Cool! and Cheap! I’m a Fan!

Jen, who used to comment here and sends me stuff, some of which ends up on here, sent me an email the other day that caught my eye. Someone has set up the coolest website. It’s called Blind Bargains.com!

Remember back a little while ago, when I raged venomously about vendors of access technology trying to overcharge? Well, things have come around! Someone has put together a site where they compile the best deals on anything blindness-related from vendors, auctions, anywhere they can find stuff that we blinks might use. Of course, when you go look at a product, you have to make sure that the seller does ship to wherever you’re from, but the idea is still rockin’ cool! They even have a section where you can ask a guy they call Bargain Bob to look for the best deal on a given product. Damn I wish this had been here a long time ago! Happy shopping!

I think We’ve Found Our Losers!

I think we found the people who just might need the Christmas dinner guests DVD. They’re also likely soon to be the proud owners of a USB Secret Base Emergency Button! Let me let the article explain what this thing does, because frankly, I couldn’t make it sound any more geeky.

Plug it in, press the top to open the shutter and reveal the red emergency key, hit that and… your PC shuts down. Yes, but it’s the way it shuts down that matters.

Up pops an incoming message from your comrades informing you your hidden facility has been targetted by a “suicide bomber” and the only thing to do is to go into lock-down mode. Across your screen the blast-proof steel doors slam, guarding your base from the terrorist’s self-immolation, all presented in a lively on-screen animation.

And then your PC shuts down.

All of this geekery can be yours for only $35 US, which, if you’re geeking out to this level, is probably a pittance since you’re probably a computer scientist or an engineer somewhere. At least I hope you are. Hopefully you’re not still living in your parents’ basement at the age of 41, currently a virgin, and expecting to remain so for…approximately…the rest of your natural life. If I’m lucky, 3 people will get that and laugh histerically.

Another Quick Plug

And this time it isn’t even for something I’m a part of.

This is True author and publisher Randy Cassingham, whose writing I’m a big fan of, has started his own blog, and he’s kicking it off with something that I think is pretty interesting.

Starting from 1994 when True was launched, he’s posting, in chronological order, historical information about how he grew the business from a crazy idea he had one night into what it is today, one of, if not the longest running moneymaking email publications in the entire world. Along with that, he’s also throwing in what he feels are some of the most important things he’s written in True, whether they’re important from a history standpoint or a contextual one.

Once all of this is done he’s not sure what he’s going to do with the thing, but I’m sure he’ll come up with something good, he always does. For now though, it’s a great read for anybody who has ever thought about doing their own thing, or even anybody who’s ever been curious about how somebody can make a small business work.

Good For Him

I just read a news report that said that since making his return to booking TNA, Vince Russo has been writing twice as much material as the previous creative team. That’s all fine and dandy, but it’s too bad that A not much of it has been very good and B nobody bothered to let him know that he might want to consider slowing down and not using it all at once. I watch every episode of Impact and every pay-per-view, and when I’m getting lost trying to figure out what the fuck is supposed to be happening, there’s a problem.

The most positive thing I can say about the last few weeks of TNA is that at least it’s not ECW. This is also a problem. TNA is supposed to be our alternative to what WWE is doing, presenting logical storylines and good wrestling to counteract whatever the hell some of the stuff coming out of the E is these days, and for a good long time, they were. Sure they made a few mistakes along the way, who doesn’t? But since the creative change, I feel like I’m watching a slightly toned down version of WCW from 1999-2000, and anybody who knows anything about wrestling is well aware of how that turned out. Anybody who knows anything about wrestling is also well aware of who is responsible for most of the utter shittiness that that period is famous for, so why they would let him try to kill TNA for the second or third time now I have no idea.

In case anybody has forgotten this, and it appears that many in both major companies have, the idea behind promoting a successful wrestling show is to hook people and make them want to watch the product you’re presenting, not baffle them with stupid bullshit that hardcore fans either can’t or don’t want to follow and that casual fans have no hope of understanding. And on the off chance that there is any confusion here, a reverse battle royal followed immediately by a regular battle royal to determine tournament brackets which then play out in a series of matches which culminate in a 3-way to see who gets to face a guy for a title shot who just lost to somebody who wasn’t the champion in a match completely unrelated to the tournament in any way doesn’t belong in the good idea folder. Neither does a 4 things on a pole match to determine which of those 4 things 2 people are allowed to use to help win a cage match on a different show. And while I’m dishing out free advice, a ladder match that isn’t actually a match but rather a “ladder challenge” between 2 people to see who gets posession of a title that neither man actually has the right to possess because neither one of them is the champion, that’s also stupid.

You know, the more I sit here and think about it, the better some of that ECW stuff is getting. Actually no, it still pretty much sucks. But at least Raw is good every…now and then I guess. But thankfully there’s always good old Smackdown to come through with a good weekly effort…ahh forget it, long live UFC!

Sorry

I need to quickly apologize to everybody over at Salty Ham, not just because I haven’t been able to do a whole lot over there for the last couple of weeks because of a family situation, but also because I haven’t been able to contribute to or plug the hell out of their Top 100 Wrestlers of All Time countdown for the same reason. So if you’ve been wondering who the last 20 people covered were, you can go here and here to find out. Ok Salty, consider yourselves plugged. For some reason that sounds kinda wrong, but oh well.

And on a small side note, thanks to everybody who knows what’s been going on for their emails and concern. It’s all very much appreciated.

>Go Leafs Go!

>I can’t believe they lost another one. That’s 6 in a row now. I’m starting to think that these guys could find a way to blow a third period lead during a warm-up skate. Ridiculous, that’s all I can say.

Speaking of the Leafs, I went down to Toronto to watch them play Atlanta on Tuesday night. Believe it or not, this was actually my first time in the ACC. I sure am one pathetic Leaf fan. It was a great time other than that whole squandering a 2-0 lead by giving up 5 unanswered goals in the third thing, and I even came away from the experience able to give anybody else who has never been to a game some very important advice.

If you plan on eating or drinking anywhere in or around the Air Canada Centre, you might want to consider a bank loan.

Let’s break this down one more time, because I like making myself angry.

  • 1 third level obstructed view ticket where the view wasn’t really all that obstructed, $30.

  • 2 bottles [*not* pints] of beer at the Jack Astors near the arena, $6 each. You might as well double that because I bought a couple of rounds for the guy I went with since he paid for some food on the way down.

    • As you can see, we’re already running into a problem here.

  • 2 medium [*not* large] beers from whatever the name of that place on our level of the building was…I want to say the Icebox, damn near $20! I shit you not! And because I am in fact a fucking idiot, you can go ahead and tack another 40 to 60 dollars on to that figure right there.

  • 1 burger and fries, 1 burger with no fries and a pitcher of beer at Casey’s after the game, $37 and change plus tip. I’m sure it would have cost about that much at McDonald’s and there would have been no beer, but still…

Now that I sit here and look at these numbers again, it dawns on me that I probably should have asked at least one of those bartenders to kiss me. I’m not sure about any of you folks, but me, I’ve always liked a little bit of intimacy while I’m getting fucked.

I know the cost of having fun can be high sometimes and I definitely did have a lot of it, but Tuesday was one of those nights that reminded me why there are times when I voluntarily don’t get out much. I also know that there will more than likely be a few people who tell me that I need to live a little, and to them I say this. I live all the time, and I’d prefer to not have to do most of my living on the street because I can’t make rent. Call me crazy, but for some reason I’d rather be boring and warm than exciting and homeless.

Woe Nellie! Part Two.

I hate to go on and on about this, but I saw one more thing that pissed me off.

I went and helped out at the vigil I mentioned in Monday’s post, and for the most part it was ok. Then, they played a song, and for the most part, it was a good song…until we got to the chorus.

It could have been me,
just as easily.
It could have been my mother or my sister,
left there to bleed.
It could have been my father, or my brother done the deed.
Oh no, don’t let me lose this memory.”

Hell, even the chorus was good for the most part. But once again, it makes me sad hearing us claim that any man is poised to make an incredible hulk-like transformation into a woman-hating monster.

I noticed there was only one man at the vigil, the sound guy. Poor sound guy.

Woe, Nellie!

Why is it that I always get involved in things, and then see the full extent of what I’m involved in and go, ug! Take this little gem for example. I’ve mentioned the organization that runs the women’s shelter that I do some work for. So anyway, I decided to help out at this little candle-light vigil that they have every year in memory of the Montreal massacre. I figure, no harm in that, right?

Then, I get an agenda, which includes a poem that is going to be read out at this event, and I cringe. I think poetry is great, but this poem is just wrong. Well, tell me what you think of this little masterpiece.

It was a cold December afternoon and the line stretched round the block
And some of them were weeping and some were still in shock
Seven thousand came that day to pay their last respects
To 14 women slaughtered for no reason but their sex.

And the cameras and the mikes were there to record the grief and fear
Of the ordinary people who worked and studied here.
And a woman in her fifties in a gentle quiet tone
Summed up her sister’s outrage at the murder of their own

She said “I wonder why, as I try to make sense of this
Why is it always men who resort to the gun, the sword and the fist?
Why does gunman sound so familiar while gunwoman doesn’t quite ring true?
What is it about men that makes them do the things they do?

And the man behind her in the line, he started getting steamed
He said, “it wasn’t because he was a man, this guy was crazy, mad, obscene!”
“Yes he was crazy” the woman replied, but women go crazy too,
And I’ve never heard of a woman shooting 14 men have you?

And all the other times came flooding back to me again
A hundred news reports of men killing family, strangers, friends
And yes, I can remember one or two where a woman’s hand held the gun
But exceptions only prove the rule, and the questions still remain

And I know there are men of conscience who aren’t like that at all,
Who would never raise a hand in anger and who reject the macho role.
And if you were to ask them about the violence that men do
I know they’d say they hate male violence too.

And don’t you wonder why, as you try to make sense of this.
Why is it always men who resort to the gun, the sword and the fist?
Why does gunman sound so familiar while gunwoman doesn’t ring quite true?
What is it about men that makes them do the things they do?

Ug! And I have to stand there listening to this. First off, I can’t really say this poem is, well, the greatest sample of poetry I’ve ever read. I know, somebody probably wrote this as an expression of grief and I probably shouldn’t criticize it. I respect the fact that they had to write it, if that’s why they wrote it, I’m just not a fan of this one. But more importantly, how does this further our cause at all? How can feminists sit there and demand that we not be stereotyped if we’re going to openly stereotype men and, for the most part, accuse them all of being killing monsters? Sure there’s like 2 lines in there that say there are a few exceptions, but for the most part, we’re pointing our fingers and saying, “all you men are pigs!” And then we wonder why men don’t come out and support our events. Gee, I wonder. Maybe we should reread that poem again. The answer might come to us.