tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47494801518097057282024-02-19T08:01:59.966-06:00Freddy's WorldIf you like our radio shows, you will love Freddy's World. It's an irreverent look at all things Houston, sports, movies and life. That's what you get on The Blitz Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. on ESPN 97.5. That's what you will get here. Humor, insight, anger, and hopefully a good time.Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.comBlogger151125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-35658866518979860842019-01-08T09:34:00.001-06:002019-01-08T09:40:19.714-06:00After 20 years, my novel Jesus Just Left Chicago is a reality and is now available. I hope you love it. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6RSRrHDPHRwTyyHYOu705Z9FFmliNGSEYvpcpqXC3m2OQz0-oZ59m8y5fC_ZA1PDhkciiLYTQgz5tmLDgbIBz_YreWjpj0yrM8YU0hlWn07G92vTxGFAFUCPx0e3jeA0P_pDfIpO39n0/s1600/Jesus+final+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="921" data-original-width="656" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6RSRrHDPHRwTyyHYOu705Z9FFmliNGSEYvpcpqXC3m2OQz0-oZ59m8y5fC_ZA1PDhkciiLYTQgz5tmLDgbIBz_YreWjpj0yrM8YU0hlWn07G92vTxGFAFUCPx0e3jeA0P_pDfIpO39n0/s320/Jesus+final+cover.jpg" width="227" /></a></div>
Life is so short and fleeting. We run through this world so fast that sometimes we don't appreciate those special moments enough.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Today is one of those days I will savor. After almost 20 years of fits and starts, <i>Jesus Just Left Chicago</i> is now available in both print and audio. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You can get the print version on<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Just-Chicago-Jesse-Christian/dp/0578440733/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1546959106&sr=8-1&keywords=faour+Jesus"> Amazon here.</a> The audio version is available<a href="https://gowmediapublishing.com/products/jesus-just-left-chicago"> here. </a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Oh, and I have this puppy...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqrlbQ5nF5MtE_RKp09BnGzHmSQeiWNHo2EgaNju4KPNRNbBHPlV1tcu_m96eE86nQNGtjsGV7TQ77BbpfrpT2Pd53dr3qyMsHqyCBl1SzaeeRkaJMA_Ts0otooPCTNM1kHiNnsA5sW0Q/s1600/fullsizeoutput_210.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1540" data-original-width="1228" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqrlbQ5nF5MtE_RKp09BnGzHmSQeiWNHo2EgaNju4KPNRNbBHPlV1tcu_m96eE86nQNGtjsGV7TQ77BbpfrpT2Pd53dr3qyMsHqyCBl1SzaeeRkaJMA_Ts0otooPCTNM1kHiNnsA5sW0Q/s320/fullsizeoutput_210.jpeg" width="255" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Yes, she is amazing. We named her Dynamo. But back to the book. It is not just the best thing I have ever written, it is one of the best things I have ever read. I am extremely proud of how it turned out. I will be doing a release party and book signing soon, and will be doing signings all over during the next several months. If you like gambling, the mafia, mysticism and mythology, hopefully you will love this.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now is your chance to get both versions before the official launch. And yes, there will be a sequel at some point later this year and a movie down the road. If you buy the print version online and bring it to any Blitz road show I will be happy to sign it.<br />
<br />
It will be available on Apple Books, Kindle, and all over the place any day now. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I also highly endorse the audio version. Jermaine Every, John Granato, Holly Seymour, Cody Stoots and a kid named Will Faour did an amazing job. I actually got goose bumps listening. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There are millions of people to thank, and I do that in the acknowledgments, which I have placed at the bottom of this post. But for the most part I just wanted to share this amazing moment with my friends. I appreciate all of you more than you will ever know, and I look forward to us being able to discuss the book once you have read it or listened to it. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Thank you all for making this dream possible. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here are the acknowledgments from the book itself: </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="page" title="Page 216">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;">ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">This novel has been in the works for a long, long time. I first wrote it in 1995, had a deal to publish, but it all fell apart for a lot of silly reasons. Then it was supposed to be a movie. Then a book again. So the project went into mothballs for a while. When I picked it back up in 2013, I updated the timeline to include the events of Hurricane Ike and its impact on the Gulf Coast. The result is a better story, and hopefully one you enjoyed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">The concept came to me one night while listening to one of my go-to bands, ZZ Top. The song Jesus Just Left Chicago is one of my all-time favorites. In it, Jesus just left Chicago and is on his way to New Orleans. I might have been drinking at the time, but I was listening one night and wondered where he would go in between and decided he would show up at Sam Houston Race Park and make everyone money, and suddenly the idea came together.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">I had written several short stories for my Masters Thesis at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in 1989. When I put them together, the themes were all similar -- Houston/Galveston, characters seeking redemption, religion, music, the mafia and of course, gambling. Most of the characters in this novel were born from those stories, as well as a few others I have written over the years. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">Some were published, but many I just wrote for friends while I was grinding away at an 80-hour a week job at the Houston Chronicle. Michael, for instance, was from a short story called “31,” about a hit man who heard music with each </span><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">kill and associated the two. It was written on an old computer and there were a few printouts for friends, but like most of the others, it is probably lost forever.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="page" title="Page 217">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">So he was reborn in this novel, along with a lot of the other characters. Jesse made appearances in a couple of the earlier stories, and the racetrack theme brought it all together. In the mid-90s, I would spend days at the track with the same table of people, and the concept of the disciples came from there. While none of the characters are based on real life, many of them are compilations of people I have met or stories I have heard.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">As far as reality, all of the devastation of Crystal Beach by Hurricane Ike is real, as is Mine That Bird’s win in the Kentucky Derby.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">You might have noticed the story moves fast. My writing style was born from 20 years in journalism and heavy influences from the late, incomparable Douglas Adams and Elmore Leonard as well as Michael Moorcock, Dick Francis and Stephen King. I have always tried to live by Leonard’s words: “Try to leave out the part that the readers tend to skip.” I don’t do a lot of deep descriptions, instead allowing for the reader to use imagination to fill in the blanks. The exceptions are the poker and horse racing scenes, where hopefully I was able to paint a picture for those of you who do not participate in either.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">Discerning readers will notice some inconsistencies and mistakes. Those are by design, as Louis’ story was written under a </span><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">haze of alcohol and weed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="page" title="Page 218">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">I have several new titles in the works, including a sequel (that’s </span><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">a radio tease). But this story has haunted me and had to be told before I could move on. So now we shall, and look for several new releases soon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">There are too many people to thank, and I don’t want to turn this into an Academy Award acceptance speech, so I will do my best to keep it short.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">Thanks to the following:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">Cris Rodriguez, a former student of mine and a talented filmmaker whose interest in the film version forced me to finish the novel.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">Scott Scully, one of my all time favorite gambling partners who will recognize a lot of the characters.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">John McClain, who wrote the foreword for this. He is one of my oldest friends and helped keep me almost sane for 20 years at the Houston Chronicle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">Curt Meyer, a brilliant artist who did the cover work for Acing Racing as well as Jesus.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">My father, the late Fred B. Faour, the greatest, funniest man who ever lived. An unbelievably talented journalist and an even better friend. The world is a darker place without him. Not a day goes by where I don’t think about him.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">Jeff Sotman, the best gambler I ever knew and a man who was as close to me as my brothers. We lost Jeff way too young. He was </span><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">always there and helped me through some bleak times. I wished he had lived to see the final version of this.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="page" title="Page 219">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">Eunice Munoz and Big Fish Marketing. She has always believed in me and promoted me, even when I had serious doubts about myself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">David Gow, CEO of Gow Media, for being a great business partner, boss and friend who has always trusted my ideas for the company (including this) and has supported me through thick and thin.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">And my family. My mom, Patricia, who could have been the one writing novels if things had gone a little differently; my grandmother, Lucille, who has kept everything I have ever written and every trophy I ever won; my brothers Patrick and John, who have always been there through every success and failure any of us had.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">Of course, my son Will, who is a talented writer in his own right, and my daughter Katie, who vows to be more famous than me (she will be).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">My awesome in-laws in Canada, Carl and Lois, who have become like an extra set of parents for me, and accepted me even after their daughter married an American.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">And finally, most importantly, my wife Valerie, who has always pushed me, believed in me, but also chopped me down if I got too full of myself. So much of my success has been because she convinced me I could actually do it. I doubt this project would have ever happened without her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">Thanks to all of them, as well as those of you who read this </span><span style="font-family: "timesnewromanpsmt"; font-size: 12pt;">book and for some reason are still reading now. I hope you enjoyed it, and hopefully this is just the beginning.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-63609946385203037552018-10-30T14:33:00.000-05:002018-10-30T14:39:25.344-05:00A plea for civility this election season, and why I wholeheartedly support Prop B in Houston<div class="gs" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 20px; width: 982px;">
<i>Just a reminder, for my sports takes, please check out <a href="http://sportsmap.com/">SportsMap.com</a>, and please listen to our </i><div class="">
<div class="hi" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border-bottom-left-radius: 1px; border-bottom-right-radius: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: roboto, robotodraft, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gs" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 20px; width: 982px;">
<i>radio show, The Blitz from 4-7 p.m. Monday-Friday on ESPN 97.5 and SportsMap 94.1, the </i></div>
<div class="gs" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 20px; width: 982px;">
<i>No. 1 sports show in the city by a wide margin for all of 2018. </i></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Election day is right around the corner, and we are in the middle of early voting, so this is essentially a stretch where I can’t read Twitter. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Don’t worry, “stick to sports” guy, there will be a sports take here).</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The political landscape in this country is not only divisive, it is dangerous. We have become a society that picks a side and then defends everything it does. Anything I say is right. If you don’t agree with me 100 percent, you are completely wrong. There is no room for anything else. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let’s be honest here; there is not a politician in the world you agree with 100 percent of the time. If that’s the case, you have a) found a unicorn, b) are lying, c) are too lazy to do any research. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is not a plea for anyone to vote a certain way (with one exception). This is me begging everyone to actually study the candidates and proposals on the local level, and pick the person that best aligns with what you believe is best for your community as a whole.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There will be many judges on the ballot. These are people who can influence our city on many levels. Take some time to read up on them, learn their credentials and make the choice you think is best. I poll several of my lawyer friends, read up on the candidates and make my decisions that way. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The problem? That takes work. It’s easier to just vote straight ticket and not think. But that’s where we need to start changing.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have been called everything from a bleeding heart liberal to a right wing gun nut, depending on the issue. And on individual issues? Absolutely, I am one or the other. But is there a real definition for someone who looks at the issues on their merits and then decides where to take a stand based on what is best for all of us? I also try to focus on where I can have a real impact: Local first, state second, national third. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But like a lot of people, I have checked out on politics in general, because we as a society have taken them down a path they were never meant to go. In my mind, politics should be about compromise. I don’t agree with you on everything, but I do on these things. Let’s do them and continue to explore the ones we don’t agree on.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s not how it works, though. We are supposed to stake a stand, ignore anyone who disagrees with us, spout hyperbole and belittle the other side. Compromise is weakness. And it doesn’t matter on which extreme of the landscape you sit. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I can be guilty of this, too. Anyone I think is merely parroting one side’s political stances I tend to brand as extremists and ignore what they say. I grew weary of trying to find common ground with them, because there is none. Even if I agree with you 90 percent, that’s never enough. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The reality is that is not an answer, either. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here is the problem: Political views have been ruined by three key components: Social media, traditional media and sports. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I could write volumes on the first two. But in sports, we pick sides. We support our teams. Our players are better than yours. Our fans are better. You are an idiot or loser if you don’t agree with me. (Or, my personal favorite, ‘looser.’)</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In sports, that’s fine. Sports is supposed to be fun. It’s entertainment. It’s an escape. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; white-space: pre-wrap;">(I told you there was a sports take).</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But opinions like that don’t work when we are talking about things that actually matter in our everyday lives. Policies are important. What we discuss shapes our society. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So my plea is simple; let’s start a little at a time by trying to find common ground. By actually looking at what the other person is saying and analyze it without already having our minds made up, issue by issue. Then let’s make the best decision for our community. No, that is not easy. It takes work. But isn’t that better than apathy, and even worse, hyperbole? </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If we can’t find that common ground, then it is perfectly acceptable to take a stand for what you believe. In fact, our country was founded on doing just that. But when we are rigid in everything, we accomplish nothing. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know I am screaming into a wind tunnel here. But if you are still reading, I plan to do just that; take a stand. And I hope I can do it respectfully.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I support Prop B in Houston. The prop will give firefighters equal pay to police. I will start by saying I believe both are criminally underpaid, and we should find other ways to save money than at the expense of these two groups. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But firefighters have not had a raise since 2011. The starting salary is $28,000 a year. At that, a fireman can’t even live in the city he or she is protecting. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Opponents - including Mayor Sylvester Turner - say that passing of the ballot would lead to layoffs and a 30 percent increase in salaries. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even if that number is accurate, and for the sake of argument we will assume it is, then it would still be less than 5 percent per year for some of the most important people in our community; <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Vote-for-Prop-B-to-give-Houston-firefighters-the-13232552.php&source=gmail&ust=1541014147075000&usg=AFQjCNFfODq0OXpvrqtSGCK1AV1wRSLL6g" href="https://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Vote-for-Prop-B-to-give-Houston-firefighters-the-13232552.php" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">people who were woefully underpaid to begin with. </a></span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mayor Turner is staunch in his opposition to Prop B. This is where I am supposed to question his motives or intellect. But the truth is, I respect Mayor Turner. I voted for Mayor Turner. He has done a lot in this city I agree with, and some things I disagree with. (Um, about the sex robot brothel ban, Sylvester...sorry, had to inject a little levity).</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But I am against him on this one issue. And I am sure there will be others. But that won’t likely stop me from voting for him again. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s OK if you agree with the Mayor. In the spirit of fairness, y</span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Turner-Vote-against-Prop-B-because-firefighters-13232553.php&source=gmail&ust=1541014147075000&usg=AFQjCNGW3AfFgPi9HhjdOgmS7JFVxHthHg" href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Turner-Vote-against-Prop-B-because-firefighters-13232553.php" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ou can (and should) read his take here</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I think the city can budget better and make other sacrifices, but I am not the one having to balance all of that. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you think the public should not be dragged into contract negotiations, I respect that opinion and do not fault it. In fact, in most instances I would agree with you. But I also believe the firefighters have exhausted all possibilities. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And they don’t just fight fires. They pull you out of your car when you are in accident. Their EMTs help you when you are hurt. They are the first responders we deal with most. They risk their lives to save ours. When I had my accident, the first friendly face I saw was HFD. When my former sister in law’s house was struck by lightning in the middle of the night, they were there to put out the fire with lightning bouncing all around them. When I witnessed an accident with a pregnant woman, they calmed her down, pulled her out of the wreckage and got her to the hospital. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I believe they are the backbone of our city and some of the most important people in Houston. And they deserve my support. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And if you choose to vote against it, I understand your opinion. If the public turns it down, I will support them as they find another way to be treated not just fairly, but humanely. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So please, do your own research. Make the best decision for your community and yourself. And I will still respect you either way. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maybe we can start right there. Was that so hard?</span></div>
Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-89236069576819092132018-03-28T12:30:00.001-05:002018-03-28T12:30:48.315-05:00Back on the blog, and a giant bean sparks city on city crime<i><br />So since the death of Houstonsportsandstuff.com, there really is no place for fiction or things that have nothing to do with sports. So I will post things that are inappropriate for SportsMap here from time to time. This was inspired by a giant bean.</i><br /><div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For some reason, with any controversy these days, we slap a “gate” on the end. And lo and behold, Houston finds itself mired in just such a national quarrel.<br /><br />Call it “Beangate.” <br /><br />OK, let’s not. “Gate” is overused and a copycat term, and since the city is basically being accused of doing just that, let’s use something different. In fact, the impetus of all this is a structure called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate">Cloud Gate.</a><br /><br />So maybe we will go with something more simple: “Bean angst?”<br /><br />It all started when Houston’s <a href="https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2018/03/26/275254/move-over-chicago-houston-has-a-bean-now-too/">Museum of Fine Arts got a new statue</a>, a work by British sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor entitled “Cloud Column.” The structure is similar to a work he did for Chicago, “Cloud Gate,” better known as the famous Bean. Chicago’s structure is awesome and a tourist draw. Houston is obviously hoping for some of the same.<br /><br />(Plus, who doesn’t want a structure from a “Sir?” It adds class and dignity. And who would not want to have Sir in front of their name? Sir Fred Faour. See? It’s a game changer.)<br /><br />The problem is our good friends in the Windy City are somewhat upset over Houston getting the new work of art, albeit it a vertical version of the Bean. In particular, a reporter named Kim Janssen of the <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chicagoinc/ct-met-houston-bean-0328-chicago-inc-20180327-story.html">Chicago Tribune is particularly bothered</a>. Janssen did his best to troll the good people of Houston. <br /><br />Said Janssen: “If being surrounded by a cultureless abyss insufficiently communicates to confused tourists that they are in Houston, the bean’s verticality will therefore act as an additional reminder of their poor life choices.”<br /><br />Let’s toss in the headline for good measure: “Unoriginal 4th place Houston gets its own bean sculpture... whatever”<br /><br />And, of course, now <a href="http://abc13.com/society/stingy-chicago-throws-tantrum-over-houstons-bean-sculpture/3267603/">Houstonians are in an uproar </a>over being called a “cultureless abyss.”<div>
<br />That qualifies as trash talk? That gets our city up in arms?</div>
<div>
<br />I would love to bash Chicago and come to our defense. But in truth, we brought it on ourselves. The headline on the story linked above in Houston? “Move over, Chicago, Houston has a bean now, too.” Yes, one could see why that would be considered “unoriginal.” <br /><br />Janssen seems more upset that Houston is going to pass Chicago as the third largest city sometime in the next decade. He writes, “the (Houston) metro area gained 94,417 residents in 2017, while the Chicago metro area lost 13,286 residents. If that trend continues, Houston could eclipse Chicago as the nation’s third largest city in the next 10 years.” Bad news, Kim, that trend has been going on for quite some time...Whatever.<br /><br />I would love to list all the reasons why Houston is not a “cultureless abyss,” but if you live here, you already know them all. (And you won’t find an actual “abyss” in Houston other than the potholes). And I would also love to bash Chicago. But the reality is it’s a great city. I have spent a lot of time there, especially in the past two years. Sure, it has its negatives -- if you fly in via Midway, there is a *67.5 percent chance you will be murdered on the Uber ride to downtown. (*-based on watching episodes of Chicago P.D.). But it’s not like we don’t have our own questionable areas (“Gunspoint,” anyone?)<br /><br /><a href="https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/millennium_park.html">Millenium Park,</a> home of the original Bean, is awesome and we have nothing like it here. Chicago’s downtown is loaded with excellent restaurants, bars and amazing architecture. It remains the cultural center of the Midwest. The craft beer scene is fantastic. Lou Malnati’s, Giordano’s and Gino’s pizza are personally responsible for at least 10 of my pounds. <br /><br />Of the art we have collected for our home, everything is from Houston except two works, both purchased from a Chicago artists. I have Blackhawks gear I like to wear. So I would be hypocritical to bash the city. And I get the angst. Chicago has always been third fiddle in terms of culture behind New York and Los Angeles, and now some upstart is about to pass them for third largest city. Go cry in your multiple sports titles and terrific beer and food scene, Chicago. And, oh, by the way, you still have a lot of unique structures that no one will ever be able to match. <div>
<br />And I will not give Houston a pass for the “move over, Chicago” bit. Our fine city has long had an inferiority complex. “Dallas gets a TV show. Wah. Austin gets to be the cool place. Wah. We didn’t get a space shuttle. Wah.”<br /><br />“We get a bean, too, and can be just like Chicago!” Whatever.<br /><br />It would also be wrong to make fun of the writer who trolled Houston. That’s what trolls want, right? For you to come after them? Why would I take that bait? After all, his name is Kim. Unless you are Korean or a talented Canadian rocker or actor (Kim Mitchell, Kim Coates), your parents are dooming you to mediocrity at birth. I would never make fun of that. <br /><br />And there is no way I would mention that a reporter for a major newspaper has less than 4,000 Twitter followers. What has he been covering? Bake sales? Dog walks? Only someone from a cultural abyss would go there. So I won’t.<br /><br />And there is no way I would bring up that newspapers in general are so desperate for relevance and survival they resort to trolling. That would be unoriginal of me. <div>
<br />So yes, Houston now has a bean. Should the brilliant work of a famous artist not be displayed because it is similar to something he did elsewhere? Should it just be locked away somewhere? There was a time when imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. Where someone would say, “hey look, they want to be like us. Cool! Thank you!” Instead, we resort to insults. <br /><br />Then again, maybe you guys are the copycats; trying to steal our inferiority complex. So...Cool! Thank you!<br /><br />Whatever.<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-78321882033929350552016-07-28T20:35:00.000-05:002016-07-28T20:47:48.928-05:00No, really, the blog is back for real this time...I have no choiceYeah, yeah, I have said that before. I had been using this for non-sportsy stuff. But as you might know by now, Examiner.com no longer exists, and I need a place to start posting sports takes.<br />
(No big loss. The site was a bitch to post on and I am not sorry to see it go). The only difference now is I will be doing it for free for the time being.<br />
<br />
I am looking at some other sites, but until then, I will be posting my Texans/Houston sports articles here and will hopefully be hitting up some more non sports stuff as well. Now that the novel is finished I should have more time to put stupid stuff on here for your entertainment. (Well, hopefully you will be entertained).<br />
<br />
So this is basically to let everyone know where they can get my articles now. If you aren't familiar with this blog, well, now you know. I am working on some new fiction that will be appearing here as well and some TV thoughts, music thoughts and other generic stuff. Hopefully you will enjoy it.<br />
<br />
--------------------<br />
<br />
We just returned from our yearly trip to Saskatchewan, where as usual we had a nice, relaxing two weeks. Clearwater Lake really is in the middle of nowhere. From Houston, it's a two and a half hour flight to Minneapolis, a two hour flight to Regina, and a four-hour drive to the lake from there. But it is a wonderful, relaxing place. (The photo below is our view from the lake house).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkcVy0PUvQKoGAOTG9HZi3_P3T6HKPmRIju0e9hVbMzzTut0oeriJF5uizHbvHHgPILW674j8L96lgyddwuZm6AQ_e0H4jYhG5-KOAbDNC4GZ4qyf2KLdyZd13GlQVt7_e4iHVE1rvG0o/s1600/13709807_10208265230442683_7798835183164081700_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkcVy0PUvQKoGAOTG9HZi3_P3T6HKPmRIju0e9hVbMzzTut0oeriJF5uizHbvHHgPILW674j8L96lgyddwuZm6AQ_e0H4jYhG5-KOAbDNC4GZ4qyf2KLdyZd13GlQVt7_e4iHVE1rvG0o/s320/13709807_10208265230442683_7798835183164081700_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The closest town is Kyle, population 500 (roughly). And yes, the photo below is from one of our few restaurant choices. I don't know why I find it so funny, but I do.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZWgkE2TZMm0fEae_SOVke17OUijdQuvOsMRtBQFJeHstw57yjja4YI4ObtOT4Rli8493oSHu2qHiTh2ch4rwrPyZ4ssQLSF7LgjY8Y-5x6b6m5_3DVx8jKhGs45ohj9ZHwPg7yKFIndA/s1600/CnnaDt5VUAAC6hH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZWgkE2TZMm0fEae_SOVke17OUijdQuvOsMRtBQFJeHstw57yjja4YI4ObtOT4Rli8493oSHu2qHiTh2ch4rwrPyZ4ssQLSF7LgjY8Y-5x6b6m5_3DVx8jKhGs45ohj9ZHwPg7yKFIndA/s320/CnnaDt5VUAAC6hH.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Believe it or not, the Chinese food was really decent. I never got around to trying Heidi's burger.<br />
<br />
Anyway, thanks for reading and expect a lot of sports and non sports here starting very soon. Really.<br />
<br />
<br />Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-4155793984217636112016-03-30T16:20:00.000-05:002016-03-30T16:20:01.989-05:00Five TV shows you should be watching...So there will be no apologies for lack of recent posts or promises to post more. I suck, I know it, no worries. Most of my creative energy goes into the radio show, and most of my spare time has gone into building our audio book business. I had to take a day off from the show to get caught up on this and my other blog, in addition to dealing with some audio book business.<br />
<br />
However, I did want to throw out some TV shows you might not know about for binge watching purposes. Banshee is coming back this week, and by now you know that and Game of Thrones are my Nos. 1 and 1A. But if you aren't on the five shows below, you should be...(These aren't in order of preference).<br />
<br />
<b>Mr Robot.</b> My good friend Jamin (@rottweiler2000 on twitter, worth a follow) turned me on to this. Best way to describe it? Fight Club, Orphan Black and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo have a threesome and this is their kid. Christian Slater (yeah, remember him?) is amazing. Only one season, but it was outstanding. Drags a little in the middle episodes, but the last four are through the roof.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmFyUenDzDNgszjCIDg3Gmfdg8BSjXugezfaqiCjoo-hVwyD6JzxezABf6xZLlkCbxO-1LeSYxslbiG92HD5gUm4B3ymKxwpJm7X9g0U7BbOWDahs4g_vHpIbR45jqfq3A1XgJBd46dG4/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmFyUenDzDNgszjCIDg3Gmfdg8BSjXugezfaqiCjoo-hVwyD6JzxezABf6xZLlkCbxO-1LeSYxslbiG92HD5gUm4B3ymKxwpJm7X9g0U7BbOWDahs4g_vHpIbR45jqfq3A1XgJBd46dG4/s1600/download.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Tatiana Maslany is my second favorite Canadian. Sexy and a brilliant actress.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<b>Orphan Black</b>. Tatiana Maslany is an amazing Canadian actress who plays several clones. How she hasn't won an emmy is a mystery. Terrific acting, and if you are a sci fi fan, this is a must. First episode is confusing, but if you stick with it, you will fall in love with this show.<br />
<br />
<b>Outsiders.</b> I admit it, I had my doubts when WGN was doing a series. But this hillbilly vs. establishment narrative is much better than expected. Solid acting -- very Sons of Anarchy like -- and an interesting plot. Worth the time and effort.<br />
<br />
<b>Better Call Saul</b>. If you are a Breaking Bad fan, this is a must. If you aren't? Binge watch Bad and then get on this. Clever, well written and the acting is off the charts. Actually has fewer slow episodes than Bad.<br />
<br />
<b>John Oliver's Last Week Tonight. </b>OK, this is out of the genres above, but if you like informed, funny, investigative journalism, this is a must. The current season has focused on more mainstream topics, but past years brought some amazing topics to light. He's funny, topical, down the middle politically and you will learn something each week.<br />
<br />
Just missing the list is Vinyl. I was extremely excited about this because it was Martin Scorsese. But it has dragged, become predictable, and is shaping up as a bad Goodfellas. There is still time to salvage it, but they did not have enough subject matter for it to be a TV series. As a 3-hour movie? Would have been awesome.<br />
<br />
So that should get you binge watching for a while. And I promise to post more often...never mind.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-63019842870593480322015-10-22T20:52:00.006-05:002015-10-22T20:52:58.774-05:00Launching a new venture<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMdbw4ihIm_qBq7LfDmMgdP2pw1w3HR-I5iTJ71YijajfE6mdQ-8r1xQju5XqFwtJaOtgwdwwojXk9c5NeJZxLSr7G8NLUd2Xt5rrkVT8F51LGN52lkvmyITOr7uVqaRNoyglSvl6GvQo/s1600/unnamed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMdbw4ihIm_qBq7LfDmMgdP2pw1w3HR-I5iTJ71YijajfE6mdQ-8r1xQju5XqFwtJaOtgwdwwojXk9c5NeJZxLSr7G8NLUd2Xt5rrkVT8F51LGN52lkvmyITOr7uVqaRNoyglSvl6GvQo/s320/unnamed.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Today marked the birth of a new business, and one that I hope will bring joy to many people and perhaps change the way we absorb information.<br />
<br />
I have a new job, one that is part of an exciting future. No, I am not leaving radio. The Blitz will continue to endure for the foreseeable future. However, as part of my new duties at Gow Media, I will also be Executive Director of Gow Media Audio Publications, a new arm of the Gow empire. We will be publishing audio books, easily downloadable to both laptops and mobile devices.<br />
<br />
To that end, I am pleased to introduce our first project: An Introduction to Sports Betting, Blitz Style, by myself and A.J. Hoffman. It is an original book available only on audio. This is a key part of our vision for this business, but more on that in a moment.<br />
<br />
This particular audio book is for those who are interested in sports betting and want to know more of the terminology and strategies. It is designed for a beginner, but it also has several strategies that will help veteran players as well. We specifically do not want to encourage people to bet who aren't already doing it, but simply help people who are do a better job at it. I am very proud of the project and the people who worked hard to make it happen, specifically A.J., editor/producer Micheal Carrell, our internet genius Brandon Strange and Jorge Ortiz, who has been managing the site and helped get it up and running. Without them, this would not have happened.<br />
<br />
As far as what's next....we will be releasing an updated version of my how-to horse racing book, Acing Racing, sometime before the end of the year. We also have an exciting project by Craig Shelton on the history of Houston hip hop, which should be out by Christmas. Of all these projects, only Acing Racing is available in print, and the new version will contain significantly more information than the original.<br />
<br />
In January, we will move to phase 2, which is an expansion into several new realms. Children's books. How-to manuals. Autobiographies. We want all original content not available anywhere else. Eventually we hope to do text books and more. The sky is the limit.<br />
<br />
We will do some audio versions of already published material, but our main goal is to provide original content that fits better in the audio realm. I do not wish to get people to stop reading. I merely want to take advantage of our vast audio capabilities to bring new, fresh ideas to the public.<br />
<br />
We are going to keep the unit costs well below what you would expect to pay for an audio book, simply because our overhead and production costs are much lower as we have all the equipment we need as part of the Gow Media operation. If you have a concept that you think would be well-received, email me at faour975@gmail.com with your idea.<br />
<br />
In the interim, if you are interested in sports betting, please check this out for the low, low price of $12.99. It's just under three hours of great information, some of which you have probably heard on our show, but all of it in one place. <a href="http://gowmediapublishing.com/">The link is here.</a> Listen while you work out, or while you are trying to ignore people at work.<br />
<br />
I am excited about this particular audio book, but am incredibly fired up about what we will produce in the future. I believe we will bring great information to the public at affordable prices in a medium that is still growing. <br />
<br />
I am proud to be a part of Gow Media, and I believe this new venture will change the way we get our information in an ever-changing media world. I hope you will join me in embracing the future.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-33208939973186841972015-06-18T09:19:00.002-05:002015-06-18T09:42:46.926-05:00Auctioning off a piece of Astros history <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5NJlWfHDVs-lt5S8tthCOsE_Pq4hF-XPiXKbZTiDmzagznr-MciLbQOC2Qs1-to6o8haDCnZovPC0LaLje4ulSbrzSCV6DwyUwqw9hOWrIFZAqTVKTrc40ja-R3HzceVpe0dCFI06g3Y/s1600/stone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5NJlWfHDVs-lt5S8tthCOsE_Pq4hF-XPiXKbZTiDmzagznr-MciLbQOC2Qs1-to6o8haDCnZovPC0LaLje4ulSbrzSCV6DwyUwqw9hOWrIFZAqTVKTrc40ja-R3HzceVpe0dCFI06g3Y/s320/stone.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
If you are an Astros fan, you might remember this. It appeared on the front page of the Houston Chronicle on June 1, 2005. We essentially buried the Astros, who were off to a historically bad start. You might also remember they recovered and appeared in the World Series for the only time.<br />
<br />
What you are looking at is the original slick page proof. To my knowledge, it is the only one in existence. It is, in essence, the original Astros tombstone and the only one of its kind. It appeared on Fox TV during the World Series. It has been copied and referred to many times since.<br />
<br />
It has been sitting in storage, and it's time for it to find a real home.<br />
<br />
This is a throwback piece to a day when newspapers were still not just relevant, but the driving force behind journalism. If you want more details on how it came about, <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/the-real-story-behind-the-now-infamous-astros-tombstone">check out this article. </a> It details how I came up with the concept.<br />
<br />
This is truly a piece of Houston sports history. I had the original proof framed when I was sports editor of the Chronicle. We often did this with pages we liked or historical moments. This is not newsprint, but a slick version that will hold up over time.<br />
<br />
When I resigned, it (along with several other front pages) was a going away gift.<br />
<br />
It should go to someone who will appreciate it and understand the historical significance.<br />
<br />
To that end, we will be auctioning it off on air Wednesday, June 24 on the Blitz on ESPN 97.5 in Houston. (You can also hear us on espn975.com, tuneinradio and the espn radio app). The auction will take place from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Central time. The call-in number is 713-780-3776. A portion of the proceeds will go to charity -- which charity and how much will be determined by the final price. There is a reserve price on it -- if it doesn't go for a predetermined amount I will keep it and donate it to a deserving home. I'm not looking to get rich. I am hoping to raise some money for a few of my favorite charities. A lot of people have asked about it, so we decided to try this.<br />
<br />
The 10-year anniversary happened at the beginning of this month and there was a lot of interest, and enough people remember it that it should be a popular item. The winning bidder will have the option of taking it as is or having it signed by myself and Jose de Jesus Ortiz, who wrote the article. It is truly a collector's item and something that should be on display, not sitting in a storage locker.<br />
<br />
If you are interested, tune in to the show on the 24th.Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-9496736297569000462015-04-15T14:32:00.004-05:002015-04-15T14:32:56.084-05:00Spoiler alert: Justified will be remembered as one of the best shows of a golden era<i><b>First off, a reminder we are still taking donations for cancer research for the Terry Fox run. To donate, <a href="https://thedriven.net/fundraising.donate_payment/eid/1690024568">click here</a>.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<i><b>To participate, <a href="https://thedriven.net/event.race_reg/eid/1690024568">click here: </a></b></i><br />
<br />
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
<br />
Justified ended its six-year run on Tuesday night with a finale that was a damned near perfect microcosm of what the show was about.<br />
<br />
<i>Spoiler alert: Yes there are spoilers here so stop if you have not seen it yet.</i><br />
<br />
The show itself is part of a golden age of TV. The last few years has brought us Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and a slew of other near-great shows. Non-network TV allows writers and actors to take chances and delve into subjects that the big boys will not.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0Tf0lbq3CeLgNfQP3bp6-wO_glN27ZEr2xatHjpOfpWa8G7obqVjGIacXULMTg0mT3hRN4FNS_PvmNh5jy3oDpjwLDZXRlN6a5k5awL1YdxJ0orMfn3sv4Bze-Vz9G0xQ8KmHg8tfEw/s1600/justified-finale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0Tf0lbq3CeLgNfQP3bp6-wO_glN27ZEr2xatHjpOfpWa8G7obqVjGIacXULMTg0mT3hRN4FNS_PvmNh5jy3oDpjwLDZXRlN6a5k5awL1YdxJ0orMfn3sv4Bze-Vz9G0xQ8KmHg8tfEw/s1600/justified-finale.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raylan did get to kill one more character (FX photo)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the final analysis, Justified will go down as one of the all-time great shows. From the snappy, clever dialogue to the excellent acting, the show always stood out from its contemporaries. And unlike shows like Mad Men, it never fell off a cliff into writing oblivion. And unlike Sons of Anarchy, it provided a perfect finale that didn't try to shove maudlin, overdone imagery down our throats.<br />
<br />
Some scenes truly stood out. In the end, it was Boyd who killed Avery and his minions, when it looked all along like it was headed for a showdown with Raylan. And of course, that led to the Boyd/Raylan showdown we waited for six years to happen.<br />
<br />
And unpredictably, Boyd would not participate. It was a fitting and surprising moment.<br />
<br />
The incredibly greasy and unlikeable Boon did draw on Raylan, however. And it was another moment that we didn't really see coming.<br />
<br />
Moments before the showdown, the "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" music plays as Raylan and Ava are driving. Then Boon hits the car from behind and they face off in the street. Raylan kills Boon, but is also shot and appears dead.<br />
<br />
For a moment, you actually thought that was the end for Raylan. It was perfectly set up. But he was merely grazed. Ava escapes, Raylan says his goodbyes (including an incredibly powerful scene with Art) and the timeframe ends.<br />
<br />
It then jumps ahead four years to an epilogue, which rarely works with a show. But this one did. The presumed main characters are back where they started. Raylan is in Florida doting on his daughter. Boyd is in jail and back to preaching.<br />
<br />
The characters who truly moved on are the females -- Ava and Winona. Ava has escaped and is in hiding in California, presumably with a chunk of the missing money. (The rest, we presume, is with the ultimate cockroach of the show, Wynn Duffy). Winona has a new man who seems to get along with Raylan and is living a normal life.<br />
<br />
In the end, it might have been Ava and Winona who were driving the show all along, and Raylan and Boyd were the bit characters.<br />
<br />
The scene with Raylan and Ava was charming and closed the door on their relationship, with the big reveal being Boyd's chunky son, which evokes yet another snarky line from Raylan.<br />
<br />
And the final scene was pure gold. Raylan and Boyd one more time, with Raylan pretending to fall back on their old code to outsmart his nemesis once again to make Boyd think Ava is dead.<br />
<br />
A few things are left to our imagination, notably whether or not Loretta becomes the queen of Harlan County. But those are good things to speculate on, and the shows final moments were simply perfect. Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins brought the characters to life like few ever have.<br />
<br />
It was filled with emotion. Snark. Great acting. Just like all six seasons. The show ended at a perfect time with a result that was neither forced nor unbelievable.<br />
<br />
The characters we love most all left Harlan alive, and went right back where they started. The six years in between marked a wonderful ride for all of us, one that will eventually be remembered as one of the best shows in a golden age of television.<br />
<br />
<br />Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-13765202159931609442015-04-03T15:04:00.001-05:002015-04-03T15:04:24.053-05:00A plea for help...but the blog is backSo I know this blog has been dormant for a while. I promise to fix that (I know, I have said that before). But my son has shamed me into writing more and who wants to disappoint their kid? (I am extremely proud of him. He wants to get in the creative writing program at UH. He will be a big star someday. His writing is phenomenal. He thinks it is better than his dad's, but what teenager doesn't?).<br />
<br />
This is pretty straightforward. I will be back with some new fiction soon. I miss doing this blog. Going back and looking, there is some fun stuff on here. I need to get back to that.<br />
<br />
As you all know, I hate cancer. Most of you knew <a href="http://freddysworldblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/farewell-to-friend.html">Terry Hayes and her struggles before she passed</a>. MD Anderson was terrific to her.<br />
<br />
We have all lost someone to cancer or known someone who beat it. Those of you who know me have seen me post all these running photos lately. I have gotten into running 5ks and 10ks and biking like a fiend.<br />
<br />
So the <a href="https://www.thedriven.net/event.race_reg/eid/1690024568">Terry Fox Run</a> -- which the Canadian Club of Houston has brought to our fair city -- combines all those things. A hatred for cancer. A chance to run. Oh yeah, a Canadian connection, which never sucks, since my Canuck friends have branded me an honorary Canadian.<br />
<br />
I'm hoping you will all participate and then we will all go downtown and party like fiends after. If you can't, please donate a<a href="https://www.thedriven.net/fundraising.donate_payment/eid/1690024568"> few bucks here.</a> Let's let cancer know we think it sucks and we hate it.<br />
<br />
This is a cool run. There is no set donation, so you can donate a dollar and run. It's all about what you can spare, and more importantly raising awareness. So let's do this together.<br />
<br />
I promise more weirdness here soon. But for now, let's treat cancer like it is Ed Norton in the shower in American History X.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-69481510973272263892014-03-15T13:59:00.001-05:002014-03-16T14:51:34.974-05:00If you aren't watching Banshee, you should beBanshee is a terrific, well conceived show on Cinemax.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<i>SPOILER ALERT: Some info about both seasons is revealed here. It is not a pure review, so there aren't many, and you can probably read this if you haven't seen the show yet. (Hopefully it will get you to watch it). But there are some general details about characters and plot that are unavoidable. Also, it is definitely an R-rated type show, so if you aren't about that...)</i><br />
<br />
If you heard Friday's Blitz, you heard Matt Rauch, who plays Clay Burton on the show, a delightfully creepy, sinister Tom Hagen to Ulrich Thomsen's Michael Corleone.<br />
<br />
The show is unique in that it features a cast of characters that are complex, full of secrets and not afraid to cross the line. But with each of them there is a sort of nobility -- a code -- that makes them likeable.<br />
<br />
A sheriff can be a complete phony and a master thief, yet you love the character and root for him.<br />
<br />
An Amish mob boss who kills at the drop of a hat and is on the verge of committing incest might be he most compelling character on the show.<br />
<br />
And that's just two of the remarkably crafted characters. Show creators Jonathan Tropper and David Shickler have done a masterful job of storytelling, but the characters themselves are the true gems of this show. (They have also done a fantastic job of casting. Other than solid character actors Matt Servitto, Frankie Faison and Thomsen, most of them are newcomers, and all are wonderful actors. Rauch is terrific, as is Hoon Lee -- whose character Job is my favorite on the show -- and the delightfully sexy Lili Simmons, who plays Rebecca. She also played Beth in True Detective).<br />
<br />
All of the characters -- no matter what their flaws -- have a base code that inexorably links them, whether they are at odds or on the same side. It revolves around family, and a deep seated need to protect that. In this case, there is both natural family and earned/surrogate family, and the same code exists between both. I believe it is this base human construct that makes all of the characters so likeable. No matter what, there is a nobility and honor. It connects because they are like all of us; they are flawed, have secrets, and make questionable decisions. In the end, though, they do have redeemable qualities.<br />
<br />
The Kai/Hood relationship will remind you of Boyd/Raylan in Justified. OrOften at odds, sometimes on the same team, always with a matter of respect.<br />
<br />
When I was a professor teaching media studies, I often lectured on levels of consciousness. (I mention this in the <a href="http://freddysworldblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/true-detective-or-defective-last.html">True Detective review)</a> On the base level (1), you ca enjoy this show for its pure action, shooting scenes, violence and gratuitous sex. But if you dig deeper, you are tapping in to a commonality of emotion; of secrets and desires. It will take you as deep as level 6 or 7.<br />
<br />
Season 2 ended Sunday night, and if you haven't seen it, Banshee is a terrific binge watch. It reminds me in some ways of another HBO produced classic, Deadwood.<br />
<br />
It remains to be seen if the show can continue on that arc (season 3 is already in the works), but so far, it's been fantastic.<br />
<br />
It's simply a clever, well-conceived show and it is worth the watch.<br />
<br />
-----------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
On another note, several people have asked me if I have any interest in writing or producing a movie or TV series. It's always intrigued me. I once wrote a Tales From the Crypt that never saw the light of day because the show ended. Once <a href="http://freddysworldblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-first-chapter-of-my-novel-and-some.html">Jesus i</a>s finished, we're hoping to convert it to a script and make a movie out of it. We potentially have the funding and I think it could happen fairly soon. (And yes, it is close to being done. I could also see Matthew Rauch as Louis). I'm also thinking<a href="http://freddysworldblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/want-to-beat-falcon-here-is-your.html"> Dust to Dust</a> might have some longterm potential in a visual medium. It's probably why I like edgy, quality shows that take chances. I admire people who do it well and am frustrated by those who miss opportunities.<br />
<br />
I do think this is the golden age of television. HBO raised the bar with The Sopranos and Deadwood, and FX has taken it and run with it as well, as has AMC. They take chances. They pull together compelling characters in bizarre situations and aren't afraid to tackle difficult subjects. BBC is brilliant at it as well. For those of us who enjoy great dramas, this is a terrific time to be alive, and yes it would be fun to be involved with that someday.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDSd9Lg9Ord4z0Dt5Icn8ucWuvhEF1li46_Q28i3eAN_e3ZGWWIxEk8EamvAtYkoN2CAoX4mEHLU6pz4mUVtFZuH5akykjIPJ7Hzx4UPt4dEq6WnobMvnyck1gOLXX1_Ogwb7GVSBd9sEG/s800/Banshee+season1+billboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDSd9Lg9Ord4z0Dt5Icn8ucWuvhEF1li46_Q28i3eAN_e3ZGWWIxEk8EamvAtYkoN2CAoX4mEHLU6pz4mUVtFZuH5akykjIPJ7Hzx4UPt4dEq6WnobMvnyck1gOLXX1_Ogwb7GVSBd9sEG/s800/Banshee+season1+billboard.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-36711410166441644322014-03-11T12:16:00.003-05:002014-03-11T12:25:21.384-05:00True Detective or defective? Last episode sets off a (bleep) stormIf you got into the show True Detective on HBO, you were treated to one of the most compelling TV experiences in quite some time. The acting by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson was off the charts. The side stories were bizarre and disturbing. The underlying darkness and constantly evolving grips on reality made it a terrific viewing experience.<br />
<br />
Until the finale, which drew widespread criticism on social media. It left questions unanswered. Some of the plot points came out of left field. In the end, the story wasn't what we thought it was at all.<br />
<br />
In the end, the story was pretty simple: It was a buddy series. The final scene was reminiscent of the end of Lethal Weapon 2, with a shot up Riggs and Murtaugh waiting for the cavalry. Darker? Yes. More bizarre? Of course. But in the end, that's what the whole thing was about.<br />
<br />
The driving force is McConaughey's Rust Cohle. His path through the years is tied to a dark past and a cynical metaphysical approach that develops. As he and Marty (Harrelson) develop through the years, their characters become more alike.<br />
<br />
The first five episodes threw conspiracy theories and hints on who might have been the real killer. There was a sinister "group" out there and the question seemed to be how deep did it go? Hints were everywhere.<br />
<br />
Viewers speculated the show was full of "Easter Eggs;" in truth, they were all old school red herrings. In fact, they were really butterflies. We would chase them and get nowhere, then chase the next after it was released. They were creatures that were distractions.<br />
<br />
The last two took a significant turn; the older detectives team up to solve the case they failed on years before. In the end, they solve it, become close, and find some form of redemption -- Marty with his family, Rust with a somewhat hard to believe spiritual connection with his dead daughter. Marty even finds the key clue, when it was Rust carrying him for most of the show. They caught the monster -- one that had eluded police for years and clearly finally wanted to be caught -- and won.<br />
<br />
And that was that.<br />
<br />
All the side stories were just that; butterflies. That frustrated a lot of viewers, who expected more.<br />
<br />
The conspiracy theories were dismissed in one exchange late:<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Cohle says, we didn’t get them all. But they got a branch from a big rotten tree, and Hart says, we got ours, and basically, the rest of the tree is up to other people.</span><br />
<br />
One of the most brilliant movies ever made was Fight Club. One of the things I used to teach was see things on deeper levels. On level 1, Fight Club is about angry, disillusioned young men who create secret fight clubs. A person with a basic understanding can understand the movie on that level and enjoy it.<br />
<br />
But people who dig deeper see it for what it is: A metaphor for existentialism, where the main character has to destroy everything and rebuild -- "it's only when you have lost everything that you are free to do anything." On that level, as well as the socio/economic conflict and psychological levels, the movie is much more enjoyable. Every word is critical. You can enjoy Level 1, but on Level 10, you are seeing a perfect work that delves deep into philosophy and consciousness.<br />
<br />
(This is not a new concept. The Gnostic Christians believed it about Christianity in general).<br />
<br />
True Detective at times took us to those levels, but in the end, brought us back to level 1 and its most simple form. I can understand the frustration, but let's also consider the simple brilliance of it; the show constantly surprised us and kept us guessing. At the end, none of the wild conspiracies came through. It was much more simple than we all thought.<br />
<br />
There's something to be said for that, because it was clearly intentional.<br />
<br />
Years from now, I think people will appreciate this ending more, much as they did with the Sopranos. I understand the frustration, but I also see the simple brilliance of the show. The ending wasn't what people expected. I have yet to hear a ringing endorsement for it, just a lot of acceptance. Maybe that's all this post is about.<br />
<br />
I do think in time, critics will realize the last line was meant for them:<br />
<br />
"You're looking at it wrong. To me, the light is winning."<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://thisisinfamous.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Review-True-Detective-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://thisisinfamous.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Review-True-Detective-03.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-13945280005026581242014-02-12T13:57:00.002-06:002014-02-12T13:57:54.930-06:00The first chapter of my novel and some other Falcon fictionA few of you have asked how you can get a glimpse at some of my fiction. Well, here you go. Previously on this blog I published a couple short stories:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://freddysworldblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/want-to-beat-falcon-here-is-your.html">1) Dust to Dust,</a> a sequel to a vampire short story I wrote in 1985 before Blade hit the scene. You will see some similarities, but it is somewhat unique. I let it die once vampire stories became so rampant but I do think there is a novel in it someday.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://freddysworldblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/short-story-as-yet-untitled.html">2) Bless me Father,</a> a sort of Dexterish type short story about a Priest who hunts down pedophile priests. I wrote it during Hurricane Ike.<br />
<br />
And finally, here is the first chapter of my novel, Jesus Just Left Chicago. I am very close to finishing (finally). I am a binge writer, and I have been on a serious binge of late. If you like what you see, hopefully you will buy the whole thing when it comes out. The idea came from hearing the ZZ Top song one night driving home. I pondered the glorious question: If Jesus just left Chicago and is on his way to New Orleans, where would he go?<br />
<br />
The answer was simple. Sam Houston Race Park. And he would make everybody money.<br />
<br />
The result is a project I have been writing and revising for about 15 years. It is finally near the finish to the point where I feel I can share the first chapter.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>WARNING:</b> All of these have graphic content. If you are hyper-religious, then Father and this one are probably not for you. Enjoy.<br />
<br />
<b>JESUS JUST LEFT CHICAGO</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>THE BOOK OF LOUIS, CHAPTER ONE, VERSE ONE -- PARADISE LOST</b><br />
<br />
My name is Louis. I killed Jesus.<br />
<br />
I have been trying to live with that. I can’t anymore. How do you live with killing Jesus?<br />
<br />
How do you live with the greatest crime in history? There’s no redemption for that. No forgiveness. Not from anyone.<br />
<br />
You must think I’m crazy. I’m not crazy. I am a little drunk. I’ve been trying to think of a way to deal with this, to come to grips with the greatest sin ever. Get it out of my head.<br />
<br />
This is what I have come up with: tell you the story. Get it all out there. Confess to you.<br />
<br />
Tell you why. Maybe you will believe me, maybe you won’t.<br />
<br />
One thing is for sure: I believe. I met Jesus. I was his friend.<br />
<br />
And I betrayed him. I killed him.<br />
<br />
There’s no real way to deal with that. Not much precedent. Tried to call Judas a few times and figure out what he did, but they don’t have a hotline to hell. Guess I will see soon enough, though. That will be a lonely spot at the bar in hell – Judas and me.<br />
<br />
I’m not there yet. Just in case, I bought a fifth of Jack Daniels. Black label, the good stuff. Don’t plan on taking any of it with me, though. Just thought I would start working on the bottle and writing my story.<br />
<br />
More than a story, really. The longest suicide note in history.<br />
<br />
My plan is pretty simple. When I get to the bottom of this bottle, I hope to have told you everything I know. And I hope someone will believe me. And then I am going to take this beautiful piece of cold, hard steel – a .45 my dad gave me a long time ago, with his initials carved on tiny letters on the trigger -- and blow my brains all over this computer.<br />
<br />
I wonder what that will look like. Will it spray? Will it splatter? Will it be black? Red?<br />
<br />
Will it clot? Will I see pieces of my own brain before I die? I wonder how many seconds I will have before it all goes dark.<br />
<br />
Before I go to hell.<br />
<br />
I wonder if it the bullet will go through my brain and destroy the computer. Wouldn’t that suck? My suicide note ruined in the blast? Wouldn’t that be ironic?<br />
<br />
Hell, maybe no one ever sees it. That would be the greatest sin of all.<br />
<br />
I’m going to write it anyway. Maybe my kids will get to see it. (I wonder how they will handle being the children of the most evil man ever? They will keep some therapists in business for a long ass time!) Maybe my ex wives. They won’t be surprised, that’s for sure. Oh well. I am writing it for whoever reads it. But mostly I am writing it for me.<br />
<br />
That’s all I ever really wanted to do anyway -- write. Like everything else, I was just never very good at it. At least not until Jesse showed up. Everything got better when Jesse Christian was around. (Sorry, Jesse was Jesus. I’ll get to that. Weak attempt to get you to keep reading. There’s some technique there, but I don’t remember what it’s called).<br />
<br />
I’m a little drunk. Did I mention that? I had a few beers before I started this Jack. I don’t usually drink beer. Always Jack. Jack and Coke. Turned Jesse onto it for a while, but he always went back to wine. Man, there’s something about Jack and Coke…smooth, a little sweet, a nice punch. Gets you there pretty quickly. Five or six really strong ones and you are good for the night.<br />
<br />
I don’t have any Coke, though. Today, it’s straight Jack. Except for the last little bit. I do have a Diet Coke, and I will mix it with that. Won’t be the same, but then I expect to be too drunk to care at that point. Just want my last drink to be Jack and Coke. Or close enough.<br />
<br />
(It's not as bad as the time when Kiddo No. 1 was an infant and all I had to mix it with was pedialyte. Ugh.)<br />
<br />
You probably think it should be red wine. No way I ever drink that again. Not after what I did.<br />
<br />
At least I have that glow. That warm, just-a-little-drunk glow. It’s all I have. And thanks to it, I can be honest with you.<br />
<br />
Of course, it’s probably why I failed so much as a writer. Probably stayed drunk too much.<br />
<br />
I have no idea how I became the most evil person in history. I mean, Hitler looks like a choir boy next to me. Wow. That’s a tough one to figure out. I was a good kid. Hell, I was an altar boy. Snuck a little wine every now and then, but who didn’t?<br />
<br />
I had good parents. My dad worked in the refineries. Got cancer from whatever stuff he inhaled every day and died at 50. My mom stayed at home and raised all of us. She wanted to be a romance novelist. I guess that’s where my interest in writing came from.<br />
<br />
She sucked at it, too. And I don’t think they had much of a romance. There was a neighbor who visited a lot. She only seemed happy around him. I figured out later they had been carrying on for years. Apparently he wasn’t her only beau, either. Guess I inherited her curse.<br />
<br />
I was always more like her, and I hated that. But I didn’t want to work in the refineries,either. I went to junior college, took writing classes, met a girl, got married, got a divorce. Wrote short stories for a while, then tried writing technical journals. Then I worked as a reporter. Covered all kinds of stuff for the local newspaper.<br />
<br />
I wasn’t very good at any of it. Stayed drunk too much. I think I mentioned that. But I<br />
enjoyed reporting. My favorite was the cop beat. That’s where you stayed at the police<br />
station, and went to cover stories when something weird happened. I saw a lot of cool<br />
stuff – double homicides, drug-related murders…all kinds of bloody stuff. Galveston had<br />
some bad people back then.<br />
<br />
Oh yeah, forgot to mention: I grew up in Galveston. That’s where I am now. Galveston<br />
is a failed port on the Texas coast. A nothing little island that’s a lot like New Orleans<br />
without the tourists or the French Quarter. (New Orleans is where I killed Jesus, by the<br />
way. We will get to that).<br />
<br />
Saw a lot of cool stuff in Galveston, mostly when I covered cops. Man, that beat was fun.<br />
One time I went with the police to an auto-pedestrian accident. The victim’s body was<br />
twisted under the tire base of an 18-wheeler, but he was still alive when we got there. He<br />
was breathing fast, blood everywhere, his body broken in all different ways. I wondered<br />
why he wouldn’t die. He just kept whispering, “forgive me. Forgive me.”<br />
<br />
I know it’s sick, but I laughed. “You are asking the wrong guy, chief.” He kept begging<br />
anyway. Right before he died, one of his eyes actually blew out of his head. He had some<br />
weird hemorrhage in his brain. Essentially, his eye exploded. He didn’t die right away,<br />
even then. He reached up with the one arm that was only partially broken and tried to put<br />
his eye back. I admired that.<br />
<br />
So did the paramedics. They gave him a shot of morphine as a reward. He had no chance, and they knew it. They could never have gotten his body out of the wheel base, even if he’d had a chance. It took them hours even after he died.<br />
<br />
I watched him die that night, just after midnight, a man I would never know. He was just<br />
road kill to me. But he wound up making an impact, because that night I decided I was<br />
truly sick. I enjoyed watching him die.<br />
<br />
My story in the paper the next day didn’t really do it justice.<br />
<br />
It read like this:<br />
<br />
“GALVESTON – A Texas City man was killed when he was struck by a tractor-trailer<br />
<br />
truck Monday night at Highway 45 and 61st<br />
<br />
John Economy, 27, was attempting to cross highway 45 on foot at night when he was struck by the vehicle.<br />
<br />
He died at the scene.<br />
<br />
Economy was unemployed and had no known address and no known living relatives. He graduated from Texas City High School in 1983 as class Valedictorian.<br />
<br />
Services are pending.”<br />
<br />
I always wondered about John Economy. How he went from being the smartest kid in school to a guy who got killed crossing a freeway in the middle of the night. A guy who died begging for forgiveness, wrapped around the wheelbase of a Nabisco truck, his eye blown all over the pavement.<br />
<br />
I also wondered why I wrote such lousy news stories.<br />
<br />
I tried sports for a while, then features. Then I tried teaching. Then I met another woman, had another wife. Two kids. Another divorce, too. My fault this time. The curse of my mother.<br />
<br />
It occurred to me for no real reason that had John Economy lived, we would be the same age. We’d both be 43.<br />
<br />
I think John got it right. He checked out before he fucked up his life. I waited too long. I should have gone a long time ago. I think that’s what a truly smart, sick person realizes: you can’t escape the sickness. Mine was drinking and gambling. And I couldn’t get away from it.<br />
<br />
Most people with my sickness just go broke. I wound up killing Jesus.<br />
<br />
Damn. This Jack tastes good. I hope they have it in hell.<br />
<br />
I wish you could see this view. A little alcohol glaze really makes it beautiful. I rented a little condo on Galveston Bay. Fall is coming. It’s cool, and the sun is setting on the water.<br />
<br />
I doubt I will see the sunrise. I hope to be done before then.<br />
<br />
Something you should know about Galveston Bay: it’s dirty. It’s brown. You can’t see your feet when you walk in the water. But when the sun sets, it makes the ugly brown glimmer and shine. It gives it an odd, white-ish hue that looks almost like ice. Today, the horizon is framed with a huge thunderstorm just off the coast. The sun is behind the top of the huge, cumulus clouds, spreading a weird, orange color across the sky. It looked like someone set off an A-Bomb, and it the explosion stopped halfway through and froze itself in the sky.<br />
<br />
I came here because every important decision I made was done staring out over Galveston Bay or the Gulf of Mexico. Over this water, I decided to try to be a writer. I decided to get married. Twice.<br />
<br />
And divorced. Twice.<br />
<br />
And I decided to kill Jesse Christian. Turned out he was Jesus. Damn. Blew that one, huh?<br />
<br />
There is a comfort in this water. My life has been built around it. I’ve lived most of it here. Now I am going to die here.<br />
<br />
My name is Louis. I killed Jesus. I told you that already, didn’t I? Sorry, I’m a little drunk.<br />
<br />
Guess I better tell you how I killed him.Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-70436052739384382472014-02-07T11:08:00.002-06:002014-02-07T11:10:02.628-06:00Revisiting the best current shows on TV<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucdSGMuPrlpc78-UhTTw6RvnMhN2Dijy4g9ntVQMuYXYH2kW2O8LJYln-OmkXbuIi2P0AfrhtkypT_gAmN5XBNO3F66cPCsSS2ivtE6dAihNglHi2c4ywcKEgoV_sQuvQvethOVZPuuU/s1600/sherlock_benedict_cumberbatch_wallpaper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucdSGMuPrlpc78-UhTTw6RvnMhN2Dijy4g9ntVQMuYXYH2kW2O8LJYln-OmkXbuIi2P0AfrhtkypT_gAmN5XBNO3F66cPCsSS2ivtE6dAihNglHi2c4ywcKEgoV_sQuvQvethOVZPuuU/s1600/sherlock_benedict_cumberbatch_wallpaper.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Benedict Cumberbatch is brilliant in BBC's Sherlock.</div>
<br />
<br />
Sometime late in 2012<a href="http://freddysworldblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-10-best-shows-currently-on.html"> I posted a list of the best shows on TV at the time</a>. As always, these lists are subjective and certainly based on personal preference. I use the following criteria:<br />
<br />
1) Is the show clever? Unpredictable? Does it make me think or does it spoon-feed me plots?<br />
<br />
2) How is the writing? Is the dialogue well done? Does it engage me?<br />
<br />
3) Do I care about the characters or are their flaws so annoying that I don't root for them?<br />
<br />
4) Quality of acting.<br />
<br />
5) Consistency in episodes. Many have filler episodes or just bad ones during the course of a season. The best shows are events; they have no dead episodes.<br />
<br />
We rate each on a 1-10 scale.<br />
<br />
So with that in mind, here is the current list based on those criteria and my opinion. Shows like Breaking Bad (finished) and Copper (canceled) are no longer on the list. These are currently running shows (with one possible exception noted below). Network shows do not fare well; most are written for the LCD and ratings.<br />
<br />
<b>1) SHERLOCK, BBC (50 points)</b>. It just concluded season 3, and it was once again brilliant. This one scores a 10 in every category above. It's well written and conceived, the acting is off the charts and there simply isn't a bad episode. To be fair, it's more like a yearly mini series (three episodes, 1 1/2 hours each) but it is simply riveting. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are off the charts as Sherlock and Watson. Both have become major stars, but have agreed to two more seasons.<br />
<br />
<b>2) JUSTIFIED, FX (48). </b>Probably the best traditional series on TV in terms of a more than 10 episode per year set up. They have agreed to one more year, and the story ends from there. The late Elmore Leonard's fingerprints are all over this, especially in terms of the writing. It's clever, funny, and interesting. The acting -- especially Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins -- is pure brilliance. The characters -- even the rogues -- are loveable. The last two seasons have been the best yet. After a few dead episodes early on, everything the past two years has been terrific. Unlike a lot of shows, this one simply gets better each week.<br />
<br />
<b>3) GAME OF THRONES, HBO (44).</b> This past season featured perhaps the single greatest television episode in history with the Red Wedding. Overall it is incredibly well conceived and strays from the books enough to stand on its own. There are a lot of characters to follow (too many, in my opinion) and a few episodes that dragged a little keep it from matching the top two.<br />
<br />
<b>4) LUTHER, BBC (43).</b> The series appeared to end this year, so this one might not belong on the list. If so it wrapped up nicely. If not, would love to see it back. Idris Elba is fantastic as an on the edge detective who is always one step away from snapping.<br />
<br />
<b>5) SONS OF ANARCHY, FX (34). </b>It can get soap-opera-ish at times, and the writing is a little suspect, but the acting is terrific and the most recent season might have been the best yet. They went over the top quite a bit this year, and frankly I think Game of Thrones has raised the bar in terms of shock factor. A willingness to kill off one of your biggest stars (Ron Perlman) takes guts.<br />
<br />
The next group (no particular order)<br />
<br />
<b>BANSHEE,</b> Cinemax. Season 1 was terrific. Season 2 has been a little slow at times so we're reserving judgement until the end.<br />
<br />
<b>HELL ON WHEELS, </b>AMC. Was a little worried this one might get canceled when it was moved to the dreaded Saturday night slot, but it will be back for another year. Anson Mount is terrific.<br />
<br />
<b>WALKING DEAD</b>, AMC. Has devolved into a series of dead episodes and then an excellent one that makes you hang in there. Not great acting or writing, and the concept has probably played out, but I can't eject on it.<br />
<br />
<b>THE NEWSROOM, </b>HBO. It's got a lot of the Aaron Sorkin trademark in it -- more about relationships and everyone sleeping with each other against a backrop of a newsroom -- but it's also very solid. Season 2 was better than season 1. It will be interesting to see how season 3 plays out.<br />
<br />
<b>MAD MEN,</b> AMC. I remember when this show was one of the most brilliant on TV. Last season was absolutely awful; the writers have devolved into playing the "look ma, I got Emmys so I can be clever" game and the show has become a joke. One season left, but unless it rallies it is two seasons too many.<br />
<br />
<b>TRUE DETECTIVE, </b>HBO. This is a brand spanking new series that has been nothing short of brilliant through the first few episodes. Too early to judge, but so far, so good.<br />
<br />
<b>THE AMERICANS,</b> FX. Started off fast but started to drag at the end last year. Will give it another chance, but...<br />
<br />
<b>ELEMENTARY</b>, CBS. An imitation of Sherlock based in America with a nice twist -- Lucy Liu as Watson. The acting is strong, but watching it after watching Sherlock is like dating Rosie O'Donnell after Scarlet Johannson. It basically uses the same simplistic weekly plot as NCIS (the bad guy shows up in an early scene) but the acting performances make with worthwhile. It's a shame networks have to dumb things down.<br />
<br />
Shows I ejected on: Despite its Emmys, I thought Homeland fell apart at the end of season 1 and I lost interest early in season 2. The same goes for Ray Donovan, which started well but I was out by episode five. I think it has something to do with Showtime's offerings; they start edgy but can't sustain it.<br />
<br />
I have not watched Shameless, Blacklist, Black Sails or the Following, but I hear good things. At some point I will binge watch them.<br />
<br />
So there you go. Who got left off?<br />
<br />
<br />Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-41505636752021564052014-01-30T21:13:00.001-06:002014-01-30T21:59:45.249-06:00So you want to talk politics and Jesse Jackson? Here's your place for itYes, two postings in a week. How about that?<br />
<br />
This one comes from an error in judgement I made. We are in New York for the Super Bowl. Radio Row is kind of an assembly line of interviews. Athletes and entertainers are herded around by PR folks. They do roughly eight minute interviews and at the end tout whatever it is they are representing. It is a challenge to make them interesting.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://sheltonmedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/are-you-tired-of-local-radio-row.html">(Lamont Mann, who is part of a Web site I enjoy called Houston Media Watch, has a nice piece on it here). More on them shortly.</a><br />
<br />
We try to personalize the interviews as much as possible and try to keep the sense of humor we have on the show the rest of the time. Sometimes they are huge successes. Sometimes (like Evander Holyfield today) they are massive failures. You eject as quickly as possible and make jokes.<br />
<br />
Today we got to interview the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Politically, I don't agree with everything he's done, but I respect his place in history. I rarely take photos with people unless it's someone I find transcends what we do. The guys from Sons of Anarchy. Sully Erna. People who are outside of sports. I am fortunate enough to get to meet people like that.<br />
<br />
I posted a photo with myself, A.J. Hoffman and the Reverend to my Facebook page. I was astounded at the hate and political crap that was being spewed. I took the photo down, because I am fiercely opposed to political debates on Facebook. I find 99 percent of them to be completely partisan crap from one side or the other.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://sheltonmedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/fred-faour-encounters-ignorance-for.html">Lamont wrote that I was wrong to take it down.</a> I might agree. My first reaction after working five hours of radio (I know, you all work harder than that, but the format makes it a grind, trust me) was f--- these people for bringing their hatred to my page. Maybe I should have left it, but I despise political rants on Facebook and want no part of it. I have no tolerance for small mindedness and some of the comments were frankly very racist.<br />
<br />
(Funny, Lamont and I can disagree but it's not personal or petty).<br />
<br />
Many of you invite political discourse on Twitter or Facebook. I rarely do. If so, I deserve whatever response I get. I badly misjudged how people would react. Interestingly, the Twitter response was much more intelligent. Many essentially said "I don't like the guy or his politics, but it must have been cool to meet him."<br />
<br />
That was my thought. I even said that on the original post. I was also critical on air of an answer he gave.<br />
<br />
My biggest beef with politics is you are either one thing or another and the other side is a complete idiot. A lot of people want to believe it's all because of the tea party, but I believe the left does it just as much. Fanatics on either end of the spectrum are the problem. We don't have true discourse to try to come to a common action that is best for the people. That's the politics I want. I give some, you give some, and the party with the mandate from the masses gets to win more. I am hard core right wing on many issues, especially economics. I also believe in our right to guns. Socially, I am pretty liberal. I am for gay marriage and gay rights. I'd like to see a more effective affordable health plan. I believe in personal freedoms. With my right to bear arms I should have the right to smoke weed and to gamble. I believe we shouldn't tell a woman what to do with her body.<br />
<br />
I also believe we should not cut the military budget, bring our troops home and re-open more bases in the States. Let the rest of the world quit counting on us to be policemen. Protect our own shores.<br />
<br />
And I believe Canada's governmental, multi-party structure is far superior to ours and we could learn from it. England and Australia as well.<br />
<br />
So what does all that make me? A moderate? Liberal? Conservative? Where does that put me on the political scale? And why do I need to be labeled anyway? In reality, both sides represent things I believe in. And they both do things I hate. I'd love for us to negotiate. I'll win some and lose some, but I will accept that.<br />
<br />
That's my political stance. So I invite your discourse here. I don't want it on Facebook. I don't want to hear about your religion on Facebook. If you want to know mine,<a href="http://www.unityhouston.org/"> Here it is. </a> (Hint: whatever you believe, it has some of it).<br />
<br />
So here are the questions: Is Lamont right? Was I wrong to take the photo down? Should I have just ignored the ignorant comments? Am I being just as bad by essentially censoring everyone by removing the post and re-posting that I was disgusted? Am I overreacting? Am I quashing the discourse I profess to love?<br />
<br />
Frankly, am I a hypocrite? I essentially said STFU, I don't care what you think and it's probably because I was stunned at the amount of pure hatred.<br />
<br />
Am I a coward?<br />
<br />
Fire away in the comments. Call me an idiot. Tell me how wrong I am. Sound off on Jesse Jackson. You can find the photo below. I am inviting you to do it. This is the place. Feel free to begin a conversation.<br />
<br />
Just please keep it off my Facebook timeline.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoBXBmkiH6VTUgfmVK_XHJXUN429NO4SfHdqqMMEFLAF3T74FBKVUVeT46s3wXauwkMDBXB3fbOXh6zI0Smn1U6caIDWkd1ZksxnH6wAJ9JPETnggj5lkgFojNIDVj-b-7nKuOQtWs-FI/s1600/1661271_749911125021971_1972186904_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoBXBmkiH6VTUgfmVK_XHJXUN429NO4SfHdqqMMEFLAF3T74FBKVUVeT46s3wXauwkMDBXB3fbOXh6zI0Smn1U6caIDWkd1ZksxnH6wAJ9JPETnggj5lkgFojNIDVj-b-7nKuOQtWs-FI/s1600/1661271_749911125021971_1972186904_n.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-16383124176807440312014-01-28T10:56:00.001-06:002014-01-28T10:56:27.032-06:00Yes, this blog still existsI remember when I promised to post here more often. But staying busy and a wicked case of writer's block have contributed. But I shall do my best to not let this beast go unattended for this long again. I plan on trotting out some fresh fiction soon, and this will bet the place for it.<br />
<br />
Why now? Well, I am at 39,019 feet on a flight to New York for Super Bowl week. As I was live tweeting the flight, I decided it might be time to wipe the dust off this sucker instead.<br />
<br />
Plus, I'm hoping someone can explain my obsession with flight tracker, the on plane map that shows your route, altitude, speed, etc. (we're going 630 mph and are 59 minutes from landing).<br />
<br />
It's just a plane with a line behind it and a map. It barely moves. And yet I can't stop staring at it.<br />
<br />
So I tore myself away long enough to write this. I'm hoping a week in New York will spur on the writing juices and bring Freddys World back to life. I am sure to encounter freaks and weirdos. Then again, I'm starting to wonder about me. If you can't spot the freak or weirdo at the table...it's probably you.<br />
<br />
It's such an awesome time we live in where you can get wifi on a plane. (Of course, it's pretty lame of me to bitch about how slow it is, but there you go).<br />
<br />
OK, that's enough for now. I really plan to do more here. Hopefully I will follow through (I know, I've said that before). Thanks for your patience.Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-2559577160037068002012-10-23T07:50:00.001-05:002012-10-23T07:50:01.782-05:00Following up last night's post: Why your favorite show didn't make it and the best five supporting actorsSo we stirred things up a little with our<a href="http://freddysworldblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-10-best-shows-currently-on.html"> top 10 current TV shows</a>. That was kind of the point. To answer a few questions: Yes, this list is fluid. A bad season could drop some of these, a good one could jump some forward. Copper is way up there because its first season was terrific. But it could easily fall off.<br />
<br />
A lot of of our top shows have not had that huge body of work you have with Sons of Anarchy or Breaking Bad. Staying excellent for a long time is difficult. As we learned in the Dark Knight; you either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain. I see a lot of that in these shows.<br />
<br />
I also think the networks struggle to keep up with the HBOs, FXs and AMCs, because they can be harder, grittier, more profane and thus more realistic. Networks have to pander more.<br />
<br />
Some shows that didn't make the list besides Homeland: Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, American Horror Story, Always Sunny in Philadelphia.<br />
<br />
I ejected early on Dexter. I thought it was brilliant and clever when it first started, but I lost interest. A lot of people said it got better, but I can't include it because I no longer watch it. A lot of people I trust love it, but I don't watch it anymore and didn't include it.<br />
<br />
Same with Empire. I have tried on multiple occasions, and some of the shows are terrific, but it just doesn't keep my interest. And I absolutely love mob-related content.<br />
<br />
American Horror Story started off as one of the more entertaining and unique shows ever, but it became so predictable and just flat out terrible by the end of last year that it ruined the series. The writing went from terrific to simply asinine. I will not bother with the new one.<br />
<br />
Sunny might be one of the funniest shows on TV, but like most comedies, it's really the same bit done differently each week. I love the show, but like a lot of these, maybe it has been around so long that it seems stale at times. I hope to live long enough to do this list again in five years once some of these have been around longer. I suspect it will look a lot different.<br />
<br />
I have not yet watched the Americanized Sherlock, Elementary. It seems like it will suffer by comparison to its British counterpart but I will check it out at some point.<br />
<br />
My all time favorite list in no order would include The Sopranos, Deadwood, and my current top three. A lot in that regard depends on how a series finally ends. Breaking Bad could get there depending on how it finishes. I try to look at available body of work when it comes to all time favorites.<br />
<br />
I do think TV is stronger than it has ever been, and a lot of that has to do with AMC, HBO, FX, Showtime and channels like that diving in with both feet.<br />
<br />
Finally, one list I wanted to include (but the post was already too long) was the five best supporting characters in these shows.<br />
<br />
<b>1)</b><b> Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), Justified.</b> Not going to lie; I love this character. He is the perfect foil/friend with a love/hate/respect relationship for Raylan Givens. This might be the best pairing on TV. He doesn't appear as often as some of the others, but he is such a diverse, cleverly written character that he makes every episode he is in. Like all great characters, he has his successes and failures and responds to each the same way; with a new plan.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<b>2) Alice Morgan (played by Ruth Wilson), Luther.</b> A serial killer who is in love with Luther. She is absolutely brilliant, scary and delightfully deranged. Rumors out of England indicate a possible spin-off series, which would be worth seeing. Insane? Yes, but in a strange, sexy way.<br />
<br />
<b>3) Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), Breaking Bad.</b> Like Walter White, he is frustrating at times, and there are episodes where you want to slap him. But he is such a great accessory for White, and Paul plays the role so perfectly that you want him on the screen more. Pinkman earned a well-earned Emmy for the role this year.<br />
<br />
<b>4) Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), Walking Dead.</b> The one character on the series you want to see live. Unlike most of them, he is made for this zombie world, but maintains a loyalty and integrity that is above the others. He might have been a simple redneck in the world before, but in this one he is a superior ally and is the one guy you want in your corner in a zombie fight. He isn't afraid to object to bad decisions, but once they are made, he is on your side. Reedus plays him perfectly; he always seems on the edge of going completely insane but manages it with a calm confidence that makes the character all the more appealing.<br />
<br />
<b>5) Jon Snow (Kit Harrington), Game of Thrones.</b> This was a very tough call. But Snow gets it because he is one of the characters you want to see more and more of. He was one of my favorites in the book, but like most of the Game of Thrones story and cast, Harrington improves it and brings it to life on TV. Like most great characters, he is flawed, but he also has an honor than goes beyond most of the throne-chasing snakes around him. Brave, a little cocky, but also loyal and intelligent. He is trying to find his way in a cold, bleak world, and do it with some semblance of honor and grace. A well-conceived, adapted character who is made even better by fantastic acting.<br />
<br />
The five that just missed the cut: I also think Cersei Lannister (Lena Headley) from GOT is terrific. Others that belong in the discussion: Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman) in Sherlock; Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), Breaking Bad; Robert Morehouse (Kyle Schmid), Copper; and Roger Sterling (John Slattery) in Mad Men.<br />
<br />
Remember, these are current, which leaves out terrific performances in Breaking Bad from Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) and Mike Ermantraut (Jonathan Banks) since they were...eliminated from the show. I honestly think both would have been top five last year.<br />
<br />
So there you go. Thoughts?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-26303480749661387142012-10-22T21:51:00.001-05:002012-10-22T21:51:02.138-05:00The 10 best shows currently on television. Period. Without a doubt.So we talk about this a lot on the show, and people are often asking for what I think are the best TV shows. The Blitz has steered a lot of people into some of these shows, and most people seem to enjoy them.<br />
My criteria for great TV: Strong acting, great story lines, originality. Do I stay interested even after several seasons? Do I care what happens to the characters? Can I not wait for the next show/season?<br />
<br />
I particularly like shows that surprise me; either in plot or quality of acting. Some shows are extremely popular, and are highly touted. I prefer shows that might not necessarily be popular, but accomplish all those things. Most of these are indeed popular, but maybe they aren't as well known.<br />
<br />
So here are my top current TV shows, and some of the best/worst acting performances. Keep in mind these are just my opinion based on the criteria above:<br />
<br />
<b>1) Sherlock, BBC.</b> It might not be fair to compare the BBC shows, because a "series" is three hour and a half long shows. It is probably more accurately a mini-series. Sherlock has had two seasons, so six episodes. Having said that, this is the most incredible show I have ever seen. It is clever, snarky, and the acting is through the roof. Basically, it is a modern-day version of Sherlock Holmes. Each episode works independently, but as a collective whole they are incredible. The hardcore British accents make it tough to follow at times (hey, it is BBC), but it's funny, clever, and focuses on intelligent solutions to problems. The twists are far from predictable but completely realistic. If you haven't seen it, invest the time. You won't regret it.<br />
<br />
<b>2) Game of Thrones, HBO. </b>Another where the acting and story lines are terrific. Each episode ends with a terrific cliff hanger. It's violent, funny, and the acting is superb. It follows along with the books, but is one of the few shows that actually improves upon the written word. There are a lot of characters and sometimes that is tough to follow, but eventually it all comes together. It will be interesting to see what happens next; the third book in George R. R. Martin's series might have been his best, and that will be the next season. If the show continues to improve upon the written word, next season will be off the charts. It's funny, dramatic, violent. Simply one of the best shows ever on TV.<br />
<br />
<b>3) Justified, FX.</b> Another clever, well written show. It's a little more predictable than our top two, but what sets it apart is the acting. Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens might be the single best character on TV. Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder is up there as well. The show is remarkably consistent and rarely has a bad episode. You can jump in almost anywhere on this one and get caught up later. A great, great show.<br />
<br />
<b>4) Luther, BBC.</b> Another that doesn't have many episodes. You can get caught up on Netflix very quickly as there have only been two seasons. Luther is a policeman who has psychological issues but always seems to come through unscathed. It is a psychological thriller that is unique, brilliant, and unpredictable. Idris Elba is incredible in the lead role. Like Sherlock, sometimes the accent gets lost on Americans, but the story lines are so incredibly compelling, you simply can't walk away from this show. Ruth Wilson as Alice Morgan -- a serial killer/ally of Luther's -- is one of the best supporting characters in all of TV. This show is so ridiculously good, you will want to watch it over and over again.<br />
<br />
<b>5) The Walking Dead, AMC.</b> Based on a series of graphic novels (OK, comic books), this zombie apocalypse thriller can be frustrating at times, but like Game of Thrones, the ending of each show usually makes it worth it. Had some issues with the writing midway through season 2, but hopefully that is worked out. So far season 3 has been very good in just two episodes. Might be too violent for some people, and at times it loses its humor, but for the most part, very strong.<br />
<br />
<b>6) Copper, BBC America.</b> This period piece has had only one season, but all I can say is wow. If you like Gangs of New York, it is roughly the same time frame. The acting is terrific, and like the best BBC shows, it is more about outsmarting the bad guys. It centers on a police officer, who like most BBC characters is brilliant but flawed. Very good supporting cast as well. Worth checking out.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>7) Sons of Anarchy, FX. </b>This one has been around for a while, and the boys of Charming continue to be entertaining. This year's addition of Jimmy Smits to the cast was fantastic. Some of it is fairly unrealistic and there are times that you will lose your suspension of disbelief, but the show has held up well over time.<br />
<br />
<b>8) Breaking Bad. </b>Walter White might be one of the most intriguing characters on TV, and Bryan Cranston is fantastic in that role. The show will end this summer, and it is probably time. When it is at its best, there are few shows better than this one. But at times it delves into the ridiculous (the end of Season 2's plane crash) and stalls with several nothing episodes in a row. But it usually bounces back with something huge. A very strong show.<br />
<br />
<b>9) Mad Men</b>. Started off brilliantly, and Jon Hamm as Don Draper is one of the best characters on TV. But it drags at times, and the most recent season really fell off until the very end. It's possible this one has jumped the shark, but the show is still terrific when it is at its best. Not a ton of loveable, characters, however.<br />
<br />
<b>10) Hell on Wheels. </b>This one is also very young, but sure has potential. Anson Mount is terrific as Cullen Bohannon. Unlike a lot of series, this one follows fewer storylines and has only a small amount of key characters. That really stands out. Another with strong potential.<br />
<br />
One that didn't make my list is Homeland, which crushed at the Emmys. But the truth is, it started great, but became unwatchable at the very end. The drama fell apart, and the main characters became so unlikeable as to make the show brutal at the end when it should have been at its best. Will give it another chance at the start of season 2, but will be ready to eject on a moment's notice.<br />
<br />
<b>FIVE BEST CHARACTERS:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1) Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock. (Played by Benedict Cumberbat</b>ch). Cumberbatch is simply brilliant. His Sherlock is clever, funny, arrogant, maybe shows a touch of Asberger's. He's sexually ambiguous and flawed as a person, but irresistible at the same time. You root for him, you want him to figure things out, and you know he will. His almost unbeatable intellect is offset by his oddities. If you aren't blown away by this character, you don't like TV.<br />
<br />
<b>2) Raylan Givens, Justified (played by Timothy Olyphant).</b> Olyphant is fantastic in almost everything. He made Deadwood, still one of the best TV series ever made. He is awesome in this. Easy to root for, the kind of guy you know will always win. Like the best heroes, he is flawed and easy to identify with. But he is also a complete badass.<br />
<br />
<b>3) John Luther, Luther (played by Idris Elba).</b> Elba's character is incredible. He carries the show, and you always wonder if he is about to completely lose it. But his insanity also helps him solve crimes. Elba carries this show, with some help from the equally brilliant Ruth Wilson. He deserved an Emmy in the U.S. (overrated Homeland won it) but politics prevented it. Only one more year on BBC, then a movie. But you won't see many better acting jobs.<br />
<br />
<b>4) Tyrion Lannister, Game of Thrones (played by Peter Dinklage). </b>In the often dark, evil, erratic Game of Thrones, Dinklage's character is intelligent, funny, and a nice foil for the beautiful people. Lannister's self-effacing humor is portrayed brilliantly by Dinklage, improving the character upon what is in the book. Simply brilliant.<br />
<br />
<b>5) Daenarys Targaryen, Game of Thrones (played by Emilia Clarke).</b> She grows up before our eyes over the two seasons, from a bartered wife to a true leader. Sexy, smart, a hint of innocence but also a very powerful leader. One of the most interesting female characters in all of TV.<br />
<br />
<b>THE FIVE WORST CHARACTERS IN GOOD SHOWS</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1) Betty Francis (January Jones), Mad Men.</b> She is so incredibly unlikeable that there were several episodes I quit on because she was too much of a part of it. There is simply nothing appealing about this character and the show would have been much better if she had disappeared after the divorce.<br />
<br />
<b>2) Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies), The Walking Dead.</b> Please kill her. Whiny, unattractive, a real detriment to the show. Every minute this character is on screen, I want to change the channel.<br />
<br />
<b>3) Skyler White (Anna Gunn), Breaking Bad.</b> How many times have we wanted her to get caught in the middle of some nasty dispute and get whacked? Annoying, arrogant and completely unlikeable. One of the few negatives to the show. (I hated her character in Deadwood, too. I think it;s just this particular actress. She simply isn't appealing in any way, shape or form.<br />
<br />
<b>4) Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs), the Walking Dead.</b> I don't want this to be all women and children, but this kid needs to go as well. And enough with that hat, kid. It's probably all his mother's fault, but we are ready for him to be gone.<br />
<br />
<b>5) Peter Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), Mad Men.</b> Campbell is supposed to be unlikeable. He is smarmy, a liar, and the kind of guy most of us would beat the crap out of in high school. He comes from money, is entitled, and acts every bit of it. As much as Kartheiser plays the character to a T, like Betty, he has outlived his usefulness. He is hard to like, and like Betty, you just want to change the channel when he is on.<br />
<br />
So there you have it. What do you -- the viewers at home -- think?Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-50512527852685490042012-07-24T20:18:00.000-05:002012-07-24T20:18:23.578-05:00Best trilogy? This one is easy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL9AbeAm2wXdH6P7qQts_MUXWoR6FUyjAMiS2mAwOFdNBEm8Mh_3Gw5SqimnY6B1w_AHYrTEdZ9uF0tGfmTYDLntyu8WFM-BwJwL2CUwXGaOPNKO0Md-PjI_DuJjhKORS0qHR6GOgyreY/s1600/the-dark-knight-rises.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL9AbeAm2wXdH6P7qQts_MUXWoR6FUyjAMiS2mAwOFdNBEm8Mh_3Gw5SqimnY6B1w_AHYrTEdZ9uF0tGfmTYDLntyu8WFM-BwJwL2CUwXGaOPNKO0Md-PjI_DuJjhKORS0qHR6GOgyreY/s320/the-dark-knight-rises.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
The Dark Knight Rises is officially bad ass.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Every now and then we get weird topics on the show that take off with a life of their own. On Monday, in an attempt to avoid endlessly talking Penn State, the topic of The Dark Knight Rises came up. It evolved into a discussion on the best trilogies in movie history. <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you haven't seen the Dark Knight and are a fan of the first two movies, Rises is a must. It's a shame that the movie will be forever linked to the sick, pathetic lunatic in Colorado.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That aside, the movie itself is fantastic. Critics who ripped it simply don't like or get the genre. The movie is 2:45 minutes long, and felt half that. It also was a perfect end to the Dark Knight series.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So the conversation moved to best trilogies. There can be only three movies in the series, not more. Some were intended to be trilogies; others simply evolved that way.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here are my favorites. Feel free to disagree and share your own:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>1) The Dark Knight trilogy.</b> Simply put, the best three comic book movies ever made. Each stands on its own and features terrific acting, great story lines and a perfect three-part series. (Not to mention, Anne Hathaway in leather). Christopher Nolan built a three-part masterpiece that will be tough to outdo. The best part is the protaganist and antagonists are all believable; there is no magic here, only characters who are tortured psychologically. Political undertones run underneath all three but never hit you over the head. Simply brilliant.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>2) The Lord of the Rings trilogy.</b> This was a clear No. 1 before Rises was released. All three movies are terrific, but it lacks the stand-alone performances of the Dark Knight, and as good as the acting is, there is no performance like Liam Neeson in Batman Begins and certainly not Heath Ledger in Dark Knight. Very strong and a clear No. 2, but Batman knocks it off the top of the list.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>3) The Mad Max trilogy.</b> This is old school, but the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max was subtle in its brilliance. Even with a young Mel Gibson being dubbed, the movies are fast paced, unique and wrap up the story. While Road Warrior is by far the best, the other two hold up well. Like Batman, all three stories stand alone. The good news is they are planning on remaking all three. With today's advances in technology, this ought to be interesting.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>4) Star Wars, the original series.</b> Some may dispute this because of the prequel trilogy, but the three Star Wars original movies were never supposed to be extended. I think the prequel should be treated as a different trilogy. If you disagree, toss this one out. It would rank higher if not for the silliness of the Ewoks in the final installment.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>5) The Blade series.</b> This was a tough one, but I do think the Blade series redefined vampire movies and made everything that happened since a hollow copy. (Yes, I am talking to you, Edward Cullen). Wesley Snipes was a complete badass, and Ryan Reynolds stole the show in the final installment.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you don't accept Star Wars as a trilogy, then we would put The Godfather series in at No. 5. It should be higher, because 1 and 2 were two of the best movies ever made. But Godfather 3 is so awful it brings down the whole group. Sophia Coppola's awful performance and the emasculation of one of the great American characters in Michael Corleone, you could argue that 3 is one of the worst movies ever made.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And for the record, the Canadian votes for the Evil Dead trilogy.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What are some of your favorites?</div>Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-58390909072751733332012-07-09T13:07:00.001-05:002012-07-09T13:27:22.985-05:00Let's have a jam session<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFJsLZ7Qp3xzOrIh5yT9MHGbeyEhPjMd19zkJrses4OPE2hstP5ST3VlqTb0myh_Fr7zA09c_TXI-rMRaRFtN2GvQOe3MiRQJ2lRk7cyM3yytSAIdfz-UGvizK6Gqtm5Rf-66QYM87ZA/s1600/339_1042713822354_983_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFJsLZ7Qp3xzOrIh5yT9MHGbeyEhPjMd19zkJrses4OPE2hstP5ST3VlqTb0myh_Fr7zA09c_TXI-rMRaRFtN2GvQOe3MiRQJ2lRk7cyM3yytSAIdfz-UGvizK6Gqtm5Rf-66QYM87ZA/s320/339_1042713822354_983_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Then and now....<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYsTAPG-svzCBQEC7Bw0rF-Rojs5oQigQdZez7PX7R7wEE77S8cBYhPlhtxS5d2FKCyib_TE_UXarzDA5mkcMTBH_tDxD2tWW8F6HjrWg9uoZvZUdL0Z1Pvdg-EimYFVtpDH1Ae-y3Qmw/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYsTAPG-svzCBQEC7Bw0rF-Rojs5oQigQdZez7PX7R7wEE77S8cBYhPlhtxS5d2FKCyib_TE_UXarzDA5mkcMTBH_tDxD2tWW8F6HjrWg9uoZvZUdL0Z1Pvdg-EimYFVtpDH1Ae-y3Qmw/s320/photo.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Yeah, I know, I lied. I said I would post more. I've been dealing with writer's block and other projects for so long that I haven't written anything for this. I have also tried to become more of a twitter person (@fredfaour) and a lot of the things I would have posted here are going there. But I am over the block, writing like a fiend again and this blog is officially back, for good this time.<br />
<br />
I got inspired to write this from a very cool conversation I had on twitter yesterday with some knowledgeable people. (They are all good twitter follows, by the way -- <a href="https://twitter.com/sportsmediaLM">https://twitter.com/sportsmediaLM</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/Rottweiller2000">https://twitter.com/Rottweiller2000</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/atxhobogrl#">https://twitter.com/atxhobogrl#</a>)<br />
<br />
It started with a simple questions: Would the musicians of the 60s, 70s and 80s be better with today's technology? My honest response is no.<br />
<br />
This is going to sound like the old man saying "everything was better in my day." I'm usually not like that. I think athletes are better now, TV shows are better now (Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, you get the idea). Technology is clearly better. But music is one place where I believe technology has stunted true musicianship.<br />
<br />
Most of you know I am an old school 80s rock and roll fan, but I do like a lot of contemporary bands. So here is a simple question: How many great rock bands have emerged in the last 20 years, since technology developed to where we can punch a button and have a flawless drum beat. I think bands like Shinedown and Slipknot have potential, but are the truly great? Foo Fighters, perhaps? But even Dave Grohl now dates back more than 20 years. How many truly great musicians are out there that emerged after 1992?<br />
<br />
There are a lot of lists out there. <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-guitarists-20111123/pete-townshend-19691231">Let's start with Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.</a> (I completely disagree, by the way) but the top 10 all date back as many as 50 years.<br />
<br />
Avrev.com has a list of the <a href="http://www.avrev.com/top-100-bands-of-all-time/top-10-rock-bands/index.php">top 100 bands of all time.</a> The most recent member of the top 20 is Stone Temple Pilots at No. 13 -- and they were born over 20 years ago.<br />
<br />
That's longer that a lot of you have been alive.<br />
<br />
The greatest drummer? Neil Peart of Rush. He dates to the 70s. Greatest bassist? Geddy Lee? Flea? Bootsy Collins? All decades old. Robert Trujillo is terrific, but again he doesn't break the 20-year barrier.<br />
<br />
Certainly music is subjective, but as a former musician, I have to say bands were better -- especially guitarists -- during my heyday growing up in the late 70s and 80s.<br />
<br />
Really, since the grunge movement -- another that started over 20 years ago -- no truly great bands have yet emerged. Part of that I believe is because technology does not force people to become skilled musicians. Shortcuts are taken. My favorite guitarists -- Randy Rhodes, Eddie Van Halen, Eric Johnson, George Lynch, Yngvie Malmsteen, Slash -- are all from that era. But even guys like Vito Bratta (White Lion) who wouldn't make many top 10 lists is light years more talented than any guitarist that has emerged since the late 1980s.<br />
<br />
The grunge movement eliminated lead guitar, which explains some of it. But I think technology is to blame. The same technology that made Rebecca Black a YouTube star.<br />
<br />
Maybe I am just the venting old man who thinks everything was better in his day. It sucks getting old.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-67668599646110426022012-02-03T07:50:00.008-06:002012-02-03T08:29:48.042-06:00An attempt to expand the horizonsOK, as promised, trying to post more. This will be a slight de<br />parture from spider monkeys, midget strippers and evil clowns.<div>Photography has never been my strong suit. Everyone else in the family is damned good at it. I always figured leave it to the pros and just do what I do best. (Of course, if I ever figure that out, I will let you know. In the interim I will just continue the never ending quest to be mediocre at everything).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Anyway, here are some recent shots that I hope don't completely suck:</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8QZfvsxZCcV-jGOVKd6LBJUZERS5VGpNRWgmwBAi8GJX4Ut7l0jLAf3xrsw8x_BWNCEZIrHAJymv_eHqL-2a4FFLrhN92Hze_eeQOci2VvaQDcgnMmHTVMpYDOQaCSDAyDBoTLN1lJqM/s1600/389400_2694734761845_1060837751_4454293_600546710_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8QZfvsxZCcV-jGOVKd6LBJUZERS5VGpNRWgmwBAi8GJX4Ut7l0jLAf3xrsw8x_BWNCEZIrHAJymv_eHqL-2a4FFLrhN92Hze_eeQOci2VvaQDcgnMmHTVMpYDOQaCSDAyDBoTLN1lJqM/s320/389400_2694734761845_1060837751_4454293_600546710_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704910416430479650" /></a><div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><br /></u></div>This is from our trip to Ontario. A lake in Napanee that was frozen over. (I don't see snow much).</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8QZfvsxZCcV-jGOVKd6LBJUZERS5VGpNRWgmwBAi8GJX4Ut7l0jLAf3xrsw8x_BWNCEZIrHAJymv_eHqL-2a4FFLrhN92Hze_eeQOci2VvaQDcgnMmHTVMpYDOQaCSDAyDBoTLN1lJqM/s1600/389400_2694734761845_1060837751_4454293_600546710_n.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAfK-aFM9jH6wmCtPFVCB58SSgU9Wx-ZuxH72O_VJpZFDtu-u_eayuGFUuRvvzqOcViCXri8X0SSVXKYnJLx4drc7BbtkDo40FfJRYnGAFdxZ957jcE5Bd1gCvnOcXRIDB802YA3HY5oo/s320/396204_2694741802021_1060837751_4454305_1002064400_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704911005671325138" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></a><div>This one I really like. It was in Oakville, Ontario. </div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8QZfvsxZCcV-jGOVKd6LBJUZERS5VGpNRWgmwBAi8GJX4Ut7l0jLAf3xrsw8x_BWNCEZIrHAJymv_eHqL-2a4FFLrhN92Hze_eeQOci2VvaQDcgnMmHTVMpYDOQaCSDAyDBoTLN1lJqM/s1600/389400_2694734761845_1060837751_4454293_600546710_n.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8QZfvsxZCcV-jGOVKd6LBJUZERS5VGpNRWgmwBAi8GJX4Ut7l0jLAf3xrsw8x_BWNCEZIrHAJymv_eHqL-2a4FFLrhN92Hze_eeQOci2VvaQDcgnMmHTVMpYDOQaCSDAyDBoTLN1lJqM/s1600/389400_2694734761845_1060837751_4454293_600546710_n.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL5NyIKr9gKXlWB7Nflqhge83o4NeUBlez7LeU5cZw_VP3nwjV7q-D-OfN2HUDRMc_Itr5mo1Xda64jJ_Uqi54I5ddw_IekSc-mCHPLlIJhO3P6fR9kuBnFKKDZQRCknDaKpVfjvrikYY/s320/401162_2829217483829_1060837751_4508759_1639493285_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704911827543424914" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "></div></a><div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8QZfvsxZCcV-jGOVKd6LBJUZERS5VGpNRWgmwBAi8GJX4Ut7l0jLAf3xrsw8x_BWNCEZIrHAJymv_eHqL-2a4FFLrhN92Hze_eeQOci2VvaQDcgnMmHTVMpYDOQaCSDAyDBoTLN1lJqM/s1600/389400_2694734761845_1060837751_4454293_600546710_n.jpg"></a><div></div><div> </div><div>This is back in the U.S.A on a camping trip to Huntsvillle State Park. This is sunset, obivously.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHSWTK6deOZRHR9FXEaO6MWGKgUKJXYrdpJtR73BogcMQv6d3wVMG1uDkY85_ofvluuDJpfLto5ex5t8I765zEY0OsiDePshJxWOg7m0eH97IxBLpOA8ZbWvjrsPiARvo6xngjPBqzOmE/s1600/402134_2827475680285_1060837751_4507979_774832602_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHSWTK6deOZRHR9FXEaO6MWGKgUKJXYrdpJtR73BogcMQv6d3wVMG1uDkY85_ofvluuDJpfLto5ex5t8I765zEY0OsiDePshJxWOg7m0eH97IxBLpOA8ZbWvjrsPiARvo6xngjPBqzOmE/s320/402134_2827475680285_1060837751_4507979_774832602_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704912378241987410" /></a>This is another shot of the lake, from my fishing spot. They weren't biting, but it was still a great day.<div>Finally, these guys got spooked by the shot and took off, but it made a nice photo:</div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNYGJCZ66X9r2sXr_epnZG0ex8swQleqiDC8s3NRfzEjGzCkk273Kg47A0ZhApKeWdui1lFuuZvQqqCw-HOu45tHZAPm1K3-lWlXdg20PVLrrRibOfnlsENRNKilAIEA-CKlyZfmSiJYg/s1600/422842_2832994778259_1060837751_4510765_766995632_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNYGJCZ66X9r2sXr_epnZG0ex8swQleqiDC8s3NRfzEjGzCkk273Kg47A0ZhApKeWdui1lFuuZvQqqCw-HOu45tHZAPm1K3-lWlXdg20PVLrrRibOfnlsENRNKilAIEA-CKlyZfmSiJYg/s320/422842_2832994778259_1060837751_4510765_766995632_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704913101891808530" /></a><div>Anyway, hopefully these weren't a complete waste of time.</div><div><br /></div><div>--------------------------</div><div>You know you have issues when you can't sleep and the only thing on is Battlefield Earth -- and you watch it. Either I am a) old b) really old or c) just watch too many damned movies, since I have 20-plus movie channels and can't find anything to watch. This one is truly awful. The only other viable option was Smokey and the Bandit II, and who wants to jump in right smack dab in the middle of a trilogy?</div><div>--------------------------</div><div>If you haven't bought the book yet, please do. <a href="http://outskirtspress.com/webpage.php?ISBN=9781432781743">You can get it here</a>. It is well worth the money.</div><div><br /></div>Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-10484411772708701802012-01-16T10:45:00.002-06:002012-01-16T11:09:07.929-06:00A little courtesy appears to be too much to askAs we celebrate MLK Day and ponder a message of peace and tolerance, it begs a look at what we have become as a society.<div><br /></div><div>It's not a pretty look, either. If you are reading this, it's probably not about you. But you probably know people like this. </div><div><br /></div><div>I don't know if I simply hadn't noticed these things before, or if people really have changed. I am leaning the latter.</div><div><br /></div><div>And I think it's a shame. When did we get so selfish, so me oriented in our everyday lives? Whatever happened to common courtesy?</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm talking to you, person behind me in the car who speeds up when they see me signal a lane change so they can cut me off. </div><div><br /></div><div>And you, person speeding through a crowded parking lot while texting.</div><div><br /></div><div>And of, you, really large overperfumed lady who insists on getting on the elevator before I get off.</div><div><br /></div><div>Not to mention the person who won't hold the elevator door for you. </div><div><br /></div><div>Or the one who lets a door slam in your face even when they know you are behind them.</div><div><br /></div><div>When did it get to the point where we became so intolerant of other's beliefs, especially in our political process. Why is it if you say you are a Republican, you are branded a reactionary right-wing Fascist? If you are a Democrat, you are a "liberal" who is trying to ruin the country.</div><div><br /></div><div>In truth, both sides get a lot right and a lot wrong. But there seems to be no middle ground anymore. </div><div><br /></div><div>We live in a world where Internet trolls rip people at will with no repercussions. Where if you disagree or try to have a discussion you simply branded an idiot and ignored.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's a damned shame. </div><div><br /></div><div>I might be in the minority, but I still believe there are more good people in the world than bad. I still believe that not everyone is like that. But if you are one of those people, and you did take the time to read this, please take a second every now and then to think about how small actions can add up. That a little courtesy can go a long way. That it's OK to be nice to people on occasion. To realize that we actually share this planet with others.</div><div><br /></div><div>None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes. Hopefully we learn from them.</div><div><br /></div><div>So the next time you get on your cell phone and put it on speaker in public, or carry on a conversation in a movie or assembly where the other people are trying to watch and listen, or cut in front of someone in line...Try a little courtesy instead.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's really not so hard.</div><div><br /></div>Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-20558314559205851492011-12-28T11:15:00.003-06:002011-12-28T11:19:26.701-06:00And we're back! With big news...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXbjfIWettQ7PgG2ApH-6xa1HWpLVhtO_aOymFZmVRO3N_Z234nn9Y1Jdx7bFTyxvEcZ_-ZeDOj-2Ft6edkP3OdNFmVSU35t_TmTGjDTlJYr86Nd4scuKu0WfsvVw-iSBtiDBpBC5zTP0/s1600/cover.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 310px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXbjfIWettQ7PgG2ApH-6xa1HWpLVhtO_aOymFZmVRO3N_Z234nn9Y1Jdx7bFTyxvEcZ_-ZeDOj-2Ft6edkP3OdNFmVSU35t_TmTGjDTlJYr86Nd4scuKu0WfsvVw-iSBtiDBpBC5zTP0/s400/cover.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691230005164027682" /></a><br />Yes, I know I promised to post more here and failed to deliver. But starting today, I will endeavor to at least get one post per week minimum.<div>And we return with good news -- Acing Racing, the greatest gambling book ever written (yes, I am biased) is finally available. </div><div><br /></div><div>You can get it here: <a href="http://outskirtspress.com/webpage.php?ISBN=9781432781743">http://outskirtspress.com/webpage.php?ISBN=9781432781743</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Need to know more? Here is an excerpt, the introductory chapter:</div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">If you are reading this, chances are you are one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who got stung by the government’s crackdown on online poker. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">You like to gamble. You enjoy the action. You loved the convenience of logging on and finding a game right away.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Yes, you like playing live, too, but it’s not always easy to get to the casino or poker room. You need to replace that rush that came with multi-tabling and constant action.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Or maybe you are a sports gambler, but you have problems finding ways to wager legally. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">You might also be a horseplayer looking for some new strategies and ways to increase your action. You like sitting at home watching TVG or HRTV and playing along with the hosts, getting bets on as many races as possible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Maybe you are just a gambling degenerate who likes to get his/her wager on in a variety of ways.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">This book is for all of you. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Let’s face it; most people gamble for the action. Poker exploded in the mid-2000s, going from a backroom, shady collection of gamblers to a mainstream game played by everyone. ESPN made it into a national phenomenon, and sites like Pokerstars and Full Tilt made it cool to play cards. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">It is a game that in many ways is a metaphor for life; it’s you against the world. Sometimes you do everything right and lose. Sometimes you can do the wrong thing and come out ahead. In the end, if you do the right thing more often than not, it all evens out, and you come out ahead. It is skill with an element of luck thrown in, just like life. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Other casino games don’t provide the same rush. In craps, blackjack, roulette -- it’s you against the house, and the house always has an edge on every game. Sure, you get lucky every now and then, but long-term, you can’t win. If you did, you would be the one owning the giant, lavish casino instead of visiting it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">There is one other form of gambling that is similar to poker. Like poker, the players place their wagers, the house takes its cut, and the players play each other for the rest. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Like poker, there are a variety of wagering opportunities. Like poker, it involves skill with an element of luck.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">It is also perfectly legal to play online in the United States. There are some restrictions, and some states do not allow it, but chances are you can open an account today and begin legally wagering immediately. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Are you a tournament poker player? Many of these legal sites offer tournaments as well, and the skill it takes to win a poker tournament translates very well to winning the tournaments for this form of gambling. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Yes, horse racing offers almost everything poker does.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Unfortunately, it has much the same identity poker did before the online boom; shady old men wearing derbies and hanging in dark rooms. It is seen as a sport for the rich; beautiful ladies in big hats sipping on expensive drinks. Gamblers tend to find it too confusing to try to understand all the elements and nuances. The research seems difficult to figure out in order to have an edge over other players. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">All of those are myths. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">In truth, the live racing experience is a blast. But thanks to the online sites and cable channels that show you almost every race, you can do what you always did playing poker, too – stay at home, get all the action you want on your laptop and use all the same skills you’ve developed playing poker to make money. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">What did you always hear about Hold ‘Em? “A minute to learn, a lifetime to master?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Horse racing isn’t all that different. Once you understand the basics, you can apply your own poker and wagering skills and develop a strategy that works for you. Isn’t that what you did with poker? Learn as much theory as possible and apply it to your own games?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">You will learn that horse racing is the same thing. Each race is like a different hand in poker. How you play it will depend on your bankroll, position, and what the other players are doing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">The concept of this book is not to give you one strategy for playing. The idea here is to give you all the tools you need to get started, provide some high action strategy and theory, and do it in terminology you will understand from your poker life. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">We’ll also tell you where you can bet online, where you can watch the races, and provide strategies for action junkies as well as those who simply want to grind out a profit. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">And don’t worry; if you are a sports gambler, we’ve got strategies for you, too. Longtime horseplayers who are looking for ways to adjust to the online gambling world will find everything they are looking for here as well.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">The idea is not to overload you. Many horse racing books delve so deeply into minutia they lose readers who are just trying to get started. The idea here is to give you a quick overview and basic understanding of the game. The idea is to have fun, not overwhelm you with thousands of wagering angles.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Once you are in, where you go from there will be up to you. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Simply put, this book should be your first step into a new gambling world, one that should satisfy all your needs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:.3in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">If all that sounds appealing, read on. This book is for you. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p></div>Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-7964251547232508822011-07-26T21:46:00.002-05:002011-07-26T22:29:00.726-05:00And then...Yes, I know I need to post here more. Will try to do better. Been in a writer's block mode for a while, but now everything is flowing again, so I will keep it updated. Ten quick thoughts...<div><br /></div><div>1) 14 years ago this week, we lost the best Fred Faour who ever lived. RIP, dad. I miss you every day. Dude was the funniest man I ever knew. </div><div><br /></div><div>2) We had a great time in Canada. Will post some pictures soon. Condolences to our good friend Theresa, who lost her mom while we were there. She and her husband David are awesome folks, as are their kids, Kyle and Steven. Memo to Mack Brown: Kyle is 15 years old and is playing football. He is already 6-4. Rick Barnes has recruited Canada...Now it's your turn....</div><div><br /></div><div>3) Stay tuned for an announcement soon on our movie project. <a href="http://www.fearlessfilmsusa.com/">We have an awesome director.</a> </div><div><br /></div><div>4) Stay tuned for a long-awaited announcement on my gambling book. Working on final financing now, and once that's done, it will hit the shelves. Hopefully something in the next two weeks. It is for poker players, horse gamblers and action junkies, with a chapter on sports betting. I am thrilled with the final product.</div><div><br /></div><div>5) Memo to old people: You don't have to carry on conversations when you are line at the bank, store, or anywhere. I know you don't get out much, but when seven people are in line behind you, talking about your boils to the person behind the desk is too damned much.</div><div><br /></div><div>6) Anybody watch Wilfred? Perhaps the funniest show on television. Wish I could get stoned and talk to a dog all day...</div><div><br /></div><div>7) Stunned at how scared people are of dogs in Houston. An old lady in the next building moves faster than Kareem Jackson every time I take Derby for a walk anywhere near her...Really?</div><div><br /></div><div>8) Props to all my friends from high school who are still rocking in bands. You guys are awesome.</div><div><br /></div><div>9) If you can believe it, I am involved in <a href="http://www.unityhouston.org/">a religion again</a>. Good place for all of us who are accepting of all religions.</div><div><br /></div><div>10) Not to sound like a fortune cookie, but enjoy every day. Life is awesome. We are all lucky to be a part of it. Screw the dickweeds who try to make it miserable for the rest of us.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks to all of you who read this blog. Much love to everyone.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-90310248853942448322011-05-30T10:10:00.002-05:002011-05-30T10:56:23.986-05:00The SurferIt was a quiet, cold day at the beach, one of those afternoons not really fit for getting in the water. It was chilly, the waves were non-existent, and the sun offered little warmth. <div><br /></div><div>Even the fish seemed uninterested, bored. It wasn't a day anyone would remember for any reason.</div><div><br /></div><div>The horizon, however, seemed different today. It beckoned like an old friend, fading a perfect blue sky into a mix of purples and oranges as the sun neared the end of another daily trek across our lives.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was a perfect time for solo reflection, wondering why on earth anyone would stand chest-high in the chilled, brownish water of Galveston Bay.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was even more bizarre to see the surfer. </div><div><br /></div><div>He was old, unshaven, wiry thin in his wetsuit. He seemed to appear out of nowhere, paddling gently alongside me, looking for waves that didn't exist.</div><div><br /></div><div>His voice was crippled, as though it had been rendered useless from yelling long ago. </div><div><br /></div><div>His very presence was surprising enough, but the cowboy hat tied tightly to his head seemed completely out of place.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Nice day, huh?" He offered.</div><div><br /></div><div>I snickered. "Not really for humans, no."</div><div><br /></div><div>I felt the water seem to grow colder. "Nice hat," I said, unable to think of anything else. </div><div><br /></div><div>His gray features almost formed a smile. He sat on his board, pensive, not really moving, as if he just wanted someone to be around.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Not much in the way of waves today," I said, fishing for any idea as to why this man was in the water, hanging around me, wearing a tattered brown Cowboy hat.</div><div><br /></div><div>He pointed to the horizon. "They are out there," he said softly.</div><div><br /></div><div>I looked hard, but didn't see any.</div><div><br /></div><div>"So you are going all the way out there?"</div><div><br /></div><div>He seemed to smile, but it was hard to make out his lips covered in his gray, unshaven beard.</div><div><br /></div><div>"I'll go where the waves are."</div><div><br /></div><div>The simplicity of his comment seemed to make sense. </div><div><br /></div><div>We sat there in silence for a while, the waves gently rocking. It was peaceful, reassuring. </div><div><br /></div><div>"I lost a friend," he finally said, his voice barely a whisper now. "We came down here all the time. We'd sit in the water for hours, never really surfing. Just enjoying the water, you know?"</div><div><br /></div><div>He looked sad, those few words saying so much.</div><div><br /></div><div>The chance meetings we have in life, the moments you forget as soon as they are passed...sometimes just knowing a person is there makes everything seem OK. When they aren't there anymore, you realize all the things they meant to you.</div><div><br /></div><div>The surfer just sat there on the board, looking out, wistful. </div><div><br /></div><div>"I never got to say goodbye," he said. "We never get to. Silly things get in the way. We get so caught up in work, stress, life...paying bills, dealing with jerky bosses. You just forget to talk to people. Then one day you can't anymore."</div><div><br /></div><div>He adjusted the hat as the wind started to whip around us, making the day even colder.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Wouldn't it be great if every day could be spent in the water, just knowing somebody is there next to you?" He asked, not really expecting an answer.</div><div><br /></div><div>So I didn't. The silence seemed to say enough. There was something ghostlike about the man, something surreal, yet at the same time comforting.</div><div><br /></div><div>"I think it's time," he said. </div><div><br /></div><div>He started to paddle, looked back, and said "Thank you." Then he added something else, something I couldn't hear, as the wind roared in my ears. This time I clearly saw a smile. </div><div><br /></div><div>I watched as he gently paddled toward the horizon, to waves only he expected to find. He just kept going, farther and farther, until all I could see was the hat gently bobbing in the water. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then even that was gone.</div><div><br /></div><div>I waited a while longer, then got out of the water, downed an ice cold beer and watched the horizon, but he never came back. Hours later, warm from a fresh buzz, I finally left.</div><div> </div><div>Many times since I have gone to the same area, hoping to see the surfer in the brown cowboy hat. A man whose name I never knew. I checked the newspapers to see if anyone had gone missing, but there was nothing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sometimes I wonder if it even happened, this chance meeting with a surfer who just wanted someone around. I wish I could talk to him again, see that ridiculous hat. Learn more. Feel more. </div><div><br /></div><div>That chance meeting reminded me of so many things. Sometimes, just knowing someone is there means so much. When they are gone, we feel a void that can never be filled again. As we get to a certain age, we lose more and more people. Our friends begin to disappear, some never knowing how much they meant to us; that sometimes just being there brought a joy to our life we can never recover. As our days begin to dwindle, more and more gets taken away. </div><div><br /></div><div>That few minutes in the water stays with me; of all the chance meetings that happen every day, an old man on a surfboard stays in my head. </div><div><br /></div><div>I didn't know his name. And I don't know what happened to the surfer. </div><div><br /></div><div>I just know I never got to say goodbye.</div><div><br /></div><div>------------------------------------------------</div><div><br /></div><div><i>For Mindy. We will miss you more than you will ever know. Goodbye, my friend.</i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749480151809705728.post-45739614728640399532011-02-27T20:19:00.002-06:002011-02-27T20:34:30.611-06:00Want to beat the Falcon? Here is your chance...and a short storyNo, it isn't a euphemism, like punching the clown or tickling the critter. This is real. Lose more than I do and you can win a prize. <div><br /></div><div>Very simple. You get 50 percent off of Physician's Weight Loss Center. You get to be healthy. And you can beat me, and get praise for it. Very simple. Call them today at 281-332-5677 and get in the game.</div><div><br /></div><div>----------------------</div><div><br /></div><div>A couple quick takes: another cool local musician to check out:<a href="http://www.myspace.com/jimmypizzitola"> Jimmy Pizzitol</a>a. Very cool, mello stuff. Check it out. Also, please check out my sports blog. The latest entry is on <a href="http://www.examiner.com/sports-in-houston/houston-s-best-sports-bars">Houston's best sports bars.</a> No. 1 is my all-time favorite.</div><div><br /></div><div>---------------------</div><div><br /></div><div>A short story, which is unpublished. It is a sequel to something I wrote many years ago, but it stands alone. I thought with all the vampire love now, it was worth trotting out. So here it is:</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">DUST TO DUST<br /><br />He took a long drag on the cigarette. The vampire had been dead a good<br />10 minutes, his ashes finally cooling off.<br /><br />Cronin had done this a thousand times; he knew exactly how long to wait.<br /><br />This one had been tricky; a young, beautiful girl. Her skin looked<br />tan, thanks to a lot of makeup. That was a new trick. She had blonde<br />hair, and did everything to avoid the goth look. She looked like any<br />other California teen-ager with daddy’s credit card, a trust fund and<br />a lot of spare time.<br /><br />She was young, too. That made her tough to spot.<br /><br />In the end, however, she made a mistake. They always made mistakes.<br /><br />And Cord Cronin had seen them all, for over 400 years.<br /><br />The last 10 had been the hardest, since he’d been forced to kill his<br />longtime friend, the only other vampire slayer in the world. They had<br />once been monks in France, long ago under names he couldn’t even<br />remember. They had lived a thousand lifetimes since then, hunted down<br />thousands of vampires, killing them all.<br /><br />Another deep drag. Smoking was OK for him, because he knew a secret.<br /><br />As long as he had those ashes, he could never die.<br /><br />The time had come. Cronin pulled out his coke spoon, quickly snorted<br />the cooling ashes. Just like Coke. Three lines. Four.<br /><br />The warmth came over him. He felt new, young. His skin tightened<br />slightly, the wrinkles faded.<br /><br />That was the secret they had learned long ago. The ashes of a dead<br />vampire -- inhaled properly -- would keep you alive forever.<br /><br />Mack McHenry had just started to figure it out when he died. Cronin<br />had been fighting it ever since.<br /><br />With each year that passed, it took more and more ashes to bring that<br />warmth. To fend off the years. To stay alive.<br /><br />And after 400 years, Cord Cronin had no interest in dying.<br /><br />Cronin loved life. He loved all its pleasures; simple ones, such as<br />the drag of a cigarette. More complex, as in the thousands of women –<br />and a few men – he’d been with in his life. He loved alcohol,<br />gambling, sex. Especially sex.<br /><br />And he loved killing vampires.<br /><br />He was so good at it. He would let them get closer and closer. He<br />would try to make himself a potential victim. He would get as close to<br />being bitten as possible; then he would kill.<br /><br />It was his greatest pleasure.<br /><br />And he saw no irony in the fact that he had become what he had sworn<br />to kill all those years ago,. As vampires fed on the blood of humans<br />to stay alive – needing to kill to feed – he did the same to vampires.<br />After 400 years, he was closer to them than humans.<br /><br />And he didn’t care.<br /><br />He loved watching vampire movies. He saw a lot of himself in Blade.<br />Only he didn’t have all the fancy weapons. And vampires would never<br />organize; they were solitary creatures, and they always kept one<br />apprentice. So if you killed one, there was always another. Never<br />more than two. And if one got away, they always found a new<br />apprentice.<br /><br />It used to be Cronin and McHenry always got them both. But after<br />McHenry’s death, Cronin realized a terrible truth.<br /><br />He couldn’t kill them all. It would mean the end of him.<br /><br />So now, more often than not, he let one get away, to keep the species alive.<br /><br />It occurred to him it made him an accomplice. Another human would be<br />turned. Dozens more would be killed.<br /><br />But he couldn’t live without the ashes.<br /><br />He snorted three more lines. More warmth, more calm. He put the rest<br />in a plastic bag, but he knew he would finish it off before the night.<br /><br />The girl was actually 67 years old, but physically, she looked 16, her<br />age when she was turned<br /><br />She had pretended to interested in him, then pretended to be a<br />prostitute, not a spoiled rich school girl, swearing she was “at least<br />19” years old.<br /><br />That was mistake No. 1.<br /><br />Cronin was still a very good looking man, and he didn’t look a day<br />over 28. He was tall, dark haired, with an athletic frame not unlike a<br />tennis pro’s. His hair was a little too long, but it flattered his<br />features. His skin was dark, vaguely Arabic or Mediterranean.<br /><br />The only hint that he was over 400 years old was the eyes. They were<br />originally hazel, but now they were gray. Anyone who met that gaze was<br />taken in by the eyes. They were not the eyes of a man; they were the<br />eyes of an ancient being that had walked the earth for centuries.<br />There was something sinister there, something brilliant. Something<br />vaguely evil.<br /><br />He was not a man who ever had to work very hard at finding<br />companionship. Finding sex.<br /><br />But there was nothing like sex with a vampire.<br /><br />And that was mistake No. 2.<br /><br />It was on odd quirk of vampires; male ones could not function<br />sexually; their desires were sated only by blood.<br /><br />Female vampires, however, were different creatures entirely. They<br />thrived on sex. They used it to bring in victims, but more than that,<br />they were addicted to the rush. A female vampire would never kill<br />until she had an orgasm. Then, she would lock in on the carotid<br />artery, drawing a deep, slow drink like the drag of a cigarette.<br /><br />Cronin always knew they were vampires the minute they began having<br />sex. The vampire bodies were slightly colder than normal, slightly<br />more dry. And they always closed their eyes. He would catch a quick<br />glimpse of the fangs, and that would be that.<br /><br />This one was oh, so close. She was on top, pumping, hoping he would<br />stay hard long enough to finish first.<br /><br />She was quite beautiful. Like Cronin, her eyes belied her age, but her<br />body was the perfectly shaped, lithe frame of a supermodel. She, too,<br />was athletic and limber. She adjusted to his every movement with<br />flawless precision; there’s was a dance more than sex. They reacted to<br />each other as if they had know the other for decades, knew every<br />little movement that would stimulate the other. There were no moments<br />of awkwardness. It was pure ecstasy.<br /><br />Then she screamed the scream of a an animal that was about to kill. He<br />bodied shimmied and spasmed in pleasure.<br /><br />And in an instant, she changed -- from a purely sexual being to an<br />animal needing to feed.<br /><br />Her bared fangs flashed toward his neck with unnatural speed; she had<br />done this hundreds of times, and they never saw it coming. She loved<br />the pure joy of draining a man’s blood as he squirmed underneath her.<br />Sometimes, if it took long enough, she would have a second orgasm.<br />Even a third.<br /><br />Not this time.<br /><br />Before her teeth got to the man’s throat, she felt a bite in her<br />chest. A small one at first, but enough to make her stop. Then the bit<br />became heat. Pain. She sat back up, Cronin still inside her, and<br />looked at her chest. A small wooden dart had pierced her in the heart.<br /><br />Cronin smiled at her as she looked at him with a quizzical, almost<br />bemused stare.<br /><br />“I love you,” he whispered.<br /><br />She tried to move, get off him, but the pain was too much. The dart<br />had gone straight to her heart. She was stunned. How did he know?<br /><br />“It won’t be long now, sweetie,” he said, his voice smooth, a quiet<br />whisper, as though he were sharing an intimate moment with the love of<br />his life.<br /><br />Again she tried to get off of him, but she couldn’t feel her body<br />anymore. She was lightheaded.<br /><br />“You’ll be dizzy soon,” he said softly. She tried to speak, but he put<br />his fingers to her lips, shushing her, smiling at her the way a lover<br />would.<br /><br />“It’s OK, sweetie,” he said. “The dizziness will turn to darkness. You<br />won’t see your body fall apart. It’s OK.”<br /><br />Her face started to contort. She looked into his eyes one last time,<br />and suddenly she understood what he was.<br /><br />“I love you,” he whispered, and felt the sudden burst of his own<br />orgasm, and the tingle throughout his body, especially in his face.<br />Then he felt warmth.<br /><br />Then pure heat. The vampire was dead now, but her body was about to<br />turn to ashes. He pushed her off him, and watched how quickly she<br />deteriorated. The beautiful body that just moments ago was a<br />passionate lover was now reduced to a smoldering, hot pile of ashes.<br /><br />“I love you,” he whispered again, softly. “It’s a shame one of us had to die.”<br /><br />It was then that he sat and waited for the ashes to cool. He had a few<br />shots of Jack Daniels, put his clothes on and retrieved his dart from<br />the pile of ashes.<br /><br /><br />It was just after Cronin did yet another line that he heard a knock on<br />the door. It was almost 3 a.m., and Cronin wondered if the noise had<br />awakened anyone. But then he remembered he had requested a room far<br />away from anyone else. And it was an old Motel 6 deep in Kinder, La.<br />It was a Wednesday night, and no one was there anyway. He was glowing,<br />warm from the ashes. And as satisfying as the sex had been, he felt<br />slightly aroused again.<br /><br />He pulled his jacket on, put his .45 in his belt and held the dart<br />under his sleeve. Human or vampire, he would be prepared.<br /><br />He looked through the peephole and saw a woman. She looked mid-30s,<br />extremely beautiful, but a frown on her pale face. She had his eyes.<br /><br />Without trying, he had found the other vampire. She made no effort to<br />make her skin look less pale. She looked like someone who enjoyed<br />being a vampire.<br /><br />“If I let you in, I will have to kill you,” he said through the door.<br />“I know what you are.”<br /><br />“Is she dead?” The voice was lilting, sexy, but Cronin heard the pain<br />and fear in it. Clearly she loved the creature he had just destroyed.<br /><br />“I’m sorry,” Cronin said. “It was her time.”<br /><br />Silence. Dark, uncomfortable silence.<br /><br />Then a deep scream that wasn’t unlike the other vampire’s orgasmic cry.<br /><br />“You son of a bitch!” She screamed. “Do you know what a beautiful<br />creature you destroyed? How much history was there? You killed a<br />treasure, you fucker.”<br /><br />He went to his suitcase, and pulled out some of his weapons. His<br />favorite was a handheld crossbow that had a clip of the darts and<br />worked like a machine gun. He and McHenry had invented it in the early<br />20th century. It was the only thing that worked.<br /><br />There were so many myths. Sunlight didn’t kill vampires; it burned off<br />their skin and put them in a feral state that took months to recover<br />from. Eventually they would, but their appearance was never the same.<br />Holy water did nothing. Crosses did nothing.<br /><br />Only sharp wood. Directly in the heart. It reduced them to ashes,<br />ashes he could use to live forever. He immediately got greedy,<br />thinking like a junkie in need of more.<br /><br />“Can we talk?” He asked. “If I let you in, will you let me talk?”<br /><br />“I’m going to wait outside until you come out, and then I am going to<br />kill your fucking ass,” she said.<br />He sat inside for an hour, almost dozing off. But his erection and the<br />rush of the ashes got the best of him and he went to the door.<br /><br />“You still there?”<br /><br />“Sunrise isn’t for two more hours, fucker,” she said.<br /><br />“I’m going to open the door,” he said.<br /><br />“Good,” she said. “And I will kill you.”<br /><br />He opened the door and stepped back, expected her to fly in and attack<br />him. He had the dart under his sleeve, the crossbow in his left hand<br />ready to fire.<br /><br />But she just looked in his eyes, puzzled, angry. And then she understood.<br /><br />“You are one of us,” she hissed. “Why would you kill another one of us?”<br /><br />He pointed the crossbow at her chest. One flick of his finger, and she<br />would be gone. He loved this feeling, the feeling of holding another<br />creature’s life in his finger.<br /><br />He felt like God.<br /><br />“I’m not one of you, sweetie,” he said lovingly, as if he had known<br />her all his life. “But I can’t live without you.”<br /><br />And Ella suddenly knew. He was like them, but he wasn’t. He was a<br />vampire who lived on vampires. For the first time in her 270 year old<br />life, Ella was scared.<br /><br /><br />Ella was turned by Raven, a genius of a vampire who had come over from<br />England on a boat, ready to conquer the new world. He was beautiful,<br />powerful. His apprentice had been killed on the boat in a freak<br />accident, when he fell on a railing one night, and the wood had<br />pierced his heart. Avry had been with Raven for almost 500 years; the<br />great vampire lord was devastated.<br /><br />He met Ella on the boat, speaking one night. Her husband had died from<br />the plague, and she was lonely. She was going to the new world with<br />his brother and her wife. When Raven talked of the loss of his dear<br />friend, Ella was smitten. When he took her soul with his bite, she was<br />willing. She had found the one true love of her life.<br /><br />They enjoyed nearly 200 years of happiness and friendship until Raven<br />was killed by a bowhunter with a lucky shot. It was just an<br />unfortunate meeting and circumstance. The hunter was drunk, saw Raven<br />as a threat and fired, hoping for the best. He hit a miracle shot, and<br />one of the world’s great treasures was lost, just like that.<br /><br />Ella drank the man’s blood, but made sure he died slowly and<br />painfully. It took days for him to die. She would lock him in the<br />basement during the day, keeping him too weak to fight. Then she would<br />torture him at night.<br /><br />After nearly a week, he passed away. By then, Ella had turned his<br />pretty young daughter, Alice, into her new apprentice.<br /><br />Now, all that was left of Alice Baumgartner was a few stray ashes on<br />the bed, some on this man’s face, and some in a small baggy he had<br />just put in his jacket. In a strange way, Alice was all that was left<br />of Raven, too. Ella felt a deep pain, and a deep anger. One she hadn’t<br />felt since Alice’s father.<br /><br /><br />“So one of us dies tonight,” Ella said in a sweet but sad voice.<br /><br />Cronin smiled. “Not necessarily.”<br /><br />“I will kill you, sir. Or you will have to kill me to stop me.”<br /><br />He picked up a pair of glasses and filled them both with straight Jack Daniels.<br /><br />“Forget your anger for a minute and have a drink,” he said, handing<br />her the glass.<br /><br />She looked at him coolly, waiting for her chance to pounce. His smiled<br />disarmed her slightly.<br /><br />“Your friend killed my friend. He probably killed another friend of<br />yours. Should we just keep going with his?”<br /><br />She frowned and took a deep shot of the Jack. Damn, it was good. It<br />warmed her cool body.<br /><br />“I don’t want to kill you,” he lied. “I want you to leave before dawn,<br />find a new apprentice and live on. I won’t get back this way for some<br />time.”<br /><br />He poured her more Jack. She was close enough to pounce now, if she<br />wanted. But she eyed the crossbow warily. She knew she had no move<br />here. He would kill her in an instant.<br /><br />And maybe that wouldn’t be so bad, she thought. Did she really want to<br />find another apprentice? Keep living without Raven? The undead life<br />hadn’t been the same without him. As much as she had loved Alice, she<br />had never gotten over Raven. Maybe it really was time.<br /><br />Maybe this odd stranger was supposed to do it.<br /><br />She took another long drink.<br /><br />“You are going to kill me, aren’t you?” She asked. Her voice quivered,<br />not with fear but anticipation.<br /><br />Cronin felt strange. The high of the ashes was wearing off. The<br />alcohol hadn’t kicked in. He suddenly felt something he wasn’t used to<br />feeling – sympathy for this creature.<br /><br />“Yes,” he said. “That was the plan. Get you in here, make love to you,<br />then kill you.”<br /><br />“Then let’s get on with it,” she said.<br /><br /><br />This time was different. This time, when she finished, she didn’t<br />attack. And then he finished without killing her. And they both lay<br />silently together, wondering who would move first.<br /><br />They were enraptured, glowing from the sex and the anticipation. And<br />they both thought the same thing. “I’ve lived long enough.”<br /><br />“Cord Cronin. Born Louis Depardeau, France. 1598.”<br /><br />“Ella Samuels. England. 1738.”<br /><br />She was warm from the alcohol and the sex, which had been more<br />fulfilling than any she’d had. Even without feeding. “I have to have a<br />new apprentice.”<br /><br />Cronin rolled over and whispered to her.<br /><br />“I have to kill another vampire.”<br /><br />“I have about an hour until dawn,” she said.<br /><br />They made love again. This time was even better.<br /><br /><br />Cronin felt her body underneath hers. Unlike Alice, Ella was a little<br />heavy, but still very attractive. She was soft, lumpy. She felt like…a<br />wife. Cronin didn’t want to kill her.<br /><br />Ella felt strangely drawn to the man, this vampire chasing vampire. He<br />was beautiful, strong…he satisfied her main thirst unlike any other.<br /><br />They made love with deep, heavy passion. Violently, but tenderly at<br />the same time. They moved in tandem, as if psychic, fulfilling every<br />need but one.<br /><br />The thirst.<br />The thirst started in the stomach, but then it moved to the throat.<br />Feeling a lover’s heartbeat only made it worse. The cool nakedness<br />built the pulse. They moved together, up and down, up and down.<br />Deeper, harder. The orgasm was coming. So was the feeding.<br /><br />It was tangible now. This time, there would be no letting go. The<br />bloodlust must be fed. The vampire must eat. And dawn was coming.<br /><br />She finished before him, looking down and smiling. There was something<br />about him that touched her, a part of her long dead, perhaps even<br />before Raven. Maybe, she thought, maybe there was something that could<br />work between them. In a sick way, maybe they could find love.<br /><br />But then the hunger took over.<br /><br />Ella Samuels felt the bite in her heart, and realized what had<br />happened. She felt Cronin’s spastic orgasm, then her body went numb.<br />She started to feel dizzy.<br /><br />The hunger had gotten to Cronin. He couldn’t handle it anymore. There<br />was something about her – maybe something worth saving. Maybe he could<br />have been happy with her.<br /><br />But the hunger…God, his nose was burning.<br /><br />“I love you,” he whispered, and felt the warmth of orgasm.<br /><br />“I love you, too,” she said.<br /><br />“It’s OK, sweetie,” he said. “The dizziness will turn to darkness.”<br /><br />She was about to black out. “It’s a shame one of us had to die,” she said.<br /><br />“Yes,” he whispered. “I love you.”<br /><br />Then everything went dark, and Cord Cronin waited for the ashes to<br />cool, his face pale, drooling, shaking from his hunger.</span></div>Fredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09712802691537755621noreply@blogger.com0