Kwanzaster, too much temptation for jokes there. Do they have "colored" eggs on Kwanzaster? White rabbit?
Oh boy, sorry folks. This is what I get for growing up in the late seventies/eighties. The days when everybody used to make fun of everybody else. Most thought it was funny.
I Redboxed last year's two big Middle East movies (both recommended)...
Zero Dark Thirty - I liked it but I didn't love it... then again, I'm not sure if one can "love" a film like this. It probably did the best job it could without going into overt political territory. If you're on the right and you're looking for "Rah-rah Obama!", you won't find it. If you're on the left and you're looking for "Bush lied, people died," you won't find it. She managed to piss off people on both sides so Ms. Bigelow appears to have succeeded. :-)
My one complaint is that I wish we got to know more about Maya (Jessica Chastain)... we're given what we need to know but one or two additional short scenes might've helped. The raid at the end is excellent and more realistic than most shoot-'em-ups you see in movies. The rest... it's "just the facts, Ma'am." It's a procedural and in that respect, it almost reminded me of David Fincher's Zodiac.
Argo - I wasn't there so I couldn't say what this movie did or did not do correctly. But it did it very very well. Ben Affleck... who knew he'd make such a skillful director one day? He got the 70s vibe down, from the hair to the set decorations to the old Saul Bass WB logo at the start of the film. It's a bit of a slow burn, but the last 30 minutes will have you on the edge of your seat, even knowing how it ended in real life.
I've always been an Affleck defender but his work on screen is fine - I think he may have tailored it to his strengths. Goodman, Arkin, Cranston, and the rest give it their all.
Shame on certain Academy members for pissing on Affleck and Bigelow and their accomplishments.
Scott, I haven't seen either, but I have procured Prometheus, so I'm going to watch that soon. I've also seen a couple other new films which I'm debating reviewing.
Men in Black III was unpleasant on many levels. It felt tired and old and pedestrian. Tommy Lee Jones looks like a wax monster at this point.
I saw something called El Gringo which I enjoyed despite the fact it was a lousy film. It was pretty much a knock-off of Desperado, and it was totally ridiculous, but I liked it.
I've heard that Argo has upset the Brits and now the New Zealanders.
Oh, and I saw Safehouse which is a much more likeable Borne Something than the third one was with Damon. Denzel is pretty decent, even if the film feels like a total knockoff.
...but Men in Black III wasn't terrible. (I take it you watched it on Starz like I did?) :-)
I guess I wasn't expecting much but it delved into some interesting areas, none of which were explored at any depth. Michael Stuhlbarg's character was very interesting but he only seemed to know enough to move the plot forward. I'm wondering if they made Jones look extra old and grumpy in order to emphasize Brolin's youthfulness, even though the actors are only like 20 years apart in age.
I also watched something calledFor a Good Time, Call..., about two girls who start their own phone sex line. I liked it, and I think it did a better job with that than Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri did with amateur porn. It wasn't perfect and it gets a little cliched at the end but I was happy with it.
I wasn't interested in Safehouse either, but I watched it and I enjoyed it.
I expected very little from MiB III and I was still disappointed. This one had a totally different vibe to it. This one was depressing and angry. I think this was a film which got caught up in repeating the tropes of the series using 1960s icons. It felt very rote to me and I don't really recall enjoying any of it.
Brolin was ok, but he had zero chemistry with Smith. Smith looks too old now to be the "brash young guy." Jones looked so old he honestly comes across like he's on the verge of death. I did like Jemaine Clement, who is proving to be a fantastic actor, but he wasn't used all that much in this either.
I liked Clement as well. He's quickly falling into that category of "The movie might be crap but at least he'll be good in it!" (See: Walken, Christopher.)
Good luck with Prometheus. ;-) We'll have much to discuss. [cue evil laugh]
I agree about Clement (and Walken). I've liked him in everything I've seen him in, even when the movie stunk. I really liked him in Dinner for Schmucks. And of course, Flight of the Conchords.
We'll see about Prometheus. I think it will be hard to be disappointed at this point, but you never know.
By the way, did anyone see this atrocity? They've decided to give Minnie Mouse a new look because the old one wasn't good enough... seeing as how it worked for 70 years and is loved the world over. Here's the butt-ugly thing they came up with: LINK.
I'm not sure if this meant to make her look old or South-east Asian? Either way, I predict the company will find people to tell us how great it is and none of us will believe it -- at last count the article in question 1700 comments and I didn't see a single positive one. Then they will quietly shove this look into the closet and stick with the traditional look.
An evening gown Minnie Mouse wears only to special events doesn't exactly fill me with rage. It just strikes me as Disney trying to get little girls interested in Minnie Mouse with a very 'princessy' dress.
Anyway, I just saw Wreck-it Ralph again with my kids. Its a great movie for adults (even non-gamers) and kids and the visuals are really beautiful.
I saw Seven Psychopaths which wasn't at all like I thought it would be. Why can't the marketing guys just tell me what a movie is about!? It's not some heist film like the promos made it appear. Rather, it's about a screenwriter who wants to make a film about, you guessed it, seven psychopaths--some of whom he meets, others he makes up. Honestly, it's dumb, but I can't help but enjoy watching Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell do their thing. Some good performances in a real dog of a film. (Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, BTW, if that means anything to anyone.)
RE:Oreos. Does anyone remember the giant Oreo cookies about the size of a hockey puck that they sold in individual packages in the 80s, possibly early 90s? I had one every day in my lunch at summer camp, so I know they are real.
RE: Minnie Mouse. Don't care that she changed her dress, but the new one is u-u-u-u-u-gly-y-y-y-y-y!
tryanmax, If they told you what you were going to see, then you might not see it. And that is disappointing because that it not at all what I thought the film would be about. It sounded like Smoking Aces.
I don't recall those Oreos.
On the dress, I think the huge piece of bling is ridiculous.
Aw, you missed out. Not only were they all the goodness of an Oreo just bigger, they really could make you and your friends dance like West Side Story. Swear.
Did anybody see the deal in Cyprus? Instead of imposing a 10% tax on all accounts over 100,000 euros and a 7% tax on the rest, they will now be protecting all accounts below 100,000 euros and wiping out all accounts above 100,000 in one of their two banks.
That's pretty stunning if you think about it. So much for rich people in Cyprus.
Those guys really screwed the pooch in Cyprus. That's a true no win scenario, especially with every bank account(checking and savings) being hit subject to a hit(at least as of last week). Even worse if you needed cash, you couldn't get it all week. Because the governing body was deciding how much of your money they were going to take.
So how long will be before the Russian mob starts to act? Or is this the first step to Germany taking over the EU without firing a shot(LOL).
Under the latest Cyprus deal those with insured accounts (in the Eurozone default insurance ends at 100K) won't be hit at all, but those with uninsured accounts will be hit very hard.
Still, I haven't read anyone claiming such accounts will be wiped out (though surely the Russian businessmen who have been using Cyprus as a tax haven for years will stop doing so).
Bloomberg claims that uninsured depositors and bondholders "will be largely wiped out." LINK
Forbes reports "Deposits above 100,000 euros—which aren’t protected by EU law—will be frozen and used to pay for the deal. The frozen accounts are expected to yield 4.2 billion euros ($5.5 billion)." LINK
And the above WJS article states the deal will be "imposing steep losses on deposits with more than €100,000." LINK
In every case, descriptions of what will happen to uninsured deposits above €100,000 are too broad and too carefully stated to lend much comfort to anyone standing to lose a large sum. It doesn't exactly sound like a total wipe-out is off the table.
Ah, with the seizing of bank accounts in Cyprus, we are now in the run up to "World War in Europe - Three's A Charm". Cyprus is the off shore tax haven of Europe...
Well, I'm Greek, so it's not Easter for us until May 5th. Can I still come to the party?
I will have NO CHANCE to watch movies. I have a very active seven-month-old son who doesn't really allow it. However, I would like to watch a very Holiday-appropriate movie I somehow missed the first time around: The Passion of the Christ.
Re: Cyprus. Scary, scary stuff that the mainstream media doesn't seem to care much about. My wife and I have a lot of family in Greece (I know Cyprus isn't a part of Greece, but half of the island is of Greek descent, as you all know, so the writing is on the wall), and we are very worried about the situation in Europe. I wish they'd all move here. The rise of NAZISM in Greece, of all places, doesn't help at all.
Bev: "Three's A Charm." Funny, but so, so sad. And scary.
Anthony, The deal as I read it said that there are two banks. Everything in the first bank will be ok. The deposits in the second bank that are under 100,000 Euros will be transferred to the other bank and will be ok. The accounts above 100,000 in the second bank will be frozen and basically confiscated.
From what I've seen this will include a lot of Russian money.
Bev, That sounds like how wars would be named if Hollywood was in charge!
World War I: The War To Settle The Score World War II: Hitler Boogaloo World War III: Three's A Charm World War I: The Next Generation (A direct-to-video reboot).
Max, I spent ten days with some pretty knowledgeable Germans a couple weeks ago and let me tell you that they are less than thrilled to be involved with the rest of the Europeans at all. They really see themselves as shackled to idiots... kind of like how we see California.
Bev, By the way, I don't see how Cyprus can even be in trouble. It's full of Russian drug money and wealthy British retirees. How can they not be swimming in cash?
rlaWTX - re: Blue Bell oreo ice cream - But does it make you a Broadway dancer? I think they had to discontinue the Big Oreo because the CDC said they were the source of all of those "flash mob" dances.
On Cyprus and the media, I think there are some serious lessons here that the left doesn't really want passed around. For one thing, the big lesson is that economic pain will not be shared fairly when politicians can simply pick on a handful or rich people. Also, rich doesn't mean billionaires, it reaches way down into upper middle class people. Also, notice that this means that CDs/bonds are not as safe as retirees think they are. None of those are good things.
The real lesson, I think is to spread your wealth as wide as possible so they can't ever grab a chunk of it.
Alex - re: WWIII - I don't mean to make light of the prospect. I think Andrew has nailed it with Germany and all of the "productive' Aryan/Lutheran/Protestant Work Ethic countries getting frustrated with having to support the "early retirees" of southern Europe. It is very sad. One could see it coming when the riots in Spain and Greece started over "austerity" (which basically was about raising the retirment age), it was not going to go well. The rise of Nazism everywhere is pretty scary.
Andrew - Well, Europe is finally "running out of other peoples' money!! Who'd a thunk it...and the "other people" will start fighting back with extreme prejudice shortly. Oh, and they will ALL blame Israel most likely.
World War I: Score Settler World War II: Lightning Blitzkrieg War World War III: Three Charms World War IV: The World versus the Giant Crockasaurephantwarbeast
Or the adult versions:
World War I: A War To Score World War II: The Germans are Coming World War III: Three Is A Charm World War IV: Erotic Warriors
Bev, That is absolutely true, Europe has run out of other people's money. And they aren't willing to change their ways either. The end result will be very bad for them.
I don't think it will rise to the level of war, but I suspect it will rise to the level of falling governments, demonization of the rich and foreigners, and confiscation of assets in the non-functioning countries. And the functioning countries will probably eventually boot them out of the Euro and go about their way, at which point the non-functioning countries will devalue their currencies to near zero and everything will be happy within their borders again. That's my guess.
No offense taken; I knew that you weren't making light of anything. A healthy dose of humor is not only a good thing, but necessary. To paraphrase Frank Zappa, modern civilization is too much to swallow without a sense of humor.
Regarding movies, ARGO. I enjoyed the film until the last few minutes when they created pure fiction with Jimmy Carter's supposed role in the matter. Then I wanted to throw tomatoes at the movie screen.
I'm hoping for a Twilight Zone marathon over the weekend or at least some really good basketball and golf.
I prefer the alternate ending where Carter jumps in the Presmobile to save those people but ends up being attacked by a rabbit which rips him to shreds as he yells "Malaise! Malaise!"
I found out I got into my university's BFA Graphic Design program! They're really strict about it... I guess they grade the portfolios on several different criteria, then average the score.
Mine was: "Admitted with reservations." Apparently, I need to work on my figure drawing skills... but, man, this is a load off!
Hopefully, I'll be able to escape - uh, I mean graduate, by spring 2015. I'll probably only be able to take 2 or 3 number of courses at once, since I work and every course has a prereq that needs to be completed first.
I tend to agree with some aspects of this, but also that Obama got a huge boost by the Republicans running the ossified out of touch idiot McCain. Him being a war hero and all I mean that in the best possible way, though.
Andrew, nobody wants to help a bum, especially if the bum will not help himself. Europe is going from a basket case right to the rubber room, with the fitted straight jacket.
I don't know how long they can keep the EU going, if people are getting resentful. It's only going to be a matter of time. I almost wish the place would break out in war again. Perhaps that would knock some sense into the free loaders.
Congrads Scott, I think it's impressive to get past some nutty professors.
Has anyone here ever heard of/been to policymic.com? It's a politics and culture site billed as being geared toward millennials and a very interesting thing is going on there. Most, practically all, of the articles have a left-wing bent. Unsurprising as the founding and editorial staff lists community organizing and working for the SEIU in their bios, as well as numerous stints on the political campaigns of prominent Democrats. However, what is surprising is that the comments sections are majority populated by individuals expressing conservative, or at the least center-right points of view. I should also note that most of their articles don't get many comments to begin with, which is interesting of itself.
Andrew, conflating Blue Bell ("The best ice cream in the country"; "we eat all we can and sell the rest") and Blue Bunny (we're cheaper than and nearly the same as the good stuff) might be a hanging offense in Texas.
K, I think that the Iraq War is the largest reason Obama won. I would add, however, that Bush did little right throughout his term and momentum was building against the Republicans because of that.
McCain didn't help because he comes across pretty much as certifiable whenever he's put into a crisis situation.
tryanmax, I have no heard of it. I can say, however, that conservatives are becoming much more vocal online each year. The days of liberals just spouting off online without a bunch of people blasting them are over. It must be a shocking time for liberals.
If anyone wants to have their minds melted, check this out... (Star Wars-related clip)
Thanks, rla!
By the way, Florida got Blue Bell ice cream a few years ago. It was okay, but some hardcore fans - people who had moved to Florida from Blue Bell-friendly states - treated it like the Second Coming!
In the way of films, I just watched "Darkest Hour," which was this sci-fi film about an alien invasion of Moscow. I was kind of looking forward to it, and it was ok, but not great. I think that if this film had been made five years ago, it would have been wildly popular. But as it is, it felt like everything else you've seen.
K, I'm thinking they have them on staff already. I think the odds that Cypriot (and probably German) politicians start dying soon is pretty close to 100%.
In fact, Cyprus is apparently a known money-laundering location for the Russian mob.
Has anybody seen what is going on in China? They found 16,000 dead pigs in a river and they have no idea how they got there. And now they've found 1,000 dead duck in river. Very strange.
The ducks maybe, but not the pigs. I think the pigs died in a barge accident personally. I suspect someone overloaded a barge and it sank and this is where they all eventually ended up after drowning.
It could also be another sign of the upcoming Apocolypse. The pigs were discovered dead at almost the same time that a seagull landed on the chimney of the Vatican that landed only hours before the white smoke appeared announcing the election of the new Pope who is a Jesuit. And as we have learned Nostradamus predicted that pigs would die (or is that "fly"?) before a Jesuit would ever be elected Pope.
Speaking of the apocalypse, here's the teaser for the other White House in crisis movie, appropriately titled White House Down.
I don't mind Channing Tatum (and all my female friends love him)... but Roland Emmerich is directing and I gave him quite the shellacking with my 2012 review. On the plus side, he didn't writing this one. On the other hand, I kind of already hate it. :-)
Interesting update for anyone interested in why the Russians aren't freaking out about the Cyprus thing. It turns out that one of the banks on the island, which was not in trouble, is a Russian bank. They put no limits on the amount that could be transferred out. So last week, while this was all going on, the Russians were busy transferring their money out of the country. Now it looks like there's basically no money left on the island.
Well, at least we don't have to worry about the Russians starting WWIII. I wonder if there is any relationship to the death of that Russian billionaire in London? They say he hanged himself...
That's because it's both. In extreme emergencies, the White House can rise out of the ground and become an airship. It can also transform into a giant robot and open up the star gate.
I imagine it's more like the robot house Professor Frink demonstrated in an old Simpsons episode: in the event of a robbery, the house can get up and leave. I believe Frink's model catches on fire!
Harrumph, Scott, harrumph. LOL! You clearly don't understand the importance of this issue. If the Supreme Court allows this, the earth will literally open up and Ralph Reed will be engulfed by a flood of dead pigs. You wouldn't want that to happen would you?
(He can take Gary Bauer and Tony Perkins with him!)
I can't say I'm following it that closely - I'm resigned to the fact that some fights will go on for as long as I live.
I'm okay with civil unions as a compromise, but I'm not gay, and I'm not religious. But at the end of the day, I'm so pro-marriage that I think gay people should be able to do it, too.
Or, as musician/humorist/Jewish cowboy/one-time Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman once said, "Why shouldn't gay people be as miserable as everyone else?"
Scott, I suspect the Supremes will punt and leave the issue to voters, and the voters will basically choose to allow gay marriage in state after state as Reed and the boys pull their hair out squealing about the end of the world.
Best case scenario: The Supremes declare it the law of the land and the issue goes away when the Republicans tell Ralph to take a hike. Ralph is then engulfed in dead pigs.
Next best case scenario: Same, only no pigs.
Worst case scenario: The Supremes declare it the law of the land and the Republicans felate Ralph and the boys by promising fealty to a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. That effectively wipes out the Republican Party for about 15 years until the younger party member toss out the current crop of fools. Meanwhile, the pig eruption misses Ralph and we need to drop dead pigs on him manually.
Next worst case scenario: The Supremes do nothing and the Republicans decide to keep fighting on this issue, again making themselves irrelevant. Sadly, no pigs.
Andrew, I can tell you're frustrated by this. Honestly, I am too. It drives me crazy that they are so obsessed and so blind. They give conservatism a bad name and Christianity a worse name. I'm sick of Reed and Perkins and Bauer and Dobson and the rest. I wish dead pigs would smother them. Then maybe we could get back to fixing what's gone wrong with this country.
Ellen, I feel your pain. It's pretty clear these guys intend to keep right on going with their obsessions. Hopefully, they'll break off and form a third party. That's probably the best answer for conservatism... apart from a pig flood at their next convention.
Ellen, In all seriousness, it's time for the Republicans to use these guys to triangulate. That would be a really smart move to re-brand the party almost overnight.
Oooooooh, Andrew just made a proposed threat...I'm tellin'! Don't I just have to give your name to the WH blogger as "someone who is wrong because you don't agree with Obama"? What's the going rate for being a WH informant? An Obamacare "tax" waiver, maybe?
Drat! And I needed that waiver too! I just read that...surprise, surprise...Sec't Sebelius admitted that premiums are going to go way up for everyone except...well, those who were never going to buy insurance anyway!
Is this where we all get to shout "I told ya' so" repeatedly to anyone and everyone who voted for Obama?
Ha ha! You gotta be quicker than that if you want to live the glorious life of an Obama-snitch! :)
Yeah, I think it's hilarious that people are now learning that Obamacare will be a real disaster. Debbie Whatshername-Shits was whining the other day that the Republicans need to put more money into Obamacare or it's going to be a disaster. Yeah, as if. You made your bed, now you lie in it as people set it on fire.
Hah ha-HA! The joke's on you! What you don't remember is that now that you've turned yourself in, they will be calling/emailing/texting/invading your dreams all hours of the day and night to explain WHY you are a bad, wrong person because you don't like Obama! Watch out for the drones....bwwaaaaaaaa!
Bev, I already get that every time I turn on the television or the radio or the internet or watch a film. Adding them to my dreams won't make a difference. Besides, in my dreams they're playing on my turf... let's see them fend off the clown-zillas! ;P
As for getting droned, I've been reading an al Qaeda pamphlet on how to avoid being seen by drones. It's actually surprisingly easy.
This is really fascinating. They've found that the reason people are losing weight after gastric bypass surgery is that the bacteria in their system is changing, not because of the surgery itself. Apparently, the bacteria inside slim people causes fewer calories to be absorbed and causes them to be burned off quicker.
They are now thinking that they can cause people to lose weight by changing the bacteria inside them.
Ooooooh, this is so sad! AshleynJudd announced yesterday that she has decided not run for the Senate on Kentucky. Well, I for one am greatly saddened by this news. I am almost certain she could have done great stuff.
Oh, no! Hidden backroom deals? Somehow they will find away to blame this on the Republicans. But then, Obama has never done anything that wasn't a give-away to some big business - Big Pharm, Big Insurance, Big GE, Big Alt Energy, and now Big Farm. Why is it we think he's against Big Business again?
Because he's a socialist Bev! Don't you understand? Obama is a socialist! All the bloggers say so! Talk radio says so! We high information voters know he's a socialist! This is just like socialism! And he would never cut deals with big business because he's a socialist!!
BTW, Monsanto is an evil company that should be eradicated from the Earth. They really are the Hollywood version of capitalist villains.
Some of their recent tricks include (1) genetically engineering crops so they don't produce seeds so that farmers can't reuse the seeds and would need to keep buying from them, and (2) suing farmers for "intellectual property theft" when Monsanto seeds planted in neighboring fields ended up in these farmer's fields because of the wind or birds.
But Andrew, companies can't be evil. They're led by hard-working honest Americans who'd never take advantage of anyone or anything! And Monsanto puts food on our plates - how could we possibly nitpick a company that does that?! :-)
All kidding aside, it sounds rotten. (Yet if I made a movie about Monsanto, I'd still be accused of towing the party line... but that's another story.)
Scott, You must be a commie enviro-weenie. Why else would you not see that a company that lives on farm subsidies, does things that are harmful in the name of profit, and uses the legal system as a tool to make money isn't something we should blindly support? Seriously, what's wrong with you?
Besides, the left hates Monsanto, ergo we must love Monsanto.
Bev, I have no problem with that. I just don't think we need to be knee-jerk defending companies like that and handing them whatever tax breaks and regulatory breaks they want.
That issue aside, I'm not sure I could get much hipper. ;P
Scott, Right, because ordering out involves no actual food. LOL! :)
BTW, I've switched to Mexican Coke and I totally recommend it to anyone who is drinking regular Coke. It tastes the same (though I think it actually tastes better because it comes in bottles which has always made Coke taste better to me for some reason which I cannot explain), and I very much feel a real difference without the high fructose corn syrup.
That's why I deleted that comment - I kinda slipped up there. :-)
Here's the answer for your "tastes better" observation.
And I've tried to give up soda, but it still tempts me. I don't drink it often so it's not worth the trip for me to get the Mexican stuff. It's sold around here but not in every store.
The newer Coke machines in restaurants are awesome, though!
I can't give up soda either. Not possible. But I switched to get away from the HFCS, and it really has made a difference. In terms of buying it, I got a case of it as Costco. It's not nearly as cheap as the regular stuff, but I think it's worth it.
The way I see it, it's still empty calories. My friend and I went through a phase where we purchased the Whole Foods store brand soda - your basic flavors with real sugar, not HFCS. That ship sailed a while ago.
Now I just drink seltzer... and the all-too-frequent Coke slurpee. Dammit, why did 7-11 have to acquire all the local Mobil gas stations?! I went from one place with a Slurpee machine to a dozen!
You're a conservative. Aren't you supposed to love HFCS? After all, nothing a company makes is dangerous for you. ;-)
Scott, I'm an old-school conservative. I believe in science and logic and in making up my mind independently. Ah... the good old days. :)
Actually, before I get accused of smearing conservatives, let me point out that I am seeing the sprouts of a conservative revival out there, it just has to overcome the high-fiction talkers.
Okay, since I couldn't get you on "potential threats" - Oooooh, you drink sugary sodas! You are so busted! I'm a gonna turn you in to Mayor Bloomberg and he will be on you like a duck on a Junebug!
BTW - if you really like drinking seltzer (club soda), I suggest getting a SodaStream seltzer maker. Not only will you never have to buy bottled club soda again, but it's made in Israel And because it saves Mother Earth from excessive garbage AND supports Israel, we will get to confuse the Ban All Israeli Products because of Apartheid-slash-enviro-weenies crowd! Win-Win!
Re: Monsanto. I still miss the Disneyland ride that shrinks you down to atomic size and blows you back up again, all to the tune of "Miracles from Molecules". Ah, brings a tear to my eye.
Andrew - BTW, that article you linked to about the bacteria is pretty interesting. If there really is a link, this could be a major breakthrough and many trillions to be made. I can't wait for the weight-loss industry to start the commercials - "Want to Lose Weight? Eat Our Bacteria! It's better and more effective than THEIR bacteria!"
I remember a few years ago where scientists found a link that maybe stomach ulcers were caused by bacteria rather than excessive acid too.
Bev, I think it's truly fascinating. First, obviously, it would be amazing if they could fix weight problems with bacteria. Secondly, this actually would explain SOOO much. I've known people my whole life who could eat anything they wanted and they never gained weight -- thousand of calories a day, whereas other people get fat from eating almost nothing. The idea that the bacteria reduce the amount of calories that get absorbed and then determine the rate at which they get burned off would totally explain this. It also sounds like the solution would have no side-effects, unlike the pills they try to use today.
I looked into this and found they've known about this bacteria issue since at least 2007 and they've been doing tests, but this was the first time they tried to prove a link.
It's really a pretty exciting discovery... especially for obese mice. :)
P.S. The stomach ulcer thing is true. There is a virus that causes stomach ulcers and my father caught it recently. They have a test for it and everything and they put him on antibiotics for 10 days and killed it.
Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest told the press pool today that although states are passing laws to protect 2nd Amendment supporters against the federal government, nothing the President has proposed would "effect the Second Amendment rights of law abiding citizens." "The President believes in the Second Amendment" so it is a "priority" to protect it, Earnest said.
In the immortal words of the great citizens of Rock Ridge: Bulls--t!
Hey, I'm back! I was getting my computer worked on for the past few days, so I was incommunicado for a while, but things are good now. On another note, why haven't you haters remarked on my absence? :-P
T-Rav, welcome back from the "real world". Be very careful how much time you spend there!
I have several family members who are virulently anti-GMO and post "farming facts" on facebook. I also have farming family members who try to correct the incorrect info - and not necessarily supporting GMO or Monsanto - and they get pummeled by the anti's for daring to approach their info with the beams of truth. Then I generally get a text message as my farming family member rants about the lack of common sense in the other family members...
It's rather interesting to watch. But, it also could go toward some conservatives' knee-jerk support for Monsanto. If all I had to go by was who was anti-GMO/Monsanto, I'd support them. Because, in my little world, nearly all of the anti's are also flaming, intolerant liberals (except for the one who is an intensely anti-vaccine moderate).
I am neither pro nor con Monsanto or Big Agri, I am not sure what is different about what Monsanto does to genetically modify produce and what farmers/growers/etc. have done since the dawn of farming to "domesticate" plant species for any number of reasons. Hardiness, size, color, portablity, etc.
My issue with Monsanto is their behavior. For example, suing farmers who don't buy their seeds for "theft of intellectual property" just because their seeds were carried by birds into that farmer's fields. That's beyond abusive. Or intentionally making plants that don't produce seeds so farmers can't replant based on those seeds. How is that a good thing to do? They are also one of the food companies who push for changes in labels to deceive consumers. For example, the GM people have been pushing to make it illegal to label foods that are not GM products as not-GM. They are worried that people won't buy the GM stuff, but rather than face that fact that they need to win the public over, they want the government to make it impossible for consumers to know.
Things like that are not the actions of a decent company. Those are fraud in my book.
Also, as for Big-Agri, let me say that (1) they are the biggest users of illegal aliens, (2) I will never support an industry that thrives on government dollars through farm price supports and ethanol requirements, and (3) I have real problems with their information suppression tactics -- I'll write about two such incidents next week. They are anti-consumer, anti-free markets.
Okay, it really isn't about the actual products they grow/modify, but about underhanded/skeevy/sterotypical "Big Business" slimy business practices. They are in fact the poster children for liberal accusations of evil-ness. I get it. And you are right. Conservatives are too quick to jump on board the "if libs hate it/we must love it because they can't possibly ever be right about anything" bandwagon.
Bev, Right. My problem isn't what they make, it's their business practices/ethics. They are, as you say, the poster child for "the evil corporation." They give capitalism a bad name.
On the point about conservatives knee-jerk loving everything liberals hate, that really is a problem because it's getting conservatives to surrender their ideology far too often in favor of opportunists who know how to play conservatives in this way.
Thanks, guys. Clearly sugar means more to you than I do. :-(
I've known some people who work for Monsanto and they do some stuff for local communities, so while I don't really care about them one way or another, I do find it pretty hard to dislike them.
It's nothing personal, T-Rav, sugar is just a big deal. Sugar is what gives a blogger his power. It's an energy thingy craved by all living things. It surrounds us (especially in Florida) and fills us and makes us all happy. It binds the galaxy together pretty much.
Well, other than Kim Jung Un is bat guano crazy, I am not too concerned. What the heck happened when Dennis Rodman met with him that makes Kimmy want to kill us? And why would he want to take out Austin?? L.A. no one would miss! D.C. we'd probably THANK him with a parade! But, doesn't he know that 15M+ pissed off Texans all armed to the teeth will take him out within 24 hours like a giant swarm of...well... pissed off...Texans?
As for Austin, my guess is that he got his map from a restaurant like Dennys and it's one of those maps with a big generic US and then big stars where they have restaurants. So if we can figure out what restaurant is in DC, LA and Austin but nowhere else then we'd know where the little troll likes to eat. Is there a Crazy Burger?
Scott, Sorry, they updated my e-mail and it's kind of hard to read now and I think I missed it. Let me check. :)
Somehow, I doubt that I'm the only one on the NK issue. So I don't feel all that ronery, nope. ;) Seriously, do you take the rantings of a porn-addicted malignant dwarf who leads a starving cult seriously? I sure don't.
Pissed off Texans. Hmm. Have to give that some thought. I liked their motto "Don't Mess With Texas."
I'm not surprised. From what I've read, he's been indicted several times and is a real turd. I'd be ok with sending him. We don't want to lose our better pornographers though. ;)
"North Korea" is a myth. It was invented by red Texans who are sick of the blue Texans in Austin. This whole "I'm going to bomb New York and Washington and Los Angels... oh, and Austin" is just a cover so that nobody asks what happened to Austin after the rest of Texas rids itself of it!
By the way, when did it become impossible to get a job? I'm not talking about politics or Obamacare or whatever...
...but it occurs to me that pretty much every major company makes you fill out a computerized survey, and that presumably, if you're answers don't match a pre-programmed algorithm or some such techno-babble, then your resume will never be seen by a human being!
Look, I understand efficiency and the need to weed out the rejects, but typed words and true/false don't exactly give an accurate representation either.
I worked at Best Buy one or two lifetimes ago. I left to go to school and had to re-apply from scratch to work over the holiday break. They made me take the survey, I didn't "pass," and they couldn't hire me back!
Scott, Gaming those things is ridiculously easy. Just think about the answers they want rather than the answers you would really give. Also, there's typically a page of "have you ever..." always answer "NO" to those.
As for why there are no jobs, I blame "job hoarders." Look at the Clinton family, for example. How many jobs have they had lately? I think it's time we limited people to just one job each.
Sooo, is it cane sugar that holds the universe together or any "sugar"? What about sugar substitute like aspartame? Does that hold the alternate universes (universae?) together? Just asking...
"North Korea" is a myth. It was invented by red Texans who are sick of the blue Texans in Austin. This whole "I'm going to bomb New York and Washington and Los Angels... oh, and Austin" is just a cover so that nobody asks what happened to Austin after the rest of Texas rids itself of it!
What? Ridiculous! Lies, dang lies! Peeshahhhhhh
[Okay, yes, Andrew, this is actually true. It was sent around in our last super-secret Texas ex-pat cabal monthly newsletter. But you didn't hear if from me.]
I found and watched Black Sunday a few weeks ago. Great movie. I especially enjoyed getting to see some of the football greats of the time play in the actual Superbowl of that year. I would never have seen it if you hadn't mentioned it on here.
Voz, Glad to hear it! I like Black Sunday a lot. And I agree with you that there's something special about them using a real game as the background, especially a game with so many great players from such a great time.
It is a great movie, isn't it? I haven't seen it in a while but I have a friend's DVD copy on my desk and I'm just waiting to show it to another friend who's been... disinterested.
Robert Shaw is a total badass in this film. And I believe John Frankenheimer was able to get cooperation from Goodyear based on his work on Grand Prix. I doubt Goodyear or the NFL would ever have anything to do with a movie like this today.
And Tarantino borrowed the idea of a villainess disguised as a nurse (in Kill Bill) from this movie.
In addition, the score was the last score John Williams did before Star Wars. Not important, but interesting. :-) (It was also the last Williams score to get a CD release... in 2010!)
Scott, People say this too often, but I think Shaw is truly underrated as an actor. I think he's one of the best actors of that era and then some, yet his name rarely comes up in the discussion of great actors.
I agree that the NFL would never participate in this movie today and I think that's sad. They have become paranoid about how their images get used. They really should rethink that.
As an aside, have you ever noticed that older games seem more interesting somehow? They have a different "air" to them? Do you know what that is? The "classic" games we think of took place before the NFL started selling merchandise. So when you see the fans, they are wearing street clothes. That makes the players stand out more in their uniforms. Today, the fans all wear team colors and jerseys, which makes the players disappear.
Um... I can go ahead and agree with you about "classic" games vs. modern ones... but I'll tell you the truth: I wouldn't know the difference between one and the other if it came up behind me and bit me in the ass! :-D
But I have no doubt you're correct: like anything else, it's just another business nowadays.
As for Shaw, not only was he a great actor but he was also an acclaimed writer, too!
As for Black Sunday, it's too bad we don't get conspiracy thrillers like that anymore. No... we do, but they just don't seem to cut as deep as the great ones from the 70s (my favorites being this and The Parallax View). I mean, that film has stationary camera shots with no people in them... and somehow you feel nervous!
I'm not waxing nostalgic... "It was so much better in the good old days when everything was better and we were all smarter except that had to walk up the hill both ways everywhere..."
I'm making a point about images. Pre-1980s games and post-1980s games are a different visual image. And if you want a game to appear set in the past, you can't have the fans wearing team colors. Moreover, this difference means you shoot the games differently. Modern games show less crowd because they can't show the crowd because the game disappears. Older films could show a bigger mix of field, players and crowd.
As for conspiracy thrillers, I think modern thrillers suffer from some handicaps: (1) excessive paranoia is now the norm, (2) action trumps plot these days, and (3) they keep using formulas today with which we are all already familiar.
You know Scott, in my day, kids like you didn't make ill-conceived jokes. ;P
Check out the footage, you'll be amazed at the difference in the visuals.
On the paranoia front, I have to say that it's getting really old. I'm at the point that I honestly don't want another film about the head of some spy agency turning out to be the traitor who is really trying to kill the good guys who are trying to expose whatever illegal stuff the agency is doing. Seriously, I'm sick of it.
And that's why I sing the praises of Executive Decision as often as I can.
Granted, it's an action movie and not a conspiracy thriller... BUT there's no kid in distress, no romantic subplot, no third act twist, no "the CIA was behind it the whole time!" business... it's what I call a "Just the facts, Ma'am" kind of movie. :-)
In fact, there is a twist and it's that there's another bad guy on board the plane with the passengers!
-ScottDS You're right about Executive Decision, none of the subplots of other action movies are there...and it's one of the more recent films where Islamofascists were actually the bad guys instead of Tea Partiers or Nazis or North Koreans (who are the enemy de jour now...see the new Red Dawn and White House Down)
You might know this already but the bad guys in the new Red Dawn were originally Chinese, but since China is now a huge market, you can't portray them in a negative light anymore.
And it seems the Russians are making a comeback as the go-to villain, in movies like Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and the most recent Die Hard.
Andrew has spoken at length why it's difficult to do Islamofascists well. And it's not just for political reasons. Hopefully he'll chime in later and elaborate. :-)
Bev and K, I couldn't agree more. I met some of those guys when I was young and they looked like everyone else in the room. The guys today look like freaks. It's hard to relate to someone who doesn't look human.
Scott and Voz, True, and I appreciate that. I have to say that I'm honestly sick of this cliche. It's downright pathetic. And as I think about thriller after thriller -- everything from Eraser to Minority Report to Bourne to Safehouse etc., it's gotten really, really old.
In fact, when I watched Safehouse the other day, they had a moment right in the beginning where they asked "how could they know about the safehouse" and they focused the camera right on one of the higher-ups and I just shook my head because I knew right there who the bad guy was and what the twist would be. Of course, I was right because Hollywood ALWAYS repeats this stupid formula.
223 comments:
1 – 200 of 223 Newer› Newest»Wooo Wooo!!
No supervision! Ice Cream for everybody!
LOL! Bravo! :)
Kwanzaster, too much temptation for jokes there.
Do they have "colored" eggs on Kwanzaster?
White rabbit?
Oh boy, sorry folks. This is what I get for growing up in the late seventies/eighties. The days when everybody used to make fun of everybody else. Most thought it was funny.
Kwanzaster is a fake holiday made up by the liberal media!!!!!
T-Rav, Kwanzaster is not made up, it's been around since about midnight on March 23, 2013. It has a history! :)
Max, LOL! Careful. You're going to find yourself reeducated!
I have to say, I miss the late 1970s because that was a good time for humor. Nothing was off limits.
I Redboxed last year's two big Middle East movies (both recommended)...
Zero Dark Thirty - I liked it but I didn't love it... then again, I'm not sure if one can "love" a film like this. It probably did the best job it could without going into overt political territory. If you're on the right and you're looking for "Rah-rah Obama!", you won't find it. If you're on the left and you're looking for "Bush lied, people died," you won't find it. She managed to piss off people on both sides so Ms. Bigelow appears to have succeeded. :-)
My one complaint is that I wish we got to know more about Maya (Jessica Chastain)... we're given what we need to know but one or two additional short scenes might've helped. The raid at the end is excellent and more realistic than most shoot-'em-ups you see in movies. The rest... it's "just the facts, Ma'am." It's a procedural and in that respect, it almost reminded me of David Fincher's Zodiac.
Argo - I wasn't there so I couldn't say what this movie did or did not do correctly. But it did it very very well. Ben Affleck... who knew he'd make such a skillful director one day? He got the 70s vibe down, from the hair to the set decorations to the old Saul Bass WB logo at the start of the film. It's a bit of a slow burn, but the last 30 minutes will have you on the edge of your seat, even knowing how it ended in real life.
I've always been an Affleck defender but his work on screen is fine - I think he may have tailored it to his strengths. Goodman, Arkin, Cranston, and the rest give it their all.
Shame on certain Academy members for pissing on Affleck and Bigelow and their accomplishments.
Scott, I haven't seen either, but I have procured Prometheus, so I'm going to watch that soon. I've also seen a couple other new films which I'm debating reviewing.
Men in Black III was unpleasant on many levels. It felt tired and old and pedestrian. Tommy Lee Jones looks like a wax monster at this point.
I saw something called El Gringo which I enjoyed despite the fact it was a lousy film. It was pretty much a knock-off of Desperado, and it was totally ridiculous, but I liked it.
I've heard that Argo has upset the Brits and now the New Zealanders.
Oh, and I saw Safehouse which is a much more likeable Borne Something than the third one was with Damon. Denzel is pretty decent, even if the film feels like a total knockoff.
I'm not interested in Safehouse...
...but Men in Black III wasn't terrible. (I take it you watched it on Starz like I did?) :-)
I guess I wasn't expecting much but it delved into some interesting areas, none of which were explored at any depth. Michael Stuhlbarg's character was very interesting but he only seemed to know enough to move the plot forward. I'm wondering if they made Jones look extra old and grumpy in order to emphasize Brolin's youthfulness, even though the actors are only like 20 years apart in age.
I also watched something called For a Good Time, Call..., about two girls who start their own phone sex line. I liked it, and I think it did a better job with that than Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri did with amateur porn. It wasn't perfect and it gets a little cliched at the end but I was happy with it.
I don't mean to imply Men in Black III was good... just not as bad as I was expecting. :-)
I wasn't interested in Safehouse either, but I watched it and I enjoyed it.
I expected very little from MiB III and I was still disappointed. This one had a totally different vibe to it. This one was depressing and angry. I think this was a film which got caught up in repeating the tropes of the series using 1960s icons. It felt very rote to me and I don't really recall enjoying any of it.
Brolin was ok, but he had zero chemistry with Smith. Smith looks too old now to be the "brash young guy." Jones looked so old he honestly comes across like he's on the verge of death. I did like Jemaine Clement, who is proving to be a fantastic actor, but he wasn't used all that much in this either.
I liked Clement as well. He's quickly falling into that category of "The movie might be crap but at least he'll be good in it!" (See: Walken, Christopher.)
Good luck with Prometheus. ;-) We'll have much to discuss. [cue evil laugh]
I agree about Clement (and Walken). I've liked him in everything I've seen him in, even when the movie stunk. I really liked him in Dinner for Schmucks. And of course, Flight of the Conchords.
We'll see about Prometheus. I think it will be hard to be disappointed at this point, but you never know.
Is there any ice cream left?
Bev, There's always ice cream. :)
By the way, did anyone see this atrocity? They've decided to give Minnie Mouse a new look because the old one wasn't good enough... seeing as how it worked for 70 years and is loved the world over. Here's the butt-ugly thing they came up with: LINK.
I'm not sure if this meant to make her look old or South-east Asian? Either way, I predict the company will find people to tell us how great it is and none of us will believe it -- at last count the article in question 1700 comments and I didn't see a single positive one. Then they will quietly shove this look into the closet and stick with the traditional look.
Sounds like Disney is Channeling Windows 8.
Not only ice cream, but why am I finding out about THIS right now?!? :-)
And Minnie Mouse's new outfit looks like a gaudy table cloth!
Very nice! Yummy. :)
Gaudy is a good word for it. So is table cloth -- from a Pakistani restaurant.
An evening gown Minnie Mouse wears only to special events doesn't exactly fill me with rage. It just strikes me as Disney trying to get little girls interested in Minnie Mouse with a very 'princessy' dress.
Anyway, I just saw Wreck-it Ralph again with my kids. Its a great movie for adults (even non-gamers) and kids and the visuals are really beautiful.
I saw Seven Psychopaths which wasn't at all like I thought it would be. Why can't the marketing guys just tell me what a movie is about!? It's not some heist film like the promos made it appear. Rather, it's about a screenwriter who wants to make a film about, you guessed it, seven psychopaths--some of whom he meets, others he makes up. Honestly, it's dumb, but I can't help but enjoy watching Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell do their thing. Some good performances in a real dog of a film. (Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, BTW, if that means anything to anyone.)
RE:Oreos. Does anyone remember the giant Oreo cookies about the size of a hockey puck that they sold in individual packages in the 80s, possibly early 90s? I had one every day in my lunch at summer camp, so I know they are real.
RE: Minnie Mouse. Don't care that she changed her dress, but the new one is u-u-u-u-u-gly-y-y-y-y-y!
tryanmax, If they told you what you were going to see, then you might not see it. And that is disappointing because that it not at all what I thought the film would be about. It sounded like Smoking Aces.
I don't recall those Oreos.
On the dress, I think the huge piece of bling is ridiculous.
Anthony, I can't image that dress would speak to kids.
found it!
I remember the ads, but I never ate one. :(
Aw, you missed out. Not only were they all the goodness of an Oreo just bigger, they really could make you and your friends dance like West Side Story. Swear.
Well, they wouldn't put it into the ads if it wasn't true, right?
Did anybody see the deal in Cyprus? Instead of imposing a 10% tax on all accounts over 100,000 euros and a 7% tax on the rest, they will now be protecting all accounts below 100,000 euros and wiping out all accounts above 100,000 in one of their two banks.
That's pretty stunning if you think about it. So much for rich people in Cyprus.
Those guys really screwed the pooch in Cyprus. That's a true no win scenario, especially with every bank account(checking and savings) being hit subject to a hit(at least as of last week). Even worse if you needed cash, you couldn't get it all week. Because the governing body was deciding how much of your money they were going to take.
So how long will be before the Russian mob starts to act?
Or is this the first step to Germany taking over the EU without firing a shot(LOL).
Under the latest Cyprus deal those with insured accounts (in the Eurozone default insurance ends at 100K) won't be hit at all, but those with uninsured accounts will be hit very hard.
Still, I haven't read anyone claiming such accounts will be wiped out (though surely the Russian businessmen who have been using Cyprus as a tax haven for years will stop doing so).
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324789504578380550995616128.html
Bloomberg claims that uninsured depositors and bondholders "will be largely wiped out." LINK
Forbes reports "Deposits above 100,000 euros—which aren’t protected by EU law—will be frozen and used to pay for the deal. The frozen accounts are expected to yield 4.2 billion euros ($5.5 billion)." LINK
And the above WJS article states the deal will be "imposing steep losses on deposits with more than €100,000." LINK
In every case, descriptions of what will happen to uninsured deposits above €100,000 are too broad and too carefully stated to lend much comfort to anyone standing to lose a large sum. It doesn't exactly sound like a total wipe-out is off the table.
Ah, with the seizing of bank accounts in Cyprus, we are now in the run up to "World War in Europe - Three's A Charm". Cyprus is the off shore tax haven of Europe...
Well, I'm Greek, so it's not Easter for us until May 5th. Can I still come to the party?
I will have NO CHANCE to watch movies. I have a very active seven-month-old son who doesn't really allow it. However, I would like to watch a very Holiday-appropriate movie I somehow missed the first time around: The Passion of the Christ.
Re: Cyprus. Scary, scary stuff that the mainstream media doesn't seem to care much about. My wife and I have a lot of family in Greece (I know Cyprus isn't a part of Greece, but half of the island is of Greek descent, as you all know, so the writing is on the wall), and we are very worried about the situation in Europe. I wish they'd all move here. The rise of NAZISM in Greece, of all places, doesn't help at all.
Bev: "Three's A Charm." Funny, but so, so sad. And scary.
Anthony, The deal as I read it said that there are two banks. Everything in the first bank will be ok. The deposits in the second bank that are under 100,000 Euros will be transferred to the other bank and will be ok. The accounts above 100,000 in the second bank will be frozen and basically confiscated.
From what I've seen this will include a lot of Russian money.
Blue Bell Cookies & Cream ice cream - the perfect mix of Oreos and ice cream!
Minnie Mouse: don't care exactly, but it is pretty ugly.
movies: I want to see Olympus Has Fallen & Oz, GI Joe & Place Beyond the Pines.
Bev, That sounds like how wars would be named if Hollywood was in charge!
World War I: The War To Settle The Score
World War II: Hitler Boogaloo
World War III: Three's A Charm
World War I: The Next Generation (A direct-to-video reboot).
Max, I spent ten days with some pretty knowledgeable Germans a couple weeks ago and let me tell you that they are less than thrilled to be involved with the rest of the Europeans at all. They really see themselves as shackled to idiots... kind of like how we see California.
Bev, By the way, I don't see how Cyprus can even be in trouble. It's full of Russian drug money and wealthy British retirees. How can they not be swimming in cash?
rlaWTX - re: Blue Bell oreo ice cream - But does it make you a Broadway dancer? I think they had to discontinue the Big Oreo because the CDC said they were the source of all of those "flash mob" dances.
Alex, Happy pre-Easter! :)
It's always good to be active.
On Cyprus and the media, I think there are some serious lessons here that the left doesn't really want passed around. For one thing, the big lesson is that economic pain will not be shared fairly when politicians can simply pick on a handful or rich people. Also, rich doesn't mean billionaires, it reaches way down into upper middle class people. Also, notice that this means that CDs/bonds are not as safe as retirees think they are. None of those are good things.
The real lesson, I think is to spread your wealth as wide as possible so they can't ever grab a chunk of it.
Might I suggest World War II: Blitzkrieg Boogaloo, instead?
And don't forget World War: The Series (a basic-cable original)
rlaWTX & Bev, I don't know Blue Bell Ice cream. I have heard of Blue Bunny, which I don't really care for.
Bev, LOL! Yes, that's why they discontinued it!
Alex - re: WWIII - I don't mean to make light of the prospect. I think Andrew has nailed it with Germany and all of the "productive' Aryan/Lutheran/Protestant Work Ethic countries getting frustrated with having to support the "early retirees" of southern Europe. It is very sad. One could see it coming when the riots in Spain and Greece started over "austerity" (which basically was about raising the retirment age), it was not going to go well. The rise of Nazism everywhere is pretty scary.
Andrew - Well, Europe is finally "running out of other peoples' money!! Who'd a thunk it...and the "other people" will start fighting back with extreme prejudice shortly. Oh, and they will ALL blame Israel most likely.
tryanmax, Sure. Nice change!
And don't forget the Sci-Fi knockoffs.
World War I: Score Settler
World War II: Lightning Blitzkrieg War
World War III: Three Charms
World War IV: The World versus the Giant Crockasaurephantwarbeast
Or the adult versions:
World War I: A War To Score
World War II: The Germans are Coming
World War III: Three Is A Charm
World War IV: Erotic Warriors
I should probably go shower after that one.
Bev, That is absolutely true, Europe has run out of other people's money. And they aren't willing to change their ways either. The end result will be very bad for them.
I don't think it will rise to the level of war, but I suspect it will rise to the level of falling governments, demonization of the rich and foreigners, and confiscation of assets in the non-functioning countries. And the functioning countries will probably eventually boot them out of the Euro and go about their way, at which point the non-functioning countries will devalue their currencies to near zero and everything will be happy within their borders again. That's my guess.
Oh, and everything is Israel's fault.
"The Mutants of 2051 A.D." ... 10 years after World War 4, eh?
Good thinking Eric! Why stick with just humans!
Bev,
No offense taken; I knew that you weren't making light of anything. A healthy dose of humor is not only a good thing, but necessary. To paraphrase Frank Zappa, modern civilization is too much to swallow without a sense of humor.
I'll take some vanilla with chocolate sprinkles!
Regarding movies, ARGO. I enjoyed the film until the last few minutes when they created pure fiction with Jimmy Carter's supposed role in the matter. Then I wanted to throw tomatoes at the movie screen.
I'm hoping for a Twilight Zone marathon over the weekend or at least some really good basketball and golf.
Happy Easter, all!
I prefer the alternate ending where Carter jumps in the Presmobile to save those people but ends up being attacked by a rabbit which rips him to shreds as he yells "Malaise! Malaise!"
I found out I got into my university's BFA Graphic Design program! They're really strict about it... I guess they grade the portfolios on several different criteria, then average the score.
Mine was: "Admitted with reservations." Apparently, I need to work on my figure drawing skills... but, man, this is a load off!
"Malaise"!?! I thought he was saying "Mayonnaise" all those years!
YEY!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS, SCOTTD!!!!! That's fantastic!
Scott, Your finger painting skills? Did you learn nothing in kindergarten?
Bev, He could have been saying mayonnaise? Maybe he was channeling Bloomberg before there was a Bloomberg?
Awesome, ScottDS -- congratulations!!!
Good for you Scott! Woo hoo!
Thanks!!
Hopefully, I'll be able to escape - uh, I mean graduate, by spring 2015. I'll probably only be able to take 2 or 3 number of courses at once, since I work and every course has a prereq that needs to be completed first.
Iraq war = Obama administration
The premise of this article
I tend to agree with some aspects of this, but also that Obama got a huge boost by the Republicans running the ossified out of touch idiot McCain. Him being a war hero and all I mean that in the best possible way, though.
Andrew, nobody wants to help a bum, especially if the bum will not help himself.
Europe is going from a basket case right to the rubber room, with the fitted straight jacket.
I don't know how long they can keep the EU going, if people are getting resentful. It's only going to be a matter of time. I almost wish the place would break out in war again. Perhaps that would knock some sense into the free loaders.
Congrads Scott, I think it's impressive to get past some nutty professors.
Has anyone here ever heard of/been to policymic.com? It's a politics and culture site billed as being geared toward millennials and a very interesting thing is going on there. Most, practically all, of the articles have a left-wing bent. Unsurprising as the founding and editorial staff lists community organizing and working for the SEIU in their bios, as well as numerous stints on the political campaigns of prominent Democrats. However, what is surprising is that the comments sections are majority populated by individuals expressing conservative, or at the least center-right points of view. I should also note that most of their articles don't get many comments to begin with, which is interesting of itself.
Congrats, ScottDS!!!!
Andrew, conflating Blue Bell ("The best ice cream in the country"; "we eat all we can and sell the rest") and Blue Bunny (we're cheaper than and nearly the same as the good stuff) might be a hanging offense in Texas.
http://www.bluebell.com/
K, I think that the Iraq War is the largest reason Obama won. I would add, however, that Bush did little right throughout his term and momentum was building against the Republicans because of that.
McCain didn't help because he comes across pretty much as certifiable whenever he's put into a crisis situation.
Max, I wouldn't predict the break up of the EU because the people really have no voice in Europe. Their leaders do whatever they want.
rlaWTX, I would never want to offend the great state of Texas! LOL! California, yeah. Texas, no.
tryanmax, I have no heard of it. I can say, however, that conservatives are becoming much more vocal online each year. The days of liberals just spouting off online without a bunch of people blasting them are over. It must be a shocking time for liberals.
If anyone wants to have their minds melted, check this out... (Star Wars-related clip)
Thanks, rla!
By the way, Florida got Blue Bell ice cream a few years ago. It was okay, but some hardcore fans - people who had moved to Florida from Blue Bell-friendly states - treated it like the Second Coming!
^Nevermind... the clip has been taken down. It was all six Star Wars movies in one window, playing simultaneously. Oh well.
Holy crap, that was fast. It was there when you posted, and I skimmed through parts of it. An interesting idea, but ultimately too much to take in.
In the way of films, I just watched "Darkest Hour," which was this sci-fi film about an alien invasion of Moscow. I was kind of looking forward to it, and it was ok, but not great. I think that if this film had been made five years ago, it would have been wildly popular. But as it is, it felt like everything else you've seen.
Question: How many of the rich Russians with money in Cyprus banks can afford to hire really good hit men?
K, I'm thinking they have them on staff already. I think the odds that Cypriot (and probably German) politicians start dying soon is pretty close to 100%.
In fact, Cyprus is apparently a known money-laundering location for the Russian mob.
Unfortunately, the news media never covers the really interesting stuff, like the health of Cypriot kleptocrats.
K, My money would be on the German finance minister. I think there's a very high chance the Russians will get him and that we will hear about.
I hear Putin's people just killed some enemy of the state in Britain this week. The defunct KGB has been busy of late.
I'm not sure that "defunct" and KGB are words that ever actually belonged together. Perhaps "on hiatus", "acting in secret", "changed their name"...
rlaWTX: "Under New Management".
K and rlaWTX - "Under New Management - Same As Old Management"
yeah, that fits!
Has anybody seen what is going on in China? They found 16,000 dead pigs in a river and they have no idea how they got there. And now they've found 1,000 dead duck in river. Very strange.
Andrew - I've heard about the pigs, but not about ducks. It is very strange, but it may be as a result of toxic chemicals in the river.
The ducks maybe, but not the pigs. I think the pigs died in a barge accident personally. I suspect someone overloaded a barge and it sank and this is where they all eventually ended up after drowning.
Here's the duck story -- LINK
It could also be farmers protesting falling prices from over production. Do Commies have farm price supports? Or is that just fabian socialists?
It could also be another sign of the upcoming Apocolypse. The pigs were discovered dead at almost the same time that a seagull landed on the chimney of the Vatican that landed only hours before the white smoke appeared announcing the election of the new Pope who is a Jesuit. And as we have learned Nostradamus predicted that pigs would die (or is that "fly"?) before a Jesuit would ever be elected Pope.
Speaking of the apocalypse, here's the teaser for the other White House in crisis movie, appropriately titled White House Down.
I don't mind Channing Tatum (and all my female friends love him)... but Roland Emmerich is directing and I gave him quite the shellacking with my 2012 review. On the plus side, he didn't writing this one. On the other hand, I kind of already hate it. :-)
"White House Down"? The White House isn't a ship or an airplane.
As for Emmerich, yeah, his name is enough to tell me it won't be worth watching.
Bev, Clearly, we are doomed. Rivers running with dead pigs and ducks... one-lunged popes... Jesuit seagulls.... a Kenyan in the White House.
Yep, we're screwed.
K, Nobody knows at this point. No one is claiming responsibility and nobody has reported losing 16,000 pigs. So they don't really know.
I suspect the pigs had to be on a barge to all get into the river and it would explain why no on reported them if the owner died with them.
Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that the earth's core is made up of dead pigs and they just started squirting out at that point.
Interesting update for anyone interested in why the Russians aren't freaking out about the Cyprus thing. It turns out that one of the banks on the island, which was not in trouble, is a Russian bank. They put no limits on the amount that could be transferred out. So last week, while this was all going on, the Russians were busy transferring their money out of the country. Now it looks like there's basically no money left on the island.
Well, at least we don't have to worry about the Russians starting WWIII. I wonder if there is any relationship to the death of that Russian billionaire in London? They say he hanged himself...
Bev, Isn't it amazing how many Russian billionaires kill themselves or otherwise die inexplicably overseas?
Andrew:The White House isn't a ship or an airplane.
Now you know where Obama actually spent that 900 billion stimulus.
K, LOL! So they did a massive "pimp my ride" on the White House, huh?
The White House isn't a ship or an airplane.
That's because it's both. In extreme emergencies, the White House can rise out of the ground and become an airship. It can also transform into a giant robot and open up the star gate.
Oh man, K beat me to it. Drat!
An airship... like in UP?
The giant robot idea is really cool. I can see it walking off now.
Andrew -
I imagine it's more like the robot house Professor Frink demonstrated in an old Simpsons episode: in the event of a robbery, the house can get up and leave. I believe Frink's model catches on fire!
Works for me. LOL!
As an aside, if you want to see what the end of conservatism looks like, here's an article on the people who want to bring it to you: Idiots.
And for the record, DefCon 1 is war, DefCon 5 is peace. So I guess DefCon 6 means idiots are free to move about the country with their cell phones on?
"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right."
It's late - maybe I'll have more to add tomorrow. :-)
Harrumph, Scott, harrumph. LOL! You clearly don't understand the importance of this issue. If the Supreme Court allows this, the earth will literally open up and Ralph Reed will be engulfed by a flood of dead pigs. You wouldn't want that to happen would you?
It's not political but I got a kick out of this. :-)
Well, when you put it like that... :-)
(He can take Gary Bauer and Tony Perkins with him!)
I can't say I'm following it that closely - I'm resigned to the fact that some fights will go on for as long as I live.
I'm okay with civil unions as a compromise, but I'm not gay, and I'm not religious. But at the end of the day, I'm so pro-marriage that I think gay people should be able to do it, too.
Or, as musician/humorist/Jewish cowboy/one-time Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman once said, "Why shouldn't gay people be as miserable as everyone else?"
I'll check out your link later, Scott... I need to hack the Gibson. ;)
Scott, I suspect the Supremes will punt and leave the issue to voters, and the voters will basically choose to allow gay marriage in state after state as Reed and the boys pull their hair out squealing about the end of the world.
Best case scenario: The Supremes declare it the law of the land and the issue goes away when the Republicans tell Ralph to take a hike. Ralph is then engulfed in dead pigs.
Next best case scenario: Same, only no pigs.
Worst case scenario: The Supremes declare it the law of the land and the Republicans felate Ralph and the boys by promising fealty to a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. That effectively wipes out the Republican Party for about 15 years until the younger party member toss out the current crop of fools. Meanwhile, the pig eruption misses Ralph and we need to drop dead pigs on him manually.
Next worst case scenario: The Supremes do nothing and the Republicans decide to keep fighting on this issue, again making themselves irrelevant. Sadly, no pigs.
Andrew, I can tell you're frustrated by this. Honestly, I am too. It drives me crazy that they are so obsessed and so blind. They give conservatism a bad name and Christianity a worse name. I'm sick of Reed and Perkins and Bauer and Dobson and the rest. I wish dead pigs would smother them. Then maybe we could get back to fixing what's gone wrong with this country.
Ellen, I feel your pain. It's pretty clear these guys intend to keep right on going with their obsessions. Hopefully, they'll break off and form a third party. That's probably the best answer for conservatism... apart from a pig flood at their next convention.
Ellen, In all seriousness, it's time for the Republicans to use these guys to triangulate. That would be a really smart move to re-brand the party almost overnight.
tryanmax:Great minds ..... ;)
K, I'm tempted to call in a bomb threat just to see them move the White House! :P
Oooooooh, Andrew just made a proposed threat...I'm tellin'! Don't I just have to give your name to the WH blogger as "someone who is wrong because you don't agree with Obama"? What's the going rate for being a WH informant? An Obamacare "tax" waiver, maybe?
Ashley Judd, you do realize that in order to campaign in Kentucky you actually have to campaign in Kentucky?
LINK
Kit - And actually, I hear she has to LIVE in Kentucky which apparently, she does not right now.
"And actually, I hear she has to LIVE in Kentucky which apparently, she does not right now."
That too. This is going to be hilarious.
Do I smell a reality TV show? Ashley's Old Kentucky Home perhaps?
Tryanmax - That would be Ashley's NEW Kentucky Home, wouldn't it?
Too late Bev! I turned myself in for the waiver. :D
Drat! And I needed that waiver too! I just read that...surprise, surprise...Sec't Sebelius admitted that premiums are going to go way up for everyone except...well, those who were never going to buy insurance anyway!
Is this where we all get to shout "I told ya' so" repeatedly to anyone and everyone who voted for Obama?
Ha ha! You gotta be quicker than that if you want to live the glorious life of an Obama-snitch! :)
Yeah, I think it's hilarious that people are now learning that Obamacare will be a real disaster. Debbie Whatshername-Shits was whining the other day that the Republicans need to put more money into Obamacare or it's going to be a disaster. Yeah, as if. You made your bed, now you lie in it as people set it on fire.
Hah ha-HA! The joke's on you! What you don't remember is that now that you've turned yourself in, they will be calling/emailing/texting/invading your dreams all hours of the day and night to explain WHY you are a bad, wrong person because you don't like Obama! Watch out for the drones....bwwaaaaaaaa!
Bev, I already get that every time I turn on the television or the radio or the internet or watch a film. Adding them to my dreams won't make a difference. Besides, in my dreams they're playing on my turf... let's see them fend off the clown-zillas! ;P
As for getting droned, I've been reading an al Qaeda pamphlet on how to avoid being seen by drones. It's actually surprisingly easy.
This is really fascinating. They've found that the reason people are losing weight after gastric bypass surgery is that the bacteria in their system is changing, not because of the surgery itself. Apparently, the bacteria inside slim people causes fewer calories to be absorbed and causes them to be burned off quicker.
They are now thinking that they can cause people to lose weight by changing the bacteria inside them.
LINK
Clown-zillas?
What? Your dreams aren't full of Godzilla creatures in clown suits stomping cities? ;P
Ooooooh, this is so sad! AshleynJudd announced yesterday that she has decided not run for the Senate on Kentucky. Well, I for one am greatly saddened by this news. I am almost certain she could have done great stuff.
"AshleynJudd announced yesterday that she has decided not run for the Senate on Kentucky. "
:(
Any thoughts on this? (Obama/Monsanto-related)
Apparently, gay marriage ain't the only thing on people's minds this week.
Oh, no! Hidden backroom deals? Somehow they will find away to blame this on the Republicans. But then, Obama has never done anything that wasn't a give-away to some big business - Big Pharm, Big Insurance, Big GE, Big Alt Energy, and now Big Farm. Why is it we think he's against Big Business again?
Because he's a socialist Bev! Don't you understand? Obama is a socialist! All the bloggers say so! Talk radio says so! We high information voters know he's a socialist! This is just like socialism! And he would never cut deals with big business because he's a socialist!!
BTW, Monsanto is an evil company that should be eradicated from the Earth. They really are the Hollywood version of capitalist villains.
Some of their recent tricks include (1) genetically engineering crops so they don't produce seeds so that farmers can't reuse the seeds and would need to keep buying from them, and (2) suing farmers for "intellectual property theft" when Monsanto seeds planted in neighboring fields ended up in these farmer's fields because of the wind or birds.
But Andrew, companies can't be evil. They're led by hard-working honest Americans who'd never take advantage of anyone or anything! And Monsanto puts food on our plates - how could we possibly nitpick a company that does that?! :-)
All kidding aside, it sounds rotten. (Yet if I made a movie about Monsanto, I'd still be accused of towing the party line... but that's another story.)
Scott, You must be a commie enviro-weenie. Why else would you not see that a company that lives on farm subsidies, does things that are harmful in the name of profit, and uses the legal system as a tool to make money isn't something we should blindly support? Seriously, what's wrong with you?
Besides, the left hates Monsanto, ergo we must love Monsanto.
As an aside, I'm hoping to get my Agenda 2016 completed by early next week. It's coming along nicely.
Look, love or hate Monsanto. It's pretty easy to avoid them. Buy locally cultivated products and cook more. And think how hip and cool you'd be too!
Bev, I have no problem with that. I just don't think we need to be knee-jerk defending companies like that and handing them whatever tax breaks and regulatory breaks they want.
That issue aside, I'm not sure I could get much hipper. ;P
Andrew -
Of course, what was I thinking?! :-)
Scott, Right, because ordering out involves no actual food. LOL! :)
BTW, I've switched to Mexican Coke and I totally recommend it to anyone who is drinking regular Coke. It tastes the same (though I think it actually tastes better because it comes in bottles which has always made Coke taste better to me for some reason which I cannot explain), and I very much feel a real difference without the high fructose corn syrup.
Andrew -
That's why I deleted that comment - I kinda slipped up there. :-)
Here's the answer for your "tastes better" observation.
And I've tried to give up soda, but it still tempts me. I don't drink it often so it's not worth the trip for me to get the Mexican stuff. It's sold around here but not in every store.
The newer Coke machines in restaurants are awesome, though!
Huh, what do ya know! My taste buds are right. :)
I can't give up soda either. Not possible. But I switched to get away from the HFCS, and it really has made a difference. In terms of buying it, I got a case of it as Costco. It's not nearly as cheap as the regular stuff, but I think it's worth it.
The way I see it, it's still empty calories. My friend and I went through a phase where we purchased the Whole Foods store brand soda - your basic flavors with real sugar, not HFCS. That ship sailed a while ago.
Now I just drink seltzer... and the all-too-frequent Coke slurpee. Dammit, why did 7-11 have to acquire all the local Mobil gas stations?! I went from one place with a Slurpee machine to a dozen!
You're a conservative. Aren't you supposed to love HFCS? After all, nothing a company makes is dangerous for you. ;-)
Scott, I'm an old-school conservative. I believe in science and logic and in making up my mind independently. Ah... the good old days. :)
Actually, before I get accused of smearing conservatives, let me point out that I am seeing the sprouts of a conservative revival out there, it just has to overcome the high-fiction talkers.
Okay, since I couldn't get you on "potential threats" - Oooooh, you drink sugary sodas! You are so busted! I'm a gonna turn you in to Mayor Bloomberg and he will be on you like a duck on a Junebug!
BTW - if you really like drinking seltzer (club soda), I suggest getting a SodaStream seltzer maker. Not only will you never have to buy bottled club soda again, but it's made in Israel And because it saves Mother Earth from excessive garbage AND supports Israel, we will get to confuse the Ban All Israeli Products because of Apartheid-slash-enviro-weenies crowd! Win-Win!
Bev, Drat! Does it count if they are less than 16oz drinks?
I thought anything good you bought in Israel was automatically considered bad?
Re: Monsanto. I still miss the Disneyland ride that shrinks you down to atomic size and blows you back up again, all to the tune of "Miracles from Molecules". Ah, brings a tear to my eye.
K, I don't remember that (have never been to Disneyland). I do recall the Easter Airlines ride at Disneyworld though.
Adventure Thru Inner Space
I don't care WHAT happens, I WILL go back to DisneyWorld. I don't care IF Satan himself finances it. It is the Happiest Place on Earth!
Still waiting for that travel report, Bev! :)
K, Thanks! I'm not at all familiar with that ride. Now that I think about it, by the way, I also recall a GE ride.
Andrew - BTW, that article you linked to about the bacteria is pretty interesting. If there really is a link, this could be a major breakthrough and many trillions to be made. I can't wait for the weight-loss industry to start the commercials - "Want to Lose Weight? Eat Our Bacteria! It's better and more effective than THEIR bacteria!"
I remember a few years ago where scientists found a link that maybe stomach ulcers were caused by bacteria rather than excessive acid too.
Bev, I think it's truly fascinating. First, obviously, it would be amazing if they could fix weight problems with bacteria. Secondly, this actually would explain SOOO much. I've known people my whole life who could eat anything they wanted and they never gained weight -- thousand of calories a day, whereas other people get fat from eating almost nothing. The idea that the bacteria reduce the amount of calories that get absorbed and then determine the rate at which they get burned off would totally explain this. It also sounds like the solution would have no side-effects, unlike the pills they try to use today.
I looked into this and found they've known about this bacteria issue since at least 2007 and they've been doing tests, but this was the first time they tried to prove a link.
It's really a pretty exciting discovery... especially for obese mice. :)
P.S. The stomach ulcer thing is true. There is a virus that causes stomach ulcers and my father caught it recently. They have a test for it and everything and they put him on antibiotics for 10 days and killed it.
Andrew - I KNOW the obese mice must be pretty psyched!
Yep. :)
Speaking of obese mice... so Disney is that happy is it?
Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest told the press pool today that although states are passing laws to protect 2nd Amendment supporters against the federal government, nothing the President has proposed would "effect the Second Amendment rights of law abiding citizens." "The President believes in the Second Amendment" so it is a "priority" to protect it, Earnest said.
In the immortal words of the great citizens of Rock Ridge: Bulls--t!
Hey, I'm back! I was getting my computer worked on for the past few days, so I was incommunicado for a while, but things are good now. On another note, why haven't you haters remarked on my absence? :-P
Who are you again? :P
Nah, we know who you are, but we're awash in Cadbury goodness so we're all on a sugar high and don't really care about anything else. 8D
Critch, Obama is not exactly known for honesty or his constitutional skill.
P.S. I love the Blazing Saddles reference! :)
T-Rav - We thought you were studying and didn't want distract you! [Yeah, that sounds like a plausible excuse, right?]
T-Rav, welcome back from the "real world". Be very careful how much time you spend there!
I have several family members who are virulently anti-GMO and post "farming facts" on facebook. I also have farming family members who try to correct the incorrect info - and not necessarily supporting GMO or Monsanto - and they get pummeled by the anti's for daring to approach their info with the beams of truth. Then I generally get a text message as my farming family member rants about the lack of common sense in the other family members...
It's rather interesting to watch. But, it also could go toward some conservatives' knee-jerk support for Monsanto. If all I had to go by was who was anti-GMO/Monsanto, I'd support them. Because, in my little world, nearly all of the anti's are also flaming, intolerant liberals (except for the one who is an intensely anti-vaccine moderate).
I am neither pro nor con Monsanto or Big Agri, I am not sure what is different about what Monsanto does to genetically modify produce and what farmers/growers/etc. have done since the dawn of farming to "domesticate" plant species for any number of reasons. Hardiness, size, color, portablity, etc.
My issue with Monsanto is their behavior. For example, suing farmers who don't buy their seeds for "theft of intellectual property" just because their seeds were carried by birds into that farmer's fields. That's beyond abusive. Or intentionally making plants that don't produce seeds so farmers can't replant based on those seeds. How is that a good thing to do? They are also one of the food companies who push for changes in labels to deceive consumers. For example, the GM people have been pushing to make it illegal to label foods that are not GM products as not-GM. They are worried that people won't buy the GM stuff, but rather than face that fact that they need to win the public over, they want the government to make it impossible for consumers to know.
Things like that are not the actions of a decent company. Those are fraud in my book.
Also, as for Big-Agri, let me say that (1) they are the biggest users of illegal aliens, (2) I will never support an industry that thrives on government dollars through farm price supports and ethanol requirements, and (3) I have real problems with their information suppression tactics -- I'll write about two such incidents next week. They are anti-consumer, anti-free markets.
Okay, it really isn't about the actual products they grow/modify, but about underhanded/skeevy/sterotypical "Big Business" slimy business practices. They are in fact the poster children for liberal accusations of evil-ness. I get it. And you are right. Conservatives are too quick to jump on board the "if libs hate it/we must love it because they can't possibly ever be right about anything" bandwagon.
Bev, Right. My problem isn't what they make, it's their business practices/ethics. They are, as you say, the poster child for "the evil corporation." They give capitalism a bad name.
On the point about conservatives knee-jerk loving everything liberals hate, that really is a problem because it's getting conservatives to surrender their ideology far too often in favor of opportunists who know how to play conservatives in this way.
By the way, am I the only person who finds it hard to care about North Korea's threats?
Thanks, guys. Clearly sugar means more to you than I do. :-(
I've known some people who work for Monsanto and they do some stuff for local communities, so while I don't really care about them one way or another, I do find it pretty hard to dislike them.
It's nothing personal, T-Rav, sugar is just a big deal. Sugar is what gives a blogger his power. It's an energy thingy craved by all living things. It surrounds us (especially in Florida) and fills us and makes us all happy. It binds the galaxy together pretty much.
It's hard to compete with that.
Well, other than Kim Jung Un is bat guano crazy, I am not too concerned. What the heck happened when Dennis Rodman met with him that makes Kimmy want to kill us? And why would he want to take out Austin?? L.A. no one would miss! D.C. we'd probably THANK him with a parade! But, doesn't he know that 15M+ pissed off Texans all armed to the teeth will take him out within 24 hours like a giant swarm of...well... pissed off...Texans?
Bev, Bat guana crazy is right!
As for Austin, my guess is that he got his map from a restaurant like Dennys and it's one of those maps with a big generic US and then big stars where they have restaurants. So if we can figure out what restaurant is in DC, LA and Austin but nowhere else then we'd know where the little troll likes to eat. Is there a Crazy Burger?
Andrew -
"By the way, am I the only person who finds it hard to care about North Korea's threats?"
Apparently, yes, you're the only one. You must be feeling rather "ronery." :-D
And there must be a collective noun for "pissed off Texans." Time for another Commentarama word game!
P.S. I sent you an e-mail last night, but I'm sure you're busy.
Scott, Sorry, they updated my e-mail and it's kind of hard to read now and I think I missed it. Let me check. :)
Somehow, I doubt that I'm the only one on the NK issue. So I don't feel all that ronery, nope. ;) Seriously, do you take the rantings of a porn-addicted malignant dwarf who leads a starving cult seriously? I sure don't.
Pissed off Texans. Hmm. Have to give that some thought. I liked their motto "Don't Mess With Texas."
Well, when you describe him that way, we probably should take him seriously!
And as Americans, we might be able to use his porn addiction as some kind of olive branch or common ground... I've said too much. :-)
You're suggesting we send him Larry Flynnt or a box of "Girls Gone Wild"?
We can send the guy who started "Girls Gone Wild" - he's nothing but a perv and a tool. And I hear he's broke so he can use the money. :-)
I'm not surprised. From what I've read, he's been indicted several times and is a real turd. I'd be ok with sending him. We don't want to lose our better pornographers though. ;)
Hold the phone.... I know what's going on here.
"North Korea" is a myth. It was invented by red Texans who are sick of the blue Texans in Austin. This whole "I'm going to bomb New York and Washington and Los Angels... oh, and Austin" is just a cover so that nobody asks what happened to Austin after the rest of Texas rids itself of it!
I'm on to you Texans! ;)
By the way, when did it become impossible to get a job? I'm not talking about politics or Obamacare or whatever...
...but it occurs to me that pretty much every major company makes you fill out a computerized survey, and that presumably, if you're answers don't match a pre-programmed algorithm or some such techno-babble, then your resume will never be seen by a human being!
Look, I understand efficiency and the need to weed out the rejects, but typed words and true/false don't exactly give an accurate representation either.
I worked at Best Buy one or two lifetimes ago. I left to go to school and had to re-apply from scratch to work over the holiday break. They made me take the survey, I didn't "pass," and they couldn't hire me back!
Scott, Gaming those things is ridiculously easy. Just think about the answers they want rather than the answers you would really give. Also, there's typically a page of "have you ever..." always answer "NO" to those.
As for why there are no jobs, I blame "job hoarders." Look at the Clinton family, for example. How many jobs have they had lately? I think it's time we limited people to just one job each.
Andrew, I thought that was duct tape.
Duct tape helps bind the galaxy together again after the dark side pulls it apart.
Sooo, is it cane sugar that holds the universe together or any "sugar"? What about sugar substitute like aspartame? Does that hold the alternate universes (universae?) together? Just asking...
"North Korea" is a myth. It was invented by red Texans who are sick of the blue Texans in Austin. This whole "I'm going to bomb New York and Washington and Los Angels... oh, and Austin" is just a cover so that nobody asks what happened to Austin after the rest of Texas rids itself of it!
What? Ridiculous! Lies, dang lies! Peeshahhhhhh
[Okay, yes, Andrew, this is actually true. It was sent around in our last super-secret Texas ex-pat cabal monthly newsletter. But you didn't hear if from me.]
Bev, I thought as much. I mean, a country like North Korea has to be made up!
As for the sugar issue, it's cane sugar. Aspartame can only create artificial gravity.
I found and watched Black Sunday a few weeks ago. Great movie. I especially enjoyed getting to see some of the football greats of the time play in the actual Superbowl of that year. I would never have seen it if you hadn't mentioned it on here.
Voz, Glad to hear it! I like Black Sunday a lot. And I agree with you that there's something special about them using a real game as the background, especially a game with so many great players from such a great time.
Voz and Andrew -
It is a great movie, isn't it? I haven't seen it in a while but I have a friend's DVD copy on my desk and I'm just waiting to show it to another friend who's been... disinterested.
Robert Shaw is a total badass in this film. And I believe John Frankenheimer was able to get cooperation from Goodyear based on his work on Grand Prix. I doubt Goodyear or the NFL would ever have anything to do with a movie like this today.
And Tarantino borrowed the idea of a villainess disguised as a nurse (in Kill Bill) from this movie.
In addition, the score was the last score John Williams did before Star Wars. Not important, but interesting. :-) (It was also the last Williams score to get a CD release... in 2010!)
Scott, People say this too often, but I think Shaw is truly underrated as an actor. I think he's one of the best actors of that era and then some, yet his name rarely comes up in the discussion of great actors.
I agree that the NFL would never participate in this movie today and I think that's sad. They have become paranoid about how their images get used. They really should rethink that.
As an aside, have you ever noticed that older games seem more interesting somehow? They have a different "air" to them? Do you know what that is? The "classic" games we think of took place before the NFL started selling merchandise. So when you see the fans, they are wearing street clothes. That makes the players stand out more in their uniforms. Today, the fans all wear team colors and jerseys, which makes the players disappear.
Um... I can go ahead and agree with you about "classic" games vs. modern ones... but I'll tell you the truth: I wouldn't know the difference between one and the other if it came up behind me and bit me in the ass! :-D
But I have no doubt you're correct: like anything else, it's just another business nowadays.
As for Shaw, not only was he a great actor but he was also an acclaimed writer, too!
As for Black Sunday, it's too bad we don't get conspiracy thrillers like that anymore. No... we do, but they just don't seem to cut as deep as the great ones from the 70s (my favorites being this and The Parallax View). I mean, that film has stationary camera shots with no people in them... and somehow you feel nervous!
I'm not waxing nostalgic... "It was so much better in the good old days when everything was better and we were all smarter except that had to walk up the hill both ways everywhere..."
I'm making a point about images. Pre-1980s games and post-1980s games are a different visual image. And if you want a game to appear set in the past, you can't have the fans wearing team colors. Moreover, this difference means you shoot the games differently. Modern games show less crowd because they can't show the crowd because the game disappears. Older films could show a bigger mix of field, players and crowd.
As for conspiracy thrillers, I think modern thrillers suffer from some handicaps: (1) excessive paranoia is now the norm, (2) action trumps plot these days, and (3) they keep using formulas today with which we are all already familiar.
I wasn't accusing you of waxing nostalgic... I was making an ill-conceived joke at my own expense about my lack of sports knowledge. :-)
Interesting... I'll have to pull up some classic game footage one of these days to check it out for myself.
As for thrillers, you definitely got #1 right!
You know Scott, in my day, kids like you didn't make ill-conceived jokes. ;P
Check out the footage, you'll be amazed at the difference in the visuals.
On the paranoia front, I have to say that it's getting really old. I'm at the point that I honestly don't want another film about the head of some spy agency turning out to be the traitor who is really trying to kill the good guys who are trying to expose whatever illegal stuff the agency is doing. Seriously, I'm sick of it.
They have a different "air" to them? Do you know what that is?
Fewer steroids?
Andrew -
And that's why I sing the praises of Executive Decision as often as I can.
Granted, it's an action movie and not a conspiracy thriller... BUT there's no kid in distress, no romantic subplot, no third act twist, no "the CIA was behind it the whole time!" business... it's what I call a "Just the facts, Ma'am" kind of movie. :-)
In fact, there is a twist and it's that there's another bad guy on board the plane with the passengers!
Actually this is what is different about football -
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/sports/football/29weight.html?pagewanted=all
Also, football players 40 years ago smoked, drank, and ate red meat and weren't the scientifically manufactured athletes-machines like today.
-ScottDS
You're right about Executive Decision, none of the subplots of other action movies are there...and it's one of the more recent films where Islamofascists were actually the bad guys instead of Tea Partiers or Nazis or North Koreans (who are the enemy de jour now...see the new Red Dawn and White House Down)
Actually I meant Olympus Has Fallen...I don't think the bad guys in White House Down are North Koreans.
Voz -
You might know this already but the bad guys in the new Red Dawn were originally Chinese, but since China is now a huge market, you can't portray them in a negative light anymore.
And it seems the Russians are making a comeback as the go-to villain, in movies like Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and the most recent Die Hard.
Andrew has spoken at length why it's difficult to do Islamofascists well. And it's not just for political reasons. Hopefully he'll chime in later and elaborate. :-)
Bev and K, I couldn't agree more. I met some of those guys when I was young and they looked like everyone else in the room. The guys today look like freaks. It's hard to relate to someone who doesn't look human.
Scott and Voz, True, and I appreciate that. I have to say that I'm honestly sick of this cliche. It's downright pathetic. And as I think about thriller after thriller -- everything from Eraser to Minority Report to Bourne to Safehouse etc., it's gotten really, really old.
In fact, when I watched Safehouse the other day, they had a moment right in the beginning where they asked "how could they know about the safehouse" and they focused the camera right on one of the higher-ups and I just shook my head because I knew right there who the bad guy was and what the twist would be. Of course, I was right because Hollywood ALWAYS repeats this stupid formula.
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