Ohio State 42-39 over Michgan in an instant classic!
Scarlet and Grey, baby!
Saturday, November 18, 2006
From the files of “What the f@%k?”
It appears our government has given a grant to some schmuck to study the “snowbird culture” in Arizona and California.
The article detailing this goofiness appeared in this morning’s Spokesman-Review. You can check it out here: http://www.spokesmanreview.com/features/story.asp?ID=160190
It seems that Stephen Chalmers, a Washington State University professor, was given a grant to study snowbirds, those elderly folks who split their time between states like Washington and Arizona so they can avoid the cold winters or hot summers.
Chalmers will spend four weeks in December traveling around in Arizona and California to talk and photograph snowbirds. He is hoping to learn about the culture of this phenomenon. When he returns he will create an exhibit of what he learned.
It sounds like our government just paid for this schmuck’s vacation.
Is he serious?
Is our government really this stupid?
Anyone with half a brain can define the snowbird culture. We’ve all had grandparents or at least spent some time around the elderly. Here, let me define the culture for you.
They are old people who don’t like the extreme cold or the extreme heat.
When they get where they are going they set up their RVs or houses (depending upon their personal wealth).
They will fill their daily lives with eating Nilla Wafers, complaining about the kids of today and wishing for a return to the values the country held when they were young.
If you put an old Tommy Dorsey CD on a small player in the kitchen with the smell of burnt coffee brewing, you’ve completed the scene.
When the weather turns extreme, they leave and head back to where they came from.
Culture defined. $0 spent on this shyster’s vacation by our amazingly stupid government.
Man, I can’t believe our government would fund something like this. What a crock.
This country is in need of a revolution.
The article detailing this goofiness appeared in this morning’s Spokesman-Review. You can check it out here: http://www.spokesmanreview.com/features/story.asp?ID=160190
It seems that Stephen Chalmers, a Washington State University professor, was given a grant to study snowbirds, those elderly folks who split their time between states like Washington and Arizona so they can avoid the cold winters or hot summers.
Chalmers will spend four weeks in December traveling around in Arizona and California to talk and photograph snowbirds. He is hoping to learn about the culture of this phenomenon. When he returns he will create an exhibit of what he learned.
It sounds like our government just paid for this schmuck’s vacation.
Is he serious?
Is our government really this stupid?
Anyone with half a brain can define the snowbird culture. We’ve all had grandparents or at least spent some time around the elderly. Here, let me define the culture for you.
They are old people who don’t like the extreme cold or the extreme heat.
When they get where they are going they set up their RVs or houses (depending upon their personal wealth).
They will fill their daily lives with eating Nilla Wafers, complaining about the kids of today and wishing for a return to the values the country held when they were young.
If you put an old Tommy Dorsey CD on a small player in the kitchen with the smell of burnt coffee brewing, you’ve completed the scene.
When the weather turns extreme, they leave and head back to where they came from.
Culture defined. $0 spent on this shyster’s vacation by our amazingly stupid government.
Man, I can’t believe our government would fund something like this. What a crock.
This country is in need of a revolution.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Casino Royale
From the moment the movie started in black and white and followed up with the old studio logo, I knew Casino Royale would be a different type of James Bond movie.
I’ve been a fan of James Bond as a kid. When A View to a Kill (Roger Moore) came out in 1985, I saw it on the first day of its release. Since then I’ve attending every opening night of a James Bond move.
I’ve read all of the Bond novels that Ian Fleming wrote. They are masterpieces and I will still occasionally dip into one. I’ve even read a few of the novels written by John Gardner after he was commissioned to take Bond into new
adventures. Those novels were okay, but nothing like the originals.
In those original stories, James Bond was a tough, bastard with a coldness at his core. He wasn’t a quip-master, a pussy hound or an agent totally reliant on laser watches or rocket packs. He used his wits and his brawn to accomplish whatever mission he was assigned.
Many men have portrayed James Bond on the silver screen: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and now Daniel Craig.
Just for a slice of trivia, the first appearance of James Bond on film was Casino Royale, a live television movie which first aired in 1954. It starred Barry Nelson as an American James Bond.
By the way, if you want to remind me that David Niven and Woody Allen took a turn as 007 in the dreadful 1967 spoof Casino Royale, I will smack you across the mouth and send you home with no Bond.
Everyone says Sean Connery was the best Bond ever and he did set the standard with From Russia with Love. He appeared in six official Bond movies. He made five movies before taking a one movie break after the dreadful You Only Live Twice.
George Lazenby took a tolerable one-movie turn as Bond in Her Majesty’s Secret Service before Connery returned in Diamonds Are Favor. I’ve always thought Connery looked like an old Bond trying to play a young man’s game in Diamonds. He would later follow that up twelve years later with the “non-official” Bond movie, Never Say Never where he really was an old man trying to play Bond.
Roger Moore started his Bond career off in Live and Let Die which was a great Bond movie, regardless of its need for gadgetry. However, Moore never returned to that level and ended up making Bond a rather cheeky bastard and almost spoof-like at times. Moore appeared in seven Bond movies and (like Connery) in the end looked like an old man trying to play a young Bond.
Timothy Dalton was the next to accept the 007 mantle in The Living Daylights and he brought a seriousness back to the Bond franchise. Again, there were the requisite quips and gadgets, but an underlying coldness could be seen coming back into the Bond character. He was replaced after two movies by Pierce Brosnan.
Brosnan’s first turn at Bond was the highly memorable Goldeneye. I loved every minute of the movie and remember thinking his fight with Sean Bean (006) in an enclosed control room was one of the best ever.
Brosnan returned for two solid movies Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough. Both of those movies showed Bond becoming more cold and ruthless amid the little jokes and the high-tech toys. Die Another Die, Brosnan’s final turn as Bond was an amazing movie with one of the best opening sequences to date. It also placed Bond as a prisoner in North Korea who is tortured for almost a year before he is traded to the British government in exchange for one of the movie’s villains. That placed Bond in a realistic hostage position as opposed to being strapped to a slab of gold while a laser traces its way towards his crotch (Goldfinger, folks, keep up).
Brosnan had become, in my humble opinion, the best Bond.
So, with that history I went to see Casino Royale with Daniel Craig taking over as Bond. I didn’t know what to expect beyond a very stylish and exciting movie trailer. I'd seen Craig before in Road to Perdition, Munich and Layer Cake. I wasn't sure if he could replace my fanboy love of Brosnan, but I went to the movie with open arms none-the-less.
It ended up being a jaw dropping experience and has this Bond aficionado firmly saying this is the best Bond movie since From Russia with Love and could arguably be the best Bond film ever.
The movie takes Bond back to his first mission as a “00”, the special moniker given to those British agents with a license to kill.
In fact the opening sequence is dark and gritty, nothing at all like the large flashy openings of its predecessors. It clearly shows Bond earning his ‘00’ status and that his kills weren’t always slick and easy.
Shortly after that, Bond is on assignment and trailing a terrorist bomb maker in a small African country. The terrorist realizes he is being followed and Bond gives chase. This scene alone could easily be the greatest foot pursuit ever filmed. The chase runs through the streets, buildings, construction sites and finally an embassy protecting the terrorist. When the chase was done, I found myself shaking my head at what I had just witnessed on screen. It was amazing.
The movie continues on with the same level of grit and darkness that it started with. Bond never tosses a quip after killing someone. His technology is limited to a GPS system on his cell phone and a portable defibrillator in his car. Bond relies more on brute strength (M refers to him as a blunt instrument earlier in the movie) and common weapons (knives and hand guns) to achieve his deadly results.
There is also a particulary brutal tortue scene with Bond and the movie's villian. I don't want to give it away, but the entire movie theater was gringing. It made Bond more real than ever before.
It is obvious from this post that I am gushing over this movie. I’m not even trying to hide that fact. I am so blown away by this movie that I am going to see it again this week. It has reaffirmed my excitement about Bond.
There is only one problem. I’m afraid the old Bond films will lose their luster compared to Casino Royale. Regardless, if I could only have one Bond movie, this one would be it.
I’ve been a fan of James Bond as a kid. When A View to a Kill (Roger Moore) came out in 1985, I saw it on the first day of its release. Since then I’ve attending every opening night of a James Bond move.
I’ve read all of the Bond novels that Ian Fleming wrote. They are masterpieces and I will still occasionally dip into one. I’ve even read a few of the novels written by John Gardner after he was commissioned to take Bond into new
adventures. Those novels were okay, but nothing like the originals.In those original stories, James Bond was a tough, bastard with a coldness at his core. He wasn’t a quip-master, a pussy hound or an agent totally reliant on laser watches or rocket packs. He used his wits and his brawn to accomplish whatever mission he was assigned.
Many men have portrayed James Bond on the silver screen: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and now Daniel Craig.
Just for a slice of trivia, the first appearance of James Bond on film was Casino Royale, a live television movie which first aired in 1954. It starred Barry Nelson as an American James Bond.
By the way, if you want to remind me that David Niven and Woody Allen took a turn as 007 in the dreadful 1967 spoof Casino Royale, I will smack you across the mouth and send you home with no Bond.
Everyone says Sean Connery was the best Bond ever and he did set the standard with From Russia with Love. He appeared in six official Bond movies. He made five movies before taking a one movie break after the dreadful You Only Live Twice.
George Lazenby took a tolerable one-movie turn as Bond in Her Majesty’s Secret Service before Connery returned in Diamonds Are Favor. I’ve always thought Connery looked like an old Bond trying to play a young man’s game in Diamonds. He would later follow that up twelve years later with the “non-official” Bond movie, Never Say Never where he really was an old man trying to play Bond.
Roger Moore started his Bond career off in Live and Let Die which was a great Bond movie, regardless of its need for gadgetry. However, Moore never returned to that level and ended up making Bond a rather cheeky bastard and almost spoof-like at times. Moore appeared in seven Bond movies and (like Connery) in the end looked like an old man trying to play a young Bond.
Timothy Dalton was the next to accept the 007 mantle in The Living Daylights and he brought a seriousness back to the Bond franchise. Again, there were the requisite quips and gadgets, but an underlying coldness could be seen coming back into the Bond character. He was replaced after two movies by Pierce Brosnan.
Brosnan’s first turn at Bond was the highly memorable Goldeneye. I loved every minute of the movie and remember thinking his fight with Sean Bean (006) in an enclosed control room was one of the best ever.
Brosnan returned for two solid movies Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough. Both of those movies showed Bond becoming more cold and ruthless amid the little jokes and the high-tech toys. Die Another Die, Brosnan’s final turn as Bond was an amazing movie with one of the best opening sequences to date. It also placed Bond as a prisoner in North Korea who is tortured for almost a year before he is traded to the British government in exchange for one of the movie’s villains. That placed Bond in a realistic hostage position as opposed to being strapped to a slab of gold while a laser traces its way towards his crotch (Goldfinger, folks, keep up).
Brosnan had become, in my humble opinion, the best Bond.
So, with that history I went to see Casino Royale with Daniel Craig taking over as Bond. I didn’t know what to expect beyond a very stylish and exciting movie trailer. I'd seen Craig before in Road to Perdition, Munich and Layer Cake. I wasn't sure if he could replace my fanboy love of Brosnan, but I went to the movie with open arms none-the-less.
It ended up being a jaw dropping experience and has this Bond aficionado firmly saying this is the best Bond movie since From Russia with Love and could arguably be the best Bond film ever.
The movie takes Bond back to his first mission as a “00”, the special moniker given to those British agents with a license to kill.
In fact the opening sequence is dark and gritty, nothing at all like the large flashy openings of its predecessors. It clearly shows Bond earning his ‘00’ status and that his kills weren’t always slick and easy.
Shortly after that, Bond is on assignment and trailing a terrorist bomb maker in a small African country. The terrorist realizes he is being followed and Bond gives chase. This scene alone could easily be the greatest foot pursuit ever filmed. The chase runs through the streets, buildings, construction sites and finally an embassy protecting the terrorist. When the chase was done, I found myself shaking my head at what I had just witnessed on screen. It was amazing.
The movie continues on with the same level of grit and darkness that it started with. Bond never tosses a quip after killing someone. His technology is limited to a GPS system on his cell phone and a portable defibrillator in his car. Bond relies more on brute strength (M refers to him as a blunt instrument earlier in the movie) and common weapons (knives and hand guns) to achieve his deadly results.
There is also a particulary brutal tortue scene with Bond and the movie's villian. I don't want to give it away, but the entire movie theater was gringing. It made Bond more real than ever before.
It is obvious from this post that I am gushing over this movie. I’m not even trying to hide that fact. I am so blown away by this movie that I am going to see it again this week. It has reaffirmed my excitement about Bond.
There is only one problem. I’m afraid the old Bond films will lose their luster compared to Casino Royale. Regardless, if I could only have one Bond movie, this one would be it.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Not much writin' goin' on here
Nothing new to report at this time. With my recent travels to Denver, I haven’t spent much time writing.
But two stories are appearing this month in e-publications.
Ticket Out is appearing at Demolition while Anonymous O’Brien and the Superior Taco found a home at Crime & Suspense.
If you get a chance, check them out.
But two stories are appearing this month in e-publications.
Ticket Out is appearing at Demolition while Anonymous O’Brien and the Superior Taco found a home at Crime & Suspense.
If you get a chance, check them out.
The Internet Petri Dish update
I’ve been buried under a fair amount of work and travel lately. Due to that, I’d forgotten about my little science project “The Internet Petri Dish.”
I checked on it today and I’m proud to report the first pieces of bacteria have appeared. They are germinating nicely and are spawning new pieces daily.
I started the project on August 19th of this year. In less than two months, the spam bots have found the forum. I’m excited in a very perverse way.
It’s a helluva lot more fun to see the spam hitting the Petri Dish instead of appearing on my old blog or over at A Cruel World.
I checked on it today and I’m proud to report the first pieces of bacteria have appeared. They are germinating nicely and are spawning new pieces daily.
I started the project on August 19th of this year. In less than two months, the spam bots have found the forum. I’m excited in a very perverse way.
It’s a helluva lot more fun to see the spam hitting the Petri Dish instead of appearing on my old blog or over at A Cruel World.
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