Don't touch anything!

I saw the new Indiana Jones movie. Here's my take, trying not to spoil too much. If you want to go in "pure", then don't read this until after you see it. If you want an idea of what you're in for before you spend the dough, read on.

It's easy at first glance to dislike the premise compared with the older movies, and I can grant you that it's a slight departure from the old stuff. But if you think about the sort of things atheists would be after compared with the Nazi occultists of the 30's, it's really the only way to throw Indy up against the "evil empire" of the time. In my opinion, it's handled well. A lot of what fans might gripe about seems to be addressed and quelled in the conversations Indy has with Mutt.

Speaking of whom, there seems to be some sort of viral predisposition out there to hate Mutt Williams, but his character helps the film. Just when Dr. Jones starts to look a little too creaky and incapable, the action seems to focus on Mutt and his youthful energy. Likewise, when you've had enough of Mutt's headstrong antics, you get a reprieve back with good ol' Indy, who can still throw a mean punch. And you may not like Shia LeBoeuf for whatever reason, but the guy does a good job, especially compared to some other kids tapped to carry on a mammoth legacy.

You may hate the CG, but I didn't think it was overdone. Indy movies have always been about closing off mysteries without ever fully solving them. You get the pleasure of being there with Indy as the last person to ever lay eyes on whatever it is they've been searching for. You get to experience the full power of the treasure, and then you both share the anguish in having to let it go forever. There was one point along these lines that bothered me a bit in that it cheapened an earlier film, but it was minor.

Is it as enjoyable as the first three? In a way. But we're not kids anymore, so it's harder to impress us and easier to enrage us. If you go in looking for the magic, you will find it. If you go in looking for the kind of crap that's been pissing you off about Lucas and Spielberg's latter day films, you'll find some of that too. I guess you have to want to enjoy it. I did.

Just a heads up, try to ignore the Janitor.

End of a blighted age?

So rising fuel costs are starting to reach very threatening stages in Europe. A recent Time article noted that gasoline costs an average of $9-$11 a gallon over there. Imagine if that were the case here, the widespread panic could lead to a gasoline-free revolution on our way of life. I'm not looking to get into a debate here, just imagining the benefits beyond "no more gasoline cars".

1: The return of the Age of Sail. In the wake of untenably expensive oil, shipping and other maritime industries turn back to wind, this time augmenting cloth sails with solar powered electric engines for when the doldrums hit. Ships once again take on a sleek, majestic look. Things take a little longer by sea at first, but that's ok, no one's spilling oil all over the ocean anymore. Dredge fishing becomes more difficult and sea life maybe begins to rebound in some of the more scoured areas.

2: Modern rail takes hold in America for reals. Seeking an alternative to high jet fuel costs, magnetic induction trains like the French TGV and the Japanese bullet train begin to become more prevalent here in the states. Zoom. Caped villains rejoice in the ability to once again terrorize maidens by tying them to tracks.

3: The home office. Telecommunications advances continue to astound. How long before the notion of coming to work in an office building on a daily basis becomes needless and antiquated for the commercial sector? Many folks already enjoy telecommuting certain days of the week. I have the tools and access to do it, but rarely am I granted the option to do so. It'd be nice, is all I'm saying. Perhaps once a light rail is built in Buffalo (ha!), this becomes irrelevant since I'll have true rapid mass transit options.

4: I don't know, teleporters or some shit. Maybe we'll finally see an end to the noisey, pollution spewing internal combustion engine once and for all. A crude transitional piece of technology that can finally be laid to rest.

A few things

1. Camping season is all but upon us. Can you smell the crisp pine scent? The campfires? The grungy aroma of humanity?

2. Went looking for an old video game in my storage bins and instead found a creepy ass bug with the body of a silverfish and the long hairy legs of a spider. Briefly conferred with Johnny via email, decided it was a Hybrid Zob and a harbinger of the end of the world. A "zob" for you laymen is any bug that gives you the heebie jeebies. All silverfish count, as do any spiders larger than a grain of salt. The name comes from the noise they are thought to make as they come skittering across the kitchen floor, hungry for blood.

3. West Virginia is no surprise and of little consequence at this point. Kentucky will go the same way. Clinton tells us she's on a roll garnering the whiskey-tango vote, but the reality is her "core" is scared racists and giggling republicans playing the spoiler. What a coalition!

Among the less tasteful comments ever uttered

"Well those terrorists aren't going to just kill themselves."
- Me, defending my newfound Call of Duty 4 habit

Clin-Ton

So Hill-dawg thought she should be the magical milestone democratic candidate in 2008, but all she's shown us so far is that she really, really wants to be president, and will do just about anything to get there.

1. Bill cheated on her. I don't care what was decided officially. Getting a beedge from another woman when you are married is cheating. Instead of leaving him, she kept the marriage going. Show of hands, who here thinks they are currently married in more than name? Why did she stay then? Because having Bill with her was supposed to help her odds, and also allows her to tout her "white house experience". I'd have admired her more for being strong enough to leave someone who was obviously not the marrying type. Unfortunately, that more genuine option would have left her with only her own story to tell as a candidate, and there's just not much there to claim political experience from.

2. She claims the tinies victories (51% to 49%) as public mandates, and ignores massive losses. Her strange logic also asserts that she wins the "big states", but isn't it the multitude of smaller states that Obama has won so handily that democrats normally slough off? If we've got someone who is capable there, doesn't that stand a better chance than someone who will win states any democrat would take anyway?

3. She is clinging to ideas that go against what should be a "peoples' will" democratic message. Bush's approval rating sucks. Everyone with a brain hates him by now. The next president should be someone intelligent and likeable, with strong popular broadline support rather than the deep affection of a group on one end of the spectrum only. But she is claiming that superdelegates should be allowed to act as a counter to winning the popular vote in the primaries. She also likes to throw out the michigan/florida primary thing. They should count, essentially, because she won them. She would not be talking about them at all if she hadn't won there. Nevermind the fact that the other candidates didn't campaign there and Obama wasn't even on the ballot.

4. Every time something comes up against Obama, she suddenly reveals she's been the other way her whole life. Obama commented in private that economically depressed rural pennsylvanians might be more interested in guns and religion as an outlet to their woes. Somehow this turned into the idea that he's against both things. Hillary meanwhile started touting her spirituality and her childhood experiences with firearms. When asked simply by a reporter "when was the last time you actually went to church or fired a gun?" she got real defensive, real quick. Uh huh.

I'm not saying Obama is flawless. He's green, and his now-former pastor is a nutjob. But he tends to respond in a more rational way to the curveballs he's been thrown, where Hillary seems to offer a pandering answer to whomever she is currently talking to or about. For example...
- She told Bill O'Reilly "God bless rich people". The context was essentially her agreeing with the principle of trickle down economics. Arguments aside, that's not really something democrats do.
- She is offering a gas tax relief that will lower pricing momentarily until demand responds and drives it back up. This relief will be paid for by big oil under a windfall profits tax. I'm no expert, but my guess would be they'll respond by increasing prices.

Here's an idea: offer folks incentives for buying high efficiency vehicles. Allow folks stuck in gas guzzlers a way to get into hybrids or other high mpg vehicles. I'm not just talking about the tax rebates offered on some hybrid purchases, I'm talking about something more along the lines of SUV amnesty. You know, say someone in a jeep wrangler lease wanted to switch to a corolla/focus or something else more practical (Whoa, where did that come from?), give them a way to make the trade without taking it up the tailpipe. That'd save people real money, drive responsible consumer behavior, stimulate auto sales a bit and give the old environment a bit of a carbon break, without freaking out big oil too much while we work on a long term solution. People are happy, the industry is happy, environmental freaks like me crack a mild grin while we await green energy sources, yadda yadda.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Greg for President.

Some quick updates

1. The jeep is going bye bye. I'm stuck in a lease, but exploring options to get out of it without rolling up my payments. Dealerships so far have been disappointingly uncooperative. This site holds some promise, but I'm not yet convinced it completely severs financial responsibility. I am still researching. But in the mean time, would anyone like an new jeep for zero down, low payments and a short term lease?
2. The return of the beard has been forbidden by my boss. I'm a field guy now and need to look presentable. My contention that a well groomed beard is quite presentable didn't sway the verdict one bit.
3. The house/condo/townhome hunt is faltering. We saw a few places we could live in this weekend, but the price would put us in a pinch and we realized that doing that for a place we didn't absolutely love was not a smart move. Old dreams of living some place nicer came drifting back. The hunt continues, but my price range and my desired features in a home have yet to intersect.
4. I really, really want a wii. Really. How about someone trades me their wii for my jeep, straight up?
5. The Waimea Canyon post I promised before is still coming. I just need to get the pictures ready. It's old, but some of the pics are pretty cool.

Bad Choice

Pennsylvania, you suck.