Digital Dilemma Day (or Slow As S#!t Is the New Black)…

Posted on October 22, 2013 by geelw

Bleh. One thing that cracks me the hell up is reading industry sites and speaking with some folks in the tech sector who (very) blindly and (all too) cheerfully think ALL is nothing but well when it comes to the US and the rest of the civilized world having the best and speediest internet connections so we can all happily buy those new toys and get content with the same lightning speed wherever we go. Well, Crom laughs at your four winds, digital gurus. I say the bulk of these wealthy innovators have NEVER used local wi-fi, been stuck with a dial-up connection or had any major problem they couldn’t buy their way out of by tossing that old device in the trash and buying a new one or having an employee come up with a free fix (or come up with one themselves).

I’m also betting that if some of these SUPER geniuses were to step away from their hi-tech caves they’d see the rest of us poor peons not only have crappy connections, they’re slower than Kraftwerk playing their paradoxically languid classic pop song about that famous highway with no speed limit. Granted, it’s a great and memorable tune, but some of you folks may find it supremely soporific if you were expecting something along the Blurred Lines…

(thanks, Ras Putin!)

Okay, now… hey, you in the back… WAKE UP! That’s better (I know I should have used the shorter single edit!)… Continue reading →

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Poster (Or, It’s Not Winter In April, You Know!)

Posted on October 22, 2013 by geelw

Ah ha ha, but that’s what I immediately thought when I saw that 4.4.14 release date. Ah, Hollywood… trying so hard to be clever when I’m all that much funnier than you are. Oh, you’ll learn one day, I suppose. Well, I guess releasing this in the winter might be a bad idea, as one can’t go to the cinema with eight feet of snow on the ground. On the other hand, even if they did release it and there was no snow on the ground, I currently have NO movie theater around here to go to (bough-hough!) until that nasty asbestos issue is taken care of. Hmmmm. maybe I can find someone to sue for that problem, although I haven’t been to that particular theater in ages and I’m not one for randomly suing people or getting caught up in a class action suit. Besides, I’d probably win popcorn and soda for life (which, given that’s in either these days means that “life” would be cut short by salt, fat, artificial flavors and colors galore. Yum!)…

Random Film of the Week: The Defiant Ones

Posted on October 22, 2013 by geelw

Although he doesn’t appear until about 45 minutes into the film and has about seven minutes or so of screen time total, Lon Chaney Jr. plays a pivotal role in The Defiant Ones. As Big Sam, a burly, weathered old soul who saves the escaped duo from a lynching, he delivers a powerful speech against killing the men and beats down one of the angry mob before asking anyone else to step up and try their hand at murder. Given that the guy he slugged went down like a stone wall hit by a wrecking ball, no one decides to test their luck afterwards.

Later on, he cuts the pair loose before brusquely sending them away still chained from the small waterside shack town they’d stumbled across. It’s not until the last moments the three men are together that you realize why Sam isn’t keen on seeing the men harmed (at least by his people)… a flash of his badly scarred wrist reveals he used to be a former chain gang convict. He doesn’t know or care what they’ve done to be chained to each other, but he’s giving them a better chance at survival than anyone else would have… Continue reading →