Ramblings...

Well, back again...thought I'd post something...still feel like 20 miles of bad road, but the hardtop is getting smoother... Seen the video for the new Faith Hill / Tim McGraw song - "Like We Never Loved At All"? Well done, well acted, tells a story to the song. The '60's setting gives it a different look, including the beehive hair :) The ending is kind of open ended - makes you wonder if they'll do another video to continue the story. Of course, they'd have to find the right song first. Maybe they could do something like what Travis Tritt did with videos. His 3 videos back in the '90's about the Vietnam vet 'Mac' told quite the story. Still can't play music videos on MSN.com because of being in the wrong 'region' apparently, but if I download the plug in I can watch music videos at music.AOL.com. I can also watch movie trailers and other vids. I've only downloaded the plug in on my test hard drive - still not sure I want anything AOL related on my good hard drive. Isn't AOL the one with a really bad reputation for being hard to get off your system? Anyway, thanks to the AOL site, I can listen to Sheryl Crow's new album "Wildflower", which I didn't even know was coming out. It's been about 3 years since she released her last studio album - the excellent "Come On, Come On". I remember it well, since that album and Steve Earle's "Transcendental Blues" album were the soundtracks to my early months on dialysis. Crow's "Steve McQueen", "Safe and Sound", "Abilene", and Earle's "Transcendental Blues", "Lonelier Than This", and my favorite "All My Life"(how many nights, sitting in that chair, headphones on, volumn cranked, listening to the words and pounding beat of All My Life, letting it carry me through). Ah, memories...can't hear those songs without thinking about it... Everytime you hear the rolling thunder, You turn around before the lightning strikes, Well Does it ever make you stop and wonder If all your good times passed you by... (Sheryl Crow, Good is Good)

Oh, the Irony…

So, that’s it. Six and a half years at one job that pretty much ruled my life, and then I finally have an epiphany, find another job, give my notice, and worked my last day yesterday. Then just like that, it’s over. Happy to be gone, but no regrets for having been. It was right for the time, and now it’s not. It’s just that simple. Hopefully, I can take a bit of a break now, then figure out which road I want to head on down next. Still, what a kick to the nuts to go out on. By the time I left, I had what is now the worst sore throat I’ve had in while. Luckily, no fever or stomach weirdness, so maybe if I hit it with everything I’ve got, I can beat it quick. And just when my ears had started to get better than they had been in months. Not perfect, but better. How ironic. I can finally hear, but now I can’t talk. Oh well, I’ve got two and a half days to rest before I have to go back to work at my other job. Hope it gets better fast. At least I’ve got no pressure to do anything now, so maybe I’ll just kick back and watch movies while I rest and rebuild my computer’s hard drive…Ah, Windows – imagine how many people would be unemployed if it wasn’t for your maddening, always-crashing, tower of cards, structure…one piece of software that created an entire industry of people getting paid to fix it…at least I’ve got no pressure – I format hard drives for a hobby…

Rants and Raves...

Rant: I haven’t kept up on the new hurricane Rita, but it does strike me as ironic that after Katrina, the victims of that one went to Texas, and now Rita is about to slam Texas too. What’s up with that? Plus, Rita is starting to hit New Orleans with more rain and water. If I was one of those poor transplanted souls, I think I’d be heading as far inland as possible. Rave: Boy, am I glad I didn’t buy one of those Treo 650’s. I just couldn’t justify carrying a thousand dollar device on my hip, and now it seems like 3 people are suing Palm for a crappy product. Sounds like wishful thinking, but hey, it’s the States and everybody is entitled to a lawsuit apparently. Rant: Coming soon to a church near you – movie trailers and sneak peeks?! Um, ok. The steady march of marketing to everyone, everywhere, all the time continues. I guess there may be pros and cons to it, but it seems odd. And don’t forget – Hollywood isn’t doing this because they want to promote more family value movies. They’re doing this for the money, plain and simple. There’s a political shift afoot as well, and those marketing guys aren’t generally stupid. They know that if you appeal to the right target audience, your product will make more money. They know you don’t market the movie Sin City to churches, and you don’t market The Greatest Game Ever Played to comic book fans. Not if you want to make money… Rave: An Unfinished Life was a good movie. Good story, good acting, and even better scenery. It was set in Wyoming, but shot in Ashcroft, Kamloops, and Vancouver, British Columbia, and Burdett and Medicine Hat, Alberta. No wonder it looked good. Plus, Jennifer Lopez didn’t even ruin it. Besides, I always like stories of the rugged, grizzled, set in his ways, cowboy learning to live again. (Nods to the Garth Brooks tune.) Which reminds me – the odd thing at the end of the movie. As the credits rolled, they played a Shania Twain tune, “Don’t”. Kinda weird playing a pop song after a western movie… Rant: How much are people willing to pay for portability? Thanks to the website Digital Bits for this: “By the way, New Line will release Wedding Crashers on UMD format the same day (SRP also $28.89). Are people REALLY paying the same prices for UMD releases with no extras as they would for a fully-loaded DVD of the same film? Damn.” Is it really worth paying $30 to watch a movie on a two inch screen just so you can do it while you ride the bus? Rave: Something for those Linux fans out there – the DVD for March of the Penguins hits stores November 29th. And no, it has nothing to do with Mario Lemieux. Plus, soon in a theatre near you, the ‘should be good’ flicks Serenity, A History of Violence, and Good Night and Good Luck. Rant: Hockey is back and there are actually crowds at pre-season games. After the NHL basically told the fans they didn’t matter while they fought over how to share millions of dollars, I would really have liked to see what would have happened if they all came back to play a game and no one showed up to watch them. That would have been sweet. Rave: Hockey is back. Hey, I am Canadian after all. By the way, the OHL kids are more fun to watch than the NHL greed-meisters…

Yahoo! Top Stories - Chesney Says 'I'll Be OK' After Split

Yahoo! Top Stories - Chesney Says 'I'll Be OK' After Split How this qualifies as "Yahoo Top Stories" is beyond me. What, Katrina and Rita not enough to qualify? Anyway, In the article he assured fans "I'll be Ok." Um, Ok, that's great and all, thanks for clearing that up, but what people really want to know is why was "fraud" listed as the reason for anullment? Come on - will somebody step forward and clear this up? Inquiring minds want to know...or maybe just tired minds that can't sleep... If something new doesn't come out soon, this story is going to get as old as fast as that Wendy's Chili finger debacle...hmmm, that wasn't a ring finger, was it?

No Middle Ground at Summer Box Office - Yahoo! News

No Middle Ground at Summer Box Office - Yahoo! News Interesting read. After all the moaning and groaning Hollyweird did over the summer, they still made 3.6 billion in ticket sales. The interesting thing is that its off 9 percent from last year (not really significant in my opinion), but that attendance is off 12 percent from last year. That's kind of odd - attendance is off more than revenue. (cough, cough, high ticket prices, cough cough). The other thing the article points out is the surprise falloff from the 9th ranked movie (money wise) to the 10th. Nine movies made over 150 million, but none made between 100-150 million. Except for the top 9, the rest of the movies of the year all made below the 100 million mark. Now, Hollywood has been toting out reasons all summer long as to why, but maybe, just maybe, could it be that it was just a lot of crappy movies this year? Do you really want to pay over a dollar a litre in gas to drive to the cineplex to pay $12 to sit in a theatre and eat overpriced popcorn to watch Jessica Simpson play Daisy Duke or Jessica Biel play a fighter pilot or would you rather stay home and watch the real Daisy Duke on TV or read a book about actual Stealth fighter jets and probably save yourself close to thirty bucks in the process? With prices so high, you have to be more 'choosey' with what you go to see - like picking something I haven't seen before like Sin City or a good story like An Unfinished Life or some fun action done well like Mr and Mrs Smith or some eye-popping funny weirdness like Charlie and Chocolate Factory, but the generic "it's summer so it should be a mindless blockbuster" type movie like the Dukes of Hazzard remake, or the Stealth bomb, or name any other of the instantly forgettable crap that traversed its way through your local cinema this summer is just not worth spending that kind of money on. Here's hoping the people that have the power to green light movies in Hollywood were paying attention and got the message we want better movies - but I doubt it.

In the Air Tonight...

I love the night. It's quiet, calm. It lends itself to looking inward and looking back. Memories seem to float to the surface easier, quicker than during the day. Sometimes that clarity can help with the present. There's just something right about staring at a night skyline. If you're lucky to not be near a city at the same time and can actually see the stars, even better. Still, a city skyline and city lights can make a nice substitute. Match the right music to the night and it just doesn't get any better. It takes a certain type of person to rather be awake at night than during the day - to feel more alive at night. I am that type of person, and for the first time in seven years, I'm not fighting it anymore. The hell with what 'normal' people do and expect. I've never been or ever will be 'normal'. I'm the Eaglewing, and it's a good night for flying...

Another Top 5 List...

I was watching movies and started thinking about some of the more memorable monologues or speeches and thought I'd list a few of my favorites: Marv (Mickey Rourke) in Sin City – Marv telling Lucille what’s going down and why. When I read the graphic novel, I loved that part. When I heard they were making a movie, I wondered if they could get someone to pull off the tough coolness Marv had and the intensity of that speech, among others. Leave it to Mickey Rourke to absolutely nail it. Lucille: “Settle down, Marv, take another pill.” Marv: “Hey! There ain’t no settlin’ down! This is blood for blood and by the gallons. This is the old days, man, the bad days, the all or nothin’ days, there back! There’s no choices left, and I’m ready for war.” Lucille: “Prison was hell for you, Marv, it’ll be life this time.” Marv: “Huh…Hell’s waking up every #$%-damn day and not even knowing why you’re here. But I’m out now. It took somebody who was kind to me getting killed to do it, but I’m out. I know exactly what I gotta do.” Fraser (Paul Gross) – Due South, Episode “You Must Remember This” Facing out the window, speaking to Ray who had fallen asleep, but Fraser didn’t know it. Details what is the first mention of his and Victoria’s past. Let’s you know how deep his feelings for her run, and yet you know there is conflict there too. Perfect delivery from the actor and it set up the run of stories at the end of the season. “You know there was a woman once, Ray. We were…I don’t know what we were. In the end I tracked her above the 62nd parallel into a place called Fortitude pass. A storm had been blowing for days, the whole world was white. By the time I found her I’d lost everything – my packs, my supplies. Everything. And she was huddled in the leeside of a mountain crag, she was almost frozen, very near death. So I staked a lean-to and draped my coat across it and drew her inside and I covered her body with mine and I just held her while the storm closed around us like a blanket. Until all I could hear was the sound of her heartbeat, weakening. I forced her to speak to me, just talk to me. Say anything to keep the cold from taking her. And it snowed for a day. And a night. And a day. I was delirious, I almost gave up. The only thing I had to hold on to was the sound of her voice, which never wavered. She recited a poem. You know, the funny thing, I must have heard that poem a thousand times that night, but I never heard the words. It ended…badly. She had a…she had a darkness inside her, and the most beautiful voice. The most beautiful voice you ever heard.” Marlboro Man (Don Johnson) – Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man. Marlboro saying goodbye to Virginia. He didn’t want to, but he had to. Great line – “I…I…I don’t know what I want. But I know what I don’t want. I don’t want whatever there was between us…to end…without telling you…you’ve been the better part of my life…the best part of my life” Long pause. “Goodbye, Virginia.” Then he walks away. Again, perfect delivery. Kit Latura (Sylvester Stallone) – Daylight. Kit is talking to Madelyne (Amy Brenneman) getting her to help him rig an explosive. On the way to the spot, Madelyne gets scared and starts to turn back. Kit needs her help, and needs her to focus on something other than the fear. So he comes out of left field with this hilarious topic: Small explosion Kit: “It’s ok, it’s ok…” Madelyne: “Woah….I can’t, I can’t, I can’t…” Kit: “Alright. You have a choice. It’s like the first person who ever ate a raw oyster. You know that?” Madelyne: “What are you talking about?” Kit: “Well, think about it. A person would have to be starving to death to ever get involved with a raw oyster. Right? He probably had to eat it or die. Stay with me Madelyne. It’s slimy, it smelled, it looked like something out of a bad chest cold, so there had to be that moment of truth before he sucked that little slider down. Staying with me? Think of that moment of truth – do I really need this, do I want this in my life? But he had to eat, so he dug down and found the guts, just like you did.” Madelyne: “Is that a compliment?” Kit: “Yes, come on…” Rob Gordon (John Cusack) – High Fidelity Couldn’t go without mentioning this one. What’s a top five list without it? (if you’ve seen the movie, you know what that means). Of course, the whole movie is pretty much a monologue straight through the fourth wall, but it makes for a great movie and some great lines. Some highlights: --Opening – Rob talking: “What came first? The music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, or some sort of culture of violence will take them over, but nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs, about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery, and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable, or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?” --A trip down memory lane of his top 5 breakups leads to an imaginary conversation with Bruce Springsteen: Rob: “I want more. I wanna see the others on the big top 5. I wanna see Penny and Charlie and Sarah, all of them, you know. Just see them and talk to them – it’d be like a Bruce Springsteen song.” Bruce Springsteen: “You call, and ask’em how they are and see if they’ve forgiven you.” Rob: “Yeah…then I’d feel good…and they’d feel good.” Bruce: “Well, they’d feel good maybe, but you’d feel better.” Rob: “I’d feel clean. And calm.” Bruce: “That’s what you’re looking for. You want to get ready to start again, it’d be good for you.” Rob: “Great, even…” Bruce: “Give that big final good luck and good bye to your all time top 5 and just move on down the road.” Rob: “Good luck and Good bye…thanks Boss.” Those are just some of my faves. Anybody else think of any good ones?

Zellweger Asks for Privacy During Breakup - Yahoo! News

Zellweger Asks for Privacy During Breakup - Yahoo! News Hmmm, that in and of itself doesn't come as any surprise. I'd suppose I'd want a private anullment too. The interesting thing in the article is that Renee filed for the anullment and listed in the court documents was the word 'fraud' as a reason. Fraud? What, you were expecting more good songs too like "Anything But Mine" or "Please Come to Boston" and instead got "Old Blue Chair"? As disappointing as that is, I don't think its fraud. Fraud is when you turn on a Country Radio station and hear Jewel or Rascall Flatts...but I digress. Here's a quote from the article: "In court papers filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the Oscar-winning actress listed "fraud" as the reason for the breakup with the country music star. The term was "simply legal language and not a refection of Kenny's character," Zellweger said in a statement Friday." Still, fraud is an odd reason to use. I wonder if they're returning the wedding gifts, or will there be new fraud cases coming to the courts...

New DVD Stuff...

Well, it’s about time! Finally, The Rockford Files, Season 1, is coming to DVD December 6th. Took them long enough to get one of the best shows ever onto DVD. I think I’ve probably seen most of the episodes several times, but come on – it’s the Rockford Files! Wonder if there’ll be any good extras on the set… Also, thanks to thedigitalbits.com for the following bit of news: Some news from around the Net today... Buena Vista and Dimension have finally revealed that the Frank Miller's Sin City: Recut & Extended Edition will street on 12/13 (SRP $39.99). The 2-disc set will feature the theatrical version of the film along with a new 147-minute extended cut, both in anamorphic widescreen video (1.85:1) with Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 audio. Extras are set to include audio commentary with director Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, a second commentary with Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, a third commentary containing the Austin Premiere crowd's reaction, 12 behind-the-scenes featurettes (15-Minute Film School with Robert Rodriguez, The Movie in High-Speed Green Screen, The Long Take: 17 Uninterrupted Minutes of Tarantino's Segment, Sin City Night at Antones: Filmmakers, Cast & Crew Party, 10-Minute Cooking School with Robert Rodriguez, A Hard Top with a Decent Engine: The Cars of Sin City, Making the Monsters: Special Effects Make-up, Trench Coats and Fish Nets: The Costumes of Sin City, Booze, Broads & Guns: The Props of Sin City, How It Went Down: Convincing Frank Miller to Make the Film, Giving the Characters Life: Casting the Film and Special Guest Director: Quentin Tarantino), the film's teaser and theatrical trailers, an outtakes reel, the Sin-Chroni-City interactive game and the complete Sin City: The Hard Goodbye graphic novel. Now THAT'S the DVD fans have been waiting for. Now, I knew I was getting hosed on the first release DVD of Sin City, but that’s ok since I’ve played it enough already to get my money out of it. Can’t wait for the extended version though, and to work my way through all those extras. The extra track of the Austin Premiere audience reaction through the movie is an interesting extra. Plus, the complete Sin City: The Hard Goodbye graphic novel on disc – that’s pretty cool… It looks like a DVD format war is still unavoidable, but it appears there may be some pressure from retailers on the big boys to sort their shit out. I guess stores are not looking forward to stocking HD-DVD, Blu-RAY, Standard DVD, Widescreen, Fullscreen, First Edition, Special Edition, and UMD formats of every movie that comes out. Best Buy will need a warehouse just to stock their DVD section. Well, if anybody can pressure the stubborn big shots to put their ego’s aside and work out a deal, it just might be the retailers. I mean, if the resellers refused to sell your product, then what have you got? I still don’t know why we need a new format anyway – how many more pixels do you need to enjoy a movie?

Well, That Didn't Last Long...

Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney Split - Yahoo! News Well, it was a marriage nobody saw coming, and now with the annullment, nobody will see again. I guess you can have somebody at 'hello', but what do you say after that? Goodbye, apparently...

It Had To Happen Sooner or Later...

Let's see how much spam I get from this post... Gas Prices Drive Man to Commute by Horse - Yahoo! News Sun Sep 4, 9:07 PM ET MINOT, N.D. - Jim Jundt was so determined to rein in his spending on gasoline that he got out of bed early and rode his 14-year-old quarterhorse mare to work. Jundt lives 15 miles south of Minot and works as a mechanic at Goodyear Tire & Auto Service in the city. He said he and his co-workers had been talking about rising fuel prices, and he joked that he would ride his horse to work if gasoline ever hit $3 a gallon. His co-workers laughed, but when the price at the pump soared to $3.20 last week, Jundt headed for the barn. He said he was only five minutes late riding his mare, Patty, to work. While he worked, Patty waited patiently, eating hay out of the back of a truck.

Thanks for all the Fish...

Thu Sep 1, 8:44 PM ET NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario - An enterprising young killer whale at Marineland has figured out how to use fish as bait to catch seagulls — and shared his strategy with his fellow whales. Michael Noonan, a professor of animal behavior at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., made the discovery by accident while studying orca acoustics. "One day I noticed one of the young whales appeared to have come up with a procedure for luring gulls down to the pool," the professor said. "I found it interesting so I noted it in my log." First, the young whale spit regurgitated fish onto the surface of the water, then sank below the water and waited. If a hungry gull landed on the water, the whale would surge up to the surface, sometimes catching a free meal of his own. Noonan watched as the same whale set the same trap again and again. Within a few months, the whale's younger half brother adopted the practice. Eventually the behavior spread and now five Marineland whales supplement their diet with fresh fowl, the scientist said. "It looked liked one was watching while the other tried," Noonan said of the whale's initial behavior. The capacity to come up with the gull-baiting strategy and then share the technique with others — known as cultural learning in the scientific world — was once believed to be one of those abilities that separated humans from other animals. But biologists have since proven certain animals, including dolphins and chimps, do this. "This is an example in which a new behavior spread through a population," Noonan said. "We had the opportunity to see a tradition form and spread in exactly the way that cultures do in humans." He first shared his research earlier this month at the U.S. Animal Behavior Society Conference in Utah. Since then, he said, his phone hasn't stopped ringing.

Blog Changes

I have turned on Word Verification in the Comments section. Hopefully this will continue to curb the spammers, though I'm not holding my breath. Sorry for the inconvenience, but blame the a$$h@le spammers for it...

Kanye West Speaks Up - Censors Freak Out

Yahoo! TV News & Gossip - Oh man, here we go again. During a live broadcast of a concert benefit for the New Orleans victims, Kanye West took a hard left at Albuquerque (ie. the script) and launched into a rant about the government's response and the media's portrayal. Here's some of my favorite quotes from the article: Appearing two-thirds through the program, he claimed "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible." The show, simulcast from New York on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Pax, was aired live to the East Coast, enabling the Grammy-winning rapper's outburst to go out uncensored. There was a several-second tape delay, but the person in charge "was instructed to listen for a curse word, and didn't realize (West) had gone off-script," said NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks. West's comment about the president was cut from NBC's West Coast airing, which showed three hours later on tape. Comedian Mike Myers was paired with West for a 90-second segment that began with Myers speaking of Katrina's devastation. Then, to Myers' evident surprise, West began a rant by saying, "I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food." While allowing that "the Red Cross is doing everything they can," West who delivered an emotional outburst at the American Music Awards after he was snubbed for an award declared that government authorities are intentionally dragging their feet on aid to the Gulf Coast. Without getting specific, he added, "They've given them permission to go down and shoot us." After he stated, "George Bush doesn't care about black people," the camera cut away to comedian Chris Tucker. Now, I'm not saying West is or isn't right in what he said. What got my attention was the knee jerk reaction to censor it. It wasn't like he was yelling F-words and other obscenities or strutting the stage naked (which would be inappropriate considering this was probably a family event) - he was commenting about his government. Whether he's right or wrong (and given the slow response, he might have a point) isn't the focus. In a "free" country, shouldn't he be allowed to say it without being censored? After the ridiculousness of Nipplegate, you'd think they'd learn. I guess censorship continues it's steady march as the screws keep getting tighter on free speech and free thought.

Have's and Have Not's

This is so messed up. Everywhere you go these days there are reminders to contribute to the relief effort for Katrina victims, and rightly so. The help is very much needed. What gets me is that the middle to low end scale people are being asked to open their wallets while the filthy rich could clean this up in one shot. I mean, I don’t want to take away from the stars that are contributing millions, but when I read that the New York Yankees – baseball’s richest team – contribute (I think) 2.5 million, I just have to shake my head. Their payroll alone for one season has got to be close to $150 million. If you can sign one baseball player to a 9 or 10 million dollar a season contract to play a game, doesn’t 2.5 million for the dying, hungry and homeless seem like a drop in the bucket? For instance, if you took the top 5 salaries in NBA basketball for the 04-05 season, you would have about $93.5 million dollars. That went to FIVE people! Almost a hundred million dollars split between five people. Just imagine what that kind of money could do to help those in need, and not just in New Orleans. Or take for instance one NASCAR race. I can only imagine the cost of fuel alone (not to mention the fact it’s being wasted) would be a nice dent in the relief costs. Let’s not forget too that they spend a race going in circles, while it took four days to transport help to New Orleans. And that doesn’t even count the movie industry. If a film has a $100 million budget and then makes $300 million, that’s $400 million for just one flick. Do we really need Pirates of the Caribbean 3 or food for the hungry? I’m just saying that it makes you stop and think how quickly this disaster could be put right if priorities were anywhere close to being in the right order. I know there’s a lot of charity giving we don’t hear of, but it makes me shake my head when celebrities hold a benefit concert or sign a guitar to auction off expecting us working Joe’s to open our wallets to help those in need when half of what one celebrity makes in a year or spends on their wardrobe would do far greater good. We all need to do what we can to help, that’s true, but those with far more than one person needs to live should be helping those who just desperately want a bottle of water to survive. Priorities are so far out of whack that I can’t help asking – what is this basket we’re all in and why is it getting so warm?

Here and There...

Well, another hard week. Got the 2nd week at the new job in, and it seems to be going well. Body is taking a beating though, and I think I hit the wall last night. Couldn’t sleep worth a damn, ears were roaring, and generally felt like I’d been rode hard and put up wet. Was at my previous fulltime, now part time, job for a few hours yesterday, but decided to can the full shift today. Just wasn’t worth it feeling like this. I did read some of my new noir books and then slept a bit in the afternoon, and after eating dinner and watching 3 episodes of Titus (season 1 on DVD – go get it J ) I felt better. Loved that Titus show when it was on TV a few years back, and it had me laughing pretty good tonight. A warped, dysfunctional viewpoint – no wonder I like it. Spent some time looking at upcoming movies on the net, and found a couple that hadn’t been on my radar. Into the Fire looks interesting, but An Unfinished Life looks like a winner. Robert Redford (playing a rancher) and Morgan Freeman should hit anything out of the park, and the story looks really interesting. The only downside is that Jennifer Lopez (yes, that JLo) is in it too. She doesn’t act too awful in the trailer, so hopefully she doesn’t sink what otherwise looks like a really good story. Even if she does bring it down a notch, Redford and Freeman are masters at their craft and should be able to bring it back up. I like this particular piece of dialogue. It’s Redford’s delivery that sells it: (Night, Raining) Redford: “I see you back here again, I’ll kill ya.” Young Guy: “You’ve seen too many westerns, old man.” Redford: “That doesn’t exactly work in your favour.” Apparently, it’s coming out next week. Hopefully I’m in good enough shape to go see it. Elsewhere, there’s a new flick coming October 7 about the real life McCarthy ‘witch-hunt’ era in 1950’s America called ‘Good Night and Good Luck’. I’ll have to brush up on my history to know if there’s much fiction mixed into the movie, but the trailer looks fascinating and I really like that its done in black and white too. Interesting timing in the movie coming out now considering the political landscape. Back then it was communism, now its terrorism. Rights and freedoms disappearing under the guise of “for your safety” as a powerful, overzealous few try to take control and knowledge away from the many. Watching the trailer (assuming its true) made me think of the saying “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The trailer ends with Murrow saying one hell of a timely line: “We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. Good night, and good luck.” I’ll have to do some more research on this era to refresh my memory, but I definitely want to see this movie. That line also leads into what I’ve read about the tragedy in New Orleans. As four whole days went by without aid getting there, the place descended into anarchy. Everybody seems to be asking the same question – what took so long? You really have to wonder. In what is supposed to be the worlds richest nation, an entire city gets wiped out and it takes the better part of a week to get help there?! Something doesn’t add up. I’d have to agree with comments I read to the effect of the US can go fight wars on foreign soil, bring aid to other nations, but can’t help their own in a time of desperate need. Plus, they knew this hurricane was coming – they ordered the evacuation. If you are ordering an evacuation, wouldn’t it be common sense to start planning for relief efforts for when after the storm passes? Apparently, somebody knew it was going to be bad. I don’t know the what’s and why’s of it all, but man, you’ve got to take care of your own backyard first before trying to solve the rest of the world’s problems. It is amazing though, isn’t it, how if you’re watching something like this, it sends a message of who is really in charge. Mankind can do amazing things, stupid things, things on a grand scale, start wars and end them, and think himself to be the greatest. Then along comes nature and THE Power behind it reminding anyone who cares to see and listen how insignificant man truly is and Who we really need in times like these.