Inklings

Crystal Brain is more like it

2008-11-07T06:17:30Z

Saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - what can I say? Unless you have two smartass robots to keep you company watching it, run as far and as fast as you can. The worst movie I've seen in ages.

Indy survives ground zero of a nuclear bomb test by hiding in a refrigerator and it's all downhill from there. Cannot understand a 76% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes except perhaps the whole world's on crack. Or 76% of it anyway. Stupid story, lousy characters, intermittently magnetic aliens, the fakey good cheer of Return of the Jedi, totally relies on nostalgic love of the great characters of Raiders. Actually makes Temple of Doom seem good. I took notes on the worst bits, but I don't know what happened to them.

The Village Voice seems to have the only intelligent review out there. "Have we learned nothing about disturbing dusty relics and mussing with primordial remains?"

"It's hard to tell whether Spielberg and Lucas are trying too hard or trying at all—the thing's such a mess, such an unmitigated disaster, that damned is the scholar stuck with the unfortunate task of deciphering this cynical, clinical gibberish in decades to come."

http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-05-20/film/indiana-jones-and-the-fortress-of-sad-decline/

phinnea @ 2008-11-06T23:43:00

2008-11-07T05:26:18Z

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Alligator
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork bun
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. ~~Heirloom tomatoes~~
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans (This is exotic?)
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. ~~Oysters~~
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder ~~in a sourdough bowl~~
33. Salted lassi
34. ~~Sauerkraut~~
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac ~~with a fat cigar~~
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whiskey from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. ~~Fugu~~
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel (Yummy!)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (Eh. Not a Krispy Kreme fan)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear (Do drinks count?)
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. ~~McDonald’s Big Mac Meal~~
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini (Double ew!)
58. Beer above 8% ABV - probably
59. Poutine
60. ~~Carob chips~~
61. S’mores
62. ~~Sweetbreads~~
63. Kaolin (erm? white clayey rock?)
64. Currywurst
65. ~~Durian~~
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. ~~Roadkill~~
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. ~~Lapsang souchong~~
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers (had rose and lavender ice cream)
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano (Had some kind of mole. Didn't like it)
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

New Version of an Old Favorite

2007-09-20T03:06:19Z

Baby Its Cold Outside/Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Ve5YcX0NE

How can you not love them? They're sock puppets and they're Scottish.

Crazy Like a Fox

2007-06-20T15:17:55Z

or like a crazy person?

I'm starting a children's theater next county over which has, as far as I know, none while here there are three. All three seem to be fairly successful, so surely if this county can support three the others can support at least one? Plus I think it would be fun.

But it's a chicken-and-egg type situation, incorporating. You have to file paperwork to incorporate, of course, and there's a fee which I'm just paying on my own because in order to open a business account you have to have a Federal Employer Identity Number. But it seemed silly to get an FEIN for the business, open the account, incorporate and then get a new FEIN for the corporation because corporations are persons for legal purposes and need their own.

There is a tendency in the stuff I've read to discuss all the things/services you need and it seems to me if you hired/bought them all you'd go broke in a week. Much of it is not geared for the lone person/few people who want to build a business on a shoestring. You're supposed to have a board of well-off community leaders who will schmooze other rich folks passionately on your behalf. Not that I would turn down any rich schmoozers who wanted to get money for my organization, but I'm not sure why they should be in charge of it. I realize that this is counter to current thinking, so many of my opinions are, but if someone can make a better argument than 'that's the way it's done' please do.

Much dull legal regulation stuff to get through.

*well the windshield's broken but i love the fresh air, you know*

history boys

2007-02-13T06:28:01Z

so weeks or months ago i saw the movie history boys and wanted to say it's an excellent movie and if you're like me (and really, hardly anybody is) you'd love it, but there's a whole scene in french and while my pathetic, high school french was up to the task (barely), it's the funniest scene in the movie and if you have no french you should wait til it's on dvd and you can have subtitles.

There is something
Deep and pulling leaving everything behind
Something about having everything
You think you'll ever need
Sitting in the seat next to you

From Some Other Planet

2006-12-16T17:50:48Z

"Americans will speak of the battles like Fallujah with the same awe and reverence that we now give to Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima"

George W. Bush

Or not. I'm thinking not.

Just send my paycheck to iTunes

2006-10-16T04:32:18Z

Finding all these songs I haven't heard in a hundred years. Songs I'd completely forgotten.

Most recent Kirsty MacColl's He's on the Beach, which I don't think I ever knew who sang it or what it was called, but I was so happy to hear it again.

and he says
he says
he says it's brilliant there
there's something in the air
and sunshine everywhere
he's on the beach

Well, wouldya lookie there!

2004-11-22T05:04:18Z

From CNN

Lawmakers vowed Sunday that a clause, which would allow two committee chairmen to view the tax returns of any American, would be removed from a multibillion-dollar spending bill before it is sent to the White House for President Bush's signature. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, said in a written statement: "It should be of grave concern to all Americans that their privacy could be invaded by such an outrageous provision." Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said: "I have no earthly idea how it got in there. Nobody is going to defend this."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/21/tax.provision/index.html

No idea how it got there. It wrote itself? It was channeled by a medium? Gremlins got in the pen? Minions of Satan inserted it magically?

Phinnea sings

2004-11-13T05:03:06Z

Thanks for acting like you care
Thanks for wearing underwear
Thanks for sitting over there
Thanks for petting a brown bear
So much for my happy ending

Narcoleptic Novelists Writhe Mopily

2004-11-09T06:15:09Z

What a stupid idea this was. I can't write a novel in a month. Or more accurately, don't want to write a novel in a month. I wrote about 1300 words which is, like, way good for me, but it's not nearly enough. And besides, I'm almost out of plot. As Lancelot Link said, "There are good ideas and there are bad ideas." At least I think that's what he said. It's been a while.

The difference between the Vietnam War and the War in Iraq -- W had a plan for getting out of Vietnam.

NaNoWriMo

2004-11-08T05:47:01Z

In a moment of dementia, I signed up for NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writers Month. Thousands of lunatics participate in this write-a-novel-in-a-month program and anyone who manages to cobble together 50,000 words between Nov 1 and Nov 30 is a winner. Not that I really think I'll make it, but I was so disarmed by the humor of the site that I signed on.

"Part of the reason we organize NaNoWriMo is just to get a book written. We love the fringe benefits accrued to novelists. For one month out of the year, we can stew and storm, and make a huge mess of our apartments and drink lots of coffee at odd hours. And we can do all of these things loudly, in front of people. As satisfying as it is to reach deep within yourself and pull out an unexpectedly passable work of art, it is equally (if not more) satisfying to be able to dramatize the process at social gatherings."

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

And if I figure out how to do this, you can follow my progress or lack of it here.

Dear Diary

2004-11-08T04:02:15Z

Wow. A month and a half had gone by since I last wrote. Clearly I'm no better about a live journal than I was about a paper one, but I've been guilted into writing because my dear friend and favorite evil mastermind ZombieQuill gave me a website for my birthday. Yes, I'm joining the few, the proud, the roughly 4,285,199,774 other people with their own webpage.

When there is something to see at the website, apart from a lovely "Under Construction" sign, I'll post the url. ZQ has optimistically placed a link on it for "Stories." Theoretically, I could dig out some old thing, scan it in, hammer it into a shape I can live with and post it. Should be ready in about 6 to 8 ... years. Don't hold your breath, guys. And then there's this definite ambivalence about just giving away what I'd once hoped would earn me a living.

Been reading a lot of fantasy and other light stuff as an antidote for reality. Just finished The Purple Emperor by Herbie Brennan. It's a sequel to Faerie Wars. He's terrific. If you're twiddling your thumbs waiting for Rowling to finish the next Harry Potter, Brennan's a good choice.

I never knew there were game shows on the radio in 1985. Why didn't anyone tell me?

Spell check

2004-09-18T04:53:06Z

So, I spell-checked that last entry and there were two words it didn't like: stoners and metalheads.

It thinks metalheads should be two words. A valid possibility but in a google search "metalheads" brought up far more sites than "metal heads." So, I'm staying with one word.

Here's what it suggested for stoners:
stoner's, stones, Stone's, stone's, steiners, stingers, stone rs, stone-rs, Stine's, stoner, toners, Steiner's, stainer's, stinger's, stokers

Who programs this crap? What is "stone-rs"? And stone rs? It accepts stoner in the singular, but not the plural? And what if I meant people who throw stones? If someone is stoned (as in "he that casts the first...") would presumably also be stoners. I have a sneaking suspicion that that space should not be in "stone rs."

Hey, wake up! I haven't finished my discourse! Oh, wait. Maybe I have.

Bad Acting

2004-09-18T04:46:11Z

Last weekend I watched Wayne's World with some friends. It's been years since I last saw it. It's a great movie (although admittedly not for everybody), but what I particularly noticed was how good all the background people were. Particularly the crew and various stoners and metalheads.

I noticed this because I had the misfortune a few weeks ago to see Hackers. Made in 1995, the only mildly interesting thing about it is there's an early appearance by Angelina Jolie. Everyone else is terrible. They're playing high school kids, and while they're probably only a year or two older than that, they're completely unconvincing. It tries way too hard to be cool, failing utterly. Bad clothes, bad acting, bad plot. It's just bad.

Wayne's World: party time. Excellent.

From the Interests page

2004-09-17T07:30:36Z

"Short single-word phrases are best."

I'm stumped. There's no such thing. What to write? I would suggest to the Live Journal PTBs that this might be better:

Single words or short phrases are best.

Whadyaknow

2004-09-17T07:14:54Z

Huh. A live journal. Maybe I should write something.