Odd Weekend Bits - The Sane Edition

Happy Halloween and welcome to a mishmash of Odd Bits and random notions.

I’ve mentioned before that my neighborhood does not do Halloween.  I live in an area heavily populated by Orthodox Jews; I don’t know if that’s it or there’s another reason, but I’ve never had a single trick-or-treater in 12 years of living here.

But you never really know; so better safe than sorry.  So I had to go out and get at least one bag of candy, just in case.  There will be no faking that I’m not home because the Steelers/Saints game will have the house a’rockin’.  (More on that, later.)  And I’d hate to disappoint some little princess in fairy wings.  I mean, I could have poured some Cheetos in her bag but I don’t think that would quite cut it.

So if I have some candy to give out tonight, we win.  If we have to eat it ourselves, we win.  I like those kinds of odds.

Search for Reality

I am getting absolutely slammed with Google searches from all over the world landing here seeking a picture of Pennywise, the Evil Clown, from the Stephen King novel, “It.”  It’s been building all month and went crazy on Friday and Saturday.

Being quite thick for some reason this weekend, I asked The Twitter what the hell was going on.  Michelle, of Burgh Baby, was kind enough to nicely to clue me in that, not that it was a big secret or anything but it was about to be HALLOWEEEEEEEN!

Oops.  Paging Captain Obvious…

Anyway, I’m declaring this right now.  If I open that door tonight and see someone dressed up as Pennywise, the only thing they’re going to get is a door slammed in their face.  Probably followed by screaming, and possible some whimpering from behind the door.

Fucking clowns… I hate’em.

Fear Not the Sanity

Did you see any of the “Rally For Sanity and/or Fear” yesterday?  (Besides you, Bagger, I know you and the Mrs. attended.)  I watched the whole thing on TV and I must say that I thought they did a great job.  There was a nice balance struck between message and entertainment.  There were some clever bits, of course… The “duel” between Cat Stevens’ Yusef’s “Peace Train” and Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” was inspired.  Digging up the O’Jays to finish off with “Love Train” was a nice touch.

To me, the highlight of the entire affair was the summation speech by Jon Stewart himself, as he pilloried the media and other hyper-partisan factions for promoting hysteria, to the detriment of the society they profess to serve.  My favorite quote, “If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.”

See the speech in its entirety by clicking below.  Trust me, it’s worth it.

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear
Jon Stewart - Moment of Sincerity
www.comedycentral.com
Rally to Restore Sainty and/or Fear The Daily Show The Colbert Report

Hang in there for the first couple minutes that it takes him to get going.

I’ll be interested to see if the usual crowd-estimate dispute breaks out.  It is the perfect microcosm of what’s wrong with our political world. 

For example, at Obama’s Inauguration, the Dems hyped the attendance while the Repubs sited a lower figure from an independent source that made calculations from aerial shots.  Then after Glen Beck’s rally, they were pumping their own estimates right there from the stage, and later completely dismissed as biased, the same independent sources that they trumpeted at the Inauguration because they undercut the Republican’s estimate.

The Mojo Boogie

The Steelers play the New Orleans Saints on Sunday Night Football tonight.  Halloween night in New Orleans… That place ought to be insane tonight, absolutely insane.

I had to consult The Google this afternoon to figure out what jerseys the teams were wearing.  So far, every “away” game the Steelers have played, they’ve worn their home black jerseys because the real home team chose to wear white.  (No, not because they are virgins; because they were warm weather sites and dark jerseys absorb the heat.)

Now the Saints are a dome team, but they’ve been wearing their white jerseys at home so far this year.  But tonight, they’re reverting to black.  They may even go all black and wear their black pants too.  I hate when teams do that.  It makes them all look like fat ninjas.

Anyway, this will be the Steelers’ first opportunity to wear their whites, and therefore, so will I.  And because it’s Halloween, I’m going to go all “ghostly” and rock the white from head to toe.  I’m going with the white James Harrison #92 with the SBXLIII patch with my white Steelers sweats.  I am, however, wearing some counterpoint with my black Steelers long-sleeve Tee, with yellow sleeves.

I’m just hoping the “ghostly” doesn’t end up “ghastly.”