Scorsese, DeNiro and Scranton… Oh my

It seems that Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro will be teaming up to bring the book “I Heard You Paint Houses” to life on the big screen. A lot of the filiming is said to be taking place in Scranton, PA.

This news has me excited for two reasons…

Reason #1 – Scorsese and DeNiro are the ultimate in powerhouse combos in cinema history (In my opinion).

Reason #2 – I spent most of my teenage years in and around Scranton.

The story will be set around hitman Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, legendary mob boss Russell Bufalino, and their alleged involvement in the “disappearance” of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa.

Sounds like it should be a powerhouse project. You can read more about it by following this LINK.

- JM

Help Out The Kids

The Altered States is now partnered with Showtime to help raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network.

Please click on the CMN banner on the sidebar to help.

- JM

500

This will go a long way towards proving right those of you who email me that I’m a Yankees fan boy….

Mariano Rivera picked up career save number 500 last night against the New York Mets. Mo even snagged his first career RBI in the top of the 9th inning when he drew a bases loaded walk… Much to the snickering delight of his teammates.

His first career save came way back in 1996. He’s the second player in MLB history to reach the 500 mark in saves. Trevor Hoffman was the first, and he continues to add to his record number of saves (which stands at something like 577 at the moment). So it appears that Mo will end up number 2 on the all-time list unless he can pitch for another 5 years, and Trevor Hoffman just flat stops pitching.

But, one thing that Rivera has that Hoffman can’t touch is post-season success. You can argue, and many do, that the Yankees of the mid to late 90’s wouldn’t have been as successful without Mariano. I tend to agree.

Congrats Mariano.

Put a sock in it Yankee-haters… I’ll get back on the politics wagon with my next post.

-JM

Rest In Peace

R I P

Michael Jackson
1958 – 2009

- JM

The Horror…

It’s been close to a week now that we as a nation have been utterly consumed with news of the Iranian “election” and it’s aftermath. In that week, I’ve received quite a few emails from people who are wondering what I think about the whole situation…

Well, first of all, I think it’s funny that people are emailing me wanting to know what I think of any situation at all… So, thank you.

To be honest, this is how I feel about the whole situation:

Was the election fixed?
Yes, I think it was.

What can we do about it?
Nothing.

That last answer is the kicker…. But, it’s true. There is absolutely nothing that we can “do” about the Iranian election. Just like there is absolutely nothing the Iranian government could ”do” about an American election. I think the whole situation over there is absurd and sad. People are being killed in the street for voicing their opinions. Think about that for a minute; their opinions are getting them killed.

But, as bad as everything over there is… There is nothing we can do save for telling them to knock it off. Harsh, but true. 

And, in regards to Obama’s handling of the situation, the Republicans really need to shove a fucking sock in it. He’s doing the right thing. He’s made it clear that he, and we as a nation, don’t agree with what is going on in Iran. He’s pleaded with the Iranian government to stop killing people in the streets. What else can he do? Invade Iran because we believe their election was a sham? Yeah, that’s a really good idea in such a volatile part of the world.

Now, if the violence in the streets continues, and the Iranian government refuses to at least investigate the elections to see exactly what happened… Then, yeah, action will have to be taken. But, what action should be taken should be decided by the U.N., and not the United States alone.

You know what else I think? I think that while every news outlet in the U.S. is scrambling to read twitter accounts of what is going on in Tehran… There is an absolute fucking maniac in North Korea who proclaims his country a “proud nuclear power“. This is the real story. Not to mention that this proud nuclear power is considering launching a long range missile towards Hawaii in early July. Somebody needs to get Mr. Kim Jong-Il back on his medication, and they need to hurry up about it.

-JM

Justice Shmustice

Talk about getting screwed. The next time you feel like you’ve been shafted, read this article….

Convicted Murderers?

…. Your day doesn’t seem quite as bad now does it?

 

On this day in history:

June 23rd, 1972
Richard Nixon and White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman discussed a plan to use the CIA to obstruct the FBI’s Watergate investigation. The tape recording of this conversation sparked Nixon’s resignation in 1974.

-JM

Are They Serious?

 

This is for all of you who refuse to see P.E.T.A. for what they are… An organization of crazed buffoons with too much time on their hands.

President Obama is P.E.T.A.’s latest target. While filming an interview for CNBC, Obama stopped in mid-sentence and slapped a fly that was buzzing around him. Now, isn’t this something that each and every single one of us has done in the past? Yeah, I thought so….

Well, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling Obama’s swipe at the fly an “execution“. Now, while the idea behind P.E.T.A. is very respectable…. Holy shit, P.E.T.A., relax!! It’s statements like this that bring people (like me) to the conclusion that you’re an organization of…. Well, I already said it at the top of this post.

That’s it for today. Sleep tight, and don’t let the bed bugs bite….. Or, well, fuck it. Let ‘em bite! P.E.T.A. would be pretty pissed off if a bunch of bed bugs turned up dead in the morning.

 

On this day in history:

June 18th, 1873
Woman Suffragist Susan B. Anthony was found guilty by a judge in Canandaigua, NY, of breaking the law by casting a vote in the 1872 presidential election. She was fined $100, but she never paid the penalty.

On The Precipice

Humanity as a whole is standing on the precipice, looking out over the edge. As crazy as “doomsday prophets” sound, as delirious as they can come off when popping off about the “end of the world” and all that jazz…

… Well, they may be right. Look around. This world is totally fucked. And, I’m not talking about the economy, domestic or global. I’m talking about the entire state of the world.

North Korea is run by a madman, and the Middle East is hopeless. I don’t say that lightly. I say it with sadness. The awful truth of the matter is that we, human beings as a whole, seem to be dead set on destroying one another.

For what? Religion? Policy? Politics? Values? Fuck all that. If I believe in God and you don’t (or vise versa)… So what? Why can’t we just live our lives and let the hereafter sort out who was right and who was wrong?

As for North Korea, I have a feeling that that crazy little fucker that calls himself a leader over there is nothing more than the bad kid in class who continuously acts up in the back of the room, if just to be sure that nobody can ignore him. But, what if he isn’t just acting up to keep the attention of the world on him? What if his finger slips and tomorrow we wake up dead in the middle of World War III? Nuclear holocaust… Jesus, that’s heavy.

Last night, watching the late national news, I was hit with a feeling of weightlessness. That’s when the idea of humanity as a whole standing at the edge of a cliff, just itching to jump and finish ourselves off, hit me like a ton of bricks.

We are on the precipice. From this point forward things can get very, very bad. Doomsday bad… Or, and I know this is a stretch, we can all just chill the fuck out and live our lives.

I know which option I’m in favor of….

-JM

The Stupid, The Savant and The Duke

In a world full of idiots like James von Brunn, the jack-ass white supremacist responsible for the shooting at The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, it’s comforting to know that there are genuinely gifted minds out there.

Eighteen year old Jessica Terry, in her advanced placement high school science class, diagnosed herself with Crohn’s disease. Looking at slides of her own intestinal tissue – tissue her doctors had assured her were normal – Jessica spotted an area of inflamed tissue. It was later confirmed that she did indeed have Crohn’s Disease.

On this day in history:

June 11, 1776
The Continental Congress formed a commitee to draft the Declaration of Independence.

June 11, 1979
Iconic actor John Wayne died at age 72.

- JM

What the Hell?!

You know, there is a lot of stuff going on in the world today that makes people sit back, scratch their heads and raise their eyebrows. A LOT of stuff.

Well, I came across an article in the Tennessean on Monday (Yes there are some of us you actually still read printed newspapers) that completely blew my mind.

A teenager in St. Charles, MO has been living with the AIDS virus for some time now. As a result, he has been excluded from numerous occasions such as birthday parties, and has been asked not to drink from water fountains for as long as he can remember.

But, for Brryan Jackson the toughest part of growing up with AIDS has been knowing how he was actually infected with the devastating disease… His own father injected him with HIV-tainted blood when he was still just an infant in the hopes that he would put an end to his young son’s life.

Now 18 years old, Brryan will don his cap and gown and graduate with his class from Francis Howell North High School near St. Louis. Although it would be easy to be so, Brryan is not bitter as he was quoted as saying the following about his situation:

“I expect to break the barriers between what people think the virus is, and what it really is. I hope to eliminate a lot of ignorance and change people’s minds.”

I suggest that you read Betsy Talyor’s entire article HERE.

Stories like this really make you wonder just what the hell is going on in the minds of these degenerates who call themselves parents.

 

On this day in history:

June 9th, 1870
Author Charles Dickensdied in Gad’s Hill Place, England.

June 9th, 1980
Comedian Richard Pryor suffered near-fatal burns when a mixture of ‘free-base’ cocaine exploded.

-JM