A sincere, straight on apology

I watched Tiger Wood televised confession and I must give it a grade of "A+". He seemed sincere and believable. Tiger Woods, well done.

 Tiger Woods did not need to apologize to the public. The only  apology that he needed to give was to his wife and  to his family. The media  hyped up a private matter into a public spectacle.

Anyway, this morning at 11:01 ET,  he delivered a  straight on apology to the public. In the presence of his wife, his mother, his mother-in-law, and some of his closest friends, he confessed to his errors and sought forgiveness from his fans and supporters. He said that his therapy is continuing.  Making a public confession is a step in  many therapy programs, admitting ones fault is the first  step toward self improvement.

Tiger Woods announced that he will someday return to golf, and that day may or may not be this year. He is the best golfer on the planet, and I'm sure that most people worldwide have good wishes for him, and hope for his early return to the game.

Giuliani's Crony Sentenced to Jail

Bernard B. Kerik, the disgraced former New York police commissioner, the former Rudy Giuliani  sidekick and crony,  and formerly, a Dubya Bush good ol boy, who was George W's choice to head the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, received a four year jail sentence today. The Associated Press reports that Kerik pled guilty to eight felonies, including tax fraud and lying to federal officials, and corruption.

Bernard Kerik was hailed as a hero after the 9/11 . He went into partnership with Giuliani   -- And Keril, according to federal Judge Stephen Robinson, who is sending him to the slammer for the next forty eight months,  Kerik "use(d) that event (9/11) for personal gain and aggrandizement ." (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/18/us/AP-US-Kerik-Investigation....)


 Kerik's conviction further tarnishes Giuliani, calls into question his judgment  for sponsoring, promoting and entering into a lucrative business relationship with the corrupt Kerik.

That Tibetan fellah?

This morning, His Holiness the  Dalai Lama is coming to the White House? Is he going to stay for dinner? Heavens forbid. That would  really be a cause to bring out the "china".  The good "china' ?  No -- the big , irritated China!

 The White House has made it clear that certain and careful protocols will be followed during the
 the Dalai Lama's visit --Not visit,  drop by. 

The President or a person looking like the President, could be an actor hired to impersonate the President, will receive the Tibetan fellah -- what's his name.  No, that fellah will  not be greeted in the manner shown to a leader-in-exile, nor will he receive the handshake given to a head of State, mercy no!  But he will be greeted as an international celebrity, with the sort of warmth that would be shown to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Well sort of. Brad and Angelina are doing great work in Haiti. While the Tibetan celebrity is in the White House, the Oval Office will be locked. A meeting ---  No? A photo opportunity will be held in the Map Room. Photographers are urged not to bring cameras. The celebrity will be among a group of others whose presence  will be -- what's a good word? Not acknowledged! There will be no one-on-one eye contact with the celebrity. Everything will be open and above board and a Chinese observer will be welcomed to observe. A full report will be sent to the Chinese government. No refreshment will be served. If the celebrity requests a glass of water, he will be served in a paper cup and will be charged for the cup and for the water.

For a different take on the Dalai Lama Visit's  check this link: (http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-02-17/were-handling-...)

Return of the Tiger

Tomorrow, Friday, Tiger Woods has scheduled an event. I'm sure that the whole world, or most of it will be watching. America, the World, his fans and his sponsors will probably be expecting the traditional "come to Jesus" confessional by a  "fallen public idol"  this is probably what the Tiger will deliver. According to Associated Press reports and ESPN, the Tiger is not expected to answer any questions. The promised scene is a contrite Tiger, with a loyal, faithful and dutiful Mrs. Tiger at his side, and the fans who love him easily ready to forgive him, and the cynics raising a wussy fit because, just because they can, and the comics sitting back in delight scribbling down new Tiger material.


The event is scheduled for 11AM ET, during the Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona, which is the PGA’s first big event of the year. Accenture was the first sponsor to kick the Tiger to the curb after the details of his fall from grace dominated the media and the minds of the whole wide world. Some wags are saying that the Tiger chose to stage his big comeback event at the Accenture little event, to upstage his old sponsor, to remind those little people how potent the Tiger is, even when he makes like a pussy cat and does his Mea culpas. The Tiger people are saying "no" to this. Accenture little event just happens to be where the Tiger will hold his big event -- "the Return of the Tiger!"


Not that I think the Tiger needs to give an apology. Well, maybe to his sponsors, because he built up this heroic, good clean dude image, family man, and all, and they signed him up to sell their products based on that image. But he doesn't need to give an apology to the rest of us. The man is a man. What he did is between him and his wife, period. She is standing by him. Case closed. Oh, yes. Tiger, welcome back.

Fat Tuesday In New Orleans

Today is Fat Tuesday, with a dozen parades officially scheduled. It's totally Mardi Gras  -- like anyone who have been in and around New Orleans can forget. They don't need a calendar, just their souls to know that Mardi Gras 2010 is underway. Today, in New Orleans,  the weather is in the low 40s, that is cold for New Orleans, really, really cold  --  but the people aren't.  My New Orleans pals tell me that visitors like myself think the Carnival is for tourists, but it is for the home town folks. And if not a single outsider came, the show would go on just the same, unless it would be bigger, wilder and less sane. It is the people's day, when nobody is supposed to work at anything but at partying, at having a good time.


 Happy Mardi Gras!

Links: Official site of the Mardi Gras 2010  (http://mardigrasday.com/), YouTube videos of Mardi Gras 2010 (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mardi+gras+2010&search_type=...)

Punxsutawney Phil: 6 more weeks of winter

Happy Groundhog Day! Well, it's official, according to Punxsutawney Phil we can expect six more weeks of winter. Since 1887 Phil and his predecessors have been prognosticating winter weather. From a German tradition that says if a hibernating animal sees its shadow on Candlemas, winter will last another six weeks. So this year, Phil cast a shadow and we can expect to be freezing our butts off a while longer.

But are we really to believe that a fat rodent can predict winter weather? Well, he's been correct 39% of the time, so really he's no worse than your local TV weather girl, It's a strange tradition, but one that inspired one of my favorite comedies of all time. I leave you with a scene from Groundhog Day.

Sen. Cantwell Loses Her Title as Sexiest Senator

Washington State may not have been involved in the Massachusetts senatorial election campaign this week, but the effects are even more far-reaching than just health care: Scott Brown has just replaced our very own Jr. Senator, Maria Cantwell, as the sexiest Senator in the Senate.

 

 



I am guessing that he was given the edge because of his racy (aka naked) photo-shoot in Cosmopolitan magazine years ago and the fact that Cosmopolitan ranked him as the number one sexiest man alive in 1982. Personally, I am hopeful that Senator Cantwell will concede her Sexiest-Senator title gracefully and not try to compete by pulling out any new or past nude or semi-nude photo-spreads of her own.

I am also hopeful that the loss of her “title” (which was bestowed upon her by the readers of the Huffington Post in June) will not affect her able to legislate effectively (aka kick some Republican ass) and also that the Republicans will be so swayed by Scott Brown’s beauty that they will forget their own intentions in electing him in the first place.

What do you think? Is Senator Brown really the sexiest Senator?

Stupid Jerk-Head Stud-Muffin Glenn Beck

Ever since I got to Fox News I've had to deal with that pudgy good-for-nothing Glenn Beck. He just had to interview me before anybody else and he hit me with all those stupid questions about Founding Fathers and patriotism. He-llo, Beck! Former Vice Presidential Candidate! I don't need some lesson about patriotism or a bunch of old men in wigs. I'm Sarah freaking Palin. I am America.

But it didn't end there. I see Beck around the office all the damn time. I bet nobody else knows that the guy gets his hair cut every two days. It's costing Murdoch a fortune and Beck writes it off a "visual effects". Yeah, well if Michael Bay got his own "visual effects" at Great Clips for ten bucks then Avatar would like an old episode of South Park. It's just so unfair. When I get my weekly weave it costs me a hundred dollars out of my own pocket. What a joke.

~

From the diary of Glenn Beck, January 2nd 2010

...The boys upstairs have decided to hire Sarah Palin to come onto the network for some reason. Whatevs. I know why the viewers are really tuning into Fox News every day and it ain't for flash-in-the-pan divas like Ms. Too Good For Public Service Palin. I think I'm gonna call in some favors to make sure I get some one-on-one air time with the newbie so I can crack some hard questions across her four-eyed face. I bet she can't even name one of the Founding Fathers.

~

It's pretty clear that Beck isn't happy about me being at the network. Every couple of days I find a mean note taped to my locker. Today it was an index card that said I have herpes in bright-red Sharpie. Seriously, only one person around here even uses a red Sharpie. Glenn's such a jerk. Makes me regret writing his name all over my new binder. I guess I'll just have to get a new one.

~

January 10th 2010

Why is everything so hard? I don't know why I do the thing I do to Sarah, I just have all these funny feelings when she's around and they... they're confusing. I talked to Hannity about it, but he was too busy so I bit the bullet and I asked Colmes. God, I can't believe I actually talked to Colmes. He said that maybe I've got a crush on Sarah, which is stupid. And I told him so. I called Colmes stupid and then I gave him a swirlie. Stupid Colmes.

~

The Fox News Valentine's Day Dance is just a few weeks away and nobody has asked me yet. Maybe I ought to do the 21st century thing and ask a guy myself. Neil Cavuto's kinda cute, but... I dunno. Beck hasn't asked anybody yet, not that I'd wanna go with him. Life has been so weird ever since I got to Fox News. Maybe it'll get easier soon. I sure do hope so.

Why was Hello Kitty invented?

 

Source: the 3786 cups of water via Flickr

We've covered a lot of interesting facets of Japanese culture. However, I noticed that one of the most influential cultural good from Japan has yet to be featured – the incredibly cute Hello Kitty!

 

Where it all began ...

Hello Kitty was created by a company called Sanrio in 1974. The cute kitten character itself was the brainchild of in-house designer Ikuko  Shimizu. Why was Hello Kitty invented in the first place? Apparently they were looking for a adorable character to adorn one of their merchandises. You know, so that it gives them an edge over other competitors. Well, since then, this petite little character has become a worldwide favorite, both amongst little children as well as grownups.

Here are some fun facts about Hello Kitty:

  • She may have been well-loved from the start but she did not have a flamboyant pose at first. Hardcore fans will remember that her first pose was a sitting pose.
  • All fictional characters have a background story to them. Do you know the one about this pretty one? Apparently, Hello Kitty lives in England with her family. Her family name is White and she's got a Mom, a Dad and twin sister too!
  • Hello Kitty's real name is Kitty White. How about that! I found the name and location slightly strange but it seems like it might have been an indirect reflection of the local trends i.e. the increasing popularity of Western culture.
  • According to some sources, her name was derived from Through The Looking Glass.
  • Turns out there is also a Bear that lives with her family. I still don't get the logic behind that but I suppose no one complains about getting a teddy toy with the Hello Kitty set.
  • This little celebrity's blood type is A. Remember, blood group categories is to Japanese culture what astrology is to Western culture.
  • Hello Kitty has a boyfriend! What? His name is Dear Daniel and apparently he is AWOL most of the time. Seems like he loves traveling. I suppose now Mom and Dad don't have to worry about the birds and the bees talk for a while.
  • In case you are wondering about his name, turns out it was inspired by a character in a movie called Melody (1971).

 

Sources:

Best Stuff

Hello Kitty World

Hello Kitty Universe

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