Friday, December 25, 2009

hmmm...yet another christmas

Well it's Christmas as of 25 minutes ago (as I write this)

It's odd how such a day that people try to make so joyous can be just the opposite.

I think it's because we are expect to put so much into the holiday.

It's nice to exchange gifts, you get a nice feeling when someone is happy with the gift you got them. But the fact that on this day someone is going to give you a gift, there can be pressure to try and get that person a gift as well.

Some may stress out trying to find the prefect gift others maybe down because they don't have enough money to get someone something.

Some of the later may go in debt because they just put everything on their credit card and they will be stressed all year trying to pay it off.

Christmas is also a time to be with loved ones, your family of course there maybe those you don't really want to see for one reason or the other.

Thursday, December 03, 2009

MC Frontalot gets eating by a Grue

I was looking for this song a while and randomly ran across it today. So I'm putting on my blog just because....



and I might as well put this up too

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Not so fast with that sale of the Silverdome

Recently the city of Pontiac Michigan had an action to sell the Silverdome (a football stadium that the Lions used to play at from 1975 to 2002 for those who didn't know) the winning bid was to an unnamed Canadian company (with plans of turning the Silverdome to a soccer stadium) for the really low price of $583,000.

Silverdome so cheaply is because they haven't done much with it since the Lions left and it cost the city over a $1 Million a year for the up keep of the building. The city is already is in debt and saving a $1 million a year would be a great thing for the the city.

So this sale is a good thing...sadly it looks like it might not be a GOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLL. It seems that last year the Pontiac City Council approved the sale of the Silverdom for $17 million to Silver Stallion Development Corp to turn the silverdome into a casino racetrack. But at the time the Mayor of Pontiac vetoed the sale because he didn't think Silver Stallion Development Corp president and CEO H. Wallace Parker could come up with the funding to actually pay for the Silverdome. Now H. Wallace Parker has came back with a vengeance getting a court order to stop the sale of the Silverdome to the Canadian company.


Crain's Detroit
is reporting that Parker says the reason his bid was turned down was racial discrimination. But He and then Mayor Clarence Phillips are both Black. Either Crain's report just assumed that the bias in this qoute from Parker...

“The defendant mayor openly expressed a bias against the plaintiff and in favor of our bid competitors,” Parker wrote in the complaint, referring to Pontiac Mayor Clarence Phillips. “He shared that bias openly so as to jeopardize the plaintiff’s ability to maintain funding for the project.”


...was racial.

Giving as I stated the key players are Black I'd have to say whatever bias Phillips has against Parker probably isn't racial (though I guess there is some chance Phillips is full of self hate.)

Maybe Phillips was right and Parker doesn't actually have a way of paying for all this, Parkers plains are big and would cost a lot of money, plus even if he did have the money he would have to get all the paper work to make it happen and it hard to say if the state would approve of his plans. Or maybe Phillips just didn't want a racetrack/casino in the city, there is always fear of what a gambling establishment will have on the community it is in and Pontiac isn't really doing so well right now and doesn't need the negatives that could come from a racino. Or maybe there's another factor that I am not a were of.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Fly advertising

below is a marketing campaign by Jung von Matt, a marketing agency did at the Frankfurt book convention

they attached little banners on to flies and let them fly around



this ideal is truly unique (I mean really who would have thought of using flies to advertise a product) and is giving them lots of buzz. I would think a lot more buzz then the people that actually read those tiny little signs. Though watching the video as many people looked to see what the banner says as they where people that where bugged by it.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Happy Birthday day Nintendo

that right today is Nintendo's anniversary. The company has been around for 120 years.

what you say how can a video game company been around for 120 years, when video games haven't been around that long. simple they didn't start out as a video game company they started out as a card game company in Japan.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Obama no but Mike Vick OK?

there has been a lot of focus in the media on the number of idiots that are upset that Obama gave speech that was televised for school kids to see.

yet oddly gave a speech in front of some school kids at Nueva Esperanza Academy in Philly at today and no one said a thing against it.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Paris Jackson smacks the world with reality of the King of Pop

I have some people state that they where displeased about Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris Jackson, speaking at her fathers memorial.

I feel these people are in bad taste.

1. it was her father's memorial she has much more right to be up their then half the people singing.

2. I think the real reason those who where upset about her speaking, where displeased because they have to come with the cold hard truth that Michael Jackson, even with all the crazy stories about him and his insane level of fame, was a human being that was also a dad.

we where all enjoying the acts that performed and the famous that gave speeches at MJJ's memorial. But it seems that some lost sight of the fact that Michael was a man and had a family that loved him and the tearful words of young Paris Jackson smacked that truth into the face of the world.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

re: Open letter to Repubs

So a guy I know online is trying to save the Republican party.

He's hoping to get a lot of views to a letter he has on his site (Progressive Republicans) asking for the parties leadership to look at it self and for Republicans to stop attacking each other.

I disagree with the later part. The people in the Republican party need to dish out their issues. If the party can't stand infighting then I think it's too weak to survive

if the party dies, I think sooner or later a new party will come and replace the Republican party (just as the Republicans replaced the Whigs)

But with out the infighting I don't think they will get to a point where the party can change it, because everyone will just follow lock step over the issues that the party already runs under. which are the same issues that the party is following to its down fall.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Better of Ted (funniest TV show on the air)

I'm surprised reading a few article that say the new ABC show Better of Ted is doing poorly in the ratings.

why am I shocked...because it is one of the funniest shows on TV.

I'm not sure why people haven't tuned into the show yet, maybe the ads for the show didn't draw people in. or maybe because it came on midseason many people are already locked in their TV watching patterns.

if you haven't checked out the show yet I ask you to try it out (it's on Wednesdays at 8:30 EST on ABC)

at the least you should watch the show for the comic scientist duo of Phil and Lem

or for the boss played by Portia De Rossi (of Alley McBeal and Arrested Development fame)

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Pontiac, MI may get high speed rail

recently there has been some news that the stimulus plan has money set aside that may go to a few high speed rail networks across the nation.

one of these hubs is in the Midwest, where a number of Midwestern link to Chicago. Now when I saw this on the news they said that one of the lines will link the Chi to the D (that's Detroit) but reading more detailed there will also be a high speed drop to Pontiac.



This is great news and hopefully the money will come to make this happen. Because I admit being bias, I like the ideal of a stop in Detroit, but hearing that there is one planned for Pontiac is even better.

Now with the news of a high speed rail line that will bring people in from all over the Midwest I also hope this pushes Michigan politicians to upgrade the rest of the state public transportation system (or you know actually have one outside of buses)

WARNING Fox news site has malware

I clicked on the foxnews.com to read a news article and I was redirected to a malware site.

and it seems that I am not the only person this has happened to.

no not at all

Friday, April 17, 2009

are we seeing the end of wii madness?

that what some people are saying due to the fact that last month, the PS3 out sold the Wii in Japan.

I don't know if I wouldn't put Wii in the grave because of this news. The Wii has been at the top for a long time (selling like gangbusters) and it makes since that sooner or later there would be some slow down.

Gamasutra has a post up about the fact that over half of the wii sales are for Nintendo's game and music games and because it's easy to port games between the the PS3 and 360 it best to make games for those system and not the Wii


and that is where I think the Wii's problems lie. It was a smart move to make a gaming system that people not hard core gamers can enjoy playing and kids. Heck it worked back in the day win the NES. The problem with those markets is they don't naturally buy as many games as the adult hardcore gamer and that the market that PS3/360 picked up and Wii didn't and with the bad economy the non hardcore gamer is less likely to spend money on games.

why? because the types of games many "hardcore gamers" want ended up on the other system.

The thing is the wii's problem isn't 100% Nintendo's fault. a big problem is that 3rd party publishers didn't make games for gamers for the Wii, many focused on the other systems and mostly made games for kids and such for the wii.


Now I'm not one of those that thinks Wii should just market it self to the hardcore gamer but I feel the system could do a better job of walking and chewing gum at the same time. If Big N doesn't want to change it's focus on the games it makes, fine. but it might be wise for them to point out what the system has for hardcore gamers, as well as try to push 3rd party developers to look at the wii when they make "gamer games"

Friday, March 20, 2009

I may have been to hard on my mayor

on my last post I talked about the fact that the city of Pontiac maybe taken over by the state (which has now happened)

I pointed out the fact that giving the city is expected to be $5 to $7 million debt next year. Which is bad but before the current Mayor took office the city had a about a $37.1 million budget debt

now I feel a little bad for the mayor, even thought the city is in bad shape, at least in terms of being in debt (thought there are other points I disagree with the mayor on) we are in better shape then we where a few years ago but the truth is he hasn't turned the city around enough to actually be in a good situation.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Gov. Granholm takes over the city of Pontiac

My hometown of Pontiac, MI has been going through financial troubles for a while now.

Well now it is seen to be so bad that Jennifer Granholm has declared the city a state of emergency and may appoint someone to manage the cities assets.

shocking, but honestly I doubt they can run things worst then the people in charge of the city already are.

The mayor of Pontiac says
“We weren’t aware we were in any special trouble,”


he also thinks the city will have a $5 to $7 million deficit next year.

Hey Mayor Philips I think that is a sign that the city is in trouble!

maybe having special attention from the governor could be a good thing for the city. as the state tries to turn it self around, maybe we will be seen as one of the key places needed for improvement.

Monday, February 23, 2009

I think scammers are trying use Obama's stimulus plan to trick people

I just got a phone call with a recorded message talking about a debt restructuring plan, but unlike other messages of this nature they are using the stimulus plan that was recently past as a hook, by saying that this restructuring plan is part of the stimulus package.

Monday, February 16, 2009

attack of the living dead social networking site: friendster

I had open a friendster account way back when that was the popular networking site, that I have used in ages.

but it seems like every other day I get an email saying someone wrote me a message or sent a friend request and I check it to see if it's someone I know/knew and it always spam.

what I wonder is does anyone actually still use friendster that isn't a spam bot zombie?

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Obama's inaugiration speech ushers in a new era

watching Obama give his inauguration speech it, is clear that we are entering an era of change.

Not only because of the fact that America has now sworn in it's first Black president, but the words Obama spoke show that he will run much differently form the presidents before him in the last few decades.

if his words ring true we will see an America that works with other nations instead of against.

an America that will push for the environment. a nation that will not only be green but responsible for the resources it takes form this earth.

No longer will we let our economy run wild without regulations.

No longer are we in an era where the people running our government seem to loath the office and responsibilities they hold and demand government be smaller.

no instead we will enter an era where government looks and see how well they are running, it not about small or big governments it's about governments that work.

This looks to truly be a great day for the nation

Thursday, January 15, 2009

local press goes faux gangsta?

I came across this interesting article talking about the reporting about gangs in the city of Pontiac.

or to be correct the post really talks about how the city doesn't have what it calls a true gang problem.