You know it’s winter in Los Angeles when you can generate a static charge just by shrugging off your jacket or outer shirt, or in my case, petting the cat.

A bit disjointed and fails to engage you in the characters, but the imagery is spectacular. Still, it’s no Full Metal Jacket.

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Good movie, excellent acting. Worth a matinee.

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Like the books, the movies continue to improve… but like the books, I still don’t consider them anything other than a good read. I don’t know if they ever will get beyond that, really, but considering the way things are going, perhaps by the last book I’ll nod my head in total approval.

Then again, maybe not. The problem is in the format. The tie to a school year and the limitations of that format may prove difficult to overcome. At least she’s gotten over most of the crap fantasy she wrote in the earlier books.
That Rowling thinks she’s subverting the fantasy genre is bizarre, considering that the very reason I don’t truly enjoy the Harry Potter series is because I find them far too old-fashioned a fantasy story than the ones written today. Potter’s story is just not the sort I would return to more than once. Think of it like this: I have reread Pratchett’s Discworld novels at least once (except the first two, which does show that even brilliant writers have to start out mediocre) but I have reread the Potter books… well, never. Anyway, that’s really a point concerning the series, not this movie, which is as always, better than the prior ones, but still in dire need of an editor.

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Car’s still in the shop… probably’ll be in the shop into December at this point, with over $6000 in damage to repair.

Yeesh.

Best news headline to wake up to in awhile: No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No

Voters reject all 8 propositions! Stick that up your pipe and smoke it, girlie-man!

Good job, people.

A decent explanation of the propositions in the special election on Tuesday by the LA Times.

A biased editorial opinion.

Just to recap:

73 – no
74 – no
75 – no
76 – no
77 – no
78 – no
79 – yes
80 – no

I’d vote no on 79, too, really, but I figure that one is just about the only one worth voting a yes for, as it directly goes against the drug company sponsored 78.

Tuesday. Go vote. Not voting means an implicit yes. That’s what they want: a low voter turnout where the only ones coming out to vote are people voting yes across the board from 73 to 78. It’s what a special election is designed to do: cost a mint to everyone so a select group goes out to vote yes. By not voting, you are effectively paying to pass propositions designed by special interests. So go vote no. If you don’t want to know the details but know you don’t like this waste of time and money for a bunch of propositions that should never have existed, just vote no on everything.

Don’t implicitly vote yes by not voting.

Just had a weird flashback. Me, on my knees, in a 1500-year-old Zhou dynasty grave, trying to get the bones out without breaking them.

How long has it been since the last R-rated buddy movie? Too long. Thank you, Shane Black, for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. One of the funniest, best movies I’ve seen this year. Go see it. In the theater, even.

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