Dr. Manhattan action figure. He he.


QOTD

Dr. Manhattan: I'm leaving this galaxy for one a little less complicated.
Laurie: I thought you said you cared about life again.
Dr. Manhattan: I do. I think I'll create some.
- "Watchmen"

And speaking of radiation: Geneva atom smasher sets collision record

Fun stuff, and I love the people worried about them creating a black hole right there in Geneva. At least it's not Geneva, IL. Probably crap, but I'll bet they can't disprove it. Sort of like the Manhattan Project no knowing what the hell they were doing at the start. Hey, maybe that'll be the plot of "Watchmen 2". He he.
great movie... yow, bill

Labels: fun, movies, qotd

Let's start off with the bad and end with a positive flurry!

1 Bill-star Review
Movie: "Inglorious Basterds"
Review: 1 bill-star (out of 5)... blech.

"Pulp Fiction" was clever enough, but I am beyond bored with the Quentin Tarantino knock-offs that he himself produces. Everything is a cartoon: characters, plot, violence, music, etc.
The funniest part of "Inglorious Basterds" for me was near the end Brad Pitt is captured and sits down handcuffed in front of the main Nazi guy. I said to myself, "There's a long, tired 10 minutes of overworked dialogue coming here". I hit the fast forward and sure enough, I was right. The scene actually works at 8x with no sound.

Mozy told me this was nominated for an Oscar this year. Sure nuff: oscar.go.com/nominations/nominees and that the lead German guy won best supporting actor. Whatever.

5 Bill-star Review
Book: "The Reagan I Knew" by William F Buckley
Review: 5 bill-stars

This is a wonderful, intimate book. Half the book is Buckley's contemporary look-back at his relationship with Reagan, and half the book are personal letters written between Buckley, Reagan and Nancy Reagan. They are a delight. The book was warm. There are so many stories in there and such good stuff, I don't even have a QOTD for you. Shame on me.

Buckley chronicles the leftie media bias against Reagan in his book. These stories date back to Reagan's presidency and even the 70's. It serves as a reminder that, hey, the volume may be turned up a little higher these days, but the song remains the same. A left-tilting media and academia has been an American mainstay for longer than you or I've been around.

Prejudiced Reviews
Hey, I'll admit I my prejudice. I've seen enough bad Tarantino movies. I have enjoyed Buckley's works and agree with some of his conservative stances. So be it.

I sit down and watch "Basterds" and it's a flat, joyless, experience. And with the repetition between Tarantino's films, it's unwelcome deja vu.

I read Buckley's book late into the night smiling and straining to stay awake and read more.
Prejudice or not... that's the bottom line: 1-star film and 5-star book.
peace out... yow, bill

PS - Dang it, this is funny... 4 minute video: Everything is amazing, and nobody is happy

Labels: 1star, 5stars, books, movies, myphoto

Party #1 - The Dude
Pretty funny... Jeff Dowd has a website: www.jeffdowd.com
Jeff Dowd is "The Dude" in real life.
It looks like he's making some dinero on the whole deal. Why not?

Movie: "The Big Lebowski"
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... the best!

Could be a top 10 Bill-movie.
I can't come up with a funnier movie off the top of my head.


Party #2 - Trekkie
Excellent.
http://video.yahoo.com/network/100063489?v=7086116&l=100063517

The "Tholian Web" episode was on last night... 40+ years and still the BEST!

QOTD

"Bones, Spock. Since you are playing this tape, we will assume that I am dead and the tactical situation is critical and both of you are locked in mortal combat.

It means, Spock, that you have control of the ship and are probably making the most difficult decisions of your career. I can offer only one small piece of advice for whatever it's worth: use every scrap of logic and knowledge you have to save the ship, but temper your judgment with intuitive insight. I believe you have those qualities, but if you can't find them in yourself, seek out McCoy. Ask his advice, and, if you find it sound, take it.

Bones, you've heard what I just told Spock. Help him if you can, but remember he is the captain, his decisions must be followed, without question. You might find that he is capable of human insight and human error. They are most difficult to defend, but you will find that he is deserving of the same loyalty and confidence each of you have given me.

Take care."
- Capt Kirk's, taped message for Spock & McCoy in the event of his death, imdb source

Party #3 - Ripping Al a new one
Great article... props to Steven F Hayward for the writing and to the Morning News for the link:


"In Denial" is pretty long. But worthy.
The interesting part is not just the rebuttal of the science, but also the outright (and justified) attack on the selling of science and its politicization by Al Gore and his ilk.
warm this... yow, bill

Speaking of Star Trek... this is the girl who played Uhura in the new Star Trek movie. Jeez. And Yow!

Labels: 5stars, fun, globalwarming, movies, qotd

1. Bill Awards
Zero Academy Awards time for me last night.
And the Oscar goes to... www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/82/nominees.html

Of the "Best Picture" nominees that I saw, here's my ranking:

1. "Up in the Air" 4 bill-stars
2. "District 9" 4 bill-stars
3. "Up" 3 bill-stars (barely)
   
4. "Avatar" 2 bill-stars (barely)
   

Of course, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" was a 5 bill-star effort, so there. Ha!

I'm glad "The Dude" won for Best Actor, and "Crazy Heart" won best song with "The Weary Kind". Excellent!

2. Forbes Shape

QOTD

"One state retiree, 49 years old, paid, over the course of his entire career, a total of $124,000 toward his retirement pension and health benefits. What will we pay him? $3.3 million in pension payments over his life and nearly $500,000 for health care benefits--a total of $3.8 million on a $120,000 investment. Is that fair?"
- Chris Christie, gov of New Jersey, source

Steve Forbes' outstanding article on the New Jersey state government budget and what new governor, Chris Christie, is doing to fix it.


Here's the 2nd (stupefying) anecdote from the article.

QOTD2

"A retired teacher paid $62,000 toward her pension and nothing, yes nothing, for full family medical, dental and vision coverage over her entire career. What will we pay her? $1.4 million in pension benefits and another $215,000 in health care benefit premiums over her lifetime. Is it 'fair' for all of us and our children to have to pay for this excess?"
- Gov Christie on Jersey budget woes

Christie uses the term "fair".
I dislike it.

1. These teachers and state employees just signed up for the deal they were offered.
   
2. The term is inflammatory, only used to appeal to the emotions.
   

Of course, fair/unfair/whatever are the modus operandi of the left... but to get things fixed in Jersey, maybe it's worth using this crappy tactic.

This is the same setup we find in many programs: social security, medicare, etc.
Many (most) people get more out than they put in, but the price is risk... you're name isn't on the money, so some pol some day might come saying that your deal is not "fair".

OK, last QOTD from Crazy Heart's winning song.

QOTD3

"And this ain't no place
To fall behind
Pick up your crazy heart
And give it one more try"
- "Weary Kind" lyrics from "Crazy Heart"

weary kind... yow, bill

Labels: movies, myphoto, 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. Movie Verdict
Movie: "The Verdict"
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... outstanding!

Why 5 bill-stars for this tiny, tiny movie?
Paul Newman, Jack Warden, Charlotte Rampling, James Mason... directed by Sidney Lumet.
Magic.

QOTD

"I know how you feel. You don't believe me, but I do know.

I'm going to tell you something that I learned when I was your age. I'd prepared a case and old man White said to me, "How did you do?" And, uh, I said, "Did my best." And he said, "You're not paid to do your best. You're paid to win."

And that's what pays for this office... pays for the pro bono work that we do for the poor... pays for the type of law that you want to practice... pays for my whiskey... pays for your clothes... pays for the leisure time we have to sit back and discuss philosophy as we're doing tonight. We're paid to win the case.

You finished your marriage. You wanted to come back and practice the law. You wanted to come back to the world. Welcome back."
- "The Verdict", (evil) James Mason on paying Charlotte Rampling to back-stab Paul Newman

I can't find (and snarf) a good picture of Charlotte Rampling from "The Verdict". Dang it.
I did find a fun article on some dude's fave scene in "The Verdict": The Paul Newman Scene I Can't Get Out of My Head



2. Global Warming Verdict
Ah, crazy 2 byte characters: Bjørn Lomborg.
øøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøø

I heart Bjørn Lomborg.
He's a common sense voice on global warming and in today's WSJ points out the obvious: even if you believe in global warming, the answer isn't carbon taxes or caps or whatever... it's innovation!

Lomborg calls for a sort of international research effort. None is needed, of course. As long as big money lies at the end of the rainbow, companies and countries will vie for the prize to the best of their abilities.

Funny one... I saw an op-ed by Joe Biden in today's WSJ titled, "The President's Nuclear Vision", and had a quick flash on President Obama (finally) calling on nuclear power as a part of our energy solution. Dop. No, it was some crap about nuclear weapons. Sigh. Other than the vapid "green jobs" mantra, the Obama administration continues the tradition of not having an energy policy in the US. Dop.



3. Socialism Verdict
Is America in the process of telling socialism's most buxom salesman to pack her bags and hit the fucking bricks? Golly, wouldn't it be great. Almost too much to hope for. But aren't we leaning that way? Just a little?

The President Obama buzz/cult of personality seems to be waning a bit. Not his personal popularity. That will not be impacted by anything. Look at Bill Clinton. But President Obama's agenda is ebbing: health care, can & trade, massive government spending and intervention.

And where are the repubs during this void? I mean, Obamacare has been knocked on its ass... where's the repub retort?!? Competition across state lines. Tax credits for people who can't afford it? Malpractice reform?

Or, where is the Newt Gingrich for 2010's redo of the 1994 elections?
Where is the dang Contract With America for 2010?

I heart America and her defining tradition of freedom and rugged individualism. I believe!
peace... yow, bill

QOTD2

"Your Honor, with all due respect, if you're going to try my case for me, I wish you wouldn't lose it."
- Paul Newman, "The Verdict"

Labels: 5stars, globalwarming, healthcare, movies, politics, qotd

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

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

Disclaimer: I went to the 2D version of Avatar, not the 3D or the Imax.
Sorry, I'm not a 3D fan.

Movie: "Avatar"
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)... not good, not worth it


I sat through 2 1/2 hours of Avatar wondering whether I was missing something because it's so popular. I guess it's a bad sign that you're wondering during a movie, rather than getting into it.
Anyway, the movie ended... flat as a pancake... and the (nearly full) audience sighed, yawned, and headed for the exits.
So, I wasn't alone.

Avatar characters were caricatures. The plot was slow, boring and silly. For fans of director James Cameron, which I am, there's a lot of redo here from his "Aliens 2" and "Titanic". Indeed, I really liked those two movies:

1. "Aliens 2" - silly characters and plot, but an incredible action movie
2. "Titanic" - silly again, but girlie romantic story was OK, great effects, and good performances throughout with Leo and Winslet and Billy Zane
   

QOTD

"What the hell was he doing?"
- Moz after the movie... on reports that James Cameron made "Avatar" edits right up to its release

Mozy's quote is from mini-burgers after the movie, and it's a good question. "Avatar" is bloated and would have benefited from some tightening up.

To those who saw the 3D version and liked it, I say "Huzzah!"
To those of us who yawned through the 2D version, I say "Meh."
"Avatar" isn't really bad... just kind-a mediocre.
peace out... yow, bill

PS - And into the abyss we go... Jan, Feb, Mar... 3 months without fantasy baseball or football. Sigh. He he.
PPS - BTW, "The Abyss" is another good James Cameron movie.

Labels: 2stars, movies

Movie: "Fantastic Mr. Fox"
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... great!
Different and good.

• Ty and I laughed and laughed
• The critters wears suits and have jobs and lawyers and stuff, but are still wild animals... hard to describe, but it was fun
  
• Tons of stuff for adults in this one as well
• Very positive and politically correct-free

"Fantastic" is a Roald Dahl book, but I haven't read it. Christmas list!

QOTD

"You should probably put your bandit hat on now. Personally, I don't have one, but I modified this tube sock."
"You look good."
"Yeah, I do"
- Fantastic Mr. Fox

"Fantastic" and "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" are two of my favorite movies in 2009. They had some similarities of being quirky, positive and full of tasty adult treats.

I wouldn't know Andy Murray the tennis player if he hit me on the head with a racquet, but getting dumped by your hot girlfriend because you play video games too much is pretty funny.


fantastic... yow, bill

PS - Nice tube socks.

Labels: 4stars, fun, movies, qotd

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

QOTD

"I often get in trouble for saying this, but I actually think it's true—that collaboration and consensus-building and all those things are, quite frankly, overrated. None of you CEOs run your companies by committee. So why should we run a school district by committee?"
- Michelle Rhee, DC schools, An Educated Work Force

That is a great quote.
I heart Michelle Rhee... school choice, taking on the teacher's union, competition.

Movie: "Pan's Labyrinth"
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... outstanding!

Different and good... that's the money.
Different = lots of weird fantasy stuff with fairies and monsters and such.
Good = compelling, exciting drama with outstanding performances and direction.
This is a 4+ star movie that I struggled to keep out of the 5-star category.
It's in Spanish with subtitles. Si.

Maribel Verdú (right) is one of the the stars of the movie... and she is incredibly beautiful.
muy caliente... yow, bill

PS - Too cool monster from Pan's:

Labels: 4stars, movies, qotd, schoolchoice

QOTD

"Hi Da.
[pause]
This is Ty.
[pause]
Call me back. I need to talk to you about this pumpkin situation."
- Ty voicemail, to protest that we weren't going to carve pumpkins here at the Castle... hey, he already did them with his mother. Ty wins and I'm headed to pick him up right now.

1. Peggy Noonan's Home Run

Must admit... not a big Peggy Noonan fan over here.
But what a home run this article is in today's WSJ:


It's a two-pronged argument:

1. We see so much illogical, irrational behavior these days. You know my current top 2: global warming nonsense and socialized medicine. Both of these are massive land grabs by the feds for no apparent sensible reason.
   
2. But people aren't worried or serious about this stuff because America is the golden goose. You don't have to be serious because shit has always worked out in the past.
   

I don't know the ending. Who does?
But I'm investing, nimbly... to accommodate this, the era of shenanigans.

2. Net Neutrality
Here's a good article supporting net neutrality. It's written by the guys who run Mozilla, creators of the Firefox browser. Net Neutrality: Spur to Entrepreneurship

The Firefox boys are convincing. The principle behind their argument is solid and QOTD2

QOTD2

"The principle that any "bit" of information is treated the same as any other bit is a defining characteristic of the Internet; it is a central aspect of the design that has lead to the unprecedented impact of the Internet on our lives."
- Mozilla guys, source

Happy Halloween!
That's not me to the right, but it is my cool Halloween attire for the day... courtesy www.threadless.com.

Excellent!
peace... yow, bill

QOTD3

"People are work, brother. A lot of work. Too much work."
- Al Pacino in "Sea of Love"

Movie: "Sea of Love"
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of five)... very good

Pretty basic. 3 bill-stars for the movie + 1 for Ellen Barkin. Mercy!
Ellen Barkin is 55 now, and I can't find a decent picture of her not all plastic-surguried up. Dop.

Labels: 4stars, movies, qotd, technology

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

Welp. Sue me.
He he.

"Schindler's List",
"Glengarry Glen Ross",
"The Dark Knight",
"2001 Space Odyssey",
"Manhattan",
"The Godfather",

... [dramatic pause] ...

"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"?!?!?

QOTD

"Come on, Steve. We've got some diem to carpe!"
- Flint, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"

Movie: "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... wonderful!

I know. No way this is a 5-star movie. Oh well.

• My ribs still hurt.
  
• I laughed inappropriately in a movie theater jammed full of kids.
• It was fun, funny, smart, sweet, slapstick, action-packed, creative and positive.
• Bugs Bunny-esque form start to finish... more jokes for adults than for the kids.
• Steve the monkey, and the food, and the hot nerdy girl, Mr. T, Rat-birds, and spray-on shoes, Manny from Guatemala, and...
  

Jeez, Ty and I laughed and laughed.
So, grab your kid and take 'em to Meatballs... for your sake.
steve... yow, bill

Labels: 5stars, movies, qotd

Smile? Good lord.


QOTD

"Every time the state assumes an additional function such as health insurance, child care or benefits for the aged, the need for close family ties becomes weaker."
- some dude

These two quotes are the best thing in this article, I believe.


QOTD2

"It may be that one of the most effective ways of increasing allegiance to the state is through national health insurance."
- some other dude

Any debate on these QOTDs?
I think the real debate is whether you care about weaker "family ties" being replace by a stronger "allegiance to the state"... though our President and Congress won't ever admit this.
This is why the "Medicare for all" debate is so heated... and a hearty huzzah to that!

QOTD3

"Dude, this movie is awesome!"
- Teenager checkout "dude" at Best Buy last night... I was buying the "300" DVD

Movie: "300"
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... excellent!

"300" is silly, shallow... um, pretty stupid and gay... sue me. I like it. It does what it sets out to do and does it very well. It's pretty positive and fun. It's also one of the few "graphic novel" movies that I like. "300" and Watchmen"... that's about it.

Sigh. Smile. Cringe. I did all three pretty much simultaneously as my checkout "dude" attempted to bond with my cranky old 47 ass. He he. Oh well, I lived. Good one.
dude... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, movies, myphoto, politics, qotd

JUDY BIGGERT IS A LIAR.

QOTD

"As much as I love this job, as hard as I work at it, as much as my team and I could contribute in a third term, I believe that a governor should limit himself to two terms."
- Jim Doyle, WI guv

The governor of Wisconsin is not going to seek reelection after two terms. Why? Because he doesn't think it's right. www.620wtmj.com/news/local/53420982.html

I think this Doyle guy's a lefty, but I salute his character. I hope he leaves office and makes tons of dough... just not as a lobbyist of the new state federales. He he.

I vote Dem every election... against my repub Congress-person, Judy Biggert. She was voted in as part of Newt's bunch in 1994, an advocate of term limits. Well, she got to DC and she's stayed... too important to leave, don't you know.

JUDY BIGGERT IS A LIAR.

Movie Review
Movie: "District 9"
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... outstanding!
Web site: www.d-9.com

This movie has the big two: different and good. Maybe the weirdest thing about "D9" is that it can't be pigeonholed. It's funny and serious, an action movie, dramatic, goofy, sci-fi, and so on. It's nice to see something that's not formulaic... and still really interesting and exciting (re. "good"). I was dreading that the movie would lay some heavy racism message on my noggin, but they were subtle enough.

D9 is a rock-solid 4 bill-star movie.

I'm not going to give any plot away; I was lucky enough to go into the theater pretty clueless about the movie, so hopefully, you can do likewise (don't watch the crappy trailer at the website). D9 does bear some resemblance to "Starship Troopers", but without the over-the-top camp/kitsch factor. It's definitely a guy movie. I saw it on IMDB, and it had the highest rating (9/10) of any movie I've ever see there.
prawns rule... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, movies, politics, qotd

QOTD

"57 - The number of people who went to the 'psych tent' on Sunday at the NY City triathlon because of pre-race panic."
- WSJ this morning

Theory: half the battle for most people is to just not hurt themselves.

Can you imagine having the discipline (and time and energy) to train for a triathlon (1500 m swim, 40 km bike, 10 km run) and then have a panic attack before the race?!? My advice: spend a little time training your mind next year. Maybe some meditation. Maybe read a book or two.

BTW, the same guy won the NYC Tri for the 4th time: NYC Triathlon Wrap-up.

Oh, I just saw this: NYC Tri Goes Green.
He he he.
Oh, the inanity.

QOTD2

"... portable toilets will be certified green so when you need to go, you can rest assured that you're not harming the environment."
- NYC Triathlon site

Dammit, that's funny.
Speaking of funny...

Movie: "The Hangover"
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... really good!

This movie was very funny; my sides literally hurt afterward. It was a weird, uneven little movie. I think it works for me because, unlike other recent gross-out fare, it's a fairly positive movie, all things considered.

"Hangover" is right there between 3 and 4 stars, but since the movie physically injured me, I went with the 4 bill-star rating. I peeked at (re. searched) other 4 bill-star movies on the blog. Every other 4 bill-star movie on that list is better than "Hangover", so this would be a 4- rating... if I did such things.
he he... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, movies, qotd

The Jew-el is covered with little signs proclaiming reduced prices. Indeed!
The two most promising, significant (and odd) price decreases that I saw were in the beer aisle and my $1.75 boxes of Tony Flakes. A buck 75! Shit, at that price... beer and Frost Flakes is my new diet.

God bless google... Jennifer Aniston over there in some tiger getup, all hot and bothered, riding a big tiger stuffed animal. Probable a stupid Photoshop fake... but a dang funny one. He he.

Movie: Valkyrie
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)... not worth it
Wow, slow slow slow... and the payoff? Well, Hitler lives and all the good guys get shot. Roll credits. Jeez.

And I know it's a relic of my adolescent Hogan's Heroes viewing, but why not have the Nazis at least use German accents, rather than just talking all American.
Oh well. I heard that the movie got a bad rap. Nope. Just stinks.

Oh, well... great Sunday morning. My cheap Tony Flakes are calling.
grrrreat... yow,bill

Labels: 2stars, fun, movies

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

1. Get off the phone
No, I didn't watch hours and hours of the NFL draft. Thank you.
Ty and I did watch a few picks in the first round.
This same scene was repeated for nearly every player; let's call him Joe Football:

• ESPN had cameras following Joe, wherever he was, home or whatever.
• Joe was watching the draft on TV (ESPN) and was surrounded by friends and family.
• Upon receiving notice that he had been drafted, soon to be anointed with millions of dollars, fame, success, etc... Joe's family would jump up and down and yell and scream and try to hug and kiss Joe.
• And Joe's reaction? Joe's on his dang cell phone. I presume Joe's talking to his agent.

The uniformity was eerie. It seemed a pretty joyless moment for each Joe. I can't understand it. After a couple of these, Ty joined me in yelling at the tube, “Get off the phone!” It got sadder and weirder as each Joe ignored the shiny reality of his situation to talk on his stupid phone.

2. The book
Book: “The Informers” by Bret Easton Ellis
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)... not worth it.

I've read a couple Ellis books, most notably “American Psycho”. He's got a very readable style, very light. He's very into a surreal, ultra-violent, urban-apathetic setting for his books.

Well, this book was surreal, but not very interesting. Ellis tried something a little weird; each chapter has a different first-person narrative, and you're supposed to try and figure out who is “talking” at each point. It doesn't work well at all because all the characters are so similar. And there is this weird vampire plot pasted on the end. Vampires. Yawn.

3. The movie
Movie: “The Informers”
Review: 1 bill-star (out of 5)... gawd awful.

The highlight of this movie was my sighting of a 1978 (I think) Honda Accord in the first 10-15 minutes of the film. My second car was Mozy's 1978 Accord that he let me borrow for a year in North Carolina. What a great car!

Otherwise, the movie is pretty much without redemption, excepting all the hot chicks. Ellis did the screenplay adaptation of his own novel. So, it seems weird that he gutted most/all of the surreal stuff, and it's flat as a pancake. The book was kind of different, but didn't really work. The movie is neither different nor good... and boring and bad acting and direction and ending. Phew, what a stinker!

I really enjoy the book/movie double-shot... even with a buster like "Informers". It's fun.

4. An honest pol
Repub senator Arlen Specter switched over to the dem party. This wouldn't be notable other than the honesty of his reason for the switch.

QOTD

“[I] have found that the prospects for winning a Republican primary are bleak. I am not prepared to have my 29-year record in the United States Senate decided by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate.”
- A Specter, on why he's switch to the dem party

I think Specter is pushing 80 years-old and is a recent cancer survivor. He is hanging on to this senate gig as if it were life itself. That's the point... these senate jobs are so lucrative and intoxicating that it's worth anything to keep it. Power.
unlimited pow-ah... yow, bill

PS - 1978 Honda Accord... excellent!

Labels: 1star, 2stars, books, movies, politics, qotd, sports

Hey,

Great site: www.dshort.com


Some of my fave articles on the dshort blog...

1. Bear market history
This post has tasty charts on each of the 9 bear markets since 1950:

I'll snarf the current bear market chart for posterity.

Source: www.dshort.com

2. S&P regression to long-term trend

In this post, they calculate a long-term linear regression of S&P returns and show the market bouncing higher and lower over time... but always returning to the gravity of "average" long-term returns.

Here's the cool chart from that one:

Source: www.dshort.com

3. Market timing using moving averages
I've written about using moving averages to time investing. The moving average is just the average of prices over some time period, like the average daily price over the last 50 days.

Here's the really fascinating article, and there are lots of good links in there too:


I mean look at this "money" chart below. They use the 10 month average price to make timing decisions. The 10 month moving average is that red line. 1) You buy when the market is above its moving average (the red line), and 2) you sell when it's below:

Source: www.dshort.com

Super simple. Super results.

4. Wrap
As I spend my hours, I am more and more convinced that the next 10 years will be an era favoring smart investing, rather than buy-and-hold. I know. Duh. But the trick will be agile asset allocation and timing and smart guys analyzing the market on how best to make these decisions will win. We shall see.

Bear market, bad.
But it's never boring, eh.

QOTD

"Not just lawyers... but human beings."
- Radio commercial this morning

"Bikini Law Firm" (review)... I haven't seen it, but sounds like a must rent. He he.
grrrr... yow, bill

Labels: investing, movies, qotd

Book, then movie... excellent.
IMAX!

Movie: Watchmen
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... excellent!
Website: www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459 and

There's Mr. Manhattan over there. Big naked blue guy. Very weird. But very fun.

So, I liked the movie better than the book, but that's almost unfair:

• IMAX is like having a cocktail and turning the volume up at a rock concert... of course it's better.
• I thought the acting in Watchmen was truly outstanding, especially Rorschach (more below).
• The direction was great and the movie is visually very interesting.
  
• There was pretty good music throughout, and ending with Mozart's "Requiem" shaking the walls of the IMAX was, um, awesome.

I understand why the book made its choices and the movie made its. The book is more surreal than the movie... especially the ending... and the long dream-like sequences in the book are gone. I don't understand why the movie is more political than the book... or maybe I do.

Anyway, the worst thing about the movie is the lull in the middle. It's a 2 1/2 hour deal. With about 30-45 minutes left, they kick it into gear and off we go. Off we go to a boffo ending.

One of my favorite performances was the over-the-top Rorschach. The actor was remotely (like way, way, lizard brain remotely) familiar. His name is Jackie Earle Haley. Here he is today as Rorschach and 33 years ago (click on these bad boys to make them bigger):
...

Yeah, the "bad" kid who was a really good player on the "Bad News Bears", Kelly on the right, is the same guy, 33 years later, playing Rorschach. He's a year older than I am.

The kid in the middle of the "Bad News Bears" picture is Ogilvie. I've had a few people say that I looked like him back in the day, when I had that style of glasses. I guess.

Anyway, good book and excellent movie... different and good.
Let me steal a fun QOTD from the book/movie and get out of here.

QOTD

"You people don't understand.
I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me!"
- Rorschach in prison

smile... yow, bill

PS - Mini-burgers at Buffalo Wild Wings after the movie with Moz... 4 bill-stars. He he.

Labels: 4stars, movies, qotd

1. All by myself
I was listening to my Rachmaninoff (sp?) piano concertos the other day and he started playing "All By Myself", that woosy 70's ballad. Google, google, wikipedia... here Eric Carmen lifted a Rach-y pianos concerto for his song thinking it was in the public domain. Shit, I guess I would-a thunk that too. See? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_by_Myself

2. Nerd, not geek
I like "nerd" and dislike "geek".
This (Illini) lady has it backwards:
Geeks may be chic, but negative nerd stereotype still exists, professor says

Nerds are totally in. Shit, 200 years ago, half of us (me included) would have died from flu or earaches or bullies or something stupid. Hey, now the weak survive... and then thrive! He he.

3. Thirty Seven!
Movie: Clerks
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... great!

I saw "Clerks" on regular TV, but it was a cable channel without censorship, for whatever reason. I can't believe Clerks is 15 years old. Its innocence and honesty jumps off the screen. I like it more now that 15 years ago, no doubt. It's shocking how much has changed in so short a time. I gotta admit, fucking old-timer, 1994 was lookin' pretty good.

QOTD

"Yeah, I went down on a few guys"
- Dante's girlfriend Veronica on her 37 blowjob tally

4. Freedom, not
The media blackout continues. I do wonder what the hell is going on out there to some degree. The stock market goes down nearly every day, so something's going on. Right?
I just googled "President Obama freedom"... first news story that popped up.

QOTD

"[President] Obama appears poised to return to a more traditional American policy of dealing with the world as it is rather than as it might be."
- Some loser journalist from some loser story

He he.
Is there any axis in which the Obama presidency strive to increase our freedoms?
Any?
bueller, bueller... yow, bill

PS - "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"... much better movie than Ferris. I cant' decide on 4 bill-stars or 5, so I'm waiting for the mood to hit.

PPS - Sorry. Couldn't resist. He he.

Labels: 5stars, fun, movies, music, politics

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