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November 28, 2007

Quit Sending E-Mails that just Disappoint your Friends.

By: The Dude on the Right
At first I was going to do a blog about "Dancing with the Stars" and how I was so happy Helio Castroneves and Julianne Hough won, but then, by the time I started writing, I figured it was old news and really, what is there to blog about other than he won, Julianne is still hot, and I was happy Marie Osmond and Scary Spice didn't win.

So I decided to write this blog about an e-mail I received from my Mom a few weeks ago.

As much as I try and prod her to do so, my Mom keeps resisting my urging her to write editorials, quips, and just general thoughts for this website.  She's a wife, a mother, and a grandmother, she's a cancer survivor, and she has grown up through lots of things in this world and has an opinion on just about anything going on in the world of today.  When I go home to visit, and even when I call on the phone, she comments a lot about professional athletes getting paid too much money, saw from the beginning the quagmire of invading Iraq (which I have to apologize to her, because as much, at the beginning, I tried to convince her it was a good thing to do as I bought into the political propaganda being spewed about, but she didn't buy it for a second and stood her ground and never has been a George Bush fan), and questions the proliferation of sex and violence on TV and what it is doing to society, especially our youth, who don't have parents to both stop them from watching it, nor be role models around it.  But in a bass-akward way she wrote something for the web site, in the form of an e-mail to me and some of her friends a few weeks ago.  She told me I could use it here, so here goes...

Mom received an e-mail with the following text, complete with a lot of cute graphics that I'm not going to post here, that said...

8 angels are sent to you,
You must send them to 8 people including me.
In 8 minutes you will receive something you have long awaited.

Have faith!
Have a good day

Now my Mom, being in a persnickety mood that day, did what the e-mail said, and waited.  And then sent this:

Well - - the 8 minutes came and went and there has not been any changes or events to make a difference in my day. When I first got my computer in 2000 I was gung ho for all the so-called miracles, healing, etc. that were to happen, but never did.

So - - - - - if I don’t send anything back to you, it just never made things different in my life, and I am just content to hear from my e-friends even if I don’t answer back.

Prayers are beautiful to receive and hear, but I figure that for all my problems that I would have cured and helped, there are so many more people who need more help than I do and if they were to be answered, God would answer them. But then at times, I believe He figures I should be able to figure some of my problems out without His help. After all, He is a very busy God with the mess in this world (that I’m sure He just shakes His head over that) and with the free will that God gave us, it certainly is up to us to help ourselves more and be thankful for all that we have.

May God bless each and every one of us.

I can't divulge it here, but my Mom's e-mail inspired a sort of social experiment I might try at a later date, but I also so love when Mom gets opinionated because she can do so in a nice way, yet still questioning why some people probably don't actually read the e-mails they forward along, just doing so because it is the thing they do.  My Mom actually took the challenge the e-mail asked for, and I can only imagine what she awaited for in those 8 minutes, but she didn't get something she long awaited for.

So, please, don't send an e-mail that will lie to my Mom.  I so much like her complaining about sports' figures not living up to their multi-million dollar potential than not receiving something she has long awaited.  And you also know what - quit sending e-mails that, if they follow the e-mail rules, just disappoint your friends, too.

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 7:25 PM | Comments (0)

November 26, 2007

What's New? Stu & The Dude's Weekend (and Thanksgiving) Wrap-Up! The Dude Calls 911 Twice, Stu Sees Movies and a Parade.

For this podcast episode of "Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up!", The Dude on the Right and Stu Gotz wrap the weekend into talking about their Thanksgiving doings also. The Dude had hospital stories, but did watch "March of the Penguins" (and a lot of commercials) with his Mom, while Stu was Mr. Busybody, seeing "Enchanted," "August Rush," "The Guardian," and taking the family to see a parade. Stu tells The Dude all about it, while The Dude is now just looking forward to watching the "Dancing with the Stars" finale and hoping Helio (and Julianne Hough) win the coveted mirror ball trophy.

Posted by Rightdude at 5:54 PM | Comments (0)

November 25, 2007

A Story for a Future Thanksgiving Dinner. A Teaser.

By: The Dude on the Right
I had every intention of posting a few things between my last post about Oprah's "Favorite Things" episode and today, namely a podcast because I took my mobile podcast studio home to the Heartland, a movie review or two by seeing some movies on the North Coast, but then my Thanksgiving weekend trip to the old home of the Ford Econoline Van turned into, well, a story for future Thanksgiving dinners.  For now I will only give this teaser as I hope to fill Stu Gotz in tomorrow of my Thanksgiving weekend during our "Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up!" podcast.

Today, though, my Chicago Bears are still alive because other teams actually kick to Devin Hester and his team, my Cleveland Browns are still alive because of Derek Anderson and his team, and I was able to hear the Browns thanks to my Sirius satellite radio in my car and watch the Bears while listening to the audio team of Jeff Joniak and Tom Thayer when I got home, synched up because I have TiVo.  God bless technology!

Sometimes I'm such an audio geek, and today was one of those days when I liked being a geek, especially, since yesterday, a nurse at a hospital nearly ruined my secret identity.  She thought I was a movie star, but thankfully I kept her thinking I was a superhero!

Oh, wait, umm, I was never at a hospital, at least not as Spixxx-xxx, nor at least TxBxx Mxxuxxx.  I'm just Drew.  Oh, wait, my, well, something is tingling. Never mind. At least for now.

That's it for this one!  I'm Drew, I mean The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 7:42 PM | Comments (0)

November 20, 2007

Would I Look Good in "Ugg Australia Classic Crochet Tall Boots"?

By: The Dude on the Right
First off let me start this by saying part of me doesn't like Oprah Winfrey, probably mostly out of jealousy, but there is nothing but admiration for the empire she has built, an empire I can (that's correct, I wrote "can") fathom in my mind, wonder if it is an empire that can ever be built again, and will give credit where credit is due because as much as there are things I don't like about her, the good things she tries to do are huge and deserve commendation.

But, as a dude, today's episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show is one of the most bizarre, yet entertaining, pieces of television of the year.  Yup, today was the usually annual "Oprah's Favorite Things" episode (some of those Oprah fans who got gypped last year when she tried the "Pay It Forward" experiment are probably still a little, deep-down, pissed), and if you ever want to see a group of women, and a couple of dudes, go completely out of their minds, this is the show to watch.  Oprah secretly took her team to Macon, Georgia, to celebrate the folks who, at 4PM if they are watching TV, 45% of them are watching Oprah.  This statistic, in itself, should raise a ton of red flags about Macon, and maybe this is why I could never be in the league of Oprah because rather than embracing them I would be saying "What is wrong with you people?  What do you do for a life?", yet there some of them were, in an auditorium in Macon, going nuts, when Oprah announced they were in attendance for her "Oprah's Favorite Things" show.

Oprah, of course, made the people in the audience happy, giving away things like a cool camcorder (it retails at $799, and we know that because part of "Oprah's Favorite Things" show is Oprah detailing exactly who makes it, how you can get it, and how much it will cost you), boots, cleaning products, DVD's, a boatload of other stuff, and as Oprah put it, the most expensive gift in the history of her "Favorite Things," which turned out to be a refrigerator retailing at $3,799, which, I can probably guess, most husbands of those in attendance are saying "Our fridge keeps my beer cold just fine.  Do you realize what kind of plasma TV we could have gotten for that amount of money?"

As I did my quick tally it looks like those in Macon who ended up at the show were given nearly $7,500 worth of stuff, which, from the reactions of most of them, was stuff that was going to change their world in ways they couldn't even imagine yet.  Those gifts also will change their lives in another way they didn't image yet, with the tax bill that accompanies getting prizes, or at least so says my accountant, Fruitcake, from the firm Dewey, Cheatum, & Howe, LLC.  But you know what, I'm still jealous I wasn't there because yes, I would have probably been jumping up and down like a little schoolgirl like the rest of them, but then wondering what that signed copy of "O's Guide to Life" and "The Pillars of Earth" would get on eBay, and if I could really pull off wearing those "Ugg Australia Classic Crochet Tall Boots" because, well, I got them from Oprah.

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 7:08 PM | Comments (0)

What's New? A Concert Review of Shaw/Blades.

Even though a car crash delayed The Dude on the Right's arrival to the concert, and even though it took The Dude an hour to get his car out of valet after the show, he still had a fabulous time during the Shaw/Blades concert portion of his evening, and tells you so in his review. If you are a fan of acoustic guitar and harmonies, The Dude highly recommends you check the boys out, but in the meantime you should read The Dude's review.

Posted by Rightdude at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)

November 19, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up! Tig old Bitties, Mots of Lovies, and Gama Motz!

Stu Gotz and The Dude on the Right have a guest for their weekend wrap-up podcast, and it's none other than Mama Gotz. They talk a lot about Tig old Bitties on "30 Rock," some about the writer's strike, and a lot about movies they all saw, including "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium," "No Country for Old Men," and "Beowulf." The Dude on the Right fills in Stu Gotz with his concert viewing of Shaw/Blades, and his non-concert viewing of Garth Brooks on the TV screen. Thanksgiving plans are also discussed, and they all hope you have a Happy Turkey-Day!

Posted by Rightdude at 8:21 PM | Comments (0)

November 18, 2007

What's New? A Movie Review of "Beowulf."

The Dude on the Right works to sneak his movie review of "Beowulf" in today because he has found he's getting a little long-winded in his concert review of seeing Shaw/Blades on Friday and still needs to do some photo editing from the concert. With that the concert review won't "drop" until tomorrow, but if you like watching movies that look like a video game you'll probably like "Beowulf," but The Dude still doesn't like video capture performances on the big screen because he would rather see Angelina Jolie with nipples and a landing strip. He even thinks "Beowulf" would have been better with a real butt shot of Anthony Hopkins. The Dude on the Right sometimes is all about reality.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:54 PM | Comments (0)

November 17, 2007

149,999 Garth Brooks' Fans Probably Missed Fantastic.

By: The Dude on the Right
Well my getting back to seeing concerts has gotten off to a shaky start. First my going to see Jonathon Brandmeier was derailed by some bad tacos, then I lost my ticket for seeing Garth Brooks on a movie screen, but at least seeing Shaw/Blades last night went swimmingly great (other then the fiasco after the show thanks to the valet parking people), but if all goes well my review of Shaw/Blades should be posted tomorrow, along with an explanation of said fiasco.

Right now, though, as bummed as I was at missing Garth on the movie theater, this afternoon, after I got back home after seeing "No Country for Old Men," it’s probably better that I lost my ticket. Why? Because rather than just feeling that I set a lighter to a ten dollar bill, had I gone to the Garth Brooks’ movie show my concert review might have started something like "I used to be a huge fan of Garth Brooks, but now I’m just a pissed-off fan. Here’s why…"

"Why" would have been because from the news reports, and the message boards, during the final show in Kansas City that was broadcast at the theaters, after about an hour and a half Garth played "The Dance," the simulcast ended, and the folks in the movie theaters around the country were sent home, yet Garth Brooks was still playing songs in Kansas City, for what one news story said was about 45 minutes more, which, as a fan of music, a fan of concerts, and a fan of Garth, would actually have been the 45 minutes I would have wanted to see. He still did some songs we know, but it’s when he does non-Garth songs, and an impromptu "Happy Birthday," those are the things fans dream about seeing.

Looking back, on the memory of, oh, wait, I guess I got caught up in the moment of Garth, but there was nothing in the press release I read that said anything about "You will get to see most of the last Garth Brooks’ concert if you spend your ten bucks to see him on a movie screen, but if you want to see the entire show maybe you should make your way to Kansas City because there will probably be some scalpers selling tickets for the show." The only thing I can guess is the Garth Brooks’ machine was worried about people trying to bootleg the entire concert in the theaters, what with internet piracy and all, but if Garth puts out a DVD of the Kansas City shows, with everything he played (or at least some of the medleys), I would almost bet my townhouse that it will hit the internet before it’s actually released.

The press release also mentioned that more than 150,000 people would be seeing the show via the movie theater, and I don’t know if that number was accurate after the fact, nor how the $1.5 millionish gets divvied up, but the almost odd thing is that Garth fans have been so jonsen for anything live from Garth Brooks that they (the movie screen concert folks) don’t seem to care much that they missed the last 45ish minutes of the show (my calculation is that each person at the theater was gypped a little over three bucks), and they also missed what actually sounds like the coolest part of the concert. I only get this indifference from the message boards where I read postings from people who went to the movie theater shows being disappointed at not seeing the entire show, but they were just happy to see Garth live.

Me, I would have just been pissed.  And yes, happy to see Garth live.

Luckily for Garth I can’t return my already opened CD/DVD set of "The Ultimate Hits," and I pretty much set a torch to my ticket (by losing it) without seeing him on the big screen, but it does make me sad that folks who went to the movie theater only really saw two-thirds of Garth.

I didn’t mean for this blog to get this long, but even though I didn’t make it to my movie theater because of my own boneheadedness, a whole lot of people did and missed Garth going from "stiff" to an ending that sounded fantastic. If the 150,000 count of movie people is accurate, at least 149,999 people missed fantastic.

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 7:55 PM | Comments (0)

What's New? A Movie Review of "No Country for Old Men."

For his review of "No Country for Old Men" The Dude on the Right has found one of the best, stone-faced killers on screen he has ever seen. That's not to say this movie is a shoot-'em-up flick, but it's one of the best movies he has seen in 2007. He wonders if the Sheriff gives a crap, relates how Moss thinks the money is his, and if he had to die thinks Anton might have the best way to put you out of your misery.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:44 PM | Comments (0)

November 15, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: I'm an Idiot, No More Ho, 84 Minutes for Lindsay, and Welcome Back Paige Davis!

The Dude on the Right proclaims himself an idiot for this podcast, probably much to his sister's delight. He proclaims his idiotness due to his losing his ticket for Garth Brooks on the movie theater screen. He is also worried for the world because people in Australia are saying Santa shouldn't say "Ho, Ho, Ho" anymore, instead should say "Ha, Ha, Ha." The Dude also gives props to Lindsay Lohan for her 84 minutes in jail, and has something to TiVo in 2008 thanks to Paige Davis coming back as host of "Trading Spaces" next year.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:46 PM | Comments (0)

November 12, 2007

What's New? Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up! Movie Talk, Football Talk, Scuba Talk, Garth Talk, and More Talk.

Stu Gotz is finally back so The Dude on the Right isn't flying solo for another podcast. For this episode of "Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up!" they don't even have to talk about why Stu was missing, their weekends were just that action-packed. They both saw "Fred Claus," Stu did a lot of Scuba stuff in the Chicago area, and Stu also recognizes The Dude's wisdom when it comes to printer cartridges. The Dude saw someone turning 60, and hips Stu to a bunch of football things, especially Chicago Bears and Ohio State Buckeye things. Stu also gives The Dude his suggestion for seeing Garth Brooks this week on the big screen.

Wow, they talk a lot.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:22 PM | Comments (0)

November 10, 2007

What's New? A Movie Review of "Fred Claus."

For this movie review of "Fred Claus," The Dude on the Right thinks there was the potential for this to be a holiday classic, but lost it with the dastardly plot of Clyde (Kevin Spacey) to shut down The North Pole. The story of Santa (Paul Giamatti) trying to reunite with his brother, Fred (Vince Vaughn), was good enough, but got lost in the mix.

Posted by Rightdude at 2:46 PM | Comments (0)

November 8, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: The CMA Awards, Unplug Everything, and More Environment Crap.

The Dude on the Right is tired of being preached to about being "Green," so for this podcast he gives his own advice that is a hell of a lot easier than that given on "The Biggest Loser" (although most electricians would say it's bad advice). He also has a theory that "American Idol" is having a larger influence on the country music scene, and is worried about having no TV to watch soon. Go ahead and listen.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:52 PM | Comments (0)

November 7, 2007

What's New? A CD Review of "The Ultimate Hits" from Garth Brooks.

In preparation for his seeing Garth Brooks on November 14th, and then writing a concert review, The Dude on the Right thought he should get the latest Garth CD (with a bonus DVD of videos), titled "The Ultimate Hits."> As he's trying to get back into covering music again, he also thought he would review the thing, and he's happy he has four new songs by Garth. Weirdly enough the DVD actually helped him like the new songs, although he liked the bonus song without a video. The Dude has his "Ultimate" hits for Garth, but most of them never made it to radio. Good thing Garth doesn't look to The Dude for advice.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:40 PM | Comments (0)

November 6, 2007

What's New? A DVD Review of "Knocked Up."

The Dude on the Right spent the big bucks and got the 2-Disc Collector's Edition DVD of "Knocked Up" to review, and as much as he likes the original movie, the extras on the second disc were, at times, even funnier. Sure, like most extras, there are some things that were kind of iffy, but for Dr. Kuni alone, the second disc is great.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:28 PM | Comments (0)

November 5, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: A Funny SNL, A Literally Crappy Saturday, and A Couple of Movies.

For this podcast The Dude on the Right is flying solo because he couldn't get some technology things together, but he did like Brian Williams on Saturday Night Live. He missed it live, and Johnny Brandmeier live, thanks to a couple of bad tacos, but did see a couple of movies, namely "Bee Movie" and "American Gangster" over the weekend. At least the Hollywood writer's strike shouldn't effect his TV viewing until next year.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:41 PM | Comments (0)

November 4, 2007

What's New? A Movie Review of: "American Gangster."

For this movie review of "American Gangster," The Dude on the Right is still boggled by parents bringing their 10ish year old son to a very R-rated movie. The kid seemed to like the movie because he was clapping at the end, but I was wondering if he was applauding Frank Lucas, the heroin kingpin, or Richie Roberts, the honest cop. That aside, The Dude really like the movie.

Posted by Rightdude at 3:23 PM | Comments (1)

November 3, 2007

What's New? A Movie Review of "Bee Movie."

The Dude on the Right went to see "Bee Movie," and he even wrote a review. He seemed a little shocked at relating our treatment of bees to slavery, but figures kids will like the bright colors and flying scenes. The Dude also couldn't take the bee and insect puns anymore.

Posted by Rightdude at 3:23 PM | Comments (0)

November 1, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: ABC's Screwing With The Bachelor and Dancing, Zero Tricks or Treats, and I'm Tired of Kobe Bryant Rumors.

The Dude on the Right is flying solo, as he always does, for his Thursday podcast, and is flustered with how ABC is changing their TV schedule next Monday, only leaving 45 minutes for "The Bachelor," and he does think Brad is doing a good job picking the best women. He's also happy Sabrina, The Cheetah Girl, is off "Dancing With the Stars," and worries about the writer's strike that might impact his TV viewing in 2008. He is also sick of the Kobe Bryant trade rumors, dreaming up some of his better trade rumors, at least for him.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:24 PM | Comments (0)