Category: Ramblings

The Sports Guy recently discussed the lack of inherently re-watchable movies released in recent years. After some thought, I think Eurotrip warrants consideration. It isn’t exactly a “good” movie, but it is surprisingly entertaining, even upon repeat views.

Basically, you’ve got a bunch of idiot kids on a debaucherous journey that involves quite a bit of sex, drugs and rock n roll. Plus,

– loads of unnecessary breasts (80’s style)
– a catchy theme song that comes into play throughout (again, 80’s style)
– a completely improbable plot that somehow does not detract from the movie
– a ton of great cameos, including perhaps the greatest one of my lifetime (I won’t ruin it in case you haven’t seen it yet)
– a night in Amsterdam
– and of course, plenty of soccer fan bashing

scotty doesn’t know, that fiona and me…

(NOTE: Unexpected red tape has actually stalled the ban from passing. Mayor Street promises to have this done by the end of the year)

Today Philadelphia City Council FINALLY passed a bill to ban smoking in bars and restaurants. Sidewalk cafes and private clubs are exempt, and bars whose food receipts total less than 10% of the total revenue will have an extra two years to implement the new law (Jan. 08). For all other businesses, the ban will take effect in January 2006. Hallelujah!

(Of course, the final vote could still be vetoed by the Mayor — he supports the law but feels this one is not strict enough.)

Hopefully the state of Pennsylvania will get their act together shortly, similar to how Massachusettes and New York state passed laws once their major cities were on board.

Obviously this decision is being met with a wide variety of reactions, and everyone seems to be an expert. Including me…

If you haven’t figured this out by now, I love the new law. What it really comes down to is how your actions affect other people; I’m fine with smoking — people should be allowed to do it as much as they so choose, as long as it does not put others in danger. Smoking in enclosed, public spaces does just that — it forces those around the smoker to inhale toxic air. This is a public health issue, period. Smoking negatively affects the air in a bar or restaurant, and thus negatively affects all breathing employees and customers of that restaurant.

I’ve had a lot of conversations about this particluar issue, and heard the same weak arguments from smokers over and over again. So, in the spirit of one-sided debating, I’ve decided to respond to the most common smoker “counterpoints”: (more…)

I saw that on a bumper sticker on the way home tonight, and I had a hearty chuckle. Some research tells me that this isn’t a new saying, but I thought it was pretty funny. I imagined some of the older, overweight people I know being kidnapped, and the perps getting quite frustrated.

Along those same lines, it baffles me that so many people put absurdly stupid on their cars. These things are not easy to get off, people! Once again, the “fat people” sticker gave me a chuckle, but would I ever put that on my car permanently? No freakin’ way.

Sometimes human ingenuity, even in the smallest doses, can be quite enlightening. Today I came across such an example.

I live in a wealthy, mostly snooty suburb that is mostly populated with selfish, stuck up socialites who are more concerned with being seen than doing anything substantial. So, imagine my surprise this evening, while walking on the rails to trails path by my house, when I found the strangest little sculpture.

As I approached it, it’s strangeness, a number of stray rocks formed together in a circle, like a mini-stonehenge, with a gleaming silver object in the middle. Curiosity, it is not surprising, took the better of me, and I moved in to investigate further. The gleaming object, it turned out, was a key, most likely one that a walker had dropped along the path. Some kind soul took the time to set up this little monument to ensure that the unlucky key-owner would come across their wayward key on the journey back home.

I surely admired the sculptor’s creativity, for surely everyone coming across this work of art would have to stop and admire it, and hopefully one of those admirers would turn out to be the rightful owner. Simple, yet beautiful.

Ever notice that when you come to a 4 way stop, people on the more “major” road seem to think they have right of way?

Why is it that, with all the technical advances that we’ve made as a society, the curly vending machine bracket still manages to gyp thousands of people out of their hard-earned snack money every day? You’d think someone would have come up with a better system a long, long time ago. (These miracle machines probably do exist, but I’ve yet to come across one.)

Speaking of which, I love the dilemma that exists when a bag of chips dangles precariously from one of those curly brackets, yet the buyer doesn’t really want that particular snack. You have to ask yourself — do I buy the snack I had my heart set on, or do I go for the value proposition of two snacks for one? Yes, these are the situations I choose to analyze.

Surely, if you’ve stumbled across this site, you must have wondered at some point what the heck a songoose is and why I chose it as my web address. Based on all we know about URLs, is songoose really a good choice? If nobody really knows what it means, how can I stand by it? On one hand, my name is relatively short and not all that complicated, but on the other, it does not relate to the topic at hand or come to mind easily when you think of this site. In reality, it is a mediocre choice, but I like it and I’m going to keep it anyway. (more…)