Monday, July 07, 2003
blind
I think i went blind in my left eye about half an hour ago. While I am looking forward to wearing an eye patch a la Nick Fury, the whole lack of depth perception thing is making me woozy.
T3 y mas
I went and saw Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines this weekend. I've seen almost every Arnie movie in the theater since the late-80's, and I was duped into heading off to this one as well. Jim D's review of the movie is very accurate, and I would turn you to his comments for further reading. My only additional comment is that I honestly felt, as I wandered out of the theater and into 110+ Arizona heat, that I had just spent two hours watching somebody else play a really cool video game. It looks great, it has lots of action, and between mammoth action sequences, they tie the story together with something passing for a narrative. Maybe the PS2 game for this is really, really good?
I love Arnie. I really do. If I were an "actor", i would hope that I could have the keen business sense Arnie has employed throughout his career. Foregoing art for commerce, Arnie has brought us some fabulous entertainment we'll be enjoying on TBS for the next 30-50 years.
But one thing distracted me throughout T3. Claire Danes. Ms. Danes isn't bad in this movie. No, what was really distracting is that despite the fact I haven't seen Ms. Danes in anything in going on four or five years... me likey me some Claire Danes. Instead of going nuts with adrenaline whenever bullets and plasma beams were whizzing around the screen, I was busily envisioning scenarios in which Ms. Danes and I were splitting a bottle of the bubbly, sitting upon a fur rug before a crackling fire. I was dashingly witty and she was gazing upon me adoringly, imploring me to leave Mrs. Steans. I was also wearing a great smoking jackets and very comfy slippers in this fantasy, and a pipe was employed as well. Look, you have your dreams, I'll have mine.
This weekend also saw the appearance of the first new batch of episodes of Cartoon Network's Justice League. For those of you who may have seen the first batch of episodes which debuted somewhere around over a year and half ago, "season 2" promises to be truer to the comic source material and just a better all-around TV show.
The new episodes featured Brainiac as a central villain, working in connection with Darkseid of Kirby's 4th World/ New Gods series. Yup. I was geeking out so hard, I think I was alarming Jamie. "Ooooohhh, the Forever People!" is not something you want to just blurt out after being totally silent for half an hour.
Now if they would just focus on Mr. Miracle, I'd be happy.
BTW, I read Enemy Ace: War in Heaven over the weekend. If you're not into superheroes and are looking for a great comic read, this may be for you. It follows WWI fighter pilot Hans Von Hammer as he is coerced into flying for the Luftwaffe. Great art and attention to detail, as well as being well written. Enemy Ace: War Idyll is also worth your time. It's beautifully painted and tells a great story about Von Hammer in his twilight years.
Tomorrow I return to work, God help me.
I love Arnie. I really do. If I were an "actor", i would hope that I could have the keen business sense Arnie has employed throughout his career. Foregoing art for commerce, Arnie has brought us some fabulous entertainment we'll be enjoying on TBS for the next 30-50 years.
But one thing distracted me throughout T3. Claire Danes. Ms. Danes isn't bad in this movie. No, what was really distracting is that despite the fact I haven't seen Ms. Danes in anything in going on four or five years... me likey me some Claire Danes. Instead of going nuts with adrenaline whenever bullets and plasma beams were whizzing around the screen, I was busily envisioning scenarios in which Ms. Danes and I were splitting a bottle of the bubbly, sitting upon a fur rug before a crackling fire. I was dashingly witty and she was gazing upon me adoringly, imploring me to leave Mrs. Steans. I was also wearing a great smoking jackets and very comfy slippers in this fantasy, and a pipe was employed as well. Look, you have your dreams, I'll have mine.
This weekend also saw the appearance of the first new batch of episodes of Cartoon Network's Justice League. For those of you who may have seen the first batch of episodes which debuted somewhere around over a year and half ago, "season 2" promises to be truer to the comic source material and just a better all-around TV show.
The new episodes featured Brainiac as a central villain, working in connection with Darkseid of Kirby's 4th World/ New Gods series. Yup. I was geeking out so hard, I think I was alarming Jamie. "Ooooohhh, the Forever People!" is not something you want to just blurt out after being totally silent for half an hour.
Now if they would just focus on Mr. Miracle, I'd be happy.
BTW, I read Enemy Ace: War in Heaven over the weekend. If you're not into superheroes and are looking for a great comic read, this may be for you. It follows WWI fighter pilot Hans Von Hammer as he is coerced into flying for the Luftwaffe. Great art and attention to detail, as well as being well written. Enemy Ace: War Idyll is also worth your time. It's beautifully painted and tells a great story about Von Hammer in his twilight years.
Tomorrow I return to work, God help me.
Saturday, July 05, 2003
Happy 5th of July
Today we should celebrate the hangover our founding fathers surely were suffering thru in Philadelphia on July 5th, 1776. Today, I am fairly certain there are plenty of folks experiencing empathy pains.
We took Mel out to the fireworks last night, which entailed us driving about a mile and parking the Forester on the side of the road, popping the tailgate and watching the Chandler, AZ fireworks from across a few miles of open field/ reclaimed desert. While the Chandler fireworks are about what you'd expect from a bedroom community's low property tax, one cool thing about living in the middle of a horrible stinking desert is that you can see really, really far. So in addition to the Chandler fireworks, we could see those in Mesa, Queen Creek, Tempe, Gilbert and a few other places I couldn't quite place. Es bueno.
Jim D. sent me an absolutely ridiculously large poster celebrating Marvel Comics circa 1988. It's truly a great gift and everything I said in the post below is a lie and I never meant a word of any of it. I hope to take a picture of the poster, because mere words would not do it justice. Even a 1000 words.
We took Mel out to the fireworks last night, which entailed us driving about a mile and parking the Forester on the side of the road, popping the tailgate and watching the Chandler, AZ fireworks from across a few miles of open field/ reclaimed desert. While the Chandler fireworks are about what you'd expect from a bedroom community's low property tax, one cool thing about living in the middle of a horrible stinking desert is that you can see really, really far. So in addition to the Chandler fireworks, we could see those in Mesa, Queen Creek, Tempe, Gilbert and a few other places I couldn't quite place. Es bueno.
Jim D. sent me an absolutely ridiculously large poster celebrating Marvel Comics circa 1988. It's truly a great gift and everything I said in the post below is a lie and I never meant a word of any of it. I hope to take a picture of the poster, because mere words would not do it justice. Even a 1000 words.
Thursday, July 03, 2003
Jim's attack on Randy today was worth reading. The point of Randy's post was that for all the money that will not be redistributed via government programs, people will have virtually nothing to show for it in their personal bank accounts and spending. The implied message in Randy's original post was that the addition of $20 means little to the individual when the point of taxation is that we can do more together than we can separately. Believing that you are investing an amount as small as $20.00 a month per person, when that amount ads up to millions every month, is not an irrational thing to believe.
The flummoxing 80's and the failure of Voodoo economics then was a trial run. We were supposed to know better now. Ignoring the last fifteen years of economic wisdom, the "fashionable" thing for conservatives to chime in with is that folks should be wisely investing their money in the stock market or be buying something to stimulate the economy. It's a nice idea, but most market watchers are suggesting people steer clear of the market right now. The trick is, most Americans don't earn enough that they can risk losing money in the stock maket given current trends. Turning $20 a month into $10 the next is not a winning proposition. You might as well suggest taking it down to the local casino and bet everything on black. I suppose that would stimulate the economy, too.
On top of this, a majority of economists are agreed that the tax cuts are not going to do much of anything to stimulate the economy (anyone remember their $300 from last year?).
Jim's stance seems to be that trusting the government to repurpose funding for anything from defense to child welfare does not occur. He seems to believe that "the government redistribut(es) income from one taxpayer to the next." This negates healthcare, medicare, roadworks, defense and all of those things voters care about at election time. It also covers such critical things as police sponsorship, federal and local prisons, FEMA, higher education, and the FDA. Jim also suggests that we are willing to pay taxes out of guilt. I'm not sure why we're not supposed to feel "lingering guilt about poverty and hunger" when we live in a wealthy nation, but clearly Dedman feels this is something to be ridiculed.
If taxes are so high that they are no longer needed to pay for worthy causes, why are there currently so many charities? Yes, there are options for donating to charities, which people occasionally do. In addition, Jim is suggesting Randy will not donate this money to a worthy cause, which he might well do. Jim never bothered to check Randy for a response on this, nor disclose what he, himself, gives every year before waving the finger of doubt. The point is being aware that most people do NOT actually give to private group charities. Not enough, anyway. Nor is there evidence that people would give more if they had more free cash to spend.
Anecdotally, The University of Texas sponsors the Hearts of Texas Campaign which draws money from your paycheck before taxes so that these funds may go to charities. Fully over a hundred people show up for the breakfast every year which kicks off the campaign, and generally fewer than a dozen participate. And this program asks that you not even write a check every month. I suppose everyone wants a free breakfast.
Believing in such institutions as public education, road works and basic healthcare are not sentimental fancies. But even these things are something we force ourselves to trim back by willfully reducing expenditures on them, and then refusing to find blame in ourselves. In fact, we set up our spending on schools to PUNISH poorly performing schools economically by dispersing funds to schools which are already excelling. So by removing resources, we're clearly enhancing the learning environment?
But going by the law of inverse proportions: If we can somehow reduce government to no taxation (which we did prior to Lincoln instituing a personal income tax) our government should be humming along nicely. Which would leave nothing but corporate income taxes. Which are being reduced now, too.
The flummoxing 80's and the failure of Voodoo economics then was a trial run. We were supposed to know better now. Ignoring the last fifteen years of economic wisdom, the "fashionable" thing for conservatives to chime in with is that folks should be wisely investing their money in the stock market or be buying something to stimulate the economy. It's a nice idea, but most market watchers are suggesting people steer clear of the market right now. The trick is, most Americans don't earn enough that they can risk losing money in the stock maket given current trends. Turning $20 a month into $10 the next is not a winning proposition. You might as well suggest taking it down to the local casino and bet everything on black. I suppose that would stimulate the economy, too.
On top of this, a majority of economists are agreed that the tax cuts are not going to do much of anything to stimulate the economy (anyone remember their $300 from last year?).
Jim's stance seems to be that trusting the government to repurpose funding for anything from defense to child welfare does not occur. He seems to believe that "the government redistribut(es) income from one taxpayer to the next." This negates healthcare, medicare, roadworks, defense and all of those things voters care about at election time. It also covers such critical things as police sponsorship, federal and local prisons, FEMA, higher education, and the FDA. Jim also suggests that we are willing to pay taxes out of guilt. I'm not sure why we're not supposed to feel "lingering guilt about poverty and hunger" when we live in a wealthy nation, but clearly Dedman feels this is something to be ridiculed.
If taxes are so high that they are no longer needed to pay for worthy causes, why are there currently so many charities? Yes, there are options for donating to charities, which people occasionally do. In addition, Jim is suggesting Randy will not donate this money to a worthy cause, which he might well do. Jim never bothered to check Randy for a response on this, nor disclose what he, himself, gives every year before waving the finger of doubt. The point is being aware that most people do NOT actually give to private group charities. Not enough, anyway. Nor is there evidence that people would give more if they had more free cash to spend.
Anecdotally, The University of Texas sponsors the Hearts of Texas Campaign which draws money from your paycheck before taxes so that these funds may go to charities. Fully over a hundred people show up for the breakfast every year which kicks off the campaign, and generally fewer than a dozen participate. And this program asks that you not even write a check every month. I suppose everyone wants a free breakfast.
Believing in such institutions as public education, road works and basic healthcare are not sentimental fancies. But even these things are something we force ourselves to trim back by willfully reducing expenditures on them, and then refusing to find blame in ourselves. In fact, we set up our spending on schools to PUNISH poorly performing schools economically by dispersing funds to schools which are already excelling. So by removing resources, we're clearly enhancing the learning environment?
But going by the law of inverse proportions: If we can somehow reduce government to no taxation (which we did prior to Lincoln instituing a personal income tax) our government should be humming along nicely. Which would leave nothing but corporate income taxes. Which are being reduced now, too.
vacation
I'm in day 3 of my "vacation". I took off work this week and am trying to enjoy the simple pleasures of staying at home. In order to better celebrate this, I am going to take a shower and go to work for a few hours today. HURRAY!
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
1000 hits sell-a-bration!
Hey. I hit 1000 hits today. WHOO-HOO!!!
imagine fireworks in this space ----> <-----
imagine fireworks in this space ----> <-----
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