The Violent Torpedo of Truth / Defeat is Not An Option Blog

Happy Friday. It's hard to be too happy this morning if you're watching the news. Japan has been hit by a large earthquake and a subsequent tsunami. At the time of this writing Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast are bracing for the residual tsunami waves. I have been thinking about my little brother who lives just outside of Honolulu, our friends the Simmons family in Oregon and my buddy Geoff and his family in Cali.. My brother has lived through plenty of these situations over his 20+ years there and I am sure he will be fine but it's always scary. Remember...after a hurricane comes a rainbow...Hawaii is known as The Rainbow State for a reason.

There are different kinds of tsunamis going on in the MIDDLEwest. First it was the Wisconsin Democrats running to Illinois and now Indiana's politicians are taking refuge within our borders for the same reason. I guess all of the political turmoil in our neighboring states to the north and east are helping our Illinois economy (politician tourism/escapism). There's still plenty of room at our inns here for your huddled masses: Missouri, Iowa, Kentucky and even you Michigan.

Two days ago Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill putting an end to the death penalty here. I think it sounds weird to have a moratorium on the death penalty; isn't that contradictory (maybe I'm thinking mortuary um)? Moments after he signed the bill politicians were trying to figure out how to overturn the bill and reinstate the death penalty. I have mixed feelings about the death penalty (what do you expect from a guy in The MIDDLE?) If I were the parents of Toni Keller, the young girl recently murdered here in DeKalb, I think I would be all for the death penalty. The guy who allegedly killed her has pleaded not guilty though it sounds like they have a lot of evidence against him. That always confuses and exasperates me. The guy who committed the recent shootings/killings in Arizona also pleaded not guilty. Everyone saw you shooting these people, they have it on film, and they caught you with the gun during the shooting but you are not guilty? I know it's all about loopholes, and insanity and were the proper laws of due-process followed and the like but it was probably much easier in the old west. (Tombstone, AZ)

The Dream Dirty Laundry Podcast Guest

     I spent quite a bit of yesterday afternoon and evening working on the Dirty Laundry podcast. I am starting to wonder about the theme song and copyright infringement laws. I am going to delve further into that issue but I know there are plenty of you who are very musical and I would love to hear your ideas for a Dirty Laundry theme song. We are thinking of maybe doing something similar to the theme from the old It's Garry Shandling's Show. Free publicity, though minuscule at first. I am getting pretty excited about the show. I have some ideas for guests too that would be good guests and they may do it. As you probably know, our targeted launch date is April 1st. Guess who is coming to The Chicago Theater April 3rd for a concert? Charlie Sheen. I know he probably wouldn't do our podcast but if there's anyone who bucks the norm and may do something outside of the box like that it might be him. I am going to attempt to contact his people but I am sure it will be a waste of time - it will be something to blog and pod about though. Tickets for his "Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not An Option Show" go on sale tomorrow. I am starting to get a man-crush on this dude. For details on the launch of Dirty Laundry join the "Dirty Laundry (podcast)" Facebook fan page.
      With all of the Hullabaloo and Shindig going on lately I haven't gotten around to telling you about one of my favorite television talk shows that you may not know about. You know I like Kimmel and Ferguson but this guy may be my favorite talk show host right now. It's Graham Norton. The Graham Norton Show is on BBC America. For you MIDDLERS that remember The Benny Hill Show and Monty Python's Flying Circus you know that the British have a much more forward-thinking liberal understanding of television than we do in "The States" and Norton takes full advantage of that. Unless you are a homophobe, Graham is very openly homosexual, I think you will love this show too. It's Fabulous!!! He has guests from America regularly but he also has guests from the other side of the pond that I am learning about and liking. I guarantee your satisfaction or your money back (TWSS).

I have to get ready for work. I am going to spend the day (and probably most of the night) with a bunch of sweaty elementary school wrestlers. I wish this blog had smell-o-vision because I would bring some back for you. Tomorrow who knows if I will blog or not? The details still aren't very clear to me about picking Splenda up for the start of her college Spring Break but I will blog what I can. TTTT...MITM (showering out)