Caught 'Wolverine' yesterday. A nice summer film that's a solid B. The action is good and the humor, which tends to be forced in these things, was actually done well. The performances were good, but the thing that keeps this from being an 'A' is that there is plenty of opportunity for a much stronger emotional impact. Also, the film doesn't spend enough time building its foundation for the characters motivations.

It's too bad that these quibbles exist. Often there's a reason why action flicks don't go for the quieter moments (read: The actors aren't up to the task). However, the cast in Wolverine give the impression that they ARE more than capable of expressing deeper emotions, but either the script or Director didn't feel they were up to the task. This lack of confidence is felt in an otherwise strong film.

Yes, I said 'SigHs' and not 'signs'...

My project got canned a few weeks ago. Suddenly, the safety of sitting out the economic waves of turmoil for another 12 months vanished! It wasn't unexpected, but still more than enough to cause some panic in the cubicles.

The truly sad part... my client is offering to match any dollars borrowed with an escrow account that would cover the loan!! Yet, they can't get any of the banks or lending institutions to open the purse strings. How crazy is that?!!

This means that my team of excellent folks suddenly finds itself scrambling for chairs in this insane game of musical jobs. Not surprisingly, the number of seats at the dance have diminished to one or two just as the number of dancers has exploded with the start of 2nd quarter 2009.

On a personal note (and a large back pat, if I say so myself), I've already been picked up by another project. In fact, midway through the announcement that the current gig was closing down, I got two opportunities texted to me. Given the environment, however, I haven't done the happy-dance too much. Far too many coworkers facing bleak futures for that.

So, on April 6th, I'll be trading in Salt Lake City (which greeted me with snow and 29f degree temps this morning with Costa Mesa, Ca, which forecasted high-60s and low 70s. Though, on the 'fun' side, I get a group of COBOL developers who have been with the new firm for 30+ years and aren't happy to moving to a new platform and have the prospect of developing nearly 100 pieces of code in 6 months!!

Not that I'm complaining, mind you...

I'm not complaining, but it seems like the season for popcorn flicks is getting longer an longer. Oddly enough, it's on the front-end of the season, but the hardstop around Labor day still seems to exist for Hollywood.

Caught Monsters vs. Aliens on Friday with my 11 year-old. We splurged and spent the extra 3 bucks for the Real 3D version. All and all, a solid B film (both in grade and in quality). She liked it and Dad was amused by the tech and some of the references to old 50/60/70s horror and sci fi schlock.

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...You engage in discussions while sitting at the airport gate about which airport features the best free plastic baggies for your lil' bottles...

For me, I like Salt Lake City. They have slide lock bags that seem thicker than the ones I've found in Albuquerque or LA.

Monday Morning Quarterback Update
Well, the game is over. The ads didn't get any better, but the game certainly did!! Congrats to the Steelers for their win and 'grats to the Cards for keeping it close. Both teams played in a fashion that makes them deserving to be in the big dance. Heck, it was even so good that my pro-sports-hating wife sat down for the final five minutes!

---

Is it me or have the ads in this year's Super Bowl just been lacking in energy? It was a promising beginning with the Bud Light 'Ejected from the Meeting' ad, but it's gone down from there. Sure, the Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead ad was sort of cute, but that's been it.

The big wonder is that the stalwarts just aren't sparking. The Buds, the Cokes, the Pepsis and others that could be counted on to bring energy to the big game just aren't there.

Of course, in recent past years, we could depend on some of the upstarts to raise the bar. This year, only the movie studios seem to bringing their A game.

One bright spot was the halftime show. The Boss was in great form. It was a rockin' concert with some just pure American rock and roll.

As for the game, the Cards just took the lead!

Dragged kicking and screaming from kradical

Type only ONE word answers
(And watch for the trick questions at the end!!)

It's harder than you think!!!

Where is your cell phone? Desk.
Your hair? Missing
Your father? Rogue
Your favorite thing? Family
Your dream last night? Vivid
Your favorite drink? Water
Your dream/goal? Unburdened
The room you are in? Bedroom
Your fear? Failure
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Secure
Muffins? Blueberry
One of your wish list items? Able
Where you grew up? Vermont
The last thing you did? Connect
What are you wearing? Black
Your TV? On
Your pets? Cuddly
Your computer? Docked
Your life? Interesting
Missing someone? Weekly
Your car? Zippy
Favorite store? Frys
Your summer? Distant
Your favorite color? Black
When is the last time you laughed? Minutes
Last time you cried? Unremembered
Three people who email me? Insufficient
Three of my favorite foods? Yummy
Three places I would rather be right now? Changing
Three people I think will respond? Wonderful

Snagged from various friends. An interesting list, but I wish it was broader in tone. Where are things like Star Cops, UFO, The Prisoner, or a myriad of others??

---

1. Bold the shows you watch/used to watch.
2. Italicize the shows you've seen at least one episode of.
3. Underline the shows you own on DVD (or VCR tape).
4. Post your answers.

---

50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex & The City
45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek
42. Only Fools and Horses
41. Band of Brothers
40. Life on Mars - US incarnation
39. Monty Python
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation
36. Father Ted
35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5 - Far better on DVD
31. Deadwood
30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf
25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks - I remember screaming with my ex when Bob first showed up!
23. The Office
22. The Shield
21. Angel
20. Blackadder
19. Scrubs
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Doctor Who
15. Heroes
14. Firefly - I've given several DVD sets to those who blinked.
13. Battlestar Galactica - Both series
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld
10. Spaced
09. The X-Files
08. The Wire
07. Friends
06. 24
05. Lost
04. The West Wing
03. The Sopranos
02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
01. The Simpsons

(x) Gone on a blind date
(x) Skipped school
(x) Watched someone die (Friend - in an auto accident - I was the passenger he was the driver)
(x) Been to Canada
(x) Been to Europe
(x) Been to Mexico
(x) Been to Florida
(x) Been on a plane (atleast 2 times a week for 50+ weeks a year!)
(x) Been lost (Lost?!! Heck, I have problems finding my car that I parked 30 minutes ago!!)
(x) Been on the opposite side of the country
(x) Gone to Washington, DC
(x) Swam in the ocean
(x) Cried yourself to sleep
(x) Played cops and robber or cowboys and indians (or doctors and patients!)
(x) Recently colored with crayons (working on some mixed media stuff)
(x) Sang Karaoke
(x) Paid for a meal with coins only (This is REALLY only a big deal in the US.)
(x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(x) Made Prank phone calls
(and Mark Hamill didn't answer! There's an obscure reference for ya!!)
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(x) Danced your heart out
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(x) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(x) Watched the sunrise with someone (Even done it across timezones)
(x) Blown bubbles
(x) Gone ice-skating
(x) Been skinny dipping outdoors
(x) Gone to the movies
(x) Sat outside in the rain (both by choice and by protest)
(x) Lived one of your dreams (married my grade school crush 30 years later)

Peek-a-boo puddy tat

Aint It Cool News is reporting that Forry Ackerman is fading on us

For those of you who aren't geeks from the 70's, Forry (Forrest J, actually) was the publisher of a great film horror magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland. The prose of the magazine was appropriately purple with a glee for all things geeky. It covered both horror and scifi equally, as well as doing its best to follow print, film, and TV.

The thing I remember best about the magazine was that it had these incredible covers. Full of color and drama, There were some great covers featuring classic Universal monsters, as well as modern ones. The cover I remember the most featured a battle between King Kong and a giant shark (probably Dino's hope to cash in on his unreleased King Kong film and the frenzy of Jaws).

If you, like me, spent many an afternoon pouring over the lurid language of FMM, take the opportunity to send Mr. Ackerman a card;

FORREST J ACKERMAN
4511 Russell Avenue
Los Angeles, CA
90027

As Halloween has come and gone, the temps here in New Mexico have started their steady decline towards Winter norms. Here on the outskirts of Albuquerque, we've enjoyed the 30-40 degree swings between day and dark since the Balloon Fiesta finished at the beginning of October. Perfect weather for both hiking and sleeping

We had a good run of youngters and the young-at-heart for Halloween. This is actualy my favorite holiday for decorating. We had lots of pumpkin stinglights, 2 jack-o-lanterns, some blacklight-reactive spiderwebs, a huge lifelike bat to hang down from the entryway, and a sound-sensative animated spider.

The spider was probably the biggest hit. In fact, out of the 30 or so groups of kids that came by, I only needed the doorbell to ring twice. All the other times, when the spider dropped from the entryway ceiling and started vibrating, it was greeted with VERY loud shrieks. Luckily, most of the time, that was followed by lots of giggles. And, yes, I was a bit guilty when the very wee ones were stunned into silence.

Now, the decorations have been put away for another year. I've already started to eye the various mountpoints for the outside decorations for Christmas. By the way, am I the only one who hates that the Christmas decorations at stores appear long before Halloween has even finished? I miss that the various festivities don't seem to be separated like they were when I was younger.

Oh, and another soft-rant... I think that kids todays are missing out on the anticipation that holiday TV specials used to bring. In my household, it was like a military campaign when it came to scouring the TV Guide for when the Peanuts shows would be on, as well as Frosty, Rudolph, and their ilk. Today, with DVDs, multiple showings (The Grinch is the worst offender in this case, now that "It's a Wonderful Life" is nolonger in public domain), and TiVo, these things are nolonger events that bring the family together.

Rio Rancho is staging a wonderful haunted forest down in the Rivers Edge area of the city. You park at Traditions off of Idalia and get van-ed down to the actual site. I went early, with two decidedly overdramatic tweens, but had a great time. The walk (not a hike at all) was wonderful in the Autumn chill. The scares were scream-and-laughter inducing.

It's eight dollars per person. Keep in mind that there are no concessions, so bring your own water and/or warm drinks. The wait after paying was about 1 hour. The walk is an easy trail and about 30 minutes once the guide lead us to the forest and the frights.

So, as mentioned in my previous post, my Pampered Chef pizza stone is my favorite piece of kitchenware...

Or, more correctly put...

Was my favorite piece of kitchenware!!

As I pulled it from my oven this evening, the bloody thing snapped apart! Suddenly, I went from a pizza stone to a calzone and bagel-pizza stone duo! It's a small tragedy, but one, none the less.

It's not the loss of the stone, itself, since that can be easily replaced, it's the years of seasoning that will now need to begin, once again!

From the fount of most memes - kradical

( Food for Thought )

Well, actually yesterday, but I haven't found a lyric I like with that...

Ten years ago, I started working for my current firm. I went from working for a small Vermont electrical utility that I'd spent 5 years as a contractor and nearly 5 years as an employee to working for a multinational company based out of the bay area.
( Reflecting forward )
It's been a good 10 years. I've climbed to a point in the corporate ladder where I'm happy. On the personal side, I've gone from long-term live-in curmudgeon to having a wonderful wife (different woman) and daugther who force me to not be so withdrawn. Unlike previous deca-versaries, I don't find myself itching to change my job. Perhaps it's because the nature of what I do keeps my vistas changing on a regular basis or because, finally, I've found myself a home, both while working and while relaxing.

Now, we all know that the Senate is focused on making sure that the bailout flows quickly through the House. So, of course, to ensure that the focus of the bill is only the 700 billion in funds to help the lending industry, they wouldn't be so short-sighted as to add in some 'minor' extras, right?

Wrong! The Senate managed to tack on $160+ million in extras. I know that it's the normal course of business to do this to regular bills, but let's be honest. This isn't a normal bill. It should have contained ONLY the items required to get the funding and the monitoring structure for the bailout in place.

Instead, we get a whole bunch of tax-related riders. A lot of it in the form of tax breaks that, unfortunately, are not already being offset by different cash flow streams. Some of it is, so I'm good with the $20 million or so in taxes that are being retired. However, that leaves us with $140 million of missing cash. Someone want to tell me how this is responsible?

Getting to know you... getting to know all about you!

( Read more... )

Clipped from kradical

( A simple life, actually )
It's been an interesting trip, so far...

From the always interesting kradical

A series of questions
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As we slide further down the rabbit hole...

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/23/student-car-debt-quietly-added/

Honestly, I'm sorry that folks have picked up the shovel and dug themselves into these holes, but this is more bread and ciruses. It appears that Congress and the Prez don't trust the American people to understand the need for the bailout. So, they tack on relief for loans that the little people all have experience with.

I've never considered myself to be a proponent of hands-off government. I see my taxes as social insurance that goes into a pool for the general good. By taking care of my fellow citizens, I ensure that, well, mostly they don't bother me!

But, this... I just don't know. I think I have a grasp as to why we have to bail out the foundation institutions. I don't like how they got into this and I'd much rather have a few MAJOR civil lawsuits than this bailout, but we all know that by the time the courts even flip the first page on the lawsuit, our economy may have cratered.