...Before I really get started, 300 was out for screenings. You may recall me blogging about this movie, and its associated little history lesson. You may, of course, not. But AICN.com posted a review, which had this to say:
I just saw a movie that'll give your eyes boners, make your balls scream and make you poop DVD copies of THE TRANSPORTER. It's called 300. I don't know what the title has to do with the movie, but they could've called it KITTENS MAKING CANDLES and it'd still rule.Eye boners. Nice. Not since Sin City.
I can't spoil the plot because THANK GOD THERE ISN'T ONE. Just ass kicking that kicks ass that, while said ass is getting kicked, is kicking yet more ass that's hitting someone's balls with a hammer made of ice but the ice is frozen whiskey.A hammer made of frozen whiskey?
My final analysis is 300 the most ass-ruling movie I've seen this year, and will probably be the King of 2007 unless someone makes a movie where a pair of sentient boobs fights a werewolf.Whoa, that WOULD be a good movie, wouldn't it?
Ok, so, anyway:
First off, you're not supposed to take Monty Python movies, funny though they are, as serious guides to parenting and child education. Sadly, no-one shared this tidbit with Rhode Island mom Rebecca Arnold. As a result, she's now facing felony child neglect charges, after giving an impromptu sex-ed class to her nine-year-old daughter, by having the girl sit on the bed while Arnold had sex with her boyfriend. Asked why they'd thought this would be a good idea, the boyfriend replied by saying:
We wanted to prepare her so she would know how.I have to wonder, seriously, if you've given much thought to this, sir. Kids are very likely to TRY anything you teach them how to do, ESPECIALLY if you tell them how good it feels; nothing is better, of course, than a pregnant ten-year-old. I guarantee that if a nine- or ten-year-old girl goes looking for sex, she can find a pervert who will be delighted to take care of that for her. Way to go, mom and dad.
Let's see. My FAVORITE PEOPLE IN ALL THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, the RIAA, have dropped another bombshell: they say we oughta be glad CDs are as cheap as they are. You know as well as I do that they have no sense of irony, and no sense of humor; they appear to be absolutely serious. Not only that, but they make the utterly ludicrous suggestion that CDs are a good value in comparison to other forms of media entertainment.
Let me just reality check that, right now. You can go to Wal-Mart, and test this yourself. They have racks and racks of just-as-reusable DVDs at Wal-Mart, for prices ranging from $5 to $9. These DVDs often contain multiple versions of a movie; widescreen and standard resolutions; commentary tracks; interviews with cast and crew; trailers; featurettes; and sometimes even PC-DVD features as well. A CD, by comparison, costs between $10 and $22, and comes with - wait for it - liner notes. The entertainment value-to-dollar ratio for a DVD is far higher than that of a CD, and yet the average DVD is cheaper, often by half, than a CD.
As witness, for example, Walmart has the complete series - every single episode - of the ten-season series, Friends, for less than $200. This is, even if you ignore all the special features and whatnot, 238 22-minute episodes, for a total "entertainment" value of 5236 minutes, or a cost of 3.5 cents a minute. By comparison, the KISS box set, which retails for 60 bucks, contains 94 songs, at an average song length of 3.2 minutes - a total "entertainment" value of 300.8 minutes, or a cost of 19.6 cents a minute. KISS apparently out-"value"s Friends by a lot; it costs 5.6 times more than Friends in terms of price per minute. That's 1/17th of the entertainment content, for 1/3 of the price. Come ON, folks. REALLY.
Of course, you could get screwed by George Lucas again. When the fuck will people stop giving him money, for God's sake? He made two great (and one decent) movies, assed them up with an utterly horrible trilogy of prequels, and has raked in the cheddar endlessly. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T GIVE HIM ANY MORE MONEY TO MAKE MORE STAR WARS CRAP. I loved the original 3 movies, before he monkeyed with them. The original movies - as in, the original trilogy in their theatrical release forms - were great movies. The "revamped" versions were significantly less cool. The prequels killed my love for the franchise forever.
I've said many times before, although I don't recall blogging about it specifically, that minimum wage increases hurt minimum wage earners. Yeah. I wasn't wrong. And teens in Arizona are now finding that out, the hard way. Why? Because employers don't worry about teens as much - they have "other means of support." The employees who really need their jobs are the ones still at minimum wage in their thirties. In addition to teens losing jobs, and not being hired for new ones, employers have raised prices across the board to share the love with their customers - exactly what I said would happen, and exactly what every economist who owns a calculator also said.
Oh, and while I'm mocking the political antics of the Left, Hillary Clinton now says that when she voted FOR the Iraq invasion, she was making a "show of support" for U.N. sanctions and more weapons inspections, not a"pre-emptive war." She evidently didn't read the resolution she voted on, which said:
The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate...Uh-huh, sounds like more sanctions to me. Sadly, most of the people who read this story will most likely fall for her incredible line of bullshit. Senator Clinton, you voted for the war. YOU VOTED FOR THE WAR. Way to man up and simply say - if you honestly believe this, which I don't think you do - that that vote was a mistake.
If you thought it was a mistake, why is it that everything you pass in Congress against the situation in Iraq is a "non-binding resolution?" Non-binding means: it doesn't affect One. Damned. Thing. The only reason for that is so that you can continue your political gaming without fear of the inevitable consequences if you actually win in 2008: the electorate will expect you to magically solve the Iraq situation - because you've said repeatedly you could - and when you can't, the backlash against you will be far worse than the current negativity towards Republicans.
Good planning. Really.
