Amusing Antics?

Today, I chatted with Dela and Darlene via the videophone -- they looked fabulous as usual. Dealing with Darlene's father regarding the Maryland Terrapins is tiresome at times. But that is so him. Her father is very amusing person to joke. However, Darlene mentioned something that made me smile about her father.

Last night, Darlene's father dressed up as Santa Claus and used the videophone to get in touch with his brother's grandchildren in Indianapolis. The kids are 4 and 2. They were bewildered and shocked to see Santa Claus on the videophone -- Santa Claus told the kids to get in bed because Santa Claus is on their way to stop by their house. Suffice to say, the kids went to bed immediately.

That was brilliant and definitely cute thing to do over the videophone! Anyone else has the quirky stories about the videophone experiences?

Cheers,

R-

Few Words From The Great One

Greetings!

Happy Holidays to ye all!

Instead of using these crappy holiday pictures, I chose Mordru to represent the Holidays. After all, he rocks!

I hate the X-Mas Weekend! The gym is closed until Monday! I do not like it! My arms are totally solid. Now I want the upper arms to grow to a point where I can brag a little. After all, when everything is done, I deserved to brag a little, do I?

The trainer warned me that the "guts" will be the last to go. I understand completely -- right now, my legs are mildly solid -- needs few more weeks to shed fat out of it. My ass is really sore from whatmacallit machine that works on muscles inside the ass. Each time I try to sit, I go "Ow ow ow!" Pain is exhilarating. Where is the vicodin when you need one?

Perhaps, in time, my body might look like Mordru on your right. Perhaps, I should tattoo my face like him as well. Nah. In other life, I might. But certainly not this one.

Oh, by the way, last night, a former porn star gave me his phone number and said to call him -- that I was cute. I wonder why is that people said that I'm hideous and there are other people who said that I'm so cute. Well, can't satisfy all, though.

Since It is Christmas Eve: My parents' hometown is very small. So basically with the gym closed, there is practically nothing to do than to watch television. I heard a lot about MTV's Laguna Beach. One thing that I cannot stand the show is that in every sentence, they had to say "like" one too many times. It gets on my nerves.

Another One On The List: Among the films that I wanted to see on big screen are: King Kong, Brokeback Mountain and The Ringer! Johnny Knoxville is so fucking hot. I'd do him in a second! I just saw the advertisement of The Ringer -- hysterical.

Shameless Promotion: Vote for me on 2005 Deaf Blog Awards in three categories. You can vote once every 24 hours until Tuesday at 1 PM. If you do so, I may mention about the encounter I had from Craigslist.org!

Facundo's Friends: The death of Facundo Montenegro, a former Adjunct Professor at Gallaudet, was certainly sad and it was refreshing to learn that there is a blog dedicated to him. Check this link.

A Simple Question: Why did not this guy, Steven DeBottis, use the teleprompter? In my opinion, he just made a HUGE fool of himself on the local TV news in Rochester, NY. Plus, let's be serious, he's not attractive. Put Manny or Alex Abenchuchan on, the world will check 'em out eventually. Hat tip to Svetie.

Cheers,

R-

12.22.05 Tidbits

A Month Has Passed Since ... I had been reflecting a lot of things when I was on the treadmill at the gym today. I did not realize that a month has passed by since the death of Sarah Pack. *sigh* I'll never forget her.

WTF? Johnny Damon for NY Yankees?! Charlotte Lewis is going to rub this in my face sooner or later. Can't believe that Damon would do that to BoSox fans. Wonder if Steinbrenner would order Damon to cut his hair?

Todd Bertuzzi Should Be Whacked! I cannot believe that Todd Bertuzzi would do this! This Canuck Jackass demanded Steve Moore to pay for attorney fees up to $161,000 -- never mind that Todd was the one who broke Steve Moore's neck and shattered his NHL career permanently! If I ever saw Todd ...

Rene Portland Being Sued In Federal Court: Good. I never liked this woman.

Deaf Girl Can Hear! ! Each time I read something like this, I cringed. Let's be serious for a minute -- even she got implantized, she's still Deaf. She is going to use BSL eventually. She is going to socialize with Deafies eventually. You know what? I'm in favor of having a choice for themselves to decide. If they want to deface their heads, fine with me. But I get annoyed with these pretentious articles that acted like cochlear implants are the "miracle", it is not. It is just another form of hearing aids. That kid will eventually turn her CI off, like many ones I knew.

Busted! SC's Fox News Racist: This is interesting stuff. And Conservative pigs often attacked CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS for being biased but supportive of FOX NEWS -- well, in South Carolina's local affilitate, FOX5NEWS, was busted for quietly promoting a racist and anti-semitism website.

Ack! Anyone Tells Me Why He Is Pope? Pope Benedict XVI is one scary guy to look at. Let's be serious. Many Catholics regarded Popes as the representative of God's Church -- and yet, his appearance is very creepy. He reminds me of Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars series.

Since I'm On Star Wars ... : Some readers are quite fond of my shock value. Some people just hated it. Some wondered if I have a hidden agenda? Some wondered if I was simply hateful person to start with. There is a scene in Star Wars III, Revenge of the Sith, where the battle took place right above Coruscant, with hundreds of ships battling each other, hurling these bright lasers in different directions.

IN that scene, you could see many things happening at one time -- a Star Destroyer beamed its laser at this particular droid ship, caused it to explode and its debris shot all over in different directions after the impact. You could see tiny ships trying to withstand the brutal battle scenes all over the screen. All in your peripheral vision, what does it makes you feel? Too much? Confused? Overwhelmed?

The sense of Chaos, perhaps? That is what I injected in this blog -- to make things interesting -- to provoke others to think, react and laugh. That is the ultimate goal. Even if it comes at someone's expense -- well, after all, everyone is subjected to be one of these collateral damages, though!

But does it reflects who I am in real person? Not necessary. I am aware that my antics has spawned such hateful responses from certain few. That is fine with me. I cannot please anyone else. I stated my opinions on many things. Sometimes I do not need to explain why I do that to anyone else because my reasons are my own. Sometimes, people wanted the dialogue on certain but volatile issues (mostly related to politics and religions) but I do not. I have a firm belief -- you have yours -- and I say it without stating my reasons. Because I do not have to tell you the reasons. Let's face the reality, I am always right and you are always wrong!

Oh, by the way, that scene where the Star Destroyer beamed its blue laser on this particular droid ship which ignited a spectacular explosion -- it is my favorite scene -- I imagined that when I disparaged someone else's comments. Their dignity just disintegrated just like that. And what did that Star Destroyer do? It moves to the next target, of course.

Just like I do.

Cheers,

R-

For Your Own Amusing Thoughts

While I'm off to the gym to work out, I'm attaching an article written by Thomsen Young regarding the growing phenomenon of Deaf Bloggers.

On another subject, Alex Abenchuchan is right on this subject. After a heavy workout, I have this insatiable appetite for drinking lots of H20. It is becoming my drug choice these days.

However, back to the subject, the article will be featured on SIGNews.org, administered by Communication Services for the Deaf for December/January edition.

I think it is decent. Yes, they got my location wrong. But nevertheless, I'll be back in the City sooner than you think. Har har!

Written by Thomsen Young

For the technology aficionados, the world has been transformed by the power of the Internet, especially with a new concept known as blogging, or blogs. Within the last few years, there has been a rising popularity of blogs within the deaf community, yet, something quite different or unexpected has occurred. Deaf blogs are beginning to unify the deaf community in an unprecedented way.

There's Ricky Taylor's "Observe But Do Not Interfere", David Evans' "Sound Off! DeafView from the Left Coast", Keri Ogrizovich with "The dream you are living is your creation...", Meryl K. Evans' "Bionic Ear", Mike McConnell's "Kokonut Pundits" and about a hundred and forty known deaf blogs on the internet.

Only a handful of 'web logs' or blogs existed during 1998 and most of the bloggers knew each other and would refer each other by linking their own sites to other people's blogs. The media didn't take notice of blogs until 1999 when Rebecca Blood wrote a book called The Weblog Handbook, in which she explores the rapidly growing trend through a collection of 34 essays. By late 2002, there were over 750,000 users posting blogs on the Internet. While there is no exact date of when deaf bloggers began developing blogs, it is reasonable to assume that soon after 1999, deaf blogs began to pop up.

The purpose of blogs is that it can be use by virtually anyone, any age, anywhere, all the while presenting various topics and issues that the writer feels is important to address. Experts estimate that there are close to ten million blogs, with a recent Technorati portal reporting that about 12,000 new blogs are being created daily at about one per 7.4 seconds. Keri Ogrizovich is one of these 10 million bloggers. Her blog, "The dream you are living is your creation..." presents a more family-oriented blog where she keeps her friends and extended family in touch with what is happening in her life, starting with the birth of her son, Lochlan. Keri explains that her interests in blogging came about from a friend who also blogged about her family as well as her pregnancy. "I had just found out I was pregnant. A friend blogged about her pregnancy experience and I enjoyed reading her blog on her pregnancy so much that I wanted to do the same. It was also a
good way to share my experience with family and friends."

Yet, Keri still wanted to share her pregnancy experience with everyone, specifically deaf women, because, "our society has a medical view of birthing whereas it is not. It is a natural part of life. Unfortunately, many women do not realize that they have choices when it comes to birthing. Women, more specifically, deaf women are not educated on natural birthing and how the epidurals used to relieve the labor pains can be dangerous for them and their babies, as well as most likely leading to a C-section."

David Evans and Mike McConnell write about political savvy topics that range from captioning to opinions about the French riots to Netflix. Evans, a resident of Los Angeles, Calif., believes that there are pros and cons that blogs bring the deaf community closer or further away from each other. "The deaf blogs I've seen so far are, for the most part, rather personal. They do bring people together in the sense that those who enjoy reading, writing, and being online are brought together and able to connect to one another...the ideas or topics bandied about may filter down and benefit the entire community eventually- who knows?"

McConnell, a native of New Mexico, believes that deaf blogs brings the deaf community together. "The Internet is a powerful communication medium, whatever the source of information that is passed on whether its e-mail, instant messenger, video-phone, blogging, or personal web pages, both deaf and hearing communities benefit greatly. It actually brings people a little closer enabling them to understand each other better." McConnell uses Blogger.com, a free hosting internet website that give step-by-step instructions that makes it simpler to self-publish on the Web.

Known as one of the most notorious deaf bloggers is Ricky Taylor's "Observe But Do Not Interfere," popular, in part, due to the high shock value of this blog. In an e-mail interview, he acknowledged that his blog was not really intended for the deaf community, but rather one that is willing to share experiences. "I think my blog, unlike many others, is brutally honest in almost everything else." Ricky Taylor, who currently lives in New York City, goes on to explain his perspective of other deaf blogs on the Internet. "It irritated me to read many blogs written by deaf people that talked about their menstruation cycles or new pants that they just bought at JcPenneys. Why can't they say something interesting about ... say, politics, lifestyle, sports or even ... sex? I guess you could say that I'm a fan of shock value. I try to touch different bases that might jolt readers to respond or not."

Whether we want to admit it or not, deaf blogs are showing strong support in unifying the deaf community in an unprecedented way on the Internet. Evans concludes: "But aside from rare instances, I don't think blogs and blogging necessarily speak directly to the deaf community- I think blogging and blogs transcend deafness, and allow the readers a chance to listen to various individuals on their respective soapboxes. Also, blogging is fairly new. As blogs mature across the board, it may evolve and have more of a sense of accomplishing something positive."

Not bad, eh?

Cheers,

R-

Tavis' Interview with Craig T. Nelson

Thanks to PJ, I was able to read the transcript between PBS' Tavis Smiley's interview with Craig T. Nelson who acted as the father of Tyrone Giordano's character, Thad Stone in The Family Stone.

It is intersting that Craig did not mention Tyrone at all. Initially, PJ and I misread that it could be the "fellow" that is Ty but apparently, Craig was referring to "Jack", whom I believe, is Marlee Matlin's interpreter -- from what I understand, he is CODA (Child of Deaf Adults). He could have taught the fellas how to sign, not Ty himself. I'm not certain about that, though.

Either way, the interview seems to indicate that Craig enjoyed his unique experience of being the parent of "deaf child".

[snipping the transcript that was taken from pbs.org]

Tavis: Let me come back as I promised I would to "The Family Stone.” There's a character in this movie who is deaf. And everybody on the set of course had to learn sign language to – (moves hands) I'm acting stupid, doing stuff that I don't know what I'm doing over here. So everybody had to learn sign language to make this happen.

Nelson: I'm with you on that.

Tavis: You knew where I was going, didn't you? I have heard from some friends of mine that you had a little trouble, challenge with the sign language stuff.

Nelson: Well, I thought I was coordinated 'til it came to...

Tavis: This does not count.

Nelson: (laughs) Yeah. Well, I was in the trailer and I was rehearsing on my own, which is a big mistake. And I got a little too...

Tavis: Wait, hold up, hold the phone. I want to just know how you do this. How do you rehearse sign language by yourself?

Nelson: What you do is, you stand in - you read it first, and then you've got with a sign language expert, Jack, who's assuming that you're a semipro, and that you know basically what you're going to do, and you're not gonna hurt yourself. So they let you go. And I'm old enough to be let alone in my trailer now.

So I go in and I'm looking in the mirror and I’m trying to figure out how I can talk and do this at the same time. And I put my finger in my eye, and I realized that I'm probably going to need help, you know, like a medic. And, so I'm really embarrassed about it. And actually the first person I see is Luke Wilson, who you don't want to tell anything to, because it gets spread. In five seconds, everybody, “you okay? Are you going to sue?” Yeah. What am I going to sue for?

Your confidence is basically - but the interesting thing is that for me, in watching the actors and watching the experts do sign it, there's short hand involved, it's a whole language in and of itself. And you just don't go to a different country and the sign language is going to be the same. It changes, and much like our slang does. So, but they have cutoffs.

So, you're doing it thinking that, hey, how does this look, and they're looking at you like, when are you going to get finished with this? You know, cut to the chase, whatever that sign is. So, I just barely, I just basically went and did my own. I figured, what the heck. The family's been together long enough. They know what I'm doing.

Tavis: I suspect that there are probably families where that happens, though. I'm sure somebody will get a kick out of it.

Nelson: I'm sure they do.

Tavis: I'm sure they will, yeah.

Nelson: The fellow that was teaching us sign language is very good. He's born of deaf parents, and yet he speaks. I mean, he's got a voice. And so, he's very interesting. It's a whole - that's a whole other world that you don't get not only involved with, but you don't see, you don't become part of, because we make it separate. It's like, deaf? Whoa.

Tavis: See, you've addressed now the funny side of trying to learn how to do this stuff. Did anything occur to you? I assume it did. Anything occur to you on the serious side of this equation about what it means to live a life where you're...

Nelson: Yeah. Being able to express yourself visually and tactfully. And without this modification of sound. And it's fascinating, because the resonance that we hear oftentimes influences - when you listen to a great actor, Olivier or Richard Burton comes to mind, because he had that mellifluous voice and that tonality. And it's not used so much anymore.

It's substance and quiet, you know. But, with those guys it was that sound. And it became like music. So, their hands in expressing themselves are so wonderful to watch, because you get a whole sense of personality. And it's a whole different - it's reality of understanding and trying to get into another person, which I just found interesting.

[snip the transcript]

Great job, Tavis.

Confidential to RT101: Please. Get. A. Clue. I represent me. I do not represent the Deaf Community. I try to entertain others. Yes, I'm being compared to Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern and I find that amusing and felt honored by that. Howard Stern RULES! Case closed. Go and whine about something else. You're good at that.

Cheers,

R-

12.20.05 Tidbits, Part 2

VOTE for Observe But Do Not Interefere

2005 Deaf blog Awards to vote for me in three categories:

Best Eavesdropping Entertainment Blog
Best Politics Blog
Best Deaf Blog

* * *

NewsFlash from CSD Headquarters in Sioux Falls: I was alerted a while ago that at Communication Services for the Deaf, 15 employees were laid off on December 15. Basically, they were offered with two choices: "voluntarily accept the layoff and receive two weeks' pay plus cashed out vacation time or be laid off regardless."

From what I understand, 15 staff were laid off out of 60 projected layoffs.

Of course, inquiring minds want to know whether if Benjamin Soukup, Patty Kuglitsch, Randy Gerloff, Jim Skjeveland, Dr. Phil Bravin and Ann Marie Mickelson will get pay cut with their six-figure salaries?

I mentioned about their outrageous salaries last August. You can read this entry.

Please remember, the one you just saw is based on 2004 Fiscal Year Budget -- I'm sure 2005 is not much different, really. Last year, the "executive officers" had the 2004 tax return of $2,126,478. CEO Benjamin Soukup has not earned less than 590,000 dollars in the last 3 years for the total of $2,022,826.

Enough? Let's compare CSD with American Red Cross, the CEO at American Red Cross made $450,000. the CSD CEO Benjamin Soukup made, in 2004, $729,596.

So? CSD's total revenue was $74,889,067. The American Red Cross' total revenue was $3,065,541,356. Yes, you got it right -- three billion dollars! While I am on that subject, the CEO of ARC's salary was .01% out of its total revenue whereas Benjamin Soukup's salary was .97% out of its total revenue!

What does it means? Simply put, CSD's pay for CEOs outpaced any non-profit organizations in terms of pay scale for non-profit organizations.

You decide.

Ooo! Joel Osteen's Naughty Wife: I always had a funny feeling that I saw Joel Osteen at some gay bathhouse before. But that is not the issue here.

Why Jane K Fernandes Must Not Be Gallaudet President, Part I: Check Jeff Carlson's link which was published last September.

Good Thing It Failed! It was reported that Stalin wanted this experiment to happen, but it did not. This just made me wonder -- what if this experiment was a success?

Brokeback Mountain Smashing Success: It was reported few days ago that the film, Brokeback Mountain, was released only in 69 theaters across the nation and ended up No. 8 on the Top Ten earning list with 2.4 million dollars out of 69 theaters. And it was mentioned that many theaters in Middle America has been flooded with calls about the film being shown in the area. The distributor said that they'll increase the distribution to 400 theaters starting in January. Xians, you've lost the war. Go fuck a sheep!

Confidential to McWeenie: 1,300 hits in a day for the Deaf Community is a record? Try mine. I hit more than 1,900 hits in a day twice or thrice before. So fuck off, coward. McWeenie, you are purely coward for deleting people's comments. Only ones that agreed with you will be kept on. Goes on to say what kind of person you are.

Cheers,

R-

12.20.05 Tidbits, Part 1

MTA Transit Strike: For the first time in 25 years, the NYC subway has come to a halt. TWU Local 100, an union who did the transit strike on MTA that enraged many capitalists including Mayor Michael Bloomberg who complained that by setting up the strike, New York stands to lose $400 million per day and its tax revenues up to $12 million. The Mayor and MTA asked the Court to fine the union $1 million per day for disrupting the transit system.

See the pattern? Your lives are not important, money are important. What do I think of this? I think the cost of living in New York is pretty high. Most people who worked for state, local, federal governments and the non-profit organizations earned less than the ones who works in for-profit organization. The gap between these two is growing at an alarming rate.

I think the Transit Workers Union was justified to do something about it. Enough is enough. They proved that by doing the transit strike, the capitalism gets rattled. People needs to realize that beneath the coat of capitalism, there are humans who needs the earning base to survive in this city.

You can find the blog which Transit Workers Union addressed the points which the MTA and the city government chose to ignore.

You can see the pro-comment about TWU local on this blog. And you can see the malicious comments against the Union by DowntownLad. DowntownLad also rightfully attacked that gook ho, Michelle Malkin and Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, for trying to get involved in a city they do not even live in. You can see why I enjoyed DL's postings. He is blunt as can be. And I love him for that.

As for Deaf Bloggers who had to improvise their ways in the city due to the TWU strike, you can find this and that to satisfy your curiosity whether if it pissed them off or not.

Bad Santas on Rampage: This is amusing.

Virginia Cavaliers 7-1!: Today, they routed Marshall 67-35. Again, Lyndra Littles and Sharnee Zoll netted the first time in UVA history to have two players to hit for double-double. Sharnee Zoll had 11 points and 13 assists while Lyndra Littles had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

It is nice to know that the team is determined to make a statement despite the fact that they are very young team. Only in time, they will pull few surprises against the teams. I'm hoping that the team gets to knock Duke and North Carolina.

It is entirely possible that Virginia Cavaliers is better than No. 1 Tennessee Lady Volunteers. Before you roll your eyes, hear me out on this one. Virginia played George Washington in Washington, DC and led 36-23 at the half, they never trailed at all, okay? Not only that, they led as many as 22 points before substituting liberally in the second half, but nevertheless won 66-53.

As for Tennessee, they played at George Washington and won 59-43. But Tennessee trailed as many as 10 points and was up by 5 at the half, 34-29. And in the second half, Tennessee steadily expanded the lead to win the game, 59-43.

I have the guts that it could be the year that Virginia Cavaliers gets to shock someone else.

I'm a fan of Coach Debbie Ryan for the last 18 years. In fact, when I approached her, she instanteously knew who I am. What else is new? I'm sure she sighed at the fact that I was harsh on her in the past when the teams struggled.

Oh, yeah, here are the pics of me with Coach Ryan, Lyndra Littles and Sharnee Zoll. Cool, is it? I need a major haircut, obviously. And I still work out, thank you very much.

Cheers,

R-