Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Believe it or not, Daytona Beach is in the direct path of the third hurricane in just over a month! [It would have been four but the last one turned.]
I’ll be assisting in getting a shelter open on Saturday morning and hoping that Jeanne takes a sharp turn to the right!
If the SZ is late with an update this weekend, you’ll know why.
WWE‘s pay-per-vue, Unforgiven, was held last night. My sons, nephew and I were able to watch it from the comfort of the local wing house, and we had a blast. It’s suprising that although everyone knows that wrestling matches are pre-determined the sport is as popular as ever.
Rick Flair, the guy in the pic to the left, is currently my favorite wrestler. Flair‘s 56 years old and still puts on a great show. The highlight for me is when he does his patented “front fall.” If you’ve ever seen Flair wrestle, then you know what I’m talking about. The Flair “front fall” alone is worth the price of admission.
If you’re a wrestling or Rick Flair fan, then you might want to check out his autobiography, To Be the Man. It, too, is worth the price of admission.
Randy Orton is the young guy next to Flair in the picture. The kid is a third generation wrestler [I used to watch his dad wrestle when I was a kid]. Although he lost his title tonight, he has a bright future.
I could give you a rundown of the matches, but if you’re that interested, you’ll probably watch RAW tonight and I don’t want to spoil it for you. And wrestling isn’t really about who wins or loses anymore… instead it’s about how good the performance was.
And as I said, we had a blast.
Two hurricanes hit us in three weeks. The odds against this are astronomical. But it happened.
We had plenty of warning. We knew that Frances was coming.
The crazy thing is, hurricanes quite often change their paths. And Frances was so big if you planned to leave, where could you go to be safe?
I worked at a shelter on Thursday and Friday and then came home to ride out the worst with the wife and kids. It had been raining a little bit each day since Hurricane Charley hit three weeks ago, and on Saturday, it really started coming down… and down… and down.
We lost power on Saturday morning. Then the winds picked up. From about 10 AM until well after midnight the rain fell and strong winds blew. On Sunday the winds finally began to die down but the rain just kept coming.
Monday came and so did more rain. The entire county went under a curfew. Most people were without electricity and parts of the city [and many homes] were flooded. Hurricane force winds had destroyed homes and businesses. And many streets were under so much water that they were impassible. You can imagine what that much water did to homes. Luckily no fatalities have been reported.
We finally got our electricity back on today. Our house had very minor damage and just a bit of water came in. We had to cut down some trees, but other than that we were spared. I have friends who weren’t so lucky, but each of them has said it could have been so much worse.
And they’re right.
It’s amazing how spoiled we’ve become and how lucky we are. After four or five days of being trapped in a house without electricity… no AC, no phones, no internet, no hot meals or hot showers, you begin to suddenly appreciate the small things.
Believe it or not, there’s another hurricane out there brewing. The odds of it hitting the same part of Florida again so soon after the last hurricane are astronomical…
… but unfortunately not impossible.
I’ve lived in Florida for 30 years. And in those 30 years we’ve had our fair share of hurricane scares. We’ve even been grazed by a hurricane or two in my area. Now it looks like we’re going to get hit with the second one in less than three weeks.The good news is that hurricane Frances‘ path has shifted a bit. Last night it looked like Daytona Beach was going to be dead center of Frances‘ trip through the Sunshine State. Now we’ll probably just get a glancing blow. And this blow will be stronger than Charley who came through a couple of weeks ago.
With Charley we lost power for three days. And we were lucky. Some people lost their lives, others lost their homes and personal possessions. Beatty‘s house had two huge tree limbs come through the roof … and he considers himself lucky since no one was hurt.
You’re probably wondering why we don’t just leave when there’s a hurricane coming. The fact is that many people do. The highways have been backed up all day. The traffic crawls and tempers rise. When we attempted to leave five years ago, we got caught up in the traffic crawl and saw more accidents and people arguing and bad behavior… the roads ended up being more dangerous than the weather.
The other fact is that most hurricanes are so big and change their paths often enough that you really don’t know where they’re going to end up. For Charley some people headed to the Daytona Beach area and wound up right in the path after Charley shifted. Frances is as big as the state of Texas…
The bad weather is supposed to start tomorrow with the worst of it hitting us on Saturday [and going into Sunday]. We’re probably going to lose power for a while [and nothing else I hope]. At any rate, I’ll post an update as soon as I can after that.
And if Frances shifts even father away from Daytona that loud noise you hear will be my sigh of relief. ; )
One of the funniest [and coolest] things that I’ve seen lately has to do with Transformers. Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either… Transformers!
Even if you’re too old or young to have played with them, you’re probably aware of ’em. They were toys in the shape of cars, trucks, and just about anything that with a few twists could be, uh, transformed into something else.
At any rate I discovered the link while checking out Dean Trippe‘s new blog… click on THIS LINK and check out the coolest Transformer ever.
And I swear on all that is good… Big Beatty used to dance just like that!
Since my blog is geared towards fun stuff, I usually don’t discuss politics too much. But this story was just too good not to mention.Florida’s Governor, Jeb Bush, was speaking to a group of 200 honors students and opened it up for questions. An 18 year old student asked the Governor if he could answer an FCAT Math Question.
FCAT is the test that students are required to pass in order to get a diploma. And while I think the idea of FCAT is a good one, I do have some problems with the way its implemented… but I digress.
According to the article, “the governor gave a steely grin and then stalled a bit. “The angles would be … If I was going to guess … Three-four-five. Three-four-five. I don’t know, 125, 90 and whatever remains on 180?”
As you’ve probably already figured out, the answer was wrong.
Does that mean that the Governor is stupid? No. Does it mean that he shouldn’t be allowed to be governor? No. Does it mean that he couldn’t pass the test? No.
I don’t think that we should judge a person on the basis of one test. But that’s what they do with the FCAT.
Mike Tyson has earned over $300 million and is bankrupt.
I guess I shouldn’t feel bad for him, but I do. Tyson should have been on top of the world at this point in career… if he was even fighting. When he was in his prime nobody and I mean nobody could beat him. He was on track to break Marciano‘s record of wins without a defeat.
And then Don King came into his life. And we know what happened after that.
The sad thing is, Tyson is suing Don King for $100 million… but it looks like he’ll settle for a lot less… a whole lot less.
And I’ll bet you that after it’s all said and done, Tyson will end up fighting for Don King again.
Only in America… only in America.
I’ve talked up a lot of cool things on the ZONE over the years. Movies, tv shows, comics, novels, artists, writers, websites… but until today I’ve never recommended a comercial. But this isn’t just any commercial and it’s unlike any commercial.
It’s Jerry Seinfeld and Superman [yes, Superman!] for American Express. It’s cute and funny and made specifically for the web.
I’m looking forward to more of these… and don’t worry, if there as good as this one, I’ll be sure to tell you about ’em.
Well, it was an exciting Superbowl.Despite the fact that last night’s victory by the New England Patriots over the Carolina Panthers, was one of the best Super Bowl games ever, more people are talking about the half time antics than the game itself.
At the end of the half time performances, Justin Timberlake pulled off part of Janet Jackson‘s costume exposing her breast. The NFL is upset. Both CBS, and MTV have issued apologies. Justin Timberlake called it a “wardrobe malfunction.”
Whatever.
At least it wasn’t as bad as the guy who made it down on the field, stripped off all of his clothes and began to dance. He than ran around as security attempted to catch him. Patriots linebacker Matt Chatham did what he does best and tackled the streaker who was then taken away by security personnel.
Well, it was an exciting Super Bowl… and the game was pretty good too!
James Brown, the 70 year old Godfather of Soul, was arrested today and charged with criminal domestic violence after he allegedly pushed his wife to the floor during an argument. Tomi Rae Brown, 33, had scratches and bruises to her right arm and hip and was taken to a hospital. Brown served a 2 1/2-year prison term after a 1988 arrest on drug and assault charges and was convicted of a drug-related offense in 1998. He was granted a state pardon in May.
You just know that Leno and Letterman are going to have a field day with A judge has ordered R. Kelly , who is awaiting trial on child pornography charges, to stay away from Michael The King of Pop Jackson who is facing child molestation charges when Kelly attends the Grammy awards next month!
I guess neither should plan to sit next to Lil Romeo.
Pete Rose should be given an opportunity to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.Rose holds 19 Major League records, including the All-time Major League records for most career hits – 4,256 and most games played – 3,562.
Why is Rose not in? Because as a manager he gambled on baseball. Although he never bet against his team and never threw a game, gamblling on baseball when you’re a player or manager is against the rules.
Did Rose deserve to be punished? Yes, and he has been.
Rose‘s book, My Prison Without Bars, details just how much he’s been punished.
As a manager, Rose broke the rules and perhaps the ban should be for life… but, the records that he set were as a player and it is because of these records that he deserves the opportunity to be voted into the Hall of Fame.
Remember all the flack that Michael Jackson got when he held his baby over the balcony? Well, Steve “The Crocodile Hunter” Irwin may be in for more of the same.On January 1st, “The Crocodile Hunter” held his one month old in his arm as he went in to feed a huge croc.
A lot of people are outraged — and rightly so. Irwin even received a warning from child-care authorities.
Talk about stupid. It’s one thing to put yourself in potentially dangerous situations – but it’s indefensible to do the same to children.
Did you know…
,,, German poet Heinrich Heine left everything to his wife in 1856 on the condition that she remarried, “so that there will be at least one man to regret my death”
… Elvis Presley once entered an Elvis Presley lookalike contest but came third
… “Come, come – why, they couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist…” -was what American Civil War general John Sedgwick said just before he was shot
… The Bible is the most shoplifted book in the US
.. You’d know all of these things and more just by reading this interesting article!
As the hour quickly approaches for ole Saint Nick to arrive, I want to tell you a few things before I hustle off to sleep with dreams of what the morning will bring.JoBlo has the first official pic for “The Riddick Chronicles.” I’m really hoping that this one lives up to my expectations.
There aren’t many foods that I dislike… except for beets and fruitcake. You can imagine my surprise that anyone likes fruitcake… but why in the world would Jay Leno want to eat a piece that was 125 years old?
Comic artists and comic companies usually send out the coolest Christmas cards.
Christmas will be upon us in less than an hour. I hope this message finds all ZONErs happy and healthy and surrounded by loved ones. I hope that each of you gets what you most desire or at the very least avoids getting what you don’t want.
best,
Craig
