Entries from April 2006 ↓

As anyone reading this probably knows, I am not a big fan of United93. In fact, I am downright appalled by the movie. As much as I was hoping that news and negative hype about the movie would stop it in its tracks, apparently it ahs not.

Turns out, in fact, that it is getting stellar reviews after its premiere last night in New York. This morning on my way to work, the new ad on the radio for it listed a number of quotes from notable media outlets calling it the best movie of the year and other crazy things.

Is United93 seriously the best movie of the year? Or are people just too scared to say that it sucks? I never plan to find out as I refuse to see it, but I have a prediction to make:

UNITED93 WILL WIN AN OSCAR FOR BEST PICTURE. GUARANTEED.

My related prediction is that the families of the United Flight 93 crash victims will be invited to the Oscars to watch the film sweep the awards. The exploitation of the victims of 9/11 and the government’s lies will never end. This is really sad.

On the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, I thought it appropriate to share a few interesting websites that I have been checking out. I must admit, I have not paid much attention to the Chernobyl incident in the past, but these websites are quite interesting indeed. I’m not going to say much about it, as these sites speak for themselves. Read, and enjoy (as much as something like this can be enjoyed, that is).

• National Geographic - Inside Chernobyl
• Chernobyl.info

Hello there! Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve posted a blog. Yes, I have missed you all. But I have been on Spring break, and have been too busy doing…uhhh…other things. Anyway, I return with the following.

In reviewing the news today, and trying to catch up on the many exciting events that happened in the world while I wasn’t paying attention, I came across this article:

“Actor in 9/11 Film Denied Access Into US”

Shocking? I think not. I recall recently having a conversation with my wife about how the little-known actors chosen to depict the “terrorists” in the United 93 movie are basically screwed for the rest of their lives. If anyone actually sees the movie (which I hope they don’t, as discussed in my blog from a few weeks ago), the actors faces will be instantly recognizable by TSA agents, law enforcement officers, and just regular people on the street.

But oh well, right? They’re doing our country a service by honoring the supposed victims of Flight 93 (which…ahem…is the topic of a future blog).

I am very happy to report that today, April 13, 2006, I closed my first-ever real estate sale! I just got back from the escrow company to pick up the closing statement and my first commission check! :^)

The whole process of selling a condo has been very interesting indeed. Some aspects were harder than expected, some were easier than expected, and some were about what I anticipated. I am glad to have finally crossed this bridge though, and through the difficult and easy it has been pretty good overall.

The best part of it is that I have had the opportunity to meet a number of different people in the industry, and finally have a bit of a network in the real estate community. I have met title and escrow people, mortgage folks, real estate agents and brokers (no one from Windermere Real Estate yet, but plenty from C21, KW, and others) and a number of different potential buyers, all of whom have given me new insight into the industry.

I sincerely appreciate my sellers (you know who you are) for giving me this opportunity, and for tolerating my lack of experience. Now I guess the next step is to find another house to sell!

OK, check this out. My wife and I were just at Target shopping for some essentials. We picked up some Easter basket stuff (yeah yeah, I’m not religious, but who can resist Reese’s eggs and Starburst jelly beans?), some laundry detergent, some Scotch Guard, and some cat litter. The only box of Scoop Away on the shelf with 5 extra pounds of litter, I might add.

I must admit that I am quite liberal with leaving my shopping cart in different places while shoping, and maybe that is the reason for this incident. I hate trying to pilot my cart through narrow aisles, and the ensuing shopping cart demolition derby, so oftentimes I park my cart at the end of the aisle while I shop, and pilot it around the store as little as possible. Usually this works out fine, although if my cart is empty, as I used to leave it, it often gets stolen by some unscrupulous shopper. Therefore I always put at least one item in the cart as soon as I get in whatever store I am shopping in. But that’s completely besides the point.

So we’ve picked up out items, and are getting ready to head to check out and go home. We had just been browsing Easter candy, ad were discussing how excited we were about trying the Life Savers jelly beans when I noticed tha something was missing. Something BIG was missing. Our 33 pound cat litter box (33 pounds for the price of 28, I might add) was fucking missing!!

So my wife starts pushing the cart toward the pet section and I follow. We were disappointed that we were going to end up getting 28 pounds for the price of 28 pounds (like I said before, we grabbed the only 33 pound box on the shelf), but needed cat litter so gave into the lack of bargain.

The whole way back to the pet section, I mad-dogged every person piloting a shopping cart. I scrutinized every item in every cart, ready to break some cat litter stealing asshole’s head, but alas never found the perp.

When we arrived back at the cat litter section of Target, we were shocked and pleased to find our treasured 33 pound box of cat litter sitting on the shelf, waiting for us to come back and save it! “Oh happy day,” we cried! “The 5 pounds of free cat litter are ours once again!”

I honesylt have no idea what deranged individual thought it appropriate to remove the cat litter from our cart and put it back on the shelf (leaving all other items untouched), but I hope they are happy with themselves.

A couple of months ago, I attended an open audition for a new TV show that I had never heard of before. My lovely wife had heard about it on the radio, and thought it would be fun and that maybe we could make some money, so I went. Turns out it was for “Deal Or No Deal,” the new game show hosted by Howie Mandel that is sweeping the nation.

As I said, I had never seen the game show, much less heard of it, until the audition. Obviously I had no idea how insane people get on the show, and that in fact they were looking for people who are absolutely nuts and would bet the farm for a few thousand more dollars. Needless to say, I didn’t play up my crazy side like I should have, and was not picked.

Unfortunately I have become hopelessly addicted to the damn show. I watched it every night the week that they did one each night, and have been watching religiously every Monday night and some Fridays since it has been on.

When I think about it, I hate the fact that I am so excited by this completely mindless game show. I can’t quite figure out what it is about it that is so endearing to me. Is it Howie Mandel? He’s no Chuck Woolery, but he is a hell of a host and is perfect for DOND. Is it the fact that some people go home with hundreds of thousands of dollars and some go home with barely enough to afford Fathers Day gift baskets? Is it the 26 briefcase beauties? Is it the catchy guitar riff theme song? I honestly don’t know, but there’s something about the mindlessness and raw emotion that really draws me to it.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen Deal Or No Deal, I would recommend it. Especially if you like wasting an hour of every Monday and Friday night.

Over the weekend, I went to see “Inside Man.” I really enjoyed it, as did my wife and good friend Mark who joined me. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in seeing something original and exciting, but that is not the point of my post.

The point of my post is to discuss the lack of originality in Hollywood lately, and the cheap excuse that “Hollywood is out of ideas.” After seeing “Inside Man,” it is clear that Hollywood has plenty of new and original ideas. It’s a complete cop-out by the industry, trying to make excuses for weak box office revenues. Witness the stark irony:

One of the previews before “Inside Man” was for a movie called “United 93.” Yes, you guessed it. It’s about United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. I simply cannot believe that Hollywood is so out of ideas that studios have to resort to tasteless, unoriginal movies like “United 93.”

Now, don’t take this to mean that I’m against recognising the courage of those aboard the flight, but seriously, can’t we wait a few more years until the wounds have healed a bit? This is still fresh material, there are still families out there who are mourning from their losses. Maybe I’m UNAMERICAN, but seriously, this is insane.

Like I said, I am not against making movies about tragedies. “Tora! Tora! Tora!” was a great movie about Pearl Harbor, but at least they waited until 1970 to make it, 25 years after the fact. “A Night to Remember” was a great movie about the Titanic, but it was made in 1958, 51 years after the tragedy.

I hope that there is a mass boycott of “United 93,” but it will probably just end up being like “The Passion of the Christ” with parents taking their kids to witness carnage just because “it’s an important story” or just for the sake of NOT being “UNAMERICAN.”