Wasilla Googles Winehouse

by Pa Rock
Aggravating Aggregator

Last night at about 1:30 a.m. (Arizona time - which is like no one else's!) somebody in Wasilla, Alaska, visited The Ramble. WTF? I thought. It's been months since I made fun of the former mayor - and now former governor. But, upon further research I found that the mystery visitor had come to The Ramble through this query on the Google: "Amy Winehouse death pool." My blog came up as the sixth most popular hit for that query - largely due to the several mentions that Ms. Winehouse got in the past two annual editions of Pa Rock's Dead Pool.

I started using Site Meter to track people who visit The Ramble on July 23rd of this year, and in just over a month I have logged in 765 visitors who have viewed 1,256 pages of The Ramble. I know that's a very modest number, but it does serve to make the effort feel worthwhile.

To date the blog has had visitors from most of the states and every continent except Antarctica. I get several hits from the Phoenix area daily - not necessarily good news, but I do live in a gated community! Today I had a guest from the Netherlands and a visitor from Cardiff, Wales. (I'm a big fan of Torchwood and have recently read How Green Was My Valley, so I would love to visit Wales, and Cardiff in particular. Would today's guest like to house swap for a couple of months sometime?)

Somebody from Kingwood, TX, checks in every day - is that you, Noreen? Whoever you are, drop me a note!

As an old geography teacher, I'm having a good time tracking the visitors to The Ramble and seeing the types of things that interest them. It doesn't take much to amuse me - but most of you knew that already!

Television Roundup

by Pa Rock
Recovering Couch Potato

As I have aged, my interest in the boob tube has declined markedly. I still watch television, but now I view with the aim of seeing something of substance and not just vegging out.

BBC America has its moments of quality, though much of it is beginning to resemble mindless American reality crap. Several years ago that network ran the first season of Shameless, a thoughtful and very funny series about a family of seven children being raised by a worthless and drunken father in public housing in Manchester, England. I liked it so well that I purchased the first season for my son (the playwright) and myself. Shameless is now on its sixth season in Great Britain, but so far BBC America has not seen fit to bring seasons two through six to this side of the Atlantic. That needs to change!

Torchwood is another exceptional British program. It is about a group of researchers who work in Cardiff, Wales, at the site of a time rift where strange creatures occasionally drop in from other times and other worlds. BBC ran the first season and is now sporadically re-running it, but if new episodes are being filmed, they haven't made it to America. Either way, its a shame that new episodes aren't available.

Another new favorite of mine is the HBO series, The Number One Ladies Detective Agency. This show is based on a series of books by Alexander McCall Smith whose main character is a lady in Botswana who has some money saved and decides that she will open an office as a detective. I read the first two books in the series and found them to be unusual and very clever. The HBO series is true to the author's work, and presents the characters and settings very much as I imagined them.

My favorite television program, however, is decidedly American. I discovered Jericho quite by accident last year. The program had been on two seasons and canceled when the CW Network bought the existing episodes and began airing them. It was a Sunday evening and I was doing a bit of channel surfing when I happened upon the first episode of Jericho just as it was beginning. I watched the program, not knowing what to expect. It was passably interesting until the wayward son, Jake, was leaving his hometown of Jericho, KS, after a poor attempt at reconnecting with his family. Suddenly, in the distance, was a mushroom cloud. That got my attention, and I have been a fan of this survivalist tale ever since. It is so disappointing to know that the series ended before I even had the chance to get hooked!

That's my list. Every now and then I catch a good movie - I have HBO free for three months. Less television equals more time for things that are really important - like pounding out this damned blog night after night! But it's my life, and I make the rules. When things get dull or overpowering, I will change the rules!

Out and About in Arizona

A big red rose to the nice lady who carded me at a local Circle K before she would sell me a lottery ticket! It has been so many years since anyone asked to see my ID!

Super Bowl XLII is coming to town next weekend. Lots of locals are fluffing up their income by renting their homes out to the influx of football tourists. And these home rentals aren’t cheap! Today a car passed me that had a professional looking sign in the window saying “Rent your home for up to $10,000 per night for the Super Bowl.” I wonder if that includes breakfast!

A truck passed me a few minutes later and the young male driver, obviously responding to my Obama bumper sticker, yelled out his window, “F--- Obama!” Gotta love those Christian fundamentalists!

Later my little car took me to the Goodyear Flea Market. It was my first visit to this amazing marketplace. There were hundreds of vendors selling everything from art to plants, jewelry, books, and even parakeets! Food vendors were also in abundance peddling everything from kettle corn to cold beer. It was all very airy and clean – a great place to spend several hours with little chance of getting bored!

Tonight I was focused on the Obama victory in the South Carolina primary, followed by the season premier of Torchwood. All in all, it’s been a very pleasant day!