Anyway, here's a list of things I like to watch around Halloween time to get me in the mood.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown - Peanuts has always been one of my favorite comic strips (along with The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes). I'd say that this Halloween special is a great metaphor for steadfast belief in something even when it alienates you from the rest of your peers, but truth be told, the thing I like the most about this show is "I got a rock." I've always sort of identified with Charlie Brown, and getting a rock just sort of encapsulates that. Just like A Charlie Brown Christmas, I try to see this one every year.

Treehouse of Horror - While it may be true that The Simpsons have become stale in recent years (I wouldn't know, Mrs. Heavyarms won't let me watch it when the kids are awake), I have always enjoyed their annual Halloween specials. These little mini-trilogies are always good fun. Its frustrating that FOX's Major League Baseball contract usually means that Treehouse of Horror is shown AFTER Halloween, but the Simpsons are so easily found in syndication you can usually find one or two episodes to watch before Halloween.

Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery - For its first three seasons, South Park had a Halloween episode, Pinkeye, Spookyfish, and this one. KGPGM is a spoof on Scooby Doo, and probably one of the best SP episodes. From Cartman's mom's Antonia Banderas blow-up doll (which Carman thinks is a Christmas present for him), Kyle's dead grandmother being dug up and eaten by a stray dog (some grave watchers report the missing body to Kyle's mother and they graphically explain that she was probably stolen by a necrophiliac), a guest appearance by the band Korn (as a cheery mystery-solving team, "Form of...KORN!"), to Kenny's shitty ED-209 costume, this is a great Halloween episode.

Godzilla - Always leave room for a good monster movie, and this is the best one ever. Not that crappy Raymond Burr version, but the original version. I finally had a chance to watch this version a year or so ago...speechless. The ONLY monster movie where the monster is omnipresent, inexorable, inescapable.

Alien - This movie scared the shit out of me when I was 10 when I was at home, bored, and digging through all the rated R movies my dad said I couldn't watch. I spent the rest of the day with every light in the fucking house on. I started sleeping with the covers over my head, a habit I didn't break until...well, last year, I think. I've seen it 100 times, and it still scares the shit out of me. I know what's going to happen, I know WHEN its going to happen and it scares the shit out of me.

So there ya go. What gets ol' Heavyarms in the (Halloween) mood.

Happy Halloween!

A teenager at the center of a civil rights controversy is back in jail after a judge sentenced him on charges that were pending before the attack that put him in the national spotlight, his attorney said Thursday.

Mychal Bell, who along with five other black teenagers had been accused of beating a white classmate, went to juvenile court Thursday expecting another routine hearing, said Carol Powell Lexing, one of Bell’s attorneys.

Instead, after a six-hour hearing, state District Judge J.P. Mauffrey Jr. sentenced him to 18 months on two counts of simple battery and two counts of criminal destruction of property, Lexing said.

You'd think the National News Media that spent weeks painting the members of the Jena "Six" as victims, who only participated in a "schoolyard fight," might think it worth mentioning that one of these poor young boys was being returned to jail.

You'd think that the same news bureaus that sent reporters to do live on-site reports of the "injustice" of the whole situation would at least dedicate a little time to letting you know that one of the Jena Six had violated the terms of his probation (which stemmed from an unrelated case, BTW)

You'd think that the anchors who breathlessly portrayed Jena as a backwater town of burning crosses and white-hooded shadows would think it important to inform us that one of these "innocent" young men already had a rap sheet and now has to pay the piper.

You'd think...

Take those nooses all down

Those are the lyrics from John Cougar Mellencamp Cougar-Mellencamp's new "insightful" song, Jena. Of course, this assclown only knows about Jena and the Jena "six" from what he read in the newspaper and saw on TV. Just like all other celebrity assclowns, he forms his opinion without finding out the whole story.

"It's our job to read the newspaper, and then say what we read as if it's our own idea."
--Janeane Garofalo, Team America

First of all, as noted right here in this very blog, the "convicted by an all-white jury" statement is a misdirection. Yes, the jury that convicted Michael Bell was all white. Over 150 people were sent jury summons for the trial but only 50 people reported. None of the 50 that reported were black. LaSalle Parish does not record race in its juror database, and thus, does not use race as a determining factor in sending jury summons. Of course, if no blacks report for jury duty its kinda hard to put them on the fucking jury, isn't it, Mr. Cougar Mellencamp Cougar-Mellencamp?

Then there's, once again, mention of those damn nooses. The nooses were never mentioned as a factor in the attack. That is, of course, until the six suspects were arrested. Then it was, "Oh, well, they only did it because of the nooses." Did you knwo, Mr. Cougar Mellencamp Cougar-Mellencamp, that the nooses were "taken down" the very same day and the three responsible were punished? Were you aware, Mr. Cougar Mellencamp Cougar-Mellencamp, that the victim in the beating had nothing to do with those nooses? And isn't tying a knot in a rope a pretty shitty excuse to beat someone unconscious anyway?

John Cougar Mellencamp Cougar-Mellencamp has backpedaled a bit, saying on his website "The song is not written as an indictment of the people of Jena but, rather, as a condemnation of racism."

But then, looking at the song's Chorus..."Oh JENA, oh JENA, oh JENA, take your nooses down..." it SOUNDS like a pretty clear indictment of someone or some place named "Jena." But then, I'm not a celebrity assclown so the song's concept may be a bit above my head.

Ribs are IDIOT-proof, yet it takes practise to learn to cook them just right. You can walk into just about any establishment; fine dining, smokehouse, BBQ joint, gas station (some of the best food in the world is found in those little southern gas stations that are usually buried more remote locations. HINT: the FURTHER away from the interstate you go, the better gas station food gets.)

Ribs even come with a built in "done-ness" indicator. Want to know if your rib is ready? Just grab a bone and wiggle. If the bone wiggles easily, time to go to town. You can boil them, broil them, bake them, smoke them, or (most appropriately man-ish) cook them over open flame. In fact, you have not OFFICIALLY passed into the realm of manhood until you have stood over some sort of fire with a splayed-open animal ribcage suspended over it.

Here's to you, RIB!

Which is to say that it was nothing like my old job, where I felt like I was the only competent person on staff. There was absolutely ZERO communication, and if you wanted something done (not just done right, but done at all) you had to do it yourself.

I had been at my old job for a little over a year and received one pay raise, an 8% increase that basically boiled down to a cost of living increase that several others were getting. While that may sound nice, a pay raise in the first year, you have to understand that this place was throwing pay increases around like they were Mardi Gras beads. One of our accountants was making $10/hour and change and had found out "through the grapevine" that our newest accountant was making about $3 an hour more. She pitched a royal hissy and threatened to quit, so she ended up getting a $3 an hour increase. Of course, the way she found out how much the other person was making was a violation of company policy and was grounds for disciplinary action, but we didn't DARE consider that.

Our payroll clerk actually did the "give me a raise or I'm going to quit" song-and-dance twice in a six month period, and managed to get herself 3-4 more dollars an hour.

My raise resulted in less than a dollar an hour. I'm not the kind of person that goes and demands more pay from my boss. I prefer to just let my work speak for itself...which didn't do me a whole lot of good.

So, as things happened in my life, it started to become apparent that I needed to find another job. One that paid better and was, more importantly, closer to home. (This one was over 30 miles away, and commute time was about an hour in the mornings and about 45 minutes in the afternoon.) My wife's vehicle was on its last legs. I had put over 20,000 miles on my car I bought a year ago. All the while busting my ass in this job with not even so much as a "good job."

So, I started looking for a new job and this one fell into my lap and here I am.

Come to find out, my replacement at my old job is making more money than I am. A LOT more. When I left, I offered my assistance in helping train my replacement and they've taken me up on this offer. I've gotten several phone calls and have always dropped what I'm doing to help. Well, fuck them. They can figure it out for themselves.

The teacher was shot dead Saturday in the Mohmand Agency in what appeared to be the fulfilment of threats of reprisals by Islamic extremists if teachers did not start wearing head-to-toe veils, the Dawn news channel reported.

Attack at US Embassy in Vienna Thwarted - A Bosnian who tried to enter the U.S. Embassy in Vienna with a backpack filled with explosives, nails and Islamic literature was arrested Monday after the bag set off a metal detector and the man fled on foot, authorities said.

Oh, those wonderful, peace-loving muslims. What a great religion, huh? HEY! That reminds me of this joke...

Q: What did the Imam say to the blond bikini model?
A: NOTHING! He just shot her in the head! *ba dum dum*