Fear mongers
A former commandant of the Marine Corps speaks out against fear mongering right wingers: "The American people are understandably fearful about another attack like the one we sustained on Sept. 11, 2001. But it is the duty of the commander in chief to lead the country away from the grip of fear, not into its grasp. Regrettably, at Tuesday night's presidential debate in South Carolina, several Republican candidates revealed a stunning failure to understand this most basic obligation. Indeed, among the candidates, only John McCain demonstrated that he understands the close connection between our security and our values as a nation.
God help us if Giuliani is our next president. It will be more of the same BS we've had to deal with for the last 8 years. Another fear monger that is more concerned with appearances than serving.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
MP3 Blog
I haven't posted in a while. I do have a song set up and ready to go so I'll MP3 blog today. I am posting John Lennon's song "Scared." I have always loved the honesty in John Lennon's music. From the autobiographical "Ballad of John and Yoko" "Julia" to the open nerved confession of "Cold Turkey" to vindictive "Sexy Sadie" and "How do you Sleep."
This song is off his album "Walls and Bridges" which he made during his 'lost weekend' in California. It has the usual multitracking of the vocals that is used in his seventies solo stuff and has that unnecessary wolf howl at the beginning but it's still a masterpiece.
The honesty is what I love about this song. It's just a guy admitting that life is scary and that he suffers from hate and jealously just like everyone else. To me that is the essence of everything John Lennon did musically. No fake orgasms.
I present to you John Lennon's "Scared".
Drudge, Still a prick
In case you were wondering, yes, Matt Druge is still a prick. According to the website of the NOAA this last April was .3 degrees cooler than average. What headline does Drudge use to link to this story: "WARMING ON HOLD? April's temperatures were below average..." I really don't understand why people like him are so unconcerned about this. Don't they live on the same planet the rest of us do?
On his way to heaven
I'm sure you've seen that Jerry Falwell died yesterday. I am also sure if he was alive he would find a way to blame his collapse yesterday on the secularists and lesbians. Alas, he is sitting at the left hand of God and will be unable to issue a hate-filled statement at this time.
I haven't posted in a while. I do have a song set up and ready to go so I'll MP3 blog today. I am posting John Lennon's song "Scared." I have always loved the honesty in John Lennon's music. From the autobiographical "Ballad of John and Yoko" "Julia" to the open nerved confession of "Cold Turkey" to vindictive "Sexy Sadie" and "How do you Sleep."
This song is off his album "Walls and Bridges" which he made during his 'lost weekend' in California. It has the usual multitracking of the vocals that is used in his seventies solo stuff and has that unnecessary wolf howl at the beginning but it's still a masterpiece.
The honesty is what I love about this song. It's just a guy admitting that life is scary and that he suffers from hate and jealously just like everyone else. To me that is the essence of everything John Lennon did musically. No fake orgasms.
I present to you John Lennon's "Scared".
Drudge, Still a prick
In case you were wondering, yes, Matt Druge is still a prick. According to the website of the NOAA this last April was .3 degrees cooler than average. What headline does Drudge use to link to this story: "WARMING ON HOLD? April's temperatures were below average..." I really don't understand why people like him are so unconcerned about this. Don't they live on the same planet the rest of us do?
On his way to heaven
I'm sure you've seen that Jerry Falwell died yesterday. I am also sure if he was alive he would find a way to blame his collapse yesterday on the secularists and lesbians. Alas, he is sitting at the left hand of God and will be unable to issue a hate-filled statement at this time.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Dick Cheney, an introduction
Hi, I am a draft dodger. While others were fighting bravely for their country in the Vietnam era I hid like a scared little girl. I spent the rest of my life gathering as much money to me as possible. A few years ago I helped start a war that was criminally mishandled. Thousands brave men and women morally superior to me have laid down their lives and it looks more and more like it was all for naught. Now I'm standing on an aircraft carrier threatening to make war with another nation. Excuse me while I laugh.
Hi, I am a draft dodger. While others were fighting bravely for their country in the Vietnam era I hid like a scared little girl. I spent the rest of my life gathering as much money to me as possible. A few years ago I helped start a war that was criminally mishandled. Thousands brave men and women morally superior to me have laid down their lives and it looks more and more like it was all for naught. Now I'm standing on an aircraft carrier threatening to make war with another nation. Excuse me while I laugh.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Pyramid Point birches
I had forgotten how many birch trees there were up in Northern Michigan. They are all over the place, especially near Pyramid Point. A scenic bluff on the Lake Michigan shore that I visited twice. The second trip there was with my mom, sister and my sister's beau just a day or two before I left for Charlotte. The sky was as clear as it could be and visibility on the overlook was amazing. I could see a lot more detail of South Manitou Island and could actually see North Manitou Island this time. I really can't remember the last time I saw the air that clear. Probably the last time I visited northern Michigan.
I had forgotten how many birch trees there were up in Northern Michigan. They are all over the place, especially near Pyramid Point. A scenic bluff on the Lake Michigan shore that I visited twice. The second trip there was with my mom, sister and my sister's beau just a day or two before I left for Charlotte. The sky was as clear as it could be and visibility on the overlook was amazing. I could see a lot more detail of South Manitou Island and could actually see North Manitou Island this time. I really can't remember the last time I saw the air that clear. Probably the last time I visited northern Michigan.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Spiderman 3
I went and saw Spiderman 3 this weekend and it was a bit of a disappointment. It didn't resonate emotionally with me like the first two. Three really just felt like a reshash the second movie with more stuff thrown in that made it clunky. It's too bad because I really wanted to like this movie because I loved the first two.
The problems:
1) Too many villians. A Green Goblin, the Sandman and the evil black suit?
2) The black suit. I think the Peter Parker struggling with his role as Spiderman in the last movie went over so well that they tried to do something similar with the exploration of his dark side. With the other plots in this movie it just didn't work because they couldn't give the plot time to develop. It was used mostly for comic relief. There was even a montage similar to the montage in the second movie when Peter gives up the Spiderman role. Here we see him reveling in being a bad boy because he is under the influence of a symbiotic alien species that landed next to him in a meteorite.
3) The Sandman character was used in a fashion similar to the Doctor Octopus character in #2. He is supposed to be someone we can empathize with. He is stealing money to help get medical care for his daughter. He's a simple yet good person. The criminal with the heart of gold. The bad guy who is not really bad but has had a life of crime thrust upon him. I was supposed to care but I didn't. I am sure the big guy from Wings could have fleshed this character out but he wasn't given the screen time that traitorous hireling from Raiders of the Lost Ark got.
4) Mary Jane becoming jealous of Spiderman's popularity. Another nice idea that just didn't have time to develop. Mary Jane Watson was a major character in the first two movies and in this one she had the range of Johnny Cash's first wife in Walk the Line. She was either jealous and angry or supportive and joyous or getting tossed around by super villains and screaming a lot. How many times can she be put into the middle of superhero battles before her psyche cracks like a library's roofing?
5) Harry Osborn/Green Goblin. I was anticipating that this would be the basic overall plot of this third movie. Harry would be struggling with the voice in his head (which sounds and looks like his father) and he and Peter would battle it out while Mary Jane was tied up somewhere screaming. Instead we get an early action scene, amnesia(!) and Goblin ass whuppin' courtesy of a Mr. Hyde-ish Peter followed by a remorseful Harry saving Peter's life. Yeesh. I haven't seen such an obvious and good story botched this badly since the Americans got their hands on the Godzilla franchise. His death while saving Peter was about as predictable and emotionally void as a death could possibly be in a movie.
6) J. Jonah Jameson. When watching the first Spiderman movie and seeing Schillinger from Oz playing J.J.J. my jaw hit my stomach. The brilliant and obvious casting of Schillinger as Jameson was one of the myriad reasons I loved the first movie. This time around his tirades in his office are so expected that they don't hit with the same power as before. Tired and been done are the few scenes he appears in.
7) The fights. Remember that fight on the elevated train in Spiderman 2? It was set up so perfectly. The audience knew just exactly what was going on and what was at stake. None of the battles in the third movie even approach the intensity and narrative smoothness of the battle on the elevated train. The first fight with Harry Osborn in his Goblin get up is just fast and confusing. The final scene where Harry flies in to save his friend is just a rehash of the grand finale in the first movie with an extra villian and hero.
The end) I know, it's a comic book movie but I loved the first two and this one is not a great movie so it disappoints. At least Hot Fuzz was funny. My movie going weekend wasn't a total wash.
I went and saw Spiderman 3 this weekend and it was a bit of a disappointment. It didn't resonate emotionally with me like the first two. Three really just felt like a reshash the second movie with more stuff thrown in that made it clunky. It's too bad because I really wanted to like this movie because I loved the first two.
The problems:
1) Too many villians. A Green Goblin, the Sandman and the evil black suit?
2) The black suit. I think the Peter Parker struggling with his role as Spiderman in the last movie went over so well that they tried to do something similar with the exploration of his dark side. With the other plots in this movie it just didn't work because they couldn't give the plot time to develop. It was used mostly for comic relief. There was even a montage similar to the montage in the second movie when Peter gives up the Spiderman role. Here we see him reveling in being a bad boy because he is under the influence of a symbiotic alien species that landed next to him in a meteorite.
3) The Sandman character was used in a fashion similar to the Doctor Octopus character in #2. He is supposed to be someone we can empathize with. He is stealing money to help get medical care for his daughter. He's a simple yet good person. The criminal with the heart of gold. The bad guy who is not really bad but has had a life of crime thrust upon him. I was supposed to care but I didn't. I am sure the big guy from Wings could have fleshed this character out but he wasn't given the screen time that traitorous hireling from Raiders of the Lost Ark got.
4) Mary Jane becoming jealous of Spiderman's popularity. Another nice idea that just didn't have time to develop. Mary Jane Watson was a major character in the first two movies and in this one she had the range of Johnny Cash's first wife in Walk the Line. She was either jealous and angry or supportive and joyous or getting tossed around by super villains and screaming a lot. How many times can she be put into the middle of superhero battles before her psyche cracks like a library's roofing?
5) Harry Osborn/Green Goblin. I was anticipating that this would be the basic overall plot of this third movie. Harry would be struggling with the voice in his head (which sounds and looks like his father) and he and Peter would battle it out while Mary Jane was tied up somewhere screaming. Instead we get an early action scene, amnesia(!) and Goblin ass whuppin' courtesy of a Mr. Hyde-ish Peter followed by a remorseful Harry saving Peter's life. Yeesh. I haven't seen such an obvious and good story botched this badly since the Americans got their hands on the Godzilla franchise. His death while saving Peter was about as predictable and emotionally void as a death could possibly be in a movie.
6) J. Jonah Jameson. When watching the first Spiderman movie and seeing Schillinger from Oz playing J.J.J. my jaw hit my stomach. The brilliant and obvious casting of Schillinger as Jameson was one of the myriad reasons I loved the first movie. This time around his tirades in his office are so expected that they don't hit with the same power as before. Tired and been done are the few scenes he appears in.
7) The fights. Remember that fight on the elevated train in Spiderman 2? It was set up so perfectly. The audience knew just exactly what was going on and what was at stake. None of the battles in the third movie even approach the intensity and narrative smoothness of the battle on the elevated train. The first fight with Harry Osborn in his Goblin get up is just fast and confusing. The final scene where Harry flies in to save his friend is just a rehash of the grand finale in the first movie with an extra villian and hero.
The end) I know, it's a comic book movie but I loved the first two and this one is not a great movie so it disappoints. At least Hot Fuzz was funny. My movie going weekend wasn't a total wash.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Back from vacation
Yesterday was my first day back two work after a two week layoff. Of course, sitting on my desk was a stack of books I had placed on hold earlier. Two books I have been anticipating were in that pile, The Children of Hurin by Christopher Tolkien and The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. Wow, what to read first? I think I'll go with the Tolkien book since it's shorter and has been getting pretty favorable reviews. I think I may have to put down Rabbit Redux and read these two books first.
Yesterday was my first day back two work after a two week layoff. Of course, sitting on my desk was a stack of books I had placed on hold earlier. Two books I have been anticipating were in that pile, The Children of Hurin by Christopher Tolkien and The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. Wow, what to read first? I think I'll go with the Tolkien book since it's shorter and has been getting pretty favorable reviews. I think I may have to put down Rabbit Redux and read these two books first.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Another Michigan picture
Last night I went to my favorite spot, Good Harbor, to take a few pictures of the sunset. The sunset seems hard to capture with the point and shoot digital camera. Next time I'll to bring my 35mm camera or get a better digital camera. Or both. Only one picture really turned out OK. I took a similar picture about ten years ago in the same spot.
Last night I went to my favorite spot, Good Harbor, to take a few pictures of the sunset. The sunset seems hard to capture with the point and shoot digital camera. Next time I'll to bring my 35mm camera or get a better digital camera. Or both. Only one picture really turned out OK. I took a similar picture about ten years ago in the same spot.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
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