Wednesday, September 5, 2007

September - Autumn 2007


Episode IX
Autumn 2007

Hello All:

Feels like summer is making a fight of it, it’s not going out without a row. Right now I feel a little squeezed as I started not only another blog site, but have been writing for the review page and the FNFVF. Which is why I am surprised to find the September Episode out so quickly. Also, if you can, say Happy Birthday to my Beloved Sister Elvira.

Enough with that, let’s get this one off the platter, or whatever the cool kids say these days. Sorry, I was never cool. Here we go:

:[ An accident injures 11 extras on the set of Tom Cruises latest movie "Valkyrie" . Just one more thing to blame on Tom’s Scientology beliefs and his couch-jumping-on insanity, right?

:[ Kenneth Branagh’s version of Hamlet finally comes out on DVD, and the debut of his version of "As You Like It" premiers on HBO. I have been looking forward to seeing Hamlet on DVD for some time now and am glad that WB has finally done so. I love how the play is open to interpretation. I like the Zeferelli version starring that Nazi Mel Gibson, the contemporary version with that fop Ethan Hawke, I loved the MST3K trouncing of the German TV version!

I know some people like to nitpick this one especially since Branagh was nominated for an Adapted Screenplay Oscar. Every one likes to scream "But it was already written!" But for the unenlightened, stage plays and screenplays are two entirely different creatures. Pick up the Branagh Screenplay (Published by Norton Books - I have a copy) and see what a magnificent effort he put in adapting it for the screen. I look forward to his version of "Sleuth" as well. I’m a fan.

:[ Ritchie Vs. Vick - Time Served - Ditzy blonds who drive drunk get minutes in jail. An All-Star Quarterback get banishment from football, money taken from him, fame and prestige lost and gets years in jail to boot. What a world.

:[ Coke Vs. Coke Zero - Using hidden camera footage on "real" lawyers about suing themselves. While many of the lawyers point out that a company cannot sue itself, they broadcast only the black woman lawyer as the one to falls for the joke.

:[ Cubs Fans on the El: I was coming home late from IIT and found myself on the Red Line after a Cubs game. Man, talk about loud drunks; they were yelling, talking loud as if they were still in the bar, chanting slogans, staggering, bothering other passengers, (I mean this was about 30 to 40 people in different group clusters) and after a while the car smelled like a brewery, which gave me a splitting headache. They were embarrassing themselves and being a nuisance.

I had to wonder; Everyone has had something to say about the alcoholism of Native Americans, but maybe if we couched it all in watching baseball our alcoholism and drunkenness would be socially acceptable....

:[ Fidel Castro endorses a Clinton/Obama ticket: First, what does he know about elections (As Keith Obermann stated) and second, is this just an appeasement to the current administration? FOX News is clambering all over for the Dems to denouce this "endorsement"...

:[ On the El Train I saw a group of friend talking loudly about mundane stuff. They were geeks. But this group had not one, but two, loveable fat guys who, it seemed, were vying to be the Funny Fat Guy (Seth Rogan/Kevin Smith) Archtype of the group. You know the type. (Heck, you probably have a Loveable fat guy for a friend.) I guess since they had two Geeky Fat Guys, those overbearing, loud, talky types with self-affecting humor and light brown afros, they forgot the group needed the prerequisite Good-Looking Guy. I guess they forgot.

:[ Did you see Glen Beck’s offer to buy the people of New Orleans handguns?

:[ Walking to the Green Line from my job at IIT, I saw a group of post-teen friends arriving for a function that was going on, on campus. I saw an intelligent-looking young lady, who had just lit a cigarette, see her friends crossing the street ahead of her, leaving her behind, run to catch up to them. Not one step into her jog did she start coughing profusely and did not stop the whole time I walked past them and as they all crossed the street. Now, why is it cool again? Why is it a rite of passage?

:[ What is it about applying religion to everything? Look at such things as gay marriage, the Craig Scandal, even Foley’s Scandal. Why do people attach religion to such things as marriage and law, things that seem to be segregationist and prejudice while never attaching it to such things as kindness, consideration, or helping your fellow human beings?

:[ It is funny how things work. I saw a guy get mad about using his fare card to try to get his female companion onto the el platform. He complained to the black lady who was there. She then explained to him several times that he used his fare card to get himself in and now it was registering as a transfer which would not let his lady in. He basically became more and more agitated because he simply could not get his way and the CTA Lady had to explain it to him over and over again, very plain and clearly. But he got more angry. Soon, she had to get louder to be heard over his protestations.

"What’s the use of having fare cards then?" he asked before turning away from what the CTA Lady had to say next and simply having his lady companion simply get her own card from the machine two feet away. I wondered how the guy would have reacted if a white man had explained things to him. It was if the fellow was trying to assert some form of authority over the CTA Lady. It was a weird thing to see....

:[ I have all kinds of review up on the WOS Review page. INCLUDES: my very first comic book review! SCALPED.
Coming Soon: Reviews of Harry Potter 5 & 7.

:[ The Redshade Report is now up with the first in a series of reviews on the Coel Wind River Mysteries Series: No One Ever Sees Arapahos.
Coming Soon to the Redshade Report:
My Star Wars Experience
Ghost in the Shell: Reflection on the Strong Woman Character.

That will do it for this month. There just seems to be so much going on in the world. But if you want to stay on the pulse of the unimportant stuff. Keep your ear here to your favorite now-blog webpage.

Until next time; "I'm going, the F^CK over there!"