300: Rise of an Empire TV Spots 2 and 3: Don’t Know Much About History (But I’m Not As Bad As Some)…

 
Look, as much as I love Frank Miller’s incredible graphic novel 300 and its amazing (and historically inaccurate) take on the 300 Spartans and the Battle of Thermopylae, both it and this sequel (which seems to be based on Miller’s yet to be released follow up, Xerxes) are turning some younger people into ill-informed dopes. I actually overheard a conversation a few weeks back between some kids who tried to use the film and comic to write up a report a history class and yes, they all failed. One kid tried to blame the history teacher because “He’s old and he never even read the comic OR saw the movie!” which made me dash away to laugh myself silly. Ah, you kids… always trying to find the easy way out of some hard work.

 
That said, has those meddling kids gone and watched 1962’s The 300 Spartans, they might have failed with a higher grade as their teacher was probably around to see that flick. Or maybe they should have cracked the assigned books and checked out this video instead? Hmmmm. Well, lesson learned, I hope. Yeesh – some of these kids better wise the hell up before history forgets all about them one day…

PF Flyers Won’t Make Me Faster, But I Do Feel A Lot Less Old…

PF_Flyers So, new sneakers today. Yeah, they’re SUPER retro (but not actual vintage) PF Flyers I stumbled across on eBay and as I hadn’t seen a pair of these since the 70’s, they were sold before I even got around to changing my mind. Hey, for $20 shipped I’d have gotten a few pair but I want to try these out first and see if I survive a long day on my feet (which, as luck has it… will be tomorrow).

Anyway, these are a dark blue (I thought they were black in the picture online, but no worries, blue was my second choice), made like the originals (but yes, in China) and amusingly enough, there was a tiny green cloth fortune under the left insole! It reads: ‘Sometimes A Closed Door Is The Sincerest Invitation’ and has a Chinese character underneath I should probably have translated. I guess that’s a good fortune to have (unless I’m a vampire), but I’ll see how that closed door policy works out. If I like these kicks, I’ll have to get another pair just to see if the fortune is different.

PF_Flyers (2) PF_Flyers (3)

Hmmmm… this could get bad if I end up hooked on cheap sneakers with cryptic cloth fortunes that are open to interpretation. Back in a bit. I’m going for a short walk…

A Moment Of Joyful Noise For The Banjo Man…

(Thanks, Paul Wall!) 

Farewell, good sir – you brought the world a lot of memorable music and helped folks like me broaden our horizons. I’d day today’s music scene could learn a lot from your life and its work, but I don’t want to judge too harshly. Or maybe I do, but I’m going to be silent out of respect for a good man we lost earlier this morning…

Gog.com Makes Time Travel REAL With Their Latest Sale!

 
A-ha, I KNEW IT! Of course, it wold be gog.com that discovered how to make time travel work, as they’re the KINGS of bringing us Good Old Games from the era before all this nasty DRM. Anyway, they’re doing you PC gamers a favor deluxe with their latest promotion, a DRM-Free Time Machine Sale that lets YOU choose how long a game stays up for sale (eek!) as the day creeps onward by adding or subtracting one second from each sale’s time limit. I’d actually prefer a straight up sale page over a gimmick like this, but it’s actually interesting because sod old farts like me will want certain games up longer than others so more of you kids can try them out. Anyway, go poke around on that page and check out a deal or five, I say. With classic PC games from 1983 and up going for as little as 59 cents, you may find yourself hanging out a bit longer than you thought.