Quick Review: Ghostbusters

I have to say I was a bit concerned with the social media and other commentary regarding Ghostbusters, the latest franchise reboot, being a bad idea because the Ghostbusters are now women. After all these years Hollywood is still unfair to women, whether it's the type of roles and scripts they're offered or their pay compared to male actors. So I made sure I saw it during opening weekend, and the box office report says it earned $46 million.

And it deserves it, because despite a bit of a slow start to set things up, it's quite funny. The new 'busters (Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones) work well together, and Chris Hemsworth gets to ham it up as their receptionist, hired despite being dumb as a post but pretty to look at. The plot involves a scheme to open a portal to release malevolent spirits and bring on the apocalypse. There's a post-credits scene to set up a sequel, and though I tend to frown on them I want one in this case. If nothing else, it may help shut up the sexist Twitter trolls...no, they're like the cockroaches that will survive nuclear holocaust. My grade: B-plus.

P.S. Classic title song >>>>> New theme song.

Neshaminy State Park

Here's something about my Twitter use: I don't "favorite" tweets because I actually like them. If I enjoy them that much I retweet, with or without an added comment. I use favorites as sort of bookmarks to refer to later. If I can't or don't want to immediately open a link in a tweet (for example, if I'm out and there's a link to YouTube and I don't want to play it then, or if I'm trying to catch up on my Twitter feed and don't want to stop to read an article), I make it a favorite and return to it later.

So check out the date of this tweet I favorited:

I saw this and decided I wanted to check out this view.

It took me over a year. I finally managed to get to the park last month. It's not easily accessible by public transit. But with my new status as a morning person who gets out and does things, on a recent Sunday I made the trek. And I did see a view of the skyline, although I'm not sure I was at this Logan Point. I actually walked down to the river and walked along the shoreline.The maps on the park website indicate that Logan Point is part of a paved walkway, while I went right down to the beach. Also, it's so far away that I wouldn't call it "incredible," although maybe it looks different from the actual Logan's Point vantage. Still, it is pretty cool to be able to see downtown Philadelphia from such a distance. So here are some of the pics I took...

I feel like I need to get back there on a less hazy, hot and humid afternoon...and also to find the Logan's Point view tweeted about by Visit Philly.

I'm not sure if this is some sort of art, of refers to these tracks, which I'm guessing were used to launch boats onto the river.

This is a panorama shot I tried. With the river in constant motion, it looks really, really weird.

And here's a look across the river at New Jersey. (Not actually a panorama shot -- I just cropped out everything above and below.)

Back in the park, it turns out the Eagles have helped out with planting new trees and some educational signs.

Near the end of one of the picnic areas, some trees have been carved up.

I'm not quite sure what this project is/was supposed to be, but here are some pics from inside the walls...

Panorama again.

This old place is on the grounds as well...

...and so is this little theater.

Of course, the pool is popular on a hot summer day.

My Sports Tees And Miscellaneous Caps, Part 1

A while back I counted the number of t-shirts (and jerseys as well) in my closet from the local sports teams and posted it on Facebook. The count is now updated as I bought another one recently: 41 Phillies, 10 Eagles, 12 Flyers (and Phantoms, from before they moved to upstate New York and back down to Lehigh Valley), and only 2 from the 76ers. A couple of them are over 20 years old (one looks it), while most of the rest are from around 2000 or later. I've decided to post pics of all of them, as well as my baseball caps (not all of them are sports-related, and I don't yet have a count). So over the next few weeks, assuming I keep up, you'll be seeing them.

I'm sure most of them don't have interesting stories or anything, but if I can remember anything I'll mention it.

Also, now I'm really regretting not keeping the old shirts and caps I had from the Phillies World Series championship in 1980 and Eagles first Super Bowl appearance a few months later.

So...

This is one that I bought somewhat recently. Not sure where. It's one of those shirts that's made of material designed to keep you dry when it's hot. I wore it the other day just because I hadn't worn it before and it was still pretty hot out. (Generally I wear the sports shirts only if I'm going to a game, or for every game the Eagles play and for every playoff game of any team.) Seeing as how it's 2XL and I've lost weight, though, I'm not sure the material would've made a difference even if I had been running around performing amazing athletic feats.

And this is the one I wore to Tuesday night's game that I teased online, asking if anyone could guess the last word in the sentence. This was from a few years ago when the Phils were just dipping into social media. They held what I'm sure was their first social media-related ticket promotion: with a code from Twitter, etc., you got an offer for a ticket in the Rooftop Bleachers (not the greatest view), this t-shirt (front and back depicted), and I think a food and beverage credit as well, all for $20 or $25.

This is my most recent purchase. $7 at Marshalls.

This one I've had for many years. I thought I'd share it since Pat Burrell was added to the Phillies' Wall of Fame last weekend. It's a prime example of my Sports Shirt Jinx: if I buy a shirt of a specific player, either he leaves via trade or free agency, or he gets hurt/slumps badly and his career goes downhill. That started, if I recall, with my Scott Rolen t-shirt (which I no longer own). I will probably buy a Cole Hamels t-shirt when they're marked down to $10 or less. Consider it a retroactive jinx, but it's okay as he'll get on the Wall of Fame quickly.



And finally, this is one I purchased a while back (I think at Modells, definitely at a discount or clearance price) but never wore, until last night's game. Size: Large. I can finally fit into an L again (as long as they aren't a really tight cut)!

WHAT THE HELL...Philly Gay News

So this happened...

This is just...shoddy. I shared that first Facebook post with the comment "Wow. Happy but very surprised. VERY surprised." I should have known by the 193-0 "margin." Anyway, I wanted to mention it on Twitter and that's when I saw this:

(You should follow Josh on Twitter, BTW.) When I returned to Facebook I saw the correction. Obviously it's good that they corrected it, but I have so many questions. How on earth did this information get posted in the first place? Who gave them the incorrect information? Who received it? Did NO ONE check to make sure it was legit before they rushed to post it? Whatever happened to journalism? (Okay, that last question I've been asking for years.)

So, yeah, Philadelphia Gay News, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?????

Dilworth Park, The Councilman and I

(UPDATE: Eventually I was unblocked by Jim Kenney's Twitter account. I voted for him in the May 2015 mayoral primary and will vote for him in November 2015 in the general election.  Original post follows.)

If you follow me on Twitter you know that, besides the various things I get obsessed with (#EverySimpsonsEver) or angry about (#FireRuben), I can also get silly and snarky. However, I can also be quite sincere.

Let's face it: there are lots of problems, here and around the world. Members of Congress (especially Republicans). The Pennsylvania state legislature (ditto). The worst PA governor in my lifetime, who thankfully seems to be on track to be the first one-term governor of the state in over 40 years. The lack of funding for public education, especially in Philadelphia (see above re: PA governor and legislature).

The economic "recovery" in which so many people still struggle because the minimum wage isn't nearly high enough and huge corporations have seemingly every advantage thanks to the aforementioned Republicans and their servants on the Supreme Court. The health care system, slightly improved by the Affordable Care Act but still wildly inadequate and too expensive (just ask my friend Kurt, and while you're at it could you sign his petition, and maybe make a donation to help him get his new laptop? Thanks.)

The moronic fight against immigration reforms. The increasing havoc that climate change is having on our planet. Russia's efforts to take over Ukraine. Everything going on in the Middle East. And hey, did anyone #BringBackOurGirls or find Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 yet?

Yet, as pessimistic as I can be about, well, everything, I also realize there are still good things happening. For example, there was another victory this week in the effort to make Philadelphia a nicer, greener, more lively and fun city. Already we've seen success on the Delaware River waterfront with the Race Street Pier. This summer brought the (seasonal) Spruce Street Harbor Park (with the hammocks!) and the (permanent) Washington Avenue Pier. And yesterday, Dilworth Park opened.

Fake Homer

I got a notification that, for a second, I thought said that Homer J. Simpson was following me on Twitter. Then I looked at the profile...

Really? I like "straggling" my son Bart? No. If you can't spell, don't make a parody Twitter account.

Accept no substitutes! Note that this is a verified account!

Why I Love Scumbag Warren Sapp

I saw a headline last night on Yahoo's home page about former NFL and "Dancing with the Stars" star Warren Sapp, who left no tip on a $70 bill at a sports bar. He claimed he got terrible service and the waitress called him and his friend "boys." She says that she gave him fine service and she only used "boys" in the context of asking what they wanted to drink ("Hey, boys, what can I get you?"). As I dislike Warren Sapp, who's had a string of on- and off-field incidents showing him to be a jackass, I have little doubt that her side of the story is more accurate.

I posted the story's link to my Twitter with a comment: "Once a scumbag, always a scumbag."

An hour and a half later I went back to Twitter and saw that I had a bunch of new followers. The count went from 480 to just over 500. My post was getting retweeted and favorited a lot. I even had comments from strangers (taking both sides) and entire discussions on Sapp and on tipping in general. With my Twitter handle included in the posts, I can follow these discussions without even participating because of the Notifications function. Some of the discussions are actually intelligent, while others have been, sadly, racist.

Meanwhile, one moron seems to think I wrote the Yahoo article:

As of right now, 17 hours later, that post was retweeted 151 times (not including those who do it manually) and favorited 324 times. Other posts in the resulting discussions have been favorited as well, so I keep getting those notifications.

And strangest of all, the new followers have continued to add up. I am now up to 683 followers. This freaked me out so much last night that I changed my Twitter password, fearing I might have been hacked. Nothing suspicious has happened, though, like sending tweets or DMs without my knowledge, so I think all is well in that regard.

I have no idea if these people (at least the non-spambots) are actually interested in me, or if they'll hang around for a while. But if they do, that's fine with me. Hopefully they'll check out the blog as well.

Thanks, Warren Sapp!

Gaga: Release The Damn Album, Already!

This post from one of the people I follow on Twitter inspired this. He wrote, "I don't think I can wait another 2+ months for the new Gaga album!" My reply: "I don't understand how the music industry functions any more." And I really don't. I used to not only read but subscribe to Billboard magazine (which is odd for someone who doesn't work in the business) during the 1980s and into the 1990s. And as the years went by and new charts were created, and the methodology for compiling the charts, especially the Hot 100, changed, and as the magazine itself evolved, I lost interest in it.

But things were simpler back then: a record company released the first single from an artist's upcoming album. Then, within a few weeks or so, the album itself would arrive, followed by subsequent singles from that album until it was time for a new album, or perhaps a single from a motion picture soundtrack. (Of course, the number of singles would depend on the popularity of the artist and album.) The advent of music videos tweaked the process a little.

But the modern process is unreal. Singles sales pretty much died until the mp3 format rejuvenated it. Now, I don't know if there's such a thing as a single release unless it's digital. The only CD-singles I ever see are for dance mixes. The only vinyl records I ever see are full-length albums, because there's a segment of the music buyer that prefers the sound of vinyl to digital sounds. And the newfound popularity of buying individual songs seems to have caused people to lose interest in buying full albums, except for certain acts or albums that manage to sell big.

The digital format seems to lend itself to leaks of unreleased songs, which is part of the problem. Let's get back to Lady Gaga.

Facebook Ad FAIL

I've noticed an increasing amount of advertising and pseudo-advertising on my Facebook news feed lately. There are obvious ads, of course, but there are also other posts -- "promoted" articles, "sponsored" posts, etc., all based on your "Likes" and those of your friends. For example, there could be a post saying "John Smith likes Wal-Mart" followed by a post from Wal-Mart's Facebook page. Here's another example, which just appeared at the top of my feed:

Just because I "Like" Jody Watley's page doesn't mean I want to like the page for her old group.

Sometimes, though, these auto-generated posts are wayyyyyyyyyyyy off-base. Here's a recent example: I "Like" the FB page for singer Will Young...

Based on this, here's what Facebook generated:

Ummmm...what?

I keep saying I hate Facebook more and more. I have too many friends (real-life friends as well as  Facebook "friends") who aren't on Twitter, though, so I'm stuck. 

Political Chess (Inspired by Ben Franklin and a singer!)

You should know that this post has been quite a while in the making. Well, actually, it was a couple of hours or so in the actual making and the rest of the time was spent on other things. But the inspiration for this came way back in February 2011. I procrastinated, as I often do, and then time would pass, and then something would happen to make me think of this again, and then I'd procrastinate some more, lather, rinse, repeat. I'd think that it would be good to finish this to coincide with certain events, and then I didn't. Until now.

So, back in Febuary 2011, on my Twitter feed I saw a tweet from Mike Furey, lead singer of what was a duo called Dangerous Muse (the other guy went off to do his own thing; Furey is continuing the group using other musicians as needed). I discovered them through a music video played on one of Logo's music shows a few years ago, and I've been a fan ever since.

It was a fairly simple query.

Now and then, I like to reply to the celebrities I follow, though I think most of them, even if they tweet personally and everything isn't handled by a publicist, probably don't even see my tweets. But sometimes they're kind enough to acknowledge my existence. So, that night, I replied...

A short time later, I found this in my feed:

This intrigued me.