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Monday, January 31, 2005
The Post with the Man Who Really Wanted His Big Mac
EASTON — Easton police Tuesday arrested an Easton man accused of ramming his car into the van in front of him in the McDonald’s drive-through lane because its occupants were taking too long to place their order.
Joseph Richard Howard, 40, of 806 Front Lane, is charged with five counts of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, malicious destruction of property under $500, reckless driving, negligent driving, following too closely and leaving the scene of an attended property damage vehicle accident.
Pfc. Eric Kellner responded to the McDonald’s on U.S. Route 50 about 9:10 p.m. Tuesday after police received a report of a hit and run accident. There he found two women, the mothers of three children — a 3-year-old boy and two 4-year-old girls.
According to charging papers, the women told Kellner they pulled into the drive-through lane with the children in a 1999 Dodge Caravan. A teal Mazda Protege pulled in behind them. They described the driver as a white male, 40 to 50 years old, with light-colored hair and glasses.
As they placed their order, the man began to yell obscenities at them and rev his car’s engine.
When the van drove to the pick-up window, the man followed and continued to yell at them. He drove his vehicle forward and hit the van twice with his car.
One of the women got out of the van and exchanged words with the man. He then drove away.
Kellner noticed minor damage to the van’s rear bumper and door, according to charging papers. The women gave Kellner the Mazda’s tag number.
Police checked the tag, which came back to a Trappe address, charging papers said.
Deputies from the Talbot County Sheriff’s Office responded to the address and met with a woman there. She told them the car belonged to her mother, Deborah Maxey. She said the description of the man matched Maxey’s boyfriend, Joseph Howard, according to charging papers.
Police then responded to Howard’s home at 806 Front Lane in Easton. They found Howard and the Mazda there, charging papers stated. Officers noticed damage to the front of the car. The front tag had been folded up to avoid identification, charging papers said.
One of the women in the van identified Howard as the Mazda’s driver, according to charging papers. Howard told police he had been involved in an incident at McDonald’s earlier in the day.
A district court commissioner released Howard on $3,000 unsecured bond. His trial is scheduled for April 27 in Talbot County District Court.
According to district court records, a judge granted Howard probation before judgment in 1994 on a charge of possessing drug paraphernalia. In 1996, he pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled dangerous substance and writing a bad check under $300. In 2002, he faced six counts of theft under $500, and one count each of theft over $500 and theft scheme over $500, but those charges were dismissed, court records show.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
The Post with the Explanation
I haven't been keeping up with my thoughts on the 50 television episdoes of the year becasue I've been in and out of the hospital visiting my mom and then taking care of her while shes home now. Its nothing big she had a surgery that was planned for a while now so she is out of commission for a little. I've been scanning the rest of the list and adding thoughts--that should be up shortly.The list is pretty good and covers a couple of the same shows but with good reason. Those shows are better.
I played hockey for the first time at the Y in a long time and i won't be going back anytime soon. One team of guys who were bigger and stronger than everyone else there (not the team I was on) and they were playing with sticks high and basically playing outdoor regulation space hockey not cramped Y hockey....PLus I reinjured my left ankle and then added a right ankle injury so today is not so good. Luckily its snowing so I can't go do anything outside anyway.
Thats it time to finish cleaning my room. I'm going to continue watching the Rocky Anthology I just bought....Time for Rocky 3..Later
Monday, January 17, 2005
The Post with Episodes #50-41
50. "significant others: episode 206"
(originally aired december 19, 2004)
It's hard to pin down exactly what makes this "under the radar" series so enjoyable, but this episode made its best case yet. After all, if you don't find the idea of a husband singing about his wife's "milky white boobies" or another couple getting accidentally remarried by Satanic priest funny, well, you're going to hate the rest of this list.
Never heard of the show but apparently it's on Bravo
49/48. "friends: the last one" & "frasier: goodnight, seattle"
(originally aired may 6 & may 13, 2004)
Sure we've all said it - the last couple of seasons of "Friends" and "Frasier" were nowhere near as funny as they used to be - but it's definitely worth celebrating that even after 200 episodes and change apiece, we still cared about these characters and they were still worth a half-hour of our time. That was definitely the feeling I got after each of their respective finales, which unlike many other swan songs, felt like an actual episode of the series instead of just a bloated send-off. Some eight months later, we're still waiting to fill the comedic hole these two left behind.
Two of the 90's best comedies finally hit their end in 2004..Both were well liked for vastly different reasons, but in the end Friends was the quirky sibling to Fraser. Fraser appealed to the higher end of culture and Friends hit the level below that. Both series went out on highs and its a shame that NBC didn't give Fraser the same sendoff Friends got
47. "will & grace: queens for a day"
(originally aired november 25, 2004)
Probably the show's strongest outing in years (and not surprisingly also featuring the least distracting special guest stars in years), this installment felt like the "old" "Will & Grace" as Will struggles to make the perfect Thanksgiving dinner for his boyfriend Vince's family. Making matters worse - Vince's sister wants to come out of the closet, Grace and Karen are both chasing an underage boy and Vince's mom blames him for injuring her leg.
This show on Thanksgiving was exactly as they advertise. A return to what made the show special. They get lost in stunt casting and lose focus on the characters relationships. But for one special night they hit the right notes again
46. "deadwood: here was a man"
(originally aired april 11, 2004)
Sure we all knew he was going to die, but damn if it didn't make it that much harder. The murder of Wild Bill Hickock (a great Keith Carradine) made us physically angry as such an interesting character sadly gets offed over something stupid. But such is life in Deadwood, and we wouldn't want it any other way.
This show is amazing and my favorite show on HBO. You knew the death of Wild Bill was coming and it made that much worse when it finally happened because Carradine played the part perfectly and was a commanding presence on camera.
45. "the king of queens: tank heaven"
(originally aired april 7, 2004)
Sure it seems like they're remaking the same episode over and over - Doug does something stupid, his wife finds out, she gets mad, wash, rinse and repeat - but one can't help but be smitten by the relaxed, goofy way the show gets away with the formula week after week. This episode in particular - in which Doug (the vastly underrated Kevin James) tries to scare off Carrie's co-workers so he won't have to deal with having new friends - is side-splitting funny. I mean, he asks them to rub his hairy belly. That's comedy gold.
My second favorite comedy on tv. Big Schlub is married to hot girl (my dream)....he find s away to screw up horribly and then to compensate hot girl screw up as badly and then they move on....This episode was great as he found increasingly bizarre ways to push away potential friends.
44. "scrubs: my old friend's new friend"
(originally aired august 31, 2004)
Any episode of television that features "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang and the following monologue (Dr. Cox to J.D.) deserves to be on everyone's list: "I don't really have one ready, but I suppose I could riff a list of things I care as little about as our last week together. Let's see: low-carb diets, Michael Moore, the Republican National Convention, Kabbalah and all Kabbalah related products, high definition TV, the Bush daughters, wireless hot spots, 'The O.C.,' the U.N., recycling, getting Punk'd, Danny Gans; the Latin Grammys, the real Grammys, Jeff the Wiggle that sleeps a lot, the Yankees payroll, the red states, the blue states, every hybrid car, every talk show host, everything on the planet, everything in the solar system, and everything that exists, past, present and future in all discovered and undiscovered dimensions. Oh, and Hugh Jackman."
Third favorite comedy on TV....Zach Braff, John C. Reilly, Sarah Chalke, etc..have great timing together and the show comes off often as written by stream of consciousness. The episode introduced Heather Graham as well in a great turn for her, and even with the Sugarhill Gang alarm clock the monlogue from Reilly still stole the show
43. "star trek: enterprise: the forge"
(originally aired november 19, 2004)
It's probably not too much of a stretch to say this episode was executive producer Manny Coto's coming out party for "Star Trek" fans. Coto (best known for creating the late, great "Odyssey 5") has found the right mix of action, drama and suspense this season, a balance that's been fairly scattershot for the "Star Trek" franchise as of late. This was especially evident in this episode, penned by Judith Reeves-Stevens and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, which set up the revolutionary "Vulcan" trilogy of episodes.
Not a Star Trek fan but many of the fans complain about this show and it has been moved to Friday nights by UPN...That can't be good
42. "smallville: run"
(originally aired october 20, 2004)
After what has seemed like an endless parade of incestual plotlines (can we go three weeks without visiting the caves again?), "Smallville" finally broke out of its mythology rut and came to life in this episode which featured the introduction of Bart Allen (Kyle Gallner) a.k.a. The Flash. Said installment brought a different dynamic to the show and, God help us, make the usually dreary "Smallville" fun for once.
Watched Smallville once and enjoyed it but its on at a bad time for me to watch. There is a great chemistry between all the young stars on this show.
41. "everybody loves raymond: the home"
(originally aired september 20, 2004)
The quiet celebration of Ray, Debra, Amy and Robert upon hearing that news they've been waiting for years to hear - Frank and Marie are moving out - might be one of the funniest moments in the show's history. I mean, Ray threw Debra into the refrigerator folks.
One of the freshest most pleasing comedies on tv right now....Everyone wonders why CBS does the best with couples comedies-simple answer...the people aren't quirky, they just are
The Post with the Sly Foxes, Donatos, and Whiskeys
Friday night I went to see the movie Darkness...It looked like a good little horror film and it delivered. It was creepy, odd, and Anna Paquin once again enters my list of women I'd like to date.
Saturday night we celebrated the championship win in dek hockey. So Teddy Donuts ate at Donatos pizza in "the party room"...NOw the party room couldn't get the football game so strike 1....then there was no beer on the menu-the place is BYOB so strike 2....however we substituted with Indiana Jones and a half a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon....We then moved the party to the Sly Fox where there was more drinking and debauchery. I went with the Whiskey and Coke and regret not getting some good microbrew.....The defensman on our team Dave invited a friend of his to come out and her name was Laurie....I worked my way into a hug out of her and she was pretty cute for 32--remember being friendly with girls I rule--anything after that I fail miserably......then I hung out at Miller's watching some more football and talking with spotty apperances from Joel....
Sunday was all about E-A-G-L-E-S....enough said.....that was my weekend.
P.S. The Futon Critic is going to count down the Top 50 episodes of television in the past year during this week...so since I live on my tv viewing I'll drop in some comments starting with the next post.
Monday, January 10, 2005
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Sunday, January 09, 2005
The post with me talking about my weekend
Very boring uneventful weekend...
Friday night I went to see White Noise and man is that movie a steaming pile of cee-rap.....Here's the story in a nutshell....man's wife dies...some big guy (cheeseily good acting) tells him the wife has contacted him through EVP....man is skeptical but he tries it out anyway.....EVP expert calls him and tells him to come but then when he gets there EVP expert is dead and all his equpiment is torn up....then man sees a palm reader who tells him to stop what he is doing....he persists and then he starts saving people.....there is a subplot about a kidnapped woman (that is completely forgotten at times) and the man sets out to save her.....seriously I didn't even know what he was so frantically looking for......then when we see what has been going on it is stupid because horror movie rules sasy that was the only semi-logical explanation.....just horrible horrible....oh well the trailer for ring 2 looked awesome and I can't wait to see Robert DeNiro and the adorable Dakota Fanning in Hide and Seek....
Yesterday I went looking for some things and couldn't find them until I went to Wal-Mart....seriously it may be killing the little businesses but it always has what I need (you can do that when you're a monopoly......
today was boring as I wanted to sleep but couldn't....but at least 24 starts again tonight
Thursday, January 06, 2005
The Post Apologizing for the non-post yesterday
Ok so I had decided for the new year to do my best to update once a day and I had something all typed up and then the computer shut down on me so I lost out. I guess my resolution is broken but I cry foul so i guess I need a second opinion from the webmaster here and i say the resolution is back on..
So anyway my job at work is getting worse- big lots is finally leaving but the new place is being real assholes about the delivery (i'm pretty sure my grammar was all over in that sentence.) Get this though- the place is called Dick's Cold Storage and the contact person's name is jason dick....so its a whole family of dicks.
I'm debating what movie to go see tomorrow night at the theater. I missed out on Lemony Snicket so far but I see that as having a strong shelf life. I want to see White Noise but it is coming out 3 weeks after Snicket but will probably have a shorter shelf life...Choices. I watched 50 First Dates and without Drew Barrymore I probably would've given up on it about halfway through it...
That's about everything I got but I leave you with the joy I experienced last week. My cousin Amber got a cheerleading doll for Christmas that had 5 different cheers depending on what body part you squeezed (hands, feet and stomach sickos)..The cheer that was the bane of my exsistance early but later I found myslef singing goes as such:
I stomp my feet
I boogie to the beat
I turn around
I touch the ground
I wiggle it
Just a little bit
there---if you find yourself trying to figure out the rhythm of that you're welcome
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
The Post with the Top Ten Country Songs of 2004
i think I've said it before but I love country music..it is real, heartfelt, and yes sometimes sad but when isn't life sad....This was a good year for country music and a hard year to pick just ten songs to flesh out a top ten....Also it is a surprise because no Toby Keith, no Shania Twain, no Kenny Chesney making it a good year for the below the radar stars, although a big name star tops the list. So let's start with the female who made the biggest splash in country music this year and in entertainment in general.
10. Gretchen Wilson- "Redneck Woman"
Now granted I personally don't like the song but its hard to look past the impact. The song is basically a woman talking about why she's proud to be from the backwoods and with its chorus of, "Let me get a big hell ya from the redneck girls like me," followed by the reply of "Hell ya," you know you're listening to a song that doesn't take itself overly serious.
9. Blake Shelton- "Some Beach"
Just a great song to turn up and sing along with after a rough day at work. The song again shows off Shelton's ability to inject humor into his writing. The line Some beach is meant to be said sumbitch but then the chorus details cold margaritas and hot senoritas smiling with long dark hair. A good example of everyday situations being put into country music.
8. Joe Nichols- "If Nobody Believed in You"
The first downtempo song we encounter but the short stories in it are things we could see anywhere and help get across the eventual point of the song. A little boy whose father yells at him for messing up at sports, a son who won't let his advanced age father drive anymore, finally what are the consequences if god gives up on us. Just a soothing beautiful song.
7. Rascal Flatts- "Mayberry"
Rascal Flatts sings about how good life used to be when people didn't work weekends, people weren't always in a rush, and how beautiful the scenery around us was before we started developing and ruining it. And what song like this would be complete without mentioning a time when you could sit on the porch and talk to everyone like you were old friends. The nostalgic side in me loves this song everytime I hear it.
6. Sara Evans- "Suds in the Bucket"
A song idea that has been done many times before. Girl meets guy of dreams, defies parents by skipping out on chores and leaving town to be with her love. What makes the song is the fact that the second most beautiful voice in country music is the one offering up the song. (Not to mention in my opinion the hottest woman in country music). The song would sound like every song out there similar like this in the hands of anyone else but Evans uses her voice to lift it above that.
5. John Michael Montgomery- "Letters From Home"
A song about war that doesn't follow country music's line of republican bias and that is not decrying the war or backing it...Montgomery pulls it off by telling a story from 3 different points of view. The first verse is told from the mother of the solider writing him, the second is from the solider's wife, and the third is from the dad in what is one of the most touching verses in music history. If you don't feel tears welling then you have no soul.
4. Brad Paisley & Allison Krauss- "Whiskey Lullaby"
Ten years from now this will be considered one of the best songs in country music history. This is the classic tale, which usually turns people against country music. A man is left by his woman and he buries his troubles in beer until he finally, "Put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger." The twist though is the woman suffers the same fate from grief that she indirectly killed her ex. The verse is sung by country music's most beautiful voice Allison Krauss. Like one reviewer said "if angels don't sound like that in heaven I'll feel ripped off"
3. Gary Allan- "Songs About Rain"
Gary Allan again goes down a familiar road for a country song. His woman leaves him so he drives around being depressed. And who is his biggest foe in this battle--the dj's that play songs because they keep playing songs, "Like Rainy Night in Georgia, Kentucky Rain, Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again....." all actual songs about rain. I've felt this first hand as I wondered why I had to hear all the sad songs in a catalog when a happy song would have been what I needed. Allan also scored points with me for this quote in an interview, "Country music is now geared towards soccer moms and none of my heroes gave a damn about them."
2. Big & Rich- "Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)"
Country music's newest and most controversial act of this year. They turned country music on its ear by making their own rules to play by in Nashville including adding a black rapper, midgets, and enough hard rock guitar riffs and bass beats to make many fans take notice. This song by them shows that country music folk can rock and party just as hard as anybody from the heavy metalers down to the rappers. The song may have caused trouble in middle america but the rest of country music nation loved the song.
1. Tim McGraw- "Live Like You Were Dying"
McGraw again shows why he has become one of the most dependable singers in country music. He seems to get better and better with age and this song was a new high for him. It broke a record set by Garth Brooks by staying at number one for 8 weeks on the country music charts. The song was written and recorded befor ehis dad died but took on a whole new life after that event. The song sounds like a self-help seminar but it takes a different tact. It's not going back and changing the past, its living from this moment now. Doing everything you've ever wanted to do and not waiting for the actual moment where you know you are dying. the song offers many options but in the end bridge asks what would you do with it......Its everything I love about country music....sung by real people for real people...
I advise you to download or look for any of these ten songs to get a sampling of the best in country from this year
Monday, January 03, 2005
The Post with the week in North Carolina
So I am here as promised with my second update in as many days....I told you--new year, me....
Last Sunday I got up and finishing setting up my Rio MP3 player for the car ride down to North Carolina and then threw my stuff into the vehicle and away we went. We met our friends to go down at 8 am and by 8:15 we were on the open road.
We stopped and ate dinner at a Bonanza and then continued on. We started to see some scattered snow flurries and by the time we hit Virginia it was a full-on storm. About 9 inches of snow covered the road and from the time we left Bonzanza to the time we hit our house we counted 32 cars in the ditch. There was also some annoying black people who kept communicating with each other over our cb channel with such dialogue as, "When this road gets icy, it gets slippery".
At 8:30 we arrived at our home, 3 hours after we should have and again it was just a beautiful place...I immeadiately turned my attention to the theater room as I marked myself for sleeping there during the week.
The week started uneventfully enough as it was cool and uncomfortable to go outside for the first day and a half which made everyone a little cabin fevered early on. By Tuesday afternoon everyone was starting to mingle outside but the one downfall of this year's trip was too many people went and you could never get some alone time for yourself.
On Tuesday, one of the young adults on the trip had brought Scene It TV edition along so they asked me to play. I of course said, yes but added--whoever's on my team will win....That might sound cocky but keep in mind a few things. I watch a lot of TV Land, I read entertainment magazines, and I remember stuff I don't need to remember. So eventually my team won and I was told later in the week I would be challenged.
At this time I should mention Tuesday and Wednesday nights were bringing excitement as I was awaiting phone calls from my buddy Joel to let me know how our hockey team had done in the finals of our league. We were down 2 games to 1 in a best of 5 series when I left. Well our team won the last two games and consequently won the first place trophies in our division.
Ok back to NC----on a movie note I am glad that I took Dodgeball along as the kids ranging from ages 7-17....watched the movie at least 20 times....Also some of the parents watched it as well. Everytime I watched it it made me laugh more and more. That's the mark of a classic. I also watched some other of my flicks on the big screen with yes surround sound.
Thursday night we did the Newlywed Game with all the parents and then there was a rousing game of Uno that I did horribly in but that was ok becasue earlier in the day was the aforementioned Scene It challenge.......The challenge was issued for everyone in the house vs. me at the game. By the end it was 11 people versus 1. The funny part was the people who issued the challenge answered almost none of the questions as many of the parents were dropping in with answers (including my mom at least 5 times)....Kelly, the girl who brought the game, continually was saying--"You're doing good for not having a teammate." This was being said while they were half a board ahead of me. I got on a roll and pulled close but then they seemed to pull away for good as they landed on the all play to win. I stole that from them so they had to move to final cut where they had to answer 3 questions in a row to win....They got two but missed the last one. That's when I went for blood....I rallied around the board and got to all play to win. The category was one where they show you 4 photos from the show and you need to name the show to win..I saw one photo and nobody responded..the next screen was a computer screen that was being logged into by someone the username was "jbristow"...I knew it then and yelled, "ALIAS!!!" and then I stood up and began celebrating.....my dad looked over from playing cards and so did my aunt missy she said, "He won didn't he" dad said, "Yep. They thought they were pretty cocky." Of course the answer was "ALIAS"....It sent many of the girls into attack mode, "I wouldn't be happy about winning that--it's sad." Hey, I have no girlfriend and don't like to go partying at bars what else is there to do....
Friday was basically the big build up day as I finally jumped into the ocean with my cousin Travis and another kid named Brian...we each went in 3 times and it was as cold as I remember. Everyone who said they would join in pussed out. Then I got a shower and by 9 it was time to start drinking. I drank 3/4 of a botle of Wild Turkey between 9 and 12:30 which had me pretty well buzzed. There was also random shots of stuff throughout as they were trying out a drink book...I also called my buddy Vance as is going to become my New Year's Eve tradition.....I crashed around 1 and was then woken up around 8 by the little kid mentioned in yesterday's post....
Saturday was spent watching football and helping some people get packed, and loaded so they could ship out....
Yesterday we came home and I finally get a nice mid-afternoon nap and some good shut-eye for an evening...
The only downside is my MP3 player started acting up on the way home and now I can't get it started to listen to music......It upsets me becasue I got it as a graduation gift and was growing attatched to it so now I wouldn't be able to live without it...it is so much better than carrying around cd's as you cna rip songs right onto it and it is 20 gb of hard drive.i already had 1645 songs on it.......I hope I can get it fired up and working again....
So that's my trip it was another enjoyable occassion and again I hope it turns into an annual event.......I worked on some lists while I was there so they will pop up during the week on here.......Stay Classy
Sunday, January 02, 2005
A new year..a new me....well a new year at least...
I've got so much to post about and have little to no ambition to do it now as I am trying to recover from a low-sleep, high-alcohol filled week in North Carolina.....It's the second straight year we've done the trip and hopefully it will become an every year thing. It wasn't so much low sleep as it was just uncomfortable sleep as you can only sleep so long when you're on floors and little 3 year olds are coming in the room and blowing noise-makers in your face at 8 o'clock....They don't care you didn't go to bed til 2...that's your own fault... (And I know many of you are thinking damn kids--well go to hell kids are cool and we did the same damn thing at that age).
I also have to put some lists in here as is becoming my tradition....so for now here is what I got for Christmas as you've all waited with baited breath.
----Trivial Pursuit 90's Edition (so much harder than you'd think)
---- Seinfeld on DVD Volumes 1,2,3
---- gift card to wal mart
---- gift card to wawa
---- 100 bucks worth of cool cash
That's it for now be back tomorrow
