Pacificapocalypse

We Watch Movies: WALL-E

Magnificent. Outstanding. Masterpiece. Perfect. Incredible.

These are the words I *might* use to describe WALL-E.

But I’m speechless
There are going to be many glowing reviews of this movie, and for me to even try and match the eloquence of people that actually write about movies for a living would be ludicrous.

I’ll just say that Pixar haven’t raised the bar; they’ve launched it into orbit.

Go see this movie.

Found this over on Bam! Kapow!; Ten Marvel Characters Who Need Their Own Movies.
Arguably a pretty good list; which I forwarded to Court who promptly sent back *her* picks:

I counter these 11 with my own.

Emma Frost -Interesting past, conflicted, dangerous and Hot.

Black Cat -
Ummm just hot. but no, really interesting.

Kitty Pryde -
Great character possible crossover for Emma Frost movie. (University X?) And Andy could be cast as Lockheed!

The Magneto Family (House of M style)
Pietro, Wanda, Lorna and Magneto at a holiday gathering: priceless. Pietro- “Yeah well at least my significant other isn’t a robot, and I can produce children!” Wanda- “I’m crazy I’m crazy I’m crazy I’.m crazy”  Magneto- “Why couldn’t I be sterile?”

The Rhino -
Yes that lame villain from Spider-Man, but totally do a “Falling Down” type movie about being a buster costume villain who’s done taking shit.

Spider-Man Blue -
I would like to see a period 70’s piece separate from the current collection, that almost boarders on dramady.  touching poetic, and we could see what dating a superhero is like from the chicks point of view as opposed to the refrigerator women they tend to be in cinema.

Kingpin -
Great character, very interesting and just overall amazing arc.

X-23 -
So sad, so strange, so an outlet to see Summer Glau kick ass and have razor claws!!!!!!

Mystique / Nightcrawler -
Not the watered down sex kitten version from the movies but everything from being born, to Azazel, the lesbian affairs, the murders, abandoning her children, etc etc.
Nightcrawler as a college aged romantic, not emo, but before he becomes an X-Men leader, and he gets with all the A-list mutant tail.

Inhumans -
Watching Medusa and Black Bolt make love and he not being able to utter a sound for fear of destroying the moon. Hot!
Oh and that zany cast of mutant goodness.

Psylocke
A character that has really come up and is very interesting. and she’s the twin sister of Captain Britain?
Oh yes! New Excalibur goodness!

Yes, my dear Courtenay is a comic geek of gargantuan proportions; and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Or hostile precession? San Francisco high-quality street art?

…despite the peer pressure.

Damn, I wish I’d written this - it exactly sums up why I still use Windows and will for the foreseeable future.

But really, when it comes down to it, the main reason I still use Windows is this: I’m stubborn and lazy.

And why I don’t use a Mac and probably never will:

Oh, look at me! I do graphic design! I wear woman’s jeans and hang out in coffee shops! I’m a DJ! Well good for you. My computer is not a fashion statement. It’s a computer

Which is incredibly timely as I was just talking with Mike and he could hardly contain his Prius driver like smugness as he related to me how he gave up on Windows and now is working on two Macs. Meh. Kool-Aid drinker.

via Gizmodo

I’d never thought I’d say this, but, thank you Supreme Court.

Ok here’s the deal; the definition of the 2nd Amendment has been kicked back and forth for the last century (that’s 100 years kids). The main contention has been this - does the 2nd Amendment confer an individual right or a collective right? Lemme see if I can explain.
Some people view the 2nd Amendment (hereafter referred to as 2ndA) as referring to a collective, that is the militia referenced in the actual wording of the amendment. The Army, the National Guard. In this light the ownership and use of firearms is affirmed when on duty, in the performance of your duties as part of a collective group.
Then again the opposite opinion states that the 2ndA refers to the individual’s right to keep and bear arms, and that you do not need to be part of an organized militia, Army or National Guard, in order to legally own firearms.

That’s it. Pretty simply stuff but no court in this great country of ours has decided what exactly is the correct definition.
Until now.
Today the Supreme Court adopted the individual rights view, affirming District of Columbia v. Heller in a 5-4 decision.

This decision by the Supremes will have a ripple effect throughout the country for a very long time; individual cities bans against firearms ownership such as San Francisco’s ill-fated attempt, Chicago’s ban and the now reversed Washington DC ban are all out the window and any future bans, city, state or federal, are in serious question.

And to clear up a common misconception, the 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution, does not give the right to own firearms (whether collectively or individually) - it simply affirms an existing right. It says nothing about bestowing a right, it simply states that the existing right “shall not be infringed.”

Right on America.

I’m a fan of brevity.
Verbosity has it’s place I speculate (yeah! Bet you never saw that one coming! Verbosity! Suck it!) but I prefer my spoken and written word to be concise. I’m always envious of writers that can with a few lines convey so much feeling and imagery. Palahniuk, I’m looking at you.  I think that’s also why I’m such a fan of children’s books; the authors sometimes have to be able to convey complex ideas and concepts, simply and briefly. My most recent favorite is a book Courtenay turned me onto: The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth. If you enjoy such things, I suggest getting a copy. It’s, well, it’s pretty amazing.

With all that being said (jeez jackass, what happened to brevity? Screw you. I also like irony. So, again, suck it!) the latest McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: Lit 101 in Three Lines or Less made me giggle.

The Lion, the Witch
and the Wardrobe

C.S. LEWIS: Finally, a utopia ruled by children and populated by talking animals.

THE WITCH: Hi, I’m a sexually mature woman of power and confidence.

C.S. LEWIS: Ah! Kill it, lion Jesus!

Heh, lion jesus.

Made the jump to Firefox 3 - I was hesitant to upgrade until I was sure my add-ons would be compatible.
Well, they are. Listed below and all work just fine.

• Adblock Plus
• Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer
• Gmail notifier
• Gmail Space
• Google Toolbar
• NoScript
• PDF Download
• PicLens
• Picnik

All working like a charm.

I love the zoo.
Yeah, yeah I know, “zoo’s are cruel” whatever Peta dude, go suck down some organic Humus and let me get my zoo on. So last Saturday, we took a little day trip to the San Francisco Zoo. It was hotter than the hinges of hell and there was no way we were going to stay indoors. We still had Kaitlin with us and she couldn’t remember if she’d ever been before (the 12 year old female mind is…  a mystery of Bermuda Triangle proportions.)
I dig the Africa Savanna scene with the Giraffes, Zebra, Lesser AND Greater Kudu. Come on man! Baby Giraffes are awesome. The ginourmous Silverback Gorilla and all the primates. The birds and reptiles. I like the Tapirs and the big Black Swan. I dig the Penguins and the petting zoo with all the farm critters. I love them all.
The Zoo gets a bad rap I think. Yes, ok, I agree, the 1930’s architecture of some of the paddocks are horrific when compared to modern standards, but the new habitats are so much better and they never seem to stop improving. Ok, the whole ‘Death by Christmas Tiger‘ thing was pretty bad for the tiger and the guy that was killed (though in retrospect the two other guys involved come off as world class douchbags.) but I still think the Zoo serves a grand purpose - to allow people and families to see and learn about these animals that they might never otherwise get the chance. Besides. they *did* save those two bear cubs that were up for destruction, and got a nifty new Grizzly bear habitat out of it as well.
So all you naysayers can go fish.
It’s all happening at the zoo.

More pictures here.

Via Esquire.com:

The first thing they teach kids is that there’s a God — an invisible man in the sky who is watching what they do and who is displeased with some of it. There’s no mystery why they start that with kids, because if you can get someone to believe that, you can add on anything you want.

Really going to miss that cranky fucker.

An ex-co-worker and aspiring writer friend of mine, Chelsea Lin, stated this morning on her Facebook status that:

Liz Phair will make your eardrums bleed. Is ‘eardrums’ one word or two?

Which of course provoked me into the following exchange:

Me: Liz Phair topped out with “Exile in Guyville”… but what do I know? I was only there when the album (black, vinyl, lots of little lines - hole in the middle) was released.
You should listen to a little Polly Jane Harvey or Cat Power.
And get off my lawn you damn kids!

Chelsea: so she was performing only “exile in guyville” last night at the fillmore (i was covering it for spin.com) and i was not impressed… sacrilege, i know.

Me: “Not impressed”
Bah. Your prematurely jaded opinion is tiresome.
Next thing you’ll deny that the 80’s were, without a doubt, the crowning decade of human existence and the pinnacle of cultural and societal achievement.

And so Court and I got to talking; what exactly DID happen to Liz Phair?
“Guyville” was brilliant. Where did that brilliance go and why?
Court opines:

I don’t think (Chris) is talking about “exile in guyville” as being her best material, it’s more along the line of, Liz Phair was at her best at the time she wrote the album and her overall presences at that time. When that album debuted in 93′ she was willing to fully embrace her sound. I would say her second album, Whip-smart she maintained a similar sound but the influence from her Matador label-mates was far to obvious. With the move to Capital Records and her decent into commercial music success, the new glamorized shiny Liz’s sound comes off as vapid and indistinct. Now while she may, as you say make your eardrums bleed, it’s not because of raw passion or even a desire to perform… more likely its a production assistant turning a mic on to an obligatory 11. In short Liz Phair is dead. Lets hope for a resurgence of music not first filtered the digitized, then synthesized into catchy tunes for automobile, energy drink or tampon advertisements.

Brutal. I love it.