QOTD

"There's a reason you've never heard of bus rage"
- Greyhound marketing campaign slogan... um, keep reading

I nominate this story for two awards... best marketing story and funniest beheading:

And I gotta give props to boys at the AP (for once)... nice attention to detail: Chinese immigrant, carnival worker, desolate section of Canadian highway, showing off the head, and then "hacking off pieces of the victim's body and eating them".

You meet such interesting people on the bus. Jeez.

And now for something completely different...

Book: "I am Legend"
Author: Richard Matheson
Review: 4 bill-stars

This book is the inspiration for the movie of the same name and also the far superior "The Omega Man". Will Smith is OK, but dang, he's no Chuck Heston.

Anyway, the book is better than both with a nice subtle explanation/revelation for the title at the very end. Sweet read.
hack... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, books, qotd

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

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

Movie: "Kung Fu Panda"
Rating: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)

For the record, Ty gave "Panda" 5 stars.
Also, we saw it on Imax... extra awesome.
"Panda" is great for kids and adults. I love a positive movie, and that is the movie's strength.
"Panda" loses a star for crappy celebrity voices. Jack Black is not good as the main panda, but worse is Dustin Hoffman's weird croaky, duck-ish characterization.

Go see it!
hi-ya... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, movies

News QOTD:

"Fukuda said Japan would use a broad range of strategies to reduce its emissions, including investment in new technologies, stiff construction standards to create energy efficient buildings, an array of tax incentives and a public awareness campaign."
- AP/Yahoo news item entitled: "Japan to cut CO2 by 60-80 percent"

Please follow along. It's a template, so I hope you're not getting bored by now.

1. So boom... the title of the article proclaims that Japan is cutting CO2 by 80%. Wow. That's really something.
   
2. This is followed by some government nabob saying how important everything is and he's saving the planet and some such.
3. Then, you slip in "um, well, no, Japan isn't even meeting their crappy Kyoto targets at all"... right now. But that's all just temporary.
   
4. Then, the obligatory... well, the bad, bad United States isn't signed up to this.
5. Finally, the last paragraph, which is our QOTD. All Japan has to do is invent some new stuff, change the tax code and advertise. Well, shit. And here I thought that cutting emissions by 80% might actually be quite the ball-buster. My bad. Count me in.
   

Life is stranger than fiction. Speaking of which...

Book: "Traveler" by Ron McLarty
Bill-stars: 4 bill-stars

Summary: It's a very familiar plot about 4 buddies growing up (in New England). I really liked his writing style. Most of the text is dedicated to character development more than plot or scenery. The narrator is very self-deprecating and funny. He's a 40-something actor and bartender with a 40-something girlfriend, so that was funny (and familiar).

The book's title refers to a bullet lodged in someone, that can't be removed or is difficult to remove, and then travels into an artery or whatever. I don't know. He he.

The plot bounces back and forth from their youth to present day chapter by chapter. The ending was probably the weakest part, but I enjoyed the book and gobbled it in a weekend.

I think I read the author's other book "The Memory of Running". I guess McLarty is an actor by trade ( www.imdb.com/name/nm0572261 ) and IMDB lists that he's writing a movie script for "Memory of Running". McLarty's style reminds me of Richard (?) Russo. Nice. Oh just found it... here's McLarty's web site: www.ronmclarty.com.

I feel like I'm entering a nice, cool reading jag (he he again), and it is good.
peace... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, books, politics, qotd

Movie-related QOTD:

"My affection for the dress hasn't changed. But what they did was so short-sighted. It's just unethical and disappointing that they would allow the dress to be worn again."
- Sarah Jessica Parker, on finding out that her SATC-premier dress had already been worn by someone else

I love that. "Unethical". He he.

OK, "Sex and the City"... 4 bill-stars.
I hope no one is reading this.

The first half was what I expected... terrible translation of a fun TV show into a plodding movie. You know, they trot each peripheral character from 6 years of TV show out for 20 seconds, say something witty and then move on.

The second half rebounded and was very reminiscent of the TV show. It focused on the 4 girls and their friendship. The plot twists kept me interested, and I guessed wrong a couple of times.

And yes, I was the only guy in the theater... right 39?
manly man... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, movies, qotd

QOTD:

"He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Beneath his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat. I love this. New York was his town, and it always would be..."
- Woody Allen, "Manhattan"

Anyway, 2 easy movie reviews:

• Iron Man, 4 bill-stars (out of 5) - great guy fun and action. No more, no less. Oh wait, Gwyneth in red hair and chest freckles ablaze... that was better than your standard fare. I stand corrected. Also, the ending could have been better.
  
• Cloverfield, 2 bill-stars - little fun and little action. This is a 1-star movie that doubled its review when the monster ate the hand-held camera guy. That said, I have to also disclaim my review. No 40-something can stomach that hand-held camera shit, and if I were an angry guy, then I would have started counting the number of times I heard 20-somethings scream "Oh my god!". But I'm a nice, happy (old) guy, so I just fast-forwarded through most of it.
  

I yearn for some real cranky Hollywood bugs after Cloverfield. So I think I'll pop in some Starship Troopers. Yeah, that's it.
oh my god... yow, bill

PS - Oh my god again!

Labels: 2stars, 4stars, movies, qotd