Mail

Found a box lying on the porch in front of the door this afternoon.  I wasn’t expecting a package and when I picked it up, realized it was a bottle of Whiskey that we had ordered as a gift for a good customer (they got us a meeting with a new company earlier in the year).

There was this label on the box, that read Adult Signature Required…yet it was just sitting on the steps, obviously no signature was received by the Fed Ex guy.  So all you underage alcoholics now know how to ‘beat the system’.  Just order your spirits online.

House of the week winner

Another week, another set of lovely house photos. Rather than a cute family of ducks which is not usually the norm, I thought it was only fair to show the ‘lesser’ side of the things we see.

Money to me from Sierra Leone!

Wicket

Oooh, so sexy

A new fully customized website layout. How spiffy!

Smoking will affect movie rating

Two movie rating posts in as many days. I just read that the MPAA is planning to have smoking affect the rating a movie will receive. Now, I loathe the idea of smoking myself but this is just stupid. It is estimated that between 20-25% of Americans smoke. You pass them everyday on the highway or sidewalk but soon you wont see them in PG-13 rated movies.

I think this is going just too far. Next thing you know, eating fatty foods on screen will cause your movie to earn an R-rating.

I suggest we retool the whole rating system. There are just too many movies that fall between the PG-13 rating and R. Here’s my suggestion of the rating system:

A - Acceptable for all audiences (former ‘G’ rating)
B - Not suggested for small children (due to light violence / scary moments) - basically a PG film
C - Parental guidance for children under 13 recommended.
D - Light ‘R’ children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult but anyone over 13 admitted.
E - Hard ‘R’ - children under 17 must be accompanied by an adult.
F - Must be 17 to be admitted (NC-17 rating which is the least often used)

Basically this rating system would just split the ‘R’ into two categories so that those movies that straddle the line between PG-13 and R would have a place to go without losing the built-in audience of younger viewers. This also gives parents a better guide of what movie level is acceptable for their child. Put the responsibility of this into the parents hands.

Live Free or Die kinda-Hard

It’s been confirmed that Die Hard 4.0, or more horribly titled ‘Live Free of Die Hard’ is going to be rated PG-13.

Simply brilliant! In opposite world. The main character’s signature saying is ‘Yippee Ki-yay Motherfucker.” so how can you manage to squeeze that into a PG-13 movie?

By lowering the rating from R, this allows kids to see it between the ages of 14-17. Now, when the last time a Die Hard movie hit the theaters was 1995. 17 year olds were 4 years old then, do they really care about a new Die Hard movie?

Work photo of the day

During my typical day at work, I must see 400-500 photos from every angle of a house. Most of them are pretty boring and repetitive. Occassionally something amusing, cute or disturbing shows up. I figured I might as well start sharing them.

The new geek measuring stick?

Recently the intarwebs was stirred into a froth when Digg.com posted the key to breaking AACS (DRM used to encrypt HD-DVD & Blue-ray). They received a demand to remove the post which they did. That’s when the proverbial shit hit the fan.

If the group that was attempting to get the code removed had just let the post go, it more than likely would have become much less popular than it is now. Just like with kids, if you tell them No - they want it that much more.

In the past, the measure of one’s ‘geekness’ was measured by the number of places you could recite Pi to. Will the AACS code become the new measuring stick? Doubtful, but thanks to the removal request it will no doubt be seen for more than it actually was.

I suspect most people out there, myself included, would have no clue how to use this code for nefarious purposes. That’s not to say high definition ripping software isn’t on it’s way for download, but I couldn’t do anything with just the code…except maybe fore make some pretty colors.

Yo Adrian!

Who’d have thunk it? In 1976 Sylvester Stallone wrote and starred in the original Rocky, creating the ultimate ‘american’ character that has lived on longer than the sequels should have. Rocky V came out in 1990 and i’m ashamed to say that I saw it, but luckily not in the theater. The Italian Stallion has been asleep for the last 16 years and the press regarding his re-awakening was frigid at best.

As Stallone spoke out about his next project in the years leading up to Rocky Balboa, people buzzed about how bad an idea it was going to be. I was one of them. Sylvester is 60 years old - way too old to play Rocky again. As it’s opening approached, the buzz shifted from severe aprehension to cautious praise to even bouts of adoration.

Today, I had a chance to sit down and watch it. I’ve got to say, i’m seriously impressed. ‘Rocky Balboa‘ started out slow and to some may have been a bit slow in it’s burn but in my mind was a great build. You see Balboa, having a hard time moving on since Adrien’s death 5 years ago. It’s obvious he’s reached a point in his life where he’s just going through the motions each day. There is no fire in him anymore, except when he’s telling war stories to the customers of the local restaurant (italian of course) he owns. His son, played by Heros’ Milo Ventimiglia, is trying is hardest to get out from the dark shadow that his father has created while Pauly, who is now beginning to resemble yoda, tries his hardest to forget the past.

In a computer simulated fight, an ‘in his prime’ Balboa the current heavyweight champion, which airs on television. This ‘what if’ begins getting the boxing fans talking and re-ignites that fire in Rocky. He and his son’s relationship turns as does Rocky’s path. I’ve got to say, Stallone definately looked like a fighter, he appeared to be in the best shape of his life. The fight felt quite real as neither corner was able to get the upper hand for very long. In the final round, both fighters stood toe to toe swinging away without a decisive win.

The only win is for Stallone who directed this final outing for Rocky’s character and manages to mix in enough nostalgia without being a re-hash of the original. It’s full of heart in a series that lost it’s heart after the original. I highly recommend this one!