4Real?

Good Morning again everyone,


This is the third consecutive day where I've started my blog in the morning. I'm pretty sure that this is a first...and purely coincidence. For those of you who may have missed it, Barry Bonds broke the career Home Run record...and as my good friend B said, Hank Aaron lost his best pick-up line. Chicks may dig the long ball...but I don't hear anybody complimenting Mr. Bonds on his Carnivale float that he calls a head. Back when I used to watch baseball, I mainly watched the Braves games (grandma was a huge fan) and most of the time it was against the Pittsburgh Pirates with Barry, Bobby Bonilla, & Andy Van Slyke (yeah, early 90's now, remember Bobby Bo?) Barry used to be a slim, athletic, & talented outfielder who could steal bases & was good for about 20-30 homers a year. Now, he's the Incredible Hulk with the gruff personality of Vanilla Ice hitting dingers half the time that he's pitched to...but I can understand the pinch runner. The guy is in his forties. I'm in my twenties with a tremendous stride & probably couldn't outrun the throw to second either. All I'm saying, I guess, is that a lot has changed since I watched baseball. It may be why I don't anymore...except to support the local Pioneer League team, the Salt Lake Bees.


Public Service Announcement - Please don't name your kids something ridiculous (able to be easily ridiculed...because I'll do it). Now, I admire these loving & ballsy Kiwi parents for what they've done. Pat & Sheena Wheaton had the name 4Real decided for their newborn son since they saw the ultrasound...and realized that this was 'for real' that they were having a child. It's a cute sentiment. However, the New Zealand government registry rejected it, probably because their social security information system doesn't accept numbers & emoticons in the First Name field (or what's referred to as the 2Pac Clause). Instead of doing what Ms. Williams did & deciding to spell it Pharrell, they decided to officially name him Superman...and keep 4Real as a nickname. Sweet.


Now, my brother named his daughter Kairi...and I'm still willing to offer brownie points to anybody that can tell me where he got that name. Okay fine, since I know that you'd all like to know...it was from the Final Fantasy/Kingdom of Hearts video games. Kairi is the main female character. (Also, in my research, the island of Trinidad was called Kairi at one time, just FYI) Sure, it sounds cute...and it matches her because she's so damn cute...but that's like naming your child Megaman or Koopa or Bagu. I remember a few years ago, there was a large amount of people naming children Espn or Espen for the leader in sports news. Gwyneth Paltrow named her kid Apple. Frank Zappa made it a hobby to come up with some of the zaniest names in the world. I understand that you may enjoy Star Wars, but that doesn't mean you should name your kid Yoda or Chewie or Boba Fett Smith. Although, Lando has a nice ring to it...but still. What if you daughter Leia doesn't care for Star Wars? What if you son Legolas thinks that Orlando Bloom is a horrible actor? "Won't somebody please think of the children?"


Now, I'm a big fan of spontaneous names. I have a friend who named their daughter Brecca Dawn because she was born...at the break of Dawn. Two friends of mine, Misty & Stormy said that they were named for the weather the day of their birth...and no, they weren't related. Two separate occurences. Denzel Washington was named after Dr. Denzel, the physician that delivered him. Others have been named for locations (usually cities) where they were conceived...which is always a little creepy to me...because my name in that situation would have been Cobra, which sounds badass...but it would be really hard to run an international terrorist empire with a speech impediment & have my second-in-command ask me, "So, why did your parents name you Cobra, Commander?" "Becaussssssse I was the result of a little 'how do ya do' in the backseat of a Musssssstang Cobra. How did you get a name like Desssstro?" "Actually my full name is James McCullen XXIV. I go by Destro because that's the name of my family's castle...and I was tired of being called Number 24." "Yeah, I would think calling everybody Jimmy would be sssssserioussssly confusing."


Anyway, I guess my point is...really consider the name of your child before doing it. I've mentioned before that I thought Lelu & Korbin would be cool names...and not just because The 5th Element is awesome, but make sure that it at least sounds good...and at least the Wheatons didn't name their kid, Shredded. Clever & delicious...but again, they may change the last letter when they grow up & fight turtles all day.


Movie News of the Day - If you haven't seen Disturbia yet, you should. It's a great, scary little thriller. I particularly enjoy the genuinely creepy performance by David Morse. He is among my favorite character actors that don't get the top billing...but are great. This list also includes Chris Cooper, Jurgen Prochnow, Danny Trejo, & Michael Biehn. Anyway, the movie is funny at times, intense at others, has a sexy female love interest, wise-cracking best friend, a voyeristic subplot, and more twists & turns than your small intestines. Give it a gander, that's my vote.


Special Message - I just wanted to thank all the people out there who read my blog religiously. It's been a lot of fun doing this over the past few months...and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I have. Also, a big thanks to a lot of you for checking out my MySpace page. I'm not sure particularly why...but it's just nice to know that people out there now that I exist or something, you know? Yeah, you know. So thanks...and let me know if there's anything that you want to read about...or anything you need help with & I'd be happy to lend my services.


I guess that's good for today. Have a great night...and weekend if I don't do a blog tomorrow...since you should all be joining me at SPITSOFRANTIC'S SHOW TOMORROW NIGHT AT BREWSKI'S!!! I've done my share of mentioning...so I'll see ya there. Peace...