Not safe for work - but look at the size of that thing! Maybe Rasputin was popular with the Tsarina for a reason.

I wanted to put out a quick review for the last Tom Cruise product “The Last Samurai” which I watched last week on Per-Per-View.

The movie was gorgeous, fabulous costuming, amazing location shots, it looked very nice, once you got past that it was all very familiar.

Let me explain…

A recap of the plot: A Civil War hero named Nathan (Tom Cruise), is hired by the Japanese emperor to train h is royal troops to help get rid of the traditional Samuari because the emperor is fascinated by the west and wants to move his country more modern and the Sword totin’ Samaurai are so last week.

Nathan, one of the only men to survive Custer, is riddled with the mental scars of war and suffering flashbacks of his campaigns of killing entire indian villages goes to Japan and is a egotistic ass training the cowering young solider in modern warfare.

Stuff happens, he gets captured in battle by the Samurai who for some reason decide to make him a POW and pull him back to Samurai-town so the lead Samurai can study “thier enemy”.

OK, as to be expected the lead guy has a very hot daughter who has a kid and who’s husband (and the kid’s father) was killed in the last battle - by Nathan. And of course the kid falls for Nathan and hot widow Mom is bitter but of course does fall for him as well by the end.

Nathan then learns the samurai ways and fights at their side in the penultimate battle, which he’s the only survivor.

It’s all about him “Going native” as it were. learning the ways, and of course finding himself in the process.

Now, while watching it I could not help but notice it’s a Japanese Dances with Wolves (which we all know the plot of). But also definitely resembling some of Tom Selleck’s Mr Baseball - a movie about a washed up American ball player recruited to the Japanese leagues. His ego is worn down by a hard nosed Japanese coach who teaches him how to think japanese and improve his play and his life. The coach also has a hot daughter who falls for him and vice versa, and in the end finds himself and ends up a better man and player.

Sound familiar? The two movies mentioned above are better than this one. Go rent them instead, or better yet wait till they air on TNT or TBS again.

I recently joined a FreeCycle local mailing list on Yahoogroups.

The idea behind freecycle is that you have things that are worth something, but dont want to deal with trying to sell, you offer them on freecyle and others on the list will greatfully take them of your hands, usually same day.

For instance, We just today picked up a steel pick up truck ladder rack/overhead hauling frame made exactly for the make/model of truck we have. Mr Man is quite pleased today as all he had to do was drive to the guys house and pick it up. Free. It’s even timely as he is doping gutters and lent his 21 foot ladder to his brother and it’s it’s too long to put in the truck when collapsed. It won’t live on there full time, just when he needs it I’ll prolly serve as a modern backyard sculpture the rest of the time.

It’s a good idea, and for the most part the mail has been offers of items with wante ads much less in volume - at least until a big article came out in the newspaper last week and 500 whiny needy moochers came out of the woodwork.

The last four days have been nothing but outrageous wanted ads for high ticket items; Pianos, truck, specific vintage muscle cars, digital cameras (one person has asked several times for this one)…

One guy has especially big dreams, now mind you these are things he wants people to give him for free: “looking for 20 to 25 ft boats in good condition (never sunk)” and “wanted: tickets to bristol motor speedway - stock car racing”. Riiiight. Don’t we all. Why not just ask for gold bars or extraneous diamond jewelry? A Jaguar? A monkey?

One person today was begging for chairs and couches “for our furniture ministry”, now I know they probably meant “future ministry” but of course I couldn’t help but shoot out an email back to the list:

Good, because those heathen Ottomans and lustful Boudoir tables need ministering to, you betcha. (Wonder if they will get the part about heathen Ottomans…

Anyway all this begging just ticks me off, but not enough to leave the list yet since it’s still early into the influx of grabby whiners to see if it’s something that will get better.

Addendum: Some schmuck just asked for Beige floormats for her LEXUS. She has a Lexus and can’t afford floormats? Gimme a break.

DO NOT listen to this song in a place you can’t hear the F-word many times across computer speakers, or use headphones - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Eric Idle - The FCC Song

COLOR IN MOTION - you must check out every feature, age and toy.

Amazing flash work. If you love design, this will make you feel worthless.

Let’s embarrass Travis! and Vlad!

And This one is embarrassing to me since I got all the questions right: Dog toy or Sex toy?
So, I buy ALOT of dog toys, is that okay? Geesh.

It’s #1 in theaters right now.

We went and saw it today, and have to say it’s very very compelling. Now I have liked Moore since he was on TV on NBC.

There are those of you say you won’t see it ‘it’s full of lies’, it’s left wing propganda…

It’s not - at least not entirely.

Moore has the facts, he shows you them, he makes the connections then he leads you headfirst weaving your way through the money-infused web of GWB. It’s shocking to see how much in the back pocket he is of the Saudi’s, the Corporations he has connections to. Really. Just mindblowing how crooked and interconnected all this is.

I mean I’m sitting here and I don’t even think I can break it down simply, other than to say the Binladin family, the Saudi royals, Unocal, Halliburton, Carlyle Group aka United Defense, and a few others yank those the puppet strings so hard GWB must have a wedgie 24/7.

All those wacko “pentavarate” theories we all laugh at don’t seem so wacko right now and certainly come to mind, at least where GWB is concerned.

Now, fairly, It’s not without opinion mind you, but you can tell opinion from fact.

The facts have it up there for you to read, or is during an interview with someone who knows. The opinion is snide, pointed jokes or comments overdubbed over a scene of GWB being a class A dumtard, or moronic twit over words or just looking sneaky. It’s actuallypretty easy to seperate “Fact” from “Moore”.

The way he handled the 9/11 towers footage was extremely well done, you don’t need to see it, we’ve all seen it you have it burned in your brain, as you stare at teh black screen and HEAR it you can see it as clearly as if it was on celluloid. If you don’t shed a tear at that sequence you are inhuman.

There are also some very very funny moments, all politically charged mind you but know that going in. You can’t help but laugh at Ashcroft especially. (And who really likes him anyway? Not the folks who elected a dead guy instead of him just before Bush appointed him to the cabinet. Can ya feel the love?)

I have to say after seeing it that if you are sure at this point you are voting for GWB, you need to see this film. You can really skip out of the last hour which is almost all Iraqi war related. If nothing else you need to see the first half with all the web weaving and learn who is behind the chair.

If you see it and can still stomach pulling the lever for him in November - go or it.

The 2004 awards are up.

Winners: Apple (won several), Crown (who I used to work for) Birkenstock (who I wear daily) and hundreds of others. It’s cool to look at all the categories and see some stuff that hasn’t hit the market, or is concept designs. Be sure to check out all the pages.

I won one a Gold IDEA in 1998, btw, in packaging & graphics for a user manual when I worked for Crown. (That year isn’t online anymore - poo!)

I hope that day is today when they intial returns on Fahrenheit 9/11 nationwide opening begin to click in.

That’s why I want to go today. I want my eight bucks in that total, it’s like my pre-vote. And once those numbers come out, he’ll be running scared from here on out folks…

Some interesting stories from the Washington Post today:
[Login: jen@verybigdesign.com -- Pass: blog]

Review: Not since “The Passion of the Christ” has a movie from outside the Hollywood mainstream made a review so superfluous. By orchestrating a hype campaign every bit as finely tuned as Mel Gibson’s, filmmaker Michael Moore has made “Fahrenheit 9/11″ required viewing, not just for the thousands of like-minded activists who have vowed to make the documentary a box office hit this weekend, but for anyone who wants to be culturally literate….

Review: “FAHRENHEIT 9/11,” is a guided missile aimed directly at the presidency of George W. Bush., just four months ahead of the national election. Its political purpose is unequivocal. But here’s the part that matters: Its trajectory is guided with pinpoint accuracy. With an ironic narrative that takes us from the Florida debacle that decided the 2000 presidential election to the political nettling aftermath of war in Iraq, “Fahrenheit 9/11″ sagely uses the public record, the facts and the president’s goofiest statements and on-camera performances to score its points…

Article: Buzz Around Moore’s Movie May Be Able to Shake the Election

And possibly even more importantly today, witness the emmense powers of the suprme court and their strive for “justice”, and our presidency’s strive to cover butt…

The Supreme Court ordered a federal appeals court yesterday to give Vice President Cheney another chance to shield the internal workings of the 2001 energy policy task force he headed, all but ensuring that none of its alleged
contacts with industry lobbyists will be aired before the November elections…

Permission to withold the truth when it’s most neeeded. Nice.

Cinci tops the nation in people leaving town.

Gee, go wonder! I know we purposefully told the real estate agent we would not move to Hamilton County with all their messed up city councils and astounding property taxes to buy 2 stadiums for billionaires.

Anyway, this study linked above was on the news and one of the things they said could help was a “slogan” for Cincinnati, since there wasn’t one.

Yeah right, a catchy slogan would have had me in the big town, right. So here’s my suggestions:

Cincinnati - Not all of us are uptight right wing prudes, okay, maybe we are.

Cincinnati - Caving in to sports franchises for 100 years!

Cincinnati - Carl Lindner’s bitch

Cincinnati - Prick us and we bleed Dawn Dishing Liquid.

Cincinnati - A Thriving Downtown, or Else, damn it!

Cincinnati - Proctor&Gambletown USA.

Cincinnati - Sorry about Jerry Springer.

Cincinnati - All roads to fun and adventure lead to Kentucky

Cincinnati - Columbus’s trashy step-sister

Cincinnati - Home of the Crappiest Chili

Cincinnati - Yes, Virginia, there is a Dr Johnny Fever…

Cincinnati - It’s Sin Sin Nasty!

Especially not this one who is Selling Son’s Beloved Play Station 2 For Punishment!

What a punk ass.

Now, that said, it was proly good he drank that Dom Perignon, and I’ll tell you why even though I don’t drink wine, (when I do I tend to prefer German Rieslings) I have an ulcer and just never came from a drinking family, but I know some serious wine snobs and I pick up stuff as I go along.

1: Champagne is not something you age. It’s the exception to the wine rule, you want “fresh” champagne. It doesn’t age well.

However that said, 1995 seems to have been some sort of banner award winning year, and Dom does seem to have a longer shelf life, and it does appear to be more or less worth the money they claim - but in Arkanas money (where this auction is from) it’s only worth about two cases of Bud But I digress, let’s move on…

2: Storing a $120 bottle of DP in the refrigerator? Oh for shame. That not only way too cold but not the way you should store a bottle.

Wrong angle, wrong temp, ten years old almost… it probably tasted nasty which is why there was some left.

If someone gives you a bottle of champagne, drink it - don’t save it. No event will ever measure up to what you have it saved for in your mind, unless it’s a month or so away. Just crack that puppy open the next weekend and have fun. Everyday is a holiday, right?

(BTW: cooking seafood in some champagne is goooood. We did that a few weeks ago with some scallops. Cook with some, drink the rest…. mmm)

So, I am watching the Today Show this morning, (not something I usually watch mind you, but I didn’t feel like watching the same news over and over.) and they have an segment on female sexuality and how it differs from males.

They have an author on and actually show his book and and Matt Lauer explains that the “title is so racy” that they had to mask it with a red ribbon on the screen.

So, I got the authors name off screen and head to Amazon and lo and behold found the book right off. Thinking, wow, that title must be really something sordid I was a little confused to see the title was:

She Comes First : The Thinking Man’s Guide to Pleasuring a Woman

Are they kidding me? THAT is so racy they had to hide that? Excuse me? Sure there is a double entendre in the title, but nothing BAD. Hell, the pictures of fruit on the book cover are more suggestive than the title!

The FCC thought police/Janet Nippleson’s backlash crap has gone too far.

Geeze, the Olsen twins grow up so creepy middle aged men ever where have to find new jail bait to lust after. Fictional magical jailbait.

As a SCIFI con-er I feel the need to apologize on behalf of the scifi fantasy fans as a whole.

The Official Countdown Site to Hermione’s 18th Birthday

I just love the picture of himself there, I have to wonder what corner of his mom’s basement that is in.

I’ve posted before on my feelings on the Harry potter thing - not gonna read it, not gonna watch it, it’s for kids…

The gun that fired it has been found.

Dunno if you’ve heard, but last week the US “supreme” court passed a ruling that now makes it illegal to not truthfully disclose your name and identity whenever asked by police.

This means, you can be walking to lunch during work, be stopped by a cop demanding your identity, for any or no reason at all. You can be lawfully arrested for failing or refusing to do so.

This has always been the case for driving, you are required to show your driver’s ID when requested when stopped. Driving is a priviledge, not a right. Basiclly if you are anywhere, even in your home, and a cop comes up and demands identification, you have to present it. End of story.

Of course I’m sure this will be attributed to “homeland security” somehow.

On the radio today I heard the first victim. A 16 year old in Alabama is in jail for 2 years. He was walking home, after a party, had been drinking - underage of course, and becasue he gave the cops a fake name he gets two years for Forgery (all things) because when stopped he gave the cops a fake name (how many 16 years olds haven’t lied about thier name when in trouble?)

Ok so today I’m hearing AGAIN about Clinton’s new book (which I won’t link, I think we all know where Amazon or Borders is), and in this interview he says something about Hilary kicking him out of the bedroom and him sleeping on the couch in the oval office during all the Monica Lewinsky garbage’s first days.

Now, excuse me, but am I wrong in remembering the White house has alot of other bedrooms? (I know it has 132 rooms) You always hear about people staying in the Lincoln Bedroom and other such guestrooms. If the white house HAS extra beds, why would he sleep on a couch in the oval office?

I’m betting it’s the bulletproof walls.

You just know Hilary was packing during all that.

Put the US Constitution on your iPod.

Might come in handy to be able to recite it when facing off protesters at the movie theatre, to inform them the movie is truly within the constitutional rights, and technically they are not.

this auction for a bridesmaid’s dress is hilarious just for the photos. (I have to wonder if the dress was for this wedding though.)

Maybe this guy should buy the dress and cut it into easy dispensable squares.

This parody commerical is hilairous. (My personal favorite part is the Arc of the Covenant acessory part. LOL!)

Of course, due to high site demand and server needs the Jesus in the commercial is for sale on ebay.

Watch this and you won’t need to go see I, Robot.