Remember a few months back when I talked about going to see “Sin City” and how I didn’t dig it that much?  Well, for some reason that opinion never sat well with me…I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I knew it should have been better than I thought.  This past week it was released to DVD, so against my better judgment I rented it to give it another try, which I rarely do because if it doesn’t grab me the first time then odds are it won’t a second time.  Guess what happened…I friggin loved it!  I swear when I watched it this time it was like watching it for the first time…I hardly remembered any of it so it all seemed brand new.  I can attribute this to one thing – the crowd in the theater ruined it for me.  When I went to go see it, I was surrounded by Johnny fanboys who used it as a private screening to discuss their likes and dislikes as the movie went, and it was so infuriating I couldn’t even pay attention.  Now what’s funny is that this DVD release was the bare bones edition, and in December comes some double disc DVD.  One of the things on the December release is an audio track that is my own personal hell.  Robert Rodriguez, the guy who directed it, said that he knows people’s biggest complaint about DVD’s is missing out on the “theater experience”.  Oh yeah, I really miss that…standing in line for a Diet Coke for 30 minutes while a family of 8 takes their sweet time ordering one of everything, thinking you found a good seat where no one will sit next to you only to have some loudmouth idiot sit right behind or in front of you when there are PLENTY of other places to sit, and then the constant talking, laughing at stuff that isn’t even funny, and the general obnoxiousness of the people in attendance.  Yeah, I just really miss all that.  Anyway, he said one of the alternate audio tracks will be a Dolby 5.1 mix of a 1,500 seat theater on opening night to capture the “oooh’s” and the “aaaah’s” of the audience.  Gee, to think I can bring an audience into my home…oh the joy!  Hopefully I’d get real lucky and there would be one guy who would yell out “oh man!  Don’t tell me he just said…” and then repeat the line of the character while guffawing like he had never heard a joke before.  Maybe it could be like when I went to see “The Sum of All Fears” and someone will be hacking their lungs out the entire length of the movie.  Let me put it this way – even the sound of someone I don’t know crunching their popcorn in a theater is enough to make me want to rip the seats from the floor and smash them over people’s heads.  And to think I can bring all this into my home!  Yes, in December we get “Sin City – Bo’s Personal Hell Edition”.  Maybe I’m a little high strung…maybe.

Cindy Sheehan really needs to shut up.  If you don’t know who she is, she’s the woman camped out in front of President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.  Her son was killed in Iraq over a year ago and she is demanding to meet with the President…even though she already did meet with him over a year ago.  She has now become the figurehead for all those “let’s play like it’s 1968” types.  Even the fossil Joan Baez showed up to strum her guitar down there and sing one of her stupid songs because she’s changing the world…whatever.  Look, it sucks her son died and I do feel bad for the woman, but jeez lady there are a bunch of other soldiers who have died over there that you are spitting all over.  For her to come out and say her son died for nothing is disgraceful.  How would you feel if you had a son die in Iraq and believed he was doing the right thing and died for a noble cause, only to have someone come out and say he died for nothing?  How would that make you feel?  Oh, and now the worldly Ms. Sheehan is espousing her views on the situation in Israel as well…since she must be so well versed in foreign policies we should all take time to listen…whatever.  I love how the news is just ALL over her story but never talk to the many families who lost loved ones who support the war.  It’s sickening.  I’m already more sick of hearing about her then I am hearing about Nancy Holloway, the girl missing in Aruba.   I saw today on Good Morning America they had a story on how if Nancy Holloway wasn’t missing she’d be starting school today.  It was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen.  They were interviewing some of the female students at the University of Alabama (where she was going to go) and some were like “I never met her, but I have a feeling I’ve missed out on making a great new friend”.  Oh spare me the dramatics!  Those girls sounded just like those funeral groupies in high school.  Ever have someone in your high school die?  The funeral groupies come out of the woodwork and walk around all morose and crying in the halls and hugging each other ALL for attention.  These are the types who never even really knew the person except maybe they sat two rows over from him in biology or whatever.  It was no different on this report.  Missed out on a chance to make a new friend…give me a break.

I am soooo sick of people saying the war in Iraq is another Vietnam or a quagmire or whatever…I’m sick of it.  First off, Iraq is not another Vietnam…the comparison is WAY off.  Vietnam was a civil war of communist elements from North Vietnam backed by the Chinese and Russians trying to take over the country.  American troops were there to help the people of Vietnam put an end to the communist takeover.  Sadly due to the people with the mentality that Cindy Sheehan is espousing right now, Vietnam didn’t go as planned.  It was at that time the idiot hippies took to the streets and protested and the media would CONSTANTLY report about how bad it was going over there which lowered the country’s resolve and damaged the morale of the soldiers and basically made every action taken there scrutinized beyond belief.  Huh, then again maybe Iraq is another Vietnam since we have another group of idiot hippies and biased news coverage doing the exact same thing now.  It’s this stupid fast-food mentality we have now that gives people the ability to say “I can’t believe this is taking so long in Iraq”.  Well to those idiots I say that it took Germany 7 years to get back on their feet after World War II…read some history.  But there is a big difference, and that is that in the World War II era, Americans had the resolve needed to finish things off which is not the attitude being conveyed nowadays in the media and by some members of Congress.  Did you also know that once Germany fell and American troops were there to stabilize a new government that groups of ex-Nazi soldiers and the SS formed terrorist like groups called “werewolves” whose objective was to do everything they could to take out American soldiers and basically create an environment of terrorism?  Guess what happened when these guys were caught – they were shot in the head.  No Guantanamo Bay, no Abu Grhaib prison, no military tribunals, no ACLU rushing in with lawyers to make sure their “rights” weren’t being violated….they were simply captured and then shot in the head.  That’s how it should be handled now.  The best way to defeat an enemy is to make sure they know you aren’t playing around.  But could you imagine all the news stories and ACLU lawsuits and all that crap that would happen if that same mentality was being used in Iraq today?  It’s pathetic how soft this country has become.  Terrorists view America has having no backbone, and sadly because too many people who are making the decisions care about how they will be perceived in the media, the things that need to happen aren’t happening.  Ever see the movie “Blackhawk Down”?  If you haven’t, I don’t feel like getting into the whole thing, but basically in Mogadishu, American troops were there to try and help the people under the rule of warlords and a Blackhawk helicopter was shot down.  CNN didn’t hold back in showing the video of the dead body of a naked American soldier being dragged from the helicopter and paraded around  by a large group of Somolians.  If this had happened 50 or 60 years ago, that area more then likely would have been flattened as people would have been infuriated by what they saw on TV and demanded military action.  But that’s not what happened…instead of sending more troops in to squash the situation they were pulled out.  In fact, Osama bin Laden himself has stated that when our troops were pulled out of the area because of all this, he knew at that point that America was a paper tiger and would back down because they didn’t have the stomach for fighting anymore.  Now I could easily sit here and say all this is Bill Clinton’s fault, and he does get a lot of the blame…especially with the news this week that broke about operation Able Danger having the name of Mohammed Atta (one of the terrorists on 9/11) and tying him to an Al Qaida cell in America well before 9/11, but because of the guidelines Clinton had in place then the info was blocked and couldn’t be shared between intelligence departments and he couldn’t be kicked out of the country (I’ll have more on this as it develops…it’s appalling)…but I don’t only blame Bill Clinton, I blame the rest of the spineless slugs in Washington also.  Basically the entire US Government in the 1990’s failed us as a country…Republicans and Democrats alike.

Now what REALLY pisses me off is the news that now groups of protesters are out in front of Walter Reed Medical Center protesting the war.  If you don’t know, Walter Reed Medical Center is one of the main places that treats soldiers wounded in the war.  To think that a group of people are out in front of this place protesting is sickening…take it somewhere the hell else you idiots.  Oh I know, this is supposed to be where I’m supposed to say “they have a right to protest” and blah blah blah, but if I heard that a riot squad showed up with clubs and cracked these morons over the head, the only thing I would say in my best Jerry Seinfeld would be “well that’s a shame”.  The people are absolutely vile and despicable excuses for human beings pulling this crap.  Imagine you’re a soldier who has now come back to America and are being treated for the loss of a limb, only to have to sit there and listen to a bunch of dumbasses chanting about how you were maimed over a lie…that would do wonders for your morale wouldn’t it?  That’s why I hate protesters so much…they do it in such a tacky and hateful way.

Time to switch gears drastically.  I remember last summer when I went to Ozzfest and was able to witness the mighty Black Sabbath, and as cool as it was I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed they didn’t play more songs.  Well, I have learned something over the last couple of weeks.  Those guys in Sabbath are all in their 50’s, and I’m a young and virile 36.  The last two gigs we played only lasted about 35 minutes each, and by the end I was ready to almost pass out.  I have this theory that clubs keep the temp up a little bit to encourage people to buy more drinks…and man was it warm at the last two gigs we had (of course both nights it was like 90 degrees outside too).  At the one a couple of weeks back, I was smart enough to take a big jug of Gatorade on the stage to chug down in between songs, but at this last one I didn’t because I was told this club did not allow anything to be brought it.  That’s fine, I understand they have a business to run, but the problem was they were out of water!  I bought one when the first band went on and chugged it down to make sure I wouldn’t be dehydrated because I have this tendency to get a little wild since I started doing vocals and I sweat quite a bit.  The second band gets done and I go to the bar and ask for another water to keep by me while we’re playing…but they’re out!  No way I could drink beer while doing it, and all they had was Coke so I got one.  So we started playing, I started sweating and dying for something to drink (yelling vocals does that) and all I had was a can of Coke…not the best thing in the world when you’re getting dehydrated.  Towards the end of the set my fingers wouldn’t cooperate as well…I could still play but man was I getting tired.  And of course we save the fastest song for the end…we jammed out The Misfits “Nike A Go-Go” which on vocals is like taking one giant breath for the entire verse and yelling it all out.  We got done and I went in the bathroom and just started dousing my head with water.  I literally had a headache from being so thirsty.  We loaded up and I went home and drank about a half gallon of water.  I don’t think I’ll ever complain when a band of older guys doesn’t go on for longer than an hour again.  And I gotta say, it’s a good thing I started running again to get my stamina up.

Ok, I’m done this time…have a good one.