Steve McNair

On July 4th, early in the morning, Steve McNair was shot and killed by a female companion, later determined to be his girlfriend. Being an avid football fan, I was immediately saddened by this. Add this to Michael’s death, as well as Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and Billy Mays, and it has been a sad two weeks. I know people die every day, and as a society we shouldn’t focus just on celebrities’ deaths. However, that is exactly what happens with everyone, including Steve McNair.

While it is an extremely horrific circumstance that he was shot and killed by his girlfriend who minutes after shot herself, I was surprised to find out that Steve was married at the time. After I read some reports on the incident, I got the impression that while Steve was married, he was either going through a divorce or was separated from his wife at the time, because he and his girlfriend were known to not try to hide their relationship. Apparently, he frequented her house a lot and spent nights there, and there are even photos of the two of them doing recreational activities, such as parasailing. Again, I only assumed that he and his wife were having marital problems. I thought to myself, if he was having an affair, then he would (presumably) go through the troubles of hiding it from not only his wife, but the media as well. When new reports began to surface, it was only then that I found out he was having an affair.

Just because he, or anyone else, was having an affair does not in any way justify being killed over it. But I couldn’t help but think to myself that he was killed because he was having an affair. Sadly, if he wasn’t with this woman, he wouldn’t have died. I understand that when somebody dies, it isn’t the best time to put blame on them. But I was quite surprised that no one mentioned this. Again, I didn’t expect the media to bash him when he wasn’t even buried yet. But I guess that I gave the media too little credit. And I am glad that his wife and kids were in attendance at the funeral. I didn’t expect them not to be. I am not trying to act morally superior to him. Not at all. This post doesn’t even have a topic and I don’t want to taint him as an individual (who even cares about as an athlete). And I don’t want to get into who deserves to die for their sins/crimes. But I just thought it was really sad that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But was he? Yes, he could have been at the wrong time. But he wasn’t in the wrong place. He chose to be there.

I hope his family only remembers him for the father, son, husband that he was.

What Happened To?

I am feeling a bit nostalgic at the moment. It could very easily be the lack of quality sleep lately. But, with the help of the one person save my parents that I have known the longest, my friend Gio, we spent the last hour or so texting back and forth. The topic? Things that were cool or popular or famous in the 90s that everyone would have banked on being around for years. These things range from people to music to toys. Sit back and enjoy the trip down memory lane. Try to imagine you are sitting in your grade school classroom and you are 12 again.

Rollerblades- I know I know, people still rollerblade. But do they really? You hardly see anyone blading passed you on the street anymore. And I am okay with this. I get scared when people run passed me. You can imagine my fear of someone on rollerblades coming up behind me.

Sega- Gio and I first singled out Sega Dreamcast, but then quickly realized that with the dominance of Sony and Microsoft in the video game realm lately, and the recent resurgence of Nintendo…where did Sega go?? You had Genesis and Saturn, as well as Dreamcast. And that was just in North America. You also had to the handheld Game Gear which was the first color-screen handheld!!!! I miss Sega. Sadly, they stopped making consoles due to low sales in 2001. Enter sad face here.

Beanie Babies- Well, this wouldn’t be a proper list without this inclusion.

The XFL- Vince McMahon’s wonder project here. The mastermind behind the WWF (or whatever the correct acronym is now) woke up one morning and ate one too many chewy entrepreneurial multi-vitamins and decided to mix the barbaric rules of wrestling to the already slightly barbaric rules of the NFL. This was no tag team. (You see what I did there???) Now that I think about it, I don’t think anyone (including Vince) thought this was going to last passed the one year it did.

Lou Bega “Mambo #5”- Who had his CD? *Zach emphatically raises his hand* Nobody on Earth could say that this wasn’t their jam. I dare you to defy that previous statement. Perhaps in public it wasn’t…but secretly you loved it. I just youtubed this and not only was I instantly victim to singing along, but I kind of want to devote a whole post to this song. But I want subject you to that. Some last minute thoughts on Lou and his song, I mean masterpiece:

- Angela, Pamela, Sandra, Rita, Monica, Erica, Tina, Mary, Jessica are the names of the women he loves

- It reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. I want to know how it failed to reach 1. It did however reach number 1 in the following countries: Germany, Canada ay, Greece, Mexico, Norway, UK, Italy…and number 5 in Japan. Seriously? You are telling me that there were four songs better than this in November of 99 in Japan?? Recount!!!!!

- The Rolling Stone magazine voted this the 6th most annoying song of all-time. Seriously? You are telling that there are five more annoying songs than this?? Recount!!!!!

- This is by far my favorite tidbit- This song was intended (for someeeee reason) to be the theme song to the 2000 Democratic National Convention but fell through due to the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. I love it.

- And finally, any song that has the opening lyrics of “1, 2, 3, 4, 5” has my vote as amazing songwriting.

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfvJOL1gpic&feature=related

See the vid here

Boy Bands- Everyone remembers *NSYNC and BSB, and probably even 98 Degrees, but what about LFO? O-Town? I wasn’t too into O-Town but LFO introduced me to Abercrombie! I distinctly remembering singing along to this song with my mom in the car, letting her know that I like girls who wear Abercrombie and Fitch…and then abruptly stopping to ask her what the hell Abercrombie and Fitch was. It was akin to me asking her “Mommy, where do babies come from?” Only this time, she didn’t tell me to go ask my father.

Oh also, any of you people looking to determine who was better between The Justin 5 or Backstreet Grown Men? Sorry Justin. All we have to do is look at the record sales for TOTAL albums sold: 120 million for BSB to 56 million for NSYNC. And amazingly, some boy band from Ireland named Westlife (??) has somehow managed to sell 40 million records? Nice.

Fashion- Starter Jackets. Athletic Jerseys ( I realize people still wear these but unless you are doing so at a game or while actively cheering your fav team on, it is just extremely lame). Baggy Jeans. Baggy Shirts. Baggy Sweaters. Baggy Underwear. Baggy Socks. Bowl Haircuts.

Toys- Beanie Babies could be included in this too, but I really hope people didn’t collect these to actually play with. That totally takes down the value!!!! But what about Furby? Tamagotchi? Giga Pets? SKIP IT!!!! The Powerful P toys: Power Rangers, Pogs, and Pokemon (gotta catch em allll). Super Soaker? But the number one toy from the 90s? C’mon. You know. Tickle Me Elmo.

WWJD Bracelets¬ But really. What would He?

There are so many more topics to discuss. But I have already babbled long enough. Feel free to leave comments on some you remember that Gio and I might have missed.

Kevin Smith Q&A

Kevin Smith of Clerks, Mallrats, Jay and Bob fame, and my favorite movie of his and top three favorite of alltime, Dogma, is going to be in chicago sometime in september (18th i believe) for a question and answer session. anyone who has seen any of his previous q and a's will know that they can be quite amusing. anyways, I am looking for someone to go with so if you are a Kevin Smith fan, let me know!

in the interim, check out this link:

http://www.totalfilm.com/features/best-worst-kevin-smith

Would You Rather

I have this app that asks me these random questions in a slew of different categories. Allow myself to share some with you and my answer and reasoning...

Oh, they are all formed in the "would you rather..." kind of way.


Would You Rather…

1. Know only the month you will die
2. Know the year you will die

I easilyyyyy choose option 1. To know only the month I will die. You may disagree but let’s think about it. If I am told that I have until 2025 to live then I will absolutely die, then everything is great until January 1, 2025. Then I live the next 1 to 365 days in constant fear. Because I know I won’t be making it until 2026. Of course the counter to this argument is this: what if I find out I will die in 2070? That gives me 61 years of not having to worry. But that is too ideal.

However, if I knew just the month, let’s say October, then every year in October, I only have to live in fear for 30 days. Or 31 actually. Then come November, I know I am good for at least another 11 months. I feel that in the overall scheme of things, my way is not as intelligent on the surface as knowing the actual year. But I would rather be crawled up in my room for 30 days out of the year, every year, than knowing the exact year and staying in my room for 365. Of course, just because I am in my room doesn’t mean I won’t die because I don’t know how I will. But the chances of me getting hit by a car or shot by a stray bullet are slightly less than if I was outside.

Would You Rather…
1. Be rich but hate your job
2. Be poor but love your job

This one is definitely an “up to the person” kind of question. And honestly, there is no right answer. Cash rules everything around me (dollar dollar bill y’all), so how many of us can truly and sincerely say that he or she would pass up more money to work a job? I would. And this doesn’t mean I am making the right decision for you. But for someone like me, I just feel that I need to have a job that I can enjoy. I get bored so easily so I definitely need something to keep me engaged. I am one of those people that even though I may only be at work for 8-9 hours a day, 5 times a week, I have to enjoy that time. The people who choose the first option can (correctly) argue that work is work, it is a job and you have your free time to enjoy life and get away from work. Again, this is a fine, sound argument. But I remember when I was a kid, I used to despise doing anything fun on Sundays. For me the only good day was Saturday. If I had something fun to do on a Sunday, it was always tainted by the fact that I had school the next day. No matter what it was. This of course could be a testament to me as a person but that’s how I was. That is what this would feel like if I were to hate my job but be rich. I feel as if I couldn’t fully enjoy the pleasures that working a hateful job could give me knowing that tomorrow I will have to go back to doing it again. It isn’t because I don’t want money. Who doesn’t? It just comes down to me knowing I wouldn’t be able to work a job I hate.

Would You Rather…
1. Never hear music again
2. Never see a movie again

This is a doozy because it is suchhhhh a hard one. Most everyone who is asked this question, in the span of 3 seconds, changed their mind 9 times. It’s just the way it is. Do we give up on something like music, something that puts words and noise to our innermost feelings when we can’t? Or do we divorce movies, one of the few outlets in life where one can go escape reality for 2 hours (music is also another outlet as well)?

I tried thinking my way through this one. Very bad idea. But I thought about it logically. (As opposed to…) I asked myself a question hoping that the answer would dictate my answer to the ULTIMATE question above. I thought that maybe if I was asked the question to only listen to one cd for the rest of my life or only watch one movie for the remainder (Late Registration duh, and Alpha Dog trustttt me), then I could decide between those answers because for me, those two choices would be the epitome of what I look for in music and movies, respectively. Disclaimer: I am not saying they are the best cd and best movie. I’m saying that if I had to choose one cd and one movie…these would be it. Please allow me to come to my conclusion on my own. The emotions that flare up inside my bones when I listen to LR are not more powerful than the thoughts and ideas that are provoked by a movie like AD. And vice versa. The answer to this question is a lose-lose. Once I realized this, I discovered that I was unfairly bashing the other choice, trying to persuade myself, when in reality, it is like choosing which child you love more. And we all know the answer to that question is: you love the oldest more. That is why LR wins a photo finish against AD.

It has nothing to do with choosing Kanye. Or maybe it does. But the important thing for me to note is that music has been in my life longer than film or television has. That’s why, in the end, music wins out and movies lose. I couldn’t live without music.

Second place choices: Sam’s Town by The Killers. Sin City directed by Robert Rodriguez

Y I <3 CTA

I still remember my first time. Honestly, I am not sure if it happened earlier or later than my peers. I never thought about it beforehand. It just happened. I remember the majority of the details, and I remember being very nervous. I woke up early to do it, and I enjoyed every second of it. See, I was 9 years old. And my mother was there.

I am talking about…my first time…riding the CTA. In this case, it was the Brown Line train. My whole life, I have lived within rock throwing distance of the entrance to the Brown Line train station (and to put things into perspective, I do not have a strong arm). I have always felt a sort of connection to the CTA. A camaraderie. It was always the backdrop to my heydays of playing outside. The tracks are a mere 30 feet from my front door. I used to climb them as a kid. With my friends, we had this makeshift game that really only consisted of throwing a ball over the passing trains to the other side. That’s it. There were no winners or losers. Well, actually the only loser was the ball—and my pride—when I failed to clear the roof of the train (again, remember my deficiencies with throwing). The point is that the train has been with me since the beginning. Whenever somebody visits my house for the first time, and they hear the “loud” train passing by, he or she asks me, “Oh Wise Zach, how does one as awesome as yourself put up with the ever present racket of the train? Surely it must become annoying” And I tell them, “Listen my child, you are correct in your statement. I am Wise. However, as with anything in life, one adapts to their surroundings. And I have. With the train.” Granted, my friends never hear me over the passing of the train…but…oh well.

So, that day, when I was 9 years old and I boarded the train for the first time, I was on my way to my Mother’s workplace. From waiting for the train to come all the way to exiting it at our stop, I found it as mesmerizing as anything. I thought that the way we zoomed all over the city, in between buildings and underground, was exactly like the video games I used to play. I found the people on the train, on the platforms, waiting for the bus, I found all of them spectacular. I still take the train and bus to this day. I was on it today and I will be on it tomorrow. I am one of countless individuals to take it. When I am on the train, I read or listen to music. If I am tired, then I will sleep. But I also watch everyone. I like to think I am a people watcher. Hey, if people can watch birds and not be weird, why can’t I watch people? I mean, I don’t peek into their bedroom windows and I don’t stare them down, but I definitely watch them, and observe how they act. And I have noticed that every single kind of person rides the train. There are people worth money, and people who spend their time on the train begging for some. Every race, creed, social class, etc rides the CTA. People ride it to work and they ride it to their place of recreation. They ride it to see their children and they ride it to school. They ride it for fun. They deface it. They steal the maps off of it. They ride it at all times of the day and night.

Obviously because they are the first thing I see when I board the bus, I always look at the bus driver. I can determine rather quickly if he or she is enjoying their day. Think about it. The bus driver has to put up with everybody. If somebody is obnoxious, it ruins everybody’s ride. But you are eventually getting off. The driver must stay there, listening to this person. I just give them kudos for doing so.

And besides, they are courteous enough to get me from Point A…to Point Z. Even if they do charge so dang much!

My Apologies

My internet was down!! I am sorry! Wireless internet can be a pain. See, the problem was this: I wasn’t sure what to blog about. Plain and simple. I didn’t know what was appropriate to discuss, actually. So I asked my friends. Some had interesting topics. While others…wanted to me discuss them! Needless to say, I just thought that this could be a great forum to share some of my thoughts on certain subjects. With that said, I am always looking for topics. For me, that’ll be some of the fun in it! So…start giving me topics! Leave comments with ideas or text me (for those of you fortunate enough to have my number!)

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Jake! My earliest memory of us was when I wanted to hold you the day you came home...and then subsequently let you go and you rolled down my legs because I was tired of holding you. This is our first birthday apartttttt
:(((((( But you will come back soon! Hope you get your birthday gifts soon. Some people questioned my choice of gifts...but I knew what I was doing. Happy Birthday!

Your Big Brother.
XLII.