I love technology, not as much as you, you see....but I still love technology, always and forever.........

- If I hadn’t been on my way to or, later in the day in, South Beach, the place I would have most liked to have been was our nation’s capital on Saturday afternoon, joining with thousands of people (including a few celebrities - actual ones, people with talent an/or intelligence, not the D-list losers who appear on loser shows like Dancing with the Stars) protesting the war in Iraq. Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon were there, and heck, even 20 active-duty military personnel were there to protest the war. So now people who could be among those assigned to go fight in this war think it’s a bad idea. Is there any group or organization anywhere that doesn’t have members actively opposing this debacle? Unless W. and his family plan to be the first few in the 21,500 troop surge that this jackass wants to send to Iraq, he should really reconsider his plan and his refusal to pull our military personnel out of there.

- Remember awhile ago when word got out that from now on, Tom Cruise and his Scientology cohorts would have to read and approve any movie script sent to The Whack-O One’s new wife, Katie Holmes? Well, even though no official explanation was given for Holmes’ rejection of a role in the newest Batman movie, Dark Knight, a sequel to Batman Begins and a prequel to all of those horrible, cartoonishly bad Batman movies of years gone by with Val Kilmer and George Clooney, you can't help but wonder if Cruise and the Scientological whack jobs gave the project a thumbs down. The producers even offered Holmes $2 million to play the role. So either she’s getting some “guidance” on this one, or she’s hung around with Cruise so long that she too is insane, because Batman begins was great and this next installment promises to be good as well.

- Never have I seen a contract so laden with restrictions, out clauses and provisos…..Barry Bonds has finally finalized a new 1-year, $15.8 million contract with the San Francisco Giants to play a subpar, slow left field, hit occasional home runs into the bay in roid-fueled pursuit of baseball’s all-time home run record and to generally be a surly ass in the locker room. The contract comes with some notable qualifications, namely that the team can void the deal if Bar-roid is indicted on perjury charges by the government in its ongoing investigation into Bonds’ grand jury testimony in the steroids case against other entities he’s associated with. Also, the Giants are now banning Bonds’ two personal trainers/drug pushers from the locker room and from being around the team. In years past, he’s had his own entourage at all times and these two stooges even had their own lockers next to Bonds’ in the locker room. Now, Bar-roid will have to sit in his special plush leather chair, ignore his teammates and watch his own personal plasma screen TV in his separate corner of the locker room without his posse flanking him. Looking at the details of this contract, you can't help but feel the love between Bonds and the team and get the sense that they are genuinely ecstatic to have him back…….riiiiight.

- The Billboard music charts are again a giant joke, filled with unlistenable songs containing inane lyrics, so it’s time to go off the charts and talk about an album that’s actually good and exceedingly listenable. Of course, this means it has no chance of making it onto any Billboard charts, but oh well. The new album by the Shins, Wincing the Night Away, is a great follow-up for the bands previous great albums, Chutes Too Narrow and Oh, Inverted World. A couple of the tracks have hints of Morrisey and thus The Smiths, but it’s not a copycat album by any means. The lyrics are unique and catchy, and the first single, “Phantom Limb”, isn't the only good track on the album, which is too often the case when you hear new music from a group. Sea Legs and Sleeping Lessons are two other great tracks in the typical Shins vein, although they’re more than just a continuation or regurgitation of previous sounds from the band. In other words, this is a group that’s growing musically and lyrically but managing to keep many, almost all in fact, of the qualities that made you like them in the first place. And no, don’t discount them just because they’ve been prominently mentioned and featured on a popular, mainstream TV show (The O.C.). Listen and enjoy, peeps…….

- You always want to put technology to good use. Otherwise, things can turn very ugly - just look at the robot in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Well, kids in Milwaukee have been putting technology to good use. They have been using their cell phones to call in reinforcements when they get themselves into a fight, and in a brawl last month at a Milwaukee high school, police and pepper spray were required to bring peace to a fracas. Nearly 20 people ended up involved in the fight when those initially involved called in backup using their cells, and as a result, the city is banning cell phones at all of its high schools. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that when Apple designed its new iPhone, “Call in your crew for a brawl at school” wasn’t one of the features or utilities. Maybe it should be, though; if you can download and listen to tunes, surf the web, send text messages, store contact information and appointments, take pictures, why not add a feature that enables a kid to summon reinforcements for a throwdown in the parking lot? Maybe even set up a program whereby you punch in the specifics of the fight and your phone spits out the numbers of how many friends you’ll need for the fight, which are best suited for a particular battle based on height, weight, fighting experience and weapons expertise….and as always, you can count on kids to understand how best to use any sort of technology. Well done, kids, well done, America’s future is in good hands.