October 2004

Been busy this week but managed to see a movie and I have to talk about it a little. I went to see “Team America: World Police” and all I can say is f**k yeah! What a funny movie. I haven’t laughed that much in a very long time. I especially loved the jabs at Hollywood and actors who think that they have an informed opinion. It was a great time at the movies and went to great lengths to offend just about everyone.

I don’t want to get into the plot too much and spoil it for you but here’s a little bit. A group of actors join forces with a North Korean dictator who is planning a large terrorist attack. The only thing that stands in their way is Team America: World Police.

There are gun battles, martial arts fights, hot sex, explosions and even songs. And its all done with puppets. Yes, I said puppets. It’s a great idea and after a few minutes you don’t really care that you are watching puppets. What the puppets are saying and doing is so funny that you just go along with it.

I have seen thousands of movies in my life and I consider this one of the great comedies of all time. It works as a comedy, as political satire and as an adventure movie. And did I mention its all done with puppets?

Now, the movie is rated “R” for a reason. There is bloody violence, sex and lots of uses of the “f” word. It’s best audience is probably young males who will eat it up. I went with two male buddies of mine and we all loved it. You could try bringing the girlfriend or the wife but definitely, leave the kids at home.

Oh, I definitely recommend the soundtrack, especially for Team America’s rousing theme song: “America, f**k yeah!” and a tender love ballad about how much the hero misses his girl “just a little bit less than Peal Harbor sucked”. Yes, they even make fun of Michael Bay’s movie “Pearl Harbor”. I know, I was shocked too.

So, go out and see the movie and be prepared to laugh your ass off.

Later.

This is one of the eeriest things I have ever seen. Better than any Hollywood movie because its real. Be sure to catch the movie.

And, turning to the world of politics and fake journalism. One of the funniest guys on TV, John Stewart of “The Daily Show”, recently went on the CNN show “Crossfire” and basically handed the two host their asses. He charges them with “hurting” America and being “hacks”. He even calls co-host Tucker Carlson a “dick”. Finally, someone goes on one of those so-called “hard-hitting” shows and really speaks his mind. You go John.

You can watch the fireworks by getting it from bittorrent or watch it at iFilm. Or, for a good read, get the transcript.

Many others are commenting on this as well. Among them, Charles Taylor at salon.com. I think he gets it right on the money.

And, very important. In many states (California included) today, Monday, October 18th, is the last day to register to vote. To be able to vote your registration form needs to be postmarked by midnight tonight. Other states deadlines can be found here.

You can download registration forms and info from DeclareYourself.com. Physical forms are available at the post office, library or at your local registrar of voters. To find the location of the nearest registrar of voters, go to vote-smart.org

Don’t wait. Download the form, fill it out and drop it in the mail. This is too important this time to wait until later. So, stop reading this, get the form, fill it out and send it in.

Still here? I said go.

Now!

This should help you decide to get rid of your Windows machine and buy a Mac. 90% of computers (Windows computers that is) have some sort of spyware installed.

Remember, there is no spyware for the Mac and no viruses or worms or any crap like that. I know Macs are more expensive and that they are a closed system and their are fewer games and blah, blah, blah. The bottom line is that your time is worth something too. The time you spend removing spyware, scanning for spyware, dealing with spyware and even thinking about spyware is valuable time. If you were using a Mac, you would not have to even think about spyware and thus, would have extra time on your hands. You could then use could that extra time in more productive ways.

With all that extra time, who knows what you could achieve? You might invent a cure for spyware and market it to all the unfortunate lemmings that were still using Windows. It works for companies like Norton and McAfee. They make a ton of cash on anti-spyware, anti-spam and anti-virus tools. I like to use a quote someone told me once regarding the medical industry. There is no money in curing cancer. However, there is a crap load of money to be made in treating it.

Now, don’t send me hate-mail and tell me cancer is much more serious than spyware and that I’m a jerk for making a comparison like that. Of course cancer is much more important that spyware. Obviously. However, the point is still valid. Several companies stand to make a ton of cash selling tools that combat viruses and spyware. They never really seem to do the job all the way though, do they?

Their always seems to be a new virus or worm or spyware or whatever that can beat our anti-tools. I don’t even use anti-virus software on my Macs. Never have. Never had a virus either. Not in over fifteen years of using the Mac. But really, in the end, why do we want to even think about this stuff at all? It’s just a waste of our valuable time.

Maybe if more people started to take the plunge and go the Mac way Apple would lower the price because they could make it up in volume like Dell does? And, if more Macs were sold, software makers would start to make more software for the Mac. All it takes is for people to switch to the Mac. One at a time, inch by inch, we can all get more time in our lives. Life is too short to worry about spyware and the blue screen of death.

With all this spyware, viruses, Windows patches and other things that make Windows a pain in the ass, its just a matter of time. People will realize that a computer is a tool and that tool needs to help us do our work, not hinder us. Our time on earth is finite. Let’s use it wisely.

Later.

I’m a little hung over due some good wine last night at The Water Grill here in LA. Great food, great wine but a tad on the expensive side (ok, a little more than a tad). I really liked it but it wasn’t all that.

I still think Commander’s Palace in New Orleans is the best restaurant I have ever been to. Although, Arroyo Chop House ranks a close second (if you are looking for a steak). However, if you are a fan of seafood (especially the tuna) you could not find better anywhere else in Los Angeles.

Ok, on with the other stuff. Don’t try to BS these people. They know you are full of it.

And the FCC has its hands tied (at least according to itself) and won’t be blocking the airing of the anti-Kerry “news” program on the Sinclair Media television stations.

And, in better news that I am very excited about. Acclaimed author William Gibson has a new blog up and running. He’s cool and his books are very interesting indeed. Read them all, I have.

That’s it for a lazy Sunday. Now, I might even go watch some football.

Later.

Ok, here’s something I don’t understand. Oh, note that this will be a rant mostly on traffic and terrible drivers in LA so if that offends you or you are one of those people, please move on. That said, here we go:

Many people in LA have their heads up their asses. Sadly, a great deal of those same people are behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. Many times, said moving vehicle is of the foreign and expensive kind (i.e. Mercedes, BMW, etc.). I’m not sure why but it sure seems, at least in my experience, that if you drive a Mercedes or BMW in this town, you drive like shit and have no consideration for anyone else on the road.

Not only that, you seem actively engaged in behavior designed to cause other drivers to have accidents. Some will protest that I am generalizing or being hard on a particular minority or whatever. The truth is, their are a crap load of people who drive a Mercedes or BMW in this town so I am speaking about a large number of LA residents.

Are all Mercedes or BMW drivers reckless hacks? No, of course not. That’s like saying that all Republicans are against clean air and clean water. Absurd. What I will say is that I have found a vast majority of Mercedes or BWM drivers that I come into contact with are very concerned that they be allowed to get ahead of you or with how fast you are driving or with why you are on the road at all.

They seem determined to have the road to themselves and will pass you without hesitation, even to the point of going into oncoming traffic, if they feel you are driving too slow. It’s probably because they have to get to that really important meeting.

Just as telling, when parking, they believe that it is ok to take up two spots so nobody else can park near them. Now, nobody likes to have dings in their door but come one, who says you have the right to park that way? Do you think that because you paid more for your car than the average person earns in a year that that entitles you to some sort of special treatment? I’m afraid the answer to that is a big fat no.

Perhaps it is not just the fact that this group of folks (sorry, couldn’t help myself) drive expensive and exotic vehicles? Perhaps it is because of the jobs that many of these people have that allow them to have these vehicles? Los Angeles is pretty much a company town where many people work in some aspect of “the business”. These people, in order to get ahead, are sometimes forced to relax on some of the more common courtesy type behavior. In short, many of them become dickheads.

So, perhaps a dickhead is a dickhead if he drives a Mercedes or a BMW or an H2 Hummer or an AMC Pacer. The instrument of choice is not really the issue. You could then make the case that the vehicle is irrelevant and its really the person who is to blame. I do have some friends that drive some of these cars and I can say that most of them are not dickheads. Although, they sometimes drive very badly.

I’m not sure what that proves really. Perhaps I should buy a Mercedes and see if I change and become one of the “elite” with the giant sense of entitlement. I wonder what would happen? Would I become a dickhead? I would like to think I wouldn’t.

But just in case, you better get the hell outta my way or I’ll pass your slow ass. See, its starting already.

Later.

As always, in the rush to get my reaction to the debates out, I forgot to mention one or two other things going on in the world. Not that I take this kind of thing lightly, but i feel like this couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

Professional dickhead Bill O’Reilly is being hit with a sexual harrasment suit. Shocking, I say. Maybe he should have turned his phone off?

And, to no one’s surprise, Disney has decided to end its partnership with Miramax Films and Bob and Harvey Weinstein. I can’t say its hard to believe. They want to release films that are edgy and interesting and don’t fit in with the Disney view of society. So, they must be punished. Believe me, I used to work for Disney and I drank the Kool-aid.

Now , I just drink.

Later.

Here it is folks, the last Presidential debate. I, for one, will be all ears (or really, eyes. or both) Anyway, it is shaping up to be quite a night what with all the bad news the Bush campaign has been getting recently. To recap:
Mr. Cheney’s saying that he never implied that Iraq and September 11 were related when, of course, he did exactly that.
Rumsfeld’s statement that he was not aware of any direct link between Al Qaeida and Iraq even though he had been saying all along that their was a link. What is he thinking?
The release of the Gov. report that states emphatically that there was no sign that Iraq had any WMD program for more than a dozen years and that they had abandoned those plans for lack of funds.

John Kerry needs to press President Bush on these issues. He needs to show that these men who run or government are either incredibly stupid for not asking the right questions and demanding answers before they sent troops to war or they purposely made decisions that were unsupported by the facts simply for personal reasons such as they wanted to take over Iraq.

Go get ’em Mr. Kerry. And now, the debate . . .

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Later.