Hurricane Wilma

Hurricane Wilma is slowly making it approach to South Florida. After sitting on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico for 14 hours, slapping it silly, it finally made its anticipated 90-degree turn to the west....straight towards Florida.

We shuttered up the house, brought everything that can be moved into the house....and now we just wait. By 11:30 the wind was kicking up only a little; "Wilma" (I can never watch "The Flintstones" in the same way again) is still moving slowly towards us, and by around 3AM it will hit around Naples, slash across the state towards us, and by 8-9AM it'll be sitting on top of us like a fat lady who sits down and doesn't realize she's squished her cat.

Let us speak of better things; how 'bout them Sox? What an ending to tonight's game! Even thought I was always a Cubs fan, while growing up my family lived 20 miles south of Cominsky Park, so we saw a lot of Sox games. Because my brother and Grandfather were both White Sox fans, it was just easier for my dad to take us to see the Sox. I guess some of my family still up there who are still Cubs fans are saying that True Cubs Fans are really upset about the Sox even getting to the World Series. But I have been away from Chicago for more than 25 years and while I am really now a teal-blue Florida Marlins fan now, I still am so very happy for Chicago.

GO WHITE SOX!!

DVD Musings...

Okay, so now they want me to upgrade to some new Hi-Def DVD. And they can't even decide on one single format. There is Blu-Ray and there is HD-DVD. Both look good but neither of them can play together. Both are being shoved out into the marketplace together, at the same time.

How familiar does that sound? How STUPID does that sound?

Are these manufacturers so greedy that they hope we collectively won't remember the VHS vs Betamax war from the '80s? Hell, I remember. My brother picked Beta; guess what became of all his stuff when VHS won? He had to junk it all. Me, I still have VHS tapes today of rare stuff that I cherish. I don't plan on going through all that with this Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD war.

Besides, are these new formats THAT MUCH BETTER than regular DVDs? I LOVE my DVDs today. Okay, so these new ones claim to hold a little more information. There is a lot of cool extras today, but there is also a lot of crappy 'extras.' Do I really need 16 hours of semi-worthwhile stuff?

What about the picture? When DVDs first came out I was blown away by what I saw; the picture from a DVD is a quantum leap in quality above VHS. Is Blu-Ray or HD-DVD a quantum leap in quality above regular DVDs? From what little I've seen of the two Hi-Def DVD formats, I'd have to say no. I just don't see that huge a leap in picture quality that there was between VHS and the first DVDs.

Okay, so why are they doing this?

Could it be so that I can spend a ton of money re-purchasing every movie or show I just spent the last five years accumulating??

Are they kidding?

Screw 'em. I'm happy with my DVDs just the way they are. Until they come up with a format that has full-on holographic, Super Duper-Realistic 3-D with Smell-o-rama, I'm sticking with my old DVDs, and the people who brought us Blu-Ray and HD-DVD can flush themselves down the crapper.

More Thoughts of Halloween...

In my own perfect little world, my favorite thing to do would be to go downstairs into the movie theater, (120 inch plasma screen, 5.1 Dolby Digital / 8-speaker Surround Sound, half a dozen big plush easy chairs, a full wet bar with a complete candy counter and popcorn machine, and those neat little twinkley lights on the ceiling that look like stars when the lights are down) sit back and pull out a stack of DVD titles and spend an afternoon or an evening or even an entire weekend overdosing on horror movies!

As this is not a perfect world, I am stuck in my living room, on the couch, in front of my 10 year old 48 inch projection TV (which still has a great picture. I still love you my big TV! I do! I do!)

If you were to ask me why I am so nuts about DVDs, I would have to say it's the whole entire experience. There's the wide open option of choice. There are shows of all types now available. I can choose to watch a new blockbuster movie or several episodes of a favorite TV show with no commercials. I can watch anything from some rare and obscure cult movie to a great classic film with a print better than was ever shown in any public theater. I can choose to watch any of the tons of extras that the studios are digging out of their vaults and offering to us on DVD. And I can do all of this without ever leaving my big plush easy chair (or in reality, my living room couch)

And the very best thing of all is that there is no more video tape for a machine to eat! I can't tell you how blindingly pissed off I have become when one of my VCRs ate a beloved movie or rare show I had on tape.

And yes, I love going out, mixing with other human beings and having a great theatrical experience in those stadium seats, but these days, it's the audience that is usually the problem. Are you going to get an actual great night out at the theater watching a movie, or are you going to get stuck in a crowd of rude, obnoxious people who are not at all interested in anything happening up on the screen?

Okay, I've gotten off track here.

More Halloween preparations later...after the hurricane (yes, ANOTHER ONE DAMMIT!)

Thoughts of Halloween II

Never told this to my wife (or anyone for that matter) Years ago, late one night just before Halloween I was watching "Psycho" to get in the mood. As usual I had the lights off for effect and after a few beers I got up to get something to munch on. I grabbed a box of Reeses Peanut Butter cereal and was just shoveling in handful after handful. I remember wondering if there was a prize at the bottom and after reaching down to feel for it I noticed my hand was itching. I wondered what the hell was going on as scratching it wasn't helping so I flipped on the kitchen light and nearly had a stroke; my arm was covered almost up to the elbow in water ants (those little brown ones) and my face had ants roaming all around on my lips and cheeks.

It was the single most revolting moment of my life. I was even afraid to throw up because I didn't want to see how many ants I'd eaten. I brushed my teeth in the dark for about a half hour and then used a gallon of mouth wash. Then I had two more beers to try to forget about the whole thing.

Moral of the Story: Always take a quick peek and look at what you're eating, and unless it's supposed to be moving, maybe stop.

Thoughts of Halloween

Hot Dog! it's getting close to that favorite time of year! Spooks and ghouls and creepy movies and LOTS of candy! I started hanging stuff up on the front window, and spider webs on all the lights. Got my full sized cardboard Frankenstein standing up in the living room.

For the front yard I have several old tombstones all ready, and my old 'Graveyard' signpost is nearly done; a few weeks ago I pulled a bunch of vines out of our buses and wrapped them all around the post. By now they are dead and creepy looking!

I will be testing the fog machine this weekend. (I know it works but I tell my wife this as an excuse to fog up the entire house!) I will be playing several selections from my collection of Halloween Sound f/x CDs. Soon it'll be time to buy 42 bags of candy!! (Only 7 of which will be handed out that night)

Let's See....

This week...................................

Went to a hockey game (Panthers won 2-1) Will be going to another one.

Ate chicken wings from Lefty's, the place for the best wings on the planet.

Brought the car in for an oil change and to have them look at a warning light; they tried to get me to authorize nearly $1000 worth of more "unneeded but it would be good to have done" work. Yeah, right, bite my ass. Time for a new car.

Ate chicken wings from Wing's Plus, where they have the best gorgonzola/blue cheese/Italian combo salad dressing on the planet.

Still trying to watch "Supernatural" (have them all taped but no time)

Watching first season of "Lost" on DVD (absolutely HOOKED)

Watching first season of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" on DVD (I forgot how good those 'little plays' were)

Fighting a cold (POWW! BIFF! BAMM!!)

Reading a cool book ("Old Man's War" by John Scalzi) So far, it's one of those books I'm going to hate seeing some to an end.


This concludes tonight's broadcast. Please join us next time for more useless crap.

The Bill Of NON-RIGHTS

The Bill Of Non-Rights

(Author unknown, but is apparently attributed to "a state lawmaker from Georgia." Some of it is sort of too-far right, some is sort of fuzzy, but I like most of it.)

"We, the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other liberal bed-wetters. We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights."

ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.

ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc., but the world is full of opinions you don't like, and always will be.

ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, but do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.

ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes. Stop having babies you can't afford.

ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care.

ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.

ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a new car, a big screen color TV or a life of leisure.

ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful.

ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness which, by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.

ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. It would be a good idea for you to learn it. Otherwise, any difficulty you encounter in communicating with the rest of us is your problem and your problem alone. We don't care where you are from, English is our language.

ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH!!!!

Weirdness

Move your mouse over the opera dude on the bottom left. Say Hello! Then click on him. It takes a moment, but you'll get a cool little music video. I've dropped by this site in the past; they always have some little bit of cool flash stuff.

More silliness; here and here (just don't watch the eyes for too long!)

YES!

Opening Night! Took Josh to see "Serenity" tonight.

Two words.

LOVED IT!

Even Josh liked it and he's never seen the crew or heard of "Firefly." I myself will have to see this movie again (many times more) to make sure I really liked what I saw, but first impression is that it ROCKED. Everyone got their turn, the characters were true, it was funny where it needed to be, people laughed when they were supposed to, were sad (and I mean SAD) where they should be, and the action, and the stakes, were much higher than any TV episode. Well worth the wait and the ticket price.

While it answered a lot of questions left open by the TV series, and the answers were well worth the wait, but I'm not sure how any more sequels can be made. I would love to see many more adventures with this crew, but the movie answered almost too much.

But I will trust the film makers to come up with two or three more adventures. They are THAT GOOD. And I definitely want to see this one again.

Joss Whedon is my master.

Grr-Arrrrg!