Friday, August 30, 2002
Site of the day.
Japander.com
A well kept secret in Hollywood is that big name image conscious stars can make oodles of cash doing commercials in Japan, far from the prying eyes of Americans. Imagine Harrison Ford hawking beer, Brad peddling blue jeans,or Leo shilling for a credit card company?
They all do it. My favorite is the absolutely bizarre Shwarzenegger ad's.
Thursday, August 29, 2002
The Bond Project: Thunderball
The fourth film in the series and the one where it became a true phenomenon. The one word to describe it is BIG. It has bigger stunts, bigger spectacles, bigger plot, bigger everything. This was to that date the most successful of the Bond pictures and the one that made Bond an honest to god phenomenon. I recommend renting the DVD for a great documentary on how Bond mania exploded after this film came out.
Interestingly enough, this story has a sad history behind it. It was originally co-written with Fleming by Steve McClory. This subsequently led to a huge court battle over the rights, a battle Fleming not only lost, but it was such a draining experience for him that he suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 56.
The plot is fairly simple. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. steals 2 nuclear weapons and puts them up for ransom against the NATO powers. It’s the biggest thing that has happened to our intrepid hero yet, and the movie treats it that way, with a huge conference with every Double 0 agent in attendance (and we never get to see any of them which kind of annoyed me). Wanna guess which agent ends up saving the day?
Bond gets involved almost accidentally while he is at a spa recovering from the obligatory opening sequence. He's doing what he normally does, relaxing by screwing the head nurse, when he meets a suspicious character named Count Lippe. For some reason Lippe decides to kill Bond because he noticed Lippe has a strange tattoo on his arm. The tattoo is apparently the mark of S.P.E.C.T.R.E (with a plot device that lame, I half expected NATO to pay the ransom in big sacks with dollar bill signs on the side). This starts what has become a tradition in the Bond franchise, weak plot points. Why blow his cover and try and kill Bond? And why try and kill him in the most asinine, let me just turn up his exercise machine and walk away confident knowing he will die, no need to check on him, way? We have to get Bond from point A to B, who cares if it makes sense. But hey its a Bond picture, so just forget about that stuff and enjoy.
After Bond takes care of Lippe, he notices the arrival of a new patient, who is really a dead NATO pilot. S.P.E.C.T.R.E has killed him and substituted a double in order to steal the nuclear bombs. Why send the dead pilot here? Why not just bury him? At this point I just gave up and figured who cares, as long as they get to the Bahamas soon.
And they do. But not before Bond convinces M to follow the leads he picked up at the spa. If he didn't Bond was off to Canada, and we all know how boring that would have been.
And here is where the movie takes off. Bond engages in the usual cat and mouse games with the villain (who wears an eye patch no less), wooing the innocent Bond girl Domino (one of the Bond girls. There’s a record 4 in this one), and all the while trying to track down the whereabouts of the bombs. He does this in a series of extremely entertaining set pieces. The carnival, the shark tank, the underwater reconnaissance mission, etc.. It all leads up to the spectacular finale. And here is where one of the films Achilles heel shows. The climax goes on way too long. The underwater scenes are great but after a while they start to drag. At over 2 hours, this film could have benefited from some judicious editing here and also at the extremely long winded set up scenes at the beginning. The entire spa “Bond girl” subplot could easily have been left on the cutting room floor, as well as Bonds female “assistant”, another equally unnecessary character.
Also we get yet another forgettable Felix Lieter, which at this point has become almost an in joke.
All those things aside however, It's a great, solid adventure that has everything I love about Bond. Exotic locales (I'm a sucker for a Bond adventure in the Caribbean), intriguing story, great action set pieces, and Connery at his best. After From Russia With Love, its my second favorite Connery Bond.
This was sent by a friend. It's one of those chain email jokes, so I don't have the author. I do however think its pretty damn funny. Also, with the Red Sox falling apart yet again, a strike can't come too soon for me.
Please read. We can all make a difference.....
>
> Since September 11, 2001, Americans have come together as never before in
> our generation. We have banded together to overcome tremendous adversity.
> We have weathered direct attacks on our own soil, wars overseas, corporate
> scandal, layoffs, unemployment, stock price plunges, droughts, fires, and
> a myriad of economic and physical disasters both great and small. But now,
> we must come together once again to overcome our greatest challenge yet.
>
> Desperate hundreds of Major League Baseball players in our very own nation
> are living at, just below, or in most cases far above the seven-figure
> salary level. And as if that weren't bad enough they could be deprived of
> their life giving pay for several months, possibly longer, as a result of
> the upcoming strike situation. But you can help! For only $20,835 a month,
> about $694.50 a day (that's less than the cost of a large screen
> projection TV) you can help a MLB player remain economically viable during
> his time of need. This contribution by no means solves the problem as it
> barely covers the annual minimum salary, but it's a start, and every
> little bit will help!
>
> Although $700 may not seem like a lot of money to you, to a baseball
> player it could mean the difference between spending the strike golfing in
> Florida or on a Mediterranean cruise. For you, seven hundred dollars is
> nothing more than a month's rent, half a mortgage payment, or a month of
> medical insurance, but to a baseball player, $700 will partially replace
> his daily salary. Your commitment of less than $700 a day will enable a
> player to buy that home entertainment center, trade in the year-old Lexus
> for a new Ferrari, or enjoy a weekend in Rio.
>
> HOW WILL I KNOW I'M HELPING?
> Each month, you will receive a complete financial report on the player you
> sponsor. Detailed information about his stocks, bonds, 401(k), real
> estate, and other investment holdings will be mailed to your home. Plus,
> upon signing up for this program, you will receive an unsigned photo of
> the player lounging during the strike on a beach somewhere in the
> Caribbean (for a signed photo, please include an additional $150). Put the
> photo on your refrigerator to remind you of other peoples' suffering.
>
> HOW WILL HE KNOW I'M HELPING?
>
> Your MLB player will be told that he has a SPECIAL FRIEND who just wants
> to help in a time of need. Although the player won't know your name, he
> will be able to make collect calls to your home via a special operator in
> case additional funds are needed for unforeseen expenses.
>
> YES, I WANT TO HELP!
>
> I would like to sponsor a striking MLB player.
> My preference is checked below:
> [ ] Infielder
> [ ] Outfielder
> [ ] Starting Pitcher
> [ ] Ace Pitcher
> [ ] Entire team (Please call our 900 number to ask for the cost of a
> specific team - $10 per minute)
> [ ] Alex Rodriguez (Higher cost: $60,000 per day)
> Please charge the account listed below $694.50 per day for the player for
> the duration of the strike. Please send me a picture of the player I have
> sponsored, along with an Alex Rodriguez 2001 Income Statement and my very
> own Donald Fehr MLB Players Union pin to wear proudly on my hat (include
> $80 for hat).
>
> Your Name: _______________________
> Telephone Number: _______________________
> Account Number: _______________________ Exp.Date:_______
> [ ] MasterCard [ ] Visa [ ] American Express [ ] Discover
> Signature: _______________________
> Alternate card (when the primary card exceeds its credit limit):
> Account Number: _______________________
> Exp.Date:_______ [ ] MasterCard [ ] Visa [ ] American Express [ ]
> Discover Signature: _______________________
> Mail completed form to MLB Players Union or to enroll by phone simply call
> 1-900-SCREW-THE-FANS now! ($10 per minute).
>
> Disclaimer: Sponsors are not permitted to contact the player they have
> sponsored, either in person or by other means including, but not limited
> to, telephone calls, letters, e-mail, or third parties. Contributions are
> not tax-deductible.
>
> Thank You
My brother told me last week that he saw the best bumper sticker ever. It simply said "Hartford. The greatest place on earth."
Trust me, if you live anywhere near Hartford, you will see how funny that is. There is so much wrong with Hartford its impossible to know where to even start. Luckily I grew up in picturesque suburb of Wethersfield and now live West Hartford, which is nothing like Hartford. Its actually a really nice place to live. Great restaurants, bars, parks, the best public school system around and oodles of money. Basically it is everything Hartford isn't.
This recent article in the New York Times shows the brutal truth about Hartford. One excruciating excerpt:
"Hartford, a city with a Buck-Stops-Nowhere reputation, replaced its "strong mayor" form of government in 1946 with one that split accountability between a professional city manager and an elected City Council. The mayor was reduced to a figurehead."
On this I can attest. The former Mayor, Mike Peters is a friend of the family and I heard he tried to get more power for the Mayor, but its almost impossible, because you then get attacked as being power hungry.
But that’s just the beginning of their troubles. Aetna owns the Civic Center arena and wants to demolish it, yet there is aleready a mall. How to get the owners out? Refuse to renew anyone lease. It’s the most depressing mini-mall in the world. For anyone living in Hartford, the article is a must read.
Wednesday, August 28, 2002
Added a new link to my favorite Links section. Maxspeak. A great, great weblog. Its by a man named Max Sawicky, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. The mans got a Ph.D. in economics and it shows. He's also got a great sense of humor. If you want someone to take on the phony numbers and arguments made by the Bushies (or even sometimes the Democrats), he's your man. But he doesn't stop there. I find him constantly destroying bad fiscal arguments with not just well thought out arguments of his own, but with reams of hard numbers to back him up. To quote Slim Pickens from Blazing saddles "He uses his mouth pertier than a ten dollar whore."
plus a FAQ on the basics of the federal budget poor uneducated Art major like myself find extremely helpful.
Tuesday, August 27, 2002
The Bush media white wash continues.
Uggabugga has this side by side comparison of a Bush clip. Here is what he recently said:
BUSH: ... when I say I'm a patient man, I mean I'm a patient man. And that we will look at all options and we will consider - uh, .. uh, .. uh, .. uh - all technologies available to us and diplomacy and intelligence.
CBS aired it unedited. ABC, in order to make the president seem less like the idiot he is, edited the tape:
BUSH: ... when I say I'm a patient man, I mean I'm a patient man. And that we will look at all options and we will consider - uh, all technologies available to us and diplomacy and intelligence.
Listen to the whole thing here.
Think its no big deal? I think it is. The unedited version is embarassing example of the mans utter lack of focus. The man has to stumble around to string a sentence together. The White House does the same thing when Bush makes one of his classic boneheaded verbal screwups, like when he confuses devaluation with deflation and the Yen takes a nosedive, yet the White House alters the official trasncript, changing the fact that Bush doesn't know sh*t about economics.
I miss the old days when you mention an obscure bill to CLinton ina news conference, he will tell you whats in the bill, the name, who's sponsoring it, what effect it will have on the economy, how the bill came to be, what can be done to change the bill, what the writer of the bill had for breakfast.....
Monday, August 26, 2002
The Martha Stewart flap.
Why is such a big deal being made out of a simple insider trading deal that amounts to a piddly $175 thousand dollars, when we have corporations defrauding investors by the billions? Did she engage in insider trading? Who knows, but why make a congresional circus out of it? Aren't there bigger fish to fry? Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, etc...
Because Martha Stewart is famous, and by subpeonaing her, Congressmen can look tough in an election year. Especially after the recent news reports talked about the possibility of Kenny Boy going to jail at about nil. Someone needs to be a scapegoat. Soon we'll see conservatives outraged, simply outraged, at any amount of money that she may have given to Democrats. As if that means anything.
Sunday, August 25, 2002
It's time to play...
Create a caption!
If you can create a wacky caption of the above photo of Bush protestors being beaten by police for daring to protest our good wonderful and benevolent Dicta-- I mean President, you can win a prize!
1st prize is the right to speak to a lawyer if designated an Enemy combatant by our glorious leader!
2nd Prize is an authentic GOP hippie beating stick! (supplies limited)
