Remembering John Lennon

I vividly remember as young boy when John Lennon was murdered and taken from us far too soon. My mother had grown up a Beatles fan as a high school and college student in the '60's and passed her love for their passionate music on to me and my sister. I had played Beatles LP's on our record player and while I didn't yet understand all I would come to grasp about their unique nature, I did grasp the tremendous loss the news conveyed.

Lennon's art was so timeless it simply is difficult for me to believe it has been thirty years.

Tony Curtis 1925 - 2010

Esquire magazine has reposted their great "What I've Learned" interview with Tony Curtis. At his passing, this is a great read and a reminder of what a larger-than-life character he was. Check it out, it's worth your time.

My favorite, or at least cleanest, quote is below.

When I left the Navy, I used the GI Bill to get into the Dramatic Workshop, which was located at the President Theatre on Forty-eighth Street. Walter Matthau and Harry Belafonte were students there, too. We were all just trying to make it. Later on, I went out to California, and good things started happening for me. When I came back to New York to do a promotion for City Across the River, they gave me a suite at the Sherry-Netherland and a huge black limo. I took it around to show my buddies in the Bronx and then went by the Dramatic Workshop. It was a terrible, rainy afternoon, and who do I see out in front? Walter Matthau. He's got a long, heavy coat on with a Racing Form sticking out of the pocket, and he's looking down at the gutter. Here I am in this nice, warm limo. And there he is, this grumpy guy surrounded by a cold, miserable world. The look on his face says, "What's ever going to happen for me? Nothin'!" So I tell the driver to pull alongside him and stop. Now Walter's watching the limo. I roll the window down, look at him, and say, "I f***** Yvonne De Carlo!" Then I roll the window back up in a hurry and tell the driver to get the hell out of there.

No, no, no, he wasn't mad! For years, Walter loved to tell that story at parties. He'd make it last twenty minutes.

We'll Miss You Bob - We Really Will

Admit it - you've made fun of Bob Barry's OU football broadcast.

No, it isn't nice and no, we shouldn't make fun of him, but we've all done it. Nothing can be more frustrating than a crucial play during a critical game and you're stuck in the car, for reasons passing understanding, and have to listen to the radio broadcast.

But now comes the news that this will be Bob's last season. Soon we won't hear his spotters clearly trying to correct him as he gives us the wrong player names. We won't hear him mix up the downs and we won't ever hear Merv Johnson utter his immortal line "He really did Bob, he really did" after some commentary from Bob.

Just the same, we also won't hear his unbridled enthusiasm. His excitement when we gain a big first down, make a huge completion or Stoops runs one of his trick plays. We'll never hear him fumble over calling the yardage and players and finally just yell "TOUCHDOWN OKLAHOMA!".

TV broadcasts are supposed to be neutral but home school radio is partisan. It has always been and it should always be. It's for the fans and we want someone who is pulling for our guys. Bob may not have been at his best over the last few years, and he has frustrated me on more than one occasion, but he's fun. He's real and he's ours.

Now Bob, heads off into Sooner lore as another of the many legend's we'll pass along to future fans. Thanks Bob for all you've done and the pure love of sports you have shared with generation after generation. We appreciate it and no matter the jokes, we will miss you.

Happy 80th Sean Connery

My favorite James Bond, Sir Sean Connery, turns 80 today. He has taught many a man how to be cool, look good and act like a gentleman. For my money, nothing better than Goldfinger or From Russia With Love.

Sadly he chose his birthday to announce his complete retirement from on-screen roles. He leaves many remarkable films for us to remember him by, but it is sad to know there will never be another movie in which to see him.

The Piper Of D-Day

If you are a fan of the WWII movie "The Longest Day" then you probably remember the soldier who plays the bagpipes as the beaches are stormed on D-Day. The man who's actions were immortalized in that film has passed away.

Bill Millin, a Scotsman serving with the 1st Commando Brigade, acted at the urging of his commander to violate rules against the playing of bagpipes in battle. He bravely piped songs such as "Highland Laddie" to motivate his comrades.

When asked later in life about his actions, he simply said "When you're young you do things you wouldn't dream of doing when you're older."

I hope both his iconic bravery and modesty will be remembered by us all for generations to come.

Illegal Immigration

The Grassroots Origin of Grassroots

From Garrison Keillor:

It was on this day 98 years ago that the word "grassroots" made its debut as a political term. On this day in 1912, Senator Albert Jeremiah Beveridge of Indiana was on stage at the Progressive Party Convention when he proclaimed: "This party has come from the grass roots. It has grown from the soil of people's hard necessities."

In the almost hundred years since, "grassroots" has become a popular buzzword and an influential campaign strategy. The word refers specifically, according to the OED, to the "rank and file of the electorate or of a political party." With grassroots campaigns, you often see people standing on street corners holding clipboards, collecting signatures for petitions, or setting up information tables on college campuses and neighborhood farmers' markets, or posting fliers around town, or holding political meetings at people's houses, sometimes potluck-style.

There's now even a term for faking a grassroots movement: It's called "astroturfing," after that artificial grass found at sports stadiums. It's when powerful lobbyists masquerade as individual citizens, using the tactics of grassroots campaigns, but hiding their affiliation or real agenda. The term was coined by U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, after he got a bunch of letters in the mail from concerned citizens urging him to promote the interests of the insurance industry.

Independence Day - Not "the fourth"

This weekend is American Independence Day. As always, I'm a bit on my soapbox about people who reduce the importance of the holiday by referring to it as "the fourth" or just "July 4th". Many of these same people would be offended if we called Christmas "the 25th" or even their birthday by it's date.

We are a proud country, and even with the inevitable mistakes in our past, we have done great things as a people. We should celebrate the birth of our democracy and remember this as the beginning of our Independence and the beacon of freedom the United States became.

A Nation’s Strength

by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1904)

What makes a nation’s pillars high
And its foundations strong?
What makes it mighty to defy
The foes that round it throng?

It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand
Go down in battle shock;
Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,
Not on abiding rock.

Is it the sword? Ask the red dust
Of empires passed away;
The blood has turned their stones to rust,
Their glory to decay.

And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown
Has seemed to nations sweet;
But God has struck its luster down
In ashes at his feet.

Not gold but only men can make
A people great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor’s sake
Stand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly...
They build a nation’s pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.

D-Day June 6, 1944

The photo of the cemetery in Normandy shows just some of those who gave their lives in order to pass freedom on to future generations. They were part of Operation OVERLORD, known to us today as D-Day, and began the end of the Nazi war machine.

In our busy lives, we should give a brief thanks for those who served in war so we might not have to do so.

Happy Geek Pride Day 2010

Internationally today is the day in which we celebrate geeks, myself included. If you weren't aware, May 25th is the day on which Star Wars was first released in 1977. Not that today is only Star Wars themed mind you, but all things geek.

You can read more about the day over at the nerdage blog and learn about the history and how today is also sci-fi themed "Towel Day" for the Douglas Adams fans out there.

So, today thank a geek, dork or nerd who has used their purchasing power to keep great geek movies and TV shows coming over the years!

Risk is our business...

To Risk

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out is to risk involvement,
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas and
dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To live is to risk dying,
To hope is to risk despair,
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken because
the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing,
has nothing, is nothing.

– William Arthur Ward (1921-1994)

Happy Earth Day

You can't see it from this angle, but the "mankind" t-shirt actually says "Inhofe for Senate" on the back.

Wilma Mankiller 1945 - 2010

I really can't say much, other than she was perhaps the greatest and most inspirational Oklahoman I ever knew.

Date A Nerd

Advice to Sandra Bullock: Date a Nerd

By Tony Panaccio

First of all, can anyone say they were that darn surprised?

Sandra Bullock, America’s sweetheart, Oscar© winner, Razzie winner and still the best darn bus driver that the movies has ever seen (anyone remember Speed?) marries a biker. Who makes Bikes. In a bike shop. Stars in a TV show with other bikers making bikes for rich bikers. Is named Jesse James, one of history’s most notorious outlaws. This guy was the poster child for bad boys. OF COURSE he was going to cheat on her. His cheating on her was better odds than Bill Clinton having a heart attack on intern orientation day.

And Sandra, come on. Did you REALLY think the biker bad boy with the outlaw name was going to stay home, read comic books, play video games and eat French Bread Pizzas for months at a time while you were filming movies? That’s like expecting Donald Trump to forego the combover and shave his head (which might not be a bad look for him, really… okay, not so much).

But don’t feel bad. You’re not alone. Smart, beautiful, successful women from all over the world love the bad boys, and invariably wind up getting screwed over by them. I’m sure there’s a Facebook group for them. I think they made T-shirts. But the truth is, you have GOT to break the cycle. It’s time for you, and frankly all the other successful women nursing shattered dignity and wounded pride at the hands of a rock star or reality TV star, to see the light and change your life for the better.

It’s time for you to date a nerd.

Nerds, by and large, are rich, stable, loving and would be so knocked out to date a smart, beautiful, successful hottie, that they’d be utterly and irrevocably devoted to you. They’d cook, clean and do laundry for you. They’re good with electronics and computers, so you’d never have to worry about your computer crashing. Chances are they’d hack you free Internet service, anyway.

They’d pledge their lives, bank accounts and comic book collections to you. And the fact is, many of them aren’t just rich, they’re famous. Renown and unrepentant comic book and video game geeks include Keanu Reeves (Remember him? Tall guy, had the sense not to be in Speed 2?), Will Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Hamill, Star Trek director J.J. Abrams, Jon Favreau, Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader, Jerry Seinfeld and Nicolas Cage (who sold his comic book collection to satisfy Lisa Marie Presley when he was married to her!).

Now, you may have to put up with a pantry full of Twinkies and Doritos, comic books on the floor, and every so often in bed they might cry out “It’s Clobberin’ Time!” or “Flame on!” or “Excelsior!”

I figure it’s a small price to pay for a guy who isn’t going to cheat on you with the nearest tattooed circus freak the second you go off to win an Oscar.

(Tony Panaccio, Senior Campaign Strategist for EMSI Public Relations, is a 25-year veteran writer, marketer and producer in the entertainment industry, having worked with luminaries such as William Shatner, Stan Lee and Michael Uslan. He has been a journalist and a senior executive with several of the world’s largest PR firms.)

A Healthy Celebration

For those of you celebrating St. Patrick's Day today, just a reminder to be good to yourself - drink Guinness and be healthy!

Risking Everything To Vote

Imagine risking it all to vote.

I don't mean figuratively nor am I speaking metaphorically. In Iraq, at least 25 people have died this weekend just attempting to vote in their national election.

And they kept coming after the attacks.

The violence and acts of cowardly terrorism didn't halt men and women from leaving their homes and risking their lives in order to participate in Democracy. Some had to walk because of a ban on cars, yet still they came. Polling places were blown up, mortars fired and still they came to vote.

Sahib Jabr, a 34 year old taxi driver, said defiantly "We came to participate in this National Day
and we don't care about the explosions."

Kind of makes it sound silly when you hear people say they "didn't have the time to vote" doesn't it?