South? No!

I got a new NZ driver's license last week. It's a really horrible picture, but, I transferred my California Motorcycle endorsement to my NZ license. Yay! Which means I'm 100% legal for next weekend. What's that you say? What's happening next weekend? Well, I'll tell you. It's the second semi-whenever motorcycle weekend getaway for men warily eyeing that thing sneaking up on them in the rearview mirror that looks suspiciously like middle age. That thing. We're ditching the South Island and it's crap weather and heading North for a couple days. We're going to head up to Taranaki, where, at the end of a little road called State Highway 43, there's a little town called Whangamomona (Wh is 'f' in Maori). Doesn't sound too exciting? What if I tell you that SH43 is about 150km long, and usually takes three to five hours to drive it and when I say that Whangamomona is small, I mean small.




So traffic? Not so much. And one more thing, what if I told you that no one calls it SH43, it's the "Forgotten World Highway". How does this sound?

"Built on colonial bridle paths formed in the late 19th century, the highway is remote and mysterious to the extreme. "A bit upsy downsy" is how one local resident puts it - a classic New Zealand understatement to describe a road that hugs the rugged contours of the land to provide a natural roller coaster experience"

Sounds like Oh .. Hell .. Yeah. Only 4 bikes this time and one of them is a fully restored Indian so I'm not sure that really counts. Since Shawn can't ride since his accident, he's going to drive, so we have a chase car for gear and luggage. I'll have a camera this time and I'm gong to try to rig something up to get some 'bike's-eye' footage. Also, since we do have a chase car, I'm going to take my Powerbook and jot down my thoughts as I go, so I'm not trying to remember what happened months later. Shoud be fun. I get to keep going as long as I keep coming home in one piece so keep yer fingers crossed.

Review: Body of Lies

As much as I hate to say it, I think DiCaprio has turned into one of the better actors in Hollywood today. He stars with Russel Crowe in this political action flick based on Washington Post columnist David Ignatius’ 2007 novel about a CIA operative who's working official cover in the middle east. Ridley Scott is one of my favorite directors and he delivers again here, deftly managing a complex plot. Crowe and DiCaprio both give excellent performences. Quite unlike a Bond movie, it's a very gritty look into what I imagine the world of "spies" is actually like. My problem with this film is that the story is a little flat. While somewhat interesting, it certainly isn't new and considering the subject matter, not nearly as compelling as it could have been. A good movie for the most part, but, come on, it couldn't even beat a Talking Animal Movie at the box office it's opening week, so I imagine that most people will see it from their couch. Worth watching.


Six out of Ten

Review: Babylon AD

I'm a sucker for Action/Sci-Fi, and I wouldn't say that I'm a Vin Diesel fan, but he can be all right in the right movie. This is not that movie. I honestly don't know how this movie even got to the point where they put images on film. The story is dumb. I could go on and on about all the things that are wrong with this movie, but I'm going to sum it up in two words. Don't fucking bother.


Three out of Ten.

Walk

The weather has been really great the last few days, especially nice since the kids are all on break for a couple of weeks. We went with Sean and Lynette and their kids and dogs with our dogs down to Seatoun beach.


the kids can't stop climbing up stuff


or climbing down stuff

and the doggies love to play in the ocean


There's lots cool stuff to see

When we got back, we had some knackered doggies

The kids still had so much energy, some of them reached critical mass

BBQ followed


and to make sure the day wasn't a total loss, I lost the car keys at the beach, but it was OK since the spare set was in the truck ... the locked truck that I could unlock ... if I only had some keys.

Cool Shit

Tom Rothman (Head of Fox) talks Avatar

IESB: So, potentially, this is a franchise?

TR: If it does well, yes, absolutely, in terms of an arena a whole new world. But for us, it isn't any of that, it isn't even the technology, it isn't even the look and the world all of which is the coolest shit I've ever seen, it isn't even any of that, it's that it's a great story. It's just a great story ...

Review: Taken

I've been seeing the trailers for this for a while and it seemed like a pretty decent action flick, but Liam Neeson, as an ass-kicking ex-spy? I wasn't quite sure I was going to buy that one. It turns out that he's pretty good, and a pretty good fit for the role. A role that included some serious ass-kicking. Neeson was pretty good as the ex-agent, ex-husband, ex-father.

This is what a spy movie should be like, And Neeson what what a spy on a mission should be. No questions, no prisoners. People that don't get shot in regular spy movies? In this movie, they get shot. The whole thing is pretty visceral. Unfortunately, it's also the problem with this movie. The premise is simple, but effective. The action is great. The dialogue? Horrendous. The director knows how to direct an action sequence, but either doesn't recognize bad acting, can't be bothered to ask his actors to act well, doesn't know how or just doesn't care. We're talking groan worthy dialogue, just awful.

This one hasn't had too much success at the box office, but I really liked it. I can forgive the bad dialogue and acting since the action was great. You might not want to spend $11.00 to see it in the theater if you're not a big action buff, but it's a definite rental. One that I give


Seven Stars

Review: Wall-E

It must get boring for the guys at Pixar, everything they do is awesome. Not only that, but they really are getting better and better and better at making movies. Wall-E is not only the best movie that Pixar has ever made, it's the best movie that I've seen this year, and it's quite possibly one of the best movies I have seen, ever. There's not a single negative thing I have to say about this movie. It doesn't make for much of a review. Awesome this. Beautiful that. Kids liked it. Funny. Timely. Blah, blah, blah. Go see it so Pixar makes some more money, so they keep making movies like this one.




Ten Stars

Bailout

So the House and Congress let the White House bully them into rushing the most important financial decision, if not since 1929, then ever, passing some god forsaken disaster of a bail out for Wall Street. Private Hudson, what do you have to say about that?

.500

The Tribe was the second best team in baseball after the first week of July (It's true, look it up) but after their disaterous start to the season it was only good enough to fininsh third in the AL Central at a dead even 81-81. Last year's ALCS collapse still stings a bit, but they're a good young team and should be back in the mix next season. I consider myself a true fan. I will perservere.

In other baseball news that I've been meaning to comment on. OMG the Dodgers got Manny from Boston at the trade deadline. MAN-EE. MAN-EE. MAN-EE. MAN-EE. Thank you dumb ass Red Sox management. Thankyouthankyouthankyou. Manny torched NL pitching for the last six weeks of the season, hitting .396 with 17 homers, 53 RBI, a .489 OBP and .743 slugging (if you don't follow baseball, that's just ill. Manny Ramierez is one of the best right handed hitters to ever play the game of baseball.) propelling my adopted baseball team the Dodgers to the NL west title. Which I missed because I'm in god damn New Zealand again. I didn't make it to a game during Siggraph, which makes this only the third(?) year in probably 20 years or so that I didn't see at least one baseball game.

I'm going to feel a little bad when they knock The Cubbies out of the playoffs. As an Indians fan, I feel the pain of the Cubs fans who've been literally waiting a lifetime for a World Series title, but, too bad for you. How does this fairy tale end? Manny hits a game, and series, winning bomb in the seventh game, against the Red Sox. That would be awesome. The Red Sox fans were lovable when they were like the Cubs and Indians fans, but after two recent World Series wins, they're just dicks. Fuck 'em. I hope Manny breaks their hearts.

Review: Hellboy 2 - The Golden Army

Mrs. STFU and I saw, this, hmmmmm, maybe three weeks ago? I really liked the first one. This one, meh. It felt like Del Toro was trying to hard to take everything to the next level. Part of the reason I liked the first one was that, even though it was out there, you could kind of buy it. It was almost believeable. The sequel was just off the hook, over the top, like, out there man. Too much character pseudo-development, too fantastical a story. It was all just a little bit forced. The effects were competent, and the action was decent, it's just not as good as the first one. The reviewers on rottentomatoes.com love it, which just goes to show you that movie critics are idiots.



Five out of Ten

UPDATE

It's been a little crazy around here. I had a birthday. I'm 3 movies behind on my reviews. Basketball has started again so my Wednesday nights are full. Work is good. Work is full on. Getting a promotion is a double edged blade sometimes. Haven't talked to anyone at home in a while. It's getting warm though. Spearfishing weather soon. Had the second semi-not-really-regular-whenever-we-feel-like-it pancake breakfast at Casa del Smith. Twenty seven people! Not including us!! Do you know how god damn long it takes to cook seven pounds of bacon? A while. Good times and I have some pix so it will eventually get it's own post.

Help Wanted

Best ... help wanted ad ... ever





P is Kiwi-speak for crystal meth, btw.

Jones

The latest republican meme seems to be that the subprime mortgage crisis is the fault of .. wait for it .. Bill Clinton. Ummmmmmm. No? A little? Ok, a little. Who can you trust, besides The Daily Show? I trust Editor & Publisher, The Nation and these guys

Where Credit Is Due: A Timeline of the Mortgage Crisis

Required reading for this topic

Gramm-Leach-Bliley
Glass-Stengall

Remember folks, when McCain gets elected, Phil Gramm is going to be the Secretary of the Treasury. Good luck with that.

Trust

I keep hearing about how Jon Stewart is now "the most trusted man in America" and how The Daily Show is the place get The Real News ... This has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. Don't get me wrong, I love The Daily Show. But it's funny because I already know what's going on. I have a clue. Liberals watching TDS without a clue are no better than the idiots who parrot the talking points on Rush, or that go to Hannity for their news.

Calling

I'm calling it. I know, "what about the debates?". Fuck that, the debates don't matter. They don't matter. It's over people. It's over, and McCain is going to win. He is. I know you don't want to hear it, you don't want to believe it, but I think you know that it's true. The Americal electorate is stupid and the American electorate is racist and every bible banging yenta soccer mom from Devner to Pittsburgh and all the way down to the Gulf coast is going to equate every attack by Democrats on Palin as a personal affront. Karl Rove has been fucking the DLCC in the ass for, what, three presidential election cycles now? Every four years he shows them exactly how to win an election in the US, and they still just don't get it. The Democratic party is an object lesson is what not to do in an election. It's a dead heat. It's a fucking dead heat with a trillion dollar albatross hanging around McCain's neck. With the most woefully unqualifed running mate, possibly ever. The crazy little man is riding a eight year tsunami of failure into the election, and it's a dead heat. The Republicans are going to play nasty, they're going to purge democratic voters from the rolls, they're going to cheat where they can. All they have to do is keep it close until November and you're all going to wake up one morning in February to see that we've invaded Iran. Paranoid? Fuck that. Those things are allready happening. It sucks. The American electorate is stupid and will not only get the government that it wants, but will certainly get the government that it deserves.

Oh yeah, we're bad.

"Weta is running four clusters that are each equipped with 156 of HP's new 2-in-1 blade servers, and use liquid cooling to manage the heat loads. The Weta render farms currently hold spots 219 through 222 on the current Top 500 list of the world's fastest supercomputers."

State Of The Art Data Center For Weta Digital

Torture

Really great piece from Elaine Scarry

Presidential Crimes
Moving on is not an option

very long, lots of footnotes. Guaranteed to piss you off.

IQ

Looking to break into CG? Maybe just digital photography?

Check your color IQ

I got a 3 on an uncalibrated Samsung SyncMaster 204b at work. Should've gotten a 0, but it was at work and I was trying to not waste too much time.

Sad

'Peanuts' animator Bill Melendez dies

Responsible for 'Charlie Brown Christmas,' 'Great Pumpkin'

Flip Flop

This was aired before Palin was announced as the VP candidate. Brilliant.