Next is a Terrible Book

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I just have to get this off my chest. I recently finished Michael Crichton’s latest book Next and am pissed that i wasted my time on it.

You would think this would be a book for me – i know i did and i actually bought it for myself for Christmas – as I’m a big fan of Crichton and love thinking about catastrophic genetic sceanrios (previous post i wrote on the subject). But i have to say that this is one of his worst books. The only reason i made it through to the end is because the look at genetic engineering and the moral, ethical and legal mess it creates is pretty interesting. The story and characters (both human and animals) totally suck though.

Crichton’s a smart guy and the premise to his books are really good. I just think he’s become too shallow in his character development. I think his older stuff is better and really love his memoir, Travels. If you have time, you should pick it up – he’s a strange guy and it’s a good read.

 

Do Dogs Really Need This?

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Just when you thought the ways to pamper your dog had reached its peak, there’s more. You can now get doggie beer. That’s right, beer made especially for dogs. It’s called Happy Tail Ale at www.beerfordogs.com. A description of the ale:

Non-alcoholic and non-carbonated, Happy Tail Ale is the ultimate liquid refreshment for your best friend. Our beer is made in a real brewery and starts with artesian water and choice malted barley. Brewed in 500-gallon copper kettles, Happy Tail Ale also features all-natural beef drippings (no by-products or chemicals!). Plus, it’s fortified with Glucosamine and Vitamin E!

Seems completely idiotic to me, plus it’s over 2 bucks a bottle which it outrageous. Next up, doggie AA meetings in the park.

MPL's Oscar Predictions

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I know i’m a day late on this, but here goes. My predictions and hopes for the Oscars this year:

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Leonardo DiCaprio in “Blood Diamond”
Ryan Gosling in “Half Nelson”
Peter O’Toole in “Venus”
Will Smith in “The Pursuit of Happyness”
Forest Whitaker in “The Last King of Scotland”

MY PICK: Ryan Gosling – WINNER: Forest Whitaker

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Alan Arkin in “Little Miss Sunshine”
Jackie Earle Haley in “Little Children”
Djimon Hounsou in “Blood Diamond”
Eddie Murphy in “Dreamgirls”
Mark Wahlberg in “The Departed”

MY PICK & WINNER: Eddie Murphy

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Penelope Cruz in “Volver”
Judi Dench in “Notes on a Scandal”
Helen Mirren in “The Queen”
Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada”
Kate Winslet in “Little Children”

MY PICK & WINNER: Helen Mirren

The big picks are available after the jump

Continue reading “MPL's Oscar Predictions” →

Nice Playground…for Bears

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Some people build swimming pools in their back yards. But outdoor pools in Alaska just won’t work as it’s too cold and dark for 1/2 the year.  There is a particular family that lives on the outskirts of Anchorage. They decided to build a sturdy, colorful playground for their 3 and 4 year old sons, with smooth-stone gravel all around it to avoid knee scrapes and other injuries. They finished building it on Saturday evening, and the following morning, as the mom was about to wake up the boys and have them go out to play in their new play center, this is what she saw from the upstairs window:

2 more photos after the link: Continue reading “Nice Playground…for Bears” →

Good Advice

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“And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But you must do this in a gentle and respectful way.” (1 Peter 3:15-16)

Nerd Alert! (Halo and Battlestar Galactica)

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I found these two updates today on the glorious world wide web. You know that tubular place known as the Information Superhighway. Anyway…

Here’s a guy who developed his own Halo suite similar to that worn by Master Chief. It cost him around $15k and 2 years of his life, but it’s all worth it when you can walk around like that. The suit is protective from all bullets and explosives (and of course, women). It’s already been tested and blocked an elephant guy. You can pick one up for about 2 grand. Here’s the link.  For some reason this guy wanted to see how durable the suit was and drove all the way down the East coast sitting on his armor protected ass and claimed to be completely comfortable the entire time.   Now, only if he could reproduce Katana, i’d be happy.

The other item of note is that they’re making a film of Battlestar Galactica.  I just finished season 1 of this show and i think it’s great. Apparently the 2nd and 3rd seasons are some of the best around.  The film, which will feature all the same cast and crew as the TV show and will bridge the gap between the show’s third and fourth seasons. If you know who these guys are, it’s being produced Ron Moore and David Eick. This is all from an interview with these guys in the Chicago Tribune.

Stephen King & Experiencing Something Real

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In Newsweek this week, there’s an article by the horror writer Stephen King. I’ve always like Mr. King, especially his non-horror writings. In Newsweek, he lists things he wants to happen before he dies. They are:

  1. To live to see George W. Bush tried for crimes against humanity.
  2. To fly in space – orbital would be fine – and to write about it.
  3. To see “American Idol” canceled.

This is an interesting list. This is a list about experiencing things that are geniune and not being sold a bad of good, not about being marketed to.

Bush is a marketing act. Many politicians are like this, but Bush has taken it to another level. He repeats phrases and has his entire PR staff do nothing but parrot his statements. Like an idiotic beer commercial, Bush believes we’re morons and need to be spoken to as morons. He’s used this practice to bring us into war. He justifies everything with blanket statements like “Failure is not an option – we’ll be victorious” without addressing the fact that most people don’t even want to be involved.

Going into space would be amazing and truly “out of this world.” Humans were not meant to leave Earth and getting out of the atmosphere and looking back on the little blue ball would be a beautiful and authentic experience. This is not marketing, not hype, not based on buzz or what the blogosphere or Hozack is saying. This has nothing to do with what society wants us to desire like low-cutting jeans, an iPod or Beyonce – this is just something that is objectively awesome.

American Idol is a fascinating show. It is promoted in every nook of America. It takes regular people, makes them sing popular songs on national TV, chooses the person that is most marketable (based on viewer feedback), signs them to a very restrictive contract and then promotes the hell out of them for people to buy it. It is a cash cow. It is the perfect marketing engine. But it isn’t real. These “Idols” don’t write their own stuff, they don’t acheive their own success and are really just pawns for corporate bigwigs who are looking for something to sell.

All of King’s statements make sense to me. The first is a pretty hard-hitting statement. I mean we are all upset with Iraq and Bush’s performance, but this goes beyond that. It is an attack of politics. The 3rd is attack on american culture. And the 2nd is a desire to get away from both of those to a place that is untouched and pure – at least before Fox gets there and puts up some celestial billboards.

What would your top 3 be?

TV Shows Online

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Like the genius i am, I recently unplugged my Tivo to use the plug for my cell phone charger. Well, to spare you the boring story, i ended up missing a few of my shows. I was pretty bummed. That was until i realized that now the major networks are putting many of their shows online. While The Office isn’t there, i just cruised through this week’s How I Met Your Mother and it was great.The shows and stations you can get are:

The shows and stations you can get are:

CBS (www.cbs.com/innertube): You can get 3 Lbs, How I Met Your Mother, Jericho, CSI and more (13 shows in all).

ABC (http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing): You can get 8 series in total inclusing Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Lost.

FOX (www.myspace.com/fox): 8 series are available including American Dad, Bones, Prison Break, Standoff, Talkshow with Spike Feresten.

NBC (www.nbc.com/Video/rewind): 6 series total are available including 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Identity, Las Vegas.

It’s nice that they’re online and it’s clearly done because of the presence of YouTube, iTunes, and Bit Torrent. I wish there were more shows and i wish they could be downloaded so the buffering was better. But nevertheless, it’s pretty cool that you can catch up on past episodes online.

DC Metro of the Future

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Dean posted this on his site, and i thought it was worth a re-posting.

I love mass transit. I think it makes the world a better place and makes city life more vibrant and personal. There’s nothing worse than having all a city’s residents drive around in cars – or “metal coffins” (to quote Bodhi). DC is making an effort to expand the metro to reach farther out into the burbs and make it easier to get from Bethesda to Silver Spring.

  1. The purple line will go from Silver Spring to Bethesda and make it much easier to get “across town” which right now is always a traffic nightmare
  2. The Silver line will let you get to Tysons or Dulles. If anyone’s been on 66 during rush hour, you know that this is about 10 years too late. But it is still nice
  3. They want to extend the Green line out to BWI, which would be nice, but they already have a train that goes out there. Maybe they should just increase the frequency of the train?

I would also like them to add more stops on each line, especially going out on the red line. In NY, there’s a stop every 5 blocks (1/4 mile) and in DC it is more like every mile. More stops would make it more convenient and usable. But, as always, it’s a money issue.

What would you like to see the metro do for you to use it?

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