4 Reasons To Stop Eating Fast Food

Okay, this is an easy one.  Everyone knows that fast food is terrible for you.

Or do they?  I live next to an older couple that eats fast food at least three times a week.  McDonald’s being their favorite.  On a recent walk around the block I ran into them — McDonald’s bags in hand.  So I asked them why they ate it so much.  I figured they would utter some sort of standard variation of: it’s cheap, it’s quick, it’s hassle free.  But they said, “It’s a great way to get protein.”

Wait… What?!  That was a first for me.  I figured if you wanted to get a cheap source of protein that peanuts or a hard boiled egg would do the trick.  Certainly not large, frequent doses of fast food.  That’s not a valid reason to eat it.  Here are four more:

1.  It’s NEVER what it appears to be.

This is a photo of a Big Mac from an ad I grabbed off the internet…

What a beautiful burger!

And this is what it looks like in real life.  This might be the best actual photo I found…

Not looking so good there, burg.

Me telling you that the fast food “restaurants” are deceptive is not revelatory.  But take a look at the difference.  Pretty gross.

2.  It’s infused with… SUGAR!

In the 1970’s the FDA decided that, as far as Americans were concerned, we were far too obese.  The reason: we ate way too much fat.  Therefore, they cracked down on companies and food manufacturers per the fat content of the food they distributed and served.  Without fat, foods like beef, pork, even chicken, taste pretty flat.  So they needed a new additive that provided flavor to the food which no longer had a large amount of fat.  And that ingredient is sugar.  Let’s go ahead and use the Big Mac as an example.  It’s loaded with sugar:  9 grams worth.  That’s more than a grape popsicle, which is little more than sugar and water.  Sickeningly sweet.

3.  The cheese isn’t cheese.

That warm, gooey goodness that cloaks the burger like a yellow shroud is frequently not cheese at all.  It’s “food stuff”, or “cheese food”.  The definition of either being: a manufactured food item used in the lieu of real food.  Real, authentic cheese is comparatively expensive — but fast food is very cheap.  That’s a problem.  So years ago the fast food corporations realized that they can mimic the flavor and consistency of cheese (and increase the ‘viability’ of the products’ shelf life) if they replaced actual cheese with “cheese stuff” or “food stuff”.  Ask any sane doctor the world over and they’ll all agree, eating things other than real food (which is what fast food restaurant cheese often is…) is not good for you.  At all.

4.  Nothing’s fresh.

All of the ingredients that make up a fast food burger are either: processed, frozen, packaged or shipped.  Frequently, an item is all of the above.  There are zero fast food restaurants that employ the locally grown strategy.  It’s not cost effective.  So even the pickles, the lettuce, and the produce that you’re eating — that has been heavily handled, sprayed with preservatives, and then packaged and shipped to the local link in the chain and served to you daily.  We don’t even have to get into the bread, the sauce, or the meat itself to prove our point here.  Needless to say, frozen is not fresh, and neither are foods loaded with preservatives and additives to keep them edible.  Those burgers are about as fresh as Abe Lincoln’s corpse.

A source of protein?  Maybe… Albeit a very strange one.  So I say to my neighbors, come on by my house, I have bowls of peanuts and a dozen fresh hard boiled eggs ready to eat.  To me, that sounds infinitely better than preserved, sugar laden, mis-represented non-food.

But that’s just me…

 

4 Reasons to Wear Sunscreen (photo blog)

Just wear it.  It could save you from all of the following:

1.  Sunburn

2.  Sun rash

3.  Sunspots

4.  Skin cancer

 

 

 

4 Examples of “Fixing” — Commentary

If any of you out there read the news, you must have been exposed to several stories lately that involve questionable outcomes.  It seems that people inside of certain organizations, and/or intense media scrutiny, has opened our — the collective public’s –eyes to situations where “fixing” might have come into play.

Some would argue that fixing does not exist.  And I can understand that argument.  The need or want to always believe in the “experts” is an inherent human quality we call trust.  From one American to another, it’s as comfortable as apple pie.

But nowadays, I would caution we don’t let trust morph shapelessly into another embedded, American quality: naivete.

And with that I offer you 4 entries, that when looked at objectively, seem to be  clear cut examples of fixing.

1.  The 2000 Election

The results were in.

Never before in the short history of the United States has an election been decided by an appointed body.  Until 2000.  We’ve read all the books, seen all the movies, been privy and participated in all the discussions.  However you stack it up, the Supreme Court had a vested interest in who became president in the year 2000, because they had (and have) a vested interest in who appointed them to the Supreme Court.  They offered a one time ruling, that did not become law, and was not amendable.  That my friends, is called a fix.

2.  The Pacquiao/Bradley Decision

The winner: Timothy Bradley

Anyone who watched that fight saw it differently than the judges did.  It was even scored by analysts around the globe as a clear cut Pacquiao victory.  Yet when the decision was read, it was Bradley that got the decision.  Nothing against Bradley, he fought a courageous fight, but there was little doubt in my mind that he was not the victor.  Yet he garnered the split decision.  You couldn’t blame a person for letting their mind wander, “…an undefeated American fighter, on his native soil, less than 400 miles from where he grew up, who managed to stay on  his feet the entire fight…”.  Winner — Bradley.  I don’t think so.  Apparently, the stink raised was enough to launch a WBO investigation.  Don’t be surprised if an FBI probe follows.

3.  The Miss Universe Pageant

The picture of integrity.

Three different contestants claim that they saw a list that contained, in exact numerical order of finishing, the final 5 in the Miss Universe 2012 Pageant.  They independently corroborated the existence of the evidence and the order of final results.  Does anyone doubt that a beauty pageant could be fixed?  Now, the ramifications of this are certainly not as far reaching as example number one, or even the entry immediately preceding this one.  However, it’s an indication of how brazen and dismissable fixing has become in today’s society.  No one really doubts the pageant was fixed.  And no one really cares.  In regards to morality, that’s not a slippery slope — it’s a free fall.  Donald Trump, the man who happens to own and run the event, says it’s “ridiculous”.  Thank you, Mr Trump.  Why would we not trust thee?

4.  The NBA Draft Lottery

Acting purely for the betterment of… _________?

If good things come in threes, then commensurately bad things do as well.  And this may be the most obvious of choices for this list.  Think about this, in 1985, when the New York Knicks had merely a mediocre chance of winning the lottery, they managed to pull it out so they could select Patrick Ewing, widely regarded as the best center prospect to come out of college since Lew Alcindor.  In 2003, Cleveland, with slightly better odds, won the right to draft LeBron James — the greatest high school basketball star in the history of this country.  Who happened to live in Akron, 39 miles away from Cleveland.  And this year, a team that is owned by the league, the New Orleans Hornets… A team that had less than a 14% chance of winning the draft lottery… Did just that.  So, they are free to select Anthony Davis, another rare/can’t miss prospect that will put butts in seats and smiles on faces.  If defense is what wins championships, it’s also the first admission of guilt, and when NBA commissioner David Stern was recently questioned by Jin Rome about this strange circumstance, he retorted back, “Have you beaten you’re wife lately?”.  Not, “No comment”, or, “That’s ludicrous, next question”.  He replied, “Have you beaten your wife lately?”.  Classy, Mr Commissioner.  And in most any rationale person’s book — a blustery admission of guilt.

We’ve all heard the term, “Ignorance is bliss”.  Up until recently, I wasn’t so sure I agreed.  But as of today, I can’t help but think it’s true.  The aforementioned examples constituting only the tip of the iceberg in that respect.  Perhaps we should all take it a step further and stick our heads in the sound and just hope it all just goes away?

Soon enough… It will.

4 Reasons Prometheus Was Total Garbage

I went to see Prometheus last night, and to say I was disappointed would be an understatement as large as the flaws (and these were chasms people) in the film.  I could only think of 5 words: What happened to Ridley Scott?

When I was growing up, he was my directorial hero. Alien was truly a masterstroke, and then he followed that up with Blade Runner.  A brilliant film.  Those are two of my favorite movies of all time.  He hasn’t made a good movie since…

So when I caught wind of Prometheus a while back I was pumped.  Excited like a 10 year old on Christmas Eve.  I knew I would be there on opening weekend.  And I was.

What a waste of time and money.  I cannot recommend even watching the trailer for Prometheus, much less the entire film.  And here are 4 reasons why:

1.  You don’t give a rats ass about anybody

In Alien, you cared about almost all of that rag-tag group of space cavaliers.  But you especially cared about Ripley.  She was a character you wanted to see survive.  To win.  In Prometheus, the set up is the same.  Noomi Rapace is the Ripley character (I can’t even remember her name, and I saw it last night) that leads the mission and has the weight of the world(s) on her shoulders — and you couldn’t care less.  Not only are you waiting for the film to end, you’re waiting for her to die so it could end.  Her dialogue was goofy, she did totally un-credible things, and her “faith” was completely ham-fisted.  It was beyond bad.  It was excruciating.

2.  Just because you have better SFX, doesn’t mean you should use them

In Alien, there were very few special effects gimmicks.  They explained why the ship had gravity (although briefly) they used the tools they needed to in order to keep the story going, and they kept it simple.  Same with Blade Runner.  There were hovercars and some interesting weapons.  In both… It worked.  The machines or technology of the day didn’t get in the way of the story — they added to it.  Not in Prometheus.  There are so many pointelss special effects in this film, it takes you OUT of the world you’re supposed to be engaged in. They just get worse and worse and worse.  At one point, a holograph of the “father of mankind” is playing a flute with a bubble keyboard, orchestrating a mission to destroy Earth.  Ludicrous.

3.  The aliens were laughable

In Alien, there was one alien.  ONE.  And it was terrifying.  It couldn’t be killed and ate people or stored them to use as incubators for their offspring.  But in Prometheus there are no less than 6 villains.  Including… Grub worms.  Once I saw those (they looked like the little worms my Grandfather used to give me to go fishing) I knew I was going to be in for a long ride.  They ranged from the silly to the stupid, and they were never scary.  And further, the humanoid that apparently fathered mankind decided he was also evil and wanted to kill everyone in his path.  It made zero sense, it made the movie longer, and it made everyone around me laugh.  Prometheus was not a comedy.  Well, not intentionally.

4.  They didn’t show us the sex!

As the movie dragged on and on and on and on, there was one moment where I thought — this movie could use some nudity.  That’s how desperate I was for some sort of reprieve or respite from the disaster that was this film.  So Charlize Theron (who, while beautiful, is saddled with the silliest dialogue and storyline since The Toxic Avenger) finally relents to the sexual advances of the ridiculously simplistic captain (where is Dallas when you need him???).  I thought that there might be something in Prometheus to hang on to — even some gratuitous nudity.  But all we get is some dumb Steven Stills joke and a shot of Charlize walking away.  That’s it.  Ugh.

So Ridley finally returns to sci-fi, the genre that he mastered 30 plus years ago, and gives us Prometheus — a terminally boring, totally uninteresting, tepid movie with no one to root for and villains that were as dangerous and horrifying as melting ice cream.  In almost every way Prometheus misses the mark.  Unless you’re looking to be reminded of how much better it would be to be doing anything else.  Even digging in the ground for grub worms.

4 Reasons I Was Gone For a Month

1.  I

2.  Just

3.  Got

4.  Engaged!

New post coming soon, but I am very excited.

 

4 Reasons Jim Nantz Literally Sucks Out Loud

We’re in the midst of March Madness, and unfortunately CBS controls the rights to broadcast these games.  Now don’t get me wrong… CBS has a multitude of great commentators.  Verne Lundquist is phenomenal year after year.  Bill Raftery is very entertaining and knowledgable (especially about those East coast squads) and even former player Reggie Miller is decent.  Still bummed the always exciting Gus Johnson bailed.  He was college basketball’s best.

However, there is one announcer (and he happens to be CBS’ #1 guy on every damn sport they televise) that is always, always, ALWAYS terrible.  And that’s Jim Nantz.

You look adorable in that headset.

Here are 4 reasons (there are 4,000,000).

1. “As good as it gets”

In a series of lame attempts to derive a catch phrase, Nantz comes up with this truly limp effort.  As a movie title it was bad, as a sporting ‘button’ — it’s garbage.  The aforementioned Lundquist has the ubiqitious “Oh my goodness!” which is hoakey but heartfelt.  The great Keith jackson had “Whoa Nelly!” — truly original.  And the timeless Al Michaels had, “Do you believe in Miracles… YES!” a one time utterance that spawned this whole trend.  So Nantz comes with this unbelievably unimaginative, broad, lame catchphrase to cap the sporting events he covers.  I’ve heard it used at the checkout line at the grocery store more effectively.

2. He’s constantly wrong

Is he watching the same game as everyone else?  I know that he has a lot to cover over there at the table, but he’s consistently incorrect.  He misses the score at least three times a game.  He pumps meaningless stats that he thinks are important, and he continuously points out how clever he is with his ‘wordsmithery’.  Nails on a chalkboard sound like opera comparatively.

3. “Give him the Oscar”

This is something he just uttered in the Kentucky/Baylor game.  In another attempt at cute he comes up with this as a colloquialism for the Player Of The Year award.  This is simply an insult to the player that wins it, and the great Oscar Robertson, for whom it’s named.  Just plain stupid.  And it drew guffaws from…

4. Clark Kellogg

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... Nice one Jim.

Granted, Kellogg is a (slight) improvement from the ACC loving blowhard Billy Packer — but only marginally.  His insight is consistently a day late and a dollar short.  But worse — he enables Nantz like a sloppy drinking buddy, reinforcing his garbage with back slaps and phony laughter.  And he never corrects him when he’s wrong.  Get with it Kellogg, or you and Packer will be calling the eighth grade B team before too long.

Am I too harsh?  I don’t think so.  Listen to Nantz covering ANY sport and you’ll see what I mean.  Even during the slow moving and terminally boring golf broadcasts — Nantz manages to take it several notches below banal.

So listen closely… When Nantz isn’t blowing hot air into his oversized microphone, he still makes a sound.  It’s the one mentioned in the title of this post.

4 Reasons You Should Root for Louisville to Win It All

March Madness is here.  I’ve been watching the tournament pretty avidly and have had varying success in my numerous brackets (3).  In other words, I won’t win any money but I won’t finish in last place either.

As I’ve lost work days studying these teams, I’ve stumbled across one I knew next to nothing about before the season started, but now have grown to love.

Louisville.  That’s right.  Louisville.  They’re a storied program for sure, but since 1985 they haven’t done much.  And here they are — back in the Final Four.  And I have four reasons to root for them to win it all.

1.  Peyton Siva

The diminutive point guard has had a pretty tough life.  He was constantly picked on for being an outsider as a kid, and his father was basically an absentee parent.  Several times, Peyton had to go down to skid row and pull his dad from the clutches of death due to drugs and alcohol.  It worked.  His dad is sober and he and Peyton have patched it up.  Nice work, kid.

2.  Rick Pitino (yes… Rick Pitino)

Sure, Pitino has garnered his share of bad press the last few years.  He’s made some questionable decisions and he’s put himself into the hole with some people in Louisville.  But… He gets to potentially square off against his former acrimonious employer — Kentucky.  There’s nothing like a common enemy to bring out strange alliances… This is one.  If you can’t find a reason to root against John Calipari and mighty Kentucky (if you need four of those I got them too) then this is it.  Go Cardinals.

3.  Louisville – The Town

This town has flown under the radar for too many years now.  It has a burgeoning music scene, some of the nicest people on the planet, is the home of Muhammed Ali and they love their Cardinal basketball.  That’s more than enough reasons to pull for L-Ville.

4.  They’re the underdog

This is the NCAA tournament.  If you’re unaffiliated with the remaining teams, and you’re not pulling for the underdog — that’s Un-American.  Move to China.

Here we go Cardinals!  HERE WE GO!

4 Reasons You’re Worse Than a Hipster If You Wear ‘Jorts’

Thankfully, the hipster movement is in decline. The skinny jeans, the uber-clever ironic T-shirts, the cardigans and the throwback facial hair — it’s all on the way out. Except for one component of hipster garb: Jorts.

In case you are under a terry cloth covered rock — you’ve noticed a proliferation of jorts. And in case you don’t know what jorts are… They’re jean shorts. Here’s a pic.

Here are 4 reasons why you must never even consider wearing jorts.

1. They’re jeans.

Jeans come in many shapes and sizes. Some have bell bottoms, some have extravagant stitching. Others have button flies. But there’s one thing that jeans all have in common — they’re all long pants. They were not intended to be cut-off and turned into shorts. If you want to wear shorts… Buy them.

2. Denim strands

Those little strands that hang off of jeans when they become worn or frayed make any pair of jeans go from potentially looking great, to looking pretty scrappy. This is multiplied by two with jorts. Case in point:

You got a match for those strands?

3. You can’t swim in them

Whether you knew it or not… You cannot swim in jorts.

4. Jorts only look good on women

Again, I can prove my point with pictures.

Acceptable.

Not acceptable.

So please… Be a part of the solution, not the problem. Burn every pair of jorts you see.

Beautify the world around you.

4 Reasons You Have To Travel More (a photo blog)

1.  Hawaii

2.  Poland

3.  Morocco

4.  Baker, California

 

 

4 Reasons to Avoid Reality Shows with the Word “Wars” in the Title

Okay.  So 8 years ago I thought there was too much reality TV.  Well here in 2012, there’s 8 times as much as there was 8 years ago.  Reality TV is everywhere.  When will it all end?

One type of show (that A&E seems to specialize in) is the “War” show.  There’s “Parking Wars”, “Shipping Wars”, “Storage Wars”, “Storage Wars: Texas” and  “Whale Wars”.  Apparently, there’s just tons of “war” going on in the TV arena.

Well, that’s garbage.  And yes, people have been saying that reality TV is garbage for years, so that’s nothing new.  But these types of shows are a lower form of garbage than any other.  These shows are a lower than discarded paint cans at the bottom of Lake Eerie.  And here’s 4 reasons why.

1.  War is not a TV show

Ask any veteran or current servicemen what war is like… And the answer is usually, “Hell”, if they’ll even want to talk to you about it.  Parking your car illegally is not a war.  Bidding for a lapsed storage unit is not a war.  Trying to save a whale, while noble and right, is not a war.  War should never, NEVER, be associated with a parking ticket, or a shipping challenge.  The fact that these shows are using that analogy is an insult to the men and women that serve our country.

2.  There are no human casualties

War, unfortunately, involves the loss of human life.  Thankfully, there are no lives lost on these shows.  But in real war, people are killed.  Why anyone would want to associate entertainment with the loss of life is beyond me.  The drama they think they’re drumming up is an insult to the American viewing public, and an ever larger slap in the face to our military.  And on the subject of false drama…

3.  Those shows are lazily named

Can’t they think of another clever way to name these shows?  Do they really think that just because the word “War” is in the title that people are going to tune in?  If people are tuning in, I don’t know who they are.  Not only is no one I know watching these shows, no one is talking about them either.  I don’t know if anyone from A&E reads this blog, but if they do… Tell your buddies at the network… Your war shows aren’t working.

4.  The “Casts”

Have you seen the people on these shows?  They’re about as ‘real’ as German speaking Muskrats from Mars.  These shows reek of what I call ‘the cook up’.  These people have been told what to say, how to say it, when to say it, how to act, who to get angry at, who to align with and when to reverse those directives.  It’s not ‘real’ at all.  And who needs that?

So do us all a favor John or Jane Q. TV Viewer, if you’re watching these shows… STOP.  You’ll create a better viewing environment for us all, and as an ancillary benefit, pay some over due respect to those that are actually putting their lives on the line everyday in actual war.  Maybe then, when those brave soldiers come home, they can watch TV that’s actually worth watching.