Borat: : Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

I’ve been waiting for this movie to come out for a long time. Ever since the day I saw a preview for it in the theaters I have been counting the days until its release. Now it’s less than two weeks away and I’m starting to get really excited.

I only discovered Sacha Baron Cohen recently. I hadn’t really noticed him before I saw that trailer which happened to be before seeing Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. It took me almost a week to realize that Will Ferrels French nemesis in the film and Sacha Baron Cohen were one and the same. Then I was really interested and checked IMDB to see what else he had been in. I was delighted to find out that he’d had a series on HBO called Da Ali G show. Even better, it was currently available for viewing On Demand. That show was a little rough but it grew on me.

 The reviews for Borat are promising. I can’t wait to weigh in myself.

Roger Waters

Thursday night, October 12, I saw Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame perform at the Key Arena in Seattle. It was unbelievable. We had 5th row seats from the floor and were at a good angle. Not to close to the edge and not too far back. The sound was the best I have ever heard in an indoor venue. The song selections were superb. He did almost half of The Wall, many Final Cut songs, a few from his last solo album Amused to Death, “‘Sheep” from Animals, a few from Wish You Were Here and Set The Controls For The Heart of The Sun which is a Pink Floyd classic. His backup band included musicians at the top of their game and all were top-notch showmen.

 After the first set, Roger came back and did the entire Dark Side of the Moon. It doesn’t get much better than that. They carried it off beautifully. Roger looked great. He obviously takes good care of himself. He’s got to be in his mid 60’s yet he had lots of energy and he gave us his all. The show also had a strong anti-war, anti-Bush message. The giant screen behind the band displayed graphics that went along with the songs. They were related to current events and international figures and helped show how relevant Roger’s music still is after all these years.

Let me gather my thoughts…

Please excuse me while I acquaint myself with this blog setup. There always has to be a first of something. This is the first post of this blog. I’ll keep it short since I have homework to do. I lost my job in March of ‘06. The state of WA is helping to retrain me so that I will find more opportunity on the job market. I’ve decided to switch gears at the ripe old age of 42 and become a database administrator. This isn’t much of a reach for me because the duties at my old job included database administration. I only lacked the title and formal training. This makes many of the technical classes quite easy for me.

The humanties courses are a bit more of a challenge. Luckily, I enjoy a challenge and have been maintaining a 4.0 grade point average. It also helps that I  enjoy learning and find each and every class interesting. Who knew that intercultural communications would be so much fun?

This quarter I am taking my first .NET course which covers old ground for me but fulfills a requirement. I’m also taking a technical writing class which I think will help me a lot. I’ve never been a great communicator and that’s what this class is all about. My third class is the science of philoshophy. That’s a bit of luck for me. This class covers an area that’s been an area of interest to me for years. I started a large skeptic website 10 years ago called the Skeptic Friends Network which promotes skepticism, critical thinking, science and logic as the best methods for evaluating all claims of fact. The syllabus for the science of philosophy is a lot like that. I’m also taking an algebra class just below the college level to bring my math skills up. Hey, it’s been a long time since I took math in high school and I’ve forgotten an awful lot. That should keep me out of trouble for a couple months!

Oh, and besides this I am getting married in November. I’m sure there will be more to talk about later. Stay tuned!