Thoughts on Linsanity

    I love me a good underdog story. I mean Since my youth I've rooted for the Cleveland Browns, it doesn't get more underdog than that. With that said, seeing the electric rise of Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin has been nothing short of amazing these past 2 weeks. Now I'm definitely not the first person to have some words on this story and I know I wont be the last but I just found this whole thing too intriguing to not say anything. Now if theres a chance you've been living under a rock for the past several days you may have no clue what I'm talking about, so for the courtesy of educating your ignorance, I am sharing the below link to get you caught up.....go ahead watch away....I'll go make a sandwich or something.....

...okay, there you go...now were all on the same page. So lets discuss. Here we have this fantastic story about an undrafted basketball player who struggles getting into the NBA but gets his moment to shine (one of those moments in life where you either step up or regret not having done so for the rest of your life) and he makes every second count so far. Its just joyous to watch and by the mood of fans and the country in general the consensus seems to be that they are enjoying it as well.


...Ohh by the way there is one other thing that you may have casually observed in the nice video above. Have you guessed it yet? Let me help. You see this guy, Jeremy Lin......[whispers] He's Asian (American of Taiwanese descent to be exact)...... Yup, I can here it already. The sirens of the PC police are on their way to my house for daring to publicly notice that someone is of a different race than myself. Its funny how every story I've seen on Lin walks on eggshells when mentioning his race. Now please understand I am as horrified as anyone when people like Floyd Mayweather run their mouths claiming Lin's hype is only due to him being Asian or the geniuses who run the MSG network find it okay to show a graphic of Lin's face coming out of a fortune cookie (my eyes are still rolling especially at that one), but I just think as mature adults we should be able to recognize what Lin is doing on behalf of Asian Americans and appreciate it for the positive thing that is.


   What Lin is doing currently is remarkable regardless of his race. Hes come out of seemingly nowhere to lift a team that has been severely under performing in what most had hoped would be a year of resurgence for the team.Hes inspiring, humble and a marketing dream come true. BUT...... to not say his race has even slightly helped his appeal is ridiculous. Now I know I may have lost some of you with that statement, but please, here me out if you will. Jeremy Lin is doing something groundbreaking and that's a positive thing. Besides all of his on court heroics he is breaking the stereotype for what makes an NBA player. An excerpt from a study published in Slam magazine from 2011 shows the following:


"–In the NBA, 83 percent of the players were people of color, an increase of one percentage point from last year’s totals. This represents the highest percentage of players of color since the Racial and Gender Report Card began reporting the composition of the NBA teams. The percentage of African-American players increased by one percentage point to 78 percent, equaling the highest since 2001-02. The percentage of Asians remained constant at 1 percent. The percentage of Latinos increased by one percentage point to 4 percent.  The percentage of people of color classified as other was slightly under 1 percent. The percentage of international players decreased by one percentage point to 17 percent, the lowest percentage since the 2003-04 season. 
–At 17 percent, this was the lowest percentage of white players since the Racial and Gender Report Card began reporting the composition of the NBA teams."

Those facts alone show that what Lin is currently doing IS unique & theres nothing wrong with recognizing it. I applaud J-Lin (clearly were friends by my casual nickname) and the fact that hes given so many people who don't usually connect to the game of basketball something to cheer for. You cant say the fact that there will be a generation of young Asian American kids who have a new role model to look up to is a bad thing (If there was a large, out of shape Irish-American man with a red beard currently dominating the league, Lord knows I'd be on his bandwagon). Diversity is a beautiful thing and I for one have never subscribed to the "theres only one race, the human race" nonsense. Lets recognize each other's differences, learn from them and be better people for it (yeah even my teeth hurt after typing that one, lol). So calm it down everyone, Jeremy Lin is Asian and he's also awesome. I say hooray for that.


      To end this pile of nonsense I call a blog entry I'll say I look forward to seeing where his career goes from here. I also look forward to seeing how other teams adjust to defend him (New Orleans did enough of it to pull off a win against the Knicks tonight) & just how he'll fare with a healthy Carmelo Anthony back on the floor. All in all its a fun time to be watching the Knicks play ( a statement no one has been able to say for quite some time now) and that's good for any real basketball fan regardless of their ethnicity.


See ya when I see ya folks.....

The Episode 1 Dilemma

Dear friends and lovers..... I must assume at this point if you still follow me its your own fault if you get disappointed in my horrid lack of updates....truly I am a master of slackery (not a word) and all things it encompasses and I realize now that apologizing for it every time I decide to finally post something would just be insulting to us all.....so with that said I will simply say hello and hola (German) and I truly hope you are all well....with that ugly business out of the way lets get onto more pressing matters:

    I recently ran into a conundrum..... My daughter, an extremely sweet and funny 8 year old, came to me and asked the question any nerd parent dreads.....that question of course was "Daddy, can we go see Star Wars Episode 1 in 3D?"..... It was like all the air was taken out of the room and I forgot how to speak for what felt like days.....as I recovered from the question I simply said "sure sweetie" and then left her presence to return to my own world of inner turmoil over this series of events that had just unfolded.

Let me say before anything else, I DO NOT HATE EPISODE 1..... Don't get me wrong, I get all of the hate and I fully understand the many reasons nerds around the world gather in unison to loathe this film.....but still for me it wasn't that big of a deal.

I love STAR WARS.....Always have and always will....and though EPISODE 1 is without question my least favorite of all, I still cant find it in myself to say I hate it....this sentiment alone will make many a nerd furious as its become widely accepted that you cant be a real STAR WARS fan anymore without hating EPISODE 1... I say that's nonsense...hogwash even if you want me to get vulgar.....

I've never fully understood all the hatred because so much of it could be applied to any entry in the series....one of the biggest complaints I always here is that the dialogue is terrible and wooden at times (which i fully agree with) but has there ever been a STAR WARS movie that hasn't had wooden dialogue? For all of his achievements, George Lucas has never been the best at writing things people would actually say....I mean most of the star wars movies dialogue is laughable at the least when compared to other solid franchises......but this is all beyond my point, lets get back to that shall we...

...So after running these thoughts of nerd rage towards EPISODE 1 through my head I realize the whole argument is ridiculous....the point of the matter is I have standing before me an 8yr old girl who is excited to go see a STAR WARS movie. In a world where we now have pink Lego's (because apparently regular color Lego's are just too much for girls to handle) and millions of other stupid barriers that are set up to morph my daughter into a brainless clone of a living Bratz doll, here she is simply asking to share in an experience that I grew up with as well (I was a child who grew up with the Original trilogy and the prequels in my late teens/early twenties) and because of the horrible cynicism that our geek culture uses as its lifeblood I had for a second considered not taking her. But alas, that second passed and I decided there was no way we wouldn't be in attendance.

...After a week of her behaving at school to make sure I didn't cancel our trip we were off to see the movie. Her excitement was infectious, She couldn't wait to see if we got the special 3D glasses and toy our theater had advertised as part of a STAR WARS kids event day and I was excited for her. We got to the theater and had the fun of seeing a line full of parents and kids (some of whom were in full costume) all excited to experience the event together. We watched the movie, she participated in some of the free events after (face painting, Lego building..etc) and all in all we had a great day.

 

The one thing I think I took most from this was seeing how many parents and kids were out enjoying the movie together. Sure I still think EPISODE 1 is terrible in so many ways ( I literally cringe when I here the racist Asian accents of the trade federation and pretty much every time Jar Jar Binks is on screen) but it doesn't really matter. STAR WARS was never made for adults who nitpick every scene of a movie. In all honesty the prequels probably should have never been made because they re not meant for today's society. All 6 of the films thrive off the viewer either being a wide eyed child or an adult who can relate to that. These movies were made for children who don't notice the terrible parts in the world but simply see the fun and beauty of it.

So for 2+ hours I got to see the world through an 8yr olds eyes again and it was a lot of fun. It didnt matter that we already own this movie at home (on more video formats than Id like to admit). It didnt matter that the movie was in 3D (it added nothing to the film). All that mattered was that we had a fun time at the movies. Thats all STAR WARS has ever been about and that's all it ever needs to be. Also, I dare say one hasnt lived until they see an 8yr old girl ask to have her face painted like Darth Maul, while other kids run around pretending to be warriors from another Galaxy.

 

Ill see ya when I see ya folks

Get some FREE SPIDERMAN love while its hot

Just a quick ramble and some info while it lasts.....Looks like theres gonna be a cool fan event going on around the world on Monday Feb. 6th for the new spiderman movie.... these events are always fun and theres usually some cool stuff/giveaways for the fans.... heres the main link for all the sites   http://www.theuntoldstorybegins.com/# 

... and heres the link for the NYC event taking place at 3pm on  the 6th http://www.gofobo.com/rsvp/promotion/55f977d20ea528326c028e49d1914c9e



.... hope to see you when I see you there!!

One last thing about 2011........

Good people of the interwebs....I have returned to you with tidings from the great state of Imwaytoolazytokeepupwiththisblogville, USA, hoping that you've all been well and we can continue our joyous relationship of my rambling and you reading in this new year....I'd love to say that I have some new found resolutions to discipline myself in this year of 2012 so that I write more entries and don't live my life as a complete slacker, but alas its who I am and I wouldn't want to pretend I was anything else...with that said Ill do my best (fingers crossed) to get on here more often and spew out some patented Rambler shenanigans as only I can....

I figured the best way I should start off this new year would be to actually remember to write about something I had meant to include before the year's end and then start fresh from there.....

-I'll give you the main reason my "Slackertude" was in full effect at the close of 2011 and that was the Joyous Event of the century that took place when I had the pleasure of marrying the current Mrs. Rambler. Although I have mentioned it before I did want to bring up one fact about the wedding that I wanted to share with anyone who comes across this page. In looking for a cake topper for our nuptials I came across a really great artist who created a topper for us and just wanted to show her some love on here..... you can check out her eBay page here http://myworld.ebay.com/cin701/?_trksid=p4340.l2559 .... excellent work and extremely professional and easy to work with....here's a pic of the work she did on our topper (What can I say, I really like Arkham City)

....Cynthia from Awesome Toppers really did a great job and before I did anything going forward I just wanted to give her a shout and say thanks for making a great memory from our wedding....

...with that I can move forward properly and will be posting some other thoughts as the days and hours pass....see ya when I see ya ppl

More Fire!!!...More Fire!!!!

Ohhh my friends how I've missed you!!!.... So I've been off getting married and cruising around the world and stuff as of late (more on that in future blogs) So I greatly apologize that my blog has become the digital equivalent of tumbleweed blowing on an old west landscape.... I have much to spew about but I wanted to start off showing some love to the thing now makes me smile every morning....no, not the new Mrs. Rambler you fools....what I speak of is the 24 hours of bliss I have experienced with my nice shiny new Kindle Fire......

....I know there's a lot of curiosity around the device especially with the holidays upon us so I figured I'd help answer some simple things about it.... also I took a few minutes and just made a video of the Fire in action....enjoy and feel free to hit me up with any questions you have..

Dr. Pepper prescribes sexism?

So here's the thing.....I'm a pretty stubborn guy....I can be ignorant, old fashioned and downright sexist at times (but enough about my good points)....What I've come out of suspended animation for (I realize how long its been since Ive posted anything my lovely people and you have my sincerest apologies...Frankly, I'm a lazy, lazy man and that inherent laziness coupled with child rearing and an upcoming wedding that is consuming my free time is just no good for the business of collecting my thoughts here) is some commentary on this commercial:

        I actually only saw this commercial a few days ago but my immediate reaction was "Wow Dr. Pepper....that may have been the worst attempt at humor ever". Its pretty weird because I firmly believe that in the realm of comedy anything goes. You cant get hurt feelings because that's just the nature of the beast. I normally have no problem laughing at most things that normal good hearted people find offensive (I mean, I personally want to start a campaign to protect bullies because of all this, no more bullying, Gestapo-like, nonsense that is currently going on in America's schools). So why, ohh why, do I find myself offended for women when I see this? Am I going soft? Has old age and raising two daughters turned me into some bleeding heart pansy? Possibly, but I think my real dislike of this whole product campaign is that it comes down to its reasoning in general. In today's highly PC culture I refuse to believe that a major corporation put this ad out with no idea it would drum up controversy. This whole ad is made to bring attention to a brand that is trying to step up and compete with the bigger boys (Coke & Pepsi). It's like Sprint taking a huge monetary gamble and getting the IPhone but instead of risking your bet on one of the world's most beloved tech devices they are instead betting the house on controversy and good old fashioned disrespect. Some people might consider it a smart move because it does make people talk about the product and as its always said "any publicity is good publicity" but the way they chose to go about this is just pure ignorance to me. The commercial probably wouldn't have made me care either way were it not for the tag line "not for women". Why? Why throw those words in there.... It just doesn't make sense to me...does the controversy of those 3 words drum up enough business to justify turning off an entire section of buyers?  Just putting the idea that any product your selling is "not for someone" is basically saying "please don't buy our product, we don't want your kind's money". Honestly if Dr Pepper would have just left out this tag line it would have been an idea (a still somewhat crappy produced and yet another carbon copy of the old spice guy format version of an idea...but an idea nonetheless) about turning a diet drink into something "manly" and no one would have been able to complain (well they would have, but I wouldn't have considered their complaints valid therefore clearly they would not have mattered.....see I told you I can be ignorant when I try).... I don't know, I just think this was a dumb move on Dr. Pepper's part and if the creators are actually as sexist as they claim then I have one question for them: "If your sexism assumes this drink isn't for women then I'd also assume in your ideology you assume most women still do the grocery shopping (which in many cases is a fact) and in that case who exactly do you think will be buying this product?".... I know I won't and I'm not even a woman (despite my dad who does the grocery shopping ways)...Just some food for thought...

......see ya when I see ya folks

Self for Sale....Get your Selfs while theyre hot

How goes it my lovely friends? I was thinking recently about the many way in which we as a society have become quite good at selling ourselves.....Now I know what your thinking...."how could you lower yourself to selling your body for money Rambler?".... Well to answer that Ill first say I appreciate your care but clearly you don't know me very well for its pretty common knowledge that for the right price Id do just about anyth.......(.I clearly need to stop writing  now).....Secondly and much more relevant I am not talking about physically selling oneself, though the truth isn't that far off....

... what I mean by this is that we have become increasingly obsessed with the culture of self....I mean its been going on for years with "reality" TV for example. Anyone who has even watched TV in the past 10-20 years has been able to observe a drastic shift from (successful) scripted television to cheap, quick, loosely scripted shows starring casts ranging from normal everyday Joes to wanna be actors doing their best pretending to be everyday Joes. We have created a celebrity culture for ourselves and by ourselves (Please don't be so ignorant as to blame TV programmers as it is we who dictate what is successful....trust me if all of a sudden people watched in masses a show about helping the poor and bought helping the poor shirts and helping the poor videos from itunes than helping the poor shows and copycat shows would be up and down or local programming guide....okay I'm getting off my soapbox now). Long gone are the days of looking up to our movie stars and sports heroes (whether that was ever healthy is a whole nother story). What we do now, to put it simply, is look up to those of us who without much talent or training find a way to make it in today's culture....Now personally I think its a horrible sign of how out of control and lost our current society is but one cant deny that people like the derelicts of the Jersey Shore and the ever business savvy yet mostly talentless Kardashian family are the hot melty center of our pop culture Stromboli (I have to stop blogging around lunch time)....

...Where am I going with all this passionate rhetoric about how we've become a society of people looking for ways to sell themselves and become the next talentless fool who cashes in?.....Nowhere particularly to be honest...I just thought it'd be fun to talk about how horrible each and every one of us are as human beings despite how good we think we are as a precursor to me trying to sell myself (Now isn't that ironic).... and with that said I shall join in on the quest for talentless success by providing you with the following ;-)

get at me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Writing_Rambler @Writing_Rambler

follow me here Duh!: http://thewritingrambler.blogspot.com/

ans last but not least patron my pockets by buying from me on Ebay: http://myworld.ebay.com/itslvg3

read my weekly comic book reviews on http://www.aintitcool.com

..... Ill see ya when I see ya folks.....