Monthly Archives: December 2010

The Tax Compromise

meh

I would not have cried a river of tears f the tax rates had gone back to the level that they were at during the 90s, not am I going to get mad if the tax rates remain where they have been for the last ten years.

My personal preference is a flat tax, the same percentage on all persons and all sources of income. Anything else is by definition treat people unequally and that I detest.

Still we have seen what happen when the republicans are faced with a choise of raising taxes on the upper brackets or spending money that they do not have to keep those taxes at the current level. They spend money that they do not have.

Fiscally responsible my eye.

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a busy week

Well sorry I haven’t been around to blather at the internet but it has been a busy week here.

I have gotten the actual scripting started in the next version of Cawdor and the first draft if the first chapter is finished. Now only 29 or so more to go.

I had to deal with my xbox dying over the weekend, just two months after the warranty expired. It turns out that buying a refurbished xbox 360 is cheaper than repairing one. So, that is the route I took. In a strange way it worked out well because this Xbox, though refurbished, is newer and has a better graphic out than my older one.

Saw my rheumatologist and things seem to be going well on that front too.

It seems I am getting sucked back into the world of SFB gaming. For those who do not know SFB stands for Star Fleet Battles and in the 80’s it was a pretty fun game for starship combat in the Star Trek Universe. (Romulans, Klingons and the like.) Sadly the game kept expanding with new rules and new weapons which required new rules and rule for how the new rules worked with the old rules until the game collapsed under it own weight like a radiation enlarged ant. I gave up on the game because it turned into just who knew the rules better and it took fricking long to play.

Well, apparent retailer told the company that they would no longer carry the game because it was too complex. A game that can not attract new players is a dead game. So the game designer stripped the game down and made a new game out of it. I’ve read through the rule and it seems pretty playable again. I found a used set for more than half off the retaile price. (A used set that had never been played.) and I went ahead and ordered it.

Ahh the Gorns will fly again.

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Sunday Night Movie: The Kentucky Fried Movie

I was not in the mood for anything heavy, serious, or that require more brain power than say a epileptic mouse. After scanning my collection I settling on the sketch comedy movie, The Kentucky Fried Movie, for my sunday night feature.

If you are familiar with Airplane! then you know something of the kind of humor to expect from The Kentucky Fried Movie. It was written by the director/writers of Airplane! and directed by John Landis.

The film is a collection of sketches and comedy bits. Most are presented in a coming attractions format except for the odd TV spot and of course their feature presentation: A Fist Full Of Yen.

This is not a movie for the kiddies. There is rampant nudity and language, but hell there’s nothing wrong with either of those thing in my book.

I suspect that much of the humor will be dated and inaccessible to viewers not young enough to remember the seventies. The PSA, the films parodied, and the frequent refrain ‘Film at 11’ are pretty much meaningless now. That said I think that there is enough humor that it would still be entertaining just not as fulfilling as to say someone of my age bracket.

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A photo

So this afternoon on my second break of the day I walked outside and took in a bit of a constitutional. (I didn’t have enough battery power in my laptop to continue writing at work.)

I turned the corner looking north/west towards UCSD and La Jolla. Fog rolled over the hills and buildings in a thick blanket. I loved the site and tried to capture it with my cell phoner.

Here it is.

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There was a Dragon in the sky today!

Earlier today, December 8th 2010, SpaceX successfully launched their Dragon space capsule into orbit. After two orbits, apparently without and flaws, they de-orbited the craft and brought it down for a soft landing in the pacific ocean.

I think this is the first time a private enterprise spacecraft has flown to orbit and back. SpaceX, and companies like SpaceX, (such as Xcor) are the pioneers of a bold new tomorrow.

I salute them and sheer their victory today!

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Sunday Night Movie: Forbidden Planet

Commander J.J. Adams has got problems. Firstly, he’s in command of 18 highly-competitive physically perfect specimens of manhood who have been cooped up inside a tiny spaceship for 370 days. Next, the twenty members of the Bellerophon expedition he has been sent to relieve are all, save one, dead. Slaughtered by a mysterious and unstoppable entity. The sole survivor the enigmatic Dr. Morbius refused to divulge the secrets of the ancient and dead world orbiting Altair. If all that wasn’t enough, Commander Adams finds himself competing with his own First Officer for the affection of Morbius’ beautiful and intelligent daughter, Altaira.

Forbidden Planet is truly one of the great films of Science-Fiction. I selected it as my Sunday Night Movie to honor the passing of it’s star, Leslie Nielson . (see action pose to the left, and thanks to Forbidden Planet’s The Daily Planet for the image.) If you are 30 or under it is likely that you know Leslie Nielson only as a talent comedic actor, but that was his second career as an actor. From the 50’s through the 70’s Leslie Nielson was primarily a dramatic actor.  Forbidden Planet is one of his first leading man roles and he was selected to be a dashing, romantic lead. That said, he found moments in the script where is comic timing could come to the fore.

This is a movie about power, the corruption of power, and how that corruption can take place even with the best and noblest of intentions. It is a warning that the powers of a god does not make a god. A warning that all of us have a nasty dark and dangerous side that is best kept chained in the basement of our minds.

The script is dated and there is no mistaking that this was a story and characters populated in the 1950s. It might take place in the year 2500 or something, but the culture and the characters are pure Americana in the mid 1950s.  That said it is still one of the handful of SF films that I would urge all serious fans of the genre see. The story is still compelling, the science is still spot-on and the vision still bold .

If you watch this movie you might feel flashbacks to the original series of Star Trek and that would be understandable. Gene Roddenberry’s show was clearly following in the footsteps on this film. This is one of the pivotal movies influscing film and Tv producers until today.

Every now and then someone tries to get this remade, and in my opinion that is a bad idea. Last I heard there were considering a three picture remake, ’cause hey that makes more mulla. If they make it, it won’t be as good. It will not be as bold and as original. This movie is not flawed and it is not forgotten, it should be left alone.

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