HERE ARE SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS AND IMAGES ABOUT ANYTHING THAT I FOUND INTERESTING. HOPEFULLY, THERE WILL BE A FEW THINGS WORTH READING THAT HAVE BEEN ACCIDENTALLY LEFT AMONG THESE MENTAL SCRIBBLES. THERE MIGHT EVEN BE FOUND A FEW LAUGHS AMONG THESE THOUGHTS THAT HAVE BEEN ACCUMULATED DURING A LIFE THAT WAS ALWAYS FASCINATED WITH THE SECRETS OF EXISTENCE. SO GO AHEAD AND LAUGH YOUR ASS OFF. I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING MORE IMPORTANT OR WORTHWHILE TO LEAVE BEHIND. ANYONE WHO REALLY KNOWS ME KNOWS I'VE ALWAYS TRIED TO LIVE UP TO THE WORDS: "FUCK 'EM IF THEY CAN'T TAKE A JOKE."

Monday, December 28, 2009

TWO MOVIES



I know that I promised some rants but I’m going to deliver some raves. That’s life.

Marcia and I actually went to the movies this holiday weekday – twice!

We saw “Up in the Air” with George Clooney on Friday. Great movie and probably a multiple award winner and I think a leading candidate for best movie. It hit me especially hard because it’s about a guy who travels the country firing people for companies without the guts to do it themselves. In case you didn’t know, I got fired last week. Oh, I expected it. It’s very simple – I have a political job and my guy (for novices, he’s called your rabbi) lost. And even though the news of my pending unemployment was not a surprise, I wasn’t told about it for five days after it became official. I look at it as testimony to the courage of our political leaders.


But that’s only part of what “Up in the Air” is about. What it really goes after is a favorite rant of mine - the demise of American business and the suicide of capitalism. It’s about the belief by Americans who was educated in business but have never actually participated in it that companies can be run like a science. These misguided and over-educated schmucks think the key to success (profit) can be guaranteed by following mathematical equations, or algorithms, that can solve any business problem using numbers, therefore taking emotions, or human failures, out of the solution. Such things as pity, gratitude, sympathy, humanity, compassion and concern almost always screw with the bottom line and must be avoided at all costs.

This kind of thinking has made American business, once the greatest economic power on the planet, the laughing stock of the third world. Personally, it meant to my soon-to-be-former office was taken apart with explosives by a new political machine who never even gave anyone a change to speak of their ideas or fears and simply issued a blanket order to clear out in a fortnight – a few days after Christmas. But the sad part is that the new guy really believes he’s going to win his battle with the bureaucrats those tenured and protected civil servants who do the work and eventually devour every pol who tries to fight the real power in city hall. That’s how the new guy gets aligned with the over-educated schmucks and becomes one himself.

But let’s get back to the movies.


The other flick we saw was “Avatar” and we saw it in IMAX 3D. I've been pretty tough on new movies lately and had modest expectations for the over-hyped flick. I was wrong. Before we left for the theater, I told Marcia I was in the mood to have my socks knocked off. About half way through, I said to her: “I don’t even know where my socks are anymore.”


The movie is pure genius and a true milestone in entertainment history. The love (and money) put into the telling of this story is obvious from start to finish and steals every scene in between. Don't be put off by nit-picky reviewers like me who search for flaws. “Avatar” might very well have some flaws but my dropped jaw blocked my view of the list I was keeping, my tears blurred my 3D glasses at times and there were more than a few times I was so entranced in the action I simply forgot I wasn’t in the story myself. If there wasn’t any story at all, the movie would have floored me with just its visual appeal. It is really that good.

 This flick might have cost $500 million, but not a penny was wasted. “Avatar” is the reason to go back to the movies -- at least until they bring out an IMAX 3D home unit with 40,000 watts of surround sound. See it. See it again. I know I will until I find my damn socks."

Thursday, December 10, 2009

FINALLY IN THE FLORIDA KEYS





With my health in the win column, I finally was able to give Marcia the mostly stress-free vacation she has deserved for so long and for the past week we’ve been staying a rented house in Marathon, our latest possible piece of Paradise. The weather has been hot and perfect and our companions, Norman and Elaine Lison have been great. Moe and Curly are well and also send their regards. More about the trip later, but I thought I could share these snapshots in the meantime. I know they’re the typical tourist shots of sunsets in Key West and a few personal favorites of a great biplane ride I took today, but they’ll do for a few days anyway. Enjoy.
  
Stay tuned for some rants I've been storing up. Unfortunitely, we'll be home in a few days. It's hard to believe it's been snowing there because it's been in the 80s here everyday.
















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