Zeeppo's New Years Goals

I would not really call these resolution because they are not really for my personal improvement. Some of them are silly and other are very important.

1. To Buy a New Pair of Doc Martins.
2. To get Samuel Jackson to swear at me in a tweet or in public I am not picky.
3. To Raise $1000.00 for the Brigade, new clubs and such.
4. To have six people join the Trinity Choir.
5. To teach ten clowns how to juggle.
6. To get 40 twitter followers.
7. To get 20 people to follow this blog.
8. To be able to roll good sushi rolls .

Well those are some of my goals. Like I said not really for personal impovement. Just somethings I would like to do.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

968 French People

Over the last week I have received 968 hits from France. I have received 642 hits from the United States. I suppose this could be one French person checking in several times a day. That would suggest some kind of serious mental illness on that person's part.

Well looking at recent French news Gerard is now Russian. I am not sure why Russia was the place that he would go. Why not Italy of Switzerland? I can understand that a french person might not want to become German or British.

As an American I have a hard time understanding why this is news. I understand that he has been an iconic actor for France. Still, he is an entertainer. We give far to much weight to people who's main purpose is to divert us from reality. This should not be someone making news. The same goes for actors, clowns, comedians and the like.

Well be safe out there and keep your stick.

My New Twitter Campaign

This year I think that I am going to try and find some people to follow my twitter feed. I have started using it fairly regularly. I am not sure how you get people to follow you on the twitter. I think I must need to link to more people on the twitter. So I am up to following 120 something people on the twitter. I have 12 people following me.

We do not really use the twitter for the clown brigade. So if I can be entertaining in short bursts of text then maybe we can find some more shows or donations.

Well if you are on the twitter and want something pointless to follow follow me at zeeppo @zeeppo on the twitter.

6:00 Am Painting Stuff

Sitting around the office at 6:00 in the morning painting the steps to the second floor. Yes it is as exciting as it sounds. I am listening to the Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show contemplating my next move.

I think I will need a new keyboard for the Brigade computer. The old gal has seen better days. We bought it three years ago and she has served us well for typing and email. This year we are going to try and do as much PR on line as possible. So this old thing may be getting more of a work out.

Anyway the reason for painting the steps, besides they need it, is that there will be more practices here. So the place has to look better. We have renewed interest in knitting and magic. So there is going to be some of that. One of our members is living in Texas. So we are going to work on the magic proficiency over the internet.

Also the second biggest party of the Brigade year is coming up. The Ides of March March. This year we are looking to build a float and have as many clowns there as possible. So if you are in Pittsburgh on the Ides of March you should be there.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Red Lodge Wierd Stuff Maybe

One of the old clown institution that I have always thought should be brought Back is Red Lodge. This was basically a club within clowning for people that have reached a certain level of competence.

Anyway the Brigade has fewer than 20 members and until recently only a couple who had reached this lofty level of clowning. We go into this year with five member at this level and on or two very close. So this turn my mind back to fond times or years gone by. One of the things that we used to do was a get a theater and watch a movie. Being clown there was usually a great deal of yelling at the screen are general mayhem.

I think this is one of the reasons I like Mystery Science Theater 3000. It was a lot like it with out of makeup clowns instead robots and a guy stranded on a satellite. Well it was really like all of the rudest people on the planet gathered in one place to watch a movie. And if you were too quiet someone would probably yell at you.

Anyway this reminds of the point of what i was talking about. We are kicking around the idea of doing this sort of thing. We are looking at the juggling room in the office and thinking we can watch a movie in there. We are gong to talk about it at tonight's practice.

Well you all be safe out there tonight. I will let you know what progresses.

Some more pictures of kittens

Slushy Christmas

 Well the good people of the South Side are having themselves a gray and drag little Christmas Season. It was not a white Christmas. Even so it has ben white shortly after it.

Pictured to the right is a gad pump that was knocked over by a car when it started snowing. Apparently ice is slippery. You will not that it has been propper up and is being held in place with half a roll of duct tape. Red Green would be proud.

Bellow  is a grey and sickly slush man. He has been made in one of the South Side's most precious of places, a parking space. You can't read it from the picture but he is holding a sign asking people not to knock him over. It is very heart warming. That is if you ignore the fact that small children have to beg for the lives of their snow men.

Well just checking in. Be safe out there and keep your sticks on the ice.

Kittens N'at

The wife is still visiting her family in the place where her family is.

She did ask for pictures of the kittens. So here are pictures of the kittens. Well three of them anyway. The other two like to hide under the chair.

They are just at the start of the getting into things that they should not be getting into stage of life.

By the way if anyone out there wants a black kitten we have many to choose from. They are cute and affectionate. There is one that has a strange shoe fetish.

 He is still cute but you have to check your boots before you put them on. 

And to the people that complain that I do not speak with a yinzer accent I said the word N'at out loud when I typed it.

Neil deGrasse Tyson Interview

This was a nice little interview with terrible sound quality

Too Good

Doctor Who is Brilliant

Redding Up

I was at a knitting group the other day and someone noted that I do not have a Pittsburgh accent. I suppose they meant to say that I do not talk like a yinzer. They noted that I used the term redding up a little while ago and do not speak that way normally. They sugested that I was making fun the yinzer accent.

I am in a funny business. So yes I naturally make fun of things. Granted the yinzer accent is a joke unto itself. Anyone that would willingly wear a mullet in this day and age is a walking joke.

The person also stated that I did not put any Chris Brown videos on the old blog. I am not sure why I would. I do not put and clips of Wagner Operas on my blog for the same reason. I do not like them.They asked me if I did not like rap.

Not being a Chris Brown fan I did not know that he was a rapper. So I visited the good folks at You tube and listened to some of his music. I am not sure that I would call him a rapper. I would certainly call him formulaic. What ever he is it is clear that he only records what his producers tell him to. He is a programmed performer regurgitating someone else's words.

I may not love everything that Ice T and Dr. Dre said still it was what they were feeling. They are flag bearers of the pain and hurt that they feel. I think that they may have made the same music if only a handful of people had bought it. I am pretty sure Chris Brown would have been a knitter, basket weaver or anything else if obscene amounts of money could be made at it.

I think the most telling part of if someone is a defining member of their profession is how the next generation looks at them. With just a wee bit of research it looks as if Dr. Dre had something to do with bringing Eminem along. I was not able to find a story about Chris Brown doing that for someone else. Will the next generation of rappers be rapping about Chris Brown, I doubt it.  The next generation is rapping about Dr. Dre.



I think it is fairly obvious that I am not a huge fan of the rap. Still, like everything, some of it is good and a lot of it not so much. Maybe someday Chris Brown will not be in the not so much catagory. That day is not today. I leave you with a video Chris did with a Japanese Rap group. I will let you judge which is an artful socially important video. We have a heartfelt thanks to a mentor or an adamant statement that Chris like rear ends.

Can't Sleep

Can't sleep. I think I need a ham sandwich. Just wanted to share.

Lost Juggling Balls

I have lost 36 balls. I have no idea where they are. I hate to loose things. I don't suppose anyone likes loosing things. I am not sure why anyone out there would care that I lost a bag full of juggling balls. When I mentioned it to a couple people at the church where we practice they thought it was funny. So there you are. Also if you see a bad full of white and yellow rubber balls in Pittsburgh let me know. They might be a reward in it. There might also be a couple orange balls in there.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Happy Christmas and Kittens

I loverly Christmas Eve has been had thus far. I have managed to put exactly one inch on a sweater while under constant assault from a small army of cat. I wonder how many cats would actually constitute a small army. Well there are four cats and five kittens. They all like the yarn. Well I suppose that is something in the DNA of Cats.

Anyway this is mommy and her kitten under a chair. Well it is fairly obvious what is going on here. The Wife is away visiting her family and she asked me to put up some pictures of the kittens. Well the little critter squirm around and very few of the pictures are clear. I suppose if i were using a better camera they would some out better.

Also it appear that the primary purpose for blog is also to put pictures of one's cat on the internet. So here are cat pictures. I suppose that my blog does not have as many cat pictures as it could.

The mother is named Cuckie. She was given to me by a couple of the kids in the Clown Brigade. They named her and insist that is how you spell Cookie. The babies do not have names. There are five of them and they are cute as you would expect kittens to be. Anyway These are four week old kitten and they are just starting to crawl around and steal my yarn. So eventually these little yarn snatcher are going to need a home. If you live in Pittsburgh and would like a fur ball leave a comment.

Be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice.

Bloodlust

MST3000 gen names Bloodlust.

Great stuff.

Random Clown Stuff

It is early Christmas Eve and I am here blogging. I can't sleep and I am working on the Brigade Newsletter. We are almost done and are just waiting for the article from out Minister. It would be great it looks as if we are going to get this thing out on time. We have several lovely articles a game page and lots of other stuff. I am very happy with it.

I am messing around with the idea of putting an online version of the newsletter on the Brigade's blog. I would just have to figure out how to do that. 

Also on the Clowning Front we are going to be performing in a Roller Rink on Thursday. It is basically a balloon fest. Still it should be fun. 

Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

The French

On this new version of blogger one of the things they have is a gizmo that tell you what country the people are visiting your blog from. In the last week a I have had just about a hundred people from the United States visit my blog. I have had 165 visit from France.

I have always thought of the French of refined and cultured people. This makes me wonder why are the visiting this blog, Maybe I am sort of like a Jerry Lewis of the Blogs. Not really all that funny but for some reason the French enjoy me.

Well I suppose I should have some programming for my French viewer from time to time.

This is Ricky Gervais trying to teach people English. The subtitle are in French.By the way if you are going to learn English it is best to learn it from the English. Americans think people with English accent sound smart. A Chinese person who sounds like Cooter from Dukes of Hazard will get into trouble.



Really this vid is a bit pointless. Still if you are reading this blog then you are all about that pointless.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Unmoderated Stuff

I continue to go through the drafts that have been left orphaned on this blog. There are loads of them. The more I read the more I question my own sanity. For some reason there are a bunch of Mystery Science Threater 3000 vids left laying about over the last year. I really am not sure why I started putting them in this blog.

On other front I have just been watching the Silence with Douglas Henshall. It is a gripping little story about a deaf girl who sees the police murder someone. She is also personally struggling with a cochlear implant and parents who different ideas about what her life should be.

All four episodes are on the Net Flix. They are a great afternoon. They are also a wonderful cross section of UK accents

Wonderful Revenge

Visit Doug Savage and buy his stuff. http://www.savagechickens.com/

Christmas in Pittsburgh

The giant electric tree is on the side of a building signalling that is is Christmas in Pittsburgh once again. I am sure this is a post card somewhere. If not it should be.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

The Pointless Christmas Gloves

The ill fated gloves have made another appearance. I somehow got it in my head that I needed the challenge of knitting a pair of gloves. I have eight fingers and a thumb done. Every year I get through couple more fingers. Then after I finish the second or third finger I come to realization that the entire project is pointless. And this is not the normal sort of knitting pointless. I was sitting around thinking of something that I had not knit and came up with the idea that I should knit gloves.

It is like someone the sees a mountain and thinks they need to get to the top of that. There is no good reason to be up there. There are no new mountains to climb. If I want to feel what it is like up there and can sit in a bath of ice water and look at a picture book. The same is true for knit gloves. First off there are too many young people in my life to wear knit gloves. At least half a dozen times a winter I find myself the target of a surprise snow ball assault. So I carry an nice insulated water proof set of gloves. I would not walk around in a knit coat. I would get wet in Pittsburgh.

Still the gloves are symbolic of Christmas in general. They are something that we do not need to do and still do it anyway. I am fairly sure Jesus would rather we do some volunteering instead of going into debt on his birthday.

Well just checking in. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

New Savage Chickens

Buy stuff from Mr. Doug Savage.  http://www.savagechickens.com/

Two More Ermeys for the world at large

A couple of Juggle Batons were purchased by a members of the local COAI. Oddly they wanted one Red, White and Black (Steel City Clown Brigade colors) and white, yellow and blue. They are both 2 foot long Ermeys and came out rather nicely if I do say so myself. They are called that because they have short stubbly ends similar to a famous Drill Sergeant and motivational speaker. Actually I am not sure if R. Lee Ermey does any motivational speaking. I do know that he goes around and does rallies for Marines. Still, Marines really do not need that much motivation. Every Marine I have met has been what one would call a self starter. Still, I think that he would be rather good at if he did. They should really make an R. Lee Ermey alarm clock. I do know they make some kind of action figure of him in his Marine Corps Uniform.

Anyway back to the Devil Sticks. As I type this they are drying out. The end are glue together and then you let them dry and put the decorative tape and grip tape on them. Before I finish this post I hope they will be close enough that I can tape them up for a picture. Also with these particular stick they will have the head mongrammed. I do not know what they want on them so they will be monogrammed at the COAI meeting on Monday. The picture here is them with in complete ends. If they get finished at the COAI meeting I may put up picture of them.

Also just for fun I have put there map location of where this post was made. I am not sure why this feature is there. Maybe is makes it easier for loonies to hunt blogger down and kill them.

Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Tweeties

I have tweeted a couple times. I am up to nine followers I think. I am not sure if that is good or not.

Variety Show

There should be more Variety Shows for Children in the United States. There are several int he UK and various other places. There is Blue Peter and The Slammer. We have had a couple over the years in the States. They do not have much staying power. The Slammer is an actual proper variety show with singers, dancers, jugglers, magicians and other performers. If I ever make billions of dollars I will buy a local TV station and have a Saturday Evening Variety Show. There would be no mimes on my show.

This is an episode of the Slammer from last year.



We have been kicking around the idea of having a variety show as a fund raiser for the Brigade.

We are going to give the old Brigade Newsletter another shot. This will be the third attempt at it. We usually start it off and loose interest throughout the year. I may work on putting together an online version of the newsletter. If anyone is interested out there I will put together an email list thing I suppose.

Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Unmoderated Stuff

I have a ton of draft posts on this blog. At this point there are twice as many draft posts on this blog for the year as there are posted posts. The effort to go back and finish those posts is not something that I am giving too much energy to. That would explain why there are so many unfinished ones.

If I did five a day I might clear them out by the end of the year. Even so, who am I kidding? I do not post everyday. So why would I go back and fix old posts. That would just be silly.

I did go through the unmoderated comments today. There was not a single one that I would want posted. Every one of them is an advert for something else. Just use your imagination and it is in there. I am not going to post examples because then I would be giving them what they want.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Random Buss Posting

            Once again tooling around on the bus as it winds it’s way through the hills of Pittsburgh. I am sitting next to someone that smells as if the rub menthol cigarettes on his body instead of bathing. I hope he does not have kids. You have to wonder about people that are willing to make their children sick to feed a habit. Some slick person needs to start suing smokers on behalf of their children. Some of the money could go to the state for health care. The rest could go to educate those children.

            On the clowning front we have several stage shows that we are messing around with. It has been a couple years since we worked on such shows. With everyone doing better at juggling there is a renewed interest in stage shows. At least three of the young ones could be team juggling clubs in a couple months. And since they are growing into teenagers they are almost as tall as me. So for a year they will getting to my height and then there will be some time at my height and another year when they are just a bit taller than me. Chances are one of the girls will stop growing at just a bit taller than me and I will finally have a juggling partner that is not a couple feet shorter than me.

            On other fronts we are still messing about with internet media. We are not sure what we are going to do. We just know that we are going to do something. We are sort of leaning toward a documentary sort of thing covering our practices. We would have to use fake names for the young ones. It looks like the preferred Sir Name is Brooks for that. If we ever throw together an episode I will put it up here.

            Oh thank goodness I can stop breathing through my ears. Mr. Virginia Slim has gotten up to spread cancer to his family and friends. If I were mean I would have taken a picture of him and put it up on the old blog here. Well, things are looking up.

Well that is it for today. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Yinzer Rocket Science

Have you ever noticed that there are no yinzers that are rocket scientists? Maybe there is something that happens when one gets a mullet that reduces their brainpower. I think I am going to call the people are Carnegie Mellon and ask if they have any yinzers on staff. I wonder what department that would be?

I mean somewhere there must be a smart yinzer. There has to be one out there.

Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Typing

I wonder if I can type faster than I can speak? There are several programs out there that claim to be able to transcribe what you are saying into a word processor. I tried one a few years back. And after playing with it for more than a week it assumed words that I was not actually saying. Apparently I have such a funny accent the computer could not understand me.

I was watching the New Stephen Fry Gadget Show. On it they had someone using an updated version of that program with great ease. I am sure that company wants their product to be featured in the best light. So I am not sure if it really works as well as they claim it does.

I am not sure such a thing would serve me very well on the bus. Also I do not have to dictate when I am typing something out. I am not sure if I could get to the point where I would tell the computer where to end sentences and the like. I imagine that I would have one huge block of text without punctuation of any kind. Perhaps my spelling would be better. Although, now that I think of it, the computer would probably be suing the wrong words for this and that.  

Now if they could come up with a computer program that would tell me when know one care about what I am typing that might be something useful. Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Looking for New Blogs

I have noticed that many of the blogs that I have been reading over the years have begun to fall off. So if anyone out there thinks they have a great blog that they are reading let me know.

I have been looking for some clown blogs. Most of them are inactive. Wouldn't it be a shame if I am the only clown in the internet blogging. Well there are a couple I have found that I am keeping an eye on. One the guy claims that he does not have to juggle do balloon animals or even wear make up. So he is a truck drive that claims not to need a truck. Well if I like any of these I might start a clown blog section on the old blog.

I came across one named Johny the clown this is about a skinny woman with an eating disorder trying on clothes.

There is an Abstinence clown blog that I am not going to share the address to because it is offensive and useless.

PPD Hates You

Over the last several months I have been complaining about the fact all my neighbors park on the sidewalk. Because of this I have to walk in the street. If I walk in the street they cuss me out when they drive past. And since everyone has at least two cars there is no room for parking. Thus they park so close together a pedestrian cannot walk between the car. The Pittsburgh Police refused to ticket these cars.

So I called the Mayor's Office to complain. I then received a call from Commander McNeily. She said she had no intention of ticketing the cars. I asked her if it was because her squad cars break this very same law. She claimed this was not happening. I told her I had taken several pictures of police cars on the side walk. She did not care. Also the police station is within sight of the blocked sidewalk.

It is amazing that the police are not incumbered by following the law themselves. It is no wonder the general public in Pittsburgh appears to be trusting the police less and less. The city knocked down three houses so that this station could have enough parking for their cars. When this picture was taken there were fifteen empty parking spaces in their lot. Still this bit of sidewalk is closer to the door. Also the new sidewalk is now cracked where the police are parking their cars. Of course the good people Pittsburgh are going to be paying to repair that.

You have to wonder. If the police can lie to the public when it is obvious they are wrong what else are they lying about? Why does it take three armed men to take down an unarmed teenage? Why do the police jump into a car during a traffic stop? Why is the police force mostly white males?

If you see the police stopping someone take their pictures. You need to do this especially if the person they are stopping is black and male. The Pittsburgh Police have a habit of trying to kill them for being black. You might be saving someone's life. 

Space 1999 on MST3K sort of

Every once and while some TV Producer does something truely strange. One of those things was taking two episodes of Space 1999 and putting them together to make this movie.

Enjoy,,,, if you can

MST3K

Mystery Science Theater 3000 still continued to pop in my viewing schedule from time to time. It has bee a while since it has been off the air and I have not seen every episode. I Do beleive most of them are on the Youtube at this point.

Here is a random one I was watching in the background yesterday.

Mighty Jack

I still loved the Mystery Science Theater 3000. Mighty Jack is one of the greatest things Sandy Frank has ever done. Here it is if you have missed it.



Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Go Round Remix

This is a remix of a new Namie Amuro Song. Good Times There is no video still it is a nice little song.

Top 10 Things Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson Didn't Say

Well these are the top ten things that Dr. Tyson would not say.


10. We need more cup holders on the Shuttle

9. Star Trek Enterprise is my favorite show.

8. I need to ask Snookie to the White House the next time the Obamas have me over.

7. Neil Armstrong was a wuss.

6. I need to be more like Vanilla Ice.

5. I have to ask Honey Boo Boo to do an internship at the Hayden Planitarium.

4. I need to ask Bill Shatner for hair advice.

3. Cory Feldman is my Hero

2. Brian Green is the Captain Kangaroon of Science.

1. Stephen Hawking is faking it for a better parking space.

Sandy Frank

The high point for this blog appears to be 2007 there were 413 posts that year. I am not sure why this is improtant. I am just noting it.

One thing I do think I should do eventually is an internet Clown Movie thing like MTS3K. I think we should try and do all the Sandy Frank Movies.



I also read somewhere that at 81 years of age he go into a fight with his wife where they were both charged with asault.

Green Clown Scarf

I am working on a green clown scarf for the up coming COAI  auction. I am pretty sure I will also be making a couple balloon pump holsters. I am on the bus so I cannot take pictures of it. I suppose I could. I am just not going to. Well just checking in on some actual knitting information.

Be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice

More Bus Blogging

Just checking in as I tool around on the bus. One thing I have notices is that I have nearly a couple hundred posts that in draft form stuck in the old blogger. Being that this is all less than important unpublished less than important is probably even less important. I am not sure why I thought some things needed more consideration that other things. Looking over some of them they appear to be just as pointless as everything else.

Well anyway I figure I will look through these posts and publish or erase them. It will be a bit like the saddest Easter Egg hunt ever. New posts will appear in past months and years.

In other news, if you can call it news, I was elected President of our Choir. Granted no one else wanted the job.  Even so, I am putting that in the win column. And uncontested victory is still a victory.

Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

On My Way to Practice & a Brilliant Idea

On my way to practice on the mighty 54C. This happens to be my favorite bus in the world. The only thing better would be a double deck British style bus playing constant techno with a free soda fountain and wifi. If do not think that bus exists. Thus I will stick with this bus. Anyway I am off to Oakland to pick up the snack for tonight. The snack will be popcorn if you are keeping track.

My next project is to try and figure out how to get my blog to play music. I think people that people who visit here should have a random assortment of music. It would be what it is like to be in my head. I am not sure anyone wants that. Still, this is my blog and rambling is a big part of it. I think this blog should be an assault on all the senses much like my existence is. Making it smell like random cookies and pierogies and then slapping you in the back of the head will be harder.

Also if you are a person that wears 3x clothing there are somethings to avoid, like tube tops and hot pants. The thing that bothers me is the waste. Nowadays everyone is wearing pants that have thing writing on the rear end. Most of these have a single word like Juicy. This is a terrible waste. If you are a 3x person you need to have a poem by Robert Frost in forty pt. Time New Roman back there. For one it is a more effective use of space. Two you can think people are reading the poem instead of looking at you but in horror that you are wearing spandex warm up pants.

It gets even better. If you are a 4x or 5x you can publish chapter of classical literature back there. You would have to wear you pant in a certain order so that your readers will be able to keep up with the story. Still, I think it is viable sacrifice for Mark Twain. For some reason I think he would be the most abused by big people sitting on his books literally. Mark Twain literally means six feet. And if you have six feet in your back field you should be helping indoctrinate people in the classics.