Category: News

Anton Yelchin

On By Michel McDonaldIn Favorite Actor, NewsLeave a comment

anton-yelchin-5-1024.jpg

June 19th, 2016 was Father’s Day, but it was also one of the most difficult days for me particularly because one of my favorite actors passed away at his home. This is the story according to most news websites.

yelchin crash 876“According to police, Yelchin died from blunt force asphyxia when he got out of the vehicle and it rolled down his driveway and pinned him against a brick mailbox and a security fence. His 2015 Grand Cherokee featured an uncommon type of electronic gear selector that works like a self-centering toggle to cycle through the transmission’s modes (park, reverse, neutral and drive,) rather than a lever with notches or specific positions for each.”

We had family visiting us from San Diego, and it wasn’t until after they left that I saw the news on Facebook. My heart sank in my chest and I just started saying “No no no no no no this isn’t happening. No! Just NO!” I read the article and about how he passed away, but I just couldn’t wrap myself around the details, and I kind of think that I was in denial. I went directly to Netflix and watched Odd Thomas because that’s one of my favorite movies. I started crying as soon as I heard his voice, and then again when I saw his face. I tried to keep calm throughout the movie, but I couldn’t help it, I just kept crying. At the end when he realizes his girlfriend is dead, and he starts crying, I just lost it. Netflix doesn’t have my other favorite movie of his, which is Fright Night and the new Star Trek movies. I would like to watch those again just to see him.

I don’t know what he was like in person because I’ve never met him and I haven’t seen him on camera in a reality setting. I haven’t seen many interviews with him, I’ve only seen him in his movies. I would imagine him to be one of the kindest people you’ve ever met. He just gives that vibe to me. I’ve seen his body language in pictures, and he doesn’t seem like his head ever got too big from the fame, so that tells me that he is a really down to earth person. He was a very talented actor, and I was looking forward to so many more movies and hopefully TV shows, but that’s not going to come anymore. I’m sure he had acted in some movies that are still sitting in the editor’s office, so I look forward to losing my shit when I see those movies. Face it, you know if there are any movies coming in the future with him in it, you’re gonna bawl your face off at the movie theater right next to me. I can’t be bawling in the movie theater by myself!

This world has lost one of the greatest talents it will ever see. I am still mourning his passing as if I knew him personally. I don’t know what it was about him, he just touched me, and I will never forget him.

I love you Anton Yelchin. Rest in peace buddy.

Does This Renew or Destroy Your Faith In Humanity?

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

homeless man gets boots

I was so touched when I read about the story of a police officer in New York City giving this homeless man socks and a $75 pair of Sketchers boots.  According to police officer Lawrence DePrimo, a two-year veteran of the NYPD, “he had blisters about the size of my hands.”  He felt sorry for the guy so he did a good deed and he paid with it out of his own pocket.  Bravo!

See, I was homeless when I was a teenager and when I was in my early 20’s, so any time I see anyone giving so generously to a homeless person who never asked for anything, it gives me hope.  However, this homeless man, now identified as Jeffrey Hillman had allegedly “sold” or “gave away” his new shoes, according to an article that I read.  Whether he did that or not didn’t diminish the good deed that Lawrence DePrimo did.  I still have faith in humanity.

I am just now finding out that Jeffrey Hillman isn’t homeless.  According to CNN…

“Jeffrey Hillman, who served in the military, is eligible for support through the federal Housing and Urban Development’s Veterans Affairs Support Housing program, Diamond said.

“Thanks to that program, Jeffrey Hillman has a Bronx apartment that has been paid for outright, Diamond said, emphasizing there was no need for the man to “panhandle on the streets to pay rent.” Diamond would not give any details about Jeffrey Hillman’s use of the apartment.”

The thing is, even knowing this “homeless guy” has an apartment, it doesn’t diminish the good deed done by Lawrence DePrimo who had no idea that the man he was helping didn’t need help.  We shouldn’t all lose our faith in humanity just because this homeless guy turned out to be faking being homeless because maybe he gets enough money to pay his rent, but what about his food?  Look at him, he’s skin and bones.  Perhaps he really doesn’t have shoes, I mean, according to the officer, he had blisters about the size of his hands on the bottoms of his feet, so maybe he doesn’t get enough money to get by.

I am not defending him, I’m just saying don’t throw your hands up in the air and say this whole thing was a fraud because the cop was still doing a good deed, and no matter what the outcome is, it was still a good will story and we needed some good news after hurricane Sandy.  Don’t give up on believing in humanity just because the guy who was surprised with a gift wasn’t really homeless.  The cop didn’t know that and he didn’t give him the boots for a publicity stunt, and the homeless man wasn’t expecting to receive any gifts that day.  According to the article on Huffington Post, “He smiled from ear to ear,” DePrimo said. “It was like you gave him a million dollars.”

What I’m really saying is, don’t be so skeptical about everyone because there are still some good people out there in the world doing good deeds.  They say “one apple spoils the barrel” but that doesn’t mean you should give up on everything else from here on out.  I still say that cop deserves a medal for his good deed and I thank him for his service and his gift.

51-Year-Old Green Mile Actor Marrying 16-Year-Old Beauty Pageant Winner

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

I am shocked and mortified to hear this story on the morning radio show this morning.  They said they posted the picture on their twitter account and Facebook but I didn’t see them so naturally I had to go find the story on the internet and I found it on the website Cele|bitchy.

Here is a quote from that article which is a quote from Popeater:

Hollywood has seen its fair share of odd couplings, but this one is so out there even the newlyweds know it’s a little weird.

Doug Hutchison, a character actor best known for roles in The Green Mile, Lost and The X-Files, married aspiring country singer Courtney Alexis Stodden on May 20 in Las Vegas.

He is 51. She is 16.

Is there something fishy about it? In an exclusive statement to E! News, the couple insists there’s not.

With Stodden, a former beauty pageant queen, trying to position herself as a potential Nashville star, you might think there’s more to the story than middle-age actor marrying pretty teenager (and that’s a lot of story, itself). However, the newlyweds tell us they’re just mad about each other.

“We’re aware that our vast age difference is extremely controversial,” the couple said through their spokeswoman.

“But we’re very much in love and want to get the message out there that true love can be ageless.”

I just find the whole thing mortifying.  Not just his creepiness in that picture but the huge age difference.  I mean, I really don’t have any room to talk because we have 21 years age difference.  Darrin was 44 when we met and I was 23.  I can say that love is ageless in our case because we’ve been together for 17 years so maybe it’s true for them too.  But come on, she’s still a child, beauty queen or not.

The wedding picture (above) makes him look so creepy, or maybe that’s the osteoporosis setting in early, who knows for sure.  Either way, he looks like a troll.  Where is Chris Hansen when you need him anyway?  Shouldn’t he be making a trip to Las Vegas to visit this guy and say “what are you doing here?  Do you realize she’s 16?  Would you like some sweet tea?”  Fortunately for him the legal age of consent in Nevada is 16 and you can marry with her father’s blessing.

I wonder though, does she ride her bike to school or did he get her a car for her wedding present?  Is she still in high school or does he home school her now?  I got questions here lol.

Oh and while I was still listening to the story on the radio there was a caller who said he was Christopher Walken.  He was pretty good but he went a little overboard with the impersonation though lol.

AT&T’s New DSL Data Cap

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

I saw this story on Attack of the Show on G4 today and went over to Engadget to find more information on this oh so glorious (NOT) news. Apparently, AT&T has decided to give all of us DSL and AT&T U-Verse users a monthly data cap.

AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees – Source Engadget

So if you have regular DSL from AT&T, you have a cap of 150GB per month and if you have U-Verse you get 250GB which somehow doesn’t include video for U-Verse customers which I assume means they stream from the internet. I wouldn’t know, it’s not available in my area.

So I guess it had to happen sooner or later and I probably don’t have anything to bitch about considering I don’t even play online games anymore. Although, I had planned on starting again, this has squashed that idea.

The Engadget article says that AT&T will be sending emails to their DSL customers next week telling them of this new suckfest with instructions on how to check your data usage so you will be able to tell how much bandwidth you are using so you don’t go over. If you do go over you get charged a penalty of $10 per 50GB you use over your cap.  They send you an email warning you that you are about to go over a certain percentage so you can either turn off your computer or switch to the Verizon 3/4G on your phone or CR-48.

They say that 98% of their customers won’t have an issue with this because they only use maybe 17GB per month. Well, to that I say that those people must only check their email and maybe go onto facebook and twitter once per day unlike those of us who like to play online games for hours, watch movies, YouTube videos, tv shows on Hulu and Tweet about it all about the same time.

Since they haven’t emailed me the data usage tool, I won’t know where I stand but I’ll bet it’s almost at the data cap. I have my Desktop going for TweetDeck, Lord of Ultima (online game), MS Money and whatever else and my CR-48 netbook for email, FB, Blogging and looking at websites with.

And to think, I was going to cancel our cable for internet TV via the Roku box to stream our tv shows and movies directly to our TV’s. So much for that idea. I’m sort of glad it didn’t pan out for us now because I’m sure we would have gone over our 150GB data cap the first week of the month.

Ugh, I feel like we’re living in the electronic age depression now lol. I’ll be standing in the data lines instead of the 1920’s depression bread lines. Then in about 40 years, if I’m still alive, I’ll tell kids “why when I was your age we had to wait in line for our data and we had to walk 5 miles to school uphill both ways in the snow.”

I can’t wait to see my data usage, I will update this post when I get my email from AT&T.

News and Image Source Engadget.

Update: I finally got the email today and this is the url that they gave me to see my usage www.MyUsage.att.com but they say in there that my usage will not be calculated until I’ve gone over 70% so that doesn’t show me anything.

I’ve installed the “Lord of the Rings Online” MMORPG game so I’ll play that for a few days and see what happens.

Tsunami and 8.9 Quake in Japan

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

Japan had an earthquake yesterday that measured 8.9 on the scale which they haven’t had that big in 100 years. Following their earthquake was a Tsunami which ravaged them. The news channels showed video footage of people in offices and homes during the earthquake and showed the tsunami washing over their farm lands and washing out roads and people waving from the 2nd story of a building which I can only assume is their home.

I was seeing people tweeting about it but me being the news hater that I am, I refused to turn CNN on. But then I finally did and I was glued to the TV until 2am. I had to get to sleep because there really wasn’t much I could do by watching.

I woke up at 5am and turned the news back on but I couldn’t stay awake, I kept falling asleep but I was more half asleep so I was still listening. They said that Hawaii was hit but gave no footage. Finally at 11am I turned the news off because I was just so sick to my stomach about the whole thing.

They said that there was a city in California that was hit but basically the only thing that was damaged was a bunch of boats. They can replace that easily.

So pray for Japan, they’re gonna need it. If you want to donate some money to help Japan you can read this USA Today article here.

Image Source Reuters

Bakersfield is Number 2 in Toxicity

On By Michel McDonaldIn News1 Comment

I just heard yesterday that Bakersfield is in the number 2 spot for the most toxic cities and i just so happen to live in Bakersfield so I thought I would weigh in.

America’s 10 Most Toxic Cities – Source Forbes.com

Number of unhealthy air quality days (2009): 43

Pounds of on-site toxic releases reported (2009): 2.2 million

EWG top water concern: N/A

“The EPA says when the Air Quality Index for an area climbs above 100 (ratings range from zero to 500, with zero being the best) it can bring on respiratory problems for people with lung disease, children and older adults. Above 150, everyone can suffer. Most cities don’t even have a single day each year when the AQI is above 100. But Bakersfield, Calif., which ranks second on our list, had 43 such days in 2009, Fresno (No. 3) had 29 days, and Los Angeles (No. 6) had 14.”

For the last 11 years that we’ve lived here in Bakersfield, we’ve seen that they show on the local news the air quality level for burning wood, that is during the cold seasons, and it surprises me because most nights they tell you that you can’t burn wood in your fireplace.  The people who ignore that will get a ticket.  I assume if a cop sees smoke coming out of someones chimney they will write the ticket then ring the doorbell and give it to you and tell you to put the fire out.  I haven’t had that experience so it’s just a guess.  We don’t burn wood since our living room TV sits in front of the fireplace covering it from ever being used.

What I do notice about our air quality is that you can smell how nasty it is.  What it smells like to me is, well you know how hose water tastes?  That’s how it smells.  Sometimes it smells like that leftover food that you left in your fridge for over a month and decided that it’s time to toss it out because the smell is getting so bad.  I smell that smell every Tuesday night which is trash night in our neighborhood which leads me to believe that every week someone has discovered some old food and decided to toss it with their trash.

They didn’t even mention our water quality which is a huge issue for me because our water smells and tastes like hose water and it looks white when you pour water from the tap into a glass.  I suppose it has gotten a little better but it still smells and tastes bad.  Where is Erin Brokovich when you need her?

I hope this is a wake up call for the city of Bakersfield.  Clean up your act!  If I see one fish with 3 eyes I’m outta here!

Thank You Mr. Obama For Making DOMA Unconstitutional

On By Michel McDonaldIn News, PoliticalLeave a comment

I got this email today from Freedom To Marry:

Michel,
Great news.

This morning, President Barack Obama took a historic step that will help advance the freedom to marry. On the recommendation of the Attorney General, the President has determined that sexual orientation discrimination should be presumed unconstitutional.

Because of this, the Department of Justice today concluded that the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” is an unconstitutional and indefensible law.

As litigation challenging federal discrimination has unfolded, Freedom to Marry called on the President to protect same-sex couples and their families by applying heightened scrutiny against sexual orientation discrimination. And today, the President heeded our call.

Will you join me in thanking the President for refusing to defend this discriminatory law?

http://freedomtomarry.org/ThankObama
Make no mistake–the President’s decision didn’t happen overnight. It was the result of thousands of marriage supporters like you who have shared your stories, made phone calls, and sent e-mails demonstrating the harm that DOMA inflicts on families.

Until pending federal cases shake out, or Congress takes action, DOMA will still be in effect, but the President and the Justice Department are now on the right side of history, standing against anti-gay discrimination.

This brings us closer to Freedom to Marry’s goal of ending federal marriage discrimination and fully protecting all loving and committed couples and their families.

Join me in thanking President Obama for taking this crucial step towards ending the exclusion of gay and lesbian couples from marriage.

http://freedomtomarry.org/ThankObama

We still have a long way to go, but I know that with supporters like you, Michel, we’re closer to victory.

Thanks for all you do,

Evan Wolfson
Executive Director

Not only is our president making history by being the first African-American president, but he is also making history by making sexual orientation discrimination unconstitutional.

I don’t know why it has taken this long to make it unconstitutional. I mean, it’s unconstitutional for everyone else to be discriminated against but it’s ok to discriminate against gay people?  I don’t know why it took until the year 2011 for this to happen.  It’s amazing to me how far we have come and I guess better late than never right?

So thank you Mr. Obama for your support of gay people’s rights.

Borders Sad Chapter 11 News

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, News1 Comment

I was watching Attack of the Show today and they spoke for 10 seconds about Borders filing for chapter 11 and closing some of their famous book stores but they didn’t go into as much detail as this email that I got today did.

Click the image to see it full sized to read the sad news.

My guess, and this is just an uneducated guess, is that they are doing poorly because of the rise of eBooks via the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes and Noble Nook. Borders does sell their own eBook reader called the Kobo as well as many other e-book readers like the Sony and Velocity Micro Cruz (which I have never heard of).

The main reason I bought a Nook was because of its online store ability as well as it’s ability to allow me to upload epub files from other websites which the Kindle would not allow. The Kobo and Sony readers were in my pro and con list but unfortunately didn’t meet my criteria due to the lack of an online store which I’m finding out now that the Kobo has. I don’t think it had it when I was making my decision.

Well as far as I knew they were doing great because we’ve been to the Borders over on Stockdale Hwy here in Bakersfield and they are always busy, then again it could’ve been that day but who knows. I’m almost positive that this is just a temporary economical setback and that they will eventually recover from it and be as strong as they always have been because they are a great store to go in to.

It is sad news to hear because I love to read and I think it’s very important for parents to teach their kids the joy of reading at an early age so they enjoy reading in their child, teen and adult years as much as I love to read today. Maybe knowing that they aren’t doing so great people will make the trip to their local Borders store hoping for a sale which might end up boosting their business causing the opposite of what is happening now.

Don’t let your local Borders store go out of business, go shop there for some books, movies, video games, toys and whatever else they sell. Install the Borders app on your cell phone and start buying e-books from them too.  Show them that you want them to stay by giving them some sales and keep those people from being out of a job. Times are tough and the last thing we need is for more people out of work.

iPad Only Newspaper “The Daily” Starts Today

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

I am fortunate that I was able to wake up early this morning and that Darrin watches Fox News all the time so that I was able to watch this news story in the living room about “The Daily” for the iPad while eating my Honey Nut Cheerios.

Rupert Murdoch has announced this new app for the iPad that will give you your news every day for only .99 cents a week or $39 per year. That works out to just .14 cents per day. Remember when the newspaper was just .25 cents a day? You just load the app in your iPad and you get everything that you would normally get in your newspaper and then some.

Although, I wonder if it has any of your local news and features like local obituaries, classifieds, comics and things that are happening in your city, not just around the country and the world. If this replaces the newspaper, what will happen to all of those other cool features that came with the newspaper?  What about the coupons?  Will those just end up coming in the mail instead?

Well, besides losing local news, I envy anyone who has an iPad because it’s really cool and well worth the $39 per year price. They have news articles just like you would see in your newspaper but the exception is you also get color pictures on every article and sometimes even video instead of an image.

Here is a quote from VentureBeat.com where you can read the full story at:

“The Daily is not an island,” they said. You’ll be able to share stories on Facebook, Twitter and via email. You’ll also be able to record audio comments. The app features a built-in web browser, and certain pages also include Twitter feeds. There’s also an apps and games section to The Daily, which will link you directly to the iTunes Store.

The Daily will update throughout the day with breaking news as it happens so if you are at work and something is going on, you will know about it if you just so happen to be looking at it at the time.

I am not fortunate enough to own an iPad so this will be something that I will dream about for a very long time, at least long enough for the iPad to go down in price anyway. It looks like something that Darrin would find very useful where he can save tons of money and waste less paper since he loves to read the newspaper every day. Maybe he can charge an iPad for himself so he can get the Daily. It would be way easier than a new computer which he needs desperately anyway. Also he pays the same price per month that the iPad Daily charges per year so that’s something to think about.

If you have an iPad, let me know how the Daily looks. You get 2 weeks free thanks to Verizon so you have plenty of time to test it out.

Taco Bell’s Meat

On By Michel McDonaldIn Food, News2 Comments

I heard something the other day on the news about some allegations that Taco Bell’s meat is 35% meat and they were saying something about the rest being soy or something.  I don’t remember exactly what they said but I don’t listen to any of that BS.

I’ve been eating Taco Bell my entire life and if it’s the same stuff that they’ve always had before then I know it’s not going to kill me.  If anything, I eat it so often that I have built an immunity to anything that might be in the meat lol.

Guess what we had for dinner tonight?

The Wall Street Journal posted this article today about it.  The meat isn’t 100% beef, it’s actually 88%, the rest is water and spices which gives it flavor.  Go ahead and read the article.

I worked at Taco Bell when I was 17 years old.  Although I didn’t make the beef I don’t really know what spices are in it or how it’s made but I do know how the refried beans are made because I was there early in the morning to blend the beans that were being pressure cooked all night long.  I also shredded the cheese and cut the tortillas into triangles for the cinnamon crispas which they don’t even sell anymore.  They eventually put me on the line so I was assembling the food but that’s as far as I went, I quit after a month and went to Wendy’s lol.

So whatever false information you hear online about Taco Bell’s meat, ignore it because it’s not true.