This will really only strike home to those of use of a certain age.
(Older enough to have watched Match-Game)
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Too Weird For Words
Author Archives: Bob Evans
Experimenting
So as you can see if you have been to the blog before — and I suspect that is likely the case — I have selected a different theme for the blog.
Tell me what you think.
Is the new one better?
Worse?
No real difference to you?
Today was a frustrating day. I was late getting out of work due to a last minute call (Luckily I was able to help the pt so it didn’t feel wasted.) Then my sweetie-wife and I ran to the wrong FedEx location to pickup my package which is my new e-book reader.
We couldn’t get a consistent answer as to when the location with the package would close. Some said 5pm — and I don’t get off work until 5 pm, and others said 9 pm. I finally located the number for the facility — both answers were correct from a certain point of view (there were two facilities at the same address.) — but it didn’t do me any good today.
Luckily a very nice woman at the facility was able to re-route the delivery so I should have it delivered at work tomorrow.
We’ll see.
A plan
So later this month I plan to do a couple of things I have been wanting to do for years. Some of this may seem cheesy and very touristy but hey it’s my time and money and not yours.
So I’m going to get dropped off at the Amtrak station on a Friday morning and take the train to L.A. From there I will make my way over to the Warner Brothers Studio and take their grand five hour tour. It’s pricey but I have wanted to do it since i first heard about it six or seven years ago.
Universal used to have a decent studio tour with a theme park element to it, now it is all theme park with the theme being movie studio. The WB tour is Monday – Friday of a working movie and TV studio. The five hour tour takes you into all the departments of the studio and includes a catered lunch in the Studio Cafeteria. I don’t think any of my friends think this is worth the price — or don’t have the cash at the moment to do it — so I will be doing it alone. (My sweetie-wife is not the movie fan I am so she will stay home during this, hence the train ride.)
Afterwards I’ll make my way over to Medieval Times and take in the dinner and show. Yeah this is very touristy, but ever since I’ve heard about the place I’ve wanted to do it once. I never got into the SCA, but I am a D&D player and fan so at least once I want to see the jousting battles — yeah I know as real as pro-wrestling– and just have the fun. My sweetie-wife will join me for this and then we’ll drive home.
I am so looking forward to it.
The Sharpest Shiv
Back after the 2004 election President Bush famously announced he had earned some political capital adn he was going to spend it.
he wanted to overhaul out social security and retirement system.
I think the system is in need to reformation and expect without intervention we’re going to have some rough seas ahead. (that”s not to say I endorsed any particular Plan of Bush’s, just that I agree with the need.)
The Democratic party fought Bush tooth and nail on the plan and managed to kill it by pulling out the sharpest shiv in the cell block known as American Politics, Scare The Seniors.
Once they had scared the seniors, the Democrats had won their war.
Now it’s 2009 and President Obama is trying to reform the Health Care system in this country. Again I agree it needs to be done with agreeing to any particular plan out there right now.
The Republicans are now the ones fighting tooth and nail and they have taken the weapon sharpened by the Democratic party and used it to their own ends. It’s another round of Scare the Seniors.
Neither party is made of principles and both parties are more interested in killing the others legislation than in really solving the problems we face.
Sunday Night Movie: MST3K Attack Of The Giant Leeches
Not everything I watch is a classic film and I don’t always choose something for serious viewing.
When I want to have fun it rarely gets better than watching Joel (or Mike) and the ‘bots having at some terribly directed, written, and produced movie. I was not disappointed by MST3K’s take on Attack Of The Giant Leeches.
In the swamps of Florida, near Cape Kennedy, giant leeches are attacking people and making off with them. The leeches keep the people alive in a cave as sort of a blood larder. No one believes the survivors when they tell of monsters and soon it’s up to a local game warden, his lovely wife, and her father the doctor to prove what is happening and save the day.
This episode turned out to be one of the funniest I have seen. There was a moment when we had to pause the DVD while I recovered from laughing and my sweetie-wife recovered from pushing water through her sinus cavity. (German expressionistic humor does that to us.)
This was an early season where they still did invention exchange and the chemistry still worked like a charm.
If you are a fan of the show and haven’t seen this one, by all means get it.
For fans of G.I. Joe
The following video works better if you are familiar with the animated cartoon from the 80’s, but it still wptks pretty well if you have only seen the movie.
(Some of the character interactions were changed fro the film.)
DVD Review: The Brotherhood Of The Wolf
Via Netflix my sweetie-wife and I watched the French film from 2001. Because I am currently struggling with a werewolf short story of my own, I have been renting and watching werewolf movies. Or at least movies I thought to be werewolf movies. The Brotherhood Of The Wolf is not a werewolf film.
The film is set in 18th century France, in the province of  Gevaudan, where a strange and terrible beast is killing people. Despite the best efforts of the local people and authorities the beast eludes all attempts to kill or capture it. The king sends one man, Gregoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) the royal naturalist and taxidermist to deal with the trouble.  Fronsac brings along with him his friend and guide an American Indian, Mani (Mark Dacascos.) the pair find that things are not so straight-forward in the province. Roving gangs attack people at will and secrets seem to abound. They quickly make allies and enemies as they seek to uncover the nature of the beast that stalks the countryside.
This really is a very unusual film. It is a period film photographed in a rich and style that really capture the elegance and decadence of France shortly before the revolution. It is also a martial arts film (Though in the subtitles during the bonus features it was once referred to as a marital arts films. I’m not the only one who has to watch his typing.) Mark Dacascos is a Hawaiian martial arts expert and this is not wasted in the film. So this is a film with anachronisms, Mohawk Indians fighting like oriental monks, a large digital beast killing and maiming, and weapons (in the climax) that have to be rendered digitally because they could not be made and function as the director envisioned them.
Despite the flaws, primarily that the ending goes too far over the top, this is a film worth seeing. The biggest surprise to me came in the bonus material.
The Beast of Gevaudan is apparently a historical incident. There was some beast loose in that province at that time. It killed at least 122 people and evaded hunts that numbered more than 20,000 hunters. The King was forced to send troops to deal with the situation and they failed. According to the author of a book on the subject the beast was never properly identified. Some historians think it was wolves, but wolves do not attack people except in very rare situations. The film proposes one answer to the riddle of the Beast of Gevaudan — apparently a well known story in France — and the author has another.
This film is worth a look see.
Senator Edward Kennedy 1932 – 2009
There are many many reasons and area of disagreement between myself and the Edward Kennedy, but I never doubted that the man held his convictions from a sincere belief and desire to do good.
He has died may he rest in peace.
Sunday Night Movie: Red Planet Mars
Sorry for being a little late with my Sunday Night Movie Feature, but I didn’t finish my Sunday Night movie until tonight, Tuesday night.
Exhaustion on Sunday prevented me from watching the film in a single seating as I prefer to do, and a migraine on Monday prevented me from doing anything at all except dragging myself through my day job.
So, onto the review and comments.
This week’s movie, Red Planet Mars (1952) I found what cruising through the list at Netflix. I’m a big fan of Netflix and especially of the instant-view capability through my Xbox 360. I saw the description and thought that this might be a campy movie worth a spin.
The film stars Peter Graves as scientist Chris Cronyn. Chris along with his fellow scientist wife Linda (Andrea King) have built a transmitter using new technology — the hydrogen valve — and are now attempting to contact the advanced civilization they believe is on the planet Mars. The world is thrown into panic and chaos by the messages they receive.
The film starts off strong, keeping fairly close to the science and paying attention to details such as the speed-of-light lag between Earth and Mars. It deals lightly, but does not ignore, the issue of finding a common means of communication between two beings without a common language. The characters are presented with consequences of the results of their messages. As Mars tells of fantastic life-spans and limitless energy whole industries panic and threaten to topple the economy of the west. There is a parallel story line about a German scientist working on his own hydrogen valve transmitter who is intercepting the messages for his Soviet masters.
This film did not work for me, but in order for me to tell you why it didn’t work I will have to deal in spoilers. Even though the film is 57 years old I’m going to put the rest behind a break for anyone who wants to avoid those mentioned spoilers.
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Meaningless Achievement Of The Day
In addition to thinking deep thoughts, constructing characters and plot, I have a shallow side.
My achievement of the day today?
135 Zombies killed and 9 rounds of Nazi Zombies in Call Of Duty: World AT War.