What I've Read: A Death In Belmont

When I first read The Perfect Storm I was stunned. Floored into reading this tragic true life story of some fisherman from Massachusetts who were caught in one of the freakiest natural events ever. Three massive storms all colliding at once off the Atlantic Coast and the ship, The Andrea Gail, simply disappeared. All the crew were lost, and the story had such impact they made a movie out of it. The movie wasn't great, but James Horner's soundtrack has been used countless times since and it does have a home on my iPod. I've always possessed a fear of drowning, but this book took it to a whole new level, describing in aching, scientific detail over 4 pages how a human being drowns and what happens. I wish it upon no one. And it certainly gives you an idea of how effed up waterboarding has to feel, and how wrong that practice must be.

I was a huge fan of author Sebastian Junger from the minute I started reading Storm. As a journalist, he brings a realism and passion to his writing that is easy to understand and yet compelling stuff you don't want to put down. I eagerly have been awaiting a sequel, and it came in an unexpected form.

A handyman who worked on his house when he was 9 years old was arrested for raping several Boston-area women and then, while in prison, confessed to killing 13 more as the Boston Strangler. So his perspective and point of view in A Death in Belmont takes on a much more intimate and personal feel. Like any good journalism story, this one has some great twists. Without giving anything away, there is the strong possibility that a man named Roy Smith was improperly arrested, tried and sent to jail for life for a crime he may not have actually committed. The man who admitted to the killings, Albert DeSalvo, may have died with all the secrets buried with him. I really enjoyed the book, for the questions it leaves you debating and the randomness of the events that are all interconnected. I highly recommend the book for anyone who enjoys a fascinating (and real) crime story.

What I've Watched: Galapagos

So people who know me openly acknowledge my love of movies and watching films of just about any nature. I'm not always as high minded as my friends Dan and Luke, who regale their appreciation of French films and stuff that they studied in film classes back in college. Me, I was raised in a household where National Lampoon's Vacation and Airplane! were on regular repeats. Even in my adult life now I have a give-and-take with my lady, where I can sprinkle in some great films she would normally never watch (Cache, political documentaries and the like) by allowing her to drag me to romantic comedies and anything involving singing and dancing (don't get me started on her love of Rodgers and Hammerstein flicks.

So earlier this week I watched a great BBC documentary about the Galapagos islands, where Charles Darwin first formulated his theory of evolution. I won't get into the merits of evolution, because I think it speaks for itself and if you believe in creationism or intelligent design or anything notion that T-Rex, Jimmy the Caveman, Adam, Eve and all the mystical ponies were all living in the same space together, then I am no sure what to do with you.

But I highly recommend watching this doc. It comes from the same production house that gave us the brilliant Planet Earth series (first on BBC before being ported over to Discovery). The visuals are obviously stunning, as you see first-hand some of the crazy species that exist only on these islands. Iguanas that swim and hunt in the water, Darwin's finches that evolved from one island to the other ... it's all here in stunning clarity and just appreciating this and more gave me a stunning sense of how much larger the planet is than we often give it credit for. We focus so much on what happens in the immediacy around us, that we lose sight of the bigger picture, and it's outstanding films like this that help bring me to a calmer, more peaceful place.

Always "The Rick"

Besides reviewing video games, enjoying photographer and being a dork in general, one thing I love doing is playing golf. I began playing when I was in grade school, thinking I could be as good as my dad and one day beat him at his country club, but things just didn't work out for me that way. I continued playing in high school and stopped for awhile in college when a golf course and money was hard to come by (plus, video games and beginning a journalism career sidetracked me).

I picked it back up when I started my first job in St. Petersburg, Florida, and have been enjoying it nonstop ever since. Five years ago I thought the only way I could compete with some of my better golf friends was to go to golf school, and I found one down in Myrtle Beach that I could both afford and which seemed to provide somewhat personal instruction.

There I met Rick Mommsen, the lead instructor and a guy who would reform my golf game forever. Yeah, he was that good. After the first year, I thought it was worth it to go the next year. And then the next. Three straight years I traveled down to Pawley's Island, SC, and Rick was a big part of the reason. When my pal Kelly went with me the second year, it took about 3 seconds for him to discern that Rick was an Ohio guy. Not only that, Rick was a former Columbus cop, who golfed like a pro but without gloves and enough gold rings and bracelets to be a pimp. He also sported a bushy gray mustache and had hilarious and yet not-so-PC ways of instructing us, but it was just his way. He improved Kelly's game in three days, though Kelly broke his elbow skating and that derailed his golfing.

The third year in a row my buddy Dan went, and was also impressed by who now became The Rick. Dan was never much for people telling him what to do, so the instruction has taken as much as I thought it would. But The Rick certainly helped make me more consistent and in golf consistency is key. And he definitely helped shave nearly 10 strokes off my scores.

Rick and I had had drinks my first year when rain cut short a round, and now after a third year in a row he had remembered me, so by then we were joking with each other frequently. He remembered everything about previous students. Swing patterns, bad habits, things that needed correcting, and he always knew how to get a chuckle out of the class. So when Rick had to miss the second day of class that third year, I asked him coyly "You got something better to do than hang out with us, Rick?" Classic Rick, he laughed it off and said he did and left it at that.

I found out the next day that Rick had cancer, and that he was going for his next round of chemo and surgery the following week.

Rick died of cancer last year. Last month a memorial tournament was held to raise money for a local cancer research center. Kelly, Dan and I could not make it down there for the tournament, but I sent a check along with a letter expressing my thanks for all Rick did, even if I only spent a total of nine days with the man on a golf course.

I'll always hope he didn't take my joke personally, and I will never live it down because had I known I would have never made it. I'm sure The Rick is doing something better right now, hitting fairways and greens and smiling all the way. Hit em long and straight, Rick. We miss you.

Just How Bad Can It Get?

Seriously? We have an economy that has not yet figured out how to "trickle down" to the rest of us, a war without end that the nation has seemingly forgotten about, and we still have several more months of the moron as our president. Of course, the McCain and Palin (or is it the other way around?) camp are still more interested in those pesky gays, an outrageously "sexist" media and boy o boy, we best start drilling for oil soon. And if you didn't think it could get any more ridiculous ... check this out.

GOP Obama gag plays to racial stereotypes
Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Activists at a conservative political forum snapped up boxes of waffle mix depicting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a racial stereotype on its front and wearing Arab-like headdress on its top flap.
Values Voter Summit organizers cut off sales of Obama Waffles boxes on Saturday, saying they had not realized the boxes displayed "offensive material." The summit and the exhibit hall where the boxes were sold had been open since Thursday afternoon.
The box was meant as political satire, said Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss, two writers from Franklin, Tenn., who created the mix. They sold it for $10 a box from a rented booth at the summit sponsored by the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council.
David Nammo, executive director of the lobbying group FRC Action, said summit organizers were told the boxes were a parody of Obama's policy positions but had not examined them closely.
Republican Party stalwarts Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney were among speakers at the forum, which officials said drew 2,100 activists from 44 states.
While Obama Waffles takes aim at Obama's politics by poking fun at his public remarks and positions on issues, it also plays off the old image of the pancake-mix icon Aunt Jemima, which has been widely criticized as a demeaning stereotype. Obama is portrayed with popping eyes and big, thick lips as he stares at a plate of waffles and smiles broadly.
Placing Obama in Arab-like headdress recalls the false rumor that he is a follower of Islam, though he is actually a Christian.
On the back of the box, Obama is depicted in stereotypical Mexican dress, including a sombrero, above a recipe for "Open Border Fiesta Waffles" that says it can serve "4 or more illegal aliens." The recipe includes a tip: "While waiting for these zesty treats to invade your home, why not learn a foreign language?"
The novelty item also takes shots at 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry, Obama's wife, Michelle, and Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
The Obama campaign declined to comment.
Wearing white chef's aprons, Whitlock and DeMoss were doing a brisk business at noon Saturday selling the waffle mix to people crowded around their booth. Two pyramids of waffle mix boxes stood several feet high on the booth's table.
"It's the ultimate political souvenir," DeMoss told a customer.
Asked if he considered the pictures of Obama on the box to be racial stereotypes, Whitlock said: "We had some people mention that to us, but you think of Newman's Own or Emeril's — there are tons and tons of personality-branded food products on the market. So we've taken that model and, using political satire, have highlighted his policies, his position changes."
The socially conservative public policy groups American Values and Focus on the Family Action co-sponsored the summit.

Hey, those are two GOPers, not me

Not that I am disagreeing. But it's nice when pundits get honest about their own.