Category: Television

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Here’s what I’m all about:

1.  It was recently reported on the news that 2008 was actually the coolest year on a global scale since 1997. Right now a HUGE chunk of North America is dealing with temperatures below zero – and as dangerously cold as -40°F in Minnestota and North Dakota !  The outer edge of this MASSIVE Arctic outbreak will reach America’s Rivera over the next couple of days as temperatures plunge into the upper-40s early in the morning. This global warming is getting out-of-control !

2.  Now that you’ve finished giggling over yesterday’s ‘Monday Night Countdown’ I can reveal to you that the reason why I’m taking the Miami-Dade Metrorail system is because I’ve been summoned to Jury Duty tomorrow morning. It was a lot of fun keeping that little tidbit of information from my dear friend Ela O. 😆

3.  I recently had a dream while sleeping at night that involved me, a microphone, lots of cool music, and my very own radio gig at 91.9-CALL-FM – my favourite radio station in the entire universe. I’m just putting that out there.

4.  I am currently searching for the most delicious French Toast available for public consumption within 10 miles of the city limits of Homestead. If you have any leads then please contact me immediately !

5.  My little brother has some agenda items on his mind as well. Here they are unedited and in its entirety:

Uhhh yes, I DO believe I requested THAT fortune. I went to Vegas seeking fortune, and all I found was misfortune, and a wallet that is now $90 lighter.

Some more random thoughts from your little brother:

1. Why does ANYONE think they will go to Vegas and actually win money? The scenario remains the same every time I go there. On the airplane ride to Vegas, everyone is happy, joyful, and confident. On the airplane ride back home leaving Vegas, everyone is tired, sad, frowning, and completely silent.

2. Video Poker is a sham. SO is video roulette. SO is video Blackjack. I lost a lot of money on all three, then I started to play at the actual card tables with an actual dealer. I discovered a favorite new game. I discovered Pai Gow Poker. I started playing with $60. I got up to $80, and then I left broke. The GOOD thing about playing Pai Gow poker however, was the fact that my original $60 lasted me about 4 hours in gambling time. That equates to 4 hours in excitement, laughs, cries, exclamatory remarks, 2 different dealers, me joking around with the pit boss, and about $80 in free drinks at the table. I personally think I came out ahead…

3. GO RAVENS. Yes, all of my home teams are out of the playoffs. The Dallas Cowboys, The Washington Redskins, the Jacksonville Jaguars – ALL OUT. Heck, they didn’t even MAKE the playoffs. However, my home team BY DEFAULT (I was born in the state of Maryland and lived there for 5 years) is still in the playoffs and going strong. The Baltimore Ravens are MY pick to go to the Super Bowl this year, and I like them a lot. I like the fact that their QB is a ROOKIE! I like their defense! Personally I think Ed Reed is a good candidate for LEAGUE MVP. So, I SHALL root for the Ravens, and if they go to the Super Bowl, I might even go out and buy an Ed Reed football jersey.

So Bro, I’m right there with ya. I got that MARYLAND BELTWAY SPIRIT TOO!!!!

4. Cigahs? Cigawettes? (Inside joke between Chris and I). I did NOT hear any glorified salespeople with speech impediments not being able to pronounce their “R’s” this time around. As a matter of fact, I didn’t see or experience many people smoking at all in the casinos. Is America actually wising up and getting more healthy?

5. As usual, I developed another ranomly strange taste for something I normally do not indulge in when I am at home. When we were in Hawaii, I drank coffee like 6 times a day for no apparent reason. In Alaska, I went crazy for the Creme Brulee desserts. So in Las Vegas last week, I had a very strange craving for….. Cranberry Juice. I drank Cranberry Juice every day for breakfast, and even for lunch and dinner. I have no idea what it was about it. I just needed to drink cranberry juice. I have since switched back to my normal drinks of Water, Diet Sunkist, and Gatorade, and I have not had a craving for Cranberry Juice since I returned to Texas.

6. UFC 93 this weekend. I’m picking Rich Franklin over Hendo, and Shogun Rua over ancient Mark Coleman. Honestly, what is Mark Coleman trying to prove by getting back in the ring at 44 years old?? Stay retired!! I’m just glad he didn’t fight Brock Lesnar as originally planned.

7. CES Show…. Underwhelming is the best way to describe it. The big thing this year was 3D TV. Let me tell you this. Not only will it NEVER be a big hit with the mainstream audience, but I wouldn’t buy it. It hurt my eyes to look at.

I saw many “celebs” there, and may news networks filming. As a matter of fact, I walked right by Good Morning America AND Spike TV when they were filming. I saw Wilmer Valderamma (Fez from That 70’s Show), and I almost met Quinton Rampage Jackson. Professional video gamer FATAL1TY challenged my friend and I to a game of Quake 4 in front of about 200 people, my friend ended up going up on stage (I chickened out), and my friend and another guy got beat 22 to -1 against FATAL1TY, who was playing ONE HANDED!!!

I’ll say this about the CES. Here are my parting words, a la Jerry Springer. The CES show is full of glitz and glamour. It’s loud, obnoxious, busy, and bright. But, it’s a LOT of walking, a lot of lines, a lot of rude people, and mass chaos at times. So, stay home and watch G4 to see all the new gadgets coming out.

8. Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, and Worst Week were all brand new last night and very funny.

9. American Idol starts tonight! YAY!

That is all…. I’ve written enough and I should probably get back to work now. LOL

~ Danny

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History Home Life Music Television Travel

Saturday Night Retro

Last Saturday night on the ‘Retro’ I presented to you for your review the 1996 smash “1979” from The Smashing Pumpkins. This week I take you back to 1979. It was exactly 30 years ago, and it closed out a crazy decade of decadence.

I entered 1979 as an 11½-year-old 6TH grader at Magnolia Elementary School in Lanham Maryland – located right in the middle of my neighbourhood at the time. Later in the year in September I moved on to Robert H. Goddard Junior High School several miles away. I was also a Boy Scout at the time. We had meetings weekly, and we went on hiking and camping trips monthly – mostly up to the mountains of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. They were ancient history editions of ‘The Major’s Walk-A-Thon’ !  😀

During my spare time (after school and on weekends) I enjoyed riding my bike up and down Red Wing Lane, Wood Thrush Drive, Nightingale Drive, Kingfisher Lane, Wren Lane, and Brae Brooke Drive. I can see recent images of all of those roads (and my old house of over 5½-years) right now online via the use of Google Street View. My old neighbourhood has aged quite a bit over the past 30 years – and so have I. Back then it was brand new (built from around 1973 to 1975). That’s how I remember it. It doesn’t look like that anymore.

On the hit music radio stations nationwide disco music was still alive and kicking – at least during the first-half of 1979. It started dying out during that Summer. Here’s one of the last big disco hits of the era. It managed to sneak up the Billboard HOT 100 to # 11 in September of 1979. It’s Bonnie Pointer making a LIVE July 1979 appearance on ‘The Midnight Special’ on a Friday night on NBC-TV. Here’s her disco smash “Heaven Must Have Sent You”. Check out the way that we used to control the dance floor back then !

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Blogging Driving Health Music Television Weather

Blatant Promotion

TOMORROW MORNING I fully intend to wake up sometime before 7 AM, take a hot shower, put on some cool clothes, and then proceed to venture outside and walk around my neighbourhood for a couple of miles. I call it ‘The Major’s Walk-A-Thon’, and you’ll be able to read all about it right here on the big green blog.

Later in the day on Saturday be sure to catch another smokin’ hot new edition of ‘The Major’s Saturday Night Fever DISCO Party’ ‘Saturday Night Retro’ as I take you back – way back to 1979 !

I’m getting indications that North America’s continental weather pattern is about to make a major shift, and that could mean the end of all of this warm weather that we’ve been experiencing here in America’s Riviera over the past 30 days or so. In fact I may be issuing a ‘Homestead Cold Weather Alert’ sometime early next week in anticipation of temperatures falling into the 40s !  Stay tuned for that one !

So that’s what I’ve got in store for the big green blog real soon. Be sure to stick around and check in from time to time. You won’t regret it pal !

Miami made International news headlines again today for another nutty incident. Hundreds and hundreds of shoes were dumped on a half-mile stretch of a Palmetto Expressway overpass early this morning near the Don SHOE-LA Expressway (sorry – I just had to go there), and it snarled rush hour traffic for miles and miles. Read (and see) all about it here (courtesy of WTVJ NBC-6), and (courtesy of CNN) – REMEMBER THIS !

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Astronomy Food God History Holidays Life Shopping Television

New Year’s Day Morning Shenanigans

THIS MORNING I said hello to 2009 for the very first time just before 7 AM. I got a good 7 hours of sleep overnight. That means that when 2008 officially became 2009 at the stroke of Midnight (leap second notwithstanding) I was already asleep.

It’s 2009 now – the start of the 44TH year of existence for me since I was created by God (in 1966). It’s also my 26TH year as a U.S. Government employee, and it’s my 23RD year of living here in Homestead America’s Riviera. Most important of them all it’s the start of the 4TH year of this fantastic journey that I’m on following Jesus Christ. 2009 is going be the greatest year of my entire Life !

This morning I continued an unofficial New Year’s Day Morning tradition for me – I did my grocery shopping for the next couple of weeks or so at Publix. As is usually the case on New Year’s Day Morning I pretty much had the entire store to myself and perhaps not even a dozen of my fellow hungry pleasure-filled shoppers. Due to a MA$$IVE $ale at Publix I nabbed about $80 in food and other general merchandise for less than $45. That included the use of a surprising Publix gift card that I got for Christmas that was so amazing that I created a happy spectacle of myself right there at the checkout lane. Talk about Shenanigans !

New Year’s Day shall continue for me as I do several loads of laundry while watching hours and hours of televised New Year’s Eve festivities that I recorded last night from Carson Daly (NBC), Dick Clark / Ryan Seacrest (ABC), Spike Feresten / Mark Thompson (FOX), and Anderson Cooper / Kathy Griffin (CNN).

Have a great New Year’s Day my friends !  THRIVE IN 2009 !