A New Chew Toy!!!

Hey, what's up?? I'm up... I need a nap, but I'm still up...

http://www.vickdogchewtoy.com/

Check out that link... a new doggie chew toy!! Isn't it cute?? Okay, it's not as good as bacon, or the squeaky fuzzy Harley Oil Can, but it's worth a look...

This is an interesting website...

http://www.dailyreckoning.com/

Chuck Butler, who writes "The Daily Pfennig", is on there... Kitco seems to have dropped him. Actually, Chuck is recovering from cancer at the moment, so another VP at Everbank, Chris Gaffney has been writing it. It's worth your time.

The Daily Reckoning is also home to one of my personal faves, "The Mogambo Guru", which Kitco has been a little spotty on lately... pretty good website overall.

Addison Wiggin had this observation, also reported in other places, but without this much cynicism thrown in:

"The much anticipated Cerberus/Chrysler deal has gone through. What was Cerberus' first action as the new owner? They've hired former Home Depot chief Bob Nardelli as the CEO. Heh. Nardelli built himself such a large compensation scheme at Home Depot that shareholders forced him to resign. Quit he did… but not before writing himself a $210 million severance check."

Poor guy was trying to live on a fixed income, whaddaya expect?? He had to find a job, to make ends meet... I hear that a lot lately, especially during news stories, when I'm supposed to be made to feel bad. Something is happening to people "living on a fixed income." #1, if that "fixed" income is high enough, it shouldn't be a problem. #2, aren't we ALL living on a FIXED income, to some degree?? If I need more money, I guess I could ask my boss, but he'd have a heart attack while he was laughing so hard, and then I'd have to call 911... or not. Then I'd be the one laughing... but either way, I'm not getting any more money...

Some people enjoy my book and movie reviews, so here we go:

#1 James Patterson, “The Big Bad Wolf”
9.0, – “Reader’s Pick” Very good book. Detective Alex Cross Joins the FBI, and while he’s not too busy being hassled by some of his jealous superiors, he finds time to solve some tricky kidnappings. This is a bit of a departure for Cross, he’s not chasing psychos per se (although there are some sick people in this book), the motive this time is money… beautiful women are being kidnapped and sold into white slavery… and by that I mean sexual slavery, okay, in case I have to spell that out. An interesting case, and a nice plethora of slimy bad guys… plenty of blame to go around. And some of Dr. Cross’s new co-workers at the FBI are no day at the beach, either. I will admit that I’m not a big fan of some of Mr. Patterson’s work, but I do enjoy Dr. Alex Cross. This book does not disappoint.

#2 “The Sopranos”, The Complete First Season DVD
9.0 - “Viewer’s Pick” Very Nice! I will freely admit, I watched the first episode, and really, I thought “This is the great show I hear so much about?” Nothing special. I was watching with my friend “The Doc”. So we decided to watch the second episode. Ahh, a little better. By the end of the first disc (first 4 episodes) we were interested. Having wrapped up the 13 episodes of Season One, We are HOOKED! We’re probably the only people on the planet who don’t have HBO, so this review may be pointless, but for those of you who have never seen this, check it out, have patience, stay with it. If you haven’t seen it, I’m not going to give it away with a plot synopsis, but let’s suffice it to say that James Gandolfini plays Tony Soprano, a Cappo (Captain) in the New Jersey Mob, with some vague affiliations with some New York Crime Families. Tony may be losing it a little, he’s got a lot of family issues, a lot of “work” issues, and he’s depressed, so he starts seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco). Edie Falco plays Tony’s wife Carmela. These three are quite brilliant in their roles. Wonderfully acted. Very well written & well shot. Gandolfini is a genius in this role, it’s the role he was born to play, quite honestly. Michael Imperioli (Christopher), Steven Van Zandt (Silvio) and Tony Sirico (Paulie) are also outstanding, as Tony’s main guys on his crew. This cast has great chemistry. John Heard also does a great job in a supporting role for most of season one. Note: this really needs to be watched IN ORDER. Each episode builds on the last episode, so if you watch out of order, I can’t see how it would make any sense at all. 2nd Note: If you’re bothered by nudity, there is some, it’s brief generally… there’s also a lot of rough language, if that’s going to turn you off, don’t bother, because there’s plenty of language throughout.

Some of you may or may not know, but I am "The Phantom" of the Pewaukee Public Library. Why buy the box set when you can go to the Library and get it for free? That's my public service message for the day: go to your local library and check it out. I'm probably lucky, they built us a new library, and it is awesome. Music CD's, DVD's, books, new books, magazines, pc's with internet... a loan program from other libraries, computerized lookups. It's nice.

I'm a small yawning puppy... I'm takin' a nap. Until next time!