The Victorious Opposition

Many of the ill informed, those that think “Training Day” is accurate and shows how it really is done on the streets, may harbor some bogus ideas on what the police can and can not do, allow me to help out.

First, remember this:

In cop world, this is as good as it gets, being left alone, not being shot at, being far removed from smelly obnoxious drunks, imbibing and nourishing one’s self with the nectar of the gods. And yes, it is bad form to crack any donut jokes in our presence, despite the fact that we know every donut created by man and can give you a minute breakdown at to when the local places remove the fresh baked every day, we don’t want our noses rubbed in it. We carry PR-24’s and have the power to pretty much F__k up your entire day, so be civil.

One of the best web sites ever made has a very insightful piece on 7 bullshit police myths that everyone should be aware of, take notes.

Hollywood has never been afraid to sacrifice realism for the sake of an entertaining story. And since pretty much every movie or TV show features the police in some way, we as an audience get fed a lot of total horseshit about how the law works and how cops operate in the USA.

But as most of us are on the outside of the judicial system (for the moment) we usually don’t even realize that what we’re being told is incorrect.

It’s worse than that, blogs have done more than their fair share of spreading dis information, stuff that will empower you right into a smelly jail cell. All this stuff here is pretty accurate. Although different states have different rules, there is a uniformity since most procedures and guidelines are mandated by federal law.

Regarding #7, when dealing with physical evidence at a crime scene, it is important to understand that when somebody enters your crime scene, they are bringing stuff in that does not belong there, same with leaving, they are taking something out that might help you. This is why they try to preserve it and keep out the fire guys and the paramedics, if at all possible.

Regarding #5, I have read of certain hubris on blogs (maybe some think so here as well)  of certain people possessing the opinion that nothing good can come from talking to cops and that they will never ever saying anything to them, even when stopped. I have never understood this attitude. As the article makes clear, there are times when you are required to discourse, and if not, off you go. But there are many legitimate reasons why you would want to help, if you witness a crime or can provide material information that would help a victim. Or, if narcissism is you motto in life and you find yourself on the wrong end of an accusation, and you are innocent, by all means, blab away.  Say you are driving home from a late night business meeting,  stopped a mile from home by the cops and get pulled out the wing window by gunpoint, if your attitude is ,“I ain’t saying shit”, then you will get your car impounded and will spend the night in the slammer. But if your brain works somewhat logically and you demand to know whats going on, they will inform you that 15 minutes ago there was a liquor store robbery in the area and a guy matching your description fled the scene in a car kinda like this one. You then identify yourself, explain that you were in a business meeting, here is the address and phone number, and after a few minutes of corroboration, you are uncuffed and sent on your merry way with an apology. So let’s see, a good story to tell the wife, or a bad experience that you will remember for the rest of your life?

All of the other ones are also accurate and informative. The only quibble I would have with #2 is that Miranda will usually be read even to already arrested suspects, both to inform about the attorney being provided and if any other questions need to be asked, which is usually always the case.

I’m not going to say ,“we are here to help you”, as with government, any exertion of authority should not be taken lightly, but certain common sense things like not spitting into the wind or tugging on Superman’s cape should be re iterated from time to time. I have never ever heard anyone regale with an arrest story with a punctuation of “Good Time”.

I’m getting all this on the ancillary because I’m always in bed by 10 and can never stay up to get this stuff live. Once Conan is out of his NBC contract (any day now) he will be free to come to Fox where, you know, they actually have eyeballs watching.

For those late nighters out there, are you a Letterman guy or a Leno guy? About 10 years ago, when I was still doing shift work, I use to watch Leno every night. I always thought Letterman was a pinhead, and not funny, but maybe its an East Coast/West Coast thing.

I’m really glad that Kimmel is doing well late night. I was an aficionado of “The Man Show”. Corolla use to do a radio show that was very good, not sure what he is doing now.

For your viewing enjoyment, some Man Show flashbacks:

Aaron was a regular and did a few other skits, but Beer Kid was the best.

Another ringing endorsement for higher education.

Thrill had written a post last week about the abhorrent suckiness of 2009. Although the country suffered much worse than I did (will we ever see a balanced budget?, not in my lifetime) I can’t help help but translate the roadkill of our economy to that of the absolute chunk blowing that was movie making.

You’d think Hollywood would of dusted off their Sunday best, given their guy, the epitome of flash without substance, turned out to be the best actor of the year. But 2009 was really, I mean really bad in the drivel that was churned out in place of actual entertainment.

There was so little that grabbed me last year that 2009 was probably my worst year attendance wise for actually going to the movies. Both the Transformer sequel and the new Star Trek movie was so disappointing (Gene Rodenberry’s ghost will forever haunt those clowns for their shameless abandon of the original story line). I have not seen Avatar yet, so that might salvage some of the year. I would say the best movie I saw all year was Up (Pixar creates absolute magic, time after time) and the best comedy of the year was The Hangover (I’m not one of these guffaw types and find most of these droll and contrite, but this was real genius, and any guy who has ever cut lose at a bachelor party will get the warm fussies with flashbacks). But other than those, a good book was the only game in town.

But 2010 promises to up the ante and make up for all the crapola of last year.

Old favourites get a new look in 2010 with a raft of blockbuster releases featuring tried and tested characters.

Check out the whole article. It seems like there is something for every taste and every diversion.

A few stinkers are in there (who wants to see a jowled up wrinkly Gordon Gecko remake, Shrek 27 or Saw 32) it’s stuff like this that exposes the lazy uncreative aspect of Hollywood.

But some these look intriguing. First, two by probably the most manly of men out there. I have little patience for sissyfied dandies (the George Clooneys, Orlando Blums, Tom Cruises out there). The guys I like most portray the image of being able to hold their own in the UFC. So Sam Worthington’s Clash Of The Titans and Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood look to me like winners. Worthington is probably the new Crowe, and another Aussie (between these two and Eric Bana), they grow some badass dudes down under. I first saw Worthington in Rogue. For those that missed this one, Netflix it, it makes Jaws look like a transgendered guppy. He was also pretty good in Terminator Salvation. You can see a preview of Clash here. Liam Neeson looks a bit prissy but it might have potential. And a Crowe Robin Hood, hummmmmmm.

Iron Man 2 (with some Nick Fury mixed in) looks pretty good, but I think I’ll pass on the Footloose and Karate Kid remakes (hey, they can’t all be gems).

As an aside, I’m usually not a guy that goes out and gets the latest gadget, most of that stuff is over my head anyway, but the new Blu Ray players with wireless WiFi seems like a winner. Downloading netflix movies right to your TV thru the WiFi connection sure seems like a timesaver.

So what do you think of the new crop of movies coming out? No doubt MW can’t wait for the new Sex And The City movie (I bet his Carrie Bradshaw lunchbox is all the rave with the other animators) but any others peak your interest?

No doubt Leonidas and those 300 would of loved a moment like this.

We are constantly reminded that the commitment made by the family of the soldier is no less arduous, no less straining, and no less final. When a soldier goes off to far away lands to fight, his life back home gets put on hold, but the family endures. They not only deal with the realities of living, paying the bills, fixing the leaky roof, and getting their school work down, but the patriarch is now removed from the equation. That stabilizer which referees the family squabbles and steadies the ship when entering rocky shoals is now 7 thousand miles away, and the family copes anyway they can. But it is harder on the kids, so, when dad and the kids are reunited, mass blubbering ensues.

Read this and weep. Go ahead. It’s that season. And these surprise military homecoming tales are the definition of heartwarming.

Maj. Kevin Becar surprised his family at a Jaguars game.

OK, one more, break out the tissue.

As if the little boy telling his dad that he loved him and the tears were not effective enough, we get the emotive piano soundtrack in the background.

But here is the question, is the reunion taking a back seat to theater?

“Some people think it’s totally fine,” said Lillian Connolly, a mother of four who leads support groups for military families in Brockton, Mass. “But I recommend to families not to surprise children. The child has been without a parent for so long. The child can hold anger. You never know how they’re going to react.”

Factor in that many of these surprise reunions make the dad cool his heels for several days (time that could of been spent with his family) away from the family unit just so that the “public reunion” can play for the most audience and for the biggest impact. It is a bit disconcerting that the actual reunion is choreographed for maximum heart string pull.

Then, you have the usual suspects injecting politics into the mess, because that is what they do. Some on the left are so myopic that they can’t separate the man from the mission, the soldier from the war, that any accolades going to the warriors somehow legitimizes the war. Since this war is unnecessary, any remnants of that war, the hardships of the participants or their achievements, should be downplayed and minimized. If I thought that they would listen I would tell them that stories like this reinforces in my mind the need to bring our troops home, that the sacrifices being made at home are too great.

There are a number of short videos posted on my link, I think you will enjoy watching these.  For me, it makes the Curtis Lemay doctrine on warfare (You think long and hard about getting into any kind of military conflict, but once the decision is made, you go into it with the maximum amount of firepower and troops, so that it can be ended as expeditiously as possible) even more salient.

First off, let me just say that I like Ed Begley Jr.. He is that rare bird (unlike that carbon footprint gargantuan,  Al Gore) that walks the walk. Normally when he points a finger at you, it comes from a better place, that which is not hypocrisy. This guy could probably build a house on nothing but alfalfa sprouts and soy seeds. OK, niceties aside, what an absolute tool.

Regardless of where you stand on the issue of global warming, the stridency displayed and the hostility when being challenged, its revealing about those that have all the facts they need. And nice reference to Rush and Beck, they just can’t help themselves, can they?

The Ed Begley’s of the world are pissed off because it is people like you and me that causes dirty air, we must be controlled and regulated. It is “You people” as he so eloquently put it that is ruining it for everyone else. But a “global warming” insurance policy will mitigate some of the damage.

“Destroying the commons”, how dare you.

What’s the old saying? “Those of you that pretend to know everything are really annoying to those of us that do”, Ed is not only annoyed, he is fighting mad, and will be paying you a visit any day now.

My incandescent bulbs…......from my cold, dead hands.

H/T: BigHollywood

Check out the comment section, a few down from Rich, it is not me, although I wish I had said that.

They’re at it again (they being the media), in what has become a tradition ever since the video game was created, comes yet another controversy about them. This time the “Damien” has been identified as “Modern Warfare 2”, a game I recently purchased and am playing. Anyone who’s following the series, saw that the last version contained quite a bit of controversial material. Modern Warfare 2 is an extension of the story from the first. In the first we see a plot beginning with the protagonists’ (Americans/UK) assassination of an agent in a Middle Eastern country, to a nuclear bomb going off in another ME country, and then the plot thickens to add in the Russians which brings it full circle.

I won’t give away the entire plot of this one, I just want to discuss some of what the BBC is crying about.

The authors said they did not wish to make games less violent, instead, they wrote: “[We] call upon game producers to consequently and creatively incorporate rules of international humanitarian law and human rights into their games.”
John Walker, one of the writers on the Rock, Paper, Shotgun games blog, said: “Games really are treated in a peculiar way.”
He doubted that anyone would campaign for books to follow humanitarian laws or for James Bond to be denounced for machine gunning his way through a super villain’s underground complex.
He said the authors did not understand that gamers can distinguish between fantasy and reality.
Said Mr Walker: “For all those who mowed down citizens in Modern Warfare 2’s controversial airport level, I have the sneaking suspicion that not a great deal of them think this is lawful, nor appropriate, behaviour.”

On this, I agree. I think that these people who criticize are far too attached to political ideology, and disregard the idea that the game settings, and the virtual world are artistic depictions themselves. Take for example Modern warfare 2, and a level I have already passed.

It’s compelling imagery, but that’s where it ends for me. The game developers spared us the idea that this person is tortured, but certainly implied it. So what? Are we all so stupid as to believe that playing a game in virtual reality allows us, or can influence us to do the same in actual reality? The only point that the critics mention which is worthy of debate in my opinion, is the idea that this is done in VR, which means decisions are made. However, these are not really decisions, these are goals to be met to get to the next level. Big difference. If this were a case of morality (if that were truly the mechanics of this game) I would agree, the person should be compelled not to participate, but they aren’t. In addition, much has been said about the atrocity of war, specifically in the art world. Europe embraces quite a bit of it in their museums. Take for example Picasso, and Goya. Here. See also, here.

Certainly, i would agree that these are paintings, not virtual worlds where you can interact with and make decisions. However, the point of these paintings are to depict war in it’s most disgusting light, not some patriotic picture of George Washington valiantly leading his troops to victory. In essence, one might speculate that this is the ugly reality of war. Not maybe the truth of it, but the possibility. An artistic interpretation, if you will.

The idea that you can interact with it, doesn’t change much to me. When I was a young fossil, we had books (some might remember these) which could allow you to determine the outcome based on your decision making. In the absence of high tech visuals, they were the predecessor to the First Person Shooter. You would read, get to a point, and would need to decide your fate. It could easily have said “Akhmed is uncooperative to your investigation. If you would like to apply a car battery to his balls, and waterboard him, please turn to page 135. If you understand that this is in violation of the Geneva Conventions, and would like to arrest your counterparts for suggesting to do so, please turn to page 137.”

These games aren’t that much different. The outcome is a foregone conclusion (there were a few “sandbox” games I played that would allow complete freedom), because it’s been realized that there needs to be a closed scenario in order to get anywhere. Modern Warfare doesn’t raise flags, doesn’t invoke patriotism, and doesn’t really endorse a point of view. It simply places you into one. One which you can either play, or not play. The choice is yours.

With all of this said:

• Is this too much? Has this become a virtual world of sociopathic behavior we’re imbuing onto the next generation?
• How much of this is art? Is any of this art?
• How much merit should we give entertainment and art in socio-political commentary?
• Can people distinguish between atrocity in real life, and atrocity in the virtual world?
• Is the virtual world escapism, or is it really a precursor for the actual intentions of people?

The discourse rules apply. I’ve got some very pointed opinions about art, and its role in society. If you all can take an objective look at where art now exists in our society, it’s almost been completely removed from the idea of a painting or gallery. Many people (like me) have sought refuge in commercial art, of which the entertainment industry, retail industry, and fashion industries have usurped. Meaning, what you see now in these industries, compared to the paintings of yore, are completely parallel. We’re all doing this work to make money, some more prominent than others, but all of us have tried to advance our views with the medium we’ve been given. We care only so much about our provider as our next meal. Many artists are completely, artistically, morally, and politically driven.

Just thought I would add that.

OK, nice ruse. It took a few minutes (this guy is good) to figure it out.

Poking fun at celebrities always works with the folks.

H/T: take180.com

A new movie comes out today called “The Blind Side”, one of those inspirational stories about an impoverished youth who finds benevolence and love by a intact family that takes him in and changes his life, and it happens to be a true story.

We know how Hollywood likes to embellish a bit, you know, take a somewhat cute and appealing story, throw in a dog, a couple of tear jerker events that stretch the truth, and manipulate the premise beyond all truth or credibility, but not here:

When I first saw the trailer, two things hit me right off the bat. First, this is a movie I would like to see. Second, given the fact that the boy is black and the family that rescues him is not only white, but is a white Christian family (which easily translates by the ignorant as meaning a white conservative family), I knew that the race hustlers out there would have none of it. And who better to give those hustlers a platform than huffpo?

This is the story we’re told: A poor, ignorant, and “innocent” black teenager (IBT) stumbles into the privileged world of white society. Because he’s so “backwards,” the only white people he can communicate with are small children. And even they know better than he does. One little boy even has to teach the IBT how to smile at girls so they won’t be afraid of him.

And oh, thank god for the white boy’s kindness, because the IBT’s life is hard! He’s never had his own bed, he’s never gotten much schooling, and the other black people in his life are Mean and Scary and Probably Do Drugs. It’ll take a white kid’s mercy to get him out of this mess.

Except wait. No. It’s not the white kid who can help the IBT. It’s the white kid’s pretty white mother (PWM). When the PWM learns about the IBT’s hard knock life, she uses all of her rich white magic to make it better. She even helps him learn to play football. Yes! A skinny white lady teaches someone about football!

And you know what else? IBT’s simple-minded charm affects the PWM. When her rich whitelady friends compliment her good deeds, she says, with a small choke in her voice, that it’s really him who’s changing her.

Here is the soup bone quote:

In the manipulated world of movie trailers, however, Oher’s story is a disturbing revival of the “benevolent white master” trope.

Yep, this is Mississippi after all, so I guess we are back to the plantation where the “Massa’” decides who gets the blessings.

Same old tired worn out liberal nonsense, stuck in an antiquated mindset. Alruism most be ruled out, out of hand, Christian charity (emulating Jesus’ number one rule-love your neighbor as yourself)pshaw, what are you smoking? That white family obviously took advantage of the poor boy. This selfless act of generosity was obviously instigated for the big payoff they knew was coming when this boy turned pro, or the esteem given to them by their white friends. People don’t just help other people for no good reason, do they?

The ironic thing is that tools like Blankenship, the race baiters, and liberals in general look at things like food, health care, clothes, a roof over your head as an absolute right, and if the individual can’t (won’t) provide for himself, then government is obligated to step in. They have no qualms about big government being the master of the plantation and providing, but when people step in do the right thing, a jaundiced eye is cast. Social justice is served only when big government is doing the providing, not churches, private organizations, or individual folk.

If big government and the welfare programs it has spawned over the years has taught us anything, it is this, it can’t solve poverty and it has provided nothing but empty promises to the disenfranchised.

Given the dropout rate of blacks, the number of single parent homes, those on welfare, and those that face a life that is pretty much stacked against them, I would think that a story about one of their own getting a chance at success would be celebrated, I guess not.

There is a couple in my small town that adopted 3 black children (brothers and sisters) about 7 years ago. They have since adopted one other child and had one of their own (where these people of character come from and why they do this? God bless ‘em). Their two sons have played on my son’s soccer team for several years now. We don’t know them that well so I can’t go into all the dynamics involved but they are church going folk who felt a calling. I sure hope clowns like Blankenship don’t find out about them, he would not be pleased.

Somethings just boggle my imagination, like this.

Credit police canines, of sorts, for the arrest of three men Wednesday in connection with a warehouse crammed with 850 pot plants.Twenty-five feet behind the LAPD’s Topanga Station.The afternoon bust was made a week after an LAPD Gang Impact Team whiffed evidence coming from the building at at 8411 Canoga Ave.

It’s been my rule of thumb that I believe no one who intends to sell drugs should be a user of this drug. this is how these things happen, someone was high as a satellite when this plan was concocted, it’s the only explanation….Or is it?

“Our gang officers were in the parking lot. The air was still. The breeze was right. They could smell growing pot,” said Los Angeles police Lt. Stephen M. Carmona, commander of detectives at the Topanga station.
“They came over, did a closer search, did some sniffing around, so to speak.”

Ok, am I the only one who wants to ask Officer Flatfoot how he knows what weed smells like? Just kidding, but I’ve got to say that this has to be one of the most stupid places to grow a field of pot I’ve ever heard of. I know LA is over crowded, and you don’t want the crop to burn down, so you don’t grow it in the mountains but there has to be a better place (like somewhere industrial?) to set up shop.

This story was just too good to pass up. Hey, fellas, pot isn’t exactly legal in California yet. Yeesh.

So, I got word today that I will be receiving a promotion as a part of the culmination of my efforts over the past few months. This was a complicated task that included; responding to management critiques with growth in those areas, a new learning that I needed to get control over, and taking on more of the managerial day to day responsibilities. Essentially, I am a through and through paper pusher, something that I’d prided myself on not being in the past, but this is the unfortunate thing I gotz 2 do 2 get paid, bruthas (& sistas).

This new role will be a lot of responsibility, and in addition require me to yet learn another new little area of business. So it’s gone now (careerwise) from gaming, to children’s activities, to preschool toys & dolls, to home products and now men’s apparel. This is a wild ride I’m on and really the most exciting time of my life. I hated school, I thought it was for losers (art school, anyway), but I love to work. I probably really am one of those workoholics people talk about.

On a typical day I will get up at 5am, check my mail, S>S>S, and then I’m off to work. I will generally stay at work until 8 and then head to the gym. I’ll come home watch some adult swim (sometimes the repeat if I can’t sleep) and then do it all over again. I talk about work a lot, I think about it even when I’m out and about, and am very passionate and vocal in meetings. I guess sometimes when you work hard things do pay off.

Enough about me, is there any good news out there to share? I remember DBaggins was about to graduate school, dwex is getting in, and Thrill’s having a baby. What the hell is going on out there that we should all be proud of?

I’ve never liked Michael Moore. At times when I’ve agreed with anything he said, I’ve tried to refrain from giving much attention to him about it, knowing as I did living in Europe that he was championing the hatred of his fellow Americans who actually did live abroad and try to forge alliances worldwide. Mr. Moore, go fuck yourself.

7 CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY
Overture Films

962 $1,500,000

+4958.2% / $1,559
$1,902,000 / 10
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Too bad this fat fuck doesn’t have a Republican to justify his rants anymore. It’s almost as if no one believes there is a conspiracy now, and therefore he’s out of business. Michael Moore’s career should be pronounced dead of cancer.

I was always more of a fan of Swayze’s B-list movies than his A-list movies. Come to think of it, was he in any A-list movies other than Ghost? Dirty Dancing was a B-list movie that became huge.

A scene from one of my favorites

What are your favorites?

I went out with Ms. Manwhore to watch District 9 last night, and boy was it a doozy. It’s kinda got this corny Sci Fi flick appeal to it, as the aliens are not designed to the level of a bigger budget house place. It has some very mundane settings that compliments the films’ low budget character (I believe that this film was made for about 30 million). However, all that aside, this movie was amazing!!

What will really pull you in is the story, and the unique ideas addressed about how an alien life form would come to earth, and co-habitate with us (or not). It was at this point that the movie really grabbed me, and I thought to myself “this movie shouldn’t be very good at all, but it is!” You shoot right into a life of politics and greed, as these aliens find themselves exploited at every turn by humans, the insidious MNA firm (largest weapons manufacturer in the world), and Nigerian gangs. The one that got me the most was the Nigerian gangs, and you’ll see why when you watch it. I had to wince several times due to their behavior.

Well, I can’t give away too much of the plot, but please…If you can only see one movie this year, I would definitely recommend this one. I wanted to gouge my eyes out after I was dragged to Harry Potter (by you know who), but when she was enthused about the bloodbath we were going to see last night, I knew this one was a winner.

Oh…just one more side note. If you want to go to a movie just to see over the top gore and dismemberment, this is your flick.

I saw G.I. Joe over the weekend, and I actually enjoyed it fairly well. It’s got the modern twist to it, as with all of the marvel movies, and the trademark representation of GM vehicles that is the hallmark of all of the hasbro franchise movies. A curious little note, it appears as if Cisco systems paid into some of the movie, and I noticed it when there was a scene with a telephone being used where the Cisco logo could be seen blatantly too large on the product.

Hasbro has done an amazing job side stepping the FCC rules about advertising product (there was a ruling in the past about the idea that a company is not allowed to engage in advertising product blatantly on broadcast television-centered around the idea of making a television show to basically advertise product, and then dominating the advertising time during that block). I don’t think anyone has ruled that way about a movie, so front and center in this flick, hasbro lets you know they’re at the helm of this enterprise.

After I choked through the shameless promotion, it wasn’t a bad flick at all. I was pleasantly surprised at the attempt to fill in the blanks about the creation of Cobra. I could have done without the intense focus on Snake Eyes, but overall, Ninjas do rock. hence the movie watches like a mixture of a Jackie Chan, meets Saving Private Ryan, meets Star Wars. If you’re in the mood for eye candy, I highly recommend. The girls in the flick are hot, the violence is pretty cool, and the weapons are good interpretations of what we knew and remembered from the cartoon version.

One small gripe. Are there any other powerhouse black families that can take the place of the Wayans family? I guess Will Smith was unavailable.

I don’t know if this was from Comicon (I will attend tomorrow), but check out Jake Lloyd ten years later. Ouch, he looks like a mixture of chunder and taint, compared to that chubby little smart ass that had the force that registered off the chart in the movies. Lucas was either a genius for picking the perfect smart ass ten year old, or a complete dumb ass for hiring a douche like mark Hammel for such a pivotal role in his movie. Check out his interview, and tell me what you think.

He comes off like a sanctimonious prick in the beginning, but as you watch it through, he seems a little more down to earth. What ends up impressing me most about this kid is that he could be very delusional about his childhood fame, but he seems to have a pretty good grasp that he’s not a mega star. Having lived here in LA for a while, that’s a compliment. I hope I don’t see him end up like Gary Coleman, but I gotta say folks, once that film school yields nothing, I think we’re looking at the next reality show nitwit.