4/20/12

John Cleese: Alerts to Threats in 2012 Europe

I read something this morning from John Cleese, British funnyman of Monty Python fame. The following is his post at appeared on democraticunderground.com

ALERTS TO THREATS IN 2012 EUROPE : BY JOHN CLEESE
 
The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Syria and
have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon,
though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A
Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940
when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from
"Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a
"Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish
Armada.
 
The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get
The Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they
have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.
 
The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror
alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are
"Surrender" and "Collaborate." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire
that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the
country's military capability.
 
Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to
"Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat
Operations" and "Change Sides."
 
The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to
"Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher
levels: "Invade a Neighbor" and "Lose."
 
Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat
they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .
 
The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy.
These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy
can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.
 
Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to
"She'll be alright, Mate." Two more escalation levels remain: "Crikey! I
think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!" and "The barbie is
canceled." So far no situation has ever warranted use of the last final
escalation level.
 
John Cleese - British writer, actor and tall person
 
A final thought -" Greece is collapsing, the Iranians are getting
aggressive, and Rome is in disarray. Welcome back to 430 BC."

4/17/12

Letters

Letters

Dear UN Security Council: if North Korea's latest missile launch is any indication of their real military capabilities, then you have nothing to worry about.

Dear Kim-Il Sung: you should have stuck to fireworks to celebrate your grandpappy's birthday.

Dear people of the world: please stop saying 'bling', 'bling-bling', or any combination of words/ expression that includes the word 'bling'

Dear Universe: please erase the word 'bling' from existence. Thanks.

Dear SCSU: if you're not sure when KFC/ Taco Bell/ Hero Burger will be open, then DON'T FRIGGIN' ADVERTISE AN OPENING DATE!

Dear person/ people who invented "Angry Birds": curse you! You have used your mind control to arrest my soul and enslave me to your monotonous, whimsical and highly entertaining game. Also, those laughing monkeys are extremely annoying. I'm not sure if they're laughing at the fact that I can't kill them, or that I am still hooked on this game, but seriously,  (in the tone of Anakin Skywalker in his rant to Padme after slaughtering the sand-people), I hate them!

Dear various professional sport governing bodies: technology is evolving and changing the face of international sport, but clearly you left your common sense somewhere in the past. The use of technology in most professional sports today is far from effective. I understand the desire to keep the human element, which is one of the things that makes sport so enjoyable. But I think you are generally using technology in the wrong areas, and leaving it out of the wrong areas as well. As a die-hard fan of many professional sports, I expect better from people who are supposed to be the "experts". 

Dear Maria Sharapova: will you marry me?

Dear Daniel Scott Tysdal: thanks for your unusual, weird, intelligent and very cool writing. Also, thanks for supporting young writers and helping them to develop their talent.

Dear diary: I apologize for some of the dismal entries lately. I promise there is more to my life than "work, eat, shit, sleep, repeat". I should probably offer an apology to my blog followers (all 5....3? of them) for my lack of entries lately. I guess I went through one of those doldrum periods where the process was mostly inward and there wasn't that much coming out. Mental constipation if you will (though the digestion was pretty good). As a result of this inward living, I haven't been doing anything much on the outside, hence my fairly bland entries. Nevertheless, I now feel I am in a good place again and ready to start going on adventures and expressing ideas that will result much better output, but on a public and private level.

Dear faithful blog followers/ generous blog readers: please refer to "Dear diary" above for an apology that pertains to you as well. Also, thanks a lot for reading, and your continued comments are appreciated :)

Dear patience: thanks for having the patience to stick with me. 

All the best, and hope to hear from you all soon.

Bless,

Mattieu


11/22/11

*shakes my head*

My family in Trinidad lives obliqulely across the road from a bar. Nothing wrong with that in theory; with the copious amounts of bars there are in T&T anyway, no one really lives too far away from one.

This particular bar has always been problematic to us for several reasons. The  bar has one main entrance/ exit which faces our main door to the house. When music is blaring in the bar, the speaker-box effect causes our little board-house to rock like a 7.0 on the Richter. I guess we should bear it a little and consider ourselves just a little unfortunate; after all, that is someone`s livelihood right? But should we be sympathetic to music rocking a residential neighborhood at 2am? On a weekday?

Added to this perpetual noise pollution is the gathering of rather unsavoury folk in close vicinity of our home. Don't get me wrong, I am not judging bar-goers per se. I myself would be a rauring hypocrite if I were to do that. But frequent fights a stone's throw from our living room, the heckling of my mother and sister from greasy old inebriated douches, and men urinating on our gate can together paint a rather unpleasnt picture of the regulars of this bar.

My parents have contacted the police several times. You know, the police; those folks who are paid to maintain justice and order in our daily lives; the peeps in whom we are expected to trust our safety. They have apparently "talked to" the bar owners many times over the years, but there has been no change. I don't know if these talks happen on the days that said officers are having drinks at the bar, which is at least a couple times a week, but you would think that something would have been done by now. Wait; why would I possibly think that?

Most recently (last night), the bar owner, clearly drunk as a fish (as our cousin-ly inside joke would go, he had definitely met Uncle), slammed his pick-up truck directly into our front gate before speeding away like he was fleeing the scene of a hit and run (it WAS a hit and run come to think of it).

My dad goes to the police station to report this. The officers take his report, then tells my dad "We'll go have a talk with him in the morning". My dad, easily annoyed, tells the officer that the owner had been drinking (my dad had been observing from our porch all day) and that the officers should peg him for drunk driving. The police decline, saying that they will wait until he is sober tomorrow to speak to him. My dad, now furious, tries to, as calmly as he can, find out why it would make more sense to put this off than to deal with it now (the bar owner had since returned home, completely ignoring our bent up gate or his rear-ended van). The officer asks my dad, "is anyone hurt?". "What does that matter, the man committed a criminal offense, is drunk as ass, and is sitting under his house just WAITING to be arrested, why don't you deal with this now?!?" dad retorts. It is now about 8pm, which wouldnt be too late to arrest someone I would imagine. Police-woman to my irate father: "Are YOU trying to tell ME the law, or what to do?" My father. now dejected and resigned to this not-uncommon police response, turns and leaves.

Why am I sharing all this with you? Because Trinidadians always wonder how our country got from being a virtual utopia to being the Caribbean's crime hot-spot. All this pish-tosh with States of Emergency and curfews and crime clean-up programs and everything else will puirely be moot if the law enforcers cant do their jobs. You might think incidents like this are petty. but large trees sprout from minute seeds. Ask yourself this question: what if someone had been s standing at our gate ??












8/16/11

Letters

Dear Klimpan: thanks for being a good friend always, and especially for being there when I need to talk.

Dear Guy walking the pitbull across campus: if I get mauled to death by your psycho-dog, just know that I'm not going down without a fight; AND, I'm gona haunt you like a mo-fo.

Dear Jon Stewart: I wana be like you when I grow up :)

Dear Nicholas Cage: please read scripts properly before agreeing to do a movie. Also, take acting lessons.

Dear Luis Hart: You are the most inappropriate, un-politically correct, foul mouthed radio announcer, and I love it!

Dear Belly: I only want a 6-pack, a 2-4 is a bit much.

Dear Mother Nature: I've been a good boy, please give me two weeks of breezy, 15-18 degree days with light drizzles at night. And hold the mosquitos.

Dear Tim Horton's lady: for the love of France, I order chicken salad on a cheese croissant ALL THE TIME, so stop telling me I can't get it every time I come in...also, NO TOMATOES does not mean MORE TOMATOES.

Dear Shakira: I know how u feel baby, but I'm not that easy. Buy me dinner first.

Dear Assorted Females from my recent to mid-recent past: screw all of you. One day, you'll reflect on how you each in some way contributed to my womanising ways.

Dear Faithful Followers: I'm sorry for my hiatus, I'll be blogging more often from now on.

Sincerely,

Prof M.
xoxoxo




7/28/11

Shit Happens, part 3

News of the World: let's hack into people's shit

Dan Savage: monogamy is shit

Google+: Facebook is shit

Apple: there's an app for that shit

Ikea: any shit can be beautiful

House: Shit (Tiesto power mix ft Armin van Buuren)

Dancehall: shit and bruck out

Fortune teller: I see shit in your future

Fortune cookie: shit will happen to you today; lucky numbers 7, 15, 31, 43

Wheel of Fortune: can I shit a vowel?

Fortune 500: we're worth a lot of shit

Bob Marley: no shit, no cry

Bob Dylan: Like a Rollin' Shit

Bob Barker: the shit is right

BoB: makin' shit outta airplanes

Procrastination: i'll do that shit later

7/9/11

because everyone should read good poetry

Carnal apple, Woman filled, burning moon (Pablo Neruda)


Carnal apple , Woman filled, burning moon,
dark smell of seaweed, crush of mud and light,
what secret knowledge is clasped between your pillars?
What primal night does Man touch with his senses?
Ay, Love is a journey through waters and stars,
through suffocating air, sharp tempests of grain:
Love is a war of lightning,
and two bodies ruined by a single sweetness.
Kiss by kiss I cover your tiny infinity,
your margins, your rivers, your diminutive villages,
and a genital fire, transformed by delight,
slips through the narrow channels of blood
to precipitate a nocturnal carnation,
to be, and be nothing but light in the dark.

5/17/11

Shit Happens- Part 2

Bin Laden- Oh shit, they found me!

Scooby Doo- Rit rappens

Rihanna- oh shit, what's my name?

The Hangover- shit happened to us last night, and we can't remember shit!

God- let there be shit

The Beetles- let shit be

Enrique Iglesias- tonight im shitting you!

Harry Potter- muggles are shit

Subway- shit fresh

Johnnie Walker- just keep shitting

Walmart - save money, shit better

Jackie Chan's uncle- Ja-kieeeee, one more ting....shit happen!