Blaze

March 12th, 2010

Quickie book review…

Blaze by Richard Bachman: So here’s the deal. Stevie says he wrote this in the Bachman days, then filed it away and forgot about it.  He pulled it out of the box, cleaned it up and published it a few years ago.  Hence the “Richard Bachman” name.  I think he actually has the original manuscript, so this isn’t just another Regulators, it’s RB for real.

The story is about a guy named Clayton Blaisdell, Jr. who’s father threw him down the stairs too many times when he was a kid and he’s a little “slow” as the result. As an adult, he’s a full-time criminal with a kidnapping plot on his mind. The story is half flashback and half real time.

The good: It’s only 260 pages, which is unheard of for a King novel published after 1980. It’s also quick, fun, and chalk-full of suspense. If you’ve never read any “non-supernatual” King, this is a good example of what he is capable of.

The bad: This was the most depressing book I’ve ever read. There wasn’t a single scene where I felt like things were looking up and everything would be okay. Even when things were going good for the character, you knew it wouldn’t turn out well.

Closing: If you’re a Stephen King completist, you have to read this. If you’re looking for a quick, action filled crime drama, read it. If you’re looking for a feel-good novel to make you love life… stay far away from it. Me? Without sounding too sappy, I have to say that going back to King is just like talking to a good friend that I haven’t seen in a long time. After all these years, he’s still the best. While you read it, even when you know that dread is just around the corner, you still have that shit-eating grin on your face, ’cause you’re reading something that is just so damned well-written. Next: Wizard and Glass. God help me.

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Capricorn One

March 8th, 2010

Quickie movie review…

Capricorn One: Astronauts on the way to Mars are pulled out of their shuttle in the final seconds before lift-off.  Then NASA fakes a Mars landing.  Enter the cover-up.  I know what you’re thinking; why would Jason want to watch something like that?

The Good:  Awesome story!  It’s also got pretty decent action for a movie from the seventies.  But come on, could something like this really happen?  Nah… (Subliminal web link: Click here!)  It’s got Sam Waterson (aka Jack McCoy from Law & Order) as one of the astronauts, which is cool.  O. J. Simpson, who you may recognize as Nordberg from the Naked Gun trilogy, is also one of the astronauts.  Whatever happened to him, anyhow? 

The Bad:  It is two hours long and came out in 1977, so you can expect a few slow parts and it’s a little dated at times.  It’s also kind of hard to take Elliot Gould seriously as an action hero.  But he smokes cigarettes in the movie, which is a big no-no in Hollywood now, so that does make him a de facto bad-ass.  Also, the last 20 seconds are filmed so stupidly, it almost ruins the movie.

Closing:  Watch it.  It will make you think, and you’ll have fun doing so.  I don’t want to spoil the rattlesnake scene, so all I’ll say is that that part alone makes it totally worth spending two hours on.  This is one of the few movies out there that really should be remade with today’s technology.

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Money

March 4th, 2010

Here’s a quote from a speech by Francisco d’Anconia in Atlas Shrugged.  Awesome, awesome, awesome and more awesome!

     “To the glory of mankind, there was, for the first and only time in history, a country of money – and I have no higher, more reverent tribute to pay to America, for this means: a country of reason, justice, freedom, production, achievement. For the first time, man’s mind and money were set free, and there were no fortunes-by-conquest, but only fortunes-by-work, and instead of swordsmen and slaves, there appeared the real maker of wealth, the greatest worker, the highest type of human being – the self-made man – the American industrialist.

      “If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose – because it contains all the others – the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to make money’. No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity – to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted, or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality.

      “Yet these were the words for which Americans were denounced by the rotted cultures of the looters’ continents. Now the looters’ credo has brought you to regard your proudest achievements as a hallmark of shame, your prosperity as guilt, your greatest men, the industrialists, as blackguards, and your magnificent factories as the product and property of muscular labor, the labor of whip-driven slaves, like the pyramids of Egypt. The rotter who simpers that he sees no difference between the power of the dollar and the power of the whip, ought to learn the difference on his own hide – as, I think, he will.

      “Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns – or dollars. Take your choice – there is no other – and your time is running out.”

Read the entire speech here: http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=1826

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Paranormal Activity

February 27th, 2010

Quickie movie review…

Paranormal Activity:  This girl thinks that she’s been haunted by a ghost for most of her life.  The same ghost followed her when she moved in with her boyfriend.  They hear weird noises, so out comes the digital camcorder.  It’s like Blair Witch Project, but indoors.

The Good: I got a couple of cheap scares watching it.  The acting wasn’t bad at all for a $15,000 indy film.  I know it’s not everybody’s thing, but I really like the camcorder effect movies, like Cloverfield and BWP.  It’s a bonus that this one wasn’t as shaky as some of the other ones. 

The Bad:  Without spoiling anything, the ending sucked.  The alternate ending on the DVD was slightly better.  Also, the guy didn’t act scared enough.  If I was in his place, it would look like I sat on a brownie.  I didn’t get very scared, though.  Maybe it would have been a lot scarier if I put up the right atmosphere, like watching it in the basement at night instead of in the living room during the day. 

Closing:  Mildly recommended.  The movie is less than 90 minutes long so it’s worth watching.   I suppose it’s a good idea to leave the lights on while you watch it, too.

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Zombieland

February 27th, 2010

Quickie movie review…

Zombieland:  It’s a typical zombie outbreak survival movie, where the country (maybe world) is taken over by flesh-eating zombies, and a few survivors find each other to travel the land looking for safety… and twinkies.

The Good:  I hate Michael Cera and much to my delight, he’s not in this movie.  Jesse Eisenberg seems to be playing the role of Cera at times, but it’s not that bad.  There’s a ton of funny parts and if you like kick-ass zombie killing action, this is the movie for you.  I was a little scared that Woody Harrelson would be annoying, because I’m not a big fan of his, but he was great, and his character was just outright likable.  Without spoiling too much, BM’s cameo is pretty freaking awesome as well.

The Bad: I hate Michael Cera to the point that I can’t even watch arrested development anymore.  So, while watching this movie, just keep saying “Jesse Eisenberg is NOT Michael Cera,” and you’ll get through it.

Closing:  See this movie!  Zombie movies are always fun, but as far as zombie comedies go, this is even better than Shaun of the Dead.

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Robin Hood

February 24th, 2010

Here’s an excerpt from Atlas Shrugged that I think everyone should read and ponder.

“I’m after a man whom I want to destroy. He died many centuries ago, but until the last trace of him is wiped out of men’s minds, we will not have a decent world to live in.”

“What man?”

“Robin Hood.”

“He was the man who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. Well, I’m the man who robs from the poor and gives to the rich – or, to be exact, the man who robs the thieving poor and gives back to the productive rich.”

“This is the horror which Robin Hood immortalized as an ideal of righteousness. It is said that he fought against the looting rulers and returned the loot to those who had been robbed, but that is not the meaning of the legend which has survived. He is remembered, not as a champion of property, but as a champion of need, not as a defender of the robbed, but as a provider of the poor. He is held to be the first man who assumed a halo of virtue by practicing charity with wealth which he did not own, by giving away goods which he had not produced, by making others pay for the luxury of his pity. He is the man who became the symbol of the idea that need, not achievement, is the source of rights, that we don’t have to produce, only to want, that the earned does not belong to us, but the unearned does….Until men learn that of all human symbols, Robin Hood is the most immoral and the most contemptible, there will be no justice on earth and no way for mankind to survive.” – Ragnar Danneskjold

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Ron Paul at CPAC 2010

February 21st, 2010

This was just amazing. Dr. Awesome won the straw poll for 2012 this year, too. I only wish he was younger.

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The Celestine Prophecy

February 21st, 2010

Quickie book review…

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield: The book was fiction, but it was used to set up the author’s new age philosophy which was pretty much a blend of a fictitious ancient Mayan religion, Buddhism, Christianity, and a bunch of New Age hocus-pocus.  Interesting at times, but also pretty cheesy and unrealistic at times.  I believe that there are actually people who practice its philosophy now.

The Good:  It was a very short book, less than 250 pages.  Most of the book was dialogue and action, so it was also a really quick read.  Some of the concepts introduced were interesting.  The reasoning behind the way people interact and try to control each other was a focal point in the book.

The Bad: This was one of the most poorly written books I’ve ever read.  The characters were one-dimensional and I just didn’t care what happened to them.  If you read it, keep track of how many times one character “hesitates for a moment” or “looks closely” at another character.  I would be willing to bet money that those two phrases were used a hundred times each.  It read like self-published fiction.

Closing: Not entirely terrible, but not recommended, unless you have a thing for adverbs.

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Michael Savage Says Sarah Palin Is Unelectable: “She’s Like Dolly Parton”

February 18th, 2010

Finally one AM radio conserative gets it.

In a mostly overlooked radio broadcast from late last week, mega-popular conservative host Michael Savage railed against conservatives supporting Sarah Palin for president in 2012. “I know more about it than the stupid Republican party does,” he explained. “If they run Palin, it’s over; Obama will be a term two-er,” said Savage. “She’s not electable as president. She’s not the right person — we need a business man.”

“Are you crazy? Are you out of your damn minds?” Savage asked at the suggestion that he keep quiet about Palin lest he alienate his base of listeners. “She reminds me of a country western singer,” he said, admitting her heart is in the right place, but reiterating that she is unqualified. “She’s like Dolly Parton in her early days,” Savage insisted. “Please don’t do this to us!” he begged. “Don’t Obama-cize these guys,” he continued, referring to both Palin and the recent upstart Scott Brown. “It’s too early.”

http://www.mediaite.com/online/michael-savage-says-sarah-palin-is-unelectable-shes-like-dolly-parton/

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Making the switch to WordPress

February 17th, 2010

I just switched to WordPress, as blogger was really starting to get annoying.  So the hope is that I’ll start posting more in the traditional blog sense, while still messing around with some newer templates and such. 

Feedback is welcome at webmaster @ themeofabsence.com.

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