Terminator Salvation: Opening Night

Just returned from the 12:01 show of Terminator Salvation. A more in depth review will follow, but for now let me say that if Star Trek and Terminator Salvation are any indication of what we can expect from this summer's movie crop then Transformers and G.I. Joe should really be worth waiting for.

Tuesday Afternoon

Today is another one of those rare perfect weather days...not too hot or cold, not too humid, just right. Way too nice to be working.

This cartoon has been on my mind lately and I could'nt resist...just had to watch.I know I'm probably opening a can of worms by saying this but I think this is just about the funniest cartoon ever...enjoy...

Rabbit of Seville, featuring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd (1950) @ Yahoo! Video

This Just In...

My Beautiful Wife just forwarded this video to me. They had a special intro to the movie last night. They asked some trivia questions and gave away a couple of prizes. I won't say where, but if you look carefully you can find the Beast and his posse.

Hint: I WAS NOT wearing a costume, however, I was able to pass along the correct answers to 3 of 4 trivia questions so family could win prizes.

Reveiw: Star Trek

I remember when I was 9 years old. A show came on TV that was unlike anything we had seen before. It was the future, but this was believable...we could see this happening. This changed everything. We began to talk seriously about how neat it would be to have your own computer you could go to for answers to any questions, how neat it would be to have a little box you could hold in your hand and communicate with anyone anywhere? I died a little the day they canceled Star Trek. Over the next few years there were rumors and rumblings that they would bring it back to TV or make it a major motion picture (believe me, in those days it was tough to keep up with those rumors). Finally by about 1977, cars/girls/High School later, along comes this little movie that no one knew anything about that changed our world again, this time forever. Now it was obvious even to the dumb a$$e$ that run the entertainment business what fans had been trying to tell them for years: people were desperate for this stuff. Well, over the next couple of decades our cup raneth over with Ep V-VI-I-II-III, VeeGER, Kahn, Death, Resurrection, Whales, Countries, Generations, Space Stations and Voyagers (never got warm and fuzzy about Enterprise). By this time the keepers of the Katra had grown either bored or tired because they were just throwing crap and hoping it would stick to the screen. Then, about 2005 rumors started again about a new direction and a fresh idea to reconsile everything for those who had grown up with it and address a major complaint of many that if you hadn't followed everything you couldn't enjoy the latest offereing. It's been a long hard road, with weekly trips to Trek Movie the last 4 years to keep up with everything.

The long wait is over and all I can say is Wow. What a fun movie.

(No spoilers) The reports are true: you don't need to know anything about Star Trek or be a fan of the stories and characters to enjoy this movie...it stands on it's own, a true and clean new start. It's a busy movie...lots going on, action literally from the first seconds, lots of characters to meet. If I had to compare this to anything I'd say this does for Star Trek what Batman Begins did for that franchise.

There are 2 sequels planed by this team. Here's hoping the next will be like Dark Knight and be even better than this first fantastic story.

Thank you, J.J. Abrams for such a wonderful gift. It struck me last night as the end credits rolled. I looked at my daughter and saw the same wonder in her eyes that I had 40 years and last night ago in my own: things have come full circle and it is good.

Now, the circle would be complete if we could just convince George to let someone help breathe a little fresh air into his world...then I think he would be ready to tackle Episode VII-VIII-IX.

Star Trek

We have tickets to see the 7:00 opening show tonight. I'm just marking time here at work until we can head to the theater. I have been waiting for this movie for almost 5 years. This will be the first big movie that I've been to the first show on opening night since The Fellowship Of The Ring.

Full report afterward.

Break-In Update

Knot remindeded me that after my rather emotional report of our break in that I haven't updated. There have some interesting and not-so-surprising developments.

The break in happened on 4-7-09. On 4-16 we heard that two houses in a neighborhood a couple of miles away had been broken into with striking similarities to our break in: the car seen outside was black, the beds in every room had been turned upside down, someone had crapped in each place and put the toilet paper in the waste basket. The good news was the police caught the buglers at the other two houses in the act and found out they had quite a bit of stolen items in their vehicle as well as a storage unit where they were keeping other items stolen from other houses.

I waited until 4-23 to call the police to check on our break in's investigation. I was told that (after just over 2 weeks) that our case had not been assigned to an investigator yet. I explained the information I had found out and that I was interested to see if the other cases were related to ours. I was told to call back when I knew the exact addresses of the other break ins and they would reference it on our case for when an investigator was assigned.

Meanwhile (after finding that the insurance company had put a limit on the allowable amount for stolen firearms which was about half the value of what I lost) we continued with the laborious task of inventorying everything for the insurance claim, gathering proof of purchase and serial #'s and looking up replacement costs, all the while hoping we would hear from the police that they had recovered at least some of our stuff. I was amazed how many receipts and records I still had...one of those things that seems a pain over the years to keep but really comes in handy when you need it.

On 4-28 we turned in the insurance information. On Friday 5-1 I called the police back after finally getting the addresses of the other break ins only to be told that in one short week our case had been marked as "inactive due to lack of leads". What!? I asked who it was assigned to and they said it had never been assigned. WHAT!

In the mean time it has now been over a week since turning in all the claim information===UPDATE: as I was writing this the insurance company called and they are ready to send us a check. So far so good.

As for the burglary: What do you expect from people who live off of others? You expect them to rob and steal and be societies leaches.

No, the hardest screw is from the police...especially considering how we pay through the nose for the services. AND BEFORE YOU SAY IT'S DUE TO AN OVERWHELMING CASE LOAD---I refer you to this little gem where our city officials brag about having the lowest crime rate in 50 years...

I share Johnny's attitude towards the thieves...from both ends of society...

Dear Dr Phil...

I finally decided to spend time enjoying my favorite pastime -- bass fishing. I got my own little fishing boat and tried to get my wife to join me, but she just never liked fishing.

Finally, one day at the Bait & Tackle Shop, I got to talking to Sam, who it turned out loves bass fishing as much as I do. We quickly became fishing buddies.

As I said the wife doesn't care about fishing. She not only refuses to join us she always complains that I spend too much time fishing.

A few weeks ago Sam and I had the best fishing trip ever. Not only did I catch the most beautiful bass you've ever seen, a few minutes later Sam must have caught his twin brother! So I took a picture of Sam holding up the two nice bass that we caught and showed the picture to the wife hoping that maybe she'd get interested.

Instead she says she doesn't want me to go fishing at all anymore! And she wants me to sell the boat! I think she just doesn't like to see me enjoying myself.

What would you do? Tell the wife to forget it and continue my hobby or quit fishing and sell the boat as she insists?
Thanks.

P.S. Enclosed is a picture of Sam with the two bass we caught...