1. Steve Forbes, the anti-Obama
Book: "How Capitalism Will Save Us" by Steve Forbes
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... good.

I agree with most of what Forbes writes about... economic freedom and limited government. That's the good part. But the bar part is that his book is very dry. It's pretty much a straight line recitation of stats and facts supporting his case... one after the other.

I was cranky about this. A few chapters in, I finally connected the dots, that Steve Forbes is the anti-Obama.

• Forbes ain't much to look at,
• He's not much of a sweet talker (cough),
• He's cares about individual freedom, and
• He's right.
  

Forbes' summary in the epilogue contains 14 points that summarize the book. It's the wrong level of detail for a summary. Give me your top 3 or top 5 principles, not 14 long-winded "do-this, do-that" points. This QOTD is a better summary of Forbes' book than that.

QOTD

"Bottom Line: Trust we the people. We are the economy!"
- Steve Forbes, the last line from "How Capitalism Will Save Us"

2. Census nonsense
How much are they (we!) spending on the census this year?
Just a cool $14B. (source)

Well Bill, you might say, maybe that's not so much.
OK.
The census cost $2.5B in 1990 and $4.5B just 10 years ago.
Let's see... 14/4.5... that's more than a triple of the amount spent on the previous census.

Included in this is a $340M marketing budget that includes the following nonsense:

• A mailer sent to everyone announcing that your census mailer was coming. The tab for mailing a letter to everyone in the United States... $57M (source)
• From the above link: "To coordinate this campaign, the Census Bureau awarded a $212 million contract to a New York City-based advertising firm."
  
• A Super Bowl ad that cost $2.5M (source)
  
• A ridiculous rap commercial with the tag line, "We can't move forward until you mail it back" (source)
• Sponsoring a car in Nascar at $1.2M (source)
  
• Sponsoring by Dora the Explora (source), but I couldn't find Dora's take of this mega-kitty
  

The census guys (the ones snarfing the dinners and strip club visits from doling out all this PR/consultant work) claim that this marketing budget is making us money. The census saves money with an increased response rate.

Dude. C'mon.

3. Insulting
The Obama administration is going after, of all people, Israel.
David Axelrod says of Israel's announcements of new settlements: "This was an affront, it was an insult... and for this announcement to come at that time was very destructive." (source)

Let's see. Choose between Israel (democracy and staunch ally) or David Axelrod... easy call.
trust we the people... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books, politics

1. Mortgage Banker Payback
Funniest story of the day:


Even funnier QOTD...

QOTD

"We have come to the inescapable conclusion that owning our own building was the smartest long-term investment for the association."
- Mortgage Banker's Association in 2007, on buying their building

I guess foreclosure would have been more appropriate, but still... pretty funny.

2. Hopey Changey
Sarah Palin's "Tea Party" speech was chockful 'o Obama zingers.
Back to that in a second.

QOTD2

"Now, a year later, I got to ask the supporters of all that...
how is that hope-y, change-y stuff working out for you,"
- Sarah Palin, source

Hopey, changey... jeez. good one.

It dawns on this addled observer... why is Sarah Palin the only one calling this guy out?
Even this crappy blog pulls punches, I must admit.
Why?
Is it a black guy thing? Or social pressure? Fear of not dating hot 40-somethings?
I honestly don't know.
Processing...

QOTD3

"I think instead of lecturing, he needs to stop and he needs to listen on health care issues, on national security."
- Sarah Palin

Cha.
I read that now Obama is calling for a meeting with repubs on health care.
Now.
NOW!

Fucking idiot.
You've had a year... the Senate... the Congress... 53-47 victory over an 80 year-old stiff... 10% unemployment... few trillions in debt... and NOW you want to talk about health care reform.
Pathetic.

I have a better idea... more talks with Iran.

3. Book Review
Book: "The Night in Question" by Tobias Wolff
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... very good

Good read.
I am much more a novel guy than short stories, but still good.
Thanks, Matt for the rec.

QOTD4

"He was big in every direction - tall and rotund with a massive head, a trophy head."
- Tobias Wolff, "The Night in Question" page 191

BTW, the best short story of the bunch was the shortest and the last, "Bullet in the Brain"... about a guy who... well, just read it.
He he he.
hopey changey not... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books, fun, politics, qotd

1. Crazy Heart
Movie: "Crazy Heart"
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... really good

Let's see...

• Outstanding performance by Jeff Bridges.
• This is a fun, slow movie with lots of fun country music
• Good ending
• I'm definitely buying the soundtrack
  

It's a great date movie... or maybe I just had a great date... who can tell?

QOTD

"Falling feels like flying... for a little while"
- some good, ole, hard-drinkin and hard-livin country lyrics from "Crazy Heart"

2. Crazy Pol
Book: "End the Fed" by Ron Paul
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth reading

OK, Ron Paul isn't crazy, and the book is OK.
Ron Paul is an ideologue who takes his beliefs and extrapolates... gets kind of old after a while.

Here's Paul's basic argument, as I see it... "The Fed", since it was established in 1914 or something, has too much power and is corrupt and has led to the ruination of the United States.
OK.
Well, the obvious problem with this argument is that, under our current system, we have ascended to being the lone superpower in the world, both economically and politically.

To his credit though, Ron Paul puts his money on the table. He says that unless we go to a gold-based monetary system pronto, we're doomed.
So, when the US crashes in flames, I'll come back and give Ron Paul his props.

That said, I absolutely agree with Ron Paul's call for an end to Fed secrecy and shenanigans. There is no reason for the Fed to operate outside of scrutiny and without being audited.
I also absolutely agree with Paul's implication that far too much power has shifted to Washington DC in our country.


3. Quirky links
A couple-a quirky links por vu...


It's so tough to be an artist, right? You can be completely amazing and you're likely to be completely poor and obscure at the same time. In just a few minutes of trolling, I found some really cool stuff on "Art blog". Check it out... these click are definitely worthy:

• Redesign of the dollar - bunch-a artists create their own dollar bills
• A single sheet of paper - amazing designs from just a piece of paper... the hand below is an example
  
• Egg shell art - thousands of tiny holes in an egg, jeez
  

This is a weird, fun music site. Click away on the squares and enjoy.
crazy, crazy, quirky... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books, fun, movies, politics

1. Blatant bias
There has been a shift. I think.
In the last decade, the notion of even pretending to be an unbiased news network has been completely discarded. FoxNews leans to the right. CNN is now the FoxNews of the left. MSNBC is a train wreck. ABC/NBC/CBS... who cares.

A little anecdotal evidence of this (from a rightie site, Newsbusters)...
The MA election of Scott Brown was "important" and was expected to have a substantial impact going forward, especially if the repub guy won. The Newsbusters article below shows how much of each candidate's acceptance speech was covered by each network:


I detailed here at williamt what jags CNN were when this Scott Brown guy won.
At this point, I know of no unbiased news source on the tube.

2. Movie Review
Movie: (500) Days of Summer
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... just ok.

Pretty vanilla girlie movie about a girl named Summer. It was pleasant enough... hence the 3 stars. Yawn. It was a good date movie, I reckon.

This decidedly 20-something movie is replete with 70's and 80's music.
Why don't 20-somethings have their own music? Curious.

The role of Summer is played by a girl named Zooey Deschanel. She's quirky hot, I reckon (again):

Zooey?

Anyway, she sort of reminds me of quirky hot 40-something Nancy Kerrigan:


Please don't email me that I said Nancy Kerrigan is hot. I know I said she's hot. Look, I'm not saying she's brilliant or a role model for my many children or going to win the Nobel Peace Prize (on second thought)... I'm saying she's a quirky hot little 40-something.
So get bent.
cranky in the morning... yow, bill

PS - Fun spam this morning... courtesy www.modcloth.com, here's a dandy outfit for that trip you're taking to the psychiatrist to up your meds.

Labels: 3stars, movies, politics

1. Some repub guy won!
So, some repub guy from MA won... hopefully stalling Crappy ObamaCare. I ought to trademark "Crappy ObamaCare (TM)". Who knows if this election is really important, but it certainly garnered the news spotlight last night.

The guy is Scott Brown. He had that great "the people's seat" tag line.
So, pretty big deal.
Pretty big Obama setback.
So, I invested 10 minutes in "legitimate" media.
CNN.
And CNN's coverage:

1. The repub guy won.
2. Showed some bizarre nearly naked photos of him from the 80's (no, I not kidding)
3. Called the guy a few names, like "obscure", "inexperienced", "populist", etc
   
4. Blamed the loss on the guy's dullard dem opponent, Marcia Coakley or something
   

CNN is the Fox News of the left. No diff.
MSNBC is so stupid, I don't think they call themselves a news channel any more. I don't think.

Oh and Teddy Kennedy... who's your Daddy, loser!

Ah, that felt good.
Anyway, I still believe, hook or crook, they're going to pass something. I mean they're not just going to flush the whole first year of hope and change down the crapper. Right, President Obama? Right!!!

2. Buffet QOTD
Warren Buffet, a big Obama guy, chimed in on President Obama's proposed bank tax.

QOTD

“Look at the damage Fannie and Freddie caused, and they were run by the Congress. Should they have a special tax on congressmen because they let this thing happen to Freddie and Fannie? I don’t think so.”
- Warren Buffet, source

Cha!

3. New feature: Recipes!
First off, my fave recipe site is www.allrecipes.com.
Here are my first two reviews.

Recipe: Lasagna Alfredo Rollups... recipe link
Review: 4 bill-stars... excellent!

YUMMY!
I had help from the beautiful and tiny M in preparing this bad boy. Fun fun fun.
Add more garlic next time, but it was great with red wine. Like everything else, I know.

Recipe: Hearty Chicken and Noodle Casserole... recipe link
Review: 3 bill-stars... very good!

Ty and I whipped this one up.
I need to spice it up a little, but it was a good start.
Ty had seconds! And didn't puke!
yow, bill

PS - I watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" again last night. 5 bill-stars. Wonderful!

PPS - That hot bikini girl is some actor's girlfriend. Who cares. He he.

Labels: 3stars, 4stars, politics, qotd, recipes

Sigh.
Mitch Rapp's new jacket.
QOTD

"The jacket was perfect, at least in terms of what he was looking for. It had big square oversized pockets in the front. Good for holding weapons. No flaps. Good for extracting weapons. There was a tear on the left shoulder seam, but that was all right. He wouldn't be hanging out at the Ritz. Both the mosque and Khalil's apartment were in a rundown part of town. It was a pity he couldn't keep the jacket, but there was a pretty good chance he was going to get blood on it. This one was going to be messy."
- Vince Flynn on Mitch Rapps' jacket in "Consent to Kill"

Golly.

Movie: "The Road"
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... really good.

I gave the book 4 bill-stars: Desolate Desolation.
The movie was really, really good.
Just not as good as the book. How could it be?
The subject isn't too endearing either... bleakness. I thought they did pretty well though, and it wasn't really boring at all. In fact, it might have been a better movie if we felt some of the boredom and mundane desperation that you feel in the book, rather than the more episodic nature of the movie.

Look, Viggo was better than I thought he would be. But still... casting Viggo and Charlize Theron as post-apocalyptic survivalists... jeez, they're too hot. I don't care how you muss them up.
It was a very creative and interesting movie to watch... definitely worth seeing.
yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, movies, qotd

Two "up" movies on New Year's Day.
Just a coincidence, but a nice 2010 omen, perhaps.

Movie: "Up"
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... okay.

"Up" (imdb) was barreling toward 2 bill-stars and ignominy, but a nice, happy, sappy ending made it "worth it" for me. Good Lord, the sugar-sweet saccharin-y yuk of this movie. My teeth hurt.

I also find that I'm getting tired of the Pixar brand. The animation all has a similar feel. The scripts rely a lot on cliche, a "hook"... rather than something a little deeper or more interesting. "Up" has a very commercial, sterile feel to it. And you know that Pixar is Disney now, and gol dang if they didn't start the movie by killing off the Mom or, in this case, the Wife. (No, she wasn't shot by a hunter... he he) Still, it was weird and felt manipulative.

Movie: "Up in the Air"
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... great!

Jason Reitman made "Juno"... I think I like "Up in the Air" (imdb and website) even better. "Up in the Air" is a lot less cutesy than "Juno" and Clooney is the shit.

"Up in the Air" was funny and positive and interesting... strong, strong acting performances by Clooney and the girls and all. I have this predilection toward 40-something relationship movies these days (ha!), and a lot of this one rings true. It was really nice to think I knew where the movie was going and then have it not go there.

And the great topper was fun 40-something relationship movie chat afterward over faux margaritas. Life imitates art.
peace out... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, 4stars, movies

1. Follow the money
I had a physical reaction (stomach turning) to this story and QOTD.


QOTD

"... between 2000 and 2006, Mr. Jones was the recipient (or co-recipient) of some $19 million worth of grants"
- Mr. Jones is director of the Climate Research Institute (CRU), and a lead actor in the Climategate email scandal

$19 million of research $$$ to this fraud.
Barf.

I salute the late Michael Crichton. He called this one in spades in his book "State of Fear". Politicians and scientists require panic, a state of fear, to extract their tolls from society's worker bees. Today's panic du jour is global warming. Tomorrow's?

2. Shopgirl: book and movie
Book: "Shopgirl" by Steve Martin
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... just OK

Movie: "Shopgirl"
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... better than just OK

I got the book because the movie was surprisingly good to me... the power of low expectations. Steve Martin's movie career peaked with "The Jerk", then the excellent "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", and hit bottom with a remake of "The Pink Panther", which I believe the army forced Gitmo terrorists to watch as one of their advanced interrogation techniques.

The book was just OK... not as good as the movie. It's a tiny novella. The narration became more and more over the top as the book crept on. It was weird because I was interested in the characters (because of the movie?), but the book's descriptions became less interesting as the pages turned.

3. Investing decade
Tough investing decade, eh.

QOTD2

"The S&P 500 is down 24.5% so far this decade... but only three of the ten S&P 500 sectors have underperformed the index as a whole in the 2000s -- Telecom, Technology, and Financials."
- excellent Bespoke investing blog, source

Here's the accompanying chart for this QOTD:


I think this theme could very well apply to the coming decade as well... focusing investment in the hot sector(s) or country or asset class, rather than owning the market in general.
In attempting to implement this notion, I heart my ETF's.
buy low... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books, globalwarming, investing, movies, myphoto, qotd

A good article on the state of the Naperville castle market:

A Tale of Two Housing Markets: No Recovery at the High End

Define a "castle" as a Naperville house listed for $1M or more... stats list:

• 132 of 844 Naperville houses for sale are castles
  
• Castles have been on the market an average of > 500 days
• Only 10 of 174 contracts pending are for castles
  
• Only 28 castles have sold YTD

And the cherry on top... 23 mega-castles are listing for > $2M, only 1 of those has sold YTD
Yikes.


Book: "Skylight Confessions" by Alice Hoffman
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... OK

OK, interesting and all... but very girlie.
not a girl... yow, bill

PS - Tiger Woods with this repellent, sloppy brunette. Oh, brother.
www.nationalenquirer.com/tiger_woods_cheating_rachel_uchitel_exposed_source/celebrity/67747

Labels: 3stars, books, fun, myphoto

I heart my new t-shirt.

QOTD

"We are not joggers"
- motto at www.runlikeananimal.com/home

Book: "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Stout
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth it

See that shiny gold circle on the book over there to the right. "Pulitzer Prize". That caught my eye. I read the back cover, and it seemed interesting enough, so I snarfed it up.

I got it home and then read the front cover... a testimonial from Oprah Magazine. Dop.

Anyway, it was OK. Definitely girlie in parts. It was an easy read because of the author's pleasant writing style. I cracked up when Olive goes berserk because the guy she's having dinner with voted for W. That's happened to me more than once. He he.

But the book's true strength is its treatment of how hard it is to get old. Specifically, how hard it is to get old and to maintain relationships with family and friends and lovers. It did this really well.

QOTD

"And so, if this man next to her now was not a man she would have chosen before this time, what did it matter? He most likely wouldn't have chosen her either. But here they were, and Olive pictured two slices of Swiss cheese pressed together, such holes they brought to this union - what pieces life took out of you."
- "Olive Kitteridge" on having a boyfriend late in life

Funny one right here.
I'm censoring myself.

I'm censoring like two different things about my "Olive" book. I don't remember doing that before. I mean obviously there's personal details censorship all the time, but I don't remember censoring my opinion before. You can ask me about it in person, but I won't post it here. Interesting. Funny.
censor this... yow, bill

PS - The "I voted for W" test is an excellent one. A test of tolerance. If you can't tolerate someone of a different political view than yours, then you got issues... more issues than I can handle. If Marilyn Manson can rape the rapers, then I can not tolerate the intolerant. Cha.

Labels: 3stars, books, fun, marathon

I ran 10 miles this morning. That's my last "long" training run before my half next Saturday.

Chicago Marathon is underway as we speak.
Funny story about my favorite marathon, the Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee... the top 2 women were DQ'd: one for drinking non-official water and one for listening to her Ipod. Huh?

QOTD

"Clem"
- Doc Holliday's nickname for his girlfriend, Clementine (he he)

Movie: "My Darling Clementine" by John Ford
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... very good

"Clementine" is actually the gunfight at the OK Corral.
You know... Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday and the Clantons and all.

Very good:

• Henry Fonda was excellent.
• Victor Mature (to the right there) always struck me as a weird, weird-looking dude, and he does that well in this movie too.
  
• The chicks were hot hot hot. Clementine was the good girl, and she was hot. The bad girl was faux Mexican (I don't think you could be "real" Mexican in those days) and she was hot hot hot. Ay carumba hot. Her character's name was (pause) Chihuahua. He he.
• There's a screenful of great character actors that you know from a zillion other movies. I saw Bert the Cop from IAWL in there. Walter Brennan. Excellent.
• Beautiful western scenery is signature John Ford, eh.
  

After that, it was a pretty convoluted story. Slow. The characters were only mildly interesting. Quick, put a bow on it, ending. I had higher hopes, I reckon.

This was my first Netflix experience. I finally had to do something... shit, they closed 3 different Hollywood Videos on me. He he. Anyway, Netflix worked fine, and I'm signed up for 2 movies a month for $5. Why not.
clem... yow, bill

PS - Here's Chihuahua (Linda Darnell), the picture isn't from "Clementine", but who cares... you get the idea.

Labels: 3stars, movies, qotd

Book: "Housekeeping" by Marilynne Robinson
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... good

This is the same girl who wrote "Gilead".
I like "Gilead" better, but "Housekeeping" is worthy.

I like Miz Robinson's slow, slow style. Her writing style is very smooth, readable, and wonderful. Both her books have had strong endings. That's rare. I also like that her books have "smack you in the face" themes.

"Housekeeping" isn't as interesting as "Gilead". "Gilead" was hoisted on the shoulders of following the old man through all his questioning and self-doubt and whatever. "Housekeeping" follows a teen-age girl through her trials and tribulations, which just isn't as compelling. The description of the town and neighbors was (I think) intentionally barren to make the girls seem more isolated. Well, that's OK, but it hurt my interest in the book.

There's a wonderful theme in parts of the book about the importance of things we don't see or don't know in everyday things or relationships. You look at someone and what they have done or achieved, but you don't see the things, good and bad, that they did not do. It's sort of like understanding how negative space can dominate a photograph. What's not there, not present is more important than what's there.

The gripping and beautiful example of this in the book is the suicide of the girls' mother. The girls wonders if her mother had not gone through with her suicide, then the young girl would never know it, never know the struggle won by not doing something. Here's a (long) QOTD that really captured this for me.

QOTD

"I remember her, grave with the peace of the destined, the summoned, and she seems almost an apparition.

But if she had simply brought us home again to the high frame apartment building with the scaffolding of stairs, I would not remember her that way.

Her eccentricities might have irked and embarrassed us when we grew older. We might have forgotten her birthday, and teased her to buy a car or to change her hair. We would have left her finally. We would have laughed together with bitterness and satisfaction at our strangely solitary childhood, in light of which our failings would seem inevitable, and all our attainments miraculous.

Then we would telephone her out of guilt and nostalgia, and laugh bitterly afterward because she asked us nothing, and told us nothing, and fell silent from time to time, and was glad to get off the phone. We would take her to a restaurant and a movie on Thanksgiving and buy her best-sellers for Christmas. We would try to give her outings and make her find some interests, but she would soften and shrink in our hands, and become infirm. She would bear her infirmities with the same taut patience with which she bore our solicitude, and with which she had borne every other aspect of life, and her silence would make us more and more furious."

- Ruthie, first person in "Housekeeping"

Strong.
peace... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books, myphoto, qotd

QOTD

"Profession: ex bartender"
- too funny POF online dating profile

All the shenanigans and all the trillions... can't our government at least pass a law that would spare me from spam that includes men in tighty whitey underwear?


QOTD2

"Freedom is just another word for 'time to kick your ass' "
- Captain Freedom

Book: "Captain Freedom" by G. Xavier Robillard
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... OK, worth reading (barely)
Website: www.captainfreedom.net

The author, G, is a blogger. No, of course I didn't know that before I bought the book. Who'd buy a book written by a blogger? I was just interested in parlaying some more immature male adult fiction. So, I lose.

It wasn't bad... a couple hundred pages of pop culture one-liners. OK, that sounds bad. Um, it wasn't bad because it was very light and sometimes funny. Phew. I was proud on a number of occasions that I had no clue as to the pop culture reference the guy was making. "Pat pat" on the back for me.

The WSJ is a "hot mess" this morning. Jeez.
I got nothing... no links, no list, no commentary, no more, no nuttin.
It's just a cesspool of leftie nonsense with a single common thread: increase the power of government, decrease the power of the individual (um, you and me).
total hot mess... yow, bill

PS - "ex bartender"... get it. I haven't stopped cracking up/smiling since I saw that one. What's wrong with me? Talk about an easy mark. So be it! He he.

Labels: 3stars, books, politics, qotd

Book: "Odd Man Out" by Matt McCarthy
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth reading.

Just OK... it's basically a bunch of minor league baseball stories.
This is the definition of light reading.
And now, the guy's a doctor or something. OK.
BTW, that's "Odd Man Out", not "Eight Men Out", the movie with John Cusack in it.

That's Henry the Puffy Taco over there... there's a minor league story for you.

Good QOTD though.

QOTD

"Go ugly early, gentlemen. No sense waitin' all night for the girl of your dreams."
- Minor league coach on players finding a "slump buster", an ugly girl

out...yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books

Movie: Angels & Demons
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth seeing.

This movie was a big upgrade from yawn-fest "The Davinci Code". A&D is much more an action movie. It was fun. Mindless fun. I gotta read A&D again.

QOTD

"We have to do it this year, not next year. Mother Nature does not do bailouts"
- Al Gore, source

I'm with Big Al.

1. Sell panic.
   
2. Tax it.
   
3. Rinse.
4. Repeat.

green... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, movies, politics, qotd

QOTD

"So many dreams that flew away
So many words we didn't say
Two people lost in a storm
Where did we go?"
- Lionel Richie, "Still"

Why does IMDB still use popup ads?
Anyway, read on.

Movie: Star Trek 2009
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth seeing.

Well, the best thing about the movie was the excellent cast. The guys playing Kirk and Spock were especially good. The movie was a lot of fun and had funny moments.

The bad?

• Well, the plot was silly. I know... they all are. But this one was very un-Trek-like in not giving a whit about the science or technology or whatever.
• Generic, boring villain... a disgruntled Romulan. Aren't they all disgruntled?
• The IMAX version didn't have any special IMAX juice for my two cents... unlike Batman and Watchmen.
• It was almost like a "GalaxyQuest" satire of Star Trek, but not.
  

I enjoyed it, but just ok. Mozy liked it more than me.

Hey, the new Kirk had a new hot green chick... not as good as the old, I mean, original hot green chick.


QOTD2

"We played the games that people play
We made our mistakes along the way
Somehow I know deep in my heart
You needed me
Cause I needed you... so desperately!
We were too blind to see"
- Lionel Richie, "Still"

I'll bet Jim Kirk plays Lionel Richie for his hot green chicks.
he he... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, movies, qotd

QOTD

"It is good to see Mr. Spitzer back in form. We plan to take his view that we have been wrong on everything for 10 years as, in its own peculiar way, a vote of confidence."
- WSJ editorial board (excellent) response to Elliot Spitzer criticism

Book: "Five Skies" by Ron Carlson
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth reading

This book had 4 bill-stars in hand... that money was spent. And then it ended. Dop.

The end was so rushed and unsatisfactory, that it knocked a dang bill-star right off the review. It's like the author was writing and then the Fedex guy showed up at the front door or something, so he ended it.

Two great things about this book.

1. It's a manly book... about guys building stuff and peeing outside and all.
2. It narrowly focuses on 3 characters. I like that style, and the characters were interesting and well-developed.

Stupid ending.
he he... yow, bill

PS - I found this trolling... a better, more detailed review of "Watchmen" than mine. I agree with most of what he's saying, especially the ending and the blue weener. Beware, it's chockful 'o spoilers:

Labels: 3stars, books, qotd

I heart capitalism.

I haven't gotten the Wall Street Journal for a couple months now because they jacked the price up on me. I held out, and this morning they called and backed down. I win. But so does the journal.

I got an ad in gmail to this ridiculous site: www.wrinkydinks.com
They sell such dog poop-related products as:

• Chocolate Doo Drops - chocolate candy in the shape of (a disturbingly realistic) dog plop.
• Poop Candles - ditto
• Dog Poop 2009 Calendar - sigh
  

On a serious note, they do offer a fine urn for your dead dog's ashes: Dog Memorial Urn
Of course, these guys are also the proprietors of www.bikesnbones.com which produced today's QOTD.

QOTD

"Pirate and Biker Clothing, Collectibles, and Gifts"
- Motto of www.bikesnbones.com

I hope Mr. Wrinky Dink and Mrs. Bikes 'n Bones are sitting on a beach drinking pina coladas... laughing their asses off, right now.

Too great. I heart capitalism. It's freedom, baby.
The freedom to create poop candy and haggle over prices and succeed or fail and whatever.
later... yow, bill

PS - Almost forgot...

Book: Watchmen
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth it
This book barely made the cut. It's a comic book; I'm not a big fan.
It was a really good comic book, but still a comic book.
It gets 3 stars mostly for being different. The plot/characters/everything is pretty, um, comic book-like.
Which figures.
Now, on to the movie... in IMAX!!!

Labels: 3stars, books, investing, qotd

Hey,

Excellence = talent + passion + dedication.
There's a true beauty in seeing talented people caring intensely about what they do and then working their asses off to make it happen.
Go!

I'm getting old, I guess. Duh.
I'm losing my fucking tolerance for stuff that sucks... popular culture, journalism, politics, professional sports, etc. (no kidding... he he)
In exchange, my love of excellence has grown... classical music, reading, the stock market, architecture, software & the internet, beautiful caring people, etc.

1. The Dublin Phil
I saw the Dublin Philharmonic Saturday night at Wheaton College. Man, they were outstanding. Excellent.

• The group was really young, especially when compared to the CSO. But you could feel the concentration and their tightness as a group. The conductor had to really conduct to guide them.
  
• Their pianist, Conor Linehan, performed Beethoven's piano concerto #3. Incredible. I have no comprehension of how someone can become so accomplished at something like that... I'm speaking of both messrs. Beethoven and Linehan.
• AM's little red dress at the show was incredible/excellent/beautiful as well. Yow!

2. The Stock Market
I spend much of my time these days learning the stock market.
I've invested for years, but usually pretty passively.

Now, I'm learning how to trade and more actively enter and exit the market and various asset classes. It's fascinating, and there are an incredible number of blogs and websites on the subject. So many talented, smart people are applying themselves to the max to be a successful investor. In short, they strive to achieve excellence. I do too.

Out there somewhere, somebody is confidently trading the market right now during today's slide. I hope to join them some day; I'm still learning and taking baby steps. I hope to be able to apply the tag "excellence" to my market knowledge and trading... again, some day.

3. Ropewalking

Movie: "Man on Wire"
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth seeing


The subject of "Man on Wire" is some Frenchie dude who, 30+ years ago, walked a jury-rigged tightrope between the two World trade Center towers. This review is easy:

• The actual act of the guy ropewalking between the twin towers is utterly inconceivable to me and is breath-taking.
• The movie is just OK. The really interesting stuff is just the old footage of this guy ropewalking.
  

It's funny. What this guy did is just incredible, but him and his buddies talking about it 30 years later, it sounds like every other "the touchdown I scored in high school" story. Yawn.

On the subject of excellence...
Movie: "The Sixth Sense"
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... outstanding!


I saw the last 30 minutes of "Sixth Sense" this weekend on crappy TV. "Sixth Sense" is excellent... and chilling to the bone at the end there. It's hard to summon better movie-making.

I was one of the lucky ones... I didn't know diddly about "Sixth Sense" when I went to see it at the theater. The movie is 10 years old now, and the number of young people who haven't seen it necessarily grows every day. If you haven't seen "Sixth Sense", don't google it or whatever... just watch it.

Wrap
Of course, the contrast to this beauty and excellence is embodied in our current government shenanigans. But why go negative at the end. Not me. I'm smiling!
little red dress... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, 5stars, fun, movies

Movie: Coraline
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth seeing
Website: www.imdb.com/title/tt0327597

Well first and foremost...


The trailer is kind of cute and the animation is cool, but jeez, this is a really scary movie: spiders, ghosts, witches, nightmares, kidnapping, sewing buttons over people's eyes, rats, stuffed dolls coming to life, holes in the wall leading to... oh, you get the idea. Fortunately, I had the beautiful, young AM to hold my hand through the ordeal, but leave your tots at home for this one.

I enjoyed the movie, but it's for adults. Also, it's no "Nightmare Before Christmas" (5 bill-stars).

QOTD

"Kidnap the Sandy Claws, beat him with a stick,
lock him up for ninety years, see what makes him tick.

Kidnap the Sandy Claws, chop him into bits,
Mister Oogie Boogie is sure to get his kicks.

Kidnap the Sandy Claws, see what we will see,
lock him in a cage and then throw away the key!"
- lyrics from "Nightmare Before Christmas"

boo... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, 5stars, movies, qotd

Almost nothing freaks me out like gmail just changing.
Boom!
I've got buttons flying everywhere and shit's changed and I'm breathing into a paper bag but the room's still spinning and I knock my beer over and...

That said, I love the new interface.
Gmail rules!
Blogger is fun too, but it never seems to change.


Movie: "The Wrestler"
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth seeing
Website: www.imdb.com/title/tt1125849

OK, my expectations were too high.
Even accounting for that, I still don't think this is even a 4-star movie.

The actors are the strongest part of the movie. Mickey Rourke was awesome; his best role since "Barfly"... he he. Marisa Tomei as a 40-something stripper... and man, that girl is working out right now. A-MAY-Zingggg... Yow!

The plot was weak. The movie wasn't much to look at... a little disappointed (re. a lot disappointed) in director DA because I love "Pi" and "Requiem" so much. It was slow in the middle. Again, I went in expecting more... it was a good movie, but not really special.

All the shenanigans going on out there and bunch of jugheads have time to boycott CNBC. Yeah, Feb 3 2009 is Boycott CNBC Day. Huzzah!

QOTD

"Drinks for all my friends!"
- Mickey in "Barfly"... ah, Bukowski

I'll wrestle ya.
hey, not in the face... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, movies, qotd

Movie: The Reader
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth seeing

I liked the movie, not as much as the book, but I liked it.

The casting of Kate Winslet as the lead is the movie's biggest downfall, I think. Kate Winslet is a beauty queen, um, not a dang German prison guard. And to be honest, I don't think she captured much of the essence of the character in the book. Its hard to look at Kate Winslet and think "not too bright"... and she didn't pull that off as an actor.

The screenplay makes the excellent choice to not have a narrative voice, ala the book. Its much more powerful without narration. They dumbed down a couple things, but that's to be expected. I really liked how the movie swung your emotions from the guy to the girl to the victims... sort of a revolving door.

I look forward to future book and movie reviews that are nazi free.
blitzkrieg... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, movies

QOTD

"At least something good came out of the game"
- Martin Havlat, Chicago Blackhawks player on scoring the million dollar goal

This is one of those "I wish I was at that meeting" deals. So, a bunch of the marketing nabobs at the Blackhawks get together and concoct a promotion where if a Hawk player scores exactly at the 10:00 minute mark of the game, then some random fan will get $1 million.

[comedic pause]

And then, 5 days later, it happens. Dop.

Here are the links:

• Yahoo sport story:Illinois Lottery reconsiders contest after Chicago fan wins million
• Chicago Tribune story:Chicago Blackhawks fan wins $1 million on timely Martin Havlat goal

If you have a minute, compare those two journalistic "efforts". The Yahoo Sports guy, Greg Wyshynski , does a nice tidy wrap with enough detail to tell the story. The Tribune guy, Chris Kuc, gives a much more typical journalistic effort with a short and thought-free blurb.

Ah, journalism... lowest of all professions. What's going to eventually replace all these crappy papers and network talking heads, BTW? I guess blogs and websites and such, where maybe the work ethic and a commitment to fairness in reporting will be resurrected. Or maybe not.

BTW, the Havlat quote is cranky because the Hawk lost the game.

Book: "Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth reading

I love this guy's smooth writing style. That was very nice and made the book worth reading. But it's a book with lots of plot and cliche and caricatures... not really my cup of tea. The 1950's, marriage, suburbia... bad. I get it. Jeez. Oh, and I am so tired of people whining about their parents. Please! And the ending happens in a blur.

I also accomplished my goal of reading the book before the movie disappeared. Huzzah! So, stay tuned for the "Revolutionary Road" movie review coming soon to a williamt blog near you.
shoot the puck... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books, qotd, sports

3 fun topics today, a beautiful Sunday morning.

Fun Topic #1 OBAMA
Topps, home of the planet's best baseball cards, humbly presents... President Obama trading cards:




My favorite Obama card is #13 depicting Pres-Elect Obama getting a discount on his new mcMansion from Tony Rezko. He he!

Things are already better with Pres-Elect Obama, I must admit.
I'm watching less TV and channel-surfing less. I used to surf those talking-head channels in the 50's. Now, surfing the talking heads is like radioactive or something... the Obama-mania in the media seems pervasive as we reach a new level of ninnification.

I saw that ole beard-a-bees Bill Richardson dropped out as Commerce Secretary or something... click, click, click, there's Lynn Sweet from the Sun Times on CNN or something telling me that this is actually a good thing. Oh, my bad Lynn... how could I miss more Obama goodness! To paraphrase reporter Sweet, this gives Pres-Elect Obama a chance to really appease his more activist (re. wackos) supporters by naming someone loopier and farther left than Gov Richardson.

Well, that's certainly clever. It does somehow bypass any critique of how Pres-Elect Obama and his team of Super Friends managed to miss that Richardson was being investigated by the feds for some governor shenanigans. Dop. And it reinforces the notion of making cabinet choices just to appease constituency groups, rather than on merit.

Thanks Lynn... for the anti-analysis.

Fun Topic #2 MOVIE
Movie: "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (on Imax!)
Review: 1 bill-star

This movie was gawd-awful, even on the Imax.
If you get a chance to watch the original on cable or something... it's a keeper at 4 bill-stars.

I figgered this movie would be like the remake of "War of the Worlds" (3 bill-stars)... dumb, but lots of cool stuff blowing up.
Nope.
This movie was dumb with hardly any stuff blowing up.

Two redeeming features:

1. The robot was pretty cool for the first few minutes.
2. It was great to see Will Smith's uber-attractive 10 year-old kid be completely free of talent and stiff as a board in his part.

Fun topic #3 NINNIES
This is an instant classic: The environmental impact of Google searches

These geniuses advise we be more judicious in our usage of google and other internet facilities.
I (non-genius) advise... all these guys, I mean, scientists have web sites, books, lectures, appearances, tenure, grant money, etc... all fueled by publicity.

The irony is crystal clear. Even if there was global warming, the answer is not conservation, using less, taxing the bejesus out of people and going low-tech. The answer is growth and using technology to solve the problem. More ninnies... more!

I'm hoping to make this a 3-fer weekend with another movie today. We shall see.
More coffee!
peace... yow, bill

PS - BTW, more 2009 excellence to note... the Imax theater. I'll never forget seeing "Dark Knight" that first time on Imax... it's just a stupefying overload of the senses. Awesome! The preview of "The Watchmen" was better than the movie we saw. I'm not big on all the plot-less and character-free "graphic novels" turned into bad movies these days, but I might give "The Watchmen" on Imax a roll.

Labels: 1star, 3stars, 4stars, globalwarming, politics

QOTD

"Hello. My name is Forrest, Forrest Gump."
- First line in "Forrest Gump"

Movie: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth seeing
Website: www.imdb.com/title/tt0421715 and www.benjaminbutton.com

So three things:

1. 3 bill-stars mean the Benjamin was worth seeing. I liked it; it was fine. I like sappy movies... like Forrest Gump.
   
2. The movie didn't meet my high expectations. IMDB screwed me, and that's pretty rare. IMDB users gave Benjamin an 8.5/10 rating... I don't recall seeing a rating that high ever on IMDB, which is usually pretty curmudgeonly. No way, no how, is this movie anywhere near that good.
   
3. "Benjamin Button" is "Forrest Gump 2".

I rarely talk about plot or anything like that in these reviews... why bother? Go read the book or see the movie. This one's a little different because I'll list some of the many ways in which Benjamin Button is just like dang Forrest Gump. So:

Ah, much better.
Go:

• Both stories are told in flashback
• Both have strong, saint-like mothers
• Both are based in New Orleans
• Both have leg braces/crutches
• Forrest has his floating feather... Benjamin his hummingbird
• Forrest has Bubba Gump... Benjamin has some weird black guy who lived in a zoo (???)
• Both have first-love girlfriends that pop in and out of the movie
• Forrest was army... Benjamin navy (sort of)
• Both spend a lot of time on boats
• Forrest has Lt. Dan... Benjamin Capt. Mike, and if my memory serves both Dan/Mike introduce Forrest/Benjamin to the hooker
• Both inherit money so they don't have to really work
• Forrest had his unique (for the time) special effects (interacting with famous dead people) and Benjamin has his (Brad Pitt as an old man)
• Forrest has his "life is a box of chocolates" and Benjamin has his "You never know what's comin' for ya"... pathetic head-shakers both

There are surely many more... just ask google.

Forrest Gump is a superior movie (4 bill-stars) for a lot of reasons including that Tom Hanks is better than Brad Pitt. Also, Benjamin is a needless 3 hours long. I think they took the movie and its message a little too seriously, eh. [Side note: Forrest Gump has the exact same 8.5/10 rating that Benjamin has... nice synchronicity there... he he]

Also, Benjamin starts out as a sympathetic character and ends up not very, for my money. The plot twist where he has to leave his family because he's getting younger is silly. So, at around physical age of 30, Benjamin ditches the family, travels the world banging anything that walks, and then lectures us that anyone can restart their lives. Huh?

One thing stood out for me in the Benjamin blather was a good metaphor. The movie ends with a crappy digital clock replacing a big, old, beautiful analog clock at a train station. The digital clock is hi-tech, cheaper, more accurate, easier to read, won't break down... and still it's such a step down from its analog predecessor. Yeah, Bill the Luddite and his blog. He he.

QOTD2

"The Sure Thing"
- Vibrator on Oprah

Ah, another excellent life lesson from that Oprah.
You think you've got it bad?
You could be one of those poor schlub husbands on Oprah talking to the world about not getting their wives off.
Gol dang it... I feel better already!
buzzzzzzz.... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, 4stars, movies, qotd

QOTD

"Anyone? Anyone?"
- Ben Stein in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"

Movie: "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed"
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth seeing
Site: www.expelledthemovie.com

This is old Ben Stein's movie about intelligent design and academia's intolerance. I knew that going in and hey, I'm on board that train. The movie reaches way beyond that though.

I enjoyed Stein asking scientists to explain how the first living cell popped out of the goo and watching them struggle and stammer. That's entertainment!

I also thought his emphasis on the loss of academic freedom in our system was excellent as well. He highlighted a number of scientists who have lost their gig due to a mere mention of intelligent design.

I really didn't like all the reaching though. Go:

1. The ominous "Be Very Frightened" music in the background, ala Frontline or Michael Moore. That sends the bullshit-o-meter right off the charts. I remember a ridiculous PBS/Frontline "documentary" on Cheney where they had this "Halloween 13" music in the background and Cheney is in the dark with the video paused as he's making some menacing facial gesture. Crap!
   
2. Why the hell is the movie so dark? Is that a money thing... they couldn't afford post-production or something?
3. Stein ends the movie by extrapolating darwinism to social darwinism to atheism and ultimately to things like nazism and eugenics. I guess, but that's exactly what the other side of the argument can say about religion. The extremes on both sides are horrific, so it's not very compelling argument.

This is a documentary in the fashion of the times... an attempt to exploit more than educate. I would rather have heard more tasty science stuff about intelligent design and irreducible complexity and intolerance in academia, etc.

I will give Ben Stein this leeway... the crackpots on the other side get a full airing and they do the same type of exploitation. Some guy named Dawson wrote "The God Delusion", and boom... he's on every talk show, selling a million copies of the thing. Stein interviews the guy, and he's foaming at the mouth. He's a self-parody. So, I see how Stein feels entitled to use similar tactics, but that doesn't mean I like it.

QOTD2

"Anything to belong"
- Marilyn Manson, "Rock is Dead"

Intolerance. Join the herd or pay the consequences. These are dominant themes in academia these days. I'm with Michael Crichton on this one (see his book "State of Fear"). Maybe it always has been... I don't know. The rabid reaction to anything "not evolution" is a carbon copy to today's zealous support of anything global warming. Opposing voices will not be tolerated. Same with politics.

Alas, I still have reading to do on evolution; this has been on my TODO list forever. I have to read more to cut through the noise. I certainly don't understand how evolution addresses things like irreducible complexity. For example, how the heck does a ladybug get this crazy retractable hardtop and the up and flies off with the thing: Awesome ladybug video

I know bullshit when I hear it though. I agree with a lot of what Stein says, but I didn't like his Michael Moore-esque methods of saying it. You lose credibility with me when you do that.

I hope (gulp) that, in the long-term, reason is a more powerful argument than emotion. I hope.
ladybug... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, movies, 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

QOTD

"Look, if a man in one lifetime is responsible for creating 100 real jobs, permanent jobs, then he's done more than most do-gooders have ever achieved."
- Phil Gramm - WSJ article on Jun 28, 2008

Gramm is an adviser to McCain, hence the interview.
It's like a breath of fresh air to read something, anything from someone who wants our society to be more free, not less.

QOTD2

"Why is America the richest country in the world? It's not because our people are more brilliant; it's because we have a better free-market system.

Why has Texas created 1.6 million jobs in the last 10 years whereas Michigan has lost 300,000 jobs and Ohio has lost 100,000 jobs? Because governance matters, taxes matter, regulation matters.

Our opponents in this campaign are so dogmatic in their goal of having more government because they love the power it brings to them that they're willing to let it impose costs on the working people that they say they want to help. I am not."
- Phil Gramm

Amen, brother.

We (me, 39, Jackie O) were walking out of "Wall-E", the latest Pixar fare, and some Naperville teenage hoodlums got it right, "It's like Pixar's version of big brother." Now, I don't know if these kids knew what the hell they were talking about, but they were right on.

"Wall-E" is a 3-star movie, worth seeing.
The pluses: great Pixar animation, fun, lots of action.
And the minuses: It is very girlie. The cute robot squeaking and beeping... for 90 minutes. Argh.
But the worst was the silly, clubbing anti-capitalism, anti-technology message. The premise: The Earth is doomed because we created so much garbage that we have to got in a rocket ship and leave the planet. Oh, and we're all fat because technology does everything for us. Sigh.

I've run into this a couple times now... we're creating too much garbage. So, we're running out of holes? We did this one already in the late 70's, early 80's. The media then took a temporary landfill shortage in New Jersey or New York or something and extrapolated the hell out of it.

Things are so warped now, I feel I have to type in the answer. If we were to ever run out of holes for our fucking garbage, then charge people more to do it, and they'll create less garbage. Sigh again. Let's apply this simple principal to a few other "problems":

• Energy - if energy is more scarce, then charge more money for it. And let people find more, since they'll want to charge money for their energy too.
• Smoking - if smoking employees cost more than their non-smoking counterparts, then charge them a fee. Don't test them for smoking and then not hire them. Also, please apply the previous argument to fat people and drunks as well.
  
• Helmets, seat belts - if not wearing a safety device costs society money, presumably because we have to scrap your guts or noggin or something off the pavement, then charge a little more on the insurance for that.
• Light bulbs - You got a better light bulb? Wow, great news! Sell it, and we'll see if people replace their old ones because the new ones save them money. Don't pass a law requiring people to buy stupid light bulbs.
  

And so on. Rinse and repeat.

Can I go back and re-rate "Kung Fu Panda"? I agree with Ty... it's a 5-star movie.
QOTD3

"I know you're trying to be all mystical and Kung Fu-ey, but could you tell me where we're going?"
- Po, "Kung Fu Panda"

Now, that's a truly positive movie. Check it out.
everybody was kung fu fighting... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, movies, politics, qotd

"Now You See Him" is by Eli Gottlieb.
The guy has a web site: http://www.eligottlieb.com
I give this book 3 bill-stars.


The main thing that I liked was the guy's writing style. It was a quick, easy, and fun read.

I didn't like a lot of the subject matter. Smart people whining about their parents and upbringing and angst and this and that. I know it's a real issue for many people, but it's so hard to write about it in a way that isn't whiny and boring. Plus, I'm not a big "plot gotcha" guy... I just like reading about regular characters doing things.

Worth the read.
yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books