Best New Movie Poster of the Week

(Official movie poster for upcoming movie  
The Rum Diary.)

 

WHY THIS POSTER IS GREAT!:

*The film's title spelled out ingeniously with booze bottles.

***

Boardwalk Empire Scalping

There were so many awesome moments during last night's episode of Boardwalk Empire.  The best part though, is Nucky getting his power back.  Pretty scary for Jimmy and his pals.  Here are some of the great things that happened:

-Eli and Nucky get into a fight.  Eli begs for Nucky's help.  I felt so bad once he started crying, and I thought for sure that Nucky would accept him back into the fold.  Then Nucky pretty much tells him to go screw himself.  They get into a fist-fight and Eli tries to grab his gun, but then Margaret shows up with a shotgun and tells Eli to leave.  Nucky yells at her and says that the next time she points a gun at a person to make sure it is loaded.

-Jimmy pays a visit to his investors and when he mocks the really old, rich guy's chipped beef, the old bastard whacks him in the head with his cane, leaving Jimmy with a nasty cut on his forehead.  These rich guys are not too happy that the Commodore is out of commission and they really do not like the idea of Jimmy running things.

-Richard takes a little side trip out to the forest, where he plans to kill himself.  Then a dog comes and takes his mouth.  He chases after the dog and runs into a few hunters.  He joins their camp, eats some squirrel and gets a lesson on life.  The one guy informs him that this forest is for hunting, for living, not for other things.  He seemed to know what Richard planned.

-Then George shows up at Eli's house (Eli might be a little bit drunk) and decides to berate Eli about the Commodore.  Eli becomes frustrated and grabs a giant wrench and hits George in the throat.  George collapses and Eli then crushes his skull with the wrench.  His deputy shows up and they get rid of the body.  I am not going to lie, when he hit George with the wrench, it was pretty unexpected.

-Richard goes to see Jimmy, to basically ask him a question:  would Jimmy go to war for him.  Jimmy responds that he would be by his side down to the last bullet.  Richard agrees to help Jimmy out.  They pay a visit to the old bastard who hit Jimmy.  The guy brags about being in the Army when they defeated the Sioux and seeing 20 men take down 2000 screaming savages.  Jimmy and Richard grab him and Richard proceeds to scalp the prick.  Jesus...it was pretty gruesome and detailed.

the red shoes

Brief book review: Joe Haldeman's The Forever War

I've been catching up on some cyberpunk classics this fall, but I also finally got my hands on Joe Haldeman's Forever War.

The Forever War is one of the classic works of military science fiction, but with the distinction that the author served in Vietnam as a combat engineer. It's that experience that lends strong verisimilitude to much of the story, especially to anyone who's ever been involved with a real-life military organization. Also thankfully absent is the macho chest-pounding that is so disgustingly prevalent in the genre, especially in its more ludicrous offerings.

There's an afterword by Peter F. Hamilton, where he says:

Unlike a lot of books written in the early seventies, he's managed to create a functioning universe and human society which has barely dated. Yes, the actual dates are wrong. We didn't have interstellar ships in the mid-nineties (shame!). But anyone picking this up fresh today would be hard pressed to know that it was written long before the internet, mobile phones and iPods were in existence.

I liked the book, but we have to call bullshit on this one. Parts of the novel haven't aged that well, such as the emphasis on sex and sexuality, and there is an expansive section set on Earth that serves its dramatic purpose excellently, but falls apart under critical scrutiny. While it does an excellent job of conveying the alienation soldiers feel on returning to civilian life, the details of the dystopic world Haldeman depicts just don't hold water. Also, exactly contrary to what Hamilton says, it's painfully obvious at times that Forever War was written before the information revolution.

While it's often depicted as a Vietnam war analogy, which it in some sense is, The Forever War is first and foremost a great novel. I was steeling myself for the possibility that it would be Space Vietnam, with Space Cav troopers flying into a space jungle in space helicopters, but the Forever War is proper science fiction, not just an analogy in space. It should be required reading for anyone interested in science fiction.

It's a Miracle! For Idiots...

My friend Pam posted this on facebook the other day and I had to make a funny comment (at least it was funny in my head). 



My comment was "is that the guy from Person of Interest?"  I know, I am hilarious...

People are acting like this is a miracle.  It is not.  Trust me.  The guy is a talented artist, and he probably practiced this for months (there are multiple videos of him doing the exact same thing).  Also, if this is miracle, then your god has a sense of humor:

NFL Week Seven Pick 'Em

I only went 6-7 last week and dropped to 41-44 on the season.  I am now in 11th place.  There are a few of these that I am pretty unsure about and I might change before Sunday.

The two biggest conflicts I have are Tampa Bay/Chicago and Detroit/Atlanta.  I seriously keep flipping both of them.

Happy birthday Jessica Michibata!

I can't believe we've neglected the devastatingly cute Jessica Michibata, a beautiful Japanese model and girlfriend of F1 world champ Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE.

It's her birthday today, so it seems like a good time to correct our mistake.

Happy birthday!