2025-03-18    05:51:03 AM

Turned on the computer here after checking in with reddit. The splash login screen had a city scene. It had a round ramp going to a bridge. Had me thinking why? After study, I identified it as a switchback. They need to get more elevation.

My life seems incredibly complicated. Just another day at the office. Why? Just music? Well, there is some logic to that. Going to space 25,000 miles/second? Right.

I've obviously thought about it for decades, so you know, it's not like I'm totally not in the know! I mean, and I still believe I might go and it would likely be soon!

The slowish rocket launch seems amazing. We see that on TV. I saw a fighter jet this summer go straight up. Could be AI pilot, but you know, probably not.

Is the main function, or one of the top functions, of the military to stoke the imagination of every tripper we see on the streets? Probably not. I likely am special in some ways.

Is the function to create music fun? The military? Just a better sex muse? President? Maybe getting closer....

What is the next programming project? Continue trig angle work? Think about Harding family? FDR wheelchair idea? Eye pressure problem need glasses plastic frame google overlay?

to boyfriend girlfriend, that is the question.

Who wants to hear all these old songs? I can create something new. I play 12 instruments, one for every note! But you know, everyone has a clunker behind the scenes. The old floppy sitting in the box of spaghetti cables.


Ok, can we assertain some truth about the trip to Mars? Google AI is saying it is 94 million miles away. On the same results page in other places I see 140 million and 33 million. The Google AI says a round trip would take 3 years. 25,000 miles a second seems excessive! Is it possible to get to that at escape velocity?

Let's use 100 million miles as our test number. that would take 100 days at 1 million miles a day. that's certainly faster than my car or bicycle! That's one million divided by 24 hours. I'm just going to pull up the calculator and think through the results....

It says 83,333 miles an hour. These astronomical numbers and situations are good presidential politics training as well, so that is why it is a thing in that profession. That is certainly extremely fast too! I'm quite certain that on the trip you wouldn't see the stars or anything moving at all.

OK, the point here is that it isn't just a straight trip. Both planets are in motion, so it's an arc of sorts. From the short gif type animation I saw last week, it's almost like Mars is coming to you. Essentially it is catching up to you. It seems like the landing scenario would be better that way too! But, it is still a distance away at it's shortest point and you do have to traverse all that distance. And you are essentially launched in a straight line and can't deviate. Or, like the pinball machine coding I did, you could possibly make straight line changes of direction. I'd say probability of that is low.

At half that distance, you'll be at 40,000 miles per hour. Divide by 60 to reduce to minutes, you get, funny, 666 miles a minute!

So, conventionally speaking from a normal 20-21^st century human, that seems impossible. But, this is space stuff, so you know, a totally foreighn environment. It brings back the other theory of it which is reminding me of one of my slightly older transwoman lovers who I had an absolute blast with IRL! She had one of those Einstien tongue out pictures! And the guitar thing and all that. Is it a joke? It's like, well, people have probably been curious about this for like, forever!

The idea here is that you essentially just get sucked through space very fast to Mars. I even had this idea a few months ago around that theory that the trip may be more like 6 minutes!

It just goes to show you how weird it is, right?

The vacuum of space. The majority of people around me have vacuums. What was the market penetration in 1925?

The synapsis is that there is no way for me to know. Perhaps I might figure out more by making it a major hobby for the next 30 years? Or like I usually do at the conclusion of these, they say it is millions of miles away and it takes 6 months to get there. I've been hearing that for the majority of my life. Round trip? You'd be lucky if you made it at all. Grow up or grow out? Without gravity do you just radiate in all directions like a star? Doesn't seem to be what the planets are doing exactly. I had paranoia change of direction in the last 12 months that the submarine change of commands that I flew to and played trombone for were just imaginary. Can you submerge a metal tube of air with people on it and fight the cold war? Well, I did not go on the sub, but I'm not sure I could come up with an accurate count of the number of aircraft carries I've played music on. Where are we getting all this metal? Are we burning salt? Chicken gizzards? Have some massive rubarb plantation?

I wonder what the still kinda secret service has in store for me today? Funny? Sad? Walking with pride to the store? Wheat thins? Coffee? Tuck more? Slugworths? StarRands? Timid deer meet for sale? It's all about timing. And of course nurture unless you are just a crow scavenger? Can barely move, still looking pretty, fake hair stays better, another curry can, hotdog plug. Scary interplanetary music love? Three of us? Am I dinner for 2? All three of us, omg. You do realize we are on another planet, right? Right. Left? No, right on. I much prefer my dominant right trombone hand with the slider thingy. Well see how that works out. It's life in a box here or there for me. I get a lot of flac over it, but it seems like they may know more than me and it may be a launch pressure thing.

On the streets, "They were going to send you to Mars for?" Yeah. I was convinced, or simple world leader president stuff. There was nothing to do but play. Well, I have my music collection to listen and vibe off of. Gotta mix it up. Might as well code up some angle math and keep some button/joystick skills. "This is what you got kid. Does anything look familiar?" "Yes, thank you! As you were."

2025-03-13    19:31:48 PM

A new understanding of the movie Predator now is that instead of technology, it's the idea of fighting an invisible enemy. And now, the and/or idea/concept of the cowardice of an invisible aggressor.

2025-03-06    11:56:52 AM

Book Movie Report: Predator

This is one of my major movies that is part of my education and INSANITY LOOP and a major part of my style and Zen way since the late 1980's.

I'm not even going to say much about it here because it all gets very political with me. Some people dislike this kind of action high dollar production type of movie, but I see a lot of intellectual logic in it. The whole idea of "man or machine" comes up. Well, current thoughts are both sides are using technology. That isn't a new idea necessarily. The key concepts of Arnold/Dutch's line "I don't do that type of work." It implies some form of integrity. And then the lies/manipulation and the being forced to deal with the job of the day, however you got into it. The survival of it all.

Then the idea when facing the Predator that the Predator (alien being with alien high tech) doesn't kill when there is not enough sport in it. Now I just saw the ending (I had the sound muted the whole time while I was listening to some Billy Joel and doing some personal survival type research because I absolutely feel threatened) and that basically final scene where the Predator is dying, trapped by the large downed tree, with green glowing blood spitting up on its face and Dutch is about to do it/him in with a large rock to the face. Arnold essentially gets curious and says "What are you?" (I'm laughing! And so is the Predator at this point!) I said to myself before the Predator responded "So, Arnold is a scientist after all! Curious like a cat!" The Predator starts laughing and sets his/its self destruct countdown device on his/its arm. The look on Arnold's face! "Oh shit, a car is coming! Just like a curious/cat/scientist/city transportaion planning engineer!" Arnold starts running and it is a good workout/marathon with him barely surviving and the Predator must certainly be dead now, right/left?

2025-03-02    16:06:24 PM

Book Movie Report: Bicentennial Man

This is the movie staring Robin Williams. I really don't know any of the other books and movies about this other than they are somehow tied to the Time Machine story and this movie says it is based on a book called The Positronic Man.

This is certainly a huge Holly-wood production. I typically know the other actors/actresses names as well, but I'm kinda emotional right now and want to get to what I have to say about it. It's a fabulous movie and some reviews about it criticize it heavily for having a sappy ending. I quite like the ending of it myself and I almost always cry when I watch this movie; in multiple places.

The first half of the movie has Robin in an intricate robot costume. Not sure how they did it and I'm not so interested in that. A family with two young daughters buys him and unpacks him in the living room where he scares them a bit with the three laws of robotics:

1. A robot cannot harm a human or do something that causes a human harm.
2. A (let's see if I get this right!) robot can protect itself as long as it does not harm another human.
3. Something about repeat the other two laws? (I'm emotional, maybe I'll remember by the end of the review!)

There are many cool, gentle scenes in the beginning. The gentle saving of a spider when cleaning the basement and the old phonograph. Plugging himself into the wall. Playing wonderful classical music on the old phonograph once he gets it working. Playing a piano duet with Little Miss (the youngest child). The piece of music is called Berceuse. It's in Emaj stating on a B and you can follow their fingers a little bit when they play. The music in the movie is credited to either Alan Silvestri or James Horner (I think it is James Horner this time). The piece of music is an old standard, but the arrangement he did with it is AMAZING! So much so that I found some sheet music of it online (the standard version) to try to glean some of what it's about. It is quite intricate, but definitely possible to transcribe. I would love to learn more of it and hope to live long enough to get to that. After they finish, Little Miss transitions to being 12 years older and gives him a kiss. And then he goes into playing the Maple Leaf Rag. Also an excellent piece of music, but I have little desire to learn it.

[ Listening to Grace to Grace right now. ]

The haunting thing for me right now about this movie is how Andrew becomes frustrated after "gaining his freedom" (or was it right before, no I think it is right afterward). He goes on a road trip with his android backback that looks very similar to the kinda unique backpack that I currently keep my incredible, mini PC computer gear in. The label on my bag says (TARGUS), which to me is a reference to Superman III.

So, Andrew goes all around the nation and possibly world (I believe San Francisco is home for him, he built a house for himself right on the beach). He could not find any robot like him. They are all very mechanical, without style, and many in a very broken condition. One of the working ones was simply laying down white lines on a baseball field.

He gets back to San Francisco and finds Rupert Burns who has a hobby of fixing up androids like Andrew. And he has a wonderful female robot just like him named Galatia. She is lovely and likes to sing and dance. Andrew quickly finds out that she has her "personality chip" turned on and then he bacame disgusted/annoyed with her. (Andrew thinks he is unique and all he really wants is to be human)

Rupert is fascinated with Andrew of course and they go on to give him many enhancements and upgrades. So much so over the years, that they essentially make him as human as a robot can bee, shedding his metal exterior and inserting a circulatory system that will degrade him making him effectively mortal. He winds up becoming partners with Little Miss' grandaughter Portia. Portia, during their courting, advises him to "do the wrong thing". So that inserted a litte more humor into the story until it becomes a more normal, late 20^th century reality of an old age death of a lovely couple playing chess and watching the months fly by.

I happen to love the ending. At this point, I don't know what is a better death. Going out in a crazy death of kind of a sex/mosh pit or simply withering away like how Patty died in my arms.

Which brings up the difference between cat and dog stereotypes. (I'm kinda going crazy on the animals right now, but you know, I'm not so into cleaning up after them, or really feeding them, it's hard enough to feed myself right now!)

Q: Would you rather have a cat or a dog build you a basic house?

Q: Would you rather have a cat or a dog build you a skyscraper or bridge?

I tend to side that cats have some intellectual/engineering edge over dogs even though those wolf dogs most certainly would win a battle with almost any cat. You know, dog training is much more common than cat training! Cat's are just like "I've got this engineering thing down, we're all good."

I've always put more importance on my Zen practice than my music practice. Of course sometimes it seems like all I do is practice music and will go on and on for 10+ hours, but you know, I have a scense of freedom like a cat and do as I do. This movie is a little haunting now and my life is certainly intense and I'm loving every minute of it because it's what is here. The idea of beginner's mind. Taking a breath and just not attaching any words to what I see and then do my best to be detacted and describe what I see without any of those preconcieved/old labels. Some people say you need to have a new song, but I tend to just do that technique with old songs to find some deeper meaning so I can perhaps get to my fantasy career of being like Alan Silvestri or Danny Elffman.

Sam Neil plays the father figure and Rupert is played by.. uh.. I actually am quite interested in him and look him up often.

I don't know how obvious it is, but I hang on to my transgenderism like Andrew is trying to become human. Just to make clear my conflict with others and the weird times we live in.

2025-02-25    11:40:43 AM

Oh, made a mistake. it's Reelo of course, not Kylo....

2025-02-25    11:03:44 AM

Book TV/Movie Report: The Stand

This is a/my/moth review of the made for TV, two part movie adaptation of The Stand staring Gary Sinise and Molly Ringwald. I became aware of this in the 2010's sometime and of course bought it on DVD because I watch stuff like this over and over as part of my "slice of history" education/store of material/ideas. It brings up my reading of it in high school for a book report for Mr. Ladd (my English teacher). I kinda took his class for granted back in high school as not much went on there besides doing book reports. I think I had him for 2 years. These writings are certainly heavily based on those experiences and it's interesting how we have "Ladd's Addition" in the neighborhood and so many other names around town of people I went to high school with. And other places I've worked at throughout the country....

This one is pure dystopian with the "flu buddy" thing that kills 99.9% of the population. The anarchist dream I suppose of wanding around our cities with all the food and things just sitting around.

Not sure I want to go into the details on this one. There is story here. Lots of story. And nice acting and all that wonderful stuff. I watch it fairly often and always look forward to seeing it again. I suppose the main line in the movie is from our old Fast Times at Ridgemont High teacher Mr. Hand: "Scurring around on your little roach errands. That's a wrap on the roach!" This actor who plays Randall Flag is a little freaky looking and it's not just the make-up! Kinda reminds me of my first job as a janitor in a rock quarry and my Edgar Winter type supervisor/parnter who looks like The Trainman in the second Matrix movie (it very well could be him). He's an interesting fellow and I saw him by the bus stop between my apartment on stilts and the church a few years ago. He pops up once in a while. Same kind of unique look, ya know?

Is there anything else about this movie? "The rats are his...." Gotta have a funky other-than-human life form to give it some character! It's really kind of weird to see other creatures in real life. For the first time in my life, I've been wondering lately whether some of them, like the hummingbird or elephant, are really just robots with a fancy shell. The humminbird seems exceptionally excited about something. Perhaps like me. I swear my cat Yoda ate one one day and became insane cat with skills. She hid under the bed for the first month and I had to pull her out to kinda socialize her. Then Sam came over and played his sax and well, her eyes picked up big time! I guess there is something about him. Rain kept on biting my hand while I was playing piano (was it the high pitches or my lines?). Perhaps it's all a microwave jedi mind trick? Gotta have something to do in this dystopian world! "It could be worse." - Kylo

2025-02-25    08:58:50 AM

Book Movie Report: Star Wars episodes I-III (prequels)

I've been standing up for JarJar Binks and the idea that these prequels, and Star Wars in general, is not racist. Really, I don't even have much of a definition for racism. It seems like just some kind of hate trigger mechanism the word and even concept. But there certainly are biological differences in our species that were likely due to lack of transportation in the past which certainly brings up the concept of evolution. As far as one species or cultural subdivision of our humanity goes with regard to superiority, who Knows? I think we all have race strengths and weaknesses and we work together in some way.

JarJar is certainly provides the comedy of the bunch. I like the he is kind of a loner or outcast (Jedi Outcast is by far my favorite 3d video game).

We've got the greedy trade federation people kinda getting associated with Chinese people I suppose. I kinda like their thing. I think first three movies of Star Wars put the Jedi in some kind of too glorified position, so I kind of see this, especially as time goes by, to see the Jedi as on level with all the other character stereotypes in the prequels. They can kind of be narrow minded meThinks. Of course I associate with them though with my Zen guru technical skills. What can you do?

I'm a total geek of course and love the new droids and the Peeps like replication of them. There is something about stacks of almost anything identical all lined up. And about the only behind the scenes footage from the prequels I remember/latch onto is the George Lucas Steven Speilberg interaction on the new droids.

The opening scene with Obi-Wan and Quigon is amazing of course. On a nice metal ship, all clean in their robes with perfect green and blue slashing down droids. The shiney protocal droid bringing them drinks. The trade federation fellows with "Now there are two of them! This is getting out of hand!" Hehe. The gunkan army "Wesaw ready to do our part." "Sand gets everywhere. Space is cold." I tend to not watch Episode II much, but there is something about it with the cloners and the bug ending.

Essentially the only "TV" I watched from 2000-2006 was Episodes I and II on my Pentium 800mHz computer in between work sessions in 2005 and 2006. I've got a scar on my left wrist from one of my "underappreciation" life events. I had cut my wrist with a hand saw on the back deck. It was insane with the church next door and all kinds of whacky intellectual events that were no doubt forced on me for some reason by my musical family. I was on the back deck which was up on stilts. Choosing what to cut! Total insanity. The left thumb? The bottom or top of the wrist? I was so careful in my selection! The idea of a prostetic hand trombone player. Some fancy electronic left hand? I chose the top of the left wrist and put a good gash there and learned some medical stuff from it. I learned that Episode III: Revenge of the Sith came out two weeks later. I didn't know anything of it, but right before the event, I had some late night talk show on my computer somehow. Like Jay Leno.

In any CASE and TARS! I was excited to get my hands on Episode III and was not disappointed. These movies can be high action and then there are the quiet parts too. The mediation of it of course is my main draw to it as is the used universe concept (it's not too realistic though, it's hard to make a cooking oil grease spot on your shirt look good). Gernal Grievous of course is amazing and I have a fantasy of, in late retirement, forming some porcelain parts to fuse with metal and make a huge thing like him in the front yard. Similar to some mushroom tree stumps in the old neighborhood. Likely will never happen due to just overall complexity of materials, but fun to think about!

And of course Darth Sidious is a huge draw for me. He's amazing in these movies and reminds me of one of my partners who did not have teeth. Actually, two of my 60+ year old partners without teeth! It's just totally amazing like that and perhaps I'll end up the same way: without teeth looking like Darth Sidious!

That's about it for these. There are a lot of moments I like in them, but really just like a few scenes in Episode III now. Once in a while a revist to Episode II. I wore Episode I out completely. Used to love it. Hey, I was 6 years old when Star Wars came out!

2025-02-22    05:21:30 AM

Book Movie Report: Easy Rider

This one is a little scary for me to write about.

I tend to get character's names wrong and focus on actors/actresses. We have Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper on this. It's a late 60's kinda drug movie. The subtitle that I saw a couple years ago was "We went searching for America and couldn't find it anywhere." I won't get into all the gritty details I guess. These are the majors scenes and all of them have Peter and Dennis on chopper motorcycles between cities going across like I-40 from West to East.

1. The drug deal in Baja that sets it all up.

2. The dug deal handoff to the European English/Russians at an airport in LA or someplace. The Russian guard guy or you know, partner, is fun. The English guy is kinda fun too.

3. The fix the flat on the motorcycle scene with the kinda old geezer white guy and his mexican Catholic wife and many children at the dinner table on the covered porch on the ranch in a kind mellow and not exactly barren land. "Do you mind if I fix my flat? No, I don't mind. Turn that thing off, you're making my horse skittish." The work scene with the flat in the barn and the guy and his other guy doing the same with a horse shoe thing. Then the dinner. The guy says a prayer, they have a little conversation. Peter says "It's not everyone who can live off the land. You should be proud." The the guy saying "My wife is Catholic you know. Honey, would you get us some more coffee?" And then the major moment of the movie for me. This actess is AMAZING! The gently look on her face as she happily nods, licks her finger and heads to the kitchen. Really, just watching her is what the whole movie is about for me. It's totally not about following orders, religion or anything. I think about it a lot and I'm understanding my feelings on it is that well, they have likely been together a while and she likes her little scene there and they are kinda beyond words. It really doesn't take all that long in a good relationship to get to that point.

4. The commune scene. The thing that is striking about this to me now is the entrance. They had picked up the hitchhiker (perhaps he is the guy who I went surfbiking with?). They get to their kinda adobe like buildings. They have a bowl of water at the entrance. The guy washes his face in it and all, and then Peter declines. Not sure if there is any more to read into it. If I were doing that, it would be a judgement call in the moment "Is it worth it?" Peter just seems to have some good sensibilities about him overall, but you know, we all make some mistakes. The other community weirdness there is kinda well, it is a little entertaining. It's kinda high drama and you wonder how they survive and Dennis voices his concerns.

5. The Texas/Southern city scene. They latch onto a parade and get arrested. Kinda like how Nate and I did it at Mardi Gras on our bicylces one year. Dennis: "Weirdo hicks." I think with both scenes, well, we have cities and we have farms. And drug deals. Let's move on....

6. The brothel in New Orleans and the acid trip. It's kinda like an acid trip and kinda not. They can go that way, but that one was kinda over the top emotional instead of the colorful communion with the white dragon.

7. The ending where they meet the typical end of people on two wheels. There is this thing about politics being a full contact sport and "you lose" or whatever. Full conttact for a two wheeler is not a typical game with a human opponent. It's just you and the ground. So when I sing the WALL-E song now, that's what I think. Inevitable, but you know, life is about avoiding that AND the journey. And of course that goes back to the farm, the flat and all of that.

Trying to figure out if I have anything more to say about it. It's a big deal to me for some reason. I deteled a sentance about farming. And now I'm bringing up hair. The idea came up that we use it for roofing felt. In space, it's likely easy to capture a long hair than a short hair. Short hairs are likely dangerous. Modern shaving cream does a good job at capturing it and keeping it on the razor. Hair is some kind of vitality too. Perhaps my minor roof leaking wasnt' a big deal. It likely wouldn't have been a major problem for the rest of my life. It all does get complicated though. A simple idea. Disaster planning. Would a spacecraft be attracted to the biggest object in the sky? New idea last night. I'm leaning towards NO as my answer, but it is a thing too.

2025-02-17    16:29:35 PM

Book Movie Report: The Jerk

This movie is totally haunting for me right now. It's beautiful on so many levels and has intense intellectualism about it. The only other Steve Martin movie that I do is Parenthood.

Ending and begining with the black family on the run down porch, the movie blends through many different scenes with obvious AA influences. Most notible are the gas station events. The guys in the car and Steve asking them what kind of cigarette they have: "Joint. They don't make them too good!" Of course that scene is totally silly and comes to mind quicker than any Cheech and Chong scene I know (I do know 3 or 4). Of course there are the love parts of the story with the coronet and the big point of the movie is rags to riches to rags, similar to Harmony Road which is essentially the story of everyone's life. No matter how rich you are born or die, it's still nothing on both ends.

But it's the ending. "It's the stuff." (you can't take it with you) OK, OK, this movie is a comedy and I'm not so comedic at the moment because, wow, this movie is intense for me right now. (I'm in political mode obviously) The idea here is that there is a difference between GEAR and STUFF. And also, perhaps even more importantly, a difference between work gear and barter gear (not sure about spelling, you know, intent). And perhaps this pulls into a gender thing. I can sell my services, or offer them, or bid them. I can sell my products and advertise or push them. Or, as I am experimenting with now, I have my services and my products, but my services are not for sale anymore. I need something more real in trade for my services. And of course I won't sell my products. Or rather, can't. It's not simply that I'm not good at it. It may be a gender thing.

I'll try to pull this back into comedy :-)

After leaving the mansion alone, steve is carrying all he can hold onto and dropping it along the way. And he ends up with a bottle in the classic tattered clothing with the camera coming up to him "What? You want to know my story?" This reminds me of the parodie that someone did of my 4 hour website eductional video in 2014 when I started my testing the waters for a presidential run (obviously not ready in 2014 but was ready in 2024).

....and now, with the Losing It Part 2 going on with me limping to the bedroom from another da agony of da feet episode (notice the date), I'm in the position with my comedy book and gear. Wild almost-homeless-again Zen guru, totally helpless, human stray cat + moth, plotting little scenes around town with expensive and life saving gear. My fear is that it is either that or end up like Steve! The whole "you can run but you cannot hide" cums up. But to keep it down, you need this black coffee sludge (acid reflux reminder, thanks Tom!). They have been saying for years to preserve water. When I cook my curries and rice, all the water is locked in except for the little bit of escaping steam (it does need some motion). It's the cleaning with water that is the problem and I'm dealing with electric vs gas vs which kind of pots to use. I'm obviously incompatible on the electric and it's a problem connected to my health/life. Yes, Steve needed that bottle. I need some things too and my way is fairly exotic. What can I do? I'm a friggin' Zen guru connected heavily to a Korean who I have help put braces on his legs several times. I bet he needs some gear too! (it doesn't work well (legs), it's always a showy thing). Which brings up the sleeping white dragon (just in case reboot) and a pleatora of other objects so dear to my heart, career, and most importantly, my INSANTIY LOOP without which I would be off the rails and in the ditch on my way to you know where....

2025-02-13    01:33:49 AM

Book Movie Report: The In-Laws

My family was odd. (this banana boat theme just keeps on coming up)

TV was big in the 1970's and 1980's. My parents went to work and I walked to grade school, came home and got the key under the mat, went to the kitchen and made two trays of saltine crackers with peanut butter and jelly and watched things like The Flintstones, Little House on the Prairy, The Brady Bunch and Far Out Space Nuts! After, and during, dinner the family watched M*A*S*H, Jeopardy and Wheel of For-tune. My dad was a fan of Peter Faulk and the only two movies I know that my dad liked was Going in Style and The In-Laws. The In-Laws stars Peter Faulk and Alan Arkan (the protagonist's side kick kinda antagonist character).

It's a movie about ridiculousness as all Peter Faulk works are. Peter works for the CIA supposedly and Alan works as a dentist and their children are getting married. It starts with an armored car heist of money engraving plates which get stashed in Alan's basement in the HVAC ductwork. The plane trips to Central America enter with loopy car chases with banana trucks spilling all over the road and eventually, off the freeway, they somehow are kinda outside, on top of the moving car with the shoddy booths of bananas being crashed into. They get to a nice hotel room, but certainly the corrupt local government is on to them. And it ends with a normal<>ish resolution of them showering money down from a helicopter back at the wedding.

Peter Faulk is hilarious of course. It's so much to be expected that he is a tiny bit of a let down (I hope I'm kinda this way too, cause I know there can be a lot of hype/expectations). But it really is about Alan Arkan on some level. Dad made such an impression on me with this movie, that I certainly know his name and look out for him in the media and my research. He's quite good in this movie.

Book Movie Report: Going in Style

[[ This is what people call me "weak" for. ]] This movie is lame on so many levels, but I absolutely love it! This is the 1970's movie of course. About the time Star Wars came out which I saw in the HUGE Westgate theater 3 times that year and over and over throughout the 1980's as they would not stop playing it. Predator and Robocop were also excellent movies to see there. Every summer I end up making popcorn and plugging Predator in on the hottest day of the year to relive that experience here in the PNW with our Douglas Fir tree forests that are similar to the forest scenes in that and Return of the Jedi. My love of mountain biking is certainly based on trees and that movie.

So....

I'll make this brief. Not that you will really want to watch this movie, but if you do, you may know something about me. The scene with the three old guys collecting social security in their kitchen with the old style laminent table and their simple coffee and the spoon. "A little more water. Thanks." And the gentle spooning of the coffee with, well, did he even put the canned milk in it? The fellows go back to the 50's or earlier and have a connection with The Flintstones.

A few scenes later, they are back at the table sorting bullets for their revolvers to rob a bank (the connection to The In-Laws).

The backstory to the movie appears to be Lee Strasburg and his "method acting" school. Many actors/actresses seem to claim to be method schooled including Teri Garr. Lee is a total geek in this movie and I've never seen him do any other acting, so well, it's interesting "proof" of something. There is the scene with him and the hot dog. "Onions? No, better not. Come on, live it up! OK! Onions." It's almost the next scene (I'm cracking up), he dies on the park bench of a heart attack. I of course have been eating onions, like 2-3/day for decades and swear by them. But.... Something has chenged in me, in the middle of my body (mathematically), and well, onions are now producing some undesirable effect, so onions, and potatoes, are now out (better eat your root food).

Top theories are there are a few ways (methods):

1. Beer (yuck!)
2. Smoking stuff (well, it's nice once in a while, but I'm not a druggie!) I work. (sometimes for a living even)
3. Wine (well, if I have to....)
4. Soda pop (They likely have some stashes of this around. Then again, no one tells me anything!)

Back to the lovely "old timers" movie....

Lee also has the tender moment in the middle of the night about messing up his relationship with his son (his main life regret). He was talking with Art Carney and Art is an interesting actor as well. He made a movie called Harry and Tonto which essentially has him traveling across the country on a bus with a cat. At the end of the movie, his cat dies and there is that sadness and then they sneak in a short last scene of him in a room with a whole bunch of cats which brings up the end of the Straight No Chaser movie which is also a favorite of mine.

And then the final scene: "Inside or out, I'm a prisoner either way." Yep, no real escape from the capture of our bodies. Nothing more random than our birth. Nothing more concrete than the passage of time stacking up in the piles of art work and business forms.

2025-02-13    00:41:50 AM

Book Movie Report: WALL-E

This is one of 3 or 4 movies I've seen in the theater in the last 35 years. I saw it with my second wife and was fairly disappointed/not impressed with it.

But I certainly had a different opinion when I bought a DVD of it. It starts of with the cute yellow box shaped WALL-E on an abandoned dystopian Earth. He compacts (within "his" body) trash cubes and then stacks them into, well, just stacks as tall as buildings. Along the way, there is the AMAZING commentary about things. The Zippo lighter. The paddle with the string and ball attached to it. And the scene with the plastic spork where there was the non-binary decision point between the fork and the spoon.

The spunky "new" robot Eva ("she" but kinda in a cooler non-binary than WALL-E), arrives and immediately becomes WALL-E's love interest. So this is a love story as much as a Zen trash sorting story (reminds me of coding Barge Waste Recycling in 2008, around the time I saw this movie (just made that connection now!)).

The romance in it is quite sappy and I am a romantic musician and the scene out in space is amazing. The drama on the space shit is messed up, but you know Holly Would! Then the movie ends....

....and I continue to put it in to watch the credits and sing that song almost every day because the melody is extremely catchy and I practice hard to forget about the content of the lyrics even though there is some content to that as well. This movie is a movie that keeps on giving like that. I really just skip right to the credits now because they are that good.

2025-02-01    23:56:17 PM

Book Tell-Vision Report: Star Trek The Next Generation: Cause and Effect

Although I was aware that my main high school girlfriend was a huge fan of this series when it first came on tell=vision, I didn't start watching it until 2015.

I've watched the whole series several times now, and this is one of two episodes (both in Season 5) that I keep coming back to. They are in the ship and are caught in a, what do they call it? A temporal loop? It starts with them hitting another ship and getting destroyed (that one does have Kelsey Grammer as the captain). Then it goes immediately to 4 of the main cast playing a game of cards. Or is it 5 of them? This reminds me of how my girlfriend and I used to play double deck pinnocle with my folks. I don't want to ruin this episode for you, but I can't really write a review and not talk about the thing about it. Essentially, the number 3 keeps coming up and the ending is a real cliff hanger!

Kinda like how the number 4 keeps on coming up in my life. Sure, there are only 10 base, base 10 numbers. And only 26 letters. 36 combined. The whole thing with "number one" playing trombone and Picard playing the pennywhistle. Waking up at 4am for 40 years. Winding up on the streets on 7-4-2003 and getting off the streets on 7-4-2004 (hey, I was working on making a video pinball machine, I mean, slinky!). You know "we couldn't have planned this better."

This last year though, it seems like when I say some absolute like "I've been getting up at 4am for 40 years", it's like people are out to prove me incorrect and grab some videos of me to prove it! I guess people are getting tired of playing Space Invaders! Like it negates 40 years of routine/history.

2025-02-01    07:37:36 AM

Book Movie Report: OH God! Book II

This movie, from the 1980's again, has been the main movie on my mind lately. The main character is Tracie, a 10 year old girl. She is an only child and goes out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant with her parents. At dinner, her parents are arguing. I think they are even divorced, which was a typical theme in the movies back then. So Tracie escuses herself and goes to the lobby by the restrooms, it's actually a bedroom sized coat room. She has a conversation with God there while she was alone, but she could not see him (seeing is believing, not hearing!). It's the same deal as in the previous movie. In this one, she and her friend, is his name Kato? I remember him playing basketball in his driveway with Tracie talking with him. They end up doing advertising all over town with the main slogan being "Think God". Her dad is in the advertising business I believe.

It gets all crazy of course. More and more stressful and having run for federal political office for a decade, I can relate to all of this, on all angles. At the end of the movie, her parents are "concerned" about her mental health as are her teachers who are even more concerned and getting the authorities involved. It winds up in a trial in a kind of large board room that could have her locked away for good. God makes an in person (seeing is believing) appearance, or was he invisible the whole time this time?

The actress who plays Tracie did an excellent job. I mean really, WOW! I'm very moved by the whole thing more than 40 years later. I wonder what kind of effect doing that movie had on her life? I looked her up for the first time the other day and it looks like we are almost exactly the same age.

[ I swear that I heard just now, or was it just imagination, "you lose". It's been common lately. With my religion/spirituality, losing and winning is simply a trajectory. ]

2025-01-29    10:29:37 AM

Book Movie Report: Pulp Fiction

Well, what can I say? There is this moment in this movie Where Bruce Butch was talking with his lady and she mentions that she would "like a little pot". Then she goes on to describe perfect/normal legs, arms but with a little pot "belly". That is essentially where my perfectly crafted pot belly came from. And of course there is Christopher Walken from Flatliners.

2025-01-29    09:40:29 AM

Book Tell vision Report: The Enemy Within

Listening to the Rush song The Enemy Within this morning and this brings up the Star Trek episode The Enemy Within.

This one starts on the surface of a cold planet where they encounter a yellow powder and get it all over their lovely blue uniforms (that actor reminds me of Kevin from Degenerate Art Ensemble). When beaming up, there is some transporter malfunction. Scotty does some tests and then beams up Kirk. All goes well, but Kirk is a little stunned and mentions the transporter malfunction. The leave the room and then "evil" kirk beams aboard.

So then all the action drama starts. The big point of this lovely story is about the unicorn dog. The evil one is just so cute with its yapping. Mellow one is kind of a fluffy blob. Of course they keep the "evil" one in a cage and "evil" Kirk winds up in cell too. What can you do? Some beings are just beasts!

The duplicating coffee on the surface is worth a mention too. Is it just green "extra virgin" rice/wheat grains now? I keep a bottle of the stuff on the top shelf and will put in on pasta once a year. It had been about a decade, so it was a good treat, but this whole bottle just sits in the back while I put the oil on thick wiht the Spectrum stuff.

2025-01-07    13:01:18 PM

Book Movie Report: Mr. Mom

This film from the 1980's staring Michael Keaton, Teri Garr and Richard Mull (I think I'm getting his name correct), and others who I have yet to research but likely will, is about a traditional family of 4 (two boys) who's father, who worked as an auto design engineer in Detroit or somewhere near there, got laid off along with others in his department. Soon, after unemployment sets in and the family is concerned about money and next steps, Teri (the female/wife/mother) "puts out the word too", to utilize her degree in advertising to become the family's only/main source of income. This puts Michael (the male/husband/father) in the position of running the household.

Perhaps I'm shallow, or whatever people want to say about me, but I like movies for the objects/situations more than the social dynamics/commentary. I pick up on the absurdness of grocery shopping. The whole thing with a long list of deli cheese to choose from a lady behind the counter who is getting a little frustrated. I'm sure it is frustrating on both ends! How did we get born into this insane alien world?

The school drop off point, in a car of course ( car, I assume, is short for carriage ). The somewhat dated rolling up of a car window (My first car didn't have a power window. I was gifted a car in 2002 with my first power window. I haven't had a roll up window car since.), fits well with the story of the laid-off auto engineer.

The middle of the movie (act 2) has the father experiencing a heavy conflict with his new way of life resulting in a depression. There is the scene with the "wobby" which was the youngest child's blanket which was getting a little ragged and the getting-more-depressed engineer's solution was to staple it quickly while trying to get back to watching the "soap opera" (does this have anything to do with Asyncronous Javascript and Extendable Mark-up Language?) on TV. Following closely is the ironing of a cold grilled cheese sandwich on white bread and the expression on the child's face!

Of course there are classic scenes that people of the 1800's may not have even considered with the vacuum cleaner known as "JAWS". And the washing machine inproper use.

The wifee was living it up in smokey board room meetings discussing tuna marketing strategy where her ideas were acted upon and escalated into corporate mayhem and business hotel trips concluding with the "big boss" considering the absurdity of it all and then breaking down in laughter accepting the only reasonable choice, SOMETHING ABSURD!

I had spent most of 2020 and 2021 spending time on the internet researching and thinking about "absurdism" and other related philosophies because my work situation had become completely absurd. It had gotten to the point in 2021 (at 50 years old), that I could no longer ignore how absurd it all is and apparently I am not the only one in the world, this mechnized post Charlie Chaplin society, who feels this way. Similar to the final scenes in this movie with the escalating energy of absurdness coming to a conclusion, or at least the ending so people can deposit their remaining popcorn and large soda-pop with tight fitting lid that helps to contain the remaining beverage on its way from the theater trash receptical in the heft "black" trash bag on it's way to the dumpster and other destinations, I had found joy in persisting through the madness to a new, and higher paying job, with more satisfaction. What I found though is that the feeling is fleeting the older you get (most likely an age thing) because there is a level of absurdity to everything in this society. Or perhaps I was just studying to be a comic like the professionals that spent time composing and recording this work of art?