Books!!!

I just finished reading two great books. "The System of the World" is the final book in Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle. The series covers about 50 years of war, invention, and politics from the late 1600's through 1700's. Even better is that the main characters are the ancestors of the characters in his other great book, "Cryptonomicon." He has a great writing style that I love.

The other book I just finished was "The Dante Club" which chronicles a series of fictional murders from Dante's Inferno being reenacted in the late 19th Century Boston. And who must solve the murders but Longfellow and friends who comprised the actual "Dante Club" whom aided Longfellow in his first American translation of Dante's work. It is a great mystery that holds the readers attention.

I also now must blaim Barnes and Noble for the following. They recently made their classics half-priced, which means that I have bought a ton of these things. My goal is to read them as they are actually classics. I will start Dante soon given I just read the Dante Club, but am starting with Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Grey." I have about twenty others that I will report on as I read them. As classes are starting up again soon, I will just have to see how much time I have to read.

One quick note on movies: RV was okay, but predictable. Robot Chicken from Adult Swim is absolutely hilarious! Claymation and 1980's action figures in comic sketches! Awesome!

Ripoff Movie

Alright, I saw this at Blockbuster today and could not believe this existed. I kid you not..."Snakes on a Train" Here is a link to the IMDB site for the movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0843873/

Why does crap like this get made? Snakes On A Plane I can get behind. Samuel L. Jackson, Theatre Release, ect. But this??? NO!

An update on books, that's right not movies, will be coming soon.

Brick

I took away the SFgate link and replaced it with The Onion, a much funnier source of news. I just saw the film "Brick". Excellent film. Period. A film noir set in a high school, with the characters speaking in noir language from the 40's and 50's. The characters, the mood of the film, the setting, everything was perfect. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is great as the main lead. This is a new favorite.

As for news that is bugging me...What is up with Great Britain editing old Tom and Jerry cartoons to remove smoking scenes??? Those are classics that should not be messed with. I don't understand why people instantly turn to censorship rather than teaching their children that TV is not REAL and that smoking is bad. Just don't see this as a solution.

Netflix

Yeah the subtitle comes from "Coffee and Cigarettes." A great compilation film of skits that I personally love. Worth checking out. Which brings me to my next subject...Is it possible to be addicted to Netflix??? I keep adding movies to my queue, things I have never thought of watching before and things probably not worth watching. It does make watching movies easy though. "Robot Chicken" from Adult Swim is hilarious and "Inside Man" was pretty good.

As you can tell...I like movies.

Disappointment of the Snakes

With the opening weekend of "Snakes on a Plane" I really thought we would see with all of the mass online support for the movie payoff with a big opening weekend. It's too bad. I will see it eventually, but I think the experiment of having the fans effectively advertising a film here again, just like it did last fall with "Serenity".

Squid vs. Whale

Watched the movie, The Squid and the Whale, the other day. It was good, but was not the nature film one would expect from the title. In fact the only animal involved in the film is the family cat. I really liked the film, it was surprisingly short, but the acting was excellent. I recommend people check it out.

I have another link for everyone as well. www.wheresgeorge.com Enter the the serial number on your money and track its movement around the country as other people enter the bills as well. It is fun and interesting to see how fast money moves around. I will add some more comics soon.

UPDATE:
Okay I added the comics I mentioned earlier. Dino Comics are cool, even though the pictures never change, just new text everyday. Secondly is Patches. I am new to it but it has bears, something we should all be afraid of, and several mentions to coffee. Some may say I am addicted to it, but I just really really like it. Here is one sample: http://www.hingos.com/patches/index.php?pt=031225 Enjoy!

All right here is a picture of me and my pinata friend, Tigger. Updated the links, everyone should be reading webcomics and these are two of the best. I will add more eventually. If you go to "Toothpaste for Dinner" click on the link that takes you to the author's other comic, "Married to the Sea." As for the other two links, well we all need news and the SF Chronicle is trustworthy and who doesn't like TV and Movie news/reviews?

First Post

Just started this, deciding that I needed to expand my presence on the internet. I never learned HTML, so a blog is the next best thing. Right? Well we will see. Guess the first thing I want to say is that everyone should go see "Little Miss Sunshine." Easily the best film out so far this year, and instantly within my top 5 of all time. And I love movies.