Month: July 2017
Best of the Bay and the Bolts for 2017
I may have touched on talking about music (sweet music…music everywhere) but the topic of note is the one that my name is usually linked to: The Tampa Bay Lightning. Creative Loafing’s 2017 reader poll doesn’t lack nor neglect notable aspects of the Bolts – directly or indirectly – which sets the table for Lightning fans to show support for cogs they know regarding the club.
Mind you, there may be more nominated aspects and assets with ties to the franchise (Amalie Arena, or perhaps a locale within the arena). What’s being cited here is from the section called People, Places, Politics which features categories pertaining to public figures, locations and sports. Read More
Members of the Tampa Bay music scene
I’m a regular in a Reddit subgroup that represents the entirety of the Tampa Bay area, /r/tampabay. Most of the citizens of the cities in the Bay area aren’t members of that group, they’re in the singular cities like /r/tampa, /r/stpetersnurgFL, or not in a city subgroup as all (hey, power to the people – it’s not like everyone goes on Reddit to talk about local life).
Anyway, a couple of months ago on the less-populous /r/tampabay subreddit, a new-resident sounded a disdain for the lack of original musicians in the Tampa Bay area:
So, I’m starting to think there just doesn’t exist any kind of local music scene here at all, unless you consider septuagenarians playing jurassic-rock covers a “scene”. Please tell me I’m wrong. The only show that I’ve gone to in a year and a half was when I flew back to Ohio to visit. This is depressing.
This opens up a question of where in the Bay area they were looking for performances and when – it’s not like it’d happen every day of the week. It’s also not like you can expect original music by local band members to be available at a golf resort or at a bar/pub/club/tavern deep in suburbia. Oh, it likely happens but you’re more likely to get cover acts in small time locales like that.
Lack of local music scene, though? No… That’s not the case. Read More
Topsy Tourney; Thoughts on hockey and the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics
In a way, ice hockey can be much like soccer/futbol. Oh, I’m not comparing playing on an ice sheet to playing on a huge field of grass, nor players wearing a ton of gear to men in shorts and shirts and somewhat-regular shoes. It’s the fact there are so many tournaments of an international variety that come in to play at all levels of the game that is the similarity. Some are annual, some are vastly irregular and others are on a regular schedule a few years apart… Like the Olympics.
The Olympic games are just a variant of grandiose sport-specific tournaments like the World Cup in Soccer which is played ever four years. I’ll cite the World Junior Championships in hockey, which is an annual tournament of junior-aged players (upper-teens to 20 years old) doing battle, country versus country. There’s also the World Championships which is a toned-down general hockey championship that utilizes players that aren’t involved in the playoffs in pro leagues around the world and those who don’t have to rest and recuperate from a trying season in their respective leagues.
The World Cup of Hockey is an irregular tournament of national teams played in late summer or early fall which can amount to preseason action for the big name talents from around the globe (though that’s not entirely true – the Euro leagues have started by this point while the NHL is in preseason mode). The irregularity sort of dims this and a thin history doesn’t do it any favors either.
And then there are the Olympics… Read More
Finding entertainment from a politically-inexperienced president
A man with no political experience finds his way into the Oval Office and becomes President of the United States of America. He’s got to learn more than just the day-to-day job at the office, which is vastly different from the day-to-day world which he’s used to.
Yeah, that sounds awfully familiar and vastly understated for the moment, doesn’t it? Perhaps it’s the previous version of the above summary that help some people give Donald Trump so much leeway to be so out-of-character and non-traditional as President? The problem with that is how the previous version wasn’t egotistical and profit driven, nor was he so ideological or politically driven that he alienated so many.
After 114 words, you may wonder who the hell I’m making reference to with this “previous version” stuff. Read More
Tweeting an NHL-related poll
The timing may seem a little odd to do this now as we are in the middle of the summer doldrums of the NHL and ice hockey in general, but this afternoon I’ve posted a little poll on Twitter asking public opinion on coverage and broadcasting of the NHL on NBC Sports:
What is your overall opinion of the coverage & broadcasts of the #NHL on NBC Sports / NBC Sports Net?
— John Fontana (@Johnny_Fonts) July 24, 2017
I’ve already posted this summer with a negative opinion about a certain personality of NBCSN, and I made him a key figure when criticizing the network in the past. I’ve toyed with writing a new article regarding the network but that seems like a useless feat if general opinion of their on-air hockey experience is taken in a postie way.
The poll will be open until Monday, July 31, 2017. Vote, and perhaps retweet things.
National security violated, and that’s not a partisan issue
Can we stop playing games here and address an ultra serious situation in the United States of America at the moment? The national security of the nation has been compromised. Investigation and action are necessary to deal with the issue and that breach involves the acting President of the United States. That’s a factoid, period. There is no debate other than twisting the story to try to feed those in denial or those paranoid.
Denial and the prospect of collusion acceptance is furthering the nation into political mire that teeters just above third world status. It’s funny how it contradicts the rallying cries of “make America great again” and “drain the swamp.”
Do you disagree with that? How things didn’t really happen or that they’re allowed because it would have been fine if a candidate from the other party had partaken in the issue? See, this is where you can be critical toward the media – the one that you watch and listen to, your hard right/alt-right element of the press – because bending the truth for loyalty toward a member of the US government whose political campaign encouraged the compromising of the United States Electoral System is wrong. And for me to call it wrong sure as shit isn’t a partisan inspired factor.
Let me further stress that: The Trump-Russia scandal is not a politically partisan issue. As I’ve already said, it is an issue of the national security of the United States. Read More
[Updated] For the moment (or longer) Beware Ordering from the Starbucks Store
I’m an espresso guy. I don’t tend to drink standard coffee but I have shots of espresso, that’s my thing and it’s long-time been my thing. I’ve owned espresso brew machines that required me to get bags of coffee grind up beans myself and do extra articulation to make an espresso. Due process, y’know, can’t put it down (especially because …. well, Mmmmmmm!).
A couple of years ago I got a Starbucks Verismo coffee brew machivn, a simplified means to brew an espresso (and make a latte if I so wish). You just had to push a pod into the machine and behold — an espresso roast is ready for you!
Yet, with ease of use comes a growing demand and a supply that runs dry in short order. I’ve seen rates vary from $11.95 for a single box of 12 pods to $13.95; that makes Verismo usage into a costly habit.
But Starbucks online store offers cost-saving, bulk purchases of 96 pods 8 boxes for just under $80 bucks, with free shipping. It’s that aspect that’s drawn me to the Starbucks Store online.
All the above details are moot though; this warning of the Starbucks Store applies for anything and everything you’d potentially purchase through the store if you’re expecting timely service. Read More
The Declaration of Procreation; A Different Take on July 4th
Maybe this is too much information but…
America wasn’t “born” today. It was conceived. Procreated if you will. There had been standing political tension in the colonies and during a hot (see what I did there) date in Philadelphia in 1776, the colonists finally consummated their political longings by signing the Declaration of Independence.
Want more proof? Why do you think we set off fireworks, people? In celebration, or in the simulation of the impregnation that led to the creation of the United States?
Warped, I know, but as a friend of mine pointed out to me as I joked to her about things, the first president wasn’t elected until 1789… Which seems like a more applicable formal birthday.