Dean's World

That should be "What's more boogie and so on...

But I do like cats.
We've been feeding a stray feral male for about 7 years. I just pet him for the second time ever - a good scratch behind the ears.

Now who doesn't like that?

2 days ago, a learned commenter wrote:

11/17/73 -- Nixon: "I am not a crook"

8/9/74 -- Nixon resigns

8/27/07 -- Craig: "I am not gay"

9/6/07 -- Craig resigns

First rule in life: If you're not X, you wouldn't have to deny it so vociferously.

On Drudge: GOP Officials: Craig to Resign Saturday

I think said learned commentator should at least win some kinda prize or sumptin:)

Good Labor Day weekend to all

HankB

errr...the Beer Hunter guy

My first blog post.

A wise observation.

Along with John Edwards, I hate BMW's and the people who drive them.

Don't we all...


On the Efficiency, Efficacy, and Edification of Being Alone


This past week I was on vacation and I went out and got some movies. One of the films I saw was Blades of Glory. Now few things make me laugh like an effeminate man, and Jon Heder's character was gallopingly peacocky good. I laughed til I thought I was gonna puke watching some of his fancy pants scenes. I mean the guy is really, really funny to me, and he's as good in this film as he was in Napoleon Dynamite (I own that film), and a coupla times even better. To make the thing even better one of my best friends looks just like Heder, or did when he was younger anyways, and in Napoleon Dynamite Heder looked like a cross between two old High School buddies a'mine. So I've been ragging my friend mercilessly about how people will mistake him for a faggot once this film gets out and more people see it. (Around here a faggot is not a homosexual but an effeminate guy. A girly man. As a matter of fact neither character in the film is homosexual, a real stretch for a film about ice skating, though they sure do play it close to the line. Anyway my friend can't stand to be thought of as effeminate cause he's an artist. Course he can't help being an artist, he was born that way. He's not effeminate though, hell, he ain't even clean most of the time, don't even really get very close, but still I tease him about being girly. Cause I know it aggravates him. But aside from the being clean part and the lack of effemi-nancy the resemblance to Heder in this film is uncanny. So I ride him pretty hard about it.) I tell him I can see strangers running up to us and saying breathlessly, "Say, aren't you that blonde sissy-Mary chick in Blades of Glory?" And then I'll say, "Yeah Alice, why don't you squirt around the floor a coupla times squealin' like a rabid squirrel and show your new lady friends your best ice-capades." He'll appreciate all the attention.

Will Ferrell is excellent in this film too. He's really a very talented comic. Blades of Glory is kinda like Zoolander (another film I own) on ice. Ferrell was fanatically funny as Mugatu or whatever his name was in Zoolander and if you've never seen it and you like that kinda humor then I recommend it. I laughed til I nearly vomited out my toenails first time I saw that film. Blades of Glory has a deleted scene called the Blades of Glory Song in which Ferrell and Heder sing this song together. That song should have definitely been kept in the film. It made me laugh. I don't know shine-ola bout ice skating, and it's hard for me to imagine it as some kinda sport, but all In all I recommend Blades of Glory if you wanna good laugh. The costumes alone are worth the admission price. Don't know how in the world it scored a PG-13 though, I would have rated it an R at least cause of the language and all the sexual innuendo, which is a big part of the humor. So I wouldn't let my young kids eyeball it. But it pretty much rocked. 8 outta 10.

The other film I saw was a terrifically interesting Western. Some blurb write up said it was the best Western since Unforgiven. It wasn't that, not even close, Open Range is a much better Western overall. But the film was good, no doubt about it. It was called Seraphim Falls. You know ten years ago I wouldn't have liked a Western like this cause I considered the high era of the American West to be a totally separate age to say, the Civil War, or the Mountain and Frontiersmen era of Boone and Crockett. But I spent some time studying the entire sweep of European settling history of America and over time I've come to realize that the French and Indian War, the MidWest Settling, the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Frontier's and Mountain Man Age, Gone to Texas, the various Injun Wars, all of these things were not really separate ages at all. They were more like stages in the same movement. Of which the settling of the Desert and Deep West was just the tail end of the same process. One interesting thing about the film is that it is about an ex-Confederate (played by Liam Neeson) and an ex-Yankee (played by Pierce Bronson) who have a personal grudge. As a matter of fact the entire film is about their grudge. At one time I would have objected to a Mick and a Brit playing Americans in a Western but having carefully studied the Civil War era and the settling of the West it was extremely common for immigrants to serve in both armies, and for immigrants to move West and settle. The movement West and the Civil War and related events helped finally create a distinctly unique kind of American, but those Americans often started out as first or second generation immigrants. It was the country that made Americans of all those mixed Mongrels and so I thought it was a very nice touch to take foreigners and make them Americans running West, because people moving West, philosophically speaking, very often end up Americans whether they know it or not, no matter what their misfortunate accident of birth. And that's the good thing about this nation. No matter from where you hail, if you really wanna, you can become an American. The country will do that for ya, if you're willing to let it.

Anywho the film reminded me a lot of the old spaghetti Westerns in that the plot was not really what it was about at all, but there was a sub-story where all the water was really being carried. It some ways it reminded me of Once Upon a Time in the West (maybe the bets Western I've ever seen), but in some ways it was more of a straight-forward Western like Appaloosa. It was kinda peculiar though, especially the ending. Two things that struck me as really odd though was why the Yankee kept running instead of laying ambush when he had the chance (he was a damn fine killer after all), and he had a coupla real good opportunities. And why both characters kept riding their horses to death. In that kinda country and in those circumstances I can't imagine ever riding my horse to the ground. Better to walk em and avoid pursuit than just keep riding em down like that. It made no sense at all, then again, it was only a film. Nevertheless I recommend it. 8 of 10.

Well, since I'm here tonight by myself I gotta coupla projects to work.
Evening ladies and gents.

Happy No-Labor Day

Hank,

I vote that you win the entire month of August, the worst month of the year, to re-live over again.

Now who is was Senator Craig ? Wasn't he a don't ask to tell guy ?

So here's my Friday night contribution to solving world problems. None other than Paper Lilies, my secret agent.

Cheers

McK

Damn, Rune! You might have just taken top honors for the worst music video ever posted here!

Summer ended 3 weeks ago around here. Worst August ever since I moved to Maine - so cold.
You midwesterners kept all that global warming to yourselves.