Movies and TV are good, even if they are stupid beyond comprehension sometimes. Sometimes that's all I want: To just sit and watch some moronic thing, say like presidential debates. If nothing else they are good for grips. Of course, there are the works that make an Ogre feel less ugly and stupid. But, they are rare like selfless CEO's. Either way, let’s hear about it here
I found Kiwi after writing a particularly morose, existential journal entry in the private log. The blather of mediocrity and the meaninglessness of it all. The type that makes suicide seem sweet. If you gotta go, do it like Kiwi. :)
For some reason my call logs show that someone at ABC in DC, called my phone number. I know, because I ran a reverse look up and it says the owner of the number is ABC. Anyway, I didn't bother to call back, because what could ABC possibly want with me?
Must have been a mistake.
Anyway, while looking up the number I wound up on some extreme leftist site where they had a video by Conan O'brien spoofing the president. It was ok, but not great. However, this one, Muppets Faces Of Death made me laugh, and so, here you go.
While working like an ant...that expression came out last night while chatting with Eva. You see, "work like a dog", has no meaning anymore. Back in the day when dogs actually worked for a living, herding sheep and guarding against lions, the old saying held water. Not anymore. When is the last time you saw a dog working hard at anything besides destroying a toy? Ants, on the other hand, are incessant little slaves to work. They have one function. To work, then die, unless they are unlucky enough to be the queen, who has to breed, breed, breed, then die. There is no joy in an ants life, nor mine of late. Wah, wah, wah. Pity party aside, this clip I found entertaining and worth sharing. Enjoy.
EmCee sent me a link to this fat little sucker skateboarding. Watch the way he shifts his weight to turn. It's so cool, I knew there was a reason I loved bulldogs. I'ld like to let Bud chase after him to see what happens.
This gets ten stars in my my book of favorite home videos.
There is tons of buzz going around about Babel, with Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Rinko Kikuchi. The trailers were interesting, but not enough to get me into the theaters. When it hit the shelves the other day as a DVD (The pre-Oscar buzz machine is alive and well), I picked it up. It’s a long movie that inter twines the lives of families in Morocco, America, Mexico and Japan. The director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, uses a mostly linear plot structure of showing the families lives moving forward and gradually revealing how each family is connected to this one international incident . The acting is solid with sparse dialogue and the characters are complex. I had one serious problem with part of the plot. Why the f**k did Brad Pitts character stay the night in the small Moroccan town waiting for an Ambulance when the closest hospital was only four hours away? There were plenty of vehicles to take his wounded wife to more sanitary conditions. Other than that, the film is a fine piece of work and worth the watch. Although, I’m not sure what all the buzz is about. I hear clamoring of greatness. It is a good film, but there is nothing particularly new about revealing the “butterfly effect.” Then again, there doesn’t seem to much new about anything, just better presentations of same old story. On that note, it’s good they got an oscar nomination. I wonder if they will win.
Saw an interview with Barack Obama last night on sixty minutes. I like him. He openly admitted in the interview of smoking pot and using cocaine in his youth. I like that that candor. Personally, I don’t believe there is a single American, certainly not in politics, who has NOT, at least, smoked pot. I felt a rising joy as he spoke. Politicians, in general, turn my stomach as no one ever seems to tell the truth. Everything out of their mouths seems to be some politically correct, flag waving lie to cover their real agenda of making themselves wealthy through political influence and sway. I imagine Barack Obama is similar, or will be as his power grows, but for now I’m thrilled to hear such open honesty.
While waiting to board the plane to Kauai, Bee yammered away about how happy she was to be on vacation. I couldn’t wait to take some Benadryl and pass out. She noticed my disinterest and pouted. To alleviate the moment, I made hand puppets, hoping to diffuse the building tension. We don’t travel well together. It was going to be a long trip. She laughed and kept talking undaunted. I couldn’t win, so made this clip instead called Talk To Me OG. Bee helped.
The new season of Rome started Sunday. Hail Caesar! Though, he's dead. So long Caesar. I was waiting for the infamous line, "Et to, Brute?", but he never said it. Bummer. I mean, come on. That's one of the most famous lines of the Caesar legend and Shakespeare and they omitted it? Drat.
A little research over at Wikipedia suggests that, in real life, he probably didn't say the line.
So, in the spirit of the show ringing true of the time, I'll accept it. Though, they started using the word "F**K. Did the word even exist yet? Again, Wikipedia comes to the rescue. The answer, no.
"Its first known use as a verb meaning to have sexual intercourse is in "Flen flyys", written some time before 1500"
So, on that note, a big thumbs down. Well, a little thumbs down. No, a big thumbs down. The thing I love about the show is the seeming authenticity of time and place. (The rituals are wonderfully disturbing.) And now, they nibble away at my suspension of disbelief by including modern slang?
Watched Al Gores “An Inconvenient Truth” yesterday. According to his data and photographs, we are pretty much doomed as a planet. He kept calling Global Warming a moral issue. It’s not a moral issue as far as I can tell. It’s a survival issue like breathing. Is breathing moral or not? I suppose he’s trying to get the right wing Christians involved by calling it a moral issue. He’s trying to make the crisis more palatable to Middle America. I wonder if it is working. At an individual level, I am a terrible monster. I smoke, rarely recycle, own an SUV and an ATV. Though, I only drive about once a week and the ATV is used as much for work as play. At the moment it doesn’t run. We bought the SUV when we were fostering the 3M’s, so it was justified. We don’t need it anymore, but we’re locked into lease, so it’s not our fault. Isn’t that the cry of all criminals? Anyway, I suppose I should have Serr.biz make some sort of website calling for a electric cars and a policy change in America. Then, maybe, I can help assure my nephews and nieces have a planet to live on in ten years. They, for sure, are not to blame for the stupid environmental mess caused by our grand parents, parents and ourselves. Hmm.
The other movie we rented was Little Miss Sunshine. Although it was Princess' choice (mine was Superman), its not really a chick flick. I thought the movie was hilarious -- one of the best movies I have seen in quite some time. Its the kind of arty, low-budget, talkie film that they don't make enough of these days. Alan Arkin was great, as was the 40-Year Old Virgin and Circle of Friends. I hope I'm not giving anything away here, but the dance sequence is probably better than the one at the end of Napoleon Dynamite.
I watched Superman Returns the other week. I don't believe Princess ever got around to watching it, though. We often go to the video store and its always a struggle to find a movie we mutually agree upon. Now, we usually rent two movies - a good action/sci fi/violent drama for me and a chick flick for her. Obviously, Superman Returns was my pick.
Princess and I actually attended the same high school as Bryan Singer, the director. He was in the grade above us. His first big movie was the Usual Suspects, which was written by Kevin McQuarrie, also a WWPHS grad. So far, I've liked all of Bryan Singer's movies. I especially liked X-Men I and II. Watching Superman Returns, however, Bryan probably should have opted to direct X-Men III. Not that Superman was bad. In fact, it was probably the best Superman movie that could be made. I think that Superman as a genre is simply a very difficult one -- it comes with a lot of baggage. There are so many expectations that come with Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, "Truth, Justice and the American Way", "Its a bird, its a plane . . ." Its almost impossible not to dissappoint. That said, I thought the movie was very good, definitely worth seeing, but not worth seeing again and again, like the X-Men movies.
