Ok, I know I'm full of glowing reviews but I believe I explained that already.
So, here is another one for you.
'30 Days' is a TV Show by the guy that made the movie 'Supersize This' in which he spent 30 days eating nothing but McDonald's food to show what happens to the human body on such a diet. It wasn't pretty. In the TV series it follows someone places in a situation outside of their normal experience. It is a social experiment and it is awesome. For example, one of the more remarkable ones was when they took an all-american god-fearing Oklahoma quarterback and stuck him with a single Gay man in the heart of San Fransico. It is an incrediable way to see how these different cultures clash and how they learn from each other.
We are now in the second season of '30 Days' and the premier was taking a Minuteman (the viglanties patrolling the border) and stick him with an illegal immigrant family in LA. I just finished watching it. In a nutshell, wow! It was a seven member family living in a house with less than 500 sq ft. Three of the kids were illegal and two were born in the US, making them citizens. The middle child was college bound. Most of the political fighting happened between the college-bound girl and the minuteman. Sharp girl..sharp dude too. The show did a GREAT job of representing both sides and showing why the problem is so complicated. I highly recommend anyone that wants to know more about the entire issue to try to catch one of the repeats.
Next weeks episode involves a guy whose job was shipped to India. It looks like they send the guy to India to do his job there. Looks pretty interesting.
Love these social experiements. :)
Monday, July 31, 2006
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Saturday, July 29, 2006
'Good, Bad, I'm the one with the gun'
Some of you know that I have a HUGE fan of the Evil Dead series. I have all of them, collector's version as well. I even have the action figure. I've been a fan of Sam Rami and Bruce Campbell before they were super famous (Sam Rami is the Spider Man director).
'Army of Darkness' was released in theaters a while back. That movie was actually a continutation of the Evil Dead series. It was Evil Dead 3. People have been dogging Rami and Campbell for years to make a new one and they have always turned it down.
I was poking around Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) and looked up Sam Rami. Low and behold, he is the producer of an Evil Dead remake. He wants a new director and new cast to do a remake like what was done with Dawn of the Dead, etc. Evil Dead was one of the best horror movies of all time and influenced the genre quite a bit. It is fantastic to hear that it will be remade, can't wait!
However, they will be casting a new Ash since it is a remake. Oh the horror! Just won't be the same.
So I did some more poking around and I finally found what I was looking for...Evil Dead 4, bitches! There will be a new one in the series with Campbell playing Ash again. It might be called Army of Darkness 2, which would suck, but I guess it makes since because it would be a bit confusing to have The Evil Dead and Evil Dead 4 out at the same time. Who cares though, the import thing is that Ash is coming back, baby!
Oh oh oh! And a Bubba Ho-tep 2 is on the slate as well.
Anyway, here is the link with all the goods.
Some good movies are on the horizon.
'Army of Darkness' was released in theaters a while back. That movie was actually a continutation of the Evil Dead series. It was Evil Dead 3. People have been dogging Rami and Campbell for years to make a new one and they have always turned it down.
I was poking around Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) and looked up Sam Rami. Low and behold, he is the producer of an Evil Dead remake. He wants a new director and new cast to do a remake like what was done with Dawn of the Dead, etc. Evil Dead was one of the best horror movies of all time and influenced the genre quite a bit. It is fantastic to hear that it will be remade, can't wait!
However, they will be casting a new Ash since it is a remake. Oh the horror! Just won't be the same.
So I did some more poking around and I finally found what I was looking for...Evil Dead 4, bitches! There will be a new one in the series with Campbell playing Ash again. It might be called Army of Darkness 2, which would suck, but I guess it makes since because it would be a bit confusing to have The Evil Dead and Evil Dead 4 out at the same time. Who cares though, the import thing is that Ash is coming back, baby!
Oh oh oh! And a Bubba Ho-tep 2 is on the slate as well.
Anyway, here is the link with all the goods.
Some good movies are on the horizon.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Funky Movies
Ok, so from some comments in another thread I thought I'd post this.
Two movies, if you want somewhat unique experiences this year, you should see are:
A Scanner Darkly
Lady in the Water
A Scanner Darkly is like watching an acid trip, and it is meant to be that way. Apparently they filmed the movie and then went back over it and sorta cartoonized the entire thing. It is REALLY hard to describe. It does have some of the best conversations since Pulp Fiction in it though, particularly the one about the 18-speed bike. Pure gold. Here are a couple of choice paragraphs from a review that I think do a better job of summing it up that I do:
"A Scanner Darkly changes everything. Even though Phillip K. Dick wrote it, Richard adapted the screenplay perfectly. I found that the film ran like a combination of Tarantinoesque chronology(Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs) and a Nolanesque confusion(Memento)."
"If you enjoy a good "mind-bender" of a film that doesn't stop resonating in your head until days after you have seen it, then A Scanner Darkly is for you. If you go to the theater simply for spoon-fed entertainment, see this film anyway and hopefully you will wake up and have an original thought some time soon."
Click on the Watch the Trailer link here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405296/
The second movie, Lady in the Water, is M. Night Shyamalan's new movie. You need to go in expecting the right sort of thing to enjoy this movie. Basically, as he explains it, it started as a bedtime story he used to tell his kids that just got longer and scarier until he decided to turn it into a movie. The movie itself has a lot of the components of a good bedtime story. Scary evil things, mystical good things, and the hero having to find companions to save the princess. The setting is in the back of a hotel. The entire movie takes place there. How cool is that?
There are a couple of parts that will scare the crap out of you. Shyamalan really builds tension well and he did it in a few places in this one as well. There is no twist like 6th Sense and Unbreakable had, instead it is just a bunch of smaller twists like Unbreakable and Signs was. All in all it was a very enjoyable movie. Good times.
Two movies, if you want somewhat unique experiences this year, you should see are:
A Scanner Darkly
Lady in the Water
A Scanner Darkly is like watching an acid trip, and it is meant to be that way. Apparently they filmed the movie and then went back over it and sorta cartoonized the entire thing. It is REALLY hard to describe. It does have some of the best conversations since Pulp Fiction in it though, particularly the one about the 18-speed bike. Pure gold. Here are a couple of choice paragraphs from a review that I think do a better job of summing it up that I do:
"A Scanner Darkly changes everything. Even though Phillip K. Dick wrote it, Richard adapted the screenplay perfectly. I found that the film ran like a combination of Tarantinoesque chronology(Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs) and a Nolanesque confusion(Memento)."
"If you enjoy a good "mind-bender" of a film that doesn't stop resonating in your head until days after you have seen it, then A Scanner Darkly is for you. If you go to the theater simply for spoon-fed entertainment, see this film anyway and hopefully you will wake up and have an original thought some time soon."
Click on the Watch the Trailer link here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405296/
The second movie, Lady in the Water, is M. Night Shyamalan's new movie. You need to go in expecting the right sort of thing to enjoy this movie. Basically, as he explains it, it started as a bedtime story he used to tell his kids that just got longer and scarier until he decided to turn it into a movie. The movie itself has a lot of the components of a good bedtime story. Scary evil things, mystical good things, and the hero having to find companions to save the princess. The setting is in the back of a hotel. The entire movie takes place there. How cool is that?
There are a couple of parts that will scare the crap out of you. Shyamalan really builds tension well and he did it in a few places in this one as well. There is no twist like 6th Sense and Unbreakable had, instead it is just a bunch of smaller twists like Unbreakable and Signs was. All in all it was a very enjoyable movie. Good times.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Of Airplanes, Boxers and Pirates
I want to start this post with the description of a dream I had last night. For those of you who don't know, I am into remote control electric airplanes. And, I have a cat named Misfit who is kinda small and is missing a tail. Ok, with those two facts in mind, here is the dream.
In a nutshell, went to some sort of summer camp where we had to make R/C
Planes. So I put this plane together like they wanted but something
happened and the body broke on it. So I decided to use Misfit (yes, my
cat) as the body of the plane. I strapped the wings and such on to him
and took him out to the field, which was surrounded with trees and dark
out for some reason. Anyway, Misfit was fine during the wing attachment
process but once I set him down on the field he ran off. So I had to
chase him around a house that was on the field until I finally caught up
to him. :)
That's it. Thought you might find it amusing.
As for Boxers and Pirates...I saw the new Pirates movie. I enjoyed it, good flick. It ends very well and sets up the next one great. Plus, make sure you stay until after the credits for a little scene at the end wrapping up a loose end. Just like Star Trek III: The Search for Spock I believe the tag line on the Pirates III is going to be The Search for Jack.
As for Boxers...Rocky Balboa baby! This Christmas! Can't wait!
Oh...and a Transformers movie next year...yes, those Transformers.
Rock.
In a nutshell, went to some sort of summer camp where we had to make R/C
Planes. So I put this plane together like they wanted but something
happened and the body broke on it. So I decided to use Misfit (yes, my
cat) as the body of the plane. I strapped the wings and such on to him
and took him out to the field, which was surrounded with trees and dark
out for some reason. Anyway, Misfit was fine during the wing attachment
process but once I set him down on the field he ran off. So I had to
chase him around a house that was on the field until I finally caught up
to him. :)
That's it. Thought you might find it amusing.
As for Boxers and Pirates...I saw the new Pirates movie. I enjoyed it, good flick. It ends very well and sets up the next one great. Plus, make sure you stay until after the credits for a little scene at the end wrapping up a loose end. Just like Star Trek III: The Search for Spock I believe the tag line on the Pirates III is going to be The Search for Jack.
As for Boxers...Rocky Balboa baby! This Christmas! Can't wait!
Oh...and a Transformers movie next year...yes, those Transformers.
Rock.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Why The A-Team Still Rocks
Big guy to Mr. T: "Whoa, you're a big one."
Mr. T to Big Guy: "Listen fool! I'm also a mean one!"
*THWACK* -Sound of Big guy's ass getting throw into a parked car
Dude to Murdoc: "You're nuts!"
Murdoc to dude: "No, I'm condements. I've been promoted!"
Love it!
Mr. T to Big Guy: "Listen fool! I'm also a mean one!"
*THWACK* -Sound of Big guy's ass getting throw into a parked car
Dude to Murdoc: "You're nuts!"
Murdoc to dude: "No, I'm condements. I've been promoted!"
Love it!
Friday, July 07, 2006
Boat Adventures
So on the first outing this year about halfway through a faint tapping sound started to be heard while we were hauling ass between a cove I like to swim in and a sand bar we mess around on. It was faint and I wasn't even sure I heard it at first. I kept pushing on anyway.
Once we got to the sandbar I poked around and found that the sound only appears in forward gear. When in neutral in reverse the engine purred like I am used to. 'Crap' thought I, 'it is a gear issue.' We putzed around for a bit longer then headed back to dock to get gas and see if someone was on duty who could check it out for me.
No one on duty. We filled up and on a whim I lifted the engine out of the water to check out the prop. Sure enough, one of the tips had bent back at a 90 degree angle. 'Ah ha!' I thought, 'Probably hit a board or a turtle or something on the way to the sandbar that bent the prop. THAT must be causing the sound.' So out we went and spent the rest of the day without incident, just a thumping noise caused by the prop.
On the next outing a few weeks later I bent the prop back and stuck the boat in the water. The battery was dead as a door nail. When I had put the boat in after the last outing I assumed I was going to be back the next week. However, it took three weeks before I could get anyone to go out (what is up with that?) and the battery was drained by then. We were able to get a jump from someone but the engine wasn't timmed all the way down when we pulled the jump cables off. I didn't think much of it at the time because the motor would generate power, right? Wrong. Apparently the engine doesn't generate enough power to trim itself, it pulls from the battery. With the battery dead I couldn't trim the engine down which means I couldn't get the boat on plane which means I couldn't go faster than 10 mph. We putzed around the lake for about 3 hours before there was enough power in the battery to trim the engine down to get on plane. After that, good times. Just had to leave the thing running the entire time.
Anyway, back to the main plot line. After the jump I reversed out of dock. Once the bow came around I put it into forward again. Thump thump thump. 'Shit, it wasn't the prop' the voice in my head said. Knowing now at this point it was a gear issue that I couldn't do anything about it presently we just went about our way.
July 4th was the following weekend. There wasn't enough time to get it into the shop and take it down to the river, so I gambled that I could get through the July 4th weekend without anything bad happening. Afterall, it hadn't gotten any louder, had it?
To shorten this story up a bit I got down to the river on Saturday. I took the boat out everyday the next three days for several hours each day (usually 5+). During the trip on Monday on the way back the thumping turned into a knocking that got louder and started to vibrate the boat some. 'Uh oh, I better get my ass back to port before...' WHACK! *engine whining* 'Shit!' Throttle back, the full boat looking at me, so I say: 'That is the sound of an engine dieing'.
True enough, putting the boat in forward made this aweful clanking noise. Reverse didn't make any weird noises but the prop didn't engage either. We were stuck.
So we flagged down a passing boat and they were kind enough to tow us over to the nearest marina. The plan was to call someone to pick us up so I could then bring my trailer out and pull the boat out of the water. Well, this marina didn't have a ramp. The only one that did that was nearby was a private yacht club and those people are evil. So I called a tow boat service that costs a cheap $175/hour (yes, an HOUR) to come out and tow me across the river to a dock on an island on the other side for the low low price of $255. The plan was for me to meet the guy over there to pick it up.
Well, I get over there and just as the guy comes around the point and under the bridge near the dock this HUGE storm comes in. Lightning and heavy winds. He is out there in his tow boat with my boat on a string about 20 ft behind him. He points his boat up wind and just maintains position trying to keep the two boats from being blown into something. I'm standing on the dock about 150 ft away soaked to the bone watching this spectacle and hoping I don't get whacked by the lightning striking all over the place. Luckily, the storm passes after about 20 minutes and he is able to bring the boat over. I walk it to the trailer and off I go.
So now the thing is at a shop down by the river. It's going to take them up to two weeks before they can look at it. Hopefully I just stripped or broke one of the gears in the transaxel-like thing in the lower unit and it can be replaced easily. If he has to replace the entire unit the part itself costs upwards of $3000. That would be bad, but he doesn't think that is the case.
I've been lucky in that I have had the boat for about 5 years and never had a mechinical issue, always electrical ones. Electical ones are a pain in the ass to find but usually very easy and cheap to fix. The reverse is normally true for mechinical issues.
So to summarize my last three weeks:
1) The fuel pump in my truck crapped out and had to be repaired.
2) The company I work for axed the tech division and me along with it
3) The lower unit in my boat blew up
Good times.
Once we got to the sandbar I poked around and found that the sound only appears in forward gear. When in neutral in reverse the engine purred like I am used to. 'Crap' thought I, 'it is a gear issue.' We putzed around for a bit longer then headed back to dock to get gas and see if someone was on duty who could check it out for me.
No one on duty. We filled up and on a whim I lifted the engine out of the water to check out the prop. Sure enough, one of the tips had bent back at a 90 degree angle. 'Ah ha!' I thought, 'Probably hit a board or a turtle or something on the way to the sandbar that bent the prop. THAT must be causing the sound.' So out we went and spent the rest of the day without incident, just a thumping noise caused by the prop.
On the next outing a few weeks later I bent the prop back and stuck the boat in the water. The battery was dead as a door nail. When I had put the boat in after the last outing I assumed I was going to be back the next week. However, it took three weeks before I could get anyone to go out (what is up with that?) and the battery was drained by then. We were able to get a jump from someone but the engine wasn't timmed all the way down when we pulled the jump cables off. I didn't think much of it at the time because the motor would generate power, right? Wrong. Apparently the engine doesn't generate enough power to trim itself, it pulls from the battery. With the battery dead I couldn't trim the engine down which means I couldn't get the boat on plane which means I couldn't go faster than 10 mph. We putzed around the lake for about 3 hours before there was enough power in the battery to trim the engine down to get on plane. After that, good times. Just had to leave the thing running the entire time.
Anyway, back to the main plot line. After the jump I reversed out of dock. Once the bow came around I put it into forward again. Thump thump thump. 'Shit, it wasn't the prop' the voice in my head said. Knowing now at this point it was a gear issue that I couldn't do anything about it presently we just went about our way.
July 4th was the following weekend. There wasn't enough time to get it into the shop and take it down to the river, so I gambled that I could get through the July 4th weekend without anything bad happening. Afterall, it hadn't gotten any louder, had it?
To shorten this story up a bit I got down to the river on Saturday. I took the boat out everyday the next three days for several hours each day (usually 5+). During the trip on Monday on the way back the thumping turned into a knocking that got louder and started to vibrate the boat some. 'Uh oh, I better get my ass back to port before...' WHACK! *engine whining* 'Shit!' Throttle back, the full boat looking at me, so I say: 'That is the sound of an engine dieing'.
True enough, putting the boat in forward made this aweful clanking noise. Reverse didn't make any weird noises but the prop didn't engage either. We were stuck.
So we flagged down a passing boat and they were kind enough to tow us over to the nearest marina. The plan was to call someone to pick us up so I could then bring my trailer out and pull the boat out of the water. Well, this marina didn't have a ramp. The only one that did that was nearby was a private yacht club and those people are evil. So I called a tow boat service that costs a cheap $175/hour (yes, an HOUR) to come out and tow me across the river to a dock on an island on the other side for the low low price of $255. The plan was for me to meet the guy over there to pick it up.
Well, I get over there and just as the guy comes around the point and under the bridge near the dock this HUGE storm comes in. Lightning and heavy winds. He is out there in his tow boat with my boat on a string about 20 ft behind him. He points his boat up wind and just maintains position trying to keep the two boats from being blown into something. I'm standing on the dock about 150 ft away soaked to the bone watching this spectacle and hoping I don't get whacked by the lightning striking all over the place. Luckily, the storm passes after about 20 minutes and he is able to bring the boat over. I walk it to the trailer and off I go.
So now the thing is at a shop down by the river. It's going to take them up to two weeks before they can look at it. Hopefully I just stripped or broke one of the gears in the transaxel-like thing in the lower unit and it can be replaced easily. If he has to replace the entire unit the part itself costs upwards of $3000. That would be bad, but he doesn't think that is the case.
I've been lucky in that I have had the boat for about 5 years and never had a mechinical issue, always electrical ones. Electical ones are a pain in the ass to find but usually very easy and cheap to fix. The reverse is normally true for mechinical issues.
So to summarize my last three weeks:
1) The fuel pump in my truck crapped out and had to be repaired.
2) The company I work for axed the tech division and me along with it
3) The lower unit in my boat blew up
Good times.
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