Caraccioli

Oh, yeah...they finally explained all the Chinese as well. I watched all these episodes with the subtitles on. All they said was (Chinese). Darn it. I think I'll watch the River episode again before sending it back. I may even go back and watch the rest of the series in a month or two to see what I think with the details of the backstory in mind. The Chinese and the US are the only two superpowers left...hmm. Interesting concept. "...wanted in fourteen counties of this state, the condemned is found guilty of crimes of murder, armed robbery of citizens, state banks and post offices; the theft of sacred objects, arson in a state prison, perjury, bigamy, deserting his wife and children, inciting prostitution, kidnapping, extortion, receiving stolen goods, selling stolen goods, passing counterfeit money and contrary to the laws of this state the condemned is guilty of using marked cards and loaded dice. Therefore, according to the powers vested in us, we sentence the accused before us, Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez..." "Also known as "the rat." ...and any other aliases he might have, to hang by the neck until dead... may god have mercy on his soul... proceed." (I loved Tuco. He was the perfect balance for Blondie and Angel Eyes. I also loved Leone's signature "war amongst the gods" philosophy for the spaghetti westerns that redefined the western genre. The same concept is applied in Cowboy Bebop and (to a lesser extent) in this show.)

The last episode was great! Definitely one of the best in the series, although I am slightly more partial to the one where the life support was shutting down. An overly talkative, philosophical bounty hunter! Whee! (I was thinking, "This guy would be absolutely great if he didn't talk quite so much and two minutes later River noted the same thing and the bounty hunter agreed! ) They teased us with a little more doctor/Kaylee romance and we even get to see River's schizophrenic little girl happy self. Cool. I watched the deleted scenes and I noticed that they cut a really good, character defining scene for Zoe from the premier episode. I suspect leaving that bit in would have made her character a little less cardboard for me. I also thought it was interesting that the guy who played Jayne referenced Tuco as a source for his character. (So I was on the right track before when I noted that he was comedy relief with a (small) side of dangerous.) "...wanted in fifteen counties of this state, the condemned standing before us... sitting before us... Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez has been found guilty by the third district circuit court of the following crimes: Murder, assaulting a justice of the peace, raping a virgin of the white race, statutory rape of a minor of the black race... derailing a train in order to rob the passengers, bank robbery, highway robbery, robbing an unknown number of Post Offices, breaking out of the state prison, using marked cards and loaded dice, promoting prostitution, blackmail, intention of selling fugitive slaves, and counterfeiting. Crimes against places of high authority include burning down the courthouse and sheriff's office in Sonora. The accused is also guilty of cattle rustling, horse thievery, supplying Indians with firearms... misrepresenting himself as a Mexican General, unlawfully drawing salary and living allowances from the Union Army. For all these crimes the accused has made a full and spontaneous confession. Therefore we condemn him to be hung by the neck until dead... may the lord have mercy on his soul... proceed."

Um. I don't have a good one. Here is one from a pretty good pinball game (but a really bad movie): "Send a maniac to catch a maniac." (From the multi-ball portion of the game, natch.)

Ok, I've watched them all the way up through the one where they're defending the whorehouse and Inara apparently leaves. (Now she's a wuss hooker with a heart of gold.) I always wonder about these "David and Maddie/Moonlighting" sorts of relationships that on-going series love to adopt. The fans champ at the bit for the two "will they/won't they" leads to get together and then are all disappointed when they do because the romantic and sexual tension is dissipated. If you drag it out for too long, however, the whole thing becomes pointless. It just always seems like a risky platform on which to build a show. (Although Moonlighting lasted for 5 seasons, so what do I know?) I have Serenity on order to find out what happens (because it must have been so exciting that I forgot.) The show does get better as it goes along, though. I think this is mainly because of development of Mal's character. I notice Jayne has pretty much become comedy relief with a (small) side of dangerous. I guess that's a good place to put him. The cool chick and her husband are still cardboard and out of place respectively. (I liked the "War" episode, but where did all this alleged history of discord between those two characters come from? Every other episode they're all lovey-dovey...) The relationship between the doctor and the mechanic could have been interesting, if they didn't get too high school with it. Alas, I guess we'll never know. (Seems to me that that was addressed in Serenity as well.) So I have only the last one to watch. I hope they do something good with River like Blackjohn hinted. She's still the most interesting character of the group. (They took out her Amygdala! That's just silly - she'd probably be non-functional instead of dysfunctional. Still, it's sort of any interesting idea if you don't think about it too much.)

Uhhhh....the movie Mars Needs Women? (That's just a guess, mind you.)

I highly recommend Chuck Jones' book, Chuck Amuck. You can probably get it at your local library. He explains the environment and the situation that went on at Termite Terrace (which is the building you're talking about). Jones had a whole series of rules that were mostly followed when he directed the RR/Coyote cartoons. According to Jones, the rules were: 1. The Road Runner cannot harm the coyote except by going "Beep-beep!" 2. No outside force can harm the coyote—only his own ineptitude or the failure of the Acme products. 3. The coyote can stop any time—if he were not a fanatic. (Repeat: "A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim."—George Santayana) 4. There may be no dialogue ever, except "beep-beep!" The coyote may, however, speak to the audience, occasionally with his own voice or through wooden signs that he holds up. (The Coyote speaks normally in some appearances with Bugs Bunny, but the only communications between the Coyote and the Road Runner are written on signs.) 5. The Road Runner must stay on the road—otherwise, logically, he would not be called "Road Runner". 6. All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters—the southwest American desert. 7. All materials, tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation. 8. Whenever possible, gravity should be made the coyote's greatest enemy. 9. The coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures. 10. The sympathy of the audience must lie with the coyote. 11. The coyote can never catch the roadrunner. Note: As I recall it, these rules were repeatedly and flagrantly violated when Freling and DePatie took over direction of the RR/Coyote cartoons in the 60s, after Chuck left WB. But then I find that these are some of the worst cartoons in the series as well. Plus the music is repetitive and tedious as the studio recycled it to cut back on production costs to compete with Hanna Barbara's TV fodder.

Willie? "Wile E. Coyote. Super genius. I like the sound of that! Wile E. Coyote. Suuuperrr Geeenius." - Wile E. Coyote "Are you in, genius? Are you in, capable? In solent? In possible?" -Bugs Bunny "Eh, what's up, doc?" "Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Wile E. Coyote, Genius. I am not selling anything, nor am I working my way through college..." "I.." "...and so, let's get down to cases: you are a rabbit and I am going to eat you for supper. Now don't try to get away! I am more muscular, more cunning, faster and larger than you are and I'm a genius! While you could hardly pass the entrance examinations to kindergarden. So, I'll give you the customary two minutes to say your prayers." "I'm sorry mac. The lady of the house ain't home and besides, we mailed you people a check last week." -Bugs & Wile E.

Black Anne Rose, I think you may have a good idea, but the "game" concept is a tad confusing. Mayhaps we should just make this an open post to comment on signatures? (Well, where it is appropriate. Many of them are just Photoshopped pictures or links or comments on the user's role in pyracy, so those are harder to comment on.) For example, I never quite got Duchess' old signature, "Live while life is, die when death comes." (I don't know if I have it quite right, but it's close - the signature is no longer being used.) I rolled it around in my mind and couldn't quite fully grasp it for some reason. Is this basically a statement of the concept, "Live in the moment" or "Don't fear the reaper" or a combination of both? Or is it really quite simple and I'm making much ado about nothing? A favorite signature I recall was one that used to be used and is no longer (I believe it was Red-Handed Jill's): "Specialization is for insects" which is part of Robert A. Heinlein's longer quote, "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." (Which is actually from Heinlein's book A Time for Love. So it's really part of a 608 page quote, to be accurate.)

Is that one of your wife's favorites, too? Some movies are just great sources of quotes. Here's one from another good source (an all-time favorite "quote movie source" of mine): "Dr. Venkman, we believe that the purpose of science is to serve mankind. You, however, seem to regard science as some kind of dodge or hustle. Your theories are the worst kind of popular tripe, your methods are sloppy and your conclusions are highly questionable. You are a poor scientist, Dr. Venkman." -Dean Yeager (Ghostbusters) I also liked the line they replaced "We came, we saw, we kicked it's ass!" with in the first TV showing (before the powers that be decided that "ass" was an ok word for nighttime TV): "What a knockabout of pure fun that was!" Knockabout of pure fun!

I liked my Delorean... :) It was a thing of stainless beauty. Plus you could never go anywhere without getting into a discussion with people who had a bunch of questions and ideas about it. (Most of whom had their facts wrong. It was a continuous mission to educate people about the car. ) Here's two shots from 2003 when I sold it after owning it for 11 years: My Delorean Doors Closed My Delorean Doors Open (BTW, for what it's worth, John Z. was never convicted on that drug charge. (Which doesn't make his brilliantly stupid, integrity-lacking decision right.))

"Me an' the old lady are gonna pick up the pieces and retie the knot, mixaphorically speaking." Mixaphorically!

Yep. I saw the one where the engine and the life support shut down. I definitely like the character of Mal. It was also a well put together flashback/backstory episode. Very nice. Looking forward to the next one.

I just uploaded Def Leppard's Pyromania and the soundtrack to the musical Paint Your Wagon. Two great things that go great together...or not. (Although Lee Marvin singing "Wandering Star" could probably compete pretty well with Joe Elliot at times. Now I need the soundtrack to Cat Ballou to complete my Lee Marvin musical selections.)

That display Our Body: The Universe Within is on display here in the Detroit Science Museum. I first came across this in last year's Bond flick and I want to go see it. I was going to ask this girl I know, but then thought the better of it. So I'll probably just go by myself.

The stuff that I patently recognizable as being biased (ie. blatant entertainment) doesn't bother me that much. I know what they're trying to pull. It's the stuff that poses as being "balanced news" that is really just a thinly disguised attempt to alter my opinion. I find that offensive. (I find most attempts to subtly or (what I perceive as) underhandedly abridge my freedom or sneakily alter my opinions sort of offensive. It's one thing if I know going in that they're trying to alter my opinion, but when they sneak it in there...that's just underhanded and deceitful.) As for the quote...well, that reminds me of a Patton pun. During the invasion of Sicily, General Patton was getting ready to take Palermo. He checked with the weather forecasters who told him it would be incredibly rainy that day. So he issued an order to place copies of The New York Times at the back of his troops' personnel transports. His staff was mystified. Why The Times? But Patton was adamant, and no one wanted to argue with him. As five tons of old copies of The Times were loaded, the General said to the war correspondents: "These are The Times that dry men's soles." (Oh, that was bad. Punning is the lowest form of humor. Good ol' George S.)

I take it the media has reported something bad about VA hospitals. They couldn't have possibly found the worst possible case or situation and decided to expose that, now could they? (Somehow the reality of a media expose always seems so much tamer than they make it out to be. I'm still ranting about the news media, aren't I?)

Hogan's Heroes has stood up pretty well, IMO. The rest of them...I agree with you, flintlock jack. (Green Acres. Oh, the pain. The pain. ) I used to like those shows when I was young, but don't care for them so much any more. Although they do have a certain slightly infectious, innocent, apple pie quality. I saw a couple of Wild, Wild West episodes awhile back and, while I really wanted to like them, I just couldn't get into it. They are nearly nothing like the movie (which makes sense). I guess they are missing a hook for me, so I gave up on them.

Not if there is a God... Has anyone seen that The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne show? I am curious if it was any good. It sounds like it could go either way. That reminds me of Rejec...Project U.F.O. I don't remember it being particularly good or bad, but I sort of remember it. Oh! Two more also rans: The Six Million Dollar Man and The Fall Guy. - Yep, Lee Majors. Who else had a Steve Austin doll...er, action figure? (I also had Oscar Goldman, Maskatron and I really, really, really, really wanted Sasquatch. My older-younger sister had Jamie and the Fembot (or whatever she was called). Boy, that telescoping eye was just...well, actually, it was just stupid. )

"And world peace, I've got an answer for world peace. We take the money that it'd cost us to build just one B-1 bomber, that one that doesn't work. We change it into five dollar bills. We put all of this money into bags and we fly over the Atlantic Ocean, past Europe because they're getting their shit together anyway." "We drop this money on the Russian people. All those little tiny pictures of Abraham Lincoln come tumblin' down out of the sky. I want them to feel those sawbucks in their hands. You know how your money feels when you accidently leave it in your blue jeans and you take it out and it's all warm and soft, oooh! Well we let those Russian people hang on to that money for about a week and then we fly back over there. We fill our airplanes full of mail order catalogs from L.L. Bean. From up in Columbus, Sporty's Pilot Shop. And Victoria's Secret!" "The Russian people have this money in their hand, the catalogs come down. They look at those pictures on the opening pages of the Victoria's Secret catalog, not back in the outdoors section, you know what I'm talking about right? They got the money, they got the catalogs, they're going to get the idea. They send all the money back to us to buy the stuff. We have full employment. There's world peace, and the Russians have crotch-less underwear through the twenty-first century! Thank you!" -Jimmy Buffett, Today's Message, Feeding Frenzy (1990)

Oh, forgot one. Baa, Baa, Black Sheep (Season one) Some day I really must see the South Pacific...

Well, it happened. Too much factual reading stunts my brain. I started re-reading one of my favorite books, Jurassic Park by Crichton for the umpteenth time. (You would think that would also stunt my brain. Yet I enjoy it every time.)

Permit me to rant. (Or skip the rest of this post. ) What does the news do for you anyway? Since they've discovered that bad news raises ratings, they focus on negative events. Just yesterday I heard a group old women tsk-tsking over the the torso of some woman they found in a dumpster. I don't really want to know about this. You could argue that I need to know because of the threat of some lunatic dumping women's torsos in dumpsters, but this sort of stuff has been going on for eons, we just didn't have the lightning fast services of armies of reporters competing for ratings and sales to deliver it to our doorstep in the past. Besides, this sort of behavior is by far the exception, not the rule. The news would have you believe this is happening everywhere when it's not. Look at the (least biased) statistics some time. For more on the culture of fear engendered by news, I highly recommend the books The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things by Barry Glassner and Culture of Fear by Frank Furedi. Plus, you can't do anything about 90% of it. If it's really important everyone will be talking about it and you'll get to (or have to) hear about it anyway. It clutters your mind with mostly useless facts and ideas. There is a definite bias in the reporting of any event that is dependent on the agenda of the media source and/or the reporter. By the time they have you worked up over one horrible thing, they have to move onto the next horrible thing to keep you hooked. The information is, for the most part, completely useless (Quick, name me the 5 biggest news items from March 2006 (other than the war which is one on-going news event festivity). Bet you can't do it without cheating. Heck, name me the 5 biggest events from September 2006. Bet you can't do that either.) At best it gives you something to tsk-tsk about around the coffee machine. I'd rather talk about something else, myself. News. Blah. Useless, mind- and time-wasting data for the most part. And don't even get me started on weather reports...

Well, she certainly looked the part. Very pale, just like Carrie was. (Did you know that Fisher went on some kind of drastic diet to fit into that costume. I read that she was very self-conscious about her weight.) What I wanna see is someone dressed as a Gamorreon Guard do a belly dancing routine... That would be memorable.

I love Panara. Free internet. Free refills. Free food (the sampler today is peanut butter 'nanna bagels. The singer of my quote would be proud.). Friendly people. Classical music. Ahhhh.....life.

I don't think so..... You wouldn't guess is by her outter clothing ...But Lois is such a flirt, she has an entire collection of all the sexy Victoria's Secret stuff..... and some from Fredericks........ I suppose it would depend on which version of Lois you're talking about. There have been so many Lois incarnations. (And how much of a fashion slave she is. What an odd direction this line of reasoning (if you call it that) has taken...) "You know, I think you ought to get him some help. He seems to be really hung up on super heroes' sex organs." -Stan Lee: