Mes Pensées

TRON: Legacy

Cush — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:36:10 GMT

Yeah, the original was rather campy, but it did have some moments of coolness (i.e. the light-cycles), and the trailer for the sequel looks wicked-awesome! http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/tronlegacy/

Emergency Landing

Cush — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:34:50 GMT

Saw this on the BA flight from London last month: step 1: remove release latch cover step 2: dispose of latch cover step 3: pull release latch step 4: dislodge emergency hatch step 5: pummel self in head with hatch

Travel Report: Poland, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin

Cush — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:36:40 GMT

With apologies to Ms. Smart for the delay in my reporting, here are my reflections on this summer's big trip. DESTINATIONS: Warsaw and Lublin, Poland ... Stockholm, Sweden ... Copenhagen, Denmark ... Berlin, Germany FAVORITE CITY: Stockholm LEAST FAVORITE: Copenhagen (REALLY expensive) BEST MUSEUM: Majdanek Concentration Camp outside Lublin (very rough to tour) WORST MUSEUM: the Swedish Treasury Museum (we were the ONLY ones there!) BEST PARK: the cemetery where Søren Kirkegaard is buried in Copenhagen BEST FOOD: Banja Luka, a Serbian joint in Warsaw WORST: Shanghai Gate, a Chinese joint in Copenhagen BEST DRINK: Danish beer WORST: Polish water ("Mmmm ... you can really taste the cadmium.") NICEST PEOPLE: the Swedes MOST ATTRACTIVE WOMEN: tie between the Poles and the Swedes MOST TRANSCENDENT MOMENT: tie between the open air Chopin concert in Warsaw, and just sitting on a bench under a tree at twilight in Stockholm's old city BIGGEST WTF?: they call it "Roosters", but Poland has Hooters! "COOLEST" PLACE: the Absolut Ice Bar in Stockholm (the whole bar is made of ice!) FUNNIEST EURO-SIGN: "no breakdancing" on the Berlin metro GREATEST MOMENT OF ENVY: tie between Sweden's trains and Copenhagen's vast bike culture MOST ANNOYING PART OF TRIP: my friend Brad ALWAYS asking for ice! BIGGEST A-HA!: Berlin IS New York; they feel exactly the same BIGGEST "OOPS": a guy on the train from Warsaw to Gdansk yelled at me for putting my feet on the seat BIGGEST "YES!": my bottle of absinthe cleared through customs with no problem BEST LAUGH: finding an anti-Bush, anti-war rally advert from '03 still posted in Warsaw BIGGEST REGRET: I didn't ride a bike in Copenhagen, and I didn't appear in a fetish porno movie in Berlin That's it! I had a blast-and-a-half, and am already looking forward to the next adventure ... which looks to be Geneva, Zurich, Munich, and Stuttgart next Spring. After that it's got to be Japan and Vietnam. Photo: yours truly in the rebuilt portion of Warsaw's old city

Moon

Cush — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:50:36 GMT

Finally! A thoughtful summer movie (like I'm being FORCED to go see Transformers and Terminator!). Moon was a great movie! Maybe not as emotionally powerful as I was hoping for, but still a very good exploration of isolation and identity. Sam Rockwell was brilliantly cast in this role, and he does a fantastic job of portraying a really wide range of psychological and emotional states. All-in-all, a nice break from the summer blockbusters; a pleasant moment of quiet and introspection. Final grade: B+

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Cush — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:16:00 GMT

Ugh. Why waste the time? Spectacular CGI + absolutely NO story or logic = mediocre movie. Final grade: C

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Cush — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:12:07 GMT

Well then ... what to say about the sixth film ... It film as a whole was certainly watchable, and the end was really brilliant, but all-in-all the latest Potter film falls a bit flat. This one just lacked the kind of punch that the last three have had, and the story lacked any real highs and lows. Until the final 15 minutes or so, the entire film just kind of puttered along on a flat line. No spikes of excitement or anything really. Rupert Grint completely phoned in his performance, and even Daniel Radcliffe seems to be going through the motions. Only Emma Watson really seems to still be invested in her acting. Better than TRANSFORMERS, but still a bit of a let-down. Final grade: B -

Bon Voyage!

Cush — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:55:45 GMT

Leaving tomorrow for three weeks in Poland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. I'll try to post "from the road", but if I don't, I'll be back online once I'm home. Wish me luck getting through U.S. customs with two bottles of absinthe in my bag! ; )

Doodles by Joe, 5 of 5: "Enterprise uniform"

Cush — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:01:33 GMT

The other thing that I hated about ENTERPRISE was the cruddy uniforms. Here's what I would have done.

Doodles by Joe, 4 of 5: "Phase Pistol"

Cush — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 05:28:29 GMT

One of the things I hated most about ENTERPRISE were the ridiculous phase pistols that looked like something made by Wham-O. So here's a really simple sketch of the sidearm that I would have given to Archer and crew.

Terminator: Salvation

Cush — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:01:33 GMT

Just a momentary interruption in my self-aggrandizing artistic promotion ... : ) Saw the new Terminator flick today. Not great, but not too bad either. The end is actually quite spectacular, but it's a shame that the road getting there couldn't have been a bit more plausible. My main complaints are: 1. The soundtrack! It was HORRIBLE. The score almost never kept pace with the action on screen, and in many cases actually detracted from what I was watching. Whomever composed this drivel ought to have been sacked on day one. 2. Skynet is really freakin' stupid! For a sentient "super"-computer, it makes some pretty stupid mistake. The resistance fighters waltz into the main Skynet compound like its fraternity pledge party. I mean, it's apparently harder getting into a Kohl's after-Christmas sale! 3. Sam Worthington -- as Marcus Wright -- completely steals the movie from Christian Bale. Not a bad thing necessarily, but I'd really have been happier with a deeper look into the mind of man who is trying to escape -- and live up to -- his destiny as mankind's savior. There's a fantastic cameo by a CGI-generated "you know who" in the penultimate act of the film, and the scenes that follow are really, really great. If it wasn't for the atrocity that was T3, and the recent "Sarah Connor Chronicles" snooze-fest on Fox, this film would rate a B minus, but given the reputation that it has to live up to, I'll give it a B. Actually, let's make it a B+ ... just for the cameo by Ah-nuld.

Doodles by Joe, 3 of 5 - "Archangel"

Cush — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:00:39 GMT

A couple of years back I had an idea for a TV show called "Archangel". It's essentially about a small team of international agents who crisscross the globe investigating and combatting all the forces of mythology and forklore (vampires, zombies, werewolves, etc.) which threaten mankind. Imagine X-FILES + BUFFY + TORCHWOOD + S.W.A.T. + MEN IN BLACK + BLADE ... sprinkle in a little bit of Vatican conspiracy stuff, and a healthy dose of hi-tech hardware, and you've got the gist of it. So here's a sketch of a typical Archangel agent, all tricked out in his monster hunting gear. MP5 with silver bullets, UV goggles, etc.

Doodles by Joe, 2 of 5 - "U.S.S. Red Cloud"

Cush — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:50:40 GMT

This is a sketch I did of the U.S.S. Red Cloud, a Vanguard class Federation starship. It's obviously inspired by the Defiant, and shares many features with its smaller cousin. Like the Defiant, the Vanguard class was commissioned with the sole purpose of defending the Federation from the Borg.

Doodles by Joe, 1 of 5 - "The Shepherd's Blade"

Cush — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:32:42 GMT

My chum from Boulder -- Ever -- posted one of her sketches on her blog a couple of weeks ago. Seeing it reminded me of many years worth of my own doodles sitting in a file in my office. So I dug them out the other night. Most are really rough, but a few are decent enough (hopefully) to post here. So here's the first one. If you've read the WHEEL OF TIME book by Robert Jordan, you know about the Children of the LIght -- or Whitecloaks; the quasi-religious paramilitary organization dedicated to rooting out "darkfriends" whererever they may be found. This sketch is my vision of a member of the Children's elite guard, the Shepherd's Blade. They're the Navy SEALS or British SAS of the WOT universe.

Star Trek XI

Cush — Wed, 20 May 2009 00:50:10 GMT

Been waiting a long time for this one, and I have mixed feelings. So, the bright spots ... The writers did a great job of devising a story which explores the iconic characters, but which doesn't have to worry about being faithful to the canon of the Trek: Prime universe. This was my biggest question as the new film was being made, and I'm pleased with the way made their cake, and ate it to The Romulans are back to looking decent after their facial butchering during The Next Generation. (a little peeve of mine) The casting was excellent and almost everyone turned in a top notch performance. Especially Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy) and Zach Quinto (Mr. Spock). ... and the dim spots ... I'm being really picky, but the engineering sections of both the Kelvin and the Enterprise were (a) waaaay to large, and (b) way too industrial. Rivets, steel car-walks, and water pipes? Come on! Got to say that I wanted some kind of social commentary, but sadly, there is none to be found. This is definitely an ACTION movie. A GOOD action movie to be sure, but I'd like something underpinning the story besides action, revenge, technology, and sex. Final Grade: B

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Cush — Wed, 20 May 2009 00:40:03 GMT

Blech!!! Nice butchering of a very cool origin story ... nice result for a junior year CGI class ... and nice waste of $7.50. Final Grade: C - (the minus comes from not having Mariko or anything Japanese in the movie)

Moon

Cush — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:31:42 GMT

I just watched the trailer for a new movie starring Sam Rockwell called MOON. This is the kind of character-driven sci-fi that I adore. I really looks like nothing I've seen since GATTACA or SOLARIS. Yes, I'm still chomping at the bit for STAR TREK and the new TERMINATOR, but this one looks to be far more intellectually satisfying. Take a peak for yourself: http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/moon/ http://www.sonyclassics.com/moon/

"Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes" by Billy Collins

Cush — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:01:00 GMT

"First, her tippet made of tulle, easily lifted off her shoulders and laid on the back of a wooden chair. And her bonnet, the bow undone with a light forward pull. Then the long white dress, a more complicated matter with mother-of-pearl buttons down the back, so tiny and numerous that it takes forever before my hands can part the fabric, like a swimmer's dividing water, and slip inside. You will want to know that she was standing by an open window in an upstairs bedroom, motionless, a little wide-eyed, looking out at the orchard below, the white dress puddled at her feet on the wide-board, hardwood floor. The complexity of women's undergarments in nineteenth-century America is not to be waved off, and I proceeded like a polar explorer through clips, clasps, and moorings, catches, straps, and whalebone stays, sailing toward the iceberg of her nakedness. Later, I wrote in a notebook it was like riding a swan into the night, but, of course, I cannot tell you everything - the way she closed her eyes to the orchard, how her hair tumbled free of its pins, how there were sudden dashes whenever we spoke. What I can tell you is it was terribly quiet in Amherst that Sabbath afternoon, nothing but a carriage passing the house, a fly buzzing in a windowpane. So I could plainly hear her inhale when I undid the very top hook-and-eye fastener of her corset and I could hear her sigh when finally it was unloosed, the way some readers sigh when they realize that Hope has feathers, that reason is a plank, that life is a loaded gun that looks right at you with a yellow eye."

Not knowing what to think about Knowing

Cush — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 06:20:26 GMT

Just saw it today, but I can't figure out if I liked it or not. I mean, there were DEFINITELY some not-so-veiled religious references -- angels, the ark, faith, etc. -- but I can't decide if those references speak to an underlying support of religious faith, or if they are presenting a anti-dogmatic interpretation of our possible origins. I guess I need to read about the writer and director to find out for sure. Is Cage a Scientologist? Or do those loonies just have a leash on Cruise and Travolta? Hmmm ... I'm glad I went to see it, but I'm going to need to process this one a little more. Oh! I do know that I hated the soundtrack!

ER

Cush — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 06:02:48 GMT

There have been numerous times over the years when I thought about giving up on ER. Most notably after Anthony Edwards left, but there was something that kept drawing me back. It took me years, but I finally figured out that it was Noah Wylie -- or rather "John Carter" -- who kept me tied to the show. And that in itself was a mystery. I mean, why was I so drawn to this fictional TV character? Again, it took me years to figure out, but it finally dawned on me that ER premiered they same year that I started teaching. So, in first year intern John Carter, I saw myself, a first year teacher. The final episode aired tonight, and I was frankly disappointed. I had prepared myself for a real emotional stab to the heart, but no such luck. The finalé was anemic, and lacking in all the ways that made the show as a whole remarkable. It was definitely nice to see Sherry Stringfield come back, and having Rachel Green's character there did give the finalé a sense of coming full circle, but that was about it. For me, the highlights of the show will always be (1) John Carter's battle with drug addiction, his flight to Africa, and the loss of his son ... and wife, (2) Abby's alcoholism, (3) Kerry Weaver's adoption struggles, (4) Jeanie Boulet's fight against AIDS, and (5) the best story line of the whole series ... Mark Greene's slow, heartbreaking, and ultimately inspiring and graceful death. So yeah. You've really sucked sometimes over the years ER, but I'm glad I stuck with you. Thanks for 15 years.

Good riddance to the Hummer!!!

Cush — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:59:46 GMT

Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!!! Get the hell out of Dodge you evil monstrosity ... http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstocks/?fpn=gm%20ready%20to%20pull%20plug%20on%20hummer&GT1=33009

#$@%! "The Ladders" !!!

Cush — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:17:55 GMT

OK, I just gotta say that I'm getting really piss tired of these goddamn commercials for "The Ladders". What a fuckin arrogant, piece of shit company! "100K+ jobs for 100K+ talent." Fuck off! Oh, I'm sorry ... are all the finance, banking, and marketing jobs going down the crapper? What's that? You can't afford that new pair of John Lobb shoes now? Nor that two week trip to Turks & Caicos? I see. Well ... Fuck you, you parasitic fucks!!! Why don't you go suck off the Chinese teat for a while, and let us focus on putting steel workers, truck drivers, and single parents back to work. Let's take every out of work real estate manager, CFO, corporate attorney, human capital consultant, and pharmaceutical salesman, put them on a big, expensive Cunard cruise ship, sail it over the Cayman Trench, and sink that fucker!!! Grrrrrr ... !!!

Tai Chi

Cush — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 05:03:53 GMT

I've recently started practicing Ba Gua and Tai Chi again. It's been the better part of a decade since I really have these disciplines the time them needed, but it's like falling off a bike; your body really doesn't forget what it learned all those years ago. So yeah, I feel better, I sleep better, and my mood seems a little less edgy than usual. I can't wait for Spring so I can practice outdoors again! Everyone should some kind of physical activity which connects them to their own body and soul.

Happy Darwin Day !!!

Cush — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:55:45 GMT

I'm a day late, but Happy Darwin Day! Darwin Day is an international celebration of science and humanity held on or around February 12, the day that Charles Darwin was born on in 1809. Specifically, it celebrates the discoveries and life of Charles Darwin -- the man who first described biological evolution via natural selection. More generally, Darwin Day expresses gratitude for the enormous benefits that scientific knowledge, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity, has contributed to the advancement of humanity.

R.I.P. - Patrick McGoohan

Cush — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:09:09 GMT

"I am not a number! I am a free man!" Before LOST ... before TWIN PEAKS ... there was THE PRISONER. Without any doubt the first TV show or movie that really challenged me to come along for a ride without any idea as to where we were going, or even the promise of getting somewhere concrete. Seventeen simple yet mindbendingly complex episode that were likely my first dose of existentialism. I understand that there's a 2009 remake in the works, but Patrick McGoohan will always be Number 6 to me. You can watch all the episodes on AMC at: http://www.amctv.com/videos/the-prisoner-1960s-video/ (He was also pretty good as BRAVEHEART'S King Edward I.)

R.I.P. - Ricardo Montalbán

Cush — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:05:04 GMT

I watched Fantasy Island every week when I was young, but no ... he'll always be Khan Noonian Soong to me.