crazy_asian_man

Good filmmaking or did he take the same drugs in a hospital?

2009-11-06T05:58:18Z

Saw "Requiem for a Dream" last night- wow... the last part in tone really captures EXACTLY what I felt when I was at the hospital under the bad drugs, though for what felt like 3 months, not 30 minutes like in the film. (I was unconscious for a week under the drugs, so time got greatly distorted) When an old friend's dad (who I knew) was stuck in the hospital for 3 months- and still came back home messed up in the head, and then died... I can't imagine the hell he must have been under. Life hasn't been the same since I got back, for sure... (it's opened my eyes to a lot of shallow friendships that I've since let dissolve)- but it would be nice to have come back with some mystical knowledge and confidence on why we're on this earth in the first place. Hm.

crazy_asian_man @ 2009-10-19T14:35:00

2009-10-19T21:36:40Z

For my friends who are comic book geeks- a photo shoot from a project I'm working on, on the side:
http://crazyasianman.blogspot.com/

Second day of third week of 1st program-

2009-07-07T14:39:22Z

Today:
* Last night- prepped (1) Masks and (2) Motion Guide- good.
Also, got an idea to include a shop for the haunted house project--- that should help some of the kids that are not so much into it.

This morning;
Ough.... I had just enough to pay off my credit card- but decided to get a heavy breakfast-lunch this morning a la Jack in the Box (the pita snacks are actually pretty good!)- and salad, so now I don't have enough. Oh well.

$121.00 hmmnn..
Taco Bell and Jack in the box for another $22.00?
07/07/2009 ENDING BALANCE ------- $98.53
07/04/2009 WALGREENS (prescription drugs)$38.00 $98.53
Leftover from stat? $60?

Still....
Want to go back to my original plan: diet and excercise and whatnot for the time I'm here--- plus, I should be able to setup my other projects for what's next and ahead-!

7:30sh-
Deactivated my facebook. Got realllllly annoyed at some folks who I've already had resentments over not visiting me or contacting me when I was at death's door so many times this year, or after--- that enough felt like enough already. If I'm not really friends with a person, or if they don't really care if I live or die, what's the real point other than just to be there? So.

Anyhow, I feel oddly better about that.

crazy_asian_man @ 2009-06-06T12:50:00

2009-06-06T20:00:00Z

According to an old Chinese proverb, you can always tell a happy marriage if the husband has gained weight.

I have a lot of friends that have happy marriages, then. ;)

crazy_asian_man @ 2009-06-01T17:08:00

2009-06-02T00:10:26Z

Why do people like the "Octomom" and the 'stars' of that other reality show with eight kids deserve to reproduce? And that many? Oy. Taxpayer money gone to help selfish people create many multiple warped clones of themselves.....

Wow....

2009-04-30T08:29:07Z

The high school down the street has been closed for a week because of the swine flu scare...yikes.
Out of many of the things going on, suprisingly I'm only worried for the small ones in the family and their parents.
And...oddly, other things are more worrisome. Thankfully, most of the U.S. cases are mild- and hopefully panic will go away quickly and more sanity gets restored to society. Whatta year. Geez.

Hnh....celebrity divorces mirroring society? update:jackson

2009-04-29T19:29:06Z

A giant number of friends and acquaintences and relatives are divorced. Less than a handful remain married to the same person.

Whenever I see news of a celeb divorce - especially one that's gone on for awhile - the fascination I think is because: (1) there's the presumption that the celebs are so rich, that money shouldn't be an issue, and (2) the idea that people CAN stay together, period. That divorces or unhappy marriages aren't inevitable in marriage.

(No, not married myself. Too many relatives with horrible divorces or horrible marriages that make the whole idea unappealing since day one.)

Mel Gibson and his wife of 10,000 years apparently got their divorce final, she walked away, crying as she walked away with half of $900 million dollars. (I know a lot of people who would love to be that miserable). Mel has publicly announced (more/less) his new replacement gal. Wonder how long it will last.

Similiarly, Sean Penn, who, on the surface, seems to have a personality like a rock- just filed for separation/divorce again from his wife of 5,000 years, Robin Wright. Color me a little suprised. Much like Robin Williams' divorce of 100,000 years from his nanny.... but then again, rumors of Robin Williams' alcoholism (he lives in SF, which is only an hour away from where I reside) make things a little less than surprising there, but still...

Why does such news compel me to lean over and listen in that general direction?

Because the whole world seems to be in a gigantic mess because people can't seem to agree, or be flexible enough, to live with one another successfully..... on any level. I'd like to think that it's true, that with enough heart and will, that people CAN live together in peace--- but if two people who profess to love one another and commit their lives to one another can't- then, is that just human nature that makes it impossible for people to get along?

Pity. That's how I interpret it. Funny how human beings are considered the most intelligent species on the planet. If so, everyone's too smart for their own good.
*sigh*

UPDATE: Read this interview with Hugh Jackman, possibly one of the most positive actors I've read about...well, ever.

Here's his take on success and his marriage. Interesting rebuttal to what I wrote:

"Now, it's funny how things changed for me. But when that musical came out, it got a really terrible review in The New York Times. Terrible and that's usually death for something on Broadway. Yet somehow, by the time we finished, we were breaking all records. So I thought, "Okay. Trust your own instincts. Sometimes there's - it's not an, "I'm right and they're wrong." it was a certainty. I just had a certainty about it. It happens rarely in life. I had it when I met Deb. I had it when I wanted to have kids. I had it with The Boy from Oz. But there's really not a lot of time you have certainty. Whenever you have it, you've got to do it. I had it with this. Did I want to do a Wolverine movie? Yes. I had it with - I try to have that with everything I do, now. If I can have the luxury about being certain about it, for whatever reason, then no matter what happens, it's easy to live with it. It's so much easier to be philosophical about something not working, when you are 100 percent sure it was the right thing at the time.

Question: How do you remain so egoless, because you haven't changed? I mean, you're exactly the same as you were then. How do you keep that lack of ego in check?

Jackman: Deb's a big key to that You know Deb and she's a person at times to a fault, honesty. Brutal. And she doesn't know any other way. I mean, for an actress, she's a terrible liar. She cannot lie. She just is very, very honest. And beyond that, when you're married to someone, as you know, who loves you for who you are - and someone who I met before any of this happened - I met her on my first job. I was a shmuck actor. Really, trust me, only $1200 a week on an ABC TV Series in Australia. There was nothing about me that was saying, "Hey, this is a good bet here." And when you know that you're loved completely for who you are, no matter what comes and goes - and by the way, this went through my mind when I walked out on stage at the Oscars.

When I went out in The Oscars, the first person I looked for was Deb. And she gave me a little nod. And it's that feeling of, like, "I could completely die on my ass here, and I know that that's okay. Here." The entire industry could fall out of love with me, or whatever - however they were in love with me. Everything could fall apart. But when you know there's a rock there, that goes a long way, particularly in this business. But the other thing is, I think - sorry to interrupt that little - go on a bit too much. But - maybe just being a little bit older. But, you know, I've always had a more - in my private life, a search for what is real. To me, that's the most important thing and I talk to my kids all the time. The things that are real - by definition, truth never changes. It doesn't change. You know. Days come and go. Beauty. Flowers come and go, and there's beauty in them. But the truth is always there. There's something essentially there. And you know that in a relationship with someone. It doesn't matter what goes on. Bodies change. Things go up and down. But there's a connection that is real. Father, child. That connection is always real. Fame will come, and it will go. There will come a day when we will die. This body will pass. But I believe that below that, or deeper than that, is something that is forever there. And that's what I try and focus on. And that takes a little bit of discipline, sometimes. But then you can somehow enjoy all of this other stuff."

Everytime the U.S. is in conflict w/an asian country....headaches...

2009-03-12T06:37:46Z

Grew up in school, having hard times given to me anytime the U.S. was in conflict with Japan, Korea, Vietnam, etc.---as if I was responsible regardless..... and, now, I worry about hard times to my younger relatives if things get worse. I know that Arab-Americans were harassed at the school pretty badly during the Iraq war, now.... *sigh*....why can't everyone get along? Ough.... :(

The other blog, more cartoon/art related with Faith fan comic...

2008-11-25T16:27:23Z

This is my other blog, less personal/whiny than this journal, more arts and comix related.
Did a "Faith" fan comic I'm running currently, if interested in checking it out...
http://crazyasianman.blogspot.com/2008/11/faith-fan-comic-book-first-installment.html

crazy_asian_man @ 2008-11-13T16:47:00

2008-11-14T00:47:14Z

Boy, did 2008 turn out to suck... in looking over the journal, there's just way too many rants and not enough celebrations. Kudos to those who stuck around, but I think it's time to move on and spend even more time on my real life life than this virtual one. Gonna delete this account in the next few days. Peace and good fortune to y'all...

holy shite...

2008-11-05T07:39:31Z

Obama won!
Wow...I was CERTAIN that there was either going to be 'strange circumstances' with the voting machines that would have gotten McCain and the Repubs in full power... or...

That people in America may have polled for Obama, but in truth, would have fallen for the fear tactics employed by McCain (shame on you, McC--- what happened to you?)...

Wow. I'm actually feeling something like OPTIMISM for the world for the first time in a decade...
Wow. wow. wow.

Terence Howard rocks; irritated at the makers of Iron Man 2

2008-10-22T15:18:43Z

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/terrencehoward_blog.html
Check out the full 10 minute audio interview on NPR that it's linked to, awesome.
Howard has a fantastic (and sad) history, but whatta peaceful guy. I should take lessons.

I'm not sure which of these is the scariest thing right now...

2008-10-20T16:41:00Z

(1) The idea of hot-tempered Republican McCain becoming president.
(2) The idea of Sarah Palin becoming president.
(3) The idea that legitimately enough people are dumb enough to vote for these bozos in America.
(4) The idea that the machines are rigged (the electronic voting machines that have no capability for paper verification have NOT been replaced) and that we'll never be able to have a legitimate choice for president ever again.
(5) All of the above.

If the Repubs win this time, I'm going to get severely, severely, severely depressed.

Rednecks for Obama? Funny...

2008-10-09T17:25:19Z

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081009/pl_afp/usvoteobamarednecks

How Dark is Dark...?

2008-10-06T16:47:27Z

<lj-cut text="The myth of another Depression era...or worse.">

<lj-cut>
Been getting pretty depressed/worried lately, watching the Yahoo headlines that keep pounding about the world going into a recession/depression like no other-
(Thanks again, George Bush and yer Republicans)

The worry isn't so much for me, as it is for my young nieces and nephews that have to live through this generation.
Like most, whenever I see photos of starving parents and kids in Africa, and the expression of the overpowering hopelessness to protect their kids, I dread the same coming forward.....because we simply don't know how BAD things will get.

Trying to think/see things more positive...not easy.
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Friday Night Lights: one of the best tv show about life ever

2008-10-04T02:44:07Z

<lj-cut text="Believe it or not, I hate football, but LOVE this show!">
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Heard a ton about this show from critics, that has struggled for an audience from day one.... and finally caught it.

This show about a Texas community has very little to do with football, and more about living with shattered dreams in this society, and trying to deal an ensemble of parents and children that both try to secure a happy life, while getting slammed over and over in the face by depressing life realities and disappointments- financially, relationship-wise, and family entanglements that are both a blessing and a burden at the same time.

The show jumps around from character to character--- and it's great, because sticking to any one storyline could have been a bit too claustrophopic--- but the character is the extended dysfunctional family, and how- just like another great show- Six Feet Under---- they deal with loss and fresh pain over and over again--- and its often merciless, just like real life.

A lot of shows that are highly praised often succumb to contrived bits (The Shield and Battlestar Galactica come to mind)--- but FNL has remained mostly free of that.

I rarely get lumps in my throat watching good shows, but this is the first show that had me weeping like a little baby more than once--- maybe the points they hit, hit too close too home at times.

I'm skeptical about the third season, but the first two seasons are incredible. See it!

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I don't hate Sarah Palin anymore...!

2008-09-27T21:43:27Z

How can anyone hate a complete idiot? Look for yourself and judge...
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13991_Page2.html

crazy_asian_man @ 2008-09-23T08:08:00

2008-09-23T15:06:58Z

Gee, it's amazing how much damage just one single President has been able to do the whole world in 8 years.

Nice work, George. :P

the truth (?) about Sarah Palin...

2008-09-10T06:19:34Z

Thank goodness for the internet. This is circulating around, and sounds fairly legit:

<lj-cut>

Anne Kilkenny's e-mail about Sarah Palin

More on this Story

Dear friends,

So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .

Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in common: their gender and their good looks. :)

You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts with my name and email address attached, but please do not post it on any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . .

Thanks, Anne

ABOUT SARAH PALIN

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe".

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.

She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin's kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.

She's smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs.

She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated" her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn't like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance--but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork".

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.

However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.

CLAIM VS FACT *"Hockey mom": true for a few years.

*"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since.

*"NRA supporter": absolutely true

*social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional).

*pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.

*"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation

*"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.

*political maverick: not at all

*gutsy: absolutely!

*open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.

*has a developed philosophy of public policy: no

*"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.

*fiscal conservative: not by my definition!

*pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.

*pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents

*pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla's history.

*pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that's life.

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90's.

Anne Kilkenny August 31, 2008
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crazy_asian_man @ 2008-09-07T09:13:00

2008-09-07T16:09:42Z

From Joe Biden:
“I heard Sarah Palin and John McCain talk about change,” Biden said. “Tell me one single thing they’re going to do — on the economy, foreign policy, taxes, that is going to be change. Name me one! This is such malarkey — 90 percent of the time, John votes with the president.”

Yup! And stop blaming parties for problems and start finding solutions, John & Sarah.

*sigh*

Wow...

2008-09-04T22:24:52Z

What happened to the real John McCain??? I supported ya for a long time, John.....what's happened to ya? Maybe when you were tortured back in 'Nam, you were also brainwashed as well....sad....

Sarah, go home to your polar bears and straighten out your own family before you start preaching to the world on how they should run theirs. The rest of the world has REAL problems like trying to make ends meet, rather than fighting to keep one's right to own a semi-automatic weapon. Then again, maybe you're promoting that people should use semi-automatic weapons to fix the economy.

Yeesh.

Thursday

2008-08-28T16:49:54Z

<lj-cut text="Prepping for today">
<lj-cut>
Today is supposed to be...108 degrees???
AGH!!!

No word from Apple...grrr...

Saw "Season 6" of "Shield"--- like Dexter, very addictive watching, although I always cringe when there was almost always an inevitable "Subplot" wherein the leading bald and fat cop ends up making out with almost ANY new female cop that appears onscreen- a gap in credibility, for sure. Three episodes had the lovely Famka Portente (Lola from the legendary German fun pro-drug time travel film "Run Lola Run") in it, but it's just a great show- not perfect, but ya can't put it down. I sure hope the ending isn't a letdown.

Family getogether/graduation party on Monday.
Juggle job search and prep for Monday.

OUt for now, avoiding the heat... (bleagh)
</lj-cut>

Yeah, I think this pretty much sums it up-

2008-06-02T14:50:05Z

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080602/lf_nm_life/books_bachelors_dc

Iron Man and general stuff...

2008-05-02T21:05:35Z

Went to the doctor's for a ct scan (ugh.$$$!) and was able to catch the first matiness showing for "Iron Man", which I'd heard a lot of buzz on, from critics and fans.

I grew up enjoying Iron Man as a supporting character, but never was that much into his own series. I always felt that there was...well...just kind of a dullness to his story and he was cool as a supporting character in a group rather than being a character I found extremely interesting on its own. I know there were/are a ton of websites of fans that really 'got into' the whole character, and all the gear that came with the comic- but the mass appeal of it really eluded me for the longest time.

With this movie, though, it made me 'get' why anyone would think that the fantasy of being a rich playboy billionaire who also dug having a secret identity in getting into a metal powerful suit (though the secret identity thing is one of the few things that I think the movie missed as a fun opportunity, though...maybe they felt it's overplayed in other superhero films).... I couldn't understand why the fantasy would 'feel' cool--- but there's a great level of intricate detail in the character getting into this all-powerful suit that made you understand.... 'yeah.... that would feel cool to put on this suit- it's the ultimate sportscar and powersuit all rolled into one'.

But it's not just that-

For the first 75-85% of the film, there's a giant delight on all levels:
#1- It's great to see a mostly-well-written story, with action beats in the right spots (for the most part)

#2- It's great to see Robert Downey Jr. in a role that fits him like a GLOVE and elevates him in a positive role that's also flawed enough to feel truthful--- and embraces his history of substance abuse (Tony Stark in the comic books was a majorly flawed superhero character who also fought his alcoholism as well)-

#3- Similiarly--- it's great to see Gwneth Paltrow in a role that not only doesn't annoy the crap out of you, but she actually shines in it! Her "Pepper Potts" as the supercompetent secretary mommy-figure who isn't afraid to get in Downey's Tony Stark's face is a great character--- usually the girlfriend role in an action movie is a thankless one where the character is always needed to be rescued and screaming, it's such a relief to see a character who can be the girlfriend and be the main character's equal on many levels.

#4- It's smart-funny. Very smart-funny... and when it's serious (for most of it), it's not melodramatic, but actually is unsentimental and at times, moving, without going overboard. When the great Terence Howard (who plays Tony Stark's best friend who's also a military man) embraces his friend long-thought dead, or another character tells Tony not to waste a new life he's been given, there are a lot of small but moving moments, and a lot of the relationships are communicated with enough smarts and truthfulness to have impact.

While there was a great 'pre-show' (A new Indiana Jones trailer and Incredible Hulk trailer), the film was EXTREMELY well-done. If it fails, I think it's in the 'revelation' of Iron Man to the masses that disappoints as well as what exactly Tony Stark's relationship is with a military organization at the end of the movie, now that he is a 'man of peace', so to speak, that feels a bit confusing and flawed, considering all the buildup to show Stark trying to change into a different type of person when he gets back from Afghanistan in the movie.

But....considering that it's only a smart part of the final act, the ride up to then is magnetic.
Here's hoping the rest of the summer films is as good or better.

Unbelievable...

2008-04-29T14:38:18Z

Bush's speech blames Congress for ALL of the problems he's caused and not acknowledging any of the problems he and his 'war' have caused.
I never thought I could hate Bush/Cheney more than I already did. Geez.