Friday's Duty and ...... a Rant.

Well, here it is Friday again. Before getting down to content, I sort of observed today is August 19th, and the sun is now setting before eight o’clock. After suffering day to day and just trying to get through the heat to evening, you turn around and labor day is not that far off… Bring it on!

Duty First:

To Do: not a whole lot. A couple of plays are around for inside entertainment.

While I was railing about duck yesterday (which still astounds me), I forgot to mention that there was a Brain Ganz/Beverly Babcock concert last night at the college. After a little confusion on my part as to starting time, I got there and as always enjoyed it. The highlight for me was a Franz Liszt piece called “Consolation No. 3 in D Flat”. A gorgeous lilting piece played excellently under the hands of Brian. The final piece was a Beethoven Concerto (No.1 in C, Op. 15), a real tour de force for both Beverly and Brian. It lasted a full 40 minutes, and I learned after the concert that Beethoven sort of pioneered “long” pieces. He succeeded here.

Okay…rant time:

In reality almost any commercial on TV can drive you nuts. Take for instance the Traveler’s insurance company one about the little dog worrying about his/her bone. Clever videography, pleasant music, kind of a catchy little plot…..for the first three or four times. At the seventh or eighth time you’re reaching for the mute button.

But the one that has driven me to the edge lately seems to appear (over and over) during the coverage of the golf tournaments (I watch a lot, play little). So Jim Nance says: “We’ll be back in a moment”…. Cut to a well dressed middle aged lady with kind of a self satisfied smirk on her face. She stares at the camera and then says: (to get the effect, purse your lips, squinch your nose, try to speak as much as possible from the very tip of your tongue, and as rapidly as you can put the words together, say)

“IwasdrivinginNorthernCalforniawithmysonandIactuallystartedfallingasleepanddriftedintotheotherlane. Ihadnoideabutmycardid”;

then cut to another guy who enthusiastically and proudly says with a little smile: “I had no idea the traffic had stopped in front of me, but my car did!” So they go on to extol the sensors and software in the Mercedes that tweaks you and stops the car for you. It’s a good concept, but why do they push it with these idiot people that seem so damn proud that they fell asleep or had no idea about the traffic in front of them? Somehow it just plain irks me. What’s up with that? Somewhere at the bottom of the screen is a fleeting little light white message in that you can barely see that says something about this feature is not meant to be a substitute for safe driving.. Yeah, right. Okay folks, go buy the $80K Mercedes, take a nap, do your text messages, and trust technology.. Back to golf….for at least 15 minutes, then there she is again! Gimme another beer.

And while I’m at it, speaking of commercials during golf on TV, more than not, the PGA presenting sponsor is Cialis. Most readers will know (you can’t avoid it these days) what this product is for. I guess I’m too old for an open society, but I get embarrassed every time they trot out those tubs and talk about how a little touch can turn romantic and so forth. Then at the end they have the awful speech about asking your doctor and seeking immediate medical attention for that four hour mark. Using those words in your living room when I was growing up would not happen. I can see it now: 6 year old girl watching Phil Mickelson vainly trying to win, views commercial, turns and says: “Daddy, what’s an…..?”. Is it just me? And now Viagra has taken the tack that manly men who use their horses to pull the beater pickup truck out of the mud use the product. What’s wrong here?

Okay, off the horse, but I’m still floored.

Food:

The unnamed Steakhouse on it's way is called Texas Longhorn. Gotta have those names for a steak place by God...

And I was reminded that there is also a Buffalo Wild Wings in the offing.. maybe sort of replace the Defuncnt Damon's..not in the same location..

Chain, Chain, go away!!

DFD