Of Human Bondage

I saw Quantum of Solace two nights ago. I like the new Bond. I think Daniel Craig was an excelent choice, and I like the dark element they've introduced in the new movies.

I saw the George Lazenby movie once a long time ago, so I don't have much comment there.

I grew up with Roger Moore and really liked him as Bond as a kid... Till I grew up and saw how hokie it was..

Sean Connery I always thought of as the quintisential Bond afer I was old enough to really "get it".

Timothy Dalton barely deserves mention, and Pierce Brosnen was just a better looking version of the Roger Moore Days.

Casino Royale (2006) made Bond what Bond should be. A bad ass. I think the line that really sold it was with Vesper in Monaco.

Bond: No, sorry. You're not my type.

Vesper: Smart?

Bond: Single.

You saw how cold and calculating he could be in that one instant.

In the new movie he is nothing less than brutal. At once an unstoppable force and an imovable object.

Oh Ate, Oh Ate, Oh Ate

So true.

Stand Up

And put your hand over your heart. If you don't, and you are an American, there is something really wrong with you.

All You Need Is...

For fun, if you are watching this with someone of the opposite sex (or a group) have the girls read the girl part out loud, boys... Well, you get the idea.

Hank-erin'

Happy Birthday Hank.

Come To Past

Speaking of things that were going to happen in a future past, in 1987 (The year I graduated HS) Buck Rogers was launched into space... It seems he was supposed to hook up with hot chicks in tinfoil bikinis to a really bad power ballad.

And lest we forget, on my buddy Doc's birthday in 1999 Moon Base Alpha broke away and drifted out into space.

Oh, the things we should've seen.

Where's my Jetpack MoFo's?

Goin' Ape

The Planet of the Apes was and is one of my favorite movies. I own the box set of DVD's. Everyone remembers the movies, but who remembers the TV series? I watched it religiously when I was 5 and six. One of the coolest things was that the astronauts were going to leave earth on my eleventh birthday. Check out the ship time in the intro.

And of course there were the toys, and the commercials for the toys. I had some planet of the apes toys, but I'm not sure if these were them.

It's amazing the things that we were going to be doing with space travel by 1980.

Long Live The King

Just 3 days before my eighth birthday, I was swinging from the rail of the porch on the clubhouse Pop and his friends built for me. Not a tree house, but an eight by eight one room clubhouse with a rollaway bed a lawnchair and an old endtable.
My youngest sister was in the yard and there were a few other people standing around, but I don't remember who off the top of my head.
Ma came out and told us Elvis was dead. At the time I had no idea why this was a big deal, but I remember just the same.
Since then I've figured out why this was a big deal... The King is dead, long live The King.

Samurai Matinee

Sunday, August the 19th is my birthday. Following my more recent custom of something good for the soul in the morning, and small party in the evening I will be in an undisclosed location till around lunchtime... And then...
At 3pm at the Paramount Theater is a screening of The Seven Samurai, the 1956 Japanese precursor to The Magnificent Seven. It's an incredible black and white action feature. I am inviting all of my friends... and some folks who may not be... to come to the Paramount on Congress Ave, join me in a cocktail or ten and indulge in one of the best movies ever. I'll need volunteers to help me walk to the pub when the movie is over... And someone to pour me in a cab at the end of the night.

I Hate Cutesy Crap

Be a man...

Damnit.

I feel better now.

Hat Tip to JRB

Only In A Jeep

My sitemeter keeps showing referals of people looking for "Jeep boobs". They get sent to me due to two completely different posts... One about my Jeep, one about political boobs. Maybe this will make someone somewhere happy. It does OK for me.

I Used to Care...

I was never a big Bob Dylan fan. I kinda liked Tangled up in Blue, but bob mostly wasn't my style. This song however speaks to me. I remember sitting with some friends a long time ago, Margi said, "You are twisted." Dave looked at her and said, "No, he's actually sprained." I think these days I may be broken... Things have changed.

A worried man with a worried mind
No one in front of me and nothing behind
There's a woman on my lap and she's drinking champagne
Got white skin, got assassin's eyes
I'm looking up into the sapphire tinted skies
I'm well dressed, waiting on the last train

Standing on the gallows with my head in a noose
Any minute now I'm expecting all hell to break loose

Chorus:
People are crazy and times are strange
I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range
I used to care, but things have changed

This place ain't doing me any good
I'm in the wrong town, I should be in Hollywood
Just for a second there I thought I saw something move
Gonna take dancing lessons do the jitterbug rag
Ain't no shortcuts, gonna dress in drag
Only a fool in here would think he's got anything to prove

Lot of water under the bridge,
Lot of other stuff too
Don't get up gentlemen,
I'm only passing through

(chorus)

I've been walking forty miles of bad road
If the bible is right, the world will explode
I've been trying to get as far away from myself as I can
Some things are too hot to touch
The human mind can only stand so much
You can't win with a losing hand

Feel like falling in love with the first woman I meet
Putting her in a wheel barrow and wheeling her down the street

(chorus)

I hurt easy, I just don't show it
You can hurt someone and not even know it
The next sixty seconds could be like an eternity
Gonna get low down, gonna fly high
All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie
I'm in love with a woman who don't even appeal to me

Mr. Jinx and Miss Lucy, they jumped in the lake
I'm not that eager to make a mistake

(chorus)

Sunday Morning Zen

I hate to get up early, but nowadays it seems like I feel like crap if I sleep late. So, this morning I got up and pulled a towel out of the dryer and headed for the shower. I turned the dryer on "touch up" while I was in there.
After my morning toiletries I came back to the dryer for fresh clothes. (why use or wear folded stuff when all my clothes look alike anyway?)
This next bit falls under TMI, but for years I didn't wear underwear. I don't have a really good reason, but tighty whiteys were not my style and boxers bunched up on my once svelt lower torso. I was a commando man to the core. In my youthful arrogance (as opposed to the arrogance I have now) I suppose I thought I didn't have time for such frivolities as undergarments.
These days I like the feel of a good pair of Haynes boxer-briefs. I like Haynes because they use really soft, strong cotton and they print their info right on the brief... Which means no tags.
Anyway... I headed to the dryer, which was just finishing its tumbling, where I pulled on a clean, warm pair of boxer-briefs, a clean, warm cotton t-shirt and a clean, warm pair of levis.
Ahhhhh...
I am now wandering about my silent house, soon to turn on some Sunday morning bluegrass... And about fifteen minutes from a breakfast of fresh eggs and a home grown tomato from the farm next door.
I'd love to offer you some breakfast, but how about some bluegrass... About motorcycles and redheads... Sigh...

On Hold

Sorry. Life has taken a firm grip on my short and curleys once again. I will be posting again soon. In the meantime please enjoy some "on hold" music. The Girl From Ipanema is classic elevator music... The banjo... Well, who knew.

I'm In, Baby!

In The Know: Our Troops In Iraq

Valentines II

I can't believe I forgot to post this yesterday.

65 Years

When I meet WWII veterans, I always say, "My father was at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed." When I was young, I didn't really understand the connotations of that. I knew it gave me a symbolance of commonality with someone around 50 years my senior. As I got older, and started to learn about the general brutality of the world around me, I thought I understood a little more. The heart wrenching fear of an unexpected attack. With life experiences, my knowledge grew. I learned about war, and death, and violence. On Sept 11, 2001, it was opened up to me how little I really understood, regardless how much I knew. 65 years ago this morning, My father awoke to an air-raid siren, and was shown how little he understood. My father spent his life trying to show his family what he learned, to prepare us for life. He never forgot what he learned that day. I'll try not to either.

World War Toon

I have several reasons for posting this particular cartoon...

1) According to my mother, Grandpa Hill loved Popeye. I rarely talk about my Ma's side of the family, so, there you go.

2) It's Pearl Harbor day. Something about the Japanese and WWII should be in here.

3) It struck me a poignant that Popeye was signing a peace treaty when they attacked him. Maybe we should remember that in the current war.

4) I like cartoons.

DISCLAIMER: If I, in any way, offended anyone with this blatantly racist and vicious cartoon, I would like to apologize now... I am truly sorry that you are a dumbass. Really.

Red Hot

Inspiration is everything.

Hot Hot Hot

Someone was disparaging my esteemed Pirates for Appalachian State. This is all I have to say about that.

Buncha Hippies.