Movie: "Batman: The Dark Knight"
Review: 5 bill-stars Web site: thedarkknight.warnerbros.com

Well, wow. It's just as advertised... see it at the IMAX.
It's the fastest 2 1/2 hours this side of the Mississippi.

I hesitated on the elusive 5 bill-star rating because the movie isn't perfect. I didn't like some of the comic book themes of the story, and Maggie Gyllenhall (?) is the weak link in her wilting portrayal of an unattractive flavor of Katie Holmes.

But the movie is so over the top good in so many other areas:

• Great action scenes
  
• Stunningly beautiful... Chicago looks great!
  
• Outstanding acting: Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and almost all the supporting cast
• Great story, characters, and script

Hey, it was really different, and it was really good... that's the money.
I'll bet you a dollar that I go to see it again.
five stars... yow, bill

Labels: 5stars, movies

Movie: "Batman Begins"
Review: 4 bill-stars
Web site: The Paramount site was too annoying to reference... here's the IMDB guy: www.imdb.com/title/tt0372784

I rented this, the first Christian Bale Batman movie, so that I could go see the boffo new one at the IMAX... if they ever stop selling out, that is.

This movie is great, light fun.
I poo-poo Bale's weird affectation when he speaks, but whatever.

Now, I've got to rent Bale bizarre performance a hundred pounds ago in "The Machinist" and review that.
i'm not batman... yow, bill

PS Funny follow-up to Nat Enq John Edwards Love Child story. Business Week bends logic like a Chinese gymnast here to explain why the regular, old media won't touch the Edwards story:

I feel like pretending I'm John Belushi in "Animal House" and sneezing and coughing out "Bullshit" over and over again.

PPS - Shit, "Animal House"... made in 1978... 30 years old. Dop.

QOTD

"Over? Did you say 'over'?
Nothing is over until we decide it is!
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
Hell no!"
- Bluto/John Belushi, "Animal House"

Labels: 4stars, movies, politics, qotd

Two funny headlines today.

QOTD1

"SEN. JOHN EDWARDS CAUGHT WITH MISTRESS AND LOVE CHILD!"
- National Enquirer July 2008 headline

Whatever happened to the National Enquirer?
Funny story though:

And why is it "Enquirer" and not "Inquirer"?

QOTD2

"Al Gore Can Have His Meat and Eat It Too"
- July 2008 headline from some blog or something somewhere

The story is here:

The chick in the story asked Al Gore, basically, why he's not against meat since cows have a large carbon footprint. [I guess I should menti0n at this point that no, this isn't sarcasm or satire on my part in any way. I realize that may be difficult to believe, but try.] There are two, equally funny, responses to the question:

1. Al Gore - I don't care how much CO2 cows spew, I'm eating meat.
2. The chick who asked the question ends up being a global warming girl - She says that all we have to do is move all the farms closer to people (so we don't have to drive the meat, get it?) and also run farms more naturally. I suspect under her plan that Gore would get his meat, but others with slightly (cough) lower income levels may convert to tofu.
   

The other great line in the story... 5 years till the polar ice caps melt. Huzzah!
yow, bill

PS - A whiff of sanity as the American Physical Society (some group of physicists or something) almost questions the science of global warming in a technical paper by one of its members: www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/200807/monckton.cfm. I say "almost" because someone had a fit and posted on the APS web site that they like the article. Whatever.

Labels: globalwarming, politics, qotd

QOTD

"I believe in excellence. It is a basic need of every human soul. All of us can be excellent because, fortunately, we are exceedingly diverse in our ambitions and talents."
- Edward Teller

Edward Teller has an interesting take on global warming; it looks like this is from 1998.


So, Teller says, pretend we have global warming. Then you shoot particles in the sky (ala a volcano) to deflect 1% of the sunlight reaching the planet and problem solved.

Well, that's not so hare-brained (hair-brained? what's dumber... rabbits or hair?) an idea. And what costs more... slowing and taxing to death all human activity or blasting some reflective particles into the atmosphere? Shit, even I can do that math.

It's so telling (Teller telling... ugh) that even Mr. Skeptic over here (um, me) is so brainwashed that the concept of a technical solution is completely in the background and not even considered.

Teller's signature appears on the front page at the Global Warming Petition Project web site. Excellent.
yow, bill

Labels: globalwarming, qotd

Movie: "Charlie Bartlett"
Review: 1 bill-star

OK, roll the adjectives: gawd-awful, formulaic, boring, un-funny.
I credit the film-makers here with scrunching as many movie formulas into 90 minutes as they possibly could: smart teens and idiot adults, one charismatic teen (who happens to get the faux quirky girl, who is in actuality incredibly nubile), plenty of consequence-free teen drugs and sex... even the misunderstood bully, the misunderstood nerd, then misunderstood promiscuous cheerleader... all this wrapped in the inevitable happy ending. Sigh.

"Nubile"... he he.

Halfway through the movie, I realized I was watching a bad version of "Pump up the Volume" with Christian Slater. That movie waspretty much the same deal, but 1) it had Christian Slater, and 2) it had a nice little hook (the underground radio show thingie) and was at least entertaining.

Or, you could forget both these movies and watch "True Romance" again... which is now 15 years old. Gulp.

QOTD
"The world needs this renewal. In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading, an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair."
- The Pope, July 2008

Very nice quote there, Popey. It almost sounds like he's taking lessons from Al Gore.
I am going to go way out on a limb here and guess that the Pope's solution to renewal might, just might, involve people sending him gobs of cash. Again, just a crazy-ass guess on my part.

alabama... yow, bill

Labels: 1star, movies, qotd

QOTD

"Beer Cheaper Than Gas"
- Bar on 95th street in Oak Lawn

Ah, "Lucky's Lounge"... an Irishman's paradise, no doubt:


Harold is, of course, The Fried Chicken King. He's on 87th street in Chicago:



In Naperville, well Bolingbrook technically, Harold is white, but still terrorizing chickens:


Maybe "translucent" is a better description of Naperville Harold.

Finally, a cool "record store" (I know, I know... what the hell is that) called "Coop's Records" that's on 87th street a couple blocks from Harolds. It's closed, of course.


All these photos are also on my flickr account (in their original, huge size, I might add) at: www.flickr.com/photos/williamt

I was talking to Principal Spells today about the St Eth web site/blog. I wondered whether the stuff would still be there in 10 years or longer... a history of the school. What will blogger and google and the internet and America and life be like in 10 years. Ya got me.

It's win-win though... because it's all fun, right now. If I'm reading this while the "drool cup attendant" at the cranky old folk's home is attending to me, then all the better. "Listen up whippersnapper... I remember 2008..."
drool cup... yow, bill

Labels: qotd

QOTD

"Through your sacrifice and commitment, through your professionalism and skill, you are adding a proud new chapter to the already rich history of America's military service. It is clearly a case of serving something larger than self and it is impossible to calculate the value of what you are giving to our country."
- Gen David Patraeus, July 4, 2008 at the re-enlistment ceremony of 1,215 soldiers in Iraq

Did you hear about this one?
Yeah, me neither.
On July 4 this year, 1,215 re-enlisted in Iraq, the largest re-enlistment ceremony since the army went all volunteer in 1973.

Here are two stories:

1. online.wsj.com/article/SB121624997299260075.html - I read about it first in the WSJ.
   
2. newsblaze.com/story/20080704194340zmil.nb/topstory.html - I got the awesome picture to the right from this story.

Click on that picture over there... full-size, it is flipping awesome!

So, F the media.
And the pols.
And all the respect in the world to our army guys, who are the absolute best.
for john sullivan... yow, bill

Labels: politics, qotd

Jeez, Woody Allen is like 72 years old.

QOTD

“It’s all just bad news. You deteriorate physically and die! All the crap they tell you about — you know, dangling your grandchildren on your knee, and having a kind of wisdom in your golden years — it’s all tripe. I’ve gained no wisdom, no insight, no mellowing. I would make all the same mistakes again, today.”
- Woody Allen, 2005 on getting old

I've mellowed, but he's essentially right.
Wisdom? Hell no!

Soon-Yi is 37.
I have a hard time believing in it all... the two of them, but what the hell. Again, that lack of wisdom.

Almost forgot... Felecia and I stalked Woody and Soon-Yi at the Ritz in Paris on our honeymoon in 1996. Ha!

yow, bill

PS - QOTD2 rattling the castle, baby:

"I'm not mad
I'm just bored
And everything I do
Is only because
There's nothing much else
For me to do
And that includes you
And that includes you"
- Local H, "Fritz's Corner"

Labels: movies, qotd

Geez, story of the day.
So, they rescue a bunch of guys held by some nut-jobs in Colombia.
Nobody gets hurt or killed or whatever... total surprise on the terrorists.
So, how exactly do you pull that off in the middle of the dang jungle?

Easy... just pretend to be the Red Cross.
Excellent.

QOTD

"I don't appreciate your ruse ma'am. Your ruse. Your cunning attempt to trick me."
- Randall, "Clerks" (thanks Rob!)

snowball... yow, bill

Labels: politics, qotd

QOTD

"I’m really tired of comparing myself to Tom Cruise.”
- Steve Guttenberg

Um. Reality check, Steve.

Here's a picture of Jessica Lange being fondled by King Kong in 1976.


I thought Steve Guttenberg was in "King Kong", but he wasn't.
my bad... yow, bill

PS - The 1976 flavor of "King Kong" is a 3 bill-star effort, a rental.

Labels: 3stars, movies, qotd

Tony Snow follows Tim Russert as the second leg in a grand media death trinity. The third leg of this morbid triangle... who can say? I'm on the job.

Both Snow and Russert are being canonized. The media loves its own. Nobody is "better people" than a dead media guy. Who was the smarmy CBS Sunday morning guy who died, and then he ended up having two wives show up at the funeral or something. Hmm. Hold on a sac... ah, Charles Kuralt. Yeah, he had a second, secret family in Montana or something: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kuralt Excellent. Salt of the Earth.

That said, Snow did seem to handle his illness with grace, and he's the source of our first QOTD.
Eloquent QOTD1

"The art of being sick is not the same as the art of getting well. Some cancer patients recover; some don't. But the ordeal of facing your mortality and feeling your frailty sharpens your perspective about life. You appreciate little things more ferociously. You grasp the mystical power of love. You feel the gravitational pull of faith. And you realize you have received a unique gift — a field of vision others don't have about the power of hope and the limits of fear; a firm set of convictions about what really matters and what does not. You also feel obliged to share these insights — the most important of which is this: There are things far worse than illness — for instance, soullessness."
- Tony Snow, May 2005

Speaking of soullessness... I humbly present the AP, who took a shot at Snow, W's former press secretary, in his obit.
Classless (or soulless) QOTD2 (emphasis mine)

"With a quick-from-the-lip repartee, broadcaster's good looks and a relentlessly bright outlook — if not always a command of the facts — he became a popular figure around the country to the delight of his White House bosses."
- AP obit on Snow, July 2008

When will the dinosaur that is the AP go away. Soon? Eventually? No wait, I've got it... not soon enough.

Snow worked at FoxNews. So, en memorium, here's an anonymous hot FoxNews babe:



huzzah... yow, bill

Labels: politics, qotd

Yo yo yo,

Bio-tech startup Pacific Biosciences of California got $100M in financing... so says The Journal:


So what?
Well, the company claims that by 2010, it will have a process that sequences your DNA in 15 minutes. They don't mention the cost. You go to the doctor, get your DNA sequenced, and then analyzed for the kitchen sink. For what diseases are you pre-disposed? What medications are best for your biology? Eventually.

And please please please, know that this is the tip of the iceberg. If we're sequencing DNA in 2010, then what will we be doing in 2020? Think about it.

Must of this is foretold by my main man Ray Kurzweil. His book "The Singularity is Near" is 5 bill-star reading. Oh, here you go...

Book: "The Singularity is Near"
Review: 5 bill-stars
His web site: www.singularity.com ... click on "Resources" for some great nerd news.

This is the best and most fun tech books about the future that I have read. Period.

QOTD (paragraph breaks and emphasis are mine)

"None of the global warming discussions mention the word “nanotechnology.” Yet nanotechnology will eliminate the need for fossil fuels within 20 years. If we captured 1% of 1% of the sunlight (1 part in 10,000) we could meet 100% of our energy needs without ANY fossil fuels.

We can’t do that today because the solar panels are too heavy, expensive, and inefficient. But there are new nanoengineered designs that are much more effective. Within five to six years, this technology will make a significant contribution. Within 20 years, it can provide all of our energy needs. The discussions talk about current trends continuing for the next century as if nothing is going to change.

I think global warming is real but it has been modest thus far - 1 degree f. in 100 years. It would be concern if that continued or accelerated for a long period of time, but that’s not going to happen. And it’s not just environmental concern that will drive this, the $2 trillion we spend on energy is providing plenty of economic incentive. I don’t see any disasters occurring in the next 10 years from this. However, I AM concerned about other environment issues.

There are other reasons to want to move quickly away from fossil fuels including environmental pollution at every step and the geopolitical instability it causes."
- Ray Kurzweil, June 2006

Dang, that's money.
nano this... yow, bill

Labels: 5stars, books, globalwarming, technology

Book: "Petropolis"
Review: 2 bill-stars
Web site: www.anyaulinich.com

Pardon my sentence fragments: Yawn. Flat plot. 2-D characters (caricatures). Not worth reading.

I don't care if you're in Naperville or Siberia... some teenager complaining for 300 pages is a deal-breaker. I'm surprised I finished it. That was worth a star right there.

"Petropolis" googles to a lot of things... this book, a city in Brazil, a shop at the mall, a pet grooming place in St. Louis ("pet"-ropolis, get it... www.petropolis.com), and so on. This is a photo of the "Crystal Palace" in Petropolis in Brazil. Pretty cool.


And finally, QOTD:

"Sasha Goldberg is like Borat, but with a big heart!"
- Gary Shteyngart, from the back cover of "Petropolis"

Well, Sasha Goldberg is the main character from "Petropolis". That quote is on the back cover pimping the book. Do you have to read the book for that to sound really bizarre? Borat with a big heart? What the F?
borat schmorat... yow, bill

Labels: 2stars, books, qotd

That's Elaine Chao over there. Hi Elaine!
What a great article/interview in yesterday's WSJ:


I don't know diddly about Elaine Chao. It looks like she's the Secretary of Labor now. More interestingly, she immigrated to the US from Taiwan in 1961. Funny how immigrants to this country seem to have a little better perspective on things.

QOTD1

"So I see opportunities in this country, perhaps, in a slightly different way... America really is unique. It's really a land of meritocracy, where it doesn't matter where you were born, who you know. If a person works hard, most of the time..."
- Elaine Chao... WSJ Jul 12, 2008

As for her work for the feds, like I said, who knows. She does, however, knock the cover off the ball in shunning the example of Europe and socialism as the future for the U.S.

QOTD2

"Some in Washington want to increase benefits, regulations and mandates and that's the European model. That is not the path we want to follow long term."
- Elaine Chao... WSJ Jul 12, 2008

Dang jack, that's quote of the year.
Now, a presidential candidate who trumpeted that message.
huzzah... yow, bill

PS - Idea: Maybe global warming will end up like the ozone hole crap from the 80's. The hysterical resolution of that hysterical crisis, as far as I know, was a couple of rules on air conditioning and aerosol spray cans. I think. In other words, both sides exaggerated things as much as they possibly could. The problems wasn't a big deal, and the solution didn't bring the world to a halt.

As more people (re. China, India, Brazil, etc) compete for natural resources like oil, the price will go up. As that price goes up, new energy sources will be tapped. I also like the US and W's approach to a lot of this... "oh yeah, we'll have something for you by 2050"... sure we will. Su-weet!

PPS - I hope.

PPPS - Tim Russert. Tony Snow. Who will complete the media death trinity?!? I can't wait to rail on the sainthood appointed any media figure who dies. I'll talk about that as soon as our third leg keels over. He he.

Labels: globalwarming, politics, qotd

QOTD

"My first act will be to demand the surrender of all the governments of Earth, via the United Nations Security Council. You have no alternative. Legal details of this process can be found on my web site."
- Doctor Impossible, proclamation upon world domination... "Soon I Will Be Invincible"

Book: Soon I Will Be Invincible
Review: 4 bill-stars

I read "Soon I Will Be Invincible" in Vegas with Kim39. It's a great vacation read for any (immature) guy... almost as good as packing Bukowski's "Post Office" in the old suitcase.

The book is like "The Invincibles", but for adults. Super heroes (Corefire, Damsel, Blackwolf, Fatale, Elphin, Mister Mystic) and super-villains (Doctor Impossible, Baron Ether, Dollface, Psychic Prime) abound. The book also reminds me a little of "The Tick" cartoon as well. It's super-light and super-fun. Woot!

I was googling for an appropriate picture, and it looks like there was a DC comic character Doctor Impossible (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Impossible). Whatever. He looks a lot less interesting than the book's Doc Imp, and I'm kind of glad the author isn't a total comic book geek. Blech.

QOTD2

"Having accepted your surrender, I will begin the launch of the new Ice Age, the Age of Doctor Impossible. An era of science and marvels and, of course, my total domination of the world."
- Doctor Impossible

world domination... yow, bill

PS - Blackjack x 2:

Labels: 4stars, books, qotd

QOTD

"I'm not going to put a lesbian in a position like that."
- Jesse Helms, 1993 on not voting for a HUD secretary or something

Jesse completes a nifty death trinity: George Carlin, Bozo (Larry Harmon), and Jesse Helms.
Of the three, only Bozo was funny.
I stood in line for more than an hour at 6 in the morning to vote against Jesse Helms in 1984. Oh well.

This will be a great topic in the future... the role of computers in policing human beings.

• China is using drones for surveillance during the Olympics (the story)
• Street surveillance cameras in London, Chicago, and well, everywhere. Add to these cameras 1) better (re. nearly perfect and instantaneous) facial recognition software, 2) dirt-cheap storage and computing, and 3) a "who the hell cares" public opinion, and you've got a brave new world, my friend. Right?
• Of course, there are automated speeding tickets (Arizona and IL construction zones), red light surveillance and other situations where a computer can give you a ticket.
• And the military, social, ethical and moral ramifications of a drone army hurt my head.
  

I don't have even a kernel of an answer on these things, except I feel we're headed in the wrong direction. Either that or I'm just an old coot.

Now, armies of Chinamen ("Um, dude. That is not the preferred nomenclature.") on Segways. That doesn't hurt my head; it hurts my sides laughing.

I love that photo.
Attack!
run away... yow, bill

Labels: politics, qotd

QOTD

"The sum of these and other measures would undoubtedly slow GDP growth considerably in the United States."
- James Gustave Speth on changes needed to combat global warming

Amen, brother.
I dislike cursing (not really), but gol dang it, this guy and this article is the shit:


I commend Mr. Speth for his rare honesty in these times. He makes the (obvious) connection that none of these other global warming mopes (re. politicos) will announce publicly: the answer to (so-called) global warming is to lower the standard of living here and, I suppose, anywhere else they can get their hands on.

Now before you over react to your way of life being torqued down, rest easy. Mr. Speth sees a lot of side benefits to this approach including more vacation time and a shorter work week. I'll bet! The means to this utopia is, of course, more government control and socialism. That's a shocker.

Speth is from Yale Environmental Something or Other. Can I offer a couple wild-assed guesses, just off the top of my head?

• I'll bet they do quite well over there at Yale, and Mr. Speth's quality of living is quite nice, thank you. I don't know if his place is as placial as Al Gore's, but whatever.
  
• I'll wager as well that Mr. Speth travels his f'ing ass off. I'll bet he travels business class or first class when his mileage points are worthy of an upgrade. I'll bet he drives a Prius or some hybrid, but usually takes a limo to/from the airport.
  
• And I'll push the rest of my chips out on the table that Mr. Speth gets a big chunk of money from the feds and the UN and whatever other government teet he can find. Here, at least Al Gore is hooked into a venture capital firm, where he'll make millions more than he ever dreamed out of the feds.
  

The irony to me is that even if there were global warming the solution would be greater focus on advancement and solving the problem through growth and capitalism. Just like, um, I don't know... all the other problems that have been solved that way over the last century.

That hot chick with the parrot is from Yale Environmental, I think. Talk about your global warming. Sorry... couldn't resist.
polly want a cracker... yow, bill

Labels: globalwarming, politics, qotd

QOTD

"I'm sweating in the sun like a Tijuana whore."
- Sock fan description of a game at Wrigley, "The Break-up"

Movie: "The Break-up"
Rating: 4 bill-stars.
3 bill-stars for the movie and 1 more for the ending.
I was really surprised at how good the movie was... thanks Bridge!
rubdown... yow, bill

PS - Yes dammit. "The Break-up" is better than "Wall-E". Shit. At least in "Break-up" the Earth isn't covered in garbage because they somehow ran out of holes. Shit. Again.

Labels: movies, qotd

QOTD

"I'm Mister White Christmas
I'm Mister Snow
I'm Mister Icicle
I'm Mister Ten Below
Friends call me Snow Miser
What ever I touch
Turns to snow in my clutch
I'm too much!"
- Snow miser song from Frosty the Snowman cartoon (from back in the day)

Holy crap this is absolutely wonderful, required reading from today's WSJ:

I hope this link is somewhat permanent... there's a picture with some kid in the foreground carrying a sign saying "Cold is Cool". In the background, there's one "Hot is not Smart". So great.

Stephens' three explanations for mass belief in global warming:

1. Ideological convenience - use global warming as a justification for socialism and repudiation of capitalism
   
2. Theological - it's a religion; it's morality, not science
3. Psychological - penance is required for our success

Can I be so bold as to add a 4th explanation, Mr. Stephens?
It just feels good fitting in with the crowd. I am with the people that care, that get it... and you aren't.

You have a lot of that these days: anti-smokers, virulent anti-W people, global warming types, etc.
freedom first... yow, bill

Labels: globalwarming, politics, qotd