthropist to micro loan applicants.  I don't know yet, but I'm going to do something.  What would you do to help people?  What does this mean to you?

Today's Question

Is cable television really worth the mint that we pay for it?  Do you watch enough television to justify the exorbitant costs that we pay toward that aspect of entertainment/edutainment?  Sell me on it.  Sell me on pitching it. Do work.

Today's Question

Friday = on the road, then family, then beer, then chicken.  Saturday = surprise party for in-laws, dinner at Michael Symon's "Roast"... awesome, Sunday = Asian Barbecue, beer, dj brother's birthday party at Detroit's New Center Pavilion, Monday = on the road and late, shitty (technical term) job, and here we are, back in the grind.  Since we had such a hiatus I'm going to provide a goofily recurring, multi-part question. First, bear versus shark? Second, would it matter the venue, i.e., water or forest?  If water, shallows or deep? Third, does it matter if the bear is polar or otherwise?  Four, if it seems ridiculous, wouldn't you want the bear in the water if there were a shark near you?

Today's Question

Since you've all demonstrated a clear propensity for the indulgence in sundry libations, what is your favorite past-time, surely to be done with a cocktail in hand, but seriously, what is your favorite past-time?

Today's Question

What is your drink of choice? What does it 'say' about you?

Today's Question

Love or money?  Which would you rather have?

Today's Question

If forced to eat 1 gallon of ice cream, would you choose Superman, Mint Chocolate Chip, or Mackinac Island Fudge?

Today's Question

Gasoline?  Keep drilling for it or accept the fact that peak oil, i.e., the pinnacle of the parabola of the existence and therefore consumption of all oil, is now in the past and we have to find an alternative or suffer complete and total, global economic chaos if we fail to do so, OR, any additional opinions?

Today's Question

Potter Stewart, late Supreme Court Justice, and native of Jackson, Michigan, in his opinion on the 1964 obscenity case Jacobellis v. Ohio, stated that he could not define hard-core pornography, but knew it when he saw it.  Many intangible things in life could be defined so nebulously without much contention, but what do these things really mean, and what comprises their essences?  With that in mind, what is music?  Is anything music?  Are jack hammers and heart beats percussion?  Are humming power lines in the key of D rhythmic?  Are a group of  bull finches whistling their mating call a polyphonic lead?  How do you define music?

Today's Question

What things would you imagine buying from a General Store in your neighborhood rather than going to a big box store?  My brother, for example, would like the option of purchasing a single bar of soap from a local shop, which apparently, in Detroit anyway, is nearly impossible.

Today's Question

Everyone has likely heard the question that I am about to ask you, in one incarnation or another.  I love to ask this question because it is very telling about the individual's personality.  There is no limit, meaning, you can list as much as  you could reasonably shove into your face and that your body could process, what would you care, it's your last.  Anyway, what would your last meal consist of?

Today's Question

Are you of the opinion that people are just animals with some fairly sophisticated tools or are we something more?

Today's Question

What is one of the funniest things you have ever seen or heard?  To pick the very funniest would be too difficult, thus, give us something that ranks in the top ten.

Today's Question

Is the situation comedy dead?  Meaning, does a television program exist between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. that actually makes people laugh because of good dialogue and funny jokes?

Today's Question

Bone-in Ribeye or Filet?  Kind of a phone in, but I just came home from the butcher.

Today's Question

Sorry for the massive delay in postings.  Practiced Friday, Played Saturday, Recuperated Sunday, Drove Monday, Worked Tuesday, now back to posting on Wednesday.  All this heat has me thinking about cool things.  I love it.  So, if you only had one choice this summer, as a method of cooling down, would you choose air-conditioning OR ICE COLD BEER?  Can you tell which I'd choose?