Reel Lines, Audience Participation

Watch the video, and in comments leave the title of the next movie in the countdown. So if the last one named was #98, you name #97. Don't skip ahead, do it in order, don't go from #50 to #14. Only one turn at a time. If you name #97, you can't go again until #95. Don't name 5 movies in one comment. I'd love to see all 100 named... Even if I only have 3 readers taking turns. I'm sure you guys won't let me down. I bet my fellow bloggers out there will be a help in garnering participation. (Hint, hint)

I'll start the whole thing off...

#100: Night of the Living Dead

Your turn.

(For the record I got 73 up front, without cheating)

Reel Lines (38)

Buttercup: We'll never survive.

Westley: Nonsense. You're only saying that because no one ever has.

Sunday Ink #44

I went out last night for a glass of bourbon or two last night, and stopped off at this hip happenin' joint on east 6th not too far from the casa. The clientele was remarkably uninked for Austin, but the waitress... Ah, the petite little doll with the short black hair... And artwork on her shoulder. This is "C". The language is Turkish. The translation (I hope I got this right, it was a long day and I was drinking 114 proof single barrel bourbon) is "Have a cup of tea" or "Would you like a cup of tea" She also had ink on the inside of one of her biceps. I think hidden ink like that is incredibly sexy, so in defference to that I left it unphotographed.

Kindle The Flame

Fahrenheit 451 has reached the electronic age. A friend of mine recently purchased a Kindle book reader. Basically it's a wireless device that can be used to download entire books as well as periodicals like the Wall Street Journal and read them off of a computer screen. Much handier than carrying an armload of books to a restaurant or on a plane etc. These things are not cheap, although the books you can buy for them can be.

Right after she got it she proudly showed it off to me. Her very first book purchase? Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged for $1.99. I had to admit it was pretty cool.

Just the other day she called me pretty upset. Atlas Shrugged was no longer on her Kindle. Amazon had pulled it and refunded her money... Without notifying her in advance.

Their excuse? It was a faulty file and that book will no longer be available. I opened it up when I was examining her Kindle and it seemed to work just fine. Granted I didn't read the whole thing while sitting in a restaurant with her, but it seemed OK.

Atlas is a rather conservative book. A book whose sales jumped dramatically with the results of the last election. She called conspiracy theory, and she is very level headed and not wont to go off on black helicopter rants or anything. I thought it was strange, and a little disturbing that they could take it back with out telling her and agreed to write this post. Imagine you were to turn on your computer and some recently purchased and installed software was just gone, and the company who provided it refunded your money, without advance notification or explanation until you called them. Disturbing.

Well, this story has taken a left hand turn:

Fox News online this morning had a story. The headline? "Orwell's '1984' and 'Animal Farm' Deleted From Kindles" Click for the story.

That's right. Deleted, money refunded with no advanced warning.

Amazon's story? Pirated copies. The publisher's story? No returned call.

Both of these Orwellian tales are very spooky to me in these times of political and social turmoil. As a student of history, I know how dictatorships take over. Read Animal Farm for God's sake... While you can still find a hard copy. Can't do it on a Kindle.

"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?" - George Orwell, Animal Farm, Ch. 5

Only In A...

Man, oh man, oh man...
I want one of these.

Please?

Dear Santa...

Ya Think?

It seems they are now making oral hygiene products specifically for people like me...

A Sunday Ink Link

This past Saturday I was perusing the the blogs I am want to read on a regular basis and I saw something familiar... Too familiar... "Saturday Ink" over at the esteemed Blog d'Elisson.

"Saturday Ink", I thought to myself, "Surely I'm seeing things."

In fact I was not seeing things, at least not things that weren't actually there. No, the intrepid Elisson himself captured a photo of some really beautiful skin art whilst on safari in another state (of the union, can't speak for his state of mind).

Elisson started his blog a year before I started mine, and he was the influence that started me down the path to the 100 word stories. The fact that I was in any way responsible for this makes me very happy.

I've been meaning to ask him if SWMBO was nearby when he decided to snap this shot... Hmmmm...

Sunday Ink #43

Sorry for the delay... Work has been insane and I've not been paying attention to my Sunday Ink studies... That being said, meet "K" a little blond slip of a thing, I saw a glimpse of her tattoo in the space between her oh so short cutoffs and her t-shirt. I asked her if she wanted to be a Sunday Ink girl and she said yes without missing a beat... Welcome to the show, babe.

Sunday Ink #42

This is "M"... She's an absolute cutie and a sweetheart of a waitress at one of the Irish pubs on 6th street here in Austin. This is a fresh pic... In fact I was late posting today because I only took this picture last night around 10 pm. I really like the combination of the triquetra and the shamrock and the shading is really nice. Sometimes the smallest ones can be the most beautiful.

When In Rome, A 100 Word Story

It’s 2009 by the Julian calendar and the Roman Empire is complete. Well maintained roads circle all the known earth and pax romana is kept by the legions.
We were settling in to watch the weekly gladiator bouts on our telescreens when there was a news announcement. Caeser and Emperor Agustus Arelius had died of a massive coronary and left no heir.
Luckily the corporation Pomum had created a database of the greatest emperors' words and thoughts over the last twenty centuries.
With a new user friendly touch screen interface they have introduced the latest in world rule…
The iClaudius.

Four On The Floor

Four years I've been doing this. I've thought about quitting a few times. That's probably not going to happen. I'd do this even if I had no readers... Which in and of itself is questionable these days.
All I have to say is, "If you're still here, Thank you... You've been a wonderful audience."