What Is Going On With Me
I'm continue doing quite well in school. Last week I took the math and English placement tests so that I may take math and English classes next semester. My walk with God continues apace with periodic back-steps but the overall trend is forward. My leg is healing after I hurt it pretty harshly at work earlier this month to the extent I feared I'd broken it. I have had all the work I could manage of late with the caveat that I could not drive to as much work as I'd like given the problems with my car.
Oh, And About That Car
I have replaced that 1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue (transmission is failing) that I was generously given by a friend last June with a 1994 Volvo 850 that I purchased at a discounted rate of one grand. The owner is one of the best friends of one of my best friends. He wanted more money for it but cut me a deal on a perfectly operating car that was simply one car too many for the household which owned it so it was sold to me. Next week I plan to get rid of the General Motors product. This Volvo is the first non-GM automobile I have ever owned.
Santa Rosa Gem Faire This Weekend
This coming weekend (including Friday) I shall be in Santa Rosa, CA, helping my friend Dave in his Gem Faire booth. In the past this has always been a good and we humbly hope to continue that pattern once more. For those of you reading this who live in that area please come down and visit us in the Rocks & Relics booth.
Busy Week For California Fire Anniversaries
I cannot help but notice all the anniversary notices on my California Disasters Group commemorating significant fires in California history that happened historically over the course of the past week or two. These include multiple fires from the years 1993,1996, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008.By coincidence there are Santa Ana Winds and Diablo Winds raking California at this moment.
Change of the Seasons
Here in Paso Robles, CA, this past morning it felt to me like it was the coldest morning thus far this Autumn. This evening felt like the coldest evening thus far this Autumn as well. I suffer from mild Seasonal Affectivenss Disorder (S.A.D.) and don't particularly enjoy the shorter and colder days and even colder but longer nights we are headed into here on the Northern Hemisphere. However, I do enjoy katabatic winds which are common in California in the Autumn and the overall change of the seasons as it pertains to interesting weather.
Occupiers = Tea Partiers
I realize most of you reading this column vehemently disagree but it really is true. A populist is a populist. Tea Partiers are populists and Occupy Wall Streeters are populists.
Populists = Extremists
This idea is unpopular but it is likewise true. Populists as a general rule are extremists. History is full of examples. I'm going to invoke Godwin's Law here and point out that the Nazis started out as populists... as did the Communists in Russia and elsewhere. Is there a separate law regarding making Communist/Lenin analogies?
Cloverfield Movie Review
I viewed the movie Cloverfield for the very first time just a few nights ago. It's basically an American Godzilla-like movie with an altogether new monster never before seen. The scary factor is decent and the special effects are good. The plot is okay but not great. The characters are mostly obnoxious as hell and I found myself rooting for some of them to die... and they all did. The film itself is shot in the format of a home video taken by one of the main characters in the film who is thinking he is filming a going away party for a friend when something seems to fall out of the sky and land in the harbor adjacent to New York City. A 350-foot tall monster apparently from outer space but that is never confirmed then begins to smash the city and eat people. It even carries a nasty little surprise on its back like many real-life critters do when they have offspring. I give the movie a B grade but would not call it a B-movie by definition but much better.
Fini
Cloverfield. Gah, I love this movie too, too much. Why is that? The monster, natch. If you will look at the end of the film where the footage of the Rob and Lily riding the train to Staten Island is, there is a brief glance out the window to something enormous falling into the water at a distance. Other than that, not a lot of evidence is given in the film for the origin of the beast. However, this movie went viral before it was even shown... online.
ReplyDeleteThere are several places you can visit in order to see more on the origin of the monster and read theories where it is actually an infante terrible. If that is to be taken as "factual" lore, then the sequel should have momma not being cool about what happened to her baby (and we really don't know if it survived the missile bombardment or not).
There is talk about having Rob and Lily survive the first movie for the second and then there is talk about completely getting away from NY. Who knows? Matt Reeves is so danged busy making everything else that I don't know when he'll be back to the Cloverfield mystique.
One other thing. If you slow the film down where Hud is bitten, you actually see Hud in two pieces. Yeah,I know. I was pretty hard core by the time the film came out. If that doesn't tell you anything, then this will. I have a replica of the monster sitting behind me. He's about 2' long, all arms, and he sits on his own display of NYC. The parasites are crap, though. This beastie is the bomb; he came with two interchangeable heads. :-) (NERD alert!)
Now, if I can just focus enough on the project, I plan to make a life sized parasite so that when people come to the apartment and the 7' werewolf doesn't get to them, then this will. Stay tuned. Bwah-ha-ha!