Yep. Sad, but true.
Archive for July, 2007
The car is due for it’s checkup and tag-renewal, so we took it by the friendly, local Volvo dealership. This is where we always take it, on the advice of our neighbor who knows the staff there well enough to make them coffee and swap war-stories. So, we get the call this afternoon, regarding the list of things that need to be changed, etc. Normally, we can expect them to find a need to replace something, ANYthing, just to let us know that they’re really looking out for our safety and comfort. Last time they changed a rubber thingy, and the time before that it was a spring somewhere.
This time, we got the call and he began listing things that were in dire need of replacement: shocks, struts, stabilizer bar cushions, wheels, brake pads, brake discs, rear taillight, front taillights, door hinge, foot mat, brake fluid, wipers, some other rubber thingy and a spring somewhere. Total cost: 2,100 euros (that’s 2,867 dollars!). The car only cost 3,000 to begin with! So, technically, he’s telling me the car is totaled, right? So, as I breathe deeply through my nose, he mentions that there’s a new car in their inventory, and if I might be interested.
Screw it, I’ll take the bus.
According to an exhaustive study recently done by Popular Mechanics, the safest seats in a plane are the ones closest to the tail. While this may seem pretty obvious to those of us who have made a mental note, somewhere along the line, of the general direction in which planes move, and thus mostly crash, these guys have some hard data to convince the stragglers of this fact. Based upon the airplane crash data collected since 1971, the chance of surviving a plane crash increases the closer your seat is to the tail. By induction, we can conclude that first-class passengers are actually sitting in the most dangerous place on the plane and thus have the greatest chance of death in the event of a crash.
Of course, this might frighten some passengers to make a run on rear seating, which might in the worst-case cause financial damages to the industry and in the best-case result in tail-heavy flights. To prevent this panic, Boeing (and I’m sure some others too) have posted statements on their websites claiming that “One seat is as safe as the other.” Yeah, okay, so riddle me this then: Why are the “black-boxes” stored in the tail section of the plane? Because you like to run yards of cabling connecting the cockpit microphone and flight data recorders to the storage unit, instead of locating them nearer to each other? Yeah, right.
– Ron Paul, Texas Republican
In a Ron Paul administration, we would also repeal the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act, restore habeas corpus and stop the spying on Americans. No more eavesdropping on our emails and bank accounts, our phone calls, home and businesses. No national ID — just the bracing freedom of the Constitution.
– Dennis Kucinich, Ohio Democrat
I am the only presidential candidate who voted against the PATRIOT Act. As president, one of his first moves will be to repeal it.
Anyone I’m forgetting here?
Grindhouse
… aka Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof (USA: poster title)
… aka Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror (USA: poster title)
… aka Bleh!
So, there’s this new movie out by Tarantino or rather a double-feature of the Tarantino/Rodriguez sort and it unfortunately marks the end of the glorious winning streak that was Tarantino. Of course, if this was your first Tarantino flick, then things can only improve for you! Each one you see after this will get better and better, culminating in Pulp Fiction, where a man gets raped in the basement of a pawn shop by a guy with a bike, or rather a chopper, baby. Yes, that’s the Quentin we know and love. So, who’s the new guy?
If you haven’t seen the film yet, don’t. If you have, then I hope you didn’t like it. If you did, then YOU should make movies too! It breaks down like this, simple plot, lots of over the top blood-splattering and chicks in tight clothing. At first glance, this was going to be a feel good movie of the Army of Darkness genre. Okay, the intro “trailers” were funny, the cheap 70′s style lead-in was a good laugh and even the “MISSING REEL” was worth a chuckle, but then to top it all off, the worst joke of the evening: Quentin Tarantino shows up as a member of an elite special forces unit that actually caught and killed Osama bin Laden.
Now, we all expect Quentin to show up at some point in the film, sometimes for the supporting role of “quirky” sidekick and sometimes (even better) as a brief camio with about five minutes of memorable lines, but again, in his “quirky” persona. But here he shows up amongst really buff Terminator-types, wearing oversized fatigues to cover his less-than-Terminator tummy. He’s the only member of this elite fighting force that hasn’t bothered to do any push-ups since graduating high school. As for his memorable lines, let’s just say he shoots for sounding like a tough guy, but lands sounding like someone claiming to be a REAL LIFE WIZARD!
But still, the cheesy action scenes and comical leg-rifle make the picture worth the ticket, but wait… this was only the first half! Then suddenly we get an intermission, followed by the main attraction: Death Proof! Which spends about half it’s filming budget getting through the credits. Again, Quentin evidently wants to give that “retro” feeling by listing everything during the intro driving scene, seeming to forget that we hated it as much back then as we do now. Okay, once that’s done we get to spend the next hour listening to a group of chicks talking about chick stuff. No kidding, they chat for an hour, then someone dies, then they chat for another hour, then a car chase, the end. And this was the main attraction? Bleh…
So, what happened? Tarantino lost his nerve? After Kill Bill, he decided to get in touch with this under-developed feminine side? This is made worse by the fact that Quentin is such a cult hero. Now all his fans are going to think that this movie is apparently the new standard for cool and calibrate their coolness-o-meters accordingly. Why, Quentin, why? This was supposed to be a horror flick! We had a deal! Robert kept his end of the bargain, but you? You! Oh, the horror of listening to these girls go on and on! No joke, I left twice during the movie and when I came back, they were STILL at it! No blood, no horror, just bickering and bitching at each other.
What can we expect next, Invasion of the Evil Nannies… who will bring you Tea and Cookies… and Braid your Hair!
