JohnA lifeBlog

So, as I write this, I am watching The Hunt for Red October [Blu-ray]. Nothing too crazy about that, except that this was the first movie I ever purchased on LaserDisc. See, even when I was 11 years old, I was a videophile. I actually purchased this for the full retail of $34.95 at American Fare. And I watched it over and over and over. Until I could quote every single line. And amazingly, I still can.

Watching the film in Blu-Ray is a lot like watching it on LaserDisc the first time. The only thing that is disappointing is that while they remastered the video, they didn’t do much to the audio… so far, my subwoofer hasn’t fired once. Compared to the LaserDisc version, it is disappointing. But to the producer’s credit, the main soundtrack is MUCH more defined among the 7.1 speakers than the LaserDisc’s lonely 2 channel digital track.

So, while not the best Blu-Ray disc ever, it does a great job competing with my childhood memories.

So, I’m currently reading The Last Lecture, a book written by a terminally ill CS professor with an amazing amount of insight.

When I read of his passing last week, I purchased the book on my Kindle. And it is brilliant, but it has raised some questions in my mind.

First, what is better? To have experienced the joy of having a wife and children, then having to know that you would have to abandon them, or to have never experienced any of that at all?

Personally, well, personally, you don’t know what I think. But it is an interesting question.

Buy the book. It’ll make you smile, cry, and re-think your priorities.

I decided not to close my blog.
But I still feel like I should.
But the fact than almost 12 of you e-mailed me made me feel special.
Thanks.

I can’t believe I ever thought Sen. Obama was different than every other politician in Washington. At every turn, he demonstrates his willingness to pander to whatever crowd he is speaking to. No convictions, no consciences…. just empty promises and Reagan-eqsue speeches. Bob Barr for president, I guess…

More nation building and intervention. “No one welcomes war. … But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO’s first mission beyond Europe’s borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security,…The Afghan people need our troops…your support to defeat the Taliban..and to help them rebuild their nation”

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So, I am late to this party, but here goes.

If you are a fan of the art of movie making then you have no choice but to watch Richard Donner’s version of Superman II frame by frame. If you own the LaserDisc version of that print, go you! I own that set of discs, but don’t have a working player right now.

Richard is a genius among geniuses, and he was written off because he wouldn’t simply stamp the changes dictated by the studio in the lame attempt to achieve greater profits. He worked day and night to define Batman as a conflicted hero. This is not something easily ignored.

I rented this cut on Blu-Ray, and while I can definately tell which shots are production, and which are not, I enjoyed the end product far more than what was released into theaters.

Richard Donner’s cut is the natural sequel to the original Superman film. Donner was never given a chance to develop the ultimate villain. Instead we’re stuck with “people” like Lex Luthor. There was a world to investigate from this corpus…

Instead, the writers chose to extend the legend beyond their initial encounter. Art works best when it has some imagination to work with.

“To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.”

Yesterday, Sen. Obama voted in the exact opposite position, as noted by Glenn Greenwald:

The Senators then voted for “cloture” on the underlying FISA bill — the procedure that allows the Senate to overcome any filibusters — and it passed by a vote of 72-26. Obama voted along with all Republicans for cloture. Hillary Clinton voted with 25 other Democrats against cloture (strangely, Clinton originally voted AYE on cloture, and then changed her vote to NAY; I’m trying to find out what explains that).

So, in honor of this change, here is my proposal for a new Obama campaign poster:

What would you do if you lost everything? How would you react?

Darcy Burner, a congressional candidate from Washington, shows her true colors in the face of adversity.

As was stated on another site, every $5,000 she receives is a day long reprieve from the necessary fundraising against her opponent who doesn’t have this magnitude of tragedy to face. I gave her campaign $50 today. You should help, too.

Oh, and I totally want to know where she got the </war> t-shirt she’s wearing.

From one of my favorite blogs… Would You Shop Locally at 10+ Percent Tax?.

Every time short-sighted local governments decide to squeeze the locals, they run into my arms, happy and free.

So, I say to you Chicago, keep turning the crank! Every percent means that much more money flowing into the virtual coffers of my growing merchant base.