Thoughts of Cyen

Media of 2010 - Movies (on DVD)

2011-01-01T19:32:00.003-05:00

1/1/10 - Is Anybody There - ★★★ - A bit of a depressing movie. Which if anyone has followed any of my previous reviews you know I don't really like depressing movies. That said, it was some nice acting on behalf of Michael Caine and the young chap Bill Milner (who was in Son of Rambow). At times it was rather difficult understanding the thick English accents. All in all a decent movie, just not the right genre for me.

1/2/10 - Pond Hockey - ★★★★ - A documentary that I stumbled upon on Hulu.com of all places. I'm also not a big fan of Hockey (or sports in general), so for it to keep my interest for about 2 hours was saying something. Of all topics I would not have thought you could fill 2 hours on a subject of "Pond Hockey" but they did a nice job with this. I'm not sure if this link will work in the future but this is where I saw it:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/118204/pond-hockey

1/3/10 - Seven Pounds - ★★★★★ - wow, this was a good movie. A bit of a chick flick I suppose, but a really good story telling. Will Smith pulls through with this acting talents yet again. Oh and yes... you might need a box of tissues for this one. I'm glad I didn't see it in the theater so as not to have to explain that I had some dust in my eye!

1/3/10 - The Take - ★★★★★ - An Amazing documentary. I had seen Naomi Klein interviewed on C-Span, and she (or the interviewer did?) mentioned this documentary that she and her husband worked on. I thought she was a very interesting person so I decided to look into the dvd. (Netflix pulls through again!) What an interesting (though somewhat sad to see the levels of poverty and hardships these people were/are living through). But the concept was so foreign to me... in a nutshell... Argentina used to be a manufacturing hub and they were prosperous with a strong middle class. Along came some politicians who under the name of Capitalism, decided to sell off everything to the big corporations. Then things turned sour. The big Corps simply closed down the factories and moved away leaving the factory towns with 60% unemployment. Now here's the kicker... The workers decided to TAKE back the factory buildings and re-open them! No management at all, just completely run by the workers (who all got the same pay). There is a lot more but I don't want to give away too much of the film. If you like documentaries and politics, I'd highly recommend this one.

1/7/10 - 30 Days: Season 2 - ★★★★★ - So I actually watched the first 2 parts in 2009, but finally got around to finishing this last disk of season 2. Tonight's episode was about going to jail. I really tip my hat to Morgan Spurlock for putting himself (and others) through these experiences so that someone like me can get a glimpse into what life is like in places I don't get to see. His commentary is thoughtful and thought provoking. If you like documentaries, you must check out all of these series.

1/30/10 - Transformers 2 - ★★ - I won't go into detail here, it's not worth it. It's a movie with punching, kicking robots, and lots and lots of explosions. The entire movie is people yelling, like they all just drank a case of some sort of energy drink. At times it was also a terrific advertisement for the armed services. Logic and physics is thrown out the window, and the girl is smokin hot (though I had to Laugh-out-loud, when they showed her posed sexily on a motorcycle trying to airbrush a gas-tank... it was clear she (or the director) had no idea how to use an airbrush - but who cares right? She looked good faking it. ugh. I'm giving it one extra ★ for the effects and especially the sound effects. There was absolutely no reason this movie should have been 2.5 hours long.

1/31/10 - Once - ★★★★★ - A Fantastic film. It has an Indy feel to it. Rather simple storyline, but that doesn't detract from the film and in fact actually adds to it. The music was fantastic (about to purchase the soundtrack now). The cinematography was really nice at times. The only small complaint (which is a reflection on me, not the film) was that the Irish accent was a bit tough to understand at times (especially the first scene). This is one of those movies that I consider a gem in the rough.

2/6/10 - Ricky Gervais: Out of England - ★★★ - Meh. There were some funny parts I guess, but lots of "blue" material - and rather graphic too. I didn't need to hear all that.

2/7/10 - Away we go - ★ - I tried. I really tried to like this, but it was just laced with too much estrogen.

2/17/10 - A Perfect Getaway - ★★★ - Not a great movie, and not terrible either. I was entertained. The plot was a little thin at times, yet that wasn't enough to make this a bad movie. Perhaps if I had paid $9.75 for a ticket, I would not be so kind, but for a dvd rental on a night where the only other thing on tv is bad re-runs then this movie fits the bill. Oh, I should say too... that I'm a fan of Steve Zahn, so take that for what it's worth.

2/x/10 - House - Season one - ★★★ - I'm basically enjoying this new series on dvd. (It originally aired in 2004, but it's new to me). The storyline is repetitive though - patient comes in, they can't figure out what's wrong, they diagnose something, and it usually ends up being wrong... then Dr. House thinks of something (usually from one obscure fact that was overlooked, or unknown at the beginning of the show), then Dr. House looks like the genius for rescuing the patient's life. But, that's really no different from any other TV show with a basic formula. And... I've learned some medical items that I found interesting.

2/?/10 - The Cove - ★★★★ - I'm late in writing this review, so I'll just keep it short. A documentary, that tries to uncover a small cove in Japan that sells dolphins to aquariums around the world, then whatever dolphins don't sell they attempt to slaughter. While, tragic, and brutal at times, my only complaint was that the tone of the movie seemed to be off, in regards to the subject matter. For example... This is a serious problem of a hidden and possibly illegal slaughter, yet the filmmakers seemed to have a lighthearted sometimes joking around, about the technology involved with trying to capture film footage. Like they were all enjoying playing the role of an undercover spy, rather than being serious about what they were doing. I don't doubt, they are serious, but the film portrayed them at times as if they were just out for some fun.

2/28/10 - Charles Darwin: Genius - ★★★ - An ok documentary. Only 50 minutes long it seemed to just barely scratch the surface of Darwin's life and endeavors. Also, the production value was on the cheap side (though perhaps that was because it was dated and more a sign of the times - I just looked it up and it says 2000, I would have guessed about 1983, so I will put the blame on cheapness). I feel like the script just highlighted a few important facts about his life without delving too deep. Reminded me of a 4th grader's book report. That sounds a bit harsh, and I will say, that I did learn some new things about Mr. Darwin, and it was a good 50 minutes spent on a Sunday afternoon.

2/28/10 - Taking Woodstock - ★★★★ - I'm being generous with a that last "★", because I can see underneath, that this had/has the makings of a good film. First off, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, I thought it was just going to be a slapstick sort of comedy (Demetri Martin is pretty funny), but underneath some of the comedy and goofiness there were some heavier topics. All in all, I enjoyed the movie, and I can't quite put my finger on why it just wasn't a solid 4★ film. I suspect it may have been the directing, or a feeling of not really delving too far into any of the other characters (other than Demetri's). I don't expect everyone will like this movie, but that's ok. Everything is groovy man.

3/19/10 - Paper Heart - ★★★★ - A fun quirky little movie. Filmed in the style of a documentary, but I'm abou 76% sure it was just a movie made to look like a documentary. The movie did have moments of awkwardness (perhaps intentional), but all in all, I enjoyed the ride. The few scenes of puppetry were actually really well done - yet I can't put my finger on what made them so well done. Perhaps the combination of great lighting, and sound and creativity.

3/24/10 - Coraline - ★★★ - A strange movie. While I enjoyed the animation and visuals, the storyline was just a little too far out there for me. I'll just leave it at that.

3/25/10 - Precious - ★★★★★ - A really difficult movie to watch, regarding the subject matter, but wow, what a film. I can't comment on the story at all at this point. Words fail me. As to the acting it is top notch, all around. The main reason I rented this film, was because of all the recent Oscar Buzz, and I was curious... I'm glad I rented this.

4/14/10 - Moon - ★★★★ - Almost a 5★, but I just couldn't be generous enough for that last ★. Sam Rockwell though was amazing! The film was great too, though my only complaint (which may really bother others) was that it was a slow moving film. A lot depended on 'Mood' rather than action. I was able to stay interested and Rockwell never let me look away. I remember missing this in the theater because it just didn't "grab me"... but I'm really glad I gave it a second chance on dvd.

4/18/10 - The Jacket - ★★★★★ - I was really pleasantly surprised with this movie. I wasn't sure what to expect, It was a recommendation from netflix and I took a gamble. It paid off. I really enjoyed this psyche thriller, with elements of sci-fi. If you like somewhat unusual films, this is it. Go rent it now.

4/18/10 - The Fourth Kind - ★★★★ - I'm being generous with the last ★. I was entertained by this movie, but I would certainly understand if others thought it was bad. I think because I like the subject matter, explains why I enjoyed it. The acting at times was good, at other times... not so much. Basically the story is what carried the movie for me.

5/10 - Northern Exposure: Season one - ★★★★★ - I was really hesitant to watch this series. I was a big fan of the show back when it first started, and it has been quite a few years since last I saw an episode, but I was not disappointed. I've had movies and TV shows like this in the past, where the memory of you liking something is worth more than actually watching it a second time and seeing how "cheesy" it was. But I gotta say, the writing still held up for me. Granted some of the 80's fashion was cheesy, but for the most part, I am enjoying the series (again).

5/5/10 - Saint Ralph - ★★★★ - I don't recall how I heard of this movie (perhaps it was a netflix recommendation), but I'm glad I gave it a shot. It was a typical "underdog" movie for sure, meaning the story has been told 100 times before, but I still enjoyed the ride of the show and got sucked into rooting for Ralph.

6/?/10 - Beautiful Losers - ★★★★★ - a really nice indie-film about 'underground' art.

6/12/10 - The Bourne Identity - ★★★★★ - I saw this a long time ago in the theater, and happened to catch some of this movie on TV about a week prior, but with all the added commercials, it was driving me crazy. So I stopped watching the movie on TV, and ordered it on Netflix. I really enjoyed this movie again. Perhaps more the second time, as I went back to netflix and boosted my rating from a 4 star to a 5 star.

6/12/10 - Transiberia - ★★ - A long drawn out movie with poor acting. I managed to watch the entire movie, but it was a struggle at times. I mainly rented it because it had Woody Harrelson in it, but even his character was thin. I saw moments in the movie where a couple twists could have made the story-line much better. Ben Kingsley was good though his role was not that large.

7/4/10 - Che - ★★★ - I wasn't sure what to expect with this film. It was more of a historical movie rather than a Hollywood retelling of Che's story (though I suspect even Hollywood couldn't resist some embellishment). This movie - or should I say "movies" had a few strikes against it right from the start... It was LONG. Technically they broke the 4 hour movie into two. One dealing mainly with Che's fight in Cuba, and the second half dealing with Che's fight in Bolivia. Another strike (for many), is that the movie was subtitled. This didn't bother me that much. But what did bother me... the movie treated the viewer like they had some prior knowledge of Che, The struggle of the Cuban fight, historical facts and dates, and geography. I had none of that. So for MUCH of the 4 hours, I was in a state of confusion. The enemies were not clearly defined. It was just told as the "guys (and gals) in green versus the other army guys)". Had it not been for Benicio Del Toro's portrayal of Che and his acting and his commanding presence, this movie would have fallen far short of the generous ★★★'s I gave it. I admit though... towards the end of the second half, I found it almost funny, how the majority of the scenes were just Benicio striking a commanding pose, in front of a handful of men, while sitting in the woods.
But... I managed to stick out the entire 4 hours and that must account for something.

7/10/10 - Doc Martin - ★★★★ - while I just watched only one episode of the British comedy, I did enjoy it. So perhaps it's too early to let this one episode decide the entire series. I couldn't help but notice a similarity to two other shows I'm currently watching too - House and Northern Exposure... it's as if you mashed those two shows up, you'd get Doc Martin. But... I also wanted to mention, that I really enjoyed the scenery of the British landscape as much as the show. Perhaps I'll update the rating as I see more shows. (update: I've now watched almost to the end of season 4 and I'm going to be sad that I finished this series. I've become attached to the characters (and town) which says a lot for a TV show. One thing I should note too... what I thought was going to be mainly a "comedy" series, they have quite a few "serious" episodes as well. I HOPE there is a future for this show and that Season 5 will be out eventually.

7/23/10 - Paranormal Activity - ★★★★ - Ok, I know... perhaps it's not worthy of a full 4 ★'s, but I was entertained and enjoyed this movie. I did watch it on my TV (on DVR actually), and I would imagine it was much more intense and scary in a large movie theater. I admit, I got the willies AFTER the movie was over - you know that ol' imagination can start to get to you after a movie like this. Was it as "scary" as they hyped it? maybe not for me (I used to be a "ghost hunter", so a lot of the things they did in the movie are things I did also - though NEVER with the same results). But all in all, I was glad to have finally gotten around to seeing this movie.

7/30/10 - The Machinist - ★★★★ - I'm not really sure if this was a good movie or not. It was rather twisted, and really had a feel of an old Hitchcock film. A slow moving psych thriller with lots of twists and turns. I enjoyed some of the attention to detail (ie: license plates, dead fish, etc...). Perhaps most disturbing though... to see an emaciated Christian Bale... wikipedia says he lost approx 62 pounds to get down to a weight of 120lbs. Now that's dedication (or crazy - or both).

8/?/10 - Pretty Bird - ★★★ - Not the best of movies, but as a fan of Paul Giamatti, I made it through the entire show. It could have been a good flick, but it lacked something, perhaps direction or better editing. nutshell... a guy with a salesman attitude and gift, tries to put together a team to build a rocket belt. (supposedly based on a true story?).

8/5/10 - Paris, Je T'aime - ★★★★ - An interesting movie, made up of a bunch of "shorts" or approx. 5 minute films, with the common theme of Paris (and love) tying them all together. While I didn't like every single one, there was one that stood out the best for me... "Place des fêtes" - that one blew me away with it's content and range of feelings all pushed neatly into a 5 minute film. I also found it slightly ironic the amount of "American actors and/or directors" involved with this film. (yes most of it is in french so if subtitles bother you, well... learn to speak french then.

8/9/10 - She's out of my league - ★★★ - I'm not sure why I'm giving it a three. There were times where it's a solid one, but there were moments I guess (in-between all the cliché musical montages) that I enjoyed this movie. Some of the jokes were good (some not so much), but there towards the end, it managed to keep my interest, and thus I finished watching the movie. Yes, it has a teen R-rated mentality, but I think it's saving grace... everyone loves an underdog story.

8/21/10 - Quarantine - ★★★★ - for a horror movie this was pretty good. I was entertained, and the overall storyline I felt had a thread of believability. Jennifer Carpenter (who I liked very much in Dexter), was good... well sort of... She has a way of "over reacting" which some might say is a good thing, but for me it's just a bit too over-the-top. So at some scenes where she was screaming and carrying on, I admit, I fast-forwarded it just to get to the next scene. But again, this is a horror movie, so the standard is not too high.

8/23/10 - Youth in Revolt - ★★★★ - All in all and decent quirky movie. Some of the situations... ok... MOST of the situations were rather unbelievable, but hey, it made for an entertaining movie. It was definitely rated R, and it reminded me of a sort of R-rated hipster style "animal house" movie, done as a teen romance/coming of age genre. A good cast of characters though.

9/1/10 - Waltz with Bashir - ★ - I'm not sure how I discovered this movie, but I can tell you that it was the animation that caught my interest. I also liked the fact that it was an Israeli film. But... maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for a foreign film, but I just could not get into this movie at all. Yes, the animation was pretty awesome at first, but then it soon became just another animated movie. quickly after that point, I lost all interest. Which is a bit sad, because I think there was an important message in there, but as I said, I lost interest.

9/3/10 - The Pursuit of Happyness - ★★★★ - Ok, yes... I admit it, I enjoyed this movie. I ALMOST gave it a 5★ rating too... but then I considered two points... 1) it was kinda depressing 2) it was a "typical" underdog movie. But I, like most people, enjoy underdog movies. I won't say much more about the plot, but Will Smith did another good job, as did his son Jaden. Oh... and I really enjoyed seeing all the city and street shots of San Francisco area. I've visited there and it's a fantastic place.

9/11/10 - To Kill a Mocking Bird - ★★★★★ - I really enjoyed this movie. (apparently a lot of people have because it's considered a classic). The acting was well done, and the story was what held my interest. The kids (Scout, Jem, Dill) were fun to watch as well. And one of the things that I enjoy about watching old movies (this was set in the late 30's, but filmed in 1961) is to see how things "used to be". For example, this father of 2 young kids, had a nanny, but for the most part, these kids were free to roam around the small town with no adult supervision. In today's world this would be unthinkable. (unless there are small towns out there who still feel safe in their communities like that). But all in all, this is a classic that everyone should watch.

9/23/10 - The Crazies - ★★★★ - Basically, this movie is a typical zombie genre horror movie, so when you see my 4★ rating, it's meant to be relative. But, I thought it was well done. Timothy Olyphant played a good role as the sheriff, and the other actors did a pretty good job as well. I liked the basic concept of the story in that it had a thread of believability. Worth a rental if you like zombie style movies.

9/22/10 - Aliens vs Monsters - ★★★★ - A kids movie that my friend let me borrow, and it was pretty good. The animation was well done as was the voice acting. I especially liked Seth Rogen's character of "the blob".

I've gotten a bit lazy on updating this list, so a handful of short reviews:

10/10/10 - The Ghost Writer - ★★★ - not bad really, but it just felt a bit on the slow side. The story was interesting and Ewan Macgreggor did a pretty good job of carrying the film, I wished I got to see more of Pierce Brosnan's character.

10/8/10 - The Happening - ★ - I was warned about even wasting my time to rent this movie, and even all the buzz on the internet as to how bad it was, but that made me curious... really how bad could it be? Yep... it was bad. Mark Wahlberg, who I usually like, was pitiful in this film. I don't know why he was so bad (I can only blame the director?). But the combination of a stupid plot-line, with horrible dialogue with poor directing made this movie a real stinker. That said... I watched the entire thing... I supposed I just have to give it some credit for keeping me hooked for the whole movie.

10/9/10 - The Usual Suspects - ★★★ - a classic that I have heard a lot of good things about, that I finally got around to seeing. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh with only 3 stars, but I think the time period really distracted me from enjoying the movie, Filmed in 1995, but it felt so long ago (Benicio was so young looking). Stephen Baldwin surprised me, in that he was pretty good. It was a very strange cast of actors, but for some reason it worked. The story was a bit hard to follow at times (time jumping, between present day and flashbacks), along with some characters not being explained until later, but all in all a decent movie.

10/10/10 - (Untitled) - ★★★★ - a smaller indy film that poked fun at the "art world" of the New York Gallery scene. I heard about this movie from my sister (thanks sis!). I liked it overall, but it's not a movie for everyone. I've had plenty of discussions of "what is art" so I thought I could relate a little more than perhaps the average movie goer. The "music" even, I thought was interesting as was some of the art (they were trying to spoof cutting edge, and I think they may have actually made some decent art i the process). I'm also a fan of Adam Goldberg, so that helped as well. I enjoyed Lucy Punch's character too (who played a secondary character) - and was later looking up her profile on imdb, and was very surprised to see that she was the one who played in Doc Martin's BBC tv series. (she was the secretary from the first season).

Note: I became lax in writing my reviews so I may have missed a handful of dvd's here.

10/?/10 - Baghead - ★ - I gave this small indy movie a chance, but it was basically horrible. I won't even bother getting into it.

10/?/10 - face/off - ★ - and older movie (1997), that I had missed, and finally got around to watching. I like Nicolas Cage and Travolta, but this was bad. Maybe in 1997 I would have liked it more? But just a typical action movie, with bad acting, and lame plot, depending too much on computer graphics.

10/?/10 - The Box - ★★ - Another pretty bad movie. It wasn't horrible, but it was close. It had its moments where I found myself enjoying it, and being sucked back to the 1970's (not sure why it was set i that time period though). But for the most part, I was just left scratching my head wondering what the heck was going on.

10/29/10 - X-Files: I want to believe - ★★★ - Perhaps my review is biased since I was a BIG fan of the TV show. So it was good to see these old characters back on my TV screen again. Unfortunately, the entire storyline seemed like a stretch. The acting was so-so. But in spite of the negatives, I was entertained for a bit.

(side note) - a string of bad movies lately. I hope a good one comes along to break the trend.

10/30/10 - Rocky Horror Picture Show - ★★★ - Not much to say on this one. I'm sure you're familiar with this movie in some way or another (from the 70's!). And yes, I've been to a few of the "midnight showings" for this, but I was never the one to get involved with memorizing the lines or bringing props. But... perhaps this was the first time since watching this movie since I was in my late teens, and I gotta say... what a screwy movie! I'm still not sure if it's good or not... in that it's SO BAD, that it's good.
Anyway... I'll just add this... I was on the internet wondering where some of the actors are now... I discovered an odd (to me) fact... that Riff Raff, Dr. Frank, and Brad Majors... all key players in TRHPS, that they have all done voice work for the Disney cartoon Phineas and Ferb. Odd you ask? Well... yeah kinda... an R-rated movie about transsexuals doesn't seem like the pool that Disney swims in for cartoons for kids. Kooky.

11/5/10 - Henry Rollins: live uncut from NYC - ★★★★ - intelligent, philosophy, funny, sad, angry, profanity, life stories = good stuff
A tad long winded though… might be better to watch this in two doses.

11/19/20 - The invention of lying - ★★ - While I like Ricky Gervais (most of the time), this movie just felt too trite. While dancing around the subject of morality, or more directly Religion… The movie skated on the edge of being insulting. I kept waiting for the big "twist" that would explain the movies motives… there was none. At times the movie brought me in, and I had fun, but eventually it just left a stale taste. And!!! the blatant product placement was a huge distraction to me.

11/21/10 - The White Stripes Under Northern Lights - ★★★★★ - at first I wasn't getting into the dvd. But the longer I watched the more I tuned in. By the end, I loved it. While I have to admit, I can't say as I like all of their songs/performances, but I can certainly appreciate the level of talent in both Meg and Jack. I'll say it here too… I think Jack is a musical genius. As to the dvd, I enjoyed some of the "behind the scenes" looks of what went on in the Canadian tour. If you're a fan, I'd rate this as a must see.

11/25/10 - American Psycho - ★ - Stupid. That is all.

11/26/10 - The Universe Of Keith Harring - ★★★ - one of my favorite artists, and I enjoyed learning a bit about him as a person, and about his life, but as a documentary… it left me wanting more. I felt too much focus was spent on holding Keith up as a "celebrity" and not enough background about the art itself. ie: Why the line art? What does the crawling baby represent? What about the dog or the three eyed monster? I still like Keith's art, but I wasn't really interested in the New York social scene in the late 80's.

11/??/10 - In Bruges - ★★★★★ - I have seen this movie before, but decided to rent it again. (I usually don't do that). But yes, I very much enjoyed this the second time around.

12/12/10 - who the #$@% is Jackson Pollock? - ★★★ - I found this movie interesting, and the story a good one, but felt it was just a bit too long winded. While the film presents some interesting "opinions/facts" in the end, I found myself just not agreeing with the premise that this was a Pollock. Don't let that discourage YOU for making up your own mind though, don't view this as a "spoiler" - because I'm sure there are plenty of people who will side with Loraine. But my "gut instinct" tells me that it's not a true Pollock painting. It does highlight the fact though behind the "art world" - in that it's not just about "is it a nice painting" that determines the worth of a piece of art, but rather the story, the signature (or lack of), and which "critic" deems it worth of a price tag. This is how the real world operates and it's a bit of a sham if you ask me.

12/12/10 - Capote - ★★★★ - A rather depressing story. I'm not too big of a fan of movies that depress me, but I have to give this a 4★ for no other reason than Philip seymour hoffman's portrayal of Truman Capote. Just a great performance. That said, I don't really know what capote's mannerisms are/were, I've only seen a clip or two in the past, so all I know is that he had a high pitched voice. But… I do know Hoffman, and the person I watched tonight on my tv screen was not Hoffman. I found the story compelling too, in that I am torn with how to feel about it… But, I guess that's the sign of a good story.

12/16/10 - Splice - ★★★★ - I know! You're saying 4-∆'s?! Yep. Ok, first off… this was not a great movie - but, i have to admit, I was entertained throughout, and enjoyed it. Adrian Brody did an ok job here, the effects were really well done as well. I'm sorry to say though, Sarah Polley, who played Brody's girlfriend was horrible! Almost comical at times as to how bad. The story was interesting as well. Perhaps one of the reasons I enjoyed this movie, was that I had read other reviews that said it was awful, so perhaps my expectations were so low that I didn't hold it to any high standards.

12/18/10 - Ushpizin - ★★★★★ - Sometimes it's a great treat to just stumble upon a movie. I actually don't recall where I heard of this movie, other than I think it was on a previous dvd that I rented and it was in the trailers. The main actor (who I think also wrote the screenplay) caught my attention. That, and I've had pretty good luck with foreign films lately, so I gave it shot. I'm glad I did. It was basically a comedy, in that situations were a bit over the top and somewhat humorous, but underneath the comedy was a really nice story. I liked the scenery too (though I wanted to see more), and that's one of the main reasons I enjoy these foreign films so much, it's like looking into another part of the world. If you enjoy a 'slice of life' film, with a real independent feel to it, and don't mind reading subtitles, then I'd highly recommend this film. note: Ushpizin is an Aramaic word that means "guests".
Oh… and this is one of those movies that the less you know ahead of time the better.

12/20/10 - The day the earth stood still - ★★★★ - A dvd i borrowed from my friend, and I enjoyed it. The audio quality was annoying though, in that, once the conversations stopped, they'd cut to either music or some sound effects, and they boosted the volume really loud. I kept having to reduce the volume, then once they started talking again, I'd have to raise it back up. The story was an interesting one. The effects for the time were pretty good too.
Spoiler…
I later looked up some info about the movie on wikipedia, and read that the screenwriter wanted the "Christ" reference to be "subliminal" - really? Because I thought it was rather blatant :)

12/26/10 - Mic Macs - ★★★ - I suspect I wasn't in the right frame of mind to enjoy this movie. I liked the visuals, and some of the bits were funny, but I just couldn't get drawn into the movie. It was certainly a quirky one. Currently, it's been snowing for about 10 hours and there is predictions that it will continue to snow throughout the night, so I think I've been distracted and couldn't devote my full attention to the movie.

12/27/10 - Fur - ★★ - I actually feel bad for not liking this movie. I can see what they were trying for, but in my opinion they just focused on a narrow window and drew that out into a long winded 2 hour movie. The acting was well done, even the cinematography was nice at times, but I found myself fast-forwarding a couple times just to get on a bit quicker. I will say this, hands down, the strangest movie of 2010. I bet this movie puts me in the realm of a *true* Robert Downey fan as I bet most people have never seen (or heard about) this movie.

12/30/10 - Please give - ★★(★) - So on Netflix they have ratings for each movie based on a 5 star system. You would think that a 3 star would be a "middle-of-the-road" rating, but on Netflix they make it difficult (for me anyway). They have it so a 2 star rating is "I didn't like it" and a 3 star is "I liked it". Me… I like gray areas on certain things. The movie… The subject was a "slice-of-life" type movie with several characters in a New York apartment. Several of these people were just downright nasty and unlikeable. Some of the subjects (like death) were pretty depressing. For those two reasons, I did not like this movie. The world is full of suck, and I watch movies to escape that for 2 hours. That said… I can appreciate that this was a good movie. The acting was well done all around, the scenery was nice, the conflicts of the story was enough to build a good tension… it just didn't make me feel good - so, only 2 stars. Oh, I should mention, this is 100% a chick-flick.

12/30/10 - I Like Killing Flies - ★★★★ - An unusual documentary. Overall I liked it, but like some of the scenes, I felt a bit like I was covered in grease and grime after watching it. I do know this… I'll never eat at a little dive restaurant in New York City. Also, at just over an hour, this was a good "short" movie for a subject like this. There were some pearls of wisdom in this film too, but they were grease covered. I find it also interesting, that this person, and how he lives, speaks, and thinks - was formed by some psychologist for 14 years.

total 63*
I may have skipped one or two and a few of these were TV series where there were multiple shows and dvd's - I only counted the entire season as one dvd.

Media of 2010 - Movies (in the theater)

2011-01-01T19:13:00.002-05:00

1/2/10 - Sherlock Holmes - ★★★★ - A fun and entertaining movie. I will admit though I struggled at times with keeping up with the story and dialogue - it was VERY fast, and then with the English accents I missed some of the words as well. I wanted them to slow things down a little so I could take in more of what was happening. I'd be willing to bet the high speed action of it all was the fingerprint of director Guy Ritchie. I was not familiar with the story-line, so that was nice for me as well. I had read the "Hounds of Baskerville".
All in all, a fun ride.

1/9/10 - Avatar - ★★★★ - Yes, I'm a bit surprised myself that I'm giving it a 4 ★ rating. I think I had something going in my favor though upon going into this event... I knew that the storyline stunk. From all the things I saw on the web, I knew that was one of the biggest complaints over the movie. And I'd have to agree. But... I think the graphics of it all more than made up for it, and I just enjoyed being transported to another world. Yes, my friend and I saw it in 3d as well. I think in hindsight I'm kinda glad I did, but I think in the future I might just choose to forego the 3d effect. I find it too distracting actually. But there as my friend pointed out, of all the movies to see in 3d, this was the one.

1/17/10 - The Book of Eli - ★★★★★ - a rare 5★ rating. Denzel does not disappoint. I was also impressed (again) with Mila Kunis, I think she may have some real talent as an actress, perhaps just needs a bit more polish until we see her in a really great role. And of course Gary Oldman plays yet another great bad guy. The filming and cinematography on this movie was really well done as well. As was the soundtrack. The storyline was unusual, and entertaining and thought provoking. The whole package for me, to make for a really good movie.

1/23/10 - Legion - ★ - Yep, the critics were right on this one. A confusing story-line. Supposedly about the apocalypse, but I suspect the writer had never read the Bible. I would love to understand how semi-big name actors get rolls like this. Is there some sort of contract agreement? I don't get it.

2/13/10 - The Wolfman - ★★★ - So, I realize this was basically a bad movie... but I actually kinda enjoyed it. I think about half-way through the movie I realized I was watching a modernized B-Movie, and then once I accepted that, it was enjoyable. Were there holes in the plot? you bet. Was the acting forced and kinda lame at times? Yep (though some of the acting was pretty good). Was the editing poorly done? Absolutely (my biggest complaint). Was the "background" music IN-YOUR-FACE? YES! But there were some aspects (mostly visual) that just made it a good b-movie horror flick.

2/20/10 - Shutter Island - ★★★★ - almost a 5 start movie for me. I only took off one star, because I did get lost in the story once or twice, trying to figure out who all the characters were. But all in all, I really enjoyed this movie. The one scene with the water glass I will have to watch again on dvd to figure out what that was all about.
What a movie should be... good story, good acting, and nice cinematography.

3/6/10 - Cop Out - ★★★ - I'm being generous with that last ★, but I'm giving it because a few times in the movie I did giggle, and perhaps a laugh or two. Any movie that can do that gets points in my book. That said... the plot was mediocre, the acting was bleh, and Tracy Morgan, while funny at times spent most all his time on screen yelling. Even "Stiffler" (Sean William Scott) was funny but his character was so jumbled I spent all my time trying to figure him out. The other curious thing in this movie was the odd 80's soundtrack or background music. It was like they took the music right from "Beverly Hill's Cop". Good for a few laughs but a pass unless there's nothing else to rent.

3/13/10 - Alice in Wonderland - ★★★ - This movie was just middle of the road for me. While the visuals were fantastic, the story was just kinda all over the place. And... perhaps this is a big factor... we saw it in "2D" instead of "3D", and it was blatantly obvious that there were quite a few scenes that were specifically designed to be viewed in 3D (For example the falling down the rabbit hole). That just kinda turned me off a little. Rather than depend on all the things that are important to the making of a good movie, it's a sort of cheap tactic to depend on the delivery or graphics. The sign of a good graphics based movie is when it's seamlessly woven into the movie. Depp was Depp. Burton was Burton. But I really have to tip my hat to Mia Wasikowska, she did a good job. But overall the movie just was missing something to draw me in.

3/20/10 - Green Zone - ★★★★ - a strong and powerful movie about a difficult subject matter (war). Matt Damon was fantastic, along with a really well done plot. It was a deep storyline without being over complicated. The only reason I didn't give it the full 5 ★'s is due to the filming style - the dreaded shaky camera effect. I understand the reason for it, and it did give a feeling of being in the middle of it all and the chaos involved, but at times it was difficult to watch. The political message did not shy away from having a strong opinion, and while I appreciate it, I suspect people on the other side of the aisle would come away from the movie thinking it was just more "Hollywood propaganda". Which is a real shame if people feel that way, because the underlining message (There were no WMD's) is a real and powerful message. A multi-national war is being fought, in part, due to faulty or perhaps intentionally misleading facts - and no one seems to care.

3/27/10 - Repo Men - ★★ - I won't spend a lot of time on this one. While my brain tells me it was a bad movie - it was... I kinda enjoyed it. There were parts that reminded me of Blade Runner. If it were not for the acting of Jude and Forest, I think this might have gone straight to dvd. But I'm trying not to be too too harsh, since after-all it is a sci-fi film.

4/3/10 - How To Train Your Dragon - ★★★★★ - A rare 5★ for me. I almost took a point off because the storyline was a tad thin and predictable, but I reminded myself that it was a kid's movie. But, for me the animation was fantastic. The details and textures were amazing. I did see if in 3D, but that doesn't really impress me, the animation and 3D models did. The only other negative comment for me was the lead characters voice reminded me so much of Christian Slater, and his voice annoys me. (Jay Baruchel was the voice incase you were interested). I just enjoyed the visuals and yes the storyline too - even though it was for kids.

4/10/10 - Date Night - ★★★ - I'm a few days late in writing this so details are fuzzy. But I just remember laughing a couple times, smiling a few more times, that is an automatic ★★★. Will it win awards? No. But was I entertained for an evening? yep. I do remember some moments were awkward though, and some lines were obviously dubbed in, which really bothered me.

4/17/10 - Kick Ass - ★★ - While there were parts of this movie that I did like, there were parts that I found a bit too disturbing to actually say that I liked the movie overall. I felt like the film kept tearing me from a 'nerdy comic book teen comedy' to a 'Kill Bill" Quentin Tarantino movie. Perhaps if I knew ahead of time that this was going to be a darker movie, I would have been more prepared, but I was uncomfortable. IF the film-makers did this intentionally then it was brilliant of them, and a good social commentary about "violence in films". But I think I may be reading too much into it, and it was just a disjointed movie that had goofy moments mixed with dark violent ones.
The BEST PART of the movie though for me... one of the background songs was a punk rock version of the "Banana Splits" (performed by "The Dickies").

4/24/10 - Exit through the gift shop - ★★★★★ - So glad I got to see this movie in the theater. disclaimer: I'm a big fan of street art. So guess what this documentary is about... yep- Street Art. But it was more than just a movie about the underground art movement. It was also a character study of not only a handful of street artists (Shepard Fairy, Banksy) but more about a person that I had not heard of before (Not surprising, I don't claim to be an expert and know ALL the street artists out there). He goes by "MBW or Mister Brain Wash" aka: Thierry Guetta. What I also enjoyed about this movie, was the way it made you think about art. The age old question "What is art". Which then also begs the follow-up question... "Who is an artist?". And lastly, I enjoyed the comedy scattered through-out the movie. It was mostly subtle or tongue in cheek sort, and I found it interesting that the small theater that we saw it in... it was like the audience was not sure if they should laugh or not. (I did).
I highly recommend this movie if you like art, and want to be confronted with food for thought.
PS> I'm still struggling with this... is Thierry an idiot or a genius? :)
PS2> While there was not a lot of camera time dedicated to Thierry's "Art", there were some paintings that I did enjoy and like. I don't doubt that there is talent there, I only question if it's developed or not.
Sorry one more PS> It was really cool to also see original "Street" art outside of the theater done by Ellis G. (he does chalk outlines of shadows on city streets).

5/1/10 - The Losers - ★★ - While there were moments in this movie that were cool, for the most part it was just another cheap action movie. I tried not to be too hard on it - after-all it is a comic book movie, but still. Perhaps a rental when nothing else strikes you, but just don't expect a whole lot.

5/8/10 - Iron Man 2 - ★★★★★ - I just really enjoyed this movie. Sure it's a comic book action film, but I still enjoyed it a lot. My only complaint... (as with the first movie)... these high-tech half-robots with massive weapon systems, and it always comes down to a fist fight. Minor point for a comic book movie. Also, I wasn't sure that Scarlet Johannsen would be able to pull off a "tough girl" action hero role... uh, she did with no problem. I hope she gets her own film out of this. Lastly... DAFT PUNK!!!

5/14/10 - Män som hatar kvinnor - ★★★ - Also known as "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". A film made in Denmark, with English subtitles, that's about 2:30 hours long... whew, this was a difficult movie to get through. And in spite of it being a REALLY long and drawn out movie, I actually liked it when all was said and done. I certainly wouldn't recommend this to just anyone, but if you want something off the beaten trail, and are willing to work through a complicated plot with a ton of foreign names to follow, then by all means, this is the film for you. I should warn though (minor spoiler alert...) There were a couple scenes that dealt with rape, and the filming of it held nothing back. It was very brutal and difficult to watch. If you're sensitive to this, then by all means skip this film.

5/21/10 - Harry Brown - ★★★★ - Perhaps I'm being a bit generous with the last ★. All in all, I liked this movie, but I did feel like it lacked something. I kept waiting for something more to happen, but it didn't. I do have one complaint in that it was a very slow moving film. While I was able to take that extra time and appreciate some of the cinematography (for example the shot of Michael Cain putting his shoes on, while filmed from under the bed, was nice). A word of caution too... the movie was rather harsh at exposing the underside or dark-side of humanity. The language was horrible, the drug use and abuse of that one woman was difficult to watch, This may not sit well with other viewers. While I understood it from the story point of view, it did bother me. I tip my hat though to Michael as always a great performance.

6/5/10 - Robin hood - ★★★ - I'm writing this review a week late so I'll keep it short. I'm a BIG fan of knight movies, but this film just never seemed to take off. MY biggest complaint was that it was 2 hours and 20 minutes, which is entirely too long. It did have some good moments, but overall, It just left me with a "meh" moment.

7/3/10- Knight and Day - ★★★ - A spoof style movie with Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise. Making fun at times of 007 and all other spy genre action movies. While not to be taken seriously, I was entertained and laughed at a few of the lines. It started to get a bit tedious towards the end, but all in all entertained. (side note: Some of the camera shots of Cameron were rather unflattering as it showed that she may have a bit of age showing, and perhaps a bit too much make-up to cover up those marks of age.)

7/17/10 - Inception - ★★★★ - I'm a week late in writing this mini-review so details will be few... Upon leaving the theater, I told my friend, I did not like this movie so much. I though it was too jumbled. At one point, I likened it to watching television with someone who has the remote, and keeps changing the channels on you every three seconds. At one point, it felt like it was literally three different movies going on all at the same time. The "suspense" was driven to such a frenzy (helped along by the intense soundtrack) that it was a bit too much for me. But then... my friend and I started talking about the film (which by the way, he liked). We started to get into some of the deeper philosophical points and even some of the psychological points (which that I enjoyed), and I started to realize... hey, this was a pretty good movie. So, with bit of hesitation, I changed what was more of a ★★ movie for me, into a ★★★★. Just be prepared for 1) confusion and 2) intense action and suspense. If you're prepared, perhaps you'll enjoy the ride a little more.

7/31/10 - Dinner with schmucks - ★★★ - Well, during this movie, I stopped for a minute or so and was trying to think, what was the stupidest movie I've ever seen. And I couldn't really come up with a list, perhaps I blocked those movies out, or just deleted them from my memory banks. But... this movie I'm sure would rank well up in the top 5 or top 10. The only reason I'm giving it 3★'s is because I will admit that some parts did make me laugh. (I enjoyed the 'play dead' scenes).

8/7/10 - The other guys - ★★★★ - A good comedy pair of Will and Mark. Some parts I thought were really funny, other parts kinda brought the movie down to crawl, but all in all, I was entertained and laughed. If you see it in the theater or rent it, make sure to watch until the end of the credits for a small bonus scene.

8/14/10 - Get Low - ★★★★★ - A solid five star movie for me. (there was one complaint in that it was a slow paced movie and at times a bit too slow, and a couple bad edits, but all of the rest made up for those shortcomings). I'll just say this... Fantastic story and fantastic acting all around. Duvall was amazing as always. Lucas Black has got real talent, I HOPE to see him if good roles like this one more often. Sissy Spacek, again good. Bill Murry, yep... awesome. I wanted to add one other thing here... there was some fantastic lines in this movie that was really deep in some philosophical wisdom. A sign of some great writers behind the story (Chris Provenzano & Scott Seeke). And David Boyd should be commended for some really nice cinematography as well.

8/21/10 - Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - ★★★ - This one is a strange one. While there were things I liked in this movie, there were parts I didn't. The music was great! (very raw punk). The effects were well done too. I really give it credit because it was a creative film as well. But... perhaps where I can't compliment this movie is on the storyline. It just felt stale compared to everything else I was watching. Story is important to me, so I guess that's why I'm being critical.

8/28/10 - Animal Kingdom - ★★★★ - A foreign film from Australia that caught my eye from the trailer. I also was curious to see this because it won some award(s) at Sundance. A very dark movie (not literally), but it showed how some families can just really be messed up, and it doesn't take that much in life for things to turn sour. I did actually have some trouble with the thick Aussie accents, but not enough to detract from the movie overall.

9/4/10 - The American - ★★★ - I'm usually generous when giving an extra ★, but this time, I'm going to stick with my 3★'s. First, it was a good movie. The story was interesting, not overly complicated, but kept you guessing throughout. But, it was a very slow paced film. In my opinion it was too slow. On the plus side, the scenery of the Italian countryside was really nice! The little town that he visited "castel del monte" (assuming it was actually shot there) looked like an amazing place to visit. Perhaps a note of warning too... there was a lot of nudity in this movie.

9/18/10 - The Town - ★★★★ - Very impressed with Ben Affleck's film here. The acting was good all the way around, the story was interesting, and it moved at a good pace.

9/25/10 - Catfish - ★★★ - This is a difficult one for me to judge... I feel like the trailer of the film tricked me. With quotes like "The Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made" - I don't think it had anything to do with a Hitchcock movie. They portrayed it like it might be some sort of horror movie or at the very least a murder mystery - It was not. I don't want to say too much, because yes... it was a mystery in a sense, and I think had I not been waiting for some sort of gruesome twist, I would have enjoyed the film a lot more. I will say, I thought the storyline was interesting, the way they used things like "google maps" and "google earth" in the movie (more than a few times), was creative. But I can't help but to wonder how much of this was actually a "documentary" and how much was staged... the fact that JJ Abrams was attached to this movie leaves me suspicious - which I guess is what still makes for a mystery.
(side note: The theater that we usually go to, installed a new "digital projector" and this was the first movie we saw on it... I liked it. The colors were bright, and the lines seemed crisper, I look forward to seeing other digital movies this way and I'm curious to see how it compares with other movies).

10/2/10 - Let me in - ★★★★ - using the "relative" rating for a horror movie here. I had seen the original Swedish version of this movie on dvd (thanks netflix) called "Let the right one in". While the movie did make several changes (mostly to time period, and settings, such as Video arcades), it did stick to the original movie closely. As far as overall feel, I think the Swedish version was a bit creepier, whereas the American version depended a bit more on over-the-top visual effects. But all in all, I enjoyed this movie, perhaps even more than the Swedish version - maybe because I was not reading subtitles the whole time.

10/9/10 - The Social Network - ★★★ - Maybe I went in to this movie believing the hype, but for some reason I was disappointed. I had heard how great this movie was (Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 97%), and a lot of my twitter folks were talking about it as well. While I wouldn't say it was a bad movie, I just expected a little more. Instead it was basically a good story (though I'm not sure what truth was stretched to make for a good movie) - but that's about it. The dialogue was VERY fast, which left little time for something called "acting". Zuckerberg's character, (played by Jesse Eisenberg) was a rather monotone character. I think my biggest surprise was watching Justin Timberlake, who did a pretty good job (although was it really much of a stretch for him to play a rock-star like character?). One other comment... I became very aware at how the women were portrayed in this film... and it wasn't very flattering. Most of them were portrayed as slutty party girls, and hardly any of the women had any significant speaking roles. There was a couple exceptions (the lawyer who took a certain amount of pity on Zuckerberg, and one bit with Zuckerberg's girlfriend, but even that she was "just the angry girlfriend").

10/16/10 - It's kind of a funny story - ★★★★★ - (another review that I'm behind writing on (3 weeks!) so I'll keep it short...)
We took a gamble on this one. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The trailer made it look like it might be a teen romance movie (which in a way it was), but it was also much more than that. It was well written and well acted. (note: I am a fan of Zach Galinifakis, so that helped). Really enjoyed this one, and could be the highlight of 2010 movies for me.

10/23/10 - Hereafter - ★★ - Sorry, this one just didn't cut it for me. A confusing message (it tried very hard to stay away from any sort of religious message to a fault). Lots and lots of "Hollywood coincidences" that became unbelievable. Acting was ok by Matt Damon though, but still a bit flat. Strange cast (Jay Mohr as Damon's brother?) I usually like Clint Eastwood films, but this one... not so much. (note: it wasn't played up, but Steven Speilberg also had his hand in this movie... that did not surprise me... I think Steven is suffering from the M. Night syndrome).

11/6/10 - Due Date - ★★★ - Just couldn't quite bring myself to give it a 2 ★★ rating, but it was close. While I like all the actors involved, this movie was borderline tedious. Sure, there were some funny moments, and overall I was entertained, but in general the laughs were few. I should note… there was one woman in the audience who laughed (loudly) throughout the entire movie, so I know some people really thought it was funny. As my friend pointed out… Zach Galinafakis is starting to play the same role over and over again.

11/20/10 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (Part 1) - ★★★★ - Overall I enjoyed this film. I was surprised how much of the story I have forgotten so there were quite a few parts to the movie that left me confused as to what was happening. I should have either rented the previous movie(s), or re-read the book. I can't fault the movie for that point though. I had trouble at times with the dialogue. I'm not sure if it was that I wasn't hearing the words very well or that the English accents were a bit thick. (Yes, I'm aware that those two complaints make me sound like an old man!). I VERY much enjoyed the cinematography. I like a lot of the atmosphere shots, and a lot of the blue or cool tints. This is a strange point, I'll admit: While the movie had a lot of magic and effects in it, I felt like the experience seemed a bit less magical. Perhaps because there seemed to be less fantastical creature or plants, or even characters at this stage.
But again, all in all, I enjoyed the story, the acting, the effects, and I'll definitely be back for the final installment.

12/11/10 - Black Swan - ★★★ - To be honest, I'm still not 100% sure I'd give this movie the 3★ rating or not. Yes, the acting was very well done. Natalie may even get an oscar for this one. But the story left me feeling a little lost and somehow cheated. I'm not sure how, but i was both confused during the telling of the story, and yet I also felt the storyline was a bit predictable. While I knew the movie dealt with the ballet as a topic, I was not aware that the entire movie was about the ballet. I don't know, maybe that 3★ rating is right down the middle for me and is accurate as to how I feel about it.

12/19/10 - Tron - Legacy - ★★ - I really tried to like this movie. First the positives… The visuals (aka effects) were VERY well done. The sounds also was very well done (lots of attention to detail and subtle uses of effects to make it seem other-worldly). I also enjoyed the soundtrack by Daft Punk (note: I bought the soundtrack, and taken outside of the movie, I did not enjoy the soundtrack as much). Now the negative… the acting was sub-par. I liked Jeff Bridges parts, but even those were a bit one dimensional. Garrett Hedlund, who played the main character, was just borderline too. But most of all, I didn't like the storyline. Maybe if i recently re-watched the original Tron, some of it would have been clearer (netflix does not have the original Tron -why?!). Lastly, the graphics/effects of the digital "Jeff Bridges" (character name Clu) Was nice, but still looked totally fake. It really diminished the movie for me.

12/24/10 - Tangled - ★★★★ - A last minute decision to go see Disney's Tangled in the theater… and I'm glad I went. Of course I rationalized this to myself that I really wanted to go to view the 3d animation, but I'll be honest… I had a good time watching the movie. I won't critique the story, after all it is a kids movie. I absolutely loved the animation though. They made some real progress with computer graphics, and this movie showcased that. Of note: The character design, the hands, needless to say - the hair was amazing, the water, and perhaps most enjoyable - the vibrant colors and lighting. A good movie to end the year on.

Total = 38

Media of 2010 - Books

2011-01-01T18:45:00.004-05:00

Wow, almost a full year since I last blogged here. And to think I posted something almost daily before. Anyway - lets get right to it:

BOOKS OF 2010

Makers - by Cory Doctorow - ★★★ - It's odd, but I just had a really difficult time getting into this book. I'm a fan of Cory's. I REALLY enjoyed his last book called "Little Brother". I also liked (though it was a struggle at times) his book previous to that called "Someone comes to town, Someone leaves town". The subject matter of "Makers" was right up my alley too... I'm a big fan of Make magazine, and I've dabbled in the "maker culture", of which I know a lot about the subjects in the book (eg: 3d printers that can be set up in a person's living room). But I felt like the story was just a bit too forced. Like he created an outline first of a few key technologies, and then tried to cram a story in-between. I did finish the book, so that explains the 3 ★'s, as any book that can hold my attention that long means something. I just wish I liked it better.

1/24/10 - Altar of Eden - by James Rollins - ★★★★ - Another Rollins book that I enjoyed. While this one took a slightly different turn than his previous books, I still enjoyed the storyline. A few 'hollywood' moments and odd coincidences, but this is the type of book that were it a movie, it would be an action adventure movie where coincidences are often overlooked. As always, I appreciate Rollins' blend of science into his stories.

3/15/10 - Three Cups of Tea - by Greg Mortenson - ★★★★ - this was a difficult book for me to rate, but I chose to go with 4★'s. It is/was an amazing story about Greg's life and the events and things he's accomplished in his life (and those around him). While I appreciate the well told story, and applaud his efforts of building schools in and around Pakistan, I struggled with the book. I was so glad to have finally been done it. It took me a very long time to plow my way through it. I suspect, the main reason is because of all the tons of names involved and places involved and that there were many foreign language names/places/descriptions. I'm glad I did make the extra effort, and finished the book, it was a struggle for me. That said, though, I would highly recommend this book. It is inspiring how one man can make a difference in the world to bring about good.

3/23/10 - Shutter Island - by Dennis Lehane - ★★★ - Perhaps I should not rate this book... the reason being I only read about 70% of it - But - I did see the movie so I know how it ends :) The main reason I decided to try and give the book a shot was because I enjoyed the movie. I enjoyed it because of the story. I also had a couple questions regarding the characters that I thought that if I took my time with the book, those questions would be answered. Sadly - not so much. I even went back and re-read some pages, but I still didn't get it. Finally, I decided to just stop, and move onto a book that I enjoyed more. And what surprised me, was how much the movie stayed true to the book. There were lines of dialogue that were word for word, and I could hear Dicaprio saying it in his Boston Accent. But when I couldn't get my answers, I just decided to move on. So take my rating for the book for what it's worth.

4/18/10 - The Pawn (The Patrick Bowers Files, Book 1) - by Steven James. - ★★★★ -
This was a free book I picked up on Amazon for the Kindle. (It's not longer free at this moment -sorry).
I enjoyed it. It was a fast read and moved along nicely, like an an action movie. Some interesting plot stories going on as well. I'm not ready to go out and purchase the next book in the series, but perhaps I will come back to the series in the future.

7/10 - The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - by Howard Pyle - ★★★★★ - (I've since learned that Mr. Howard Pyle is perhaps more well known for being a talented illustrator/artist). I really enjoyed this book, much to my surprise. It was a "freebie" on my Amazon Kindle, and having seen the movie just a week or two before getting this book, I was curious to find out more about this character called Robin Hood. Semi-spoiler alert>>> the book and the movie are NOTHING alike! The book was enjoyable and I liked the somewhat simple stories. It was like reading an "action movie" at times. Now... one thing to mention... at the beginning, I almost gave up on this book. I learned that it contained a lot of "old English" like "thee, thou, mayest, pray they, marry, etc..." - but it was mostly just the dialogue between the characters. I was able to get used to it, and then was able to enjoy it. All in all, a fun book, that takes just a little bit of work to get through.

7/24/10 - The Psychology of Dreams and On the Significance of Number-Dreams - by Carl Jung - ★ - I won't sugar coat this... it was a horrible book, and Carl Jung is probably a quack in my opinion. Ok, to be fair... I've never read anything else by him (though I plan to try once more), so maybe it's unfair to form such an opinion of this man from one small reading. While the first part of the book, had a few interesting points, it was not enough for me to 'enjoy' the read. (also it was written like a college paper, and almost had a lawyer-ish sounding to it). The second part of the book, regarding numbers in dreams, simply stretched all credibility for me. He twisted numbers, and math around into complete hogwash, in order to try and make a connection between points of significance. It reminded me a lot of "numerology". I don't doubt that mr. Jung has insights on dreams (he says he studied between 1500 and 2000 a year!), but I think he might be grasping at straws just a bit much for my liking.

11/25/10 - The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger - ★★★★ - I wasn't sure what to expect with this book… Of course I've heard this book mentioned a lot, but I can't say that I've ever heard what the story was about. So, I was curious why this book is a "classic". Oh, the other obvious thing… I had heard this book was banned (specifically where it was banned from, I'm not sure.) I went to purchase this book, but was shocked at the price. I ended up borrowing it from a friend. It started off not so good. I felt like I was just reading a college kid's modern-day blog. But I stuck with it, and today upon finishing it, I'm glad I did. I'm still not sure why this book is a "classic", but after all was said and done, I enjoyed the story. Well, "Enjoy" may not be the right word… I found the story interesting, and a bit depressing. I can understand why it was banned, but under today's moral ethics, it was fairly tame.

12/25/10 - Draculas - ★★★ - I learned about this book because it was a sort of experiment in ebooks. It was a collaboration between 4 authors, and posted directly to amazon by the authors. The coast was (I think) around 3-4 dollars, with most of that going directly to the authors and a lesser percentage to amazon.com. I liked the whole idea of the project and the price was right. And… it was right around Halloween and i was looking for a nice scary book. I just finished it last night, and while I do have some complaints, overall I was entertained. Especially when you factor in the price. Now here's my biggest complaint… The title was very misleading… the authors took great liberty as to what makes a creature a vampire. If you ask me, this should have simply been a zombie book, but I suspect they called them "draculas" as a marketing decision since vampire movies are popular now. A simple point that I was able to overlook, but for any vampire purest, this will be an important point. The book was rather gory and detailed in it's gore descriptions. Not for the faint at heart. It reminded me a bit like a B-movie. As I said, just don't expect a lot from this book, and if you view it through the lens of a B-horror movie, you should also be entertained.

total = 9

(I know... not all that impressive of a number for the year. In my defense, I spent quite a bit of time this year searching for a good book to read. I even tried to re-read one of my favorites from 15+ years ago (The Illuminatus Trilogy) - but even that book, I had a hard time getting back into it. And... This year I also attempted to learn a new software program, so many a night I spent reading the manuals.)

Nature of Humanity and parking spots

2010-02-07T05:56:00.005-05:00

It's now about 6am on a cold snowy morning. The day after a record setting snowfall in the area.
I write this now, because I can't get back to sleep - for fear of worrying about my truck.
Let me explain...
I live in an apartment complex with a parking lot.
When it snows of any reasonable amount, the parking lot becomes a mess.
The reason being, is that the complex sends a plow around to clear the streets - that sounds good right? Well, what it does is - it plows the snow up and blocks in every person parked in the parking lot. Now here's the thing... when you have to dig out your car (or pick-up truck in my case), there's no place to throw the snow. You have to walk the length of your car for every shovelful and dump the snow in front of (or behind) the vehicle. It's a real pain.
In the years that I've lived here, I've seen people, who are either lazy, or inconsiderate, or just plain both do the following... rather than walk that car length, to dump the snow, they simply throw the snow behind (or in front of) the car next to them! I don't see it happen often, but at least once every major snowstorm.
Now, this brings me to why I'm writing this...
I woke up around 4:45am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I happened to get up, and look out my front window. Wait... let me back up here a minute... I dug out my truck early in the morning yesterday. I have a 4x4 truck - aka 4-wheel-drive. So as a benefit of that, I don't have to spend too much time clearing out the snow behind my truck. I'm able to drive over most of it - within reason. So that's what I did. I cleaned off the sides, the snow actually on my truck, and most of the snow behind my truck.
Ok back to this morning...
I glance out the window, and see that someone has dug out the back of my truck, almost clear down to the pavement! Wow! Was someone that nice to me? helping out a fellow neighbor? As I was sitting here, trying to figure out who that neighbor was... it hit me... The SUV/Van next to me, is completely plowed in - and I realized... They didn't dig ME out to be nice and neighborly, they dug ME out for REVENGE!
I remembered as I was digging out, my neighbor came out too and was digging out his car (I think it was a Prius). I put 2+2 together and saw that the vehicle next to me was a blue/black SUV. That's when I realized... the guy who dug his car out this morning, came back to "his" spot, and someone had taken it. I know, I know... it's not HIS parking spot, but it's like an unwritten rule in apartment complexes that if someone digs out their car, it's "their" spot. Some people put up folding chairs, to "mark their territory" as their spot.
As someone who has been in that exact situation, I've been pissed off too! The nerve of someone taking your spot, after you spent hours digging it out, is beyond frustrating.
So that's when I realized what happened. He's a younger guy, I think there might be a couple of roomates there, and while I didn't see this happen, I can garauntee you they probably were angry, and decide to teach the guy a lesson, and RE-shovel him back in.
So now, I put 2+2+2 together and think - wait a minute... IF the guy comes out later today and sees MY spot empty, and his spot full - he's going to think that I was the inconsiderate person who just moved my snow to behind his vehicle! Would he take some sort of revenge now on my vehicle?! Would he "key it" with a nice long scratch?! Would he smack his snow-shovel into the side and possibly dent it?! Ugh. So these are the thoughts now running through my head, and preventing me from getting back to sleep.
Now, I'll have to try and keep a 24 hour watch on my vehicle to see how the guy reacts, and possibly confront him and try and explain, "It wasn't me!"

The joy's of living in an apartment complex.

Update: All was fine. I decided to go back to bed and not worry about what might happen. In the end, nothing happened, and when I checked out my window around noon, there was a different vehicle parked there, and some heavy equipment had been brought in to actually remove the snow via a backhoe.

deleting blogger comments

2010-02-04T08:38:00.003-05:00

This is more of a note to myself, but perhaps someone else will find it too.

I keep having trouble remembering how to delete spam comments from my blog.
There is "supposed" to be a "trash can" icon next to a comment, that allows the blog owner (me) to remove unwanted comments. But there is a trick to getting to it!
First a special thanks to this original blog post that taught me how to get to the trash can icon.

nutshell...
1) Sign into your account (if not already).
2) view your blog.
3) in the sidebar where the it says "blog archive" and shows the history of your blog posts, click on the MONTH of the post that you wish to delete from.
4) NOW... when you look at the posts for that month, at the bottom of each post is a new link that says "1 comment" (obviously, there may be more than 1 comment). Click that! That will bring up a new page, just with the comments for that post, and THERE will be the missing trash can icon.

talk about hoops. I don't know why blogger makes it so difficult, or if this is a bug.

keywords: delete comments, delete, comments, trashcan, trash-can, trash icon,

2009 - Media Consumed - part 3 of 3 - Movies (theater)

2010-01-01T15:21:00.001-05:00

I decided at the beginning of 2009, to keep a list of the media that I consumed. I listed movies that I saw in the theater, movies that I rented on dvd, and books. In hindsight, I WISH I thought to include my music purchases (and gifts) to this list as well.
Since the lists also include short "reviews" they've added up to a lengthy post, so I decided to split them into 3 parts: Books, dvd's, and theater.
Comments are welcomed.

>>>

Movies (seen in the theater):
1/1/09: The Day the Earth Stood Still - ∆∆∆ overall good - last few minutes of ending was lame though.

1/16/09: Defiance - ∆∆∆ I think it was a good movie but Jerk behind me kept talking and ruined it for me.

1/31/09: Taken - ∆∆∆∆ really good for an action movie. Other acting = meh.

2/15/09: The International - ∆∆∆∆ pretty good plot, moved along nicely, good action. One scene bothered me towards end -walking around bazaar with handgun in plain view.

2/21/09: The Wrestler - ∆∆ - Almost a 3 star, but I just can't push it that high. Very predictable character study. Good acting though, and subject was just a bit depressing.

2/25/09: Slumdog Millionaire - ∆∆∆∆ - Good story mostly. Hard to watch with no judgment after winning Oscars and word of mouth buzz about how good it was.

3/7/09: The Watchmen - ∆∆∆∆ - Point off for mediocre acting, and choppy dialogue, but I think I may have been watching "Genius film-making" at work here. Great intricate story.

3/28/09: Knowing - ∆∆∆∆ - Admittedly it was very hokey at times. The acting was so-so. But I really liked this story, and some of the creepiness to the film. There were a lot of different ideas stitched together and for the most part, I think it worked well. Yes, the subject matter was right up my alley.

4/11/09: Duplicity - ∆∆∆ - not really great and not really good either. The ending of the movie was a big let down as well.

4/18/09: State of Play - ∆∆∆∆ - I liked this one. A nice conspiracy movie always gets to me. Afleck was pretty good too (surprisingly).

4/25/09: The Soloist - ∆∆∆∆∆ - a really touching story about a man with mental problems (schizophrenia?) who has a gift of playing the Cello, but ends up homeless. A Newspaper man ends up doing a story on him and becomes friends with the man. Great acting by both Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx.

5/2/09: X-Men Origins: Wolverine - ∆∆∆∆ - I'm being generous with the last triangle, but I'm giving extra credit for being a comic book movie. (confession: I for got to write this review until 4 weeks later! So not much details here other than - I liked it. Deadpool was awesome, and Liev Schreiber was really good as "Sabertooth".

5/9/09: Star Trek - ∆∆∆∆∆ - I REALLY enjoyed this movie. It was just a fun ride for me. Sure, if you think about some of the plot idea for more than a second you might say "hey, wait a minute..." but all in all I just enjoyed the show. Two complaints... the shaky camera technique... and for some reason the OVERUSE of white "Lens flares" as a special effect.

5/16/09: Angels and Demons - ∆∆∆ - Not really a great film, and I can understand some of the negative comments, but for me the subject matter made it all worth it. I'm a fan of Dan Brown's and conspiracy movies. I think the largest complaint... trying to fit such a complicated storyline into a 2 hour movie is impossible.

5/23/09: Terminator Salvation - ∆∆ - While I was entertained by the robots and cool motorcycles, that's about all I can say about this movie. The paradox of time travel (to quote my friend) was "rubbed in our faces" and still didn't make any sense at all. The acting was less than par. Lastly... a pregnant woman on a helicopter during a bombing and air strike - huh?!
Just a lame attempt to milk this "brand" for all its worth to perhaps hook a new generation. I'm sure that since it did well at the box office, there will be another one with another lame storyline... and I'll probably go see that too cause it has robots in it.

5/30/09: UP - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Pixar does it again. A moving animated feature about never giving up on your dreams. In addition to never be afraid to change your dreams either. A bit sad in the beginning as it deals with loss of a loved one, but still has plenty of laughs later. Well written.

6/6/09: The Hangover - ∆∆∆∆ - First this movie was rude and crude... second... it made me really laugh at times! Don't get me wrong, this movie is not about a storyline, or plot twists, it's about jokes, man butts, and Mike Tyson. I'm only being generous with the 4 stars because it made me laugh, and now-a-days, I applaud anything that can make me laugh (even if it's rude and crude).

6/16/0/: The Taking of Pelham 123 - ∆∆∆∆ - I'm almost giving this movie a 3 star rating, but I'm being generous for two important reasons... The acting was well done on behalf of Denzel (has he ever made a bad movie?) While John Travolta definitely pulled off the "bad ass" look, I had a hard time believing his character with all the cursing. It was either poorly written, or maybe I just know that John is a good gentle guy in real life, and I couldn't get that out of my head. But - the STORY was well done and that's what kept me engaged for the whole movie. The only other thing that really bothered me was a minor technical problem - all of the inconsistencies with the walkie-talkies and microphones. Apparently Hollywood has a hard time understanding that "push to talk" is how most walkie-talkies work ;)
Two minor things but otherwise a good entertaining movie.

Public Enemies - ∆∆∆ - I have to keep this short, because I saw the movie a couple weeks ago and the details have slipped my mind. Johnny Depp was great (as usual). The movie... not so much. I won't say it was bad, but I think first and foremost, it was 2.5 hours long, and they could have easily cut 30 minutes out of that film. There were a TON of characters in this movie to the point where I had trouble keeping track of who was who. Then... After the movie, I looked up some facts about John Dillinger, and learned that the movie took quite a few "liberties".

The Hurt Locker - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Wow, this was a really good movie. Terrific acting (Big hat tip to Jeremy Renner), great cinematography, strong story-line, the only thing that bothered me was the subject matter... War. I had trouble separating the fact that I was enjoying the movie on an "art" level, while at the same time shocked at the idiocy and horror that man can do to one another in the name of "war". It was also a shock as I was leaving the movie theater, I walked out into a cool summer night, I had my coffee, and a Tastycake as a snack, and yet as I'm watching this movie as "entertainment" there are guys on the other side of the world LIVING this thing on a daily basis. As part of my countrymen are off in a foreign land risking their lives and taking other lives, I'm sitting at home watching it on the big screen - there's something really wrong with that. This world we live in is a messed up place.

Harry Potter - ∆∆∆ - Again, I'm writing this a week later, so some of the details have been forgotten, but I'll try to be brief. I liked the movie overall. But for me it was missing something. It was a tad too long. Pardon the pun... but it seemed like some of the magic was missing in this movie. That said, there were also moments where I was drawn into the movie and was just watching everything as if I were in Hogwarts. I tip my hat to a movie that can do that. Some of the "boy meets girl" story-lines started to grate on my nerves a bit, but I think the fans wanted to see that (I didn't). Lastly... I was particularly impressed with two things in the movie... There seemed to be a great attention to detail in this film. One scene, a girl got up at the end of class, and started to leave, when the teacher stopped her and reminded her to remember her rat's tail. The other item I was impressed with was the camera work of the movie. There were quite a few digital effects, but everything worked smoothly and I actually felt like the camera itself was a character in the movie. Well done.
I hope the next (two) movies will re-capture some of the magic. (I've learned they are breaking the last book up into two movies (marketing!?)).

Funny People - ∆∆∆ - This movie had it's moments, but it also had times where it was struggling. The comedy was not always funny (lots of "blue" comedy). I think the best parts were with Seth Rogan, he did a really good job, and I think he has a future in acting with some additional serious roles.
The ending was really tedious and not pleasant to watch. My best advice... rent it on dvd, so you can fast forward during the slow parts.

Julie and Julia - ∆∆∆∆∆ - I know... I'm being generous with that last "star". I think realistically It might be a 4 star, but I came out of the theater in a good mood so that's why the extra bonus. That said... I enjoyed this movie. I thought Meryl Streep was really spot on with her julia child imitation. (though I'm certainly not a Julia child expert). She conveyed a feeling of a jovial personality that really came across on the big screen. Her costar Amy Adams also did well. The guy who played "Eric" also had a great supporting role (Chris Messina - I don't recall ever seeing him before). So obviously it's a chick flick, but I enjoyed it anyway. Just two good stories told well, which is the main reason I go to the movies. Now... I need to find a cookbook so as I can try some french cooking. Mmmm Butter....

District 9 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Wow. A really good sci-fi movie! I really enjoyed the storyline, the acting was great by an unknown (to me anyway) actor - who made me love him at times and then hate him, and I was being push a pulled emotionally by his character - well done! The effects - wow. For a sci-fi film this one is up there.

500 days of Summer - ∆ - I came this close to walking out on this one. So sweet and sappy... like a double chocolate cake with extra icing sprinkled with sugar with a bottle of syrup to wash it down. Ugh. At one point, I thought... the only reason they made this movie was to sell the movie soundtrack. To be fair... I went to this movie by myself, and it was a chick flick dating movie, so I guess it makes sense I didn't like the show. Oh well.

9/5/09 - Inglorious Basterds - ∆∆∆∆ - Quintin Tarantino... I give him credit at least for having a certain style to his movies. I'm just not sure I like his style is all. After "kill bill" I thought I'd never watch another Tarantino movie again... but with Inglorious Bastereds I decided to give him another try. Luckily I was surprised that I liked the movie overall. I thought it told a story (or stories) well and I was transported back in time to the 1940's. But two things bothered me abt the movie... 1) The soundtrack! For some reason, I just find Tarantino's music choices annoying! Not to mention how loud they are. 2) But more to the point in the movie... For some reason the ending bothered me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I just wasn't ready for it I think. But again, overall, I liked the movie. Fine acting all around too.

9/12/09 - 9 - ∆∆∆ - Perhaps under better circumstances I would have enjoyed this movie better... the theater we usually go to is a fantastic theater. This particular night, they had two odd showtimes (9pm - too early - 11:10pm - too late). So we went to the local mall which had a "multiplex". It's a horrible theater in comparison. higher prices, movie didn't start on time, commercials mixed in with movie previews, and at LEAST 15 minutes of commercials and previews, high concession stand prices (I guess that's normal), uncomfortable seats, and small screens in a long viewing room. So... with that mindset it's difficult to put it all aside and enjoy a movie. ALL that said... the animation and graphics were amazing. High marks for that! But the story was convoluted - it didn't really make sense overall. AND to top it all off... the day before I saw this movie, I leanred that it was based on a 10 minute short movie by Shane Ackerson which was his college film project. I made the mistake of watching the short film on youtube the day before... which was the SAME story just condensed into 10 minutes. So that also kinda ruined it for me, since I knew the ending of the movie.

9/26/09 - The Informant - ∆∆ - Just a really tedious and confusing movie to keep up with. I think there was an interesting story in there somewhere, but this movie did not do it any justice. And, the music or soundtrack really annoyed me as well.

10/3/09 - Zombieland - ∆∆∆ - Keeping in mind that this was a "Zombie" movie, it wasn't bad. There were moments where I laughed, so I give it points for that. Will it earn an Oscar? Not at all! But I was amused for my admission fee and what more can one ask from a Zombie movie.

10/10/09 - Couples Resort - ∆∆∆ - I'm being generous with that third ∆. To be fair, the movie did make me laugh several times in the beginning. I'd go as far to say that I liked the movie about half-way through, but then it just kinda went down hill. The jokes were predictable, the scenes were contrived, and Vince Vaughn just couldn't
carry the entire movie with the story line.

10/17/09 - Law Abiding Citizen - ∆∆∆∆ - I really enjoyed this movie. I liked the storyline especially and the acting was great with Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler held his own also. Granted, the plot had a few "Hollywood coincidences" but sometimes you have to put blinders on for those. For what it's worth, I just looked up on the internet how to spell "Gerard Butler" and noticed it looks like the critics are panning this movie. What do they know!

11/7/09 - Men who stare at goats - ∆∆∆ - Overall I liked this movie but it really left me hanging towards the end. I don't know what, but somehow I expected more. Strangely enough, a lot of the "strange" things that the movie talked about, I had already been aware of: Remote viewing, psy ops, lsd, mk-ultra, etc...

11/21/09 - Pirate Radio - ∆∆∆ - Again, this movie barely got that third ∆. Films like these baffle me in the sense that they can gather a cast of so many talented people, but yet the story or directing or editing just falls flat. The editing on this one is what bothered me the most in that it was choppy. Scenes cut back and forth with no smooth transition at all. As my friend put it nicely, "It was like watching a long music video."
The only reason I gave it that extra ∆ was because the ending pulled me back into the movie. They returned to a story-line rather than just showing us a bunch of 'goofy' characters on a boat.
A good soundtrack too.

11/28/09 - The Road - ∆∆∆∆ - A difficult movie for me to rate. While I appreciate a lot of what went into the making of this movie (good story, great acting, fantastic cinematography, great scenery (relatively speaking))... the story was depressing. I'm not a big fan of depressing movies. But because I'm able to see those other items that make for a good film, I'm hitting it with the 4 ∆'s. And... this may shock some people... I had read the book not too long ago. The movie MAY have been ever so slightly better than the book! I won't go into all the in's and out's as to why, but I'll just say that the movie added a few more "human" elements that made the story easier to understand and not so stark. The book left me with feelings of wanting more explanations.
Difficult now for me to say which one.... to watch the movie before reading the book, or vice versa, personally, I think I liked it better having read the book, and knowing a bit of what I was in store for.

12/5/09 - Brothers - ∆∆∆ - Yet another difficult movie for me to rate. I thought the acting was well done all the way around. The talent of Jake, Toby and Natalie is a great combination (Natalie sometimes falls flat, but I thought she did well on this one). A few scenes (key scenes) could have been done better as far as the story goes, but all in all a good movie... BUT - this is another depressing movie about war and the ravages it takes on all people involved. It really bothers me that we have a packed theater with people eating popcorn, date nights, beer bottles (idiots), and generally going to the movies as a form of entertainment, yet these sorts of stories are happening NOW. our country is at war. There are young men coming home from seeing, hearing and doing horrible things in the name of war, and trying to figure out how to survive again in a civilian world. These movies bother me in that sense. I won't say that I will never go to a war movie ever again, as I do think it is important to remind people and to let people know that stories like these are important and tragic. I am both thankful to our soldiers who put their lives on the line everyday and I am also just as angry at our political leaders who make the decisions to put those troops in harms way.

12/26/09 - Up in the Air - N/A - I'm actually not going to rate this movie, because it wouldn't be fair. Perhaps I share the blame too for not being more informed... but... I thought this movie was a comedy! From the trailer, I assumed it was about a guy (George Clooney) who traveled a lot due to his business and the movie was going to be about that. It had co-actors like Zach Galinfinakis (who is a comedian), and Jason Bateman (who is usually known for his funny roles)... but this may have been the most depressing movie I've seen this year (slightly exaggerating, some of the war movies I saw this year were the most depressing). I suppose this movie falls in the category of a "dark comedy" but I just thought it was dark overall. Other people in the audience were laughing at parts that I was not, so perhaps some thought it more of a comedy. So because I was completely misled, I don't feel it's fair for me to give it a one star - instead, I will give the one star to the trailer itself.

2009 - Media Consumed - part 2 of 3 - dvds

2010-01-01T15:18:00.002-05:00

I decided at the beginning of 2009, to keep a list of the media that I consumed. I listed movies that I saw in the theater, movies that I rented on dvd, and books. In hindsight, I WISH I thought to include my music purchases (and gifts) to this list as well.
Since the lists also include short "reviews" they've added up to a lengthy post, so I decided to split them into 3 parts: Books, dvd's, and theater.
Comments are welcomed.

>>>>>>>

DVD:
The Impressionists (disc one). ∆∆∆

Big Rig - ∆∆∆ (documentary on truck drivers)

Sweeny Todd - ∆∆

Be Kind Rewind - ∆

The Kite Runner - ∆∆∆∆ Good movie. Rough story about the evils of some of humanity.

The Impressionists (disk 2) - ∆∆∆ Bit rough and dry in the acting, but interesting stories about the painters.

This American Life (disk 1) - ∆∆∆∆ - some interesting stories.

Invader Zim (vol 1 disk 1) - ∆∆∆ - good, but you can't watch that many shows back to back.

Eagle Eye - ∆∆∆∆ - Some corny scenes, a bit cliché at times, but overall I enjoyed it. And Some really clever/funny lines for Billy-Bob's character.

Le Cercle Rouge - ∆ - a SLOW heist movie. Just couldn't hold my interest. LOTS of continuity mistakes too.

2/28/09 - The Quiet American - ∆∆ - wasn't horrible, but I had trouble with how it was written... in that the characters never seemed believable. Lack of motivation for some of their actions. Could have been a good movie.

3/3/09 - Body of lies - ∆∆∆∆ - Good spook movie. Lots of twists and turns that made it a bit difficult to follow at times, but for the most part I was able to keep up. Leonardo was good. Russell Crowe was so-so, mediocre dialogue for him.

3/10/09 - Max Payne - ∆∆ - Could have been really good, but felt rushed. Poor acting (and I like wahlberg). Connection between spiritual and drug/company never explained or panned out.

3/14/09 - RocknRolla - ∆∆∆∆ - Classic "guy ritchie" british gangster film. Bit complicated at first but pulls together in the end. Well done.

3/20/09 - Let the Right one in - ∆∆∆ - I'm being generous with that third triangle. Only because it was a vampire story like no other I've seen before. This was a Swedish film with English over dubbing, and the overdubbing was horrible.

3/27/09 - Charlie Bartlett - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Really well written teen angst movie. Robert Downey Jr is amazing. Kid who played Charlie also = amazing! Great casting. I do wonder though if teens liked this movie.

4/3/09 - The Conversation - ∆∆ - Almost gave it a 3 rating, but can't. Slow moving. strange dialogue. Jazz. 1970's 'technological' thriller. Good story though. Gene Hackman. Young harrison ford, Cindy williams = odd cast.

4/9/09 - Meet Bill - ∆ - I liked all the actors/actress, it was just a poor story, and poorly acted (directed?). Inconsistent characters. It was a fast-forward movie just to get through it.

4/17/09 - Chaplin: The movie - ∆ - much to my surprise I gave this movie only one star/triangle. I really like Robert Downey. I like Charlie Chaplin. Several other actors and actresses in this movie playing bit parts... but you know what killed the movie for me? The sound. It was horrible. Chaplin/Downey played a very mellow part with soft spoken words, so I had to turn the volume way up to hear him, then the other characters/sound effects were blaring. But perhaps most of all, the entire movie (I actually shut it off about 3/4 in!) appeared to be over-dubbed. The sound didn't quite match up with the video. Not to mention inconsistent volume levels. It actually ruined the movie for me because I was too distracted by the sound.

4/19/09 - Mondrian: From Naturalism to Abstraction - ∆∆∆ - Semi-poor production levels (poor lighting on the paintings for instance), dated music, and lots of odd helicopter footage that must have been filmed while hanging out of the helicopter itself because it was rather bouncy. But put all that aside, and it was a good 1 hour film introducing Mondrian's works.

4/19/09 - Flash of Genius - ∆∆∆∆∆ - I may be a bit too generous with that last star (triangle) but I thought this was a really good movie. The only downside is that it's an underdog story. In all my years of watching movies, I can tell you what usually happens at the end of an underdog movie, so in that sense it was a bit predictable. But none-the-less it was a good story, and Greg Kinnear did another fantastic job at acting on this one. As a wanna-be "maker" this movie should be on every inventor/makers list.

4/24/09 - Special - ∆∆∆∆∆ - a really interesting independent movie. A man thinks he can fly when he takes part in an experimental drug program. One of those indy movies that I feel is a real gem in the rough.

4/26/09 - Doubt - ∆∆∆∆ - really well done job of acting all the way around. Not exactly a happy movie though so I took one star off for that. I won't say anything else as the less you know about the movie the better.

5/1/09 - Run, fat boy, run - ∆ - I liked Simon Pegg in "Shaun of the dead" and I even liked him in "hot fuzz", but sadly, run fat boy run, was just lame. Here's a clue... when the title of the film has "fat boy" in it, then the main character um should be... fat! They basically put a small pillow under his shirt, that had to be some of the lamest prosthetic work I've seen. Then the plot was just so predictable, I ended up watching the second half of the movie in fast forward mode.

5/1/09 - Delicatessen - ∆∆ - Perhaps, had I seen this movie when I was in the right mood I would have liked it more, but I just had a difficult time with this one. It was a french movie (yes subtitled). What is it with the french making weird movies? It had Dominique Pinon in it, which I like (odd looking man, but good actor, though his films that I've seen him in don't exactly push his acting skills (aliens, city of lost children)).
It was a very quirky film. Too quirky for me. Characters were over the top on purpose. I just kinda walked away shaking my head after this one.

5/?/09 - Wild China - ∆∆∆ - A BBC documentary series about remote places in China. Disk one (which I finished last night) had 3 episodes (1 hour each). It can be tedious at times, but usually in each episode there is some really interesting piece of information. Not to mention some of the wildlife is incredibly filmed. I hope to get to disk 2 soon.

5/24/09 - Milk - ∆∆∆∆ - Sean Penn is an amazing actor. This entire story was all new to me, and the ending was a complete shock. It amazes me that people who try to do good in this world are almost always seen as a threat.

6/3/09 - Dark Matter - ∆∆ - I hate it when netflix gets my rating right. They said this would be a 2 star rating, and sure enough. I tried very hard to like this movie but it was just disjointed. Meryl Streep and Aidinn Quinn, yet the acting was mediocre and not believable. The film edits were choppy and confusing. The storyline was forced. I ended up fast-forward watching this movie about 3/4 of the way through.

6/8/09 - The Tale of Despereaux - ∆∆ - I tried really hard to like this film. It just didn't cut it for me.
warning - spoilers:
Technically speaking - some of the computer animation was nicely done. In fact there were sections (book scene) that I preferred over the main animation - especially how they did the fire effect. But a lot of sections that it looked like they cut corners on the the animation.
The storyline - convoluted. The talking vegetable man was totally out of left field, and didn't make any sense to me.
They ended the storyline with such abruptness it felt forced. The girl going back to live on a pig farm was supposed to be her living "happily ever after?!"
I knew I was in trouble in the first few minutes of the film when they said that "soup day" was more exciting than Christmas! What?! No kid (or me) can relate to that!

6/11/09 - The Battle for Seattle - ∆∆∆∆∆ - An AWESOME protest movie. Ok, it wasn't perfect, some of the acting was forced, some of the storyline was a bit too preachy, but there were plenty of moments where the movie soared. Andre Benjamin (yes, from Outkast) was amazing. I still do not care for Michelle Rodriquez - she always plays the "tough chick" and it's old. Martin Henderson was good as was Woody and Charlize (though I had hoped to see more of Charlize). Also, kudos to Stuart Townsend for showing both sides of the story (protestors and police). Lastly: We the people will never be divided.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wto

6/16/09 - In the valley of Elah - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Solid 5 star movie. Powerful acting, and a sad story behind it all. Fantastic acting by Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron. I'll end with just this... I wish peace in this world.

6/22/09 - W. - ∆∆ - I almost gave it a 3 star, but just couldn't do it. The movie was long and tedious. While some of the acting was well done (Brolin was very good, Richard Dreyfus was Amazing) the story just was a retelling of events we already knew. Some of the bias was just over-the-top and silly (for example watching "Bush" eat his sandwich and stuffing his mouth, and talking with his mouth full.) Some of the character actors were just too distracting... Rove and Condi. I had hoped for more details and insight into the man, but instead was just met with a 2+ hour retelling of the last 8 years.

6/23/09 - Frost/Nixon - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Unbelievable acting on this one. I was able to keep up with some of politics involved, but admit to not knowing all the names of the key players. Even so, to be on the edge of my seat waiting to see how the "duel" progressed is saying a lot about a subject as dry as an interview. Tip of the hat to all the fine actors, top notch.

6/26/09 - True Blood - ∆ - I had heard a lot about this new show from HBO and it all seemed to be good, so I decided to rent season one and give it a shot. Apparently I'm the only one who thinks this show was lame?! I barely got through the first episode. The characters were stereotypical and over-the-top. The episode was poorly edited - example: The "cool" vampire dude goes outside with two local looneys. The woman (who looks like she's about 98pounds wet) fears for his safety and decides to run out to try and warn him that the looney's might attack him. Her boss, upon learning this, runs out of the bar also to stop her... next we see the woman pick up a big pile of chains (silently I might add), she whips the chains around a guys neck with super speed, then proceeds to pick up a knife and talk like the meanest gangster who ever lived. She rescued the vampire who was held down by a little silver necklace, they sit in the woods for a while and trade stories. Eventually (12 minutes later?) she heads back to the bar, where the boss is just standing in the parking lot (50' away) looking around like a doofus. Ugh. I expected more from you HBO.

6/28/09 - ∆∆∆ - The Ali G show - season one disc one - I am not 100% sure I like This series (also an HBO series). While many of the shorts get me to smile, they're not always funny. Not to mention the strong crudeness factor. I will say though that the first bit, where he trains with the Philadelphia police dept was funny, and the scene where Borat is in the gym trying to learn how to use the tread mill - had me in tears! I'm going to give the next disk a chance. Perhaps because this isn't new anymore, and I know what to expect with Sasha's characters it's not as funny, but he def has talent to make me laugh, just not consistently.

7/11/09 - ∆∆∆ - Valkyrie - I'm being generous with 3 stars here, but the movie held my interest (barely) for the whole time. I felt the movie was long and tedious and we got a dry re-telling of history. Granted it was intense at times, but overall it just lacked something. I've noticed in the past, I also have problems with movies that just have one single tone throughout the entire movie, and this was one of them.

7/14/09 - ∆∆ - Proof - Oh, I tried so hard to like this movie, but I just couldn't. While the storyline was there to make for a good movie, and two very talented actors (Jake Gyllenhaal and Gwyneth Paltrow), the movie just laid there and fizzelled. I blame it on two things... the dialogue was poorly written, and the direction was bad. The feelings of the characters never flowed at all, and most of the movie was spent arguing among the characters. No one wants to sit through 2 hours of arguing.

7/22/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Speak - Wow. What a good movie this was. A strong subject matter of a young girl who... actually I don't want to give any of the story-line away. I'll use the words that netflix did "an unfortunate incident that left a young girl shunned..." It involves this girls struggles to carry the weight of what happened to her, while at the same time trying to juggle the social nightmare that only 9th grade can bring. Kristen Stewart was the star, and she did an incredible job. The reason I rented this was because Steve Zahn was the art teacher in this film and I usually like the movies that he is in - this definitely fell in that category.

7/31/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - The Haunting in Connecticut - Yep, you saw that right... I just gave a horror movie a 5 star rating. Oddly enough, I was thinking recently, that I had seen all the good horror movies out there. I have exhausted this genre of movies. That I would never see a good horror movie again. I was wrong. Ok, perhaps I was in the right frame of mind tonight, to sit down and watch a good ghost story, that I turned that little "critic filter" off. Were there some silly parts in the movie? Of course. Lots of "Gotcha" type scares (I think I jumped once*) The effects were gory at times, but for the most part, I enjoyed the movie. Then... I decided to watch the dvd special feature which interviewed the real occupants of the house, that was almost better than the movie. There was one scene there that made me jump as well. All in all, it was a good story if nothing else.

8/6/09 - ∆∆∆∆ - The Future of Food - A really eye opening documentary about the Food industry and genetic engineering. A bit heavy on the science side of things, but overall an educational film. Really makes Monsanto out to be a bad guy (Which I think they might be). Everyone who eats should watch this film.

8/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - Dexter - I have been hooked on the Showtime (which I learned is a subsidiary of CBS), called "Dexter", about a serial killer living in Florida who is a forensics cop. Good storyline, good suspense, good acting (for some). MY biggest complaint... the sister character (after watching the entire first series, I still can't name the characters! odd.) I look forward to starting season 2 any day now.

8/20/09 - ∆ - 10,000 BC - Just lame. perhaps I wasn't in the right mood, but this one just struck me as really lame. poor acting, mediocre effects, goofy love story. I expected more.

8/23/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - The Cats of Mirikitani - Documentary about Japanese/American artist "Jimmy" Mirikitani, who was homeless on the streets of NYC, and through this documentary film maker, Linda Hattebdorf managed to give him a helping hand up and get him back on his feet again. Really nice film. Peace Jimmy.

9/13/09 - ∆∆ - The Assassination of Jesse James - What LONG and tedious film. Yes it had really good acting, yes it had some nice cinematography, hut there was no way that film needed to be dragged out to 2.5 hours! I bet if I went through and edited out all the moments of silence and people just walking in an empty field that could shave off 45 minutes. Skip this film is my suggestion.

9/16/09 - Firewall - ∆∆ - A Harrison ford movie that was really lame. predictable "paint by number" script. poor acting (except for the bad guy who was pretty good). What I thought was a technological thriller amounted to some bogus scenes of hacking an ipod with a fax machine - lame.

9/25/09 - Adventureland - ∆∆∆∆ - I actually thought this movie was ok, and gave it that last "∆" for the soundtrack alone. It was basically a "chick flick" disguised as a stoner movie. A sort of teen-angst movie. It was well written too. The only thing that bothered me, was that the time frame seemed off for me... they said in the beginning of the movie it was 1987, but It seemed more like it might have been early 80's to me.

10/4/09 - The King of Kong - ∆∆∆∆ - Overall a good documentary. It was a bit dry at times, and the production levels were a bit on the low side, but it told a good story, which is what a documentary is supposed to do. I enjoyed seeing the tension, and thought the movie did a good job at creating that tension. By the end you really were rooting for the "underdog" Steve Weibe (weebee). It was neat to see a lot of the old "coin-op" classic video games that I grew up with too. If you are familiar with the 80's, classic arcade games, or enjoy anything that's 8-bit, I'd recommend this dvd. (disclaimer: Yes, I'm a geek so this perhaps that's why it was entertaining to me).

10/11/09 - Stander - ∆∆∆ - A movie I only heard about via Netflix. This was just a solid middle of the road for me. It wasn't bad, and I watched the story-line to see what would happen next, the only thing that I think kept it from being a good movie was that the acting was a bit flat (one sided - cool tough-guy attitude). I also felt like the editing was a bit choppy. I will give credit in that up until I looked it up on imdb, I thought it might of actually been filmed in the 70's. It was actually filmed in 2003, but they did a great job of capturing the feel of the 70's. Based on a True story as well, which is always interesting.

10/12/09 - ∆∆∆ - The Impressionist: Monet - A good documentary about the painter. Not great, but good. I felt like too much time was spent on just a few paintings though, I wish I saw a broader spectrum of his work.

10/12/09 - ∆ - The Pacific and Eddy - An attempt at an "indie film" but just didn't cut it for me. Too many long drawn out shots of trees in the wind, or wave of the ocean. It tried too hard to be an "artsy" film that I was totally board.

10/24/09 - ∆∆∆ - The Brothers Bloom - This is another one of those "con movies" that has twist after twist after twist, until either you give up trying to figure it out, or you're lucky enough to have kept up. I thought the acting was good on Adrien's part, but Rachel Weisz always gets on my nerves for some reason. This movie she was more tolerable to me. It was almost a good movie, but it became tedious. The saving grace I think for me was that it was really nicely filmed. The Cinematography was very well done.

10/30/09 - ∆ - Year One - Sadly another Jack Black movie that scraped the bottom of the barrel. I also really like Michael Cera and the two were not enough to raise the level of this movie. Classic example where the trailer had the funniest parts (and I'm also realizing that a 2 minute trailer can be funny whereas an hour and half movie is not.

11/8/09 - ∆∆ - Sunshine Cleaning - A difficult movie to rate for me because it was a good story, and good acting, but wow, was it ever depressing. It was marked as a "dark comedy" and I'd put the emphasis on "dark" more than comedy. Personally, I just don't like depressing movies, so that's why the low rating. Topics include, death, suicide, drugs, single parenting, unhappy with her job, infidelity. So put all those topics into a "comedy" and this is what you get.

11/11/09 - ∆∆∆∆ - Chaos Theory - Perhaps I'm being a little generous with that last '∆', but it was kind of a 'feel-good' movie so I'm still in a good mood. I mainly rented this movie because it had Ryan Reynolds in it... I think he's a good actor, and usually finds that right balance of comedy with good acting. The movie was a td on the cheesy side, but then would surprise me with a really nice scene. A good story (though a bit predictable at times). Worth a rental.

11/14/09 - ∆∆ - The Boondock Saints - This ended up being a 'fast forward' movie for me. Shortly after getting the gist of the plot, I end up fast forwarding through all the poorly written dialogue, and give the movie one last chance for redemption (ie: something catches my eye.) Sadly, no. Lots of yelling, gun shooting, blood packs, and stereotypes.

11/14/09 - ∆∆ - The Strangers - A horror movie that caught my interest when it first appeared in the theaters. It wasn't something I was willing to spend $9.50 to see, so I waited for dvd. I had joked that when it came out, and Liv Tyler was in it, that I would watch a 2 hour movie of her washing dishes - well, that's about the same entertainment level here. A movie that is 98% suspense, and 1% 'boo' factor, and 1% gore. Psychologically it was scary and creepy, but there had to be a better story for it to pay off.

11/22/09 - ∆ - G.I. Joe - Perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood for this, but this movie just could not hold my interest in the slightest. Lots of nice effects and computer generated art, but beyond that - nothing else. Characters were goofy, one-liners were lame, lots of shaky camera techniques... I could go on, but I won't.

12/12/09 - ∆∆∆∆ - Food Inc - I'm about a week late with this review so the details will be sparse. Nutshell, a good documentary on how the food industry is... not broken per say, but seriously flawed. The motivator is simple... faster and cheaper. But what this means to the consumers is a dangerous trade-off to quality food. A bad combination between Government (lobbyists for big business), and corporation. For example... Chickens are bred now that that do not resemble chickens of 50 years ago. They are slaughtered in just a few months when they're growth rate is altered to produce overweight chicks. These chicks are so over weight at times they can not take more than a few steps at a time before collapsing (usually in the muck and feces of all the other thousands of chicks in the shed.) If you have no idea why it's cheaper to get a $1 hamburger than a $7 salad, you should watch this movie.

12/19/09 - ∆∆∆∆∆ - The Answer Man - Yes, a bit of a chick flick, but this movie really entertained me. Jeff Daniels always does a great job. What I liked most though, was the storyline... not overly complicated, but just a well told story. A small warning though on the language, just a bit harsh at times if that sort of thing bothers you. I feel like it fit the story, so it didn't bother me. Definitely worth a rental.

12/30/09 - ∆∆∆ - Chalk - I'm being very generous with that last ∆. A bit of a strange movie that definitely falls in the category of an "indy film". It was a "mockumentary" style comedy about a group of teachers in what looked to be a high school (or maybe it was middle school?). While there were some funny moments at times there were also many moments that seemed forced and just plain stereotypical. So because it made me chuckle a couple of times, I'm giving the extra ∆, but towards the end, I was ready for it to be over with.

12/30/09 - ∆∆∆∆ - Heavy Metal - Yes, I'm giving this dvd 4 stars mainly for sentimental reasons. By today's standards the movie might be something you'd see on a late night cable program, but back in the day... Of course this may be the greatest soundtrack ever assembled for a movie, which also counts for at least one or two ∆'s. Perhaps this time around, what I enjoyed most about the dvd was the small documentary as the 'bonus' that explained some of the events and thinking and even animation techniques behind the movie. I really enjoyed seeing how they did the scenes where they filmed the B-17 in all black, with white lines, then 'reversed' the film in order to get a black line outline. (hard to describe I guess). A nice way to spend an hour and a half or so remembering my youth in my teens.

2009 - Media Consumed - part 1 of 3 - Books

2010-01-01T15:11:00.004-05:00

Blanket Physics?

2009-12-22T09:34:00.003-05:00

I woke up this morning scratching my head...
What in the world happened last night?
How was this possible?

So... I currently have a bed.
I have a mattress, with one of those 'fitted sheets' with a tiny bit of extra quilting. Then the usual "fitted sheet" that comes in every sheet set.
I have 2 pillows.
Then on the outer parts of the bed, I have a sheet, an afghan that my mom made for me a long time ago, and then a quilted comforter (not a big poofy one).
This morning I woke up to find...
My 'normal' fitted sheet had come unhooked from the top corner of my bed, and had slipped about a quarter of the distance in.
My top sheet, was completely shifted in the opposite direction, so that the corner of the sheet was approx where my neck was.
My middle layer of the afghan was also shifted to the left, and had also shifted down to about where my waist was.
My upper layer of the comforter was at the right height but shifted to the right so the corner was also about where my neck was.

What the heck?! Did I get in a fight last night while sleeping? Did those monsters that live under my bed do this just to confuse me?!
How is the physics of moving a middle afghan layer possible? Shouldn't the coverings all shift in the same way?!

I suspect I'll never know the answers to these questions... until the day I reach those pearly gates... that will probably be in my top ten questions to the Creator of the universe... to explain to me the physics of blankets.

Jack Kerouac - On the Road

2009-12-13T14:43:00.005-05:00

It's about mid December now and I'm in the final days of the year trying to finish one more book. I decided to keep track of all my media consumed in 2009. Which includes: movies in the theater, dvd's, books, and even a couple comic books (oddly I didn't think to include music on that list, which I'm now regretting).
But just a week or so before December, I finished my 13th book, and was afraid that a month to finish a book was cutting it close for me. So I looked at what I had on my kindle and decided to choose a shorter book. I chose Jack Kerouac's "On the Road". While I'm glad it was a short book, and I'm now about it finish it (with abt 2 weeks to spare), I regret that this has been a tedious book! I've plowed through it though, because I knew if I switched books now, I'd never finish another one.
So a review here for those interested...
Having visited family who live in California, I was aware of Kerouac, and have heard his name mentioned in other circles because I've read a few other "travel/road" books. And of course myself skating into the hippy culture from time to time, I'm familiar with the "beat culture", which I think Kerouac is more known for capturing, rather than it being a "travel" book.
So, first the good news and praise.... there are moments in Kerouac's book where he wrote some really great lines. Moments where I was just sort of blown away and thinking, 'THAT was great!". But sadly, these moments were few and far between.
I suspect, that perhaps Kerouac was whacked out himself on some of the drugs he describes in his book (wikipedia says he was an alcoholic). The book skates on the edge of describing the late 1940's and early 1950's drug culture in the beginning, only to end up in the later parts focusing more on the drug induced escapades of Dean and Sal. The best way I have thought to describe his writing style is - scattered. I have to wonder if Kerouac had ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). Having not read any other Kerouac's books perhaps that was his intentional style because it portrayed the characters that way, but man it was tough to follow at times.
I also have mention this part as it kinda creeped me out a bit... The characters in the book are in their early to late 20's. On more than one occasion, they talk about getting some girls (or gurls as he often spelled it, not sure why). But... Kerouac (or the characters) talk about the young girls... 14-16, and in the later part of the book they visit a whore house with young girls. I don't know if this was normal for that time period, or again, if Kerouac intentionally put this in to make the characters seem more lowly in societies standing (ie: druggies, bums, and sex crazed?). Regardless, I didn't like this aspect of the book.
If this book is a model for the "Beat generation" I'm glad I never got into it.
I'll close with a comment that I read on the Amazon page where people posted various comments and ratings... it seems you either love or hate this book. Lots of people either gave it a one-star or a five-star rating. While hate is a bit harsh for me, I certainly am glad I finished it and can put it behind me.
More about Jack Kerouac here on wikipedia.

dusty

2009-10-14T19:08:00.002-04:00

Just blowing off all the dust that has accumulated on my blog here.
I forget... how does this work again?

Let see... a topic... I'll just start with something small.
Spam in google mail - It always amuses me when I go to clean out the spam in my gmail account, that the small "google ads" that appear above the main window is always recipes that involve spam. Ok, I admit, I'm easily amused.

another small topic...
A few months ago, I rescued an amazing looking Jade plant that someone had put by the dumpster in my apartment complex. Obviously, they wanted someone to rescue the plant because they put it next to the dumpster and not IN the dumpster. So I brought it home, and placed it on my patio where it has done well. I just tonight, decided it was time to bring it inside for the winter. There is talk of Frost now, and I don't think it would survive.
I hesitate though, because I don't get a lot of daylight in my window, so I HOPE it will survive the 6 months (or so) of winter ahead. Fingers crossed. If anyone has tips on raising a Jade plant please leave me a comment. The only thing I know is they like sun, and they don't need much water.

Oh the Irony...

2009-09-16T19:44:00.003-04:00

The other night I was flipping through the channels and landed upon Faux News. Sean Hannity was on (I can only take about 5 minutes of his show at a time).
The latest "scandal du jour" was regarding the group called ACORN.
While I'm in no way defending the out and out wrong actions of a select few of the ACORN employees, I still had to smile at the irony of Hannity's comments...
A little backstory...
A young man and young woman used an undercover disguise of a prostitute and her pimp to catch ACORN employees in the act of allegedly providing tax evasion advice (among other bad advice and possibly illegal advice). This couple used a hiden camera to record the events, and have been releasing the footage a bit at a time to the Fox news network (who is reveling in playing it over and over again).
Back to last night's show...
Sean Hannity made a comment something to the effect of "Journalism is dead in 2009" - now on the one hand I absolutely get his point... it took two younger "kids" (I think they are around 20). to land a MAJOR news story and they put the major networks and reporters to shame in doing so. On a budget of about $3000 they managed to break this story. So Sean's point is right on in that sense. (yes - you read that right - I'm agreeing with Hannity!).
Now here's where the Irony comes into play...
The new footage last night featured an ACORN employee apparently BRAGGING about killing her ex-husband! Shocking right?! I was. Hannity even mentioned something about - "did anyone check this out yet?" - the young woman danced around the issue and didn't really give a good answer. I thought 1) Here we have Hannity a "news reporter" on a "News network" asking the same kid if she had investigated the ACORN woman's claims.
Now... today, I learn (via the intertubes)... apparently the entire "bit" of the woman bragging about killing her ex-husband was a made up story! She claimed in an interview, that she "knew" that these kids were "playing her" so she decided to "play back" and make some wild claims of her own. IT even garnered a visit from the local police to investigate the woman in her claims of shooting her Ex - to which they found no evidence of.
So here we have a "news reporter" airing an amateur video claiming that "journalism" is dead, when if Hannity (or his co-workers) had done an ounce of investigating themselves before releasing the story, they would have found out that the woman's claims were false.
Irony.

Again - for the sake of making a point - I'm not condoning ACORN's bad employee's at all. I think what they did in several of the other video's is completely wrong. The ACORN group obviously needs to clean up their act.

facebook privacy - new

2009-09-06T11:44:00.003-04:00

For those of you who know me, I'm not crazy over the privacy (or lack of) options on facebook. I have created an account, but I am still leery, and have not filled out much information about myself on their website other than my email and name.
Well, last night, I signed on, and discovered something new and slightly disturbing... In the top panel of the screen, facebook often times "recommends" people that you might wish to become friends with. In the past this didn't bother me because basically, it would just take "friends of a friend" and suggest them - for example... I am friends with my sister. She is friends with "mrs. x" - so facebook says to me: Do you know "Mrs. x"? Not really a big deal.
Last night, I was surprised to see who they recommended to me. Yes, I knew the guy. BUT we have NO connections via facebook at all. I started to wonder, how could facebook have made the connection that I know this guy - I'll call him "Mr. y" - I started thinking... do any of my current facebook friends know him? No. Then how? Then I realized... the ONLY way... was because I have emailed Mr. y a few times. SO.... Either facebook is reading my email contact list (which I have not given them permission to do)... or facebook has accessed my friends email contacts and then found that it matched my email that they had on file. Now that's kinda creepy for a second if you think about it. Lets say I add some random emails to my email contacts... like stevejobs@apple.com - obviously Steve may not want the world to know he has a facebook profile. But thanks to facebook now, I might be able to learn his facebook identity.
I don't know... I think facebook has crossed yet another line on this one.

strange neighbor

2009-08-25T19:27:00.003-04:00

I'm confused with how to deal with this topic...
On one hand I want to appear neighborly, and on the other hand I want nothing to do with this guy...
Story: For the past 7 month (perhaps a year?) I've had a new neighbor that lives a few doors down from me (not sure exactly which apartment he lives in). He's a strange looking fella... skinny, blond hair, perhaps in his mid 50's, though I suspect he might be younger than he looks, and that his 'life experiences' have aged him prematurely. He kinda looks like an ugly version of Tom Petty (I know, that's not saying much, apologies). He has an odd habit... he walks the parking lot almost constantly with shorts and no shirt on. I'm not sure if he's on disability, but I don't think he works, and he walks with a strange limp - not to mention about 1/4 the speed of an average walking pace. Well, I've passed him in the past, and I always try to keep my distance from him. Just one of those 'gut feelings' that I can't explain that the guy's bad news. Well, about 2-3 weeks ago, I cracked... I walked out to take my garbage to the dumpster, and he was out strolling. I finally acknowledged him just by giving him a "head nod" as if to say "hey, what's up" without actually saying the words. Boom... that's all he needed for an invite. A few days later he approached me as I was headed out somewhere, and proceeded to tell me that he used to have long hair (which I do - what's left of it anyway). He went on to say that he had long hair up until one day when some strangers stopped on the side of the road thinking he was a girl - so he cut it off.
Um... great. You're telling me this why? Are you calling me a girl? Are you trying to say you're 'cooler' than me cause you cut it? I didn't get it, nor did I wish to find out. I simply laughed, nodded, then went on my way.
Tonight, he cornered me again...
He asked me what I did for a living and what hours I worked, because he noticed my vehicle in the parking lot is always out there in the morning and that I usually come home late. Yes, I said, I have odd hours (without telling him what I did for a living). Then he said, "Oh you mean you work the 'lazy a$$' second shift?" - Um... yeah I said, if you say so.
So now he's basically called me a girl, and a "lazy a$$" - how's that for neighborly?
Actually, I guess I just answered my question. I think I'll go back to ignoring him. If I just have to 'nod' and acknowledge him and leads him to insulting me - I guess the answer is pretty obvious. But I'm not that type of person, so I'll continue to fight with this internally - AND I'm also aware too that this is 'twice' now that he's spoken with me, and with each time it will get easier to bring up things to talk about. Ugh.

Vocabulary Test

2009-08-19T23:49:00.004-04:00

A little back story first... While on twitter, one of folks I follow was talking about a FREE e-book that he just got for his Kindle. I have enjoyed his tweets, so I thought, 'it's free - why not give it a try'. I finished the book last night and I have to say it was one of the toughest books I've read in as long as I can remember. It seemed like every other page, I was coming across a word that I didn't know the meaning of! Luckily the Kindle has a "built-in" dictionary, and I obviously took advantage of that feature. In my defense... the book was written around 1911, and it was originally written in French, so some of the words have a French origin.
But I'm curious: out of these 86 words, how many do you know the meaning of?
(also, some of the words, I was able to deduce the meaning of based on the context, but even so I marked it as a word I didn't know). (also: any misspellings are from the book).
Oh - and if you're interested... you can download the book here. I found it a good read overall (the ending kinda fell apart for me only due to an increase of character names and I was getting a bit lost).
>>>
munificent
remunerated
coign
vexation
chit
copse
presentiment
escritoire
circumlocutions
pretermitted
vouchsafed
gendarme
peremptory
navvies
quietened
crapulous
monomania
paroxysms
adduce
efface
dentelated
pilules
peremptorily
képi
impassivity
fastidiousness
wen
equipage
felloes
perambulator
rushes
mien
pursy
squireens
ulster
disquisition
obloquy
deferent
abstracted
impudence
conciliate
abdicate
expiate
peremptory
throve
anodynes
unctuous
evinced
discomfited
ministrations
interminable
libations :one of my favorites
evincing
potations
unctuously
garrulity
peremptorily
brooked
alighted
jemmy :one of my favorites
vouchsafed
peccadillo
privations
adroitly
plucky
major-domo
paroxysm
peripatetic
warder
blenched
acclivity
soliloquising
vituperation
calumny
Bosh
Torquemada
lorgnettes
adducing
Proteus
perfunctorily
deprecatingly
inveterate
callow
toffs :one of my favorites
lugubrious

The Mall

2009-08-16T19:23:00.004-04:00

Today I took a trip over to the local mall. I have not been there in quite some time so it was interesting to see how things changed. I used to frequent this mall regularly in most cases to eat at the food court. They had a big array of restaurants and I enjoyed "people watching". Well, the first change was that the food court moved. Some of the same names there, but also quite a few were missing from the lineup. It seemed like a more condensed version of how I remembered it. Now, perhaps, it was a HOT Sunday afternoon, but it also seemed very crowded. I have a feeling people were there just sucking up the free air conditioning (and it was nice and cool there, I admit). The main reason I went there is that I thought I might get my new eye-glass prescription fulfilled at the Lenscrafters (which is where I got my glasses about 4 years ago). At the same time, I wanted to see what their selection of Rx Sunglasses were and to check out the prices. Wow. That was a bit of a setback. JUST to get new lenses into my existing frames... $325!!! Suddenly I can see much better today! For a "cheap" pair of sunglasses the prices started at $119 for the frames, and went up from there. Needless to say, I walked out of there to re-think my options. I'm still not sure what I'll do now.
Back to the mall...
One of the things that struck me most about all the shops (some new some old)... MOST of the shops are geared to the younger crowd. Hard to pinpoint an age, but I'll say late teens to mid 20's. I actually started to feel 'old' as I was walking around!
One other observation... I thought while I was there, I might as well check the Apple Store there. It was PACKED with people! But as I looked around, it was packed with kids! I mean like 12-15 year old! At one point, the iphones on display were all being "played" with by little kids!? Other teens were just surfing the web, one kid was watching "ultimate wrestling" online. It was like a day care center in there or something. So throw in all the hustle and bustle, the loud music, and I just couldn't wait to get out of the store!
So maybe it is a sign I'm getting older, but I doubt I'll be headed back to the mall any time soon (unless I do decide to get the sunglasses there - but I won't be "shopping").

edit: This was just a great coincidence, I had to update this post...
As I talk about the younger kids hanging out in the apple store, I have seen this youtube clip (and soon to be internet star (if he isn't already)) popping up all over the place.
I admire this kids creativity and his ability to make a name for himself at his local apple store.
So enjoy a little "Boom Boom Pow" lip sync from Nicholifavs...

Verizon and FIOS

2009-07-17T23:20:00.002-04:00

I'll try to keep this short.
I decided to call Verizon this morning to see if I could take care of a problem that has been annoying me. My neighborhood had FIOS installed about a year ago (perhaps longer). Almost once a week, I get a mailer (sometimes 2!) encouraging me to switch to FIOS. I can't believe the money they've wasted on these mailings to me, not to mention all the dead trees, ink, etc... I tried calling about a month ago to get them to remove my name from the mailing list. Oddly enough, the man told me he could do that, but then just after I gave him my name, I was disconnected. Irony?
I thought, well he had my name, and my phone number so he should have the right information to complete my request. No. A month later, and I'm STILL getting a mailer a week. So I decided to try again.
I spoke with a VERY nice and polite woman. I really tip my hat to her. (note: I think I got a nice person, because I called the "sales" line, and not the tech support). She agreed she could do that, and apologized for the mulitple mailings. Great!
It all went well, that I decided to take care of the next issue with her...
I signed up for Verizon DSL about 2-3 years ago. At the time, I got a price of about $29.99 if I agreed to a one year term. Fine. I didn't really pay attention to the data rate because it was the only one they had. Since that time, my friend and relative who signed up within the year, they had an option of a 1MB plan for $17.99 (which they now have raised to $19.99) OR a 3MB plan for $29.99.
Well, I've been checking my speeds and I'm only getting about 1.5MB, so I thought, I must be on an old plan.
I asked the woman all of the above, and she confirmed that she could switch me to the 3MB plan for $29.99 - GREAT! But....
Tonight I get home, and check my speeds... again, it's still at 1.5MB. I call up again to find out what happened.
Over an hour and a half on the phone, I talked to a customer service rep, who transfered me to tech support, who said there was nothing he could do, because my plan still said 3MB OR 1.5MB - and I had to take the issue back up with customer service. ugh.
I called back, and spent another 30 minutes on the phone (with another nice woman), and long story short, she says she was able to switch me to the 3MB/1.5MB plan.
Really verizon?! These are the plans you offer for $29.99?
1) a 3MB OR 1.5MB
2) a 3MB/1.5MB
Seriously?

Note the use of the plan names... it's not "up to" 3MB it's presented as an "either, or" - how can this be possible?

Verizon - you're at the top of my list now. You have made Comcast look good today. Ugh.

small rant...

2009-07-11T00:19:00.002-04:00

It amazes me now how the time gets away from me regarding this here blog...

So a small rant I wanted to get off my chest.
My new pet peeve is companies who CHANGE their product.
I am a creature of habit. I admit that. I don't like change. I understand all the points behind it though; learning to adapt, exploring the world, growing as a person, etc...
I've gotten used to (and enjoy) the same type or flavor of Lance Crackers every morning for breakfast (except weekends). They are a Swiss Cheese flavor - though they taste NOTHING like Swiss cheese. But I enjoy them. Well, about 3 months (perhaps longer) ago, Lance crackers phased out that particular flavor! I since learned that they were introducing new flavors that involve a new "whole wheat" cracker - and big surprise - they cost more. Now I must adapt to these new flavors, which I don't like as much.
Then to top that off... the local supermarket where I get them... has just stopped carrying them! They only have a "keebler" ones which to me are horrible because their cracker parts are too sweet. So now, I have to find a new grocery store that sells lance crackers. I did notice the other day that the local "club store" carries Austin brand wheat crackers so perhaps I'll give that a try next time I'm low.
I'll throw out another one though I hope it's not too personal...
Underwear! I am picky about the type of clothes I like mostly regarding fit and fabric (I don't care "as much" as what they look like, as long as they are comfortable). When I find a brand I like, I usually stick with it. So a couple weeks ago, I went out to pick up some replacement undies, so I went back to the store I got them at last time, and picked out the same ones. I bring them home, try them on next time, and they feel different. Here, I look at the label and they are 95% cotton, and 5% Spandex!?!?! Grr. So 90's! :) So now, what do I do, do I have to start the search for a whole new brand name now? What made them decide to change the fabric percentages?!
So companies out there... don't be so quick to change products. There are such things as loyal customers.
Ok, that feels better now.

Kindle - first impressions

2009-07-02T10:11:00.004-04:00

Yep, I got myself a Kindle! Well, with help from some recent birthday gift certificates that is...
I've been eyeing these things for quite some time now. But I could never justify the price. While I very much enjoy reading, I tend to do my reading before bed each night which means I usually only get a few pages in per night before Mr. Sandman clunks me over the head. BUT I do love books. In fact, I admire others who have or make more time for reading. I am making an effort to increase my reading time as well.

So first let me say, there are some things that trouble me regarding a Kindle.
1) I've never had an issue where I couldn't read anything because I had a dead battery.
2) I've never dropped my entire bookcase to the point where if I did, I wouldn't be able to read those books anymore.
3) I'm very troubled by the tight grips that Amazon is building into their Kindle format.
4) I don't like the high costs of the Kindle editions (on some books - other books are FREE!)

But... I received mine yesterday morning, and upon opening it, and getting to know it as the day progressed, I felt like I was holding a magical device.
It seems to be VERY nicely designed which is important for a device like this. As I was unpacking it (which the packing is really nicely done as well), I couldn't help but notice a heavy "Apple" influence. (Learn from the best).
The device is a tad heavier than what I expected, but it's certainly a good weight.
I so far have "purchased" only one book - which was a wopping ¢99! It was Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" (I started to read this book some time ago, but never finished it). I've also "purchased" a handful of the FREE books. (I had to laugh as many of the "top sellers" are FREE books - I suspect that is because people who buy a Kindle can't afford to buy books anymore!)
There is defintely going to be a price war ahead (happening now!). People are NOT going to want to spend more than the $9.99 base price. They view an e-book as not being as expensive as a paper book (I do anyway). But I'm sure in due time the prices will even out.

As far as readbility and navigation etc...
The e-ink is very nice. The only complaint is that the background is a tad too dark in my opinion. IF Amazon were smart, they would not have made the unit a stark bright white. It only emphasizes that the "paper" is about 40% gray. They should have made the unit a dark gray (abt 80% which would have given the illusion of a brighter "paper". So far though, It is very readable though (I've heard some people complain of eyestrain on long periods).
The navigation is nice, but I think it could use a little work. I'm sure though, once I get the hang of what the buttons do, I'll adapt and it won't be an issue (for example, I tend to want to use the 5-way button to turn pages).

All in all, a really nice device, and I hope to get many hours of enjoyment from it.
One last comment... this is only the "second generation" Kindle... and it's only been out for a little over a year or so (meaning the first gen Kindle). I'm aware that soon my unit will be out of date, but such is the price to pay for adopting new technology.
I will enjoy it for a long time I'm sure.
(note, I'm STILL using my second gen. ipod and like it very much!)

Oh... one more thing... the images they have while the unit is in sleep mode are fantastic! The levels of gray are enough to do justice to a black and white image.

political comment

2009-06-30T18:49:00.002-04:00

Sometimes the web can make you feel good.

I find myself on twitter a lot. I enjoy seeing.hearing what people who I choose to "follow" are doing. One of those reasons is because I tend to pick people who I find interesting. So it's a sort of self-fulling loop.
One of those persons that I chose to follow is a republican. Not just a regular republican but a right wing republican with his own blog and his own video blog. I can't recall where I discovered this person and how I came about following him. But I enjoy keeping an ear on what "the other side" is up to. I don't comment on his tweets, and usually I don't comment on his blog posts. I feel like it's not my place to be the "troll" on his thoughts and opinions. By all means he's free to post what he believes in. But... (You knew there was a but coming right? :)
The other day, I read a post on his blog. It was (I think) by another person as it was listed under commentary. The title of the blog was something like "Why I'm through with the Republican party". It was a short post actually. Only 8 paragraphs. I read through the 7 paragraphs and they all were criticisms of the current party and basically pointing out how they are not the voice of a "true conservative" anymore. I even found myself agreeing with some of his/her points. But then... In the last paragraph, he starts with "But I will continue to support the Republican party..." (there was a vague disclaimer attached to that sentence something like if they act like how they promised on the campaign trail).
I couldn't believe it. Here was a poignant expression about how the GOP is losing it's way, and it ends with the author claiming he'll still support the party?! I couldn't help myself to post a comment. I tried to be respectful, and not use personal attacks (like so many internet comments), but I also pointed out how I didn't understand the thinking and and logic.
I went back today, to check the blog post to see if I had raised the ire of all the other Rep's on that site. I was expecting to get an earful, but much to my surprise the article is not there. Earlier today, I got an error that said the website is being re-designed so perhaps it was just a technical glitch, and once the web designer gets around to it, he'll fix the link, but for now, I can't help but wonder... did I have anything to do with the pulling of the article because they read the article and said "gee, he's right, that doesn't make any sense".
I'll try to remember to check over the next few days and see if it reappears. If it does, I'll update this post.
(note: I realize I'm being vague, and not listing the blog. I don't want to drive either other Reps or Dems and start a comment flame war.)

Funny photo | SF compost

2009-06-25T19:27:00.004-04:00

This morning I read over on the Inhabitat blog that San Francisco has jut made it a "law" (seems odd to think of this as a law) that the city will now add mandatory composting to their waste management. I applaud this effort (though I'm a little confused how it all will work - I'm sorry, I can't see how this will a) Not smell! (because people will not know what is the right thing to compost or not, and because people are lazy (and/or stupid) and they'll just put anything they want into the compost catagory) and b) not attract rodents.
But hopefully they have it all figured out - because I know first hand - no wait, I guess it's "second hand" that my ma also composts for their small backyard garden. It's really a good thing.

All of the above said... when I looked at the photo above, I just had to laugh at the guy in the lower right hand side. He's just got his head down, and is pinching his nose as if he has the worst tension headache. I can just imagine him as one of the mayor's advisers and he's thinking to himself, 'THIS will be a disaster!' :)

(if you can't see it, you can click on the image to enlarge it).

Iran Election thoughts...

2009-06-21T21:50:00.004-04:00

First off, let me admit I am not following the Iran Election events closely. But that being said, I have a few thoughts I want to throw out there...
I am very much into twitter now as a means of communication, mini-blogging, and in general keeping an eye on whats going on in the world. A trend I see on twitter is people making their avatar green to show support for the Iranian people who are protesting for democracy and legitimate elections. I have refrained from taking part on this bandwagon. For fear of sounding callous (which I'm not), I don't see the point. In fact, someone on twitter said it nicely... "it's like putting the yellow ribbons on our trees and cars to show support for the troops". It's a superficial sign that shows what you think, rather than actually helping in a meaningful way. Again, if you are supporting the Iranians and want to show solidarity that's great, but I would hope that the people doing this are also doing more than just changing their avatars.
Another item that I really just noticed today (Sunday), is that the republicans are now using this event to criticize Obama. You have two lines of critiques... one: He's meddling in other countries affairs too much, or two: he's not doing enough. The cry today coming from the right wing is that he's not doing enough. Yet, I hear them claim this but I don't hear what it is they want him to do. In my opinion, he's handling it well for the moment. He's raised concern over the legitimacy of the election, and condemned any violent behavior and at the same time praised the protestors for peacful demonstrations. That to me sounds like the right thing to do. It's up to their lawmakers and lawenforcers to determine if the election has been rigged or not. We (as a country) should stay out of their affiars. I think back to when our election was possibly stolen in When our president was "appointed" by the Supreme Court. I would not have listened to another countries leader regarding the election.
So, I'll continue to follow this news with some minor interest. I support the Iranians who are passionate enough to protest (matter of fact, WE should learn a lesson from them if our election is ever called into question again). I hope the people in Iran continue to demonstrate peacfully, and I hope it is all resolved in a favorable way that is best for the Iranian people.
(disclaimer: I reserve the right to change my mind on any of this upon learning further information).

not much to say

2009-06-19T08:27:00.002-04:00

no really... I've been trying to think about something to blog about for the past couple days and nothing has struck me.
I'm enjoying the time spent now visiting with "west coast" family as they are in town now for their vacation.
I'm still keeping an eye on political stuff, but to be honest I'm also trying to take a brake from all the mud slinging and negativity.
I'm sort of in mid-limbo on my hobbies - mostly frustrated with my whole lack of space in my small apartment to do anything.
I guess the only bit of good news is that I FINALLY got around to shelling out the money to buy two new tires for my truck. I've needed them for a while, yet kept postponing it until I made up my mind about keeping my truck or selling it and gettting a Prius. I still want a prius, but I'm not ready to go into debt again just yet (or deplete my savings to buy a car). So the new tires will buy me some more time to make up my mind.
So that's about it for now.
I hope to have more intersting topics soon.

cartoon

2009-06-10T18:01:00.002-04:00

I don't recall where on the internet I found this one - Sorry for not giving attribution.

kid on a plane...

2009-06-09T21:58:00.002-04:00

I just remembered another small story about my plane ride home from vacation.
I had a transfer in PHX Arizona, and when I got on the plane, I was sitting about the 4th row back.
People were filing into the plane as we were boarding.
Then there was a small gap in the flow of people, and the stewardess (or is it hostess? I forget what the PC term is now)... brings on a younger kid. I'm guessing him to be around 8 years old perhaps. So she seats him two rows in front of me in a middle seat between two other women.
She fills out some paperwork and the plane continues to board, and in a short amount of time, we're off and on our way.
I don't recall exactly when it happened but it was around the time when the "Flight attendants" (That's the PC term!) start to get ready for the first round of drinks and peanuts. I placed my order for a tomato juice (no ice), and I'm waiting (like the rest of the plane) to be served our little cup of beverage. I'm not really paying attention, just sort of looking forward, when I see something move at the top of the chair that the kid is in... What the? It's brown and scaly! It's literally slithering! First thing to pop in my mind is Samuel Jackson Cursing about Snakes on a PLANE! And how could this be happening - Just like the movie!?
Then all of a sudden the snake's head appears and it's obviously fake - whew :)
The guy who was the row in front of me (who would be directly behind the kid) let out a big sigh too - I think he might have been actually scared. The flight attendant walked past, then started joking with the kid about his "real snake" - yeah! Laugh it up kid!
Luckily the kid had no other surprises in store, but there for a second, I was fooled, and couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Karma is calling...

2009-06-01T23:55:00.002-04:00

Ring Ring - Karma is calling.

This little story is going to haunt me for some time now until I can find a way to rectify it.
This past week I was on vacation. I went to the west coast to visit family and take in the sights and sounds of sunny California. I had an awesome time (as always). (One of the highlights was seeing a press conference with Arnold "The Governator" himself! It was a situation we just sort of lucked into by chance and it was pretty cool. I hope to post photos soon.)
But the story is this...
As I left California I had a connecting flight in Phoenix AZ. I arrived at PHX only to learn my flight had been delayed an hour. I didn't let it bother me at all, and took the time to eat my sandwich (that my sis made for me with some extra surprise goodies) at the little kids table that happened to have some old Popeye cartoons playing. (it was funny actually, here I am sitting on these little stools meant for kids eating my lunch and watching cartoons, and behind me was another TV with a story I was hearing in the background of how a man was recently shot... I conciously made the effort to tune it out, and enjoyed my Popeye.)
After lunch, I wandered over to my gate, and sat down to wait. As I approached my seat, I looked down and saw that someone had dropped a $1. Cool! I asked the guy sitting one chair away, if he lost a $1 - the expresion on his face was priceless. It was as if I wanted to come up with a story about how it was his, but his mind just froze so he said "no". I asked the other guy on the other side of me, if it was his, and he just said no. Woohoo!
But then... As I was sitting there, I noticed a small black object under the chair across from me. It looked like it might be a cell phone but I wasn't entirely sure. I wasn't ready yet to get down on my hands and knees to go reaching for a piece of plastic trash like off of some luggage or something. Just as I was getting up the nerve to crawling for it, this young guy walks in front of me and sits down. Ugh, I really don't want to ask this guy to move now, just so I can crawl under his chair. I sit patiently and wait for him to get up. The more I look at it, the more I'm convinced it's a cell phone. The kid across from me was a strange one. He was dressed in a skull shirt, had a big skull metal belt buckle on (that he was mighty proud of cause he was polishing it and meticulously tucking in his shirt so it was visible.) He had on some Skull "Van" Sneakers and carried around two drumsticks covered in electrical tape. The kid also had a heavy brow which gave him a neanderthal look, with messy blonde hair. He proceeded to start taking stuff out of his small duffle bag. mostly clothes. He seemed oblivious that I was watching him closely, or for that matter, that there were even other people around him (it was very crowded for some reason). This kid fascinated me, and disgusted me at the same time. As he was dumping his clothes on the floor, he picked up a pair of underwear (presumably his!) and smelled them! Who does this? Sure, I might have picked up a shirt that I had laying on my floor when I was a teen to smell the pits to see if it was dirty or clean, but underwear? No way. He repacked his bag, then proceeded to really dig his finger into his nostril like there was no tomorrow. Not just once either. I was thinking to myself, does this kid have any social skills at all?!
He then bends over to pick up more of the clothes when he lets out a 'gasp' and grabs the cell phone! I was like a deer in headlights! What do I do now? Do I confront this mentally unstable guy? I watch him, in the hopes that he'll do the right thing and turn it into the desk for "lost and found". He starts looking all around. Then once he's sure no one is looking he opens the phone and starts pushing buttons (didn't make a call). I still didn't know what to do, and then realized I had let too much time slip by to say anything. I SO wanted to just say to him "I saw that, and hope you'll do the right thing and return the phone." But I didn't.
Shortly later, he picked his stuff up, and walked over to the wall near his gate and sat down and started playing with his drum sticks. I thought maybe he was drumming along to the music playing on his ipod... then I realized, he didn't have any headphones in. He was just "air drumming" like crazy.
Eventually, they announced that the flight he was waiting for was transfered to a different gate and he got up and left.
I so wanted to tell someone, but chickened out for fear of getting involved.
All I could imagine was how some innocent person was going to have all sorts of problems with their lost phone. Possible billing issues if the kid decided to run up the phone bill, or worse yet, get all the contact information out of the phone. I felt really bad for not doing the right thing, and acting faster when I saw it.
I fear now that someday that karma train will come around and get me back for this. As I was sitting in the airport wondering how it would hit me (ie: would I lose my phone now too?!), I thought - wait a second... if I believe in Karma, then that means the person who lost their cell phone must have also done something wrong! So the karma train was gettin back at HIM and not ME! :)
I know I still should have acted sooner or said something, and this will haunt me for a long time now.

politics and mindset

2009-05-21T20:32:00.003-04:00

Wow, is this the longest I've gone without posting to my blog?
I think it is. My apologies.

So, first this little story...
The other day I was driving into work. I was leaving the ramp from one highway and merging onto a new highway. As I did, this little green car that was behind me on the ramp got impatient with me, and quickly accelerated past me in the "fast lane". In what like to call a "karmic moment" (or would that be "Carmic" - Sry - couldn't resist), no sooner did he pass me, that the light up ahead turned yellow then red. So needless to say, as he was sitting at the light, I pulled up along side of him. As I did though, I noticed his bumper stickers... There were three...
The first one said: Put Locks on Criminals - Not GUNS.
The second one said: Fight Crime - SHOOT BACK.
The third one... it was one of those "Jesus Fish" with a cross inside of it.
I just had to shake my head and smile.
It's funny how a "christian" can read and interpret whatever they want out of the bible... or is it selective picking and chosing of what to believe. I digress... I wanted so much to get in a debate with that person and ask him, "What about Jesus' quote about if a person takes your jacket, offer him your shirt?" - or perhaps "Turn the other cheek" - or even more general "how does forgiveness factor into your bumper sticker philosphy?" I decided not to cause he'd probably shoot me :)

This is sort of related, but perhaps it deserves another post... nah...
Later that same day, I was surfing the web, and I stumbled upon a website that sold these other bumper stickers... they were designed like typical "election" bumperstickers (ie: red white blue, bold letters, etc...) It said "Republicans for Voldemort" - ha! I found it here.
I smiled... but then it hit me...
I know a few Repblicans and conservatives. I have gotten into debates with them over certain topics, and usually I end up kinda scratching my head, and wondering "how can they think that?" as I'm sure they do the same to my thoughts and opinions. There are certain topics that we see things in complete opposites! Then that's when it hit me... perhaps there are other things that we see as complete opposites... Do republicans root for Voldermort to win against Harry Potter? Do they root for Darth Vader to win against his battle with Luke Skywalker? Did they laugh when Old Yeller... I can't even say that one. I wonder how many movies out there where their morals and judgements are so opposite to mine that they root for "the bad guy"?

(and yes... I'm trying to be funny here. I don't really think Rep's root for Vader or Voldemort, though I'm sure some of them do ;)

Star Trek

2009-05-12T00:44:00.002-04:00

Just a short movie review here: Go see it! Perhaps, I'll go more into it at a later time, as I have a few observations that perhaps I am the only one who noticed such things (well, on one item anyway).

Swine flu h1n1

2009-05-03T19:47:00.006-04:00

Just a small observation I thought of this morning.
I'm still not too worried about this "swine flu" which apparently is now being called the H1N1 virus. At the same time, I am watching this story, and I am "concerned".
I have started to follow @cdcemergency on twitter and occasionally I'll check ouot their official webpage of info here to check on the latest numbers.
But this morning I realized...
Some of those number represent people who have had the virus, and by now are also probably on the mend as they say. It's been about a week and I suspect some of the first patients are now on the road to recovery and doing better now. But to look at the chart of numbers coming out, the numbers will never go down (unless they change the practice), which will make the numbers appear more worrisome than need be.

I replied to the CDC on twitter suggesting they incorporate my idea, but did not recieve a reply. I suppose they know what they are doing better than I. I just think it's a valid point though.

Stay healthy everyone, and take those extra precautions now to avoid getting sick.

Tech Tags: swineflu h1n1 cdc cdcemergency

[edit: 5/4/09 fixed typo in title not swin flue swine flu]

conspiracy kook

2009-05-01T08:54:00.005-04:00

A quick post...
I have C-span on in the background this morning as I am surfing the web. They are accepting call-ins about the news today of justice retiring from the Supreme Court (which means Obama will get to pick one.) It is the usual stream of public calls, where every now and then you get someone who has an "alternative" idea... this guy just called in, and was saying something about how Bush stole the election in 2000 via the supreme court, or rather with their help. Then he mentioned a name of a person who was killed (I didn't catch the name)... the host of C-span (I think it's Peter Slen), had a smirk on his face like "here we go" - The host then asked a question something like "well, why haven't we ever heard of this guy before, wouldn't that be on the front page?" To which the man said that the media is controlled by the Gov. So the host said, "Sir, where do you get your information?"
The man said "The internet."
The host let loose a larger smirk, you could easily read his mind as saying 'here we go, an internet kook'.
Then the man clarified and said he listens to "Democracy Now" (Which USED to be on my cable TV, but has recently been canceled). Democracy Now is still available online.
Now here's the kicker that prompted this post...
The host then says "Democracy Now? We just interviewed Amy Goodman a little while ago, and you can watch that interview on our website."
Ha! So, this "kooky conspiracy" guy gets laughed at (well, smirked at) for gathering his news info online, to which your response is "you can get more of OUR news on the internet."

Tech Tags: cspan internet conspiracy news media

Long time

2009-04-17T09:32:00.002-04:00

I just realized it's been a while since I posted anything. I guess not much to talk about :)
I thought maybe I'd add a little of my thoughts regarding the recent "tea parties" the other day.
The events were on April 15th - to coincide with Tax day. I believe it was only around the 13th that I had heard anything about these tea parties. I was surfing the channels and stopped in to see what Fox "news" was talking about and that's when I learned about them. So the next day, I emailed my conservative buddy to ask him what the story was behind the events. From my web surfing, it sounded like Glenn Beck had a lot to do with promoting the event(s). My buddy is a big Beck fan. My first question was: Is this a republican/conservative thing or is it for everyone? He replied it was for anyone. So I started looking further into the events. I thought it odd, that I kinda have a finger on the pulse of politics, I've got my internet sources, I watch the news channels a little each day, yet I had not heard anything about these tea parties. As I dug further, I kept seeing that the only people talking about these events were the right wing media. People like Glenn Beck, The entire FOX talking heads line-up really, and the right wing blogger Michelle Malkin. I could not find one "left wing" or even "middle wing" group talking about the events. I started to think perhaps my friend was not being totally up front with me. I questioned him on this... his reply was something like "well, anyone is allowed to attend". Okay, I get it now. I thought of the analogy, that it's like a Christian Easter celebration... sure anyone is "allowed" to attend, but since the message is about the resurrection, chances are that you're not going to get many Jewish or Muslim folks showing up.
On the day of the event, I was skimming the web for news updates. A lot of photos I saw that showed a large crowd with banners and signs and T-shirts had some slogans that were anti-obama. Yet, I was still hearing claims on Fox that this was a "bi-partisan" event.
I watched the coverage on TV when I got home on Fox, and noted some of the "personalities" that were speaking at the events... the entire fox news commentators were scattered around the the different cities. Then there were guys like "Tim Rich" who is a country western singer, who I can only assume is a Rep/Con because he was friends with Hannity. There was former Rep Presidential candidate "Mike Huckabee" sitting next to "Neil Boortz" and they were promoting the "fair tax" issue. At another city was Newt Gingrich. My point here again, I didn't see any "middle of the road" personalities, and I certainly didn't see any Left wing speakers.

The reason I bring all this up - to be clear, I'm not against some of the messages (of which there were a lot of topics), I'm certainly not against the idea of people gathering to protest something they believe in! What interests me (and scares me a little) was how this event came about. Here you have the Fox news organization who were doing a tricky dance and carefully choosing their words... they made it a point to say they were not "promoting" the event, they were just "covering" the event because it was news worthy. But the genius of that, was that it was a self fulfilling prophecy - in that, it only became news worthy when the news covered it :) I really give them credit for thinking like this. It was a brilliant way to "manipulate" a bunch of people into believing this was a "grass roots" event. Yes, I know, there is a certain element of this that WAS grass roots. But the websites put up to organize the event were Republican/Conservative groups, then the fox news promoting it as newsworthy, was the perfect formula to get people to show up.

One final comment, cause this is MUCH longer than I anticipated.
I found the message and the timing of this event rather... ironic (I think that's the correct word).
For 8 years, we were under a republican president who has set several records on the amount of spending that he has done, the amount of debt that he caused the country to fall into, the initial bailout plan, the growth of government, etc... all the things that I would have thought would raise the ire of the Rep/Conservative members. But not once did they "demonstrate". Then... you have a Democratic President elected into office who cut the taxes on 95% of the American public (including MANY of the protestors), and yet the demonstrators were full of angry signs against Obama. I'd love to see a statistic to see how many of those demonstrators voted for McCain where they would of had higher taxes. Yep, I think Irony is the right word.

Perhaps Jon Stewart sums it up in his typical way...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

M - Th 11p / 10c

Nationwide Tax Protests

thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Economic Crisis

Political Humor

Movie: Duplicity

2009-04-06T09:45:00.004-04:00

I'm naming my blog post of this as if it were a movie review (which I will include), but that's not the main point I want to address... more on that in a bit...

The movie Duplicity: It just didn't cut it for me. My biggest complaint was that it ended up being too complicated. It is another corporate espionage film with some twists and turns, that ends up twisting and turning so much that I didn't know which way was up. I'm really getting tired of films that jump around in time so many times. Sure there are benefits to flashbacks, but to have one after another, to try and explain a story is not conducive to good story-telling.
As I spoke with my friend afterward we both agreed that Julia Roberts looked a little (to use his word) bedraggled. In fact, there was one shot early on in the movie where Julia was backlit by the setting sun... in doing so, it highlighted a lot of neck hair! Really poor choice of lighting! I understand she's getting older, and all, but some of her wardrobe choices were also unflattering as well. If I were Julia, I'd be mad :)
I won't go into details here so as not to spoil anything, but the ending was also a huge let down, and made absolutely no sense at all to me.

BUT... here's the topic I wanted to post about...
During one scene, Clive Owen (who I thought did a good job), bumps into a woman at a bar and spills her drink. He apologizes, and offers to buy her a new one and asks what it was. The woman says it was an "appletini" (the new trend in martini's as I understand it is to have them flavored).
So Owen orders one for her, and one for himself. They chit-chat for a bit and the bartender brings the drinks out and say "That'll be $26".... I almost fell out of my movie seat! :)
Really?! Is that what drinks are going for now-a-days? $13 for one drink?!
The last time I went to a bar in the city, I was SHOCKED that a beer was $5, but $13?!
Again, maybe it's cause I'm older, maybe it's cause I'm cheap, maybe because I'm more concious of my spending do to these econimc times, but I can not fathom how they could charge $13 for one drink.
Ok, rant over. :)

Cezanne

2009-03-31T23:19:00.004-04:00

I probably should have blogged about this when it was fresher in my mind.
Lucky you (the reader) will probably be treated to a shorter blog post this way.

So it was called "Cezanne and Beyond". It was an exhibit at the Philadelphia Art Museum. I went with my ma (you can read her account of the event on her blog here). We both enjoy art and it was a nice day.
The drive over could have been a nightmare, we learned just before leaving there was some sort of Greek Parade going down the main street that takes you to the Museum. I had my little gps device with me, but I'm not 100% comfortable trusting that device, nor do I know the city well enough to go off the beaten paths. Luckily though, we missed any sort of traffic and got there in time. In fact, we got there about 40 minutes early... which as it turns out was a good thing, because it was super crowded!
Oh, and yes... the art...
I really enjoyed the exhibit. I learned that while I don't necessarily like everything Cezanne did, I did really enjoy a lot of his work. There was one that stood out above the others as one of my favorites. Unfortunately, In my rush to leave the house to avoid the parade, I forgot to bring a notpad and pencil to take any notes. Google to the rescue... it was called "The Bridge at Maincy". The above photo does not do the colors justice though. (I found the photo here on this website.)
Now... here's the thing that really surprised me... since there were other artists shown in this exhibit, I got to see some other "masters" works. To my surprise I ended up really impressed with another artists work other than Cezanne... Mondrian! Sure, like most of you, I've seen the white checkerboards with splashes of red, yellow and blue. I thought that was all that Mondrian did! Well, I was wrong. Some of the paintings I saw were also geometrical in nature, but the colors and designs really impressed me! As a result, after the exhibit, while perusing the gift shop, I picked up a small book about Mondrian and not Cezanne (no offense Paul).
Ok, I think I said something about keeping this short...
Nutshell, a great day, appreciating fine art and learning other ways to see my world.
And yes... I might just pick up my brush again and try a watercolor soon.

PS> I decided to join the museum for a one year membership. I HOPE I will be able to take advantage of this membership, and head over there on a regular basis, and explore what else the museum has to offer.

PS2> I also learned that there is an artist that I really did NOT like... Henri Matisse (wiki).
A few others that I DID enjoy: Georges Braque, Jasper Johns, Alberto Giacometti, Charles Demuth, Ellsworth Kelly (some of kelly's stuff I liked).

DCCC

2009-03-28T12:53:00.003-04:00

I opened a piece of 'junk mail' today. It was from the DCCC or Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. It had a letter from Nancy Pelosi in it (I'm sure she did not write this letter). It had a little folded piece of paper in it with lines on the inside where you can write a message to President Obama. The slip of paper that asks you for a monetary 'donation' (It's not a charity) starts with the line:

"I've written a message of hope to President Obama. Please deliver it to him for me...."

This turns my stomach in so many ways.
But the biggest...
The letter gives the 'illusion' that IF I were to donate this money, that my card will make it right to the desk of President Obama. It's a borderline bribe. Give us money, and we'll see that your message gets through.
The 'gall' to call this little folded piece of paper a "Hope card" to play off of people's ignorance is also disturbing.
DCCC - I doubt I will ever contribute anything to your organisation due to this letter.
Shame on you.

http://change-congress.org/

where is everyone?

2009-03-27T23:45:00.003-04:00

This is just a random thought I had tonight.
I've had similar thoughts before, so it's not new or anything, but every now and then it strikes me.
So tonight, I was driving home from work. It's a drive I've made almost every week morning and every weeknight through a semi-small town. It has a main street that has maybe 5 businesses on it, the rest is about 8-10 blocks of houses.
Going too work, There is a section of main street that is off the main highway, and the speed limit is 35 mph. I'd say it's about average. It even goes past the local high school (there's a sign that says if kids are around then the speed limit is 25mph.) But 35 is "comfortable. Sure, on few mornings when I'm running late, I might push it up to 40, but I usually try to go the speed limit.
Now almost half way from the highway, to my office there is a creek with a little bridge over it. This (I think?) marks the township line... but more importantly, it marks a 10mph speed drop. It goes from 35 down to 25. It's only about 4-5 blocks, but it's SO tedious to go 25! Especially when I'm running late in the morning.
Tonight, I was driving home, and there's that little sign of relief - thank goodness, I'm outta that 25mph zone and can go back up to 35. I pondered... WHY? is it 25mph for that part of town, and 35mph for this part of town? I thought... usually every township picks 25 in a "residential" area. you know in case there are kids around... and that's when it hit me. I've been driving this same route day after day, and for the most part, I never see ANYONE outside. Sure, there is the occasional jogger, or woman walking her dog, or occasionally some teens, but trust me they are few and far between.
It always amazes me how a "small town" can feel so deserted. We live in our houses (and apartments) and might occasionally go outside when we have to (yard work, take the garbage out, etc,) but for the most part, I have no idea who lives in the neighborhood where I work. It's kinda creepy.
Now... In all fairness, I personally am a stay at home person. So, 'maybe' if I got out more, I'd see more, but I don't think so. People have somehow moved from a social interaction to preferring to stay home.
Related...(or not)... I recently rented a series of documentaries about the Great Depression. Actually, I'm not sure how to describe the dvd. It's called "Our Daily Bread" (imdb here). It was a movie filmed in 1934 and was about a couple who got an opportunity to run a farm. The husband was out of work for a length of time (As were many others since it was the great depression.) so an uncle offered them the farm to live on, and IF they could make a go of it they were welcome to stay there. Without giving away too much of the plot, the farm attracts many others to help out. maybe 50 or more famlies and couples from all walks of life. The movie shows how they build a community. I couldn't help to think... if this were today... there is NO way this idea would have worked. People don't trust one another, they don't want to help one another, the don't want to work for a common goal or common good. It seems to be every person for themselves.

Well, I've wandered down this trail in my story, and now I don't know where it's lead me, nor do I know where to go from here. Sorry to have taken you down this path as well.
I guess what I'm saying is... go outside.

Hospital?!

2009-03-22T12:56:00.003-04:00

Oh boy... here we go....
I HOPE this will not be a big headache, but I'm mentally preparing myself for a nightmare.

I noticed on Friday, I got an important looking envelope from a local hospital. Huh, It's prob just some marketing mail or something. Well, last night, I opened it and almost fell off my chair. It was a BILL for $719.00!!! What?! I look at it again, yep, it's in my name, and I look at the reason. It just says that I visited a Dr. Mazz (not his real name) for an Emergency Room visit back in November of 2008. Now you've probably guessed by now the problem here.... I was never at that hospital!
I can't call their billing department until Monday to get things straightened out, so now I have another full day of worrying what all this will mean. Of course I'm HOPING it's some weird clerical error, and after one phone call it will be resolved. But I am also afraid of the worst too. Medical identity theft. I googled that last night, and of course was met with several horror stories of folks who went through this. So again, I'm trying not to worry about it. But it's tough.
My fear is what other information this "alternate me" has about me. Did he just pull my name and number from a phone book? Does he have my social sec number? What other info does he have (if any?!)
I can't comprehend how this can happen. My friends and family will tell you that I'm SO careful about protecting my personal information. To the point of being a little over-protective. (whenever I use my credit card at a store, I try to keep my finger over the numbers in case there is a camera above).

Well, I hope to post a follow up here on Monday that is good news.

verizon dsl

2009-03-22T12:47:00.002-04:00

Don't worry, I'll keep this one short.

Verizon DSL:
About a week ago or maybe two, I had a problem with my DSL losing the connection and SLOW connect speeds. After giving them 1-2 days to try and straighten things out on their end, I finally had to call. After dealing with the tech support, who went through all the pre-programed questions (did you turn the computer off and on), they said the problem was probably outside and that they'd send a tech out on Monday. Well, Monday morning at 7:02, I got a computer voice telling me the problem was fixed. Good.
Until this last Fri night. ugh. here we go again - i thought. After watching the blinking green light for about an hour, praying to the DSL gods, I finally gave up, and was preparing to call the tech support again and get totally frustrated again. When for some odd reason, I thought... ya know what... let me just unplug my phone jack and see if that does anything. I pulled the plug, blew in the jack (yeah, that's no better than kicking a car tire when the engine stops - i know). I plugged it back in, when much to my surprise... IT WORKED! I had a nice fast connection!
So... in the spirit of being fair, I've grumbled in the past about Verizon's lack of tech support common sense, and this time... it WAS my inside line. So apologies to you Verizon.

testing

2009-03-12T13:11:00.003-04:00

odd... my last post would not actually post. Got a strange error from google blogspot...
bX-u6oq7x
whatever that means!?

I'm curious if this post goes through.

Hmm, that was strange. I changed some underscores "_" to dashes "-" and it went through with no errors. kooky.

Ninja Kid!

2009-03-12T12:54:00.004-04:00

This was a little event that happened to me and I just had to blog about it. It's several days later, and I woke up this morning and one of my first thoughts was 'Yikes! I forgot to post that to my blog!' - so here it is.

Monday nights I usually go to Wegmans for my grocery shopping.
I had made my rounds through the store and was about the head to the checkout when I remembered I had forgotten to pick up some soy milk. So I head back to the refrigerated aisle.
The soy milk is in the very last door furthest from the check out. There is a main aisle in between... kinda like this: o-------a --------x Where "o" is the checkout, the lines represent the fridges and the x represents the soy milk.
The "a" represents an end cap freezer where they sell the bags of ice cubes like for parties.

Anyway...
I grab my milk and start heading for the front of the store for check out.
I almost get to the aisle, when out of the Freezer (a), This little kid springs out and jumps in the middle of the aisle! Lands rather un-gracefully but not quite a fall.
He looks up at me and flashes this huge mischievous grin from ear to ear.
I just had to laugh/smile back at him :)
He then paused, looked both ways, and ran towards the front of the store (to catch up with his mother who I later saw in the checkout line).

I think I smiled all the way home on this one.
Sure it was prob a tad dangerous, sure the mother should have paid more attention to her kid and should have known that 1) he wasn't with her as she wasn't in the fridge aisle anymore and 2) was standing on bags of ice inside of a freezer.
But I couldn't help but laugh.
As someone who might have gotten into some mischievious trouble myself as a young lad, I could related to this boy's spirit :)

I will never approach an ice cube freezer again now without expecting some 10 year old kid to jump out!

Apartment complex

2009-03-11T09:45:00.003-04:00

A day in the life post...
Note: I will admit... I'm cheap. It sounds fancier if I say "frugal" but I'm ok with "cheap". I hope SOMEDAY to own a house. Until that day comes, I can't see spending a lot of money to rent a nicer apartment. So while it's technically my own fault for continuing to re-sign my lease each year at this crappy apartment complex, I can't seem to justify paying a higher price, and then to just have other "issues". I'm sure any and every apartment complex has it's own individual problems. You put any group of people together to live, and you are bound to have issues.
That said, I thought I'd copy an email I wrote this morning to see how my day started off...
>>>

Well, this is how my day has gone so far...
Sleeping...
Sleeping...
Sleeping...
RING!!!
RING!!!
[groggily]
Helloo?
[silence]
Hello?!
[almost ready to hangup]
"Hello, This is verizon's automated internet service. We're alerting you that we fixed the problem."
[click]
me: what time is it?!
7:01AM
Sheesh.
Well, maybe I can get back to sleep.
close eyes...
close eyes...
Boy, I really have to go to the bathroom, maybe I'll do that, and then I'll be able to get to sleep...
[potty]
thats better...
close eyes...
close eyes...
close eyes...
[WOOSH!!!! - Downstairs neighbor turning on shower]
close eyes...
close eyes...
[ Pbbbbb. Vrmbbbb.... outside a car with either a hole in the muffler, or a "hotrod" muffler starts up. Revs engine a few times, then takes off. This is the third time I've noticed this car in the early morning (yes, my window is closed).
close eyes...
close eyes...
[Woof]
close eyes...
close eyes...
[Woof]
close eyes...
close eyes...
[woof]
close eyes...
close eyes...
Again, this is the 5th or 6th time I've been aware of this dog. I start counting the seconds in my head between dog barks...
8, 9, 15, 16, 7, 9, 10, 15, etc...
I start to ponder...
What kind of dog barks at such odd intervals?! What is happening in that apartment that causes this dog to just bark at 10 second intervals every morning?
close eyes...
close eyes...
OPEN eyes... ugh... its starting to get light out now...
close eyes...
close eyes...
heres the muffled talking of downstairs neighbors boyfriend talking...
close eyes...
close eyes...
Starts to ponder... What if I built a foam wall, would that help eliminate all these outdoor sounds?
What's gonna happen when the warmer weather gets here, and I want to sleep with the window open?!
I really should get that crack in the window fixed, but that will mean dealing with the cruddy maintenance people.
Which reminds me, WHEN are they gonna finish painting the flimsy rotting wooden fence outside in the parking lot?! All winter it's remained half painted, like they literally ran out of paint and said, "oh well, that's good enough, maybe no one will notice"
AND... should I REALLY have to be the one to call and complain that there is a large broken tree branch hanging precariously above the parked cars? If that thing falls, it's surely gonna cause some damage. Doesn't anyone who works here see that it's broken?!
eyes wide open now...
eyes wide open now...
eyes wide open now...
8am...
eyes wide open now...
eyes wide open now...
Well, this is pointless laying here, I should get up and check my DSL to see if it's working ok.

Winter: What makes it cold out?

2009-03-04T22:30:00.003-05:00

<<< CAUTION: SCIENCE AHEAD >>>
Ok, this is gonna sound strange, but I'm not buying the whole explanation of what makes winter cold. Yep, this is explained in probably 4th grade science, but I've been thinking about it lately and I'm just not buying it.
Ok, first the myth...
Some people believe that winter is caused when the earth is further away from the sun. Bzzz. Wrong. In actuality, The earth is closer (only by a little relatively speaking) during the (northern hemisphere's) winter months.
So the next logical question... then why is it always colder in the winter time?
The answer, is due to the earth's tilt. The Earth is tilted 23.44 degrees. Also called the "Axial Tilt" (wikipedia here). And yes, there is a slight wobble, but we won't get into that now.
So, When we are in the summer months, the earth's top (north) is tilted towards the sun, which means it will have MORE sunlight during the daytime, and thus be warmer. Vice Versa, in the southern hemisphere, the earth is tilted away from the sun, so it has shorter days, and less sunlight - thus colder.
Summer and Winter also has to do with the angle of the sunlight hitting the earth too. During the winter, the light hits the earth at a larger angle, whereas in the summer it hits it more face on or directly. You can see some charts and illustrations on this wiki page here.
Ok, I understand all that.
But here's what I don't quite get...
Why the "extreme" temperature shifts from day to day? So for the most part, the temps can be averaged out to lets say "10-15 degrees" (I'm guesstimating). In other words, one day it might be 35º the next it could be 42º or even 28º (a 15º difference).
But as an example here, last weekend (Sat) it was around 50 degrees. I had to crack my window to get some fresh air as I was driving. Then on Sunday night, we got hit with about 8-10 inches of snow, and the temps were in the low 20's! That's a 30º difference in a matter of a day or so!
Our earth's axis sure didn't change during that time! So what caused that temp shift so drastically? To top it off, This coming Saturday, we're supposed to be back up into the 60's!
So, I want to know why or what causes these temperature shifts?
Is it simply the wind patterns? The Jet Stream? A passing rain storm/snow storm? What kind of wind pattern can shift a patch of cold air that far from the north down to the south in a matter of a few hours? Wouldn't you think it would be a fierce windstorm?
Also...
It seems the more drastic temp changes are around spring and fall, ie: if it's summer time, and a 95º day, chances are that the next day will be around 95º too, and not 75º. So why is it more windy (if that's the answer) during the spring and fall?
If anyone can point to a 4th grader who knows this answer, please do. OR better yet a web link that expains this, I'd appreciate it :)
(I tried googling it briefly, but most of the hits came up with temperature shifts due to global warming.) I'm talking about Temp shifts from day to day.

Album Art - Tetragnatha!

2009-02-23T13:46:00.004-05:00

BEHOLD - The first album cover from the famed Christian Metal Rock Band - Tetragnatha!

The above art is a quick Album cover I threw together because it looked like a fun Challenge.
My Twitter friend @joshuamauldin posted his here and it looked really nice.
When I read the instructions I thought it sounded like it'd be a fun challenge and to give it a try.

Here are the instructions:

If you’re a Photoshop or other kind of image making nerd, you may enjoy this.

1. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2. Go to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3. Go to http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
EDIT: I noticed most all of the "intersting" photos were copyrighted. I decided to see if I could use the same random 3rd photo using the creative commons license, and much to my surprise it seemed to work real well with my idea. Here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
4. Use Photoshop (or something else!) to put it all together.
5. Post a link to it and share with your friends!

>>>

Original photo attribute: Sinfomano

Economic "crisis"

2009-02-20T15:22:00.004-05:00

I've hesitated posting anything about the recent economic mess we're in.
I have friends and family that are being directly effected by this mess. I continue to send thoughts and prayers to them and their families to make it through this mess and come out on the other side of it all.

I want to throw these few ideas out there though.
I have never really been into anything even remotely associated with "finance".
I never used to follow politics either. It wasn't until maybe 5-10 years that it started to capture my interest. I would still consider myself a 'beginner" when it comes to understanding these heavy duty issues. But I'm learning. I'm becoming more aware. That said...

A few days ago (possibly a week), I happened to catch a small clip on the Kieth Olberman show. I rarely watch his show. He's basically the "lefty Bill O'Rielly". But this clip caught my attention for some reason. It was a Representative named Paul Kanjorski and he was being interviewed on C-span. The exact date is a bit in dispute. I'll paraphrase here, since I can't find the original clip anymore... He said that on This particular day (right around the time that Lehman Bros Bank failed) That the Fed Reserve "noticed" there was an electronic "run on the banks". People (for some reason) decided on this particualar morning that today was the day to withdraw their money from a rather safe Money market (I think that's the right term). In a period of about 1-2 hours... They saw 550 BILLION Dollars withdrawn from the market. Let me repeat that... in 1-2 hours, 550 BILLION DOLLARS were no longer in play. Rep. Kanjorski said something to the effect that IF the run had continued that by 2pm they would have seen a loss of 5.5 TRILLION! In a nutshell... a complete economic collapse in the USA.
What shoocked me most about hearing this info, was that I wasn't aware of it. I follow the news pretty closely, and not once did I hear any news of this sort.
Earlier in the week I watched a special on PBS on the show called Frontline called "Inside the meltdown", that explained how we started down this rabbit hole of the econimic mess we're in. I had a hard time keeping up with it all. But the two names that they seemed to pin it on, was Bernanke, and Paulson.
As I type this, now, The Market today saw one of its worst days in a while, and the DOW around 2pm hit the lowest it's been in 11 years. Not only that... But there are rumors today that the Government 'might' step in and take over two of America's largest banks... Citigroup, and Bank of America. Due to these rumors, their stocks have both tumbled. Citgroup was under $2 a share (some on twitter where saying that's less than their ATM fee!). BofA was around $3.
I will not be the least bit surprised if over the weekend, that something major doesn't happen.
While I TRY my hardest to remain optimistic, it's difficult. I think we're in a real mess here.
I think this is a GLOBAL crisis also, not just one or two American banks.
I think I'm going to start looking for books about the great depression, to see how people survived it. I think our past may help us get through this mess. You know the ol' saying - Those who don't know the past are doomed to repeat it.
I'm keeping an eye on my bank's stock, and while I feel somewhat safe that my accounts are FDIC insured, It's still scary.
So as not to sound ALL gloom and doom...
The Dow did Rally a little towards the end of the day.
The Gov has issued statements that it will NOT take over citigroup or BofA.
So perhaps TODAY is the turning point. Perhaps things will start to level off next week.
I even saw a news article that said perhaps now is the time to buy a house.

One last point... I also hesitated posting this because EVERY time you turn the news on it's words of caution, and fear, and scare tactics. Even the Frontline show I saw was full of "scary music and a narrator who sounded like he was narrating an Edgar Allan Poe poem". A certain part of the blame for this mess goes directly towards the Media. I try not to listen to a lot of it. I jump in, get some basic news, then turn it off. It can certainly depress you to listen to too much at once.

Hang on folks.
These are interesting times we're in.
Don't let the fear mongering get to you, and stay strong.
Families need to support one another. Friends need to be there.
Hopefully we'll make it through and things will start to pick up again soon.

Wegman's isn't perfect...

2009-02-17T23:14:00.004-05:00

UPDATE:
OOPS!!! MY BAD!!!
So a bablubird (username) was kind enough to stop into the local Wegmans today and see if they in fact pulled the product from the shelf... well, it turns out, I made the mistake (though you could see why)... apparently the date I saw that said "Mar 06" was the month and DAY not the YEAR.
I just called the "Great Range Bison" company in Colorado, and confirmed this. The woman was very nice and explained the process to me. It's shipped fresh and not frozen, and has a 25-28 day shelf life. She was able to pull the most recent shipment and confirmed that it matched the March 6th date.
So, My apologies to Wegmans and Great Range.
In my defense, with today's recent peanut scare, I think they should ad the full date to the product date stamp. (I wonder why the two guys behind the meat counter didn't know this, and didn't explain that to me, rather than snicker?)

Well, I think I've 'gushed' on my blog in the past about how much I like Wegmans (a supermarket). Tonight... not so much.
I wandered over to the meat section. Occasionally they have smaller cuts of rib-eye steaks that I enjoy for around $4. not tonight. I was looking over some of the meat selections, when I saw the ground Buffalo meat. I have bought this a few times in the past, with the idea that it would be healthier than eating ground beef. Well, tonight I learned that the Buffalo is very expensive! (I think it was around $10.50 a pound!) I don't know if the price went up since last I bought it, or if I just didn't take notice before.
But... here's the kicker...
I flipped the package over, and saw the "sell by or Freeze before" date... it was September of 2006!!
I looked again... 2006?! That can't be right. I picked up a few more, and they were all around that time! Then I picked up a packed of buffalo cuts, and it was 2004!!!?
I don't know the story behind this. Perhaps it was a misprint (the meat did look "normal"). Perhaps it was frozen in a warehouse somewhere and accidentally was put on the store shelf. Regardless, if it was correct, that could be dangerous! I felt obligated to tell someone.
I saw a guy come out from the back room, and stopped him. I told him. He sort of shrugged and said, I should tell the two men standing behind the meat counter. OK.
I walk up to the counter, and tell them the same thing... they smile.
That was not the reaction I was expecting. I almost said something right then and there, but the guy must have seen my expression, because he lost his smile real quick. Then (as if they didn't believe me) they had me show them what I was talking about. Again, he kinda snickered.
As I'm standing there, he realizes I wasn't leaving and he just turns and says "Thanks".
So I moved on.
As I continued shopping it really bothered me that they just kinda laughed, and the time that I did watch them, they were making no effort to pull the product from the shelf.
After paying for my food, I went to the customer service desk.
I explained it to them also, and then told them that the guys smiled and laughed when I told them. The woman apologized for their behavior.
I'm VERY tempted to drive back tomorrow night to see if they pulled the meat from the shelves or just left it there.
Shame on you Wegmans.

quick story

2009-02-08T23:38:00.003-05:00

Just a quick little post here.
I have family that is about to embark on a new journey in a new apartment/house (it looks wonderful!). It got me to thinking how much I don't like the space I currently live in (A small one bedroom apartment).
I can put up with a lot of things, but the main thing that bothers me is the noise from thin walls. I have pretty much solved my squirrel problem by buying my own trap, and learning how to lure them in (caught 2 so far), and am expecting a spring visit, but we'll see.
So I hopped onto craigslist the other day and found what looked like a nice place for a pretty good increase in rent. I could prob do it without much of a sacrifice.
I sent an email to my other family member and asked for advice and opinion.
She responded by saying (paraphrasing) I should pray to God for guidance...
My response...
Are you kidding me? Even He Himself couldn't rent a room at the Inn and ended up in a cave/barn/manger!
Gosh... I sure do hope the "Big Guy" has a sense of humor. :)

Crickets

2009-02-05T10:23:00.000-05:00

Chirp - Chirp - Chirp...

Sorry, nothing to say lately.

Chess ratings

2009-01-28T23:10:00.002-05:00

Chess.com is a place you'll find me frequenting practically every weekday at lunchtime. I enjoy playing chess. I find the simple fact that few games are ever alike and that it never gets boring or repetitive is pretty amazing.
Around December, I decided to step up and try to enter a tournament. A direct competition with anywhere from 3-10 other people (usually guys) in a best of two games. The winner of the first round moves on to the next. I shocked myself! I played really well, and almost won the 1st place spot! (took second). In addition, my rating sky-rocketed to almost 1700! (I usually am around 1400). I was feeling like I was starting to learn the game!
Well... I am in a rut like you would not believe. Perhaps I just got lucky, perhaps I was trying really hard because it was my first tournament, I'm not sure why exactly, but I can't seem to get my rating back up to how I was playing around early December.
At lunchtime, I play what is called "blitz chess" in that each game lasts 10 minutes (or less) per person (so a max of a 20 minute game, but that's extremely rare). I was up around a 1500 blitz rating. Well, not anymore. I've dropped to just around 1400, and can't seem to break that.
I find myself becoming frustrated, because I felt like I had something before that I can't recapture. I keep trying new tactics where I 'thought' that's what I was doing in December, but to no avail.
As I was re-thinking about all this the other day, I had a different thought. Perhaps the rating system is flawed?!
As a person plays more games, you would think that your rating would even out. But that doesn't seem to be the case. There are always new players joining chess.com, who always start off at 1200. So I could be playing a 1300, and loose to this guy who in actuality is really a 1600 player.
If it were a closed system, the ratings should level off, and be fairly accurate, but now I realize that's not the case. (I am still thinking about this, so I may change my opinion later).
I'm curious now if anyone has done a study on this. It seems ripe for study.
If there are any chess players who find this post, I'd be interested in your thoughts on this... do you feel any rating system is accurate? what sort of swing is normal? etc...
Meanwhile, I'll go back to pushing pieces around in the hopes I'll learn something.
If you ever want to play me, just look up cyenobite on chess.com

Unicorns and kittens

2009-01-20T15:54:00.003-05:00

I hate to sound like a broken record, because I'm almost tired of hearing it myself, but today was a historical day. I am glad I chose to take a half day off so I could watch the Inauguration. I thought it very interesting, and while I'm not crazy enough to want to go sit outside in 20 degree weather, and putting up with all the crowds, I was glad to be home watching the show up close on my television. I mostly watched the C-span channel as they didn't have a lot of commentary. A few times I flipped over to CNN and FOX but could only put up with their ramblings for about 5 minutes.
I'm also VERY thankful that there didn't appear to be any "incidents". All those people gathered in one spot I thought there might be something negative happening, but so far I've not heard one thing.
I do have one image that I want to post about here that I think was an interesting observation...
I was surprised to see Cheney in a wheel chair. I think I heard someone say that he had recently had a slip or something and had gotten hurt. I hope he gets better. I have to laugh though, as several people in my twitter feed said that all he needed was a big white fluffy cat in his lap (apparently one of the famous James Bond villains was in a wheel chair with a fluffy cat).
Then a little while later, I watched George's father walking down the hallway with his cane. I was a bit surprised how old he looked (he is 84). I later learned that he recently had back surgery, and his balance was a little off. He seemed in good spirits but, he definitely had a shuffle walk.
Then I saw George himself, and he did not look happy at all. There was a certain glumness in his facial expression - and to me, it made him also look old.
So then it hit me... here are some of the key figures of the Bush administration leaving office with canes, and wheelchairs, and literally shuffling off... and making way for a youthful man who is fit and in shape. It made me feel good to see some of the "good ol' boys" network leaving office.
Mr. President... you have a lot on your plate now, and a lot of problems to try and fix. I do not envy you at all... but I wish you all the best, and HOPE we as a country can start to fix some of the problems that the previous administration has left us.

youtube advertising

2009-01-18T01:35:00.003-05:00

I probably should post this when I'm not so tired, but I don't want to forget about it. Forgive me if I'm slightly incoherent.
I was watching a video online today on youtube. (Actually it was several videos).
After the third video, I got tired of the pop up ad that appears in the lower 20% of the screen, and would click it off as soon as it popped up.
Then I got angry at youtube for me having to do this.
I understand it is a business. I understand it gets all (most) of its money from advertising. But c'mon. To throw an ad up in front of the video that I'm trying to watch?! How intrusive and obnoxious can you get? What set me off was at the end of the video... You know how when a video ends and then a few other choices pop up as if saying "if you liked that, you might like this video"... well I saw the title of the second video and I wanted to watch it, but I couldn't there was another ad over top of it, and I couldn't close it, or move it. I ended up missing that previous recommended video. Grrr.
So if google is monitoring their blogger sites for comments about youtube, I hope you read this, and can find it in your business heart to make the ads less 'in your face'. The people (as in the masses) are what makes youtube great. Don't ruin it, by covering up any portion of the video that they worked so hard on to make. It's just plain rude.
k thanks bye.

You know you're old when...

2009-01-17T11:10:00.003-05:00

Hey kids... here's a tip...
You know you're old when you start to develop feelings for a grocery store.
Yes... I have a strange relationship with my local Wegmans grocery store. I enjoy going food shopping there. I won't bore you with all the details, because unless you are over 40 you prob wouldn't understand :) Lets just say that when I save a lousy ¢20 on a jar of spaghetti sauce (that tastes good too, and is made with semi-healthy ingredients) it's a good feeling.

But enough about me and my borderline obsession with Wegmans... I really wanted to talk about another reason why I like Wegmans. I feel like they are looking out for the little guy.
Recently, a friend sent me an email that at first glance I thought it was another chain email, or "cute puppy" emails. I didn't put a lot of weight behind it. It said that Wegmans was starting a new plan to GIVE away FREE antibiotics. (yes, you still need a prescription). Wegmans has offered this plan as a way to help those who need it. In the econimic times we live in now, people are struggling financially to make ends meet. It wasn't until I was in the checkout line a few days later when I saw the sign, confirming the FREE antibiotics. Wow.

So, today, I get an email from Wegmans with something that I must admit ran through my mind as well... Doctors are so quick to hand out antibiotics! In fact there are many doctors who warn against this practise and they point to things like these "superbugs" tht have built up resistance to many of the 'standard' antibiotics. So when Wegmans announced their plan to offer free antibiotics, they were met with both praise and thanks to critisim. So what did Wegmans do? The just sent a follow up email, where they published (on their website) a letter from a registered nurse that offered 'common sense' information so as to help people decided when or when not to ask the doctor for an antibiotic.

On a different line of thinking...
I thought it really interesting how the American public can be split over opinions.
Here was a company that was trying to help its customers who may be in hard times financially, and what better way to do it than to help them with medicine - yet, they also recieved criticism for doing the "wrong" thing by those concerned with too much antibiotics. What better example can you offer as to how differently people think about subjects.

I give credit to Wegmans. To GIVE anything FREE to help it's customers deserves a tip of the hat in my book.
I'll try to link to the letter from the registered nurse here: http://bit.ly/g5gj
And here is the general press announcement about this program: http://bit.ly/96V9

Apple update

2009-01-11T18:07:00.002-05:00

I solved my apple monitor problem.
Wed night (I think) I stopped into the local apple store at the nearby mall.
I was surprised how big the store was, and I was surprised how many people were in the store too.
I first attempted to get a "ballpark" price for fixing the old 23" cinema display... I pretty much new the answer before I asked, but hey, it was worth a shot. The answer: I have no idea. The apple "genius" who was about 19 years old said that was not a normal repair he's used to doing. He then went on to try and tell me that if I had the serial number, it would help... translation: He had no idea but wanted to send me away to get the number. I failed to see how having the serial number would help him to 'ballpark' the amount, when I started to push him on this he clearly didn't want me asking any more questions.
So as I am looking around the store, I see one of the "discontinued" 23" monitors. Hmm, that's odd I thought. Usually when apple discontinues something they pull it from their shelves. I had to ask again... to the other 18 year old sales woman... by any chance do you have any of those in stock? She got onto here futuristic bluetooth wireless communicator, and asked someone in the back. A few minutes later, (after she forgot I was waiting for her), she said, "yes, we do, would you like one?"
I was thrilled! But I had to run the $900 purchase past my boss first. I asked her, "I'll have to come back... Can you tell me about how many you have in stock?"
Her response, "No. It's against apple policy to give out stock."
I tried humor, "Why is it like top secret?"
She was clearly not amused.

So next morning I headed up to the store as they opened in the hopes they didn't sell their last one the night before. I had to laugh...
I walk into the almost empty store, and other 18 year old saleswoman greets me and asks if she can help me. I tell her I'd like to purchase that 23" monitor. Great she says... she presses a button on her high tech communicator, and I'm expecting a person to come out from the back... but no... a different 17 year old salesman comes from the back of the store (only about 30' away!). Rather that wave, call out, or even tell me to see that kid in the blue shirt, she used her high tech device to transfer me over.

Lastly... the young kid said "Do you have any questions about the monitor?"
Me: Nope.
Him: Oh, ok. (I totally threw him off). I'll go get one from the back.
Me waiting 5 min.
Him: Ok, here we go...
Me: Um... that's the wrong one. I asked for the 23" not the new 24" LED model.
Him: Oh. (no apology).

While it all worked out, and only minor inconvenience, I have to say I was less than impressed with the attitudes at the apple store. It was a sense of "we're better than you".

I hope to purchase my new computer this week sometime. While I could go back to the local store, I think I'll just order it over their website. I'd rather deal with an impersonal computer, than an impersonal person.

Apple - you've made my S-list

2009-01-06T23:12:00.002-05:00

Just a quick rant before I head to bed tonight...
I am lucky to be in the market for a new Macintosh (apple) computer for work. (While I feel lucky to get a new computer I'm also aware of the dread of finding all new bugs and glitches of new operating systems, upgraded programs, etc... it's a love/hate relationship).
So anyway,
I waited until today to make any decisions on which machine to buy due to Apple's usual big announcement at the MacWorld Expo (this week). Only one big announcement really, a new 17" macbook pro - which while exciting, does not effect me since I am going to get a desktop model (Mac pro).
So I start looking at the possible configurations of the new machine and see under the monitors that I only have two choices... a 20" and a 30". Wait... what about the NEW 24" LED monitor that they just came out with a month or so ago?
Long story short...
After a LONG time reading message boards, and reading tech specs, I learned (much to my surprise) that the new 24" monitor ONLY works with the NEW macbook laptops! And by new I mean new as in within the last 3 months! If you bought a macbook 4 months ago chances are it's not compatible.
I can not fathom why apple chose to do this.
You can't (at the time of this writing) even buy an adapter for this new monitor.
So now... I'm in a real quandry about what to do.
I either have to downgrade my current monitor (24" cinema display that just blew out on Monday) to a 20" OR consider buying a third party 24" monitor like a DELL - which I REALLY DON'T want to do.
I'm really angry at Apple right now.
I mentioned earlier to those who would listen to me...
Apple used to be known for simplicity in their machines and products of just "plug-n-play" - I think apple is putting too much time and effort into the latest iphone or ipod, and have forgotten how to make a good computer!
At this point I think I'll be getting the 20" monitor and then use an old 15" CRT monitor as my secondary monitor. Just burns me up.

Peace

2009!

2009-01-02T11:42:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year!

Just a short post as I hope to maybe pick up my blog posts a little more.

I hope I will like 2009 - I do so far, if only for the fact that I like the way the numbers look together. (It's a typography thing).

I started out my new years by sleeping late after a fun new years eve party with good friends.
Stayed up late in spite of being VERY tired to play a new computer game (check it out world of Goo). I think I got home around 2:30am then stayed up til around 4am! ugh.
Needless to say, I slept late on 1/1/09.
Relaxed on my day off.
Then around 8pm, I said 'I'm going to a movie!"
So I braved the 23 degree cold, and ventured out to see "The day the Earth Stood still".
I really enjoyed it. Certainly don't look to Keanu for any Oscars (He plays a great robot/cyborg/alien/anything that needs a perpetual look of confusion). So he was good for this role.
I enjoyed the effects (though the touch screen was a little over hyped). And I mostly enjoyed the storyline... all the way up to the last few minutes of the movie. I thought the ending was really weak. But overall I enjoyed it for a sci-fi remake.
I should have prefaced my mini-review here by saying that I had never seen the original movie. (though it's on my netflix queue now).

Then I finished off the day by starting to read some of the "Watchmen" graphic novel (aka: Comic book). I don't know if I like it yet. Jury is still out.

I hope you started your year off well too with things that you enjoy.

I met Satan today...

2008-12-24T16:25:00.003-05:00

I just "tweeted" this a few minutes ago, but thought it deserved a longer explanation, and I wanted to re-tell the story here.

Today is Christmas Eve!
I was fortunate enough to have today off!
I had gone to our local grocery market a few days ago (Sunday), and saw that they had some awesome looking Danishes at Wegmans. I decided it was too early in the week to purchase them for Christmas morning desert (Thursday morn), so I thought I'd be smart, and come back on Wednesday to pick up some fresh danishes. Ha. Jokes on me! but wait... back to my story...
Christmas is a wonderful time of year. But it can also be a stressful and trying time of year for a lot of people.
Since I had the entire day off, I thought, I could take my time in heading out to the grocery store. I lounged around all morning surfing the web. Finally around noon, I mustered up the energy and will power to brave the crowds of people.
Off I go about 1:45.
Now, on Sunday night, I was stuck in some awful traffic on a major road because it was full of traffic coming and leaving from the local Mall. Today, I thought I'd out smart all those people and take a different major road that would eliminate that route. It was a State highway that would take me right where I wanted to go.
I approached the on ramp, as I headed over-top the overpass of the highway I just happened to glance left... much to my dismay, all I saw was brake lights and flashing police and fire lights! The major highway was blocked due to an accident! (I felt real bad for the people who got into an accident on Christmas eve). But, since I happened to see all the lights, I had just enough time to avoid getting onto the on ramp and thus avoided sitting in bumper to bumper traffic while they cleared the accident. Score one for me.
I happened then to think of another back road that could get me to the grocery store, and though it was slightly out of my way, it was much better than the other two choices. I was right - there was very little traffic and I got to the entrance way of Wegmans in no time at all.
BUT... as I got closer to my turn, I looked and saw traffic ALL backed up waiting to get into the shopping center that the Wegmans was in! Wow! So much traffic!
I decided at the last minute to avoid all that and continue down the road to Border's book store. I shopped for about an hour, (milling about a bookstore is a good thing to me!) Finally, I had my fill of books (managed to escape without buying anything for myself). Again, I thought of a backroad to get to the Wegmans. Success... it worked out well again to get into the shopping center.
I am still amazed at all the people who decided to go to a grocery store on Christmas Eve! Why?! Was everyone buying fresh danishes? (apparently so, because when I got there they were completely sold out! I picked up the very last "Cherry Strudel").

But... as I was searching for a parking spot it happened... I met Satan!
Of course I didn't realize that's who it was at first...
I was approaching the front of the parking lot when I saw reverse lights come on...
YES! I got a nice up close parking spot!
I put my blinker on and waited for the person to back out of the spot.
I waited... and waited... finally the car starts to back out slowly...
Then I see what the "problem" was... a little old lady with white hair and a handicap sticker hanging from her rearview mirror. Ugh.
I continue to wait thinking... c'mon this is the time for holidays and good cheer, and good will towards men (and women)... but the ol' lady was trying my patience.
She slowly backed up but never turned her wheels! She kinda backed up in a striaght line. So now she had to pull forward again, to turn her wheels and try again...
But now since she's taken all this time, people are walking behind her going into the store... everytime she saw someone walking, she would stop and wait for them to pass!
Ok, remain calm.
Finally... and I'm not exagerating, about 10 minutes have passed. She gets her car turned enough to leave her parking spot.
She drives past me and I got a good look at her... Just a sweet looking little ol' woman. I'm sure she was someone's nice grandmother who was off to bake some Christmas cookies or something.
Then it hit me...
NO! This was not some sweet ol' Grandmother! This was Satan in disguise!
What better way to ruin a person's holiday spirit than to disguise himself and really try to cause chaos and anger and hate than to act like a lil' ol' handicapped woman who can't drive!
So that's a long story to say: I BEAT YOU Satan! Today I did not get angry. I did not loose my patience. I remained sitting in my truck listening to Christmas music while watching her back up and making repeated attempts to leave her parking spot.
To top it all off... the parking spot that I thought I scored so close to the entrance was a special 15 minute only spot designated for people going into the pharmacy! Didn't bother me though. I drove around some more, and parked far far away.
I will say this though... NEVER again - will I attempt to go grocery shopping on Christmas Eve!!!
Lastly... as part of this twisted mental fantasy I conjured up in my mind while waiting for her/him to leave the parking spot... I imagined that as this little ol' woman drove her car out of my perception, and that it didn't effect my holiday spirit at all, that the car poofed out of existence and the demon spawn that was driving was cast back into the firey pits of Hell! :)

Merry Christmas all!

Miso Soup

2008-12-14T10:02:00.005-05:00

I tend to use my blog to vent some times...
I happened to think yesterday that I should throw some "non-vent" topics up on occasion :)

Miso Soup!
Ever had it? You should try it.
I think I first had it about 8-10 years ago. My friend married a woman who has a Japaneese mother, and she made a large batch of Miso soup. So my friend asked if I'd ever had it before, I had not. I was not a very adventurous eater, but I was just starting to discover Sushi, and Japanese food in general. Now... I'll pretty much eat anything with a few exceptions... (I'm not crazy about eating any internal organs ie: brains, stomach, liver, etc... I'd probably try it, but the thought doesn't appeal to me.)
Anyway... I really enjoyed the soup and asked if it was dificult to make. He said not really, and proceeded to give me the "recipe".
It's not an exact recipe, it's more like "this is what it's made of, just add enough to your taste".
Ok...
1) Miso - I was told that Miso is just a slightly fermented Soy bean paste... I just now learned (via wikipedia here) that it can also be made from Rice, and Barley, and that it's made with salt and a fungus (don't think I needed to know that). What I do know about Miso is that there are different varrieties and that I have not experimented with them. I look for the "regular" Miso paste. It's kinda like peanut butter in color and texture. (I think there is also flavored Miso and Red Miso). Buying it can be tricky, because I've only seen it in the Asian food market(s). Several times I can't read the label because there is no english on it. The kind I usually get though has english, and I know it's made specifically for soup. I think it has Dashi already added to it which brings me to Ingredient #2...

2) Dashi or Bonito - again, I've only seen this at Asian food markets. I usually have no problem finding it, but it can take some searching if you can't read the Kanji type. Almost always, I've found it near the pre-mix Miso Soup packets (cheating, but I'm sure it tastes the same). It usually comes in little foil packets or a small glass jar. To be clearer... I believe Dashi is simply the name of a fish stock made with Bonito flakes. So techincally you're looking for Bonito to make your own Dashi. (Dashi on wikipedia here and Bonito here). Bonito is simply fish (usually Tuna, but I think it can also be anchovies) that has been dried, and then crumbled into a powder. So basically, you're adding dried fish powder to water to make Dashi.

3) Tofu! - I think everyone knows what Tofu is but just in case you're not familiar with it, it's basically made from soybeans. It's also called "bean curd". It's Soybeans that have been curdled, then pressed into "blocks". Again, there are different types of tofu, but it's best to use the plain.
Tofu is usually sold as "soft, medium, or firm" - personally I prefer the firm. It has a bit of texture to it, where the 'soft' is enough to barely hold it's shape and bit mushy. Extra firm is good too if you like the texture. There is no difference in taste, just texture. Tofu is in every supermarket now, so it's not difficult to find at all. It's usually sold in a sealed pack, with a liquid (water?). slice the pack, drain the liquid, then cut the tofu into about 1/4" or 1/2" squares.
(tofu on wikipedia). I should mention too... Tofu is extremely bland and tasteless. But it's really good for you, and adds texture to soups or veggy meals.

4) Seaweed - This can be tricky too, but the bottomline is look for anything marked seaweed. I think the techincal term you want is called "Wakame" (wiki). [Be careful though... do not use those "sheets" of seaweed that is used for making sushi. I mean I guess you could use it, but I wouldn't recommend it.] Depending on the market you go to, you might find it in a bag marked as Wakame... The market I go to, has bags and bags of different varieties of seaweed! Most I can't read the package at all, and I like to experiment. My favorite now is this stuff that looks BLACK! It's curly, and small pieces (dried of course). I like this for both texture - and it's cool! You throw one piece into water, and it enlarges to almost 4 times it's size! And then turns to a nice dark green (typical seaweed color). So be AWARE! that it may look like you're only putting in a handful to a large pot, it will enlarge to almost 4x it's size.
The small pieces are great too because you don't need to cut them. If you get the larger pieces of uncut seaweed it's nearly impossible to cut with a knife when it's dry!

That's basically the ingredients there! Most places will also add a little fresh chopped Scallions to the bowl just prior to serving. (It's good, but you don't need them).

Get a large pot.
Fill it with about 8 cups of water. Turn the heat up to high.
Get your miso paste - follow the instructions on how much to use (I think it's about 2 tablespoons per 4 cups) but it's really a matter of taste. You can use less or more depending how you like it. Start with two, and just put what you feel looks right. (I like alot).
Add your Bonito if you want - warning, a little of this goes a long way! And, make sure your Miso paste doesn't already have Dashi/Bonito in it already. Again, I like a fishy taste, so I add about 3 teaspoons (even though my miso paste has Bonito in it).
Add your Tofu. One package for 8 cups is plenty.
By now the soup should be close to boiling (you don't have to bring it to boiling).
Keep stirring gently until all of your Miso Paste is dissolved in the water. It can "clump" when you first put it in.
Last add your Seaweed. Again, this is to taste, if you like a lot, use a lot. I use about a handfull.
Note: the seaweed is salty! So think of that as you add it in.
Let everything simmer for about 5 more minutes and you're good to go!
(The scallions are optional).

Enjoy!

If you have a better recipe or have an additional ingredient, feel free to leave a comment.

OH! I should have mentioned this...
When left for a minute or two, Miso soup will settle. The Miso will sink and group towards the bottom of the bowl, with just a clear broth on top. That's normal! Just give it quick stir before taking a spoonful.

Amazon.com complaint

2008-12-12T23:05:00.003-05:00

I know... you're saying right now... "What, ANOTHER customer service complaint?!"

Yes.

Amazon.com is on the top of my list tonight.
First the disclaimer - I'm a HUGE fan of Amazon.com. I order a lot of books and other items, and really enjoy the easy at which money can flow out of my wallet and boxes show up on my doorstep.
That is... until something goes wrong.
A few months ago, I ordered a book.
I have a "prime membership" which basically means I pay a yearly fee (I think it's around $80!) so that I can have "FREE" 2-day shipping. It doesn't make sense to pay for this unless you order about 10 items from Amazon per year, and I do.
So, I get the usual email confirmation that says my order was placed.
I get the follow up email the next day that my order was shipped.
Then the following day (under normal circumstances) I get my package.
Not for this book. I go online to their "where's my stuff" page to find out where my box is...
Only to learn that there is a generic "in transit" status in the shipping status.
Hmm, that's odd I thought, usually there is a detailed tracking list as is with most UPS packages.
I learned (in a round about way, that my item - although the website SAID it was in stock) was out of stock at the time that I ordered it. And that in fact, UPS never got a package, but only the paperwork to initiate the billing. Long story short, about a week later I received a replacement order (at no additional charge).
Well, I'm stuck in the same loop - again.
This time though, I'm more worried, because the package is a Christmas present. I thought I was ordering it with PLENTY of time, but now I'm nervous that they're going to mess me up.
I called and spoke to 2 different customer service representative from India, and got absolutely no where, other than empty assurances that I would 'definitely' receive my package this Monday... and if I don't get it by Wednesday to give them a call. Ya, real confidence there... You'll get it for sure on Monday unless you don't. Nice.
I also emailed the customer service, and also got the same response from another person with an Indian name, who really failed to address all my concerns in my email.
I'm SO frustrated with the entire country of India tonight. How can an entire country take over EVERY customer service phone-line of every major American company? Really Corporate America? You can't afford to pay American's to represent you to your American customers?
While usually, they are overly polite, all you have to do is 'challenge' their canned script once, and you immediately get their attitude.
Amazon.com... I expect more from you. In this day and age, to be told that your package has been shipped, but we have no idea where it is - is ridiculous.
I have little doubt, that with additional phone calls the problem will be straightened out, (hopefully in time for Christmas), it's the frustration level of dealing with people who speak poor English, and offer zero common sense solutions to a shipping problem.
I asked the woman... isn't there like a "level 2" customer support that I can talk to? And either she played dumb, or she again lied to me, she said no... if I called back, I'd just get to talk to another person from India who will tell me the exact same thing she did. Grrr.
I've learned now... unless the item is shipped and packed by Amazon.com (and not a third party) chances are high that I will have a problem. I'm very disappointed.

Verizon DSL tech support = fail

2008-12-04T23:46:00.003-05:00

Quick rant...
A while ago, I started looking into what bit torrent is. I'm still not 100% sure I can explain it well, but I have a rough idea. Yes, there are a lot of people who use it to "share" "illegal" songs, and movies... But there are also a lot of people who use it for legal sharing. I had bit torrent working on my imac at one point long ago, but barely used it (found the interface confusing). I also know that it can be dangerous as far as viruses, and other nasties... it's sort of like the secret underbelly of the internet. (wikipedia here).
Well, a month or so ago, I tried to find a TV show on bit torrent. It was called "History Hacker" (a good show, but sadly the History Channel did not pick it up). I found it on one of the torrent sites and tried several times to download it. Nothing. I've since tried a few more torrent clients, and have had no luck at downloads. I kinda gave up on it all.
Well, the other day, I decided to try out a screen saver that I've heard alot about... called Electric Sheep. It creates these fantastic animations in these incredible fractal like movies.
I downloaded it, installed it, and tried running it... no luck.
I started digging around tonight on the electric sheep website looking for some sort of troubleshooting section. I found something that caught my eye... a "port test". Turns out, My port is blocked. Now, I'm a geek, but I'm not an ubergeek. Ports scare me because I don't know too much about them, and I don't want to go opening up my computer to unwanted attacks.
I then realized this is why my torrents were not working either (I swear they worked before, so I don't know if my ISP (Verizon) blocked them without me knowing, or somehow 'flipped a switch'. I thought, it might be worth a call, to see if I could find a nice tech support person to walk me through at the very least, an explanation.
Well, that was a mistake.
First attempt... I get a man with a heavy Indian accent,who starts with asking me some basic questions. (I had already made sure I was talking to the MAC tech support). I tried to explain the problem to him. Well, long story short, he had no idea what I was talking about. I didn't really get angry with him. I realize this is not a typical tech support question, but still. Then... he starts asking me "what virus protection program are you runnig?" Not to sound like a smart-a$$ I asked "This is the MAC tech support right?" (He didn't even get my joke). I realized this was hopeless. I asked if I could talk to someone else. Well, he didn't like that. He got snooty with me, and said "I was about to explain this until you interrupted me"... I apologized, and said "Oh sorry, go ahead" - Then it became comical. He floundered. He started telling me that when I "installed Verizon, that they automatically installed and ran a virus program on my computer called "VISS" - yeah right. I again asked to talk to someone else. He said he'd transfer me. Then a minute later, he came back on the line, and said he can't, that I should just call back again. ugh. I did.
Tech support two... (again heavy Indian accent) - he couldn't understand me when I recited my phone number to him. before I even got started, I made sure he was a mac person, he assured me he was. I asked if he was familiar with Bit Torrent... He asked me 3 times to repeat that... then he asked me to spell it (I assume so he could google it). ugh. This was going no where.
Finally, he fessed up, and said he understood my question about blocked ports, but said I would have to call back during daytime hours, to talk to "premium tech support" and that I should go through the billing dept to get to them. Right.
So, after a good hour spent surfing the web, and 30 minutes of wasted phone calls to Verizon, I'm still stuck here with no idea if I want to try and teach myself this, or just let it go.
Maybe I'll give "premium tech support" one more try.
If an ubergeek happens to find this blogpost, can you just tell me in the comments: Is there any real danger to going into my modem setup and opeing up port(s)?
I found http://portforward.com/ and could prob do it myself, but it sounds scary.

Memory flash

2008-12-01T17:56:00.002-05:00

This is a strange post - I realize that. I'm gonna post it anyway.

I just finished a nice 4 day holiday weekend. Sunday, I was a total slug... never changed out of sleeping clothes and never took a shower.
This morning, I started my usual routine which involves the shower. While I was just a tad 'ripe' it wasn't like I was that horrible. But for some reason, I was enjoying the clean feeling, and the warmth of the shower water, and my memory flashed back to some 15 or 20 years ago.
I was in a pretty serious moped accident. (long story, lets just say it involved brain surgery, and I was all put back together again). But one of the things about the accident... I was bed ridden for a long time. (I don't recall exactly how long). But one thing that flashed in my memory this morning with an uncanny sense of reality... how GOOD that first shower felt after I had recovered enough to stand, and risk getting my head wet. It was such an incredibly good feeling! It's hard to describe actually. But since it's only a few days after Thanksgiving, I'll just add this: I am thankful for showers.
I was also a bit stunned at how vivid the memory was. Odd.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T22:23:00.003-05:00

I'm sitting here, with a FULL belly, a little bit of wine left in my glass, and trying to stay awake now. I had a nice Thanksgiving here. Computer games, relaxing, and cooking. I decided to keep things a little simple this year, and didn't over do things with the food. I bought a half-a turkey breast, and was worried it might not be enough... silly... it was plenty. I wasn't sure how I was going to prepare the turkey breast. I don't use my oven except maybe 3 times a year, so I don't feel confident on knowing how it works. I think I did this one year before (can't remember if I did it, or just thought of doing it?). I decided to cook the turkey in my WOK! Yep, like you, I was hesitant. But I figured why knot? It's not much different than chicken right? So that's what I did.
The difficult part was trying to cut the meat off the bones ahead of time. Wegmans included the wishbone, a few small rib bones, and the back bone in this package (A little perturbed at learning this... I thought I was getting just the breast meat, and not a package full of bones). But, after about 20 minutes of careful cutting, I managed to get a nice stack of meat. I cut the meat in heafty chunks (about 1.5 inches). I didn't want it to cook too fast and dry out.
I started my potatoes first as they took the longest to cook. As they were boiling, I was doing the meat cutting. It worked out perfect.
In addition to the turkey, I added one large onion, diced roughly, poultry seasoning, a little garlic powder, olive oil, a chunk of butter towards the end, and salt and pepper. That's it. Set the heat to high at first, then as I started to make the mashed potatoes (using soy milk), I turned the heat down to med.
After finishing the Mashing, I made some 'stove top stuffing' (quick and easy and tastes good - but NO where near mom's homemade stuffing!), I then finished everything off, by heating a small can of corn in the microwave. Oh, and as the turkey was done, I added (right out of the fridge) a small container of Wegmans (home made) gravy. I let that come up to temperature in the wok, then started to "plate" (fancy chef talk for putting the food on the plate). I put a layer of Mashed, Then a layer of stuffing, then poured the gravy/meat/onions mixture on top of it all. Corn in a sep bowl.
Man... it tasted good! Turkey was tender and juicy, not the slightest bit dry. I knew it was all fully cooked, so no worries about "is that section cooked enough"?
Much to my surprise, I have a LOT of leftovers too.

I hope your Thanksgiving meal turned out as well as mine did. I love it when I wing it and it works :)
Tomorrow's challenge... Pumpkin pie for Saturday dinner with folks. I've made them before and pretty easy. Yes... I cheat, and buy pilsbury crust.

I'm being scammed...

2008-11-13T09:38:00.005-05:00

Well, this guy is trying to scam me, but luckily I'm onto his scam, and did not fall for his lies.
All I can say is "thank God" for caller id, google, and whocalled.us!
Whenever I get a phone number I don't recognize on my caller id, I usually don't pick up the phone. But occasionally, this person will call repeatedly when I'm not home, and then I start to think, this person really wants to talk to me. So Google to the rescue.
I just type in the phone number into google and most of the time, the number (if it's a telemarketer) will show up, with other people who have similar complaints.
This is what I did yesterday.
I looked up 201-210-3618. Sure enough, a nice long list of complaints. I particularly like the website whocalled.us so I clicked on that to read other people's complaints.
Calls around the same time each morning 8:40 am. So this time, I finally picked up, thinking I could get on the "do not call" list.
It went roughly like this:
him: Hello, is this "mr. x"?
me: Who's calling please?
him: Scott Anderson (actually I can't recall the name he used, but he had a heavy middle eastern accent).
me: Who are you?
him: Is this mr.x?
me: yes
him: (He spoke fast, and with his accent I had a hard time understanding him, but), I'm calling from Aegis .... about your credit card with bank .... from GAP. (This was the same line that others reported, so I knew it was a scam). You have an outstanding balance...
me: (I interupted his speech here) Can you put me on your "do not call" list?
him: No
me: (kinda stunned) No?
him: You have not given me a good reason
me: I don't want you to call me any more, and I don't want to talk to you, that's why! (starting to loose temper now)
him: But I'm just trying to collect the money that you owe...
me: Look, I know who you are, and googled your phone number so I know this is a scam. If you call here again, I will sue you.
him: You'll sue me?! I'll sue YOU! (he was angry now too).
me: (I realized I'm arguing with a crazy person so time to cut things short now)... Very slowly, I said "DO NOT CALL ME AGAIN" and then hung up on him.

I'm curious now if he will call me anymore, or if I was able to get him to stop calling, because I called his scam.

This just makes me so mad, because all I could picture was that he is calling other people who don't have caller id, who don't know you can google a telephone number, or who might be elderly or confused, and start to give the man personal information that could lead to identiy theft.
A very small part wants him to call again, so I can set up my phone recorder and perhaps get some more information out of him, that I could bring to the authorities.
The larger part of me, hopes he'll never call me again.
Scum.

In the hopes that someone else out there googles the number I hope they find this blog post.

201-210-3618 obviously... do not call this number.

update: 11/19/08
Yes... they are still calling me. On Sunday afternoon they called again. I made another attempt to speak with them to get them to stop calling.
It was futile. They will not give up. They continue to ask the same questions over and over and over in the hopes that you will answer them - thus gaining one more piece of information.
I refused to answer any of their questions.
I spoke to two different men in India (at least that's where they said they were calling from, and they do have an Indian accent)... but oddly enough, both men are named Alex. Alex Anderson, and Alex Murphy. What are the odds? I had no idea there were that many Alex's in India.
I decided it's time to report these guys (there is at least one woman working there too). I went up to my local police office to file a complaint. I spoke with the dispatcher first. With respect - she had no idea what she was talking about. She finally said, she would call an officer to come speak with me. I spoke with the officer... I started to tell him the above story... but as soon as I said they were calling me from India, he just sat back in his chair and said "there's nothing we can do". Don't get me wrong... I don't expect my local Police to hop on a plane, fly over and arrest someone... but it seems to me, they should know how I would be able to stop these people from attempting to commit fraud on people. The officer said my best bet was to just ignore the calls, or to purchase "call blocking" from my local phone company.
I just felt like I was kicked in the stomach. Yes... I do want them to stop calling me. But I also want to report these people to the right authorities so that they don't scam someone else! But I've spent hours! online trying to find someone, or some agency to report them to, and I'm just met with wall after wall.
I've given up. I will pick up the phone if I'm here, and try to keep them on the line as long as possible, but I won't utter a word. I figure if I can keep them on the line for 40 seconds, that's 40 seconds they're not harassing someone else. I'm also tying up one of their workers, and hopefully making their phone bill go up (though they're prob using VOIP).
I am racking my brain to see if there is some other option I'm overlooking... at some point, I may consider the 'call block', but right now, I REFUSE to pay one penny to anyone due to these jerks.
I'll update if there is something new.

GOOD NEWS Update:
I don't have an exact date, but it was just over 3 months that they FINALLY stopped calling me.
It was an almost daily phone call, but I was determined not to give in. On the few occasions where I tried to pick up the phone and talk to them again, and try to reason with them, I was always connected to a recording. To those who are getting called by this number, and find this website, have faith that eventually they will stop calling.
For what it's worth, I found a lot of complaints with the California better business bureau regarding this company (or it's aliases). It does appear to be a "legitimate" collection agency in some cases. IF you do owe money, then obviously this is not a scam. Do your own research, and make your own judgments accordingly.

Venting...

2008-10-31T18:01:00.002-04:00

Well, how do you work this blog thing again? It's been a long time. In fact, just today, (somewhere on the intertubes) I saw someone proclaiming the end of blogging! That Twitter has taken over (and that in a year or two, some other service will replace twitter = gasp). I have to say based on my experience, I don't think I'd go that far as to claim the end of blogging. I think it still serves a purpose, and (like this post) sometimes you need to have more than 140 characters to put out to the world.
First off... Happy Halloween! It's always been one of my favorite "holidays". I don't really celebrate it though... although this year I bought myself a .99¢ tiny pumpkin on a whim. But I don't hand out candy or anything like that. I live in an apartment complex, and to me, it's just not the same as a neighborhood. (old man alert) Back in MY day, we used to have to walk blocks and blocks (miles?) to get a good haul of candy. Nothing like wearing a plastic mask that his just legally shy of putting a plastic bag over your head, because the 'air holes' to breath through are large enough to prevent long lasting brain damage from lack of oxygen. Not to mention how you usually ended up dressing for the chilly weather, but never failed that by the third house, you were sweating to death! Ah... Good times :)

Ok, onto my rants today...
I pulled into my bank this morning to make a deposit, when MUCH to my surprise, they had changed the name and all the signage on the building! What the?! I pulled into the drive-thru and asked the 17 year old girl, is this still "my bank"? She said yes. I said "Is all my money still here?" She said yes. I asked "didn't they send out some sort of notice?" She simply shrugged her shoulders. Nice customer service there huh? I hesitantly gave her my paperwork, and they did deposit it, and from talking with my sister who went through a similar situation, It wasn't like this was uncommon for the days we live in. But still. So after I drove away, I asked a few friends and family members if they knew about the name change, and perhaps I just didn't pay attention? No. two people I talked to, had no idea either. k, now I'm a little miffed. I decided to pay the branch a visit on the way home to ask some questions (and basically to give them a hard time about not telling me). I got a bit more of a shoulder shrug, but still it was a half hearted explanation. Basically, they made it sound like "Oh, the bank sent out some notices in the recent statements that maybe you threw them out without looking at them". (I just got home and went through my recycle, and no - no notice!). I asked them for a 'copy' of this mythological notice... and big surprise, they didn't have any. After taking up about 10 minutes of their time, it basically came down to... we did it, nothing changed other than the name, and we're sry you didn't know about it, is there anything else I can help you with?
I'm not mad enough to withdraw all my money and switch banks over this. Too much of a hassel, and I suppose they know this. But still... just 'burns me up' that this is how banks and financial corporations treat their customers today. We're just peon's to them, and they could care less about us. I noticed... all 5 of the people behind the desk today were under the age of 20. That's just sad.

Rant #2...
I know, this is getting long. I'll try to keep it short.
I've got a new enemy. I'm kinda proud, that overall, I have no personal enemies in my life. I still hold a few grudges against some people (like from 20 years ago, that I never see anymore). But as of last week, I have a new enemy. My neighbor. It is ashame in a way. I wasn't close or anything like that, but I always helped her out. I called and stayed with her the time she locked her self out of her apartment, I helped her carry heavy furniture in for her, I even tried to fix her computer, and I've never asked her for anything, except one time long ago, I asked her to turn her music down. Well, that's what triggered all this again. Last Sat, she had people over, and from about 8pm, til 11:40 she was playing her music loud. It bothered me, but I figured, I didn't want to be a grouch about it. It's Sat night, people were over, etc... I didn't say anything. But then... it happened again on Tuesday night. I had a rough day, and just wanted to come home and relax, but instead was met with the loud thumping of Latino bongos. I went down and asked her to turn it down. She did... for about 3 minutes, then to my surprise she turned it back up again. Nice. I thought of starting up my speakers, and all, but figured, no... that's what they want is to get a rise out of me. So I didn't say anything, or retaliate in any way.
Well, I bumpped into her again tonight on the way in. I asked her flat out... why did she turn the music back up? She said "I checked with the office, and 'quiet time' is from 10am til 10pm" So basically a big "screw you". So trust me... I'll be heading back up to the office to confirm this (I suspect she's wrong). And I'll file a complaint. I also won't give her the time of day anymore. Mess with the bull, you get the horns! Some people. If nothing else, this is yet another reason, to motivate me to start looking for a new place to live. (not like I need another reason, I've got plenty). I just hate to have to spend more money to rent a place.

Ok, rants over. See... none of the above would have fit in 140 charaters on twitter ;)

Blog Action Day

2008-10-15T09:19:00.003-04:00

Today is Blog Action Day (learn more here). I won't go into a huge post here, other than to say it's a time when bloggers are supposed to come together and post about one topic. This year's topic is: Poverty. I'll throw out two links for your consideration...

Kiva.org
I am a member and have made donations on this site. I trust them. (though I admit, I have a fear that the site can be mis-used - such is the nature of any charity.) But at some point you have to put aside this fear, and just give in the faith of human nature to do good. If I hear the Kiva has made a mistake, or has been exploited, I'll simply look for another charity.
I should also say, Kiva is not a "typical charity". You are not just donating money to some corporation. You are simply making a loan to someone who: a) REALLY needs it! b) you'll get your money back (if you want it). I'll try to nutshell the kiva idea here, but please go to kiva.org to read more about it... Kiva is based on somthing called "micro loans". You can make a loan for a small amount (usually $25). The idea being that I could afford to loose this money financially, in that it's not a huge investment. Then with lots of people who can afford this micro-loan, kiva collects the $, and then loans it out (yes, like a bank) to small groups of community organizers, who then in turn, carefully pick one person, or a group of people, to lend the money to. The idea is that for someone who lives in poverty, a $1000 loan could change their life forever and for the better. For example, it would allow "Salimata Diallo" a young woman who is a reputed dressmaker, to purchase materials and fabric, to expand her business. (yes, I donated/loaned to Salimata).
Over a course of time, the borrower is to repay the loan back, to kiva, who then repays me. (you can choose to "cash out" and get your money, or in my exmaple, I just turn around and loan the same money out again to someone else who needs it.
One last thing... (I really was gonna try to keep this short - fail).
Kiva is REALLY Popular now! So popular that at the moment there are NO groups to actually loan to! They are out looking for more people to loan to! That's amazing! To date, they've loaned out $46 MILLION to the working poor around the world.

Lastly...
I found this guy through a youtube video called the nerdfighters. His name is Shawn, a 27 year old Canadian, who is single-handedly making a difference in the fight against poverty. (I say single-handedly, but he accepts donations and help from others, but it's been his idea to do this project.) He runs a website called Uncultured.com. He travels in India and Bangldesh (I think he's currently home though at the moment). I'm not doing a good job here of describing what Shawn does... Instead, I simply encourage you to visit his website and check it out. IF you're like me and would prefer a video, try this one on youtube. About 6 minutes long.

Camping excursion

2008-10-12T13:35:00.003-04:00

I just got back from camping, and am all cleaned up, and want to get some thoughts out onto this blog before I forget some details...
first off - On the way home, I drove through a lot of rural areas of NJ. Lots of farms. It's such a great reminder to me that the world (as I know it from my every day commute) is more than just strip malls, and shopping centers. There are farms, and woods, and trees, and fields, etc. So nice to be reminded of that. Anyway, on the way home, I passed several roadside "farm markets" ie: little shacks to sell mums, or pumpkins, or whatever is in season... well this one caught my eye as I thought it a bit unusual... 50lb bags of potatoes! Yep, a little shack, FILLED with 5olb bags! It's not so much the idea of a farmer having a surplus of potatoes, but rather WHO would buy 50lbs worth? That's a lot of tats!
So a little back story... I grew up where camping was a normal thing for our family. We all seemed to enjoy it very much. I loved it - getting dirty, playing with sharp instruments (knives and axes), burning stuff (in the campfire). What's not to love!? Well, As my family tended to fall away from the camping life style, I continued for just a bit longer. I used to go on a yearly trek to the upstate area of NY to an area around Lake Placid. I loved it up there. But alas (alas sounds a bit too dramatic), I eventually gave up on camping. part of the reason, I think, was because I lived in an apartment. I had no where to store my camping gear. Yes, my parents were VERY kind to let me store my stuff in their garage attic, but it was just one further 'hitch' in wanting to go camping.
Well, with my recent road trip to north jersey, I was taken by all the trees, and lakes, and streams, that it really made me miss my camping days.
I decided to give it go again. I pulled out the ol' cooler from when we were kids, and saw a checklist dated Aug '94. I think that was the last time I went camping 14 years ago! I was a bit nervous, and wasn't sure what to expect. Had things changed? Was there more of a serious reason I gave up on camping other than inconvenience? Time would tell.
I decided to just go lightly on the idea and plan a weekend overnight trip. One night... anyone can survive that no matter how miserable.
Well, I got my equipment out, (much to my surprise everything seasoned well, and needed little clean up). I did forget one KEY item when you go camping... paper towels! I managed to get by with an old pack of tissues :) (Note: That's another reason I like camping, it sometimes forces you to MAKE things in a DIY atmosphere). I ALMOST forgot my tent! What a nightmare that woulda been. I got about 1/2 mile away, and remembered, so that was a relief! Sheesh.
I also forgot to bring some newly purchased metal hotdog forks, for over the fire! But, with my handy pen-knife and a stick, I whittled the perfect hot dog cooker (complete with little barbs, so the hotdog wouldn't accidently slip off).
I got there around 1:30pm, and it was a beautiful day! All the trees and farm fields are changing colors with Falls arrival. It's unseasonably warm (Indian Summer?), but we still have cooler nights (more on that later). I proceeded to take my time in setting up camp (partly because I'm not as in shape as I was 14 years ago!) and partly because I just wanted to relax with no rush.
Eventually, I got all set up and kicked back in my folding chair (which after a while of slouching down into, is a Bi**h getting out of! :) I might have dozed off a bit but mainly I just relaxed and appreciated the woods. At one point a flock of small birds came to visit me. I heard them before I saw them. Lots of high pitched "tweeting". Then the more I looked, the more I could see them flitting about. Maybe about 20 gold finches, an un-told amount of chick-a-dees, a titmouse, and one other tiny bird (I think a type of finch) that I couldn't identify. I tried whsitling back to them, and in my mind had the impression they were talking back to me.
A little later a red-headed woodpecker showed up for a while too. (other birds this morning were a LOUD crow, a sqawking bluejay - who seemed to be yelling at the crow to shut-up! And off in the distance a hawk of some sort.
I really didn't explore much while there. I was going to go fishing, but forgot my fishing gear. It was ok though, I kept myself busy the whole time.
Eventually, the sun started setting. It seemed too early to cook up my hotdogs, so I practiced a test fire. I used to pride myself in being able to light a roaring campfire with only using one match! Well, first time out, it took me 5 matches! (hint: Leaves are bad! and it's all in the prep).
but eventually, I got hungry, and I built a second fire. This one I did right... took my time and boom, one match! I still got it! :)
I was a bit unorganized. I luckily brought a propane lanter (I hardly ever use that - too bright!) but all of my supplies of candles had melted into huge clumps of wax (I guess from being stored in the attic during the summer). I managed to re-create a lump of wax into a functioning candle, but it just wasn't throwing enough light. Propane to the rescue.
Side note: Hardly any bugs! I guess cause it's late in the season.
After a meal of just 3 hotdogs and a donut (wawa donuts were a lifesaver on this trip!), I settled into the chair with a book (H.P. Lovecraft's short stories!), an almost full moon, and a campfire on an october night. A bit spooky, but perfect! :)
As the sun had set, I put away my short sleeve shirt, and got out my long sleeve flannel. I thought this would be plenty. But as the fire burned, and my legs were nice and toasty (literally), I was still getting cold. Ok, I had a heavy hooded sweatshirt, no prob.
Eventually, I started getting tired and decided to go to bed around 10:30. (funny how rythms change when not around the TV or electric lights). I was surprised how cold it had gotten. I think it was only in the high 40's, but I'm tellin you, it was COLD! I decided to loose the sweatshirt (which was too bulky) and crawl into my sleeping bag with all my cloths on. (minus the bulky knives, cell phones, wallets, coins, etc). As I mentioned, I'm not as in shape as I used to be and just a tad bit older now. I found manuerving around on the 'floor' to be a struggle, but with an effort, I was ok. I get all situated, andsettled in, zipped up, and try to prop up my pillow (it was a little flimsy pillow I grabed at the last minute - I've forgotten a pillow before and that stinks... this pillow was just a hair above no pillow!) Lights out, and I lay down. Um... somethings wrong here. My head's starting to pound. DOH! I set up my sleeping bag, and pillow DOWNHILL! All the blood in my body was going to my head. This clearly was not gonna work. Back, up, and then you shoulda seen me in a "one man" tent trying to flip everything around - I had to laugh as it reminded me of the train episode with Laurel and Hardy. Finally... I'm settled in.
After a bit more reading, I fall asleep. But, shortly, I wake up again... it was FREEZING! My body was nice and toasty in the sleeping bag, but my head was like ice! I brushed my nose, and couldn't figure out why my mustach was soaking wet?! Then I realized it was from the condensation of breathing. Then, because I had my flannel shirt on, and it was a flannel sleeping bag, it was a lot like velcro! Every time I tried to roll over, or find a more comfortable spot, it was like some evil Lovecraft monster was wrestling me to the ground and wouldn't get off! I eventuall had to unzip my sleeping bag half way, in order to manuever... this was fine, if I faced one way, but if I rolled to the other side, my back now was exposed to the cold air!
So between all of that, fussin' and fightin' with the bleeping sag (as we used to call em), and the flimsy pillow that was like a rolled up T-shirt, and the -20 degree's, needless to say, I didn't get a very good night's sleep.

Finally - whew, this may be my longest post evah!
All said and done, I had a great time.
I'm not about ready to rush out again next weekend (the cold), but I think maybe I'm ready to get back into camping again.

People...

2008-10-04T00:14:00.003-04:00

I don't think I'll ever understand how the human mind works. I find it both fascinating and frustrating at the same time.
First:
I've been caught up in the political race these past months. (not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.) Any way, one of the things that amazes me, is the way our minds work in what appears to be opposites. For example, after one of the debates, or even the conventions, (even some of the Couric interviews) I am literally stunned that two people can watch the same event on television, and come to completely different opinions on how that person did. Then... each person (I'm sure like me) will have the same thought, in that the other person must be crazy for having that opinion.
A rough example:
2 people in the room, and me. I hold up a card of a certain color.
Person A: Claims that color is green
Person B: Claims that color is purple
Obviously, the card is only one color, so one of them must be wrong, yet each one honestly see's that particular color. When told that the other person saw a different color, they just don't understand how that person could come to that conclusion.
I find the whole process fascinating as to the whole mind map/belief/perception/reality. I wish I was a psychologist at times, but I doubt that would help much to understand. It would probably just take me further down the rabbit hole.

This example is a tad more disturbing...
Earlier in the week, I was going through my flickr contacts photos when one caught my eye. Turns out it was one of the newer short video's that flickr now posts. The camera opens with a view of a cat while looking down at something in the grass, and the camera guy's feet. The cat is meowing. Then I read the description and the "something" in the grass is a bird. I thought the cat had already killed the bird. But no... the person filming, proceeds to nudge (almost kicks) the bird in the grass, and the bird starts to flutter... The cat goes full-on attack mode, and quickly grabs the bird and pins it to the grass. A second later, the bird escapes and flys a good 10 feet or so away, before the cat (at lightning speed) manages to grab the bird again. Then the video ends.
I'm just dumbfounded that this person found pleasure in both filming and assisting the cat in toying/killing this bird. Had it been me, I would have attempted to rescue the bird (which I've done in the past). I know, it's the natural order of things for a cat to kill a bird, but I also believe it's the natural order of things for a human to have compassion for another living thing and try to help it. Obviously, this is not true with all humans.
Then to make matters even worse, there were comments under the video... there were about 20 comments saying things like "awesome! That cat pwned that bird! you kicked that thing to..." etc... All but one comment praised either the cat, or the guy filming.
Really? Am I in the minority when it comes to this?
Why do our human minds have such black and white differences on what is right and wrong? How can our minds differ that completely?
Something tells me I'll never know the answer to this question.
ha... as I typed that, I just realized... If I think I'll never know the answer to that question, I'm sure there is someone out there who believes they have the answer, all I have to do is find him or her, and ask :)

note: I'm not trying to make some odd ball political comment with using these two as examples. These are not really related at all, other than they involve the human mind.

Economy

2008-09-28T17:35:00.003-04:00

Disclaimer: I'm not the smartest guy when it comes to the Economy. Admitedly there is a lot I don't understand. That said...

With all the doom and gloom talk over our current financial situation (bailouts, bank failures, etc...) there is a thread of conversation that I keep picking up on, and I have not heard anyone address this directly.

So this is how I'm hearing it stated...
The banks lent out lots of money via mortgages to people who could not afford them.
(lots of finger pointing as to why this happened. Some blame the people, some blame the banks... I blame the banks. If was out and out fraud on behalf of the people, then they should be prosecuted.)
So, now, the banks have loaned more money that they have. Because of that, the banks (and this is the key point) have stopped lending (even to other banks) because they don't have the cash.
This giant bailout, is to give the banks a pile of cash, so that they can again start lending.
So, here's the part that bothers me... you mean to tell me our entire economy could collapse because people would not be going into debt anymore?
I understand the importance of borrowing money in the form of a loan. people need certain items 'now' that they are willing to pay (in some cases HUGE) interest on. But there's something underlying all this economic talk that bothers me in the sense of keeping people in debt.
Is that what truly runs our economy? Is that why we're the 'richest' country in the world, because we have the most debt? Why does this seem backwards to me?
If someone can explain this to me in 'laymans' terms in a comment, I'm all ears. And thanks!

If nothing else, these bank failures and bailout talks have showed me one thing... I personally am SO FAR removed over any sort of decision making in this process, it's clear to me that class is a very important issue when it comes to this money aspect of America. I saw this recent chart, and it was another example of who could run our country. Who is more like me? (well, neither, I don't own a house, or a plane, or a bike, but I do own one car).
If we let a RICH person make the decisions, we the people will foot the bill and remain in debt. If we let an average guy (I know, Obama's got some $ too!), he (or she) might be willing to hold the corporate big wigs accountable.

Movie Review: The Orphanage

2008-09-21T23:13:00.005-04:00

I watched a good movie tonight called, The Orphanage. I should warn those of you who have a phobia of subtitles, that this is a spanish movie with subtitles. Personally, that doesn't bother me. I've seen so many good movies with subtitles, that I would never rule out a movie just because it was in a different language.
I should say also, that I feel like I've seen every horror movie out there. It is a genre I've always enjoyed, until one day when I sort of 'out grew' them. I no longer liked any of the slasher style movies. Once you've seen 2 slasher movies, you've seen them all. And lets face it, in today's violent media, a slasher movie is not that unusual (sadly). For example, on Saturday, on television no less, I've seen about 3-4 people get brutally stabbed in a tv show or a tv movie. I'm not sure how this violence ends up on TV, but it does.
So, when a "horror" movie comes along that interests me, to put aside my cynicism and give the movie a rent, I'm very happy when I'm entertained. Let's face it, you wont be watching any great acting in these movies. So that's always a strike against it, but sometimes you find a movie that rises above that in story, and makes for a good movie.
Tonight's movie was "The Orphanage". It wasn't a horror movie per say, but more of a psychological thriller with some supernatural topics. My only complaint was that some of the sub-stories were not explained in much detail. I felt that certain parts of the movie were cut out. But, for the most part, it flowed fairly well. The filming was well done. One of the producers was Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labryinth), and I'm not sure how much of an influence he had in this movie, but I felt that I could see his fingerprints in some of the cinematography - especially the use of color changes to influence mood.
There were a few disturbing shots that I certainly would not recommend this movie for kids (It is an R rating). But you have to expect that in any sort of horror movie.
I won't describe the storyline at all... the less you know the better, because parts of the film are predictable.
Overall, a good story, decent acting, some creepy moments, and some nice cinematography.
If you like any of these, I'd suggest it's worth a rental.

Note: I'll link to the wikipedia page, here, but I should warn you that the plot synopsis is WAY TOO DETAILED. Best not to read any of it.

two political ads...

2008-09-19T10:29:00.002-04:00

This was funny (and sad) to me this morning as I checked my google news.
McCain and Obama both released an advertisement today that appears to be the same exact attack message. That both senators consulted the wrong person for economic advice.
But... McCain's ad is based on a newspaper quote: The commercial's main charge is based on an April story in The Washington Post that said Raines has "taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters." Reporter Anita Huslin says Raines told her that during an in-person interview.
An Obama spokesman called the ad's contention "a flat-out lie," saying Raines has "never advised Senator Obama about anything, ever."

This is political mud slinging at its best. I'm not impressed by either ad, and think neither campaign should have run the ad. Here's a tip... if you're Obama, the first words should not be "John McCain" and vice versa.

UFO shoots rocket with beam of light

2008-09-09T09:32:00.002-04:00

This is a crazy story that appeared on Larry King Live.
video via LiveLeak.

I'm not sure if the video shown is a recreation or actual footage.

a one day get-away

2008-09-01T21:48:00.003-04:00

First a bit of a back story... I've wanted to get a gps unit for a long time, but could never really justify the reason to get one other than, "That's cool". I'm not much of a traveler when it comes to cars. I pretty much live in a 10 mile radius of my home, work, friends, family, movie theater, grocery store. So what did I need a gps for? I tweeted this and at the urging of some family units, they recommended, "get one first, then go on a road trip!"
Hmm, the more I thought of this idea, the more I liked it. I had taken a road trip several months ago (maybe a year?) to a Cabela's sporting good store, and it was a horrible drive! I was by myself, had my google maps to get me there, but didn't print the reverse directions. It was night, it was pouring rain! trucks barreling down on me, it was a miracle I got home in one piece that night! I could have REALLY used a gps at that time.
So, I decided to go for it!
I've found a key issue with my gps unit (a Garmin nuvi 350), it really stinks on driving directions if you know how to get to a certain place! I've found that by testing it in my local neighborhood, it has taken me down wrong streets, told me to make wrong turns (ie: A left on a highway with a concrete divider!), and when I have it set for "fastest" route, it sometimes takes me a mile or so out of my way, just trying to keep me on a faster highway. I've found that my years of driving the area, I know all the shortcuts, and optimum routes... BUT then I realized, that is not the purpose of this unit. The main point of these gps units is to get you somewhere that you don't know how to get to!
So this holiday weekend I decided on a road trip. Just a two day (over night) adventure. Basically, It didn't matter to me where I went, just as long as I got far enough out of my home town to make it feel like I went somewhere. A sort of mini-vacation.
All said and done, I enjoyed it.
I had some problems even getting directions to the hotel. Google maps was telling me one address, and the hotel website was telling me a different address! Same street address, just different zip codes! Never did figure that one out. I finally decided that google maps was wrong (gasp). I printed out a bunch of google maps, with the right address, and familiarized myself with my USA road atlas on the best way to get there. I decided to not trust my gps, and to force it after a certain point to get me there via the route I wanted to take.
Well, as I started to approach the first gps recommendation for a turn, I decided to throw my original intentions out the window! :) I decided, to just trust the gps unit (who I've nicknamed "moses" because he was known for being lost in the desert for 40 years!).
Long story short, it got me to my destination with only one minor problem (I panic'd and took an exit too early, it luckily was not a major deal at all). Then on the way home it took me a totally different route, which surprised me.
I ended up having a great bonding experience with Moses, and now trust him. I have to remind myself though, to always bring a map/atlas as a backup though. To fully trust a little gizmo on where I am, with no maps... I'm not ready to do that yet.
As for the trip itself...
It was a nice little get-away. Nothing fancy. I stayed at a "Days Inn". A bit pricey for my liking (I'm cheap, I admit it!) for about $83 a night. Room was clean, but the building itself needed some attention. (ripped wallpaper, dirty scuff and yuck in the elevator, a general musty smell, soda machine out of order, etc.) But on the things that counted, I felt like it was clean (sheets, towels, bathroom).
The area I went was in upstate New Jersey. It felt a bit like going back in time at points. There was a certain 1950's feel to the architecture (or older). The town was very small. No walmarts, no gas station convenience super stores, etc... there was really 3 places to choose from for food, a local diner/bar, an Italian restaraunt, and a pizza shop. I choose the diner/bar. It turned out to be really nice inside, and they had a nice menu. I had planned on going back there for dinner, but since I had a late lunch, I was still full around 8pm.
While, At the diner, I asked the waitress about a place to fish. I pulled up my gps maps, and showed her two lakes not too far away, and said "can I fish here?" Well, the waitress at first hmmed, and hawed (what do those words mean?) then finally said, I don't think I'd recommend it. She said there are houses and condo's all around the lakes. (made me sad, to think that it's really difficult in Jersey to find a lake to fish at). She recommended a local spot that she said there are always people fishing at (after her asking the guys at the bar). I took her advice.
It was a tiny creek, under a bridge of a busy road, and next to a plastics factory. (welcome to NJ). Seriously, it too made me sad, that this was the only "hot fishin spot" for these people that live up in foothills of some NJ mountains. (hills, to you people who have real mountains).
But, it turned out to be just a great spot for me on my mini-vacation. I ended up catching a tiny 6" bass! I couldn't believe it! It had made the whole trip worth it for me.
If nothing else, this trip made me miss my days of being outdoors on a more regular basis. I used to camp a lot, and fish a lot, then slowly that just faded away. I think now, I'll plan my next mini (or real) vacation around getting back into the outdoors. It's nice to know and be reminded, that my entire world, is not just limited to suburban sprawl of strip malls, and gas stations.
For what it's worth... I still am faced with the moral dilemma of fishing. I enjoy it (usually) immensly (especially when I actually catch something!), but every time I go, it bothers me that I'm hurting another animal (fish) for my enjoyment. I think that will be a struggle every time I go, and I'll have to learn to live with it. Some say the fish don't feel the pain, but I'm not buying that. What I can only hope for is that it's like getting your ear pierced, hurts a bit at first, but overall not a big deal.
I'm curious too... I wonder how much the prices have gone up for a nights stay at a campground. I can remember $7 a night, maybe $15 for a 'nice' state run place. Something tells me I should prepare myself for a shocker. That's a topic I'm sure for another blog post.

Oh, one more thing...I THINK I might have seen a bald eagle! I only got a quick glimpse of it as I was driving on a twisty road. I didn't have time to get a good look at it. By the time, I found a driveway to pull over on, I had lost it. But it was a hawk like bird, that was brown body, and had a white head. I won't swear to it, but I'm pretty sure. I WISH I got a better look at it!

Morning Groggieness

2008-08-31T08:23:00.002-04:00

Here's a question I'm just throwing out into the internet to see if someone (You!) happen to answer...
How long are you groggy or mush-minded after you wake up in the morning?
Are you the kind of person who upon opening your eyes puts his/her feet on the ground, and starts the day off with a bang - or - are you the type of person who has to stay in bed for at least a half hour until you can muster some sort of energy just to open one eyelid halfway.
Then once you are up, are you immediately into morning rituals (ie: shower, breakfast, etc...) or does it take a while to 'spin up' and get moving?

Me? I'm the later. I have such a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. I need usually an hour from the moment I'm "conscious" until the moment my feet hit the floor, then I'm still groggy for about 30 minutes after that.

I'm trying to understand why after a full nights sleep of about 8 hours, can a person feel tired when they wake? And - is it normal to feel that way?

Comments are welcome.

Vote yardsign

2008-08-24T10:41:00.005-04:00

I forget where on the web I stumbled upon this image, but it made me laugh. (No this does NOT represent my Bro-in-law's views ;)

In other political news...
Did ya hear? Sen Biden is Obama's Vice Presidential candidate. It was only on the cable news channels ALL DAY long yesterday.
I have not made up my mind about his choice yet. I don't know much about Sen. Biden. I have one faint memory of Sen Biden appearing on "the Daily Show" with Jon Stewart, and being impressed at how funny he was. (here's one clip, where Jon kinda nailed him for his controversial comments about Barack being "articulate, and clean", here's pt. 2 of that clip. Here's one from 2004 where he talks about the war).
I get the feeling, Biden is a straight shooter. He says what's on his mind... and that can be a good thing, or a bad thing, we'll have to see.
The part I do like about all this... I'm glad Barack picked someone who has more "experience" in the senate. This may help him with those who were concerned over this.
One final note: In watching the above clips of Biden, I became aware that he does one of the things that I have a pet peeve over... He uses two phrases, to answer almost every question... He'll start off with either "Look..." or "the fact of the matter is..." I don't know who started this trend (pat robertson?) but it drives me crazy!

Ok, sorry... THIS will be my last comment... So I get an email today, from Barack's campaign, offering me a T-shirt if I make a $3o donation. It's the first T-shirt that shows Biden's name (I was surprised at the designer's decision, to make his name smaller, and a lighter shade of color than Baracks). So it simply said "Obama Biden" - I couldn't help but notice the similarity of letters to "Osama" and "Bi -nla - den". I predict within 24 hours or less, we'll see a T-shirt or poster from the Right wing exploiting this odd coincidence.

e voting machines

2008-08-20T09:56:00.003-04:00

So the electronic voting machine stories are starting to roll in already. Here's a short one on slashdot about the difficulty some states are having at just ditching these $3500 to $5000 machines! The last line floors me though, that election workers were (I guess some still are) allowed to take the machines home the night before an election. What?!
I guess I should start getting my signs made to welcome McCain into the white house. ugh.

Oh, and I should mention... since in the past, Diebold caught so much flack for their machine, what's a company to do? Change their name of course. Say hello to "Premier Election Solutions" (wiki).

Here are just two mind boggling quotes from the wiki I linked to above. Why is no one upset over this!? This should be a public outcry!?
Quote 1:

Together, ES&S and Premier Election Solutions are (as of 2004) responsible for tallying approximately 80% of the votes cast in the United States

Quote 2:

Jeff Dean, Senior Vice-President and Senior Programmer at Global Election Systems (GES), the company purchased by Diebold in 2002 which became Diebold Election Systems, was convicted of 23 counts of felony theft for planting back doors in software he created for ATMs using, according to court documents, a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of two years

been a while

2008-08-16T09:42:00.004-04:00

Yep. I've been slacking off on this ol' blog. But twitter has been a good outlet for me, to get quick thoughts outta my head and into some other cyber-dimension. If you found this blog, I'd encourage you to follow me on twitter (and unless you're a spammer, I'll follow you back).
So whats new?

Olympics>
Can honestly say I'm not following them at all. With apologies to family who are HUGE sports fans and Olympics fans, It's just not my cup-o-tea. See... right there, I used a tea analogy to describe somthing sport related. People who watch the Olympics wouldn't do that. :)
I did happen to see the opening cermonies (was over at family's house), and I actually did enjoy that. I had a real sense of awe. And the geek in me, loved to see all the uses of the technology.
But the idea of people gathering to "celebrate" in a country known for human rights violation bothers me. And a country who is also known for Human Rights violations (US) trying to critisize another country for their HRV's is the pot calling the kettle black.
Then to see two world leaders shaking hands at the opening cermonies, while the one is preparing an attack on another nation just turned my stomach. Putin is out enjoying himself, while his country members are back home planning on how they can kill people.
My last rant over these olympics - It's all supposed to be about putting politics and our differences aside right? But every news broadcast I see, talks about which country has the most gold medals. It's just bragging rights with a hint of "we're better than they are". Which is not the right mentality to have when putting differences aside.
Ok, I'm done. Sry family.

gps>
I got a new toy! A new Gadget! I like toys and gadgets!
I got one of those road based gps navigation 'systems'.
I've wanted one for a while, just cause they are so cool! But couldn't justify getting one, because I generally don't travel anywhere. Work, home, friends house, family house, movie theatre, that's about it. But at the encouragement of others, I decided to spring for it. I hope to go somewhere now - cause afterall, I know how to get there now!
But all is not "sunshine and pumpkins" in the land of gps.
I've been running the unit through some tests between work and home. I've learned it def has some limitations. The first test, it sent me down a road that you could not make a left on, and told me to make a left. I had borrowed another gps unit and it too told me to do the same thing. So this is a fault of some bad data on their mapping systems, and not the fault of the individual unit. (why are they sharing the same mapping system?)
Then When I made it home, to my apartment complex the verbal directions told me to make a wrong turn, while the graphic map showed the right way. Grr. But, in it's defense, the roads are more of a parking lot, and not really roads. So they are very close together. Still, it bothered me.
After about a week... I've learned two things... the main purpose of this unit, is to get somewhere you don't know how to get to. Chances are, if you know how to get there, you already know the fastest way to get there, and the best roads to take.
All those negatives said - I'm still glad I got my new toy.
I hope to try it out soon on a trip somewhere.
One more "wag of the finger" at Amazon.com, where I purchase it... I learned the day that the unit was supposed to arrive, that it had been discontinued from the manufacturere! Amazon SHOULD have made that clear and posted that information. I did check the Garmin website and they still continue to support the model I got (the nuvi 350). So, I decided not to return it - but still.

Lets see... what else...
I think I'll stop here. This post is rather long now. More later...

Roxxor Beatbox

2008-08-11T20:00:00.001-04:00

I don't know why this beatbox stuff fascinates me so. But when I hear a talented beatboxer I'm just in awe.

Pelosi and Impeachment

2008-08-09T18:33:00.002-04:00

First - had a small problem signing into my blog today. Odd. But it looks like everything is ok now. There was a mention on the blogger homepage about accounts on Friday being mistakenly flagged as spam accounts. I wonder if my blog was one of those? I'd hate to loose all of my blog posts due to a glitch. I should look to see if there is any sort of backup options for this blog. If anyone knows of any, please leave a comment.

Ok, this will be short, but I wanted to put it out there...
A few nights ago (last Sunday I think) I watched an interview with Nancy Pelosi on Cspan. I should say upfront here - I'm not a fan of Nancy's.
During the interview one thing she said, raised a red flag with me... She said that she was a member of the "Gang of four" and had been brought in and secretly briefed in the reasons to go to war with Iraq. Hmm... that's odd. Then she went on to say how she was against it and that not all the evidence presented to her was convincing.
SO, I couldn't help but to wonder now... The main reason behind Dennis Kuncinich's plan for Impeaching President Bush is that he knowingly withheld certain information to the Congress on his request to go to war. So, now I learn that Nancy apparently knew about this info.
Is this why she has said in the past that "Impeachment is off the table"? Is she also protecting herself?
Apparently I'm not the only one who is wondering this... do a search on google for "pelosi gang of 4"

UFO near Needles CA

2008-08-04T07:10:00.003-04:00

A UFO story popped into my google alerts this morning that caught my attention. With a "new report" that is on youtube. I don't know why, but a lot of this news report looks suspicious to me.
First lets state the obvious... could they have found two "witnesses" that look like real characters in a hollywood movie about UFO's?
Why is this news story being reported on when it happened back on May 14th? I can't see when the original broadcast aired, so perhaps it aired at an earlier time and just was posted to youtube on Aug 1st? It's not clear. (ok, a little more digging and I found this blog post (all about ufo's) that reprinted the story and they have the date of 7-31-08) I have to laugh too at the graphic used on the blog post that has nothing to do with the story being reported on.
Ah, this appears to be the original story that the news anchor George Knapp based his story on. (interesting you can see that George Knapp is known for his ufo stories on his wikipedia entry).
I wonder why Mr. Knapp only interviewed the two guys (who both work at the radio station) and didn't try to interview "bob" on his house boat?
The interview with Bob can be read on the website with the original story where "bob" wishes to remain anonymous. Bob's story certainly does sound interesting, but I have to wonder why was he out fishing at 3am!?

Other than a few questionable eye witness accounts, this story is interesting. It's sad though that none of it can be confirmed.

Oh, one more thing... the graphics for the news report on youtube were nicely done.

NYPD and bicyclist

2008-07-28T21:26:00.004-04:00

I don't know enough about this story to comment, but just from the few seconds on video... it just doesn't look right.

I also know little about the "Critical Mass" event(s), but from what I understand, it's a bunch of people who own bicycles, that want to "promote" riding bikes. But, some of their methods may be "controversial" in that they foul up traffic.
Again, I'm just basing this on comments I've read online.
Wikipedia to the rescue!

Argh... I just read this news report via wcbstv.com and it makes it sound like what it appears on video. Officer Patrick Pogan has lost his badge and gun and is on desk duty pending an investigation. But here's the part that burns me...

Pogan told officials that Long was obstructing traffic and that the biker was actually trying to run him down.

I'm sry, but the video clearly shows Officer Pogan making a calculated intercept to knock him off the bike! THEN to turn around and charge Mr. Long with attempted assault?! Resisting arrest?! Disorderly conduct?!

Funny side note: So the camera person towards the end says something like "Bita, Bita Move" trying the get the woman in front of him to stop blocking the video. When the other man gently grabs here elbow to pull her aside, she shrugs his hand off like "get your stinkin hands off me!" :)

Impeachment hearings

2008-07-27T01:05:00.004-04:00

I should have blogged about this sooner while it was still fresh in my mind, but I'll do my best here. Friday, There was a hearing on Capitol Hill for, that was originally called an "impeachment hearing" but was later re-named to "Hearing on Executive power andits constitutional limitations".
I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of this hearing was for, or what is to come of it, now that it is over.
It was a LONG hearing! Coming in at around 5.5 - 6 hours long. I actually watched most of it. (I missed the beginning). I'd guess that I saw about 4.5 hours.
It is difficult to sum up a 4.5 hour meeting in one blog post. So just a few thoughts.
There were some REALLY interesting gems scattered about the hearing. The person I most enjoyed listening to (yes, I said enjoyed), was Bruce Fein (A former Reagan admin assoc) - wikipedia. I had to seriously overlook the resemblance (both in physical appearance and sounding like) to the nerdy cop from the original "police academy" movie, and former actor on SNL - Tim Kazurinsky - sry, it had to be said ;) Mr. Fein gave the most direct and informative answers that really made a lot of sense to me. In addition to quoting some famous historical figures that really helped me understand how important this was.
In keeping with my humorous approach to this serious hearing... Rep. John Conyers, who was the chairman of this hearing, was so laid back, I had to wonder if he was taking some medical marijuana :) At times he seemed to just be having fun up there. I admire though, this clear headed thinking, and his approaches at dealing with some of the Republican's tactics on disrupting the hearing. (for example, in the clip above, during Mr. Fein's opening statement, the Republican Steve King, interrupted him and said "Mr. Chairman, the gentleman's time has expired". To which Rep Conyers just ignored him, and let Mr. Fein continue to finish.
Link to a segment by Rep King.
Speaking of Republicans... They did just about everything they could think of to make this hearing sound like a waste of time. Even to pointing out (several times) that this was Not an impeachment hearing.
My BIGGEST complaint though on some of the lines of speeches and questioning raised by the Republicans, was in the way they re-worded the argument. Let me demonstrate...
The main issue of Kucinich's reason for impeachment proceedings is this:
The President, while having intelligence reports from various intelligence agencies, that said (In a nutshell), that we do not feel that Iraq poses an imminent threat. But, what the president did, in approaching the congress while looking for them to authorize him to go to war, he did NOT MENTION this opposing view point. Instead, he picked out only certain parts of the reports, that said things like "Sadam had weapons of mass destruction", and only told congress that side of the story. So, it boils down to this... did the President, knowingly and willfully withhold important intelligence reports, at the time that he presented Congress with his arguments to go to war? That is the main focus here.
But here's an example of what one of the Republican's did...
He pointed out that the President did in fact say there were "weapon's of mass destruction" based on some reports. When the USA finally invaded Iraq, they didn't find any WMD's. So, the President may have made a mistake, but he did not intentionally make that mistake.
Grrr... that's such a gross misrepresentation of the argument here. It's a perfect example of being "intellectually dishonest" to present the argument like that.
At one point, Rep. Trent Franks, suggested that none of the witnesses should even use the term "impeachment" since it was not an impeachment hearing! (about 1 hour and 5 minutes in).
Moving on...
It also became clear to me, that there were certain witnesses on this panel, who were on the Republican side of things. And guess who the Rep's asked their questions to? Yep, mainly those two witnesses. Mr. Stephen Presser I think was the name of the one.

There's much more to go into here, but It's getting late and this post is going way too long.
I just want to say one last thing...
I am not sure that having the witness Vincent Bugliosi there was such a good idea. Yes, he was passionate. Yes, he made good points, but at times it just seemed like he was trying to simply plug his book in a shameless way. And to use words like "murderer" was to me inappropriate at this time. (speaking of which, There seemed to be a lot of book plugging going on here, that seemed inappropriate to me). See his youtube clip here.

IF you are a glutton for punishment as I am, and want to watch the ENTIRE 6 hour hearing, you can see it on C-span's website here. (not sure how long this link will work).
It might be best though, to pick and choose through some of the clips on youtube. You can find a lot of shorter clips here.

I am hopefull that those who have made mistakes will be held accountable. I am not overly optimistic though that actual impeachment hearings will take place, but I hope that those in power who are proceeding, will continue to proceed with everything they can. Go Dennis!

[edit: Wow, I really shouldn't post at 2am in the morning. I just re-read my post above and found a bunch of typo's. I've since fixed them. My apologies to all editors and writers out there.]

Oil question...

2008-07-25T19:13:00.004-04:00

The other day, while surfing the internet, on one of my news websites I saw the horrible news that there was an oil spill at the mouth of the Mississippi River. I then heard a small report on NPR explaining a bit more of the details... Now, forgive me for possibly getting some of the facts wrong, as I didn't have a notepad to write on while I was driving home and listening to the radio. The ship has spilled 419,000 gallons of fuel oil. (now here are the facts I heard, but can't seem to find confirmation of in some of the online news reports). They mentioned that the ship had just picked up the oil from a local distributor and was headed to some country, when it got hit by a tugboat.
Then it hit me...
Wait... did he just say that the ship was headed for another country?
We are currently in an Oil crisis here at home (USA).
There are talks of offshore drilling.
There are talks of drilling in the Alaskan wildlife refuge area.
If we need oil so bad... WHY are we exporting it then to other nations?
I googled it this morning, and according to this chart, the USA is the 17th ranked nation for exporting oil! (this isn't the same chart, but it still shows USA at 17th).

So can someone explain this to me?

[update: 7/27/08]
This news item just appeared on reddit.com tonight that goes to answering this question! I'm glad other people are paying attention to this.
Short answer if you don't want to read the whole article (which is short).

Large multi-national firms like Exxon-Mobil are not US property. They sell to the world and their allegiance is to corporate profits.

A Bike Thief

2008-07-21T21:53:00.001-04:00

Why does this not surprise me.q

GROSS!!

2008-07-20T12:10:00.003-04:00

WARNING! This blog post contains some material that is gross. IF you are about to eat breakfast lunch or dinner any time soon, DON'T CONTINUE READING THIS!
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Ok, still with me? So you like gross stories? ewww... why would you want to read a gross story?!
Why would I want to even re-tell this story?! I'm not sure, I guess to point out the fact that I will never understand some people in this world. I'll spare all the gory details that I had heard...
So after my movie last night, I was really hungry. I actually had dinner earlier at a Japanese Restaurant, but what a let down that was... I ordered a Miso Soup, and an Unagi Roll (That's eel by the way - I know, that's gross right there! But they taste good). I ended up getting a little tiny bowl of soup (more like a cup), for $2.50, and the Unagi Roll was around $7.50! Then I had to tip the waiter, so for $12.00 I had this measley meal. It tasted good, that's for sure, but I still felt hungry (and cheated).
So after I watched the movie "Wall-e" and waited for about another 40 minutes, I decided to leave the movie theater and head home. I realized, just down the road is a roadside diner, that I've always wanted to try out. I decided to stop in for a cheeseburger.
So, I place my order with the waitress, and waited for my food to arrive. A couple of women had come in after me and sat down in the booth directly behind me.
Soon, the waitress emerges from the kitchen and sets down my cheeseburger. I thank her and proceed to start to enjoy my hot fries. The waitress, takes a few steps over, and starts to interact with the two women behind me.
I'm not really making an attempt to evesdrop, but she's standing right behind me when inbetween the neural impluses to my brain of enjoying the fries, my brain starts to pick up on the conversation behind me...
The waitress is talking about how she used to be a hairdresser, and that one of the things they taught her was to never try to pop a pimple on your face! UGH! Pimple discussions?! While I'm trying to eat here? I cringe and figure ok, that's the end of that story...
But NO... The waitress continues to describe this big pimple that she got and how she decided to pop it anyway...
At this point, I can't take it...
I turn around and give her te meanest "stink-eye" I can muster and without actually saying a word (that shouldn't have to be said anyway!) she sees me looking at her, and says, "Oh, Sorry sir" - End of story right? NO!!!
She proceeds to lower her voice - obviously still at a talking level and not a whisper, and proceeds to finish her story to the other two women.
I couldn't believe it. She obviously knew it was wrong of her to tell this story as I'm eating otherwise she would not have apologised, but then to CONTINUE her story!?! And that it somehow makes it better that she had lowered her voice?! ugh.
If it were not for the fact that I was so hungry, and had a nice cheeseburger sitting right under my nose, I would have - and should have got up, and walked out!
But no... I tried to wipe my mind and tried to enjoy my burger.
I will say, that I did NOT want to touch anything that the waitress handed me, all I could picture was her in the bathroom while on break messing with her pimple.
ok, I think I'm gonna be sick now.
Sorry I had to share this story with you all... but misery loves company - and I DID warn you.
Needless to say, I'll NEVER go back to that diner!

Movie: Wall-e

2008-07-20T11:44:00.003-04:00

Last night was another hot summer evening. What better place to spend it than a cool air conditioned movie theater! I chose to go for a Double Feature! Start the evening out with a light hearted kids movie called Wall-e and finish it up with a topping of "Dark Knight" (aka: Batman).

Wall-e > imdb
I liked this movie. Granted, it's def a kids movie, so I won't go into any sort of heavy plot analysis, but basically just sit back and watch the cute robots is how best to enjoy this movie. If I had one complaint - it was that it was too cute. I mean they even made the Cockroach look and act cute! But, all in all, that's what I had expected.
I was aware of some minor controversy over this movie also... The "president" they claimed made one single statement something like "Stay the course", So some people were saying that this was a "dig" on Pres. Bush. Yeah, it probably was! But in my opinion a well deserved dig. I can't see too many people getting upset over that.
There was another controversy over some people getting upset about how the humans were portrayed 700 years in the future - as being over weight. Um, not to sound crass, but have you looked around lately? We're almost like that now! I can understand how some people might get upset over this, but I don't think this is a fault of the film. I don't think they were making any sort of mean spirited comment over being over weight.
One item that I had NOT heard as being controversial... (which to me seemed like it should have raised an eye brow), was the corporate take over issue! It almost alarms me more that people would overlook that issue, and be worried that humans were portrayed as being over weight. Almost like saying "oh, corporations like Walmart - controlling the political process? No problem!"
As an adult, there were some political underlying themes in this movie. I happened to agree with those themes, so it didn't bother me, but if I were on the other side of the fence, I might have a problem with this movie. I actually thought - Every kid should see this movie as a warning against over consumption, and lack of physical activity! But that's for another blog post I guess.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. The corporate side jokes bothered me just a little bit in the sense that Steve Job's owns Pixar (who also owns Apple computer). There were defintely some nods to apple computer in this movie, which skated on the edge for me as being a commercial endorsement, but if you didn't know these things, it's not a big deal. (For example, when Wall-e gets a full solar charge, and starts up, he "chimes" - this chime, is the same sound that Macintosh computers make when they start up.)
Not sure how much longer this film will be in the theaters, but I recommend it, and at least rent it. Another winner in the portfolio of Pixar - who in my opinion, has not made a bad movie yet.

As for the double feature of seeing "the dark knight" - I had gotten to the theater at about 6:45pm. The three evening shows up until the 9pm show were all sold out! When I got out of the Wall-e show around 9pm, I went in line and bought a ticket for the 10pm show. A long hour wait, but they have nice comfy leather chairs there, and I was having fun doing some "people watching". Well, buy about 9:30, there was a LINE going out the main doors! I thought, this is rediculous! I actually went back to the ticket booth, and asked for a refund of my money. I don't want to see a movie in a PACKED theater. I could have waited around and tried some of the later shows (10:30, 11, 11:30, or 12am), but I didn't want to spend my entire night at the theater waiting! So, perhaps next week, or maybe I'll go mid week to see it. MAN They must be raking in the money on this movie!!!

I expect more from Marty...

2008-07-16T19:38:00.003-04:00

I was up early this morning (well, early for me, not for most people), so when my alarm clock went off I was already up and conscious. At around 10am I hear Marty Moss-Coane start her show "Radio Times". Much to my surprise (and dread) her topic for today... The "controversial" New Yorker comic regarding Barak Obama. I won't even go into describing the comic on the cover as by now I'm sure the entire world has seen it. I like Marty's shows for the most part. She's def one smart cookie, but this show was just horrible to listen to. An entire hour involving guests (other comic artists) and call-ins from the listeners that can be summed up in one or two sentences. It was a COMIC! Was it controversial? Absolutely. Was it in good taste? Debateable but in my opinion it was in poor taste. But what Marty did was try to analyze what makes a good joke. You either get it, or you don't. You either think it's funny, or not.
Not to mention, I felt like all of this was SO yesterday's news. Arn't there more interesting topics out there to choose from? Why not do a show on how Karl Rove has been called upon to appear before the Senate, and decided to just give them a big "kiss my ___" and THEN decides to FLEE - Er, I mean Go on vacation out of the country! That would make for an intersting show.
I know... it's my own fault... I should have just turned the radio off. Next time I will.
Sorry Marty, I expect more from you. I hope the next show is better.
I don't know why, but I'll link to the show's mp3 file on the WHYY.org website. I don't know if this is a permanent link, or if it will change when the next show airs. IF you want to listen to this be my guest :)

Movie: The Great Debaters

2008-07-12T01:05:00.004-04:00

It's late here (just after 1 am), but I just finished an AWESOME movie that I had to post while it was still fresh in my mind...

The Great Debaters (imdb)>
I really don't know where to start in praising this movie. The actors (and actresses) were all TOP notch. Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker in the same movie?! That's pure genius. One of the main characters was played by "Denzel Whitaker" I had to check imdb to see if he was in fact Forest's son, but no, there is no relation... but in an odd twist of fate, he was named after Denzel Washington. He too was awesome in his role of the child prodigy. He had just the right balance of determination, and yet child like naiveté. The actress Jurnee Smollett played the role of "Smantha Brooke (with an e)" and she too was incredible. Why have I not seen more of her in movie roles (imdb shows her career as having done a lot of television - someone in hollywood needs to give her more substantial roles like this!)
Perhaps more important than all these fine actors, was the story.
Set in the 1930's and it shows us a glimpse into another world. Something that strangely was not that long ago and at the same time feels like it was hundreds of years ago. The movie deals mostly with issues of race and human rights, which to me are still subjects we need to be mindful of in 2008. To often we forget our past.
I couldn't help but think of how far we have come in issues of race to be entering into a political race where one of the candidates is a person of color. Yet, we all know someong I bet, who is struggling with issues of race. My hope is that in a few more generations, this thing called "equality" will be much more prevalent.
Please... go rent this movie.
(note: in the dvd specials, there is some footage of actual interviews with some of the characters in the film, and people who knew the people first hand. This was also just as priceless as the movie itself. be sure to account for another 20-30 minutes after the movie to watch this special feature.)

PS: I feel bad for not mentioning the actor Nate Parker, who played one of the leads "Henry Lowe". He too did an awesome job, but I think because his character was a tad less likeable than the others, I think I left him out of the above praises. Good job Nate!

one more thing...
What you say? Not one complaint?
ok, there was one scene that did bother me...
At one point James Jr. Gets in trouble with his father. The father grounds him, and tells him he's not allowed out of the house until he tells him where he's been. James Jr. Responds "but what about school?" - to which his father starts to get even more mad at him for talking back. James Jr. Runs to his bedroom and slams the door.
The VERY next scene... James is at school! No explanation. This was just a big slip of continuity in my opinion.

Movie: The Spiderwick Chronicles

2008-07-11T15:50:00.004-04:00

Another summer evening with nothing on TV but mind numbing gameshows and repeats. Really? A Game show for dogs? ugh.

So I popped in a movie from Netflix.
The Spiderwick Chronicles (imdb) >
I basically liked this movie, but it was a bit of a struggle. If it were not for the fact that I liked the idea behind the storyline so much, I'd probably advise you all to pass on this movie.
First, let me say - The Cast of this movie was the oddest mixture of actors I've seen in a long time.
Nick Nolte plays an Ogre?! Ok, I can go with that. (must resist urge to make a joke about his CA mug shot).
Seth Rogen as a character voice?
But then to see Andrew McCarthy as the Father? Wow, where has he been for the past 20 years? (according to imdb, he has been busy, I just don't recall seeing him since the 80's).
And lastly, Freddie Highmore - who I really liked in "finding neverland" but he played the role of twins (which I didn't even realize was the same kid until about 20 minutes into the movie!)
The actress who played the older sister (Sarah Bolger) was so-so... I just couldn't stand her character is all. I think the first half of the movie was just listening to the brothers and sisters and the mother all yelling at one another and fighting! All the bickering and yelling was gettin on my nerves.
I enjoyed all the monsters and effects, but on several occasions, I feel like they were cutting some corners with the effects. They just looked too fake.
Lastly... The movie at some points was pretty intense (Like the mole monster chasing them through the tunnel) I wouldn't recommend this movie for younger kids.

I ended up rating this a 3 out of 5 stars on my netflix. I liked certain parts, but others I found annoying. I'm going to make a mental note now, to maybe attempt to read the book(s) for this series.

Oh for what it's worth... I WISH they showed more of the book illustrations. They were fantastic! I felt like I've seen that artist's work before. Really nice watercolor illustrations.

Garden help?

2008-07-10T20:08:00.003-04:00

I just uploaded 3 photos of my Cherry Pepper plant in the hopes that someone out there in the internet land, can offer me help of advice.
(Note: The same exact thing happened to my tomato plant last summer!)

I live on the second floor apartment and I have a small balcony. It gets full sun from the morning sunrise until about 11:30 or so. I have the plant(s) in plastic pots about 8-10inch diameter.
As you can see from the photos here. The plant appears to be very healthy. Leaves are nice and green, etc. I've got LOTS of buds. BUT... the buds eventually burst open into the flowers which also appear to be healthy. Then after a day or so, the flower starts to wither. Eventually, the flower drops off of the plant at the point where the stem of the flower joins the main stem (approx half inch from the base of the flower).
As I said, this same behavior also happened last summer to a tomato plant that I had, and although I had lots of flowers, and what I though was a nice healthy plant, I did not get ONE tomato at all. It appears to be happening again with my Cherry pepper plant too!
( I did try pollinating the flowers too on the tomato plant with a brush, to no avail).

I'm posting this in the hopes that someone with a little more gardening knowledge than I can offer some advice. As of this Saturday though, I plan on donating this plant to my mom's garden in the hopes that in a new environment where the plant will get full sun all day long, perhaps I can get ONE red hot cherry pepper out of this thing.

For what it's worth, both the tomato plant and this cherry pepper plant are ones that I started from seed from the previous year.

Any advice would be appreciated. I'd like to have a small garden on my balcony, but so far the only thing I can seem to grow successfully is basil.

board balancer

2008-07-07T18:14:00.004-04:00

I just twittered this, but I feel it needs more than 140 characters to explain.
I apologize because this is just a bitter rant.
Yesterday, I was enjoying a Lazy Sunday afternoon and flipping through the TV channels to see what was on (pretty much nothing). I happened upon some coverage (I think it was for the Olympics?) of a young woman on a balance beam. She was awesome! She had one little stumble where she lost her balance, but was able to recover quickly. I admit, there is NO WAY that I could do anything close to what she did. But then it hit me... The idiocy of this event! Here's a girl who spends hours and hours of her life so that she can compete with lots of other girls who have also spent hours and hours to balance on a 4" wide piece of wood. What on earth for? In stepping back a little you can pretty much say that about any sport. There is very little "benefit" in the grand scheme of things in putting a ball in a hoop, hitting a ball with a stick, kicking a ball, driving a car really fast, swinging from a bar, or balancing on a beam. But some of those skills you can make really really ungodly amounts of money doing! But something tells me that this young woman on a beam doesn't get paid that much money to do so.
She might get a medal, or bragging rights, etc... but when all is said and done, all she can claim is that she can balance on a stick much better than most people.
Oh well. Just a rant I had to get off my chest.
The human race just really puzzles me at times.

Edit: 7/8/08:
As JDE pointed out in her twitter response, "But you can ask that of any sport. Or art, really. Isn't it a celebration of what the human body is capable of doing?"
Yes... I too thought of the connection here to art in general. But imho I don't think the two compare overall. Granted, some "art" does absolutely fall into the category of "what's the point!" No argument there at all :)
There are also many different reasons for why a person attempts to create art, and like sports, some do it for the medal, or for the money... But I see one important difference between sports and art... Art (in general) is about creating something tangible. (I'm not talking about dance, or performance art). But things like drawing, painting, photography, even music. In the end... art is something that produces something tangible - and hopefully - makes the world a better, more beautiful place. We could go into a great debate (as many have) as to opinions on what art is, and or what is "beautiful" but that's not really the point of this rant.

Point taken though :)
Perhaps... The line between art and sports is not as clear or defined as I had thought. Like dance, or performance art, sports do create memories, and there's something to be said for that.

Thanks for the response and getting me to think a little deeper. :)

movie: Songcatcher

2008-07-03T21:36:00.003-04:00

I just finished watching a good movie called "Songcatcher" (imdb).
My mother had recommended this movie to me and I thank her for that.
First, lets get this out in the open right at the beginning - it's a chick flick :)
No car chases, no gun fights (though guns were drawn several times!), etc...
But this is one of those movies that I like because it had a storyline.
The acting was well done (though Janet McTeer who played Prof. Lily was a tad bit one dimensional, though I think that was supposed to be how her character was). I've always been a fan of Aidan Quinn too. I was also impressed with Emmy Rossum (Deladis) performance, I think she stole each scene that she was a part of.
Lastly... Almost like the actors themselves, a very important character in this film was - The music! A lot of "old timey" back woods bluegrass style songs. It's been a while since I've listened to my bluegrass collection, but this movie sparked that interest again.
Not to mention, that It helps reinforce my unexplained draw to visit the south (Tennesse for some reason is calling me - though the movie was filmed in Asheville, North Carolina.)
Go rent this movie if you like a good story about country/bluegrass music.