I know I haven’t added any posts in a while, but I am not ignoring the old website. I am working on the site. I have updated to the most recent release of WordPress, version 3.2. The theme I use for the site is a very old version that was originally designed for WP 2.7. I am a good dozen releases behind on the theme. There have been so many changes to the theme and WordPress, that I lost a lot of my formatting when I tried to update to the current version. I am working, trying to keep the site looking good er… reasonable before I install the upgrade. So, if you happen to check in and things look a bit crazy, it’s just me working on it.
When I was a kid, growing up in Illinois, one of my favorite family excursions was a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. I could have spent days there. A day trip was never enough time to see all of the exhibits that interested me. Plus, MSI had some of the first (that I had seen) and best interactive displays. And what other museum had a REAL WWII German U-Boat that you could explore? (the answer is none.) Well, the museum has the answer to my (youthful) desires by ofering a Month at the Museum-2.
For the second year (I never heard about the first), the museum is offering the opportunity for one lucky applicant to live at the museum for a month. That means spending all day AND all night in the museum for 30 days! Sounds like a fun opportunity, and the answer to youthful dreams. If I wasn’t old, overweight and 1800 miles away, I would apply. But, maybe you’re interested. Read more about it, and get your application here.
Well, after that last downer of a post, I was tempted to post the AP article about how the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been relaxing rules to allow US reactors to continue running past their original estimated life span (40 years). But, that’s just too dismal. So lets forget our troubles and turn to the entertainment world.
As you may know, I like movies. They were my primary entertainment option growing up. So I was a little pleased and surprised when I ran across this trailer the other day:
In my early working life in the late 60′s and early 70′s, I worked night shift for quite a few years. When you work nights you watch daytime television. So, I was familiar with the Muppets from watching ‘Sesame Street’. I was very happy when Muppet creator Jim Henson decided to appeal to a larger audience and created ‘The Muppet Show‘ on TV in 1976.
‘The Muppet Show‘ was Henson’s attempt to prove that he and the Muppets could appeal to a more adult audience. The show was a hit, ran for 5 seasons, won 5 Emmys and was really funny! Henson also made several Muppet movies. The first in 1979 was a critical and commercial success, but lacked the edge that the TV show had. Jim Henson died in 1990, and Disney acquired the Muppet franchise in 2004. Frankly the thought of a Disney made Muppet movie is less than appealing. However, the movie was written by Jason Siegel and Nick Stoller, with music by Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords), and directed by James Bobin (the other half of Flight of the Conchords), I am hopeful. If you check out the movie on IMDB, it appears that just about every ‘hot’ comic actor in Hollywood is in this movie. The trailers look promising. But, if I had a buck for every trailer that looked promising, and the film turned out to be crap, well, maybe I wouldn’t be rich, but I could afford those vacations I like to take!
Well, I’m still here. Jeez, yet another one down, who knows how many yet to go! You too can get this tee-shirt, but $20 seems a bit high, considering how often the “raptures” seem to come around.
Well, while I was waiting, and on a similar topic, I found this interesting bit of news…
To be perfectly honest, I am NOT surprised by this story. I always felt that the Apple fanatics were pretty close to a cult. This story got a lot of mention in the Tech blogsphere. On one of my favorite podcasts, Buzz Out Loud (commonly known as BOL), the chat room on Friday came up with a nick-name for the Apple retail stores, calling them the “Apple Chapel”. (Check out podcast number 1473) Appropriate, I say!
Finally, after 6 PM passed without any earthquakes, and the old TV was still broadcasting, I tuned in to the Saturday Night Live season finale. I haven’t been a big fan of SNL this season. There have been moments of humor and originality, but there have been moments of sloooooowwwww agonizing embarrassment also. This show however was one of the better efforts this year and hit on most of the skits, although the ‘Barry Gibbs Talk Show’ skit missed the mark. There were several I really liked, including the “3-Way” music video, but this one, with musical guest Lady Gagareally had me laughing:
*UPDATE* I had to replace the Youtube Video, cuz the original I posted is no longer available. Too bad because it was a good 720P quality.
Ooooh, I found another in 720!
This is a pretty cool video. It is a cockpit view of an approach and landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). It is a time-lapse view of the landing, compressing 30 minutes into 3. Based on the comments, I believe this was taken from the cockpit of an MD80 aircraft. Hope you enjoy!
There are a lot of reasons to dislike horse racing. First, it is a sport of millionaires for millionaires. That may be a simplification, but it takes a lot of money to own and race a horse. While I know people who own horses, I’ve never met anyone who owned a thoroughbred.
Secondly, the only reason it really exists as a sport is because of gambling. Until the last 35 years or so, horse racing was the only legal gambling in most states other than Nevada. Yes, I know there was gambling on Greyhound races and a few other niche sports in the US, but horse racing was the main form of legal gambling for most of the twentieth century. And, of course, gambling always brings its own problems, primarily corruption. There are many tales of doping and sabotage that cast a pall of suspicion over the entire sport.
And, worst of all, horse racing is a cruel and dangerous sport. I mean look at a horse. A thousand pound body on top of 4 ankles about the size of a humans, looks like a recipe for disaster. Tragedy even shows up in the big races. It was just 2006 that Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro shattered his leg at the start of the Preakness 2 weeks later. Even though Barbaro received state of the art medical care he still had to be euthanized a few months later. And good medical care is a rarity in horse racing. In 2008 Eight Belles was “put-down” (a euphemism for killed) on the Kentucky Derby track after breaking 2 ankles during the race.
Despite all of that, every now and then, a horse racing story comes along that just defies the stereotypes and captures the imagination of many of us. Such is the story of Secretariat. I watched the Disney movie Secretariat a few days ago, and it brought back a few good memories. I do not follow horse racing. Yes, I do look at the Triple Crown races to see who won, but that’s about the extent of my interest today. In the 70′s I made an effort to watch the three races on TV. Of course I was younger and more interested in professional sports in those days. And, the story of Secretariat captured my interest (along with about half of the US population) in 1973. There had not been a winner of the thoroughbred triple crown in 25 years. And Secretariat was thought to be the horse that could do it. Well, he did and in convincing fashion.
The movie had to depart from the usual sports movie formula. Normally, sports movies are about underdogs overcoming great odds to achieve their goal. But Secretariat was hardly an underdog. He was the 1972 Horse of the Year. And he was the clear betting favorite, he was a 3-2 favorite for the Kentucky Derby. The only question was his stamina and ability to run the mile and a half Belmont stakes, but he was a prohibitive 1-10 favorite there. As you can see from the video, it was no contest. The official winning margin was 31 lengths. There is a famous photo, that shows Ron Turcott (Secretariat’s jockey) looking over his shoulder as he approaches the finish wondering where were the rest of the field was.
The movie tries to build a little suspense by telling the story of Secretariat’s owner, Penny Tweedy, and her struggle to get Secretariat to the track. But there isn’t much suspense. But it has the best horse racing footage you’ve seen in a movie. It’s definitely a feel-good film, and it deserves 3 stars. If you’re into nostalgia, give it a watch.
Yeah, you know what you can do with Twilight… This is the full on sometimes erotic, sometimes funny, sometimes violent, always intriguing vampire series based on Charlaine Harris’ novels. This is vampires for adults, not teen girls.
I don’t understand why this hasn’t received greater publicity. It appears that Christiane Amanpour has better intelligence contacts than the US government has. Watch this clip from a 2008 Bill Mahr show:
This was 3 years ago! Bush was still in the White House! Apparently the CIA needs to have an intelligence network as good as Christiane!
I logged in to FaceBook today, first time in weeks! I didn’t spend long there, but while scanning my”wall’ or whatever it’s called, I saw a link to the video below that was posted by one of my friends (whom I don’t remember). The video is a song from a 1987 Carly Simon concert. I was never a big fan of Carly, I preferred her contemporary in the folk/rock-contemporary adult category, Carole King. In fact King’s 1971 album “Tapestry” would be in my top 5 album list, if I did lists.
This is probably my favorite Carly Simon song, and it is the theme song for the 1977 James Bond film ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’. That movie was the third Bond movie starring Roger Moore. Moore, was probably my least favorite Bond, he always seemed kind of pasty and out of shape to be an action hero. This certainly wasn’t the worst Moore/Bond film, but not the best either. However, there were 2 outstanding parts of this movie. The first is is probably the best *live* stunt ever done in a Bond film. In the opening montage, Bond escapes the bad guys skiing down the alps. He skies off an incredibly high cliff, and opens a parachute. It was a real stunt, not CGI. No one had ever tried it before, and it was incredibly dangerous. But it looked fantastic in the film.
The second outstanding part, immediately followed that ski para-jump, and that was this theme song. For my money it was and still is the best theme from any James Bond movie.
I know there are some who liked Duran Duran’s theme for ‘View to a Kill’ (the worst Moore/Bond film), but this is better. Written by Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager, it tops my list of the best Bond themes. And, it was also the first, and one of only 4 Bond themes that did not share the name of the movie. While writing this post, I decided to go back and listen to some Carly Simon, and I like her music better now than I did in the 70′s – 80′s. But I still prefer Carole King. Of course King and Simon are inextricably linked. King just finished a tour with James Taylor, for whom she wrote several of his bigger hits. And Simon was married to Taylor back in the 70′s.
Here is a link to the ski sequence from the opening of the film. If you don’t think that ski para-jump was dangerous, look at how close the ski comes to getting tangled in the parachute when it opens!
Oh, I know you didn’t ask, but I actually think that Daniel Craig is the best Bond. Its hard to compare him with
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