Paul Harvey and D.C. Holocaust Museum gunman & nut-burger James W. von Brunn:
xxxxxx
xxxxxx "Good day!" xxxxxxxxxxxx Good riddance.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
My turn for conspircies...
A while back Randy made a separated-at-birth comparison of slightly questionable taste between Charles Manson & Anthony Quinn. I think mine is probably just plain old bad taste:
Paul Harvey and D.C. Holocaust Museum gunman & nut-burger James W. von Brunn:
xxxxxx
xxxxxx "Good day!" xxxxxxxxxxxx Good riddance.
Paul Harvey and D.C. Holocaust Museum gunman & nut-burger James W. von Brunn:
xxxxxxxxxxxx "Good day!" xxxxxxxxxxxx Good riddance.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Movies: Week 17 - Mr & Mr Will Smith
Hey... nothing under 3 stars.... that's a first!
I'm still behind by a week, but I'm nearly caught up.
Week 17 - Movies 125 thru 132
New to DVD:
The way Battlestar Galactica: Caprica (2009) was released is the strangest I've ever seen. The upcoming TV series, Caprica, is not scheduled to start until early in 2010, but the Sci-Fi Channel released the 90 minute pilot episode on DVD in April although it's never aired on TV. But I did learn why reports said the pilot would be edited down before airing - they will have to cut out the scenes showing all those dirty pillows. (Sorry, that term cracks me up so I have to use it every chance I get. Thanks, Carrie!) Even though I'll miss Galactica's outer space backdrop, I think I'm really going to enjoy the planet bound Caprica. It will chronicle the events 50 years prior to B.G.'s CYLON armageddon with a main player being Commander Adama's father, Joseph. Esai Morales was brilliantly cast as Joseph - he truly looks as if he could be Adama's father in real life. Eric Stoltz is the other lead, playing the computer genius industrialist, Daniel Graystone who invents the original style "chrome toaster" CYLONs. I think the series will have an exciting "rise of the machines" theme. Come on 2010... I can't wait! 4 Stars.
Seven Pounds (2008) is hard to figure out until the very end. Not that it's confusing due to a convoluted, overly-complicated plot, it's just that a couple times during the movie you think you have Will Smith's character figured out and suddenly you are thrown off on a tangent. Throughout, it is a very intriguing story about an extremely multifaceted individual. It's interesting to watch someone who is "real" enough to fluctuate between being selflessly kind and selfishly cold. Along the way there is a darn good love story. I bet I may watch this one again before too long. 4 Stars.
Older Stuff:
OK, so I just watched Hancock (2008) last year. I rated it, but didn't review it. It was a lot of fun! I think the concept of a hapless, unlikable, burn-out super-hero is absolutely brilliant. It's something we have never seen before and is such a great fun. Hancock couldn't be a bigger screw-up if he tried. After saving a public relations guru, he begrudgingly begins the attempt to become a better person. Most people either love or hate the plot twist half-way through - I'm on the love it side. What the heck, ya watch a few hundred movies a year, it's really nice to catch a surprise here and there! But, I will admit, Hancock as a natural jerk is the more entertaining portion of the movie. 4 Stars.
OK, so I just watched Transformers (2007) last year. I rated it, but didn't review it. It was a lot of fun! (ECHO!) I was too old for the Transformer toys / cartoons, so I wasn't invested in nostalgia going in. It is, however, a very interesting
concept - giant robots on a quest, they can look like cars and I like cars. Shia LaBeouf's character is extremely fun to watch and the entire move has a lighthearted touch that shows the material isn't intended to be taken too seriously. With the gigantic special effects budget there was not much to go wrong on that front, but... yeah, there's one big problem. Even people who are not car nuts can spot the difference between a yellow Camaro, a red and blue semi truck and a helicopter from a mile away. But, once they transform into their metallic, robotic counterparts and start jumping around and fighting, they become completely indistinguishable. It's all just a blur of shiny metal that is visually confusing. I gots the big TV, stellar looking upconversion yet I had to replay scene after scene, pausing frequently to figure out who was who and what just happened. Maybe they will could color code the robots in the sequel to avoid wondering if that chromed jumble of metal is a good guy or bad guy or both with one in a head lock. Or maybe do the little labels with arrows pointing to the robots like they do for the cars during NASCAR races. Still, it was fun and I really liked it. 4 Stars.
I thought Hook (1991) was a terrific retelling of Peter Pan, filled with fun in-jokes and references to the original. Sure, it didn't always remain true to the novel, but who cares. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Dustin Hoffman received plenty of well-deserved accolades for his Captain Hook. It can be dark at times, but there is a certain sweetness that it just can't shake. I guess it's kind of a love or hate it movie. 3 Stars.
I caught a few minutes of Epoch (2000) on the Sci-Fi channel one day and thought it deserved a watch from the beginning. Meh... it wasn't great, but it was a lot better than a lot of made-for-TV movies. An ancient, tornado-shaped monolith of incredibly huge proportions rises up from the ground to judge humanity as being worthy of continuing to evolve or wiping us off the face of the Earth. Basically, it's a The Day the Earth Stood Still derivative. It was hardly memorable, but good enough to put the sequel in my Netflix queue. It's just kind of a "rainy day" type movie you'll watch when you can't find a black and white cowboy flick to watch on a dreary Sunday afternoon. 3 Stars.
I can see why The Cable Guy (1996) didn't get it's props. I think Jim Carrey's character was just so flawed, tragic, dark and so bizarrely needy that he often came off as unlikable. But there is a also an aspect where he's incredibly generous and pitiable - you just can't help wondering if he might "accidentally" cut your ear off to make some weird joke. I liked how he never revealed his real name, but instead claimed the monikers of various classic TV characters due to his inability to have a true identity of his own. Even in the IMDB credits, he's listed as The Cable Guy. One gag has stayed with me for over a decade, Cable Guy has a speech impediment and has trouble saying the word "facility." To this day I often say "faciliLy" when in the right company. Matthew Broderick aptly played his hapless friend / victim. 3 Stars.
Okie Sister and I both recorded Tin Man (2007) on our DVRs when it first aired on The Sci-Fi Channel. During a conversation I mentioned I tried to watch it a few times but I kept falling asleep during the first half hour. It wa
s available at Redbox recently and I had a free code so I figured, "What the heck." Maybe it was the frequent commercials on network TV that were so hypnotically boring that I immediately passed out before I could even reach for the remote to fast forward through them. I kind of enjoyed it and only fell asleep once during this 4.5 hour mini-series (Oops, I often start watching "too" late.) Anyway, this is a trippy, dark, modernistic retelling of The Wizard of Oz. How could it be anything other than odd - Zooey Deschanel plays the lead of "D.G." The scarecrow is a zipper-headed, lobotomized scientist, the tin man is a former police officer (tin star, get it?) and the cowardly lion is some kind of psychic animal-hybrid-human thing-a-ma-bob-guy. (Coo-KOO!) What can I say, I like Zooey, and the in-jokes referring to the original movie were fun. 3 Stars.
I'm still behind by a week, but I'm nearly caught up.
Week 17 - Movies 125 thru 132
New to DVD:
The way Battlestar Galactica: Caprica (2009) was released is the strangest I've ever seen. The upcoming TV series, Caprica, is not scheduled to start until early in 2010, but the Sci-Fi Channel released the 90 minute pilot episode on DVD in April although it's never aired on TV. But I did learn why reports said the pilot would be edited down before airing - they will have to cut out the scenes showing all those dirty pillows. (Sorry, that term cracks me up so I have to use it every chance I get. Thanks, Carrie!) Even though I'll miss Galactica's outer space backdrop, I think I'm really going to enjoy the planet bound Caprica. It will chronicle the events 50 years prior to B.G.'s CYLON armageddon with a main player being Commander Adama's father, Joseph. Esai Morales was brilliantly cast as Joseph - he truly looks as if he could be Adama's father in real life. Eric Stoltz is the other lead, playing the computer genius industrialist, Daniel Graystone who invents the original style "chrome toaster" CYLONs. I think the series will have an exciting "rise of the machines" theme. Come on 2010... I can't wait! 4 Stars.
Seven Pounds (2008) is hard to figure out until the very end. Not that it's confusing due to a convoluted, overly-complicated plot, it's just that a couple times during the movie you think you have Will Smith's character figured out and suddenly you are thrown off on a tangent. Throughout, it is a very intriguing story about an extremely multifaceted individual. It's interesting to watch someone who is "real" enough to fluctuate between being selflessly kind and selfishly cold. Along the way there is a darn good love story. I bet I may watch this one again before too long. 4 Stars.Older Stuff:
OK, so I just watched Hancock (2008) last year. I rated it, but didn't review it. It was a lot of fun! I think the concept of a hapless, unlikable, burn-out super-hero is absolutely brilliant. It's something we have never seen before and is such a great fun. Hancock couldn't be a bigger screw-up if he tried. After saving a public relations guru, he begrudgingly begins the attempt to become a better person. Most people either love or hate the plot twist half-way through - I'm on the love it side. What the heck, ya watch a few hundred movies a year, it's really nice to catch a surprise here and there! But, I will admit, Hancock as a natural jerk is the more entertaining portion of the movie. 4 Stars.OK, so I just watched Transformers (2007) last year. I rated it, but didn't review it. It was a lot of fun! (ECHO!) I was too old for the Transformer toys / cartoons, so I wasn't invested in nostalgia going in. It is, however, a very interesting
concept - giant robots on a quest, they can look like cars and I like cars. Shia LaBeouf's character is extremely fun to watch and the entire move has a lighthearted touch that shows the material isn't intended to be taken too seriously. With the gigantic special effects budget there was not much to go wrong on that front, but... yeah, there's one big problem. Even people who are not car nuts can spot the difference between a yellow Camaro, a red and blue semi truck and a helicopter from a mile away. But, once they transform into their metallic, robotic counterparts and start jumping around and fighting, they become completely indistinguishable. It's all just a blur of shiny metal that is visually confusing. I gots the big TV, stellar looking upconversion yet I had to replay scene after scene, pausing frequently to figure out who was who and what just happened. Maybe they will could color code the robots in the sequel to avoid wondering if that chromed jumble of metal is a good guy or bad guy or both with one in a head lock. Or maybe do the little labels with arrows pointing to the robots like they do for the cars during NASCAR races. Still, it was fun and I really liked it. 4 Stars.
I thought Hook (1991) was a terrific retelling of Peter Pan, filled with fun in-jokes and references to the original. Sure, it didn't always remain true to the novel, but who cares. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Dustin Hoffman received plenty of well-deserved accolades for his Captain Hook. It can be dark at times, but there is a certain sweetness that it just can't shake. I guess it's kind of a love or hate it movie. 3 Stars.
I caught a few minutes of Epoch (2000) on the Sci-Fi channel one day and thought it deserved a watch from the beginning. Meh... it wasn't great, but it was a lot better than a lot of made-for-TV movies. An ancient, tornado-shaped monolith of incredibly huge proportions rises up from the ground to judge humanity as being worthy of continuing to evolve or wiping us off the face of the Earth. Basically, it's a The Day the Earth Stood Still derivative. It was hardly memorable, but good enough to put the sequel in my Netflix queue. It's just kind of a "rainy day" type movie you'll watch when you can't find a black and white cowboy flick to watch on a dreary Sunday afternoon. 3 Stars.
I can see why The Cable Guy (1996) didn't get it's props. I think Jim Carrey's character was just so flawed, tragic, dark and so bizarrely needy that he often came off as unlikable. But there is a also an aspect where he's incredibly generous and pitiable - you just can't help wondering if he might "accidentally" cut your ear off to make some weird joke. I liked how he never revealed his real name, but instead claimed the monikers of various classic TV characters due to his inability to have a true identity of his own. Even in the IMDB credits, he's listed as The Cable Guy. One gag has stayed with me for over a decade, Cable Guy has a speech impediment and has trouble saying the word "facility." To this day I often say "faciliLy" when in the right company. Matthew Broderick aptly played his hapless friend / victim. 3 Stars.Okie Sister and I both recorded Tin Man (2007) on our DVRs when it first aired on The Sci-Fi Channel. During a conversation I mentioned I tried to watch it a few times but I kept falling asleep during the first half hour. It wa
s available at Redbox recently and I had a free code so I figured, "What the heck." Maybe it was the frequent commercials on network TV that were so hypnotically boring that I immediately passed out before I could even reach for the remote to fast forward through them. I kind of enjoyed it and only fell asleep once during this 4.5 hour mini-series (Oops, I often start watching "too" late.) Anyway, this is a trippy, dark, modernistic retelling of The Wizard of Oz. How could it be anything other than odd - Zooey Deschanel plays the lead of "D.G." The scarecrow is a zipper-headed, lobotomized scientist, the tin man is a former police officer (tin star, get it?) and the cowardly lion is some kind of psychic animal-hybrid-human thing-a-ma-bob-guy. (Coo-KOO!) What can I say, I like Zooey, and the in-jokes referring to the original movie were fun. 3 Stars.Friday, May 1, 2009
Movies: Week 16 - Yikes, 2 Weeks Behind!
Week 16 - Movies 115 thru 124
New to DVD:
If you enjoy blues, soul & rock 'n roll you will probably love Cadillac Records (2008). As with any docu-drama, this plays loose with facts, but it still came off as an extremely entertaining piece of American music history spanning the 1940s through the 60s. This tells the story of Leonard Chess who co-founded the Chess Records music label with his brother Phil (who was barely even mentioned here.) It chronicled the rise and ebb of the careers of Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry. The acting was very good, the music was better. 4 Stars.
Quarantine (2008) was one of last year's gory, horror attempts. I thought the premise was interesting; a group of people are "trapped' in a NY apartment building due to a potentially infectious disease. The result was something that resembled zombies and I like zombie flicks. I was drawn in until the veterinarian included in the cast of unfortunates diagnosed the problem as rabies. Even a super-fast-acting variant of the disease, it still came off as a silly-ass premise. It completely jolted me out of the movie-magic and made me laugh at the B-movie aspect. Might as well have been a 50-foot-tall chipmunk terrorizing Duluth, MN. Oh well. 2 Stars.
Well, I'll be darned... Milk (2008) is a current Oscar Winning movie that I didn't hate. Some of the images were just heart-wrenching. I mean "fire hoses turned on African Americans in the 60s" embarrassment for humanity type stuff. It was a very good story about someone driven to do what he thought was right. Possibly lost a star just for having Sean Penn because I think he is a total douche. 3 Stars.
Older Stuff:
Wow, Local Hero (1983) is such a fun movie! It captures some of the annoying materialistic attitude of the Go-Go-Eighties and balances that with the sensibilities of normal, small-town Scots on the other side of the world. Houston go-getter Mac works for an oil company and is sent to Scotland to buy a tiny, coastal village so his company can raze it and build a distribution depot. The townsfolk are not as naive as the company expects and that complicates the legalities. This movie made me completely re-evaluate my opinion of "quirkiness." Local Hero has this quality performed so perfectly that it comes across as a genuine, natural aspect of the characters and their location. It makes the "quirk" of recent movies come off as pale comparison - forced, annoying and unappealing. Burt Lancaster subtly plays the lovably insane (or insane due to wealth?) CEO of the oil company.
4 Stars.
I kept thinking of a line from Airplane! while watching Troy (2004): "So... you like movies about gladiators?" I think I just find Brad Pitt annoying due to the phenomenon of heart-throbbery and teen-idolatry and that diminished my enjoyment for this movie. Could it be jealousy because I look more like Moe the Bartender from The Simpson's than Pitt? Maybe. Sure, he was muscled up for this role as seemingly-invincible super-warrior Achilles, but his immaculate warrior manicure and lovely pink ass-kicker lipstick pretty much kept snapping me out of The Moment where I could believe he was a mythological hell-raiser and not someone who has never done a real day's work in his life. Overall, a good story with an epic feel, but... I just don't like Pitt. I just wouldn't say that to his face because I'm sure he could kick my ass. 3 Stars.
Uncle Buck (1989) had some fun moments. John Candy was a funny, funny man but just not a great actor. He was entertaining but overall he comes off as a bit flat and one-dimensional. I quickly tired of the teen-aged daughter's character. One can only take so many scenes with a bitchy teen giving everyone the stink-eye before you start praying for Sigourney Weaver to pop up behind her and snap her neck. Lots of memorable early performances here - Macaulay Culkin and Gaby Hoffmann are terrific as the young'uns and Laurie Metcalf (Rosanne's sister Jackie) was terrific as the horn-dog neighbor. 3 Stars.
Ever since John Adams (mini-series) (2008) was released on DVD a few months ago, I never read a review that wasn't positive. This HBO mini-series was truly impressive and I enjoyed watching it over the past three weeks. I was so used to seeing portrayals of our nation's founding fathers as perfect and bigger-than-life. This put a human face on these great, but flawed visionaries. They they were imperfect, they argued endlessly among themselves, there were real and imagined betrayals and utter humiliations. They were just men. It have me a better appreciation that this country exists vs. the stoic tales where they border on the mythological. I highly recommend. Paul Giamatti was exceptional as Adams. 4 Stars.
The comic-book movie of the week was V for Vendetta (2005). Oh, excuse me... "graphic novel" (rolls eyes. Comic book - graphic novel - same thing, get over yourselves.) I love movies about dystopian futures and I almost always enjoy the superhero flicks. This was a mesmerizing story about how modern people could let an oppressive government take root and how they allowed it to continue eroding due to their complacency. I think it made me feel hopeful for a better future for governments across the world. The masked superhero "V" was filled with mystery and intrigue and the growth of Evie (Natalie Portman) very entertaining. 5 Stars.
Class (1983) is a movie I saw in the theater when I was about the same age group of the characters as portrayed. I LOVED it. It was raunchy, sexy and captured a fantasy of wealth and success. As an adult, all I could see was horrible acting. Rob Lowe was awful and Andrew McCarthy was even worse (with his one annoying facial expression.) There were some fun high-school-aged, Animal-House-esque hijinks, but overall it was just awful. 2 Stars.
I should have hated The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), but it was so dopey that it made me laugh out loud several times. C'mon, it's B.H. - what do you expect? Jim Varney captured Jed Clampett perfectly, Diedrich Bader was hilarious as Jethro, Erika Eleniak made one heck of an Ellie May, but Lily Tomlin made the whole thing crash to the ground as Miss Hathaway. Her performance was simultaneously over-the-top and flat. 3 Stars.
New to DVD:
If you enjoy blues, soul & rock 'n roll you will probably love Cadillac Records (2008). As with any docu-drama, this plays loose with facts, but it still came off as an extremely entertaining piece of American music history spanning the 1940s through the 60s. This tells the story of Leonard Chess who co-founded the Chess Records music label with his brother Phil (who was barely even mentioned here.) It chronicled the rise and ebb of the careers of Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry. The acting was very good, the music was better. 4 Stars.
Quarantine (2008) was one of last year's gory, horror attempts. I thought the premise was interesting; a group of people are "trapped' in a NY apartment building due to a potentially infectious disease. The result was something that resembled zombies and I like zombie flicks. I was drawn in until the veterinarian included in the cast of unfortunates diagnosed the problem as rabies. Even a super-fast-acting variant of the disease, it still came off as a silly-ass premise. It completely jolted me out of the movie-magic and made me laugh at the B-movie aspect. Might as well have been a 50-foot-tall chipmunk terrorizing Duluth, MN. Oh well. 2 Stars.
Well, I'll be darned... Milk (2008) is a current Oscar Winning movie that I didn't hate. Some of the images were just heart-wrenching. I mean "fire hoses turned on African Americans in the 60s" embarrassment for humanity type stuff. It was a very good story about someone driven to do what he thought was right. Possibly lost a star just for having Sean Penn because I think he is a total douche. 3 Stars.Older Stuff:
Wow, Local Hero (1983) is such a fun movie! It captures some of the annoying materialistic attitude of the Go-Go-Eighties and balances that with the sensibilities of normal, small-town Scots on the other side of the world. Houston go-getter Mac works for an oil company and is sent to Scotland to buy a tiny, coastal village so his company can raze it and build a distribution depot. The townsfolk are not as naive as the company expects and that complicates the legalities. This movie made me completely re-evaluate my opinion of "quirkiness." Local Hero has this quality performed so perfectly that it comes across as a genuine, natural aspect of the characters and their location. It makes the "quirk" of recent movies come off as pale comparison - forced, annoying and unappealing. Burt Lancaster subtly plays the lovably insane (or insane due to wealth?) CEO of the oil company.
4 Stars.
I kept thinking of a line from Airplane! while watching Troy (2004): "So... you like movies about gladiators?" I think I just find Brad Pitt annoying due to the phenomenon of heart-throbbery and teen-idolatry and that diminished my enjoyment for this movie. Could it be jealousy because I look more like Moe the Bartender from The Simpson's than Pitt? Maybe. Sure, he was muscled up for this role as seemingly-invincible super-warrior Achilles, but his immaculate warrior manicure and lovely pink ass-kicker lipstick pretty much kept snapping me out of The Moment where I could believe he was a mythological hell-raiser and not someone who has never done a real day's work in his life. Overall, a good story with an epic feel, but... I just don't like Pitt. I just wouldn't say that to his face because I'm sure he could kick my ass. 3 Stars.
Uncle Buck (1989) had some fun moments. John Candy was a funny, funny man but just not a great actor. He was entertaining but overall he comes off as a bit flat and one-dimensional. I quickly tired of the teen-aged daughter's character. One can only take so many scenes with a bitchy teen giving everyone the stink-eye before you start praying for Sigourney Weaver to pop up behind her and snap her neck. Lots of memorable early performances here - Macaulay Culkin and Gaby Hoffmann are terrific as the young'uns and Laurie Metcalf (Rosanne's sister Jackie) was terrific as the horn-dog neighbor. 3 Stars.
Ever since John Adams (mini-series) (2008) was released on DVD a few months ago, I never read a review that wasn't positive. This HBO mini-series was truly impressive and I enjoyed watching it over the past three weeks. I was so used to seeing portrayals of our nation's founding fathers as perfect and bigger-than-life. This put a human face on these great, but flawed visionaries. They they were imperfect, they argued endlessly among themselves, there were real and imagined betrayals and utter humiliations. They were just men. It have me a better appreciation that this country exists vs. the stoic tales where they border on the mythological. I highly recommend. Paul Giamatti was exceptional as Adams. 4 Stars.
The comic-book movie of the week was V for Vendetta (2005). Oh, excuse me... "graphic novel" (rolls eyes. Comic book - graphic novel - same thing, get over yourselves.) I love movies about dystopian futures and I almost always enjoy the superhero flicks. This was a mesmerizing story about how modern people could let an oppressive government take root and how they allowed it to continue eroding due to their complacency. I think it made me feel hopeful for a better future for governments across the world. The masked superhero "V" was filled with mystery and intrigue and the growth of Evie (Natalie Portman) very entertaining. 5 Stars.
Class (1983) is a movie I saw in the theater when I was about the same age group of the characters as portrayed. I LOVED it. It was raunchy, sexy and captured a fantasy of wealth and success. As an adult, all I could see was horrible acting. Rob Lowe was awful and Andrew McCarthy was even worse (with his one annoying facial expression.) There were some fun high-school-aged, Animal-House-esque hijinks, but overall it was just awful. 2 Stars.
I should have hated The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), but it was so dopey that it made me laugh out loud several times. C'mon, it's B.H. - what do you expect? Jim Varney captured Jed Clampett perfectly, Diedrich Bader was hilarious as Jethro, Erika Eleniak made one heck of an Ellie May, but Lily Tomlin made the whole thing crash to the ground as Miss Hathaway. Her performance was simultaneously over-the-top and flat. 3 Stars.Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Pollen Storm
Well.... apparently tree pollen doesn't set of my allergies (woo hoo!) We are officially off the scale in Oklahoma City.
Tuesday evening I was in the garage doing laundry and imperfections in the super-shine on my freshly-detailed car caught my eye. "Wait a minute... what?" The entire car was covered in what looked exactly like I had driven 100 miles through bug-mating-season at highway speeds. A quick wipe with the California Duster and it was clean again.
Today I parked in a different spot at work and when I was leaving for the day there was a slight light-green hue to my red paint. This time it looked like I had slid through another bug-storm sideways.
The photos just don't do it justice. The little "nicks" are pollen bombs that landed on the paint and blew away. They really look just like bug splatters.
Can you make out the two large, light colored smudges in this photo? Those are pollen drifts the size of a hand!
AMAZING!
Speaking of Pollen Storm, how 'bout some Paul & Storm? Some of my favorites from these songwriter/singer/comedians are on their Songs Page: Randy Newman's Lord of the Rings Theme Song, Bob Dylan at the Bottom of a Well and K-R-I-S-T-I. Here's a sample on YouTube with a fan-made animation:
Tuesday evening I was in the garage doing laundry and imperfections in the super-shine on my freshly-detailed car caught my eye. "Wait a minute... what?" The entire car was covered in what looked exactly like I had driven 100 miles through bug-mating-season at highway speeds. A quick wipe with the California Duster and it was clean again.
Today I parked in a different spot at work and when I was leaving for the day there was a slight light-green hue to my red paint. This time it looked like I had slid through another bug-storm sideways.
The photos just don't do it justice. The little "nicks" are pollen bombs that landed on the paint and blew away. They really look just like bug splatters.
Can you make out the two large, light colored smudges in this photo? Those are pollen drifts the size of a hand!
AMAZING!
Speaking of Pollen Storm, how 'bout some Paul & Storm? Some of my favorites from these songwriter/singer/comedians are on their Songs Page: Randy Newman's Lord of the Rings Theme Song, Bob Dylan at the Bottom of a Well and K-R-I-S-T-I. Here's a sample on YouTube with a fan-made animation:
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Ish This the Real Thing?
Queen Bohemian Rhapsody Old School Computer Remix
Posted on YouTube by the (apparently brilliant) bd594
"There are millions of computers sitting idle at home consuming phantom electricity. Let's see where all that power is going. This is dedicated to all fans of Queen and hey let's not forget about Mike Myers and Dana Carvey of Wayne's World.
Please note no effects or sampling was used. What you see is what you hear (does that even make sense?)
Atari 800XL was used for the lead piano/organ sound
Texas Instruments TI-99/4a as lead guitar
8 Inch Floppy Disk as Bass
3.5 inch Harddrive as the gong
HP ScanJet 3C was used for all vocals. Please note I had to record the HP scanner 4 seperate times for each voice. I tried to buy 4 HP scanners but for some reason sellers on E-Bay expect you to pay $80-$100, I got mine for $30.
Keep in mind the scanner and floppy drive are not musical instruments. These are mechancial devices whose frequencies tend to drift and can cause some notes to be out of tune."
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Thunderstorm Apocalypse 2009
WHY?
#1. It's just a thunderstorm.
#2. One county.
#3. No potential for life-threatening situations,
#4. because IT'S JUST A THUNDERSTORM!
But, still, KOKH-FOX-HD Oklahoma City decided it was necessary to show the annoying weather graphic for two full hours.
The pinheads at KOKH-HD still think these stupid notices (about scary rain) belong toward the center of the screen. You would think they might be inclined to move the inane weather graphic toward an unobtrusive location, such as a corner, but... no. Instead of putting the graphic in the unused "black bar" section while as show a 4x3 aspect program on their 16x9 HIGH DEFINITION CHANNEL, they insist on covering part of the program's action.
[Taking deep breath..]
Sorry for the rant (again), I just think these stupid "non-perfect-weather" warnings are assinine. I miss the days when the alerts were reserved important issues like tornadoes. By all means, go to wall-to-wall coverage for that, but this is just RAIN, you hysterical dopes! We have all seen and recorded thousands of hours of the weather graphic and we are no longer fascinated by it. Why are they?
I wonder if the next generation will describe people who make false claims as "crying Fox."
Monday, April 13, 2009
Movies: Week 15 - Almost Exclusively Sci-Fi
Week 15 - Movies 110 thru 114
New to DVD:
I've listened to people berate The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) since before it hit theaters. Overall, it was pretty good, but I agree that it won't be anything other than a minor footnote in the history of science fiction. Last year I watched the 1951 version and was also unimpressed. That version regularly makes top 5 lists of Best Sci-Fi Ever, but I feel like it's mentioned mostly due to nostalgia and not the merit of it standing on it's own today. I don't discount it completely because, of course without it, all of the truly spectacular sci-fi that came after it simply wouldn't exist. Besides, it co-starred Frances Bavier. C'mon, how can you have great Sci-Fi with "Aunt Bee"? I kept waiting for her to moan "Ooooh Andy" and force her yucky home-canned pickles on Klaatu. That would have exasperated the situation by putting him in the uncomfortable position of fibbing about their taste on top of his already stressful responsibility of judging and potentially destroying Earth. Anyway, one thing I did appreciate, this remake absolutely conveyed a feeling of peril and impending doom - something I felt was lacking in the blandish '51 version. 3 Stars.
Older Stuff:
After the punishment of watching The Punisher and it's gory remake, I needed a good dose of "superhero done right." X-Men (2000) has it all - an exciting story with good acting throughout. The special effects were amazing yet didn't get in the way of the story. In fact, it was all essential due to the nature of the characters. My favorite gauge of a movie's entertainment value is when time flies by so quickly that I'm left disappointed that it was over so soon and wishing for more. No matter what, X-Men definitely scores highly there.
5 Stars.
Star Trek sighting: "Himself" himself - Patrick Stewart is Professor X.
Enjoying Adam Sandler's version of Mr. Deeds last week prompted me to pick up Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) from the library because, "of course" it would be better. Well, maybe not. Again (actually before), Gary Cooper's "Mr. D" inherits an insane amount of money yet truly doesn't care about wealth. He's incorruptible and always a decent, upstanding person. But I think I would have liked this Deeds better if he had ever convinced me he was even somewha
t happy before or after the inheritance. Thinking back, he was moral and righteous, but.. did he ever smile? He only wanted to use this wealth to help others, but rarely showed a positive emotion. That made Cooper come off as a bit pompous where Sandler was fun-loving, care-free and appreciative of a gift he could bestow on others. Most of he humor of this 70+ year-old movie worked just fine. As a nit-picky pet peeve of mine, I could have done without the Cagney-esque New York street-tough characters who ended every sentence with the word "see", see? Yeah, you got it see? It's annoying, see? A lot of the actors delivered their dialogue LOUDLY in a rapid-fire pace using incredibly nasally voices. I chalk it up to head colds and a shortage of decongestants during the great depression. It sometimes reminded me of the the pompous affectation Robin Williams mentioned once where the overly theatrical actors feel compelled to "enunciate to the back rowwwww!" 3 Stars.
Yep.. I watched the entire Firefly (2002) TV series and followed it up with the movie, Serenity (2005). I loved every second of it - again. Fourteen episodes of the series aired before the pinheads at Fox canceled it. Three years later an unadvertised theatrical release of the movie wrapped up the series after it disappeared without any semblance of a real ending or proper burial. I'm sure many people just didn't know what to make of a "space - western." I thought it was an extremely interesting mixture of two favored genres. Yeah, their space ship was neat, but I loved each of the characters for their unique, fully-developed personalities, their mysterious backgrounds and sense of humor. They came off as completely real (yet somewhat bizarre) charters in a completely bizarre setting. Don't let the setting or odd mix of genres run you off - the actors made the characters wonderful and they would have been enjoyable if the backdrop was an office building in present day Earth or Polynesian ninjas during the Renaissance. Hey, Netflixers, do yourself a favor and at least rent the first couple discs of the TV show to see what you think. Thanks again, Okie Sister, for recommending this! 5 Stars.
BattleStar Trek Galactica sighting: Mark Sheppard, who played bad guy Badger in a couple episodes here was not only the attorney who defended Gaius Baltar on Battlestar Galactica, he also had small role in Star Trek Voyager.
New to DVD:
I've listened to people berate The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) since before it hit theaters. Overall, it was pretty good, but I agree that it won't be anything other than a minor footnote in the history of science fiction. Last year I watched the 1951 version and was also unimpressed. That version regularly makes top 5 lists of Best Sci-Fi Ever, but I feel like it's mentioned mostly due to nostalgia and not the merit of it standing on it's own today. I don't discount it completely because, of course without it, all of the truly spectacular sci-fi that came after it simply wouldn't exist. Besides, it co-starred Frances Bavier. C'mon, how can you have great Sci-Fi with "Aunt Bee"? I kept waiting for her to moan "Ooooh Andy" and force her yucky home-canned pickles on Klaatu. That would have exasperated the situation by putting him in the uncomfortable position of fibbing about their taste on top of his already stressful responsibility of judging and potentially destroying Earth. Anyway, one thing I did appreciate, this remake absolutely conveyed a feeling of peril and impending doom - something I felt was lacking in the blandish '51 version. 3 Stars.Older Stuff:
After the punishment of watching The Punisher and it's gory remake, I needed a good dose of "superhero done right." X-Men (2000) has it all - an exciting story with good acting throughout. The special effects were amazing yet didn't get in the way of the story. In fact, it was all essential due to the nature of the characters. My favorite gauge of a movie's entertainment value is when time flies by so quickly that I'm left disappointed that it was over so soon and wishing for more. No matter what, X-Men definitely scores highly there. 5 Stars.
Star Trek sighting: "Himself" himself - Patrick Stewart is Professor X.Enjoying Adam Sandler's version of Mr. Deeds last week prompted me to pick up Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) from the library because, "of course" it would be better. Well, maybe not. Again (actually before), Gary Cooper's "Mr. D" inherits an insane amount of money yet truly doesn't care about wealth. He's incorruptible and always a decent, upstanding person. But I think I would have liked this Deeds better if he had ever convinced me he was even somewha
t happy before or after the inheritance. Thinking back, he was moral and righteous, but.. did he ever smile? He only wanted to use this wealth to help others, but rarely showed a positive emotion. That made Cooper come off as a bit pompous where Sandler was fun-loving, care-free and appreciative of a gift he could bestow on others. Most of he humor of this 70+ year-old movie worked just fine. As a nit-picky pet peeve of mine, I could have done without the Cagney-esque New York street-tough characters who ended every sentence with the word "see", see? Yeah, you got it see? It's annoying, see? A lot of the actors delivered their dialogue LOUDLY in a rapid-fire pace using incredibly nasally voices. I chalk it up to head colds and a shortage of decongestants during the great depression. It sometimes reminded me of the the pompous affectation Robin Williams mentioned once where the overly theatrical actors feel compelled to "enunciate to the back rowwwww!" 3 Stars.
Yep.. I watched the entire Firefly (2002) TV series and followed it up with the movie, Serenity (2005). I loved every second of it - again. Fourteen episodes of the series aired before the pinheads at Fox canceled it. Three years later an unadvertised theatrical release of the movie wrapped up the series after it disappeared without any semblance of a real ending or proper burial. I'm sure many people just didn't know what to make of a "space - western." I thought it was an extremely interesting mixture of two favored genres. Yeah, their space ship was neat, but I loved each of the characters for their unique, fully-developed personalities, their mysterious backgrounds and sense of humor. They came off as completely real (yet somewhat bizarre) charters in a completely bizarre setting. Don't let the setting or odd mix of genres run you off - the actors made the characters wonderful and they would have been enjoyable if the backdrop was an office building in present day Earth or Polynesian ninjas during the Renaissance. Hey, Netflixers, do yourself a favor and at least rent the first couple discs of the TV show to see what you think. Thanks again, Okie Sister, for recommending this! 5 Stars.
BattleStar Trek Galactica sighting: Mark Sheppard, who played bad guy Badger in a couple episodes here was not only the attorney who defended Gaius Baltar on Battlestar Galactica, he also had small role in Star Trek Voyager.Friday, April 10, 2009
Happy Esther!
Happy Esther to all you fish-eyed heathens.
(You know who you are.)
"Ohhh, Glory!"
"Watch it, sucka!"
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