Beat it

So this is what's in the news. Well, at least when people aren't debating the lechery of Herman Cain or the greediness of Kim Kardashian. The embedded video allegedly shows a Texas judge beating and verbally berating his teenaged daughter, who happens to have a form of cerebral palsy, with a leather belt. The reason for the beating is that she illegally downloaded content online.

All of that seems like a pretty fine reason to hate this asshole, right? He is a freakin' JUDGE in charge of interpreting for others what RIGHT and WRONG are. His child has a physical disability making her somewhat unable to defend herself. She downloaded some songs, not stole a car and went joyriding. For the most part commenters are calling for this guy's head and the fact that he's a judge and that his daughter has a disability are continuously pointed out.

But here's the thing. Change the story to "Non-Famous Man Captured on Video Beating His Able-Bodied Child with Belt for Stealing a Car". Does the fact that the person isn't famous matter? Or the fact that the child is not disabled? Or that the theft is of a different sort (and yes, illegally downloading songs is theft)? It shouldn't. An adult using violence to teach a child a lesson about right and wrong doesn't make sense.

The other problem I'm having with some of the comments is the people who say, "Well, my parents beat me with thisthatortheother and I turned out fine and I still love them." Well, bully for you! Newsflash: Your parents were assholes, too! However, the fact that you still love them and don't feel that you or your siblings suffered any negative affects means NOTHING! The fact is that how something like this will affect someone is very individualistic.

I'm gonna go deep and personal here, but I got beat as a kid. My mother was not about sparing the rod, the switch, the belt, the extension cord, the broom handle, the flyswatter, the bat-and-ball paddle, the flip-flop, the whatever-is-handy if she felt we had gotten outta hand. And unfortunately for us, getting outta hand in her book was not that hard. She had a hair-trigger temper that might explain why I chew off even fake fingernails. We spent a lot of time quietly watching TV in our basement making sure that the volume wasn't too loud...or even our laughter at times. Even as an adult (and I only got to spend about 6 1/2 years as an adult in her presence), we remained extremely nervous and cautious around her.

All that doesn't change the fact that I love my mother dearly and miss her to this day. Perhaps it's the devil's advocate in me that can justify some of what she put us through by understanding some of what SHE went through. Domestic abuse, her own childhood abuse, untreated depression, poverty, oppression. But the fact remains, that most people looking at the way we were punished would want to call the authorities. Hell, we even considered it a time or two.

And yet I imagine most folks looking at me would say I'm pretty well adjusted, seeing as how I haven't gone on a killing spree. Those who are close to me (and there honestly aren't many because...well, I got issues) would likely list off all sorts of reasons they can't believe I had a rough childhood. But again, my anxiety, depression, irritability with humanity, and resistance to getting emotionally close to others definitely are byproducts of a youth spent in a state of fear.

So while I appreciate that some people see this as mild or not that bad, I am gonna stick with parents should not use violence to correct behavior and those that do, are kinda assholes.

It started out innocently enough...

Yesterday, I decided to hit the Grand City Buffet in St. Louis Park for the delicious buffet, then go next door to Target to pick up a few things. Once at Target, I grabbed a can of hairspray, then wandered over to the Electronics section...just to look around. I checking out the TVs when I notice sign that said "Temporary price cut" to the price of $249 in front of a 32" Westinghouse LCD television. I contemplated for a good while, long enough to miss my bus before deciding to give Bean a call, allegedly to talk me out of buying it (and potentially to coax her into buying it). Well, that didn't work out.

She decided to pick me up at St. Louis Park and drive me out to Roseville to comparison shop at Best Buy. If I couldn't find a similar deal at Best Buy, we could hopefully find the same deal at Roseville's SuperTarget. I had to wait around for 30 minutes not buying that TV while she came to get me. While waiting I checked to see if Best Buy had anything similar on line (they did not) and had pretty much made up my mind to buy it.

Once Bean arrived, we made our first foray over to Best Buy. We went straight back to TVs and browsed for a goodly while. The only thing similar to what I saw at Target was a Dynex 32" for $269. While I'm checking those out, Bean notices a Dynex 40" TV for $399. And what do you know? She wants it!

So having NOT found a similar or comparable deal at Best Buy. We head BACK to Target where I purchase the $249 TV. While doing that Bean decides that she does want that 40" after all. So we go back over to Best Buy where she purchases one similar to the one she wanted (it was only for display). While Brad (his name was Brad) was ringing her up, I mentioned that I had just bought a TV from Target. Brad tells me, I should have told him and he could have gotten me a better deal. I told him he still could.

So once he finished ringing Bean's TV up, we got to talking. Because Best Buy did not have the Westinghouse TV, Brad offered me that Dynex 32" I had been eyeballing early for $5 less than I had paid at Target. Well, because I love me some Best Buy SO MUCH (I really do! No snark!) and I could add a protection plan AND get Reward Zone points, I decided to take him up on the offer (once I shifted some $$ around in my bank accounts).

So Bean and I went BACK to Target where I returned the TV I had purchased less than an hour before, went to her house and set up her TV, went BACK to Best Buy where Brad hooked me up with my second TV purchase of the day, went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse (mmmmm, steaaaaaaaak), then went to my house where we set up my new TV.

The initial setup was relatively easy, but because of the wonkie-ness with the many devices I have, I spent a couple hour reconfiguring and trying things. I now have only the blu-ray player and the cable box hooked up. I love my DVD/VCR, but now that I have the blu-ray player, it's kinda useless. My Roku on the other hand, is hanging out in my bedroom which is fine and all, but it doesn't have HDMI which means the picture isn't as nice which means...well, it means I need to buy another blu-ray player. I have one with built-in Wi-Fi and a good chunk of the apps I want in my Cart at Amazon. And I'd have already bought it, if not for the fact that I have to wait for Target to return my money for that other TV. This impulse buying thing is just crazy.

So that was my Sunday.

I Need an Upgrade

It's official. I need to get a new TV. No, my current telly didn't die on me. (I actually haven't turned it on yet today, so it could make me a sad liar.) I need a new TV because I am now a part of the blu-ray generation. I now own over 30 blu-ray movies (32, to be exact). My blu-ray player currently is housed in my bedroom because that is where my hi-def TV is and that is what them bad boys are made for is watching movies all sorts of fancy like. Stuff doesn't look awful on my current non hi-def television (and I don't even know that I am doing things right in order to watch things all HD-like on my other telly. Maybe I just think they do. That telly is small though. It's only 19" while my living room telly is 27". I want a new one that's about that size for the living room. And even that seems kind small in comparison to what ELSE one can get nowadays.

This is such a stupid first-world problem. Meanwhile, my nephew asked to borrow money from me and I said I didn't have it. Which I don't but that's because I bought movies or went to see a movie or did something else unnecessary with my money. I just need to suck it up and deal with my TV.

Oh and of course, "Hanna" which I bought on DVD yesterday for $19.99 is on sale at Best Buy today for $17.99. That's the blu-ray by the way. Fortunately, the nice young man at Best Buy allowed me to trade that one in and put the $2.00 saving towards my purchase of "Hulk" (it's an Eric Bana thing, you totally should understand because he is F-I-N-E Fine, honey). I also traded in "The Negotiator" and "Forces of Nature" which I owned for reasons I can't explain for "Punisher: War Zone" (blame that on How Did This Get Made?) and "Conan the Barbarian". It took a lot for me NOT to buy more movies than that and well, this is the beginning of this week's sale.

And can I just say I love Best Buy employees. I am sure earning a commission doesn't hurt (assuming they do work on commission and well, there is no incentive for the kids at the registers so they are just nice kids), but I have rarely received anything but great service from them. And despite those commercials that complain about big box store employees being ill-informed, lazy, pimply-faced teenagers, I have never had that experience with any of my purchases and I have purchased many a product from many a Best Buy. Computers, monitors, printers, microwaves, DVD players, blu-ray players, iProducts, always great service.

Here's The Thing

I did the adventure thing and took 2 buses (would have been 3, but I decided to be healthy and walk downtown) to Roseville to see The Thing at 10 a.m. The theatre wasn't packed, but there were a good number of folks there. No one sat near me, THANK GOD and everyone was very well behaved.

The movie was actually okay. I didn't love it but I didn't leave all angry and shit like I did after Rob Zombie's Halloween. That may be because something happens at the end that put a big ole smile on my face. Overall, the movie does leave a bit to be desired. It is really just a bunch of half-hearted reinterpretations of scenes from the previous movie with a hint of The Thing from Another World thrown in. Instead of blood tests to determine who's an alien, it's teeth. We get a spidery thing again, but it's a little different this time. And instead of Keith David and Kurt Russell, we get Adebisi (yaaaaaaaay!) and some dude who was sooooooooo not Kurt Russell.

On the plus side, the acting was pretty good and the pace is pretty quick (almost too quick). Overall, I enjoyed spending that $5.

After the movie, I had a about 40 minutes before my bus, so I walked over to the Best Buy to look at movies. I watched Hanna last night and I kinda fucking loved that movie, so I wanted to buy it (which I did, on DVD). Well, lo and behold, there on sale for just $9.99 on the shelf was a blu-ray of John Carpenter's Halloween. Boughten!!! And next to that (not on sale) was the 30th Anniversary edition of Halloween II and the best part is that is that it includes Terror in the Aisles. Happy Dance!!!!

I really want to get a new TV for my living room because I want to watch blu-rays on a big TV.

I am rambling and losing interest in what I'm typing. I'm hungry. Will find food and my update this post later. Or this is as good as this is gonna get.

Prejudging

After seeing that the Onion A.V. Club gave the new presequel of The Thing a C-, I have to remind myself that originally critics HATED John Carpenter's original (and also, Halloween) and well, we all know how that worked. That said, this is not being made by John Carpenter and this doesn't have practical effects but CGI which doesn't look as good to me, and there's no Kurt Russell (unless we get some surprise cameo, but I'm not holding my breath). I am still very excited for this and am already trying to plot and plan when and where I will go see it Saturday morning. Right now, I'm am feeling like getting all adventurous and heading out to Rosedale since it is the only theatre I can get to that has a 10:00 a.m. showing. All the others have starts around 11:30 or later. Boo! I like an early-early show because I hope everyone else is just not motivated to get up and out of bed to go to the movies at that hour. We shall see if I feel like getting up at 8 o'clock just to avoid other people. (I think I kinda am.)

Not down on Netflix yet

Things I've learned: I can take Ryan Gosling more seriously as a smarmy, backstabbing politico than I can as a face-stomping tough guy. In other words, The Ides of March equal good. Drive equal not as good. But he is still fine as hell in both movies.

Next!!!

So I have been trying to wrap my little brain around this whole Netflix issue. Many people are still pissed about the separation of streaming and DVDs and its accompanying price hike. I too am not crazy about the price boost, however, I am not ready to go streaming only so I'm sucking it up. It'shttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif funny that people claim that the reason Netflix is doing this is so they can eventually drop DVDs all together. This argument was helped along by the now-abandoned idea to move DVDs to a new site and rename it Qwikster, which was dumb. Frankly, I don't see how Netflix would really benefit from dropping DVD. I like getting DVDs because of the additional content and options that are available. Right now, neither my Roku, my Blu-ray player, my iPod nor my Inspire provide closed-captioning or subtitles (unless a film is originally in a foreign language). We also don't get much in the way of bonus content with streaming and the picture quality on some flicks leaves much to be desired. I don't know how much of that is Netflix fault or the various players (can't do captioning/subtitles for Amazon either on my Roku...I don't think).

The other major beef is that Netflix is losing content. It was recently announced that come February of 2012 they will be losing a bunch of Starz and Sony content. The thing is I thought that meant those movies and shows would disappear from Netflix, but really it's just that they won't be available through Netflix Instant Watch. Now, while I'm sure that is inconvenient for some of the lazy fuckers who can't wait the two days to get a disc or aren't will to trudge over to their local Redbox (or if they're 'lucky', Blockbuster) to get the movie, it isn't the end of the world. HBO doesn't have a streaming deal with them, but you can still get HBO show DVDs from Netflix (for the most part). Waiting sucks, but remember when Netflix first became a THING and not only did you have to wait but you had to wait like 4 or 5 days between discs? That is rarely the case anymore.

And yeah, sometimes a movie or show you want is a Very Long Wait for a Very Long Time (looking at you Breaking Bad, although that is mute now since those are now streaming on Netflix), but if you just can't stand it anymore, you can do what I did and just buy the freakin' discs yourself, or even use some other type of streaming (which will usually cost you). Which is what all these people who are belly-aching about it and leaving Netflix will end up doing anyway.

I guess I have drank the Netflix Flavor-Aid (it wasn't Kool-Aid, y'all) and just won't give up on them yet. I am still DVDing and streaming and I just can't quit them.

Drive

After wasting time seeing "Dream House" on Saturday, I decided I would see a GOOD movie on Sunday. I had been hearing all sorts of great buzz about "Drive" and well, Ryan Gosling is damn pretty. So on a sorta whim, I chose to head down to little-attended theatre St. Anthony Main. Boy, that place is drab, but in a nostalgic way. At the counter, I bought my ticket and then stepped over to the concession stand to get snacks. I stood there for about a minute before the guy who sold me my ticket (one of only three people working there), hurried over to sell me my popcorn and soda. Unlike the AMC experience I get at Block E, there are no looooong commercials for 10,000 TV shows, cars, and sodas before the trailers. Heck, there wasn't even any music. The seats aren't stadium and they are ripped and make you think twice about sitting in them. And there wasn't a string of trailers, just two if I recall correctly.

I chose St. Anthony Main figuring there wouldn't be a whole lot of people there. Turns out there were 11 of us at this particular screening. That is more people than where at "Dream House" and that was a new release.

Anyway, the movie. I think I saw something quite different than all the critics because I was not enamored of this film. It came across like a really long music video with bouts of random bloody violence. I like Ryan Gosling, but he is not someone I think of when I think of movie badasses. Maybe that was the point, but I just couldn't buy him as this tough guy who is threatening mob bosses. He was not helped by spending most of the movie wearing skinny jeans and a satin jacket with a scorpion EMBROIDERED on the back. The film is beautifully shot, but some of those came off as (forgive me for using this over-used word) pretentious. Lots of unnecessary slow-mo. I think I hate slow-mo. Overall, the acting was good but I didn't always get the characters' motivations.

All this to say, I came away a bit disappointed. Maybe I don't like Ryan Gosling as much as I thought. This is the second movie of his ("Blue Valentine" was the first) I've seen that so many people LOVE that I thought was just meh and the third ("All Good Things", anyone?) that I, personally, where I wasn't dazzled by his performance. I have liked him in things and I hope he redeems himself in my eyes in "The Ides of March".

On a side note: Bryan Cranston was in "Drive" (and "Contagion"). Good for him. Last night's "Breaking Bad" kicked ass!!!

Ketchin' up

I am an old lady now. So there's that.

I've been seeing a few movies lately...in the theatre even. Recently, I have been keeping Block E alive. Not much else is. Hard to believe that place is only 10 years old. It is a virtual ghost town now. Everything is gone. Borders, GameWorks, even the Cold Stone Creamer is gone. The Mrs. Fields must be closed because it hasn't been open the last few times I was there even though there are still sodas in the fridge and cookies in the display case. So sad.

Downtown Minneapolis is very different from when I first moved here 20 years ago. City Center was basically a mall then with many of the same stores one would find at Southdale or MoA. Now, it has Len Druskin and GNC, plus some random shit like ProStaff and Kaplan University. What the heck happened?

Anyway, back to my recent movie adventures. Today, I saw "Dream House". I went in with low expectations because I thought it would be your standard haunted house movie. I don't tend to like haunted house movies. Ghosties just don't do it for me. Instead, it was this kinda Lifetimey mystery/thriller. Reviews are saying the "twists" were spoiled in the trailer. I never saw the trailer, so I didn't know what to expect, but that didn't stop me from figuring out half of what was going on within 10 minutes and well, the movie provided that twist at the halfway mark. The resolution (?) was pretty dumb and nonsensical and also, I do not get what people see in Daniel Craig. He has pretty eyes, but that's about all I can say about the guy.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw "Contagion" which despite what horror fans so want to believe is NOT A HORROR MOVIE!!! It's kind of like "The Stand," but without all the God vs. the Devil stuff thrown in. That is not a complaint. I would call it a disaster movie, but with less Irwin Allen. I really enjoyed that movie. And well, Gwyneth Paltrow dies in the first 5 minutes. Always cool.

I also saw "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark". See my comments above about me and haunted house movies. I don't know who was more bored by the experience, me or Guy Pierce.

"Dream House" was not helped by the fact that I watched a Netflix movie last night with a plot twist that was kinda similar. It was call "The Haunting". It's a Spanish movie about a couple who move into a giant house in the middle of nowhere (SURPRISE!!!) and the wife starts hearing noises and seeing things. It was a-ight, but I could have never seen it and been okay with life.

Not much going on in the social life. Had sushi with the girls for my birfday. Went apple picking with Bean the day before. There were no apples to pick really, but we did go through the corn maze which was pretty awesome. I would love to go through one of those at night. Wish I knew some adventurous sorts who would be down for that sort of thing.

Did I ever tell you about the times I tried watching "Breaking Bad" and just could not get into it? Twice I Netflixed the first disc of season one and twice I didn't make it past the second episode. Well, about a month and a half ago, I came across the first 3 seasons on sale at Best Buy for just $14.99 each, so for some random reason I bought them. Me and my impulse buying, right? I started watching that same day and pretty much devoured those first 3 seasons over the course of two weeks. I kinda love this show with its complex characters and cute Aaron Paul.

By the time I had finished my DVDs, AMC was over halfway through with season 4 and the first 3 episodes were no longer on On Demand. I thought about waiting until S4 comes out on DVD/Blu-ray, but who knows when that will be...so I bought a Pass on Amazon last Monday (Happy Birthday to Me!!!). I have watched 9 of the 11 so far. The only reason I'm not watching right now is because I am typing this little update and because I wanted to try to finish my book.

Speaking of books, that's the other thing I have been doing lately: reading. Earlier this year, I decided to give those Stieg Larsson books a whirl and really enjoyed them. Now, I am checking out other Scandinavian mystery series. Currently, I am reading the Erlander books by Arnauldur Indridason. I picked up the latest in the series, "Hypothermia" at the library this afternoon, but still have a few more pages to finish in "Arctic Chill". I am liking this reading thing.

I have also decided to revisit my Spanish learning. I was trying French for a little bit, but decided that my experience with Spanish called for me to handle that first. I have "Spanish for Dummies" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide", but finally decided that my best source was the one I paid over $100: my textbook from my Metro State Spanish class. I am taking it kinda slow and I am starting from the beginning even though it is a lot of stuff I have already learned, like, 5 times since I have taken about that many different Spanish classes. Every once in a while, I even get to use a word or two at work with a customer. Look at me with my international self.

And speaking of work, very busy of late. This nasty business of a cold has run amok through our offices for the last 3 weeks. We are really short-staffed, not helped by Lindsay going off to become a Driver Examiner last month and Vicki unceremoniously quitting about a week ago. That doesn't stop me from continuing to hunt for work with the Fourth District. Right now, there is a post that is basically the criminal version of what I do at the DMV. It would mean a pay cut, but it would be worth it to not have to take those hell-buses to and from St. Paul 10 times a week. They will keep posting jobs and I will keep applying. I may be old, but my will is STRONG!

Before, During, After

Before Contagion: took public transportation to movie theatre, bought ticket with credit card (self-swipe), used theatre's public restroom (paper toilet seat covers provided), bought popcorn and soda with credit card (self-swipe), put "butter" and salt on popcorn.

During Contagion: sat in seat that has probably cushioned thousands of asses over the course of Block E's 10-year history; saw a trailer for the American version of "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" that made me want to claw my eyes out; wondered who decided that at nearly-70, Robert DeNiro should become an action star; continued to be baffled by the appeal of Robert Downey Jr. and Christian Bale; listened to the sniffles, sneezes, coughs and yawns of my fellow theatre-goers and added a few of my own (damn allergies); watched Gwyneth Paltrow DIE; enjoyed the heck out of the movie while simultaneously growing a wee bit paranoid.

After Contagion: momentarily contemplated sneaking into Creature before deciding I needed real food; used the theatre's public restroom (the door to which was propped open strangely enough); washed my hands for juuuuuuust a little longer than I did before the movie; hesitated at touching the handrail on the escalator; marveled at just how desolate Block E has become; took the skyway to Barnes & Noble to look at foreign language-learning books...again somemore; ate at an Indian buffet; took public transportation back to my crib; rushed into the bathroom to wash my hands.

SL*T!!!

It's like she's in my head.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Recently, I have been re-listening to some of the Now Playing podcasts, particularly the Halloween and F13 retrospective episodes. In both, the word 'slut' is tossed about pretty liberally to describe just about any woman who is sexually active in the movies. This drives me batshit crazy because as I've ranted before, being sexually active should not be grounds for calling a woman a slut. I don't think I put it into words quite as well as The Frenemy who articulates why it is such a demeaning, hurtful thing to call a woman.

For example, in their discussion of Halloween 5, one of the guys (I don't know which) says of Annie, "what an annoying little slut" then goes on to explain that he is NOT calling her that to be misogynistic, "she is actually a slut". Uh, huh? There is no basis for this classification whatsoever. Annoying she is, but why slutty? Because of her Halloween costume? Because she wants to have sex with her boyfriend? Why is that slutty? If you aren't being misogynistic, then what are you being?

Similarly, in their discussion of RZ's Halloween, he (I'm pretty sure it's the same dude) describes Judith as a "mean slut". Again, I am assuming this is because she would rather sleep with her boyfriend than take her kid brother trick-or-treating.

Just now, I was listening to their Terminator retrospective and during their attempt to figure out if John Connor knew that Kyle Reese was his father when he decided to send him back, one of them (the lady whom I believe is the wife of the guy who made the other slut comments) asks, "Did [John] know his mom was a slut?" The slut designation here is being placed on Sarah Connor because she slept with Reese after knowing him for one night. While we learn in T2 that Sarah would shack up with guys in attempts to find a protector for John, I still am bothered about passing judgment on her as a person based on her sex life.

This denigration of a woman based on her sexual active is so disturbing to me. It is especially upsetting when the person using the term implies that when the slut dies she is getting what she deserves and not just because she's "annoying" or "mean" but also because she is a slut.

Perhaps I find it most bothersome because some people have take this Madonna/whore moralizing in horror movies to such an extreme. While I agree that some filmmakers have made that part of the formula, I don't buy it as a requirement.

That didn't take long

Less than two weeks since returning to work and I'm already in need of a vacation. While I like a few of my CoWs, there are some that are showing some real asshole signs of late. One CoWs feels it is perfectly okay to have large gatherings of people eat lunch in her cube which spills into other work areas. She sits right near our mail sort area and her goof-tard boyfriend, a fellow CoW, and this old broad she hangs with from another unit are all sitting there while I am trying to get mail ready to sort. Goof-tard comments, "Oh, I guess this isn't a break area." I say, "No, it's not." They all get up to leave for one of the appropriate break areas. As she walks past she says, "Cranky, cranky." I continue to do mail while I contemplate a response and I go with emailing her that while she finds me "cranky, cranky" for being annoyed at this, I found her rude and thoughtless for thinking any of that was appropriate. She now claims she wasn't saying "Cranky, cranky", but was saying something about her cousin Frankki which is bullshit, but people never want to own shit anymore. She also says I'm rude for "directing such anger when none was directed towards me". I will allow that I can't verify that Frankki b.s., but I point out that my email was perfectly reasonable and that it remains rude and thoughtless to think having more than one person into your cube for lunch is okay. I eat in my cube on the regular, but I don't have a bunch of people in it and it isn't like we don't have a SCHEDULED time for doing this particular task. People's rudeness has been a constant source of irritation now that I'm back out in the world.

Shut 'er down!

So at this point it looks pretty likely that I will be out of work (at least for a little while) at the end of the day. And despite what commenters over at the Strib might think, it will not be a "paid vacation". It is amazing to me the number of people who have deluded themselves into thinking that State workers are the enemy in this budget battle. So many of the commenters are exclaiming, "Shut it all down. It won't hurt me." They have this "that'll learn 'em" attitude which I just don't understand. In the one breath, they are bitching about greedy people looking for handouts and and in the same breath, bitching about leeches feeding off "my hard-earning money". Yet encouraging a shutdown which will require thousands of people to apply for unemployment. Apparently, they are the only people who actually work hard. They bleat, "I don't used/need any of the State's services." Uh, if you leave your house, you use State services, asswipe. Do you have a MN state drivers license or ID? Is your car titled or registered in the state? Do you drive on the highway to get to your much-more-important private sector job? Those are just a few of the areas where, yeah, you kinda do use State services. There are private businesses that do business with the state which may have to raise prices or cut services they provide because they are losing income because of the shutdown. The way these commenters talk, the only thing the State is good for is handing out welfare checks to undeserving, greedy liberals who don't want to work. The state is just good for nothing. One guy whines that he didn't get a reminder about renewing his tabs. So the state needs to babysit you to remind you to do what you're already know needs to be done? Newsflash: those reminder cards are a courtesy. Not a requirement. So many of them talk about personal responsibility, but so many of their complaints about the failures of the state are about what the state isn't doing for them. It's so infuriating that people act like we individual State workers not only don't matter, but some of them act like we don't exist. A shutdown is gonna do a hell of a lot more than "teach the legislature a lesson". What am I as someone who will be shut out of work in a down economy suppose to learn from this? The lessons learned will be a lot of people struggling to pay bills who will then cut spending in other areas and that is gonna effect businesses who are gonna lose out on those funds. There's a trickle down affect (remember that little phrase?).

This rant has rambled on for long enough. I did this to myself by venturing over to the comments section. I just get so incredibly angry when people look at those guys in suits at the Capitol like they are the only ones this will impact.

Make me want to Scream

I'm still trying to figure out how I felt about Scream 4. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. Coming out of the theater, I didn't regret getting up at 8 a.m. to catch a two buses out to the mall so I would only have to pay $5 to see it. Buttery popcorn and cherry coke for breakfast ain't no thang for me. It was more interesting than Insidious and it was better than Craven's last outing, My Soul to Take. But mostly, I thought it was really bland. Perhaps I am desensitized or jaded or cynical, but it just had very little impact on me. There were very few surprises, no real laughs and I didn't jump once. Even Insidious made me jump. And My Soul to Take made me laugh at times, although probably not for the reasons Craven might have wanted.

The Scream franchise has never held a place in my heart. It's a generational thing I guess. I grew up on Michael, Freddy, and Jason. I was raised on the cliches Scream mocks. (I had also already seen Scream's predecessor, Student Bodies waaaaaay back in the day.) And a lot of the horror cliches that are lampooned are things that came about in quicky cash-ins and sucky sequels to original movies that weren't cliched. While John Carpenter's Halloween, apparently, established the slasher film template (killer in a mask, "sluts" die, virgins live, 'I'll be right back' will be one's last words, etc.), I don't see it that way because that wasn't the films INTENT.

Side rant: Have I mentioned how much I hate that Annie and Linda are labeled "sluts" at all? Assuming "slut" refers to a woman who sleeps around, how are either of these girls sluts? They both have boyfriends. If it is just a matter of them being sexually active at all, then maybe people need to get over their madonna/whore complexes. End rant.

So the fact that the Scream films chose to beat that particular horse meant nothing to me. I was already rolling my eyes at the big-breasted girl running up the stairs instead of out the door.

Anyway, so the fact this franchise didn't really have much meaning for me may have factor into why I was mostly lukewarm on this outing. That doesn't mean there weren't aspects that were unlikeable. Most of the new kids sucked. I just didn't care as much about most of them as I did for the kids from the first movie. I liked Kirby (probably more than I liked Tatum, but that's because I don't like Rose McGowan), but the boyfriend was a stalkery douche and the film geeks were so uninteresting they shouldn't even be allowed to speak Randy's name. The endearing Dewey and Gayle from the first two films (I have blanked out all of Scream 3, except Courtney Cox's frightening bangs) are gone. Now they are bickery and cold and mismatched in a really uncomfortable way. And Marley Shelton's character was pretty pointless.

While I get what Craven was saying about people being so desperate for fame they will do anything, it just seems like old news. We have now been suffering through reality TV (in its present vein) for about 20 years (good GOD!!! I remember watching the first season of the Real World during it's original run!). And dumbass, horrible people committing murders in the hopes of being famous has been going on since John Douglas (or was it Robert Ressler?) coined the phrase 'serial killer'. Everything is being filmed all the time, huh, Wes? Well, no duh. That fact was brought home to me when we ended up with footage of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center.

I said in my comments on My Soul to Take that Craven seems a bit out of touch and I feel it shows here just as it did in that film. It's like he has had these ideas 10 years ago, but no one would listen to him until now.

Since I am finishing this post almost 5 months AFTER I originally started it, I don't really remember much about the film (which isn't much of an endorsement). I just remember being pretty bored and disappointed by Craven again.

Birdemic: This shit is bananas!

Let's get something straight right off the bat: I didn't expect this to be a good movie. It's called Birdemic, for god sake! In addition, I was already hearing tales of its awfulness on the Internets when I first decided to put the movie in my queue. I figured it would be some kind of made-for-Syy level dumbness like MegaPython vs. Gatoroid, but hopefully, more fun because it wasn't so self-aware.

Well, Birdemic is an awful movie, but it is awful in a way that makes those made-for-SyFy movies look like they were helmed by Scorsese. The acting is on par with a middle school stage productions the direction is disjointed and jerky, even the sound quality is jacked.

How do I explain the "plot"? Well, it's really this director James Nguyen's attempt to scare viewers into doing something about global warming. That's the overall message told in the most clumsily preachy fashion ever. He imparts this message to us by having the film's protagonists, Rod and Natalie, get attacked by exploding eagles and vultures at random (after 47 minutes of meandering). And there's a lot of talk about solar panels and green energy and An Inconvenient Truth is name-dropped here and there. Along the way, Rod and Natalie hook up with other survivors of this attack and try to stay one step ahead of the CGI threat.

That's the nuts and bolts, but you kinda have to see it to really KNOW how awful it all is. I mean, people fight off attacking birds with hangers! And, you might think it easy to kill a flock of attacking birds with a machine gun (I don't know guns. Was that an AK?), but actually, you will probably average only one bird for every 50 rounds and those kills might actually be attributed to your friend with the handgun who's shooting right next to you.

I hear tell, this movie can be improved in two ways: Rifftraxx and listening to the audio commentaries on the DVD. While I had some awestruck fun watching it, I couldn't sit through it again.

Say a Little Prayer

So this happened.

This morning at work, a nice lady came in to purchase a copy of her son's driving record. She complained briefly (and politely) about getting misinformation over the phone and running around town to different DMVs before we moved on to her transaction. There was general banter and chitchat as I processed her request. At the end of the transaction, she said I was the nicest State worker she'd ever met and asked my name which I told her. Then there was banter about how pretty my name is (it is!) and I joked about how the uniqueness meant I'd never hear my name on Romper Room (and trust me, I watched avidly hoping for THAT miracle). More banter which I tried to taper off because more customers were waiting. Then, she stuck out her hand to me which I took, prepared for a quick shake. Not to be! She introduced her self as Sister (name redacted...heh) and asked (while still gripping my hand), "Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ?" I kindly told her, "No, I'm not religious." She then proceeded to start praying for the Lord to "come to me". Note: she is still holding my hand and I still have 3 customers in queue. This went on about 20 - 30 seconds and I just stood there kinda stunned and thinking, "Uh, AWKWARD!" She broke off (still holding my hand) to ask if I had a husband and children. I told her no at which point she asked if I wanted a husband. I said, "Not particularly", and she laughed and (FINALLY!) let my hand go. A bit more banter and then she "blessed" me and went about her day.

Okay, here's the thing. I know she was just trying to be nice, but it was still incredibly uncomfortable, not just because she did this (quietly) in front of a waiting area full of customers, but because my requirement of being customer-friendly prevented me from snatching my hand away and telling her to skedaddle. It is really off-putting how presumptuous religious people are. One hears many of them whine about how intolerant those of us who are agnostic or atheist or just not into religion are, and yet they don't seem to realize the impact that being confronted with their religion EVERY DAY has on those of us who are not religious (and let's face it, in America when I say religious I mean CHRISTIAN).

Am I nuts here? Should I just shake it off as a kindly church lady doing something sweet for someone she had a pleasant encounter with? Or is it reasonable that I feel like I was kinda ambushed into "accepting" her prayer? And let me clarify, it wasn't just that I was at work that made this extra-weird, but the fact that, often, people who don't follow Christianity are made to feel like second-class citizens in this country. I say this as someone who grew up studying with the Jehovah's Witnesses (a Christian religion despite the failure to celebrate Christmas and Easter), so I know of both ambush religious tactics (who amongst you haven't complained about JWs coming to your door to pawn off Watchtowers and Awakes?) and religious persecution (try being the only kid in an elementary class not standing for the flag).

I get that people who are religious want to "spread the word" and share their faith, but it is just so arrogant to assume that the other party just has to take it because their "intent" is "good".

What say you?