tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22440967209510985242024-03-13T10:42:48.566-07:00donath.orgctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-69913468868160356422014-02-05T21:17:00.001-08:002014-02-05T21:17:58.883-08:00Movie: Man of Tai ChiKeanu Reeves directs, both in reality and story, the fall and redemption of the heir to a Tai Chi school. This martial art is noted as being very "soft" and meditative, and rumored as very powerful when grudgingly applied in earnest. A wealthy death match coordinator discovers and grooms him, unto facing his own consequences. Stylish and with a notable soundtrack, this comes together much better than most tales of the genre. ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-59945685705567919392014-02-03T21:23:00.001-08:002014-02-03T21:23:54.576-08:00Movie: The Numbers StationA competent, compact drama/thriller. Her job is to inform black ops agents of their missions - just transforming and relaying encrypted messages. His job is to protect her, until he's told the opposite. Everyone - that being a very small number of authoritative & violent anonymous persons - seem <i>too</i> bent on her demise. <div><br></div><div>Engaging and taut, a little retrospection questions why those unbreakable codes are cracked so fast, and the sequencing is rather cliched. The happy ending doesn't want to be. </div>ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-90974391099603705582014-02-01T21:27:00.001-08:002014-02-01T21:27:17.480-08:00Movie: SafeJason Statham makes one kind of movie. This time around, the down & out yet supremely capable hero finds life's purpose in protecting a girl whom many disreputable characters seem very intent on acquiring. The McGuffin is her uncanny ability to memorize, and what she has done so with. As always, his unvarying purpose is to protect the McGuffin through extraordinary skilled violence and an uncanny ability to connect arcane knowledge of the criminal underworld to bring down the powerful who seek it. As always, the result is an entertaining and not entirely shallow slugfest. ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-58946980619298743522013-07-23T21:23:00.001-07:002013-07-23T21:23:44.557-07:00Movie & Book: Jack Reacher - One ShotJames Barr was obviously guilty of the crime. Textbook case. Jack Reacher was so mad at him he came out of nowhere to bury him - not knowing Barr had asked for him. The ex-military "man with no name" will do whatever it takes to see justice is done, finding the truth by eliminating the impossible and accepting the improbable. <div><br></div><div>Both the book and movie depict this popcorn thriller in textbook fashion. Not deep, but enough so to be engaging. Of course they differ, but only as a matter of allotted time, settings, and actors (imagined vs, well, Tom Cruise).</div>ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-55261276829443232862012-11-08T20:59:00.000-08:002012-11-08T20:59:10.180-08:00Movie: The HunterThere is a category of movies seldom noted: well done quality dramas which few would ever choose to watch if not for the deceptive previews. Not action, not comedy, not compelling, yet must be advertised as such for any market penetration. Good movies nobody would complain of watching, but which would not be chosen for what they are.
The Hunter, of course, is one. Superb acting depicting a moving drama, telling of a hired gun's emotional bonding with an unwitting host family and the betrayals of all involved. One action scene aside, it is anything but.
Worth watching, but hard to imagine someone knowingly choosing to. ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-30517489468587593862012-08-12T20:37:00.001-07:002012-08-12T20:37:56.671-07:00Movie: From Paris With LoveJohn Travolta likes playing over the top sociopaths. <br />
Waaaaaay too much. ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-35247137119987595392012-08-12T20:36:00.001-07:002012-08-12T20:36:09.518-07:00Movie: Assassination GamesJean Claude Van Damme returns for his most cerebral role yet: an assassin teaming up with another to take down a drug cartel. The reasons are deep and moving, insofar as a hard hearted loner can have deep and moving reasons. JCVD has abandoned his drug-fueled violent dance extravaganzas and moved on to gritty dramas - and by gritty I mean akin to a breakfast of asphalt. If you liked <I>Se7en</I> or <I>Girl with the Dragon Tattoo</I> you'll want to see this; if not, don't. ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-86332096156989971642012-08-12T20:26:00.001-07:002012-08-12T20:26:42.006-07:00Movie: BlitzPlot. Yes, there is one. A serial killer is murdering cops, and Jason Statham ends up in the middle of stopping him. <br />
<br />
The aforementioned key: Jason Statham. Playing his standard big-bucks role of a chaotic good character kicking any ass getting in his way toward doling out street justice via a job that conveniently places him there. ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-2586588885095552322012-08-12T20:17:00.001-07:002012-08-12T20:17:44.990-07:00Movie: Sliding DoorsOne tiny event, something as simple as who moves out of whose way while going down stairs, can make all the difference. With <I>Sliding Doors</I> we get to see both timelines. This romantic comedy gives us twice the lack of romance and twice the lack of comedy for the same set of mundane characters dealing with the same basic set of uninteresting mistakes. <br />
<br />
One of Pixar's rules of story writing amounts to: it's ok to set up the plot with a coincidence, but not to resolve it with one. This movie elaborates on that: especially to wedge in a happy ending where there isn't one. <br />
<br />
Gwenneth Paltrow does a fine job with what role she's given. It paid her bills. ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-65253879992654169842012-06-15T07:49:00.001-07:002012-06-15T07:49:20.303-07:00Movie: M:I-3It's an action movie. Big budget. No complaints. <br />
<br />
Oh, and it has a passing resemblance to a 1960's hit TV show. ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-10002480964940313242012-06-15T07:34:00.001-07:002012-06-15T07:34:36.094-07:00Observation: How Much Computer for $2400In 1981 we paid $2400 for an IBM PC with specs 0.0047GHz CPU, 0.000016GB RAM, audio tape storage (no floppy drive, hard drive unheard of, flash storage unimaginable), 320x200 graphics, and no monitor. We upgraded storage to 0.00016GB floppies soon after.<br />
<br />
31 years later people are whining about the expense of $2400 for a descendant computer sporting 489x faster clock speed (x4, it's a quad-core)(never mind how much more done per clock cycle), 1,000,000x the RAM, 1,600,000x the upgraded storage, 81x the pixels, 65,535x the colors, monitor, and similar connectivity improvements - all in a box the volume of the first computer's keyboard. <br />
<br />
If you take inflation into account, the cost of that original PC equates to 2.5 "retina" MacBook Pros today. For a third of the work you get a million times the computer. ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-20785733165974868562012-05-15T18:39:00.001-07:002012-05-15T18:42:21.133-07:00Movie: The VowRight to the point: <br />
The happy couple, not long married, are out for a pleasant evening. They're hit by a truck. He recovers. She forgets him and their life. The rest is his struggle to win her love again, while others take advantage to turn her history the way it didn't go the first time. <br />
<br />
A pleasant date movie, this story is well done, enjoyable, and predictable. And turns out it's true. <br />
<br />
What to do when she forgets the last five years, returns to the past, and heads down the path everyone thought she would the first time? Why didn't she continue that way the first time? What could possibly persuade her to change course - again - the same improbable way? Intriguing questions with compelling answers. <br />
<br />
How he could, should, and does handle this agonizing rewind is thought provoking. She is his <I>wife</I>, he is an utter <I>stranger</I>, and the pursuit & avoidance of intimacies amid trust and lack thereof makes for aching drama. The proof of their past is irrefutable, but the compulsion to repeat it is a mystery. <br />
<br />
Methinks this movie is underrated. It excels at its goal at the exclusion of the wow-bang-shiny we're so used to, making it look so easy we miss the profundity of the human drama it tells.ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-17945119994111000372012-04-29T12:09:00.001-07:002012-04-29T12:09:11.478-07:00Movie: The ProposalThe Proposal is the quintessential romantic comedy: two people having every reason to avoid each other are thrust together by improbable circumstances, despite their best efforts are compelled to learn wondrous facts about each other, and just as circumstances conspire to separate them one makes a heroic act to save and secure their love just as the other is leaving forever. <br />
<br />
The situation is contrived, the embarrassing jokes compulsory, the plot predictable, the big reveal compelling, the supporting cast goofy, and it's all worth seeing again in a "have you seen..." pinch. <br />
<br />
Oh, particulars? A boss-from-he11 executive needs an excuse to prolong an expired visa, so she (!) obligates the long-suffering loyal assistant to play fiancé. You can guess the rest. ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-54582523135125626702012-02-24T10:30:00.001-08:002012-02-24T10:30:58.163-08:00Global Climate Change - In Context<img src="http://Donath.org/Photos/TempChange.PNG"><br />
<br />
Climate changes. Cope.<br />
<br />
ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/icecore/antarctica/vostok/deutnat.txt <br />
ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/anomalies/annual.land_ocean.90S.90N.df_1901-2000mean.dat<br />
ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-78659024902445663552012-01-18T19:51:00.001-08:002012-01-18T19:51:18.022-08:00Book: After AmericaMark Steyn captures, in one easy amusing tome, everything that Right-leaning pundits complain is wrong with this country. Great summary, great insights - read it, then put it down and decide how you're going to fight back against the insanity of the polypragmonocracy (government by busybodies). And fight you will, as the current trajectory has no pleasant ending, no matter your political persuasion. This insightful commentary either pulls together the thoughts you're trying to form, or pulls apart the delusions you hold. ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-42182023371264429802011-10-07T19:21:00.001-07:002011-10-07T19:23:06.281-07:00Rant: "Bush's Fault!"The Democrat-dominated Congress inherited the situation in 2007, and continued the domination of Congress for 4 years – the first 2 under a compliant Republican[1] president, and next 2 under a sympathetic Democrat. During that short time, and in contrast to promises to end deficit spending (by whatever means), the debt increased nearly 60%[2]. AFAIK, no substantive spending cuts have been passed by either chamber during this period. To the contrary, the only recurring & earnest deficit-reduction suggestion is “end the Bush tax cuts for the rich”; eliminating the deficit thru tax increase would require a 100% rate on all income over $200,000.
<p>
At some point the steaming bag on the desk is the current occupant’s responsibility.<br>
Especially when a second one appears during the occupancy.
<p>
1 – issued 12 vetos, half of which were resolved or overridden, the rest were not significant economic differences.<br>
2 – that’s a 60% increase in 4 years over what debt had accumulated in more than 2 centuries.ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-55684259124729843062011-09-05T17:12:00.000-07:002011-09-05T17:12:10.916-07:00Movie: The ExpendablesThis...is the biggest B-movie action movie. Ever. It has no redeeming qualities, contains relentless action, and brings in near every top-billed A- and B-list action star of our time for the gratuitous purpose of doing so. Well that was fun; what's next on my queue?ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-89319450057645707782011-08-23T06:53:00.000-07:002011-08-23T06:53:11.802-07:00Rant: Feds - cut spending NOWFederal revenue never exceeds 20% of GDP. We’re over 18% now. Doesn’t matter who you squeeze how, the feds aren’t getting more than about another 1% GDP - which is about $140B, nowhere near “enough”.<br />
<br />
Given that, the next obvious thought is to raise GDP. Start with the fact that GDP fell for the first time in ‘09, then consider that for ~15 years before that it rose at $500B/yr. At this point, just getting back to normal growth would be a remarkable accomplishment - and would net another $100B/yr annual growth in revenue, again nowhere near enough. Outer-limits SWAG is doubling long-term GDP growth, growing revenue by a still-inadequate $200B instead.<br />
<br />
So squeezing hard and stimulating fast, while munching skittles falling from rainbows whilst perched on a unicorn’s back, the best we could Hope(TM) for is $340B new revenue. Meh.<br />
<br />
Washington is spending $1500B more of our money than they're getting. For the most optimistic schemes offered, they'll still spend over a trillion dollars more than there is to, putting us and our children on the hook for not just paying off tens (hundreds?) of trillions of dollars, but making our kids pay the interest bill as well with money they'll need for other things and no reason to pay for our folly.<br />
<br />
That leaves...50% across-the-board spending cuts.<br />
<br />
Stock up & hunker down, this ain’t gonna be pretty.ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-41811482641241924642011-08-22T20:25:00.000-07:002011-08-22T20:25:30.544-07:00Movie: The Omega ManI'd like to say that this was - was - an intelligent well made movie befitting it's time, and that that time has passed and, alas, it has not aged well. I'd like to, but alas I snuck a peek just moments ago at Roger Ebert's then-current review, and find it is what it was: a well intentioned story bogged down in the ways of that age of storytelling, no less compelling today than it was then. <br />
<br />
Of late, the then-uncredited novel "I Am Legend" has been remade into a telling a bit more believable. A bit. The core difficulty with this story, aside from creating a convincing world for the protagonist and all the technology and talent needed, is getting the zombies right. Heston's foes were too smart to be that stupid, and Smith's foes were too dumb to be that smart. The rest of the tale then struggles to cope with the resulting cognitive whiplash. <br />
<br />
Given the intelligence and wit of "World War Z" (movie version pending with trepidation), I'm exploring the zombie genre in hopes of finding comparable competence. Some, like "The Omega Man", are obligatory viewing in this study. Obligatory, however, does not denote worthwhile. ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-61726251427860382042011-08-01T20:59:00.000-07:002011-08-08T10:02:33.781-07:00Rant: A sponge only soaks up so muchFor 2011,<br />
· Revenue: $2.17T<br />
· Spending: $3.82T<br />
· Debt: $14.56T<br />
<br />
Assuming all else remains unchanged[1], we’d have to cut federal spending by $2.14T – that’s 56% – to eliminate the debt in 30 years.<br />
<br />
What’s that? “Increase taxes on the rich!” I hear, over and over?<br />
<br />
<blockquote>... if individuals earning more than $200,000 were taxed at a 100 percent marginal rate–and we confiscated their passports so they could not flee–the take would come to $1.27 trillion, or just 77 percent of this year’s deficit.<br />
- Arthur C. Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute</blockquote> <br />
Ok, for sake of argument, raise taxes on the “rich” to 100%[2]. Kicking ballpark numbers around, that leaves $0.41T in cuts – real cuts, not “rate of increase cuts” – in spending just to stop the deficit hemorrhaging. We need another $0.49T in cuts – real cuts – to pay off the debt in a very generous 30 years.<br />
<br />
So, ball back to the Democrats' court: going whole-hog 100% “tax the rich” nets about $1.27T, and the deficit is still out of control. <b>What $0.90T in spending cuts is the Left willing to offer?</b> This amounts to the minimum amount of spending cuts[3] we need to make now just to clean up this mess[4] over the next generation.<br />
<br />
Sure, it’s more complicated than that – but that’s the core framework to operate from. If we tax “the rich” (loosely defined) to the point of running out of other people’s money, we see the minimum steps required just to start moving in the right direction.<br />
<br />
One alternative to cutting spending is, of course, to increase revenue. But how? Consider:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>As a result of reducing taxes on the rich, the rich got much richer — so much so that they wound up paying nearly four times as much total tax (and nearly three times as much tax per rich person) as when taxes were higher.<br />
- http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/271013/folly-soaking-rich-mario-loyola#</blockquote> <br />
<blockquote>“It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now … Cutting taxes now is not to incur a budget deficit, but to achieve the more prosperous, expanding economy which can bring a budget surplus.”<br />
– John F. Kennedy, Nov. 20, 1962</blockquote> <br />
Your move.<br />
<br />
1 - note that spending, in most cases, increases faster than revenue. Therein lies the core problem: political unwillingness to spend less than revenue.<br />
2 - ignoring the agreed fact that increasing taxes on the rich slows the economy, and going to 100% would drive subsequent revenues to $0. This is reducto ad absurdum exercise in identifying how far each side is willing/capable to go.<br />
3 - that’s real cuts, not “reductions in increase”. That’s next year and ongoing from that, not “over 10 years”.<br />
4 - “this mess” is here, and continual pointing fingers years into the past at debatable causes doesn’t clean it up now.<br />
ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-29135195706220509022011-08-01T08:17:00.000-07:002011-08-08T10:03:25.951-07:00Rant: Conspiracy of OzLegend has this quote:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first woman she meets and then teams up with three complete strangers to kill again. <br />
~ Rick Polito, Marin Independent Journal's TV listing for "The Wizard of Oz"<br />
</blockquote><br />
A co-worker's retort is too good to let fade:<br />
<blockquote>I have always thought that Glinda was the real villain in the story. She could have sent Dorothy home right off the bat, but nooo- she was secretly plotting the demise of two of her world leaders- The Witch of the West and Oz. (She had already lived to see another foe destroyed, The Witch of the East.) I mean, the Witch of the West just wanted her now deceased sister’s magic shoes. Why wouldn’t she be angry when the person who just dropped a house on her sibling stole them from her? Dorothy was but an unwitting pawn in Glinda’s machinations to set up puppet governments (Scarecrow got Oz, The Tin Woodsman got Winkie Land in the east) all over the world and rule from on high in the North.<br />
</blockquote>ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-64272329314718946842011-07-29T11:12:00.000-07:002011-07-29T11:12:43.613-07:00Movies: In QueueI've posted movies I've seen.<br />
Occurs to me to post my queue of what I haven't but want to.<br />
<br />
3:10 to Yuma<br />
Cinema 16: European Short Films: Disc 2<br />
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee<br />
High Noon<br />
Scarface<br />
The Snow Walker<br />
Fires of Kuwait: IMAX<br />
Apocalypto<br />
Serial Experiments Lain: Vol.1-4<br />
Pixar Short Films: Vol. 1<br />
Samurai Jack: Season 1-4<br />
Philip Glass: Looking Glass<br />
Untraceable<br />
Hidden Fortress<br />
Throne of Blood<br />
Live Free or Die Hard<br />
Stomp: Stomp Out Loud<br />
Great Expectations<br />
Hulk<br />
Constantine<br />
Underworld<br />
Apocalypse Now / Apocalypse Now Redux<br />
Gods and Generals<br />
Dog Whisperer: Season 3<br />
Gangs of New York<br />
Cold Mountain<br />
Reformation Overview<br />
MirrorMask<br />
Dark City: Director's Cut<br />
The Kingdom<br />
Layer Cake<br />
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly<br />
Grindhouse: Death Proof<br />
Speed Racer<br />
Iron Man<br />
Strangers on a Train<br />
Chaos<br />
Mongol<br />
Déjà Vu<br />
Revenge<br />
Samurai Trilogy 1: Musashi Miyamoto<br />
Samurai Trilogy 2: Duel at Ichijoji Temple<br />
Samurai Trilogy 3: Duel at Ganryu Island<br />
Aliens vs. Predator 2<br />
The City of Lost Children<br />
Lions for Lambs<br />
Papillon<br />
Red Dawn<br />
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen<br />
Cinema 16: European Short Films: Disc 1<br />
Resident Evil: Degeneration<br />
Cinema Paradiso<br />
Dawn of the Dead<br />
Inside the Actors Studio: Robin Williams<br />
Don't Say a Word<br />
Guns, Germs and Steel<br />
The Andromeda Strain<br />
Logan's Run<br />
What Lies Beneath<br />
The Others<br />
Open Season 2<br />
Glass: Portrait in Twelve Parts<br />
Fraggle Rock: Season 1<br />
The Spirit<br />
The Postman<br />
Moby Dick<br />
The Leopard (English version)<br />
Barry Lyndon<br />
The Tale of Despereaux<br />
The International<br />
Tales of the Black Freighter / Under...<br />
The Thief of Bagdad<br />
The Thief of Bagdad: Bonus Material<br />
Bolt<br />
Kung Fu Panda<br />
Horton Hears a Who!<br />
Kiki's Delivery Service<br />
Dinosaur<br />
Brother Bear Widescreen Version<br />
75th Annual Academy Awards Short Films<br />
Pulse: Stomp Odyssey<br />
Max Payne<br />
Last Stand of the 300<br />
Future Weapons: Season 1<br />
The Ox-Bow Incident<br />
Out of the Wild: The Alaska<br />
Body of Lies<br />
Hamlet<br />
Public Enemies<br />
Rebecca<br />
My Dinner with Andre<br />
True Romance<br />
The White Countess<br />
Sherlock Holmes<br />
Snatch<br />
Robin Hood<br />
The Expendables<br />
Inception<br />
Salt<br />
Star Trek<br />
Up<br />
Defiance<br />
Red<br />
The Secret of Kells<br />
Wallace & Gromit: Loaf and Death<br />
Wallace & Gromit: Three Amazing Adventures<br />
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest<br />
The Tourist<br />
The Illusionist<br />
9<br />
Sukiyaki Western Django<br />
The King's Speech<br />
13 Assassins<br />
My Dog Tulip<br />
<br />
(This is my current Netflix DVD list. Since Netflix is raising prices by a lot, and separating DVDs from streaming into a separate cost, and most DVDs sit around an average of a month before I get to 'em, I'm copying the list here partly for my own reminding as I'll drop DVD service soon. I hope the DVD industry is paying attention to how many people are doing this.)ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-61017520336274775492011-07-18T16:53:00.000-07:002011-07-18T16:53:57.373-07:00Rant: "...but Democrats inherited this mess!"I keep hearing Leftists complain that the Democrats inherited this economic mess.<br />
<br />
The Democrat-dominated Congress inherited the situation in 2007, and continued the domination of Congress for 4 years – the first 2 under a compliant Republican[1] president, and next 2 under a sympathetic Democrat. During that short time, and in contrast to promises to end deficit spending (by whatever means), the debt increased nearly 60%[2]. AFAIK, no substantive spending cuts have been passed by either chamber during this period. To the contrary, the only recurring & earnest deficit-reduction suggestion is “end the Bush tax cuts for the rich”; eliminating the deficit thru tax increase would require a 100% rate on all income over $200,000.<br />
<br />
At some point the steaming bag on the desk is the current occupant’s responsibility.<br />
Especially when a second one appears during the occupancy.<br />
<br />
1 – issued 12 vetos, half of which were resolved or overridden, the rest were not significant economic differences.<br />
2 – that’s a 60% increase in 4 years over what debt had accumulated in more than 2 centuries.ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-49012446141332966392011-07-09T12:00:00.000-07:002011-07-09T12:37:28.214-07:00Movie: Just Go With ItBetter yet, don't. <br />The two things this romantic comedy lacks are, in large part, romance and comedy. <br /><br />Enough is injected to attract the genre label and provide cuts for a convincing trailer. The remaining runtime is devoted to setting up embarrassing situations, earned or not, and attempting to laugh at the subjects thereof; for most movies I tend to wander off for the few awkward minutes this occurs, but by starting there and never letting up I'd have been rude to the audience and to my $5 expended for the iTunes rental. <br /><br />Its hard to sympathize with the romantic leanings of a lecherous protagonist, a doctor whose patients would be wise to walk out upon his bedside manner. That the frumpy babe wants his hand may work out fine and special for her, but there are other romances for us to enjoy on screen. That the hot babe is hot guarantees she will not end this with the marital devotion her kind & patient heart deserves. <br /><br />The remaining theatrical attributes worth considering evaluate in kind. The cinematography is perfunctory: correct, but not special. Music prolific, but borrowed. Acting, gratuitous. Cast, wasted despite laudable efforts by Jennifer Aniston and Brooklyn Decker.<br /><br />It is, to wit, an Adam Sandler film.ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2244096720951098524.post-47798900997226151722011-06-13T09:01:00.000-07:002011-06-13T11:14:50.410-07:00Movie: Tron:LegacyA sequel embracing the true spirit of sequels:<br /><ul><li>bigger budget (by 10x: $170M vs. $17M)</li><li>better technology (by 10,000x: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_Law">Moore's Law</a>)</li><li>more hero (by 3x: not just one Jeff Bridges but three of 'em)</li><li>highlights redux bigger (disc battles, lightcycle races, honkin' big wierd machines)</li><li>awesome music (Walter Carlos, meet Daft Punk)</li><li>more overall spectacle (imparting "yeah, that's what I remember, but cooler!")</li><li>and...and...oh, what was that last thing...oh, right - plot (I guess that mangled heap in the corner is a plot).</li></ul><br />For geeks remembering Atari 800s and PC-selling Charlie Chaplin, a must-see return to a historical milestone.<br />For anyone else, a high-tech fireworks show - no real meaning, but still really fun to watch.ctdonathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554285472701226461noreply@blogger.com0