Talk about shooting your wad.

This movie was fun in the same sort of way the two previous Austin Powers movies were fun. And yes, I enjoyed myself. But this here flick better be the last of it, because there’s nowhere else to go from GoldMember.

It’s done, finished, release the special trilogy DVD set with commentary and let it go, Mike. Find a new vehicle.

But, hey, in the meantime, go see a matinee of this movie. Remember to turn off your brain and just enjoy yourself.

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by Wallace Stegner
I read this book once long ago for a class. It’s been in my library since then, and only recently did I decide to pick it up to read again.
The bitterness of those final pages struck a deeper chord in the person reading it now than it did to the person I was back then.
Perhaps knowing what an angle of repose is will give you a better picture? Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it for you by explaining because Stegner does so himself a few pages in, and besides, you’re not really going to read the book anyway.
Angle of repose is the stable angle of a slope. For engineers, it’s for loose objects like dirt or rock which, if you lay in a tall pile, will slowly degrade from a steep to a shallow angle until it reaches the point of perfect balance.
This is the angle of repose. It is neither vertical nor horizontal, but a fragile state of stability inbetween.
Interesting, isn’t it?
Now what does this have to do with the book? Well, that I leave to you.
Don’t expect an exciting prose. Do expect true to life characters in a western, post-Civil War world brought to crystal clarity by Stegner’s words.
And expect the bitterness rise and the hope die, until that last spark is left for you to try one last time to prove that where history failed, you would succeed.

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I sit in the dark wondering who turned out the lights. A long time ago, I cared a lot about what happened when the lights turned on. Was it all right? Did everything fit?
Now I guess I just don’t think it matters much. I’m a lax judge, and there are no others to assemble an opposite view.
Let it go, let it all go. Let it all hang loose like so much roils of fat from an untended body. You think it’s nice here, in the dark, where such unseemingly visions are hidden from view. Nothing is wrong in the dark. Everything is the same.
The curtains were drawn but the lights were turned off. You could see the city lights bordered by a sea that was a black void. I stared for a long time, wondering what to do, what to say. Later it seemed so silly. Even later it seems so useless. The difference is minute, only the clarity of a retrospective provides you the ability to see what you could not in the dark.
Pointless, meandering, prose with no thought of plot or intent. Just the mindless tick tack tick tack of fingers falling on keys, wondering what words will be written next in an effort to shrug off the weight that falls in the dark.
Star light, star bright, all the stars have gone tonight. Wishing is gone, where wishes might, there is nothing to do but sleep tonight.
Sleep and dream of yesterdays and other tomorrows. Where there is a warmth to the darkness, instead of a warmth generated by the gifts of fermentation.
Bid yourself to sleep and feel at ease, for there is still a tomorrow to attend.

Saturday was a fun-filled day for Angie’s birthday party at the beach in Playa del Rey. I’ll put the pics up soon as I figure out what I did with my camera.

Sunday was a gearhead afternoon followed by a cultural evening. I put in the BugMod 3″” CAI (cold air intake) ducting to replace the stock intake for my car. I also removed the snorkel/snowbox assembly that plugged in front of the intake. This marvel of engineering took my intake, U turned it and had the damn thing facing rearwards. What kind of air intake faces rearwards!?

So it’s all fixed and I got me a nice, well-breathing engine. And it only cost me $30. Of course, I lost a screw and I need to realign my headlight assembly so the rubber gasket is flush with the fender, but it’s not gonna rain anytime soon so I can do this at my leisure.

The cultural part was a night at the venerable Hollywood Bowl for a musical presentation of Puccini’s La Boheme, conducted by John Mauceri. Wine, cheese, deli meats, and their ilk were brought along with our party and I had a grand old time listening to a simple story Mauceri described as “”boy meets girl with cough.”"

That Mauceri, he’s a riot.

Many thanks for the wine and victuals brought by people. Angie and Jino made some lovely sandwiches. Bobbie supplied an excellent bottle of red wine (which she claims I drank most of, though I beg to differ… maybe half… half is a good compromise), and I brought the salami and pepperoni and brie. Oh, and the cheddarella, which only Han and myself seemed to think was a genius of a cheese.

Next month: TCHAIKOVSKY’S 1812, WITH CANNONS.

Dig it. WITH CANNONS. Oooooooo.

by Robert Crais
A nice little thriller, though I have to say I really miss Elvis Cole. Thankfully, Mr. Crais will rectify this with his next book.

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You walk into a movie with no expectations, you’ll be able to walk out going, “”Hey, that was pretty good.”"

Come on, a sexy mother-daughter combo, ostriches getting eaten, and giant spiders racing with motorcross bikers: what’s not to like?

Okay, fine, I’ll give you David Arquette. But even he’s not bad in this… in fact, he plays it rather straight, which is better than when he tries to play funny.

It’s a big, dumb movie about big, dumb spiders. So hey, it was pretty good.

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This movie is brilliant in one thing: having a over-testosteroned character like Van Zan for Matthew McConaughey, our favorite white trash boy, to play.

This movie is crappy in a lot of ways, but overly so with one: NOT ENOUGH DRAGONS.

But hey, I went in with beer and saki warming my belly so I had a right fun old time.

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You come away from this film thinking you’ve seen one of the most beautiful looking movies you’ve seen in a long time. There are some really wonderful looking scenes.

As for the portrayals… Paul Newman was fantastic, Hanks fit the role pretty well, regardless of what some critics say. Overall, the actors did a good job.

But then you realize that the story itself was lacking. Perhaps not the main plot, but the execution and yes, the pace.

The comic book (yes yes, people who don’t want to admit it say “”graphic novel”", whatever, it’s got pictures with talk bubbles either way) was a simple story executed in a certain style that worked well with the format. The movie cut down on that format to adapt it to the big screen and to the director’s style. These two things result in a fantastic looking movie, but a diluted plot that could really keep itself as interesting as the way it was displayed.

So it was okay. I guess.

Maybe in a few days I’ll have a better idea about what I mean.

Or not.

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Pics from the GTG last night are at http://www.vtecsucks.com/Porter%20Ranch%20GTG%20071102/. I like the domain name. Funny.

I’m on page 2.

Tonight there was a GTG (get together) for Audi/VW enthusiasts over in Northridge around 9pm. I decided to head on over and meet people, maybe attach faces and real names to the handles I see in the forums I visit.

I have never seen so many Audis and VWs in one place in my entire life. We were to meet at a Park’N'Ride off Porter Ranch Drive, but the CHP kicked us out. This was a good thing. The parking lot at the nearby Toys’R'Us/Best Buy mega strip mall was large enough to support the number of people that showed up. I spent nearly an hour just walking up and down the lot, looking at the things people had done to their cars.

Sadly, only three Beetles. Mine, a silver 2.0 liter one, and then the one everyone stared at, the XVTuning 1.8T Beetle. The place is out in Alhambra, and the guy who runs it was real nice. Talked about his car, talked about what could be done to my car, stuff that would probably bore you all to tears. Oh, wait, you’re already bored to tears.

Nevermind.

Anyhow, I had a great time. Hung out with some stragglers at the TGI Fridays for another hour before heading home. And now it’s almost two and I got work tomorrow so I’d better get to bed.