Thursday, August 31, 2006
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
I've spent the past few days converting my VHS copies of the Star Wars movies to DVD. Its a reasonably pointless task to attempt, but then I'm reasonably pointless myself. Nevertheless, as part of the project I have to preview the burned disk to make sure it is error free. Less important with these projects because my copies of the Star Wars movies are permanent. Nevertheless I have previewed the first three (in order of production) and have a few observations.
Darth Vader really lost his menace from the first to the third movie. In Star Wars Vader was the ultimate bad-ass. Then in the second one he goes from being this frightening automaton-like creature, into something human. His 'Luke, I am your father' line just freezes you in place. And well, in the third one he turns out to be a crusty old white man, so that kind of decimates the evil Darth Vader myth.
Princess Leia definitely gets more attractive from Star Wars to Return of the Jedi. Not that she was ugly or anything in the first one. Far from it. At the end of Star Wars, during the medal ceremony, she is five alarm five hot. But most of Star Wars she spends with this cinnamon buns on her ears, and I don't care if you're Helen of Troy, you just can't pull that off. Empire she looked good, and there's no complaints but by Jedi, she was on fire. First there's that dancer-girl outfit on Jabba's yacht, but its in the forest where you really see it. She radiates like the princess she's been proclaimed for two movies.
George Lucas has gotten a bad rap about the quality of direction and the script between the original three movies, and the second prequel trilogy. Let's be honest, some of the work in those first three movies is utter tripe. Now we'll forgive it, because these movies are classics to us. But let's be objective. Like in the prequels, there are segments of the original that are so wooden that you'd buy them as discount lumber in Home Depot. One in particular that stands out is the medical bay scene Empire. Overall its a good scene because it plays to a good plot point; jealousy between Han and Luke over Leia. But the chemistry that is SUPPOSED to exist among these characters is not evident in the scene. They telegraph the payoff of the scene from about 26 miles away. And a couple of the lines are delivered with all the flair of a train wreck. Overall I thought the, romantic tension, at the beginning of Empire was handled with the grace of a rhinoceros on roller skates.
Next on my agenda is to convert the newest three Star Wars movies to DVD. I am sure after I do that I will have another series of observations to share. Until then . . .
Darth Vader really lost his menace from the first to the third movie. In Star Wars Vader was the ultimate bad-ass. Then in the second one he goes from being this frightening automaton-like creature, into something human. His 'Luke, I am your father' line just freezes you in place. And well, in the third one he turns out to be a crusty old white man, so that kind of decimates the evil Darth Vader myth.
Princess Leia definitely gets more attractive from Star Wars to Return of the Jedi. Not that she was ugly or anything in the first one. Far from it. At the end of Star Wars, during the medal ceremony, she is five alarm five hot. But most of Star Wars she spends with this cinnamon buns on her ears, and I don't care if you're Helen of Troy, you just can't pull that off. Empire she looked good, and there's no complaints but by Jedi, she was on fire. First there's that dancer-girl outfit on Jabba's yacht, but its in the forest where you really see it. She radiates like the princess she's been proclaimed for two movies.
George Lucas has gotten a bad rap about the quality of direction and the script between the original three movies, and the second prequel trilogy. Let's be honest, some of the work in those first three movies is utter tripe. Now we'll forgive it, because these movies are classics to us. But let's be objective. Like in the prequels, there are segments of the original that are so wooden that you'd buy them as discount lumber in Home Depot. One in particular that stands out is the medical bay scene Empire. Overall its a good scene because it plays to a good plot point; jealousy between Han and Luke over Leia. But the chemistry that is SUPPOSED to exist among these characters is not evident in the scene. They telegraph the payoff of the scene from about 26 miles away. And a couple of the lines are delivered with all the flair of a train wreck. Overall I thought the, romantic tension, at the beginning of Empire was handled with the grace of a rhinoceros on roller skates.
Next on my agenda is to convert the newest three Star Wars movies to DVD. I am sure after I do that I will have another series of observations to share. Until then . . .
Monday, August 28, 2006
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Monday, August 21, 2006
Sunday, August 20, 2006
I know I just did this one a few weeks ago, but it bears mentioning again based on my experiences this weekend. I am truly in disbelief about something and would dearly love if someone could explain it to me.
What in the HELL is the deal with flip flops!?!
Personally, I find them more irritating that a tick bite inside the ear. I couldn't possibly fathom wearing the accursed things for any length of time. There is absolutely no way I would consider wearing these blasted things on my feet if I had to do any kind of walking.
But here I was, at the air show, and I couldn't stop looking at people's feet. I'm not sure why it started, or what made the compulsion persist, but my over-riding pre-occupation was to gauge what people were wearing on their feet. And there was an appalling percentage of people (mostly young girls I will admit) that were wearing these stupid flip-flop shoes.
My feet are raw tonight, and I was driving, or riding, a Kawasaki Mule most of the day. These idiotic people were wandering around the uneven infield of the Saskatoon Airport in these stupid pieces of cork they call shoes. How can you possibly fathom doing that much walking on something as insignificant as a $0.99 pair of shoes?
At one point I found myself inside the main concession tent with little else to do but wait. And my foot checking compulsion was in full effect. The girls providing the food service were wearing flip-flops! What the hell kind of asinine choice is that? There's any one of a dozen things that could fall on your foot when you're working in that environment, and you've got nothing covering an essentually bare foot. Let us not forget that again, you're spending multiple hours standing, serving people, wearing nothing on your foot to cushion it from the hard reality of our mother earth but a cheap, Taiwanese manufacturer piece of plastic cork-board. I can't help but question the reasoning power of a person that would make this choice.
If anyone knows the answer to the irresistable lure of the flip-flop I would certainly like to know. Without this crucial piece of wisdom, I am forced to continue my shaking head at the lunacy.
What in the HELL is the deal with flip flops!?!
Personally, I find them more irritating that a tick bite inside the ear. I couldn't possibly fathom wearing the accursed things for any length of time. There is absolutely no way I would consider wearing these blasted things on my feet if I had to do any kind of walking.
But here I was, at the air show, and I couldn't stop looking at people's feet. I'm not sure why it started, or what made the compulsion persist, but my over-riding pre-occupation was to gauge what people were wearing on their feet. And there was an appalling percentage of people (mostly young girls I will admit) that were wearing these stupid flip-flop shoes.
My feet are raw tonight, and I was driving, or riding, a Kawasaki Mule most of the day. These idiotic people were wandering around the uneven infield of the Saskatoon Airport in these stupid pieces of cork they call shoes. How can you possibly fathom doing that much walking on something as insignificant as a $0.99 pair of shoes?
At one point I found myself inside the main concession tent with little else to do but wait. And my foot checking compulsion was in full effect. The girls providing the food service were wearing flip-flops! What the hell kind of asinine choice is that? There's any one of a dozen things that could fall on your foot when you're working in that environment, and you've got nothing covering an essentually bare foot. Let us not forget that again, you're spending multiple hours standing, serving people, wearing nothing on your foot to cushion it from the hard reality of our mother earth but a cheap, Taiwanese manufacturer piece of plastic cork-board. I can't help but question the reasoning power of a person that would make this choice.
If anyone knows the answer to the irresistable lure of the flip-flop I would certainly like to know. Without this crucial piece of wisdom, I am forced to continue my shaking head at the lunacy.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Monday, August 14, 2006
Things That Piss Me Off:
I need something explained to me. Explained, as if you were talking to a three year old.
How can the damn server for World Of Warcraft crash so often? These guys have 5 million subscribers, if not more, all paying $20 a month for the privilege of playing this game. By the newest of math that's 100 million dollars a month. That's a lot of money. How in the hell is it that they can't keep the damn hardware stable!?! For that kind of money, they ought to be able to just throw money at any problem they encounter.
I need something explained to me. Explained, as if you were talking to a three year old.
How can the damn server for World Of Warcraft crash so often? These guys have 5 million subscribers, if not more, all paying $20 a month for the privilege of playing this game. By the newest of math that's 100 million dollars a month. That's a lot of money. How in the hell is it that they can't keep the damn hardware stable!?! For that kind of money, they ought to be able to just throw money at any problem they encounter.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Monday, August 07, 2006
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
I'm just going to throw this out there. Maybe I'm right and maybe I'm wrong. But I have an idea for this whole Hezbollah-Israel crisis.
We take away their guns.
They can go ahead and have all the war they want. They can war it up until the end of time. But they can't shoot bombs or bullets at each other. They have to go at it, hand to hand. Or stick to stick, or rock to rock. They can kill each other to their hearts content, but they gotta look in the eye the guy they are killing.
I have a feeling that 99.9% of them will lose their nerve to make war when they gotta look another human being in the face before they smash a rock into it. Its pretty easy to play the 'big man' role when you order a rocket strike on people from 300 miles away. Its not quite so easy to kill a bunch of people when you have to do it, one by one, by knocking them in the head with a crooked stick.
If the rest of the world could all make a pact to not let these idiots in the Middle East have any guns, or bombs, or rockets or military hardware, maybe this thing could be put to some kind of rest. Of course we won't do that, because there's too much money and pride in continuing war. But its a nice idea.
We take away their guns.
They can go ahead and have all the war they want. They can war it up until the end of time. But they can't shoot bombs or bullets at each other. They have to go at it, hand to hand. Or stick to stick, or rock to rock. They can kill each other to their hearts content, but they gotta look in the eye the guy they are killing.
I have a feeling that 99.9% of them will lose their nerve to make war when they gotta look another human being in the face before they smash a rock into it. Its pretty easy to play the 'big man' role when you order a rocket strike on people from 300 miles away. Its not quite so easy to kill a bunch of people when you have to do it, one by one, by knocking them in the head with a crooked stick.
If the rest of the world could all make a pact to not let these idiots in the Middle East have any guns, or bombs, or rockets or military hardware, maybe this thing could be put to some kind of rest. Of course we won't do that, because there's too much money and pride in continuing war. But its a nice idea.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
I have a question about sub sandwiches.
What the hell is the deal with all the lettuce!?!
I have never understood this. You go to any of the major sub sandwich places (Quiznos excluded because they run the sandwich through that crematorium for bread) and you get about half a pound of lettuce on your sandwich.
Why!?!
First of all, to the best of my knowledge, no one gets a sandwich for the lettuce.
'Hi, I'd like a chicken sandwich. Can I have extra lettuce and please, go light on the chicken.'
That just doesn't happen. Lettuce is a garnish, and a poor one at that. Does lettuce even have any kind of distinguishable taste? It seems more likely that the lettuce is there just to give the sandwich bulk and make you feel a little better about the $8 you're spending on a sub.
Given that its there just to provide bulk, do they have to go so ape with it? I bought a sub today and the guy couldn't wrap it properly because of the bushel of lettuce he put on the bun. I don't think I should have to say 'go light on the lettuce' when I order a sandwich. I like a little lettuce on my bread, because it makes it crunch, and like I said, I feel better about my $8. My god, when I need a special lifting apparatus, and specific structural support for my bun, because the lettuce is overflowing, I consider that a problem.
And that's my last complaint. You order a sub, they put a yard of lettuce on it, and when you go to eat it, 96% of the surplus lettuce falls out. So they slice up lettuce to put on my sandwich, only to have it fall out and eventually end up in the garbage. This is just wasteful. Plus I feel slightly morose about throwing away a pile of lettuce that's more copious than the grass clipping when I mow the 4 acres of yard at my old house. But I'm not going to eat the lettuce all by itself, because like I said earlier, lettuce has no distinguishable taste.
So, in conclusion, I would like to say, sub sub operators, knock it off with the lettuce. Let's bring the application of it back to reality.
What the hell is the deal with all the lettuce!?!
I have never understood this. You go to any of the major sub sandwich places (Quiznos excluded because they run the sandwich through that crematorium for bread) and you get about half a pound of lettuce on your sandwich.
Why!?!
First of all, to the best of my knowledge, no one gets a sandwich for the lettuce.
'Hi, I'd like a chicken sandwich. Can I have extra lettuce and please, go light on the chicken.'
That just doesn't happen. Lettuce is a garnish, and a poor one at that. Does lettuce even have any kind of distinguishable taste? It seems more likely that the lettuce is there just to give the sandwich bulk and make you feel a little better about the $8 you're spending on a sub.
Given that its there just to provide bulk, do they have to go so ape with it? I bought a sub today and the guy couldn't wrap it properly because of the bushel of lettuce he put on the bun. I don't think I should have to say 'go light on the lettuce' when I order a sandwich. I like a little lettuce on my bread, because it makes it crunch, and like I said, I feel better about my $8. My god, when I need a special lifting apparatus, and specific structural support for my bun, because the lettuce is overflowing, I consider that a problem.
And that's my last complaint. You order a sub, they put a yard of lettuce on it, and when you go to eat it, 96% of the surplus lettuce falls out. So they slice up lettuce to put on my sandwich, only to have it fall out and eventually end up in the garbage. This is just wasteful. Plus I feel slightly morose about throwing away a pile of lettuce that's more copious than the grass clipping when I mow the 4 acres of yard at my old house. But I'm not going to eat the lettuce all by itself, because like I said earlier, lettuce has no distinguishable taste.
So, in conclusion, I would like to say, sub sub operators, knock it off with the lettuce. Let's bring the application of it back to reality.