Random Thoughts - Aug. 11, 2014

Just a few things that have been on my mind recently:

• Robin William's passing, if it was truly a suicide, is extremely tragic.  Although, truth be told, I'm not too torn up about it.  While I respect the man and his work, I was never a huge fun.  Talk to me when George Lucas or Ozzy Osbourne passes.  I'll have a lot more to say then.  At the same time, I've been very near to suicide several times, even recently.  I know how it feels to be so down you don't see any alternative other than ending it all.  That's a feeling I never want any one to feel, no matter who they are.  I've been hospitalized for depression and anxiety, and it sucks far more than I have the ability to articulate.  I'm truly, deeply sorry anyone goes through similar travails and hope Mr. Williams has now found peace.
• That hoping-no-person-feels-suicidal thing doesn't apply to Kim Jong-Un.  I hope he gets the super blues and takes a bath with a toaster or steps in front of a speeding bus.  The bat shit crazy bastard.
• Sometimes I wonder if all the gun rights activists who tell us we can takes their guns when we can pry them from their cold, dead finger realize that the folks on the other side have rights too.  Like the right not to have a gun waved in their face if they happen to cut a gun owner off in traffic.
• If you offer me a choice between being happy in my career or having money, I'll take being happy every time.  But, gorramitt, it would be nice to have enough extra scratch to buy a ginormous guitar amp or road trip it to Scandinavia to visit my Viking ancestors and see a bunch of kick-ass death metal bands.
• I still think Ranger Rick could take Rocket Raccoon in a fight.  Rick's freaking resourceful.
• I recently learned the some Native Americans believe Sasquatch to be able to shape-shift, like Mystique the X-Men villain.  So, if your wife, girlfriend, etc. has mustache, you may now have an explanation.
• I am against straight people legislating the legality of gay marriage because they don't understand what it's like to be gay.  If you don't understand someone else's life experience, you don't have the right to legislate how they live.  That's like me telling a world-class athlete how they should eat.
• I used to just try to ignore Disney.  Now that they own basically my whole childhood, I completely despise them.  Up yours, Mouse House!!
• If you're pissed off about how studios are mucking up your nostalgic favorites, it may be because you don't realize one simple fact: If you're over the age of 18, Hollywood isn't making these movies for you.  If you don't believe that, go see the new Ninja Turtles movie.  If you love the old cartoon or the dudes-in-bad-rubber-suits movies, you'll probably hate it.  But your 9 - 14 year-old son will love it and he'll keep coming back.  And that's the audience Hollywood cares about.
• In some corners on the universe, aliens can't see us, even with their most powerful telescopes.  The light from our solar system hasn't had time to reach them yet.  That kinda blows my mind.
• Jeremy Clarkson, one of the host on the BBC's Top Gear, once said that the U.S. has never won a war without help, particularly British help.  That's one way to look at it.  Another way to look at it is that in the Revolutionary War, we kicked Britains ass with the help of the French.  THE FRENCH!!  And nobody's scared of the French.