Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Just a little worried...

I recently looked at my Sitemeter stats and noticed that someone form nasa.gov found my blog by a search for "Richard Grieco". That worries me just a little bit. I hope that Nasa doesn't need his help...

Cheers,
Jason

Friday, January 26, 2007

In a New York minute...

Hey kids!

It's been a while since I've had a legitimate post, so I'll try to catch you up...

A couple weeks ago I finally had a Sunday off and I went with two good friends to the Max M. Fischer Music Center to see the DSO perform a production called "Keeping Time". "Keeping Time" is part of a "Classics Unmasked" series. The theme to all of the compositions is that time is kept in unique ways in each piece. The guest conductor was John Mauceri. Here's the rundown...

RICHARD WAGNER- Selections from Das Rheingold Prelude to Act I "Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla"
(Cool. Very cool.)

PHILIP GLASS- Suite from The Hours Part I
(Philip flippin' Glass! Very cool, very minimalist piece.)

GYORGY LIGETI- Atmospheres for Orchestra
(Crazy! Crazy!! Crazy!!! This is probably the weirdest, coolest, most unique piece I've ever heard. Every instrument in the orchestra is playing a different note at ALL times. It goes from the highest note on a piccolo to the lowest note on a bass in succession. This piece is nuts! It's only 8 minutes long but feels like an hour. This piece was used in 2001: A Space Odyssey. I feel very lucky to have heard this performed live as it is not a very common occurence. Way cool!)

MAURICE RAVEL- Bolero
('Nuff said...)

DANNY ELFMAN- "The Overeager Overture"
(What's cooler than Philip Glass? Bridget Fonda's husband. A really cool, very complex piece from THE Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo, Simpsons, and film score fame. Way freakin' cool!)

DUKE ELLINGTON- The River
Meander
Giggling Rapids
Spring
Vortex
Riba
(The absolute highlight of the show as Savion Glover was guest dancer. He was absolutely frickin' amazing! He's only the world's best tapdancer! His footwork is only surpassed by his grace and spirit. His performance was completely overwhelming and I feel absolutely honored to have witnessed it in person. Spellbinding!)

SERGEI PROKOFIEV- Suite No. 1 from Cinderella, Op. 107
Cinderella's Waltz
Midnight
(Very cool wrap up!)

After the show we went to Slow's Barbeque on Michigan Ave. near Tiger Stadium for a great meal. Great frickin' brisket!

The next Tuesday I participated in a wine trivia tournament in Ann Arbor. My team did not fare so well. We were the smallest team. We knew the answers pretty well, but the electronic buzzer system was a hindrance. It was a lot of fun and I tasted some pretty good wines, but I had to scoot out as soon as it was over as I had to fly out to New York in the morning.

A friend of mine drove me to the airport and I caught a Northworst flight to LaGuardia. The flight was uneventful and fine. We didn't even crash or anything! I took a cab to my hotel in Manhattan. The fare was amazingly only $26.50 before tip. Not bad! It was sunny but cold in New York. About the same as Detroit. I checked into my room at the Holiday Inn Downtown (Chinatown/SoHo). I put my clothes away and left a note for my roommate N. (I traveled with N to Australia in 2003. I hadn't seen him since the trip.) He'd be flying in a bit later. I left the hotel to walk around for a couple of hours. I zig-zagged around the immediate area checking out the cheap wares at the booths/stalls in Chinatown and peaked in shop. I walked a bit further to Little Italy and checked out the infamous Mulberry St. I went on a bit more and ventured into the NoLita district where I would actually be having hors' douvres later. A BEAUTIFUL French woman asked me for directions to Elizabeth St. and luckily I actually knew where it was. She thanked me kindly and threw me a smile that could melt the ice caps faster than global warming. Swoon! There are beautiful women everywhere in New York! Everywhere! I'm not complaining a bit. One of the many reasons that I love New York! I especially love New York in winter as beautiful women are inclined it seems to wear tall boots with short skirts. Have I ever mentioned that I've got a thing for beautiful New York women in tall boots and short skirts? No? Well, now I have.

I was walking back toward the hotel when I got a call on my cell from N. He and one of his employees (who won a trip in 2006 through the same group). They were settling in at the hotel and I was on my way back to meet them. I arrived at the 2nd coolest Holiday Inn anywhere (#1 is in Sydney) and went to the room and greeted N. We reminisced a little bit and then went down to K's room. The three of us walked around the neighborhood a bit and decided that coffee would be a good idea. First, however, we had to stop at a shop in Chinatown to get N a pair of gloves as he and K are from Phoenix. We decided that Little Italy would be the place to get some coffee. We walked for about 20 minutes or so until we hit Mulberry St. We walked past several joints that looked too pricey and found a nice, simple cafe. N and I each got a double espresso and a cannoli and K got a cappucino and a chocolate cannoli. Divine! A great cup of espresso and a killer cannoli! There were pictures of celebrities everywhere including signed pics of a good chunk of The Sopranos cast. I think the place was called Palermo's. A nice, simple cafe with great cannoli...who could ask for anything more? We talked for a while and then decided to head back to the hotel before heading out to for hors' douvres in Nolita.

As we gathered in the lobby we acually encountered the rest of our crew including our fearless leader AH. AH is the current person in charge of the AusWAT program. All of the people in this group won the Australia trip through the same program in various years. The vast majority of them were recent winners (2006). I actually felt a bit old. We followed AH as he powerwalked and talked on his cell until we reached our destination. We were meeting for hors' douvres and a wine tasting at Public restaurant in NoLita. This is actually the same fantastic Australian restaurant that Brittney and I dined at last year. Paxton Winery from the McLaren Vale was hosting a trade-tasting in a small private room. There was not a lot of room to move but I was able to get a seat and N and I talked about the business for a while. There were some sumptious hors' douvres passed. There were some delicately spiced lamb spring rolls that were just divine. I've had sea urchin before and I never particularly cared for it. People rave on and on about it and I've never really understood it...until now. Apparently I've had bad sea urchin in the past. They were passing around some sort of sea urchin shooters. They were absolutely rich, heavenly, creamy, and divine. Now I completely understand the whole sea urchin thing. It's one of the greatest things I've ever ingested. Yum! There were also some fantastic bite-size Pavlova. Double yum!

We then left Public to have dinner at a newer Australian restaurant called Bondi Road. This was actually a little further so we took a cab. Bondi Road is actually very small. The kitchen is amazingly tiny, but deftly manned. There was a long table waiting for us and the wonderfully attentive Australian expatriate servers were just fantastic and a lot of fun. Wine Australia provided an endless supply of wine for us as the awesome Bondi Road servers brought out a non-stop deluge of food. They kept bringing out family-style platters for us to pass around including calamari, garlic prawns, sea scallops, mussels, ahi tuna, barramundi, breaded snapper, fish and chips, potato fritters, beets and potatoes, perfect lamp chops, super-tender kangaroo, and Lamingtons (a traditional Aussie dessert). The food was stupendous and the service was great! I forward to going there the next time I'm in New York. Delicious! I cannot believe the amazing food the two South American cooks put out in such a tiny kitchen. I guess you get used to that in New York. Filled up on food, wine, and some Coopers Ale we called it a night and went back to the hotel as we had a big day ahead of us on Wall Street.

N and K and I walked to a local small Greek diner for omelettes and coffee. The Greek diner in Chinatown was run by Chinese as a Greek Coney Island in Detroit is run by Albanians. We commented that our server reminded us of a Chinese Flo (if you don't get that reference you're too young and shouldn't be reading this). Breakfast was fast and filling and just what we needed to start a long day. We had to report at Cipriani on Wall Street at 10:00 AM. This is located next to the NYSE and Trump Tower. "Greed is good!" Cipriani was hosting Wine Australia Day as part of Australia Week in New York. It was a very big week. It was our job to work upstairs operating a blind-tasting game that is a variation on the Aussie wine game "Options". We helped set up both upstairs and downstairs in anticipation of the trade-tasting.


Cipriani


Cipriani


Cipriani

We worked in shifts so we actually had some time to walk around the tasting to taste and meet and greet. I've met a lot of the importers and winemakers before. I did have the great opportunity to meet Mr. John Duval. That was an honor. He made he infamous Penfolds Grange for many years. I tasted a lot of great wines and also got to enjoy a fantastic Aboriginal dance group from Western Australia. They danced several times throughout the day.









The dancers and the musicians were fantastic! It's really neat to hear the didgeridoo in person. The coolest thing is that between sets they were tasting wines just like everybody else and the women in the crowd were flirting with them like crazy. It was 20-something degrees outside and snowing and the dancers were barefoot and shirtless as everybody else was dressed in winter gear.




There was a tasting later for the public. After a little bit of clean-up and changeover the consumer tasting began. There were near 900 attendees for the event. And again there were lots of beautiful, FRIENDLY New York women. My group didn't have to pour until 7:00 or so and some of us had some free time so we decided to leave the building to grab something to drink and eat. There was a lot of great Aussie food at the event and good food from the venue as well, but it was pretty crowded. The first Irish pub we went to was too busy. The second Irish pub we went to had room upstairs but one of the people in our group was vegetarian and the menu was very friendly in that sense. We each had a quick drink (a mighty fine Guinness in my case) and left. There are not a lot of restaurants in the Financial District/Wall Street area when you need to find them. They're there, but just can't be found. We eventually stumbled upon a simple cafe and settled on that as time was running out. I had a slice of white pizza that was reheated in a wood burning oven and it was quite good as New York pizza tends to be. Yum! We ate up and went back to Cipriani to work our shifts. Again...there are a lot of beautiful women in New York. And I must say that New York women are much nicer than Detroit women. Women are generally pretty friendly when you're pouring them wine, but Detroit women are fairly disinterested. The women in New York are very friendly, engaging, and FLIRTATIOUS! I was loving it! I had some very nice, very attractive girls flirting with me during the trade and consumer tastings. Thank you! Thank you very much! Detroit women don't flirt with me. In fact I think they find me repulsive. But some of the most gorgeous women I've encountered in New York had the courtesy to flirt and be friendly with me. Unfortunately it was only my ego getting stroked...



Below is a photo I took of some photographers for irony. They were waiting for the unveiling of the world's largest bottle of wine. (A 290L whopper bottle of shiraz from Great Southern in Western Australia) Unfortunately I never took a picture of the bottle.



When the event ended we had a lot of clean up and physical labor to do. We had to take all of the wine downstairs (no elevator) as well as a bunch of other stuff. We also had to break down, pack, and carry away all of the display tents and throw away all empty bottle. Once everything was assemnbled we then had to take it down another flight of stairs and load it into a van (no elevator). It was tough and exhausting, but it was a job well done. Once we finished loading the van we walked over to THE Delomonico's. The Delmonico steak is named after this joint that was founded in 1837. We sat in the bar and some beers as we relaxed after a long day. We talked and laughed and had a chance to talk to the wonderful Jan (President of Wine Australia). (She was on our trip with us and is a truly great person.) The dining room was closing when we got there and was empty by the time we were leaving the bar so I snapped the poto below of the Delmonico's dining room. I swiped some coasters and napkins for my landlords and N, K, and myself thought we should eat so we went to a really cool bar called Ulysses. Really cool crowd, really cool music, really great server, really greater bussers, and very good food. I highly recommend it. We took a cab back to the hotel and called it a night.


Delmonico's

In the morning I said goodbye to N and K. They would be around a for a few more hours but would be doing some shopping. I had an earlier flight. Before checking out of the hotel I walked a couple of blocks and walked into a random Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. I made sure on the menu posted outside that they had Dim Sum and they certainly did. The menu was VERY AUTHENTIC with about 20 kinds of congee, duck tongue, and various innards. The kind of place that I love. No one there spoke a lick of English other than "pork" and "shrimp". I was the only caucasian in the place. The waitress walked around with a Dim Sum cart. I chose a plate of shrimp, a plate of pork, and a plate of mystery Dim Sum. The mystery dumplings were fried and wrapped in bacon as the shrimp and pork were steamed. I don't know what was in the mystey Dim Sum, but anything wrapped in bacon is stellar in my book. Delicious! They did give me a fork, but I was intent on using my chopsticks. I'm not the best with chopsticks, but I'm no slouch...until I dropped one of my dumplings into the dish with the hot mustard and hot chili sauce. As I tried to pick it up out of the dish it kept rolling around in the hot mustard and hot chili sauce. Eventually it had sopped up just about every bit of the mustard and the chili sauce and it was then that I was actually able to pick up the slippery bugger. I plopped it in my mouth and the mustard singed my nose hairs and made me tear up just a bit. It was great, but incendiary. The 3 plates of dumplings (4 on a plate) and a pot of tea came to $8.95. Nice! (Later at the airport a bottle of water and a juice would come to $7.13)

I walked back to the hotel, grabbed my stuff, and checked out of the hotel. I took a car to LaGuardia rather than a cab for a few bucks more. The drive was fine. I did notice that EVERYONE in Queens has a satellite dish. Bad cable or TV addicts? My flippin' Northworst flight was about an hour late. A friend picked me up at DTW and dropped me of at home. I had a little over half an hour to change and get ready to leave for my restaurant job. It was a long and tiresome night. I'm back in Detroit and depressed. I like Chicago a lot, but I LOVE New York! It's such an awesome city. I could never afford to live there, but it's an awesome city filled with a lot of friendly, beautiful, interesting people. Detroit is wonderful and ocmforting, but New York is really special. I'm really glad that I was able to stay in Chinatown this year. It made it a lot of fun. I've seen lots of things that I've never seen before in the various shops. Things I never knew esisted...but things that make life more interesting.

I'm back to work now and it really sucks! New York is only a year away!

Random poll- New York or Chicago syle pizza? (New York for me)

Cheers,
Jason

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Your Language Arts Grade: 100%

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

Are You Gooder at Grammar?
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What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Midland

"You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.

The West
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The Northeast
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Monday, January 15, 2007

22 hours to go...

It's going to be another helluva season of 24! Damn!

I'll try to post more tomorrow about the great time I had listening to the DSO and seeing Savion Glover tapdance. Time to go to bed...

Cheers,
Jason

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Somebody please give the President a bag of pretzels...

Hey kids! I hope that the new year is starting off well. It's been a pretty rough start in these parts.

I caught most of Dubya's speech tonight. He wants to deploy at least another 20,000 troops to Iraq. Yeah...he was the wrong one hanged last week. The world already hates us...lets just make it worse. I'll just leave it at that for now...

2007 is starting off with a choke-hold. A friend has hit a really bad, undeserved rough patch. It's a shock to all of us and I really don't know what advice to offer. All I can really do is listen and offer my friendship at this point. Luckily he as a large support system of friends and family. We've all got your back. Anything you need, just ask...

I don't want to sound all gloom and doom, but there's just a lot of bad shit going down between Iraq and a hard place, the local economy, the setbacks of friends, work, and otherwise. Everybody pray or hope for a better 2007. This shit sucks!

Sorry...let's talk about something else.

I have a question? Who the hell is Valero and where the hell did they all come from? I'm talking about this chain of gas stations that I've never heard of popping up all over the place. I could obviously look it up and I certainly will, but I'm just asking. Curious minds want to know.

Work is in a really weird place right now. I can't really write about anything yet. There's going to be something big happening. It could be a really great thing or a really bad thing. I don't really think there's any middle ground on this one. All I know is that it's really uncomfortable and painful right now. I don't get headaches, but I've got a huge one right now. It may have be work stress or it may have to do with the ammonia that I inhaled (don't ask).

Thanks to this unusually warm weather this winter in the northern hemisphere there may not be any icewines/Eisweins produced...

Other than Christmas Day and New Year's Day I haven't had a day off in about a month. I'm really looking forward to having this Sunday off. I'm doubly excited as I'm going with friends to see Savion Glover tapdancing at the Max along to the music of Duke Ellington. I've been invited to participate in a "Wine Jeopardy" tournament on Tuesday. It's a team event and it should be a lot of fun. The biggest highlight of next week will be my trip to New York. I'll only be there for two days but I'll be having a good time. I'll be visiting two Australian restaurants the first night and reuniting and rooming with one of my Australian co-travelers. Thursday I'll be pouring some Aussie wines at a huge trade tasting and then public tasting. Hopefully I'll have a little free time to sneak in another meal at some place cool. I'll be staying in SoHo really close to Chinatown. I'm really looking forward to it. Of course I'm looking forward to it for the above reasons, but probably mostly because I'll be away from work for a couple of days. That may be sad, but unfortunately it's true. Counting down to a day off...

Sorry I don't have a more uplifting or exciting post, but that's just the way it is sometimes...

ITMFA!

Random Poll- Have you gone mud-sledding or mud-skiing this winter?

Random Poll #2- Are you hopeful of 2007?

Random Poll #3- What are your thoughts on the Big 10 as a viable football conference?

Random Poll #4- Hypothetically... one of your business relationships tells you via telephone that there may be a job opportunity that you may be well suited for. Hypothetically... this person asks if you have any interest in managing a club. Hypothetically...you reply that you really don't, but it's always a possibility depending on the circumstances. Hypothetically...you ask what kind of club? Hypothetically...he replies "blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah strip club." Hypothetically... this business aquaintance will get you more details. Hypothetically...you think to yourself that this is the kind of job you would have never considered, but it probably pays VERY well. And there's the moral dilemna...how much money would it take for you to take on such a job and what would you tell your friends and family...hypothetically? Would you be disappointed or lose respect for the person? Keep in mind that it could pay a lot and said person may not be happy with their current job. Money of course is not the most important thing in life, but it sure is helpful. Any thoughts on this hypothetical scenario? (The scenario is more of a long shot than a sure thing.)

Cheers,
Jason

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Happy New Year! May 2007 not suck so much...and lists!

Hey kids! Happy New Year! Let's all hope that 2007 is better than 2006!

2006, all in all, sucked a giant crapsicle. Nationally and internationally things pretty much sucked. Earthquakes and other natural disasters, genocide, global warming (Al Gore was right), disease, and war still ravage the globe. War in Iraq still marches forth for no reasonable explainable reason as thousands of civilians and military unnecessarily die as Haliburton profits and Dubya smirks. Unemployment in the US may be on the very slight decline, but it is soaring locally. Michigan is in a shitload of trouble. The American automobile market is hanging by a frayed thread. Ford Motor Company is essentially just short of looking at bankruptcy as it is currently laying off/firing/buying out thousands of employees. Our car companies are not subsidized by the government unlike the Japanese. It is severely depressing living around here. Especially as most of the local businesses are somehow dependent upon the auto industry. I've never encountered so many people that are contemplating moving out of Michigan just to find a job. This is a desperate time. It's ugly out there. I bought a Ford this year largely out of local guilt, but I'm feeling better and better about my purchase. I love my car! Support the Big 3! Buy an American car and feel good about it! They may be a little more expensive, but peace of mind is comes cheap. The world, this country, and this state are in a world of hurt, but it takes just a small effort to get things going the right way. Remember, as they say, think globally and act locally. Even the smallest gesture or action can help motivate a larger mechanism to change. The recent Democratic victory in Congress is one fo the few highlights of an otherwise bleak year. Hopefully this will be a catalyst for peace and forward thinking.

Nothing especially good or bad happened to me personally in 2006, but it was a veritable shitfest to many that are close to me. And that affects me greatly as friends and family are vitally important to me. 2006 is a year that has seen an innocent friend go to jail, a friend have to give up on his dream (Die illegal downloaders! Die!!!), friends have a scare with a premature baby (Baby Colin is doing well so far. Pray that his progress continues!), and recently a friend's heart has been stomped on. Tragedies both large and small have defined 2006. It's simply been an awful year. What affects my friends affects me. I try to keep my head up, but there's just so much ugliness. I try to be hopeful, but at the same time I'm realistic. This is an ugly world right now. Let's try to put some makeup on it and make it look good, but not make it look like a clown or a tranny. Let's be hopeful for a better 2007!

2006 does have a few positive attributes. Personally, I did get to enjoy a trip to New York last January and was able to see some of my friends from my Australian trip. That was a great experience! I look forward to going again in a couple weeks! I also got to spend a few relaxing days Up North this summer. I truly value all the time I was able to spend with my exceptional friends this past year. They mean so very much to me. Friends are a bright light in a dark world. I don't know what I'd do without them. I love you all so much! Nothing makes me laugh more than my friends, and laughter is what the world really needs right now. Thanks for be being funny!

As promised I have come up with some of my Best Of/Worst Of 2006 lists...
(Regarding films and albums- All of the films/albums listed have a US release date in 2006.)

Jason's Top 10 Movies of 2006
(I didn't get a chance to see a lot of movies in the theater this year. I barely got to see any indies this year at all. Most of my Netflix viewing this year consisted of pre-2006 film.)
1. The Proposition (I may be biased as I love Nick Cave, but this is truly an amazing film. Written by Nick Cave with wonderful performances by Guy Pierce, John Hurt, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, and Emily Watson. Amazing cinematography! Dark, brutal, violent, and beautiful! Even Entertainment Weekly said it was the 7th best movie of the year! I'm not alone!)
2. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (I think this may be Spike Lee's best work...and I think that Spike Lee is the occasional genius. This documentary about Hurricane Katrina and the people it affected, the inaction of various government agencies, the confused action of various agencies, and the effort to rebuild is deeply moving, shocking, and brilliantly done. This is a MUST SEE! You'll be torn down, uplifted, and torn down again...but it's worth the ride.)
3. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (An amazing adaptation of my favorite childhood book. Top notch!)
4. Borat (The funniest movie that I've ever seen! Ever!)
5. Tsotsi (A sad, beautiful, compelling South African film. Stunning!)
6. Clerks II (Even better than the first! Filthy, smart, and hilarious!)
7. An Inconvenient Truth (Al Gore is right! Ask the polar bears. I've heard most of the information in this film before, but this compiles everything neatly and it's oddly entertaining. This is basically Al Gore telling us that we're in deep shit. You have to see this!)
8. Little Miss Sunshine (Although this is just about the most blatantly dysfunctional family I've seen on film, it's probably the most realistic portrayal of any family I've ever seen on film. Toni Collette is brilliant as always and Alan Arkin steals the movie! Lots of fun!)
9. Jackass II (Stupid, dumb, vile, and funnier than poop!)
10. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Not Will Ferrell's best work, but good for a lot of cheap, over-the-top laughs.)

The Worst Movie of 2006
The Benchwarmers (I don't even like to admit that I saw this piece of crap. The movie I wanted to see must have been sold out.)

The Funniest Movies of 2006
1. Borat
2. Clerks II
3. Jackass II
4. Jesus is Magic
5. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Best Book of 2006
The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain (It is truly an excellent book, but it's also probably the only book I read in 2006 that was published in 2006.)


Best Albums of 2006
(Most of the albums I bought in 2006 were older albums or re-issues.)
1. Neko Case "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood"
2. Sonic Youth "Rather Ripped"
3. Yo La Tengo "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass" (I don't even have this album yet and I haven't heard it. But I know it belongs on this list as the band frickin' rules! I've also heard good things.)
4. Johnny Cash "American V: A Hundred Highways"
5. Johnny Cash "Personal File"
6. Beatles "Love"
7. Elbow "Leaders of the Free World"
8. Tom Waits "Orphans"

Most Disappointing Album of 2006
Flaming Lips "At War With the Mystics" (Although it's not a bad album, I just expect a lot from this band. There's really nothing exciting or ground-breaking on this album. I guess I just expect a lot from this band."

The Top 12 TV Shows of 2006
1. Battlestar Galactica (No joke! This show is phenomonal. Even Entertainment Weekly said it's the 3rd best show on TV. (It's nothing like the campy original which I dearly love!) This is the best written drama on TV. The gritty, dark space drama tackles issues such as genocide, birth rites, religion, justice, prejudice, suicide bombing, and the nature of humanity. Don't mock it until you watch it! It's pure genius!)
2. The Sopranos (Damn! I can't wait for the last episodes! Bloody brilliant!)
3. No Reservations (I love anything that involves Anthony Bourdain! His "Beirut" episode devolved into Israeli/Lebanese crisis footage, but is some of the most riveting TV I've ever seen. That episode should win an Emmy. The regular episodes are pretty damn good too!)
4. Globetrekker (I absolutely love this show even if they keep changing times/nights or taking it off the air. It's great entertainment! Episodes presented by Ian Wright or Megan McCormick are fantastic! If I can't travel to these amazing places I'm honored to join them via the boob tube. This show is an absolute treat!)
5. 24 (Best season ever!)
6. House (Love it!)
7. Lost (Confusing but fun as hell!)
8. Reno 911! (The funniest show on TV!)
9. The Office (Funny!)
10. Law and Order: SVU (A tense and brilliant season!)
11. Family Guy (Hahahahahahahahhahahaahaahahahah...)
12. South Park (As funny as ever and topical as hell!)


2006 sucked! Let's be hopeful about a better 2007! Do your part to make the world a better place. Be philanthropic, volunteer, be politically active, do your part to stop global warming... Do whatever you want if you feel it's going to better society.

I can't believe that President Clinton was impeached for fooling around while Dubya is still in office and he's fucking the entire nation. ITMFA!

I wish you all a year of PEACE and HAPPINESS. Be kind to others and be kind to the planet we live on. Be kind, be hopeful, be strong, be resilient, be loud, be soft, be smart, be curious, be forward-thinking, be tolerant. Be nice! May peace break out in every nation. Spend time with family and friends. Encourage a better future with positive thinking!

Happy 2007!

Cheers,
Jason