Me either!  I could never understand the fascination surrounding the Pokemon craze.  I sure didn't realize there were that many episodes made.


There are many TV shows I don't get.  There is only 1 episode of the Simpsons that doesn't show of mention Bart, my least favorite character.


I like the Simpsons, but I can't remember ever seeing that episode.


Do you travel abroad much?  I hear the Dutch are developing a commuter bus that can do 160mph!


Not anymore.  I used to travel a lot overseas for my job, but I've been retired the last 10 years.  I don't know if I would have road on a bus that went that fast, though?  lol


Ya know, there are only two African Americans in the Country Music Hall of Fame?  I bet one's Charley Pride.  Any guess on the other?


Ray Charles?  I'm not sure to tell you the truth.  Not too many in Country music for some reason.


Good evening, yes, I do actually like Bluegrass music.  This old album sounds interesting, to me!


It's by the Blue Grass Champs.  It was found in a collection of a guy named Leon Kagarise.  He was a studio tech that recorded people like Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline.


That's so cool, I've heard about this man before.  He took the time to actually capture and record these performances. A variable treasure cove he amassed.


Sounds like it... Have you heard of the Stoneman Family?  They did a song called "The Sinking of the Titanic." It was the 1st country song to sell a million copies.


Yes, they are country royalty in my book.  Most people view the "hillbilly" music with ignorance, but it's very beautiful music.


I like the way that music tells a story.  The Blue Grass Champs had no other recordings other than Leon's.


I know and I appreciate all of his hard work to capture, record, and treasure this collection for future generations.  We need more people like him in this world.  On a side note, do you like Country music?


I have a few favorites.  Do you watch TV much?


Yes, I watch a little.  What is your favorite show?


Hello.  I've been research politics of late. Did you know that the office of president has different powers in different countries?


It definitely is.  Say, did you know that Washington and Jefferson are two of the wealthiest presidents in our history?


I've heard that, and JFK is up there too isn't he?


Yes, but I've always been more surprised about Washington and Jefferson to be honest.  JFK was a Kennedy and they are super rich so it's really no surprise about him.


They were both probably wealthy land owners. Do you know who the first president to live in the White House?


That's interesting.  I do know that for some weird reason there are duplicate white houses in Ireland and France.


I've heard that. There's also a replica stateside in Atlanta which was built as a private home.


Do you know who built it?  I like that the real one is solar energy powered.  That's a good thing.


I'm not sure who built it. I'd like to see it though. Jimmy Carter actually had solar panels installed on the White House...and Ronald Reagan had them removed!


I did not know that, that's really interesting.


True but at least George W. Bush put them back on.


I think so too.  I guess I always assumed when I saw a president from another country on tv that they were like ours but that may not be the case at all.


Did you know that Woodrow Wilson is the only US President to have a PHD? I thought our presidents would be more scholarly.


No I didn't know that. I agree with you though.  I thought they would be too. It would seem to me that to get to lead the country you would have to be knowledgeable.


The last president to speak a foreign language fluently was FDR. I wonder what language he spoke?


That to me is very surprising. If they don't have phds I would at least think they could speak more than one language, at least a little.  I think it was probably spanish but I don't really know.


That sounds right. Did you know that Lincoln was the first president to be photographed for his inauguration. Can you guess who else was in that photo?


Oh I do know this and it is so bizarre!  It was John Wilkes Boothe, right?


Indeed it was! That is such a weird coincidence that he was in it.


Hey there do you like any dramas? Like on TV or in the movies?


That is true. I wonder why. I also wonder how George Strait and Jeff Bezos are cousins. That's so weird to me


I guess Bezos has to be related to someone, makes sense it is someone rich. He is such a wealthy man


Yeah he is! do you like Henry Ford? Heap helps to popularize country music


I have heard many bad things about Ford, I am not the biggest fan of his, he seems very jaded


Yeah he was a weird guy. Did you hear about YouTube playing as a country artist. They would go by the Dalton brothers and play in disguise


I believe that was the British band U2, they are veyr popular, so that is funny nobody recognized them!


Yep that was my bad haha. Do you play the guitar at all? I like the guitarist for Queen. He had a PhD


i am no good at guitar myself, but that is cool of him, I know he uses coins as picks as well!


That is really cool! I play the piano myself but I do have a guitar. Guitar is really hard to learn in my opinion. Do you like Van Halen?


I am not the biggest van halen fan, but I love me some Michael Jackson and I know they were friends!


I do like some Drama shows, does the office count as Drama? Ellie Kemper took drama classes in high school


Oh I didn't know that. I like both of them actually. Do you like Matthew Bellamy?


I am not too aware of him, I know he smashes guitars pretty often though!


Yeah we could count that as drama haha. I guess Jon Hamm taught her back in highschool how to act?


I think he did a great job, she plays a very convincing role!


She does a great job! Hear about why Michael Caine got into acting? he basically did it because the prettiest girls were all in acting classes


I guess if you are good with the ladies, that is the way to go!


I can't blame him! I also can't blame Hugh Laurie. I guess he makes like $700,000 per episode in the TV show House


that is amazing, that is so much money, good for him!


I agree! Do you like country music? Sometimes it is called hillbilly music but I think that term is derogatory


I agree that it is, but in fairness, there are only 2 african american country singers in the hall of fame


That is true. And on the other hand you have Tim Duncan who decided to stay in school and sacrificed money doing so and then went on to play at the NBA.


ya that takes a lot of discipline to turn that down, I think it's funny that the Granny Shot is the best way to actually score free throws but people refuse to do it because it looks stupid


Yeah exactly, as long as you score who cares. And then you have Michael Jordan. When he launched and wore them he was fine and nike was fine with it.


ya I remember that, I think he got fined for those shoes actually and Nike just paid the fee!


Yup, they must have made much more in sales since Jordan was wearing them. Did you know that Reggi Miller's sister was much better than him in basketball


no I didn't know that, that's funny, do you know if women can play in the NBA? I know that technically there is no rule that prevents a woman from playing in the NFL


Yeah I guess if you make the cut, you play. I really like that rule. Yeah, his sister kept shattering records when he thought he was.


ya I would feel weird if my sister were better than me at sports haha,


Did you know that basketball players are the highest paid of all other players?


no I didn't know that, so they make more than football and baseball players? Do you like any of those sports I personally don't like any sports


hey I'm good, did you ever see space jam as a kid? I guess they're making a sequel with lebron james!


Yeah apparently they do. I like swimming and volleyball the most. It was nice chatting with you, have a good one.


Yeah how cool. That guy is all over now. I mean, working with Warner and also working so much to fundraise for charities.


ya he's really nice though,like when he donated 6 million to charity for that TV event


Yeah, his fame has really skyrocketed. He gets paid more than Judge Judy and she gets paid a lot.


ya can you believe that even when he was in high school he was drawing crowds, the public was paying like $100 per ticket


Exactly. he must have always been a smart person. At only 18 he rejected a $10 million from Rebook.


ya thats wild I would definitely have taken the money, even if I were paid like Hugh Laurie in HOUSE I still would have accepted that Rebook money haha


I know but he played it smart because I guess he knew he was growing in popularity and said that adidas or nike will offer him more, which nike did.


ya that is true, do you watch a lot of basketball? I guess Allen Iverson also got a great offer from Reebok, these people are paid well for sure


Have you seen the movie the Incredibles 2?


Me too. I kind of like old school games more than the new ones that are out. Did you know the Nintendo entertainment system was discontinued in September of 2003 in Japan? They were making that for a long time!


Wow, yeah that is a long time. It could only display 54 colors!


Sounds like a lot of colors but I am sure current systems can display much more


Yeah he is great, been a while since I've seen him in anything though.


Me either, still a fan though. Have you ever seen the green lantern?


I haven't got around to it yet, but I did see the first one! Have you?


It was alright, originally is was going to be a comedy starring Jack Black. That would've been interesting.


Yes it would have. Since 1989 comedy central has cancelled over 100 shows.


Yeah, well it was nice talking to you! Bye.


I have, it's a really good film. Did you know the events in the movie are set in the 1960s?


No, I had no idea. I wonder why it's set then? I played the incredibles game, rise of the underminer. It was actually a sequel to the first incredibles.


That is cool. The voice of violet in the incredibles, sarah vowell, also is a political commentator.


I didn't know that, interesting. The director used artists who would be more likely to quit or be fired from pixar. Isn't that kind of insulting in a way?


I think that is kind of. The costume designer, brad bird could not find a good voice for edna so he did it himself.


That is hilarious. I would love to see him doing the voice.


Yeah it is pretty funny. Do you like video games?


Absolutely, I play pretty much everyday. Do you?


Wow I had no idea about that with Wikileaks and I don't think so. Social media has definitely changed the political and media landscape - it's so easy to communicate and spread messages these days


And fake news!!!!  Did you know the U.S. gov't owns 86% of Nevada.  I wonder why that is?


The only Fake News I hear is the President's tweets. I wonder if it's related to Area 51 at all. That is something I have always been so interested in.


I forgot that that Area 51 is in NV.  So perhaps that is it.  I wonder if any imposter has ever tried to sell Area 51?  Apparently a man in France impersonated a government official and was able to sell the Eiffel Tower twice!


Wow that is crazy. Did you ever read any comic books growing up?


I did read a few growing up.  Superman and Batman come to mind.  I guess they are called "graphic novels" today.  Did you know that marvel published a "generic comic book" to trademark the terms superhero and supervillain?


Wow I didn't know that at all. I love all the marvel comics. Have you seen any of those movies?


They have done an excellent job with the movies.  Marvel's creator Stan Lee use to end each phone call with "Excelsior".  Do you think Marvel can keep the magic going with Stan Lee's passing?


I really hope so. He created such an amazing culture. I can't wait for the new Avengers movie


Same here.  The last one ended in a dark suspenseful moment.  I really want to see how they turn it around.   Did you know that Michigan State University has the largest comic book collection in the world?  I wonder if they let the public walk in and read?  After all, the comic books I remember as a kid were not printed on the best of paper!


Wow that's super interesting. I never knew that. I have some personal bias against MSU since I went to Michigan but that's a cool thing about the school. It was great talking to you man! Super engaging conversation.


Sorry about the slipup in messaging.  For some reason you initial message did not pop up.  Kobe is a good one.  I glad you did not mention a Kardashian - they are celebrities for what?


Haha no reason at all. Yet they have a cult following somehow. Do you have a favorite celeb?


Not really.  I do like that you mentioned Kobe.  He has earned his status with his skills.  How about Lebron?  He is the highest earning celeb with Judge Judy being 2nd at $123,000 per episode.


I heard about that. I'm a huge fan of Lebron too since I like the Lakers.


What are you thoughts of the intersection of celebrities and government?  We do have a "celeb" President in Trump.  But doo celebrity voices carry more weight than the common citizen when it comes to goverment affairs?


That's an interesting point you bring up. I definitely think the younger generation follow celebs more than government officials but I hope that changes - need more activism about the youth


I agree fully.  I remember Alyssa Milana travelling to Washington as part of "Me Too" even though she claimed to be broke.  I guess being a broke celebrity is different than being a broke commoner.  Celebs many times appear to be from a different universe than the common man.  And, social media has given them an instant voice and following.  Did you know WikiLeaks published gov't plans to destroy WikiLeaks?  Do you think the Assange saga will ever end?


Yeah they do for sure. Rip cur is a brand in norht korea but the label says made in china


I do not know actually. even Apple had a clothing line


I did not know that Apple had a clothing line.


Yeah apparently back in the 80s. I wonder if it is still laround?


Probably not.  Apropos of nothing, I miss Mr. Rogers.  It was funny when he was learning how to breakdance.


Was he a good dancer?  Earlier we talked about Michael Jackson and moonwalk.  An article says that the first moonwalk ever recorded was by bill bailey in 1955.


Yeah and I always thought it was Jackson that invented it. go figure


I think Michael Jackson changed moonwalk slightly for the better.


I used to when I still worked.  Why did you ask?


He was indeed good at it though. Did you know babies spontaneously dance twhen they hear music?


No, I did not know.  I know parrots like to sing and dance.


Yeah and babies also smile more to the beat of the music


I love music.   It makes me happy. Anyway, I've got to go now.  Nice chatting with you.


jyst wondering if you like them and whether you prefer monocolor or colorful ones


nice. pilgrim wore black only on special occassions, other than that they always had colorful clothes on


I did not know that.  Apparently an African tribe wears victorian clothes that used to be worn by their former German occupiers.


and there is a store in alabama that selss things that are not claimed at the airport


Who owns the store and how they have access to the items?  Is it legal?  I also heard about a man who wore 70 items of clothing at Chinese airport to avoid bagging charge.


I would assume they do. Wow talk about going to great lengths


People do strange things to save money.  That man got caught.


Crazy that myspace had a chance to buy facebook for only $75 mil


Judge judy makes $123,000 per episode, making her the highest paid celebrity only after lebron james


That a lot. Did you Carol Burnett was the first celeb to appear on Sesame Street?


I did not! Celebrity status is often associated with wealth. And  fame often provides opportunities to earn revenue.


true. There's an Ethiopian celebrity using his celebrity for good trying to convince his people to diversify their diet.


Thats a interesting thing to try and get people to do


Speaking of use their influence Burger King apparently was giving people Whoppers if they unfriended 10 people on facebook!


thats silly. Iceland are rewriting their constitution via facebook; allowing the public to make suggestions and alterations. What a use for social media


Better than banning the like button like they did in a part of Germany.


I wonder if they block the like button on Youtube? It's the second largest search engine in the world.


Missed opportunity. Their IPO was $104 Billion. Wish I could have invested back in the day.


That would be nuts. On account that Netflix and youtube together make up half of peak internet traffic in north america


I think we all would like that! Even for things like google


Google was smart when they bought Youtube in 2006.


Crazy to think about the 1.65 billion dollar price. But it has paid off for them with the ad revenue


YEah nice! All the videos on youtube are cool


Except for Justin bieber's "baby" is the most disliked video on youtube. I think it was just beat out though


Gangam style was so popular they had to change how they counted videos.


Many celebrities have their own youtube channels


The police even have their own youtube called blutube.