Admission

broderic on April 8, 2013

Admission suffers the same issues as Burt Wonderstone. It’s all over the place. Is it a romantic comedy featuring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd? Is it a stab at social commetary a la Mean Girls? Is it another movie? Yes. Yes. Yes. The problem was it was marketed as a romantic comedy at first and that social commentayr comedy second. But there is also another movie there about Tina Fey’s character and her long gone son given up for adoption. If you had told me there was this movie, I would not wonder what the movie was about. It was made into 3 movies by the creators of the film and all seemed fine. They didn’t sell it that way and that made it feel lousy. The movie deserved better, because it’s better as a whole.

3 of 5 stars.

The Road Goes Ever On

broderic on April 7, 2013

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She’s hit the big 200,000 mile milestone. At close to 12 years of age, she’s still going strong. Maybe another 100,000 miles in her. She needs a better paint job for the hood and clearing the cataracts from her headlights. I think she also needs new shocks and struts.

Is she worth it?

I think I can just keep driving her the way she is now. Yet, I know she needs some fixing up to get her to the next 100K milestone. I want to keep her. She’s driving better than the Mini though even after her cooling system went on the fritz last month. She’s a strong German girl. She’ll continue. She’ll continue.

Onward to 300K!

The War Against Fat III

broderic on April 3, 2013

Fat War March

I reached my goal. It didn’t look like it until that last week and that phenomenal steep drop. No idea why, but it may be an illusion as the last day of the month it’s just right below my goal. At least I reached my goal.

It was a battle. I was also participating in Concept2’s March Madness — row 5000 meters for at least 25 days in March. I was on pace to do it too, but then I got ill the last week. (Did this illness contribute to that drop?) I came up short but I did do around 150 K this past month. That’s a lot. I also did a 15K piece on the rower; that is some serious sitting. My ass hurt afterward. Perhaps it’s getting ready for cycling.

It’s time for a reset. What’s the next goal?

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

broderic on March 30, 2013

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is a mess. It’s like a lame magic trick. You know its bad. You feel terrible watching it. And yet you keep watching hoping that there will be magic soon. The magic never appears and all you have is fake. Bad magic means a bad movie.

The mess is because the movie doesn’t know what to tone to take with the magic. Should it laugh at the practitioners? It did sometimes, but other times their earnestness came through. Olivia Wilde’s character, sadly misused, wanted to be a magician when she grew up. Same with the leads, Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi. Should it treat magic with ironic detachment similar to Blades of Glory? Maybe. It made fun of it and took magic seriously.

The major problem was Burt Wonderstone became a dick as an adult. He took to magic because when he was young because he was friendless and bullied. Yet, when we meet him as an adult he was jaded from the magic. I could not believe that change in him. He needed to find the magic again. Which was another part of the story.

Again, the movie was all over the place. Not very good. And that’s bad magic.

2 of 5 stars.

Metropolitan Baseball Nine

broderic on March 23, 2013

Metropolitan baseball nine 1882 (LOC)

Getting ready for the season? Here’s a picture from the Library of Congress of the Metropolitan Baseball Nine. I think these are the Mets of yore. They look imposing, but I’m sure they were a knock over. Same as the current Mets. Baseball is baseball.

Jovial

broderic on March 23, 2013

jovial |ˈjōvēəl|
adjective
1. cheerful and friendly
2. Bernardo D. Gonzales, Jr., M.D.

I miss him so.

Quote of the Day [3.15.13]

broderic on March 16, 2013

“Did you get the letters that I sent last summer,” you asked again and again
Well they been pilin’ up on the top shelf in my closet
Yeah, and I read them every now and then
It’s got me feelin’ kinda stuck like “What the Fuck” is goin’ on,
someone tell me what is happening
Yeah, you been actin’ like you’re too cool for far too long. It’s OK it’s just kind of embarassin’
See, I been sneakin’, I been sneakin’, I been sneakin’,
wonderin’ just what I’ll see
You turned around and stared, you squinted then you glared and I was leanin’ back in the passenger seat.

Cayucas, “High School Lover”

Link of the Day [3.15.13]

broderic on March 15, 2013

So after accepting Google shutting down Reader, you’ll have to get all your subscriptions and stuff back, right? Well at least Google will help you. Anyhow, go Argo yourself Google. That’s the last vestige of any Google application I am using (maybe except for YouTube), so good riddance.

Go get your RSS and remember to do it by July!

http://support.google.com/reader/answer/3028851So