Weekend Assignment #321: Ancient Technology

Karen has the topic this week, and while I can't say I've heard the saying, "X has gone the way of the buggy whip," I certainly have some things that fit the expression.

We sometimes hear the expression, "XXX has gone the way of the buggy whip." In other words, technology and society have moved on, and something that was once commonplace barely exists anymore because it's no longer needed. Do you still have something in your home that has become essentially useless? If so, why do you still have it? If not, when did you get rid of it?

I have two things that fit with the topic this week. First, is my cassette deck. Jenn hates that it is sitting with our audio equipment since it doesn't work well and just takes up space, but I'm having trouble giving it up. I can't remember the last time I played a cassette in there, but I know I dragged it out of the garage a couple of years ago when I found a box of cassettes that I hadn't heard in a long time. See, many of them are not in CD form, or are hard to find.

This particular cassette deck I got back when I was in high school, so it's not exactly new, though it was slightly advance for it's time. I loved making tapes on it, usually by hooking my brother's boombox up to it, and I liked the cool blue light it used for it's display. I thought I was pretty cool with this thing. Now it sits and collects dust in the family room. Such a sad way to go.

The other piece I wanted to mention was my Laserdisc player. I did move that out of the entertainment center, mostly because I didn't have a cord long enough to reach the back of the TV, but at least it's out. This is a little newer than the cassette deck. We bought this just before we got married as I was leaving my job at Circuit City. Still, that was at least 15 years ago. DVDs weren't around at the time, and from what I remember, it seemed there was a format war going on, so I thought it was going to be a long way off. I don't believe it turned out that way. Oh, well.

I still have some cool stuff on Laserdisc. I have The Abyss: The Director's Cut, Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Criterion Edition, Star Trek:First Contact, a RUSH concert video, and best of all, Star Wars: The Definitive Edition. The last is the complete trilogy in original form (no added CGI) in CAV format that came as a box set with a book on George Lucas. Jenn bought that for me a long time ago. I should sell it on eBay.

Anyway, yes, I have some old stuff that is out of date and should be out of this house.

Extra Credit: Have you ever worked in an industry that has gone the way of the buggy whip, or is in danger of doing so?

As I said, I worked at Circuit City. Does that count since they went belly up?

Go back to the main Weekend Assignment site to see the other responses.

Weekend Assignment #281: Writers or Actors

Karen asks a good, but tough, question this week.

Weekend Assignment: #281: Who has a greater impact on your decision to go to a movie or watch a tv show, the actors you see on the screen, or the behind the scenes writers, producers and/or directors?

I've been thinking about this since I first read Karen's post this weekend. I don't think I have a real clear-cut answer.

I am leaning towards the writers and directors. As Karen says, they bring the idea to the show or movie. They create the world, the characters and most everything about a movie. Without them you would have people walking around and making stuff up the whole time. It would be the world's worst improv session.

Now, I'm not saying actors don't bring anything to a movie or TV show. I've watched plenty of movies where it would fall completely apart without the actor that was involved. Think about it, can you imagine anyone else besides Sigourney Weaver as Ripley? Try to imagine Kevin Kostner as Indiana Jones. It's doesn't work, does it? So, yes, actors can bring something to the table, so to speak. There needs to be the right chemistry to make the character work that was originally created on paper.

See, it comes back to the words. It always comes back to the words. So, my final answer is I pay more attention to the writes and directors. (Sorry, Millionaire is back on TV.) Now, can a writer or director make a bad movie? Oh yes, I think we all know that. I'm thinking of a few movies right now. Some that are pretty recent and made by legendary directors and writers. Can you guess? Search your feelings, you know the answer.

Extra Credit: Who is your favorite actor?

Wow, this is a tough question. I don't really have an all-time favorite. There is no actor out there that will make me see everything they have done. I will list a few that I like and have seen a few of their works. (Yes, I said works.) Let's see, Harrison Ford, Bill Murray, John Candy, that's all I have right now.

Now, go see what the others had to say over at Karen's site.

When did we start keeping track of this?

I saw this image of the poster for Funny People and it really got me thinking. When did we start keeping track of which number film a particular writer/director is on?

Now, don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Jupp Apatow. I like his movies. I'm a big fan of Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, and he seems like a decent guy. He really does. But I don't know why I need to know which number film of his were are on.

Did we always do this? I first remember hearing this when the commercials started for Quentin Tarantino's last movie. "The fourth film by Quentin Tarantino," the voice announced. Really? Number four? My how time has passed. Wait, let me open up my spreadsheet. Okay, so this is number four for Mr. Tarantino, he only has about 30 more to catch up to Speilberg. He needs to get moving. Also, do I need separate columns for producing credits? What about any scripts he's only punched up uncredited? And why didn't they say which number it is for Inglorious Basterds? I'm going to lose count if they don't keep telling me!

If I ever get a new job I'm going to make sure that I put which number job this will be for me on my resume. That will really get future bosses interested.

Am I the only one that thinks this is stupid?

Some thoughts on "UP"

Don't worry, I'll be spoiler free. Not that there really is a whole lot to give away, the trailers sum it up pretty well. 

Let me start by saying I haven't seen a Pixar movie I don't like, though I haven't seen A Bug's Life but that is my kid's fault. They don't want to see it and I can't rent it on my own without looking weird. 

I was even excited to see what the short was going to be. It was called Partly Cloudy and was a nice take on some classic cartoons. I won't say what, so I don't give anything away, but it reminded me of some old school animated shorts. I think you'll know what I'm talking about after you see it. 

The movie itself was great. Smart, sad, funny, it hit all the perfect notes. Ed Asner was great as the curmudgeonly old man who wanted to go on the adventure he always dreamed of, but only did it because he was being forced to. He ends up dragging along a boy named Russell. They have a great adventure in South America, and both learn something, of course. There is danger, adventure, dogs that talk, everything you'd expect to find in South America! 

Okay, I suck at this. I can't tell you things I liked about the movie with out giving things away. Ugh. Just go see it, trust me it's good. Pixar knows how to put a movie together that appeals to adults and kids with out getting all slpastick-y and throwing random references together to get a cheap laugh. (I'm looking at you DreamWorks). Also, it's not about the cast that they out together, it's about the final product. About the story that is being told. That's why there movies work. 

Is it my favorite Pixar movie? No, that is still The Incredibles. But still, it's better than a ton of other movies out there. 

Update: Turns out Quincy has some thoughts on the movie too. Kinda. 

I finally saw the latest Indiana Jones movie

(Deep breaths) I'm not very happy. I'm glad I didn't spend money to see it in a movie theater. Then again, maybe I would have liked it better on the big screen. I don't think so, though.

Spoilers follow so don't read further if you haven't seen it yet. If you haven't, maybe you would want to wait until it is on cable, or someting.

Jenn noticed that the story was by George Lucas in the opening credits, she wondered if we should be worried. I said that the screenplay was by someone else (no, I'm not going to look up who it was right now) so we should be okay. I should have listened to her.

The beginning wasn't too bad, but them finding what we are led to believe is an alien kind of ticked me off. Yes, I had heard about that, but still. Oh, and if the magnetism was so strong that gun powder flew across a warehouse to the box, you would not be able to pull anything off the box that stuck to it. Especially a large sword. But, okay, the science stuff isn't always right, I can let it go usually. But the alien thing was bugging me. I did like that the showed part of the Ark from the first movie. I'll come back to that later. I didn't even mind the nuke test scene. Sure, he would still be dead since he flew several miles in a refrigerator, but I let that go, too.

After he gets let go by the FBI (I didn't get the war hero thing either) we see Indy back teaching and his boss calls him out of the class to tell him his being booted. Then we see them both at his place packing. Jenn mentioned that almost the same thing happened in the first movie; He gets called out of the class by Marcus, then later we see them at Indy's house packing. I was waiting for Indy to throw a gun wrapped in a towel into his suitcase.

I'll skip some parts here, when Indy and Shia (I can't remember the character's name) are in the tomb area we have scorpions crawling all over Shia. Again, Jenn pointed out that replace scorpions with spiders and the scene is very similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Okay, one thing I liked is that Indy explained the shape of some skulls by saying some tribe put bands on the skull and they get that shape. Good. I figured we were done with the aliens. Silly me.

Now Indy is tied up in some campsite that, again, looks eerily fimilar to the first movie. They get away, after dragging Marion out and get stuck in quicksand. So, Shia gets a snake to pull them out. Obviously Indy is a wuss about it. I know, they were going for a laugh, but it wasn't working. Why? Well, to me at least, it really seemed like Harrison Ford was not into this movie at all. He seemed bored and half-asleep. Anyway, they were in the Amazon rainfores, Shia couldn't find a branch faster than he could find a snake?

Let's move on to the car chase in the forest. Sword fighting between two cars? Okay, I'll go with it if I have to. The cars separate so Shia is spread-eagle with branches hitting him in the balls? I'm sorry, you lost me. Was it necessary? Or funny?

Let's skip to the last act. First of all, how many times was Indy going to let his friend double-cross him? I thought Indy was smart? So, they get the room where the skull goes and there are twelve full alien crystal skeletons, and one without a head. Wait, we are back to the aliens? Crap. Then after the put the skull on number 13 it kind of comes to life then everything gets pulled into another dimension. So they try to say they are not aliens because they are from another dimension? I have a feeling that might have been some point of contention when they were making the movie. Someone wanted aliens, and someone didn't, and this was a compromise. Either way at the end a saucer-shape craft came out of the ground and disappeared and so did my childhood. Aliens was the dumbest thing they could have used in this movie, in my opinion. Sure, Indy always went after legends, and didn't really believe in them, but they were based on Earth at least.

At the end we have Indy and Marion getting married. Whatever. Then a breeze pushes open the door and Indy's Fedora rolls to Shia's feet. As that happened I'm screaming in my head, "No! Don't put it on! NO! You cannot be the next Indy! This is bad enough! No!" Thankfully, Indy grabbed it and put it on. Phew. Close one.

I guess you could say I didn't like this one. This is a shortened version, if you want to hear more, let me know.

About the Ark; Jenn and I thought it was nice nod to the original to put that in there, but I had an idea after I went to bed. They could have dumped the whole alien thing easily. Say the Russians notice the Ark, the lady realizes what it is and takes that instead, knowing it's power. This way now Indy has to go inside the Iron Curtain to retrieve it. I know I was making fun of them for using things from the first movie, but they could have done it as more of a direct sequel, and gotten rid of the aliens. I think it may have been more enjoyable. To me at least.

So Mr. Lucas has ruined another one of my favorite movie series. Well, maybe he made me appreciate the first three more.  Yes, Spielberg directed it so he gets some blame too. At least Lucas can't ruin anything else. It's not like he's going to digitally add a character to American Graffiti or anything. Though it would be cool to see Yoda driving a hot-rod around.

Okay, I need to go yell at the neighborhood kids for being on my lawn. I've obviously gotten to be old and cranky.

Ten on Tuesday: ten best bad guys

As the title suggests, this week's Ten on Tuesday wants us to list our favorite villains. Hmmm. Let's see:

1. The Terminator, from the first movie, of course.

2. T-1000, from the second Terminator movie. Come on, that guys was liquid steel, he could mimic anybody. He was the perfect bad guy!

3. Jar-Jar Binks. You can't tell me he was not evil!

4. Darth Vader, though he did turn out to "have some good in him."

5. The Queen Alien from Aliens. Acid blood seals the deal.

6. Agent Smith, from the Matix. Pure, cool evil.

7. Dr. Evil. Seriously.

8. The Tall Man, from Phantasm. It's an old horror movie, that guy scared the crap out of me.

9. Hans Gruber, from Die Hard. Calm, cool, collected...evil.

10. General Zod, from Superman II. "Kneel before Zod." One of my favorite lines from the movie.

There you have it. I don't watch many movies based on comics, or spy movies, so my villains my be different from yours. Who are your favorites?

Ten on Tuesday: Favorite Movie Charaters

OK, can I think of ten favorite movie characters for this week's Ten on Tuesday? Let's find out.

1. Buck Russel -- Uncle Buck, John Candy. Sure he was a doofus, but he cared about the kids and even made his brother's daughter realize she was a pain in the butt. And he was funny!

2. John Winger -- Stripes, Bill Murray. He was a slob and kind of a bum, but he was fun and helped rescue his friends. Sure, it was partly his fault his friends were in trouble; all water under the bridge.

3. Elliott -- ET, Henry Thomas. I was a couple of years older than Elliott, but I really thought it would have been cool to have ET come visit my house. Heck, he could come now and help out our plants.

4. Darth Vader, (Do I really have to say which movie?). Yes, he was the bad guy, but who wouldn't want his control over people. Besides he helped his estranged son out at the end. I knew there was good in him. (sniff)

5. Indiana Jones. I think you know from where, Harrison Ford . I liked that he used a whip and his fists to take out people. Plus, he was smart, and had cool adventures. Too bad archeology isn't that fun in real life.

6. Vincent Gambini & Mona Lisa Vito -- My Cousin Vinny, Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei. I can watch this movie any time it is on. I'm not sure which character I like best so I put both down.

7. Chet Donnely -- Weird Science, John Paxton. He didn't have a huge part, but every line was perfect. "You're stewed buttwad!" Classic.

8. Clark Griswold -- Vacation, Chevy Chase. Probably Chevy's best role.

9. Irwin Fletcher -- Fletch, Chevy Chase. Yes, I know what I said above. I forgot about this movie. This is his best role. Really!

10. Roy Neary -- Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Richard Dreyfuss. He was going to get to that mountain, and see the aliens, no matter what. Hopefully he eventually came back to find his family.

There you go, I was stretching a bit to get to ten. Who are your favorites?

Why self destruct?

Why does every spaceship in the movies have self-destruct? I get that they have some kind of highly volatile, magical powered core that allows the ship to travel through space in some warp-type way, but why does it need to be blown up? Take The Enterprise from Star Trek, it can eject its warp core if it becomes unstable. So why do you need to blow it up? Even if you couldn't eject it, you are in space, the materials in the core aren't going to harm some planet's environment. Not that blowing up the ship wouldn't spread the harmful components around anyway. Think about every science fiction movie you have seen. How many had a ship, or other vehicle, or even a building with a self-destruct mechanism? I bet it's a high percentage.

Now, I understand it is a plot device to raise tension, but can't we find something else? Please? Or, how about this; the self-destruct has to be ridiculously hard to activate. Like you have to light 10 fuses on ten different decks, but one guy can't find a match, or something. I'm just throwing out something off the top of my head. (See, the fuses would be totally retro. A cool retro, don't you think? No? Just me?)

Something is out there!

Last night I watched The Mist. It was decent horror movie, based on a Stephen King novella, about a mist (duh) that rolls into a town; but not your average mist. Without giving anything away, I'll just say that some very odd creatures were out in the mist and killing those people that were foolish enough to go outside.

These types of movies don't generally scare me after I am done watching them. (I'm choosing to ignore The Exorcist). Sure, I jump when things happen, but when the movies is over, I forget about it. I did have a concern after watching this movie, however. See, there were some giant bugs in the movie. I don't mind bugs for the most part, but when I see swarms of them, I can get the feeling they are crawling on me when I go to sleep. I'm happy to say I was too tired to care last night. Which is good because you know what I saw when I looked out the window before bed? Yeah, fog. We had a dense fog advisory overnight. Sweet dreams! Did I mention my wife was out of town too? Yeah, nobody was there to wake me if something was trying to get it.

Anyway, I slept fine. Tonight I am watching I am Legend. Hmmm, is it mysterious plague weather tonight?

I have the IMDB.com page up for The Mist as I am writing this. I have never looked at the part that lists plot keywords before. This movie lists, spear, run out of gas, person on fire, and restroom. Do people really search for movies were people are on fire? I guess if you are doing some kind of trivia thing. What about restroom? Who searches for that in movie? Do I want to know?

Weekend Assignment # 215: Everyone's a critic

For this week's assignment we have to review a movie. One that is neither our favorite, nor something we completely hate. I thought this would be hard for me. I only own movies on DVD that I really like, and I didn't I'd have a chance to see something else. I got lucky, though. I took the kids to my mom's house after schooll; they went into my old bedroom to watch TV, and my mom fell asleep on the couch. So, I flipped through the channels and came across Red Planet. Sometime things work out.

Go to Karen's site and see what other people reviewed.

Weekend Assignment #215: Review a film. Any film. Got something interesting to say about Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery (1903)? I'd love to read it. Metropolis (1927)? Why not? A Night in Casablanca (1946)? Fine. The Seventh Seal (1957)? Er, okay! Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)? You'll get away with it. Speed Racer (2008)? Go for it. From Hollywood to Ballywood to Hong Kong, from Kubrick to Kurasawa, it's all on the W.A. marquee. But there's one catch: the film should not be on your personal list of favorites; nor should it be a film you despise.


A team of scientists are heading to Mars because Earth is dying. It stars Val Kilmer, Carrie-Ann Moss, Tom Sizemore, and Benjiman Bratt. There are a few more people on the ship, but they are not very important.

As the ship is entering orbit around Mars, a solar flare hits them and fries up most of the ships systems. You would think they would plan for such a thing. So, they have to send the the lander down to the surface a little earlier than planned, and leave Commander Bowman (Moss) behinds in the main ship.

The landing does not go well. They have to jettison the landing gear since they are off target and will land in some rocky terrain. They have a back-up plan. The lander has air bags that surround the entire ship. The land hard and end up bouncing down a very deep crevass. One of the guys is hurt bad. He is left behind to die while they head for a shelter that was sent out years ahead of them. I should also mention that algae, and other oxygen-producing life was sent out ahead, too. There is no sign of it though.

They walk to the shelter and find it in ruins. It was supposed to survive and F-5 tornado; they determine it wasn't a dust storm that knocked it out. Bratt's character goes over to look at the view, since they won't be able to leave, and is accidentally pushed off the cliff by Pettengill, played by Simon Baker. The remaining three, Burchenal (Sizemore), Gallagher (Kilmer), and Pettengill are running out of oxygen, until Gallagher takes off his helmet and discovers they can breathe. Somehow there is oxygen, but no algae.

As they camp for the night the robot that was on board the lander, but jettisoned with the landing gear, finds them and ends up going into military mode and beating up one of the guys. I'm not sure why a robot on a science mission would need a fighting mode, they must have needed an extra sub-plot.

The robot lets them get away, to hunt them later, and they set off to find a possible landing sight from an old rover to get it's radio so they can communicate with Bowman. They find it and get in touch with her and she tells them of an old Russian lander that should be 100 kilometers away. They still have no water at this point; I'm not sure how they can do it. The plan is to get to it and launch that up to the ship orbiting the planet. Easier said than done.

On the way to the ship a huge ice storm comes, they take shelter, Pettengill runs off with the radio and is taken out by the robot, and they find bugs. Weird little bugs that ate the algae and produce oxygen. Unfortunately for Burchenal, they also like people as food. He ends up torching himself, and a lot of the bugs so Gallagher can get away.

Finally, Gallagher makes it to the ship, but finds out the battery is dead. So close! He gives up and Bowman is about to leave until the robot shows up. He wastes the robot, takes it's battery and launches up to the ship. And runs out of oxygen.

Bowman isn't going to give up, so she goes EVA to bring the Russian craft into their ship and manages to revive him. They head back to Earth with a sample of the bugs, hoping they are the key to saving Earth. Phew.

It wasn't a great movie, but it had some interesting parts. I found it funny that they were bashing Russian technology when everything they brought had failed. If you like space mission movies it is worth checking out.

Extra Credit: Is there a film due out this summer that you plan to go see? If so, what is it?

I want to see the new Indiana Jones movie, and maybe the X-Files movie. We'll see what I actually get to see.

Quick question

Has anyone else seen Mission to Mars ? I didn't think so. That's not the question. Why is Gary Sinse wearing eyeliner in this movie? He's an astronaut not a musician.

Update: deleted comment about a movie that Gary Sonese was not in. Thanks to Jenn for correcting me.

War Games is on TV right now.

Is it cool or sad that I know the tones they use to open the security door to the room they keep Matthew Broderick's character in? Wait, don't answer that.

Oh man, they are celebrating the 25th Anniversary of War Games. I feel old now.

Random Wednesday

I've decided to make everyday Random Wednesday. You know, it's the middle of the week, you're tired, you're mind tends to wander; it seems like a good day to talk about whatever comes to mind.

Our puppy is afraid of the dark. He's fine in the house, it's when we go outside that he has a problem. When I'm standing outside with him, waiting for him to do his business, he gets scared by wind, a leaf blowing by, or a door shutting four houses down. He will try to pull me back into the house, but I know he'll pee on the carpet so I force him to stay outside. He has to face his fears some time, right?

I had a dream about being attacked by a chipmunk. Yes, a chipmunk, those tiny little things that hide underground. This one had huge teeth and he was clamped onto my hand. I don't remember how I finally got him off, maybe I just woke up. I think I had the dream because of the story of the cougar that was killed in Chicago. Or, it my have been due to the many people who put down Monty Python's Holy Grail on their ten favorite movies list and I was thinking about the killer bunny rabbit. Where is the holy hand grenade when you need it? Either way, it was a weird dream.

Did everyone file their taxes? Ours were prepared and sent to our house weeks ago, but we waited until yesterday to send them in. Why? We like to wait until the last possible second to do things; it's more fun that way. Especially when you are missing something. We found out we were missing the 1040v form at 10:30pm on the 14th. Thanks to the Internet we were able to print one out, but we had to do it on resume paper since we were out of regular paper. Yes, we are just that organized. I have one question. If I didn't put enough stamps on it, and it gets sent back, does that count as having it postmarked by the 15th? I hope so, I'm a little worried about the weight and the amount of stamps. I'll let you know if it comes back.

Happy Wednesday.

This is Iron Eagle

I watched some of Iron Eagle the other night. Wow. That was not a good movie. I'm sure kids who live with their families on military bases might get away with some things, but stealing an airplane full of ammunition. Really?!

Here's a quick recap. A pilot is shot down and held by some generic Middle Eastern country. The US Air Force can't go in and get him, so the pilot's 16 year old son and his friends devise a plan to get him out. They talk a Colonel into helping them with their plan, and Doug, the son, and the Colonel, Chappy, set off in stolen planes to get Doug's dad back. Yes, of course they succeed, but not until after Chappy gets shot down and Doug must do most of it on his own. No, he has not had formal Air Force training, but does he really need it? He's going against some little country in the Middle East, how hard could it be?

Oh, I almost for got to mention that Doug had some contraption strapped to his leg that allowed him to play his Walkman in the cockpit. It worked so well that somehow, after playing a Queen song, they gained seven minutes on their flight time. I knew Queen was a good band, but I didn't realize they could slow the flow of time.

I liked the fact that the country that Doug Masters and "Chappy" had to attack was so lame that they only had one airbase. They knocked out the single runway that the base had with two missiles and crippled their entire air force. It's not like the country couldn't afford more, Doug blew up an oil field supposedly worth 100 million dollars (say that in Dr. Evil's voice and it is funnier).

Why did I watch it? Well, sometimes it is fun to watch bad movies, the bad acting, the horrible dialogue, and the bad special effects. When these planes were shot out of the sky there was no flame, spark, or explosion of any kind. They just broke apart like the wood mock-ups that they were. Not very exciting.

Now, I will say that I liked the movie when it first came out. I was about 16 and my sister took me to see it. It was hard not to get sucked in when I was about the same age as the kid flying around in the F-16.

This was one of many movies that my sister took me to back in the day. Some she probably should not have taken me to. I remember her getting in trouble for taking my brother and I to see Hooper when I was about eight years old. She was babysitting us while our parents were out on the town. The problem was we couldn't get into the normal show time since it was sold out. I think we got home close to midnight and our parents were either waiting for us or got home at the same time. I'm not sure what got her in more trouble, the time or the movie.

M&M update: I have not had any since Fat Tuesday. I did have some raisinets today, but they are good for me. It says so right on the package!