“No I’m afraid it was. It was witnessed and notarized by an official notary public.”

broderic on September 16, 2023

Link of the Day [9.16.23]

Adam Jones was my favorite Oriole maybe even of all time. But really it was Brooks Robinson. You see, Robinson retired in 1977 and we went to his appreciation day on September 17. Right around my birthday. Still he’s a favorite, and Adam Jones, too.

Jonesy was there for the last good Orioles team. He was definitely the heart and soul of the team. He represented Baltimore really well. He’s the best at that. Definitely, the best.

#StayHungry

https://www.mlb.com/orioles/news/adam-jones-officially-retires-as-a-baltimore-oriole

“I don’t think what Bill made you sign was legally binding.”

broderic on September 8, 2023

RIP Jimmy Buffet. He did not sing the Pina Colada song. That guy in the video did, and as you can tell, he’s no Jimmy Buffet. He’s like your high school science teacher! Anyhow, when Buffet died, I immediately thought of this song, because it is a running joke that he did not sing this song.

I don’t want to make fun of Buffet’s death. I enjoyed his laid back attitude more than his music. I am sure we will miss his leisurely pace in this frantic world. It’s 5 o’clock somewhere. Let’s get some margarita’s.

Haunted Mansion

broderic on August 31, 2023

The Haunted Mansion is my favorite Disney ride. Will its movie adaptation, Haunted Mansion, be any good? Well, my friend, it isn’t bad. It is somewhat good in its own way. It definitely is a fun, summer flick worthy of an afternoon out of the hot summer sun. I liked it. I wish we had more movies like this — mid-level films out to entertain us. Popcorn Movies!

With Hollywood being broken and only wanting to produce blockbuster films, the mid-level movies suffer. They get bloated or get more pressure to make money. Haunted Mansion isn’t any indie flick, but it shouldn’t have to have been an blockbuster. I know we needed more CG and more spectacle but Haunted Mansion could’ve worked without it. I guess it’s higher cost meant that it had to make more money, but then it didn’t. It should have.

3 of 5 stars.

Oppenheimer

broderic on August 18, 2023

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer was loud. The music was the primary culprit. Overall, the sound design was turned up to eleven. I know that if I had watched it on the IMAX theater near me it would’ve blown my eardrums out. That screen seems to believe IMAX is about the volume and not the view.

For me, they had hyped the movie as building the Bomb to drop on Japan. Except that was only for the first hour. The rest of this three hour movie was about the political posturing in the atomic age during confirmation of a cabinet member. I had know I idea that this is what this was going to be about. Certainly, it made for the more intriguing film. The early part focusing on building the Bomb didn’t seem to have much stakes to it, but the latter about the confirmation had the plot to engage me. Strange since going in I would’ve rather seen the science, but in my seat, the politics was intriguing.

Overall, cover your eyes if you watch this in an IMAX theater. While it was a good film, solid, it was not Nolan’s best.

3 of 5 stars.

Link of the Day [8.13.23]

broderic on August 13, 2023

Kottke points us to a Mastodon thread explaining why the huge size of cars (and trucks) is a bad thing.

Maybe it’s just a problem in the United States.

I was just in Europe and rented a car which would be compact in the States. It had 4 doors and fit 5 tightly. There’s a trunk and fit our luggage. It was probably smaller than my Mini Cooper.

And there was an even smaller option.

Most every one in Europe was smallish compared to the US. Small to fit the small streets of many of the towns and cities. The city streets were sized for these smaller cars. Human sized.

But anyhow, our cars are getting too big which leads to many bad things. It ruins roads quicker. It kills harder. It costs more. And somehow, we’re gonna run out of room for them: road widths, parking space widths, home widths. Just not human sized.

https://kottke.org/23/08/car-bloat-huge-cars-are-terrible-for-society

It’s The Single Life

broderic on August 12, 2023

「おひとりさま天国」, Nogizaka46’s 33rd single, to be released towards the end of the month. Let’s all have fun for the last bit of summer we have left.

I am unsure about this song. At once, it is Nogizaka, it feels Nogizaka, and the members are cute in the MV. The song to my ears sounds like a few of the other Nogizaka songs. It reminds me of スキロク from last summer. I also hear some of the Asuka/Maiyan duet or Maiyan/Ringo, both of which were off of summer releases. All I have to say about the title song is that it really is a summer single.

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One

broderic on July 28, 2023

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One is the beginning of the end. Hopefully. Not that I wouldn’t mind many more Mission Impossible movies, but I think franchise films are a bit empty. Although this series is fantastic so I think it would do some good work and stories in any subsequent film they do.

It was certainly thrilling and the stunts were impressive, but I felt the need for the second part. It can’t get here soon enough.

3 of 5 stars.

Asteroid City

broderic on July 28, 2023

Asteroid City feels to me like Wes Anderson’s Barton Fink. Completely baffling upon first watch. Perhaps it needs several in order to understand it. I know if I was to figure out what I watched I need watch it again.

It was a meta-movie. A film about a stage play. And it looked like a stage play but as a movie. It also had the entire cast of every Wes Anderson film in it, too. Except for Bill Murray. It was a family reunion.

I guess I’ll have to watch again, but this one left me cold.

3 of 5 stars.