You are in monthly Archives.
December 26, 2007
Linky dinky doo
Newspaper accidently identifies robber with photograph
Why 2008 will be an awesome year for movies -- The trailer for 21 wasn't very good; I'm sure The Hulk will be as bad as the one a couple years ago, but I can't wait for Indiana Jones, Dark Knight, and Wall-E.
Iowan fired for putting up Dilbert comic -- Response from Scott Adams
Review for Windows XP as if Vista came first.
Cool river-to-river train for boats in Russia.
A bunch of fun Pixar Easer eggs.
December 16, 2007
No Country for Old Men
I just went to No Country for Old Men... mini-review inside with spoilers...
They had me right up until Llewelyn, or, as my brain wants to spell it, Llewellewlyn, is killed. He's killed off-screen, with little more than a medium shot of his dead body. He was the main character up until this point. It was such a waste of a plot point.
I suppose the message is supposed to be about fate and unexpectedness and the insignificance of human life, but it didn't work for me. They could have done the cliche shot where the camera is behind the character, and the character is doing something and you don't really expect anything bad to happen to him right then and there, and he turns to look over his back and you cut to black or to another scene... then we find what happened to him later. Give us a close-up of him making some kind of realization he's made bad decisions and been greedy. Anything. That would have at least salvaged the movie for me.
As it is, the movie doesn't work for me. They had some great scenes put together, but Lwelelnyn's death, along with the last scene, put me off the whole movie.
Critics are all praising it for its existential nature, its character study, etc. etc. I think it could have still done this without sloughing off its main character. If you insist on killing your main character and shifting the focus to other characters, there is a way to do it (see: Psycho).
The other thing I didn't like is how every character has magical tracking ability. The transponder was a little bit of a cheap plot trick in terms of trying to find a way for the bad guys to find the money, but the Coens seems to at least get some decent thrills out of it. But I was taken out of the movie as I wondered "so, how did so-and-so find him there?" They did show some of the bad guy's methods for finding people, but it stretched a little thin by the time they got to Mexico.
Has anyone read the book? Is Lewlelny's death any better? I'm working on The Executioner's Song so it'll be another 3 years before I can start thinking about my next book.
December 13, 2007
exd5
There are approximately 10^79 electrons in the universe.
There are approximately 10^120 possible chess games.
###
I've been getting back into chess online lately against my friend Mark. Back in high school we used to play at lot of chess at Perkins of all places. I think we forgot at least two boards there never to be seen again. I'm not really that good. Just ask Mark. But here are some famous chess games I found while snooping around:
A bunch of Deep Blue vs. Gary Kasparov
Kasparov vs. Radjoabov (2003) (video)
Bobby Fischer -- Game of the Century (and here)
December 10, 2007
Random Family Circus + Nietzsche = Funny
Make your own randomized cartoon.
I thought only males could be heroes
CNN: Female security guard hailed as hero
I guess she broke away from the Rose Petal Cottage just in time to help some people!
December 08, 2007
Sesame Street!
Does anyone remember any segments they especially liked or didn't like?
Creepy Carmen Orange
Creepy Letter Morphing Song
Lady Bug's Picnic
Classic pinball number count
Milk Crisis "Milk, milk!"
"Me and my llama" -- To the dentist
Splish Splash
December 06, 2007
More Star Wars Toys than you can shake a gaffe stick at
You know you have a lot of Star Wars junk when you have trouble fitting it in a 5,000 square foot barn. (Video)
December 04, 2007
Hillary vs Obama
I really with this was from The Onion and not Hillary's website: Obama's kindergarten writings contradict his latest statements about not having long-held plans to run for president.
His first-grade writings also contradict his stand on girls not being "foofie-heads."
December 03, 2007
It's French for something
Favorable Des Moines write-up in the NY Times.
Our new slogan should be:
Des Moines: We're Not Terrible (anymore)