Obsession

Today, I have reached a point in my life where I have accepted something in general.

I have no life.

My latest minor meltdown over the Yankees and some discussion and research has led me to that conclusion.

My life is made up of sleep, meals, work, and sports (my social vice)

The problem is that sports is so volatile and so random that it creates a bipolarity in me, I think. I tend to obsess over things in general. Throw that in and you get me. A person who basks in glory only to have it not last long enough and one who wallows in defeat which feels like a gut punch to your emotions.

So the question becomes: Why can't I get a life so I can get out of this?

This may be absolutely wrong, but right now it is what I believe. It is two things, one simple and one not.

The simple thing is simply getting up and going out and trying to make friends/ acquaintances is hard to do and there is failure in doing it.

The complicated reason  that my obsessiveness and my knowledge of it acts as a barrier. I am protecting people from my obsessiveness. If I had a girlfriend, I am convinced that she would be on my mind all the time and I would want to control her (not physically but mentally). Why do I think that? Because I've seen it in the other interests that I have had, whether television or sports itself.

 I also think I am a bit of an attention whore who want people to notice and respond to me. Which would add to that obsessiveness. Believe me, I know the helpfulness of solitude. Hell I'm writing this blog partially because I like to see responses to it. It gives me the feeling of being worth something.

So there it is. I think these are my vices. Obsessiveness, need for attention, lack of self confidence.

Even if nobody ends up reading this, it feels pretty good to get this out there, even if it is to try and get a reaction. which goes back to my need for attention.

What do you think? (haha)

Back after these messages.....

Commercials......

They are the reason television and radio are made. The engine that keeps the motor running.

Some of them are awesome and clever. Whichever firm writes the GEICO ads deserves to be in business a long time.

However some of them are annoying and dumb. Which, in it's own way, can also be effective.

On the radio, there is no more annoying noise than the Kars 4 Kids jingle. I wont post a link to it because I dont want to subject you to torture and I'm pretty sure that most of you know it by now. And that's the point really. It's so annoying that it sticks in your mind and you remember the service or product associated with it.

Which brings me to my most recent commercial from hell. I'm sure you've seen it. Here it is .

Yes the man who thinks that the voice command television is the greatest invention since sliced bread. There are several things wrong with this commercial.

1. This man is completely dumbfounded by technology when he lives in a house that is definitely post modern. This is more of a quirk than anything else but it's a note nonetheless.

2. According to the Greek restaurant info, this house is in around NYC. Where have you seen that type of solitude around NYC? I don't think so.

3. The man asks for the TV to dim the lights and is amazed when it does that. Hey dude, it will shock you to know that we have come up with a way to turn off lights by not saying a word. YOU JUST CLAP YOUR HANDS. IT'S CALLED THE CLAPPER. WE'VE HAD IT SINCE THE 80s!

4. The laughing. It's just funny. He is completely amazed and in awe. So amazed that I wouldn't be surprised if he ever leaves his house again and just tests this new technology for the next 50 years. 

Now the commercial is memorable, but its stupid as hell. And in the world of commercials, stupid as hell is almost considered an honor.

What do you think?

Ridiculous.

As I was driving home from work, I was thinking about many jumbled things at once, as seems to be usual and a thought suddenly popped into my head.

What is "ridiculous" nowadays?

In my lifetime, I have seen many things, both mundane and unusual and both good and bad. I have seen a black man elected President of the United States. I have seen a reality show host elected President of the United States. I have seen a captain land a plane perfectly on the waters of the Hudson River. I have seen two airplanes flown deliberately into the World Trade Center and people flee for their lives as they came down. I have seen the Chicago Cubs win a World Series for the first time in over a century. I have seen the Boston Red Sox win a World Series for the first time in 86 years.

The fact that I can say that Rita Moreno is a strong advocate for women's rights yet worked right alongside Bill Cosby and Morgan Freeman on "The Electric Company". I mention this specifically because the Freeman accusations came up today.

The fact that a man had so much money that he was able to do this.

I mean seriously, what is the meaning of the word ridiculous now? Can anybody be surprised in anything or be surprised? I believe that they can but a little part of their brain should be open to just about anything.

In my first blog post, I mentioned the loss of wonder in our society, per Fred Rogers. These events and occurrences show that we shouldn't lose any sense of wonder and amazement, whether the event be good or bad.

Heck a 16th seed beat a 1 seed this year in the NCAA tournament.......by 20.

Ridiculous. Exactly.

Vision Impaired

Now I am not the main demographic of the LOGO channel......

Seriously, I'm not.

Although I am sure they have some quality programming on.

But this afternoon, I might tune into that channel to see a very strange event that has been going on for years and that most Americans probably would go HUH? to its mention. That event is the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

What the heck is it? Well, imagine if each state had to send one singer with one song to a competition, then is sung live across the country and people from the states send in votes on the other states songs and that's how the winner is determined. So, for example, the song from New Jersey would be judged by the viewers from the 49 other states, which is a logical idea.

So in Europe, they have done this contest every year since 1956 and it has become an event of showing off national pride and occasionally weird costumes:

This is from the Belarus entry in 2010

This is from the Estonian delegation in 2018. Cool but still weird

And this is the present Israeli contestant...........yeah

Anyway, the countries seem to take this very seriously. And so do the contestants. The reigning Eurovision is Portugal who won it with this song:

                             

The country that has won the most is Ireland, who have won 7 of these contests, including a run in the mid 90s of winning 4 out of 5 from 1992-1996. Kind of like the Yankees most recent dynasty.

Now while people may never have heard of the song contest, I will bet you that they have heard of two of its most famous winners. In 1974, a Swedish group dominated the contest with a song that led them to greatness and eventually led them to worldwide domination. I speak of course of ABBA.

                                

Then in 1988, a young singer representing Switzerland took home the title. However, while she was representing Switzerland, she was from Canada, and in a few years, would captivate the world. Her name is Celine Dion.

I don't know if America could ever do this in amongst themselves, especially given that song contests are amongst the popular programs on television already, but it would be interesting to see Wyoming and Florida fight to the death, or rather sing to the death.

What do you think?

Men of Iron

Iron Chef is the greatest cooking show ever created.

There I said it. And I mean it. It is the greatest cooking show ever created. And one of the most influential.

These days, the Food Network's schedule is made up of competition shows like Next Food Network Star and Chopped etc. That all began when Food Network imported Iron Chef to America in 1998. It grew a cult following and showed a new way on how to present food related topics to the masses.

And thinking about it, only the Japanese, in their over the top, medieval, dramatic ways could pull off this show. The American version is watered down and sleek. The Japanese version is meaty and theatrical. That is where the show really separates itself. There are storylines interwoven into these competitions. The chefs like to show off what they can do. And the music sets the tone perfectly (the soundtrack of Backdraft, which I have on my playlist, is masterful)

When this show was on the Food Network in the late 90s-early 2000s, I was obsessed with it. It was on Friday nights at 10:00 PM so I got to watch it. My family will attest to the fact that I made little drawings of the Iron Chefs and cut them out to male paper figurines. I was that into it. And frankly still am.

Random Thoughts #2

Haven't been on here a while but feel the need to today.

1. Have you ever been driving behind somebody and they are going slower than other cars and you pass them and you look to see who the person is that was going slower? And it turns out, 90% of the time to be an older person? That happened to me today. It happens on occasion but today it just struck me as funny.

2. This seems to be "The Year of Mister Rogers" as I alluded to a couple of posts ago. Well I just watched something very interesting. It was a short film called Mr. Rogers: A War Hero. It spins a tale of the often mentioned urban legend that Fred Rogers was in Vietnam as a stealth sniper who got tattoos (hence the sweaters). It's completely false, but this film acts as if it is true. It was really not bad for a low budget short film and I teared up a bit at the end. However, the Fred Rogers Company put out a copyright claim on it, so it will probably be taken down quickly. The people behind the film are fighting the claim. I think that because they used his intro song towards the end of the film, so that will be the legal way out for TFRC, but I hope they don't see it as a threat. It's a story and it is pretty well told.

3. Baseball season is back and the Yankees have opened up mediocre after one week. Fans and media are accordingly going nuts. I don't think I can watch every single game, but my will is weak enough that I will probably pay attention and get emotional. That's a secret reason why I believe baseball is struggling in this modern era. It's too long of a season and you just can't put emphasis on every single game. You would die or feel like it. I'm fighting through that notion. But in this era, we are an instant gratification people so, however small the sample size is, we live in that moment. We can't fast forward through it. So while it may be 1 out of 162, it feels bigger being in the moment. And that, at least to me, is not healthy. And I don't really know how to combat it. To prevent myself from getting too emotional at one unit. Or to let the outside noise affect me. You can try and block it out but it's tough now with information in the palm of your hands. If someone can tell me how to do it, please let me know.

4. While I am a fan of television news and try to keep myself updated. I don't watch much serialized television. The reason for this is because I can be obsessive about it. The prime example of this, and I mentioned it before on my Facebook, was the NBC series Chuck. I watched it religiously when I was in college and it really permeated my brain. The biggest facet of this was the "will they won't they" relationship between Chuck (Zachary Levi, who is going to be Shazam) and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski, who is currently Serena Waterford in The Handmaid's Tale). This was the first fictional couple I "shipped" as the young folk say. And it got to me emotionally seeing them. And I discovered the concept of fan fiction through them. And it really scares me how attached I got. Not in a psychotic sense, but how my brain focused on them and would go back to them. And it's something that I don't really want to go through again. So I don't really try to get attached to TV shows. Instead I'm attached to sports teams. HAHAHAHAHA.

5. I have heard from others that they have tried to comment on my blog and weren't successful. If you really have something important to say to me about the blog piece, please Tweet me @UnitedWhofans, Facebook me "Gregory Eckes" or E-mail me at eckesg2@gmail.com To tell you the truth, I would really like to know what you guys think because it might spur more thoughts in me to write. So I will presume that people will take this as a threat and will not respond. Again, haha.

Thanks guys.

On The Precipice

Here I am.

I am on the precipice of turning 30.

Me. 30.

Doesn't really feel like it, yet here it is.

30. The big 3-0.

And God, it's depressing in a way. Especially with the atmosphere around now.

And yet even though I am 30, I still want to be a child. That is why I try to stay connected with Fred Rogers, Thomas the Tank Engine and others. Because I do not want to lose that child in me.

The Doctor put it best, "You can't be grown up without being childish sometimes".

Yet as I sit here, 2 hours from turning 30, I can't help but worry if it was and is all in vain.

I am an adult, almost thirty. Please let me keep my spirit of fun. Because, quite frankly, that's kind of what keeps me going.

Thank you and off we go.