P.S. Spolier Warning
Archive for June, 2006
Long ago, I figured out what it was about Brian Singer’s movies (most especially his superhero movies) that I enjoyed the most.
It’s the little things.
In The Usual Suspects, it’s Verbal Kint’s attention to detail around him.
In X-Men, it was Wolverine’s answer to Cyclops questioning his identity.
In X-Men 2, it was Magneto catching the plane.
And in Superman Returns, it’s the kid. Jason Lane could have easily been just like every other annoying “precocious little genius” kid you see on tv and in movies, but instead they made the character a real 5 year old boy.
It’s that kind of thing that made Superman Returns one of the best-developed superhero movies I’ve ever seen. Languishing in Development Hell for over a decade, the movie finally saw the light of… well, night tonight. I was one of the masses that shelled out the dough to see the movie tonight, and I’ll say one thing about this movie.
It was worth it.
It was worth 25 years of waiting for a worthy follow-up to the first two Superman movies.
It was worth the years of waiting for the right combination of script, director and actors.
It was worth the millions of dollars wasted on script rewrites, restarts, countless egotistical directors and actors wanting to “put their mark” on the Superman mythos.
It was worth the search for an unknown to play the most iconic character in American literature.
It was worth the multiple millions of dollars spent on effects alone (and the plane sequence lives up to the hype, folks).
Most importantly, it was worthy of the hope that fans have held ever since they saw another then-unknown fly into the screen, looking towards the camera and smiling as he flew away.
Warner Brothers has had a bit of a good streak in them of late, having produced two superhero movies in a row that got it exactly right. Whereas Batman Begins was an incredibly well-done origin story, however, Superman Returns felt like a perfect new chapter in the continuing stories of the stranger from another planet.
(And yes, I’ll be seeing this again in theaters soon- preferably, in IMAX 3D.)
Out.
What do these tv shows have in common?
Dynasty
Charmed
Beverly Hills 90210
Daniel Boone
Carter’s Army
The Trackers
Satan’s School for Girls
… and 205 other tv shows?
Well, they were all produced by the same man, the man whom Guinness recognizes as the most prolific television producer of all time. That man was Aaron Spelling.
More than any other person, Aaron Spelling was responsible for most of the televised popular culture for the past 40 years. Whether you enjoyed his shows or not, Spelling’s influence could not be denied.
Aaron Spelling passed away today at the age of 83, following a devastating stroke. I am admittedly not a fan of some of his works of the past few decades, but I have to respect the man’s work ethic and commitment to entertainment. After all, the resume doesn’t lie.
Out.
This is very disturbing..
(CNN) — Japan, Australia and the United States have united in saying that any test-launching of an intercontinental missile by North Korea would result in serious and stern consequences.
Reports say Pyongyang has completed fueling a missile with the range to reach the United States, increasing the chances a launch might occur soon.
U.S. officials told Reuters news agency it was difficult to remove fuel from a Taepodong-2 missile, making it appear likely that Pyongyang was serious about the launch.
Since word of a possible test-firing emerged last week, nations around the world have expressed growing concern.
On Monday, Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was the latest leader to say the nation would respond sternly to a missile test by North Korea.
Earlier, Australia’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer warned the North Korean ambassador that “serious consequences would follow such a firing.”
“Such action would be highly provocative and would further isolate the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Downer said in a statement issued early Monday.
While North Korea has not commented on any potential missile launch, the official KCNA news agency said in a statement Saturday that alleged sightings of U.S. military surveillance aircraft over the country were creating “an imminent danger of military clash in the sky above those waters.”
Some U.S. officials said North Korean leader Kim Jong Il could be bluffing to gain leverage in stalled six-party talks aimed at curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. The talks include the two Koreas, Russia, the United States, Japan, and China.
The isolated communist state had sometimes engaged in surprise behavior to attract international attention when it felt it was being ignored, and it might feel slighted over the U.S. focus on resolving the nuclear issue with Iran, they said.
A test of a Taepodong-2 missile would be North Korea’s first long-range missile test since 1998, when Pyongyang surprised the world and sparked an international crisis by firing an intermediate-range missile over Japan.
The United States has urged Pyongyang to return to talks on its nuclear programs. White House press secretary Tony Snow said on “CNN’s Late Edition” that he would prefer to find ways to “draw Korea back into the international community rather than take provocative actions.”
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso was more specific Sunday, saying: “If it flies over here, falls here or even they launch it towards the international sea … we will immediately seek a meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the issue.”
South Korean ambassador to the United States, Lee Tae-sik, said that while the preparations were “quite worrisome,” it was best not to “make a conclusion” that the test would take place.
“We see the signs that they are moving in that direction, yet we cannot rule out the possibility that at the last moment, it will change its mind,” Lee said.
North Korea has observed a self-declared moratorium on long-range missile testing since 1999, and a 2005 pledge that calls on it and its neighbors, as well as the United States, to maintain peace and security in Northeast Asia.
Yep, these tickets are selling like crazy for large amounts of money… and guess who didn’t have to pay $100 for them.. thats right, yours truly. It helps to have people around like Fnliii… Good times…
FEMA hurricane cards bought jewelry, erotica
Federal audit finds $1 billion in potential fraud
WASHINGTON (CNN) — A $200 bottle of champagne from Hooters and $300 worth of “Girls Gone Wild” videos were among items bought with debit cards handed out by FEMA to help hurricane victims, auditors probing $1 billion in potential waste and fraud have found.
The cards — given to people displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita — also bought diamond jewelry and a vacation in the Dominican Republic, according to the Government Accountability Office audit.
The GAO uncovered records showing that $1,000 from a FEMA debit card went to a Houston divorce lawyer; $600 was spent in a strip club and $400 was spent on “adult erotica products,” all of which auditors concluded were “not necessary to satisfy legitimate disaster needs.”
The GAO found that at least $1 billion in disaster relief payments by the Federal Emergency Management Agency were improper and potentially fraudulent because the recipients provided incomplete or incorrect information when they registered for assistance.
The GAO said the scope of the problem may be even larger, because it only looked at the validity of registration information and not at other forms of potential fraud.
FEMA acknowledged its shortcomings late Tuesday.
Spokesman Aaron Walker said FEMA has “revamped the registration process” and has a contract with a company that will verify immediately the identity and address of anyone for assistance.
“We are confident in the system we have in place at this point,” Walker said. “We are prepared for the upcoming season.”
The GAO also found that FEMA provided housing assistance to people who were not displaced, including at least 1,000 prison inmates, and also provided rental assistance to people who were simultaneously living in free hotel rooms.
Results of the GAO’s audit will be presented Wednesday to an investigative panel of the House Homeland Security Committee. FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
The GAO also found that FEMA lost track of 750 debit cards, worth a total of $1.5 million.
After inquiries from the GAO, FEMA recovered about half of that money, which had not been distributed by JPMorgan Chase, the bank hired to run the program. But the agency still cannot account for 381 cards, worth about $760,000 total, which JPMorgan Chase says it distributed, according to the GAO.
GAO investigators estimated that 16 percent of FEMA’s disaster relief payments were made to people who submitted invalid registrations, to the tune of about $1 billion. Because the figures were calculated using a statistical sample, however, the agency said the amount could range from $600 million to as much as $1.4 billion.
Among other problems found with the registrations, according to the GAO study:
# People signed up for assistance using Social Security numbers that didn’t exist or belonged to other people.
# Aid applications contained bogus addresses for damaged property, or gave addresses for damaged property where the applicants did not live when the hurricanes struck. In one case, FEMA paid nearly $2,360 to a man whose allegedly damaged property was in a cemetery.
# Payments were made to people who listed post office boxes as their damaged residences.
# People submitted duplicate registrations, which FEMA did not detect.
# More than 1,000 registrations used the names and Social Security numbers of prison inmates. According to the GAO, in one instance, FEMA paid $20,000 to a Louisiana prisoner who listed a post office box as his damaged property.
As part of its audit, the GAO used an undercover registrant who submitted a vacant lot as a damaged address.
FEMA paid the registrant $6,000 and even made payments after being notified by one its own inspectors, as well as an inspector for the Small Business Administration, that the damaged property could not be found, the GAO investigators found.
The GAO concluded that the potentially fraudulent payments were made because FEMA did not validate registrants’ identities and the locations and ownership of purportedly damaged property.
While conceding that FEMA acted out of the need to provide assistance quickly, GAO investigators said the agency’s own policies required additional verification before continuing payments.
The GAO study also found FEMA improperly provided rental assistance to people who were staying in hotels paid for by FEMA because the agency did not require hotels to collect Social Security numbers and FEMA registration information.
Without that information, FEMA could not verify if people were staying in hotels when they applied for rental assistance.
And because that information doesn’t exist, GAO auditors said they could not determine how many people might have double-dipped — or how much it cost the government.
Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
Yesturday on my way back to my place in front of me is a guy in a motorcycle. In front of the guy in the motorcycle is a 1993ish white toyota corolla. You know they kind, with the big black bumper and the very boxy look. Out of the window is a very large double d size bra being held. The guy on the motorcycle speeds up closer to the car to get a look, then of course I turn into my place. I must say, one of the stranger things I saw yesturday, and like they say, a picture says it all, but I didn’t have a camera with me or the foresight to fumble with my camera phone - which most likely would have taken a bad picture anyway.
If you live in Austin and you have a chance, I suggest checking out Salvage Vangaurd’s Intergalatic Nemesis
Most of you, like myself are too young to have ever experienced a live radio show or mystery on the radio or in person. Heck, the death of the radio star came about in the 50’s so you’d have to be a rather old blogger to have ever experienced this. Now for the record its not really a radio show, its a play, but its done as it was a live radio show with “radio silence”.
So we’ve reached another Sunday. It’s not raining, but I’m still playing Jazz.
‘Nuff said, really.
Out.
1 bottle Laphroaig 15 year old Islay scotch, Original Cask Strength: $86
1 Opus X madura cigar: $12
1 Hand cut Russian crystal rocks glass: $22
1 Microtech QD Scarab switchblade: $475
Sitting on your back porch, half naked with a switchblade clipped to your underwear, drinking scotch, smoking a cigar without a care in the world: Fucking Priceless Motherfucker.
Why? Because I can!
This is partly a test post, to see how well an embedded video from YouTube works on here. However, this is also one of the most painfully funny things I’ve ever seen.
Yes, it’s from a dance show. It’s STILL worth watching.
Out.
Recent Comments