Friday, October 02, 2009

I pity the fool!

First pictures of new A Team film revealed | Metro.co.uk

Continuing the 'new' Hollywood tradition of making movies based on 1980's Television Series ("Dukes of Hazard", etc.), "The A-Team" movie is now in production. Release is scheduled for 2010.
(Original A-team intro)


Check here for comparison pictures of original and 'new' A-team cast members.

Liam Neesom as Hannibal?

I don't think so. Does he know how to smoke a cigar?


Maybe it'll look more like ... this!




"I love it when a plan comes together."

Thursday, October 01, 2009

I'm from the government, and I'm here to help

Today's Email Of The Day:
To the Congress of the United States(both sides of the isle):

The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775 - you have had 234 years to get it right.......... it is broke.

Social Security was established in 1935 - you have had 74 years to get it right;...............it is broke.

Fannie Mae was established in 1938 - you have had 71 years to get it right;........it is broke.

The "War on Poverty" started in 1964 - you have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor";.......it hasn't worked and our entire country is broke.

Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 - you've had 44 years to get it right............they are broke.

Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - you have had 39 years to get it right..........it is broke.

Trillions of dollars were spent in the massive political payoffs called TARP, the "Stimulus", the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009... none show any signs of working, although ACORN appears to have found a new source: the American taxpayer.

And finally, to set a new record:

"Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009! It took cars (that were the best some people could afford) and replaced them with high-priced and less-affordable cars, mostly Japanese. A good percentage of the profits went out of the country. And the American taxpayers take the hit for Congress' generosity in burning three billion more of our dollars on failed experiments..

So with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record that proves that "services" you shove down our throats are failing faster and faster, you want Americans to believe you can be trusted with a government-run health care system?

20% of our entire economy?

With all due respect,

Are you crazy?


(H/T: The Hobo Brasser)

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Roman Holiday - from morality

Driving home from work, I heard on the radio that a bunch of "entertainment industry" creepezoids had initiated & signed a petition to "Free Roman Polanski!"


It's all over the internet, Google listed 65,700 hits on "polanski petition" and as nearly as I can tell the petition just hit the news yesterday (28-sept-2009). The petition is posted here, but I can't get it to load. Perhaps it's just overwhelmed, or perhaps it's just a matter of technical incompetence on the part of the webmasters: the website is French. Now, why does that not surprise me. (My visceral disdain for the French is the reason I make it a rule to never blog about them. Folks take me to task for talking so often about "The Brits" and their failing culture, but I actually like The Brits.)

Fortunately, some energetic blogger named fkacharietrout over at Community.livejournal has the full text of the petition (in English), along with a list of the signers. Hardly the Declaration of Independence, except in a very limited way. Many of the "organizations" which support the petition have names beginning with "Le" ("le Festival de Cannes"), "La" ("la Cinémathèque Française"), or "L' " ("l'Union des producteurs de films"). Notable exception: "Scott Foundas (LA Weekly)" [Translation: Left-Coast Liberal Useful Idiot]

Number one on the Google Hit-list was this article from The Guardian ("The Brits"):

Woody Allen, David Lynch and Martin Scorsese today added their names to a petition demanding the immediate release of Roman Polanski from detention in Zurich. The director was arrested on Saturday over a three-decade-old underage sex case when he arrived to receive a lifetime achievement award at the city's film festival.

"Film-makers in France, in Europe, in the United States and around the world are dismayed by this decision," says the petition, which is co-ordinated by the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (SACD), a film industry organisation which also represents performance and visual artists.

"It seems inadmissible to them that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary film-makers, is used by police to apprehend him," it adds.

The petition has now been signed by more than 70 film industry luminaries, including Polanski's fellow directors Michael Mann, Wim Wenders, Pedro Almodóvar, Darren Aronofsky, Terry Gilliam, Julian Schnabel, the Dardenne brothers, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Wong Kar-Wai, Walter Salles and Jonathan Demme. Actors Tilda Swinton, Monica Bellucci and Asia Argento, as well as producer Harvey Weinstein, have also put their names on the petition. Yesterday, Weinstein stated he was "calling on every film-maker we can to help fix this terrible situation".

What is "this terrible situation", anyway?

The FOX article from Los Angeles incudes this summary from the LA Times:
In 1977, when Polanski was 44, he lured Geimer *, who was then 13, to actor Jack Nicholson's home on Mulholland Drive, saying he wanted to take photographs of her for a magazine. During the shoot, he gave her champagne and part of a Quaalude and forced her to have sex. After spending 42 days in a prison hospital ward for a mental evaluation, a deal was worked out for him to plead guilty and be sentenced to time served.

Geimer* has said that although the sex was not consensual, she wants the matter dropped.

"He should never have been put in a position that led him to flee," she wrote in 2003. "He should have received a sentence of time served 25 years ago, just as we all agreed."

Polanski had been trying to get his Los Angeles County arrest warrant dismissed. In July, lawyers for Polanski appealed Los Angeles Superior Court Peter Espinoza's denial of his petition to have the charge dropped.

* "Samantha Geimer, who is now 44, married and living in Hawaii, [and who] has previously said she wished the matter would be dropped ..."
There are commentaries (see here and here) which suggest that it was Polanski's lawyers who triggered a renewed determined attempt by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office to arrest Polanski.
The accusation that the Los Angeles County district attorney's office was not serious about extraditing Polanski to face sentencing in a child sex case he fled in 1978 was a minor point in two lengthy July court filings by the director's attorneys.

He had left France, where he had been living since he skipped bail in 1978(?) after pleading guilty, in order to accept a "Lifetime Achievement Award" in Switzerland. And in fact, LA County had made numerous attempts to arrest Polanski every time they learned that he may be traveling outside of France, which was protecting him from extradition. (Polanski was born in France, of Polish parents.)

The Charges:
Roman Polanski had met the 13 year old Samantha Geiler and convinced her mother to allow her to visit him at Jack Nickolson's home for a "photo shoot". He had promised to build a portfolio and support her desire to become an internationally recognized model. She ended up naked in the hot tub, drugged with Quaalude, and at the mercy of the 40-something Polanski who was accused of rape, sodomy, and other crimes.

The Morality:
Now the international film community, France, and The Huffington Post assert that it is "wrong" to hold him accountable for his confessed crimes. Why is it wrong? Because the victim has changed her mind about prosecuting him, after 31 years of building a private life; because it has been so long since the 'incident' that is should be forgotten; because he is an internationally famous and successful movie director; because the District Attorney doesn't really care; and because there was 'nothing really so wrong about it' or, in the words of Whoopi Goldberg: It wasn't really "rape-rape". (youtube link to "The view" here.)

The woman is a clown
; that is her career and her choice. Her opinion should be held suspect on any subject, let alone one so egregious as this.

My Take On It:


The man is scum. He raped a child. He drugged her, with liquor (champagne) and drugs (Quaalude) to undermine her defenses. He took her every way he could think of. He confessed to it, and then instead of taking his admittedly justifiable consequences, he fled to a country from which he could not be extradited. In his arrogance, he left that country and put himself at risk of (righteous) capture and punishment, because he thought nobody cared.

It may be significant that his wife, Sharon Tate, was slaughtered by the Manson Clan while pregnant. If his wife had lived, if his child had lived ... would he have acted differently? As a father, I hope so; as a cynic, I am not convinced.

The man is scum. Enough of that.

Now we see that the Entertainment Industry has rallied in defense of his hedonistic lack-of-defense because they see that their celebrity is no defense against The Law. That does not speak well for them. They are uncomfortable, because they have always believed that their celebrity has put them Above The Law. IF this man can be prosecuted (not "Persecuted") for his sins after a third of a century, to what crimes may they be held accountable?

I can only hope the Polanski is extradited, convicted again, imprisoned and exposed to the same kind of sexual abuse as he has imposed upon his victim.

To me, that would be Justice.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Brett Favre Incredible TD Pass to Win the game (Vikings/49ers)

YouTube - Brett Favre Incredible TD Pass to Win the game (Vikings/49ers)

I'm not much of a football fan. In fact, I'm not a football fan at. I don't like spectator sports, so even if my television was hooked up to cable (or something other than a DVD/VHS player) I would watch SWMBO's HGDV shows before I would watch football, basketball, hockey, etc. Okay I might be persuaded to watch a little baseball from time to time, but I haven't even done that in over 20 years.

However, I found this video on the internet tonight, and I have to admit that I'm impressed.

I once stopped in the middle of a sidewalk to watch a semi driver back into a very small, awkward mercantile loading dock, and gave him a standing ovation because I was impressed by his professionalism.

It is with the same respect for the skill of a pro that I present this very short video of Brent Favre's game-winning TD pass.