Thursday, December 18, 2008

December - Winter 2008




Wisdom of the Sages
December - Winter 2008

Hello People of the World;

Here we are with the last edition of 2008. I am also another year older! Yoipes! Gotta win that lottery. Soon. I hope this edition finds you deep in the Christmas Debt. As, as Andrew Horton so rightly calls it, the "National Deadline" draws near and in these economic times, people are downright cranky.

So, here is the latest edition of Oh-eight to brighten your otherwise glum season. And here we go:

:[ One of the things that fascinates me is how people like to attack atheists and how their belief that there is no God is actually a religious belief because it still involves God some how. Another is just because there is no evidence to support the existence of God, does not rule out the possibility.

With that kind of thinking, it’s no wonder the Christian Right still thinks the Iraq war is a good idea. Yeah, even though there is no evidence to support the existence of Iraqi WMD’s, does not rule out the possibility. Call it Faith. You have it, I assume?

Therefore we can let thousands of US soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians continue to die for our faith, right?

:[ A update Three Kingdoms - Well, since the movie "Red Cliff" came out my reading has sloooooooooooooowed. Considerably. Because I am always watching the movie, see? That’s okay because I am so close to the end of the latest edition that I do not want to finish it. It’s just too good a story. Also, I am cracking along on my screenplay adaptation. I hope one of you is interested in reading it. I hope to make this feature right after I complete Shoshoni Connection. I think that would be cool.

:[ You read that right last month; I’m done with the FNFVF. It is time to move on. In a way I have been using it as a crutch in my own film making. Besides, as I have said before: It’s in good hands....

:[ Sad news: Legendary Pin-up Queen Bettie Page Passes Away. Yep, she was still around. No other woman was so famous for nothing more than posing for photographs. I have always had a thing for her and her bangs. You want a way into my heart Ladies? Wear Bettie Page bangs. On an interesting side note that tells you a little too much about me; Bettie Page did not wear straight bangs. She wore bobbed bangs, a style so synonymous with her image that they were called "Bettie Page bangs". She wanted the world to remember her as she was, so after she quit posing and up until her death, never made any current images of her public. She will be missed, but never forgotten. A moment of silence please:









My favorite picture of her. (Cropped for your sensibilities.)

:[ Bonnie just told me that one Mister Drew Petersen is engaged to woman #4! I mean really. One is dead, another missing, all while being married to him and 1) no one suspects anything and 2) women still want to be married to him?

I can’t even get a date.... C'mon ladies.

(Kind of sad when you don’t measure up to Drew Petersen.)

:[ Maybe here’s why: According to BuzzSugar.com, romantic comedy movies are ruining people’s love life with unrealistic expectations. You know, speaking from personal experience, I’d have to agree; it is just so damned difficult to keep Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, and Kate Hudson happy, you know?

I think I can tell you all this now, from my own experience. Guys, it NEVER works when you blast Peter Gabriel at the Lady You Love’s bedroom window. Never works. Trust me.

First of all, it costs too damn much money to even get Peter Gabriel into that HUGE circus cannon! (Yeah, I never seen the movie and would always go "huh?" when they describe that scene.)

Secondly, if you are even lucky enough to get Old Peter Gabriel into the window, (9 times out of 10, the window’s closed), the Lady You Love will always swoon over frickin’ Peter Gabriel!!! (Sledgehammer, indeed.)

So, yeah, romantic comedies do place unrealistic expectations on a relationship. Besides, you’re reading a blog from a guy who learned everything he knows about love from the movies. Go figure....

:[ Movie Reviews: PDK (or Post Dark Knight)

Quantum of Solace: neat little flick. Action-packed and a bit too much shaky-cam. (Curse you Jason Bourne.) While I like the new James Bond, I did not hear him say "Bond, James Bond", once. Kind of disappointing. Credit sequence song could have been better. I know, it had my girl Alicia Keys, but I’d rather it was just her singing. But I love that they finally gave Craig his "Gun Barrel POV" Walk. Sweet.

Persepolis: Finally saw this on DVD and must say, it has become one of my favorites. Even Charlotte liked this and she had many questions about the circumstances of the story. This one is a keeper. The whole "Eye of the Tiger" bit, beautiful!

Bolt: Charlotte took me to see this for my birthday. It is a nice little flick and I must admit I enjoyed it. About a TV Dog that learns lessons by following his heart, and, if he just believes he can do anything. I liked the cat.

:[ Sho Con UPDATE - Once again I missed the National Geographic All Roads Film Project deadline. I will submit it in March when the next deadline rolls around. But I am tightening up that script. I hit upon a dozen or so improvements and character info that should help me finish it up. I think I need to seriously register this and get going on funding and equipment searches. Who wants to shoot a movie in Shoshoni, Wyoming next summer?

:[ The Illinois Governor was arrested on charges of trying to sell Obama’s open Senate seat. You know what this means, right? That Obama is TOTALLY unfit to lead our country! He must have bought the election. (Yeah, and what happen in the 2000 Election again?)

Sad to say, Illinois is not even the most corrupt state in the Union. That honor goes to North Dakota of all states. Way to choke again, Illinois. Can we win anything? I mean really....

:[ My favorite Yahoo News Headline: "Unemployment Claims Rise Unexpectedly". Whoa, who would have seen that coming, you know with all the banks and auto companies, and small businesses tanking?

:[ Coming Soon to WOS Reviews: The Best of 2008! Yeah, I thought I would try to get my year-end top ten lists done before the actual end of the year. Any guess on what the best movie of 2008 will be? Tune in and find out.

:[ Did you hear? Someone threw shoes at our President! Weird. Our President is sooo disliked that our enemies don’t even waste bullets on him. When I rule the world, I want people who dislike me to throw french fires. I dunno. I just like fries. I love how even the Secret Service is "lame ducking" their duties now days. See that one run to the stage AFTER the whole thing? Way to take a bullet there friend.

He should have yelled "SHOE!" and dove in front of Bush in slow motion, the shoe hitting him squarely in the heart. Then, as the turmoil comes crashing down, he should crumple to the floor, unconscious. Bush should shoved his way through the crowds and kneel next to him, taking him up in a piata of honorable service and scream in agony at the top of his lungs, no sound at first, "Godfather Part III" style, then all at once "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Afterward, they pull the agent away, Bush should stand and demand his personal physician see to this "brave, brave man."

Then the agent would stand up and say, "Um, Mr. President, it was only a shoe."

They would stare at each for five minutes, then go home. Or something like that. Still, someone threw shoes at our President. Weird.

:[ The weather has turned sooo crappy here lately. It’s snowing beach towels and the icy streets force all the pedestrians walk into the cleared streets to get down the block. I nearly biffed it a few hundred times just walking to the train. If I could, I’d punch the weather right in the face.

:[ After all the crap I've been through lately; I found the answer.

:[ Yep, I am officially another year older. Thanks to my friends who took me out for lunches and movies. You are true. I owe you the same come your days. Just remind me. I’m old. So, I forget stuff. In fact, the other day, while I was cleaning up the classroom I covered at IIT, (I operate a camera for remote and internet students to watch class) an AFROTC student coming into the room says to me as I walk out "Thanks, Professor". Man, I am old. Hey, wait a minute....

:[ Last item of the month: have you noticed the coverage that Jennifer Aniston has been getting lately? Most of it is of that "Fresh Start" and "New Life" sort of comeback theme. Why is everyone sooooo concerned about Jennifer Aniston’s situation? It’s not like she’s homeless and broke. She’s not fending off some disease or fighting in Iraq. No, the girl’s gonna be okay people. She’s rich, she’s healthy, she still has both her parents and a roof over her head. She’ll be fine.... No really.

Can you imagine a person who has none of those things getting the same kind of coverage? You can’t can you? That’s the state of our world folks.

Besides, why do we keep putting it all on Jolie as a "Man Stealer" when in fact Brad Pitt is a "Wife-LEAVER". Yeah, remember? He WAS MARRIED to her at the time. Jerk Wad. Yet, he keeps on smiling with his stupid moustache and blueprints like he did nothing wrong, but "followed his heart". Believe me, as a Heart Follower, it’s not always a good idea....

So, that will do it for this month as well as this year. I guess it is time to get the Annual "The Note" out to you once again. I promise to get it done quicker this time. So, drop a line and let me know how you are. Also, let me know your picks for best movie and such. I’d be interested to hear. I’ll just be interested over here by the um, cookies, ‘kay?

Until next time; "You know what I noticed? Nobody panics when things go ‘according to plan’. Even if the plan is horrifying."