A brief thought...
Yesterday, Rebecca and I took my nephew and niece to the zoo for my nephew's 12th birthday. We stopped to eat lunch in the zoo restaurant, one side of which is a glass wall that looks out onto the black bear habitat. The bears were as curious as the kids crowded against the glass wall. And as the children laughed and squealed with delight, pressing their hands and faces against the glass with the bears only inches away doing the same. At that point it occurred to me that the difference between a fun afternoon and terror and carnage is nothing more than an inch thick pane of glass.
Watch out for invading Lectroids!
It looks like scientists may have discovered a 10th planet, large than Pluto out on the very edge of the solar system. The possible new planet, located in the Kuiper Belt, which, without getting too technical, is the region of our solar system that helps keeps its pants up. The belt was named after Gerard Kuiper and was originally called the Kuiper cumberbund, but that fashion trend was quickly found to be outdated.
Planet 10 is of course best know as the home of the Red and Black Lectroids. The Red Lectroids were brought to Earth in the 1930s after a failed attempt to open the 8th dimension by Dr. Emilo Lizardo and Dr. Hikita. A former colleague of Dr. Hikita's was Dr. Masado Banzi who was the father of Buckaroo Banzi - the man who decades later saved the world and the Black Lectroids from the evil Red Lectroids.
The scientists who discovered this possible new planet are keeping the submitted name for the new planet quiet, but I have it on good authority it won't be Phil.
Why George Martin pisses me off!
Legendary record producer George Martin of The Beatles fame has gone on record saying he feels modern technology such as the MP3 player is ruining the music industry. In a brief quote from an interview:
Legendary BEATLES producer GEORGE MARTIN disapproves of modern technology because now anyone can make a record in the comfort of their own home.
Martin sealed his place in history by piecing together a string of classic albums including REVOLVER and SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND - but he fears the advent of mp3 players will dumb down the music industry.
He says, "With iPods, mini-recorders and all the new technology, people can lie in their bath and make a rock record."
Martin has appearantly forgotten all of the new, cutting edge technology he used in creating some of the most remarkable albums from the greatest group in rock 'n' roll history. They pioneered multi-track recording and studio techniques which musicians today take for granted.
And for the record, I've found plenty of people on line who have used all the latest in modern recording technology to make some amazing music. Just head over to MacJams and check out some really great music made with modern technology.
Here's why King Arthur pissed me off!
The movie, that is, not the actual king.
Now, I'm not always the first person to see a movie when it come out. I'm not even the first when it comes out on DVD. I'm the guy that likes to talk about seeing a movie months, even years, after everyone else has seen it. In the case of the 2004 "epic" King Arthur, I really don't think there were a lot of people talking about it. Jon Stewart described King Arthur as "a steaming cauldron of liquid shit." That was a rather kind assesment of the movie. One of the things I like about watching a movie on DVD is, if it sucks, I don't feel obligated to sit through it. But King Arthur was so bad, I felt compelled to watch the whole thing and ridicule it remorselessly. This movie was dumb and confusing and didn't seem to really have a plot. Arthur's back story was the same story seen in Conan: The Barbarian. If you want a more historically accurate telling of the King Arthur legend, watch Mony Python and the Holy Grail.
Here's why The Fantastic Four pissed me off!
It didn't really, but I'm trying to establish a theme here.
I actually went to TFF expecting a really crappy movie. Pretty much everything I read and everyone I've talked too told me to expect that. But guess what, it wasn't that bad. It was, in fact, okay. Now the dysfunctional foursome have always been my favorite superhero team, so I might be cutting the movie a little slack, but despite being a little slow at times, I enjoyed it. While it was not as well done as either of the X-Men movies, it was waaaaay better than any other recent comic book super hero movie adaptations. (Hear that, Spiderman!)
However, to be fair, this has nothing to do with the script, the director or the special effects. It has to do with the casting. Or at least the casting of three of the characters - Mr. Fantastic, Ben Grimm and Victor Von Doom. Iaoannoan Gruffururddrud, or whatever his name is, Michael Chiklis and Julian McMahon carry the movie. They more than make up for the vacant (but very attractive) stares of Jessica Alba or from whatever that other guy playing Johnny Storm did. The plot was the typical "establishing the superpowerdom" plot, basically as revealed in Issue #1, and probably re-tolled in Issue #500-something to bring it up to date.
I know there were complaints of not enough action, but the FF was as much a soap opera as it was action. I'm sure the inevitable sequel will have plenty of action. (I'm hoping for Galactus. Be a great way to get the Silver Surfer on the screen.)
One thing I hope for. When they get ready to release the DVD, they need to do a special edition with the 1994 movie as an extra. Never seen it, but if it's near as bad as I've heard, I've GOT to see it.
Here's why liberal, left wing Democrats piss me off!
And yes, I consider my self a liberal, left wing Democrat. I'm pro-choice, I have my ACLU card tucked away in my wallet. My wife and I support NARAL, PFLAG, People for the American Way, gay marriage. I'm against the death penalty, etc, etc. I could go on, but that's not my point.
Earlier this week Sen. Hillary Clinton gave a speech to the Democratic Leadership Council urging Democrats of all stripes, liberal, moderate, conservative, to come together, find some common ground and unify in order to strengthen the party. Now, she is being ripped to shreds by left-wing bloggers and others because the DLC is considered by many to have too many close ties with big business. They consider the DLC to be ineffective in pushing an aggressive, progressive agenda that this country desperately needs. It's too "inside the Washington beltway" and doesn't heed the needs of the average, everyday American. And you know what, they are absolutely right as far as I can tell.
But here's the thing. I think a lot of us on the left forget just how badly we Democrats have had our asses handed to us over the last decade. Sure, we had Bill Clinton in the White House until Dubya took over, but that's the last time we had any significant say in the way things are run in this country. Right now we don't have the authority to change a light bulb in this country much less prevent a take-over of the Supreme Court by right-wing radicals.
The DLC has its flaws, and I don't pretend to know a whole lot about the organization or its history, but I do know one thing, it has the potential to help bring balance back to our government. To stand a snowball's chance in hell of being elected president in the next election, the Democratic candidate is going to have to have some serious corporate support. Grassroots efforts are great and they have the potential to bring about great change in this country (just look at how well the right has used them over the past 30 years), but while they might get you over the top of the mountain, they won't get you there in the first place by themselves.
There are a lot of people crying that it's too early to begin the 2008 presidential campaign. They are dead wrong. The right-wing had more than 30 years planning behind their takeover. You'd better believe they are already planning hot and heavy on who the successor to George II will be and they will have a formidable plan in place long before they even decide who their candidate will be.
We on the left side of the fence also need to realize something: We don't have the power or the resources our counterparts on the right have. We have the reputation of being flakes at best and threats to the very fabric of this nation at worst. Even the most outlandish things that have been said on the left are no more outlandish than those said on the right, the only difference is on the right, they are whispered behind closed doors by men in business suits while on the left we shout them from a mountain top using a bullhorn and wearing a funny hat.
Monday, Sen. Clinton didn't call for Democrats to give up on what they believe in. She didn't ask people to compromise their beliefs or their positions on issues. She asked us all to find common ground and work together. If we really want change, we need to listen to her, she's smart, she's politically savvy and she stands a damn good chance of being our next president. Working together, we can be strong and we can begin to get the things accomplished that need to be done.
MacJams music update
While I encourage all my devoted reader(s) (the plural is optimistic) to visit my MacJams site, (see the link on the side), but I also encourage people to check out some of my favorite musicians on the site. From time to time I'll promote these artists and songs.
Here are two of my favorites - Peter Greenstone (pgreenstone) and Rebsie Fairholm (Rebsie).
Peter's music page can be found here: pgreenstone, and his latest tune is here: Stars on My Ceiling.
It's one of the best songs I've come across on MJ. Listen to all his stuff. It's well worth it.
Rebsie's music page can be found here: Rebsie.
She has done a number of colaberations with MacJammer Mandolinquent including this one: The Unquiet Grave.
She does wonderful versions of traditional English folk tunes in addition to the origonals she has written and performed.
Check 'em out, people. And don't forget, you can download lots of great music from MacJams.
Slowly, I wake from a nap...
Not a lot of blogging in, oh, say the past five months or so. Trying out a few different things, photos, etc. Maybe one of these days, I'll actually learn html.
Photo test
This is a test of uploading an image to my blog. I took this yesterday in my back yard. These are sunflowers I planted earlier this year. I spent abut half an hour yesterday evening watching this butterfly, taking photos, getting bitten by mosquitoes. That's one of the things I like about where I live now, things grow well, there are plenty of beautiful plants and flowers that my parents planted all over the hill.
