Fabulous Movie Review®

Taken

If you know me at all and/or have eavesdropped on my diatribes on international travel then you know that I have no desire to leave this country, because only bad things happen to Americans who travel abroad.

This movie is the perfect example. If you are American and you travel to Europe then more than likely you are going to be kidnapped. I can't say it any clearer. Stay home. Or if you must travel outside of our borders then go to Canada. Or Australia if you are feeling particularly adventuresome.

So, anyway, this movie is great. Besides teaching you a valuable life lesson (and that lesson is...?), it is well made, and not over the top. Liam Neeson, who I always assumed was a big man, 6' 4" 200 at least, seems small and old in Taken, is the perfect preventer.

8 out of 10 (Very, very good)

Spaceman and Troll Doll

Stay tuned.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

It's been raining for approximately 40 days and 39 nights, the temperature is barely above freezing, and the imbregnorant's dog is barking presumably because he is either cold, hungry or both. How soon until it is shot with a BB gun (not by me) to shut it up?

Riiiiight

I like the part where it says I can disconnect from the internet now because I am way over the megabyte limit on my free Juno dialup connection. That 185MB download killed me. I started it on Friday.

Ayuh

I was watching the Winnie the Pooh Christmas special the other night with my daughter and, well, I never noticed before that Pooh has a Maine accent.

G Body LS1

I was supposed to go to the DMV this morning, but instead I'm watching YouTube videos of GM G Bodies with LS1 V8s.

Monte Carlo



Cutlass



Regal (LT1, couldn't find an LS1)



Sorry, couldn't find a Grand Prix...

Fabulous Movie Review®

One of the fun things about watching spaghetti westerns is that its pretty much a crapshoot whether or not a movie is going to be good or bad. Chances are you don't know anybody who has seen it, so you never know what you are going to get. I recently got a four movie set from Netflix, four movies on one disc, two on each side, of some obscure spaghetti westerns, and I was surprised, no, astonished, no, shocked, that all four were good, almost great, movies.

Blindman

This is the movie that I actually added the four movie set to my queue to see. It's the only one of which I had heard. Surprisingly, it wasn't my favorite of the four, but it is still good. You wouldn't think that a story about a blind gunfighter would work, but it does, in a spaghetti western type of way. Most Nicolas Cage movies are less believable. Maybe all of them.

7 out of 10 (Good)

Massacre Time

Easily my favorite of the four and thats not because the others were bad, it's just that this one was so good. Starring Italy's answer to Clint Eastwood, Franco Nero, who also starred in Django, the fact that Massacre Time is not a classic and not on its own remastered DVD is mind boggling. I consider it to be at the top of the second tier of spaghetti westerns (anything not directed by Sergio Leone or starring Clint Eastwood). I will own it someday, even if I have to buy this four movie set togetit.

8.5 out of 10 (Very, very, very good)

One Dollar Too Many

A comedy caper film of sorts, with some plot twists and turns, and entertaining and carefully choreographed fist fights. A pretty good and totally unexpected movie.

6.5 out of 10 (Pretty good)

The Beast

Stars Klaus Kinski who turns up in a lot of spaghetti westerns, but unfortunately his character and all of the other characters are rather dull. It's a good story and worth seeing if you are a fan of the genre though.

6 out of 10 (Ok)

She's from Heaven, My 307, My 307, My 3...0...7

I am trying to determine what vehicles Buick made in the 70s that might have had 455s in them and then set up RSS feeds for each from craigslist.

I found an 86 Regal yesterday with a 307 V8. A 307?!, you say. Yes, that’s what I said too. I think it was an Oldsmobile motor that they used to appease the senior crowd who didn’t like V6s.

Anyway, I’ve always thought that if I had a Regal it would be really cool to put a Buick 350 into it, instead of your garden variety Chevy. So, as I often do, I started perusing the internet reading about Buick 350s, hopping them up and such, and one guy on a forum made a statement that really stood out.

If you are going to go through the trouble of rebuilding and swapping in a Buick motor, you might as well get a 455. In completely stock form it will run circles around a modified 350.

So, I don't even have a Regal yet, and I'm not saying that it's even the kind of project I have settled on, but I am curious to see if there is a 1976 Estate Wagon rusting away out there somewhere.

First Frost

I think today we had our first frost. The first that I've seen anyway. I guess that means the remainder of my flowers are going to die.

Finished putting my truck back together. Only one leak in the new brake lines that I put in. Thats not bad. Three functioning brakes is more than I have had in some of my other cars/trucks.

I started taking the front bumper off in order to repaint it, but after the 12th bolt I gave up.

I offer this picture only as proof that the project is complete as some have speculated that I am a fraud, and only pretend to fix things.

As my neighbor the inbregnorant®* would say, "Ain't she purdy?"

I also put up the last of the shutters. I still have some minor trim painting to do, the eaves above the living room windows and the front door, which I have tentatively decided to strip, stain and polyurethane, and I haven't done the back either. All of which may have to wait until spring. This picture is a little dull because I waited until 3 in the afternoon to take it. You know, at dusk. Need a new storm door, and what to do about the black lights and railings? Didn't think of that when I painted my house blue.

Here's a before picture for those of you with an extreme makeover addiction. It's actually kinda old as you can see by the for sale sign in the yard. I know that I have more recent pictures of it, but of course I couldn't find any.

I spent most of friday in my crawlspace. I'm finishing it off and making a true man cave. It's cozy in there. And quiet.

*Inbred + ignorant = inbregnorant.

Fabulous Movie Review©

Next
The list of movies that Nicolas Cage has made that are awful far outnumbers his good movies. Snake Eyes? Ghost Rider? Face Off? Con Air? But what of it really? What is an actor's legacy? They make no contribution to society. He's making money. What else matters to the vacuous narcissists in Hollywoodland? Why am I asking so many questions?

3 out of 10 (I just got dumber)

Fabulous Movie Review©

The Wrestler
Sad and depressing, but very good. You can't even recognize Mickey Rourke.

7.5 out of 10 (Very good)

Motorcycles and Food

I saw this sweet bike on my way to lunch at Ipanema

where I had the smoked gouda sandwich and sweet potato fries, which was most excellent, but

what I really loved was this Vietnamese (I think) hot chili sauce, a bottle of which I now have at my house.

Fabulous Movie Review©

Eraserhead
Piece of [insert your favorite synonym for poop here]

I couldn't even finish it. I know it was by design, but there is no music, just varying degrees of white noise, which made me anxious and uptight and annoyed. I know that was probably the point, but I have to suppress those feelings all day. Movietime© is supposed to be safe from wanting to break stuff with a blunt object.

I hated Eraserhead so much that I am giving it a 0. First time ever.

0 out of 10 (David Lynch must die)

As they say in New England: soder

IZZE Sparkling Pomegranate

Most excellent.

Fabulous Movie Review©

The Searchers
So, this is considered by many to be one of the greatest westerns of all time. It is good, but it suffers from some of the conventions of the era in which it was made.

1. Music choreographed to the movement of a horse. Come ON!
2. Bad and/or over acting. Not John Wayne of course, but his sidekick. It was freaking awful to watch at times.

6 out of 10 (OK)

Joints of Type Ball

Replacing ball joints. Oh it's like deja vu. Oh it's like deja vu.

Jealous?

It's not just ball joints either. Two brake lines rusted and sprung leaks, plus new rotors and pads. Theeeen I gotta do something about the rust on the fender...

My Beating Heart, Be Still

Swamped

I am completely swamped at work. I've spent the last month and a half completely dismantling the interface of our CRM and I have to have it released to production by Monday. Missing three days last week didn't help.

Tin Top

I love the tin top Samurais but the problem is convincing my son that its still cool even if the roof doesn't come off.

I'm Back

From the brink of death. I told you those pumpkin seeds would have serious repercussions. Three days of work and most of my weekend. Lost forever.