What A Rush!

My November/December Rush (see last post) is not off to the blistering start that I had imagined pre-Thanksgiving. Time to change that...

First of all, speaking of Thanksgiving, I hope yours was very good. As always, know that the staff here at ZiggyBackRide is very thankful for you. We enjoy the opportunity to share whatever the hell you would call the stuff that gets shared here with you, and look forward to doing so for a long time to come.

In other Thanksgiving related news, I made my triumphant return to the vegetarian comedy stage at an annual vegan Thanksgiving feast in Memphis. This was my second time performing for the Food Awareness organization's annual extravaganza and I was honored to be back. It is always a special privilege to be in the presence of a group that is as committed and effective as Food Awareness. As I told them, I'm so impressed with the work they've done: I spoke with a number of people in the days leading up to the event and every single one of them was, in fact, aware of food. Kudos to them for getting the word out.

In addition to the fine members of Food Awareness, I was honored to be in the presence of a lama, (No, not the misspelled animal, but a Tibetan monk. No, not the Dalai one, but seemingly a very good one.) who came to partake in the feast and funniness. As I recollect, that was my first performance before a lama. He seemed to enjoy himself and I assure you, I'm very much looking forward to future opportunities to make the lamas laugh.

November/December Rush

So begins a year-end onslaught of ZiggyBackRide posts. Break's over!

I saw August Rush the other night at a Memphis sneak preview showing. The trailer and commercials made it look like it was going to be a good movie. Several times during the film, itself, it looked as though it was about to get good.

It did not.

Just like when I saw The Village a couple of years ago, I couldn't stop laughing at the end. Just like The Village, August Rush is not a comedy. While I was laughing, I was worried that the others in my party (they were girls) were enjoying it and would be offended by my insensitivity.

They were not, and they were not, respectively (and, considering we all agreed on the movie, I was not. Got that?).

There was some decent music, there were good looking actors/actresses, there was a cute little kid in a supporting role. There were touching themes and moments, and a few humorous lines. Otherwise, it was crap. No part of the story was believable. Evidently, one Hollywood writer went on strike a little early.*

I just saw a commercial that quotes some reviewer as having said, "Audiences will stand and cheer." I don't recommend seeing this movie, but if you do, please let me know (via the comment feature)if the audience stands and cheers. Then, I will laugh again.

* It might have been two or three writers. However many wrote the movie, that's how many struck early, okay?

The American Product

In contrast to the last post concerning what Americans take in, look at this bright, shining example of what we put out. This really makes me laugh. Plus, it's a fine way to learn bad words in a foreign language (which, for some reason, is what we always end up asking anyone who has mastered another tongue).

I don't know if or how my posting this meshes with the last post. It may not quite live up to the lofty brainfood I envisioned, but as they say, Rome wasn't built in one blog post. Enjoy...

Video

I did sort of hope English would become one of the foreign languages within the song once this little ditty was translated. No dice.

By the way, in case you are not familiar with this and would like to see the English version, click here. It's not family-friendly.